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hermiones-amortentia · 3 years ago

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This is for people who think Ron and Hermione had no intellectual debates or Ron can't stimulate her intellectually. Here their intellectual debates in the books-

1. House elves

“They’re hats for house-elves,” she said briskly, now stuffing her books back into her bag. “I did them over the summer. I’m a really slow knitter without magic, but now I’m back at school I should be able to make lots more.”

“You’re leaving out hats for the house-elves?” said Ron slowly. “And you’re covering them up with rubbish first?”

“Yes,” said Hermione defiantly, swinging her bag onto her back.

“That’s not on,” said Ron angrily. “You’re trying to trick them into picking up the hats. You’re setting them free when they might not want to be free.”

Ron is the only one that confronts Hermione about SPEW and really engages into it (So that its clear: Hermione defends that the elves should be free at all costs, Ron says they should be aware and included in this choice = two points of view, both defended = intellectual debate)

2. Discussing the ministry

“It could be a frame-up!” Ron exclaimed excitedly. “No — listen!”

he went on, dropping his voice dramatically at the threatening look on Hermione’s face. “The Ministry suspects he’s one of Dumbledore’s lot so — I dunno — they lured him to the Ministry, and he wasn’t trying to get through a door at all! Maybe they’ve just made something up to get him!”

There was a pause while Harry and Hermione considered this.

Harry thought it seemed far-fetched; Hermione, on the other hand, looked rather impressed and said, “Do you know, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that were true.”

Ron =shows how it could have been a frame-up and presents evidence; Hermione =considers his side and changes her mind; they were discussing something and reached an agreement over facts = intellectual

3. In the creation of the DA, we see Harry behaving quite emotionally (understandable but this does not qualify, using your definition, as intellectual). Ron and Hermione make their case for why he should be the teacher and basically organize the entire thing themselves

“Let’s think,” he said, pulling a face like Goyle concentrating. “Uh . . .

first year — you saved the Stone from You-Know-Who.”

“But that was luck,” said Harry, “that wasn’t skil —”

“Second year,” Ron interrupted, “you killed the basilisk and destroyed Riddle.”

“Yeah, but if Fawkes hadn’t turned up I —”

“Third year,” said Ron, louder still, “you fought off about a hundred dementors at once —”

“Ron and I have been sounding out people who we thought might want to learn some proper Defense Against the Dark Arts, and there are a couple who seem interested. We’ve told them to meet us in Hogsmeade”

Hermione and Ron recruited and organized everything for the DA

4. Discussing Dumbledore and Snape

“I did think he might be a bit better this year,” said Hermione in a disappointed voice. “I mean . . . you know . . .” She looked carefully around; there were half a dozen empty seats on either side of them and nobody was passing the table. “. . . Now he’s in the Order and everything.”

“Poisonous toadstools don’t change their spots,” said Ron sagely.”

“Anyway, I’ve always thought Dumbledore was cracked trusting Snape, where’s the evidence he ever really stopped working for You-Know-Who?”

“I think Dumbledore’s probably got plenty of evidence”

5. Sirius death

They stayed together in the Hospital Wing for weeks and it can be correctly inferred that this was discussed given their behavior towards Harry

“Ron and Hermione left the hospital wing completely cured three days before the end of term. Hermione showed signs of wanting to talk about Sirius, but Ron tended to make hushing noises every time she mentioned his name”

6. Mad-Eye’s death and the 7 Potters mission

“Oh, Ron’s mum forgot that she asked Ginny and me to change the sheets yesterday,” said Hermione. She threw Numerology and Grammatica onto one pile and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts onto the other.

“We were just talking about Mad-Eye,” Ron told Harry.

7. Hermione’s parents and the Ghoul (they planned and prepared for the mission together)

“Didn’t realize that Ron and I know perfectly well what might happen if we come with you? Well, we do. Ron, show Harry what you’ve done.”

“Nah, he’s just eaten,” said Ron.

“Go on, he needs to know!”

“Oh, all right. Harry, come here.”

8. How to destroy Horcruxes

“Hang on,” said Ron, frowning. “The bit of soul in that diary was possessing Ginny, wasn’t it? How does that work, then?”

“While the magical container is still intact, the bit of soul inside it can flit in and out of someone if they get too close to the object. I don’t mean holding it for too long, it’s nothing to do with touching it,” she added before Ron could speak. “I mean close emotionally. Ginny poured her heart out into that diary, she made herself incredibly vulnerable. You’re in trouble if you get too fond of or dependent on the Horcrux.”

9. Hallows x Horcruxes

“Well, I don’t suppose it matters,” sighed Hermione. “Even if he was being honest, I never heard such a lot of nonsense in all my life.”

“Hang on, though,” said Ron. “The Chamber of Secrets was supposed to be a myth, wasn’t it?”

“But the Deathly Hallows can’t exist, Ron!”

“You keep saying that, but one of them can,” said Ron. “Harry’s Invisibility Cloak —”

10. Formulating a plan to keep Hermione safe

“Ron glanced at Hermione, then said, “What if purebloods and half-bloods swear a Muggle-born’s part of their family? I’ll tell everyone Hermione’s my cousin —”

Hermione covered Ron’s hand with hers and squeezed it.

“Thank you, Ron, but I couldn’t let you —”

“You won’t have a choice,” said Ron fiercely, gripping her hand back. “I’ll teach you my family tree so you can answer questions on it.

Hermione gave a shaky laugh.

“Ron, as we’re on the run with Harry Potter, the most wanted person in the country, I don’t think it matters. If I was going back to school it would be different. What’s Voldemort planning for Hogwarts?” she asked Lupin.”

11. Off page discussion

“What’s happened?” Ron asked apprehensively. He and Hermione had been poring over a sheaf of scribbled notes and hand-drawn maps that littered the end of the long kitchen table, but now they watched Harry as he strode toward them and threw down the newspaper on top of their scattered parchment.”

12. Off page (2)

“You can’t tell me you’ve stopped having funny dreams,” Hermione said now, “because Ron told me last night you were muttering in your sleep again. . . .”

Harry threw Ron a furious look. Ron had the grace to look ashamed of himself.

“You were only muttering a bit,” he mumbled apologetically.”

Yet another evidence of their connection and off-page discussions

“Neither Ron nor Hermione spoke, but Harry felt sure that they were looking at each other behind his back, communicating silently.”

Ron and Hermione have emotional AND intellectual discussions throughout the series. So if you think Ron can't stimulate her intellectually you havent read the books. 😊

#ron weasley #hermione granger #romione #harry james potter #harry potter #ginny weasley #luna lovegood #draco malfoy #ron×hermione #harry potter memes #harry potter marauders #harry potter fandom

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exploring-in-space · 5 years ago

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Aching to Come Home

Robron Week 2020 Day 3: Criminal

Summary: After getting out of prison himself, Aaron meets Robert through a prison penpalship.

Note: This is a little bit of a cheat, but I think it still kinda counts haha also this is 100% a real thing, I spent a good chunk of time scrolling through a website about inmates wanting to start a correspondence!

Word count: 4300

In the end, it’s Aaron’s counselor who encourages him to start a pen pal correspondence with someone currently incarcerated. Aaron has just recently been released after spending a year long stretch for GBH, and he’s been seeing his counselor to transition from being in prison into society.

Aaron had heard of people striking up friendships and even relationships through prison pen pals. It was all a bit crazy if you asked Aaron. Still, one particularly bad day, Aaron sits himself down and scrolls the website his counselor gave him. Some are explicit in their desire to have more than friendship, making Aaron exit out of their bio pages quick enough.

Around the time Aaron is about to give up and tell his counselor to do one, he stumbles on a bio page unlike any of the other bios.

The man honestly looks like one of those white collar criminals that Aaron always hated. Especially given the fact his occupation before was an estate manager. But as he reads through the bio, he’s shocked to read that this man, Robert, is carrying out a life sentence. It’s not like other profiles were shy about stating the reason for being incarcerated (in fact, Aaron had quickly learned that some people are actively attracted to people depending on their crime…).

It’s just...this man doesn’t look like a killer. The picture chosen for the bio is not the typical kind of picture that others had posted. Most were pictures of them in the prison yard, or pictures from before prison. Robert’s wasn’t like that. In fact, Aaron couldn’t even tell if it was taken while he was in prison or if it was a pre-prison photo.

Aaron’s curiosity is too great and it compels him to grab a sheet of paper and start writing. He introduces himself and tells Robert he’s writing because he just got out of prison himself. He doesn’t know how much to put in the letter - Aaron doesn’t necessarily want to spill his guts to a total stranger, but he does share his age and why he’d been sent down. The letter looks sloppy with Aaron’s scrawl and he’s ready to just toss it in the bin and call this whole idea stupid and pointless.

But he glances at the site again, and looks at Robert’s picture. He doesn’t know how to explain it, but the piercing gaze of Robert’s eyes somehow convinces him to just send the silly letter.

So he does. Posts it on a Friday evening and Aaron proceeds to get hammered that night, trying to erase the embarrassment he feels at doing something so out of character. Monday morning, he meets with his counselor for his biweekly session. Tells her about the letter he sent and they talk about it for a while.

“What do you hope will come from this?” She asks, crossing her legs and sitting up to take a good look at Aaron’s reaction. He shrugs and picks at his fingernails to ease his nerves.

“Dunno.” Aaron finally answers with a sigh.

She looks at him thoughtfully before carefully uncrossing her legs and leaning forward. “I think you do.”

Aaron doesn’t say anything and she doesn’t press him any further. Lets the statement lie between them, and it works. He thinks about the letter for the rest of the day and well into the week. The picture of Robert’s face burned into his mind.

The rest of the week has Aaron working at the garage. Cain had offered his old job back when Aaron had gotten out and while it took a few days of Aaron debating it, he finally accepted the offer. It’s good to get under the bonnet of different cars. It allows him to not dwell on the letter he sent.

Weeks pass and Aaron doesn’t get a letter back. He stupidly checks the post everyday and gets disappointed every time there’s nothing. He’s not sure why he’s so disappointed. Maybe because deep down, Aaron knows the reason for sending the letter was because he wished someone had reached out to him while he was inside.

It’s around the time Aaron has given up on the idea that Robert would reply that he finally receives it. The front of the envelope shows a neatly written penmanship, the opposite of Aaron’s. Heart racing, Aaron tears the envelope to read the letter.

It’s short, but Robert thanks Aaron for the letter and tells him he hopes they can continue to send letters to one another. He asks Aaron a few questions about himself and offers that he’s from Hotten. It’s an unbelievable coincidence and it makes Aaron wonder if this was fate. He shakes the thought away, the idea too ludicrous to entertain. But he immediately responds to Robert’s letter, eager to share that he’s from Emmerdale.

After the initial lag in response time, Robert starts replying to the letters much more quickly. They can manage to get letters from one another in about two days’ time and Aaron starts to learn about Robert. They touch on some of the things on Robert’s profile: the fact he’s taking classes to get a degree inside, the son he has named Seb, his family that still live in Hotten. And things not part of his bio: the fact he’s bisexual, the worry that he’ll most likely die in prison. It’s incredibly intimate and personal and makes Aaron want to share his own secrets to him.

Aaron doesn’t ask about the reason for Robert’s incarceration - he doesn’t want Robert to feel as though that is his defining characterization. Aaron is of course still curious, and wants to know. But he also respects that part of Robert that remains private, they still don’t know each other that well, despite some of the secrets they divulge to one another. It’s after two months of steady letter sharing before Robert offers it to Aaron unprompted.

I killed a man because he raped my sister. I hit him with a shovel and he later died from it. I don’t regret doing it, I know if given another chance, I’d hit him again. But I never meant for him to die. I pled guilty before he died, hoping that showing guilt would mean a shorter sentence. I hope you don’t think I’m a monster. But I figured it was time you knew.

It’s concise, and it doesn’t beat around the bush. He lays it bare for Aaron to either accept or not. He thinks about Gordon...about Liv. And he knows he would have done something similar if Gordon had even thought about laying a finger on Liv.

The frank honesty makes Aaron want to return the favor. He quickly pulls some paper and writes about Gordon. It’s emotionally wrenching to write about it. Yes, he’s talked about it, and yes he’s testified about it before a court. But to actually write the words? It’s harder than Aaron could imagine. But he does it, and he sends the letter to Robert, more nervous than when he sent that first letter.

Robert's response comes the usual two days later. Nerves fill Aaron as he opens the envelope, afraid of the disgust, or even worse, the pity. But what's in the letter is neither, much to Aaron's surprise.

Thank you for telling me about your dad. You’re braver than I could ever be. Aaron smiles at the words, at the loopy letters of Robert’s handwriting. He talks a little about prison life and answers some of the questions that Aaron had asked in his last letter. But then, there at the end of the letter, written in smaller letters than the rest of the letter:

I want to hear your voice. Can we arrange for me to call you one of these days?

Aaron had never considered them speaking on the phone. Perhaps because it would make this relationship a little more real. He's successfully compartmentalized his letters to Robert and the rest of his life. He knows it's unfair, Robert has nothing else besides prison. Robert has never even asked for a photo of Aaron.

He’s given vague descriptions of himself, like about the time he had gotten a haircut and the barber butchered his fluff at the top of his head. But he knows that’s probably the extent of Aaron offering his personal appearance to Robert. At least Aaron can sometimes go onto that website and gaze at Robert’s face.

You’re braver than I could ever be. Aaron wonders how true that is when he’s hesitating so much to reply and accept Robert’s offer to speak on the phone. But he worries that maybe this correspondence is getting too serious, that Aaron could cross a line he once scoffed at. He likes Robert, quite a bit to be honest. He’s afraid if he accepts and speaks to Robert, it might awaken something Aaron’s kept buried for the past couple of weeks.

Despite all these fears, he still writes his mobile number in his next letter. They arrange for Robert to call Aaron on a Thursday evening, after he’s had his tea and Robert is free to make his call. He sits at his table, squirming and feeling excited and nervous at the same time.

When his phone finally rings, he scrambles to answer the phone, his heart hammering. “Robert?” Aaron asks when he picks the phone up, nerves coiling in his stomach.

“Aaron?” A breath Aaron had been holding exhales when he hears Robert’s voice. It’s soft yet rich. Its timbre sends a small shiver down Aaron’s spine. His voice sounds like it was made to say Aaron’s name.

“Hiya.” Aaron finally says when he realizes it’s been silent on both ends.

“It’s good to hear your voice finally.” Robert confesses softly, and Aaron doesn’t think he’s ever going to tire of this voice. He wonders why he even hesitated for them to speak on the phone.

“Yeah. Yeah, you too.”

It’s silent again, both of them missing their turn to speak, and Aaron starts to worry that maybe this was a mistake. That they should have just stuck to writing letters.

“So...ah, how are you?” Robert finally asks, and it’s tinged with awkwardness. They’ve traded secrets with one another and now they’re struggling to hold a real conversation. Tension that had been tightening in Aaron’s chest eases and he just laughs at the absurdity of it all. It’s infectious enough to cause Robert to laugh alongside Aaron. It becomes less awkward after their laugh and they pick up right where they left off in their letters.

The hour Robert gets is gone faster than Aaron wants it to be. He doesn’t want to hang up, instead, he wants to talk to Robert until his voice gives out. But he knows how other prisoners get when it’s their turn, so they both reluctantly start to say their good-byes.

“We should make this a regular thing, us chattin’.” Robert suggests. Aaron pauses slightly to consider it, but it has Robert quickly adding, “Along with our letters.”

“Yeah. I’d like that.” Aaron agrees with a smile that hadn’t left his face since they’ve started talking. They waffle about for a few more minutes, still not hanging up, before Aaron hears commotion on Robert’s end and the phone call abruptly ends.

Not that Aaron would admit it - he’s not that soft - but letters and phone calls from Robert start to become the best part of Aaron’s life. The little tidbits he gets to share with Robert and the fact he understands the fears Robert has while being in prison are some of the truest moments Aaron has ever been.

Chas comments on Aaron’s improved mood one day, cornering him in the back of the pub.

“What’s his name?” She prompts.

“You what?”

“The bloke that’s making you smile. C’mon Aaron…” She whines, and clasps her hands in a pleading manner.

“There’s no bloke.” Aaron lies, but his mind invariably wanders to the latest letter Robert had sent that sits on his table. She just rolls her eyes and shakes her head, muttering something about how Aaron never tells her anything and he just huffs a small smile. A secret smile. Reserved only for Robert, despite him never seeing it on Aaron’s face.

It goes like that for months, Aaron learns more about Robert’s family, who he rarely sees because Robert doesn’t want them to feel guilty about the fact he’s in prison, about Seb who is growing bigger every time Robert sees him and how Robert worries how unfair it is for a child to see his father in prison. Robert becomes a person who Aaron knows intimately, more than several exes he’s had before. It should scare him, this feeling of affection for a man he’s not properly met. But it doesn’t, he allows himself to feel this flick of happiness through the most unconventional way.

Until one day, Robert is asking whether Aaron would like to have visiting orders.

The question freaks him out. Not because he doesn’t want to meet Robert in person - quite the contrary - but because of the trauma he faced when he was in prison. The memories of Jason and his gang still haunt him months after being released. Robert’s question stuns Aaron and he ends up not responding to it. Days dissolve into weeks and guilt becomes the reason Aaron doesn’t pick up his pen to respond.

Robert calls one evening, and Aaron lets it go to voicemail, shame blooming into his chest. He watches his phone ring and sees when the voicemail notification pops up.

“Hiya Aaron. Hope you’re okay. I haven’t heard from you. I hope I didn’t freak you out with my offer. We can forget about it if you want. I’m sorry.” Robert’s voice is sad, and Aaron’s guilt is all the worse. He’s made that beautiful voice sad.

Aaron lets the guilt fester for a few more days before he finally picks up his pen and finally writes to Robert. He wants to tell him the reasons why he hadn’t responded, why he sometimes falls asleep to Robert’s name on his lips. But instead, he just accepts Robert’s offer for visiting orders.

He has continued his biweekly visits to his counselor, and he tells her about the visiting orders. The visiting orders that now sit on his table, coming a week after Aaron accepted Robert’s offer.

“Are you excited to meet him in person?” She asks curiously.

“I think I love him.” Aaron confesses to her, wringing his hands, wanting to dig his fingernails into his skin and draw blood.

She doesn’t say anything at first, “Do you think he feels the same way?”

Aaron looks at her, and there’s no judgement on her face. It’s what he’s always appreciated about her, the professionalism of masking her emotions. He thinks of the letters, how each one seems longer than the last one, the phone calls where Robert sounds so animated talking to Aaron and the reluctance to hang up, and the sadness of his voice when Aaron didn’t pick up.

“I don’t know.” Aaron replies honestly.

The day Aaron is off to the Isle of Wight, Chas stops him. “Where are ya going?” She asks, eyeing Aaron’s overnight bag with barely concealed curiosity.

“Meeting some mates, that a problem?” Aaron snipes back. He’s still not told her about Robert, thinks she’ll disapprove and throw a fit. To be honest, he’s not really confided to anyone about him and Robert. If Adam had still been around, then maybe he’d know. But it’s a secret that Aaron wants to keep to himself because the last thing he wants is to share Robert with anyone.

“Fine, keep your secrets. But I’ll get it out of you one of these days!” Chas says with a harmless pout.

“Not likely.” Aaron replies, hoisting his overnight back over his shoulder and leaving before Chas can ask him any more questions.

He takes a plane down to the Isle of Wight. The flight is relatively quick, but he couldn’t justify driving the six hours. It gives him a short time to reflect on the path his life has taken. He once thought it was mad that people could fall in love with convicts, maintain actual relationships. And now here he is, six months after he posted his first letter, on a flight to meet someone who clearly means so much to him.

Nerves prickle at Aaron’s skin when he finally is admitted into the visitor’s room. He’s been on the other side of the table so many times, and it of course reminds him of all the bad memories that made Aaron turn to a counselor in the first place. But he tries to put on a brave face, and awaits Robert’s arrival in the uncomfortable chair.

It takes a few moments before prisoners start filtering into the visitor’s room. A few people have come out before Aaron shoots up from his chair when he sees someone who resembles Robert’s photo. His hair isn’t styled in a quaff like the picture, instead it falls a little flat. He wears the prison issued clothes and he looks older and more tired than he did in that fresh photo. But he’s still the most fit person Aaron has ever clapped eyes on.

“Aaron?” Robert asks hesitatingly, standing before Aaron. He's taller than Aaron expected him to be.

“Yeah. Hiya, Robert.”

A sigh escapes Robert, almost in relief or happiness. He grins and actually pulls Aaron into a hug, something Aaron had not been expecting.

“It’s nice to finally put a face to you.” Robert says when he pulls away. “You’re not what I was expecting, to be honest.”

“Disappointed?”

Robert’s eyes drag up and down Aaron’s body in a blatant way that makes the hair on the back of Aaron’s neck stand. Finally his face erupts into an arrogant smirk, “Not at all.”

Aaron flushes red, but takes the flirtiness in stride. They sit down and ease into a harmless conversation. Robert asks Aaron about his trip down, and then it morphs into less small talk and more of their usual banter and conversation.

At one point, Robert laughs at something Aaron says and reaches out to touch Aaron’s hand. Aaron immediately retracts his hands away from Robert, not wanting him to touch him. Robert’s smile drops instantly, a frown replaces it.

“Have I misunderstood us?” He asks quietly, the hurt palpable when all Aaron wants is to touch Robert’s face. The question, though tinged with sadness, dispels Aaron’s initial misgivings before coming down here: Robert sees something between them.

“No, not at all.” Aaron quickly reassures, placing his hands back on the table as a show of goodwill. Aaron hesitates, but eventually tells Robert about Jason. How he was relentless in hounding Aaron, somehow sussing out Aaron was gay, and the torment he faced in the year he was in prison. “I don’t want to give you any hassle.” Aaron finishes with a mumble.

Robert reaches out again and gives Aaron’s hand a squeeze, and this time Aaron doesn’t pull away. “Aaron. I’m in here for murder. Do you think I care what other people think of me?”

Aaron chews at his lip, looking at their linked hands with a sort of fascination. Eventually though, Robert does pull away, before any notices. Robert could talk a big talk, but the fact of the matter was, they both know they need to be careful.

When the guards give a five minute warning, Robert looks forlornly at Aaron, “I want to see you again.”

“I’m here for the weekend, can come back tomorrow, if you want.” Aaron tries to say nonchalantly, but he knows Robert sees right through him.

He smiles and inches his fingers to Aaron, but doesn’t dare to touch him. “I'd like that.”

Aaron visits again the next day, but the visit only serves to confirm Aaron’s fears: he wants more. The phone calls, the letters, the short hourly visits, it’s not enough. He’s promising to visit Robert in two months' time, but it’s not a promise that warms Aaron. He wants to see Robert everyday, lay next to him, trace his face, tell him his deepest secrets and fears, wake up to seeing a disheveled and rumpled Robert. He wants it all.

Life starts to revolve entirely on Robert after that visit. They speak almost daily on the phone, letters still being sent, and Aaron has made it part of his routine to go down to the Isle every other month. They have fights, of course they do. Robert thinks he’s being unfair to Aaron, making him ‘waste’ his life away on someone who might never get out. But if there’s one thing Aaron would admit about himself, it’s that he’s loyal to a fault.

Still, when about a year passes after Aaron first visits, his optimism starts to take a slight toll. How can he keep this up for another twelve years? Aaron wants more. Needs more. Hour long phone calls, letters, and the times he can get down to the Isle...it’s not enough. It can never be enough. Aaron is in love with Robert, but he’s not so much as even kissed him. The hugs they give each other when Aaron visits last a bit too long, but neither of them care. Aaron can’t even write the depth of his feelings to Robert, for fear the letter falls into the wrong hands.

He sometimes feels like a fool for ever penning that first letter. But how can he truly believe that? Meeting Robert, no matter the limited capacity it's been, has been the best thing that has ever happened to Aaron. But Aaron isn’t a patient person, and twelve more years of longing and wanting the impossible dismays him.

When Robert calls that evening, Aaron tells him as much. “I can’t keep this up, I want more.” Aaron whispers it. He knows the phone lines are tapped and he worries confessing this.

“I know.” Robert replies, voice just as soft. “But I’m appealing my sentence. My barrister thinks I can be out soon. They’re confident the appeal will come good.”

Soon. The word holds so much promise but so much ambiguity at the same time. Still, it may be enough for Aaron to hold on. “And then what?”

“Then...maybe, we can give this a proper go, if you want.”

“Then you come home, to me.” Aaron agrees, clutching at his phone uncaring about anyone who might be listening.

“To you.” Robert agrees faintly.

Aaron breathes out a sigh and he’s never felt more in love. It’s probably mad to even try to consider the possibility that Robert can get out early. But hope is a foolish man’s salvation, and Aaron has never considered himself smart.

In the end, it takes another year of fighting appeals and convincing a judge that the initial sentencing was too severe when it was involuntary manslaughter. But Aaron is next to Robert the entire time, supporting him through their letters and the visits down to the Isle. Their phone calls start to become less frequent as Robert speaks to his barrister

The year is filled with Aaron meeting Robert's family in Hoften, shyly introducing himself as Robert's boyfriend. Robert's sister, Vic, welcomes and cries when Aaron explains how the two of them met. He takes to Vic instantly, and he understands better why Robert did what he did. He gets to meet Seb, who is every inch Robert’s son.

But most of all, he gets to tell Robert he loves him in their own language. They’re both careful, but their love for each other is evident in every word in their letters, and the knowing looks and smiles they share when they get to visit in person.

The day Robert is finally released, Aaron stands in the front of the little welcome party that has congregated for Robert’s release. He’s holding five year old Seb’s hand with Diane and Vic standing behind them. Aaron’s heart is in his throat and nerves coil in his gut.

The minutes feel endless and they torment him, feeling as if time has stood still. But finally, finally, Robert walks out of the prison and he takes Aaron’s breath away. Robert is wearing civilian clothes, the first time Aaron has ever seen him in them, and acting on pure instinct, he drops Seb’s hands and rushes to Robert. Robert mirrors his actions and they meet in ght middle, embracing each other, pressing against each other, almost as if to imprint themselves onto each other. There’s tears falling down Aaron’s cheeks that Robert is wiping away, Seb is shouting in glee and Aaron soon feels Seb’s little arms wrapping around the pair of them.

Robert bends down and picks Seb up, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Seb ducks his head into Robert’s neck and Aaron crowds father and son, petting Seb’s hair and looking into Robert’s eyes. Robert leans forward and finally kisses Aaron, and he melts. Seb wriggles in Robert’s arms, Diane and Vic are crying but Aaron doesn’t pay them a single mind, absorbed entirely of the feeling of having the love of his life kiss him for all he’s worth.

“I love you.”

Aaron’s not sure which one of them says it, but it vibrates between them and it’s the truest statement he’s ever known. He knows Robert will similarly have to go to counseling like Aaron, and he’ll have to now adjust to a world where people might judge Robert for the sins of his mistakes. But that’s neither here nor there, all that matters is this moment of feeling Robert’s lips on his own.

Despite the long road they may face, Aaron knows they can weather it, because they’re together and Robert is coming home to Aaron.

#robron week #rw2020 #robert sugden #aaron dingle #robron #robron fic #my writing #my edits #My stuff

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paladin-lynx · 4 years ago

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SquipJere Week 2020, Day 4: Mr. Roboto

@squipjerebmc’s SquipJere Week 2020 Day 4: Mr. Roboto

Ships Involved: The SQUIP x Jeremy Heere (Technical Difficulties/Squipemy/Squeremy/JereSquip/SquipJere)

Setting: Canonverse, set in the time interval between “Loser Geek Whatever” and “Halloween”.

Trigger/Content Warnings: None

Jeremy had never been one to ‘bask in the limelight,’ as they said. He wasn’t exactly content to stay on the sidelines for his entire life like Michael was, but he didn’t need to be the center of attention. It would just be kind of nice to be looked at by someone other than his best friend since kindergarten or bullies searching for a punching bag.

But he had to admit, after his first real hangout with the ‘cool kids’ had been a success, he felt like a movie star. All of the eyes on him as he’d mastered the dancing game at Dave & Buster’s had been somewhat overwhelming at first, but he’d quickly adjusted and it just felt good to be recognized, even if it was for something that he technically hadn’t achieved on his own. But even Rich, who without a doubt knew how Jeremy had danced like he was a professional to a song he didn’t even know that well on the highest difficulty on some obscure music game, had praised him and let him have his brief moment of fame.

But it was enough attention to satisfy him for a week or more and as keyed up as he was from all the interaction, it felt nice to be home. The entire scene kept replaying itself in his head – whether that was because of him or because it was the SQUIP’s silent way of saying ‘look how well you did,’ he wasn’t completely sure – and he had a bit of a skip in his step as he walked into the house. His father hadn’t even seemed to notice he was gone so there was no way he’d noticed that Jeremy had taken the car.

The rest of the Saturday passed without much fanfare, and soon enough it was Sunday. Sundays were usually Jeremy’s day to buckle down and get his homework done, and he usually didn’t look forward to it. When he didn’t want to get up from bed, the SQUIP lightly prodded at him until he did, teasing him for his bedhead and telling him that it was sure it would be a productive day.

Jeremy had never really liked doing homework. The one exception was when he was given books to read, although that heavily depended on the book. However, ever since getting the SQUIP, he hadn’t gotten much more enthusiastic about doing schoolwork but he found it much easier to focus. He knew for a fact that was because of the SQUIP’s influence – or at least, it had definitely started that way and now Jeremy wondered if maybe his focus was better because his mind had been properly trained.

And so after scarfing down a bowl of cereal – the SQUIP had been intent on him having three meals a day, something Jeremy hadn’t exactly been great about before considering he opted to skip breakfast ninety-five percent of the time – he settled in at his desk to start on the one subject that was the bane of his existence: math. Michael had always been the one who was better with numbers while Jeremy was better with words. Jeremy had been in the drama club when he was in elementary school and for part of middle school, although he never had any roles that were too notable, but it was enough to satisfy him. His adoration of Christine had only bolstered his love of theater. He’d even debated a few times over the course of his short life trying to write poetry or songs, but he’d never gotten into the right mindset for it. He doubted he’d be good at it, anyway.

But now he had the SQUIP which, as it had so proudly declared the first day he’d gotten it, was made of math. There were certain things the SQUIP would do for him, but homework wasn’t one of them. It would stand by as Jeremy worked, ready to assist, but it would never just give him the answers. It would walk him through the problems or prompts to make sure he understood how to find the solution, and of course because the SQUIP was in his brain, Jeremy would find himself understanding even if he had initially found himself lost as the SQUIP rattled off information.

And so he sat at his desk and got to work – normally he’d end up hunched over in his chair, but thanks yet again to the SQUIP that was no longer the case – furrowing his brow as he started on the various problems. The SQUIP was helping him raise his grades but he still had to put in the effort himself, because if he was suddenly a prodigy in every subject, there would definitely be some eyebrows raised in his direction. So he needed to do well, but not too well, kind of like how he hadn’t gotten a perfect score back at Dave & Buster’s. There was a balance to these things, wherein the SQUIP would step in and hold his hand to lead him down the right path until Jeremy learned well enough to see the way on his own.

Jeremy usually waited until he got through all the problems he could do on his own before he asked for help, almost like he was still a little kid going to ask his parents if they could assist him. Then again, the SQUIP would always be there as soon as he so much as thought that he might not be able to figure something out on his own. No embarrassing scurrying down to the kitchen necessary – although it was still a bit embarrassing to need help at all.

And to his pleasant surprise, he was actually getting through most of the assigned problems relatively quickly. Sure, there were a couple that had him scratching his head for a few minutes, but it just took a quick flip through his notes – those were getting neater and better organized, too – for him to come to a realization. He might actually be able to have some free time on this Sunday instead of spending the whole day besides meals and bathroom breaks sitting at his desk and working.

He was so absorbed in his work – what a rarity – that he almost missed that there was sound in the room other than the scratching of his pencil against his notebook. When he finally noticed it, he looked up with his brow creased, confused. It almost sounded like humming, but he was pretty sure that even if his dad sang in the shower, it wouldn’t reach all the way through the closed door.

That was when he turned to see the SQUIP standing on the other side of the room, back facing him. It had a few translucent blue screens floating around it, each displaying various numbers and data that Jeremy could never even hope to understand, and it was tapping its chin as it looked over everything. Jeremy knew that the visuals were just to fit his personal aesthetics and to give him something to look at as the SQUIP interacted with him so his brain wasn’t left utterly baffled, but he still couldn’t help feeling intrigued.

Especially when he realized that his SQUIP was, in fact, humming as it went about its business.

Of course, as soon as Jeremy realized, the sound stopped and the screens fizzled away as the SQUIP looked over its shoulder. “What? You should be doing your homework.”

“You were humming,” was all Jeremy managed to say, realizing after a heartbeat how stupid it sounded to state the obvious.

However, the SQUIP merely blinked at him, turning around to properly face him, arms crossing against its chest. “I was not.”

“Wh—You were!” Jeremy protested. “I heard it.”

“Perhaps you were humming to yourself as you worked?”

“No way, I don’t hum when I work. Especially not when I’m doing math.”

The SQUIP seemed to bite back a smile at that and instead huffed. “Everything I do in this physical manifestation, Jeremy, has a purpose. There would be no reason for me be humming at this moment, so therefore I was not humming.”

Jeremy’s eyebrows furrowed. “But you were. I heard you. I know my brain is fucked up, but it isn’t so bad that I’m imagining humming. I even know the song. It was ‘Mr. Roboto’ by, uh…erm…shit…”

“Styx,” the SQUIP interrupted, although it didn’t seem entirely pleased to be giving Jeremy evidence against its argument.

“Yeah, Styx! It played at one point in Dave & Buster’s yesterday. When Jake and Brooke were doing the basketball game thingy.”

The SQUIP scowled at him. “Jeremy, I wasn’t humming. That would be illogical. Why would I carry out such a pointless act?”

Jeremy blinked, before shrugging. “I dunno. For fun? You’re an A.I., after all, so you have things that you like to do even if you don’t need to do them…right?”

He remembered the SQUIP telling him just a few days ago that it was impossible for it to ever be at a loss. But the SQUIP right now looked just a bit baffled at Jeremy’s explanation. “I…suppose that might be true. Have I done anything else like that?”

Jeremy thought for a moment. “You looked like you were having fun yesterday when we were playing games with everyone. Maybe it was just you helping me, but I think you were getting something out of it, too. Maybe the happy chemicals in my brain were affecting you or something.”

The SQUIP snorted. “It doesn’t work that way, Jeremy. But…you may be onto something.” It tilted its head, and Jeremy wondered what exactly it was processing. But it spoke again just a few moments later: “It seems that I was, in fact, humming. It was just a…mindless action. I didn’t even seem to realize myself that I was doing it.”

“Well, you told me that with every interaction, you learn and evolve,” Jeremy replied. “So maybe because you’re poking around at me less, you’re starting to realize there are things that you like to do? And that song stuck with you from yesterday.” He smiled. “Kind of fitting, honestly.”

“I’m not a robot, Jeremy. I’m a supercomputer.”

“Oh, you know what I meant!”

The SQUIP chuckled softly, reaching up to push its hair back, even though Jeremy was pretty sure it was already perfectly in place as it always was. “…This is certainly an interesting development. I’ll have to look more into it.”

Jeremy frowned. “I know you’re all about numbers and results and stuff, but…can’t you just enjoy it and not try to dig in and find a reason behind it?”

The SQUIP raised an eyebrow and tipped its head to one side as it looked at him. “I’m programmed to delve into situations and analyze how they come to be and what results may come from them. That includes how my own code functions and grows.”

Jeremy sighed, shrugging and turning back to his desk. “You do you, I guess. Just…I dunno, I have time when I’m not working and you don’t have to worry about me. So you could find your own thing to do.”

The SQUIP appeared beside him, still looking thoughtful. “You do realize I’m in your head, right? I can’t exactly decide to meander off and go attend some crazy rave.”

Jeremy smiled sideways at him. “Maybe you can meet up with Rich’s SQUIP and have a wild party or something in cyberspace. Or you could sync with some of my game systems and run around in them. I think you secretly liked being a little hamster.”

“I did not,” it protested and Jeremy only grinned more when he felt indignant static trail down his spine. The SQUIP tutted at him and turned away. “…I’ll consider looking into doing activities that don’t align with my assignment to you. It could prove to be an interesting experiment.”

“Uh huh.”

Jeremy left it at that and got back to his homework, although he was pretty sure he wasn’t focusing quite as well as before. Was it really that strange that the SQUIP had been humming? It seemed to do a lot of things that were a bit more extra than necessary – such as that little kiss to the back of Jeremy’s hand just the day before, but Jeremy was trying not to linger on that too much because it made his stomach feel funny – but it had always explained it away as being for Jeremy’s sake. But Jeremy was starting to wonder if that was just the SQUIP trying to convince itself that everything it did had a reason behind it and that it wasn’t just doing something for the sake of doing it like a stupid human would. A SQUIP was built to learn so that it could improve itself, and it would only see something as harmless as humming a tune as it worked as a distraction or even a downgrade.

But after Jeremy had eaten dinner and returned to his room to move on to his history homework, he blinked up as he once again heard the unmistakable humming. He looked over to see the SQUIP sitting on his bed, its eyes closed and expression contemplative as it almost hesitantly hummed out the familiar notes of ‘Mr. Roboto,’ albeit slower than the actual song. But as the minutes passed, the sound got more confident and Jeremy swore he even saw a smile.

“You have a nice voice,” he complimented after a bit.

“Just because someone can carry a tune while humming doesn’t mean they can sing well, Jeremy,” was the reply he got.

But when Jeremy lay down to sleep that night, nestled under the covers, he could see the gentle tell-tale glow of the SQUIP as it sat down on the edge of the bed, just as it had that first night it had activated. It ran its fingers through Jeremy’s hair, slow and soothing, and Jeremy tipped his head slightly up into the touch as he felt himself start to drift off.

And right before he fell asleep, he thought he heard a quiet voice singing:

“Everything about you is going to be wonderful…”

#SquipJere Week 2020 #lynx tales #mine #writing #Be More Chill #BMC Jeremy Heere #BMC SQUIP #Technical Difficulties #Squipemy #Squeremy #JereSquip #SquipJere #Jeremy Heere #SQUIP #of course now i'm gonna have Mr Roboto stuck in my head even if I only actually briefly mentioned it lol #BMC #fic #fanfiction #i don't have a fancy queue tag

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halfgap · 6 years ago

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This is such a tiny (& likely pointless) quibble that’s been bothering me for a long, long time, way before I got into CR. Basically writers and fandom (esp. recently) are really, really into the whole “found family” or “families of choice” trope, and like. So am I, 100%. But a lot of the thought/language surrounding it -- in all areas of fandom -- tends to veer in a direction that almost always makes me uncomfortable.

Below the cut bc this got rambly & senseless fast lol

Like... it’s sort of this popular fixation on assigning kinship terms to each individual or non-romantic relationship within the “found family” unit. Like, “oh this is the dad of the group, this is the mom, this is the weird uncle, these two are siblings, etc.” And obviously in some cases it’s very appropriate or even comes directly from the writers/characters (which is another issue of its own tbh but.. later). But it bugs me that so many people are so keen on categorizing these relationships through this rigid kinship terminology in the first place.

(And I know I’m looking at this from a very unfortunately Eurocentric perspective, since there are so many cultures that don’t base their ideas of “kinship” on biology at all and don’t automatically prioritize blood relations as “true” family, which is why my weird specific quibbles on this may be entirely pointless, and I’m open to hearing thoughts. But I also suspect that most of the people participating in this popular trend/habit I’m talking about are coming from a similar cultural perspective as mine...)

Anyway, I can’t really articulate why this has always annoyed me so much other than to say... I feel like people refuse to let the word “friends” just be, and be important & valued? And it’s good that people are re-defining the word “family” so that it can function independent of any blood ties, but this obsession with like, “dad, siblings, the vodka aunt etc” to me still feels strongly tied to the older ideas of kinship through blood & marriage, basically this.. strictly defined family tree sort of deal. If people want to push forward the idea that the platonic bonds we choose & create for ourselves can be just as important or even more important than biological bonds or romantic/sexual ones, then why do we have to insist on these older kinship labels that both implicitly continue to privilege older ideas of family (by people “upgrading” relationships from “friends” to “siblings/parents/etc”) and also bear the same limitations? Like, a great fucking thing about these chosen bonds are that they don’t have to be defined or boxed into any one predetermined social role, they can be amorphous and intense and transcend the language we currently have access to.

Like, when people kept asking Ash and Taliesin on TM if Yasha and Molly considered themselves siblings... That made me uncomfortable, especially after they both conclusively said “no.” Ashley’s made it clear that Molly was the most important person in her life after she left Xhorhas, he’s a soul mate and a friend and a confidant and a buddy but she clarified that Yasha doesn’t see him as “a brother, exactly..” Partly I think it’s because there is a potential dimension of some form of romantic bond within their intense platonic love, but even with that they’d never consider themselves dating or anything like that, either -- or they can also ‘just’ be read as 100% platonic past & present & future, depending on where you’re coming from. Like, it’s ambiguous & amorphous & intense & loving & good, and I like that it defies categorization, I like that the best way to describe them is “they’re very close friends” and that doesn’t mean less than if they were lovers or “adoptive siblings” or whatever. The whole circus was kind of the same way, and Tal even said that Molly didn’t consider any of them a “parental” figure when fans asked about Gustav, but decided that Gustav was the closest to that role if we had to look at things that way. But we don’t!!!!

People also asked several times if Beau and Molly considered themselves siblings -- again, no!!!!! (But I feel like that’s probs bc the cast are also largely used to the idea we get from so much media & stories where a friend/comrade is “upgraded” to a “brother/sister/whatever” after a certain degree of trust/intimacy that Beau and Molly didn’t have yet... but still, I don’t think Beau and Molly ever needed to develop into siblings in the first place!! Ahhhh!!!) Weirdly a funny related example I can think of is that one Community episode when they were like “This study group is like a family!!” but then a lot of hidden trysts and scandals and feelings were discussed/debated, and at the end Jeff admitted that maybe they weren’t like a family, exactly, maybe it was more complicated than that. And it is!!! But that doesn’t mean that group bond matters less than family!!! (Also the ‘wholesome as the family on the Brady Bunch’ -> ‘incestuous & dysfunctional as the cast of the Brady Bunch’ joke is hilarious).

Also!!!! In Leverage when people are so fixated on calling Nate the dad, Sophie the mom, Eliot & Parker & Hardison the kids, or like one weird youtube comment I saw acknowledging how Parker & Hardison are dating, well, now Hardison is just the daughter’s boyfriend!! Like ?????? What? Nate has really dad-like interactions, Sophie sometimes has really mom-like interactions, and I love it all and it’s funny, but they’re not equivalent to a mom & dad. Sophie flirts with Eliot, Nate & Sophie can both be really dumb & competitive with all of the other 3.. Eliot has sibling-like interactions with Hardison and Parker sometimes, and he also has love interest-like reactions, and he also has Best Friend-like interactions, and they’re all good & important & only part of a greater, harder to define whole that forms their bond.

And like, I realize that y’know, ultimately all these words aren’t real, like.. language is constantly evolving because all the ‘meaning’ (denotive & connotative) of these words are something we construct as a society in an effort to best reflect what society perceives as reality/truth... And that probably every individual gets a slightly different meaning in their mind when any given word comes up anyway.. Which is why ‘family’ now doesn’t really frustrate me as much when used in the same contexts as I was just ranting about with ‘mom/dad/brother/sister/etc’ but I dunno. I’m just suspicious of what feels like people trying to re-imagine these bio-family words so they can encompass non-biological bonds, rather than maybe instead trying to just? Keep words like friendship and platonic and whatever and push them until they gain a connotation of importance as much as ‘family’ (& related terms) and ‘spouse’ or whatever has? Because if we don’t want bio families to take precedence over chosen families in any way, then I think our language has to reflect that, and people need to stop fckin dismissing friendship in the first place. It weirdly reminds me of some people trying to get literary arts & humanities etc added to “STEM” bc they believe science shouldn’t be viewed as more valuable than the arts, but then in those very attempts to ““elevate”” the arts, they’re just??? Already playing into this assumption that STEM is higher, more important etc?? And treating arts as some form of science just limits it & removes a lot of the dimensions of art that makes it valuable - & different from science - in the first place? Which was what I was saying before about people trying to cram relationships like Yasha’s & Molly’s into a defined familial one?

Okay I realize this is just incoherent unhinged rambling at this point but I’m just trying to parse my inexplicable frustration on the go here lmao. If anyone who might have perspective on this wants to?? Help me out here, it’d be great to hear your thoughts. Am I just being overly suspicious & nitpicky??? Maybe!!!!! But that’s why I called it a quibble!!!!

anyway tl;dr the M9 are a group of friends, best friends even, and that can be just as important & prioritized as family/romantic partners, but if you really want to say the M9 are ‘like family’ or a family then I guess I’m ok with that too, but for some reason anything more specific than that tends to grind my gears bc I’m Weird

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hugs-are-good-for-you · 6 years ago

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Questions Tag

I was tagged by @whatswiththe-mustache (Which is kind of super cool and made me happy, thanks for tagging me!)

Rules: answer the questions and tag 10 people (I totally consider the 10 optional)

How tall are you?

I’m 5′4″ and super salty about it. Fun fact, for about 2 years it was 5′3 3/4″, because every quarter counts when you’re short.

What colour and style is your hair?

I have dark drown hair that likes to go between reddish brown and black depending on lighting, it’s a dramatic a-line that goes to my shoulders in what my friend calls the bi haircut, which is how she guessed the label first. I am aware that sounded like a fanfic oc intro, I am my own original character, so fight me.

What colour are your eyes?

Brown, soulless dark brown or friendly warm brown depending on mood.

Do you wear glasses?

Nope, I’m one of those horrible people with good enough vision not to need them.

Do you have braces?

Nope, though I did have a retainer for a while.

What’s your fashion sense?

I have no idea, it kind of runs its own gambit, so I kind of let it do its thing. The subcategories are: Disaster bi (Jean jackets, plaid, etc), business casual (Debator here for your job who has been trained in tricking people via aesthetic), fangirl, all kind of tied together by pastel punk?

Full name?

Shawnee Rose Redacted. Again, it sounds like an OC name, so who knows? I just know I was almost Mckayla and that would have been worse.

When were you born?

May 21, everyone thinks that I’m either underage or 26.

Where are you from and where do you live?

Utah

What school(s) do you go to?

Snow College and then was tossed into the workforce.

What kind of student are you?

I’m that student that bugs hard workers because I’m good at school with minimal effort and I’m my own worst roadblock. I am also the student that is either being challenged and thriving or not being challenged and failing.

Do you like school?

I really do, for the most part. I think it’s just the learning things that I wouldn’t typically seek out, the community, and the challenge aspect of things.

Fav subject?

Communications, Debate, or English, probably. The human element is where I tend to thrive and math does not completely like me.

Fav TV shows?

Young Justice, Teen Titans (not the reboot), Game of Thrones, Umbrella Academy, and Teen Wolf. Also on the list, but kind of not on the list due to complex feelings is The Magicians.

Fav books?

Harry Potter, Dark is Rising Sequence (Susan Cooper, needs so much more love), Percy Jackson, Chronicles of Narnia, The Gatekeepers (Anthony Horowitz, you’re gonna suffer, but you’re gonna be happy about it), The Blue Sword (Robin McKinley, beautiful), The Thief Lord, Ranger’s Apprentice, Avalon: Web of Magic, Maximum Ride (First three books only, I’m not proud), Ender’s Game/Shadow, the Heir Series (Cinda Williams Chima, a delight), Rowan of Rin, Deltora Quest, Julius Caesar, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Fav Pastimes?

So, I basically live on AO3, honestly. Tumblr comes somewhere after that. I don’t watch a ton of stuff, though I can keep on top of most of it. Alternatively, I do a lot of side projects.

Do you have any regrets?

Yeah, I regret playing the violin instead of the cello, I regret a friendship that I lost, and I regret not joining dance when I was younger.

Dream job?

I’m pretty happy where I am (I work with Pinterest), but I’d love to do any of the following: Travel planner (I stress plan to relax), designer, marketing, or one of my side projects. For example, I’m working on a project to centralize actual validated resources for mental illness. Essentially, instead of having to go to 7 different websites to find out what X is and then more websites to find out what you can do when dealing with it and then more to find out where to get help, it would be in one place, as well as tips to help others that are going through it.

Would you ever like to be married?

Dunno, I’m not really for or against, though I do want a dedicated snuggle buddy.

Would you like to have children?

I want to either foster or adopt.

If so, how many?

Three at max, no less than two (Says the lonely only child)

Do you like shopping?

Kind of, though only in the last few years. There is a direct correlation between the amount of control I have and how much I enjoy it.

What countries have you visited?

US and Canada, though I’ll be visiting a few countries in Europe in a few weeks!

Scariest nightmare you’ve ever had?

So, there’s two. One is existential, the other is supernatural, it’s appropriate. Supernatural was a house on fire, I heard a baby inside and broke a window to get to the basement to get it out, then it was a demon baby. The other I was with my dad in a parking lot, got distracted, he kept walking and drove off and I couldn’t move or make a sound, just watched as he left. I was five for both of them, not a fan.

Any enemies?

There’s always these questions, do people tend to have archenemies? I always wonder. I guess the closest would be either this horrible person I knew, but I’ve moved on and he just stalks my LinkedIn from time to time or this group of girls I called the Ashley’s (Guess why. Also, why is no one named Ashley that goes by Ashley a decent person? I know there has to be some, but I haven’t met any), they bullied a friend of mine and I always got in the way because, um, no, not a thing. I was literally told that I was alright when not in school and I was just like, “There is a reason for that. Consider what you’re not doing when I see you outside of school?”

Do you have a significant other?

Nope, closest I’ve been is playing a maybe/maybe not game with someone for a year or so.

Do you get along with your family?

Not with my dad, yes with my mum, but only due to a careful compromise on certain topics that has taken a lot of work to achieve.

Do you believe in miracles?

Not sure, actually. I kind of fall that I believe in something, but I’m not sure which and either way, I think they’re pretty uninvolved, so a lot of it falls to us regardless.

How are you?

It’s been a weird week. Some good things, some bad things, some ambivalent things. I’m okay overall, slightly salty about some things, but I’ve accomplished quite a bit and I’m happy with it.

XxX

Questions are fun! I’m going to tag some people I’ve interacted with, some people I haven’t, participate if you want to and have a lovely day regardless!

Tagging: @sassy-in-glasses, @dalek-in-heels, @captainkatieb, @mountains-boy, @arielseviltwinsister, @awesome-al97, @thisissirius, @bisexualtwilight

…..and @anyone and everyone who wants to be tagged! <3

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skaylanphear · 6 years ago

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What do you think are some of your biggest flaws/shortcomings as a writer? Like what are things that you're trying to improve upon for yourself or what things do you try to seek out advice from others about? Just curious :)

I mean, I don’t really seek advice because I don’t have anyone to seek advice from. I look to works of writing that I respect and attempt to mimic those things, but–and this is going to sound arrogant and conceited and that’s fine I guess–I’ve never been in a situation where my peers have been on the same level I am. That isn’t to say I’m the best writer in the world, because I’m not, but literally I’ve never been in a place where my peers and even teachers have anything to offer me in the way of helpful criticism. More often than not, I am leaned upon to be one of the few people that are able to edit and critique someone else’s work and actually be useful.

When I would submit stories for review, my profs would either, one, give me 100%s, which is silly because I did not deserve that, or tell me they have nothing to say because it’s “so good.” And if I sound irritated by this attitude, I am. I have grad students telling me my work is so good they can’t give me critique, yet my advisor won’t let me take graduate level classes despite the fact that I am utterly wasted with my peers, who do little more than write stories for class because they’re required and not because they bother to practice their craft everyday. And they consider themselves “writers.”

So no, I very rarely seek out advice because it has been a very useless endeavor a good majority of the time.

It has, however, taught me to be very self-reflective and progressive in my own attempts to learn and improve. I go out of my way to improve myself when I feel I am lacking, which is something a lot of writers apparently don’t do? I mean, if I were to be honestly critical, I’d tell you that everything I do is sub-par, because I know from experience that if I work hard enough, I can always come up with something better. I go in to edit a piece having already accepted that I could likely re-write the entire thing and it’d be done better, but only the fact that I can’t do that my whole life and hope to be successful stops me from doing so.

As far as specifics? It depends on the piece and what my focus is, really. Writing isn’t so much a game of what is best so much as it is picking what’s best for the story you’re trying to tell. My aptitude for writing overly emotional scenes might be well-suited to a story about relationships, but is only going to drag in a fantasy adventure story, where each scenes needs to serve as something to pull the story forward. Part of the mark of a good writer is being able to utilize different strategies for different scenes. It’s why my writing style will vary vastly from a romantic scene to an action scene. This isn’t a fault, it’s a purposeful change in tone.

But I’m not here to give advice, despite how I am used to doing so. As far as technical things I know I can improve on, I tend to put too many tags in dialogue, which I have been working on remedying for the last year or more. I also tend to focus far too much on eyebrows and facial expressions, which is a hold-over fanfiction habit that I am ruthlessly trying to break myself of, because me saying a character looks curious does not then require me to tell you how furrowed their eyebrows are–if a character looks curious, most people are more than capable of imagining what that looks like. I also tend to have too many one-sentence paragraphs, which harken back to my fondness for emotional melodrama. I’ve also gotten really lazy about describing locations, which is another bad habit picked up in fanfiction, as it is rare that description is required at all in fanfic. But it makes me all the more proud when I do a description of a place that I really enjoy reading, because it reminds me how much it can add to a story. What other annoying things do I do? I have a few words that I repeat too often, but every writer goes through that and there will always be words I get into the habit of using that I then have to break myself of, only for others to take their place anew. That’s what editing is for I guess. What else do I do? I dunno, there are a lot of things I do that are shitty. I’m sure there are plenty more.

But I get the feeling you’re looking for something more… vast? Like me coming in and saying, oh I’m bad at dialogue, or romance, or character building. But I don’t think I’m really very bad at any of that, as I work very hard to make sure that I’m not butchering any concept I’m going to write about? Like, if I’m writing a romance, I go out of my way to make sure that romance is well-executed by looking at examples of what good romance looks like. Like, I do research and seek out sources and references. And I also practice a lot. And I’m a boss at dialogue when I get my tagging reeled in, so that one is a moot point ;D

I mean, maybe I’m a bit long-winded? But… I like reading long things, so I guess that fault is up for debate and varies from person to person. I think maybe I get a little repetitive in concept–as in repeating the same things every couple of chapters because I’m afraid the reader won’t remember. So I guess I do ask about that, as I will ask my family when they read my novel to tell me if there are certain ideas that get repeated too often or if they need those reminders. But that’s still up in the air so… *shrugs*

I… am really bad at introducing minor character appropriately, which I again blame on fanfiction. And by minor characters, I mean things like pets. When you write fanfic, you can introduce these characters without explanation, which means I now have horses in my novel that go through half of it with no names and then suddenly they have names and I have not figured out an appropriate time to introduce their name formally into the narrative.

A lot of the issues I guess I’m working on stem from separating fanfic practices from writing original pieces. Fanfic has it’s positives, don’t get me wrong. I could write essays on the benefits of fanfic. But it does have a few quirks specific to its form that I now have to combat, hence my uncertainty about whether I’m elaborating on an idea too repetitively or not. In fanfic, that’s not an issue you normally have to deal with, as the writer is usually dealing with themes already apparent in the canon.

I guess fanfic is my biggest weakness. At least as far as writing original stuff, lol. Funny though, it doesn’t work the other way around. I tackle writing fanfic the way I do original work and I get twice as much praise. Which basically tells me that fanfic shortcomings boil down to laziness the community has just… accepted.

I’m lazy. My writing has become lazy. Almost all my fanfic is lazy, even Serendipitous Fate to a certain extent. You’d probably all be shocked to read my original novel and all the detail and precision that comes with it, lol.

Anyway, hope that answers your questions!

#skaylanphear replies #anonymous

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liuwdere · 7 years ago

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the gay ass anime masterpost*

*not actually a masterpost, since i give about two and a half fucks about keeping this updated or properly categorized. real loose classifications to follow. shit i haven’t seen in italics; stuff i’d highly recommend in bold. now updated w/ streaming links (some are US-only tho, sorry)

no predatory lesbians or okama joke characters or else we’ll be here all day. k? k.

LGBT-THEMED: anime that directly addresses LGBT identity as one of its primary focuses

Revolutionary Girl Utena

the ez one

Yurikuma Arashi

Class S is bullshit, did u know that. Also, thirsty-ass bear girls and a real angry takedown of the patriarchy

Flip Flappers

I don’t know how you can read this show as anything but lesbian sexual awakening, especially given the Class S Yuri Hell episode

Wandering Son (Hourou Musuko)

pls pay attention to the T friends

Aoi Hana (Sweet Blue Flowers)

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

Kikuhiko is def not cishet and i will fite u if u insist otherwise. Half the show’s choices make no sense without that lens

Yuri!!! on Ice

fite me

LGBT-THEMED; LIMITED REP: anime that addresses gender or sexuality as a secondary focus, though perhaps lacking explicit representation (e.g. LGBT narratives in the secondary cast).

The Woman Called Fujiko Mine (from the director of Yuri!!! on Ice)

One of the supporting characters is a gay man struggling w/ masculinity

Gay schoolgirl episode all about female sexual repression

did i mention the titty is good

Princess Jellyfish

Prominent focus on gender presentation

Kuranosuke can be read as a closeted trans woman

Paradise Kiss

Heroine’s love interest is bisexual

Trans woman in the supporting cast; trans identity plays a major role in her story

Ouran High School Host Club

Discusses gender + gender presentation, though protagonist isn’t explicitly stated to be nonbinary

Protagonist��s parents implied to be genderqueer; father definitely bi

Plenty of gay subtext among the male cast

Scum’s Wish

Strong focus on female sexuality; main character is bisexual

Central cast also includes a lesbian

Simoun

Discusses gender as more of an abstraction? Takes place in a world where everyone is born female to later choose a permanent gender. It does less to directly address gender than you’d expect, though, which is why I’m sticking it here

From the New World (Shin Sekai Yori)

Future dystopia where societal norms practically mandate bisexuality. Honestly, I dunno where to put this; the story’s more concerned with sexuality in general than with LGBT identity

Devilman Crybaby

Classic characters reinterpreted through a queer lens; important theme of coming to terms with one’s own sexuality and identity. Ryo is the definition of disaster gay

LGBT REP: anime w/ positive depictions of LGBT characters, though not necessarily concerned w/ addressing queerness directly.

Samurai Flamenco

Four words: gay naked gunpoint proposal. the show makes about that much sense but it’s a lotta fun

i don’t care what the director said

bisexual girl in a poly relationship

No. 6

boys kissing tho???

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

pls ignore the manga and its magic dick nonsense

Haruchika

One of the two leads is a gay boy. He explicitly says so in the first episode. Avoid the live-action movie like the plague.

I should probably list Kase-san and Bloom Into You here

Mikagura School Suite

The heroine is REALLY THIRSTY for all the cute girls

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo

Beyond the obvious homoerotic overtones of Albert/the Count, there’s Franz’s gay crush

Sympathetic trans girl character in the secondary cast

Michiko and Hatchin (from the director of Yuri!!! on Ice!!!)

Girls are good ok

Atsuko is gay

Macross Delta

two girls in the supporting cast do a hell of a lotta cuddling on screen

some versions of Sailor Moon

namely the ‘90s anime

Sailor Moon Crystal and the manga do address gender in… questionable ways

Tokyo Godfathers

Trans woman in the main cast

Tiger and Bunny

Reasonably respectful portrayal of a gay man once it gets going

Central relationship between two men could be read as romantic

Genshiken

Whispered Words (Sasameki Koto)

Psycho-Pass

One of the officers is a lesbian. She gets a focus episode

Monogatari series

Really just limited to Kanbaru, but she’s the most accurate depiction of the constantly horny dank meme problematic gay (e.g. me) i’ve ever seen, ironic propositioning of her straight dude friend and all. The rest of the franchise is obnoxious though, so ymmv

Kill la Kill?

i don’t know how else you interpret one girl kissing another on the mouth

Attack on Titan

If you’ve been living under a rock and somehow haven’t heard about it Ymir and Christa are all but explicitly stated to be in love with each other

Kino’s Journey

Kino asks people to use non-gendered pronouns, apparently? I haven’t seen this yet.

Knights of Sidonia

Non-binary character in the main cast

The manga goes some iffy places with their character tho, be warned

Really though, I mostly like this show for the sentient pink penis alien

Gatchaman Crowds

Several gender non-conforming characters

Trans girl in the main cast

Cardcaptor Sakura?

Fuuka

One of the dudes is canonically gay, not that it makes much of an improvement to the show

A Centaur’s Life

there’s a moment where a lesbian objects to her PDA being considered more obscene than the straight equivalent, which is nice but pretty off-the-cuff

Rose of Versailles

Oscar’s debatably genderqueer, though the show goes some real questionable places towards the end

Gay ladies?

Hunter x Hunter

Trans girl in the supporting cast. Her story’s extremely minor in the grand scheme of things but it’s there and it’s good

Love and Lies

potato-kun gets a harem that includes his male best friend

Land of the Lustrous

non-gendered rock people searching for meaning in life

Bodacious Space Pirates

via @madscientist212: “two explicitly lesbian characters who are lovers, and one of the story arcs involves the crew helping one of them avoid being forced into an arranged marriage to a dude by her uncle”

Banana Fish

Extremely dated BL-flavored crime drama; unfortunately falls into the pitfalls of old-ass exploitation films: csa, sexual assault, etc. It’s such a problematic fav tho

Kiss Him, Not Me

Reverse harem includes a lesbian

Double Decker! Doug & Kirill

heavy gay subtext between leads and secondary cast members; well-intentioned trans representation that’s... kinda clumsy, tbh

Zombie Land Saga

one of the zombie girls is a trans girl who dies from the shock of puberty. it’s p incidental to her character but the show’s real cute otherwise so go for it

Anima Yell

apparently one of the girls admits to having a crush on a female teacher. or something. idk this show looks hella boring why bother

THE SUBTEXT IS STRONK: not textually gay (some you could argue could fall under category #2 and vice versa; not the point of this post) but can be read that way, even though these shows aren’t super concerned w/ romance in general

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Depending on the version, Shinji’s sexuality can be read a variety of ways. Manga Shinji is pretty clearly bi; TV anime Shinji you could debate.

Free, I guess

Love Live (Sunshine esp.) if I’m counting Free

Symphogear

Dear Brother (Oniisama e, otherwise known as BE STRONG)

Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Apollon)

Nominally they’re straight and pining for the same girl but BOY do Kaoru and Sentarou have a LOT of chemistry with each other, so much that it’s hard to read them otherwise

Marimite (Maria Watches Over Us)

Izetta: The Last Thing I Would Watch Even If I Had a Gun Pointed at My Head

Despite what you may have heard, this show is bad and 100% plays in bait territory. Also, obnoxious gun fetishism and way. too. much. goddamn. phallic imagery.

Tanaka-kun is Always Listless

Umamusume: Pretty Derby

Princess Principal

Spiritpact

I have complicated feelings about this goddamn trash fire of a show, but halfway through the second season it turns into a genuinely compelling gay pseudo-romance (?) about two boys navigating heteronormativity. also i guess the main couple exists, tho they spend a ridiculous amount of effort no-homoing

Amanchu

basically any sports anime ever tbh

Golden Kamuy

MADE FOR THE STRAIGHTS BUT STILL OK: the yuri, BL, etc. that’s clearly targeted at a heterosexual audience but respectful enough to be enjoyable for the people they’re about

Doukyuusei

This Boy Caught a Merman

This Boy is a Professional Wizard

Strawberry Panic

Love Stage??? I have some qualms about putting this here but of the trashy BL anime that exist this is probably the least offensive

Maria-Holic

TEXTUALLY GAY BUT BLUGHHHH: the yuri and BL that just sux

Sakura Trick

Junjou Romantica (how the hell does this thing have three seasons)

Sekaiichi Hatsukoi

Gakuen Heaven

Dramatical Murder (POTATO DOGGO)

Super Lovers UGH

idk Gravitation and all that other crappy BL I don’t have the patience to list

GIMME THE TRASH NOW: problematic as all hell but i sure ain’t complainin b/c i’m gay ass trash

Netsuzou Trap (NTR)

Riddle Story of Devil

Love to Lie Angle

if you ever wanted a generic ass harem comedy except with a potato girl instead of a potato guy, here’s that compressed into 3 minutes

Citrus

Corpse Party wwww

Gakuen Handsome FITE ME

NOT TOUCHING THIS HORNET’S NEST WITH A TEN FOOT POLE: pls,,,, save me from the Disk Horse

Sound! Euphonium

One of these days I might organize this a lil better. Maybe if/when Tumblr figures out how to make editing not a pain in the ass

#gay shit #long post

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abirdandabeast · 8 years ago

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Story Telling 101: The Justice League vs. The Teen Titans

Now that DC has once again become active in producing stories, there’s been some debate rearing up among the tags. Namely, involving the DCAU animated series and revolving around a certain pair of ships.

Most recently, a post has surfaced in the BBRae tag thanks to negligent use of the ship name in the post that’s very...anti-BBrae. Ironically, it’s essentially a “clap-back” to my dear friend @fireflyxrebel‘s post on why BBRae won’t be canon in the DCAU. Which makes zero sense, considering OP of the post that shall not be named was bashing the ship. Funny, how that works.

Still, what catches my eye is that the OP seems to not grasp the full realm of storytelling and how it can be used to also analyze a piece of work, hence why I’ve decided to jump on board and discuss it. There’s two reasons for this; one, to help those who want to learn more about storytelling as a craft and two, because I like analyzing stuff.

So strap in and hang on for the ride, because this is gonna be a long one.

Read more under the cut!

There’s a few things someone needs to tell a story, regardless of whether or not it’s animated, written, a play script, etc. All of these things are stories, and stories all require the same ingredients;

~Plot

~Characters (Characterization)

~Theme

~Setting (Time, Place, etc.)

~Point Of View (First, Second, Third; Most important in written stories, but applicable in all)

~Tense (Past, Present, Future; typically used in written stories for verbs)

~Camera Angles (Movies and Animation; Yes, this important to story telling.)

These are some of the biggest things stories require, depending on the mode of story telling. But in terms of JL vs TT, there’s three I really want to discuss; plot, characters, and theme. So let’s talk about them, shall we?

Plot

This is a big one. Stories can’t function without them. They drive things forward, get us from point A to point B. They make things interesting, they give us rising action, conflict, and a climax. This is the meat and potatoes of a story; what makes it tick.

So what’s the plot of JL vs TT?

The bare bones; Trigon has possessed the Justice League, and it’s up to the Teen Titans to save the day.

Pretty straightforward, right?

See, here’s the thing about plot; without the other ingredients, the story would be...boring. Yes, plot is 100% necessary, but so is everything else. Characterization, setting, and all the other aspects listed above is what can set a story apart from the others, and with a story like this that has literally been told numerous times (numerous comic runs, an animated series, and now this movie), you need more than just the plot.

Which brings me to the next part;

Characters and Characterization

Characters. These guys are pretty important. They’re the eyes through which we see the fictional world around. They are often what keeps us hooked on a story; the way they feel and how that makes us feel. We can relate heavily to characters and the conflicts they find themselves in, and and more often than not, these characters are what makes a story leave a lasting impact on us.

Why am I making this point? Well, think about it. Why did you watch this movie? Because plots with evil demons are interesting to you? Or was it because certain characters you liked were involved?

For most, it was probably the latter. Whether your favorite character is Damian, Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire, Blue Beetle, or some of the mainstays of the Justice League, chances are you saw that character and got excited. Maybe the plot intrigued you too. Or, perhaps, a subplot. Still, the reason many people will come back to this story is the characters.

So, what makes a character?

Well, my friend, that is what we call characterization.

Characterization is sort of a conglomerate of numerous things; background, personality, voice/diction, appearance, beliefs, political views, etc. Basically, everything that makes up a character is thrown into characterization. And characterization in action, is how you get this character across to the audience.

So let’s look at an example.

youtube

This is the titular scene in which Raven sees Beast Boy naked. Why am I using this scene, you ask?

Well, my friend, this is the scene is where the Teen Titans are introduced, so in a storytelling sense, it’s pretty important to characterization.

So let’s break it down.

First thing we see is Blue Beetle battling it out with the hologram soldiers. We get to see how he fights, which for those well versed in fighting styles, can clue you into his personality. From what I see, he’s fighting fairly offensively and has quick reflexes. He’s a good fighter, and sure on his feet. He’s got some confidence, though how much of that is the beetle vs Jaime is yet to be determined.

Then, we meet Raven. She’s fighting more defensively and removed from the field. She’s closed off, and her powers reflect her more defensive personality.

Whereas Beast Boy is clawing at anything that moves and shifting at his own whimsy. This shows he’s pretty fast on his feet and 100% hands on and offensive. He’s an open book, for the most part.

But what really lets us see these characters, is how they interact with each other.

At one point, Beast Boy flattens the holograms as a Rhino and confronts Raven. He says, “You were having a nightmare last night. I was just wondering if everything’s-”

There’s a lot we can learn from just this line alone.

1. Beast Boy is concerned for Raven. This shows that at least on a very loose basis, he considers her a friend. They are on the same team, after all, so this assumption certainly makes sense. Especially given how often Starfire likes to reinforce the idea that they’re a family, as well as the general familial themes that the Teen Titans maintains historically.

2. Either Beast Boy is a night owl, or he has a room nearby Raven’s. Chances are high that both are accurate. We don’t get a gauge for how late Rae’s nightmare was, but since it was at night, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was late. BB does maintain the entire animal kingdom, as he claims. It’s not a shocker if he has a tendency to stay up later than most.

3. Beast Boy probably has enhanced hearing. Unless Raven was screaming in her sleep, he probably wouldn’t realize she was specifically having a nightmare unless he has super sharp hearing, even if his room is right next to hers. After all, most people tend to mumble in their sleep, and unless you’re in the room, it can be hard to decipher what they’re saying. So this could be hinting at Beast Boy having enhanced senses.

4. ‘Last night’ also refers to the night Superman got attacked and possessed by Trigon’s minion. So this line also ties back to the plot, and gives us some hints into Raven’s character.

Look at that. A single line can build a character and push a plot forward. Who knew.

So, how exactly can Beast Boy care about Raven if he’s only checking up on her now, you ask. Why couldn’t he have checked up on her last night while she was having said nightmare?

Well, think about it.

This Teen Titans team is relatively new. So while BB may think of Rae as a friend, they haven’t been friends long enough for him to feel comfortable about invading the space of her room. I dunno about you, but I certainly don’t go barging over to my new friend’s house and waltz right inside. That’s something I only do after knowing someone for a really, really long time. I’m talking years, here. Not a few short months. So the fact that BB waited until it was daylight and they were both in a neutral space makes sense. He doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable, he wants to make sure she’s okay.

And when Raven brushed him off with “It’s just a dream,” he drops it.

This scene tells us quite a bit about Raven, too. As mentioned above, Beast Boy’s comment about nightmares gives us a little hint that Raven may be involved with the demonic possessions. But we learn a bit more than just that.

Raven cut Beast Boy off mid sentence. To me, that shows she has no interest in talking about her own personal issues. At all. She shuts him out before he even has a chance to come in. This shows us that Raven does not trust easy. Yes, she and Beast Boy have known each other for awhile, and yes, they’re loosely friends, but she still has not opened up to him or anyone else on the team. She’s distant and reclusive, reluctant to trust anyone.

However, this doesn’t mean she isn’t comfortable being around her teammates, as can be seen by how...unphased...she is when she sees Beast Boy in his entire glory, as well as when the same shapeshifter hides behind her. This shows that there may be more to Raven’s closed-off nature than just a general mistrust, which ties into her lineage and destiny; aka she feels like she doesn’t deserve their trust, and perhaps they won’t let her stay if they knew the truth.

There’s a lot more you can learn from the rest of the scene too, and not just about Raven and Beast Boy. It really just comes down to watching the characters and the way they interact with each other and the world around them. In fact, if your story doesn’t offer any insight to your character’s state of mind at any given moment, chances are, you’re doing it wrong.

Theme

While plot revolves around the mechanics of what a story is a bout, a theme is the underlying message that a story contains. Pretty much every story has some sort of theme, and most tend to come hand-in-hand with the main plot.

Take for instance The Great Gatsby; Its theme revolved around how money and riches lead to corruption, which tied into the main plot of Gatsby losing himself trying to win over Daisy and ultimately dying.

As such, themes can be just as important as the plot. It’s essentially the message the author is trying to deliver to their audience through the medium of storytelling. Comics are no exception, and JL vs TT the movie in particular definitely has some themes to it.

An interesting thing to note, though, is that the themes of JL vs TT seem to butt heads with the plot. How so, you ask? Well, quite simple; the overall theme is Damian learning the meaning of trust and teamwork, while the plot is Raven’s titular arc against her father.

What do I mean by that?

Well, this arc of Raven vs Trigon is central to Raven’s character, and is generally recognized as her story. And most of the source material supports this too, both in plot and in theme.

*Scans provided by @fireflyxrebel

The theme here also revolves around trust, but the story puts Raven in the spotlight and makes things about her.

She is the one that needs to learn how to trust others and let others trust her. Not anyone else.

Whereas in JL vs TT, it’s Damian who has to learn this.

youtube

See? Damian is the focal point here. It’s Damian who we see first. Damian, who is introduced to the Titans. Damian, that has to be healed by Raven. Damian, who gets to see into Raven’s mind. Damian, who has to step up and help save Raven and encourage her to defeat Trigon. Damian, who has to defeat his grandfather, and Damian, who ultimately has to learn what it means to be a Titan.

This is what people refer to when they talk about how Damian stole Raven’s arc. In a way, he did. This story is Damian’s story about learning friendship and comradeship, not Raven’s. Yet in the past, this particular arc was always her time to learn the very same thing.

See? In this arc, it’s all about Raven. Yes she has her friends, but that’s sort of the point. The theme isn’t about Damian Wayne learning trust; it’s about Raven learning trust.

And thus, Raven learns the truth and stands her own ground. There is no black haired dude in a Robin suit to save the day for her; just herself and her own newfound confidence. That’s why a lot of people tend to poke and prod at this story. Raven doesn’t get to shine in her own plot, her own arc.

Damian does.

And while that isn’t necessarily a bad thing; the development seems to have stuck this time around, it is still incredibly disappointing. There were probably better ways to execute this so that the overall theme of trust and friendship actually extended to the entire team, allowing the story to be more cohesive and feel more genuine.

Everyone could have had real character development and grown as a team, Raven and Damian’s blossoming romance would have felt more genuine, organic, and less like a damsel in distress story, and the story would have been stronger overall. But alas, that’s not what we got. Instead, we got a story with a theme focused heavily on Damian, and the other characters suffer for it.

So yeah. I wanted to hit on these three points mostly because as I said, it seemed as though some people don’t understand how a story is built to literally be interpreted. In a good story, all of these aspects intertwine together so that at every page or every scene, you can pause and analyze what’s going on from multiple categories.

The other ingredients are important too, of course, but I really wanted to spend my time on the three listed above. However, here’s a few resources for anyone who wants to learn more about each of these things!

Setting:

X X

Point of View:

Tense:

Camera Angles:

youtube

*This channel is great with this stuff. I’d recommend this if anyone likes learning about the art of film.

Thanks for giving this a read, and if I missed anything, feel free to let me know!

-mod vixensheart

#teen titans #justice league vs teen titans #analysis #damian wayne #raven #beast boy #blue beetle #starfire #here's my clapback #question is #will he see it #LOL

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ganymedesclock · 8 years ago

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We Wayward Stars ch. 4

Fandom: Voltron Legendary Defender

Summary: Altean Lance fic. Things begin to hit the fan. Orbital reentry included.

Several people are standing. A few of them are hunched over their computers, still- most of them are looking up at the larger monitor.

Everything is normal. Within bounds. As predictable and neat as anything can be observing the moon of a planet at the edge of the solar system.

Nothing is wrong, except the fact that three people and their entire ship should be there. Or, in fact, anything, except a single bored hole to suggest anyone was there to drill an ice core in the first place.

“Think the kid could tell us about it?”

Iverson’s good eye doesn’t pull away from the monitor.

“I mean, the alien one.”

“I know which kid you mean,” he grinds out, with about as much patience as he can manage at that point. “What do you think he’s going to tell us? There’s an empty moon where two of our best men and a promising cadet used to be?”

The officer shrinks a bit at his tone- but holds strong. They’re all stressed. It’s hard to talk to anyone in this room without running into sharp edges of some kind. “He mentioned he was fleeing something, right? And we got an energy spike from 01 the same day they missed their first check-in.”

“Or we can try not to make baseless guesses about something we clearly don’t understand.”

Another person speaks up, quietly. “So we’re lying to the general public and pinning the blame on one of the victims.” She doesn’t pull her eyes away from her station.

“You do me a favor, you find Shirogane alive and get a better explanation for what happened, I’ll personally apologize to him and everyone else. In the meantime I’d like to avoid a global panic.”

The woman doesn’t lift her head to meet his eyes, but her tone is distinctly drawn taut when she says “Yes, sir.”

It’s only years of muscle memory in military posture that keeps him from deflating. “Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like someone to explain how a thirteen-year-old broke into my office this morning.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Working towards fighter class takes up a lot more time than he expected, which ultimately, works out very much in Lance’s advantage.

Space travel is imperfect. Earth is doing its best, but they don’t have… anything, really. It makes sense not everyone is going to make it out. And he knows already that he can’t help with that from his current situation.

He hadn’t known Shiro as much as he had Sam, but it was enough to know that he’d been an incredible guy. Charming, polite- and incredibly good at what he did. You didn’t get where he was at 24 without something going for you.

And now they were gone. Just like that. And the worst part was afterwards; more or less the entire Garrison campus moving back to business.

He can’t even begrudge them. He’s doing the same himself.

Hunk disagrees, considering the number of times Lance talks him into sneaking out of the Garrison- but sometimes he just has to get away from it all, and the least he can do is spread the joy a little.

A few times, he seriously debates sneaking in to see Blue. He could probably just ask the Garrison, but another part of him resents that. She doesn’t belong to them. Ultimately, it doesn’t come to anything- he’s occupied, and stays that way.

Keith disappears. The instructors call it a discipline issue. Rumors abound about a fight. A few of them insist he put someone in the hospital- stabbed them, even. A lot of it just sounds like gossip, and Lance isn’t interested in poking around. Either way, it stands that his dorm room is empty within a day, and no one afterwards seems to have any idea where he went.

A week later, Lance makes fighter class. He gloats about it- but there’s a bitter aftertaste to it.

He knows who that spot belonged to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Simulator class proves to be simultaneously the greatest and worst thing that has happened to Lance since arriving on Earth. The first time everything lights up in a field of stars, it doesn’t feel like a fake ship. It doesn’t feel like a pretend assignment. He can’t even listen to what he’s supposed to be doing- Hunk, and the other student they’re paired with, some fourteen-year-old whiz kid- because he’s back out there.

It feels almost like home.

And then the ship crashes.

Well, no. That’s avoiding the issue.

And then he crashes the ship.

Iverson makes it very, very clear after the fact whose fault that was.

Excuses clatter ineffectively around Lance’s head for hours afterwards. The controls are wrong. He’s out of practice. That’s not how space works.

None of them actually make it out his mouth.

He resolves to try harder. Cautiously. Manages a few good exercises, and more bad ones. It’s never completely easy, never completely like what he’s used to- and he’s not alone in the ship. He butts heads with Hunk, and the other one- Pidge, which he swears is some type of Earth bird. Who names their kid after a bird?

So-and-so Gunderson, apparently.

Outside of being fourteen, a few things stick out about Pidge. He’s squirrely around the instructors sometimes- but that doesn’t stop him from yelling at them from time to time. After a while, a particular subject emerges that seems to be the target of almost every one of Pidge’s outbursts.

Kerberos.

The failed mission.

He still hadn’t talked to Iverson about it. Hadn’t been sure what to say. You don’t lead a conversation about someone else’s loss with ‘jeez you humans sure are bad at space, am I right’.

(Especially considering his track record with the simulator)

But it feels like there’s something to say. Earth is a galaxy over from what’s considered civilized space- it’s a fringe planet if there ever was one- but if one of the Lions is here, someone should’ve come by now. An Altean scout ship, or…

Lance puts down the book he’d been trying to read the entire time. “Hey Hunk, how do you feel about having a night on the town?”

“You mean sneaking out again? After we just got chewed out by Commander Iverson? No, great, I love it, just two guys getting in trouble for like the eighth time this semester alone.”

“Well, it won’t be just us. It’ll be-”

“Oh no,”

“Team building.”

Hunk sighs, deeply, picking up his vest from where he left it. “Has it occurred to you we can bond doing other things? Things that won’t get us in trouble?” He takes a moment longer to find his boots. “Like, I dunno, group study session.”

Navigating the hallways at this point is easy enough, even taking a detour to try and get to Pidge’s dorm. It’s not even enough to keep Hunk from continuing to complain, though he keeps his voice down after the lights shut off.

“...start an agate collection. Get fast food sometime. Of course by ‘get fast food’ I mean let me make you something that isn’t overcooked garbage but y’know-”

“Shh!” He hesitates at Hunk’s brief, affronted look- sorry buddy, it’s for a cause- and then pokes his head around the corner, just in time to catch a retreating flash of orange sneakers.

…Looked like Pidge had other plans for tonight. But now, so did Lance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You come up here to rock out?”

There’s a moment where Pidge defies gravity by sheer force of surprise. He shuffles clumsily in place- feet together, hands in his lap, somehow trying not to look suspicious. “Oh. Lance. Hunk. No, uh, just looking at the stars.”

An appraising eye sweeps over the miscellaneous scattered hardware. “Where did you get this stuff? It doesn’t look like Garrison tech.” Insofar as his knowledge of human anything goes.

“I built it.”

“You built all of this?” There’s a thread of awe in Hunk’s tone- it’s hard to say how much Pidge appreciates it, because he definitely doesn’t appreciate the questing fingers heading for the keyboard.

“With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.”

He plays at considering it- as if he just picks the thought out of thin air: “That right? All the way to Kerberos?”

He watches Pidge fold away from the name.

“You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What’s your deal?”

Silence- except telling Hunk off for touching something again. Time passes. Too much. After a moment, Lance sits down, cross-legged. “Hey, we’re not leaving anytime soon.” Partially because he doesn’t think he could tear Hunk away from that setup if he tried to- out of the corner of his eye Lance can see him inching towards the screen again.

“Fine.” Pidge turns to face them both, an odd expression of gravity. “The world as you know it is… about to change. The Kerberos mission wasn’t lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake.”

Oh he’s just decided he really doesn’t like where this is going.

“…So I’ve been scanning the system, and picking up alien radio chatter.”

“What have you been hearing?”

Both Hunk and Pidge are staring at him, but he doesn’t really care. Suddenly, the peaceful blips on the two screens don’t seem nearly so much of an idle curiosity. He makes a grab for the headphones.

Pidge finds his voice first. “Lance, what the hell?”

“Depending on who’s talking, this entire planet could be in big trouble.” The headphones are halfway to his ears when a much smaller hand catches his wrist.

Perplexed hazel eyes are studying him sharply. “What do you know about this?”

He forces himself to breathe. Lowers the headphones. If Pidge is right, there’s a whole solar system they could be in. There’s no guarantee they’re heading for Earth now. Yet.

“…How much trouble are we talking here?” Hunk ventures into the silence.

“I mean a fleet. Maybe not the entire thing. They might not even know I’m here. It’s been over a year-” Maybe it’s not Zarkon. Maybe it’s a friend. Maybe they’re trying to hail. “Pidge, I’m serious, what have they been saying?”

“...Well, I haven’t been able to make heads or tails out of a lot of it, but, there’s been one word that keeps repeating.” Pidge rummages at their notes. “Voltron.”

“…Quiznak.”

“What?”

“It’s like a swear word,” Hunk clarifies; Lance tones him out, stumbling to his feet.

Pidge twists in place. “Where are you going?”

“Commander Iverson needs to know about this.” He makes it about two steps to the stairs when the sirens go off- the campus is going into lockdown. Or he already knows about it.

He barely has time to process before Hunk is pointing out something.

Something coming down from the sky.

Pidge holds up binoculars for a moment. “…Lance, were you serious about a fleet?”

There’s a dark speck in the center of the fire. He swipes the binoculars, not paying much attention as Pidge comes along for the ride.

“…That’s too small to be a cruiser. Way too fast.” He waits for them to pull up, slow down. It nosedives into the ground instead, impacts with a brilliant flash.

Pidge is already gathering his stuff as furiously as he can go. Lance doesn’t wait, but runs for the door. “Hunk, c’mon!”

He doesn’t know who’s coming down but he has to meet them.

And oh god he wants to be wrong about who sent that ship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He’s not. By the time he’s gotten there, the Garrison has beat him to it- there’s a tent set up, surrounded by guards and people. But it’s altogether too easy to see the faintly glowing pod already tied down for transport.

Pidge hesitates, watching him at an angle before broaching the subject. “Do you… recognize that?”

“Yeah. Bad news.”

He slides down the slope easily- the guard standing closest to the entrance spots him, trains their rifle in his direction. “Stay where you are!”

He pushes something out through his teeth that’s more irritated huff than meditation breath and shifts.

The guard flinches. A hasty conversation passes on radio- Lance could nearly pick it up, but he’s distracted when a faint chorus of scraping noises signals that Pidge, then, after a moment, Hunk, have joined him. They stay behind him when he approaches the quarantine unit.

“Look, you-” even with face concealed, the guard is sizing him up, nervously. “Nobody’s getting in here. Commander Iverson’s orders. That means you, too. You’re not even supposed to be here.”

With a distinct thread of palace hauteur, Lance squares his shoulders. “That’s a Galra pod. The ship that launched it isn’t going to be that far behind. So either you can go tell Commander Iverson that, or you can get out of my way and let me do it. You know, like we agreed I was supposed to if something like this happened.”

“And what about them?” They take a hand off the weapon to motion over his shoulder.

Hunk is looking distinctly uncomfortable- not the normal kind, the ‘this is a bad idea but I’m going along with it because you’re you, Lance’ but genuinely unnerved, and a pang of guilt hits Lance hard.

Pidge meets his eyes, brows knit together over them. Spindly hands are balled tightly into fists. It looks as if they’re caught somewhere between ‘please’ and ‘don’t you dare’.

With a bravado that Lance doesn’t remotely feel, he sweeps back around to face the instructor. “They’re with me.”

Faceplate notwithstanding, he can feel the guard’s incredulous look. He refuses to let his own waver, until the guard breaks away from him to talk on the radio. It’s a very short conversation, something he’s not sure if he finds heartening or dispiriting.

Either way, he doesn’t get to hear the answer.

Because right then, something explodes.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #Lance #Altean Lance #fanfiction #We Wayward Stars #readmore #Ganymede Fic Tag

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tumblunni · 8 years ago

Text

HEYO! oh man now my friend helped me get all inspired again for working on my Cathedral Tower Defense game so WOO lets have another long post of miscellaneous ideasies for storyness! may not be very coherant tho cos i am super tired and ill! but happy!! THANKS SUMMON-DAZE FOR BEING MY ULTRA BESTIE

* Okay now I am super sure that I’m gonna let you choose the gender of the protagonist! And I wanna keep it so that their name is Amity either way, cos that’s kinda stuck in my mind. Surname Amity, player gets to decide the first name, but people will still be calling you Amity a lot at first cos you start off all awkward and formal with everybody. You’re a newcomer to this cathedral town and nobody knows whether to trust you, from their perspective you’re this dangerous person theyre forced to accept just because they need you to help protect them, whether you’re good or bad. They’re all worried what price they might have to pay for this, trying to figure out how to minimize the damage if you turn on them... and its not like they’re bad people for being untrustworthy, they’re just scared people huddling in a church and trying to keep their families safe at any cost. So try and prove your worth to them, and help them learn to protect themselves too, and make this ramshackle settlement into a real home! ....anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, gender selection is a good! And it could be relatively easy to impliment too, cos of the situation. Doesnt even necessarily have to be a menu or anything, it could just be like sir amity/lady amity/master amity. Cos you’re this paladin knighto, itd make sense for them to ask for your title. And it could just be like a shot of protagonist’s badass silhouette in the gateway of the cathedral and then you get the dialogue choice to pick your identity, and its all Super Cool~!

* It also actually gives me more of an idea of what i could do for their design, like I dunno maybe they have some sort of face-concealing helm or headdress or something. I was just thinking of them being dressed like a generic nun or princess but maybe emphasize more on the knight aspect instead of the holy part? So like anyway, maybe they have a very all-concealing outfit and that could be the framing of the first scene instead, its like *pulls off the mask and you’re into the character selection screen* Orrrrrr maybe there doesnt need to be any magical setup for a gender selection and it can just be a menu before the first scene starts XD Or maybe you have a cool face-concealing helmet thing anyway, like all three gender options just have a different one, lol

* More random magical names i got via the cool name generator site summon-daze linked to me! Dunno if I’ll actually use any of these but im writing them down here so i dont forget. Berebath, Betnia, Amurziz, Jetre, Miemahl, Semdach, Batxahl, Sidefarch, Botolohn, Vausach, Thammoch, Droibhal, Lekonach, Zeidhal, Tieloch, Rabrohm, Maesur, Smoiroch, Baelbuhr, Axoth, Jige, Chushou, Hukru, Nejeget, Roucu, Jinah, Aujus, Yekoth, Nugresah, Israfel, Jabriel, Tabris, Douma

* Also I’m remembering Jade Cocoon and how I liked that the different ‘families’ of monsters shared naming traits. Like how all those weird snake/slug cutiepies that i loved best were nushab, rashab, etc etc. And tamatoch and somethingtoch and so on. I think there was at least one where the modifier was a prefix too? I dunno why i’m talking about this, but there you go. I just think if i wanna do full original made up names for demon species then i wanna make em stuff that just... feels like that. I dont actually wanna make like five different elements of each one tho, i wanna have only one per element and then they have like two different higher level finalized forms. Like, the human characters can have two job classes each and the demons can have two specializations within an element. That helps me think about how to limit it down to four or five elements, if we can combine common fantasy elements together! And yeah I was thinking it’d be cool if the demon ‘job classes’ could have their own evolving appearances and new names!

* Thoughts for the ol elemental groupings! The only one I really have finalized is grass + poison = same thing. Florin, why u always the character that gets developed faster than everyone else XD And I’m thinking giving them their own made up names would make it easier! Like how in SMT you have spells being stuff like ‘media’ and ‘agi’ instead of cure and fire. But here (hopefully) it’d be easier to memorize cos its just the element names that’re fantasy words, and the attacks themselves would be a little more self explanatory. i just think it’d work cos like... the idea i had of rock and fire being one single demon type, you could just call that magma. But i mean, what can you call plant + poison? Except.. like.. plant. Cos poison is reasonably often a grass type skill anyway. And i mean, game creators dont often worry about making sense, what with how ‘grass’ is the common element name when thats just one plant in a million. I cant stop thinking about that now I’ve noticed it! I legit thought grass was a synonym for plant when i was a kid, i learned to read from pokemon yellow... ANYWAY IM GETTING OFFTOPIC AGAIN The other idea I had for groupings was fire + non-elemental together? I was just thinking like... aura. Non elemental/physical attack as a ‘magic’ could be fighting spirit! And thematically speaking it tends to be shown as fire effects in anime, i guess XD But then i couldnt put fire with rock and that means I’d have to redesign malachi again. his design ended up looking more firey than rocky :P Another idea is maybe darkness + non-elemental together? like, interpret non-elemental as ‘void’. Or light and dark could be together actually, that could be an interesting way to do it, instead of having them opposing. Like maybe the elements could be colours! Grey element, able to specialize into white or black but neither is any sort of ‘good and evil’. And then the rest could be like green or like.. instead of red maybe fire could be bronze and thats why it has rock skills too? or man, maybe rock and metal could be one element and fire could be grouped with something else. And would water and ice be too ordinary and boring? do they already kinda count as one element? should I throw in something else? GAHHHHHHH

* Ideas for the multiple religious groups aligned with each element! I’m thinking I want one of them to interpret the setting’s absent god as two deities. like, every perspective on this deity is a wildly different character, this one is just even more so! they’d see malahat (tentative name) as two people, but kinda more like a shared soul that can manifest as either a male or female form. But there’d be ambiguity and debates in the mythos over whether this is actually a genderfluid god, or if its ‘twins who were cursed to never exist at the same time’, or various other variations on the story. I wanna make it like real life, where even within (for example) catholocism, there’s different sects and different translations of the same text. And where there’s predjudice against minority groups and people like to twist their faith to ‘justify’ it, even when parts of the original tale could easily justify treating those people with kindness too. So there’d be some followers of the twins religion who are very openminded to LGBTQ people, and historically anyone trans was able to hold a unique position as a priest, being treated as someone blessed by god. But like in norse mythology, this wasnt necessarily a sign that society was 100% okay with LGBTQ people. Its kinda depressing to read about how trans women and gay men were considered the only people able to become a specific kind of witches, but also how you kinda HAD to take this one safety net in society to stop people from making you an outcast. It was like ‘make them fear me so they dont fuckin kill me’. You had to become a medicine person and at least claim to believe in these magic powers, you had to be blessed by the gods to prove you were like.. one of the good ones. Otherwise its like youre saying the gods made a mistake when they made you, or youre choosing to be a deviant against nature. i can only imagine how terrifying it must have been if you believed in that religion and had to like.. be forced to go against it and leave society, or be forced to lie about being chosen by a god for a higher purpose, while believing that any moment you might get struck down for lying. And then I read in other history books about how the concept of homosexuality was far different in that old society too, how male-on-male sex was accepted at sea as long as you were the dominant one and you were forcing something unwanted onto a lesser shipmate as punishment. Like ugh, rape being more socially accepted than consensual LGBTQ relationships! I guess the only solace is that we can never be 100% sure how much of historians’s theories are correct and what might have changed in retellings of history, but honestly I can believe the past is this fucked up when the present is already fucked up in different ways. BUT ANYWAY I wanna explore those themes in my story maybe. And I wanna do more research into the subject to make sure I’m doing it justice, even though its a very sad subject that might be quite stressful. Maaaaan, I remember how I used to obsess about researching norse myth as a kid, it was one of my first Special Interests and I really wanted to see all the different reinterpretations of Loki and write my own fanfic/adaptation/vaguely inspired original story about What If He Stayed A Good Guy. Man I had soooo much sympathy for the poor sod. I mean it depends on the retelling whether he was always evil or whether he was like a comedic neutral ally to the gods who just abruptly becomes evil and gets killed off without remorse in the final story. And gahhh he’s like the biggest LGBTQ bastion in the whole mythos, and how can I not feel sympathetic?? When we get all these stories about him being a literal genderfluid shapeshifter and giving birth to half of his children and just like seriously its like The Story Of the One Trans Man In Homophobic Transphobic Valhalla and he was probably meant to seem Bad and Funny and whatever but im gonna sit here and grumpily cling onto the idea that he was deliberately written as trans, or that if these gods actually do exist out there somewhere then Loki would support me. *pout* I just have a lot of good memories of how this was like the first sign of me realizing my own gender, back when I first learned about Loki in school and then devoured every damn history book about the dude. And got in a million internet pissing matches about how innacurate the marvel version was XD Also it sucks that we like to believe that modern times are always 100% more enlightened in every way, yet its modern adaptations that always censor out the bits about him shifting gender identities and getting pregnant once. ... man this has gone offtopic too much, im really tired but seriously its funny how teenage bunni had NO CLUE they were nonbinary, no clue why they got so obsessed researching gender-defying mythological figures and historians who created gender neutral pronouns in the 1800s. i was so supernaturally oblivious, holy shit...

#cathedral tower defense

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theliberaltony · 7 years ago

Link

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

micah (Micah Cohen, politics editor): Welcome, all! Guess what we’re doing today!?!?!?

julia_azari (Julia Azari, political science professor at Marquette University and FiveThirtyEight contributor): Being a political science buzzkill?

clare.malone (Clare Malone, senior political writer): Talking about politics and getting in mild, petty arguments?

micah: Well, yes to all that.

But also …

2020 DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY DRAFT!!!!

natesilver (Nate Silver, editor in chief): JJJYEEAAHAHAHAHAHHH! 2020 DRAFT!!!!!!!!!!!!

clare.malone: Was that a Ryan Lochte “jyeah”?

natesilver: That’s exactly what it was.

julia_azari: *visibly cringes*

micah: Here are the rules:

Six rounds. Snake draft. You’re trying to pick the winner of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. So you need to factor in who will actually run, the mood of the Democratic electorate (now and in the future) and the state of U.S. politics more generally.

The last time we did this was in September 2017; the goal, as always, is to sorta just check in on the state of the Democratic primary. We’ll redo this every several months so we can see who’s looking more/less likely to run, etc. — and so we can all look stupid eventually.

In terms of the pool of potential draftees, we can use this handy list from The Washington Post. (Of course, you can always go off-list too.)

OK, how are we picking the order?

natesilver: I’m picking names out of a hat.

micah: ah, ok

Copy editor Sara Ziegler is observing this process.

clare.malone: hahaha

julia_azari: Was Jimmy Carter not available to monitor this process?

sara.ziegler: The order is:

Clare

Nate

Julia

Micah

micah: #Rigged

sara.ziegler: This was a fair and transparent process.

clare.malone: I trust Sara. And I trust that the right person has come out on top.

micah: OK, with the No. 1 pick in the May 2018 FiveThirtyEight 2020 Democratic Primary Draft, Clare Malone selects …

clare.malone: BERNIE SANDERS!

natesilver: Bad pick.

micah: Very bad pick.

clare.malone: hahahaha

micah: lol

julia_azari: I don’t want to pile on but …

micah: Why Bernie, Clare?

clare.malone: Guys, don’t overthink this too much. Sanders has a political base that has a chance to grow as Democrats do soul-searching, based on what I’ve observed in the past couple of years. He’s got a political operation and he’s got the ego and will to want to run … and also, I think he’ll continue to make the same argument that he has over the past couple of years, that he’s the guy to take on President Trump.

julia_azari: I hate this pick but must admit those Trump-Sanders debates would be fun to live-blog.

natesilver: I’m actually semi-kidding since I wrote a year-ish ago that Bernie Sanders was the Democratic front-runner.

micah: The fact that he seems very likely to run is super valuable in itself, I guess.

clare.malone: And he’ll start running long before other people.

natesilver: But as our erstwhile colleague Harry Enten pointed out back then, Sanders’s polling actually isn’t great — he’s certainly not a Hillary Clinton-esque front-runner.

micah: But I guess my argument would be that the mantle of 2020 front-runner was basically his for the taking, and it doesn’t seem like he’s grabbed it. That says a lot to me.

He’s losing in early polls to Joe Biden.

natesilver: In a poll of New Hampshire, which should be Sanders’s base, he’s losing to Biden and Warren.

clare.malone: A Biden vs. Sanders head-to-head is definitely super interesting.

You guys choose!

I already know you think my choice is shit.

micah: On the pro-Bernie side: The Democratic Party going left in 2020 does seem like a good bet.

natesilver: Yeah, but (i) the left could be pretty crowded, and (ii) I’m less convinced than I was a year ago that the left necessarily means Sanders. Democrats might want to turn the page from 2016.

micah: In terms of 2020, it does seem like Bernie didn’t have a good 2017.

clare.malone: Not visible enough in your book?

micah: Yeah, it just doesn’t seem like he’s locked down that left flank much.

clare.malone: It was a year dominated by the #MeToo and gun debates, and as a man and a gun rights person, Sanders was in an awkward place.

micah: Yeah, really good point.

julia_azari: (A man who wrote some weird op-eds back in the ’70s, right?)

clare.malone: But I continue to think that we are going to see a steadily shifting conversation as we get closer to 2020, which is why I don’t rule him out — he has organization and historic enthusiasm that I think can be called up again.

micah: OK, Nate, you’re up with the No. 2 pick.

clare.malone: Bad pick.

natesilver: I was kinda hoping for the No. 4/No. 5 picks for a change. In my view there’s a top tier, and you could pick that group of four or five people in pretty much any order.

micah: Bad pick.

natesilver: But anyway … I’ll go with Kamala Harris, senator from California.

micah: Good pick.

natesilver: Haha.

clare.malone: aka, who Micah wanted to pick.

natesilver: Lots of positives: I’m pretty sure #She’sRunning. She maybe straddles the line pretty well between the left and the establishment. California is a nice state to raise money from, and she’s a contrast to Trump, in many respects.

The downside is that she’s much less of a name brand than the others who are going to go in the top four or five. And as we saw in the 2016 GOP race, that can be a problem in a crowded field where other candidates command more attention.

i.e., she could be the Marco Rubio of 2020.

clare.malone: Wanna know where I think she’ll get pushback from the Democratic primary base?

julia_azari: The prosecutor background?

clare.malone: Yeah, and that’ll be the line of attack. I’m not sure it’ll stick, but, people will definitely try to … I dunno … paint her in a certain light as not actually a progressive, which seems to be a mandatory label these days for the Dems.

julia_azari: I think that’s right, dependent on how important questions about the criminal justice system are for national politics by the time 2019 and 2020 roll around. Which is an open question, though a definite possibility.

Those issues dragged down Clinton a bit.

micah: Is everyone sure she’s running?

clare.malone: mmm, decently sure?

julia_azari: I don’t consider that an important criterion at this time, which will soon become apparent.

micah: Wha!?!?!

You gotta run in order to win!

julia_azari: That’s true. Whether someone is running will be an important factor in a year.

natesilver: Also, a woman of color is I think under a lot of conflicting pressures to show her progressive bona fides while also mainstreaming herself.

clare.malone: Yes. And I think that given the treatment Clinton just got, Harris can expect some nasty attacks.

micah: Yeah, totally agree.

julia_azari: Yeah, I have thoughts on that.

clare.malone: Being a black woman candidate is really hard.

micah: OK, let’s keep going on that, but Julia, you have the No. 3 pick.

julia_azari: I’m going way off list … to someone who’s ostensibly not running, and I’ll explain why.

micah: Julia is about to make a Harry pick.

julia_azari: I’m letting my Wisconsin flag fly and suggesting Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

micah:

julia_azari: Before the 2016 election broke the seal on having every politician in the country run for president for 3.5 years, it was plausible that someone you hadn’t thought of two years out might actually win the nomination.

And such a person has some advantages, like everyone hasn’t been fucking talking about them for years.

natesilver: Wow, that’s a Harry Enten pick if there ever was one

julia_azari: I’m so proud right now.

Shoutout to Harry.

Now hear me out.

clare.malone: No name recognition.

micah: lol

She’s not even listed on PredictIt.

And John Delaney is listed.

julia_azari: The lack of name recognition is an advantage right now. Baldwin came out strongly for Clinton in 2016 but is from a state that went to Sanders and that Trump won unexpectedly, if you’ve not heard about this.

clare.malone: Julia, you are getting hazed in the first degree and we are not sorry about it.

micah: haha

julia_azari: I’m not listening to you guys. I’ve been working on this all morning.

micah: Keep going, Julia.

Keep digging.

natesilver: If you wanted Baldwin, you could have traded down and gotten her! This is like the Giants and Saquon Barkley!

julia_azari: I don’t know what any of that (the Giants) means. I’m just thinking about my understanding of how the Democratic Party works.

I am not pretending to be sports fan here.

clare.malone: Thank God.

julia_azari: Baldwin was the first openly LGBT person to be elected to the Senate. She knows how to navigate that, and she speaks to an important and active group within the party and activists’ sense of justice on that issue. She’s progressive but actually versed on the issues important in the upper Midwest.

micah: OK, we gotta speed up a bit.

I have the No. 4 and No. 5 picks…

I’m going with:

No. 4: Kirsten Gillibrand

No. 5: Joe Biden

clare.malone: Safe bets, but good ones.

Nothing so courageous as a Bernie Sanders No. 1 pick, but, you know, some of us are made of tougher stuff.

micah: That gets me coverage on two big wings of the Democratic Party.

natesilver: No, it doesn’t.

clare.malone: You don’t get the Delaney wing.

natesilver: Or the the left wing.

micah: By the time we hit 2020, Gillibrand will be firmly in the left wing.

She’s liberal on the issues of the day.

julia_azari: Nah, no one that closely tied with Clinton will make that particular wing happy IMO.

natesilver: She does have the lowest Trump score of any senator.

But I don’t think voters think about things so literally.

As Julia said, she’ll be tied to Clinton, and Chuck Schumer.

clare.malone: Shameless plug for Gillibrand’s liberal rebranding.

micah: She’s a perfect anti-Trump, though.

julia_azari: Well, it depends on whether you think of this as a branding issue or a group issue.

micah: People, rebranding works.

See Donald Trump, Man Of The People.

julia_azari: Just ask New Coke.

natesilver: Having a presidential nominee from New York state would be a real change of pace, I agree Micah.

julia_azari: Yeah, we’ve got a lot of coastal nominees so far.

clare.malone: heh

micah: But she’s clearly positioning herself as the ultimate anti-Trump. There’s the Trump score, as you pointed out. Or, another way of looking at it, from Axios:

natesilver: It’s true that Gillibrand seems to be going out of her way to vote against Trump, which is a sign that #ShesRunning.

micah: Biden, by the way, is leading polls right now. That’s not everything, but it’s something.

natesilver: One could ask why Biden slipped to the No. 5 pick, given that he’s leading in polls and seems to be running.

clare.malone: He doesn’t feel quite right for this particular moment.

micah: I mean, he’s old. Also, he’s a bit pre-#MeToo?

clare.malone: Part of it also is his ties to the Obama administration.

julia_azari: Ask President Giuliani about early polls. (He was leading the 2006 polls for the 2008 Republican nomination.)

micah: Julia, why ask Giuliani when I can ask President Trump?

or Hillary Clinton! Or Mitt Romney!

clare.malone: If Biden’s appeal is to win back the Trump voter, I’m not sure how it will work in practice, given that Trump’s whole thing was capitalizing quite a bit on an anti-Obama wave. I just think he’s too easily tied to that, rendering some of his competitive “white working class” advantage moot because he’s been in D.C. too long.

micah: OK, Julia, you have the No. 6 pick.

julia_azari: Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

I’m continuing with my trolling but well-informed strategy of choosing people who are qualified and not currently part of the big debates and/or tied up in the never-ending 2016 relitigation.

natesilver: (Nate thinks: I’m gonna get a steal with the No. 7 pick.)

julia_azari: Y’all can haze me if you want. I tried to read up on snake drafts but my eyes glazed over.

clare.malone: BAIN

BAIN

natesilver: As a recent Washington Post headline put it: “Deval Patrick: The Democrats could do worse”

julia_azari: Yup, exactly.

clare.malone: BAIN

BAIN

Guys, I dunno.

julia_azari: Serious question: Which is worse as far as a Democratic primary goes, Bain or being a prosecutor?

micah: BAIN.

natesilver: BAIN.

micah: Though Patrick isn’t really hiding his interest in running, which is a point in favor of the pick.

clare.malone: If 2016 were the electorate’s delayed reaction to the financial crisis and corporate America, then why would the Democrats choose a 2020 nominee directly involved with the rot?

micah: Nate, you have the No. 7 pick.

natesilver: With the No. 7 pick, I select the woman who went No. 1 last time: Elizabeth Warren.

clare.malone: Damn. Was gonna be my pick.

micah: Bad pick.

natesilver: I mean, come on. I’m not sure how she slipped to No. 7!

micah: Me neither … but, I kind of don’t think she’s running?

natesilver: It’s less clear she’s running than some of the other potential candidates.

clare.malone: She slipped because I drove the conversation and you all reacted against my Bernie Sanders pick!

Because you’re contrarians!

julia_azari: What could the Democrats have to fear about a female candidate who’s been in the political spotlight for years?

micah: I’d take Warren over Sanders.

natesilver: If Democrats want someone who has unquestionable left bona fides but who isn’t a rehash of a 2016 candidate, she’s at the top of the list.

And it’s pretty likely that a lot of the party will be in that mindset by 2020.

julia_azari: Warren would’ve been a good compromise candidate between Clinton and Sanders, but with any luck, there will be some other debate in 2020.

micah: Yeah, Julia is right, though, that Warren would run into a lot of the sexist shit that Clinton did.

Wait, Nate, don’t you think Warren and Clinton are pretty similar?

natesilver: Man, Micah, I feel like your sense of who the left thinks is actually left is pretty miscalibrated.

micah: Not actually similar, but similar in the superficial way that politics works.

natesilver: Warren is seen as pretty authentic, I think. She also comes across as nonpolitician-y, which can be both a disadvantage and an advantage.

micah: How many interviews/speeches have you seen Warren give, Nate?

She’s not “authentic” in the way that political pundits use that word. I’m not a fan of that kind of “analysis” or prism, but it’s a thing.

clare.malone: This is a great fight.

julia_azari: Warren seemed like a liberal alternative to Obama. The question is a lot more open in 2020. Being a liberal alternative to Trump is obviously easy, but who the Democratic reference point will be is harder to pin down. Clinton? Sanders? Gillibrand?

natesilver: Maybe she’s not great in interviews and speeches. But she has a good “brand” and is well-positioned given where Democrats’ heads are these days.

I also think that there’s little chance that both she and Sanders make it to the Iowa caucuses — if she runs, it’s because he didn’t, or because he lost the fight in the “invisible primary.”

micah: (I actually regret picking Biden over Warren.)

clare.malone: Yeah, I feel you on that.

micah: Clare, you have the No. 8 pick.

clare.malone: Ah, yes, now we’re scraping the bottom.

micah: OPRAH!

clare.malone: hahaha

So, I actually do find myself at a crossroads here!

I think we’ve scooped up most of the viable political people … should I pivot to the private citizens? The captains of industry?

Well … no.

I’m going to go ahead and pick Rep. Tim Ryan as a wild card.

The Democrat of Trump Country — home state congressman for me, and I think I’ve picked him before.

micah: #HarryPick

clare.malone: heh

#Delaney

micah: Clare, you also have the No. 9 pick.

julia_azari: #rustbelt

micah: #Ohio

natesilver: Clare always takes Tim Ryan.

clare.malone: OK, and I’m gonna continue to spice it up with No. 9 … pumpkin spice it up, that is: Starbucks CEO HOWARD SCHULTZ!

natesilver: Man, this whole draft is full of Harry picks. His spirit lives on.

micah: Clare has completely gone off the rails.

clare.malone: yeahhhhhh.

I feel ALIVE!

julia_azari: So Starbucks is OK?

I guess they are doing that racial-bias training … that was a winning PR move.

clare.malone: OK, he’s a businessman who’s liberal — that’s a decent pitch to stand against Trump in an outsider moment.

julia_azari: (note extreme sarcasm)

Only 2018 could bring us two rich white guys for an “outsider moment.”

natesilver: I’m not sure if Howard Schultz would be in my top 100. (Note to internet: Remember to quote this when he wins the Democratic nomination in 2020.)

clare.malone: I’m counting on that parenthetical coming true, Nate.

julia_azari: I screenshotted it.

micah: Nate, you’re up at No. 10.

natesilver: I’M TAKING OPRAH.

micah: Jesus.

clare.malone: Nate.

julia_azari: Nah, Oprah could probably beat Jesus. (sorry)

natesilver: She doesn’t seem likely to run, but if she did, she’d be extremely formidable.

clare.malone: Why on earth would Oprah run? I just don’t think she will.

natesilver: I think the candidates at this stage have maybe a 3 to 5 percent chance of winning, so I’m willing to gamble on her having a ~20 percent chance of running and a 1 in 3 chance of winning if she does run. That works out to like 7 percent.

micah: Julia, you have the No. 11 pick.

julia_azari: Jason Kander.

He’s on the fucking list.

natesilver: Oh wow.

Wow.

micah: You are all terrible at this game.

clare.malone: My only comment here is that I am fascinated by Jason Kander.

micah: Kander couldn’t even get elected to Congress.

julia_azari: One of the actual lessons from 2016 is that the list of people with an acceptable resume to become president has … broadened.

natesilver: If you looked up “he’s running” in the dictionary, you’d see a picture of Jason Kander.

micah: That’s true.

People who are 100 percent running are worth something in these rounds.

julia_azari: You know who else hadn’t been elected to Congress? Donald Trump!

micah: He never ran though, Julia!

natesilver: Along with Delaney, Kander is actually a candidate for president right now in every practical respect.

julia_azari: He’s gotten some barbs in against Trump, he’d attract funders, blah blah something Midwest.

clare.malone: #Delaney2020

Let’s get this trending.

natesilver: Do I sense an O’Malley pick coming later?

clare.malone: oooh, no, The Macker.

micah: With the No. 12 pick, I select … Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar!

natesilver: Good pick.

julia_azari: She has the prosecutor problem too.

micah: Midwest bona fides.

Smart.

Engaging.

julia_azari: I mean, there are people with baggage and then there are people who have no track records.

natesilver: I dunno, I think if you go by the heuristic of “parties nominate the biggest contrast to the previous president,” Klobuchar works pretty well. The Midwestern soft-spokenness is a nice contrast to Trump.

micah: From Time, here’s Klobuchar at the recent Women’s Convention in Detroit:

Klobuchar referenced the recent spate of harassment allegations, but used the issue to discuss class distinctions. “We make sure it isn’t just famous people who are heard,” she said. “We protect the shift worker at the factory, the teacher at the school, the nurse at the hospital, all women deserve to be safe wherever they work and wherever they are.”

That’s ^^^ good!

OK, now we’re in Round 4.

We’ll each give our picks and then discuss them as a group.

The order is Micah, Julia, Nate, Clare

No. 13: Montana Gov. Steve Bullock.

julia_azari: No. 14: Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. (I will not stop trolling because my theories are correct.)

natesilver: No. 15: New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.

clare.malone: No. 16: Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

micah: I won that round.

clare.malone: Eh, I’m not sure. Landrieu is a better geographic pick.

natesilver: Micah, you didn’t win according to the Scottish teenagers at PredictIt — they say I won the round.

clare.malone: Weird field.

natesilver: Booker is pretty #He’sRunning and has a pretty typical profile for a Democratic nominee.

julia_azari: Wall Street.

micah: Bullock has a +23 net approval rating as a Democrat in Montana.

He’s pretty young-ish (he’d be 54 by Election Day in 2020).

clare.malone: Landrieu is a white male Democrat from the South who made a high-profile speech about race — I think those are some ingredients to get you some good grist with the Democratic primary electorate.

micah: Yeah, agree that Booker’s Wall Street connections are a problem.

natesilver: You picked Deval Patrick, though, Julia! I’m not sure that voters will see Wall Street as worse than Bain.

julia_azari: I would nominate Booker for “most likely to get chewed up by the progressive wing of the party.”

natesilver: Again, I’m not thrilled with Booker, but I think there’s a lot of value there if we’re talking about the 15th overall pick or whatever it was.

micah: Round 5!!! Order is Clare, Nate, Julia, me

clare.malone: omg we’re still going?

natesilver: Yes — Round 5!

clare.malone: Fine. Eric Holder.

natesilver: H I L L A R Y R O D H A M C L I N T O N!!!

clare.malone: lol

Nate’s just looking for attention.

micah: lol

natesilver: She wins at a contested convention.

julia_azari: That would literally be the end of the Democratic Party.

micah: Julia.

Please don’t steal my pick.

julia_azari: Who’s possibly left?

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

micah: MICHELLE OBAMA!!!!

BAM!

clare.malone: No.

I thought you were gonna go with Mark Cuban.

natesilver: I like both the Hickenlooper and Obama picks, FWIW.

micah: Obama comes in to “save the republic.”

julia_azari: The Obama-era baggage of Biden with the interest in a political career of a nonpolitician.

clare.malone: Exactly.

That woman is not running.

micah: I don’t think she wants to run, but let’s say the 2020 Democratic primary is a shit show (likely) and she’s the “white knight.”

natesilver: We’re in the fifth round, though! I think y’all are playing it too safe.

micah: LAST ROUND!

Order is Micah, Julia, Nate, Clare.

I’m tempted to pick Al Franken.

natesilver: Then pick him.

micah: Instead I’ll go with … Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown!

julia_azari: Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

clare.malone: ooh

micah: ohhh

natesilver: Alabama Sen. Doug Jones.

micah: fuck

clare.malone: Mark Cuban.

micah: That’s the draft!

OK, here are the teams:

2020 Democratic primary draft, May 2018

Clare Nate Julia Micah Round 1 Bernie Sanders Kamala Harris Tammy Baldwin Kirsten Gillibrand Round 2 Tim Ryan Elizabeth Warren Deval Patrick Joe Biden Round 3 Howard Schultz Oprah Winfrey Jason Kander Amy Klobuchar Round 4 Mitch Landrieu Cory Booker Julian Castro Steve Bullock Round 5 Eric Holder Hillary Clinton John Hickenlooper Michelle Obama Round 6 Mark Cuban Doug Jones Sally Yates Sherrod Brown

micah: Who has the best team? (You can’t vote for your own.)

clare.malone: Wow, I really like the private citizens. I’m a real out-of-the-box thinker.

micah: My rankings:

Micah

Nate

Julia

Clare

julia_azari: Ha.

clare.malone: What happened to “you can’t vote for your own team”?

micah: Mine is just so clearly the best, Clare. I couldn’t help it.

OK, everyone can vote for their team.

natesilver:

Nate

Micah

Clare

Julia

clare.malone:

Clare

Nate

Micah

Julia

julia_azari:

Julia

Nate

Clare

Micah

Sorry, Micah, but the Michelle Obama pick just killed it for me.

Only one of these lists is clearly based on a group-oriented theory of the Democratic Party.

micah: OK, so removing self-votes it goes:

Nate

Micah

Clare

Julia

Wait, did I do that right?

natesilver: I’ve gotta say this is my favorite draft since my 2015 NL-only roto league.

micah: Anyway, let’s close with Julia’s argument for a group-oriented theory of the Democratic Party …

julia_azari: Lots of groups within the party coalition to think about: racial/ethnic minorities, urban vs. rural (dwindling numbers, but some in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Vermont), Democrats, women, LGBT Americans, progressives. Also political groupings like the seemingly sorta crystallized Sanders-Clinton camps. The right nominee will get at least some of these groups fired up to go to the polls and won’t be overtly offensive to any of them.

Which is why I think avoiding a candidate who comes too close to the 2016 rift is of central importance.

And that we should think about candidates in these terms, not in terms of starting with candidate qualities.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #A FiveThirtyEight Chat

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