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luulapants · 4 years ago

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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.

#teen wolf #teen wolf meta #erica reyes #isaac lahey #scott mccall #age gap ships #tv writing

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dannyphantom-justiceleauge · 4 years ago

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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

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dani-halfa · 4 years ago

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Danny Phantom: Arcs and build up

Okay, let's talk about character arcs, continuity and built up.

Usually when writing a story in a series, there are some episodes dedicated to exploring certain story elements that later become important for the plot. This isusually called "foreshadowing" or "built up".

Foreshadowing is when the writer gives certain clues about what is going to happen next in the story without being explicit about it.

"Build up" is when there are some episodes that set up for a important event in the story. For example: A character becoming evil. Before the character turns completely evil, they are likely to have a few episodes exploring how they are slowly getting worse until they finally decide to betray the heroes. This really helps feeling the character's arc more realistic as their development didn't feel like came of nowhere.

Now let's talk about Reign Storm, The ultimate enemy and arcs in Danny Phantom.

Danny phantom is a character driven series, so when talking about arcs i'm going to refer to them as "character arcs".

Let's start with Vlad's character arc:

Vlad Masters is first introduced in the episode 7 in season 1 "Bitter reunions". In this episode we learn about his motivations, personality, goals and backstory. We know that he wants to get his revenge on Jack, and make Maddie and Danny "join him". Another of his personal goals is stealing and becoming more powerful.

Near the end of the episode Vlad foreshadows that he is going to see Danny again some time.

In "Shades of Gray" he is the one that gives Valerie the ghost hunter equipment, he makes a small cameo spying on her to check if she got her package.

In "Maternal instincts" we get to see more about his character and "fruitloopness" as Danny would put it. "Bitter reunions" made it clear he is a "fruitloop" but "Maternal instincs" proofs this even further by showing his extreme methods to get what he wants are.

"Maternal instincts" he still wants to Maddie and Danny to be his family. He ends up ruining his relationship with Maddie ( she thought of him as a close friend) and Danny even more. He's so desperate to the point that he really believed Danny wants to be his son after everything that happened.

In "Million Dollar Ghost" he tries stealing the Skeleton Key. After escaping from the guardian, his ghost portal blews up and goes to the Amity Park to steal Fenton's portal.

In a "Million Dollar Ghost" he also tries to break the bond between Jack and Danny, however, his main goal is the ghost portal. After he is beaten by no other than Jack. He accidentally finds the Skeleton Key but the guardian eats him.

Up until this point we know that:

Vlad wants to do something with the Skeleton Key (Reign Storm).

He has ruined his relationship with Danny and Maddie, both realizing what kind of person he is.

His main goals and motivations.

He is using Valerie for his own goals.

He is the one the gave the equipment to Valerie.

Now, Valerie's arc:

Her character is really first developed in "Shades of Gray". We all already know her backstory at this point: She used to be a rich girl that used to hang out with the popular kids until one day Cujo and Danny as Phantom made her dad lose his job at Axiom Labs and that ruined her life. She lost her own social status and her friends left her.

This made her hate ghosts with a burning passion. After receiving a package from Vlad, she started to train to become a ghost hunter and hunt Phantom.

Later in "Life lessons" she teams up with Danny (Phantom) to escape and fight Skulker,who was trying to hunt them down.

Valerie and Danny in the same episode start developing feelings for each other after Danny tries to make up to Valerie by helping her with her second job. She also learns that not all ghosts are totally evil, which becomes crucial in future episodes.

So until now we know that:

Valerie hates ghosts due to an incident that ruined her life.

Has a crush on Danny but doesn't like Phantom.

Is Training to be a ghost hunter

Her relationship with Danny is very complicated.

I noticed how Valerie has only two episodes in season 1 despite being one of the most interesting characters in the show.

As for Danny's arc:

Since he is the protagonist, i'll write a short summary of his arc in season 1:

This season is mainly about him learning how to control his powers while growing up into a responsible teenager. In some episodes, he slowly grows to understand that not all ghosts are evil and don´t want to harm anyone (Like Cujo and Wulf). He also solves conflicts without his "punching first,ask questions later". He grows closer with his family, specially his sister Jazz, who finds about his secret.

Besides these character arcs "Fright Night" is an episode that introduces the Fright Night, who later serves as a secondary antagonist in "Reign Storm".

Why did i talked about all these arcs? Because they all become important for Reign Storm.

Danny's, Vlad's and Valerie's arcs were all building up for this specific episode. So, when you watch this "Reign Storm" you already know who these characters are, their personalities and development.

You know where Vlad got the key to open the ghost king's prision. You know about Danny's and Vlad's rivalry. You know why Valerie decides to team up with Phantom. You also know all the ghosts that help Danny during his battle against the Ghost King.

Reign Storm is a great episode on its own but it works so well because of all the set up and foreshadowing in season 1. It feels rewarding so see everything paying off in this episode.

Now i'm going to explain my issue with The Ultimate Enemy:

There's very little built up and foreshadowing for such an important episode.

I mean,look at this:

There are only two episode between Reign Storm and The ultimate enemy.

Identity Crisis, which establishes that halfas can be separated.

The fenton Menace that focus on Danny and Jazz relationship and is important for the special.

There is very little build up to Dan's character or his tragic origins. Or how crazy the whole episode is in comparison to the rest of the series.

You could argue that "Control Freaks" and "Memory Blank" foreshadow alternative timelines and Dan (even if Memory Blank makes no sense). But still doesn't feel enough. The series would need more a few more episodes to develop Danny´s character.

Like, why no an episode about him hurting someone with his ghost powers? Or him thinking he is turning evil? Why no an episode about Vlad showing he still has some humanity left inside him foreshadowing his alternative future self?

It doesn't help that The ultimate enemy lacks continuity: Danny having a dark side? Vlad actually showing he is capable of feeling sorry? Danny going to an alternative future caused by him and not having nightmares about it? A Fusion of two powerful ghosts? The ending hinting at Dan returning? (Which he never did because the show was cancelled)

Sure, Jazz and Danny relationship changes ,that's great, and Clockwork appears in Masters of time again.

However, The ultimate enemy introduced so many great concepts and they weren´t that well-explored in later episodes, which is a pity. The special itself is very entertaining but i think i would had worked better as a story arc finale and not airing two episodes after Reign Storm.

It´s also a bit weird since there are other episodes that have build up like Flirting with Disaster, Secret Weapons, Kindred Spirits yet this The Ultimate Enemy doesn´t.

I would have really liked for the writers of show to have more time to create an arc about Dan and not just two episodes. Or at least return in a season finale. That would have been a great idea.

#Danny Phantom #Dan Phantom #dark danny #vlad plasmius #Vlad Masters #valerie gray #danny fenton #jazz fenton #Reign Storm #the ultimate enemy #DP characters arcs #dp analysis

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ibelieveinahappilyeverafter · 4 years ago

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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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Check out my writing commission information here! Pledge to my Patreon to get exclusive content! Or buy me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

Read the story on AO3!

⁂

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.

#danny phantom #iambic prose #ghostwriter #ghost writer #my writing #original

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056crowshit6556 · 4 years ago

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“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.

#the last of us #the last of us part 2 #the last of us part II #the last of us 2 #tlou 2 #joel miller #ellie williams #my posts

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tammyhybrid21 · 4 years ago

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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!

#THybrid Jones #Tadeo Jones #Animals #Mummy(Tadeo Jones)#Tad(The Protagonist)#Animal Symbolism #Freddy Marquez #Rats #Dogs #Honestly feels like a long rant of just screaming #That might go in circles-- but eyy #ALSO DON'T WORRY #Sara will get her own symbols rant eventually #Communication #Autism #Speculation

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tabloidtoc · 4 years ago

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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

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ecto-american · 5 years ago

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DannyMay 2019 themed story, I’m not late I’m just going my own pace pls be nice to me

Day 28: Puppet

The process felt like it would never end. The worst part was the painful lack of results. Two hours of searching through textbooks, and they found little to work with.

Jazz had been faithfully taking notes in neat handwriting on anything possibly worth referencing. She paused only to sip coffee and occasionally ask Ohmer a question. Like her, the lawyer was focused and kept her eyes mostly glued to the pages as she applied sticky notes to relevant places.

Jack couldn't concentrate at all.

He stared at the pages, his mind skipping over words and forgetting the last paragraph. The text was so small, with many words he didn't quite understand. Jack wasn't a lawyer or a brilliant teenager. He was an ecto-biologist. None of this made sense to him. He was useless. Useless to even do a basic thing to help his son. He had retreated to the lawyer's couch to properly stretch out and to give the girls more space to spread out the books.

The office phone began to ring. Ohmer's hand shot out to answer it immediately.

"Hello, this is Elizabeth Ohmer," she greeted. A weak smile came across her face as she forced a small chuckle. "Yeah, I'm still here. Did you get my message?" She sighed and leaned back in her chair, only to immediately sit up again. "Oh? Yes, I will still be here...Please drop on by!" Jack watched the lawyer curiously. "Thank you, see you in a little bit! Mhm! Goodbye!"

She hung up, and she sighed heavily in relief.

"That was one of the other lawyers I called, his name is George Payne, who'd have more knowledge," she explained to the pair.

George Payne...George Payne...that name rang a bell…Jack knew that name...

"That's V-man's lawyer," he suddenly realized. "George Payne, from Payne and Slaughter Firms?" Ohmer nodded, and Jazz went pale.

"You know him?" she asked curiously. Jack half-shrugged.

"Mayor Masters has been a family friend for decades," he explained. "He's had Payne and Slaughter representing his company for a long time, they're the only people he really trusts to represent his businesses anymore. I've never formally met George, but I know he works closely with Vlad." Ohmer seemed surprised, but she nodded.

"George and his partner are both primarily corporate law, but I know they also have a lot of experience with other legal issues," Ohmer replied. "They're a big company these days, they can handle almost any type of legal case you have anymore."

"So is Mr. Payne coming?" Jazz finally spoke up. Ohmer nodded.

"He said that he and his partner, as well as Mr. Masters, would be here very shortly," she replied.

Excitement and relief washed over Jack. Who better would help him than the family friend? A politician, a billionaire, his best friend. Even though he knew Vlad didn't know, Jack already felt at much more ease knowing that Vlad was coming to help, somebody who had more power.

"Vlad's coming too?" Jack questioned. He glanced at Jazz, smiling warmly. Their luck was turning around, but Jazz...she looked even more distressed at this. His smile dropped in confusion.

"That's what Mr. Payne said," Ohmer told them. She stood up, stretching. "In about twenty minutes, so I think I'm gonna take a break. Get something to eat."

"Yeah, sounds good. Jazz? Wanna grab something from the cafeteria?" Jack questioned. He saw Jazz smile weakly.

"Okay," she agreed.

A knock came at the door. Instead of waiting for any reply, a man in a formal gray suit and briefcase opened the door, followed by another man that also had a gray suit and briefcase. Lastly was a familiar face.

"Vlad!" Jack breathlessly called out in relief, standing up. The billionaire paused in shock at seeing him.

"Jack?" Vlad asked curiously. "What are you doing here?"

"I admitted Phantom into the hospital," Jack explained, and he took a step to Vlad, putting a hand on his shoulder. Understandably, Vlad looked skeptical and yet curious as to Jack's claims. Jack didn't blame him. Even to Vlad, he was never subtle about his...previous interests. "Please, can I have a moment? I really need to talk to you about something."

"Not now, Jack." Vlad tried to shrug off Jack's hand, but Jack clutched his friend's upper arms tightly.

"Vlad, please, it's important," he pleaded. Vlad's face scrunched up, and he silently stared at Jack. He gave a deep sigh, and he motioned for Jack to follow him.

They stepped out into the hallway, and Vlad half-closed the door behind him. Jack had no clue where to even begin. How could he explain to his best friend why, without exposing Danny?

"Vlad, it's super important that your lawyers find a way to get Phantom into my custody."

"So what?" Vlad seemed oddly...more bored than any kind of shock at this statement. "So you can dissect him? Absolutely not. I'll let you in on a little secret, Jack." He leaned into him, and he lowered his voice a bit. "Phantom's actually my son." Jack's entire body froze in horror at what he knew immediately was a lie. He stared at Vlad, wide-eyed. "He's a bit rebellious, wanting to go against me, so this is just the perfect opportunity for me to get him home, safe and sound. So no, Jack. I'm not going to entertain the idea of putting my son in your hands like that."

"Vlad, I...I don't think you understand." Where was Jack even supposed to begin?

His friend rolled his eyes at him.

"Jack, you don't understand. This is between a father and his son, and this is also politics," Vlad told him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make sure my boy gets home safe and sound."

Vlad didn't wait for any reply. He left a stunned Jack standing in the hallway, going into the room and shutting the door behind him. Jack could only stare at the door, his mind going a million miles. This was just an elaborate, dedicated ploy. It had to be. Vlad was just doing what he could to protect the hero of his town. This son claim, it was only to trick the lawyer into signing him over. Vladdy didn't know, he was just doing what he thought was best. But why the lie, why? Vlad had the money and power to just take Phantom, wouldn't he? Why lie about Phantom being his son?

Jack hurriedly pulled himself together, opening the door and closing it behind him. Vlad paid no attention to his presence, though the lawyers that accompanied him gave a polite headnod. They stood off to the side. Jack could barely muster one in return as he stood with Jazz. She stood in the corner of the room, holding the book she was reading earlier to her chest as she watched on in worry. A distinct fear that stirred feelings of unease within Jack himself. Vlad was standing in front of Ohmer, who continued to stay seated at her desk as she patiently listened to Vlad.

"So, if you just release Phantom into my care," Vlad seemed to be ending a small speech when Jack finally tuned in, "I will handle all the legal fees."

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Masters, but I can't do that," Ohmer lightly frowned. Vlad seemed unfazed by this, giving an understanding nod.

"I meant after his surgery and recovery, of course," he said, and he gave a dazzling smile. One that Jack was all too familiar with. A political smile. "I want my son to be safe and sound when he returns."

"No, Mr. Masters," she replied, shaking her head. Her fingers fidgeted with a pen in her hand. "Forgive me for saying this, but this confession, this, this uh, revelation of sorts, that Phantom is your son is a bit hard for me to grasp." Vlad made a face.

"Of course he's my son," Vlad insisted. Every time Vlad claimed that, Jack felt lightheaded nausea and confusion. Ohmer raised an eyebrow at him.

"Then...why would you so publicly campaign against him during your election?" she questioned. Vlad paused, observing her for a moment.

"Do you have children, Miss Ohmer?" he asked. The lawyer nodded.

"Yeah, I actually have a daughter about Phantom's age," she replied. Vlad gave a smile.

"Then you probably understand how rebellious teenagers can be," he spoke. "We have a bit of a...complicated relationship, but as you know, you always love your children. Even when they act out in such a manner against you." Ohmer leaned back in her chair. She looked obviously skeptical of his story.

"Once Phantom is out of surgery, can he confirm that you are his father or legal guardian?" she asked. Vlad sighed with obvious fake dramatics before shaking his head.

"You will simply have to take my word for it, Miss Ohmer. I'm afraid he'll deny it. You know teenagers."

Ohmer shook her head, lightly tapping her pen on the desk.

"No, Mr. Masters," she replied. "I cannot just take your word for it, especially considering that even you will admit that he will not confirm your story. And this is on top of your very public campaigns against him. You've shot at him before. And you've revealed in interviews before that you had put that million dollar bounty on him. I don't think a judge would allow for a child to stay within a home under those conditions."

Vlad's face had been dropping with every single word she said. On some level, Jack felt relief. The billionaire glanced at his lawyers with a raised eyebrows. They simply nodded to him.

"I'll sue this hospital," he threatened. Ohmer gave an exhausted sigh. "I'll sue this damn hospital for not allowing me to see my child."

She stood up, digging through a drawer in her desk for a few moments. She took out some legal looking papers, looking towards the lawyers standing off to the side instead of Vlad.

"We can do a DNA test," she suggested, and she offered them the papers. Jack could see a flash of panic run across Vlad's face. Vlad's lawyers took the paper, glancing at each other before nodding in approval. "And if that DNA test comes back as a match, then as the biological father of Danny Phantom, Mr. Masters will be given all the legal rights of parenthood."

"I shouldn't have to take a DNA test! That's my child!" Vlad spoke loudly.

"Then take the DNA test so that we can all be legally in the clear," Ohmer told him.

Vlad's eyes darkened as he stared intently at the lawyer before him. Ohmer flinched, but she stayed standing straight.

"Let me speak in a language more people can understand then," Vlad replied. He glanced to his lawyers. They simply watched him.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a thick wad of hundred dollar bills. Jack's eyes grew to the size of saucers upon seeing it, and even Vlad's own lawyers looked impressed. That had to be thousands of dollars right there in the palm of the billionaire's hand. A drop in the bucket for him.

Vlad offered it out to Ohmer, but she kept her eyes locked with his.

"I am Danny Phantom's legal guardian, and he will be discharged into my care. If you make this happen, consider this fifty thousand dollars right here completely yours. Under the table, cash free."

The temptation to take it was there. Jack could see it in her eyes, and she said nothing for a moment. Ohmer finally glanced down at the money, the comically huge stack of hundred dollar bills.

"No."

Vlad's face dropped in surprise, and the hand around the money clenched in anger.

"What do you mean," he asked. Jack felt goosebumps at how angry and cold his best friend's voice was sounding, and an odd feeling was beginning to fill him. "No?"

For the first time since Phantom was admitted to the hospital, Ohmer looked a bit nervous. But to her credit, she stood her ground and never looked away.

"I stand by my statement," her voice quivered slightly, but she still spoke firmly. "I'm sorry, Mr. Masters."

Vlad said nothing for a moment. He kept locked in a staring contest with the lawyer. Jack could see Jazz nervously fiddling her thumbs as she watched on in worry. He squeezed her shoulders assuringly, shooting her a smile. He kept trying to tell himself that Vlad had Phantom's best interest at heart. But Jazz's glance back to him made his stomach twist, and he knew he was only fooling himself.

"A hundred thousand," Vlad suddenly spoke. Ohmer blinked.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"I'll have a hundred thousand dollars brought here. Right now," Vlad bargained.

Vlad studied her coldly. Jack's hands squeezed Jazz's shoulders lightly as it hit him. Vlad was scaring him. He had never seen the cheerful billionaire in this kind of light. Why would he even want Phantom that badly?

Ohmer didn't budge.

"No."

"Three hundred thousand." Vlad had not wasted a second. Ohmer's lower lip quivered in temptation.

"No."

"Five hundred thousand." Jack's heart raced hard as the prices were quickly going higher and higher. He knew Vlad had no price limit for things he truly wanted. "That daughter of yours could go to any college her heart desires. No debt. Enough left over to probably pay off your mortgage, no?"

Jack's grip on Jazz's shoulders tightened, and he only loosened when she let out a small whimper of pain. He murmured an apology as he saw Ohmer staring back at Vlad. Half a million dollars. That was so much money. A comical amount. Vlad would have to deliver that much money on a rolling cart or something.

"No."

Vlad shot her a dirty look of annoyance.

"Name a price, then."

Ohmer's eyes narrowed at him, and she glared right back at him.

"Phantom's not for sale."

Vlad huffed angrily. Jazz and Jack stayed silent as they watched the affair unfold. An uncomfortable silence filled the air. Even Vlad's lawyers shifted from foot to foot as Ohmer and Vlad stared each other down.

"Mr. Masters, I am not another political puppet that you can make dance with a bribe. If you are Phantom's father, then you should have nothing to fear by taking a DNA test," she told him. Vlad said nothing for a while, but he finally seemed to break.

"Fine."

Ohmer nodded. She reached for her phone, dialing an extension for the hospital. Somebody on the other end picked up, and Ohmer spoke sweetly into the phone, requesting a DNA test to be performed. Jack could hear her briefly explain the situation. After a brief exchange, Ohmer hung up, looking up to Vlad.

"You can go to the third floor, to Dr. Bird's office. He'll perform the swap for you, and we'll get back to you as soon as possible," Ohmer told him. Vlad continued to stare angrily at her.

He snapped his fingers, and one of the lawyers stepped forward. The lawyer pulled an envelope out of his inner jacket pocket, handing it to Vlad. Vlad handed it to Ohmer.

"Go ahead and give this to my son when he wakes up. Tell him if he knows what's good for him, that he will call me when he gets the chance." His voice was chilling, and Ohmer simply nodded. "Otherwise, tell him to have fun rotting in ghost prison."

Vlad turned on his heel, and he opened the door to the office harshly, slamming the door behind him. The lawyers followed him, opening the door but closing it more gently, both of them bidding a polite farewell to Ohmer and the Fentons.

Soon as the door closed, Ohmer picked up the phone again. Jazz returned to her seat across from Ohmer, opening the book with slightly shaky hands. Jack moved to his old spot as well.

"Hello? Dr. Bird? Yeah, I just called you. Listen, can you somehow do that swab I just told you to do, but twice?...Yeah, don't tell him about the second one...Mhm, I don't trust him either...There's just, something off about his story, ya know?...Thanks, you're the best." Ohmer hung up the phone with a deep exhale. She rubbed her face, and Jack's mind raced.

Why was Vlad so hung up on this? So reluctant to take a test, his lawyers, the everything? And his behavior, he was so...stand offish. Vlad had never talked or treated him like that before. Or, well, he kind of had, but very briefly and only in passing and rarely, but now? What? Why was Phantom so important? Why was his son so important? It's not like it'd help Vlad's campaign or anything. In fact, it'd possibly be worse if the town found out that Vlad was harboring Phantom, or if he accidentally found out that it was Jack's half ghost son.

Oh god. Oh god.

No...no...it couldn't...Vlad couldn't…

Jack felt his legs grow weak, and he made himself sit down in the seat. He made no moves to grab the book had previously been forcing himself to try and read. It made so much sense. The ecto-acne...the proto-portal...the years spent ignoring him...the hesitance to become close again…

Vlad...Vlad was also half ghost, and he had to be terrified of Jack too.

It sounded so crazy, but this entire day had been a crazy one. Why not throw a little more on top of it? His son and his best friend both being half ghost. Insane right? What are the odds? High. Very high when...a lot when you caused it. Danny and the Fenton Portal...it was too similar to Vlad with the pro-portal...

But who on Earth would Vlad be? Jack tried to picture Vlad with inverted colors, like Danny, and his mind drew a blank. Nobody came to mind. No ghost he had ever seen. He was stumped immediately. But it had to be true. It made too much sense. Jack caused his best friend and son to...become the very thing he constantly hunted, dissected, talked about and experimented on.

No wonder he wasn't that close to either, much as he wanted to be and tried. Both must be terrified of him.

"Dad? You okay?" Jazz's voice broke him of his stupor, and he locked eyes with her. Without any words exchanged, he knew that she knew what he was thinking. Her eyes shied away, and Jack's gut twisted. Jazz knew. Ohmer spared only a brief glance to them before she had returned to flipping through the book before her.

"I'm...I think I need to stretch my legs a bit more," he replied, standing up. He still felt weak, but the room felt so hot and stuffy. "Get some air."

"Do you want company?" Jazz questioned. Jack shook his head as he went to the door, grasping the knob tightly. He didn't need her to come along, to confirm his worst fears and to unintentionally assure him that he was, indeed, a horrible friend and father.

"I'll just be a few," he replied. He forced a weak smile, and he left to take a much needed walk. There was just simply too much to think about.

#my phics #phics #dannymay #my dannymay #my dannymay19 #dannymay19 #jack fenton #jazz fenton #broken ectoplasm

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ladyherenya · 4 years ago

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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.

#Herenya reviews books #Marissa Meyer #C.M. Waggoner #T. Kingfisher #W.R. Gingell #Stephanie Fournet #P. Djèlí Clark #Ashley Poston

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darks-ink · 6 years ago

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Rise Above Myself

Prompt: Danny is off to college, leaving Vlad in charge of keeping ghosts out of Amity park. Prompt by: @going-dead Word count: 3,532

[AO3][FFnet][more Phic Phight fics]

“You wanted to speak with me?”

Danny hummed an affirmative, patting the rooftop next to him. Vlad rolled his eyes, but sat down regardless. It wasn’t like anyone would see him up here, anyway. Besides, he didn’t want to drive the boy to anger any sooner than necessary.

In the years since they had first met, their relationship had become… complicated. They had surpassed the fighting, the whole ‘arch-nemesis’ thing, and had come to a truce of sorts. They were still in no way friends. Nor had he taken any sort of important role in the boy’s life, to his continuing disappointment.

But Danny would never join him. Vlad knew that, now. It was better not to fight, to be able to hold a conversation with the only person who would know what existence as a halfa was like. The only one who would be able to understand.

Besides, Vlad was no fool. He knew darn well that Danny had surpassed him in strength. And, for all the years of experience he had over the boy, he couldn’t beat the sheer combat experience Danny had, either. Even mentorship was a chance long lost – Danny seemed content with the mentors he could find for himself in the Ghost Zone.

“So, uhm.” Danny fidgeted, having finally broken the silence that had come over them. He started pulling on the edge of his glove – a nervous gesture he had taken up in his ghost form, Vlad knew. “I’m… leaving for college. This weekend.”

Vlad perked up at this. “Really? That’s excellent news, my boy!” And it was. He had long encouraged Danny to focus on his own life over Amity Park’s safety. He already sacrificed so much for this thankless city – he shouldn’t give up on college, too. To throw away his future, the remainder of his life, for people who would never appreciate what he had done for them.

“Heh, yeah.” Danny huffed out a laugh, a smile lingering afterwards. “I got my acceptance letter already – big fancy university a couple states away. Even at my current speed, it’s a few hours flying away.”

“Finally leaving the ghost hunting to the professionals then? Good for you.” Vlad noticed that Danny didn’t mention which university, or where. Still keeping secrets from him? Not surprising, but… a little disappointing.

“Something like that.” And now the smile turned a little malicious, a smirk instead. “You were part of the ghost hunting club, after all. And you study ghosts.”

“Me?” Vlad asked, incredulous. The boy was out of his mind if he thought that Vlad would take over for him. He had spend the past 4 years encouraging Danny to stop, after all.

“Well, yeah.” Danny’s posture remained loose, casual. Like he had no stake in this conversation – like he had already won the discussion. “You’re the only other half-ghost in the city. The only person who can fight the ghosts on their own terms – in the air, and without the need for technology.”

Then he leaned in closer, and added in a conspiring tone, “Unless you think you’re not up for it? I know that I’m stronger than you, but you should still outclass most ghosts that come here. And surely your incredible intellect will allow you to beat such pathetic enemies?”

Vlad sneered, baring his fangs in an automatic response. “Of course it’s not a matter of not being able to do it! But I am above such despicable, thankless work. To protect a city – a people – who would rather hate their protector than cheer him on. Please.”

“If that’s how you see it,” Danny responded with a shrug. “But just imagine what would happen if no one stopped the ghosts. You know that my parents will pick up the slack instead. Do you really trust my dad to keep Amity Park safe? To keep Mom safe?” He cocked his head at Vlad, that awful smirk still on his face. “After all, Valerie has already left for college. So has Jazz, and Sam and Tucker. It’s just my parents. And you.”

Vlad remained silent now. The boy, unfortunately, had a point. All capable ghost hunters had left the city – or would leave it soon enough. The Fentons really would be the only ones left – and as capable as Maddie was, Jack had an awful habit of getting in her way. There was… quite a risk of her getting hurt.

And while he knew he wouldn’t – couldn’t – have her, he still didn’t want anything to happen to her. Damn that boy for still knowing exactly which buttons to press.

But… perhaps he could make it manageable. Many of Danny’s enemies were humanoid – or at very least, somewhat intelligent. Surely he could get most of them to stay away by using his resources, rather than his fists? And being harsher than Danny against the ones that did come through would surely discourage them, too.

“Fine,” he finally hissed at the boy, glaring at him to drive the point home. “Fine, I will do it. But not for this accursed city – I’ll do it for Maddie.”

“Of course you will, Fruitloop,” Danny laughed back, grinning widely.

He shook his head, already making plans. If he arranged things correctly, it wouldn’t be much of a bother to take over for Danny. After all, how much time did the teen really spend on ghost hunting?

Unfortunately, as he soon discovered, Danny actually spend a lot of time hunting ghosts. Because while his most noticeable enemies tended to be the humanoid ghosts, the majority of his enemies were actually non-sentient. And while Vlad might’ve been able to sway some of the intelligent ghosts to stay away, it was the feral animals that took up so much of his time, now. They were neither strong nor threatening – to a ghost as powerful as him, at least – but they were common enough to be a bother.

A good number of Danny’s rogues gallery showed up as well. Skulker, once told that Vlad had taken over, seemed disappointed but left without resistance. Technus put up a decent fight, but could afterwards be convinced to stay in the Ghost Zone if Vlad paid him with bits of technology. He was sure that Technus would eventually assemble this into a mech before returning – which is why he only send the worst bits he could find.

One of the more notable encounters ended up being Ember, of all ghosts. She had put on quite a show – as she tended to do. When Vlad showed up instead of Danny, she had frowned at him and crossed her arms.

Before he could open his mouth to ask her to leave, she had irritably asked him, “Where’s the dipstick?”

He quickly connected the dots – and the less than stellar nickname – and answered. “Daniel has left for college. I’ve taken over for him.”

After this, she willingly left for the Portal. Vlad had felt accomplished over scaring off a ghost that Daniel usually fought – until he had heard her mutter, “Old man isn’t any fun compared to the kid.”

Really, all things considered, Vlad thought that he was doing a fairly good job. And perhaps Amity’s residents weren’t as happy about him as they had been about Daniel – surprising considering how badly they tended to think of Phantom – but that mattered little to him. Maddie was safe. Anything else was a lucky coincidence.

But of course, disaster always struck when life appears to be going well. And this case was no different.

The ghost of the days – or ghosts, this time – were known by Vlad. He had never faced off against them, but he was sure that he could handle it. The first, the weaker, was an easy catch. Bertrand, despite being a shapeshifter, was predictable.

Unfortunately, in catching the green blob first, Vlad had offered Spectra an opening.

Vlad knew how she worked, what she did. He was sure that he could deal with her. As another manipulative soul, surely she wouldn’t be able to do much to him?

But oh, he was so wrong about her. Her black wispy tail wrapped around him, sharp claws digging into his shoulders, and immediately all strength sapped from him.

“Oh, what’s this?” the specter hissed, her voice overly sweet and dripping with malicious intent. “Another little do-gooder, hmm?”

Vlad opened his mouth to answer, to retort – but the ghost dug her nails in even deeper and suddenly he just felt so tired.

“And you’re not even a real hero, are you? Just trying to impress someone who could never love you!” She laughed, but it was sharp and cutting and cold. “Just a sick old man desperate for things he will never get. Can never get!”

She shifted, angling herself so she was looking him right in the eyes. Faintly, he could see himself reflected in her empty red eyes – somehow hers looked even more soulless than his own. “And the only one who knows what you feel, who might understand, left you! And now there’s no one left to care about you, is there?”

He wanted to protest, but… she was right. Jack never cared – he was responsible for this whole thing, after all. Maddie had never reciprocated on his feelings – and she never would, now.

And Daniel… The only one like him… The boy had left him. Had dumped this miserable responsibility on him and left.

“This sickness of yours is your body talking to you, Vladdie.” The ghost leaned in even closer, her claws shifting from his shoulders and further up his body. Faintly, Vlad was aware of blood leaking down his neck – but he made no move to stop her from hurting him further.

Maybe… Maybe he did deserve this.

“You know what it’s telling you?” Her tone was conversational, honey-sweet. “It’s telling you that you should finish what you started and die!”

Her talon-like claw swung down. Vlad closed his eyes, waiting for the impact.

A whiz, like an ectoblast flying past. Hair-raising shrieking as Spectra released him, finally.

Vlad fell to the floor, looking bleary-eyed at the dark specter in front of him. Green smoke still spiraled away from her chest, where the blast must’ve landed.

Now that he was away from her constricting touch, Vlad’s mind started to clear. While Spectra had spoken the truth, she had twisted it – turned his own thoughts against him. She had only told him things he already knew – and things that simply weren’t true. Daniel hadn’t just left. Vlad himself had encouraged the boy!

And now the boy must’ve returned. As Spectra swiped away the last lingering smoke, Vlad realized this. Someone had fired at her, using green ectoplasm. That could only be a Fenton – either Danny, or one of his parents’ guns. And the parents wouldn’t have aimed for Spectra. Wouldn’t have saved him, at least.

He pushed himself upright, a retort fresh on his tongue. A tease to the boy, about how he could never stop his hero-work, no matter how much he might’ve wanted to. How he always protected everyone, no matter how bad they were.

And floating there was certainly a Phantom. Messy white hair, vibrant green eyes. Black and white jumpsuit – although this one a tad looser than the one usually seen.

“Leave him alone!” Dani snapped, green energy whirling around her clenched fists.

“Oh, and who’s this?” Spectra hummed, floating back a step or two. Her eyes were set on the clone now – she knew that Vlad was still weakened. “Another little failure who thinks she can stand up to me?”

Rather than take the words to heart, however, Dani smiled back. All teeth and no joy. “I don’t just think, lady.” She underlined the statement with a shot, a blast of superheated ectoplasm aimed straight at Spectra.

The shadowy ghost dodged, barely. “Is that so?” she purred, still eyeing up her new enemy.

Then suddenly she launched herself towards Dani. The clone wasn’t fast enough to evade her, and the two collided. Spectra pressed her into the dirt of the park, baring her teeth. “Do you really think that you can stand up to me? A little failed clone like you?”

Vlad had finally struggled himself back onto his feet, feeling his energy come back to him. But he hadn’t even recovered far enough for an ectoblast. Not yet.

An explosion of green, and Spectra was launched away. Dani pushed herself off of the ground, green energy still coiling in her aura. “Less talking and more butt-kicking!”

Spectra snarled, evading the follow-up blasts that Dani send her way. “And you really think that you can succeed where your original failed?”

She pinned the clone to a tree, leaning in close. “You really think that you can win, if more powerful ghosts, more experienced ghosts, couldn’t?”

Finally, finally, Vlad’s energy was back to a respectable level. Not one to be left out, he shot a blast of pink ectoplasm at the soul-sucking ghost. “It’s not polite to ignore your guests, Spectra,” he quipped.

She snarled, but Dani took this opportunity to blast the ghost as well. Confident that Spectra was finally pinned, Vlad used his telekinesis to draw the Thermos back to him. He had lost it earlier in the fight – although he wasn’t sure when.

The Thermos was an imitation, of course, but no less powerful for the fact.

“Goodbye,” he snarked at the ghost as he uncapped it. Dani gave her a short wave, as well. With a last shriek, Spectra was drawn into the ghost-catching device.

The fight was over.

And as little as Vlad wanted to admit it, the little clone had been an integral part of the fight. Without her contribution, Spectra would’ve killed him. And as much as he disliked her – her, and everything she stood for – he wasn’t enough of a jerk to ignore such a thing.

“I… thank you, Danielle,” he managed, finally. He could tell from her expression that she doubted the genuineness of his statement, so he added, “Without your help, she surely would’ve killed me.”

“Probably,” Dani agreed with a shrug. She looked away from him, her gaze turned downwards – she was kicking around a rock. “You were getting your butt handed to you pretty badly.”

“I– Yes, I’m afraid I was.” He frowned, confused by her blase attitude. And, now that he thought about it, her immunity to Spectra’s abilities. “Spectra’s insults have a way to… dig into one’s skin. Yet they didn’t seem to trouble you.”

Dani nodded, clearly catching on to his silent question. “Yeah, well. She didn’t say anything I haven’t heard before.” And now she looked back up again, her large green eyes locking onto his own. “After all, she didn’t say anything you haven’t said before. And your words were worse, because unlike Spectra, I actually cared about you!”

Her fists clenched, her eyes starting to look wet – but Dani was blinking away the tears before they could form. “You actually meant something to me! And yet you kicked me to the ground, like trash! Like I didn’t matter!”

He paused, taking in her emotional rant. He supposed that she had a point. He had cast her aside – she hadn’t mattered, because she wasn’t Daniel. “But then why did you save me?”

Shrugging, Dani offered him a wry smile. She swept a hand past her eyes – wiping away tears she hadn’t shed. “I’m not you,” she said. “I’m better than that. I won’t just let you die – especially if you’re trying to do the right thing for once.”

Then her smile turned a little more genuine. She added, with a joking tone, “But maybe you should leave the actual hero-work for younger ghosts, old man.”

“Maybe I should.” He looked at her, thoughtful. Sure, Danny had instructed him to keep Amity Park safe. But if he could convince Dani to take over instead… As long as Amity was safe, it would be fine, yes? “Perhaps we can come to an agreement, hm?”

The clone eyed him, now. She seemed to consider this. “What kind of agreement?”

“We can work together to protect Amity Park in Daniel’s stead,” he started to explain, folding his hands together. He was in his element now – the negotiation of tough deals. “You can take care of most of the ghosts, but we’ll work together against the stronger ones. In return for your efforts, I will pay you – both with money, and with a safe place to stay and food to eat. There is plenty of room in my mansion, after all.”

Then he quirked an eyebrow at her. “And, of course, I can offer training – guidance with your powers. Daniel never accepted – but you are not Daniel, are you?”

She rolled her eyes with a huff. “Now you’re getting it.” Then she fell quiet again as she thought over his proposal.

“Fine,” she finally said, nodding. “But the training won’t be set thing – only when I want to. All the other stuff sounds alright, but only if I get paid per ghost captured and for the amount of time it takes.”

“Very well.” He offered her his hand, and they shook on it. “Then I welcome you to Amity Park, Danielle. May it treat you better than it treated your cousin.”

He had initially seen it like hiring a professional ghost hunter. It was no different than when he had hired Valerie, after all. But that girl had been paid in equipment – this one was paid with food and a roof above her head, instead.

And it worked surprisingly well. Danielle, now that she was older and well-fed for once in her life, was a powerful ghost. She was intelligent and a quick-thinker – and had creative solutions to problems. The girl was a very capable defender – and Amity Park was glad to see a Phantom as their protector again, even if it wasn’t the same one.

Of course, Vlad had had a part in this. As mayor, he had announced the presence of the new ghostly protector of the town. Dani Phantom, he had explained, was a close relative of the Phantom that used to haunt Amity. And he assured the townspeople, that this ghost was certainly a good one. She would keep them safe.

Valerie dropping by didn’t hurt Danielle’s image, either. Her reputation as the Red Huntress was a shaky one, as the people who liked Phantom tended to distrust her, and vice-versa. But when she had announced that she was leaving Amity Park, many had mourned the loss of an excellent ghost hunter. Their only capable human protector.

So when the Red Huntress was spotted conversing with the new Phantom, people were quite curious. They were too high in the skies to overhear, but it was clear from their postures that they knew each other. They chattered on for quite a bit of time before Phantom flew off and Red lowered herself to the ground. She, too, announced that the new ghost was a good one.

The next few months passed with surprising ease. By the time Christmas rolled around, Danny returned to Amity Park to celebrate the holidays. The two of them met at the Christmas Truce party in the Ghost Zone, separating from the crowd so they could talk in private.

Vlad smirked at the boy – the young man, really. “Annoyed that I’ve found a loophole in our agreement, Daniel?” he asked, a taunting tone to his voice.

“What, do you think you somehow cheated our deal?” But Danny simply laughed, shaking his head. “No way. You did like, the complete opposite of that.”

Frowning, Vlad turned to face the boy properly. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Dude, you did all I wanted from you and more. I asked you to protect Amity Park for me, right? And not only have you done that, beyond what I asked for – you even helped Dani along the way.” He grinned at Vlad, expression brighter than Vlad had ever seen it before. “I just wanted to give you a second chance – I didn’t expect much from you except maybe the barest little bit of effort. And instead I find out that you’ve given Dani another shot, too. A roof, food, money – love.”

Vlad opened his mouth to protest this – he had only done what was necessary. Then he shut it again.

Because he hadn’t done just the necessary. He could’ve just offered Danielle money – she could’ve paid for food and a place to stay on her own. He hadn’t had to offer her his own house. But he did.

And… Danielle had grown on him. There were things about her, good things, that he had previously overlooked.

“I suppose that you’re right,” he finally grumbled.

Maybe… Maybe this whole ‘doing nice things’ thing… wasn’t as bad as he had thought.

#phic phight #phic phight 19 #danny phantom #vlad masters #vlad plasmius #dani phantom #danny fenton #spectra #phanfic #phanfiction #dp fanfic #dp fanfiction #dark writes #i wrote this in less than 3 hours and edited it right after #it's half past midnight so some mistakes might've slipped past me #but i wanted to get this done before Endgame so #might be the last fic i write for the Phight

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goingphlash · 5 years ago

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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.

#the flash #danny phantom #crossover #my post #soulmate au #I wanna write this too #feel free to ask me about this #I spent like a week writing this post #so y’all better notice it #coldflash

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avelera · 6 years ago

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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.

#writing #maggie rambles #got spoilers #endgame spoilers

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jennaschererwrites · 5 years ago

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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.

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