#( you will always be the most famous lesbian commander. to ME ) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fruitpunchninja101 · 3 years ago

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No one asked me to do this but I saw this picrew floating about and I can’t help but imagine Levihan as forbidden lesbian lovers from rival kingdoms. Honestly idk what to call this thing I wrote but here you go.If you guys are up for it, you can send me picrew links and I’d create a Levihan avatar and a short au thing about that.Yey!

They first met in the summer during a peace summit in the central city of Sina.For the first time in 50 years,a representative from two of the most powerful families; the Zoes and the Ackermans are going to initiate talks of peace and sanctions between their rivaling countries.

Hange is not what Levi expected her to be. People in her family always said that the Zoes are unhinged savages but in front of her stood a beautiful articulate leader who shone like a warm ray of sunshine. She openly laughs and carelessly prattles among everyone as if shes not surrounded by enemies. Its as if she wanted everyone to lay their guard down around her and underestimate her. Is that why she showed up disheveled and sleep deprived?

Levi is no fool, Hange can pretend to be this ditzy eccentric girl all she wants but she can see a deep hidden fire of anger and ruthlessness beneath her brown eyes.

Levi didn’t forget to make a bold comment about Hanges state of dress before adjourning the summit.She pointed out that it seemed like shes not taking the people in the room seriously because of how she chose to present herself.Levi could’ve sworn she saw a glint of indignation in her eyes before she flashed a small but almost baleful smile.

Everyone in the room paused and held their breaths too nervous to make any sound.Will Hange be offended and renounce the Zoes participation in the summit?

Her small smile turned to a loud uncontrollable laugh til shes out of breath and tearing up.Hange had to take a breath before apologizing saying she’s been busy with her experiments lately and didn’t have enough time to bathe.Levi wrinkled her nose at her admission while Hange continued to boisterously laugh.

It is said Hange was so fascinated with Levi after their meeting that she would send letters and bizarre gifts for her after that.Levi refused to respond because she thought that she was only teasing rather than trying to initiate a genuine friendship.She thought that Hange would eventually tire herself out and stop sending her shit if she refuse to reply.

But leaves changed for autumn and Hange continued to send in her letters.She turned out to be more persistent than Levi thought.Eventually,Levi’s resolve crumbled and she started replying to Hange.

This became a routine.Hange would share overly personal details of her day,fantasies to run away and live in a cabin somewhere in the forest to hide from her responsibilities and the latest developments of her experiments in her letters and in response Levi would ask her to stop sending letters or she would personally come to her chambers and bathe her smelly ass.These threats only encouraged Hange to send Levi more gifts particularly pressed flowers from the famous Zoe gardens.Levi was reluctant to continue their correspondence but admittingly, Hange is starting to grow on her.She’s warm,smart and a true genius at her field.Besides,who would ever understand the burden of being the head of one of the oldest family of Paradis than Hange?

It is said that despite the distance and challenges surrounding their situation,Levi and Hange made their friendship work. Eventually,The Zoes and Ackermans signed a peace accord and Levi and Hange had to move to Sina to attend to their duties as official ambassadors.They are often seen spending time together.It is said they usually go on hunts together and that Levi would even help Hange with her experiments when time permits.

Whispers of an affair started when a drunken member of the royal servants started spewing rumors of the women sneaking into each others chambers for a heated night of passion.It was said that even the Commander of the Paradis troops,Erwin Smith was involved with them for a time.No one from both families ever gave an official response regarding this allegations.

Levi and Hange are rarely seen publicly together after that issue broke out but people started taking notice that they started wearing an almost matching band of black ribbon around their neck.Some historians speculate that it represents a silent promise of commitment to each other.

Years of peace was eventually disturbed when Marley decided to invade Paradis.The Zoes and Ackermans faught valiantly beside each other.

It was around winter when the war was won and a peace treaty was signed by Queen Historia

Levi and Hange was never seen after the war.Not even their remains in the battlefield were ever found.Some people said they died together while delivering a crucial assault against Marley but some people speculate that they used the chaos of the war to finally run away and enjoy the summer together in that little cottage in the forest Hange mentioned a lot in her letters.💚💜

#levihan #levi ackerman #hange zoe #hanji zoe #snk #aot #picrew

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sjw-publishings · 4 years ago

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Stay Straight Babe

“Im so glad I still have my lovely boyfriend with me during Quarantine, Amirite Cherry?”

“Yeah...hehe, so glad to have Sammie with me too...”

Anton, the Drama Queen laughed with his lesbian shy bookworm bestie as they discussed about theatre and all about. Of course, they would’ve invited their lovers along, but they were too busy being techno geeks and talking computer games in their gaming rooms.

“Did you have lunch yet?”

“Yeah, tried takeout from that famous Chinese restaurant downtown! Was super good!”

“Oh my god! Me too sistah!!!”

“OooooooAHHHH!”

A large groan came from their study, where his boyfriend’s currently at. Anton naturally looked concerned for his boyfriend.

“What was that?”

“I don’t know! But something came from Sammie’s room too...”

“Yeah! I gotta check Kenny, Brb!”

Ending the call, Anton left the bedroom, and headed his way outside the study, about to open the door, but then a loud masculine voice rumbled from behind the door.

“Samantha? You’re just such a great fri... girlfriend... eungh so hot...”

Samantha? Who is that....But more importantly, why would his friend...boyfriend be moaning to a lady? Is he...cheating on him? But that can’t be, his geeky nerd cutie is as queer as a three dollar bill! But still, he had to check it out....that deep voice certainly did not sound like a nerd’s...

“SO HOT!”

As Anton walked into the room, his eyes widened at the pile of clothes and tossed garments on the ground. Large XL sandblasted jeans, track pants, sneakers. Tons of sports posters and trophies decorating the shelves, and a large television screen playing the latest soccer match...though for some reason, he vaguely recalled seeing football and baseball at intervals.

But it definitely did not look like a study room...despite him initially thinking that it was. Alongside a couple of dart boards, some sports equipment, and a pool table, seemed like a recreation room...but since when could they afford...

“oooooOOOOAAAAAAHHH!”

A large moan came from the couch, as Anton came to the front of it, all his eyes focused on was an incredibly muscular asian hunk man-spreading in bliss, dressed in a white tee with an iconic sporting good logo in the front, left hand gripping his cellphone while his right hand dug deep into his clean white boxers. The man panted out of relief, and relaxation, like a weight lifted off his shoulders. Whispering into branded phone with his deep husky, asian tone.

“Stay Straight Babe~”

CLICK!

So hot...NO! Anton get a hold of yourself! Who was this Asian man? Where was his roommate? He had to get questions, even if this...extremely hunky cutie, looked so sexy dazed and looking up.

“What?...Who are you!”

The Asian man snapped out of his trace, eyes opened...but ever so slightly. He was asian after all, but he was chill...in control. Still leaning back on the couch, he looked at Anton, puzzled, before looking down at his exposed boxers and then back at the stranger. His mind cleared up in an instant, forcing out a-

“Kevin Lang, Fag!”

The man said it, and gave that signature sarcastic response from only a jock bully like him. Smirking condescendingly, he was in charge, and that theatre gay started to tremble.

“Listen Queer, I know you’re thirsty and all for men during this. But some of us got girlfriends who we can’t visit. So stop being a WUSS and deal with it.”

“I...wasn’t...I...”

Now this really pissed him, not even caring about the stickiness on his right hand, or that he had a pitched tent. All he knows now is to deal with this gay of a roommate who spied on him and his girlfriend. The tall 6ft 2 jock cornered Anton to the door.

“Go jerk to your boyfriend or something...oh that’s right! Even a FAG like you doesn’t have one!”

Anton was in tears, he remembered the countless dates that he had, alongside the taunts made by this douchebag Kevin who somehow managed to wolf his way into his life throughout college. He had to get out of there..., quickly opening the door and running back to the bedroom, locking it.

“I...I have to call Cherry...”

As he typed for her number, a sudden ringing notification popped up for the name Chelsea. Must be a typo when he was saving Cherry’s contact right? Cause that number definitely was Cherry’s.

“Anton....”

“What happened?”

Almost suddenly, his mind shrugged off of whatever his homophobic roommate had said. His best friend was weak right now, he had to help her.

Gripping ahold of the phone, he didn’t notice the warm tanned spot spreading on his palms, down his wrists every second as he held the cellphone.

“Samantha...called me a dyke.”

“Samantha?”

“You know! My roommate, the one that’s dating yours!”

It made sense now, the two of them bonded over how much they despised their roommates bullying...and the strangeness of how the douchebag jock and queen bee couple somehow always interfered in their respective love lives...

Clutching the phone tighter, his wrists tightened as definition thickened his forearms. Curling his biceps subconsciously, toning strongly till they were the size of baseballs.

“Yeah Kevin was such a douche, had to defend myself from him tryin’ to whoop me...”

“Yeah, had to backflip and dodge Samantha’s attacks. Didn’t feel good knowing she still holds a grudge about me being a dyke.”

Heh, he knew his best friend could handle herself. She was still a cheerleader in training, but could whoop Samantha’s arrogant butt anytime. Must also be her half asian genetics like his.

Sitting up straighter, Aiton’s broad shoulders filled out his sweater, which almost ripped if it was not for that white stain sealing up the cracks. That white stain...which came from Kevin...right? Was there a stain?

The white coloration spread all across the attire, shrinking up the sleeves to simply resting just below his shoulders, accentuating his large biceps which he proudly admired. Alongside his large back which occupied his entire bed...wait, didn’t he?

Taking a closer look at his bedroom...wait, looking DOWN at his bedroom. He was on the upper bed of a double decker, with training equipment at the side and a couple of sports memorabilia which looked reminiscent of the recreational room.

Yeah of course that douchebag Kevin had to have most of the room with his crap...though it was not all bad. He worked out quite often during his spare time...outside of that artsy degree he had no idea why he took...did he take an artsy degree? He shrugged, doesn’t matter, he worked out.

Anyways it showed, leaning back and taking full charge of the entire bed. At least he was the alpha HERE! Listening to what his best friend spoke...though she was mostly talking about drama with her roommate, not the kind of thing he was interested in.

But he always liked her voice...

“At least...I think I like girls? But that was an accident! I don’t like Samantha!”

Aiton nodded, unsure of what to say, but felt...pretty cool about it. Crossing his legs, as he saw those large trunks that trained...almost like for years. They which reached the end of the bedside, as those khakis lengthened and stretched into XL sweatpants...gotta snatch that back his junk from Kevin later, but not now. He was cool, now. Kicking off his large trainers which went-

CLUNK CLUNK!

As they hit the floor, wiggling his size 12 feet beneath those white socks. Kevin could insult him all he wants later, it was his room too. The fledgeling Jock can say whatever he wants to anybody, and he says-

“You were like ‘I think I like girls’, sounded pretty dyke to me.”

Aiton smirked, teasing the cheerleader from across the phone. He always liked doing that, he was in charge after all.

He knew how icky the two cheerleaders felt towards homosexuals...but then again, wasn’t he a bit rude towards them as well? Not as bad as Kevin but an occasional joke here and there meant nothing right?

“Who you callin’ dyke, Fag?”

“Who you callin’ Fag, Dyke?”

Okay...maybe he didn’t like being called Fag either. But it was just insults between him, Cherlse, and Kevin and Samantha. Anyone else and they answer TO HIS FISTS....except maybe ladies...especially hot babes.

He began to palm himself, and as he kneaded his hard rocket, he sneered in disgust over a rainbow wristband on his wrist. He blinked, in its faggy place was a white sports watch. His rocket doubled up in size, while darkening in tan, its always time to be a Jerk, just like his Bro Kevin.

“You know i get weak when you use my own words~”

Cherlsea opened up her phone webcam, and Aidon did the same. Both smirking at the other. The Jock knew it was always ladies first, but he was a Jerk so-

“Oh damn...she’s hot!”

“Of course I am, do I still look pretty dyke to you~?”

Watching her seductively pose on her bed, it felt like ages since he had seen a woman like that! In that revealing tank and double Ds he could just!

SQUEEZE!

“Oooaahhh!”

Squeezing his own chest, feeling rock solid muscle layering his nipples, pectorals filling his sports shirt massively like the man he was. Feeling those abdominals as a well deserved 6 pack emerged from years of crunches.

“I....I NEED RELEASE!”

“So hawt~”

“I...I AINT A FAG!”

“Course you aren’t hunky~you are so hawt, ooooooaaaaah!”

The Queen Bee’s second in command had let out her mating’s call, the asian babe was too much for the Douchebag Jock’s right hand man, and vice versa. As their desires linked up, with the help of a fortune cookie they ate prior, they were about to finally be set into motion.

Each of them felt a tight stinging to their holes simultaneously. As the Asian Jock’s butt hole tightened, the Cheerleader’s lady hole expanded. Like a trade of preferences, but that is not all.

As testosterone pumped in the man, churning larger sacks, as he watched his babe’s hair lengthen, his shrunk, and BUZZED off the sides and back, leaving a stylish gelled top, maintained with a pair of shavers, scissors, and his Bro. Not actually brothers, but they were asian , jocks, and total jerks. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were related.

Speaking of Asian, his tan had bathed his facial features alongside the rest of his body. Cleansing the GAY away from him as his jaw hardened into a fierce square. His lips snarled in momentary disgust, before his raising his cheeks, as that scowl shifted to an arrogant smirk as he watched his girlfriend do the same.

“Ooooaaaaaah~”

His brows complimented his prominent features, as they frowned, closing his eyes as his girlfriend’s moan was too much to bear...he needed RELEASE! RELEASE!

“OAAAAAAAH!”

Aidan Long expelled a thick goo from below, as his eyes gave way to a thin fierce asian dark brown. Staring into the ceiling in a haze...before the sounds of his lover’s panting sent him back to reality.

“Man...that feels good, but still miss our hot damn ‘Dragon and Empress’ sessions before all this happened.”

“Yeah totally...stuck with bestie the whole day is fun and all but...she and your douche roommate keep doing it all day.”

“Caught him jerkin’ off too jus now...”

“Whaaaaaat! Omg same, saw Samantha doing that too!”

“Course...nothin’ beats my empress...”

“Same for you too...my long muscular dragon.”

Almost instantly, the doors slammed open. Of course, Kevin had the spare keys to the bedroom too, and he was sneering right at the door.

“AND YOU SAY IM A FAGGOT!”

“SHADDUP KEV! YOU GAY!”

“NO YOU GAY!”

“HAHAHA!”

The two jocks laughed arrogantly, before sneering at each other. The two of them were thirsty, and they understood and respected that.

“Ohhh almost forgot, mwah mwah mwah!”

“Mwah mwah mwah back to you GAY!”

Kevin left the room, most likely going to order more of that Chinese take out or something. Doesn’t matter to Aidan though...he was friends with the man, but he wasn’t INTO INTO him.

“I swear this stay at home thing is turning me gay...”

“Oh there’s nothing wrong with some bonding sessions. Me and Samantha are pointing each other’s nails later on, and that isn’t DYKE!”

“Yeah, should probably binge watch soccer with that douche. Felt like We haven’t did a sports marathon in ages!...No homo of course.”

The two of them chatted for a while more, loving the company of the other intimately as they teased one another like the lovers they are.

But they eventually have to go to other stuff. And by stuff he wants to do, is CHILL.

“Love you hunky, talk to you l8r!”

The Jock simply posed to the camera,and spoke.

“Stay Straight Babe”

#gay to straight #g2s #mental change #jock #asian #racial change #dumber #gay #lib to cons #to #straight #nerdtojock #personality change #gay2straight #stay #babe #chinese

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killtheevilpuppets · 3 years ago

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Let me show you the characters I'm playing with in my new save file

This is Blanca Stanton. She is a young adult and a lesbian who lives in Del Sol Valley with her high school sweetheart girlfriend, Kara. Blanca is exceptionally tall and fit, as you can see...

Her aspiration is the "bodybuilder aspiration". She wants to become a famous basketball player.

Her traits are:

- Unflirty

- Active

- Adventurous

- High Metabolism (she gained this one with her life aspiration)

Added traits with mods:

- Everyman

Everyman Sims just want to belong and feel like a part of something. As a result, they lack any distinctive identity and rarely stand out.

Sims that do not fit into any specific Personality Archetype end up being just an Everyman. This occurs when Sim has no personality-defining traits or has conflicting personality traits.

- Hero

Hero Sims are eager to demonstrate the courage to prove their worth and confidence. But, subsequently, they might end up appearing arrogant by looking for faults in others to feel good about themselves or pick fights.

Sims that are sure of themselves and always ready to fight will most likely end up being a Hero.

Her personality type:

ISFJ - The Nurturer

Very dedicated and warm protectors. Popular leisure activities for ISFJs include cooking, gardening, painting, crafts, picnics, nature walks, and watching movies. They are also often found supporting their loved ones in their interests and activities.

Her view on having children:

- Does not want to have children right now

This is Kara Williams. She is the girlfriend of Blanca. Kara is entirely based off me, so she is a chaotic bisexual who dreams of becoming a famous actress. Unlike her girlfriend, she is short as hell.

Her lifetime inspiration is the "Inner Peace" Wellness aspiration. Because of how hectic and stressful her life has always been, she wants to look after herself as much as possible.

Her traits are:

- Romantic

- Ambitious

- Outgoing

- Spa Membership (she gained this one with her life aspiration)

Added traits with mods:

- Jester

Jester Sims live for the moments of joy, humor, and silliness. Often, though, they are irresponsible, wasting time by playing around instead of focusing on their goals.

Sims that are very humorous, outgoing, and maybe a little clumsy will most likely end up being a Jester.

- Lover

Lover Sims crave intimacy, live to experience pleasure, and are very passionate. Nonetheless, with their desire to evoke love in others, they risk losing their own identity and appear shallow.

Sims that are very romantic, loving, or pleasure-seeking, will most likely end up being a Lover.

Her personality type:

ENTJ - The Commander

Bold, imaginative, and strong-willed leaders, always finding a way - or making one. Popular hobbies for ENTJs include taking leadership positions in community groups, attending social gatherings or sporting events, and playing competitive sports. Because ENTJs are so often focused on their careers, they may have few interests outside of work, or they may participate in leisure activities that also help to further their careers.

Her view on having children:

- Does not want to have children right now

#sims 4 cas #sims 4 screenshots #sims 4 #lesbian #bisexual #lgbtq #sims 4 save file #save file #gilfriends #del sol valley #the sims 4 #ts4 #alpha cc

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softschofield · 5 years ago

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a guide to the secondary characters of 1917

inspired by @a-beautiful-struggle-of-life because saying “i wanna fall in love with all these characters too omg” is just such an open invitation and i couldn’t resist ♡♡♡

sergeant sanders: “yes, well, sorry to disrupt your crowded schedule, blake, but the brass hats didn’t fancy it in the snow.” the sergeant of blake and scho’s platoon. the one to first introduce us to our boys so we have to love him for it

lieutenant gordon: “a couple of little treats.” he’s soft. i love him. he’s just the hype man of erinmore, like does he want to agree with another one of his proverbs? another one of his quotes? another one of his shakespearean monologues that he learned off by heart at eton? no. he’s so tired. he doesn’t want to hear another fancy sentence in his life. “wouldn’t you say, lieutenant?” he wants to say i could not possibly give a smaller fuck, sir, but can he? no. let him sleep

sergeant: “YOU’RE GOING UP A DOWN TRENCH YOU BLOODY IDIOTS” he doesn’t have a name but MAN did he have a cultural impact. like he changed my world with that line. the delivery? the poise? the hint of a snarl? no one else could ever and i’m afraid that’s just the facts. he was probably mad because he just had a tiff with leslie and he got the day of the week wrong. he thought he had it this time. he didn’t. he never does

private kilgour: a bloody waste of space. THE softest boy. somehow managed a perfect :o in real life. how did he do it? no one knows. dermatologists HATE him. owns a cute scarf that he's managed to actually keep clean. probably has a blanket stashed somewhere. he’s just so, so gentle, he deserves nothing but good

lieutenant leslie: “for any sins thou hast committed.” you already know. you already KNOW. every time i saw this film there was someone who whispered “moriarty!” the first time it was me. he’s just so tired. a lieutenant shouldn’t be in command of a company. everyone is dead. his only friends are the orderlies he forces to hang out with him in his smelly dugout because all the other officers are in bits and pieces. the orderlies are trapped. they can’t escape him. gallows humour. he just needs a rest. we love him. was absolutely checking schofield out for the majority of their scene together. i've written about how they absolutely seem to have history and i'll say it again: they do. gay

the idiot who thought it was tuesday: one of the orderlies that leslie is holding prisoner solely to bully. when no one else is around they probably cuddle while leslie has a cry and the idiot who thought it was tuesday (TIWTIWT) comforts him and tells him he can do it

private atkins: “hey, it’s alright, it’s okay.” one of the two to find scho trying to haul blake’s body along. the gentlest giant. parry’s back-up, like he looks like he’d be in charge because he’s all big and tough-looking but then weedy, hot-headed little parry is the one doing the talking and atkins is just hovering behind him being soft. loves and supports his friends. they remind me so much of an iconic cartoon duo but i just can’t put my finger on it, but you just know they’d get into mischief because of parry and atkins is just “i don’t know about this” but of course he goes along with it

private parry: “you alright, mate?” he single-handedly made everyone in the cinema jump when some random english guy suddenly spoke when no one else was supposed to be around. he’s tiny but in charge and we truly do love to see it. lowkey feral vibes. you just know he’s a little bit chaotic and snarky and he’d challenge anyone twice his size to a fight, but he’s also gentle and worries about schofield so much when he doesn’t know him at all and i Love him the very most

captain smith: “it doesn’t do to dwell on it.” the dad. the warmest, most calming dad. gives great hugs. he’s tired because he has to spend all his time trying to keep parry and cooke apart because if they ever met and conspired all hell would quite literally break out, like they’d be too powerful together and he knows it. has a cane for the aesthetic. he’s completely traumatised but he has to keep it together for personal pride and for his boys

colonel collins: “they at least could have retreated with a bit of grace, BASTARDS.” i quote him daily. he truly is just the stuff of legends. we love to see it

colonel collins’ driver: “no, sir.” if he and lieutenant gordon ever met they wouldn’t even speak, they’d just fall asleep on each other. they’re both so exhausted by their superiors. when will they be free

private rossi: “welcome aboard the night bus to fuck knows where.” we love him!!!!!! we really do love him!!!!!!! scottish. soft. he and jondalar are best friends and jondalar teases him constantly. genuinely lovely, observant, empathetic. he talks about the pointlessness and bleakness of what they’re doing when no one else dares think on it too much in case they break down and i love him for it. probably goes home to become a war poet

private cooke: “HERE, DRIVER, HOW ABOUT YOU TRY TO KEEP IT ON THE BLOODY ROAD FOR A CHANGE” ABSOLUTE feral vibes. he’s just a public menace and we love him

private butler: “alright, alright, keep your ‘air on.” i really do just love him. he’s the one who tells the story about scott and beaufoy and eventually rallies everyone together to help scho push the truck, but to me he’s better known for being the scrawny little icon with the especially prominent red x on his sleeve and the moustache who’s just so GRUMPY all the time. like why is he so GRUMPY? i love him

sepoy jondalar: “i hope you get there.” it’s recognised in the script that he did the best impersonation of beaufoy, we love to see him excelling. gentle. loves schofield with his entire heart and he’s only just met him. there are a few iconic duos in this film - scho and blake, parry and atkins, bäumer and deserving more - and jondalar and rossi are one of them

private malky: “you could do with a new set.” my FAVOURITE!!!! the script says rossi says that line but i am CONVINCED it’s malky and i will stand by that. sounds like george harrison from the beatles. a soft lad who quietly teases cooke TWICE in one and a half pages with the most bashful kinda voice. he and cooke are another iconic duo. i love him so, so much. gay. they all are but malky especially. all the gays ride in that truck, that’s why smith, The Gay Dad, chose to put scho in with them

driver: “oh, piss off.” he and cooke have an iconic dynamic and it’s only one line long. you just know cooke is always giving him shit, it’s a running gag that’s famous throughout the whole company

lauri: “chil-dren? you?” the queen of deserving more. she’s only something like 17 and she’s probably an orphan raising another orphan. if you’ve seen 1917 and don’t love her with your whole entire soul then you get shot on sight, like i literally do not make the rules. the softest, strongest girl. a lesbian

private bäumer: “ENGLÄNDER!” the king of not keeping his goddamn mouth shut. at least two people in this fandom ship him with kilgour and i am one of them. a soft twink. i love him. if he weren’t dying he would have loved being straddled by scho and i can’t blame him for that

private müller: “bäumer? BÄUMER!” the one who was throwing up. he’s like kat from all quiet on the western front, the older veteran who takes the fresh recruits under his wing. he did not deserve to lose bäumer like that and honestly the grief in his voice when he realises what’s happened HAUNTS me. i really do love him so much. he felt guilty about deserting. he had so much depth like every other character who was barely on screen for half a scene and i hope he made it out of the war and did okay

private seymour: “well he’s not one of ours.” i just love his accent, i’m sorry this one is purely selfish. but i do love him so much, he was instantly ready to LITERALLY pick scho up and just take him with them and that’s pretty iconic. like he was just going to adopt this random, half-drowned soldier who showed up out of nowhere with no rifle or helmet or pack. his now

lieutenant richards: “what the HELL are you doing, lance corporal?” my FAVOURITE secondary character. like i say that about all of them, but i love him, lauri, malky, rossi, and parry THE most. honestly has some of the most iconic moments in the whole film. that squint he does at scho after “what?”? the stuff of oscars. he loved scho so much. the fact that he so desperately wanted to believe that what he was saying was true breaks my heart. genuinely such a good person. i love him. he and captain smith are husbands and dads with a bunch of idiot children

major hepburn: “well done, lad.” he’s like, an actual disney character. like his face, his voice, they just scream disney side character. like a good version of the guy from the princess and the frog. i love him so much. he’s so kind

medical officer: “i have NO idea. move along, lance corporal” I JUST LOVE HIM!!!!! he’s so cranky!!!!! get him some scissors!!!!

#1917 #mine #nothing but love for MY secondary characters ♡♡♡♡♡

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thebraingremlinsaremad · 3 years ago

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Daily Blog #6: August 13, 2021

Okay, okay, I know it's a couples days later, but I can assure you that I did not forget; I purposefully, and kinda without a better option, didn't post on Friday, and you'll see why.

So the day started off pretty regularly: I got up, ate breakfast, got a shower, and then sat around playing games and watching YouTube for a bit.

That was until my friend showed up at my house...

He called me and said to come outside, so I did.

It wasn't long until I got into his car, and we started driving.

I definitely should have been more anxious or nervous heading out, but for some reason, I just sat there with my head absentmindedly poking out the window, not really thinking about it.

I really wish I had grasped the situation a little better.

We got down there after an hour and a half of driving and we parked a bit away because there were so many people there, so many people there, in fact, that we just got some food until it calmed down again.

It was gonna be a great fucking concert.

Hella Mega Tour 2021, originally supposed to be Hella Mega Tour 2020, but postponed for obvious reasons.

We shopped for a tiny bit beforehand, not buying anything, and then headed over to the stadium 45 minutes before the concert was set to start. We were let in about 10 minutes later, and we filled our contraband water bottles that we managed to hide on the way in.

We sat there for a bit, me just listening to music on my Redmi Buds 3 pro.

I love these things.

Pretty soon the music started, and it was The Interrupters; everyone was feeling pretty lazy for this bit.

It's not like they were bad or anything, they were actually pretty good, but I guess everyone was just getting situated and didn't wanna bother using up all of their energy lol.

So The Interrupters' set is up, and they tear down the stage and reset it. Before too terribly long, Weezer starts up, and there's a lot bigger reaction from the crowd than there was before: people knew the songs, like Africa, Buddy Holly, Beverly Hills, and Feels Like Summer to name a few.

I was getting into it a bit, I knew a good few of the songs, I was moving along, I sang a bit, took some video.

What's cool is that I could feel myself moving along the scale, like going from no excitement while no one was playing, then tapping my foot and grooving to The Interrupters.

When Weezer first came on, I was just sitting there like, "alright, this is good shit." Towards the end, I was quietly singing Buddy Holly, their last song for the night.

I say quietly because there was a lot more loudness to come.

I should add that, up until this point, the music had been kinda unbearably loud, the highs really piercing and hitting hard.

Additionally, up until this point, I had been trying my best to document the concert with videos and audio recordings; it wasn't so much about enjoying the concert, for I've always been taught just to record stuff and not worry about the concert.

I don't think I've ever really enjoyed any of the concerts I've ever been to; I was there, but I wasn't. I didn't really know too many of the songs, and I had only listened to the artists in passing, not to mention the fact that my mother had been at every other concert I've been to, which is stifling in itself. I really can't enjoy anything when she's around.

But here we were; it was starting to get dark, and Fall out Boy was coming onstage. The crowd was getting into it with Weezer, and it was time for Fall Out Boy. The energy here had far exceeded both Weezer and The Interrupters, and this went for me as well.

I was sitting there, singing along and still occasionally recording, but I didn't have my phone out too much. I started to dance in my seat with every song, for I knew almost every one: Sugar, We're Going Down, Centuries, My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark, Grand Theft Autumn/Where is Your Boy, The Last of the Real Ones, Save Rock And Roll, and Dance, Dance being a few.

Throughout this set, everyone was singing along, but the real fun had yet to begin; the scent of smoke from the flames and fireworks finding its way through the crowd, the music now strong instead of piercing, a sense of unity between everyone in this packed stadium, between people of all walks of life: men, women, children, transgender, cisgender, non-binary, gay, straight, lesbian, ace, black, white, Asian, Mexican, young, old, middle-aged, and everything in between and outside... It didn't matter who you were or where you came from; you were at a fucking party, and everyone was gonna fuck it up once the main act came on stage.

Meanwhile, everyone was more than happy to celebrate with Fall Out Boy and some of their greatest and most memorable tracks.

Part way through Fall Out Boy's set, I decided to get off of my ass and join the growing number of audience members who were really getting into the groove and feeling the music.

It was so close to becoming an explosion of energy once Fall Out Boy was about to leave the stage.

After they left, the set was torn down once again and set up for Green Day.

Their was a low mix of music playing through the speakers all the while things were being set up. Once the stage was set, the music continued for a bit, but was then cut and replaced with a voice and lyrics that everyone knew immediately.

"Is this the real life. Is this just fantasy."

The crowd sings along to every word.

"Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality."

Freddie's voice poured out into the crowd, and the crowd sang them right back.

"Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see"

The song continued, and the whole crowd sang to the very end.

This really goes to show how impactful some people and groups can be on our lives... Although no one at the show was connected to Queen or Freddie Mercury, everyone who came to see these 4 bands still knew this great group.

Once the song was over, a mix of some of the most famous rock anthems began to play:

"We will, we will rock you"

"I love rock and roll"

"Hey, Ho, let's go"

A glorious piece all lead up to the 4 running onstage, Billie Joe Armstrong, Jason White, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool, joined now by 2 new members, Jason Freese and Kevin Preston.

All at once, it was an explosion of strong and passionate guitar jamming, soon followed by the drums and vocals of American Idiot. All at once, the crowd was rocking along with bopping heads, stomping feet, and swaying bodies. I only had my phone out to record for a short moment before I put it away and scarcely removed it from my pants for the rest of the concert.

I couldn't help but feel cocky, as a bi/pansexual (idk which one lmao), being allowed to sing the line,

"Well maybe I'm the faggot America"

I was like, "You straight bastards better not be singing that line 🤣"

It was absolutely incredible; the crowd cheered passionately and wholeheartedly at the end of every song and solo, after every quote from the band.

The coolest part about the concert was the fact that everyone just lost themselves in the music, as well as that everyone, without hesitation, followed what Billie Joe said. He says jump? WE FUCKING JUMPED. He tells us to scream? We. Fucking. Screamed. And when he wanted us to sing, we sang. I mean, okay, we were singing the whole time xD. I'm sure we would've sang if he told us to and we weren't already doing so lmao. What he said was our law, and we were doing our jobs as the dutiful citizens of Suburbia by following those laws.

It really is hard to express the level of pure energy at this gathering, especially when it radiates from every point in the packed stadium.

I screamed so loud and hard, and sang so long and passionately, that my voice started to go. But. Guess. What.

When you're at a place like this, no matter what, you just have this insatiable urge to keep going no matter what. When my arm got tired of throwing my fist in the air, I kept fucking going and even used the other arm too.

It's such a strange feeling when you feel like you're about to give out, like your voice is gonna break, or you're gonna collapse from dehydration and exhaustion, but you find around you the strength and power to keep on going, no matter how quickly your vocal health deteriorates.

Ask my friend, I couldn't speak properly after that shit xD. He even threatened to send a video of me talking to my choral teacher, who honestly would have been mad at me lmao.

Meanwhile, Green Day is playing some of their greatest hits, old and new alike, and I knew every single fucking one of them. I sang every song, and only took a break between 2 of them to down my whole bottle of contraband water in 3 seconds flat.

At one point, the band stopped playing, and Billie spoke into the microphone.

"Get your pretty lights out. I wanna see the pretty lights."

Everyone got their phones out and turned the torches on, as per his command.

"Turn the house lights off."

The lights go off, and the stadium is lit up almost as bright as it had been before, but this time with the lights of thousands.

"Look at that."

It was honestly an incredible moment.

That brings me to another point: when you go to a concert, you're not just paying for the music, you're not just paying to see a band, you're paying for an experience.

Let me tell you, this was one hell of an experience.

If you don't leave a concert feeling fulfilled, then the performers didn't do their job of giving you the experience that you paid to be a part of. I'm so happy that these four bands, especially Green Day, were able to deliver.

I really did love every moment of that show, which is such a rarity for me. I'm really happy that my friend took my mother's place. I can't fucking enjoy everything when she's around.

Oh yes, it wouldn't be one of my daily blogs without me talking about how my mother consistently pisses me off. Don't worry, I have some happy shit left to end on.

I swear to fluff though, she always manages to ruin everything for me. When we went to see The Lion King on Broadway, she insisted on coming with. That meant that I wasn't able to relax in my seat because this disgusting woman was sitting next to me and I had to cram myself to the side of my chair away from her. It meant that I wasn't allowed to cry when Mufasa died or during Can You Feel The Love Tonight because I knew I'd get made fun of for it.

I even went to a Fall Out Boy concert before, her refusing to let me go myself, and I didn't sing a single song because she'd just tell me to let the professionals handle it.

And for fuck's sake, the time she compared me trying to fucking validate my existence as a trans person to her wanting a car... That will always fucking piss me off.

Sorry, I got sidetracked. I was talking about how she ruins everything for me.

I literally cannot be myself around her. I've always been judged and ridiculed by my parents, and still am. I can't enjoy anything when they're around because I'm too focused on trying not to get made fun of or yelled at.

That being said, that concert was absolutely fucking incredible. I was with thousands of people who felt the same way that I did, and I could fucking jam out if I wanted to.

Apart from everyone being really on top of their game, and Billie Joe basically not aging since he turned 25, the only really notable thing left to say about the performance was when they pulled a kid guitarist onstage. He played for a bit, and they ended up letting him keep the guitar lmao.

BEST PART IS:

I SAW THE KID AFTER THE CONCERT, AND I WAS LIKE,

"Omg, hey, can I get a selfie with you?"

I was trying to be really low-key and quiet cuz I didn't wanna draw too much attention to him lmao.

The security guard was like, "Yeah, sure, but hurry up."

I TOOK THE PIC REALLY QUICKLY AND THEN HEADED OUT

HERE IT IS

YES, OF COURSE I BLOCKED OUT MY FACE

But I absolutely love the vibes of this photo xD. It's blurry, the lighting is shit, and you can barely make out any details. It has a lot of character, and I would take this over a clean, clear photo any day.

Walking away, the kid's mom said, "You're like, the coolest kid ever now."

Agreed.

Then it was time to go home. Honestly, I didn't feel sad that it didn't last longer, or disappointed that I had to leave. I was actually very satisfied and fulfilled with what happened, which is honestly the way it should be.

Driving home, I stayed awake by sticking my arm out of the window and letting the cold rain hit fast like tiny needles.

I got home.

I passed out.

Although, that was technically on Saturday 🤔

ANYWAY, THIS IS MY LONG ASS BLOG FOR FRIDAY THE 13TH

I hope you enjoyed

Be good people!!!!

-Leonna

#Concert #Green Day #Fall Out Boy #Weezer #The Interrupters #Green Day Concert #Daily Blog #Blog #Trans #LGBTQ #alternative rock #Alternative #Pop Punk #Punk Rock

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missytearex · 5 years ago

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If you know anything about me, you will know that I love fic and I try to read as much of it as I possibly can. I have loved so many fics from this year and these are the ones that had especially lasting impressions on me. I am so grateful to the authors for sharing their work, so if you check any of these out, remember to leave kudos and a nice comment.

Please note that this list reflects my personal taste and is by no means a “best of 2019″ kind of list. Fics are listed according to posting date.

✨Tainted Saints And Velvet Vices by @toomanydreamers — [fic post]

larry | 126k | mature

A self-fulfilling Hogwarts AU in which Louis is new to seventh year and Harry is the resident devil-may-care Slytherin set to make his entire experience a living misery. Due to less than favourable circumstances they’re forced to forge an unwilling, tentative relationship for their own survival. Repressed emotions, decidedly unromantic ballroom dancing, Triwizard Tournament tasks, creative jinxes and twilight flying above the Forbidden Forest ensue.

✨ The Lone Hydrangea by @lightwoodsmagic — [fic post]

larry | 77k | explicit

the post Hogwarts AU where Harry’s a florist, Louis’ a muggle who edits fantasy books, and they both have no say in how quickly they fall for each other.

✨ Kill Me/ Heal Me by @millionlittletings — [fic post]

larry | 92k | teen and up

The kingdom of Scotland hasn’t been in peace for decades now. In the heart of the country lies the rivalries, hate, and struggle of power. Amidst the chaos, five young men discover the meaning of life, friendship, love, hate, and heartbreak through their journey. Louis, who is struggling to find a place where he belongs. Niall, who will protect what belongs to him with his life. Zayn, who is learning to navigate through life. Liam, who knows when to use his heart and when to use the brain. Harry, who is set to kill anyone who will come into his way of finding the truth about his mother. From dealing with their personal issues to finding out the real culprit who changed the course of their lives, these five men are set to uncover the deepest and the darkest secrets of the kingdom.

✨ An Unbalanced Force by @kingsofeverything — [fic post]

larry | 110k | explicit

Harry has the rest of his life planned. Marriage. Career. Kids. Happily ever after.

But sometimes plans don’t work out.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

✨ Let Our Hearts Collide by @crinkle-eyed-boo — [fic post]

larry | 76k | mature

When Harry, a lonely transit worker, saves the life of the handsome commuter he’s been secretly pining for, an innocent mistake results in Liam Payne’s family believing that Harry is engaged to their son. In the Paynes, Harry finds the big family he’s always longed for…and a love he never saw coming.

A While You Were Sleeping AU

✨ Consequences by @allwaswell16 — [fic post]

larry | 78k | explicit

Two years ago Harry let his powerful family come between him and the love of his life, something he deeply regrets. Louis has tried to move on from their devastating break up. Sometimes, he even thinks he has. It only takes one moment to freeze them back in time.

An amnesia au

✨ Shine On (You Crazy Diamond) by @larrymaybe22 — [fic post]

larry | 58k | mature

The year is 1974 and Britain’s glam rock scene is in full swing. Enter Louis, a broke and dejected student who finds himself on a tour bus of all places, working as a roadie for the enigmatic “womanizer” Harry Styles. Along the way, Louis discovers the cruelty of fame and that maybe there is more than meets the eye beyond the curls, cocaine, and crazy suits.

A 1970’s/Glam Rock AU

✨ The Changer and the Changed by @homosociallyyours — [fic post]

larry | 59k | mature

It’s the spring of 1977 and Harry Styles has just moved to New York City after graduating college. She knows she’s a lesbian. She just needs to figure out how to meet other lesbians.

Louis Tomlinson works at a popular women’s bookstore in the Lower East Side, Womon’s Direction, where she spends her days reading feminist literature, writing poetry, exchanging friendly barbs with her boss Niall, and dreaming of finding someone to love.

When Harry and Louis meet, their connection is instantaneous. Slowly but surely, Louis welcomes Harry into her community of women. Stonewall veteran and old school butch Niall; Liam, a land dyke who’s moved to the city for love; and Zayn, a lesbian musician who’s been ostracized by a vocal part of women’s community for being trans, welcome Harry with open arms, ready to help her find her place in New York City’s bustling lesbian scene.

It’s a time of growth for everyone involved.

✨ After Dark, After Light by @becomeawendybird --- [fic post]

larry | 71k | explicit

Harry Styles is the laird of Clan Edwards who is just trying to keep his clan afloat when they get word that the Mackenzies have been cutting a swath through the Midlands and beyond, and their sights are set on the northern Highlands next. In an attempt to garner extra protection for his clan, Harry sets out to mend his father's past wrongs and ally with their neighbors to the west, Clan Sutherland.

Louis Tomlinson is the mysterious commander of the Sutherland army sent back with Harry on orders from his laird to help shore up Clan Edwards' defenses. As the winter draws nearer by the day, the two are thrown together to prepare for the invasion that they expect as soon as the ground thaws.

✨ Tired Tired Sea by @mediawhorefics — [fic post]

larry | 113k | mature

As a B&B owner on the most remote of all the British Isles, Louis Tomlinson is used to spending the coldest half of the year in complete isolation, with his dog and the sea as sole companions. Until, one day, a mysterious stranger on a quest to rebuild himself rents a room for the winter.

✨ You Don’t Care About Me (One More Night) by @lululawrence — [fic post]

tomlinshaw | 60k | not rated

“Nick. You’re into guys. What should I do?”

Nick snorted. “You think just ‘cause I’m gay, I know what you should do?”

Louis blinked at him and Nick admired his eyelashes against his will. “Well. Kind of, yeah.”

“That is not how this works,” Nick said. “Besides, it’s not like you can just go and suck someone’s dick to be sure you like it the way I did. You’re too famous to try it my way.”

Louis’ expression changed to one of awe. “That’s how you figured it out? You sucked some random’s dick?”

Nick shrugged. “Yeah. Basically. I mean, I knew for pretty damn sure before that, mind you, but that did solidify the matter for me.”

“I need to suck a dick,” Louis said, turning to look at the wall of Nick’s room.

“You could suck mine, if it would help,” Nick offered before he could stop himself.

Or the one where Louis pines for Harry and Nick helps ease his way into figuring himself out through a friends with benefits sort of arrangement. Things quickly turn complicated.

✨ ferricadooza! by @suspendrs — [fic post]

larry | 65k | not rated

Harry can’t even fathom the idea of surrendering; he’d fight ‘til he died, if he had to, anything to keep from surrendering.

Or, the year is 1963, homosexuality is illegal in the UK, Louis owns a gay bar, and Harry’s an underground boxing champion with an unfortunate enemy.

✨ Baby, I think we might be too cold to float by @forreveries — [fic post]

larry | 81k | mature

Harry is a journalist that goes to Lake Tekapo, New Zealand, to look into a girl’s disappearance after a year of no movement from police. What he finds instead is his ex boyfriend Louis, who, six years earlier, ghosted him after five months of dating in university. A story of trauma, secrets, and the power of finally letting people in.

✨ Not That Gone by @a-brighter-yellow --- [fic post]

larry | 61k | explicit

A few weeks after Louis and Harry, *ahem*, reconnect at their high school reunion, Harry temporarily moves back home. Louis isn't sure he has the emotional fortitude for a prolonged fling with the man of the dreams.

#fic rec #my recs #my lists #2019 favourites #long post

165 notes · View notes

ffamranxii · 5 years ago

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Okay folks, I am all caught up with Tokyo Mew Mew Au Lait chapters 1-3 and Tokyo Mew Mew 2020 Re-Turn chapters 1 and 2 so I am Doing A Thing! Buckle up, bitches!

MASSIVE SPOILERS IF YOU’RE WAITING FOR THE OFFICIAL ENGLISH RELEASES (whenever the hell those will be). Thanks to @berrychanx, @hikayagami, and @ribbonstrawberrysurprise for the scans, English translation, and hard work putting the translation onto the manga so neatly.

LEADERS

MOMOMIYA ICHIGO AND SHIBUYA AOI

Honestly this is the biggest difference between the 2020 Re-Turn reboot/original series and the magical boy tribute. Aoi is in no way like Ichigo once you get past that they’ve both been injected with Iriomote cat DNA. Whereas Ichigo is cheery and bubbly and cute, Aoi is withdrawn, suffers from low self confidence, and sort of breaks the fourth wall during nearly every fight, freaking out at how catchphrases and such just seem to burst forth from him after he transforms. (It’s honestly a funny highlight.) Their respective crushes are also treated differently, with Aoi falling hard for Anzu (though of course saying nothing) almost immediately, almost a love at first sight sort of deal, and Ichigo already having this crush on this boy when we start vanilla TMM and already deeply committed to him in the reboot. In civilian form, (using vanilla Ichigo here, it’s not fair to compare Aoi to 2020 “been a magical girl for years” Ichigo), Aoi is a lot more unsure of himself, and seems almost to be in this Mew Mew thing for Anzu, whereas Ichigo immediately had a “I’ll do my best” acceptance mindset from the start. (Both freak out over their cat ears appearing at random moments, even Ichigo in the 2020 reboot, and I think I can finally give poor Aoi a point over Ichigo here. It makes him uncomfortable but he just wears a hoodie and hopes no one notices. It makes Ichigo freak out more lol.)

THE LOVE INTEREST / DUNGEON NAVI / SECONDARY PROTAGONIST

AOYAMA MASAYA, HINATA ANZU, SHIROGANE RYOU

Anzu is a precious peach and she occupies such a weird role here that I almost couldn’t make her a neat little graphic. She doesn’t fit neatly into a “oh, they’re a genderbent so and so” like nearly everyone else, and it’s fascinating. On the one hand, several panels in the first chapter of Au Lait make it clear that the writers are setting her up to be Aoi’s love interest. Every magical girl anime has a love interest, so why wouldn’t a magical boy manga? But that’s where she diverges. Unlike Masaya, who is a very clear tribute to Sailor Moon’s Tuxedo Mask (with the exception that he’s a cute bean as a civilian, he’s nearly the same person. No past, gets kidnapped, magical form to protect the magical girl, evil form to fight the magical girl [this happened in PGSM, and he’s been brainwashed several times]), who has always been a secondary character, Anzu actually starts the Au Lait manga. She wasn’t even featured on the promo images, so when I opened the first chapter in a zip file I thought I’d downloaded the wrong one. My rudimentary Japanese confirmed I hadn’t, but I was like “well who tf is this chick?” I waited for an English translation to be sure and yup - Anzu is being treated almost like a secondary protagonist. Well that’s new. It’s as if the Au Lait writers smashed together the characters of Ryou and Masaya and named their love child Hinata Anzu. She’s intelligent, she knows more about this project than she should, and, like Ryou in vanilla, she’s out and about and helping the boys, not just as a civilian, but in every battle. She doesn’t have powers (that we know of), but her smarts and knowledge of animals have served them well time and again. Au Lait seems more like, as one reader put it, Anzu And The Dork Squad than Aoi’s team.

Masaya in 2020 Re-Turn is adorable. He is at odds with Quiche over Ichigo (or more like, he dislikes just how much Quiche likes Ichigo), and in a moment of panic he uses his leftover remnants of Deep Blue’s power to... change his clothes. I’m not sure what actually happened there. (Note: Thanks ribbonstrawberrysurprise: Deep Blue manifested to float the chimera anima/train and its passengers to safety.) But I love that he was so concerned for Ichigo, who at that moment desperately needed help, that the being who created his body and didn’t like Ichigo wanted to protect her. Ryou was his standoffish self, but even he seemed to have a hint of a lingering crush. He organized a party for the Mews and then took over in cafe duties so Ichigo could meet her man at the airport, unable to quiiiiite meet her eye while saying so. I always did like Ryou/Ichigo.

THE SASSY RICH BITCH

AIZAWA MINTO AND YOYOGI SHIZUKA

First of all: SAILOR JUPITER TAUGHT ME THAT PINK EQUALS FLOWER HURRICANES AND CAN I JUST SAY THAT I AM DISAPPOINTED AS FUCK THAT SHIZUKA ISN’T PLANT BASED AND CAN’T DO FLOWER HURRICANES THAT IS ALL.

Admit it. When we saw the promo image, we assumed certain things. One of those things turned out to be true: Aoi would be the Iriomote cat, because of course he would be Ichigo’s counterpart. Shizuka is wearing glasses, and his costume had the little tail, which meant he must have been a fish or a marine mammal and therefore Retasu’s counterpart, right? RIGHT. But also very, very wrong, my friends. Shizuka is indeed water based like Retasu - he’s an Amazon river dolphin (the pink ones!) - and that’s where all his similarities to our gentle green girl end. Instead of making everyone exactly the same but gender flipped, Au Lait is going in a slightly different direction, and I really like it. Shizuka is actually the most similar to our resident princess Minto! They both attend prestigious elite schools and generally act better than everyone else, but the real gem here is their interactions with their leaders. Shizuka has some truly snappy one-liners - such as discovering Ryuusei (”that’s the power of an idiot”) - and his reactions to Aoi are gold. He considers himself a genius, and indeed he’s very intelligent according to Natsume (and his school seems to be for smart people, it’s not prestigious for music or anything like that), and he makes little quips at Aoi all the time about how Aoi isn’t. I could totally see him spending an entire shift reading a book at Cafe Mew Mew while Aoi does all the work, only for him to stand up and someone to scream “HOLY CRAP, SHIZUKA’S UP, SHIT’S ABOUT TO GO DOWN.”

Minto is also full of snappy quips at Ichigo in the reboot, mostly about how Ichigo should handle the biggest, strongest enemies since she’s the leader, and can’t Ichigo even keep them in place so Minto can shoot them down? (And yeah, someone totally said the above comment ^ when Minto stood up at Cafe Mew Mew.) Minto was always one of my favorite characters, and I love that we saw a lot of close ups of her in the reboot, and that she seemed to be second in command.

THE CHILD

FONG PURIN AND KANDA RYUUSEI

Oh my god these two. I refuse to believe they aren’t related. I know Purin is Chinese but you cannot take this headcanon from me.

Purin is my favorite character in OG Mew Mew and Ryuusei claimed my heart the second I saw the Au Lait promo. NEITHER OF THEM DISAPPOINTED ME, I AM SO IN LOVE.

While I WILL say that I in no way care for Mew Pudding’s redesign (I hate literally everything about it. I miss her jumpsuit. I hate the little pigtails at the top of her head. I hate the ribbon. At least she still has her fingerless gloves), I love that she got an entire panel of just her being badass. She stood in the middle of some train tracks, facing a runaway speeding train chimera anima, with that ^ fucking look on her face, and was like “where you going, na no da?” Purin from like, ten years ago wouldn’t have done that. She has matured so much, but she’s still the young, goofy little acrobat monkey who provides for her tea-themed siblings (who criminally do not make an appearance) and I just love her so fucking much, you guys.

RYUUSEI. Guys. He’s an idiot. Oh my god. He’s a cute lovable idiot. “What’s a gomodo dragon? What’s a kodomo dragon? What’s a condo dragon and why does it need a house?” Anzu was in love with him for like five seconds until she learned he’s a dumbass, and Aoi was jealous as fuck, and no one ever told him what his damn animal was, and I laughed my ass off through his entire last couple pages. He also had his jacket hand embroidered with the kanji for dragon, BUT IT’S MISSPELLED. It’s missing a stroke! XD

Ryuusei is the KOMODO dragon (which is Anzu’s favorite animal), and komodos are badass. He also either always had weird animal powers, or just never noticed that he suddenly got super smell. Komodo dragons, by the way, can track their prey for literally MILES by smell alone, for DAYS. It’s absolutely terrifying (thank you for the nightmares, Wild Thornberries), and Au Lait made it fucking comical. I can’t even. HE CAN SMELL THE RED DATA ANIMAL ON PEOPLE. I love it. He’s super strong and super cute, apparently lives with his grandparents, and is Purin’s counterpart in every single way, except I think SHE might be more mature than him. I love him. He is my baby.

Yellow is my favorite color and yellow never disappoints.

THE FAMOUS

FUJIWARA ZAKURO AND ROPPONGI AYATO

Zakuro had next to no presence in the reboot. She occasionally made some panels look pretty. She twice had a half page to herself, one per chapter. I am sad. I love my wolf lesbian. In semi-related news, I feel I have solved the mystery of Zakuro’s red data animal, something that has plagued the TMM community for years. The grey wolf is not endangered at all, yet Zakuro is injected with one, right? I read somewhere (either in a TMM blog or a conservation blog) that there is a subspecies of grey wolf that IS critically endangered. I believe it’s the Mexican grey wolf? I headcanon she was injected with DNA specifically from a Mexican grey wolf.

Moving on. In Chapter 3 (which was a DELIGHT), we met Ayato. Chapter 3 was the most frustrating chapter because let me tell you, Au Lait marks the first time I have ever read a manga chapter by chapter as it was being released in Japan. So I’m waiting Nakayoshi to publish the chapter, then I’m waiting for someone to scan Nakayoshi, then I’m waiting for someone to translate it, over and over and over, and omg I can’t believe this is what people DO. I’ve waited for full volumes before, but CHAPTERS? This is torture. Ayato, I haven’t had enough TIME with you!

Ayato seems to be an actor (in a really... really weird stage play), and has very few lines in his first appearance. I’m not sure what I make of him. He says about six sentences, which is actually a lot for a character introduced on a cliffhanger, but... I can’t decide if he’s said them in a mysterious Sailors Neptune and Uranus way or a flamboyant Sohma Ayame way. I ALSO DON’T KNOW WHAT ANIMAL HE IS AND I AM VERY ANGRY. BB Ryuusei said he smells like yakitori (a type of grilled chicken), which confirms he’s a bird. But. WHICH BIRD, DAMNIT?

CHAPTER FOUR WHERE ARE YOU?

THE FUNDING

AKASAKA KEIICHIRO, HINATA NATSUME, SHIROGANE RYOU

Hello again, Ryou! The boys here were wallpaper (though cute wallpaper) in the reboot. Natsume is 100% a troll. I love her. She admits in chapter 3 she literally just injected hot boys for her Mew Mew project. Even Ryou wasn’t that blunt. I mean, if you gotta save Earth and stare at people while you do it, they better be cute, right?

IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL THE FANDOM

MIDORIKAWA RETASU, SHIRAYUKI BERII, AKAI RINGO

Aside from her two half panels as a Mew Mew per chapter, this is the only good cap of Retasu as a civilian in the reboot. D: I believe Hiroo Taichi will be her counterpart in Au Lait.

I never liked Berii. There, I said it. She got TWO animals. She was some random newbie and she got to be leader just like that? And she was clueless and dumb and the writing in A La Mode wasn’t great. But I really like 2020 Berii. She’s cute, she seems more rabbit than cat, and she seems more intelligent and less of a blonde Ichigo clone. I don’t know if she’ll have an Au Lait counterpart.

WHERE IS RINGO? THE REBOOT WAS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO PUT HER IN THE STORY FOR REAL AND SHE JUST... WASN’T THERE?! THIS IS BLASPHEMY. RINGO IS THE BEST MEW MEW. BEST GIRL. JUSTICE FOR RINGO.

THE RELATIONSHIPS

MASAYA & ICHIGO VS AOI & ANZU

ZAKURO & MINTO VS AYATO & RYUUSEI

Nearly all of 2020 chapter 1 focused on Ichigo seeing Masaya again. I’m guessing this took place after he left for London. Ichigo left with him after A La Mode, and some time between then and Re-Turn came back to Japan, and now Masaya is back. They are still as lovey as ever, but not as sickeningly cute as Tsukino Usagi and Chiba Mamoru or anything. Phew! Their counterpart in Au Lait seems to Aoi and Anzu. (Look at that height difference! Poor Anzu, her poor neck.) Aoi already has a massive crush on her, but Anzu, bless her, is oblivious.

AND NOW FOR THE GAYS.

I think Zakuro and Minto is probably one of the most popular TMM ships and holy lesbians, Batman, they were well fed with this GORGEOUS panel at the end of chapter 2. Look at it. Zakuro had literally no panels, save for her two intros, to herself, and barely any panels at all in the reboot, and then BA-BAM, this beautiful ending shot. I swear Ikumi did it on purpose. Speaking of gays - is Ayato/Ryuusei the new Zakuro/Minto? Ayato seems to be at least bisexual (he also hit on Anzu), but this was literally his second panel. He is in a (terrible, TERRIBLE) play, and the actors are walking in the audience looking for the villain. Ayato walks into the audience and HITS ON RYUUSEI. His first goddamn words are “Do you want me to keep you, my cute little puppy?” to Ryuusei. He says fuck this acting shit, I see a SNACK. I think I ship it. I think I ship it hard.

THE STORY

*Au Lait is just getting started, so typical magical girl boy anime manga: Let’s find the others! Shenanigans! Some fillers! It’s cute, I love it, go read it.

*2020 Re-Turn is actually REALLY GOOD and chapter 2 reminds me of just how unique Tokyo Mew Mew was and still is among not just magical girl series, but animanga as a whole. Quick, what was the last environmental series you remember? Mine was Captain Planet - in the 90s. Preachy, in your face, after school special about things like pollution and endangered species and littering and honestly it was really cool, but very much a product of its time. Even now, magical girl animanga is still focused on bad guys, but bad guys are generic and represent something created for the series. Here, the bad guys are US, other human beings, who traffic animals, who endanger them, who wreck our planet enough that animals are barely clinging to life. There’s a very poignant scene featuring the adorable snow leopard up there (who’s the secondary protagonist of the reboot) ^, showing his mother being shot and himself being snatched by poachers, and he’s terrified, and has no idea what’s going on or where he is, and Ichigo is terrified for him. We need more series like this - not just of the magical girl genre, but of ALL genres. To make it accessible in this way, for people of all ages, something enjoyable, that people can fangirl over and love and its creators clearly put a lot of love and thought into. We need another Captain Planet, but less preachy, less after school special-y. We don’t want to be like the aliens (who remember, are descendants of humans who fucked up Earth so badly they had to leave it).

Behind all the cute of this manga and its reboot, and its new spinoff, Tokyo Mew Mew has a powerful message that we should all be following. It’s not even subtle. Get yo shit together, peeps.

#tokyo mew mew #tokyo mew mew 2020 re-turn #tokyo mew mew au lait #tokyo mew mew ore

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famous-aces · 5 years ago

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Marilyn Monroe

Who: Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson)

What: Actress, Model, and Singer

Where: American-Jewish (active largely in US)

When: June 1, 1926 - August 4, 1962

(Image Description: a photo of Marilyn Monroe by Richard Avedon from 1957. It is a black and white image showing Monroe on a sparkly dress from the waist up. It almost feels weird to describe her, her face is so famous. She is a white pale woman with an oval face and heavily lidded eyes with long lashes. She has full lips with a beauty mark beside them. She is wearing makeup and has her trademark short, curly, blonde hair. She has her arms hanging limply at her side. Instead of posing sexily she looks to be lost in thought, looking somewhere off camera. End ID)

Marilyn Monroe is The Hollywood Beauty. The quintessential sexy starlet. Even if you have never seen a movie with her in it, you know who she was, a bit like possible aces I have covered before Andy Warhol or Sir Isaac Newton, you can picture her in your mind just by existing in Western popular culture. She has become a part of our communal consciousness. Her life was brief and marked by tragedy below the glitz and glamor. Her biggest role was playing Marilyn Monroe.

She was intelligent, warm, and a gifted actress, but she is rarely remembered for that. She is far better remembered for singing Happy Birthday to her sometime beau President Kennedy and for the scene in The Seven Year Itch when wind from a subway grate blows up her skirt. You've seen it. Really her whole persona was often created rather than who she really was. She was an actress in her real life, unfortunately.

Monroe actually came into the spotlight in the Second World War when she posed for photos for the boys on the front. From there her modeling, singing, and acting career skyrocketed. Until her tragic death at the age of 36 she was among the go-to actresses for those sexpot roles especially in comedies. Her death by potentially intentional drug overdose (discovered by her psychologist) is just one piece of the evidence of how much of her life was hidden, like her struggles with substance abuse and mental health.

She was famous for playing Blond Bombshells and Dumb Blonds. She was all beauty, glamor, and sex appeal and it earned her millions of dollars. She always wanted to be more though, unfortunately she never really got it. "Please don't make me a joke," she told a journalist, "End the interview with what I believe...I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity...I want to grow and develop and play serious dramatic parts. My dramatic coach tells everyone that I have a great soul, but so far nobody's interested in it."

She is best known for as an icon and emblem of the popular culture of the 1950s and early 1960s, but her most definitive/important roles include All About Eve (1950) (a small role that would lead to her "discovery" and contract with 20th Century Fox), Monkey Business (1952), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), Niagara (1953), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), The Seven Year Itch (1955), Some Like it Hot (1959), The Misfits (1961), and her final film, released posthumously as a short, Something's Gotta Give (1962). She also sang "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" and the very sexually charged "Happy Birthday Mr. President" (just the song here).

(Image Description: the poster for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It shows drawings of Jane Russel and Marilyn Monroe in red costumes the size and shape of one piece bathing suits that are sheer or pink on top. They have on red top hats and long black and white necklaces. They have black canes and are dancing with one leg upraised. Behind them is a busy Paris scene done in a more cartoony/simplified style. There are musical notes around them. Their names are above their heads in blue. Below them on a black rectangle it says (in white and orange) "in Howard Hawks' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes [in] Technicolor" below that rectangle but above the studio info in blue it says "co-starring Charles Coburn". End ID)

Probable Orientation: Mspec Ace

Oh, I am going to get a lot of hate for this one.

And a lot of people are going to show a lot of misogyny and aphobia, be it overt, unintentional, or internalized. Indeed the first thing the first (allo) person I told these findings to said "but she had a ton of sex!" Yes, that is true, she did, and so do some other aces.

Not to mention that Monroe's relationship with sex was a complicated one. A very complicated one. Monroe had a deeply traumatic childhood (mentally ill mother, tossed between foster homes and orphanages) and married extremely young -- she had turned 16 just two and a half weeks earlier -- to prevent her from becoming homeless and returned to the orphanage after her most recent foster family planned on moving out of state and leaving her behind. Then while working a munitions plant in L.A. she became a model for the troops in World War II, aged 18. From her teen years she was made aware that sex was expected from her, thrust into adulthood and positions she might not have been comfortable with. She was a beautiful woman and people wanted her and she accepted that because it did get her what she wanted.

(Image Description: the 1944 factory photos that launched Monroe's modeling career, taken by David Conover for Yank Magazine at the Radioplane Munitions Factory in which she worked. Interestingly the commanding officer that sent him to take the photos was Ronald Reagan. The photo shows an 18-year-old Monroe. She is holding a small propeller and is beside some kind of red machine. She is wearing a simple green top and gray bottoms with a photo ID badge at her waist. She wears a wedding ring. She has much frizzier brown hair. She is smiling broadly. End ID)

Over the course of her life she was in love with and had sexual relationships with many different men and women. That doesn't mean she was sexually attracted to them. Indeed throughout her life she had a lot of difficulty with sex. She didn't like it. She thought she must have been doing it "wrong" and stated that a lot of her sex appeal was applied to her rather than something she felt. She was playing to the crowd. Which makes sense, Monroe was a people pleaser. She desired closeness, she romantically loved many people, I have no doubt, and from the time she was a teenager the best appreciated way to show it was by being sexual. The fact that later in life she had a sexual encounter with a literal 16-year-old when she was 30 shows she had a pretty fucked up understanding of what was appropriate sexually. The 16-year-old was the leader of her fan club, she also had an affair with her acting coach, her first husband was her neighbor who was kind to her. She was loving the people who loved her and was showing it the way society told her to. (On her being mspec, there were several women she had affairs with, including the fan and acting coach mentioned above, indeed it has been speculated she was more attracted to women than men).

No matter how she appeared on screen, she voiced fear that she was broken and frigid to her psychologist (who agreed with her) because she didn't really enjoy/want sex. The desire of wanting to fix herself and wanting to please the people who loved her and who she may have romantically loved in return. She probably romantically loved some of these people but didn't know how to separate that from the sexual aspect or didn't want to lose them if she did. She was giving them what they wanted and expected and what culture told her was essential to normal loving relationships.

Her sexual "failure" was a subject she returned to often in therapy throughout her life. She had only one sexual encounter she actually said she enjoyed and it seemed to be more of a relief because it made her normal than what she got from the sex itself.

She said again and again that she wasn't the sexpot people thought she was, nobody listened.

(Image Description: a series of photos from a photoshoot from Life Magazine. It shows Monroe at home in 1953, a huge year in her career. The photographer is Alfred Eisenstaedt [a photographer of whose work I am extremely fond]. They show Monroe wearing a dark turtleneck and checkered trousers. She is in a bunch of different positions and wearing different expressions. Some of these appear candid and others posed. I am especially fond of one in the middle in which she appears to be trying to stop herself from laughing or sneezing. I like to imagine it is the former. It is very human. End ID)

“People had a habit of looking at me as if I were some kind of mirror instead of a person. They didn’t see me, they saw their own lewd thoughts, then they white-masked themselves by calling me the lewd one.”

-Marilyn Monroe

"I never quite understood it, this sex symbol. I always thought symbols were those things you clash together! That's the trouble, a sex symbol becomes a thing. I just hate to be a thing. But if I'm going to be a symbol of something I'd rather have it sex than some other things they've got symbols of."

—Monroe in an interview for Life in 1962 (both of these quotes illustrate that her "sex appeal" was manufactured and applied rather than her own natural state. Her audience made it clear what they wanted and she played to it.)

"A man who had kissed me once had said it was very possible that I was a lesbian because apparently I had no response to males - meaning him...I didn't contradict him because I didn't know what I was... Now, having fallen in love, I knew what I was. It wasn't a lesbian."

-Marilyn Monroe in her autobiography My Story (written 1954, published 1974). (Note that she has "no response". She loves a man, this one or another, but she has "no response" to men physically. That is the only response he could comment on, her physical one. Clearly she feels some kind of attraction to someone eventually, but not sexually/physically. It is the difference between romantic and sexual love. It also shows that homosexuality and asexuality have always overlapped.)

"Primary frigidity"

-the diagnosis from Monroe's therapist Dr. Ralph Greenson, he worked to "cure" her of this "frigidity"

“Maybe I’m a sexless sex goddess.”

– Marilyn Monroe to Life magazine journalist Richard Meryman, 1961

(Image Description: a photo of Marilyn Monroe behind the scenes on the set of The Misfits in 1960, photographed by Inge Morath. She is leaning across a table and smiling at someone to the right of the frame. She has tired eyes. End ID)

#queer #lgbtq #asexual #ace #history #20th century #american #usa #entertainers #bio #mspec #jewish #actors #musicians #models

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nerdygaymormon · 6 years ago

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I desperately need advice about my 16 yo daughter who has stopped "believing in the Church" because she has "decided to be lesbian".

It’s unlikely your daughter “decided to be lesbian” but instead she’s describing her feelings and how the world works for her. There’s not a “fix” for this because she is not broken.

Maybe she stopped “believing in the Church” because she doesn’t see a future for her there or because of the way people in her situation are spoken about.

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My advice is first to read these 10 tips for parents on the church’s website. Tip #1 is “You will never regret saying ‘I love you.’“

Your job is to be the parent your child needs and to love them and prepare them for the world.

Your daughter experiences the world in wonderful ways. Studies show that LGBT people tend to be more creative, have higher IQ’s, higher emotional intelligence, have more compassion, are more cooperative and have less hostility. Does any of that sound like your daughter?

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Now that she’s out, you’ll think of past conversations or comments you made and realize how those could have hurt her. It’s not too late to apologize. You’ll probably think of different things she’s said and done and understand them in a whole new way. You’ll see her orientation has always been there.

You’re going to have to change your hopes and expectations for her future. I know parents have dreams and putting them away can invoke feelings of loss. That’s okay. Spend time listening to her hopes for the future, where she wants to go and what she feels is her path and help her find ways to achieve those dreams.

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An important role for parents is being your child’s advocate and protector. Speak up when you hear homophobic things. Even if it’s “Hey, these are real people you’re talking about and that was unkind.”

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For gay Mormons, the normal path is to come out and then quickly leave the Church, and there’s good reason for that. A recent study showed the more religious and involved in church a teen is, the likelihood of their attempting suicide drops significantly UNLESS they’re LGBT, in which case increased church involvement has the opposite effect.

You should familiarize yourself with the warning signs of suicide. In the United States nearly 1/3 of gay teens have attempted suicide. Also know that LGBT individuals are more likely to be the victims of bullying and violence than any other minority group in the United States.

Studies show that for gay members, being active in the LDS Church results in a lower quality of life and lower self-esteem, higher rates of depression, sexual identity crisis, internalized homophobia and 70% of these members have symptoms of PTSD. Finding an LGBTQ-positive therapist, counselor or psychologist can help in dealing with these things.

I know it’s hard to hear that the church you love and believe in can be harmful to your daughter. Try imagining the experience of church from her perspective. Take away all the blessings and happiness related to romance and families since the church says they’re forbidden for her. Add in the many negative messages that she’s received over the years.

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If you require your daughter to attend church, talk with her about how the other youth will treat her when they learn she’s a lesbian and ways she could respond. Does your congregation seem like it would be welcoming and affirming when they find out? At a minimum, consider letting her take a pass when the lesson or activity deals with dating, marriage, eternal family or the Family Proclamation.

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Church can be a stressful place, but home should be a safe space. Your daughter should know you love her and always will. Know that you will support her as she seeks for happiness and peace.

If/when your daughter stops attending church, you’re going to feel a little lost. What values and rules still apply, what things will you let slide? Do the Church rules about modesty, Word of Wisdom, or dating & relationships still apply? There’s more than one way to live a value, be willing to negotiate and give her more control of her life as she continues to mature.

My observation is that strict parents who always enforce LDS rules in the home have a worse relationship with their LGBT child than those who are more lenient. The goal is for her to grow up healthy & whole and for your relationship to stay intact.

You still have an important role as a mentor and advisor and can let her know your views and share your perspective. She will hear you, she will also make choices you may not agree with.I know it’ll be an adjustment for you giving her some autonomy to make choices you don’t want her making.

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If she does leave the church, continue to invite her to important family events, let her decide whether she wants to attend the ones of a religious nature. Baptisms, mission farewells and weddings are important milestones in a person’s life, and she may want to be present to celebrate with those who are experiencing these moments.

Be supportive and encouraging of the important moments in her life, even if they’re at odds with what our church teaches. Please don’t wonder if this will show you’re “endorsing” things you don’t believe in, once you pull out that sword of righteousness it can be used to sever and kill relationships. I know that change is uncomfortable and will be tough, but it’s necessary.

You shouldn’t assume your daughter will live a life without relationships. Frankly, that’s not healthy. Parents should want their children to grow up having positive attitude towards sex and relationships, for your daughter that will be different from your experience.

She knows church is part of your life and it’s fine to talk about it a bit, but if she’s stopped going to church, don’t go on for hours about random happenings in your ward.

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Perhaps you wrote me because you know I’ve done my best to live the church standards, but it has come at a high price. It’s nearly killed me, literally. I hope parents & leaders don’t point at me and tell other gay members they can be like me. People who say this don’t know what sort of misery they’re wishing on their loved one. If an LGBT member chooses to walk a path inside the church, then I’d be happy to talk with them about ways of trying to make it work.

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Often it feels like the church doesn’t know what to do with people like me and your daughter. God has a plan for her life. We weren’t sent here to suffer for no reason. This life isn’t meant to be meaningless as we wait for the next life to obtain the blessings that all the straight people are allowed to access now.

The more I learn, the more I’m convinced that we’re all going to be taken care of. We’re going to be surprised how many people make it to the Celestial Kingdom. Our Heavenly Parents are more liberal and loving than we imagine. God intends for us to fully live life with these orientations, for this to be a blessing and not a curse or burden.

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When you hear something at church that troubles you, ask these three questions:

1) Does that sound like your daughter, does she resemble that remark?

2) Is this consistent with the God you know?

3) Does this fit with the great commandment to love one another?

I bet most of the things which trouble you will fail these questions, it’s a way to gain greater understanding and hope.

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I know this is already a very lengthy reply, but I’m going to make it even longer by listing some resources I hope you find helpful

1) I already referenced the Ten Tips for Parents on the church’s site

2) Richard Ostler is a former bishop and a current temple worker. He strives to increase understanding among members about LGBTQ topics. I recommend his Facebook posts which can be found on his Listen, Learn & Love website

3) I think the Family Acceptance Project’s pamphlet for LDS families is excellent

4) The Human Rights Campaign has an online booklet for LGBT Mormons

5) This TedTalk speaks about some of the reasons why Nature creates homosexuals, and some of the differences in people who are LGBT compared to the rest of the population. It references numerous scientific studies but explains them in layman’s terms

6) Dr. Bill Bradshaw is a BYU researcher/professor and former mission president. He put together a document that summarizes a lot of research that shows LGBTQ orientations are biologic, not a choice or caused by parenting or cultural influences

7) Bryce Cook put together the BEST write up I’ve seen about the LDS church’s history on homosexuality while explaining what this is like for gay Mormons

8) Taylor Petrey is a professor who in this article gives many things to think about regarding gays & lesbians and Mormonism. He writes like an academic, but is so thought provoking

9) Greg Prince has a book coming out next year, until then this address he gave at an Affirmation Conference will have to suffice, I find it very insightful

10) This is an easy-to-follow explanation of why temple sealings for gay couples makes sense

11) Josh & Lolly Weed are the most famous example of a gay Mormon man and a straight Mormon woman in a mixed-orientation marriage. They have been very open about their experiences. This post in which they announced their divorce is very illuminating

12) This is a listing of all sorts of queer people and relationships in Church history (we’ve been a part of the Church since the beginning)

13) Gay Mormon History is a site that lets people explore the history of LGBT issues in the LDS Church

14) Carol Lynn Pearson is a Mormon who was married to a gay man. You may be familiar with some of her work like My Turn On Earth. She has written several books I recommend: Goodbye, I Love You; No More Goodbyes; and The Hero’s Journey of Gay and Lesbian Mormons

15) Tom Christofferson, brother of the apostle D Todd Christofferson, is a gay man who came back to church and wrote a book titled That We May Be One: A Gay Mormon’s Perspective on Faith and Family

16) Mama Dragons is for moms of LGBTQIA kids, their purpose is to support healthy lives

17) Affirmation is the oldest organization for LDS & post-LDS LGBTQ+ individuals, their family and allies. Affirmation has multiple Facebook pages for different situations. The one that’s probably best for you at this moment is Affirmation Living Waters. It’s for active LDS LGBT people, parents, family & friends

18) People are always going to bring up the scriptures as a way to condemn homosexuality. You should spend time investigating those verses (there’s relatively few of them). If you want, you can see some summaries I’ve posted by searching #queer people in the Bible on Tumblr (this link seems to pull up all my related posts on the phone and just a few of them on my computer)

#queerstake

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battlestar-royco · 6 years ago

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masterpost of fix-it headcanons for AC0TAR

the only day you can add onto this is e v e r y day

this blew up into a huge thing and it’s no longer just headcanons but more a reworked outline/embellishment of the first three books. feel free to add or change what you want if you make it through the whole thing :D

n/esta--a gray ace icon!--is the main character. the first book is told in n/esta and l/ucien’s alternating POVs.

some worldbuilding and character background for human lands because sj/m provides fuckity nothing: mama and papa arch raised their children on scary stories about the fae. the first story every human child hears is the one about the human-fae treaty and the ominously growing rip in the wall between human and fae lands. (as a young woman, n/esta remembers a time when a fae attack would happen once every few years, but now she hears of five to ten a year.) because humans are atheist, the arch sisters also learned many stories about secular historical figures and events such as j/urian and his legendary murder of c/lythia during the human-fae war, and f/eyre took an interest in famous painters from a young age.

mama arch died and papa arch’s leg was irreparably damaged while protecting their daughters from a fae creature attack. the girls developed growing resentment toward fae as they got older.

after their family’s fall into poverty, n/esta and e/lain grew up helping f/eyre learn to read. she'll never be at their level, but she knows enough to get by. n/esta always budgets and goes shopping. the harvest from e/lain’s little garden has saved them a few autumns, just like f/eyre’s hunting. their father loves them and wishes he could do more, but they're happy to care for him.

actual ac0tar timeline: (because the humans deserved a plotline and i’ll die mad that they never got one:) the human lands are deeply unsettled by the hole in the wall, and a few attacks have ravaged the northernmost villages. f/eyre is taken to p/rythian. n/esta and e/lain find the mercenary who helped f/eyre. the mercenary is an important mentor for them and she helps n/esta leave tomas. e/lain’s fiance g/raysen who is completely justified in his wariness against fae fiGHT ME sj/m is an advocate for human rights, and all his family’s resources are helping mend the wall, but they just can’t do it without magic. e/lain stays at home to take care of papa arch while n/esta heads north with the mercenary to save f/eyre and possibly find a magical solution to the wall. unsuccessful, n/esta returns home to find that her family has suddenly come upon fortune again, and she funnels some of that money into the human effort.

meanwhile in the sp/ring court, l/ucien watches as tom lane brings home a human girl, f/eyre, who may just be the key to defeating a/marantha’s curse. the curse forbids him from warning her about tom’s true nature, and his feelings toward tom are difficult because tom has provided him shelter from his family but has also been another source of abuse. l/ucien also resents f/eyre for murdering andras. both trapped and opposed to each other for different reasons, f/eyre and l/ucien begrudgingly become friends. they look out for each other and a/lis.

throughout book 1, l/ucien mourns andras and carries out his duties as tom’s emissary. he visits utm multiple times, discreetly conversing with all the imprisoned high lords and their spies (maybe a/zriel and/or n/uala and c/erridwen makes a cameo here) and spreading the news that the curse may soon end. every time he returns, the high lords inform him on their movements/preparations for a/marantha’s death and h/ybern’s rise.

f/eyre completes her third task, but her stab to tom’s heart is fatal. tom dies honorably, for the greater good of all the fae, but l/ucien and f/eyre will never forget the darker parts of him. because a/marantha deserved better as a villain, a/marantha disappears in a diversion created by the king of h/ybern (hereon known as “koh”). rice is a straight-up antagonist and kidnaps f/eyre into the night court. l/ucien is left to rule the s/pring court alone.

ac0maf timeline: the second book continues l/ucien and n/esta’s POVs but also introduces t/arquin, m/or, and a h/ybernian’s POVs.

the h/ybernian pov (perhaps a commoner, soldier, or advisor to the koh) gives us insight on the koh and a/marantha’s plans. both the koh and a/marantha are given thorough backstories that make them sympathetic and/or interesting villains. the latter is one of many lethal commanders in the h/ybern army, alongside d/agdan and b/rannagh. her bitterness against humans has been renewed upon her defeat by f/eyre. the h/ybernian perspective also allows us to see h/ybernian culture, history, and pro/anti-war factions so that h/ybern is no longer a monolith. at some point, we see the cauldron come together. its power is immense.

now, let’s add some semblance of conflict and flaws to the inner circle. (i tried to stick as close to the canon as possible here, but again, mess provided FUCKITY NOTHING.) they each have differing motives, but at the end of the day they all just want prythian to be safe. they’re actually morally ambiguous anti-heroes/villains as heroes instead of this “it was all an act” nonsense. i/llyrians are explicitly poc. rice kidnapped f/eyre not because they’re mates, but because he wants to use her newfound powers as an asset against h/ybern. a/zriel’s torture victims never recover, but he only ever resorts to such measures when he believes necessary. a/mren (agender; ace) hunts for their blood, and they have an insurmountable body count. m/or (power lesbian) is incredibly kind, but everyone in court knows not to get on her bad side or they’ll face her justice. c/assian is the most ruthless commander i/llyria has ever seen.

additionally, the inner circle is complicated. m0riel was never a thing. c/assian and m/or also never hooked up, but they are besties. a/zriel is the intuitive, emotional core of the group; everyone goes to him for advice on friends, relationships, and hard decisions. a/zriel (pan) and c/assian (bi) have been steadily falling in love since their time in the camps as boys but neither of the idiots will admit it to themselves or anyone else. a/mren is still known as “tiny ancient one” because they’re like millennia older than everyone else. they impart cryptic wisdom and brutally honest advice on their edgy^TM kids. the night court also know their time with a/mren is limited because they are searching for a way out of their fae form, so their company is cherished. the four of them have stood beside rice over the centuries, and they love him, but they’ve also watched him steadily become more corrupt and merciless. can he be saved or is it time for a change in leadership? this is a conversation everyone wants to have, but no one is brave enough to begin. everyone skirts around it throughout the book, tension slowly building to an inevitable confrontation.

moving on to the plot: in the night court, we follow m/or ruling v/elaris (she fucking f i n e s s e s k/eir in the process). she’s in a simmering, slow burn romance with an i/llyrian woman: an activist against wing-cutting and a mutual friend of a/zriel’s (he set them up). m/or’s strength in court is her kind nature. she has many loyalists in the court of ni/ghtmares who know of her past with e/ris and k/eir. meanwhile, a/mren and f/eyre's subplot takes them to the human lands to get in touch with the arch sisters.

after his time utm, t/arquin returns to the summer court to play his part in preparing for the war against h/ybern: translating his half of the book of breathings and gathering powerful allies (br/yaxis, the b/one carver, and the w/eaver) for the war. his emotional arc is all about his recovery from the trauma he underwent utm. meanwhile, c/resseida hears word that some night court members are headed to the human lands, so she initiates an alliance with them and tags along in hopes that she can retrieve the mortal queens’ half of the book.

in the spring court, i/anthe is introduced. l/ucien soon realizes she is a double agent for h/ybern. she feeds him info on recruitment and battle strategies. koh and a/marantha are depending on i/anthe’s priestess order to spread pro-war rhetoric across h/ybern (??? this is the best i could do with what sj/m gave). the human lands are the most at risk because koh plans on cutting his army directly through spring court to crush the laughably weak human resistance before taking over the south. (sources report the effort is headed by the cursebreaker’s older sisters....)

in the human lands, n/esta and el/ain are pleasantly surprised by a visit from their sister, and more than a little alarmed by the two fae who accompany her. f/eyre just missed papa arch, who recently set sail with some of g/raysen’s soldiers to recruit southern soldiers. human efforts to seal the wall have been mostly fruitless, and every victory pyrrhic. although neither sister is a fighter, n/esta and e/lain have both seen enough horrors to last a lifetime. n/esta has worked her way to the position of treasurer of g/raysen’s army, and it seems that the proximity of the wall has activated some magic in elain so she is now a seer (this is some bs but so is sj/m’s magic system smh i tried). therefore, both of them (plus the mercenary) always sit in on war councils, and they receive a formal invitation from the mortal queens to discuss their next movements. a/mren and c/resseida come along, and the queens agree to give their half of the book in exchange for some fae magic to mend the wall. only m/or is powerful enough to do such a thing (also bs but sj/m never explained her power!!), so they must go back to the night court. amidst all the suffering, one good thing boosts human morale: e/lain and g/raysen's marriage.

in the n/ight court, a/mren, c/resseida, and f/eyre return to merge the book and tell m/or of the deal with the queens. tensions have risen between m/or and rice’s ruling styles. the court of nig/htmares is also split between m/or and k/eir. too much is mounting for mor to even think of going to the human lands. she and a/zriel also recently received a request for help from l/ucien: one of the spring sentries reported that amarantha’s legion is on the move. meanwhile, the h/ybernian pov chronicles the legion traveling to spring. the best the n/ight court can do is send c/assian. l/ucien and c/assian do all they can, but a/marantha’s too powerful and she rips right through the hole in the wall. c/assian’s wings get fuCKING SHREDDED in the process.

acowar: we’re gonna pretend v/assa, m/iryam, and d/rakon don’t exist bc they did very little for the plot. pr/ythian is in all out fucking bloody-ass war. when war crimes are committed, characters are held accountable. spring fae are scattering, seeking refuge in other courts. we see true horrors and battles and loss throughout the book. it’s high time that the lords all convened to lay out a plan of action, but everyone’s had pretty big fish to fry in the post-curse era. the n/ight court is fracturing, t/arquin and l/ucien are adjusting to being high lords, the a/utumn court has always been infighting, etc. so now an effort is being made to call everyone to a council in dawn.

first, m/or can no longer ignore the call to the human lands. l/ucien joins her because of his lands’ proximity to the wall, leaving i/anthe in charge (they’ve become quite good companions and she’s cut off her ties to hybern). c/assian also comes because l/ucien has been harboring him in spring and providing the best possible (but insufficient) healers for his wings. finally, our human and fae plots come together. m/or and c/assian’s reunion is touching. c/assian’s banter with abrasive n/esta takes his mind off his damaged wings. they both enjoy each other’s pragmatism, sarcasm, and emotional empathy. (in another life, they might’ve made a good match ;).) m/or patches the wall because even though a/marantha is already through, it’ll stop reinforcements from joining her. in a historic event, humans (the queens, the arch sisters, and g/raysen) are invited to the council of high lords.

all our big players are at the council: all h/igh lords + partners and courts, plus terrified but dignified human squad. m/or is reunited with her old friend v/iviane, (they were DEFINITELY a thing once). k/eir, e/ris, and b/eron were invited by none other than rice, who also plans to use feyre’s powers to win multiple battles. the n/ight court can no longer deny that it’s time to talk about rice. all the rising tensions come to the surface here. rice wants to employ the [insert better name for keir’s soldiers than fucking d/arkbringers], but m/or’s i/llyrian gf has been raising an army and she thinks that’s the safer bet. in the end, all the high lords decide they need both, and no one is quite happy. no one knows wtf is in the future for n/ight court leadership.

human squad and fae recap each other. humans hope papa arch can come through with some southern support. amarantha is razing her way through human lands while a/driata and v/elaris have suffered attacks from koh. n/esta, e/lain, and f/eyre all share stolen conversations between meetings over the days. f/eyre misses her home and family, but she knows she’ll never belong there again. humans are given the d/arkbringers (yikes) and b/ryaxis.

as human squad + lucien make their way home, their caravan is attacked by a h/ybern commander--maybe d/agdan or b/rannagh. e/lain is kidnapped to the koh’s camp; she’ll be a good hostage to draw in the pr/ythian asset f/eyre and crush human spirit. the h/ybernian notes that the cauldron has amassed much more power than we last saw. however, koh’s power over the cauldron and his soldiers has been spiraling out of control ever since a/marantha left to attack humans. though she’s been successful against them so far, her obsessive desire to slaughter humans wastes a lot of soldiers & resources on lands that are of little use to h/ybern. the h/ybernian gradually becomes acquainted with e/lain and frees her from the camp. humans return home shaken, but without further incident. the diversion has given a/marantha enough time to secure g/raysen’s lands before they arrive.

in the night court, they realize that without b/ryaxis they’ll need to free a/mren from their body for once and for all to defeat koh. they all share one last night of drinking, games, and being silly and sad. a/zriel and c/assian ruminate on the possibility of losing other inner circle members, and realize their feelings for each other. when h/ybernian and p/rythian forces assemble for the final battle, rice dies an anti-hero’s death on the battlefield. c/assian commands i/llyrian infantry nobly and courageously while m/or’s gf commands from the skies. f/eyre uses her powers to the best of her ability, and with significant help from a/mren in their true form, wins the day for p/rythian. a/mren disappears into their original desired dimension, and f/eyre dies knowing that she neither belongs with humans nor fae. c/resseida, t/arquin, and some p/rythian court members survive, but not without suffering scars, limb loss, and casualties etc.

in the human lands, papa arch has returned from the south with a few thousand men, but not enough to face a/marantha. the d/arkbringers and b/ryaxis hold their own against her soldiers, but she herself still lives. echoing how f/eyre outsmarted a/marantha in book 1, the humans must utilize a/marantha’s own hubris to defeat her. a major human character dies: perhaps g/raysen, the mercenary, or a queen.

finally, the enemies are defeated. arch family and high lords are invited to a funeral for f/eyre cursebreaker in the night court. n/esta and e/lain mourn their sister, but the funeral as a whole serves as a commemoration of all the losses of the war. additionally, m/or and i/llyrian gf have a beautiful private wedding. in rice’s absence, the courtiers of dreams and nightmares flock to m/or. now that their power is secure, she and l/ucien hold long overdue but fair trials against e/ris, b/eron, and k/eir for what they did to m/or and j/esminda (l/ucien’s lover who was killed before his eyes). they are found guilty, and a/zriel uses his sword truthteller in the execution. after, everyone settles terms and plans for war reparations. all the courts vow to donate what they can to the human lands because they all bear the responsibility. the humans go home one last time. human and fae alike are deeply traumatized by the war, but there is hope of happiness and recovery in the future.

#anti acotar #anti acomaf #anti acowar #anti sjm #this was SOOOOO much harder than the t0g one because the ac0tar plot/world/characters are so much weaker than the t0g ones #and that's really saying something #there's almost nothing to the worldbuilding holy crap

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docholligay · 6 years ago

Text

Happy Father’s Day, Senator Hino!

A commission for @keyofjetwolf , who asked for the Bar AU, which can all be found under the tag “scenes from the red high heel” and Rei beiing pissy with her dad. I HOPE I DELIVERED. roughly 2700 words.

Makoto Kino did not know much about her coworkers, at least not much in the way of their personal histories. She knew that Mina and Haruka lived in the small apartment above the bar. She knew that Haruka gratefully and happily ate any leftover Mako happened to bring to work. She knew that Mina loved men, women, and the unaffiliated with either, but nothing so much as the sound of her own voice. She knew that Rei was irrepressibly grumpy and forceful, and that the bar was a kingdom of her own making, a place she could be queen.

“I signed you up for two community college classes.” Rei nodded at Haruka, who set the box of glasses on the bar in a thud. “The schedule’s worked so you have the time off and the textbooks on the stairs.”

Haruka shook her head. “I didn’t want to sign up for classes.”

“I didn’t ask you if you wanted to.” Rei turned her back and started setting glasses behind the bar. “It’s just basic history and reading. You won’t die.”

Haruka huffed, but Mako knew another thing, that Haruka seemed to also know: The matter was settled.

“What about me, Rei, you got any,” she popped a cherry in her mouth. “Skills, I need to learn?”

Rei looked at her a moment, scowl on her face.

Mina’s tongue popped out of her mouth, revealing a perfectly tied cherry stem.

“There’s no hope for you.” Rei walked off toward the office in the back, cell phone in hand. “You start Tuesday, Haruka!”

“You know you’re right!” Mina yelled at her. “Everything I’m good at, the law says I’m not allowed to do anymore, so I guess you’re stuck with me!” She looked over at Haruka. “You could still get out though.”

“Yeah,” she chuckled. “Lots of shops lining up to hire me.”

That was the other thing Mako knew. Both Haruka and Mina had been in prison. For what, Mako didn’t know, and there had never been a good time she thought to ask Haruka, as they’d sat under the buzzing neon out front.

“What are you doing for Father’s Day?” She asked Mina, in a way that seemed safe enough to her. “I wish Rei would get a kitchen. We could make a brunch.”

“Oh, my folks don’t talk to me so much since the whole prison thing.” She grabbed a few lemons out of the fridge, readying them for the night. “You?”

“Mine are dead.” Mako said quietly, suddenly regretting she’d brought the whole thing up at all, wishing she’d picked a date on the calendar that was less loaded. Haruka set another box of clean glasses on the counter, and Mako looked over at her, not wanting to leave her out, even wishing the conversation was finished. “You?”

“Dad? My mom didn’t think that was important for me to know.” She said, walking away, back toward the safety of the dishwasher.

Mina chuckled. “Well, aren’t we a bunch of fucking Disney Princesses. Don’t worry, the bar’ll be full of girls with daddy issues that weekend, bring a net.”

Mako scowled at her. Mina could be so cavalier about people, and it bothered her sometimes. “What about Rei?”

Mina pointed her knife at Mako. “You like your job? Like not getting yelled at? Like Rei not finding a reason to to yell at the rest of us? Don’t ask.”

Mako shrugged and kept wiping down the bar.

“Yes, I’ll see you then. Goodbye.” Rei walked out of the office and took a look over the place appraisingly. “I need you three here late tonight or early tomorrow. This place has to sparkle.”

It could not be said of Rei that she normally ran an unclean bar, and she often walked through proudly just before open and rearranged chairs and brought forward the bottles in a perfect line, chewing on her pen as she reviewed cocktail menus and daydreamed about knocking into the tiny vacant space next door, just enough to expand her kingdom.

“My father is coming in tomorrow morning.” Rei answered the silent question as if it didn’t matter, and Mako looked over at Mina with irritation.

But Mina’s mouth was too busy hanging open to notice. “Your father Senator Hino your father?”

“Your Dad is Senator Hino?!” Mako nearly dropped the chairs she was holding.

“Well, her last name’s Hino.” Haruka looked up from the table she was wiping down, as if she had just explained to Mako that the earth moves around the sun.

“I forgot you were related to a Formula One driver and an idol.” Mina laughed as she leaned across the bar toward Rei. “Miss Tenoh.”

Haruka scowled at her, but found herself unable to raise an argument over the more-famous people who shared her name but not, so far as she knew, any sort of bloodline.

“It’s all right, muffin,” she blew a kiss to Haruka. “You’re the most famous Tenoh to me.” She touched Rei’s arm. “Can I ask why you’re inviting a man you hate, even more than an ordinary man, into your bar, which is only for women, because you hate men, but especially your father.” She looked around the room. “I mean, this is weird, right? C’mon.”

Mako also knew that these three had known each other for a long time, and was always a little annoyed when they acted as if she should have the entire story of their lives memorized.

Rei opened the safe under the bar and took out a fine linen envelope. “I have a present for him.”

She walked away from the three girls, who stood staring as she retreated into her office, some of them knowing the past, all of them knowing the present, and none of them knowing the future.

Mina called after her.

“Is the present being murdered?”

___

Senator Hino was a serious man, and Mako would have said that his bearing reminded him of Rei’s, the way he commanded the room, and probably every room, as if he owned it, and it was your own foolishness if you weren’t aware of that.

However, Mako had recently added ‘don’t talk about Rei’s father’ to the list of things she knew.

Rei extended a hand out to him stiffly, and they shook in the way that is half formality and half feat of strength.

Mako looked over to Mina and Haruka, who said nothing, their eyes darting around the room, seemingly waiting for the shot to go off, and Mako found herself more ill at ease than she had felt in all her months here. It was one thing, to deal with the drunk men who tried to slither through the door, she knew what the rules were and how far she could bend them. But to stand still as you waited to see what developed, knowing you were only allowed to watch--that was the greatest difficulty to Mako.

And it must have been similar to Haruka, who faithlessly grabbed the box of empty bottles and hurried out toward the alleyway, leaving Mina and Mako to watch.

“Thank you for meeting me on such short notice.” Rei had dressed for the occasion in a fine navy suit, with a red silk blouse that perfectly matched her red high heels.

“Business partners often must.”

Rei pressed her lips together tightly, but managed a smile. “Of course. My office?”

The heels clicked down the hallway like every beat of her heart, louder and faster, waiting for this moment as she’d waited since the day they had opened. Rei had meant so many things for this bar, for it to be a community and to contribute to it, and she meant to make them happen, now that she was done socking away money for her first great goal, in all her life’s grand goals.

She pulled out the chair for him to sit, happily poured him a glass of water, and extended her gift with both hands.

“Happy Father’s Day.” She put the envelope in his hands, so formal in its fine paper, his name in neat, dark, calligraphy on the outside.

He smiled at her as he opened it. “Oh Rei, I didn’t expect--” he stopped, looking at the bills in the envelope. “What’s this?”

“My last payment on the loan you gave me to open the bar.” She set down a piece of paper in front of him. “The deed to the building, ready to be fully signed over to me.” She turned at yelled toward the door. “Mako!”

He looked at her with a mix of surprise and dismissiveness, that look that had defined so many of their exchanges, when he could be bothered to exchange with her at all.

He’d given her that look, and nothing else, the day her mother died.

The rage burned and melted through her like lava, wanting to explode, wanting to let ash rain down over everything. But she was the queen here, and she held command, and so she did not need to fight, wasn’t that true? And to be queen was to be calm.

He looked at the envelope, and the deed sitting on the table, and back at Rei, saying nothing, just watching, appraising, his political rival and not his daughter. He rifled through the bills again, and smiled up at Rei.

“Five years early.” He opened his suit jacket and pulled a sleek Mont Blanc out of the inner pocket, pulling the deed closer to him. “Dedicated, practical. You do take after me.”

Rei snorted. “If I took after you, this bar would be open to whoever wanted to pay me.”

Mako walked in the door and shut it behind her with a firm slam, ready to fight. They stared at her, mirrored faces of anger and determination aimed like two beams, and Mako’s anger turned to confusion.

“Heyyyy…” she waved awkwardly.

“I don’t owe you anything now.” She towered over him, the table between them like a safety fence. “Sign it.”

She walked over to her desk and pulled out Mako’s notary stamp, which she had made a paid-for condition of Mako’s employment. Mako had thought it odd, at the time, but wondered if maybe a lesbian bar had the occasional call to solemnize legal documents, in much the way that a shipping store often sold money orders.

It hadn’t made much sense to her girlfriend, but Mako had faith Rei must have had some business reason for doing so.

Business can be a difficult word to define.

“Is this why you had me become a notary? Just for this moment?” She stared at the stamp. “Why not Haruka or Mina?”

Rei did not look to Mako, just kept her arms crossed and stared at her father. “They’re felons, they can’t be bonded. Stamp the deed.”

“This is the weirdest job I’ve ever had…” But she did not see fit to argue with Rei, any more than she felt a compulsion to tell the wind not to blow, and stamped the paper.

“Felons?” He chuckled. “Interesting choice of partners, my little Rei.”

“Right, I forgot if I work with criminals, they should steal millions, instead of a car.”

Mako was a straightforward woman, and she often struggled with the smaller emotional nuances and sarcasms that Rei and Mina battered back and forth. That teal haired girl who came in and stared at Haruka may as well be speaking Greek.

But she could, from time to time, take the emotional temperature of the room, and if there was a place Rei was going to be angry, she knew something else: It was better not to be there.

She would tell the story a bit more gallantly, later, but the truth of the matter was, she whipped out of the room, suddenly very excited about the prospect of cleaning the front window.

“You’ll leave this bar, because it’s my bar,” She picked up the deed. “And I don’t want you in it.”

“After all I’ve done for you--”

“This loan was the first and last thing you ever did for me that wasn’t a show!” She did not mean to allow the explosion, but the ash and ember felt clean and pure on her lips, fire burning everything that was rotted and ugly to the ground.

In truth, she did not even know that he had truly done it for her. In this one fact of life, she had remained ignorant. There were a dozen reasons at least he could have done it--shoring up the gay constituency without having to do anything for them, looking to be seen supporting women’s businesses, showing his political mates that he was a good father.

It may have been foolish, and Rei would never breathe it aloud, but she needed to believe that at least this one thing had not been a show. She did not, and would not, believe that he was a good man, or had ever been. But she needed to believe that on one moment of one day, he had loved her for herself.

Her father stood, buttoning his suit coat. “You know nothing about being a parent. Or in politics.”

“Maybe I will someday!” She snapped, and she saw the confetti of flame on the air, the one that defined her from the time she was small.

He laughed. “You, with a child?”

“Me, running against you for office.”

There was a flicker of fear in his eyes then, a candle wobbling in the wind, and Rei tasted his worry and it felt sweet in her mouth. She could win, and if not win, then challenge his authority in such a way that would break the back of his political supremacy.

He chuckled, but it was weak, more mist than smoke. “You’ll just waste your time.”

“That’s what you said about the bar. Get out,” She swung open the door. “And get ready, because I’m coming for you someday.”

He turned on his heel, fists balled, and stomped the straight line from the office of the bar to its entrance, where Mako studiously scrubbed the window, and Haruka pulled a few tables apart to wash.

Mina called out as he steamed through the door.

“Thanks, don’t came again, we hate men!”

The only response was a slam so hard it shook the plate glass window, as Rei stormed out of the office. She did not say a word, simply walked over to the bar, slammed a glass down on the counter, and pulled a bottle of smoked whiskey off the top shelf, pouring it roughly into the glass.

“You know usually that’s taken over ice.” Mina deadpanned. “As a recommended serving from the mixologist.”

Rei put the glass to her lips and took a deep drink.

Haruka stood up straight from the table she was cleaning, twisting the rag in her hands awkwardly. “Do you want me to go kick his ass? I can still catch him.”

Mako nodded, crossing her arms and ready for the first piece of logic she’d seen today. She was not sure, and less sure that she ever would be, why Rei and her father were at odds. But after a few months in this job, there were other things Mako knew: She trusted Rei’s instincts, and considered Rei one of the more decent bosses she’d ever had, and when Mako decided she liked you, her fists could come to your aid fairly swiftly.

Rei drained the glass and shook her head, tossing back her hair. “The Red High Heel is mine now. He’s out.”

Mina put her hand on Rei’s leg. “Do you need someone to call Daddy? Because I’m availa--OW”

Rei smiled as she withdrew the cocktail fork from the back of Mina’s hand.

“Mako, I was thinking about expanding to give us a kitchen.”

Mako smiled brightly. “You know I’ve always wanted--”

“You start culinary school coursework next Monday. I signed you up for the restaurant courses across town. There’s a bus pass, and apron, and knives in your locker in the back.” She set the glass in the sink behind her, smiled, and clicked her way back to her office, the footsteps sounding lighter on the old wood.

The girls looked at each other. Rei was Rei, and Rei was queen, and nothing could stop her now.

Mina put her hands on her hips, and yelled back to the office.

“You know I know that you’re only ignoring my development so I can be your trophy wife, right?!”

#a holligay joint #scenes from the red high heel

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gaysparkler · 7 years ago

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FORCAS, LUDWIG, MADISA, FRIEDER, AND DALILA FOR THE OCS THING (I would say do all of them but you have like 10 ocs and I don't want to make you do that long of a post all at once x))

The number of OCs I have is really becoming a problem… But thank you for always leaving an ask x) This is a really long post, so I put it under the cut!

Forcas TrevelyanFull Name: Forcas Athalos TrevelyanGender and Sexuality: Male, gayPronouns: He/himEthnicity/Species: Free Marcher, humanBirthplace and Birthdate: Ostwick, 3rd day of Solace, 9:15 DragonGuilty Pleasures: Spa dayPhobias: Heights, losing those he lovesWhat They Would Be Famous For: His beardWhat They Would Get Arrested For: Well, he did run away to join the army when he was 16, so he could get arrested to be brought home, with his family…OC You Ship Them With: @aveline-the-dragon-slayer, do you think he and Jaras would get along?OC Most Likely To Murder Them: I feel like Samael would have little patience with him at first, Forcas being an Andrastian and all…Favorite Movie/Book Genre: ROMANCELeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Love trianglesTalents and/or Powers: Not really… He can easily wield any type of sword/ax?Why Someone Might Love Them: Forcas is very free with his affections, so if he likes you, you’ll know. He’s very friendly and open-minded.Why Someone Might Hate Them: He can be slow to learn things, which could annoy some… He’s also very stubborn about certain matters.How They Change: Throughout his time with the Inquisition, he learns how to be a leader. He was never one, and was never meant to be one. His family intended to send him to the Chantry to become a Templar, then he was a soldier in the army, just a follower. He becomes more mature.Why You Love Them: He’s just so sweet. Big guy with big scary eyebrows, but he just wants to hug everyone and he’s Doing His Best.

Ludwig CouslandFull Name: Ludwig Emeric CouslandGender and Sexuality: Male, pansexualPronouns: He/himEthnicity/Species: Fereldan, humanBirthplace and Birthdate: Ferelden, somewhere in 9:12Guilty Pleasures: Reading in a quiet corner, sparring with FergusPhobias: Being rejected (just because he’s mute, for example)What They Would Be Famous For: Stopping the Blight, teaching sign language throughout FereldenWhat They Would Get Arrested For: Being a Warden? x)OC You Ship Them With: None yet ;-;OC Most Likely To Murder Them: I can’t think of a reason why one of my OCs would kill him x) They’re not the killing type (except Samael, on certain occasions)Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Mystery, thrillerLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Turns out the villain is good and is redeemed Talents and/or Powers: He’s very good at teaching sign language.Why Someone Might Love Them: He’s charismatic and just a nice person in general (I’m sorry, he’s not developed yet, I don’t know him ;-;)Why Someone Might Hate Them: He can brag about his life as a noble and missing the luxuries of his previous life. He never thought he would be thrown in the life he has now.How They Change: He eventually accepts his new role as a Warden and matures a lot. He’s only like 19 at the beginning, after all. Why You Love Them: He’s mute and I think that will be very fun to write!! He’s also Doing His Best.

Mandisa TrevelyanFull Name: Mandisa Isabelle TrevelyanGender and Sexuality: Female, lesbianPronouns: She/herEthnicity/Species: Free Marcher, humanBirthplace and Birthdate: Ostwick, 9th day of Kingsway, 9:18 DragonGuilty Pleasures: Playing Wicked GracePhobias: Losing controlWhat They Would Be Famous For: Her magical abilitiesWhat They Would Get Arrested For: Her magical abilities OC You Ship Them With: @aveline-the-dragon-slayer‘s Miri Lavellan x)OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Forcas, if he was a Templar and if she was in a Circle. She lost control of her magic at one point, didn’t turn out well.Favorite Movie/Book Genre: AdventureLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Cliffhangers Talents and/or Powers: She’s a Dreamer sooooWhy Someone Might Love Them: She’s funny and likes to make jokesWhy Someone Might Hate Them: She might come across like she doesn’t care about her title (but she does, she just doesn’t let anyone see it)How They Change: She learns to trust people more, something that was difficult to do after a life spent in a Circle.Why You Love Them: She’s just so great. I love her and Josie together.

Frieder ShepardFull Name: Frieder ShepardGender and Sexuality: Male, gayPronouns: He/himEthnicity/Species: German, humanBirthplace and Birthdate: Leipzig (Germany), April 11th, 2154 (December 27th, 2150 in the AU I have with @aveline-the-dragon-slayer)Guilty Pleasures: Playing chess, getting tattoos, painting/drawingPhobias: Abandonment What They Would Be Famous For: Being Commander Shepard’s brother (yes that’s the AU), stopping the ReapersWhat They Would Get Arrested For: Being part of a gangOC You Ship Them With: I’m sorry, Frieder goes only with Kaidan x)OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Xavia HaleFavorite Movie/Book Genre: Mmm, romanceLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: UNREQUITED LOVETalents and/or Powers: Vv powerful bioticWhy Someone Might Love Them: Despite his rocky path, Frieder is a good person. He gives mercy to those deserving. When he gets to know his crew, he opens up and his true personality can shine through.Why Someone Might Hate Them: He can lose his patience very fast and snap at people when they don’t necessarily deserve it. How They Change: He was very angry before. With Dalila and Kaidan, he becomes a better person (and develops coping mechanisms)Why You Love Them: He is such a gay mess, and he has so much love to give.

Dalila ShepardFull Name: Dalila Jenell ShepardGender and Sexuality: Female, pansexualPronouns: She/herEthnicity/Species: From the Mindoir colony, humanBirthplace and Birthdate: Mindoir, April 11th, 2154Guilty Pleasures: Playing piano, reading, listening to classical music while training with James/XaviaPhobias: Drowning What They Would Be Famous For: Being Commander Shepard, stopping the Reapers What They Would Get Arrested For: The whole Arrival DLC in Mass Effect 2 x)OC You Ship Them With: XAVIA HALE, @aveline-the-dragon-slayer‘s OCOC Most Likely To Murder Them: Also Xavia Hale (more like a playful threat)Favorite Movie/Book Genre: She doesn’t have much time to read, but she loves old science-fiction novels from the 20th-21st century.Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: The long lost twin makes a comeback (ironic cause she has a long lost brother)Talents and/or Powers: As Frieder, she is a very powerful bioticWhy Someone Might Love Them: She never gives up on people. She tries to find anything good to those she meets.Why Someone Might Hate Them: She has made a few questionable decisions during missions. Her tendency to offer redemption to others is not always liked.How They Change: It becomes harder to get her to talk about what’s going on in her head. The war took a toll on her, and she progressively closes more. Liara and Xavia have to give her space and let her decide when she’s ready to talk.Why You Love Them: She’s my first Mass Effect OC and I just love her so much ;-; She wants everyone to be safe, to the point where she endangers herself to make sure that the others make it.

That took me like an hour, wow x) It was great though, thanks!!

#forcas trevelyan #ludwig cousland #mandisa trevelyan #frieder shepard #dalila shepard #dragon age #mass effect #aveline-the-dragon-slayer #answered asks #this was so long x)

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awesome-brick · 7 years ago

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stupid shit my friends and i have done/said over the years

this is going to be an ongoing list, i’ll reblog and add to it every so often with new material. if you want a full story, let me know a “ ^ ” means that it relates to the previous item feel free to tag yourself

chugged five double shot espressos in an hour and almost died

wobbled into our lounge after a party one night, completely unaware that he had ripped the front of his pants and his dick was completely out

got completely lost in the mardi gras parade with a dead cell phone, cause his girlfriend abandoned him

^ and then somehow pissed off and got a double k.o. on a massive redneck dude named keith who was probably thrice my friend’s size

^ him calling me when he came to, saying “help, i’m dead” to my other friend who replied, “hi dead, _i’m dad” _before he passed out and disconnected

peed in a bush, on campus, in broad daylight, in the middle of our conversation, while two hot girls were passing by

^ did it again ten minutes later

brought a violin to a frat party, to play while drunk (there’s still some videos of that floating around somewhere)

gotten stabbed by some dude after coming home from a different party

during campus tours, as a tour group was coming out of the elevator and we (4 of us) were going in; waited until right as the door was closing and said very loudly so they could hear, “SO HEY YOU GUYS WANNA GO SMOKE SOME POT?”

camped out in the floor lounge for the entirety of finals week building a settlement in a minecraft server

“i’ll have you know, I once injected _five whole marijuanas” “_oh shit can’t fuck with this guy”

organized a candlelight vigil for Sparky, a raccoon that allegedly jumped into a power transformer and cut off power to most of campus, canceling classes for a day and a half (over 200 people attended)

sat on the floor in the right of two elevators in our dorm, covered in blankets. when somebody would walk into the elevator, we’d pop our heads up in succession and say “welcome to Right Elevator Inc. If you look to your left, you’ll find the informations desk.” “How may we help you today?” and as they were exiting, “DON’T FORGET TO RATE AND REVIEW US ON YELP”

the tale of The Bridgebuilder

gave so little fucks for the chem test that he went in his pj’s, wearing a bathrobe and topknot. thus becoming notorious around campus as the “Chem Ninja”

“it’s hard to date girls taller than me. Given that i’m five foot two, I don’t exactly get a lot of options here”

actually smoked legit weed (instead of fake weed) onstage in the middle of a performance of a play

got “sexiled” (kicked out of the room for sex) by his roommate three times during orientation week, as in before freshman year even began

bought a wheelchair from goodwill on two different occasions bc it was <$10, so now he just has two wheelchairs for no reason

sold his gamecube and all his games to another friend for $50, all of which went to buying weed

^ one of the games was an original GC copy of Pikmin 2 which would go for about 100 alone on the internet these days

^ he also burned through (heh) all of that weed in a day

somehow woke up half naked in a parking lot, (just like the CaH card) missing exactly $20 cash. he had more, but he was only missing $20

somehow got sexiled out of his room by two other people, neither of which lived there

one dude that can spit mad freestyle bars, but only when he’s high

bought an IKEA storage shelf and generic painting to make our dorm room look _even more _like a hotel room than it already did

made a tally count to keep track of how many times my suitemate locked me out of the bathroom when he wasn’t in there (final tally was 215)

earned the title of Il Duche for his drunk!self

“It was not my intention to make out with your sister!”

^ he accidentally made out with each of his girlfriend’s siblings, on separate occasions

hooked up with someone over the summer, only to find out afterwards that they were seven years older

“mom, i’ve had more relationships than you”

_^ _(he’s at i think #29)

went to the mcdonalds drive-thru, he wanted chicken nuggets but didn’t know where the “mc” prefix went. it came out as something along the lines of “uh can i mchave a mcchicken mcnuggets and a large mcchocolate mcmilkshake”

^ we each wanted separate orders that time, so we had to drive around four times in a row. they were so tired of us by that point

missed an uber because he was too busy saying goodbye to literally everyone at the party he knew

said to a police officer, deadass, “i’ll let you walk me home, but there’s no way in hell i’m getting on that fucking bike”

^ afterwards, tried to jot down the officer’s name, badge number, and name of his superior so he could “put in a good word for the guy” (he was so wasted he had to sit down to write it all out)

dude getting so wasted at a party he started timeskipping, thought the year was 2025

gave my friend a glass of water at a party cause he was fading in and out, needed some water. to gauge his mental state, i ask him “what are you drinking” “water” “what’s the chemical formula for that?” deadass replied “hcl” without missing a beat and he keeps drinking

had a drunken rap battle with some famous local rapper at a party (my friend actually won)

crawled from the taxi to the apartment, cause he couldn’t walk

^ “I said one thing, ‘don’t say anything.’ One thing. Of course, you said something.”

so wasted he couldn’t get off the floor, the owner of the apartment going “you gotta go, dude!” “bruh” “i’m not your bruh, now get up”

“wake up with a random mexican guy in your bed. College, amirite?”

all three of us have “slept” in this one friend of ours’ bed, but only literally and not sexually. one of us cuddled with her and others platonically, another slept in the bed while she wasn’t there, and a third had passed out and she let him use her bed that night

"Marcus, you’re a socialist, why don’t you distribute some of them hot dimes”

“Rainbows, unicorns, Xanax- The classic stuff.”

(arguing about which pocket the phone goes in) “You put the phone in the butt, and the hands in the front”

my friend Robert, who is “the weebiest weeb to ever have weebd”

the fact that i accidentally always cockblock my friend unintentionally by virtue of being ace

my friend, (a dude) showing up to a date only to find out she’s a lesbian

the guy who routinely calls his exes while drunk. apparently he has a “system”, as to which exes he calls depending on how drunk he is

fencing practice on the courtyard

[sarcastically] “okay well as a straight, white male in politics, now i have to oppress you”

all of us basically ganging up on and whipping like the only white kid in our friend group (who’s like five feet tall) with our belts

barrel rolling down the mountain after someone stopped him from going home with a girl cause he was too wasted

the guy who asked his crush of 4yrs out in his valedictorian graduation speech, only to get shot down instantly (like jesus christ rip)

^ his mom to him, “why don’t you love me as much as you love her”

guy’s family owns a quiznos, so his go-to pickup line is, “hey, i own a quiznos, want me to make you a sandwich?” (times successful: none)

my friend’s little brother was reprimanded by his parents, cause he was reading up on buddhism, “i mean, I didn’t see what the issue was. Worst case, you’re learning buddhism, best case...you’re learning buddhism”

the time the timeskipping friend found himself a confederate soilder in the civil war era, but in an AU where the south won

^ he looks at my face, points at me, looks like he's about to start laughing hysterically, "you're fucked", "why" "because you're brown, and the south won" (keep in mind, this dude is 100% filipino and almost as brown as i am)

^ he starts rattling off some bullshit jargon about what division he was in, his name, blah blah blah, but we look it up later and everything exept his personal details lined up with actual historical fact, down to where his unit was based and the name of the commanding officer, noting details that even our resident historian hadn't even heard of before

^aaand he wouldn't go to sleep until we played dixie for him on a continuous loop

one of my friends has a habit of becoming both kleptomaniac and amnesiac when he’s drunk, so here’s a tally of the stuff he’s stolen, some of which we don’t even know where it came from (almost all of these have hilarious stories behind them so please ask);

pair of trash cans and recycling bins

half a bed frame

a large ten gallon paint bucket

pack of frozen tortillas

giant industrial fucking cinderblock, which was about the size of his abdomen

a pair of white shorts (he didn't own any)

a full set worth of coasters and shot glasses

a lawnmower

a vacuum cleaner

a broom

a sprinkler

a traffic cone (one of the tall skinny ones)

a banged up car door

a pack of cards

half empty paint cans

half a bra

#tag yourself #my life #my stuff #funny #long post

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jaennsisters-blog · 8 years ago

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kulah'ni for the OC ask meme

Yusss my baby cinnamon roll.

Full Name: Kulah’ni Dorne (her birth name is Jaenn)Gender and Sexuality: Cis female, lesbianPronouns: She/herEthnicity/Species: HumanBirthplace and Birthdate: Dantooine, 7 BTCGuilty Pleasures: Aric’s cooking and eating too many desserts (gotta make up for the terrible ration bars)Phobias: She always freezes up for a split second if a civilian has a gun pointed at her - which is a bit of a problem, since she’s a trooper. She’s fine if it’s another soldier, but a civilian? She has this short moment where she can’t react. She’s also very afraid of not being around other people; can’t spend more than an hour alone in her quarters at a time.What They Would Be Famous For: She’s the commander of Havoc Squad. Under her leadership, Havoc Squad and the remainder of the Republic forces stationed on Alderaan held out against the Eternal Empire for three solid months (until Kulah’ni deserted because Lana asked her to help look for S’kora).What They Would Get Arrested For: Desertion, most likely. It really destroyed her to have to do it, but she knew Alderaan was a losing battle and that she needed to find her sister.OC You Ship Them With: None. She’s married to Elara and I don’t think she could ever love someone else romantically.OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Hmm. None of them have any desire to hurt her, but I guess... Anjanay probably would have killed her if her duty called for it.Favorite Movie/Book Genre: She likes epic fantasy, and she also likes watching holonet comedies.Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: She’s not a fan of that ‘kiss in the middle of the battle’ thing. She yelled at one holomovie, “I would never endanger Elara like that, what the hell?”Talents and/or Powers: Kulah’ni was raised by the Jedi, despite not being Force-sensitive. So she learned meditative techniques, as well as how to use a practice blade (if not for the Force, she probably would have bested many of her peers). She’s also an expert field medic; she considers it to be her calling.Why Someone Might Love Them: Kulah’ni is probably the most sincere, well-meaning, and compassionate of my OCs. Her goal has always been able to save lives, and she uses her command and her influence to do that as often as she can. She tries to be kind to everyone, even the people who don’t deserve it, and she’s the one who would throw down her assault cannon immediately and advocate for peace talks if the Empire ever extended a hand. She always tries to find a peaceful resolution to situations.Why Someone Might Hate Them: Some people might see her as a goody two-shoes, or naive, or too much of an optimist. Also, Havoc has something of an infamous reputation in the Imperial Military, so... I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them hated her.How They Change: Kulah’ni always manages to hold that optimism and willingness to help everyone, but it starts to weigh on her near the end of her class story. She faces pressure to follow orders more strictly from her superiors. She also has to find a way to deal with failing to save some people (what happened to Jaxo nearly broke her). She starts to smile less, and she’s constantly tired, but she still keeps up the optimism and she knows that she can rely on Aric or Elara or Yuun to help her when she needs it. She also holds a significant amount of bitterness towards S’kora after her sister told her that she didn’t want them to have any kind of relationship.Why You Love Them: As I played through her class story and the expansions, it really struck me how much of a vibe of sadness I got from her. That hit me really hard, because she always tries to be so good, but it often ends up with her getting hurt. It’s not healthy - I know it’s not - and I know that sooner or later she’s going to have to confront that, but aside from that I think she’s the kind of person I’d want to be if I was in the Star Wars universe.

#swtor #republic trooper #ask meme #kulah'ni dorne #lesabear

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lesbianrewrites · 8 years ago

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Blood of Olympus - Chapter 57

*disclaimer* This is a project done for fun, and none of these characters/works belong to me. I do not claim to own any of the material on this page. This is a Lesbian edit of The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan. Chapters will be posted every day at 10am EST. Google doc version can be found here. The chapter can also be found under the cut. Enjoy!

PIPER WISHED SHE COULD CHARM HERSELF TO SLEEP.

It may have worked on Gaia, but for the last two nights she’d hardly slept a wink.

The days were fine. She loved being back with her friends Lacy and Mitchell and all the other Aphrodite kids. Even her bratty second-in-command, Drew Tanaka, seemed relieved, probably because Piper could run things and give Drew more time for gossip and in-cabin beauty treatments.

Piper kept busy helping Reyna and Annabeth coordinate between the Greeks and Romans. To Piper’s surprise, the other two girls valued her skills as a go-between to smooth over any conflicts. There weren’t many, but Piper did manage to return some Roman helmets that mysteriously made their way into the camp store. She also kept a fight from breaking out between the children of Mars and the children of Ares over the best way to kill a hydra.

On the morning the Romans were scheduled to leave, Piper was sitting on the pier at the canoe lake, trying to placate the naiads. Some of the lake spirits thought the Roman guys were so hot that they, too, wanted to leave for Camp Jupiter. They were demanding a giant portable fish tank for the journey west. Piper had just concluded negotiations when Reyna found her.

The praetor sat next to her on the dock. ‘Hard work?’

Piper blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. ‘Naiads can be challenging. I think we have a deal. If they still want to go at the end of the summer, we’ll work out the details then. But naiads, uh, tend to forget things in about five seconds.’

Reyna traced her fingertips across the water. ‘Sometimes I wish I could forget things that quickly.’

Piper studied the praetor’s face. Reyna was one demigod who hadn’t seemed to change during the war with the giants … at least not on the outside. She still had the same strong, unstoppable gaze, the same regal, beautiful face. She wore her armour and purple cloak as easily as most people would wear shorts and a T-shirt.

Piper couldn’t understand how anyone could take so much pain, shoulder so much responsibility, without breaking. She wondered if Reyna ever had anyone to confide in.

‘You did so much,’ Piper said. ‘For both camps. Without you, none of it would’ve been possible.’

‘All of us played a part.’

‘Sure. But you … I just wish you got more credit.’

Reyna laughed gently. ‘Thank you, Piper. But I don’t want attention. You understand what that’s like, don’t you?’

Piper did. They were so different, but she understood not wanting to attract attention. Piper had wished for that her whole life, with her dad’s fame, the paparazzi, the photos and scandal stories in the press. She met so many people who said, Oh, I want to be famous! That would be so great! But they had no idea what it was really like. She’d seen the toll it took on her father. Piper wanted nothing to do with it.

She could understand the appeal of the Roman way, too – to blend in, be one of the team, work as a part of a well-oiled machine. Even so, Reyna had risen to the top. She couldn’t stay hidden.

‘Your power from your mom …’ Piper said. ‘You can lend strength to others?’

Reyna pursed her lips. ‘Nicola told you?’

‘No. I just sensed it, watching you lead the legion. That must drain you. How do you … you know, get that strength back?’

‘When I get the strength back, I’ll let you know.’

She said it like a joke, but Piper sensed the sadness behind her words.

‘You’re always welcome here,’ Piper said. ‘If you need to take a break, get away … you’ve got Frances now – she could assume more responsibility for a while. It might do you good to make some time for yourself, when nobody is going to be looking at you as praetor.’

Reyna met her eyes, as if trying to gauge how serious the offer was. ‘Would I be expected to sing that odd song about how Grandma puts on her armour?’

‘Not unless you really want to. But we might have to ban you from capture the flag. I have a feeling you could go against the entire camp solo and still beat us.’

Reyna smirked. ‘I’ll consider the offer. Thank you.’ She adjusted her dagger, and for a moment Piper thought about her own blade, Katoptris, which was now locked in her hope chest in her cabin. Ever since Athens, when she’d used the blade to stab the giant Enceladus, its visions had stopped completely.

‘I wonder …’ Reyna said. ‘You’re a child of Venus. I mean Aphrodite. Perhaps – perhaps you could explain something your mother said.’

‘I’m honoured. I’ll try, but I have to warn you: my mom doesn’t make sense to me a lot of the time.’

‘Once in Charleston, Venus told me something. She said: You will not find love where you wish or where you hope. No demigod shall heal your heart. I – I have struggled with that for …’ Her words broke.

Piper had a strong urge to find her mother and punch her. She hated how Aphrodite could mess up someone’s life with just a short conversation.

‘Reyna,’ she said, ‘I don’t know what she meant, but I do know this: you are an incredible person. There is someone out there for you. Maybe it’s not a demigod. Maybe it’s a mortal or … or I don’t know. But, when it’s meant to happen, it will. And until it does, hey, you have friends. Lots of friends, both Greek and Roman. The thing about you being everyone’s source of strength: sometimes you might forget that you need to draw strength from others. I’m here for you.’

Reyna stared across the lake. ‘Piper McLean, you have a way with words.’

‘I’m not charmspeaking, I promise.’

‘No charmspeak required.’ Reyna offered her hand. ‘I have a feeling we’ll see each other again.’

They shook and, after Reyna left, Piper knew that Reyna was right. They would meet again, because Reyna was no longer a rival, no longer a stranger or a potential enemy. She was a friend. She was family.

That night the camp felt empty without the Romans. Piper already missed Hazel. She missed the creaking timbers of the Argo II and the constellations her lamp used to make against the ceiling of her cabin aboard the ship.

Lying in her bunk in Cabin Ten, she felt so restless she knew she wouldn’t be able to doze off. She kept thinking about Lorena. Again and again she replayed what had happened in the fight against Gaia, trying to figure out how she could have failed Lorena so badly.

Around two in the morning, she gave up trying to sleep. She sat up in bed and gazed out of the window. Moonlight turned the woods silver. The smells of the sea and the strawberry fields wafted on the breeze. She couldn’t believe that just a few days ago the Earth Mother had awoken and almost destroyed everything Piper held dear. Tonight seemed so peaceful … so normal.

Tap, tap, tap.

Piper nearly hit the top of her bunk. Jessica was standing outside the window, rapping on the frame. She grinned. ‘Come on.’

‘What are you doing here?’ Piper whispered. ‘It’s after curfew. The patrol harpies will shred you!’

‘Just come on.’

Her heart racing, she took her hand and climbed out of the window. Jessica led her to Cabin One and took her inside, where the huge statue of Hippie Zeus glowered in the dim light.

‘Um, Jessica … what exactly … ?’

‘Check it out.’ She showed her one of the marble columns that ringed the circular chamber. On the back, almost hidden against the wall, iron rungs led upward – a ladder. ‘Can’t believe I didn’t notice this sooner. Wait till you see!’

She began to climb. Piper wasn’t sure why she felt so nervous, but her hands were shaking. She followed her up. At the top, Jessica pushed open a small trapdoor.

They emerged on the side of the domed roof, on a flat ledge, facing north. The whole of Long Island Sound spread out to the horizon. They were so far up, and at such an angle, that nobody below could possibly see them. The patrol harpies never flew this high.

‘Look.’ Jessica pointed at the stars, which made a splash of diamonds across the sky – better jewels than even Hazel Levesque could have summoned.

‘Beautiful.’ Piper snuggled up against Jessica and she put her arm around her. ‘But aren’t you going to get in trouble?’

‘Who cares?’ Jessica asked.

Piper laughed quietly. ‘Who are you?’

She turned, her glasses pale bronze in starlight. ‘Jessica Grace. Pleased to meet you.’

She kissed her, and … okay, they had kissed before. But this was different. Piper felt like a toaster. All her coils heated to red-hot. Any more warmth and she’d start smelling like burnt toast.

Jessica pulled away enough to look in her eyes. ‘That night at the Wilderness School, our first kiss under the stars …’

‘The memory,’ Piper said. ‘The one that never happened.’

‘Well … now it’s real.’ She made the ward-against-evil symbol, the same one she’d used to dispel her mother’s ghost, and pushed at the sky. ‘From this point on, we’re writing our own story, with a fresh start. And we just had our first kiss.’

‘I’m afraid to tell you this after just one kiss,’ Piper said. ‘But gods of Olympus, I love you.’

‘Love you too, Pipes.’

She didn’t want to ruin the moment, but she couldn’t stop thinking of Lorena and how she would never have a fresh start.

Jessica must have sensed her feelings.

‘Hey,’ she said. ‘Lorena is okay.’

‘How can you believe that? She didn’t get the cure. Nicola said she died.’

‘You once woke up a dragon with just your voice,’ Jessica reminded her. ‘You believed the dragon should be alive, right?’

‘Yes, but –’

‘We have to believe in Lorena. There is no way she would die so easily. She’s a tough girl.’

‘Right.’ Piper tried to steady her heart. ‘So we believe. Lorena has to be alive.’

‘You remember the time in Detroit, when she flattened Ma Gasket with a car engine?’

‘Or those dwarfs in Bologna. Lorena took them down with a homemade smoke grenade made from toothpaste.’

‘Commander Tool Belt,’ Jessica said.

‘Bad Girl Supreme,’ Piper said.

‘Chef Lorena the Tofu Taco Expert.’

They laughed and told stories about Lorena Valdez, their best friend. They stayed on the roof until dawn broke, and Piper started to believe they could have a fresh start. It might even be possible to tell a new story in which Lorena was still out there. Somewhere …

#heroes of olympus #hoo #lesbians of olymous #lesbian #lesbiansafe #gay #lgbt #lgbtq #sapphic #wlw #lesbian rewrites #lesbian rewrite project #the blood of olympus

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