#^^that's why Danny has a complicated relationship with the other heroes

[miramelo]

Sweet grape be upon u🫵

The now and then:

Daniel undersuit allows Lex and his people to see his vitals 24/7 which is why he uses it most of the time, be it under his clothes or just the suit while hanging around in his own bedroom(is comfortable!!). It also has the bonus of making feel safe

His PR team is going for a bright, approachable and young vibe so they let him have long hair(because "is relatable and against the usual gender norms, which will win over the younger population"). Is also why his costume is look-at-me-green(which is a good color to hide his blood)

His handlers in the auction wanted him to look older, sharp and neat(ugh, which is why he becomes hostile/dry towards people like the Bats or teen heroes who think nothing can be too bad

[dragongarden98]

I'm going to be posting my plot bunnies here. I'll post five ideas at a time. Enjoy part 1 of my plot bunnies.

1

Title: lonely souls no longer lonely.

Fandoms: Danny phantom. Durarara!!

Plot Summary.

Danny has to leave home because it's no longer safe for him.

In this fanfic Danny was adopted by the fentons when he was 3 years old. He is actually the illegitimate son of Orihara Shirou and is Orihara izaya's little half brother that he has no idea about or that he knows exists in the first place.

The rest of this fic would be focusing on Danny just trying to survive in the City of Ikebukuro. But he keeps getting mistaken for izaya.

(Update, there have been major changes that I have decided to make. I realized my original version didn't really have much of a story so I'm redoing it and actually making a story. It's not going to exactly match what I describe here. It's also the same for my other stories too.)

€

2

Title: x marks the spot.

Fandoms: Danny Phantom. Teen Titans.

Plot Summary.

It is no longer safe for the Fenton siblings so they leave their home dimension and they go to the DC universe.

There were some complications leading to Danny and his clone Ellie becoming babies at age 1 or 6 months.

And the title says it all (well at least the former one. I've decided to go with this title just because it's better than my original one.) Jazz is Red X in this, 50/50 if Jazz is gender fluid which would explain the more masculine appearance of Red X.

It's mainly just bamf jazz, she's raising her kids, kicking ass, and stealing stuff from evil corporations in Rich assholes.

50/50 if it is jazz x dick, but we'll just have to see.

The story would pick up where the Teen Titans cartoon ended. Perhaps the black and white monster could have been a ghost, maybe one connected to Danny and Ellie? Maybe we learn why Tara came back. FYI I know that there's a Teen Titans comic called Teen Titans go not the same as that cartoon, it's set in the original series. Point is I'm not following the comics, I'm going to do my own thing instead.

Inspired by another fanfic.

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3

Title: Again.

Fandoms: Durarara!! Ark survival evolved.

Plot Summary.

Izaya Orihara wakes up on a mysterious Island inhabited by creatures long extinct and creatures of myth.

He is shocked to find his rival shizuo that he hasn't seen in 3 years. He finds him as an old man in his fifties.

So he spends the next 10 years repairing the relationship with shizuo and figuring out what the hell happened, only for him to wake up again on a mysterious Island younger and with shizuo coming onto the island the very next day.

(Update, so at the time I posted this I didn't know as much about Ark lore. I did some research and I realize I had some things wrong, so it's not going to be exactly like how I mentioned it here.)

€

4

Title: Records of a Forgotten Hero.

Fandoms: Danny phantom. MHA.

Plot Summary.

Danny leaves behind a video diary for the three new halfa.

Midoriya. Bakugou. Todoroki.

I don't have much of a plot figured out for this one yet.

€

5

Title: The runaway babies.

Fandom: Durarara!!.

Plot Summary.

Two young girls come to the city of Ikebukuro to make a new life for themselves. They end up getting a bit more than what they bargained for, but a happy ending all the same.

Don't have very much for the story except the ocs end up adopting izaya and shizuo as their new parents. The ocs are similar to izaya and shizuo.

It's a Shizaya kid fic.

[racke7]

Hmm. Tweaking the setting a little bit.

Danny might've "defeated" Pariah Dark, but (despite popular fanon) calling it "in single-combat" of any sort would be a massive overstatement.

(He was piloting a mecha-suit his parents made, and fighting alongside a lot of other ghosts, including Vlad.)

As such, Pariah Dark is unquestionably still the Ghost King. However, due to some misunderstandings from the side of the Justice League, they end up assuming that Danny did win in single-combat (which would make him the new Ghost King).

Pariah Dark hears about this right as he's about to go for a proper rematch with Danny, and decides (through the deranged logic of an unaging tyrannical ruler) that this is kind of funny.

Obviously Danny can't actually win against him in a duel, because obviously he hasn't miraculously gained any incredible powers since last time when he needed lots of outside help in order to win (he has, and he maybe could).

So, for the sake of making a mockery of the JL who dared to presume that he's lost his crown to the little ghost-brat? He's now the ghost-brat's dad.

He allowed his son to "defeat" him with all of his friends, because it was good enrichment for the kid, and he didn't want Danny's relationship with him to scare away those friends (because they're justifiably terrified of him). Letting him "win" basically means that they don't have to be scared of him (because Danny will protect his friends, and he has the power to win).

Danny agrees to faking this relationship on behalf of:

He won't have to fight Pariah Dark again (he nearly died the first time).

Amity Park doesn't get sucked into the Infinite Realms again (not a fun time).

Pariah Dark promises to keep his "eternal and endless conquest of all realms" on hold (very important).

Trolling (but not hurting) the Justice League (who Danny has complicated feelings about).

The look on Vlad's face would be fucking priceless.

Pariah Dark is a competitive bastard, so he obviously tries to be a "good parent" purely as a fuck you to anyone else who might be wanting to step up.

Danny isn't really sure how to feel about Pariah Dark deciding to be a parent with such gusto, but he's learned to roll with most things in his life (growing up in the Fenton-household doesn't allow for inflexibility because everyone there is some level of insane).

Danny's rogues are obviously more than a little bit creeped out by Pariah Dark buddying up with their fight-buddy, but once they start to realize that this is less about parenting Danny and more about scaring the shit out of some annoying mortals? They kind of shrug and roll with it too (being a dick to mortals is why most of them went through the Portal in the first place, it's great fun).

Of course, then Pariah Dark starts to actually get good at being a parent, and Danny starts being actually able to turn to him for parental advice. Which freaks out both of them, but at this point they're committed to the bit and can't just stop being parent-and-child (they have a PTA-meeting coming up next week).

(Clockwork is cackling to himself in his tower. It's unclear if he's laughing because he knew that this would happen, or because this completely blind-sided him and he's having a fucking blast with it.)

The Justice League have a lot of complicated feelings about all of this, because Pariah Dark is obviously evil (historically), and Danny doesn't have a fantastic reputation (Amity Park will praise him and spit on him in equal parts, and a government-organization is claiming that "all ghosts are evil") despite how he seems to be trying to do hero-things.

This is likely to make him slot into a similar position as Raven in their eyes. He can't be trusted (because of his relationship with Pariah Dark, and because of his nature as a ghost), but outright condemning him as evil seems... unwise (because Pariah Dark is at least biding his time, pretending at this, instead of actively trying to conquer them with his undead armies).

(And if Raven only arrives at the JL to ask for help after this whole shebang gets started? I'm guessing that Danny can pretty easily make a deal with Pariah Dark to go stomp on Triton together.)

Since I noticed a couple Ghost Prince Danny things I decided to make my own, even if I don't know much about the series.

Vlad being the ever stupid fruitloop he is decided to try and steal Pariah's things again and woke him up again. Wanting a rematch he immediately stormed back to Amity Park, but before he dragged it back into the Infinite Realms for round 2 he overheard Danny talking to his friends about how he got summoned by the Justice League and through some hilarious misunderstandings on their part now think that Phantom is Pariah Dark's son and in turn the Ghost Prince.

Pariah, who surprisingly is ALSO a little shit at times (and is pretty much being called a little baby ghost's dad), immediately jumps at the idea of actually doing this hilarious prank and steals the group for sometime and manage to strike a deal that as long as he doesn't do anything horrible he won't be stuffed back into his coffin and they can do the bit. This ends up leading to Pariah Dark acting like Phantom's less than good of a person dad who actually starts to reform because he's too committed to the bit. This ends up leading to him, and everyone else, discovering he has surprisingly good parental instincts, having caused everyone to stop and look at him in confusion the first few (hundred) times he instinctively did a good parent thing.

Eventually though, something happens where Danny needs help but can't go to his friends or family, he can't go to the JL for help since he doesn't trust them and he's made it instinct to never go to Vlad, so he goes to the one ghost he does trust with this, Pariah Dark. It's at this point that Pariah realizes that it's no longer a bit and that he's become the closest thing Danny has to an actual parent, because let's be honest here, even if Jack and Maddie are good here they're still severely neglective of Danny and there's only so much Jazz can do while being 2-3 years older than him, and all the other ghosts who help him are more like mentors than actual parental figures.

Usually a ghost would have their parents to teach them if they're there as well, but Danny doesn't have good human parents and he died before they did, pretty much leaving him an orphaned baby, and no Justice League, JL Dark, or GIW will stop Pariah Dark from being the parent Danny desperately needs.

[luulapants]

Teen Wolf and Perceptions of Character Age

There is a certain discussion that I find myself having (in different variations) over and over again with other Teen Wolf fans: how the age of the actors, compared to the age of the characters, affected the way we perceive and empathize with those characters. Studios have good reasons for not using actual underage kids in their shows - work hour restrictions, school arrangements, limits on racy/sexy scenes - but using adults in a show depicting younger teenagers drastically changes how we interpret their stories.

It’s easy to brush off with some of them, to think, “Oh, well it was a 19-year-old playing a 16-year-old. Not that big a difference.” But I’m going to challenge that notion with a few examples:

Erica Reyes:

Gage Golightly was about 19 when she played 15-year-old Erica. Erica was unpopular, struggled with epilepsy and medication side-effects. She was offered the bite, given the opportunity to make the life-altering decision to become a werewolf. She had no support in making that choice, and the consequences were fatal.

Remember how bad you felt for Erica when she and Boyd were being shot full of arrows, begging Allison to stop hurting them? Well, now imagine that scene with Gage Golightly as she actually looked at age 15-16:

Look at that picture. That is a child. Probably a child that thinks she’s an adult (I know I fucking thought so at that age) but a child nonetheless. Imagine that face being offered the bite. Trying to kiss Derek. Having the shit beat out of her as ���training.” Being tortured by Gerard. Being killed by Kali.

Isaac Lahey:

Daniel Sharman was 25 when he played Isaac, who was 15-16 in S2.

Again, we had some really harrowing, emotionally difficult scenes with him. His father abused him. He was offered the bite. Derek beat him as part of their “training.” Chris sent him, alone, into an arms deal with the Japanese mafia. His girlfriend was murdered. Now, I couldn’t even find a picture of Daniel at 15 or 16, but here he is at 17:

How does picturing that face change Isaac’s scenes? His whole story arc?

Scott McCall:

This is a big one for me. Tyler Posey was only 20 years old when he played 16-year-old Scott, but the difference still made a stark contrast in the audience’s expectation of him as the hero of the show. I constantly see people wondering why he didn’t make better decisions, why his priorities weren’t right or why he reacted poorly in dire circumstances.

This is the (admittedly youthful) face that we see going through all of Scott’s S1 challenges. He gets attacked by a monster, turned into a monster himself, has his life threatened by multiple adults, is put into multiple deadly situations within the span of a few months, and is thrust into a position of leadership as the protector and savior of Beacon Hills.

Here is Tyler Posey at 15 (couldn’t find a great 16 pic):

I’ll admit that he was one of the more youthful looking actors in the early seasons. But by season 6, where he is supposed to be 18 (still younger than S1 Posey) but Tyler Posey was 26? When Scott was leading an army and clawing his own eyes out?

What is my point?

My point is NOT that we need to re-interpret the entire story in the context of them being children. Because, clearly, the writers didn’t treat them like real children either. And that’s part of the problem. TV shows present us with teenage characters that often look, act, and feel like adults. When it’s convenient for the plot, of course. We get glimpses of immaturity when that’s convenient, too.

Having older actors gives writers permission, in a way, to write about children in situations that we, in reality, would never want to see a child in. Who would be able to stomach watching a 16-year-old Daniel Sharman being beaten? Or 15-year-old Gage Golightly being shot full of arrows? The show suddenly goes from exciting and suspenseful to outright horrifying.

Maturity-wise, how different did 18-year-old Lydia Martin feel from 24-year-old Jordan Parrish? Not very. So when you see part of fandom freaking out that it was an inappropriate and predatory relationship and another part of fandom like “Are you joking? No, it just... wasn’t,” it’s not necessarily because that second part of fandom would actually see that sort of relationship in real life and think it’s 100% okay. It’s because Lydia Martin wasn’t portrayed as an 18-year-old physically, emotionally, or intellectually. Holland Roden was 30 years old by season 5. They just put her in a high school.

Similarly, there are people who think Sterek is an inappropriate ship. And I agree that it would be VERY creepy for these two to date:

But that’s not what we saw. Dylan O’Brien was 20. Tyler Hoechlin was 23.

Some people have very clear mental pictures of what teenagers look and act like. When watching shows like this, they will project age-appropriate thoughts and expectations onto those characters. Others don’t have that clear picture. When you are that age, you don’t think of yourself as being young, and if you’re not around people that age afterward, you probably won’t develop a clear sense of what a 16-year-old is or is not. For those people, they’ll take these depictions at face value: adult-like people walking around a high school. It produces two very different watching experiences.

So when one person says Derek is a horrible monster for abusing children in Season 2 and another says that he was just training his army to prepare them for the real danger... that’s what that is. It’s not that one is right and the other is wrong. The first person was watching an adult beat children. The second person was watching a 24-year-old, pretending to be 20-mumblety-something or whatever the fuck Derek was, giving tough-love training to three people who, by function of appearance and how they were written, were his age and older.

(Side note: Derek was actually playing someone his own age, but only retroactively. Originally, his character was meant to be “a few years older” than Scott and Stiles but that was retconned due to the Kate Argent plotline.)

Oh and here’s Shelley Hennig at 17 vs 27 and playing 17:

Here are some who I couldn’t find pictures of at younger ages, but whose age gaps from their characters are significant:

Sinqua Walls was 26 when he played Boyd, about a decade too old. There’s a whole mess of complicated implications with perceptions of black boys being perceived as “looking older” in that casting.

Crystal Reed was also 26 when she played 17-year-old Allison Argent, and was 29 by the time she left the show. Allison was still 17.

Keahu Kahuanui was 25 when he played Danny, who was 15-17.

Arden Cho was 29 when she started playing 16-year-old Kira.

Colton Haynes was 23 while playing Jackson, who was 16 or 17.

It is interesting that, starting in Season 4, they began hiring actors and actresses a little bit closer to their characters’ ages. Someone else write a meta on that, plz.

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

For pre-league and/or Fenton parents finding out Danny's secret in non-phantom planet crossovers, how do you think the league felt about/handled the Fenton parents? Did the anti-Phantom rhetoric they give influence their decision to let him join? What about potential blowups/instigated public pushback? A lot of Phantom Joins the League fics with the Fentons have him immediately tell his parents when he joins or the league already knows his secret and doing concerned adoptive family routines.

i think they team can parse that danny is a good person and that the fentons being anti-phantom falls into the category of any person who isn’t anti-hero. j-jonah jamson springs to mind event though spiderman is a marvel property. so they’d look at his actions over what people see and definitely see him as a hero.

i think danny’s family knowing his secret before the league makes things a bit more complicated. because i could still see them going down the lets adopt this kid path, if they realize phantom is fenton and recognize that danny wasn’t safe with his family. danny would argue that he’s safe now that they know, but speaking as an abuse victim, not knowing isn’t an excuse to hurt someone. and the fentons are frequently criminally neglectful and sometimes physically abusive. loving your son does not excuse putting him in a centrifuge and spinning him until he’s sick.

like i love the fentons and one of the things i love most about dp is how complicated their relationship with danny is. because i grew up with neglectful parents and recognize how their actions hurt me even though i know they weren’t actively trying to hurt me. it makes separating from them and seeing their actions objectively that much harder, because you love them and know they love you. but that doesn’t make their actions okay.

so this would put the justice league, heroes who can recognize the problems in danny and his parents relationship, in the position of separating a loving family. because lets be real, the fentons knowing what danny is probably wouldn’t stop the neglect or abuse. they were doing bad shit before he became phantom. they might stop shooting at him or saying bad things about phantom. they probably wouldn’t dissect him or do life threatening experiments on him. they’ll probably even feel guilty for their role in him dying. we’ve seen in the past that guilt or discouragement has on occasion led to them quititng their work. i could see them considering stopping if danny hadn’t argued for them to continue, because of how useful and great their inventions have been over the years. i could see things getting a lot better for danny.

but not completely

hell i bet jazz ends up half ignored after this because they’re so focused on their amazing, heroic, scientifically fascinating ghost son, and she’s nearly an adult anyway. again none of the neglect would be intentional but it would still be damaging

so the league would have to deal with this. they can’t leave it alone because they’re heroes and danny is a traumatized child. they’d be doing everything they can to provide a safe place for danny and to legally and safely remove danny and jazz from their custody. but at the same time, every step of the way danny will be digging his heels in and fighting them about his removal. he doesn’t see what they’ve done to him as abuse. he sees how much better they’ve been since they found out. and he loves his family. there’s no way he’s going to let the league ruin things now that things are finally good between them.

the sad thing is that both jazz and vlad have been saying the same thing about his parents for years at this point, in very different tones. jazz, having studied psychology, was aware of their abusive behavior, once again, before they knew danny was phantom. and she’s been doing everything she can to help take care of danny’s mental health and separate his opinion of himself from theirs.she protective and sympathetic, but still relatively straight forward with why what their parents have done was bad.

vlad on the other hand has been using their abusive behavior and danny’s doubts about them to manipulate him. when they didn’t know, vlad literally pushed them to be more abusive. he’d push and proud danny’s buttons when it came to his parents. always with the motive of making danny his. ‘if your life with your parents is so bad, come live with me’. ‘they’ll never accept you’ blah blah blah. a lot of gaslighting and emotionally manipulative shit. danny is so anti-vlad at this point that he refuses to listen to anything he has to say, especially about his parents. it full denial mode, even if the reason what vlad says has power over him is that they’re grounded in truth.

so enter the justice league, and let’s be real, it’s a trope but we all know batman is leading the charge, and Danny finally has a good relationship with his parents. things are finally better and he can feel safe in his own home again. vlad’s been proven wrong and his parents did accept him. and then... this new billionaire with too many kids, shows up and is telling him that his parents are abusive and that it would be better if he came and lived with him, or one of the league. or with the young justice team.

Danny wouldn’t take it well.

- Hestia

[merchantziro]

I feel like adding to this...

Starting off with Ben, I definitely feel like he'd probably be a League contact in the same way Jenny is, but Ben isn't an official member since he's sticking with the Plumbers (did have Azmuth help patch the Omnitrix to connect to other JL Communicators though similar to how it's connected to Plumber's Badgers, easier for Ben to keep track of that way.) and the Plumbers fall into an area where they deal with intergalactic threats just as much as the Lanterns do and not strictly tied to the Justice League.

Now Kevin Levin however... I can 100% see being a mechanic who helps tune up and repair Justice League vehicles such as spaceships. Not to mention he probably conveniently knows a lot of stuff about alien technology, illegal parts, and the alien criminal underworld. (He probably gets along well with Plastic Man in that regard as former criminals turned heroes, or at least retired hero in Kev's case)

Granted he's probably one of the individuals the League is more "in the know" of since Ben himself is a world famous hero but since the attention was more on Ben and Kevin stopped being near him as much ever since Omniverse, when he found a home and job so he could stay close to Gwen's campus while she was at college, and Ben's partner became Rook.

Also I want to imagine as an alternative to Ben himself, you have Albedo working on the Watchtower. Not fully redeemed mind you, just on parole but the Plumbers didn't need any more Galvans so the Justice League was the next best choice for keeping an eye on him (maybe that's why Kevin is there), still stuck as a 10 Year Old Ben which also makes getting taken seriously difficult by the heroes and other geniuses when he gives his input.

Of course all it takes is one comment about cursing this stupid body and mentioning he's a clone technically speaking that Danny "My daughter/sister/cousin/it's complicated is my clone" Fenton and Conner "Clone of Superman who definitely had a strained relationship for a time but made it work eventually" Kent to immediately begin working on a clone support group for other clones (assuming they didn't already have one ready).

So you could make a case for him at least slipping through the cracks somewhat for at least a decent chunk of the League.

I also like to imagine that alongside Dipper and Randy in Archives is Dib Membrane, but one who is relatively more chilled out by this point ever since Zim basically proved himself to no longer be a threat to the world (whether he's basically quit his Irken invasion plans once he finally truly realized the Tallest had no care for Earth or just got caught by the Plumbers or Lanterns is up to you).

Since then Dib has been more active in researching the Supernatural after aliens and magic became more public knowledge in the wake of Superheroes, no less crazy than before mind you... But at least he's calmed down once he's felt vindicated by being proven he was right about SOME stuff.

Sunset Shimmer meanwhile... Considering she lives in the DC Universe here and there are PLENTY of magic users, I can see her studying in the background at some point once the knowledge of magic becomes more public. Maybe learn to tap into that Pony-Up form she has and regain access to her original Unicorn magic power. Probably also helps Dipper, Randy, and Dib on the side as another Supernatural magic expert with knowledge she's retained from Equestria, she was Princess Celestia's student before Twilight after all.

Also all I can imagine is Sunset realizing when a situation gets BAD enough that she has to send an SOS for backup from Twilight using that magic book of hers that's connected to another in Equestria.

The League rumors run WILD after the fact when Shimmer snitches to a post timeskip Twilight Sparkle about a big bad guy they need help with, and suddenly you have an Alicorn Princess just show up out of nowhere with the rest of the Mane 6 in tow, 100% prepared to nuke the sucker with the Magic of Friendship to just turn them to stone or maybe banish them by sealing them inside moon or sun if you want, then immediately say hi and bye to Sunset as they leave without explaining anything.

There was also the mention of Spud from Jake Long: American Dragon and I can imagine Jake himself, as the (potentially former) American Dragon of the World Dragons, is just there to help Dipper and Dib in archiving as he writes down what he knows of the Supernatural. The Justice League Dark takes a long time to realize Jake, as well as probably Dipper, Danny, Randy, Juniper, Sunset, and Dib are adding these notes the JLD don't remember writing themselves.

However I would also like to add for consideration...

A guy who was formerly a scholar that researched bugs, before eventually getting a job on the Watchtower helping the other Supernatural Experts in archiving though his specialization appears to be with more in the realm of Ki/Chi and such, however you would also find him working near the Gym in his off hours.

The rumors only started for him when he was caught lifting a dumbbell with one hand while reading with an old martial arts book in the other, before eventually swapping hands as he seemed preoccupied to notice.

...A dumbbell designed specifically for the Supers and Wonders.

So yeah Mr. Gohan Son became the new hot topic of the rumors while he was getting along great with the rest of his fellow employees. I can see him getting along great and even seeming delighted by discussions with other Ki/Chi users such as Jake with his Human Chi and Dragon Chi, probably mentioning his father and Vegeta having both Mortal Ki and Godly Ki as a result of ascending into Gods themselves. A discussion that leads to more wild speculation from almost every single person in earshot, probably about Gohan being a Demi-God son of a God, and the speculation comes to Sun Wukong due to Gohan talking about his father Goku and his adventures with a magical staff, a magic cloud, and his monkey tail.

However despite the Great Saiyaman being retired mostly, Gohan does remain semi-active as a protector of Earth when needed. But the Z-Fighters aren't exactly in the public eye much and Gohan looks way different from when did at the Cell Games as the Golden Fighter, that it was easy for people to overlook him.

On a side note. I imagine him working on his book, Groundbreaking Science, on the side. A book from Dragon Ball Online talking about his research into the nature of ki and of the martial arts of the past that was popular and helped introduce the concept of ki to the general population of Earth in a possible future at least. Though here it would probably have other information and such thanks to the input from others knowledgeable on Ki/Chi on the Watchtower that Gohan talked to.

However I also imagine how terrible an idea that would be with the amount of villains on Earth there are already, like we don't need a super powered Joker flying around.

Not to mention the Bats especially with how much of a menace they would become if they learned how to manipulate Ki to fly and fire energy blasts, they're already scary enough as like PEAK Human in their world. And Super Kami Dende help you if these fuckers learned the Kaioken because you KNOW they're gonna push it to borderline suicidal lengths.

They are gonna be on the edge of killing themselves between potential Ki Overuse and the Kaioken so much, that I can already feel Alfred's ghost approaching me with the shotgun for writing this.

Anyway... I can only imagine the gagglefuck of retired teen heroes and such just forming their own mini branch of the Justice League in the same way the Justice League Dark, Young Justice, and Teen Titans are. Probably also have Ben, Jenny, and Kim as well since, even if they're not fully retired, it's not uncommon to see them come up from time to time to visit their respective friends/family or need to talk to one of the Justice League members in person about something (or a combination where they ignore "the experts" to get the input of one of the retired ex-teen heroes instead).

Most of them, they're the ones you call when you need advice or assistance with any random thing because many have varying knowledge and at least one can usually help in any niche subject. But they also are a last resort call for World Ending "All Hands on Deck" emergencies when they're in some real shit.

Short DPXDC Prompts #648

The League gets incredibly concerned that their main tech mechanic, Danny Fenton, has instances of his heart or breathing randomly stopping. His skin is cold as ice and his skin is deathly pale.

Danny didn’t realize that the League doesn’t look at hiring applications. If they did they would have seen that he put being a half ghost on his resume.

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

Danny Phantom - Transparent

Author Comments: Ha, and you all thought you were rid of me, didn’t you? Too bad for you I’m still here and back with some more stories! This is one of my commissions I finished recently and, god willing, there’s more where this came from!

Summary: Ghostwriter, also known as Andrew Riter, has had a long and difficult life, and a rather difficult afterlife, too. So, when his boyfriend, Danny Fenton/Phantom, starts acting oddly, it’s clear that there’s only one answer as to the cause. Danny was going to betray him to his ghost-hunting parents — now if only he could convince his brother of the matter. 

Fandom: Danny Phantom

Relationship: Ghostwriter | Andrew Riter/Danny Fenton/Phantom

Characters: Ghostwriter | Andrew Riter, Dannny Fenton/Phantom, Randy Riter (Ghostwriter’s Brother)

Rating: Teen Audiences

Word Count: 3,622

Transaction Amount: $20 

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Typically, considering the rather complicated lives as religion-obsessed assassins they had led when they were, well, alive, Andrew’s brother was rather good about believing him when Andrew suspected someone of showing signs of betrayal. This time, however, Randy looked less amused and more disappointed, arms crossed as he sighed and spoke a vaguely annoyed, “Have you been working on your murder mystery books again?”

“Randy.” Andrew Riter, better known to some as the Ghostwriter, liked to believe that he was a rather logical person. With the fact that he was one of the few ghosts in the Ghost Zone who wasn’t absolutely insane or obsessed with world domination, he had a much firmer grasp on reality and those around him. As such, he knew when he was being paranoid versus when something actually concerning was taking place. “We’ve been betrayed before and I’m telling you that all of the signs are there-!”

Randy held up a hand to stop him, looking even more disappointed than he had even just a minute ago. It was almost impressive and Andrew hated how he immediately snapped his mouth shut, Randy nodding before continuing with a firm, “Your boyfriend is not plotting to betray you.”

“But he could be!” Andrew burst out, throwing his arms up into the air. “It would be perfect, too, because no one would ever expect the hero Danny Phantom to betray his partner!” It all made sense and the plot was laid out in front of him like a glaringly bright yellow brick road. 

“Andrew,” Randy groaned, moving to collapse against a plush, overstuffed couch that Andrew was particularly fond of. There was a reason he kept that couch in his study, after all, which was where he had hidden himself until he could parse out Danny’s true intentions. “Danny couldn’t even lie to you when he was trying to surprise you for his birthday.”

“Which would make his betrayal all the more possible!” Andrew shot back, mind whirling with snippets of conversations and interactions as he paced his study. “He always has to be home on Saturday mornings and when I asked why he looked away and nervously lied about how it was a medical thing-”

“What makes you think that was a lie?” Randy was all but ignoring him, flipping through one of Andrew’s manuscripts that he had thrown towards the couch in a fit of rage. Andrew felt no qualms in picking up a rather large thesaurus and throwing it at Randy, pleased at the following yelp of pain. “Hey!”

Andrew went back to his pacing, ignoring the swears aimed his way as he thought over the other day’s questioning about why Danny always had to be home at the same time on Saturday mornings of all things. Danny had been so nervous, avoiding eye contact and shuffling his weight around and even going so far as to flinch when Andrew had raised a hand to gently rub his shoulder. It was clear to see that Danny knew Andrew was clued in on his future betrayal. 

Catching the book he saw flying at him out of the corner of his eye, Andrew looked to Randy, an annoyed expression showing that he had clearly said something that Andrew hadn’t heard. Andrew decided to respond with a simple, “You’re wrong.”

“You have no idea what I said, do you?” Randy scoffed, Andrew only smirking because replying like that meant Randy knew he was wrong in whatever he had said so ha. “Okay, so the medical thing is a bit weird, but maybe it’s just something he has to do that he’s embarrassed about. That doesn’t mean he’s betraying you.”

“It also doesn’t mean that he’s not not betraying me,” Andrew snapped out, pausing and wrinkling his nose because, hm, that had not felt like good sentence structure. There had to be a better way to word that thought. Perhaps- “Ow.”

Rubbing his now sore head, Andrew glared at Randy, who smirked because he was stupid and had stupid perfect aim and Andrew didn’t care what he said being hit in the back of the head with a pen hurt. Andrew made a mental reminder to make him suffer later, continuing his point instead with a firm, “It makes sense.”

“Fine. Let’s indulge your paranoia for a few minutes here.” Randy sat up as Andrew fought off the urge to insist that it wasn’t paranoia. “Who exactly would Danny betray you too?” Ah, well, that… was a question, certainly. “Seriously?”

“Well excuse me for being more worried about the actual betrayal aspect of this plot!” Andrew snapped back, crossing his arms and looking down at aged, ruffled carpet. “The Observants-”

“They hate me and Danny way more than they hate you,” Randy interrupted with a scoff, which… was true; as much as Andrew hated to admit it. He was just waiting on the day when Randy was kidnapped by the one-eyed cretins. “Try again.”

Andrew chewed on the inside of his cheek, mentally paging through the ghosts and humans that they both knew. “Guys-in-White?” Before Randy could throw something at him again, Andrew shook his own head, “Mm, no.” Danny hated the Guys-in-White more than any other ghost he knew. Plus, it would be embarrassing to be handed over to them. “He would at least have the good sense to give me to his parents, first-”

Snapping his mouth shut, Andrew stared at the ground because that was it. The thread of the plot that had just been out-of-sight. Danny’s parents; the ghost hunters. It made perfect sense. Danny had yet to tell the two of his ghostly nature, but he had been hinting towards it. What better way to get in their good graces than to offer up an actual ghost? 

Andrew looked to Randy, who immediately shook his head, “No- No, no, no, he is not planning on offering you up to his parents-”

“It makes sense.” It was the perfect plan — the perfect story. Danny Fenton, the boy cursed with ghost powers with ghost hunters as parents. What better way to earn forgiveness and respect than to give them that which they had been so desperately hunting over the years? It lined up into clean, crisp arcs: the meeting, the fall, the betrayal, the end. 

Feeling the thrum under his skin of danger, Andrew turned to start pacing again, instead running right into Randy’s chest. His brother caught him by his shoulders, stilling him and holding him in place while looking at him with an expression that was equal parts annoyed and concerned, “What manuscript are you working on right now?”

Ah, now, this is where Randy would dismiss all his worries and say he was paranoid because he had spent too long in one genre. Andrew, though, knew how to get around this. “I’m afraid it doesn’t have a name at the moment-”

“Andrew.” Damn Randy and his knowledge of Andrew’s small quirks and oddities. 

“A Crimson Dinner,” Andrew muttered reluctantly, trying not to wince at Randy’s glaring look. “So what if I have been working on murder mysteries again! That doesn’t explain Danny’s odd behavior!” 

“Jesus,” Randy groaned, Andrew hating how he had the instinctive urge, even after so long, to scold him for taking the Lord’s name in vain. Hm, maybe he had been working on his latest manuscript for a touch too long. “Andy. That kid fucking loves you. He is not going to betray you to his parents — who are not that good at being ghost hunters, by the way.” 

Andrew read the concern buried in Randy's voice and the way his hands tightened on his shoulders in clear worry. What was even clearer was the plea in his eyes to just drop the matter. If this had been another time Andrew would have nodded and agreed that he was being paranoid. He would have lied to Randy’s face and felt no remorse. 

As it was now, though, Andrew only continued with a firm, unyielding, “But what if-” Randy’s groan was unappreciated, but he at least wasn’t flying away from him in a fit of rage.

Which was excellent. Andrew needed a sounding board so he could begin crafting a plan to deal with his boyfriend’s future betrayal.

⁂

“You’re being weird.” Blinking at the half-ghost that was sitting in his lap and staring at him with amused suspicion, Andrew decided to respond by innocently tilting his head. “Don’t play cute with me. I know you know what I mean.” 

“Haven’t the faintest,” Andrew denied, shivering as Danny’s palms, cool and soft, rubbed against the stubble dotted across his cheeks as the younger leaned closer. “No idea at all.”

“None whatsoever, huh?” Danny raised an eyebrow, those palms still cool against him as he gently nudged Andrew closer to him, pressing a sweet, soft kiss to the tip of his nose. “Not even a bit of an idea?” 

“None whatsoever,” Andrew repeated distractedly, unable to help his frown when Danny pouted and ‘collapsed’ against his chest. Honestly, this one was bad for his heart in far too many ways. “Why do you think I’m acting suspicious?” 

“I didn’t say suspicious,” Danny snorted, looking up at him with a look torn between annoyance and amusement. It was such a sweet look, and Andrew almost didn’t even feel all that bad that it would be Danny to betray him. “I said you’re being weird. You’re acting all… observant-y.” 

Andrew knew Danny no doubt meant that Andrew had been keeping a much more careful eye on him over the past couple of days, but he couldn’t help his immediate response of, “There’s no need for insults, mon cher.” 

The confusion fading into startled laughter was worth the pang of knowing this would, one day, come to an end. Besides, it was hard to feel too upset when Danny was so sweet about the way he earned his trust, cuddling closer to him and giving him soft kisses and teasing him gently and warmly. Really… if this was to be his final hell, it wasn’t one Andrew was all that keen about fighting against. 

“Don’t think I’m dropping this,” Danny managed to mutter between kisses, seemingly as distracted as Andrew was becoming. “You’re still acting weird — and that’s coming from the teenage half-ghost superhero.” 

Andrew scoffed, rolling his eyes as Danny curled back up against his chest, near hiding against him, “And here, I believe, is where I say something about the pot calling the kettle black?” Danny stuck his tongue out, Andrew clucking his own in response. “Maybe I’m just busy trying to uncover all of your secrets.”

It was a tease as much as it was a test, but it hurt more than Andrew would have thought when he felt Danny jolt against him, sudden and sharp as a swirl of fear flashed across his eyes. Danny’s words tumbled together and fell out of him a rush, a half-panicked, “Looks like you caught me. I did steal Sam’s nail polish in seventh grade.”

“I knew it,” Andrew said seriously, responding just how was expected of him. He might have been tempted to put more humor into the situation if it didn’t feel like his chest was aching with the realization that he had been right. Yes… he supposed he really had known it. “Danny…”

Danny, nervously shifting and adjusting to where he was once again sitting beside him rather than straight in his lap, paused to give him a look that was just as nervous, “Yeah?”

“I…” He what? He knew that Danny was going to betray him to his parents? He was fully aware that Danny was keeping something from him and had no intention of telling him? He still loved Danny even though he knew what was going to happen? 

A million words floated through his head, Andrew trying them all out silently one after the other. I love you. No. This wasn’t the time even if it was true. I know what you’re going to do. No, no, no, that sounded far too accusatory. Andrew didn’t want to start a fight with Danny when it felt like he was trying to claw his heart back together as it was. Why did it have to come to this? Don’t you love me? Did I do something wrong? What did I miss? Please, don’t do this- 

“Andrew?” Danny’s quiet voice broke up his thoughts, a cool hand cupping his cheek as eyes looked at him with a potent mixture of worry and concern. It was the barest edges of caution that had him near recoiling, though. “Are you-”

“I’m not blind.” It was nowhere near what he wanted to say exactly, but it was at least a somewhat subtle start. “You… You do know I’m not blind, don’t you?” He had to have known that Andrew was fully aware of what was about to happen. Right? 

“I- Yeah, of course- I mean-! Yeah! I know that!” That caution spiraled out into panic and fear, Danny quickly standing up. “Right, well, uh, I’m gonna go, you know- Kitchen. Food, and everything- Yeah.” Danny was rushing away towards another part of Andrew’s lair before Andrew himself could even offer a response. 

His only saving grace — and oh how far he had fallen to even so much as think that — was Randy entering the room with a low whistle only seconds after Danny had truly left. Andrew didn't know if the man was just that good at sniffing out drama or if he had felt Andrew’s turbulent emotions. 

“Accuse him of his ultimate betrayal of your love and shit that soon? Thought you would have held it in for at least another week or two.” If this were even earlier that day, Andrew would have been tempted to roll his eyes and toss a book at his brother. As it was, Andrew just stared in the direction Danny had taken off towards; the opposite direction of the kitchen. “Hey, this is the part where you give me your hundred page thesis on all of your paranoid-”

“He flinched.” Andrew’s words were quiet, soft enough that they could have been easily talked over. Randy fell silent, instead, and didn’t that just tell Andrew everything he already knew? “We were just… talking. He noticed how I’ve been acting odd, and I teased that I was ‘trying to uncover all of his secrets.’’

Andrew looked to Randy, hating how everything in him felt like begging for advice and support and he didn’t want to lose this. “He flinched.” Danny shouldn’t have flinched- Andrew knew all his secrets; or at least, he thought he had.

“Andy…” Randy trailed off, not saying anything else. When it looked like he was about to try to speak, Andrew simply shook his head. He didn’t need advice. 

Not when the matter would be dealt with soon enough — one way or another. 

⁂

In truth, after his discussion with Randy, Andrew had been prepared to wait months or even years for Danny’s betrayal. The both of them were patient when it came to important matters and Danny was far cleverer than people gave him credit for. He also didn’t like to lose. With that in mind, Andrew had been prepared to wait. 

He hadn’t expected, three days later, to be wincing at Danny’s cold, aching tone when he snapped out a harsh, “Fine. You figured it out. Proud of yourself?!” Shoved into a corner of the couch and curled up and glaring at him, Danny showed every sign of an injured wild animal. It was harder than Andrew would have thought to fight back the urge to try and comfort the teen and talk him down. 

Instead, he busied himself with the thought of wondering how Danny had known that he had figured it out. Andrew opened his mouth to ask that, or maybe deny he even knew, but Danny beat him there with a cold, bitter laugh, “Please. You’ve been acting weird for days, ever since-” Since that joke about ‘secrets.’ “You barely look at me, you’ve been avoiding spending time with me, you haven’t touched me once-”

Danny cut himself off with a jagged sound that had very clearly been a suppressed whine and Andrew hated how much it hurt. He couldn’t stop himself from responding with a quiet, “Danny…” 

“I just- I thought with you it would be different.” Danny’s voice cracked and the sound made Andrew want to release a whine of his own. “I didn’t think-! It wasn’t supposed to go like this!” Danny had his arms wrapped tight around his chest, curled up even more as the desperate, broken expression on his face snapped into one of rage, green eyes blazing with anger.

Unsurprisingly, it was the anger that had Andrew responding, a spark of defiance blazing through him because how dare he-! “You thought I would simply be fine with you betraying me by offering me up to your parents on a silver platter as some- Some gift-” 

“What?” Danny’s tone, loud and sudden and confused, had Andrew snapping his mouth shut. Danny no longer looked angry and hurt and cornered, instead he simply stared at Andrew, blinking slowly. “Hang on… Hang on- Andy, what do you mean when you say I’m ‘betraying you?’” There was confusion and caution and… hope?

It was the hope that caught Andrew off guard, all of his meticulous notes about how odd Danny had been acting as proof of his upcoming betrayal disappearing. Instead he could only stare before managing a weak, “You’re… going to betray me and offer me up to your parents as a peace offering? A ghost they can study before revealing your own ghostly nature to them?”

The laugh, wild and sharp and sudden and relieved, was not something Andrew had expected from Danny. Nor had he expected the rushed out, blurted words of, “I’m trans.” Andrew simply… stared. He had expected betrayal, and heartache, and the bitter reminder that humanity and the dead could never truly be, but he had not expected… that. Danny seemed to realize as such, all of his fear and worry and anger seeming to vanish as a smile reappeared. “You know. Transgender?”

“I- Yes.” Trans. Danny was transgender. “I’m aware of what trans means.” He knew what it meant, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t surprised because he hadn’t… been expecting that. “I… Well. I suppose that does rather make more sense than you betraying me to your parents, doesn’t it?”

Andrew barely took a seat on the couch before he had Danny in his lap, Andrew’s hands snapping out to steady him before he was very quickly distracted by lips pressed against his own. When Danny finally pulled back, it was to more laughter muffled against his cheek as the other buried his way against him, “I can’t believe- Out of every possible sign you thought-!”

“Yes, thank you!” Andrew interrupted, refusing to focus on the warmth he could feel in his cheeks. Ghosts may have been dead, but they could still flush in embarrassment, apparently. “It made a remarkable amount of sense at the time.” Ah… Randy was never going to let him live this down once he found out.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Danny said seriously, leaning back to cup Andrew’s cheeks with his hands, pressing just enough to squish them and make Andrew try to squirm away. Danny, the brat, didn’t let him. “It makes perfect sense that, instead of believing I’m trans, you believe that I’m going to betray you to my parents.”

“That’s not-!” Ah, but that was exactly what Andrew had thought, wasn’t it? “It wasn’t as simple and foolish as you make it sound!” Andrew tried to jerk his head away again, not putting much effort into the gesture when he was more focused on Danny’s relieved, happy laughter. “You’re just a naturally suspicious person, I suppose.”

“This from the former assassin,” Danny shot back at once, his inability to not have the last word kicking in as it always did. “I pass that well, huh?” There was something in the words that made the ends waver. There was a hesitance in how Danny braced himself, beginning to lean back as if expecting Andrew to ever care about something as simple as that. 

Mulling over his words, Andrew tried a dozen variations in his head before he sighed, truth slipping out of him as it always did around his idiotic, ridiculous, wonderful boyfriend, “Honestly, you say that like it matters.” Cupping the other’s cheek, Andrew brought him back in closer, kissing him softly. 

“Doesn’t it?” Danny asked as soon as he pulled back, a hint of fang peeking out as he bit at his lip. Even as he asked, though, Andrew could see the tension sliding out of him, body relaxed and easy to bring back towards his own. “I mean… does it matter?”

“Danny.” Andrew shook his head, incredulous laughter bursting out of him. “I thought you were going to betray me, and I was still in love with you and ready to do whatever you asked of me. What do you think that means?”

“Mm…” Danny trailed off, learning forward for a kiss before stopping just shy with a smirk. “That you’re more paranoid than you say you are.” The smirk was too much like Randy’s for Andrew’s liking and he felt no shame in grabbing a nearby pillow and trying to smother the brat. 

He had to admit, though… The bright, cheerful laughter wasn’t such a bad sound; and he supposed it was rather good that Danny wasn’t about to betray him to his parents. At least, not anytime soon, it seemed.

[056crowshit6556]

“Go. Just take him.” The cycle of Revenge in The Last of Us Part II

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE LAST OF US PART 2

Spoilers + screenshots under the readmore!

Some thoughts on The Last of Us Part II

The Last of Us Part II threw me for a loop in subtle, nuanced, deep, and impactful ways. It was a story of loss and hate, resentment and grief, and the major theme: The Cycle of Revenge.

These themes all come together in the last fight between Abby and Ellie– which, before I delve into some kind of analysis, made me cry. It was honest in its delivery, resonant in its pain. It seemed Ellie wasn’t just fighting Abby, but herself in a sense. And because we had played a big part of the game as Abby, I felt a hesitance to fight Abby to the death. It doesn’t feel victorious-- plainly put, it felt “bad” to fight Abby, and in another sense, it felt futile. 

I have a soft spot for storytelling, and there’s always been something about The Last of Us which touched me, probably because it focuses on the complicated nature of what’s morally right or wrong. At the game’s beginning, I wasn’t completely sold on Abby’s storyline. I could tell that Naughty Dog was trying to show a neutral grey area, that there’s no black and white, no true heroes and villains. I think alot of stories are going with this direction now, some poorly (i.e. a villain gets an underserved or forced redemption arc), but The Last of Us Part II treated its characters less like heroes and villains and more like human beings who are capable of good and evil, capable of bravery, selflessness, indoctrination, and antagonism.

The list could go on. The world of The Last of Us strives to mirror our own world to the best of its ability. It asks “what could go wrong in a post-apocalyptic world”, then in the same breath, “but what is beautiful and meaningful in such a world too?”

As the story progressed, I saw parallels between Ellie, Abby, and Joel. I saw the message as ‘destruction in revenge’; but also, by having two protagonists, one of which I should have been led to despise, I came to see each person as a “main character” of their own story, as we are main characters of our own lives, or stories, due to the limits of our perception. Abby’s world is different from Ellie’s, but there’s overlap, enough to see them as a reflection of each other. And as I’ll delve into, their story arcs follow similar paths, as they’ve both experienced loss which left them incapacitated, except... Abby’s story is about redemption, while Ellie’s is about hate and revenge.

This final fight, the scene near the end of the game, struck me for a number of reasons.

The location of the fight has significance, as the ocean represents our subconscious, and the fog represents disillusionment and confusion. Ellie had buried memories of Joel, both good and bad, into her subconscious. That was her way of dealing with the pain. She buried the pain “underwater” so to speak, into an underwater oceanic subconscious.

In that scene, she is surrounded by an “ocean of grief.”

It resurfaces to Ellie in dreams throughout the game. PTSD flashes of memory too. 

Ellie went after Abby a second time, and engaged in a fight with her. Abby, starving and weak, could hardly fight back. At the last moment with Abby’s head underwater, as she was drowning, Ellie sees an image of Joel– happy, safe, alive. 

And she falters, she releases Abby.

Ellie continued to seek vengeance, an outward action, rather than experience grief, which is an inward action. Revenge as the distraction. Grief as the unbelievably long, lonely process. Revenge may have been satisfying, but if Abby had been killed, what would happen next? Ellie would be sitting in the ocean, still wrought with grief, still unable to essentially face Joel’s memory (whether it’s the terrible memory of his death, or the good memories, or the memories where she pushed him away because of resentment).

When Ellie says to Abby, “Go. Just take him,” she’s talking about Abby taking Lev and making their getaway, but to me… it was the overarching summation, the metaphorical line that delved into the point of the entire story.

When Ellie says, “Go. Just take him”, she’s also talking about Joel.

The vast ocean in front of her represents the subconscious, the unknown, and death. Ellie is sitting in the water, facing the unknown, and inwardly, the grief she feels over losing Joel. When she releases Abby, she is releasing her desire for vengeance. It is a singular point in the story. Revenge is a goal, a mission– it’s what drove the story, especially from Ellie’s point of view. But… revenge is not really a process, it’s a cycle. Because as the story showed, one act of vengeance turns into another act, and then another. It is the serpent biting its own tail.

Abby’s cycle of revenge halted because of Lev.

Abby’s responsibility was altered by the presence of Lev. Lev tells Abby to stop just before Abby is about to kill Dina. 

The music at this part slows from an adrenaline-fueled heartbeat. The hate and the rage lessen. Quiet takes over. The presence of Lev is what stopped her. This new-found purpose halts the cycle of revenge on Abby’s part. She is done.

Abby found new purpose and direction in her life because of Lev. Abby’s relationship with Lev is very similar to Joel’s relationship with Ellie in the first game. Joel found new purpose and meaning in his life with the arrival of Ellie. They even look similar to Joel and Ellie, I believe, in how Abby is clearly Lev’s protector, as Joel was Ellie’s protector in the first game:

(Even the colors of their clothes resemble Ellie and Joel in the first game).

By the game’s end, Abby has found new purpose in her life just as Joel found new purpose in his through Ellie. As Joel said in the first game,

“I struggled for a long time with surviving. And you– No matter what, you keep finding something to fight for.”

Earlier, Abby and Owen are speaking outside the surgery room. Abby says that Yara and Lev are just kids, then she asks:

Abby found the light in Lev, a Seraphite, or “Scar”– she found the light in someone who would otherwise be her enemy.

Abby has a recurring dream, in which she’s walking down the hospital corridor towards the surgery room where her father was killed. It is her place of fear, her nightmare, and over and over it haunts her, replaying her pain and trauma.

After saving Yara and Lev, the dream changes. Her father is alive and smiling, almost as if this is his way of saying goodbye to her.

That is what’s crucial here– After Abby kills Joel and satiates her need for revenge, she still has the nightmare of her father’s death. Revenge did not reconcile her pain, it did not stop the nightmare– in fact, it only created guilt.

In the boat scene, Owen explains why he killed Danny. He describes how there was a Scar at a camp, and he was going to kill him. He describes how he hit the man on the head, hard, but he just laid there. He didn’t go for his weapon. He was an old man who was tired and ready.

And something about that weakness, that human vulnerability, breaks Owen, and he can’t kill this old man. The cycle of revenge exhausts itself.

This story directly parallels Joel’s– he was an old man who was tired and ready.

In this same scene, Owen shames Abby for going after Joel. Mel does the same in a later scene, telling Abby that she’s a bad person. Abby’s group struggled with the action they took on Joel. Abby does too. Her reaction to Owen and Mel shaming her shows she feels guilt over what she did.

That guilt is reconciled with the arrival of Yara and Lev; particularly Lev, who becomes Abby’s responsibility later in the story.

By the same token, Ellie had that option with Dina and the baby. She could have shifted her direction in life towards her new family, but she chose not to– instead, she went after Abby a second time. It could be because she was overwhelmed by grief, or because her trauma felt unbearable. Maybe she was obsessed with the idea that revenge would alleviate the pain. Or maybe, she felt responsible for Joel’s death.

Ellie continued to move her life in the direction of vengeance, when really she needed to confront her own grief of losing him. And that takes time. That takes confrontation. The stagnation of “doing nothing” is not in Ellie’s character (for instance, Dina loses Jesse because Abby killed Jesse, but she does not seek revenge. She refocuses her life on her baby). 

To contrast, Dina’s responsibility in life is to her child; Ellie’s responsibility in life is not necessarily to get revenge but to atone for her resentment towards Joel.

Ellie attempts to drown Abby as though it will bury the memories of Joel even more, but they surface regardless, one small droplet memory of Joel sitting on the porch with a guitar, and she can’t do it. She can’t continue the cycle of revenge.

After the final fight, Ellie looks out into the ocean, but there is no horizon. The fog covers it. There is no point, no “point on the horizon.” There is no point in continuing the cycle of revenge. As the poet John Ford wrote, “Revenge proves its own executioner.” Ellie was destroying herself as much as she was destroying her enemies.

I think... the reason Ellie had such difficulties dealing with her grief was because she felt responsible for Joel’s death in a roundabout way-- if she had died on the operating table, Joel would have never been a target, if she had never been immune, she would have turned when she was bitten-- and because she felt guilt, because she couldn’t accept their last conversation.

Which was so beautiful in its simplicity. Neither Ellie or Joel knew this would be their last conversation, and so there’s a sense of mundanity about it. It’s crucial but at the same time, not (because we as the players know this is their last conversation). 

Ellie says she will consider forgiving him. The animosity Ellie felt towards Joel was not entirely resolved. And besides that, she had been giving him the silent treatment for over a year before that. She lost time with him because she held a grudge; the grudge is another reason she feels guilty. (Not saying Ellie’s grudge isn’t warranted. That’s what makes the situation so complicated and nuanced. She had a right to be mad because she wanted the vaccine, she was willing to sacrifice her life for it. So we see the difficulty she has in accepting Joel’s decision). Which spurred her on in her quest for revenge, while pushing aside the grief she felt.

There is not point in continuing the cycle of revenge. Grief… it doesn’t necessarily have a “point” either, I don’t think. Like the ocean, it comes in waves. It soaks the body. It ebbs and flows, but it will lessen with time. As with Abby, who found a purpose in life by protecting Lev, Ellie has the option of finding a purpose in her life too– not the one she initially wanted, in which she sacrificed herself for a cure, but maybe one built with the same kind of love Joel felt for her.

But the process of grief means Ellie has to essentially, at one point, say to Death or the Unknown, Okay. You can take him. When she releases Joel, she is releasing so, so much more than what she would have gained from killing Abby.

At the game’s beginning, when Joel was dying, he looked at Ellie, and he smiled. There was something in his eyes that said he was glad, for everything, the pain, the struggle, the heartbreak, because in the end he’s looking at Ellie, and in the last crucial moment it’s as if he thinks, ‘It was worth it, for you’. 

He knew the consequences of his actions when he stopped the Fireflies, when he stopped the cure from ever being made, and when he took Ellie from that hospital. He knew there was a risk involved, but at the game’s ending, during the flashback scene, he says, “If somehow the Lord gave me a second chance at that moment… I would do it all over again.”

(*Brief note: Interestingly enough, Abby is not explicitly seeking revenge on Joel because he prevented the cure from being made... she’s seeking revenge because he killed her father. It shows that in the grand scheme of things, what matters is the close relationships we form with others... that if Ellie had been the cure she would have been remembered as an almost “deified” concept, but Joel would have returned to the hopelessness of his own life.  Abby didn’t enact revenge for humanity’s sake, she did it for her father. This ties in nicely with the ongoing war between the WLF and the Seraphites, and how each faction is a faceless mob until individuals like Yara and Lev meet Abby, or Owen has his emotional experience with the old man who was too tired to fight. Owen says he’s tired of fighting for land he doesn’t give a fuck about. It begs the question of what’s important in life... like the memories of Joel and Ellie exploring museums or Tommy and Ellie sharpshooting. It was the small, seemingly insignificant moments which mattered most, the moments Ellie remembered).

Joel died without regret. He died knowing that Ellie would be willing to forgive him. And even though their time of peace was brief, he died happy for the small moments they got to spend together, that for all the pain and suffering, in the end, it was worth it.

Ellie is angry at him because she believes her life would have mattered if she sacrificed herself for a vaccine. That there was a point to all the loss, for her best friend Riley’s death, for the numerous other deaths she witnessed in The Last of Us. When Joel took her from the hospital, it was selfish, but that’s because her life does matter, to him. Beyond being a cure, beyond being a martyr, Ellie as a human being matters to him. Yes, she would have been remembered as “the cure”, but only Joel would have remembered her as an actual human being: a person with habits, quirks, unique traits, vices and virtues.

He would do it again knowing how much she would resent him for it. I don’t know how else to describe that. I think it goes along the notion that, you don’t truly understand what it means to love someone more than anything, more than yourself, until you’ve had a child. With loss comes grief, then hope. Joel lost his daughter Sarah and suffered for years, but Ellie gave him hope. Abby lost her father, but found hope in Lev.

Ellie lost Joel, but what kind of hope returned to her at the story’s end?

When she returns to her home, Dina and the baby are gone. The house is empty, and all of Ellie’s belongings have been put into a single room. She goes there, and picks up the guitar Joel gave her.

Ellie lost two of her fingers, and now she’s unable to throughly play the guitar. The notes are disjointed, the melody is cracked. That is how Ellie is now. I’m not saying she’s a miserable broken wreck now– I’m saying she’s rough around the edges, she has a noticeable aura of fragmentation about her. Even if the grief lessens with time, she will be hardened by this pain. What she’s experienced has changed her and it’s a weight she’ll have to carry for the rest of her life. As the title suggest, she is the “last of us” regarding our journey throughout the game-- every emotion, every violent action, every loss and heartache-- Ellie is the bearer of it.

She places the guitar against the windowsill and leaves.

And you see that shot through the open window, Ellie leaving the house in the background, the guitar leaning against the windowsill in the foreground. I see that and I know, in one year the vines and weeds will start to take over the house like they do in all the abandoned houses. In two years the strings will rust and snap. In ten the guitar will become part of nature. Nature will come in through the window, and it will wrap itself around the guitar. The wood will crack and eventually it will disintegrate from the rain and wind.

The reason I think there’s an emblem of a moth on the guitar is because moths have very short lifespans (in their adult stage, they typically only live about one week). Because of the brevity of their life, and because they are night creatures, they are considered messengers of the unknown, or the “beyond.” Something not quite of this world, symbols of magic. But I think the more important part of the moth on the guitar is to show how brief Joel and Ellie’s time together was; how the lives of the characters in The Last of Us are often cut short, often without warning. In an even broader sense, life is brief, and time’s a thief, as the saying goes. The guitar in the last frame of the story was played for only a few years, and then, it has been left to the hands of time.

It’s here that we don’t really know what happens to Ellie: does she go in search of Dina? Does she go back to Jackson? Does she begin somewhere else, or will she live on her own for the rest of her days?

The uncertainty of her life from this point on leaves a bittersweet touch to the story. People move on, people leave. What is an old guitar weathered by the seasons, lost to time, was once a beautiful song shared between two people.

Joel, in saving her life, essentially gave her a chance at life. The rest is up to her.

[tammyhybrid21]

Hybrid Screaming about Rats for an HOUR

(Ft. Bonus dog symbolism as well)

I mean, this is going to be about Mummy and Tad(and Jeff). Buuut I am honestly taking it as an excuse to scream about rats. And their symbolism.

I'll also probably have an aside about Jeff as well, but honestly... Since @shields-and-depthgauges-oh-my​ done her wonderful art-- And I am not over how happy Mummy is to see rats, among other little details. Let's get to analysing!

Sooooo--

First off, I'm going to talk about rats. Because here's the thing. I have fancies. And this is my TOPIC to scream about. No but seriously, back when I was writing WHMS/Winds Howl, Mountains Stand, I gathered an honestly ridiculous amount of symbolism and research for ratties. Which has ultimately kind of being left to the wayside, aside a small mention/use for my old Danny Phantom OC's revival.

Which yeah...

We're not here to talk about Snitch though. As much as I do want to talk about them, the only thing they're relevant for right now is "why rats?" Which-- is only turgently connected to this. Because let me talk about the symbolism and how that impacts how I feel about rats, along with why I think that they're telling in terms of how each character reacted to them when first seeing them in the movie. Beyond the obvious of that one comic's view on things-- how you treat the lowest but--

Which, I actually have some things to say about how Tad's less grossed out than one might think and his reaction is more to Tiffany's... but now is NOT the place.

Meanwhile Mummy's reaction-- yeah. "What's wrong with them anyway?". This is something that maybe would be better expanded on later, but-- that's the common associations at play. I'm sure if I just put down the word-- Rat a million negative things would race through your head.

Dirty, diseased, traitor, thief, liar, coward, spineless, bringer of death, disarray, destructive, vermin, pest, opportunistic-- etc.

BUT

Again, I own fancies. And I'm not alone in owning fancy rats. And if there is one truth I know that's probably universal. A rat's home is only as dirty as you let it be. And for a few of those prior descriptors-- they actually couldn't be further from the truth. Sure some are still certainly true-- but those are also not their problem as much as it's the issue of the world around and what it's given.

Rats are--

Some of the greatest little pets I've owned.

They are loving, curious, inquisitive, creative, almost too creative when you're trying to keep them out of something and they keep getting around your obstacles. Loyal-- rats do not abandon those who're family. They come back--

Rats are fertile, and considering their hoarding behaviour-- well, they stock up, they prepare, they can be symbols of wealth, ambition, expansion, intelligence and resourcefulness. The underground world(which how relevant is that one to Mummy)  And yeah-- but then they have some-- rather surprising symbolism that I just... wish I could find the old sites I got this all from. But most of them seem to have vanished into the nether...

But you know one of the big ones I have on my list that I just-- wish I could source back.

Divine Retribution

Which, probably has something to do with the Black Death/Plague-- but I don't know really. Still!

Rats-- NOW--

How does this all relate to Mummy and why did I want to mention that reaction? Circling back a little bit late but-- Misunderstandings.

And how that relates a bit to Autism, being on the spectrum, what we are-- how Mummy presents himself verses what his truth really is... Weeeell-- Rats actually have a lot of symbolism that I personally think is telling when we match Mummy up with them. Like-- he shows a lot of the same things that rats are associated with in terms of creativity, intelligence(although not in the same way that most people recognize, but the dead tongues, languages) And just generally-- there's a lot.

Like, I would also again, like to think about the loyalty Mummy shows and how he is. And there's something in the Sacrifice scene I'd love to grumble about here regarding that, and ever Tiffany there-- with how it looks like they've come closer in the interim-- not just Tad staying and I just--

But that's neither here nor there, because there's another main thing.

Secrets, Underground World, Stealth

Mummy. Also something about hiding in plain sight. I mean-- how often do you even get a glimpse-- of rats even when you know they're there. Or have an idea of it.

I mean, barring a few places... which as an aside, I want to talk back again to another rat role and place that I think we here in the West-English Countries don't appreciate or understand the MAGIC of quite enough-- India's Karni Mata Rat Temple.

Rats are reincarnations. They're part of that, life, death, rebirth. Rats have their own sacredness. And considering in movie 2 we see them as I guess-- guardians in a way of a temple-- well yeah. But all of this stuff is more of an aside really to the main point and reason I am just-- delighted that rats are Mummy's implied favourites. Because yeah-- they're very misunderstood creatures that live such a short time BUT--

Yeah-- impact and there is a lot of symbolism he shares with them when you bother to look at ALL of it and not just full stop at the dirty side of things. Rats are secret keepers and just-- good beans. Also survival.

NOW--

Let's talk another side of things. In terms of all the animal companions for a moment, but more specifically I want to talk a little bit about how Tad and Mummy look to relate to animals verses humans.

Which-- I know personally-- with my Autism-- yeah, animals are much, much easier to deal with than humans in MANY ways. You don't have to try and work out what someone means when they say something, or any of the other puzzles. It's all really straight forwards. And no need to mask yourself at all. Something I'm sure both Tad and Mummy can appreciate--

Even if it does appear that Mummy is an extrovert, I mean, look how eager he is to get out, interact with people. Which that verses masking-- wouldn't blame him for befriending rats in that case since they always come in a group. Large clans/families-- which yeah-- Ratatouille got that RIGHT.

Meanwhile we have... Tad who's... rather more complicated, but at the same time not and really gets me screaming at him-- because he needs to TRAIN THAT DOG!

LIKE HOW EXPENSIVE?!

I have-- a whole other rant on Jeff's poor to none training level. But-- it can actually be summed up in how Tad is with him in general. Which is... in terms of the psychology in his relationship with Jeff. Because listen here. I had dogs. I've had dogs, chickens, my rats. Befriended cats but never gotten the full honor of owning one.

But--

I actually have some things to say about this-- and it's almost a guilty admission really but... When it comes to dogs and training, I can almost kind of get it. Jeff's lack of training is probably twofold.

1) It's damn hard to train dogs when you can barely train yourself. And 2) it's got to do with how Tad seems to be with Jeff, seeing him as part of the family and as someone who gets him. Which as an oxymoron is a bit about respect--

Although, that's... well, also something to do with Autism and projecting and I should probably make a whole proper rant about that in its own time, along with the FULL "Train yer dog" rant. Which yeah... Sooo instead I'll tie this off with our favourite doggy symbolism and talk about that-- re Tadeo himself.

Let's be obvious here-- Dogs are-- very often associated with dumb loyalty. Loyal but stupid. I mean, at least in American media-- which... not entirely wrong sometimes. Dogs are incredibly loyal. But stupid-- NAH--

Dogs are not as stupid as people see to like to portray them as. It's usually the people around them who're stupid and not paying attention or really working with the dog. Which-- I want to talk a little about Tad in regards to that, but it's kind of hard, since I am... not quite as enthused about it as with the rat rant and Mummy.

BUT--

Protection is the key theme here. His promise-- which leads to his assistance, loyalty resourcefulness... but for all the traits that Tad does have-- I feel like arguably his dog relations are in those lessons he has yet to learn from our favourite "man's best friend"

Communication, obedience, community. Stuff that Tad could arguably improve in. Also I do feel like, there's also some of his big heartedness and the empathy that could be improved, but that's less a lack of as much as he's kind of pushing that down-- and well-- a whole other issue.

Which--

Almost circles back to the mess of Jeff's lack of training.

Which-- dogs are boundless and seek things to keep them occupied. And they also seek leadership, which-- interestingly there's how I watch and view Tad-- and his relationships and he's very much a lost puppy when you look at how he follows around Sara-- which I have deeper analysis on that but--

Tad's... not really a leader as much as he tries to fashion himself as one and play the Hero.

AS A QUICK ASIDE--

While I'm on dogs, I just want to quickly give a shout out to Freddy for making me think he really hits their high points in the small meaningful moments and hints to more beyond just "comic relief" ALSO, Shout out in general to these movies for allowing the "comic" to have their moments where you can glimpse more beyond just that.

Loyalty, protection, communication, sensory perception, assistance, resourcefulness--

In any case yeah!

BACK TO MY POINT--

...Animals are... much easier to relate to a lot of times in comparison to people... and we've repeatedly seen that Tadeo has issues with people. Which feels weird really when he's the protagonist. And while Mummy definitely speaks as an Extrovert.

Like-- He's so eager to get out and be himself--

Tad is... a lot more complicated. Like, I am really, really this close to going back into my usual MBTI analysis rant for him, but-- Tad very much doesn't seem to actively ever really go out and talk to people outside their circle unless necessary. Which heeeey--

Again... Dogs are there to help you with communication, talking to people. Which makes me wonder about the pets and movie 3--

Which-- aside possibly nods to some of the deeper lore with Anubis. Which, let's not forget that he(they?!), also tended to the scales where Ammut is but--

DOGS are all about communication. Which is Tad's BIG issue. And it's not just in regards to how I point out the potential of him just taking the promise seriously and not communicating that. But-- Tad's... not good at communicating clearly with anyone. And we're not just talking in terms of people communication, bad listening and not trusting what people say--

And let's be real, still has a bit of lying issues-- but well... who in the modern world doesn't--

BUT

More, I want to return to Jeff and think about how generally one of the rules in Dogs, canine behaviour issues is... Dogs naturally want to have a pecking order/leadership to follow. And if there isn't a clear one they dictate that they are thus the leader.

Which indicates that Tadeo-- isn't really communicating clearly with Jeff and proving himself a leader... Which heeeey-- kind of hope this becomes more of an issue in movie 3, I really, really want something that forces him to come to terms with at least some of his issues.

COMMUNICATE DAMNIT, TRUST YOUR COMPANIONS.

Mummy, Sara, reign in Jeff and see that he needs you to be steady just as much as you seem to need him. And Tad does need Jeff.

FUNNILY ENOUGH

There are three characters who've proven they can gain some of Jeff's "oh leader" vibes.

Belzoni-- who seems to be able to rally, or at least lead him around a bit, and is looked to by Jeff here-- like Jeff sticks by them...

WHERE JEFF IS ON THE TRAIN FEELS TELLING AS WELL.

Like really?! Why is he not by Tad? But instead, he's following Freddy around on the train. And, minutely following scenes, still following and looking to him a bit. Which interesting.

And most interestingly, from the Facebook shorts, teasers... I'd say for this, it's a walk that's starting "strong". Which indicates that Mummy is also slowly gaining ground with Jeff and communicating in terms of leadership(and no wonder, with his experience).

NOT THAT IT SURVIVED THE WHOLE WALK BUT--

Yeah.

Please let movie 3 have Tad coming to confront this. Please. USE THE SYMBOLS YOU HAVE!

[tabloidtoc]

National Examiner, January 25

Cover: Secret Dawn Wells took to the grave: her affair with Bob Denver of Gilligan’s Island 

Page 2: Best and Worst Celeb Tippers -- Katherine Heigl, Amy Schumer, Drew Barrymore, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Madonna, Johnny Depp, Jay-Z 

Page 3: Charlie Sheen, Ben Affleck, Sean Penn, Sharon Stone, Naomi Campbell, Mark Zuckerberg, Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg took the 2020 Tip Challenge 

Page 4: Goldie Hawn’s movie roles 

Page 6: Melissa Gilbert who played Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie says if there’s one piece of unfinished business that emerged from the show it’s that she’d like to punch former co-star Shannen Doherty -- Shannen was only 12 when she joined the Little House cast for the show’s ninth and final season playing Jenny Wilder but in a couples therapy session with her first husband Bo Brinkman it came out that Shannen at 22 had bagged Bo in bed 

Page 7: Country star Dolly Parton may be 75 year old but that doesn’t stop her from leaping out of bed at 3 a.m. every morning -- she’s a very very very early riser and she goes to bed pretty early but she’s up and down

* Tom Hanks has been in countless movies and TV shows but his most important role in life has been as a father of four and he has tips for how to do it right 

Page 8: If you’ve soured on feeding canned dog food to your precious pooch you’re not alone -- plenty of owners are switching over to healthy people-food diets for their pets but it’s essential to get guidance from your veterinarian 

Page 9: Most of your kitty’s diet should be a nutritionally complete cat food but you can give them a treat from your plate every once in a while -- you just need to know how to choose feline-friendly snacks with nutrients they need and which they should NEVER eat -- check with your veterinarian 

* Why animals creep into our dreams -- we all dream about animals from time to time and here are some of the most common creatures of our nights and what they could be trying to tell us 

Page 10: On his 21st birthday Matt Goodman raised a glass to his late father who had left behind the money to buy his son’s first beer 

Page 11: Your Health -- the stark truth is that sleeping naked is good for you 

Page 12: Top Guns -- these Hollywood stars were fastest on the draw -- James Garner, Henry Fonda, Eli Wallach, Burt Lancaster, Roy Rogers 

Page 13: Kevin Costner, Yul Brynner, Gary Cooper, Clint Eastwood, John Wayne 

Page 14: Dear Tony, America’s Top Psychic Healer -- a lesson from COVID-19 which is work on mentally healing ourselves, Tony predicts Miley Cyrus will struggle to overcome many of her self-destructive habits, finding strength through religion and she will be back on the hit parade come summer 

Page 15: If you and your partner fight a lot here’s a great idea to grasp: holding each other’s hand is the key to better conflict resolution 

Page 16: Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton might be royals but they’re raising their children just like any other parents and family is their first priority and Will and Kate are rarely apart from their three kids Prince George and Prince Charlotte and Prince Louis 

Page 18: Maggie the shelter stray was twice unlucky when two potential forever homes kicked her to the curb but now she’s found her true calling as a beloved K-9 officer 

Page 19: A homeless man in Atlanta put his life on the line to rescue every single cat and dog from a blazing inferno at an animal shelter 

Page 20: Cover Story -- a three-hour tour that turned into a three-season laugh-fest on Gilligan’s Island made Dawn Wells a star and she took the show’s juiciest secrets to her grave including a red-hot affair with co-star Bob Denver -- Dawn who died of complications related to COVID-19 at age 82 hid a crazy sexy side which she kept under wraps because it was the exact opposite of the squeaky-clean image se presented to the world as farm girl Mary Ann on Gilligan’s Island 

Page 22: This Michigan teen is a top Elvis Presley impersonator even performing in Las Vegas and the only one with Down syndrome 

Page 24: Texas firefighters were hailed as heroes after they rescued a four-year-old boy who had fallen down a well 

Page 25: Here’s the dirt on soil-free gardening 

Page 26: Nice Work If You Can Get It -- celebs shell out stupid money for stupid jobs -- Rod Stewart travels with a room-darkening team, Lady Gaga hates to sleep alone and her personal assistant had to get in bed with her on nights when Gaga was solo, Larry Ellison likes to play basketball on his yacht and employs a person who job it is to circle it in a boat and retrieve stray balls from the ocean, Mariah Carey has a woman who stands beside her at all times holding a drink, Snoop Dogg pays a professional blunts roller, Prince Charles has a personal dresser, Justin Bieber’s entourage includes someone to hold his drink and another to hold his slice of pizza, Sean Combs has an assistant whose only job is to carry around an umbrella for him 

Page 28: Burt Lancaster was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars acting in more than 70 movies during a four-decade-long career but he was also a silly practical joker says his daughter Joanna Lancaster one of the actor’s five children 

Page 30: Legendary actress and dancer Ann-Marget will be 80 years old in April but she’s still stepping out and making movies -- you’re not dead when you reach a certain age said the star who shot to fame when she famously dated Elvis Presley when they made Viva Las Vegas in 1964 

* Candice Bergen running wild and free at age 74 -- she recently became a first-time grandmother and is selling her hand-designed merchandise online 

* What is Marie Osmond doing during the pandemic? She bought a Harley motorcycle and so did her husband Steve and they love to go riding together -- the twosome also take walks and see their kids and grandkids and stay busy and have fun 

Page 42: All Washed Up -- surprising facts about bathing and showering 

Page 44: Eyes on the Stars -- Ellen DeGeneres goes for a spin in California (picture), Chrissy Teigen and John Legend take their kids Luna and Miles to watch planes make the tricky landing at St. Barts’ airport (picture), Joan Collins claims she once gave Bobby Kennedy the brush off because neither of them was single at the time, George Clooney can’t bear the thought of his early film Grizzly II seeing the light of day but it is set to be released later this year, Barry Gibb the last living member of The Bee Gees says life was incredibly hard after losing his brothers and bandmates Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb who died in 2012 and 2003, Ray Liotta and Jacy Nittolo engaged, Bob Seger paid tribute to saxophonist Alto Reed a longtime member of his Silver Bullet Band who lost his life to colon cancer 

Page 45: Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla show off their walking sticks outside their home at Birkhall in Scotland (picture), Tori Spelling gets some puppy love from one of their pet pooches in L.A. with help from hubby Dean McDermott (picture), Megan Fox has moved on with Machine Gun Kelly and her estranged husband Brian Austin Green isn’t moping solo -- he vacationed in Hawaii with Sharna Burgess of Dancing with the Stars, British photographer David Bailey is dishing on his storied career in his memoir -- he claims sloshed Elizabeth Taylor tried to swipe his camera and his first impression of ex-wife Catherine Deneuve was that she was short and a bit on the fat side, Phyllis McGuire who shared the stage with her late siblings Dorothy and Ruby as the McGuire Sisters died in her lavish Las Vegas home -- she found fame through her voice and infamy through her relationship with Sin City mobster Sam Giancana 

Page 46: Good-hearted sheriff’s deputies surprised a woman with a vehicle after they kept getting calls about her walking along the highway in the freezing cold each morning 

Page 47: These UN Ambassadors use star power to help -- Emma Watson, Danny Glover, Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, Antonio Banderas, Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Sarandon, Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne, Mia Farrow, Katy Perry, Alyssa Milano 

[ladyherenya]

Books read in August

It was not the month I was expecting.

Favourite cover: Both The Black God’s Drums and Bookish and the Beast caught my attention because of their covers.

Reread: Artistic License by Elle Pierson (aka Lucy Parker).

Still reading: Tuyo by Rachel Neumeier and The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty.

Next up: I have so many unread library books. I feel a bit guilty about it.

*

Stars Above: A Lunar Chronicles Collection by Marissa Meyer (narrated by Rebecca Soler): Most of these are prequel stories, except for “Something Old, Something”, in which a group of friends gather for a wedding. That was the perfect coda to the series. It’s funny and sweet, and I like that these fairytale retellings do end with a wedding -- after time has passed and the bridal couple are no longer teenagers. As for the other stories, “Glitches” and “Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky” were great, some I enjoyed even though they didn’t take full advantage of their potential to tell us new information, and a couple I didn't care for.

Unnatural Magic by C.M. Waggoner: Very, very compelling. I finished it within a day and immediately reread most of it. It’s a curious blend of things: there’s Onna, a teenager in search of a magical education; and then there’s Tsira, a troll, and Jeckran, an army deserter, eking out a living in the city together. All these characters want a life that isn’t quite what their community expects of, or their families want for, them. Waggoner successfully pulls together their stories as they investigate a series of troll murders. As a murder mystery, it was a bit predictable but that didn’t matter very much.

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark (narrated by Channie Waites): This novella is richly imagined, an alternate-historical fantasy in which New Orleans is an independent state. It’s filled with adventure and some strong personalities -- I particularly enjoyed the thirteen year old protagonist’s attempts to convince an airship captain to take her on as crew. I was unwell when I read some of this, which might be why I don’t feel more strongly about it. (Alternatively, it wasn’t written for me and that’s okay. I’m not sure which it is, and that’s okay too.) The audiobook narrator is excellent.

Beach Read by Emily Henry: January has a summer to write a new novel and sort out the beach house she unexpectedly inherited from her father. When her new neighbour turns out to be a fellow author and former classmate who is also struggling with his current book, they challenge each other to swap genres.  I liked this while I read it but ultimately it wasn’t very memorable. I think I expected a romance about two authors to appeal to me more? I also thought the genre-swapping had the potential to be funnier. Amazon calls this a “laugh-out-loud love story” but, well, humour is subjective.

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston: A fun, fandom-y and fairly light-hearted contemporary fairytale retelling. Rosie chases a stray dog into what she believes is an empty house -- and discovers she’s trespassing on the current residence of a teenage actor who stars in movies based on some of Rosie’s favourite SF stories. Which is not the only coincidence, but I thought those and the handling of the characters’ issues was satisfyingly consistent with the optimistic and light-hearted tone of the story. A touch of fantasy rather than reality, if you will. I’m curious about the other books in this series.

Nevertheless, She Persisted: A Flash Fiction Project by Tor.com: Eleven SF stories inspired by: She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted. The advantage of flash fiction is that it doesn’t seem like a big risk -- it doesn’t matter if I don’t like a story, because I haven’t invested much time or emotional energy in it. The disadvantage of flash fiction is that each story has so little time in which to make me care.  If these stories had been longer, they also could have expanded upon their theme with greater nuance and variety.

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon): An orphaned fourteen year old apprentice baker discovers a murder, is accused and acquitted, and then has to hide when she's nearly murdered herself. There can be something comforting in stories which show people dealing with the world being sad and scary, and this sounded like the sort of thing I'd gobble up -- when it’s by an author whose storytelling I love and trust. I was rather surprised when I found the beginning cold and unappetising. But I persevered, and was glad I did. I enjoyed the defensive baking, and Mona's complicated feelings about having to be a hero.

Shelter by Stephanie Fournet: Growing up, Elise believes that Cole is mean; Cole, focused on protecting his mother and sister from his abusive father, believes he can’t afford to care about anyone else. Slowly they become closer -- until tragedy separates them. Because the story skips straight from the last time they see each to eight years later when they cross paths again, it feels believable that their relationship resumes so quickly and smoothly. Upon reflection, that’s not very realistic (and thus, in my eyes, very satisfying). But nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this (except I didn’t fully agree with Cole’s sister’s criticisms of Cole’s overprotectiveness.)

Wolfskin by W.R. Gingell: Rose, headstrong and adventurous, is delighted to be apprenticed to the warden Akiva. Her story is about growing up, learning about the forest and being warden, and about the mysterious disappearance of other wardens. It is also very fairytale-ish. There are a lot of nods to “Little Red Riding Hood” but the wolf himself arguably has more in common with “Beauty and the Beast”. I spied elements from other tales too. I really like this; Gingell has a knack for writing fairytales which are vivid and original. This was the sort of story I was in the mood for.

If We’re Not Married By Thirty by Anna Bell: Family friends Lydia and Danny made a pact at Lydia’s sister’s wedding to marry each other if they were both still unmarried at thirty. In the ten years since, they’ve lived in different places, dated different people and kept in touch by exchanging emails and silly presents, like Christmas decorations and fridge magnets. Then they run into each other in Spain. I read the first half of this, enjoying its Britishness and the fluffiness, and then started skimming once the story hopped on a train speeding towards Misunderstandings and Miscommunication town. I think Bell’s humour involves embarrassing situations too often for me.

[goingphlash]

So, I recently finished An All Too Jagged Snowflake by Redhead aka ColdtomyFlash (asfgjjgddyjjfddsrfiloveyoubutIalsoihateyouwhy!!!) and that got me thinking on coldflash Soulmate aus. And I came up with a new concept. Let me introduce you to *drum rolls*

Soulchildren

Okay so, legend says that a long time ago a magical object was found (a cup that is now lost idk) that could bind two or more spirits together. But there’s a catch: only the true love could survive.

Thus the closest friends, families and lovers were reincarnated in every life, each Bond born with an unique Mark to recognise each other. The Mark expands on the skin during the First Contact on the place that was first touched by their Mate.

Now, a Bond can be platonic, familiar or romantic. Usually a Bond consists of two people but there can be sometimes three (or more but that’s rare).

But Soulchildren, well ... they’re special snowflakes (hah). You see, they’re like, the rarest type of Bond. Having a Soulfamily is like seeing a full lunar eclipse and a meteor shower happening in the same time—a rarity and a sight to behold. That’s something people dream of but don’t expect to actually happen.

How do you know you’re a Soulchild and not a Soulmate? Well, usually, a Mark is places in the same place but on opposite ends (if you have it on your left hand, your Soulmate will have it in the same place but on their right hand). A Soulchild has both of the Marks but smaller. And when the First Contact happends, the Extension also appeares on the Soulchild in the same time.

Also, while Soulmates have to wait until the First Contact to Bond and Feel each other, a Soulchild can always Feel their Parents, even though First Contact (of the Soulparents) makes the Bond stronger (to what’s considered a normal level). But Soulparents need to make First Contact with their Soulchild to Feel them.

Now that we’ve established the lore, let’s get to the plot.

———————————————————————

Barry and Len always wanted to meet their Soulmate. Really. Their whole lives have been shaped by their Mark, a snowflake on their chest/back, respectively.

They just didn’t expect it to be like this. While rain was certanly romantic, fighting your enemy-with-benefits during in a dark alley certanly isn’t.

But when Cold’s bare fist (glove somehow lost in the mud) connected with Flash’s neck (cowl down) it—

It so was unlikely yet it made so much sense (opposites do attract, especially with Soulmates). Yet nobody couldn’t’ve predicted that one. As they both stared in shock, Barry shaking his head in denial, hand on the Extension that was cold and hot and electric and now resembled a Lichemberg scar while Len was agap and speechless for the first time in decades and—dear God—yet it was real, it was actually happening. They actually were—there was no doubt—but—Cold and Flash, they were—no—this couldn’t be—it was—it was too much—too much—this—they were—

Danny woke up with a start.

The next day, he started wearing long sleeves.

Danny Fenton was a Soulchild. Soulchildren were supposed to reunite one day with their Soulparents. If they’re lucky.

But Danny was happy with his biological parents. With his actual parents.

There were too few instances of Soulfamilies to have proprer laws for them, especially since the Soulmatch was banned in the 70’s (a law that registered Marks and forced Mates together).

Of course he wondered who they were, how they were like, if he’s ever gonna meet them, you know, the usual Soul-whatever stuff.

Of course the Accident had to ruin that too. Even if his Soulparents were ever gonna get used to ghosts (was he supposed to keep his alter ego from them too?), how was he gonna find them if he can’t leave Amity Park for too long because: a) he couldn’t leave the town unprotected and b) his powers weaken without a source of ectoplasm/ecto-energy and he has to eat a more if he wants to use them (a downside which he learned of during field trips).

All he can do now is stare at the Extension that went from both his Marks to his left fist and neck, feel their strong Bond (wow, that’s a lot of feels coming through. Hope they’re ok) and try to remember that real dream but now everything was blurry (he forgot their faces, what were they doing but their emotions were left like a stain in his brain. Why was having a Bond so bad?)

———————————————————————

Buuut maybe one day something bad happends(TM).

Like, maybe a reveal gone wrong or idk and Danny runs away. And what better place to go than to your Soulfamily. That if he could find them.

So he spends the next days, weeks, on the run, trying to focus on his Bond or even see their dreams (that can be possible if the Bond is strong enough). But all he gets is their just daily angst and feels (again, ARE THEY OK?! Should I really go to them?!).

Luckily, due to writer’s convienence, he ends up in Central City(yay!).

There, he ends up meeting Barry and co but they don’t Bond ‘till much later (your Mark isn’t something you show just anyone! Besides, he already tried touching everyone in the last few towns an yikes).

Maybe Barry and/or Len, whose relationship just started getting better, see Danny’s Mark and—wow.

And I mean WOW! Barry always wanted to have kids, but a Soulkid?! That’s his?! That’s—that’s amazing! And he loves this kid to death. This kid that reminds him a lot of Len but that’s also a hero just like him. His kid!

Leonard, on the other hand, is ... conflicted. Yes, he likes kids (especially this kid that reminds him so much of Barry) but he never wanted to be a father, not with his childhood. What if he becomes like Lewis? But he doesn’t want to be missing from this—his kid’s life. But he also doesn’t want to fuck this up like he normally does. Damnit, he expected just a Soulmate not a whole freakin’ Soulfamily!

Btw once they’re Bonded they can tell when one of them dies. Imagine Barry and Len freaking out when Danny first goes ghost bc it feels like death (it is), and being beyond relived when he explains it to them and turns back to human (it feels like birth).

And on top of all that drama maybe the Soulmatch is becoming legal again and that’s a problem for them (Danny’s complicated relationship with all his parents, Barry and Len’s relationship etc) and then the GIW come in.

That may seem angsty (it is) but there’s also a lot of fluff and shenaningas.

Now I wanna write that but I’ve got like 4 other fic ideas.

[avelera]

One thing the latest episode of Game of Thrones and Endgame reminded me is how difficult exposition really is.

Exposition is an invisible art: it’s often only noticed when you’re doing it wrong. That’s not always a problem though, in general an audience would rather be mildly bored for a couple minutes while you explain what’s going on, rather than be confused. Audiences absolutely hate being confused.

Audiences generally like to have a clear, visible “spine” to the story, which is “What is going on and what is the goal of this story and this particular scene?” Even in stories that are meant to be deliberately confusing such as “Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind” the audience is given a copious number of clues for following the thread and there is a strong differentiation between what they’re supposed to know and where they’re meant to find baffling. Case in point, the timelines in “Eternal Sunshine” are deliberately confusing, we are meant to find them confusing because the characters do too, but we do know that we are witnessing a deliberately muddled timeline of two people’s relationship as one of them undergoes a magical scientific procedure to erase their memories of the other. We’re not confused on the “what” is happening, but only on the “how” is this happening.

By contrast, X-Men’s “Days of Future Past” is riddled with exposition, almost too much. The film had little confidence that the audience could follow the complexity of a sci-fi concept like “Go back in time to change the past” and so nearly every line of dialogue for the first 2/3 of the film is serving double duty to tell us the cause and effect of every action, what the characters hope to gain, and what the audience (and the characters) is supposed to be confused about (”Will it work?”) vs what they shouldn’t be confused about (”Why are we doing this?”)

To go into GoT and Endgame spoilers:

Endgame was actually 90% great at giving its exposition clearly. It’s ok to have characters talking about problems and theorizing how to solve them on screen, that’s not necessarily “telling” rather than “showing”. For example, it’s ok to have a Hero Speech like Cap’s where he clearly states what the goal is for the story before they jump back in time, and what they hoped to accomplish. 

The one failing of the story was the explanation of time travel. They did a great deal of explaining how it didn’t work, but a lot of the outrage around the film has to do with the fact they didn’t clearly explain the “what if” of the events that actually happened when the time travel went wrong, like Loki taking off with the reality stone, or Steve going back in time to live out his days with Peggy. 

But the battle scenes were clear. The characters’ motivations were clear from moment to moment and we could see what was going on. At 90% of the points in the story, we knew what was going and why and what we should be clear on vs. what we should be in suspense about. 

Game of Thrones 8.3 fell apart in retrospect because of the lack of clarity during the battle. It’s ok to have a “fog of war” style battle scene to grant realism, it’s ok to establish that we should be confused about what’s going to happen next because of the chaos. But we shouldn’t have been confused about what each character was trying to accomplish from moment to moment. 

We knew, overall, that there was an existential threat presented by the army of the dead. But the episode could have actually been well served by a somewhat dull voice over explaining their battle tactics. Why send the Dothraki first? Why not harry the army of the dead with dragon fire before they got close to Winterfell? Ned Stark said a few hundred men could defend Winterfell for a years, so why wasn’t everyone inside fighting a defensive battle? 

(Apropos to nothing, those tactics were in fact perfect if the intention was to cripple Daenerys’s forces without her realizing what was going on, assuming she has a literal concussed pigeon for a military advisor. All of her troops were frontloaded and sent into a battle they had the least investment in so they were given no choice to run if things got bad. I was half expecting a scene of Sansa making that point later, that she arranged the tactics to cripple Danny as an added bonus, rather than Winterfell’s forces which were towards the back, except that every fallen soldier is one more fighter for the dead, which is its own complication.) 

As a result, by the end of the episode, many viewers were confused and dissatisfied because even with a relatively straightforward situation like a battle, the individual choices of the characters were not well explained. 

Cause and effect, the set up and knock down of character goals coupled with their execution within the story, provide the spine of the story. Those are the actions that make the story more than people sitting in a room talking about their feelings, those are the events that need to take place so that you can have the sequel scene where people sit around and talk about their feelings on what just happened. Exposition provides clarity for those moments, because while “show don’t tell” is the goal, we still like to have a sense of what the intended take-away was in case “showing” leads to the wrong conclusion (and then you can get into all sorts of fun layers with unreliable narrators and actions contradiction explanation, but that’s advanced level shit and you need to have a firm grasp of the basics to pull those off). 

Exposition can be your friend. There are many ways to tackle it: with humor, with brevity, with arguments between characters, and even with a big crawl of text orienting the audience into the story during the opening credits. But exposition is, contrary to what many people think, one of the hardest parts of storytelling to get right, and that difficulty should be respected. It’s also one of the most important reasons to have a beta reader for your second draft: to know what important points from your brain made it to the page and what didn’t, and where the audience would like to have a better sense of what you have planned for them. 

[jennaschererwrites]

How TV Is Putting the ‘B’ in LGBTQ — And Why It Matters – Rolling Stone

“Mom. Dad. I know you don’t want to talk about this, but I do. I might get married to a man, like you so clearly want. And I might not. Because this is not a phase, and I need you to understand that. I’m bisexual.” That’s Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz), Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s resident no-nonsense detective, pouring out her heart to her parents in the show’s landmark 100th episode. To which her dad (Danny Trejo) stoically replies, “There’s no such thing as being bisexual.”

Beatriz, who is bisexual herself, wrote in GQ: “When does it end? When do you get to stop telling people you’re bi? When do people start to grasp that this is your truth? …When do you start seeing yourself reflected positively in all (hey, even any?) of the media you consume?”

There’s a real cognitive dissonance to identity erasure. You can be standing right in front of someone telling them exactly who you are, and they can just look right through you, and intone, like a Westworld robot, “That doesn’t look like anything to me.” Nevertheless, it’s a daily reality for LGBTQ folks, and bi- and pansexual people in particular. (The term pansexuality, which has come into wider use in recent years, intends to explicitly refer to attraction to all genders, not just cisgender people — or, as self-identified pansexual Janelle Monae put it in Rolling Stone last year: “I consider myself to be a free-ass motherfucker.” However, many in the queer community define bisexuality the same way. You can read more about that conversation here.) Until recently, sexual and gender identities that existed outside the binary have been anathema to mainstream culture — and often, even, to more traditionalist branches of gay culture.

For a long time, people who identify as bisexual or pansexual didn’t have a whole lot of visible role models — particularly on television. But as our understanding of the LGBTQ spectrum has become more diverse and nuanced over time, there’s been a blossoming of bi- and pansexual representation. In the past few years, characters such as Rosa on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, David Rose on Schitt’s Creek, Darryl Whitefeather on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Leila on The Bisexual — to name just a few — have been at the forefront of a bi- and pansexual renaissance on the small screen.

But it wasn’t always this way. Even after television began to centralize gay characters and their experiences — on shows like Ellen, Will & Grace, Queer as Folk, and The L Word — the “B” in that alphabet soup fell to the wayside. Bisexuality was seldom mentioned at all, and if it was, it existed chiefly as a punch line — an easy ba-dum-CHING moment for savvy characters to nose out someone who wasn’t as in the know as they were. On Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw called bisexuality “a layover on the way to Gaytown”; and on 30 Rock, Liz Lemon dismissed it as “something they invented in the Nineties to sell hair products.”

Even some of the earliest shows to break ground for queer representation didn’t factor bisexuality or pansexuality into their worldviews. The designation basically didn’t exist in the gay-straight binary world of Queer as Folk, and was largely seen as a phase on The L Word. Buffy the Vampire Slayer gave many TV viewers their first-ever depiction of a same-sex relationship in 1999 with the Wicca-fueled romance between Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) and Tara Maclay (Amber Benson), but the show too neatly glossed over Willow’s years-long relationship with her boyfriend Oz (Seth Green) as a fleeting step on the way to full-time lesbianism. Or, as Willow succinctly put it in Season 5: “Hello! Gay now!”

Characters who labeled themselves as bisexual were considered to be confused at best and dangerously promiscuous at worst. On The O.C. in 2004, Olivia Wilde’s bi bartender character, Alex Kelly, appeared as a destabilizing force of chaos in the lives of the show’s otherwise straight characters. On a 2011 episode of Glee — a show which, at the time, was breaking ground for gay representation on TV — Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) savagely shot down his crush, Blaine (Darren Criss), when Blaine mentioned that he might be bi: “‘Bisexual’ is a term that gay guys in high school use when they want to hold hands with girls and feel like a normal person for a change.” By the end of the episode, Blaine assures Kurt that he is, don’t you worry, “100 percent gay.”

One of TV’s first enduring portrayals of nonbinary sexual attraction came with the entrance of Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) into Russell T. Davies’ 2005 Doctor Who reboot. (Davies also created the original U.K. Queer as Folk.) The time traveler swashbuckled into the series to equal-opportunity flirt with the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his companion Rose (Billie Piper), because, as the Doctor explains, “He’s a 51st-century guy. He’s just a bit more flexible.” Captain Jack went on to feature in his own spinoff series, Torchwood.

Then came Callie Torres on Grey’s Anatomy. Portrayed by Sara Ramirez (who came out as bisexual herself in 2016), Callie had a seasons-long arc that spanned from her burgeoning realization of her bisexuality in 2008 to her complex relationships with both men and women over the years. Callie’s drunken rant from the 11th season would make a great T-shirt to wear to Pride if it weren’t quite so long: “So I’m bisexual! So what? It’s a thing, and it’s real. I mean, it’s called LGBTQ for a reason. There’s a B in there, and it doesn’t mean ‘badass.’ OK, it kind of does. But it also means bi!”

Once the 2010s rolled around, representation began to pick up steam. True Blood’s Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley), The Legend of Korra’s titular hero (Janet Varney), Game of Thrones’ Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal), The Good Wife’s Kalinda Sharma (Archie Panjabi), and Peep Show’s Jeremy Usborne (Robert Webb) all were portrayed in romantic relationships on both sides of the binary. But these characters’ sexual orientations were seldom given a name.

In some cases, this felt quietly revolutionary. On post-apocalyptic CW drama The 100, for example, set a century and change in the future, protagonist Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor) is romantically involved with both men and women with no mention of labels. Because on the show’s nuclear fallout-ravaged earth, humankind has presumably gotten over that particular prejudice. On other series, however, not putting a name to the thing seems like a calculated choice. Take Orange Is the New Black, a show that has broken a lot of barriers but steadfastly avoids using the B-word to describe its clearly bisexual central character, Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling).

A few years ago, though, tectonic plates began to shift. On Pop TV sitcom Schitt’s Creek, David Rose (co-creator Dan Levy) explained his pansexuality to his friend via a now-famous metaphor: “I do drink red wine. But I also drink white wine. And I’ve been known to sample the occasional rosé. And a couple summers back, I tried a merlot that used to be a chardonnay.”

Bisexuality got its literal anthem on the CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend with “Gettin’ Bi,” a jubilant Huey Lewis & the News-style number sung by Darryl Whitefeather (Pete Gardner) about waking up to his latent bisexuality as a middle-aged man. “It’s not a phase, I’m not confused / Not indecisive, I don’t have the gotta-choose blues,” he croons, dancing in front of the bi pride flag. Darryl’s exuberant ode to his identity felt like someone levering a window open in a musty room — a celebration of something that, less than a decade before, TV was loathe to acknowledge.

For Hulu and the U.K.’s Channel 4, Desiree Akhavan (Appropriate Behavior, The Miseducation of Cameron Post) cowrote, directed, and starred in a series picking apart the subject, titled, aptly, The Bisexual. In it, Akhavan portrays Leila, a thirtysomething woman coming to a dawning awareness of her bisexuality after having identified as a lesbian for most of her life. The show navigates the tricky territory that bisexuals inhabit when they’re misunderstood — or sometimes outright rejected — by queer and straight communities alike. Akhavan, a bisexual Iranian-American woman, has said the idea for the show came to her after repeatedly hearing herself described as a “bisexual director.” She told Vanity Fair that “there was something about being called a bisexual publicly — even though it’s 100 percent true! — that felt totally humiliating and in bad taste, and I wanted to understand why.”

As Leila shuttles her way between sexual partners and fields tone-deaf comments from friends on both sides of the binary, The Bisexual offers no easy answers. But it also never flinches. “I’m pretty sure bisexuality is a myth. That it was created by ad executives to sell flavored vodka,” Leila remarks in the first episode, unconsciously echoing 30 Rock’s throwaway joke from a decade ago. Except this time, the stakes — and the bi person in question — are real.

The next generation — younger millennials and Gen Z kids in particular — tends to view sexualityas a spectrum rather than the distance between two poles. Akhavan neatly encompasses this evolution in an exchange between Leila and her male roommate’s twentysomething girlfriend, Francisca (Michèlle Guillot), who questions why Leila is so terrified to tell anyone that she’s started sleeping with men as well as women. When Leila tells her it’s complicated because it’s “a gay thing,” Francisca responds, “So? I’m queer.” “Everyone under 25 thinks they’re queer,” says Leila. “And you think they’re wrong?” Francisca counters. Leila considers this for a moment before answering, “No.”

Representation matters, and here’s why: Seeing who you are reflected in the entertainment you take in gives you not just validation for your identity, but also a potential road map for how you might navigate the world. For many years, bi- and pansexuals existed in a liminal place where we were often dismissed outright by not just the straight community — but the queer community as well. Onscreen representation is not just a matter of showing us something we’ve never seen before, but of making the invisible visible, of drawing a new picture over what was once erased.

[thalia-amongst-the-thorns]

Angsty Q & A

Oh boy kids, strap in because this is a loooong one since @all-made-of-stardust asked for all of my main characters with all of the odd numbers from this post.

Answers under the cut because this got a teeny bit away from me.

Mae Niwot

1. What’s one experience your character had that made them very afraid? Pretty much the majority of her life from age twelve to sixteen while her mom was stationed overseas. Mae put up a good front for her dad but every call at home scared the bejeezus out of her because she feared it’d be the one telling them her mom died in combat. That and a few instances with farm life (riding a horse that went out of her control, shooting a shotgun for the first time, etc.) that she got over relatively quickly.

3. Have they ever lost a loved one? What happened to them, and are they the same as they were before they lost them? Her grandfather on her father’s side from old age/heart issues; it helped bridge some of the issues her dad has with his family and by extension, Mae. She’s now closer with her father’s family and regrets that she didn’t know her grandfather that well before his passing but has learned a lot about him from the rest of her dad’s family.

5. Would they ever turn on someone they just met in order to save themselves? Nope, never. It goes against Mae’s core principle of defending those who can’t defend themselves and trying to solve conflict with non-violent solutions first.

7. If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would it be and why? See answer to previous question.

9. Is the character a victim of abuse? No; Mae has a lot going on, especially with some emotional strain from her family and self-expectations, but not abuse.

11. What are your character’s coping mechanisms? After her mom came back home and showed signs of PTSD, Mae spent a lot of time reading up on the subject and talking with her school’s counselor, who thankfully had good insights that Mae was able to use to help her family, along with talking to people from the National Center for PTSD to help her mom. Now a days Mae applies some of these methods for her own mental well-being; mindfulness meditation, communicating her feelings clearly, along with physical stuff like kick boxing and gardening.

13. What does it take to make your character cry? Mae’s not afraid to show her emotions but doesn’t like making people uncomfortable with overemotional displays. If she feels comfortable, she’ll cry about anything that pulls at her heart strings; people suffering, injustice, sunrises, the goodness of people.

15. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared? Her family getting hurt, being unable to protect someone, hurting someone needlessly, her leadership leading to one of her friends getting hurt. In general Mae’s one of those people less scared of physical things which are easily punch-able or can be talked down as opposed to nebulous feelings like Failure and Disappointment which you just have to grit your teeth and suffer through. However, there’s a good reason Mae’s the leader; even scared she can compartmentalize and plan a path of action, only giving in to fear and tears when she has reassured herself that the danger has passed and it is now safe to do so.

17. Is your character afraid of death? Why/why not? Not afraid, but she certainly doesn’t want to. Given that she’s taken up superhero-ing she’s had to make peace with the fact that this is a very real possibility for her. She thinks the good she’s doing outweighs the risks though and would willingly lay her life down to save another’s. She’s one of those Self-Sacrifice Heroes.

19. What is your character insecure about? Mae’s pretty good emotionally, honestly; like all kids she went through phases of being insecure with her body but has come to terms with that and kicks ass with her thick arms. Again, worries about leading her rag-tag group of super friends, but their trust in her boosters her own confidence. She is a bit insecure about her self-identity sometimes; she’s biracial, mom’s white, dad’s Arapaho, and their marriage led to some…complications with his family. While trying to reconnect with her extended family Mae sometimes felt like an outsider on both sides, not fully included in either group, not white or Arapaho, just lost.

21. Does your character have anyone that they really care about, to the point that they would give their life for them? If so, who are they and what is your character’s relation to them? If not, do they wish they did? Is there anyone they wish they could build such a relationship with? Have I mentioned Mae would basically lay her life down to save anyone in her care? Literally anyone? If you made Mae do the Trolley Problem she’d pull an Option C and throw herself on the tracks so that everyone else lives. There is no hierarchy to Mae’s devotion for everyone’s wellbeing; she’d save a friend as likely as a stranger.

23. Is your character more physically or emotionally strong? Why is this? Mae is easily the most emotionally stable of the group and actively seeks passing on coping mechanisms/emotional balance to others. She’s also the Oklahoma State Girls’ Kickboxing and Boxing Championship winner five years running and bench presses 200lbs. She believes in nurturing both a strong body and mind, plus farm life favors the strong.

25. Do they find that they care what others think of them? Or do they not really mind how others view them? Eh, Mae cares a bit, especially when she hurts someone or if a friend is upset with her, but for the most part she’s fine leaving people to their opinions.

27.  What would be the worst way to die, in your character’s opinion? Seeing no way out besides killing yourself.

29. What is their weapon of choice, and what weapon do they dislike using the most? Mae’s very accomplished with her powers of plant and earth manipulation (lot of practice out on the farm) and with her fists from years of boxing and kickboxing, combining both in very effective use against villains. She’s also made a point of studying up and practicing basic weapons skills with various guns and knives to better combat foes using them, though she’s not very fond of any alien tech since it usually throws her off because she most definitely did not study up on laser beams.

Daniel Tarson

1. What’s one experience your character had that made them very afraid? There have been a few villains who have had the powers or technology to cut Daniel off from his own powers completely. Since Daniel’s been in constant communication with animals from birth and views his shapeshifting as an intrinsic part of himself as valuable as a sense of morality or sight, this is…very bad. Daniel’s sense of self and his powers are one and the same. Without them he is adrift. His head is unnerving quiet without the constant thoughts of his animal brethren. Senses dulled to a human’s pitiful capabilities. Without them Daniel is disoriented, lost, panicked, almost to the point of a mental breakdown, unsure of his own being and dissociative.  

3. Have they ever lost a loved one? What happened to them, and are they the same as they were before they lost them? A bit odd by human standards, but Daniel truly views all animals as his brothers and sisters and mourns any of there passing as deeply as a human friend. There have been multiple instances of this over his life considering he grew up on his aunt’s wildlife preservation which often took in injured animals with the hope of rehabilitation that didn’t always end happily; each was painful but helped Daniel gain a unique appreciation for the naturalness of death.

5. Would they ever turn on someone they just met in order to save themselves? Nah, Danny boy’s not big on leaving behind potential new members of his pack.

7. If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would it be and why? There’re some poachers he would take particular pleasure in taking down The Most Dangerous Game style…

9. Is the character a victim of abuse? Abuse, no. Neglect? Maybe. His parents took on a bit of a hands-off approach, leaving a gap his aunt tried to fill.

11. What are your character’s coping mechanisms? Animal thoughts are less complex than humans. Less rules. Animals are more straight forward in their wants and needs, lacking the stupidly complex hang-ups that come with human like guilt, shame, avarice. When things get bad, when Daniel doesn’t want to feel human anymore with all the baggage that comes with it, he’ll slip into a different skin and let his humanity slide sideways in favor of the comforting simplicity of animal nature…

13. What does it take to make your character cry? Daniel is a pretty chill dude; it takes a lot to upset him and usually that just results in anger rather than sadness. That said, hurting him emotionally with no means for him to take it out physically brings on tears.

15. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared? Losing his connection to his (animal) family is up there, but losing any member of his (super friends) pack is unimaginable. When scared Daniel falls back on animalistic tendencies, puffing up, baring teeth, probably some minor shape shifting to get actual fangs and claws, trying to show the scary thing that he’s the most terrifying thing in the room.

17. Is your character afraid of death? Why/why not? Nah, death is a natural part of the animal kingdom and life in general, how you live is what’s important. Daniel is very much a “live in the moment” chill dude.

19. What is your character insecure about? Listen; Daniel has no shame. Shame is a human construct that confuses him since no one has been able to adequately explain it beyond “It’s just something you feel, you naked weirdo!”. Frankly, this whole thing sounds like an elaborate hoax and you should stop buying into it.

21. Does your character have anyone that they really care about, to the point that they would give their life for them? If so, who are they and what is your character’s relation to them? If not, do they wish they did? Is there anyone they wish they could build such a relationship with? His aunt who basically raised him and any member of his team, but especially Mae once they start dating though he recognizes that she can take care of herself.

23. Is your character more physically or emotionally strong? Why is this? Even if he’s a bit “off” by human standards, Daniel’s very confident, self-assure, and happy with his emotional state. That said, he’s one of the heavy hitters on the team for good reason, so we’ll go with physically strong.

25. Do they find that they care what others think of them? Or do they not really mind how others view them? Daniel is just super happy with himself and wants everyone to feel the same way about themselves. Jury’s still out if he’s intentionally ignoring complaints or just really dense or just really confidant.

27.  What would be the worst way to die, in your character’s opinion? After watching his friends die.

29. What is their weapon of choice, and what weapon do they dislike using the most? Good old fisticuffs combined with whatever creature he changes into, though Daniel’s particularly fond of grizzly bears and gray wolf as they give him power and finesse. He doesn’t have a lot of experience in armed combat, but the only weapon he “dislikes” is guns due to some unfortunate mix ups on the preservation that led to him getting hunted down and shot.

Sasha Hile

1. What’s one experience your character had that made them very afraid? She didn’t understand what was going on at the time, but when she was like four Sasha ate something that didn’t react well to her half-alien physiology and went into anaphylactic shock which was already horrifying enough, but what really got to her was seeing her dads panic over what to do. It was a rather abrupt moment to realize that her parents might not actually be all powerful.

3. Have they ever lost a loved one? What happened to them, and are they the same as they were before they lost them? …You know what, she hasn’t. Her Daddy’s a secret alien refugee whose extended family are light years away and her Pop’s got a loving and supportive extended family that she cherishes; Sasha’s only been to one funeral for one of her Daddy’s work colleagues she never met.

5. Would they ever turn on someone they just met in order to save themselves? No, all strangers are friends you haven’t met yet! And you don’t abandon friends!

7. If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would it be and why? The villain that killed Ed.

9. Is the character a victim of abuse? Their dads have made sure to provide Sasha and Jacklyn with a loving and supportive household, and the two have had an excellent home and social life.

11. What are your character’s coping mechanisms? Compilation videos of cute animals in boxes, putting Ariana Grande on blast and dancing out negative emotions, ice cream even if it’ll kill her, baking shows, talking things out and expressing her emotions.

13. What does it take to make your character cry? Girl will cry about not being able to handle a kitten being too small and cute. All emotions are felt and expressed 110%.

15. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared? Rejection and that people secretly hate her, that her dads will be disappointed in her. Also, not very fond of enclosed spaces, but not to the point of phobia. Due to her alien physiology Sasha’s skin glows a different color based on her emotions, with a deep shale grey for fear making it quite obvious when she’s scared. She tends to curl in on herself, mind screaming, mouth mumbling, and latches on to the closest person for moral support/comfort, probably some tears.

17. Is your character afraid of death? Why/why not? No, but in that way were teenagers aren’t scared because death happens to other people, not them. She’s a bit careless and reckless when she starts off as a superhero, especially with her own safety, but quickly gets shaken out of that mindset for the most part.

19. What is your character insecure about? As a gymnast Sasha gets a lot of pressure about her body and appearance from all sides; she tries to ignore the noise, but it gets to her in terms of clothes and self-importance. She also can’t help comparing herself to her twin, Jacklyn, who applies herself to academics rigorously while Sasha’s not the greatest student. Sasha also struggles with her identity; being half alien’s hard enough without your dad refusing to tell you anything about it.

21. Does your character have anyone that they really care about, to the point that they would give their life for them? If so, who are they and what is your character’s relation to them? If not, do they wish they did? Is there anyone they wish they could build such a relationship with? Her family, obviously, and her friends, the lights of her life and super fight time friend buddies!

23. Is your character more physically or emotionally strong? Why is this? A good fighter, Sasha’s a lot more in touch with her emotions given her powers literally color code them for her and is naturally very empathetic and likes to talk with and listen to people’s problems and provide solutions.

25. Do they find that they care what others think of them? Or do they not really mind how others view them? She tries to be confident and self-assured and all smiles on the outside, but deep-down Sasha cares and wants people to like and need her.

27.  What would be the worst way to die, in your character’s opinion? Buried alive; slow, painful, sends shivers down her spine.

29. What is their weapon of choice, and what weapon do they dislike using the most? Sasha’s got a good handle on her powers, energy blasts that give her range and a lot of punch, with her acrobatic skills providing her support if someone fights her in close quarters. That said, she’s not fond of knives, bit messy and too personal for her tastes.

Ed Washio

1. What’s one experience your character had that made them very afraid? Two years of being kidnapped and experimented on for unknown purposes, unsure if his parents were still searching for him, shuttled between being strapped down on a table with tubes shoved in his throat and a stark cage, mind so addled by drugs he was only dimly aware of the other failed children subjects being wheeled past him in body bags. The fear that his parents didn’t want him. That this pain was his life now.

3. Have they ever lost a loved one? What happened to them, and are they the same as they were before they lost them? Ed’s lost both his grandparents on his father’s side, both to heart complications. He wasn’t especially close to them, and his parents weren’t very effected by it either, so it didn’t seem like a big deal.

5. Would they ever turn on someone they just met in order to save themselves? Oh, hell yeah, if you can’t handle it then sucks to be you buddy.

7. If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would it be and why? One would be hard to pick, but Dr. Rajinder is high on the list…

9. Is the character a victim of abuse? Both physical and emotional. Even once he escaped captivity and returned home things weren’t great. One of the reasons why he’s so shut off from others, bit of a self-preservation thing.

11. What are your character’s coping mechanisms? Emotionally closed off from others, distances himself by belittling and acting indifferent to other’s needs, putting on a mask of over confidence to hide his deep running insecurities of inadequacy.

13. What does it take to make your character cry? Ed doesn’t do expressing emotions besides derision and self-loathing.

15. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared? Hospitals and doctors; unless he prepares himself for it, he’ll go into a full-on panic attack, yelling and unable to process anything but the burning desire to leave right now. More generally he’s got a bit of stage fright.

17. Is your character afraid of death? Why/why not? Not a bit; his power of invulnerability is so complete he’s a bit arrogant about his inability to get hurt, let alone die.

19. What is your character insecure about? …heheHAHAHAHAHA— His relationship with his parents, disappointing his family, that his brother’s right about him, that something’s broken inside him, he’s a failure and will never succeed at anything, he’d be better off dead from the experimentation--

21. Does your character have anyone that they really care about, to the point that they would give their life for them? If so, who are they and what is your character’s relation to them? If not, do they wish they did? Is there anyone they wish they could build such a relationship with? …his friends once he realizes that’s what they are. Especially Sasha when he accepts how he feels about her.

23. Is your character more physically or emotionally strong? Why is this? Boy is an emotional train wreck and actually not that great a fighter until his secondary mutation kicks in and he can bench press a bus, so physically. Eventually.

25. Do they find that they care what others think of them? Or do they not really mind how others view them? He likes to act like he doesn’t give a shit, but the boy gives many, many shits, especially about what his parents think.

27.  What would be the worst way to die, in your character’s opinion? He can’t so it doesn’t matter. On an operating table after waking up mid surgery

29. What is their weapon of choice, and what weapon do they dislike using the most? Being a stubborn prick sometimes, Ed didn’t put a lot of stock in actually learning how to fight since his powers meant he could never be hurt. Over time he’s learned that even if he’ll be okay, he needs to be able to defend other people and is pretty decent at hand to hand combat. Not great with guns, his aim’s pretty shitty and Marcus teases him mercilessly about it.

Marcos Powell

1. What’s one experience your character had that made them very afraid? The first time he was left in charge of looking after his sister and promptly lost her while at the mall; there were a lot of tears, yelling, and panicking about his looming death via chancla. Three hours and an amber alert later, he wasn’t even sure if he was happy to see her again after she was fished out of the kid center ball pit.

3. Have they ever lost a loved one? What happened to them, and are they the same as they were before they lost them? His dad when he was around fifteen from skin cancer. It was a slow process and rocked the family emotionally and financially. Since his passing Marcos has tried to step up as the “man of the house” as it were, treating his five siblings more like his kids than his brothers and sisters, picking up as many part time gigs as he can to help take pressure off his mom, and kind of letting his personal life go on the wayside.

5. Would they ever turn on someone they just met in order to save themselves? No way man, and he’s got a pretty good out for you with teleportation.

7. If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would it be and why? He’d make some joke about going back in time to kill M. Night Shyamalan before he made The Happening, but this boy isn’t killing anyone.

9. Is the character a victim of abuse? Nope!

11. What are your character’s coping mechanisms? Jokes: if you’re laughing, you can’t cry!

13. What does it take to make your character cry? A good rom-com or the beauty of a Mike Mignola original sketch.

15. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared? Letting down the memory of his dad or failing his family, his mom dying. More generally he’s a bit squicked out by things with unnecessary multiple eyes or mouths. Marcos is the kind to nervous talk when scared, so a lot of rambling in an increasingly high voice.

17. Is your character afraid of death? Why/why not? Yeah; it was painful watching his dad waste away and he wouldn’t want to put his family through that emotional trauma again. It runs at odds with the whole superhero gig; originally it was about doing something fun that connected him with his dad, but the gravity of the whole things starts to weigh on him when Marcos realizes death is a very real possibility when fighting crime.

19. What is your character insecure about? Good healthy body image and financial insecurities.

21. Does your character have anyone that they really care about, to the point that they would give their life for them? If so, who are they and what is your character’s relation to them? If not, do they wish they did? Is there anyone they wish they could build such a relationship with? I’m a broken record here, but his family and friends.

23. Is your character more physically or emotionally strong? Why is this? Emotionally; jokes aside, Marcos is genuinely caring and nurturing and wants to make people feel better. Boy’s also about as strong as overcooked spaghetti.

25. Do they find that they care what others think of them? Or do they not really mind how others view them? Generally, Marcos doesn’t care and enjoys doing his own thing, but if you’re someone close to him (family and friends) he cares deeply what you think about him.

27.  What would be the worst way to die, in your character’s opinion? …Cancer.

29. What is their weapon of choice, and what weapon do they dislike using the most? His cutting wit and charm! Aka, annoying villains with taunts and teleporting away so other people can land blows. Hates swords because all films ever lied and they’re a bitch to use properly.

Raiqah Damji

1. What’s one experience your character had that made them very afraid? The first (and only) time she tried to take down a supervillain solo, led to a lot of tears, panicking, and ultimately failure. Fighting scares the bejeezus out of her and she feels tremendous pressure to make sure everyone gets out okay and that big guy with flaming fists is trying to hit her oh god oh god she could die--!

3. Have they ever lost a loved one? What happened to them, and are they the same as they were before they lost them? An aunt and cousin in a car accident; it was a sober moment that brought Raiqah closer to her uncle and strengthened her faith.

5. Would they ever turn on someone they just met in order to save themselves? No and I am insulted you would ask.

7. If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would it be and why? How dare you.

9. Is the character a victim of abuse? Nope no no.

11. What are your character’s coping mechanisms? Getting quiet and internalizing everything, trying to make herself as small as possible, writing her thoughts out, playing the piano, panicking and doing whatever is asked of her.

13. What does it take to make your character cry? Raising your voice around her.

15. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared? Disappointing her parents, snakes, spiders, public speaking, fighting, almost everything to some degree. When scared Raiqah gets tongue tied and has trouble breathing, usually curls in on herself and covers her ears/eyes to block out the object of fear.

17. Is your character afraid of death? Why/why not? Yes; death is scary and full of unknown variables, but she takes comfort in the guidance of Allah when she eventually passes.

19. What is your character insecure about? Everything; expressing her opinions, talking, what people think about her, being overeager, not doing enough to help people, being selfish, not performing well in school, disappointing her parents—

21. Does your character have anyone that they really care about, to the point that they would give their life for them? If so, who are they and what is your character’s relation to them? If not, do they wish they did? Is there anyone they wish they could build such a relationship with? Raiqah doesn’t want to die, but she does her best to protect her friends in battle and would definitely sacrifice herself for her parents.

23. Is your character more physically or emotionally strong? Why is this? Oh, emotionally; she may be timid and worried, but Raiqah’s emotionally mature and wise beyond her years and provides excellent advice and insights when you ask for them.

25. Do they find that they care what others think of them? Or do they not really mind how others view them? She cares. So much.

27.  What would be the worst way to die, in your character’s opinion? Any way, why are you talking about this????

29. What is their weapon of choice, and what weapon do they dislike using the most? Raiqah doesn’t really do “fighting”; she’s more about defense, providing energy shields and using psychokinesis to disarm or restrain opponents and very much hates violence and using any weapon.

Angie Hua

1. What’s one experience your character had that made them very afraid? The first time Palivāńkum overcame her mind and nearly made her destroyed her father’s psyche.

3. Have they ever lost a loved one? What happened to them, and are they the same as they were before they lost them? No, but there have been a few close calls with older relatives, not to mention the whole “god taking over my mind and trying to destroy my father and brother” thing.

5. Would they ever turn on someone they just met in order to save themselves? Not intentionally, but sometimes it’s not up to her.

7. If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would it be and why? Do gods count?

9. Is the character a victim of abuse? Emotional abuse and manipulation from Palivāńkum as they try to assert dominance over her mind and body, and later from her father. Only one of these relationships improves…

11. What are your character’s coping mechanisms? Internalize all issues for later. Loud music, coffee, and throwing herself into menial tasks. Since Palivāńkum knows everything that goes on inside her head, Angie has to be careful about getting to wrapped up in negative emotions that Pali can take advantage of to get a foothold in Angie’s mind, but when she has a quiet moment to herself Angie will give her emotions due consideration.

13. What does it take to make your character cry? Not exactly a “crier”, but Angie’ll cry from emotional stress and fear if pushed to her breaking point.

15. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared? Being over taken mind and soul by a forgotten god of revenge who will use her to twist and warp the psyche of those it deems deserving of punishment, which turns out to be basically everyone. Possessing someone and killing in their body. Not returning to her own body in time while possessing someone. Hurting her family. When scared Angie freezes up, deer in the headlights style, trying to grapple with whatever is scaring her.

17. Is your character afraid of death? Why/why not? Yes. Death is an unknown that could be worse than her current situation, something Palivāńkum takes advantage of.

19. What is your character insecure about? Over time Angie took it upon herself to cultivate a sense of self confidence to combat society bullshit and just, yah know, to feel better about herself. Thus, her metamorphosis into a rocking goth punk goddess with multicolored hair and blasts the Sex Pistols who wears what she likes. She’s up there with Daniel in terms of having no shame for insecurities to exploit. That said; there’s a god in her head that wants to fully take over her mind and fucking take vengeance upon all sinful humans who she has to constantly restrain and placate and if she slips up once then everyone’s doomed. Just that tiny little thing…

21. Does your character have anyone that they really care about, to the point that they would give their life for them? If so, who are they and what is your character’s relation to them? If not, do they wish they did? Is there anyone they wish they could build such a relationship with? In a way Angie views her relationship as Palivāńkum’s keeper a bit like giving up her life for the sake of her family and later on everyone else. Any chance of a normal life was forfeit when Palivāńkum marked her and for a time all Angie saw in her future was forever wrestling with a petulant god for humanity’s sake.

23. Is your character more physically or emotionally strong? Why is this? Angie relies on the vast mental powers Palivāńkum grants her instead of physical confrontation; at the same time, much as she tries not to intrude on people’s inner thoughts without permission, Angie also gets baseline telepathic link with anyone near her that she uses to provide emotional insights and help people work through whatever is troubling their minds. She’s also very sure of her own emotions and who she is, which provides stability amongst all the other craziness in her life.

25. Do they find that they care what others think of them? Or do they not really mind how others view them? Angie doesn’t give a shit about any aesthetic issues people take with her. Palivāńkum’s presence though makes her sensitive to people thinking she’s a monster, that she agrees with Palivāńkum and wants to carry out their wishes, that she enjoys the tremendous power granted to her and mentally torturing people…

27.  What would be the worst way to die, in your character’s opinion? Having your memories wiped away, so that your final moments are a wave of confusion and fear with no thoughts you can draw upon to comfort you as you’re killed.

29. What is their weapon of choice, and what weapon do they dislike using the most? When possessing someone Angie has full access to their memories and abilities, including their experience with weapons. Supervillain fighting means that she has experienced battle as a variety of skilled opponents wielding from machine guns to laser blasters, but she’s especially fond of possessing anyone with swordsmanship skills, rather taken with the grace and ferocity of the technique. She least likes having to use novelty weapons (think like batarangs or star bolts) which just seem so needlessly extra.

Nobody

1. What’s one experience your character had that made them very afraid? Her parents being killed in front of her, powerless to stop it and being snatched away by those same killers. Locked away for five years, her body cut open, studied, cut again, knowing that there was no one left alive to come for her and stop it.

3. Have they ever lost a loved one? What happened to them, and are they the same as they were before they lost them? Ever member of her family is dead; three of her grandparents died before she was born and the last around when she was a year old, so not a lot of emotional attachment. Her parents were beaten and shot in front of her. A bit of her was lost that day, a her that wasn’t consumed by revenge.

5. Would they ever turn on someone they just met in order to save themselves? Yes, routinely.

7. If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would it be and why? Dr. Rajinder. Slowly, since it’s personal…

9. Is the character a victim of abuse? Both physical and mental due to Dr. H. Forsberg.

11. What are your character’s coping mechanisms? Shoving people away, not making personal attachments, hurting them before they can hurt her, putting her well-being and wants before others’, picking fights just to feel better about herself when she wins, never showing emotions beyond rage and annoyance.

13. What does it take to make your character cry? For the first few months of her imprisonment and experimentation Nobody cried constantly until she realized that her tears did nothing to stop her suffering and only made the doctors hurt her more. A quiet patient was treated with leniency, so she was silent. She hasn’t cried since. No one will hurt her again.  

15. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared? Hospitals, doctors, and enclosed spaces. Mind readers and anyone who can influence thoughts. Emotions and failing in her mission. Nobody doesn’t just get scared, she gets angry that she’s scared and tends to lash out, punching whatever the thing is to get it to stop.

17. Is your character afraid of death? Why/why not? Not really; death didn’t come to her when she wanted it and she made peace with it. Plus, she’s a lot harder to kill now.

19. What is your character insecure about? Nobody doesn’t give fuck what anybody thinks about her and will be sure to tell you about it with her fists. She is 100% confident in all her decisions, as they all verve her ultimate goal to kill the Doc.

21. Does your character have anyone that they really care about, to the point that they would give their life for them? If so, who are they and what is your character’s relation to them? If not, do they wish they did? Is there anyone they wish they could build such a relationship with? No. She’s made a point of keeping people away to avoid this scenario and thinks she’s stronger for it.

23. Is your character more physically or emotionally strong? Why is this? Girl is an emotional garbage bag but will fight anyone and usually wins; physically strong given her time living homeless on the streets and having to defend herself.

25. Do they find that they care what others think of them? Or do they not really mind how others view them? She really, really doesn’t care. One cannot fathom the depths her uncaring sinks.

27.  What would be the worst way to die, in your character’s opinion? With Dr. Rajinder smiling, alive and well, as he cut her open for the last time.

29. What is their weapon of choice, and what weapon do they dislike using the most? Fists primarily, but over time Nobody’s collected a goody bag of weapons for her disposal; a Jericho 941, an array of switchblades and knives, and a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. She’s a good shot and her ability to regenerate make her an unpredictable and reckless fighter, willing to take a hit if it means she gets the chance to stab you in the back. She dislikes the impersonal nature of poisons; she’s very much about getting her hands dirty, otherwise where’s the fun.in the fight?

[ironbloodaika]

If there was a show you really wanted to reboot so you could go back and fix all the problems you had with it, which show would it be and what changes would you make?

Sorry for the delay in answering this Charlie. My memory’s been wonky lately. XD First off thanks for asking this, I love these sorta asks. I used to get these all the time from Jenn, but the less said about that the better.

I’ve thought about this and the one I REALLY think could use a reboot/fresh coat of paint is definitely Danny Phantom. It had a lot of strong points, but was also lacking quite a bit. Some I saw when it first aired and others only after re-watching and the gift of hindsight. So here’s a list of things I’d change/improve to the series if I could in no particular order.

*Have some solid continuity/character growth for the characters. A sad trend I’ve noticed with a lot of Butch shows is that they don’t tend to really have the characters under go arcs that span longer than an episode or even make reference or learn from past events. Occasionally they DO pop up, but they’re very rare and fleeting. It helps when you’re airing episodes without any regard to order, but it really hamstrings your ability to tell engaging stories or have the characters grow when there’s no guarantee that anything that happened is gonna carry over into future episodes.

*Give Danny a spine. Danny’s kinda stuck with one of the most annoying problems I see in a lot of cartoons, especially Butch shows I’ve noticed. The hero, despite having all these amazing gifts and powers, still doesn’t stick up for himself in even the most basic of circumstances. Look, I understand Danny can’t just go using his powers to push back against bullies or anyone who makes him mad. It’d be taking advantage of his powers and run the risk of abuse. But for the love of God, Danny, grow an f’ing spine! Despite facing Eldrich Abominations on a semi-daily basis, this guy still has to kowtow to the likes of Dash and the jocks for no real reason. For fuck’s sake kid, Peter Parker got bit by a radioactive spider and gained enough strength to bench-press a Buick. Yeah, he didn’t advertise he had powers and still acted meek around others, but he actually started standing up for himself. He didn’t fucking sitdown and take it. Instead the show seems to pain ANY attempts of him using his abilities for any sort of personal gain is wrong. And if we wanna play by that logic, fine, but have Danny at LEAST stand up to Dash. I’ve learned through my own experience that ignoring or running from a bully solves NOTHING. If Danny isn’t gonna tell a teacher or something of the blonde sociopath making his life hell, then fucking stand up for yourself. Teach kids to not take that shit.

*Okay that last one went on a bit. Sorry, that just really bothered me. Second thing I’d do is give Tucker some development. Of the main 3, he’s one who really never went through and arc and often times felt like a 3rd Wheel at best and an annoyance at worse. They keep playing up how his love of tech makes him unpopular, but it really comes off more he’s unpopular for just how grating he is. I’m not sure what school Butch went to, but in my days EVERYONE knew SOMETHING about technology. They weren’t fucking Luddites. Give Tucker SOMETHING to add to the story besides just being there and cracking wise.

*SAM. Sam needs a real overhaul. At first I didn’t mind her, but she’s really grated on me with the passage of time. I’ve shared my thoughts and feelings on her a LOT on this account, so I invite anyone who wants to check those pieces out to checked the Sam Manson tags for more on that. But to keep it short, give her SOME kind of depth. Sam really comes off as more shallow than the people she derides, constantly complaining about stuff by the mere fact it’s popular, propping herself and her interests up on a pedestal because they’re not “mainstream”, forces her friends and others to alter their life-styles to fit HER choices, and comes off as more of a contrarian lashing out at Mommy and Daddy than someone who legit BELIEVES any of the crap she’s spouting.

*Give the secondary characters some love. With how much we have episodes that focus on characters like Jazz, Valerie, Paulina, or Dash, they don’t really change all that much or have much going for them to begin with. Valerie has the strongest arc of the bunch, but it’s sadly dropped near the end of the series and doesn’t really get the resolution it deserved. Jazz played a roll as a secret keeper to Danny, but didn’t really do much before or after those episodes. It would have been cool to see the sort of relationship she had with her brother before knowing he had super powers and how their dynamic worked before then. Even get a glimpse to how she is at school. Maybe like how despite all the things Danny thinks about her being smart and perfect, it’s because of those things that’s she’s really not all that popular at school. We never DO see her really hang with anyone outside of Danny and his friends. And Dash and Paulina just serve to as foil to Danny or Sam respectively. Dash only serves to remind me how much the Casper High is dropping the ball on preventing very clear and public bullying and Paulina and Sam get into arguments that, let’s face it, are instigated 9/10 times by Sam for no other reason than she can. Have these characters GROW. There are a lot of parallels made between the cast of Danny Phantom and Spider-Man and here’s a bit some people tend to forget, the kids who bullied Peter Parker before he got his powers? They grew up. They stopped being bullies, made up for their short comings, and became actual adults. But everyone seems to wanna keep them as these static bullies who only serve to cause tension and nothing else. I’m not saying upgrade them to Sixth Ranger status, but if you’re gonna have them be in so many episodes and in such a chaotic series, have them add SOMETHING.

*Dig deeper into the Ghost Mythos. One thing they REALLY need to take advantage of is the fact that ghosts EXIST in this universe. There IS an afterlife or at the very least an alternate dimension we SUDDENLY have access too. I feel that this should be a much bigger deal to their world than it is, but everyone seems to just accept it and move on. Unless Danny really DOES live in the Marvel universe, I don’t think the fact his parents literally created a portal to the afterlife should be treated as an after thought. You have so many chances to explore with this concept, especially with the ghosts Danny fights themselves. So many different types of spirits and apparitions in folklore to take inspiration from. Hell, the series flat out tells us that a lot of these ghosts WERE people at some point. They had lives. Families. But they never really touch upon this fact and just treat them like a Monster of the Week. You’d think Danny would get tired of fighting and try to do something a bit more long-term with some of the ghosts who’d like to just be left alone. Instead we get a really weak ‘retcon’ that ghosts are just extra-dimensional creatures who THINK they’re the spirits of the dead. That seems like stupidly complicating the matter. Why even call them ghosts if they’re not? 

*Speaking of ghosts, how about they finally explain why the fuck they can’t shut that damn portal down. Seriously. It’s the SOLE means the ghosts have of getting out as often as they do. Danny KNOWS this. But the fact he never ones tries to shut-down or disable the thing is astounding. If they just gave us a reason like it was too big to shut and the machine was there to keep it from getting BIGGER, that I’d buy. It’d at LEAST be an explanation. To me this is one of those elements that if you just removed, the series would literally end at that point.

*This is sorta looping back, but Danny seems to be very split in personality depending on the episode. He’s either cocky and brimming with confidence to the point of arrogance or a moppy sad-sack who is all to willing to quit and ditch his powers despite the levels of stupid such an act would bring. Look, I’m not saying a hero shouldn’t be confident or have low-points, but they feel very random and often time serve no other purpose than to force a scenario where he’s either humbled or turned into such a Butt Monkey by the narrative it starts getting sad. Even Spider-Man in the 90′s cartoon didn’t have it that bad. And he felt about quitting every other story arc.

*Give Sam and Danny better chemistry. IF you’re gonna have these two together, give us SOMETHING to work with. These two don’t have a lot of chemistry, all they do is blush and avert eyes. It’s really not that impressive. It’d be cute if they’re grade-schoolers and this was a story of young love, but they don’t really click in any kind of romantic sense with what we’re given. I know Valerie was given as a Romantic False Lead, but you wanna know something? They actually WORKED. There was some goddamed communication there. Some really adorable flirting, compliments, and sweet moments. They didn’t bicker every five minutes and made each other happy. Hell, if they had pulled an American Dragon and had Valerie find out about Danny and ultimately be okay with it after finding out she’d been played, I’d have completely been okay with it. Instead we have to accept him getting with a girl who can’t even bare the sight of him showing interest in another girl while STILL denying she has feelings for him. Look, I grew tired of that bullshit in Total Drama, Sam, don’t push me.

Well that’s all I’ve got to say on this end. Most of it springs down to character and story elements since I feel that’s where the show really frays out. Hopefully this answers your question, Charlie, and it was a good read. Thanks again for the question! :D