#// she's neglected to mention she also has will turner

[cubbihue]

Does Mr. Turner like rubbing his “son’s” successful career in Dinkleberg’s face??

He does! He brags about Timmy's success to every person within the neighborhood's vicinity. Mr. Turner loves how successful his son is! It really secures his reputation at the neighborhood HOA meetings they host at their house.

Timmy's worked very hard to gain more successes than failures. The more successful he is, the greater his family's social standing!! And the less he gets to overhear his dad ranting to the neighborhood about his failures.

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

[vague-humanoid]

In the past, Aniston said, “you could joke about a bigot and have a laugh — that was hysterical. And it was about educating people on how ridiculous people were. And now we’re not allowed to do that.”

“There’s a whole generation of people, kids, who are now going back to episodes of Friends and find them offensive,” she continued. “There were things that were never intentional and others… well, we should have thought it through — but I don’t think there was a sensitivity like there is now.”

Friends has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years thanks to the show’s availability on streaming platforms like Netflix. At the same time, however, it has been criticized for its lack of diversity and for its treatment of LGBTQ+ characters. The series rarely featured people of color in prominent roles, and cultural critics have noted a consistent undercurrent of homophobia in the show’s portrayal of two recurring lesbian characters and in jokes about the show’s male leads, particularly Matthew Perry’s character Chandler.

The show also consistently made a punchline out of Perry’s character’s transgender parent, frequently misgendering the character, who was initially played by a cis male actor in early seasons and later by Kathleen Turner. Both Turner and series co-creator Marta Kauffman have expressed regret about the way the character was handled.

As mentioned, Aniston’s comments come as she’s promoting Netflix’s Murder Mystery 2. The streaming giant has also faced criticism in recent years for platforming comedy specials from Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais that featured transphobic jokes. Both comedians have blamed so-called “cancel culture” for criticism of their transphobic comments.

Aniston’s assertion that jokes about bigots educate people and reveal the absurdity of bigotry is also worth noting. Research has indicated that satirizing bigotry rarely changes people’s attitudes, and authors Malcolm Gladwell and Jonathan Coe have argued that laughing at satirical portrayals of political problems like bigotry can actually diffuse the discomfort with them that could lead to actual political action.

Aniston’s comments suggest an anxiety on her part about what can and cannot be said in a comedic context that echoes Chappelle and Gervais’s rage against “cancel culture.” But that anxiety neglects the way comedy functions, and in particular what the undercurrents of homophobia and outright transphobia on Friends implied about queer and trans people. The show’s jokes about Chandler, Ross, and Joey’s casual discomfort with queerness, their frequent panic at being considered gay, may have—as Aniston implied—been intended to reveal how ridiculous homophobia is.

But those jokes also normalized that discomfort, portraying it as harmlessly laughable rather than toxic. The show did little to dismantle the notion that queerness is shameful, instead making its 90s audience comfortable with laughing it off rather than interrogating why grown men would be so fearful of being considered gay.

Friends’ treatment of Chandler’s transgender parent was even worse, consistently portraying her as an oddity, a freak, someone whose experience of herself and the world could never be understood by “normal” cisgender people.

What we laugh at and why matters. Is it so much to ask that comedians take that into account, that they be more “careful” with their comedy?

Kids these days—to recklessly paraphrase Aniston—are right to be uncomfortable with the way Friends handled queerness. They’re perhaps more aware of the impact that type of careless humor can have on attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community, and perhaps allowing for that discomfort—rather than laughing it off, rather than dismissing it as just a joke—will lead to more positive social impact.

this is alll true, but also fails to mention freinds is literally a white ripoff of a black show, and thus is inherently racist by its existence

[elitheaceofalltrades]

Notes on an Execution - Book Review

⭐: 3.25 I have mixed feelings about this book. Danya Kukafka is a brilliant writer who could make an encyclopedia into a page turner but it makes it hard to tell if the plot of this book is actually good or just well written. There were a lot of things in the book that were mediocre or lackluster in my opinion. I did not know it was supposed to be a criticism of the death penalty until I read other reviews. I did not appreciate the two throwaway lines about how the justice system is unfair to black and brown people. The first time, it felt like the author knew that she needed to mention the amount of men of colour on death row, but didn't want to derail the story by dwelling on it. The second time was slightly more organic as it had Saffy reckoning her race with her job in the justice system which oppresses people like her. However, it felt way too late, like the author was on the homestretch when she realised, shoot, I forgot to talk about Saffy being both brown and a police office. Saffy has been a police officer for over 100 pages and over 13 years in the story and there is something disingenuous about having a brown woman be a police officer only to address it in one singular line near the end when in reality we spend entire lives grappling with this. It was really obvious to me in that moment with Saffy in particular that this book was written by a white person. And while I have no problem with white authors writing protagonist of colour, if you're going to comment on racism, commit fully and follow through. I'd rather you neglect to mention it at all, then throwaway lines that feel more like you're writing it because you have to rather than you want to. There were also a couple comments about women and attraction to dangerous men that were a bit misogynistic but as you read you realise it's more Saffy's internalised misogyny then something the author is writing as fact. Which is fine, it just threw me off when I first read it so just a bit of a warning. In truth the last quarter of this book really saved it. Before that I was poised and ready to leave a terrible review about how for a story about the women, it more makes you sympathetic to the serial killer but as I finished it I think Danya made a bold decision by including Ansel's point of view that ultimately paid off. Yes, in the beginning it feels like the author wants us to be sympathetic to this man, but what it really is, I find, is us seeing into the mind of a man who believes in his own grandeur and as the story progresses, we see it crash around him and reveal the truth about him and most serial killers, he's just a pathetically average man that thinks he's far more intelligent and superior than he actually is. I'll probably reread this and do a mini literary analysis on it in the future as it had some good themes to explore, even if the story itself wasn't my favourite.

~Eli

Ace of All Trades, Pro at None😆

Buy me a coffee

[residentdormouse]

Introducing More OC's

So, I've now reached Section Two of Just Keep Diving Down (sequel to Something Like a Spiral). Spiral stuck to the main canon storyline for the Stand and was mostly just an OC insert (Hayden Flynn). Section One of Diving was still in their wasteland of a world, and threw in two more primary OC's (Steph Graham and Max Deckard) . But Section Two...? Whole new world - brand new characters. So, may be appropriate to introduce these guys as they begin to appear:

Quentin "Quinn" Turner

(Faceclaim: Tom Hiddleston)

Quinn grew up with knowledge of the Institute from Day 1. He comes from a long line of scholars that worked in the research department of the UK branch, following in his father's footsteps by taking a concentration of history and lore. Unlike any before him though, he also opted to go out on various field missions. If asked, he would tell you that it gave him a better understanding of the subject material by seeing current cultures and trends in practice; by feeling the surrounding energy while being on site. He'd neglect to mention the rush that came after succeeding in a retrieval. In outsmarting the opposition. In knowing he had stopped a threat to the delicate balance of their world.

Rayna Brooks

(Faceclaim: Jessica Chastain)

Rayna has been in charge of the Institute for over a decade now. Ambitious and sharp witted, she climbed to the top of the chain quickly, starting off in the Bright Futures training program. While other student would partake in social activates and clubs, Rayna would be in her room with theory books, mythology books, research documents. Strategy came naturally to her, and she dominated in her leadership during all mock disaster scenarios that were randomly sprung on their classes. Post graduate, she travelled across the world in organized events, shadowing those in charge, getting a sense of the larger picture. Her inquisitive nature also lead to many useful discoveries during this time. Since her appointment, the institute has never had higher enrollment, and a higher success ratio, in their history, and she has no plans to let up in their forward advancement.

Della Coleman

(Faceclaim: Nathalie Emmanuel)

Della always knew she was a bit different, even at a very young age. Once she was able to attend school, her parents signed her up for the Bright Futures gifted program, and she had stayed on their main campus ever since. She was one of the few students who stay over breaks and holidays, and everybody had stopped asking about her family after the first two years of this, not that it would do any good anyways. Della mainly kept to herself, and most times would wonder around the campus in a daydreaming state, her sketch pad, notebook, and pastels never far from reach. Considered the prodigy of her class, her academic achievements always surprised those around her, as she never seemed to have much focus in anything other than her own artistic endeavors.

Gwendolyn "Gwen" Acker

(Faceclaim: Morena Baccarin)

There's not much in the underground scene that Gwen is not aware of, and its common knowledge that she has either already given approval or is watching events, ready to redirect should it take a turn she does not approve of. While her exact age is now only known to her, she makes it very clear that it has taken over a millennia to achieve her status in the world, and she's nowhere near ready to give up her seat of influence. Cunning, crafty, and charming, Gwen holds power in just her presence, and even those with the most devious of intentions will second guess themselves under her gaze.

Taglist: @anths-girl, @raith-way, @ocs-supporting-ocs

[dans-den]

Fairly Odder Review

Hey what's going on guys?! Dan here and today I'm going to be giving you a review of Paramount Plus's new show, The Fairly OddParents! Fairly Odder

Now what more can be said other than this show is a masterpiece! I mean come on, best show on Paramount Plus!

10/10 baby! that's all I have to say, see ya!

......

April Fools Bitch!

Like I'd ever give this garbage a 10/10, hell nah! There is so much to dislike about this show that this post will probably run pass the word count on newgrounds and possibly even tumblr despite it not having one, so I'm gonna do my best to be as brief and concise as I can about this and why this is literally the worst reboot or revival I've seen in a long time.

Now I grew up as a fan of the Fairly Oddparents series, I remember as far back as 1999 and 2000 when the show was in it's "Oh Yeah! Cartoons!" phase before it was greenlit for its own series and even those early phases (which is far better than this travesty here). So I wont let too much of my Bias judge how I see this show. Understandably a sequel, revival or reboot won't always live up to the original's standards and should be treated as its own thing. That said, this show even on its own standing, is just awful. Nothing about it is funny, nothing about it is charming, nothing about it is memorable. To be honest I don't know why this show was conceptualized, if you took the Fairly Oddparents name out of this, it would be the most generic Nick sitcom out there. To be honest, this show looks like it didn't start out as Fairly Odder, looks like an average Nick Sitcom then last minute decided to slap the Fairly Oddparents name to the show for marketing. They should have just left the series name alone, they could have just made a new IP. If they had done that I wouldn't be this harsh on my review hell I wouldn't have made this review in the first place! This goes to show that they didn't have any faith in the show and just relying on brand recognition rather than putting effort into an actual show. Fucking Marvin Marvin starring Lucas Cruikshank (aka Fred) was a more memorable and enjoyable show than Fairly Odder.

Now last week I watch an 8 minute sneak peek video of the first episode that was uploaded by Nick on their YouTube channel and this was to meant to build hype and excitement for the shows release. However, I watched the clip and instantly regretted it. Everything I feared about the show, was in the clip therefore would be in the show. It had a god damn laugh track just like every other Nick sitcom, the characters were extremely generic, painfully awkward, annoyingly goofy or down right creepy, and the setting was just like every other setting in a nick sitcom. It honestly looked like asset flips like the background looked like it was used from the Thundermans show, nothing about the setting indicates that they were in Dimmsdale other than some little Easter eggs here and there.

The characters as I mentioned are all generic Nick sitcom characters, the main cast are your standard child protagonists with Viv as the awkward girl who can't socially interact to save her life, Roy her step brother whos the popular kid everyone loves and he's not quite the brightest, Zina who's the friend of Viv and has a crush on Roy but she's like stalking him and taking pics of him from the corner which is super creepy and I'd argue isn't really funny, and the parents who are high school sweethearts and are all wacky and lovey dovey but neglects their own kids feelings sometimes because they're narcissist's. They also have live action portrayals of Timmy Turner and Vicky who are probably the worst portrayals of the characters I've ever seen and it's not just in regards to the animated series, this is also compared to the live action movies made a decade ago. If you don't know, there were three live action Fairly Oddparent movies starring Drake Bell as Timmy Turner in the early 2010's and in that movie, the fairy's were done with CGI rather than being 2D like in this show. The movies weren't perfect because bringing 2D to 3D or any realism will always be a challenge, however I feel those three live action movies stayed more faithful to the source material rather than this show that has completely abandoned the Fairly Oddparents lore and the charm that made this show amazing. Timmy is now a supporting character which is to be expected in this show but Vicky is now a creepy teacher who acts more like a Harley Quinn sidekick who loves Mr. Crocker a bit too much instead of the Tyrant she use to be.

As I mentioned, the show does the live action Nick sitcom formula, but also adds in 2D animation as well and to be honest that's a great idea on paper, but the execution is something that requires time and effort. This blend of animation and realism can be done right if done with proper care and passion, the best example of this is the classic movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Even more recent examples of this can be seen in "Smiling Friends" which is one of my favorite shows at this moment in time. Smiling Friends has a variety of animation and realism that blends well because its all done with proper care and passion. There's 2D, 3D, Claymation, hand drawn, real people in it and so much more and nothing ever feels out of place, its all done beautifully. Fairly Odder just puts a green screen and computer generates the animation and it looks so terrible and out of place. The animation is so rough and rigid and doesn't fit at all with the realism of the show. This tells me that they didn't put any passion or proper care into this show, this was meant to be a shameless cash grab and it seemed to be rushed to meet a deadline.

They brought back Butch Hartman to Co-produce the show and to be honest, I'm not surprised that he's behind the show. Butch Hartman use to be one of the most beloved artists and animators in the entertainment industry and I loved a lot of his shows growing up. I loved Fairly Oddparents, Danny Phantom and even Tuff Puppy which was argued as one of his worse shows but I honestly thought it was funny and entertaining. However, Butch hasn't been seen positively lately due to a couple scandals and accusations. There was his whole Oaxis Kickstarter which was out of touch and sounded like a real scam. Then there was the scandal almost a year ago where he was accused of plagiarizing and selling someone else's art for hundreds of dollars on commissions. To me it seems he decided to do this as yet another blatant cash grab for him which I understand he wants to get paid and needs to work, but it's just disappointing that he's just cashing in the most shameless way possible. He was an artist we all loved and now he's just a shell of his former self.

Now some of you might be wondering why they didn't they bring Drake Bell back as live action Timmy and for those who don't know, Drake Bell was arrested and pleaded guilty for attempted child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles back in June of 2021 so right now he's in some serious hot water and Nick wants nothing to do with him obviously. So with Nickelodeon not having their golden boy, they had to find someone else for the role and Caleb Pierce the actor for Timmy got the job. I'm sure he'll do fine, but he doesn't really pull off the best Timmy Turner and Drake Bell's portrayal was at least more believable as a grown up Timmy Turner.

They did get the original voice cast for Cosmo, Wanda, Jorgen and Mr. Crocker which is literally the only positive thing I can say about this show but even that's being generous here because the fairies are all animated poorly. Mr. Crocker is animated too because he's in a jail cell in what I imagine is Fairy World since Jorgen is the warden there. So I guess you're only animated when you're in Fairy World? I guess that's why Crocker is the only human animated in this show.

Overall, this show is just a lazy cash grab at what was once one of the best shows on Nickelodeon and the Kids animation as a whole. I couldn't even bare through the first episode because it was just awful and boring and I'm not gonna watch the other 12 episode on Paramount. I said back in my Turning Red Review that I don't like when movies or shows are exclusive to the streaming service because not everyone has access to it, but in this case, it's better it stays on paramount and never branches out anywhere else other than the occasional YouTube clips. They should have just scrapped this project and never released it because this is the worst show I've seen not only this year but of all time.

plugging this into my rating I give it:

1/10.

Just save yourselves the time and binge watch anything else because this garbage reminded me to just binge watch the original animated series on Paramount Plus. I would never recommend this to anyone unless it was for a joke but even that's too cruel and inhumane.

That's about it, see ya!

[astralfandoms]

I’d love to hear more about the rough patch oc! :0€ I really like them

okay so!!! holds up roughpatch he's very fascinating to write because he is unflinchingly loyal to cryptid, probably willing to die for them, but isn't quite sure why part of this is definitely because the two hold a close bond, as they literally "woke" up together (aka when subcon became cursed [a whole ass thing i should explain at some point] they discovered each other first) part of this is also because roughpatch has very rough (haha pun) memories of being alongside someone who had the same soul/energy as cryptid, but can't remember their name or face, and knows that he also had a different name/face back then other than that, he's very much the clyde to cryptid's bonnie: while cryptid is the one who usually plots things out and decides what they should do next, roughpatch is the one who actually physically executes them oh also he's the only one who has seen what is under cryptid's hood, but also won't tell out of loyalty

however, there is more things about their backstory and how it intertwines, but it's sorta spoilery and mentions child neglect and paranoia so be warned as you head under the cut oh also uh. i have a VERY different interpretation of how snatcher was when he was alive. aka he's. not the best person. so just be warned of that going forward

so back when he was alive, Roughpatch was a simple kid named Edward Beck. well, "simple" is a bit of a stretch, because he was one of the nobles who lived in the mansion alongside his parents and, of course, the royals. it was. an open secret that something wasn't really. right with the marriage of the royals. both parties were extremely cold to each other and only seemed to slightly warm up when around their children. but that was rarely seen, as the prince turned king, Henry Turner, ended up going into law school and became scarce at the manor (with some theorizing it was on purpose to avoid his wife), while the princess turned queen, Vanessa Turner, buried herself in paperwork as she grew paranoid at every little thing that anyone did leaving the two children, Hailey and Alice, uncared for by their parents, forcing the staff to instead take on care for the children and, because Edward was around the eldest child, Hailey,'s age, he was assigned to make sure they were entertained and the two became quick friends, becoming as thick as thieves and creating a bond that lasted. but then the cold came. one day, as the two were playing with the local children, a sweeping cold emanating from the manor blew over the land, freezing all the inhabitants but as edward was frozen, his only thought was "why couldn't i have protected her more?" … … rough patch then woke up as he is today, with fuzzy memories and the urge to protect the eldritch creature that he woke up next to. and they formed a partnership that would never end.

[ghinanotlinetti]

My thoughts on Netflix’s ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Seasons 1 & 2 and the liable (s)hero

Hello! I’m going to be talking about The Umbrella Academy. I got hooked on this show when it came out and my friend recommended it to me, at the time we were on our final semesters of university and had a lot of free time because we weren’t expected to take a lot of classes to focus on our final undergrad assignment, so why not binge watch TV shows! I remember the pace being quite slow, I wasn’t too invested to begin with but then later on as the episodes progressed I got so into it. And when the second season came out during this whole pandemic fiasco which was the perfect gift for us nerds!

I want to firstly mention that I've not read the comics and I don't think I'm planning on doing it soon, but I do like watching superhero movies and series. I can't describe what I'm into I just know that I like what I like which ranges from A to Z. So as an adaptation I can't say much on how the show does the comics justice, but from what I've heard from readers of the comics who've watched the show, the show pretty much follows the story from the comics (not word for word but not too loosely either) which is great I imagine. I can tell the series shows the story of these characters who we know and are invest in very well, it gets straight to the action, drama, and develops intriguing plot lines. I personally love siblings dynamics in TV shows; this family dynamic is so interesting to watch onscreen, from the flashback scenes of when they were little (I really do hope there's a spin-off with the kids!) to their current relationship that they have now with each other as siblings. The first season sets the story straight, then the next season steps it up a notch which is awesome! I love Klaus' character plot, especially the banter that he has with Ben, love those scenes and I'm glad we got to see more of Ben in season 2! In the first season I was drawn to Diego’s character specifically, and I also was intrigued by the backstory involving other characters like Reginald, Pogo and Grace. I like all the characters except for Luther but I can respect what he brings to the family dynamic and the role he plays in the story (even if it's very frustrating to watch). I like the story a lot, I can tell the writing is well thought out and it’s captivating to watch the story play out with each episode. And of course, the production is top tier, American productions really know how to produce high quality films, I really appreciate this and that it was paired beautifully with a good story! I thought the plot had pretty much every element needed to make a superhero franchise, from the conflict, character, even to (problematic) stereotypes...

I'm not very invested with superhero movies in general, but some of my favourite movies are those superhero movies. I love the Spiderman movies (the Toby Maguire ones are iconic, Andrew Garfield ones are good I enjoyed it, and I love Tom Holland's Spiderman a lot), haven't watched all of Thor but I really like Thor Ragnorok, obsessed with Black Panther, love Captain Marvel, I've watched all the Avenger movies without having watched any Ironman movies, the Hulk movie and the first Captain America movie. I also watched some of X-Men movies but I’m less invested in them compared to my mild obsession with the Avengers; I like Days of Future Past, Logan was so brilliant, and I've seen the other films but they haven't really stuck with me. So I get the gist of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (quite familiar with DC but not as much as MCU) and I have to say, I'm so done with the liable characters who are 9 out of 10 times women in these superhero franchises. Vanya is the liable character, Diego says this himself to her in season one when their house is intruded by Hazel and Cha Cha - everyone's using their powers to defeat them meanwhile Vanya does nothing because she can't and gets bruised. And I’m sick of it. I’ve seen this before with the Scarlet Witch (Wanda) and Jean Grey, and every time it’s annoying for me to watch. They’re the most powerful character, but they have no control over themselves it’s annoying! Wanda ends up having to kill Vision and it’s very upsetting for her because she loves him, and it’s all just frustrating to watch as a viewer because of her very bad timing and almost incompetence to be logical. Jean Grey is killed by Wolverine because she lost control of her powers and then in the Sophie Turner one she also dies to save her friends. 

Only tragedy for these lot who most if not all the time are women. There’s already a visible lack of superwomen, so with this liable character trope it’s sad that when women are included in these stories we’re inclined to see them through how the patriarchy views women. If they’re not the hero then they’re the love interest, and if they do get to be the hero it’s the tragic hero incapable of control. Women are “strong” and are meant to save everyone but they’re delicate, too delicate that it gets in the way of them mastering their powers. Women are emotional, they can’t be logical beings so they’re not the leader despite being the most powerful one in the group. Captain Marvel flips this stereotype on its head; that scene when we think there’s about to be a showdown between Captain Marvel and Jude Law’s character (can’t remember the name for the life of me), it’s meant to be one-on-one with no powers but she refuses, blasts him with her fist and says to him that she has nothing to prove to him. Iconic! Now that's a movie and character which is clearly written by women for women and I want more of it! I want to see more female superheros who aren’t the tragic hero with bad timing, zero control over everything including their feelings and powers. The story arc of the liable hero is overdone and predictable, so I really would like to see literally anything else. 

Vanya’s story arc was quite predictable. Of course she has to fall in love with the wrong people at the wrong time, and of course she has to face a nearly impossible dilemma to solve. From the beginning I knew I just didn't like Vanya's character but wasn't sure why, then I realised this female character was written by men, and that's why I found her so.. annoying. She's brilliant obviously don't get me wrong, she's the most powrful one but the fact that this had to be paired with her trauma from years of being neglected was utterly corny. It’s also not lost on me that there’s 7 Hargreeve children and 2 are girls; Allison’s story arc for a while was attached to an unnecessary romance with Luther, and Vanya is the seemingly incompetent one but plot twist, she’s actually the one to watch. I already knew the love story between Vanya and Sissy would be too good to last, but regardless I feel for her because Allison gets to have more than one romance throughout the course of the series, and though they also don’t really last either it’s not as heartbreaking for her to cope with when they end. Vanya gets better at controlling her powers in the second season, but she’s kind of the same lost character because she loses her memories and almost has to start from the beginning. Season 2 was also interesting to watch because it introduced a new character: Lila. So that’s another female superhero who’s also a WOC, great, but her story for me felt a bit like the liable one mostly because of her backstory which of course leads to a difficult dilemma towards the end. It'll be interesting to see what they decide to do with Lila's character in the future seasons, I don't think we really got to know her very well and I'm excited to find out more.

I really can’t wait for the next season but no rush, I can wait for how ever long it takes for the team to not slack, stay true to the story and deliver another season we deserve to watch (haven’t forgotten about GoT’s tragic downfall!). The screen writing is a 10/10 surprisingly for an American production, I hope it stays top tier in the upcoming seasons *fingerscrossed*. The production is obviously 10/10 and cast is 10/10. I guess the only thing lacking is the character, particularly the women which the show seems to not know what to do with them (and yet they know exactly what to do with the male characters). We only got to see a split second of the new Ben and I can’t wait to discover more of who the new Ben really is, which should be pretty exciting to watch!

[the-mandalorian-clone-lover]

Aces in Spaces Chapter 21

New Chapter!

Roman and Erica having been dating a little over three years now:D

Warnings for a dude being a creep and not taking hints but Roman and Erica handle it together, more Roman being a wonderfully considerate human being

Tags: @maybege​ @sunshinepascal​ @rentskenobi​ @agent-450​ @princessxkenobi​ @obaby-wan​ 

Masterlist

(This is Erica’s dress for this chapter, I imagine Roman in a black suit but his tie and pocket scarf match her dress)

It isn’t really an office party but Erica would say its something like it given the types Roman “works” with. The whole restaurant rented in advance and bustling with ‘associates’, their security armed to the teeth, waiters flitting around and everyone more than a little buzzed. She’s grown used to being at Roman’s side during events like this, mingling with those he does business with, and she’s grown used to how they usually respond. The more polite ones address her by name, the brazen ones dare to call her pet names (which usually earn at minimum a glare and Butch’s looming presence, its rarely a repeated offense), there are a choice few that still refuse to acknowledge her at all but Roman never stands for it, deliberately asking her opinion and citing her ideas. The reaction she’s currently getting however, is not any of those. Roman has been wrapped in a discussion the better part of a half hour but it hadn’t taken her long to feel the gaze of another as she sat at his side.

A cursory glance had located the perpetrator on the other end of the room, near the bar, but he hadn’t stayed there. It didn’t bother her at first, she’d been stared at before, but it kept getting worse. The man in question was older, silver-haired and tall. At first she’d blamed it on curiosity, but the increasingly predatory stares that were impossible to ignore from his deliberate placement in her line of sight didn’t stem from curiosity. At least not about anything she was going to indulge. The longer she waited the worse it would get, this much she knew. Leaning into Roman she sighed. Why did men have to be dense and persistent?

She deliberately makes a show of toying with the edge of his collar, brushing her hand along his shoulder and down his arm, if the man wouldn’t respond to her signals, maybe he would heed Roman’s.

Roman acknowledges her immediately, turning with a smile, hand covering hers and leaning down to nuzzle her bare shoulder. He whispers discreetly in her ear as he leans away, “Are you alright?”

She hums, nodding. “Just admiring.”

He smiles at the table, business demeanor cracking just slightly, and he brushes his thumb along the top of her hand that still rests on his forearm. He nods at her, getting pulled back into the conversation almost immediately but he keeps his hand over hers. Hopefully it’s enough.

She hears rustling behind her and realizes too late who it is, regretting immediately that she’d turned to look.

“Is this seat taken?”

He’s oozing charm but the only thing it accomplishes is to fill her with a desire to throw up.

She resists the urge to cover herself, his gaze making her feel as though she’s naked, but it’s not as if he can see anything anyway. Her dress is a brilliant blue, backless and v-necked but not scandalously so. Instead she chooses to lean away from him, nearly laying her head on Roman’s shoulder as she looks up at the man standing above her.

“I don’t know” She begins, voice care-free, eyes locked on his before swinging her head away. “Is it? Lover?”

Roman turns almost absently, giving the man a glance before narrowing his eyes slightly.

“Mr. Barton?”

The man pauses, seemingly surprised at the response but recovers quickly with a smile, nodding. “Didn’t think you’d remember me Mr. Stanton, it’s been quite a long time.”

Romans eyes are still narrowed and his face screws up momentarily before smoothing again and that charming grin makes its way onto his lips as he stands to offer his hand. “Well you’re quite unforgettable Ben.”

The handshake happens just above Erica’s head but she waits, Roman will introduce her, and hopefully make a show of it.

They sit back down in unison, Roman’s arm falling to rest on the back of her chair as Ben’s comes to rest on the table, Erica lets her own fall back into her lap before giving Roman her full attention. At his pause to admire her eyes she reaches to bring his hand from the back of the chair to her hip, unfortunately he misses the cue to be slow and possessive about it. Damn.

“This is Erica, the love of my life.” He leaves out a title and Erica falters for the briefest of moments before turning to smile at Ben, neglecting to offer her own hand and leaning back into Roman.

“Delighted I’m sure” Comes her voice and she almost laughs at herself because she hasn’t played this fake in years but, it seems the situation calls for it. She decides to add on, “Roman and I have been together for years” (it’s true) “he’s never mentioned you.” Ben offers a hand anyway, giving her a grin as if he’s caught her in a trap and she shrugs absently.

“Sorry- my hands are busy.”

She knows the implication and oh if it doesn’t make her feel good to see him nearly choke in response.

“I—Um--.”

She feigns sudden understanding and embarrassment. “Oh—” She brings a hand to hover over her mouth, using her other to grab Roman’s hand to hold and display their interlocked fingers, “I didn’t mean anything by it—” It’s a perfect opportunity for him to jump in, she’s set the stage beautifully if he’ll just—

“No one thought so love it’s quite alright.” Roman calls over a waiter to change the subject and while it does work she isn’t sure it’ll last. She also isn’t sure how Roman is missing the way this ‘Ben’ is looking at her. Sleezy doesn’t begin to cover it.

Roman turns to say goodbye to the others he’d been talking with and Ben doesn’t miss a beat, sliding closer and leaning toward her. “So what is a beautiful woman like you doing in a place like this?” His question is soon accompanied by what Erica knows had better not be a hand on her thigh and she crosses her legs so it slides off.

“Roman is—” She hesitates the slightest second because ‘boyfriend’ doesn’t begin to cover all that he is, all the love she has for him, or all that he’s done for her. It feels so juvenile, and yet she knows Ben will read too far into anything else. “my boyfriend. And we always come to these types of things together.”

Ben has the audacity to scoot his chair close to get another hand on her, this time on the bare skin of her back above her dress. If Roman doesn’t turn around right this minute—

“He’s never said a word to me about you” His eyes move over her appraisingly, “pretty thing, any chance you’re bored with him?”

She knows disgust is seeping into her face so she decides to switch tactics.

She leans further away, turning to press her back all the way into Roman’s chest (by extension forcing him to let his hand drop again), reaching her own hand up behind her to turn him. Grabbing the back of Roman’s head and bringing his face alongside hers to turn and look at him, she hopes it doesn’t come to kissing, that’s just between the two of them—surely a few heated glances would do the trick?

Roman was intrigued when Barton turned up so suddenly, having gotten back into town rather recently from that jaunt in Europe, and it didn’t surprise him that the man hadn’t bothered to keep tabs on anyone (given his reputation and character Roman knew already which head the man used to think). It wasn’t out of the question that he was curious about Erica, she was beautiful, a head-turner in every way. It didn’t bother him necessarily that he’d inserted himself, it was common, and since they’d been acquaintances before, it made sense that he had. What doesn’t make sense is the way Erica has been acting ever since he sat down. Had Ben somehow managed to drug her? Roman knew brushing her hands along his arm was normal—she did that all the time, her comment about her hands was less so, and now nearly crawling into his lap to drape herself over his chest (and the no doubt intentional shifting of her hips that nearly landed his hand right on her butt in Ben’s full view)? Definitely not normal, and he’s, concerned, to say the least.

He attempts to be discreet, taking advantage of her head being turned toward him to move his own slightly behind her. He feels her shift and his other arm goes around her waist to secure her, was the chair that slick?

“Are you alright?”

She hums a laugh, leaning away and giving him, a look she certainly hasn’t before. A look that on any other woman would make her intentions about a bedroom perfectly clear. But Roman knows Erica, and he knows she doesn’t want that, so what is going on?

“Don’t say things like that” She pushes his chest playfully, looking around the room “Someone might hear you!”

He plays along, frowning at her as if he doesn’t understand her game (because he really doesn’t) and reaches out to grab her hand before she can pull it away. What impulse it is exactly he isn’t sure but somehow her hand ends up by his mouth and he kisses it before leveling her with an equally heated look. “You didn’t answer me.”

He keeps his voice low, deep and sultry, lips brushing against her wrist as he adds, “I don’t like it when you don’t answer me love.”

Her lips start to curl and finally he realizes. Ben must have been attempting to proposition her, ignoring her disinterest, and she seemed to be trying to put it in terms he would understand.

He drags his lips up then, to the inside of her hand and allows his eyes to wander her figure, leaning away finally to let his tongue dart out and wet his lips.

Her pupils widen a fraction and he’s somehow forgotten about everything else, he isn’t sure how much time goes by with their eyes locked, Erica looking slightly breathless but he barely manages to catch Ben coughing and clearing his throat, mumbling something about leaving before he looks away from her.

“Pardon?”

Ben looks back from where he’s begun to stand, eyes flitting to Erica who hasn’t stopped staring at Roman, before shaking his head. “Uh yeah—gonna head out, probably should get back before the jet lag hits.”

Before Roman can answer Butch cuts in coldly. “I’ll walk you out.”

Roman nods, waiting until they’re both out of sight before turning back to Erica, the embodiment of concern as he takes her in “Are you alright?”

She deflates. Moving to sit back in her chair and swallowing hard. She mumbles out “Took you long enough.” But directs it at the table.

“Sorry about that. I did catch onto the game though, can I place an official request for a code word in the future?” He tilts his head, holding out a hand on the table top, feeling like he’s crossed enough boundaries for the next four years, “I thought you’d been drugged. I’ve never seen you act that way—I didn’t think you’d want to.”

She takes another breath, wrinkling her nose before schooling her features once again. “Can we go home? I think I’ve had enough for one night.”

He nods, beginning to retract his hand but her own darts out, pulling it back onto the table and into her own. “I’m keeping this.” A pause. “It’s mine now.”

He raises his eyebrows, “Oh?”

“I’ve certainly earned it. In fact I’d like an Oscar too, much as I love you, you aren’t all that.”

He laughs out loud, giving her that open mouthed grin again “Oh really?”

She shakes her head defiantly, “Not at all. Wouldn’t have looked twice at you if you hadn’t offered me food.”

Roman gasps, other hand coming to his chest in mock horror, “I’m wounded.”

She shakes her head and Butch reappears at her opposite shoulder. “Ms. Erica I’m so sorry—I couldn’t have gotten over fast enough when I saw what he was doing—I can’t believe he had the audacity—”

Roman’s expression clouds immediately. “What. Did. He. Do.”

Erica immediately waves a hand toward Butch that he takes without a thought as she stands pulling Roman with her. “Not here. I want to go home.”

They do, and Roman broods the whole way, though he does take care to keep her as close as she wants to be (which is very). Her comfort is more important than his ego. Finally speaking once they’re in the door and pulling off their shoes, he grinds out,

“You don’t have to tell me. But I’m never letting him near you ever again either way.”

She drags a hand through her hair, discarding her wrap on the table and turning to let Roman unzip her dress.

“It wasn’t—” She pauses, picking her skirt up to walk to their bedroom, turning to grab Roman’s hand, to comfort him or herself he isn’t sure.

Pulling him along she sighs, thumb brushing along the back of his hand as they walk and he moves to pull off his tie, might as well multi-task.

She discards the dress over a chair in their bedroom and turns to him, “I didn’t like it. But, well. I did like it.”

He’s shocked, and maybe a little hurt. She--?

“Not him!” She amends quickly both hands coming up in a placating motion. “I meant—" She moves forward and wraps both arms around his waist before burying her face in his neck. He wraps his arms around her slowly, just barely having adjusted to her being comfortable with him touching her like this, his palms gliding along her skin gently.

“I, I liked, I liked that I knew I could act like that and I could trust you.” She pulls away just enough to look him in the eyes and he loosens his hold, fingers brushing along her spine As he looks deeply into her eyes. “I knew you had my back.” Her eyes dart between his. “We were partners. I liked it.”

He doesn’t understand, not really. But he isn’t sure how to ask.

“I mean, I liked that I—Roman what I’m trying to say is I knew that I could be sexy and act like I wanted you and you wouldn’t force me to follow it through even after he left. You always check things with me and tonight made me realize just how much I’ve come to trust that. I didn’t even really think about it, I just knew.”

Roman is very nearly floored again by her admiration of his behavior. She should expect this from anyone. This is how people should behave. “Of course” He says matter-of-factly, “Just because—” He falters for a moment, “You’ll always be allowed to tell me no, regardless of what it is. You’re a human being, not something I can do anything I like with.” He moves his hands to her shoulders and pushes her away the slightest bit, somehow he feels like touching her might tarnish this.

“You are my lover, what you want and need always comes first, even if I don’t always feel the same way about it. I—” He hesitates. He hasn’t said anything like what he’s about to since they started dating three years ago and—he still isn’t sure it’s a good idea but- she’s raising her eyebrows in question and well.

“I thought you were smokin.”

Her laughter bubbles over almost immediately, folding in on herself and wrinkling her nose before looking back up to him with a soft sigh as she smiles. “Roman.” Her hands slide under his jacket and untuck his shirt to brush her hands along his back. “I love you. So much.”

He smiles back, eyes flitting over her face before his hands come to her cheeks and he pulls her into a forehead kiss before cradling her to his chest.

“I love you too.”

*************************

[dannyphannypack]

Crossover Fic Recs

Hey, saw your post for some fic recs! Unfortunately I can't continue the wonderful thread of reblogs because I wish to remain anonymous, but here have some cool crossovers that I didn't see get rec'd yet :D (you can either post this or add it to the reblogs, I don't mind either way)

Just Another Meteor Freak [500k words, complete] (and it's sequel, which is unfortunately incomplete) is a Smallville/DP crossover that's absolutely a fantastic read and I cannot recommend it enough, it's one of my faves! Brief synopsis: Danny goes to live with his aunt Martha Kent after his family dies (and for once Danny's family dying in a crossover fic doesn't have anything to do with TUE!), and misunderstandings of the good kind and mishaps ensue because of course Danny and Clark's hero complexes come into play. It's got hurt/comfort, fluff, angst, sibling-esque-bonding, and all sorts of cool stuff, including ghost king headcannons and new powers for Danny. It takes place mostly from a Smallville perspective, but Danny's woven in so seamlessly that you won't believe he wasn't in the original show to begin with. I read it for the first time after having not watched Smallville in years and I could still understand it though, so I think that if you haven't watched Smallville before you could still enjoy the fic a lot!

And like, honestly, I totally recommend other stuff by this author (jadedbluerose) too. She's got a Merlin/DP crossover that's pretty fantastic, but unfortunately she hasn't updated anything since 2014 :( still worth the read though!!

Spirited Away [70k, complete] is a Harry Potter/DP crossover, it's honestly THE MOST hilarious fic I've ever read. Synopsis: Danny is an unwilling student at Hogwarts, and the most chaotic Hufflepuff the world has ever seen. He claims he's been kidnapped but when no one listens to him, he raises all kinds of hell to try and get kicked out. And if that doesn't work, well, he can always sue them. 100% worth the read, it will definitely make you laugh.

Various Superphantom (Supernatural/DP) crossovers by sapphireswimming. Literally anything Superphantom found here? Totally the best. You can also check out Superphantom fics by surelysilly (whose fics are more on the darker end of the spectrum, and their prose style is kinda abstract rather than your traditional linear narrative) Vitaliciouscreations (they've got a oneshot collection that's pretty fun, as well as a oneshot that I wish they'd continue and a complete cute 13k-word penpal fic.)

How to befriend a ghost [80k, incomplete] is a HTTYD/DP crossover in which Danny gets stuck in the Viking era, and I originally started reading this for the Danny & Hiccup friendship because it's adorable and both of them see how similar they are to each other and find kinship in that. The dragon Danny gets (because this is a HTTYD crossover, this is inevitable!) really sneaks into your heart though, and I ABSOLUTELY adore Sparky as much as I adore Toothless. He's very lovable and complements Danny super well! Of course, it's not all friendship bonding and training dragons, the archipelago is Danny's home now (until he can find his way back to Amity Park/his own century) and he's going to protect it too when trouble arises, just like the dragons do. He even gets new powers along the way. This fic is pretty fun, there's a lot of switching perspectives and you really see the characters' voices come through in it, and you even get to see the dragons' POV, which is really interesting since you get to learn Sparky's backstory!

Den Mother [8k, ongoing] is a Young Justice/DP crossover that acknowledges the fact that Danny is by all rights a first-generation hero, and he's treated with the respect as such and gets to join the Justice League rather than the YJ team. Of course, he doesn't WANT to join the league at first, which is a different take than you'd expect, but he reluctantly agrees and is then given the same responsibilities as a Justice League member--that is, to teach the YJ something about teamwork or whatever. It's not very long right now, but the premise is so good! It has a lot of potential.

A Foreign Perspective [200k words, complete] is a DNAngel/DP crossover that I saw @scrollingdown call a fandom classic once and honestly agree, even though I don't think many people know/have read it. It's a cute friendship fic that focuses on Phantom (not Danny, but Phantom specifically) making his first friend, an older boy named Daisuke, who seems normal at first, but is slowly revealed to be a little more understanding of Danny's situation than he appears. Some comfort involved too since Danny deals with a little more with the idea of mourning/loss than in canon, seeing as Daisuke thinks he's a full ghost and therefore a teenager that died, and Danny learns to be a different kind of hero because of it. Really cool fic too since you don't need to know DNAngel at all to understand the fic, since it's told from DP's perspective, and you get to learn about Daisuke as Danny does. It's just super sweet and it's got some action here and there that makes it exciting, and it's really a fun read.

Other stuff by this author is worth the read too! They've got oneshots of a HP crossover and Ghost Whisperer crossover, and a sadly incomplete HTTYD crossover [100k words] that is still super super good and also deals with ideas about mourning and loss. Their non-crossover stuff is also pretty interesting (there's a Mute!Danny AU and Dash kinda-redemption oneshot I really liked).

Diversity [150k, ongoing] is another Ghost Whisperer/DP crossover, it's a found-family fic where Danny runs away from home after his family dies in the events post TUE. He ends up running into Melinda and she goes out of her way to help him. There's a couple underlying mysteries surrounding the ghosts that haunt this fic, and Melinda tries to understand Danny's past and ends up tangled in a conspiracy because Danny's hiding his ghostly alter-ego and also the GIW are involved at some point (and they are much more menacing here than in canon). It's totally a page-turner, and you can get as invested as Melinda in hoping Danny heals from his loss. Spellbound [150k, ongoing] is a HP/DP crossover by the same author! Danny accidentally gets trapped by Magical Britain and is bitter about it, but he's trying to make the best of it. The Wizards have no idea what to make of him, but he just wants to go home, and he makes a couple friends while he plots his escape. (It's actually been a while since I read that one, so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, but I do remember feeling bad for Danny in this fic, poor boy's lonely and can't even interact with kids his own age because he's an unknown creature to the wizards. Good thing Danny's never been one to follow authority.)

A Visit to Paris [10k, complete] is a Miraculous Ladybug/DP crossover in which Danny is Akumatized... sort of. The results are hilarious: Danny's a troll, Hawkmoth is frustrated, the heroes aren't really sure what to make of it, and Danny and Adrien make a lot of puns. Oh, and Danny is the only one smart enough to fix Paris' villain problem (okay, so it might be slightly cracky). It reminds me very much of Spirited Away, which I mentioned earlier. It's got the same level of chaos that's for sure. All in all, it's a very, very fun read.

A Different Sort of House Call [50k, incomplete] is a House MD/DP crossover, it's been years since I read it but I've always considered it one of the fandom classics too? It was definitely one of the first things to pop to mind when I was trying to recall all the cool memorable crossovers to rec you, so this goes on the list too. It's Danny at the hospital with House, and the doctors are trying to diagnose him without knowing about his ghost half (and Danny's not exactly willing to tell them either). There's angst (especially since the author wrote this to follow Lab Rat by AnneriaWings), Vlad trying to be an ally (sorta?), and House being clever as usual. Sadly it's incomplete but it's still super good!!

Running Blind [20k, complete] is a CSI/DP crossover (it took me forever to find the link again since it wasn't listed as a crossover). It's super good, Danny runs away for reasons unknown (at the beginning of course) and gets caught up in a murder investigation and he suspects the culprit is supernatural so obviously he helps out. The CSI guys are both trying to protect him (thinking he was a target for the murderer) but also trying to uncover his past and the reasons he ran away. When you find out why he ran away, you might be awed like I was (especially when you realize how long it had been since he ran) or you might be unimpressed, but the aftermath and his family/friends finally catching up to him might make up for that. I kinda liked how Vlad was written here too.

Ghost Crimes and its sequels is a Criminal Minds/DP crossover. It's the first in a very long series (currently 500k+ words in total) that expands on the DP world and lore, and also involves a lot more murder, death, blood (and the other related gore-ish stuff), and overall realism. Like, Danny fights what is basically Jack the Ripper and its terrifying. It's kind of like a "dark and gritty" DP (but like, not unbearably or overwhelmingly dark and gritty), angst sprinkled here and there, along with darker themes and less light-hearted issues (mental health/trauma/depression/etc. and neglect/abuse and like, actual competent adults like social workers and stuff are a real thing in this fic). There's a lot going on but it's got its lighter nice moments too (Dani is there and gets to be a part of Danny's family, Val's in on the secret, among other things). Also some of the chapters are illustrated, it's great. Definitely check it out!

Okay that's a lot of fics so I'm gonna stop now. Have fun reading!!

[ladymarrianna]

Why I don't think "Harry Potter and the cursed child" should be canon - a rant

Unlike some of the other books apart from the main seven in the Harry Potter series - for example "Quidditch through the ages" - the Cursed Child is marketed as the 8th book in the series. It is even stated by JK Rowling that we, the fans, should consider it canon. I have a few - *ahem* more than a few - problems with this, the first being the complete lack of continuity with the original series. This may be to do with the fact that the Cursed Child was not written by JKR, but instead by Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.

One of the glaring continuity issues that I noted when reading the book was the genre. In the original seven-book series, there is always a long build-up throughout the book, culminating in a fast-paced (usually action) scene that resolves the mystery whilst creating a nice ending for the book. In short, the Harry Potter Series is a series of mystery novels. The Cursed Child, while it does contain elements of mystery, is not. It is primarily an adventure/time travel novel, and while I have nothing against that genre (one of my favourite films is Back to the Future), this does not fit in with the rest of the series, causing it to stand out as, quite clearly, NOT the 8th book in the series.

Another major continuity issue that I moticed was how the writers portray time travel in the Cursed Child versus the Prisoner of Azkaban. In the Prisoner of Azkaban, when Harry and Hermione go back in time, what they have to do is already set in stone. For example, Harry casts the patronus charm because he knew he had already done it before, even though he technically hadn't. This is because, in this book, the future is already set in stone, even before Harry and Hermione actually use the time-turner. For contrast, in the Cursed Child, the past and future are not set in stone, i.e. Scorpius, Albus and Delphi can do something to change the course of events, leading to a completely different reality. This lack of storytelling continuity leads me to wonder which book I should take as canon, the Cursed Child, or the Prisoner of Azkaban?

The third continuity error sounds completely trivial, but I think that it shows that the Cursed Child is not the eighth book in the series. It is the cover illustrations. The cover of the Cursed Child does not match up with those of the original books, and that, to me, marks i as a completely different, standalone novel.

The next reason why I don't like this book is not actually necessarily a bad thing, it just doens't fit in with the rest of the series. I think that, as the "8th book in the Harry Potter series", Harry Potter and the Cursed Child should be written like the rest of the series - in other words, not a play. Also, the writing style is quite different because of this, so much so that it doesn't seem to link with the other books. For example, short scenes are used, especially at the beginning, to show Albus's character development which leads up to the main events of the story. I actually like this part (apart from the characters being out of character but I'll cover that later), but it stood out to me because the use of short scenes like this has never occurred in the main 7 books.

As I mentioned previously, I find that the authors of the Cursed Child have made two of the main characters incredibly out of character to enhance the plot. Namely, Harry and Hermione.

In the book, Harry's character is used to give Albus a motive for all he things that he does by having him treat his son badly. For a lot of reasons, I think that this would never happen with canon Harry from the original series. Firstly, Harry grew up in a neglectful, if not downright abusive household, which means that he knows how awful it fels to not be loved by your parents (or in Harry's case, aunt and uncle). This means that he would probably be an incredibly loving father to his kids, James, Albus and Lily. Secondly, it is shown in the series multiple times that he longs for a family of his own. His greatest wish, when he looks in the mirror of Erised in the Philosopher's Stone, is to be surrounded by his family. This is another reason why he would be a great father, and why I think that his character was not portrayed accurately in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Now let's have a look at why I think that Hermione is out of character for the sake of enhancing the plot. This mainly happens when Albus, Scorpius and Delphi are searching for the time-turner. Now this is a very action-packed scene which was quite difficult to understand as it is written as a play, but I'm sure it translates well on stage. It's also a very clever idea and I really like the premise. However, I find it very difficult to believe that Hermione would hide the time-turner in such a way. This is because, in all of the books, Hermione is shown to be extremely intelligent. She would need to hide her time-turner in a place where ONLY SHE could get it, so why would she hide it behind her bookshelf and a complex series of riddles if she didn't intend for it to be found? Also, the riddles that she uses are easy enough for some students to solve, which, if you ask me, sounds a bit out of character.

The next part that I'm going to talk about made so little sense to me regarding the rest of the plot that I had to read it a few times just to check that I wasn't hallucinating. This part was the part with the trolley witch. I just have no idea where this came from, and it has absolutely no evidence to back it up in the original series. I read this book for the first time just after it came out, and I'ce been confused about the trolley witch to this day. Personally, I think that Voldemort should have taken some advice from her about being immortal, she seems to be doing quite well at it.

Anyway, the next thing that I will talk about has been made fun of countless times by fans; the names of Harry and Ginny's kids. Now I have nothing really to say about them, apart from this. Albus Severus Potter? Seriously??! (or should I say Siriusly?). Anyway that particular one really makes me shudder.

Anyway thanks for reading (if you read the whole thing) and I hope you agree! If you didn't, I'm sorry, but this is just my opinion and therefore should not be taken as the complete and utter truth.

[porchwood]

ToastedTHG: Does Katniss (protectively) infantilize Prim?

[I may revisit this post later in light of CF and MJ, but it’s ridiculously long already and I really want to stick with THG for the moment.]

I don’t mean this as harshly as it sounds, simply that, to my way of thinking, Katniss depicts - and likely perceives - Prim, especially early on in THG, as a much younger child. I find with older siblings (my own sister and friends that have little sisters), the younger sibling sometimes gets “stuck” in their head at a certain age/stage, and it stands to reason that Prim would be locked in Katniss’s mind by the trauma of Mr. Everdeen’s death, Mrs. Everdeen’s neglect, and the girls’ near-death by starvation as seven-year-old “sweet tiny Prim, who cried when I cried before she even knew the reason.”

When I first started reading THG fic, it bothered me that Prim always came across as so much younger than she’s supposed to be (though I found myself doing the same with her character when I first started writing THG fic). She always seemed to be about eight years old, whether Katniss was twelve or eighteen. And then I went back to THG and really looked at how Katniss presents her:

She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. 

My little sister, Prim, curled up on her side, cocooned in my mother’s body, their cheeks pressed together. 

The community home would crush her like a bug. 

Even at home, where I am less pleasant, I avoid discussing tricky topics. [...] Prim might begin to repeat my words and then where would we be?

I reach out to Prim and she climbs on my lap, her arms around my neck, head on my shoulder, just like she did when she was a toddler. 

“She’s just twelve.” (not that age twelve isn’t still childhood, but this reads to me like “She’s just seven years old...”)

The woods terrified her... 

...Prim, who’s scared of her own shadow... 

In this way [Rue’s] exactly the opposite of Prim, for whom adventures are an ordeal. 

I’m not suggesting that any of this is negative or untrue, and as I’ll explain in just a moment, as the story goes on, Katniss paints quite a different picture of her sister between the lines. But as I revisited each of these passages (not to mention the “little duck” references on reaping day), I couldn’t help feeling that Katniss is still seeing and describing a sweet, frail, starving seven-year-old. And it’s not hard to see why.

I protect Prim in every way I can, but I’m powerless against the reaping. The anguish I always feel when she’s in pain wells up in my chest and threatens to register on my face. 

Katniss is an exemplary protective older sister - the only thing she wanted in all of this is to protect Prim :_( - and I would never find fault with her depicting Prim as a tiny frightened thing who needs shielding from the world at all times. But there’s a whole lot more to Prim that her sister eventually lets slip out (intentionally or otherwise):

Sweet tiny Prim...who brushed and plaited my mother’s hair before we left for school, who still polished my father’s shaving mirror each night because he’d hated the layer of coal dust that settles on everything in the Seam. (This is that same tiny vulnerable seven-year-old taking care of her adult mother and tending to her dead father’s memory - every single day, even while she’s starving to death! I can’t think of anything I did that consistently at age seven, let alone taking care of another person!)

On the table, under a wooden bowl to protect it from hungry rats and cats alike, sits a perfect little goat cheese wrapped in basil leaves. Prim’s gift to me on reaping day. (As @ghtlovesthg pointed out - this means Prim must have been up before Katniss!)

“I’ll be all right, Katniss,” says Prim, clasping my face in her hands. “But you have to take care, too. You’re so fast and brave. Maybe you can win.” (Prim reassuring Katniss at the Justice Building! I’d forgotten about that one!)

...When she sells her goat cheeses at the Hob... (Prim is a businesswoman, not just a sometime-trader! Discussed a smidge more in this post.)

Prim milking her goat before school. (Again, uniquely responsible in a child, because this is an every-single-day responsibility, not something you can skip if you sleep in or rush if you’re running late. At least, not if I understand milking correctly.)

What’s funny was, Prim, who’s scared of her own shadow, stayed and helped. (With that miner’s awful leg wound)

That’s another thing about my mother and Prim. Nakedness has no effect on them, gives them no cause for embarrassment. Ironically, at this point in the Games, my little sister would be of far more use to Peeta than I am. (I’m almost 40 and I’m still squeamish about male nudity! It’s part of why I love Katniss so much! And I love Katniss’s admission of sweet, tiny, vulnerable Prim being useful to a mortally wounded Peeta.)

Something that’s only faintly nodded to (and that in CF) is that Prim has been dealing firsthand with pregnancy/labor/delivery, probably alongside her mother - I’d hazard she’s something of an apothecary apprentice at this point - but certainly with Lady, her goat. Lady was a gift for Prim’s 10th birthday (just over two years before THG begins), which means she’s been tended by Prim through at least two pregnancies, as well as the mauled shoulder. I belabored this a bit in WtM, but this also means that Prim had a small side business in goat kids, either trading them back to the Goat Man for the stud service that keeps Lady in milk, selling male kids to Rooba for meat (which would probably break Prim’s tender heart a bit), and/or selling females for a tidy sum as future dairy goats.  

What’s more, if Prim hasn’t gone through menarche herself by the start of THG, she’s surely intimately aware of it (between close living quarters, limited “sanitary supplies,” and her mother’s patients). This is something else I’ve touched on (and will belabor in the near future) in the Mooniverse, but I think menstruation was both a hopeful and a terrifying thing to the women of Twelve. (On the one hand, they would certainly experience irregular/absent periods, delayed menarche, etc due to malnutrition, so the appearance of a steady cycle would mean joy for those who dearly wanted to get pregnant, but there would also be something of Katniss’s “terror as old as life itself” at the prospect of those children who might result.) We never get a chance to see this, sadly, but I’ll bet Prim had a crush (on Peeta’s oldest brother, who was crazy about her in turn). Did she share Katniss’s fear about bringing children into the cruel world she lived in, or was she looking forward to being a mother one day? 

To wrap this up, for a little perspective, let’s take a quick peek at another example of a twelve-year-old female character. Say, an intelligent one with an ugly yellow cat...

(yes, I know Crookshanks comes along a smidge later, but I’m not crazy about movie!Hermione and this gif was too perfect!)

At the beginning of THG, give or take a few months, Prim is the same age as Hermione in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. 

Please tell me this gives someone else a wee start (and I don’t mean the gif of Captain Kirk)!

Now, I’m not trying to equate these characters by any means, though there are similarities between the two (and I’ve been wondering for days now: if Prim was Hermione, Rory Hawthorne would be Ron, for so many reasons, but who would be Harry??)...The Grangers are dentists, Mrs. Everdeen is a skilled apothecary; both girls have a heritage looked down upon by some of their peers (though it’s interesting that, at least from Katniss’s perspective, Prim is universally adored rather than scorned as a “Seam brat” - and she’s got to look the tiniest bit Seam in some way!). I would hazard that Prim knows the plant book cover-to-cover at this point - and heck, Katniss even describes Prim (and their mother) as “work[ing] magic” in their healing! :)

I freely admit that Hermione had loads of advantages Prim could only dream of (relative affluence in the Muggle world, 20th-21st century conveniences, access to superior education from the get-go, not to mention real magic), but one would expect - and I think, will find - a similar emotional maturity in Prim at that age, if not more weighted to Prim's side, since she's living in a brutal post-apocalyptic dystopia where she lost her father (in terrible circumstances) at a very young age and works alongside her mother to tend sick/wounded/dying coal miners - surely a harrowing experience for even a seasoned healer.

Anyway, I found it interesting to compare the two, however briefly, and consider just how competent Prim totally is may be behind the scenes. I mean, she should have a Time-Turner by CF, at the very least. :)

[pynkhues]

Say Dean did give her the necklace. Out of all the horrendous things he’s done to her, why would she decide to wear it tho?

Well, assuming that he is the one to give her the new necklace, which Istrongly suspect he is (although I’ve been wrong before!), I think there are afew reasons she’d wear it. And hey! I’ve had five or six asks since 2.08about Beth and Dean’s relationship, history and age gap, which I had a fewdrafts of, so I’m so sorry! I’m going to highjack your ask to combine/answerthem all! Hope that’s okay. 

Putting all myheadcanons and theories aside (at least for the first half of this post haha),let’s just talk about what canon has established about Beth and Dean and theirrelationship over the last 18 episodes. 

This is like, verylong (seriously 2,800 words), haha, so I’m putting it under a cut to save all your feeds. 

The Marks’ Family ValuesWhile 2.08 clarified a few things about the way Beth, Ruby and Annie wereraised, there’s still a lot that we don’t really know, so let’s look at what wedo know: 

1. Beth as a youngteenager crashed her mother’s car out the front of Ruby’s house with her kidsister in the passenger seat because there was no food in the house, and theirmother wasn’t getting out of bed. The implication, from Annie’sdialogue “She just really likes it there” is that this is not a new thing.(2.08)

2. Annie was areckless kid and had a broken arm during a time it’s implied she and Beth were neglected.(2.08)

3. “You knowwhat my mama used to say? You get what you get and you don’t get upset.” – Beth(2.01)

4. Beth played pianofor six years after her parents dropped $$s on it, despite changing her mindand wanting to play violin, which on its own I think can be written off as generalchildish indecisiveness, buuuut I think means a little more than that in thecontext of everything else. (1.05)

5. Beth worked heronly legitimate job in highschool at the Dairy Queen. (1.03)

5. Annie used to gethigh and was sexually active in highschool, and had gossip/rumours spread abouther. Their mother came into the school to address it and, it’s implied, madethe situation a lot worse, causing Annie not want to do the same to Sadie with Sadie’sbullies. (1.04)

6. Then Annie gotpregnant in highschool. (mentioned multiple times)

7. Beth has alwaysbeen the one that Annie has called to bail her out of trouble (mentioned a fewtimes).

9. Beth had postpartumdepression with at least one of her children. (2.05)

The Boland Timeline

While we haven’t gottenconfirmed ages of the characters, we do know that Dean is, at the very least, ayear older than Beth, although I think it’s more likely around three yearsgiven the way it’s framed in the episode. SO. 

1. Beth meets Dean atschool when she’s either a freshman, sophomore or junior. He’s a senior. It’sat a point in time where we know her mother is bedridden and Beth spends a lotof time looking after Annie (she even took Annie to Ruby’s father’s funeral,which I think says a lot as to how much Beth – and by proxy Ruby – were lookingafter Annie). (2.08)

2. Beth and Dean havebeen married for 20 years during S1, so that puts them likely at gettingmarried when Beth is somewhere between the age of 20-22. (mentioned multipletimes)

3. Somewhere in thistime period, Dean takes over Boland Motors from his father (one of the photosin the screensaver Dean’s looking at in 2.04 looks like it’s from a grandre-opening, and Beth’s holding a baby boy, so it looks like this could bearound the time Kenny or Danny is born) and Beth becomes a stay-at-home motherand a housewife. Dean also has full control of their finances, and Beth is onan allowance that he also controls. 

4. Kenny has hiseleventh birthday in S1, so Beth would’ve been in her late twenties when shehad him. 

5. We don’t know theage gap between the rest of the kids (and in fact, those age gaps have obviouslychanged between S1 and S2 lol) but it looks like Jane is now the youngest, notEmma, and that Beth and Dean hadn’t had sex in the two years before gettingpregnant with Jane, and then that they hadn’t had sex since she was born until2.06, which seems to be about five or six years. (2.05 / 1.05)

6. Beth had postpartumdepression after at least Emma (it was the specific given reason as to why theyhadn’t had sex in the two years before getting pregnant with Jane), although Ithink the implication is that it was with more of the kids than just her.

7. Somewhere in allof this, Dean had multiple affairs. He says four, but the implication fromAmber is that it’s more than that, and then I think Beth basically confirmsthat when she says “Dean’s slept with half of Detroit” later in the episode.Plus Dean being a pathological liar isn’t exactly a secret. (2.05)

8. Beth finds out hesleeps with Amber in 1.01 and that he’s mortgaged their house three times andthat their savings are gone. She kicks him out, takes control of theirfinances, and robs Fine & Frugal. 

9. Dean tries to winher back a few times - first by appealing to her pragmatism (and I’ll beexpanding on this shortly) - by talking about how they’ll both be worse offfinancially if they separate - before telling her that she’s the love of hislife, then by showing up unannounced to mow the backyard (a traditionally malehousehold job), then by using Kenny’s birthday wish that they were backtogether to try and guilt her (another point I’ll be expanding on shortly!)

10. Cut to Kenny’sbirthday party. He implies Beth’s having an affair with Rio (lols for so manyreasons), they fight, Beth insinuates that she’ll be filing for divorce soon(”You’re still my wife” “Yeah, I’ve gotta get on that.”) and Dean drops TheCancer Lie. Beth is obviously upset, and lets him move back in, but he’ssleeping in Kenny’s room. (1.04)

11. Dean doubles down on the cancer lie by bribing a doctor to tell Bethhe has prostate cancer, but he also covers for her when Turnerfinds the Boland Motors car the girls stole from the lot. He then confronts herabout it in a very paternalistic way (”Why don’t you get a job?” “Sit down!”“These people prey on good, innocent people” “I’m sorry I yelled at you, buteverything’s going to be fine. I’ll take care of you.”). Beth plays along inthe moment, but Dean changes the locks without telling her (and also doesn’thelp her bring the grocery bags in which is sooo telling), reveals he’sswitched hours with a guy at work to be around to ‘protect’ her, and Bethfinally stands up for herself “You have no idea what I’ve done or even who Iam”. (1.06)

12. Dean asks her ifshe’s doing it for the kids. She says yes, and he says it’s all he needs toknow. It genuinely seems to comfort her in the moment. It’s one of their fewnice scenes and I think shows what they were like when they were at their verybest. (1.07)

13. Rio shuts down,Beth is back on an allowance. She tries to get a loan, but their credit hasn’trebounded enough and they still have too much debt. Dean solves the problem bymoving the botox via the doctor he bribed. Dean won’t tell Beth how he did it,but she’s grateful enough to end up coming clean about what she does for Rio.They have their second nice moment. “You don’t deserve anything I did toyou.” + “I think you’re incredible.” (1.08)

14. Dean obviouslyfeels like he and Beth are getting back on track, and is annoyed that Annie’sliving with them temporarily. He builds Beth a craft table with hiddencompartments to hide her fake cash! (1.09)

15. Dean tries toorganise something for their anniversary, which Beth doesn’t agree to rightaway, but does later in the episode when he tries to help her after realisingshit’s going down in the crime world. Dean gets into a car accident whilechecking out another woman, Beth finds out he lied about the cancer (like thatgrenade was never going to blow, Deansy), he came home, Rio shoots him to getback at Beth, but not before revealing a certain degree of intimacy and trustbetween the two of them, which Dean clocks instantly. (1.10 / 2.01)

Then Season 2happens, haha.

So let’s talk about Beth & Dean

I’ve said it a fewtimes before, but when it comes to Beth, we’re ultimately watching somebody whohas been disempowered and disenfranchised for a really, really long time tryingto reclaim a sense of identity and control over her life. Even before 2.08, wewere looking at that through the sense of her marriage to Dean where she had noreal independence. Her entire life was dictated by decisions that he made forthem, personally, professional and financially, and a lot of the first half of Season1 was devoted to her realising exactly how many of those decisions had been bad ones. As the series went on, she reallydid start to gain a sense of financial independence (which is incredibly important)as well as a sense of her own identity and agency, only for that to becompletely crippled again across that four episode arc - 1.09 through to 2.02 –firstly by thinking Rio had played her for a fool (the empty truck), then Rio firingher, then realising that Dean hadplayed her for a fool again (thecancer lie), and then her plot to put Rio away falling apart, Dean being shot,and her realising that she was newly indebted to both of them.

I think what 2.08contextualised was that Beth has never really been allowed to explore who sheis, because there’s always been somebody she’s had to look after. She’s alwayshad dependents and she has lived a life of constant compromise, making her incrediblypragmatic and sacrificing of her own needs and wants. The episode establishedthat Beth spent most if not all of her adolescence caring for Annie and theirmother, married young, and then spent her entire young adult life looking afterDean and their four children.

Likely the appeal ofDean was that he was older, gave her attention in a way that seemed to ‘see’ herat a time where her needs were neglected at home, and likely popular – he’s goofyand fun, as the show’s establishedmultiple times, which I think would be more likeable at that teenage age, and Ithink he probably appealed to Beth as a way out of a troubling home situation.At the end of the day, the show has established pretty firmly that Beth is, whenit comes to her and her own, a survivor. And when I say survivor, I don’t meanthe badass, action heroine sort of survivor - I mean the desperate, do-what-she-has-tosort of survivor. She has an uncanny ability to lie and perform to get herselfout of situations, and also a tendency to sacrifice her own happiness for thoseshe loves. I think when it came to Dean, for a very long time, Beth sacrificedpower and control for a security and safety that she hadn’t had growing up,first for herself (and likely in part for Annie too), and then for her fourchildren.

And I think Dean, priorto the start of the series, had never truly been challenged on any of thecontrol that he wrought over their lives. He’s your classic embodiment of whitemale privilege, and I think he has all the baggage that comes with that,including a firm belief in gender roles, a heady sense of entitlement, and asubconscious expectation that things will usually work in his favour. The factthat he started dating Beth when she was so young, that he inherited BolandMotors from his father, and the fact that he blames Beth’s postpartum depressionfor his affairs too I think drasticallyemphasises that. We talk a lot about the power play between Beth and Rio, butBeth and Dean, since 1.01, have been in a power play of their own – Beth in herdesire to break out of their traditional roles, to ‘steer the ship’, and toreally put her family in a more secure position in life (something she realisedDean was incapable of doing), and Dean in his desire to keep them in their traditional roles, to ‘steer the ship’, and tokeep the status quo (I mean, hell, the fact that he was checking out anotherwoman on his way to his anniversary dinner with Beth in 1.10 says a lot about exactly how little he wants things tochange).

In what is typical ofpeople who are nurturers/carers or have been forced into nurturer/carerpositions in their life, Beth also seems to feel guilt to a disproportionatedegree, and in a way that often seems to cancel out any other emotion,including her anger. This is established pretty early in season one in smallways - her snipping with Annie then immediately back pedalling when sherealises Annie might lose custody of Sadie, with not being able to throw Kennythe birthday party he wants, with her telling Dean about what she does for Rioafter Dean offloads the botox, and then reiterated in big ways this season -nursing Dean after he’s been shot, crawling into bed with Kenny after he gotcaught binge eating at school, going above and beyond to get the dubby backafter Jane feels neglected, I’d even argue that the whole situation with MaryPat has partially been fuelled by guilt for putting Mary Pat in that situationin the first place when she’s a widow with four young children.

And I think Dean knows this! He has guilted her so much across the course of this show, often in a way to deflectfrom his own shortcomings or to ultimately playher. He gaslights her all the time,and she often doesn’t even realise it, which demonstrates, to me at least, howoften he’s done it over the course of their 20+ year relationship. The wholething about the cancer lie in the first place was to back her into a corner,which he succeeded in doing. He guilted her about being at Boland Motors andaway from the kids. When Jane went missing, he immediately blamed her and guilted her for her involvement with Rio(instead of………you know……….looking for his daughter), in 2.08, he guilted Beth for checking on her moneybefore untying him after he’d tried to organise a hit on her partner and gottenher robbed blind in the process.

And when the guilt and the manipulation stopped working, he did thething he knew she couldn’t ignore (and that would hurt her the most) which istake the children. Beth is, like I said earlier, a survivor and a sacrificer whenit comes to her and her own. There’s no way she won’t give up everything togive those children what she didn’t have – a mother who she could rely on. I thinkDean’s ultimatum won’t just be about them either. I could be wrong, but I thinkhe’s going to tell her that they have to try again as a couple, and I thinkthat’s what that necklace is going to be about (seriously though, if he givesit to her as a part of the ultimatum, everything about it symbolically is acollar), and she’ll put it on for her children, and I think it’s all honestlygoing to push her over the edge in a really big way before the season’s over.

I’ve mentioned this in other posts, but I think Beth fully was intendingto leave Dean before the cancer lie, but then she needed to care for him(again, a manipulation I think Dean knew would work because of Beth’s historycaring for her mother and Annie), and then the shooting (same reason, plus theadded bonus of her having caused it). Since then, I think she has almostcompletely emotionally divorced him – having sex with Rio, taking over BM,checking on the money first, not letting him back into her bed – is all verytelling of this, and I think she had likely had her pragmatic hat on and waswaiting until she could feasibly balance all the pieces in her life on her ownbefore filing for divorce. Of course, that’s now blown up with Dean holding thechildren essentially hostage.

And look, do I thinkDean loves Beth? I do actually, in his own way. Do I think Beth loves Dean? Ithink she did, but like she said to Ruby – Dean’s not a soulmate for her, oreven a partner. Beth and Dean should’ve maybe briefly dated in highschool andthen broken up, but they’re both in too deep now, and I don’t think anythingshort of a bullet or an arrest is going to easily disentangle them.

[afairerplace]

some thoughts on jess & rory (but mostly jess)

Can I just say that Jess Mariano has possibly THE most believable and satisfying character arc on Gilmore Girls? He starts out as, quite frankly, an abrasive jerk. He’s surly, unpleasant, and has no earthly idea how to handle his emotions- or other people’s, for that matter. But we as the audience are understanding to an extent, because 1) we experience something of his softer, better side through his interactions with Rory and 2) we know a lifetime full of turmoil (absentee dad, drug-addled mom struggling to get clean, revolving door of would-be stepfathers) went a long way towards making him in to the difficult character that he is. 

We know there’s a sweet, intelligent guy buried beneath Jess’s rat’s nest of issues. Will we ever get to see that guy survive and thrive, though? That’s the question haunting his arc from the get-go. In early seasons, the answer appears to be a definitive “not right now,” which imo makes him a very frustrating character. He has so much potential! And yet he’s so failing to live up to it, instead squandering the (many, generous) chances he’s offered and leaning into his issues. 

The last we see of him as Rory’s boyfriend, Jess has backed himself into a corner and as a result is angry, scared, and completely at a loss as to how he should deal with the situation. He’s unwilling to work with Luke, unable to communicate with Rory (or anybody, let’s be real). Is it surprising that, upon burning all his nearest bridges, the kid who is told to get lost when he screws up too badly, the kid whose instinctive response to difficult situations and emotions is to shut himself down and other people out- is it really surprising that he chooses to bail?

Not surprising, no- but not excusable, either. Jess will never be a good guy unless he learns to deal with his baggage, mountainous though it may be. He’s at the age where it’s high time for him to start. We, like Rory, hope that his cruelly impromptu exodus will end up being a successful journey to find himself. And the best part about Jess is that it is! But to the show’s credit, it isn’t presented as something instant or easy, so that we can readily condone the horrible thing he did to Rory and to Luke. 

We see the ways in which he hurt the two of them, and we see that he’s still an emotionally-stunted jerk in his next few appearances on the show, albeit one who has awakened to the fact and is starting to do something about it. Jess ambushes Rory out of nowhere, loudly proclaiming his feelings for her in one of the most selfish, abrasive ways possible- but he’s at least sorting through his emotions rather than packing them away, making an effort to communicate rather than simply shutting down. He snarls at Luke when trying to steal back his car, and later grouches his way back to Star Hollow for his mother’s wedding- but he’s at least opening his hermetically-sealed heart a crack to the people who love him most. Jess is still not a good guy, by any stretch of the imagination, but he is clawing his way towards goodness, even if he’s still obviously terrible at it.  

By the time he makes his final appearances in the series, Jess has truly become a good guy. Is he a perfect guy? No, not by a long stretch. But he makes an effort to resist Logan’s hostile needling, even if he succumbs to bitter barbs in the end; he calls Rory out on her actions at a time where she’s desperately in need of it, although in an unnecessarily aggressive fashion that’s admittedly driven by Logan’s aforementioned behavior, and even has the presence of mind to soften his tone when he registers how upset she is. And when he realizes Rory is using him to get back at Logan during Truncheon Books' open house, his last moment in the original series, he keeps his (completely justified!) anger in check to bid her a bittersweet farewell. Not to mention his actions earlier in the same episode, where he embraces Luke and Luke's daughter and pays back his uncle in heartfelt appreciation of all Luke did for him. 

Jess Mariano begins his time on Gilmore Girls as a bitter, angry young man incapable of communicating his feelings or participating in healthy relationships. He ends it having done a complete 180, not without difficulty, not without effort, but with the appropriate amount of fits and starts it takes to grow into the upstanding, even admirable character he remains in the revival. What's so interesting to me is that Rory Gilmore's arc, the arc of the girl who is his love interest and catalyst for his own transformation, is very nearly his arc in reverse.

While Jess drags his own self kicking and screaming to the top in terms of personal and professional growth over the course of Gilmore Girls, Rory spends that time sinking lower and lower. The girl who once determinedly stuck to the course of academic success in spite of hostile high school classmates and a rocky start, grades-wise; who famously turned a deliberately dull assignment about pavement into a page-turner; who climbs onto her ex-boyfriend's roof to apologize for her bad behavior during their relationship- where is this girl by Season 6, let alone the revival? She's certainly not the girl we're seeing on screen. 

That girl is completely different. She's stolen a yacht and dropped out of Yale after receiving possibly the most nicely-delivered, well-meaning critique around; embarked on an affair with a married ex; and attempted to cheat on a later boyfriend out of revenge. Her self-absorption, inability to rise to the challenge, and penchant to carelessly trample over other people's hearts is only more acute in the revival. All of the drive and compassion that made young Rory so lovable to audiences and to Jess are all but gone from her character by the time we see her last- coincidentally (or not), by the time we witness Jess demonstrating those traits in spades. 

I think we're meant to see this as a chance for Jess to return the favor, to inspire Rory to grow in goodness as she once inspired him. I also think we're supposed to view this development in a positive light. But given that Jess's underlying issues arose from a lifetime of abuse and neglect, whereas Rory's arose largely from years of being coddled and spoiled, I can't help but feel the situation is more than a little unfair to Jess. 

And yet: "There is no justice in love, no proportion in it, and there need not be, because in any specific instance it is only a glimpse or a parable of an embracing, incomprehensible reality. It makes no sense at all because it is the eternal breaking in on the temporal. So how would it subordinate itself to cause or consequence?" (Marilynne Robinson, Gilead)

[fineartblog2021-22]

Rachel Whiteread  “Ghosts in the Room” Documentary - 3/11/21

Rachel Whiteread is an English artist that attended Brighton school of art, and then went on to study sculpture at the Slade School of Art. The documentary “Rachel Whiteread; Ghosts in the Room” started off showing one of her most well known pieces, a solid house she had created, being knocked down. This was due to the public not liking it and calling it a waste of space. In some ways, I believe the house being knocked down adds more interest to the piece and gives it more of a meaning, as it shows the effect it had on its viewers. As was said in the documentary, “The purpose of modern art is to make us think twice about the world we live in”. 

The documentary also looked into some of the rewards Whiteread has received as an artist. For example, in 1993 Whiteread won the Turner Prize, making her the first female artist to ever win. She also received a £40,000 protest prize for apparently being the worst artist in the world, although some may argue the best for the impact her art has had on the people around her and how strongly they seem to feel about it. 

During this documentary, I found it really interesting to hear about the processes and thoughts behind Whiteread’s work and how she decides what she wants to create. At one point, she mentioned how she chose objects based on their “humbleness”, and how she wants to give space a form of authority. One of her exhibitions that I really enjoyed hearing about was “One Hundred Spaces” (1997), in which she created 100 different polyester resin cubes that fit the space under individual chairs. I love the way in which this piece was presented and how she took the areas and spaces out of context. Whiteread described this piece as architectural, as well as sad and absent, which I would agree with as the cubes on their own, without being under the space of the chairs, seem to create a sort of lonely atmosphere. 

Whiteread spoke a lot about her childhood in this documentary, as it strongly affects the way in which she chooses to create her art. She described her childhood as “slightly neglectful”, but was still influenced my her mother who was an artist as well as a feminist, which was orignally why she wasn’t keen on becoming an artist, so to not copy her mother. Whiteread described how she used to play hide and seek a lot as a child, and remembers the inside of a wardrobe that she used to hide in. This inspired a piece of work entitled “Closet” (1988), where she casted the inside of a wardrobe and covered it with black felt. She described it as “making memories solid”. 

Another one of my favourite pieces by Whitehead is “Torso” (1988) which is the plaster cast of the inside of a water bottle, where she was investigating smaller domestic objects and furniture. Whiteread featured water bottles a lot whilst studying art, and after exhibiting “Torso”, went on to create more sculptures of the inside of a hot water bottle using materials such as resin, rubber, cement and more. This continued throughout the 1990’s and has become a common theme with Whiteread’s work. I love the way in which Whiteread uses negative space and gives it a complete new meaning with the art she creates. It has made me think deeper into how everyday objects and even space can be used in art, and ways in which I could transform them.

[paolox3b]

Famous Christmas Moves Remade, Starring the South Park Kids - a bit of drabble.

Popular Christmas Movies Remade starring Your Favorite South Park Characters

A fluffy little South Park drabble based on movie reviews from the Rotten Tomatoes site of Christmas movies listings.

White Creekmas (White Christmas) – 1954 – Tweek Tweak and Craig Tucker spend the holidays at a romantic Vermont lodge, where it's almost always snowing. Did we mention it's a romantic lodge? See also “Holiday Inn”.

Fat-Ass Santa (Bad Santa) – 2003 – Eric Cartman takes a job as a mall Santa, but his plan is to rob the mall. Along the way, he befriend Butters Stotch, a neglected little boy with a senile old grandma. But will Butters and his friend Dougie double-cross Eric in the end?

Mysterion (Batman) Returns – 1992 – Starring Kenny McCormick. Some New Kid dressed in black and white, with the power to control birds, threatens South Park at Christmas. Things get worse when New Kid teams up with an unknown girl in black leather. Who is Cat Woman? And who is Mysterion?

A PC Christmas Carol – any year – adaptation of the classic Dickens tale. PC Principal doesn't believe that celebrating a specific holiday based upon race, religion, or creed is proper. The staff and students want the holidays off, but he's adamant. He has student loans to pay off, after all. Then the ghosts start showing up. Will Tiny Timmy live to see next Christmas? TIMMY! (Starring Timmy Burch)

Ike Gremlins – 1984 – When something goes wrong at the South Park Genetic Engineering Ranch, it's up to Kyle Broflovski and Heidi Turner to get the infestation of Gizmo-Ikes under control. Someone fed Ike after midnight, then gave him a bath.

Elf (Off the Shelf) – 2003 – When he was just an infant, Clyde Donovan crawled into Santa's magical gift sack one night. Raised by elves at the North Pole, he returns to South Park, Colorado some years later to spread Christmas cheer and revive the Holiday Spirit. With tacos. Will he reunite with his Human family, or will his mother die in a horrible toilet accident?

Trading Places (with Token) – 1983 – When poor boy Kenny McCormick and rich kid Token Black trade places for the holiday season, hilarity ensues over a $1 bet. It's nature vs. nurture in this holiday romp that could only happen in South Park.

A Buttery Christmas Story – 1983 – All that young Leopold “Butters” Stotch wants for Christmas is a new Red Ryder BB gun. But as the lovable tyke chronicles his Christmas woes, he is constantly told, “You'll shoot your eye out, kid!” (And he's only got ONE good one!)

How the Grinch Stanned Christmas – 1967 – Stan Marsh is fed up with Christmas, especially his dad's over-the-top holiday displays. One December night, while the whole town is sleeping, Stan steals Christmas. Mainly to hide it from Randy.

Holiday Inn – 1942 – Music by Tweek Tweak, songs by Craig Tucker, and dancing by Jimmy Valmer all add up to a really delightful musical that also just happened to launch the hit 'White Creekmas'.

Miracle on 34th Street – 1947 – So is the old man at the South Park Mall really Santa? Wendy Testaburger sets out to prove it.

It's a Wonderful Life (without Cartman) – 1946 – When Kenny comes back as an angel to show Eric Cartman what life in South Park would be like, had Cartman never been born, it turns out that everyone's life is sooooo much better. Cartman goes to Hell, and Angel Kenny gets his wings.

The Santa Clause – 2002 – When Santa falls off the Marsh Family's roof and dies, Randy puts on the coat and becomes the new Santa. Stan declares, “This is pretty fucked up, right here!”. After visiting their first house, Stan shoves Randy off the roof and says, “Oh, hell no!” Satan appears to give him advice. Big Gay Al then puts on the coat.

Eight Crazy Nights (with the Broflovskis) – It's Hanukkah at the Broflovski house. Kyle's mom is in her element. Madness ensues. Use your imagination! Tales too terrible to tell... Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel!

Matt & Trey's Christmas Vacation – 1989 – It's Christmas in South Park. This immortal Chevy Chase role goes to Randy, no question.

The Nightmare Before Christmas – 1993 – Halloween is over, and thanks to Cartman, the Ginger Kids are pissed. Again. It's up to Kyle (the Daywalker) and Nate (aka Carrot) to find Jack Skelington in Imagination Land and put the holidays back on track.

Christmas with the Kranks (McCormicks) – 2004 – The McCormicks are skipping Christmas. They're not going anywhere, just skipping it. Nothing to see here...

Black Christmas – 2006 – Butters, a young boy, was abused by his mother as a child. His mother cheated on Butters' father, and eventually killed the man, while keeping Butters in the attic - for good, while she was with her lover and starting a "new" family. As Butters' mother fell pregnant with a daughter and treated her with the love he had never experienced, Butters came out of the attic after years and brutally murdered his mother and her lover. Cut to present day, a group of six sorority sisters consisting of Wendy, Bebe, Red, Lisa, Heidi, Annie and their house mother, who now live in Butters' childhood home, find themselves being harassed by threatening and intimidating mystery phone calls during Christmas Break. As one of the girls goes missing, they begin being murdered one by one by no other than Butters. (Sorry, I couldn't resist this one!)

Krampus the (overworked) Christmas Devil – 2013 – He's come to South Park to collect the wicked children. First stop – Eric Cartman. It's easy pickings for Krampus.

The Christmas Shoes – 2006 – Clyde's mom is dying, and all the boy wants (other than a dog) is to get her a special pair of dancing shoes that might get her unstuck from the toilet. Rob Lowe is mercilessly spoofed in his role as Sir Harrington's lawyer, and joins Tom Cruise to sue the town.

A Hallmark South Park Christmas – When the holidays arrive, the kids all... Cartman: Screw you Hallmark guys, I'm goin' home! Stan: Oh, hell no! Kyle: Sorry, I'm Jewish. Kenny: Npf woo om pfin dfs! Craig: No, no, no, no, no, no! (Flips off the director.) Tweek: ARGH! Butters: But I like Hallmark movies? ALL: Shut up, Butters!

[sincerelybluevase]

Fanfic Friday: Twin Rooms, Chapter Three [FINAL]

TW: mention of alcoholism and child neglect.

Thanks to @purple-roses-words-and-love for betaing.

This night did not go the way I thought it would, Trixie thought as she closed the door behind Doctor Turner.

“You should’ve hid the cheese and bread,” Christopher said.

“Don’t tell me you feel like eating,” Trixie said, sitting down next to him, brushing a curl out of his face, “not with your poor face like that.”

“I’m afraid we won’t be kissing for a while, Trix.”

“I know.”

“But maybe you prefer that,” Christopher said quietly.

“I’m all right with kissing.” She touched his hand. His fingers twitched against her palm, and drew tiny circles. “At least I understand how Doctor Turner managed to seduce a nun,” she said, trying to lighten the mood.

Christopher raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me like that. If you’d seen him naked, you’d surely understand.”

“Size is not everything, Trix.”

“They say that only those who have small… you-know-whats say that,” Trixie said, and laughed. It still sounded a little forced.

“You must know how untrue that statement is, Mrs Dockerill.”

Now it was her turn to cock an eyebrow. “Do I?”

He smiled a little sadly, and kissed her hand. They were both still a bit raw from earlier that evening.

I love him so, Trixie thought. She sighed, and rubbed her eyes. How different this night started…

***

They had eaten in the hotel’s restaurant, and talked and laughed.

“You have no idea what you do to me,” Christopher had whispered in her ear as they went up the stairs, his hand in the small of her back.

“I have an idea,” she’d answered, and turned her face so she could kiss him. Their marriage was still young, and they hadn’t tired of touching each other constantly. Trixie didn’t think they ever would.

“Let’s go to bed, my love,” Christopher had murmured between her kisses. She’d smiled at him, and wiped her lipstick from his mouth and cheeks.

Meeting the Turners outside their hotel room had only been a minor setback. In fact, even though Trixie would never confess this out loud, she felt a thrill at the knowledge that her friends were so close and could probably hear her making love to her husband.

She guided Christopher inside with a predatory smile, and almost tore his clothes from him as soon as the door was shut behind them.

“God, I love you so much,” he said as he peppered her hair and face and throat with kisses.

“Then help me out of this dress and show me,” she said, damning the zipper she could not undo on her own.

Christopher did as she commanded. They fell on the bed, their legs tangling. Her breath came in little pants already. She wanted his skin on hers, wanted him inside her, hitting that sweet spot till she had to cling to him, helpless and trembling.

“God, it’s cold,” Christopher complained.

“We could get a fire going in the hearth.”

“That takes too long, and there’s something I need now,” Christopher said, voice thick.

Trixie separated herself from him and went to their closet. “Here,” she said, and threw his pyjama to him.

“Not what I meant,” he said, but he put on his shirt anyway. Trixie slipped into her nightgown. The cold travelled up through the soles of her feet and nestled into her legs. She hesitated, then threw on one of Christopher’s jumpers.

He had pulled the covers over himself, and looked at her. His face was lit by the bedside lamp, causing his eyes to sparkle. “God help me, you’re so beautiful,” he said, voice cracking a little.

Will I ever tire from seeing his adoration? Trixie thought. She rolled up the jumper’s sleeves, pressing them to her nose to smell Christopher’s scent on her. She was enveloped by it.

“Come,” he said, and held his hand out to her, beckoning her to come to bed.

They kissed for a long time, his hand on her rear, driving her a little crazier with every thoughtless stroke of his thumb.

There were times when Trixie wanted everything all at once. There was a hunger inside her that demanded to be sated, a fire that roared and burned and licked at her with flames of desire and need.

She pushed Christopher on his back and straddled him, her mouth hot on his, his hands on her hips. When he entered her, they both gasped.

“We must be quiet, or the Turners…” Christopher whispered.

“Let them hear. I don’t care.” She rolled her hips. Christopher bucked up into her. She moaned and curved her spine in pleasure.

More, she thought.

Their coupling was heated and quickly led to its inevitable conclusion. Trixie bit the jumper’s long sleeve so as not to scream; she might have said she didn’t much care about the opinion of Shelagh and Patrick, but there was a difference between the Turners knowing their neighbours were making love, and them hearing this low little cry that was just for her husband.  

Christopher held her whilst she trembled from pleasure. Enveloped in his scent and warmth, she felt delightfully heavy and happy.

“Trixie?” he whispered.

“Hm?” She was so sleepy. If she wasn’t careful, she’d drift off. She’d…

“Shouldn’t we start trying for a child?”

“A child?” She sat up straight, all drowsiness gone. “What on earth for?”

Christopher blinked. The smile on his face faded a little. “Why not? Don’t you want one?”

Don’t I? Do I? Confused, she shrugged. She brought her hand to her face, and brushed a lock behind her ear. She’d lie if she said she hadn’t thought about it. They had discussed it before their marriage, and had decided to wait a while.

“But I’m using the pill,” she said a little helplessly. She tore at her nail with her teeth. Her heart was hammering in her chest so forcefully it felt as if it would bruise. She couldn’t feel her feet.

Christopher took her hand and pulled it away from her mouth. “You could stop taking it.”

“No!” She shook her head. “I’d be a godawful mother, and I’d have to stop working, and…” she gasped.

“Calm down, Trixie. It was just a suggestion.”

“Nobody has ever calmed down when somebody told them to!” Trixie spat. She pulled her hand from his.

“Why are you so upset?” Christopher asked. “You’re a wonderful mother to Alexandra. Besides, you’re a midwife and have to deal with children and babies every day.”

“But I can give all of those children back! I can’t do that with my own baby. What if…” Emotion squeezed her throat shut. She swallowed, then sobbed. She wiped away her tears with her sleeve. It smelled of Christopher’s after-shave.

“What if?” Christopher asked, pulling her close, draping his arms around her.

She couldn’t speak, but Christopher was there. He rocked her a little, planting the occasional kiss against her cheek or throat or hand.

“What if it’s too much for me?” She almost choked on the words. “What if I start drinking again? I can’t do that to a child. I know what such a thing does to a child…”

“Oh, Trixie,” Christopher murmured into her hair. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“But you want to. That’s not fair on you. I always thought I’d make a good wife, but now…”

“You’re the best wife I could wish for, Trix. Please stop crying. I’m sorry I brought it up. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “I’m the one who should be sorry,” she murmured.

You’ve spoiled it. You’ve spoiled this weekend and this night and he’ll hate you for it, a mean little voice told her. You need a drink, it added. Disgusted with herself, she dug her nails in her palm till she almost pierced her skin.

Christopher took her hands in his and uncurled her fingers. He kissed her smarting palms. “I’m sorry, Trix.”

“Are… are you angry with me?” she whispered.

He rested their foreheads together. “Of course not, sweetheart. I should’ve picked a different moment for this conversation. We weren’t ready yet.”

She laughed a little. “We’re married.”

“And still it wasn’t the right time.” He fetched a damp towel for her swollen eyes.

Trixie put her head on the pillow. “I’m tired,” she said.

“Then sleep,” he said, and kissed her forehead.

She held his hand tightly till she drifted off.

***

When she’d woken, it had not been because Christopher was in bed beside her, but Patrick. The entire situation was so bizarre that she could not help but laugh. And wink. And toss her hair.

Pretending nothing is wrong, she’d thought as she winked at Patrick, hating herself for pretending to be merry, yet unable to stop.

“I’m all right with kissing,” she repeated when Patrick was gone and the silence between her and her husband had become thick.

“I’m glad.”

“Does it hurt terribly?” she asked.

“A little.” He withered under her stern gaze. “All right, quite a lot, actually. I think I swallowed a lot of blood, too, so I’m rather nauseous.”

Trixie fetched him some aspirin and made sure he downed the entire glass of water. “At least Shelagh set your nose,” she said. She frowned. “What were you doing out of bed anyway?”

“I went down to the reception to ask for some matches in case we wanted to get a fire going in the hearth after all.” He touched his nose, then winced. “I mainly wanted to clear my head.”

“Oh.”

Christopher stroked her knuckles, toyed with her wedding ring. “Trixie, about what I proposed earlier this night…”

“Don’t mention it. I was being extremely silly, Christopher. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, darling. It’s just that… Don’t you see how well you take care of me? You’re a born caregiver. It seems to be in your blood.” He smiled, then grimaced as the muscles tugged on his wounded skin. “I want you to know that you would be a great mother. You already are a great mother. There’s no need to be afraid.”

Trixie pulled her hand away, brought it to her mouth, and tore at a nail, chipping the cherry polish she’d applied that morning. “I love you, Christopher, but I…” Helpless, she shook her head. “I don’t think I want a child just yet.”

“And that’s perfectly all right.”

“And is it also perfectly all right if I may not want a child for a good while yet? Maybe not ever?” she asked in a small voice, forcing herself to look him in the face yet unable to keep her eyes from slipping away from him.

He remained quiet.

“I might change my mind, of course. I might change it at any time. Maybe I’ll want ten children with you. Who knows? I…” she babbled on, suddenly afraid of silence.

Christopher took hold of her hand and pulled it away from her mouth. “I married you because of you, Trixie. You are enough for me.”

“Gosh, I think that might be the sweetest thing someone has ever said to me,” she said, vision swimming with tears. She snuggled up to him and kissed his cheek. “I love you,” she whispered. She pressed her face against his warm throat.

“No shenanigans, Mrs Dockerill. My face isn’t up to it,” he quipped.

“No shenanigans,” she promised, “if you just hold me.”

“Always.”

***

They saw the Turners at breakfast next morning. They all seemed to hesitate for a second, then sat down at the same table.

“How did you sleep then, you two? That is, if you got any…” Patrick said.

“Once again: I’m awfully sorry about your nose,” Shelagh said, twisting the fabric of a lovely poppy dress Trixie hadn’t seen before between her fingers.

“At least he doesn’t have two black eyes. I look like the occasional panda when my mascara runs. We can’t have another panda in the same home,” Trixie quipped. She intertwined her hand with Christopher and kissed the back of it.

“What about you?” Christopher asked Shelagh.

She showed him her bandaged hand. “I just split the skin on my knuckles. It’s nothing, really, especially when compared to your nose…”

“It’ll heal,” Christopher said.

They were silent for a little while.

“Next time, we’ll make sure not to pick twin rooms,” Shelagh said.

“Maybe that’s for the best,” Trixie agreed. “The walls really were awfully thin…”