#(I overthink things to try and add more depth so I take the rambles as a victory)

[seventh-district]

not even gonna tag this properly bc i don't wanna get Involved but i do have some Thoughts i need to get out into the void so here we go

(aaa quick edit: CW for mention/discussion of Boothill leaks)

[handsomethrowrug]

🐎 🦘

Animal Themed Headcanons (Accepting!)

@musemelodies

-

🐎 ---- How strong is your muse? Could they fight someone with a stronger skillset than them?

Scar isn't joking when he says that he's at the "shallow end of the gene pool". For a lion of his age, he is weaker than average. His naturally lithe frame serves as a disadvantage as he isn't able to build up sufficient muscle to counter a larger lion, such as Mufasa. He learned at a young age to use other skills to his advantage. While leading the Guard, he relied a lot on his agility to dodge strikes, or to check his surroundings and see what would give him an advantage (something to climb on, a loose rock, a root for the other to trip on, etc).

His line of "You know how I loathe violence" does, technically, still apply. While he isn't below using violent means, he prefers to keep himself out of it. If he had a choice, he would rely on conversation and more diplomatic means.

However, that doesn't mean he's a matchstick-lion that can be blown over in the wind. He can still hold his own. He was able to slap Sarabi and send her reeling back, and could keep a good pace with Simba. I would hazard a guess that if he had to fight something of a similar size or smaller, he would manage to to do okay (or stall long enough until he can escape). I would imagine he is still able to hunt independently.

He's past his prime, that's for sure. Disposing of his Guard came with the cost of him getting injured in the process (I am tempted to say it's his back so he can forever use it as an excuse to not do things despite being physically fit again). The injury has healed, but it did take some time for it to pass. By the time it did, he was out of practice and had lost whatever muscle he had managed to build over the time in the Guard. Despite his best efforts, that never came back.

In terms of stronger opponents, he usually knows when he would lose. For instance, he would never have dreamed of intentionally going against the hyenas because he knew he wouldn't be able to fend them off. He only made the insulting comments when he thought they weren't in earshot. He knew challenging Mufasa would be a fool's errand, and so he never did.

Why else do you think he relied on the collective strength of the hyenas for that?

-

🦘 ---- If they have kids, what type of parent is your muse? If not, what type of parent would your muse be?

It would be very easy to say 'Scar is such a selfish individual that he neglects his own cubs in his pursuit to hold power'. However... I prefer to stray away from that. Was he as good a parent as Mufasa? Not at all. But that doesn't make him a bad parent, you know what I mean?

Scar's family was a good family, I want to make that very clear. They worked hard to take care of both their sons while juggling royal duties. Unfortunately, only one was the direct heir, and so was given more time and attention than the other. It wasn't out of badness, but rather out of necessity. However, it impacted Tacari a lot, starting the fire of resentment for his brother that simmered for a very long time. By the time it would have been decided to let Tacari attend the lessons too, it would have been too late. A very simple oversight, and one that I believe would have been regretted by the parents.

When Scar grew up and was still without a mate (whether due to bad luck or not finding interest in anyone who was there), he had made a decision not to be a parent. It was for the best, in one way, as he is... Not the best with children. As we know, he gets bothered by Simba. However, while he does put on a slightly mocking babying tone, he actually doesn't completely dismiss Simba. Obviously, he must do enough for Simba to actually like him enough to go visit by himself.

Provided the cubs aren't too hyper, you can start to see a better side to him. He shares stories or snippets of wisdom. He'd ask them questions and get them to properly think about things (such as why the grass changes colour in the dry season). Sometimes, he would even be in good enough humour to join the pride in social evenings. It's a chance to see what things might have been like if Tacari never became Scar.

Now, he actually does have cubs, but we never see him interacting with them. All we have to go by is what Zira believes is best... And this is where things aren't quite that simple as you would expect.

Zira's plans for the three were not Scar's wishes. Not fully. His intentions had been to give the three the time of day and teach them the skills needed to thrive in a particular area - Kovu would be king (despite both being adopted and being younger), Nuka would be the royal advisor and key diplomat (essentially putting him at practically equal status to Kovu), Vitani would lead the lionesses - but he never got the opportunity to fully explain this to Zira. (Now that I think about it, Vitani is the second-born of a king, so it's little surprise she ended up taking the mantle of the Lion Guard.)

A lot of my sentiment on this is fuelled by how threads developed with @roastytoastyprincxss - an example being this. While Nuka grew up to be the forgotten, neglected son, he actually spent a lot of time with Scar in his early life. I'd go as far as saying that Nuka helped keep his father grounded longer than he would have been otherwise, simply because it was a positive distraction beyond everything that was going on.

Had Simba not returned, or had Scar not been killed, he would have given the three cubs their dues, and made sure all of them felt important. They would have still been villains, but they would have felt more connected than they otherwise were.

[nr1chaedickrider]

We were too close to the stars

mina fidges with the hem of her sweater, chaeyoung sits next to her on the balcony of their dorm.

mina's mind is full with thoughts, those type of thoughts that keep her awake at night, just like today.

her plan was to be alone, to enjoy the fresh air on the small balcony that has a faint smell of cigarettes (or weed, she doesn't ask chaeyoung what exactly she smokes).

chaeyoung joining her on the balcony in the depth of the night though, that was not planned.

maybe this is even the worst thing to happen, because this does not go according to her plan at all.

instead of leaving the cold, and returning to the warmth, mina stays.

instead of finding love in someone else, and being in love with chaeyoung, mina finds love in chaeyoung.

what's the difference between chaeyoung and the cold anyway?

both make you suffer more and more as time passes.

but mina still decides to stay.

if she decides on her own, is another question.

she is rather forced too, not being able to leave her.

it's not like chaeyoung forces her, oh no, chaeyoung problably wouldn't even care.

"he kissed me" she says, breaking the silence, breaking mina's overthinking (she doesn't know if she should thankful for that).

mina looks at chaeyoung blowing out the smoke from her cigarette.

"he kissed you?" mina repeats, it pains her to say it outloud.

"mhm" she gives a short answer.

"did you.. did you like it?" mina asks, voice shivering a little. she hopes that chaeyoung thinks it's because of the cold weather.

"yeah" she gives another short answer, again, and mina's heart aches - again.

"he took me out to dinner, it was so sweet" chaeyoung elaborates.

this is maybe the worst time for chaeyoung to elaborate on something.

"you were never gonna choose me, were you?" mina asks out of nowhere.

chaeyoung looks at her confused, a quiet "what do you mean" leaves her lips with the smoke from her cigarette.

"all those years, i somehow try to make you fall in love with me, all those years, i tried loving other people so i would finally be able to leave you" mina starts talking, some people would even call it rambling, maybe it was finally time to let everything out.

"i had so many moments thinking, oh im alright again, but i always want you when i'm finally fine" she adds.

chaeyoung puts her almost finished cigarette out.

"mina,

you know i don't like girls" she answers.

"i know" mina says.

"and i still can't seem to ever let you go"

she tries to take a deep breath, tries to calm down a little.

hope is a thing with feathers,

"i just wish you would"

in mina's case though,

"i wish i was that stupid boy"

it isn't able to fly anymore.

[silverducks]

Game of Thrones - Jaime Lannister

A rambling character study of Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones.

Introduction

Ok, so nearly a month since I finished watching Game of Thrones, and I’m still not over how it ended. Like some things I can reconcile myself too, some things just annoy me when I overthink what happened and some things - ok one thing in particular - is just not letting me go.

And that is the way the show ended for Jaime Lannister.

I know I’m like 2 years too late on the GoT bandwagon and no one cares anymore. But I’m writing all these posts because I still care, having recently experienced what you all went through 2 years ago. And I know what I’ll be posting will have all been posted countless times before and discussed in the fandom years ago. But I kinda need to still get my own thoughts written down and outta my head.

Before I go on though, I just want to add in here that I do still love this show and, even right to the very end, think the acting, crew, music, sets/scenery, costumes, basically everything was pretty much amazing. That is except the writing, which, went downhill after series 4. Before then it was pretty much amazing too (not always perfect (is anything?), but so darn good!)

Now, turns out when I came to write down my thoughts on Jaime’s ending, I had even more than I realised. Basically it’s turned into me writing one massive analysis of Jaime’s character based on the show. So I’ve split it into separate posts, with this first one more of an intro, a summary of my thoughts and overall opinion on Jaime and a bit of context on my own experience with Game of Thrones.

Now, spoilers for Game of Thrones ending

I’ve read/watched a lot on the internet since I saw those episodes (series 8, episode 4 and 5 in case you weren’t sure) and I know a lot of people don’t like how they ended Jaime’s story in the show either. But I’ve also read a lot of comments where people did like it, or at least thought it made sense. The reasons they give make no sense to me, but it’s made me think and overthink and analyse way too much about how they did end his story.

So, in order to try and get them out of my head, I’m putting them down here. It’s a long, pretty rambling read, split up into a few parts because it got so long. Across the posts I’m going to go through my own understanding and perception of Jaime’s character and his arc and why I think they completely ruined it in episodes 8.04 and 8.05. I’ll then focus on some of the main reasons I’ve seen why people think it did make sense, and why (even though I maintain everyone is entitled to their own opinion) I completely disagree. Jaime’s character arc was annihilated in the show even more than Kings Landing. And that is more than a bit frustrating.

Now, just a bit of background to add some context to my thoughts; I basically only got around to watching the show a few months ago (I’ve not read the books yet). I basically binged watched the entire show and am now just a little bit reeling from it all! LOL! Also, as I did binge watch it, it meant I didn’t spend time between episodes/series really analysing/theorising etc. I had a few ideas and thoughts, but not to the depth it would have been had I needed to wait impatiently for each new episode. This means I think my viewpoint is of the show as an overall whole, rather than each separate series, because it kinda all rolled into one. This may, or may not, have affected my opinion and so this analysis of Jaime Lannister and my disappointment in his ending. It also means, having only watched the show once, I’ve probably forgotten or missed bits. However, since I finished the show, I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos and read a lot of stuff on the net about it, including in comparison to the books. (And I maybe rewatched some of my favourite scenes just a few times…) And now I am analysing and theorising and thinking about this show way too much! LOL!

So I guess my viewpoint isn’t one of ignorance, but it might not be quite the same as someone who’s been invested in the show from the start.

Like most viewers, I pretty much thought Jaime = evil villain for most of the earlier series. He had the odd moment, but it wasn’t until he did that speech with Catelyn about the conflict of all those oaths he’d taken that I even started to take note of his character. And then series 3 happens, where he has his road trip with Brienne, loses his hand, saves her from a bear and basically starts his wonderful path of character development. And basically manages to go from a guy I pretty much do not like at all at the start, to one of my all time favourite characters ever.

Also, I’m definitely a Brienne/Jaime shipper and did wish them to have a happy ending. However, I pretty much never thought the show would actually even go there, let alone make it happy. In fact, I actually did my best to NOT ship them for such a long time because, being Game of Thrones, I knew it was very unlikely to end well. But, then yeah, their intense staring contests kept on happening and darn it, the way that Jaime’s voice breaks when he says Lady Brienne and him giving her a priceless sword, and what the sword represents and…

Ok, well, yeah, I could gush about them all day, but anyway, I ended up not being able to fight the ship any more after series 6 and THAT tent scene. But, even then, I still didn’t think the show would make it canon, like it would just leave it all open ended/make up your own mind kinda thing.

And then we get to series 8. Like we have a whole episode (that is actually named for their very storyline) with Jaime just staring at Brienne, being all dorky around Brienne and then, if that wasn’t enough, he even KNIGHTS Brienne! I mean, this is epic for this ship! And I would have been ok (not happy, but satisfied) as a Brienne and Jaime shipper if that had been it.

But then no, then he barely leaves her side in the fight against the dead in the next episode – they fight side by side with their two halves of one whole swords, each risking their own life for the other multiple times. And then in the next episode (where I don’t think there’s barely any scene where they’re NOT right next to each other) the show DID make it canon. Like it actually did go there, they slept together (in an adorably awkward scene I love). Heck, Jaime then even chooses to stay in the North and be with Brienne, even though he hates the North. Like this was just epicness of all proportions and I got so excited and all those shippy feels I was trying to hold back just came rushing out and then... and then...

THEN that scene happens. He leaves her. Like WTH…

Anyway, more on that in another post. I guess what I’m trying to say is that as much as I ship them, my issues with Jaime’s ending is less about his relationship with Brienne, and more just his complete 180 on character development. Jaime’s arc has been heavily influenced by Brienne, but it is still amazing in its own right. As I didn’t expect Brienne/Jaime to ever happen (so when it did and then got taken away in the very same episode, it’s incredibly frustrating and gives even less credence to what does happen), it’s not why I’m so annoyed and disappointed with what happened to Jaime.

I’m annoyed because they took all this amazing character growth over 7 series and then screwed it all over in less than two episodes. No, that’s not enough. It was a complete and utter character assassination that completely undermines and destroys 7 series worth of investment and development, completely nullifying everything Jaime went through as a character.

So, yeah, I’m a bit annoyed, but that’s because it makes no sense and it’s bugging me enough to write this whole series of posts. Because I can’t let it go. And having read people justify, even like it online, it’s made my inner analysis thought train go into override. And I’m sorry if these posts are like I’m preaching to the choir, or writing such obvious stuff and repeating myself, I’m just trying to get it all out my head as coherently as I can. Hopefully allowing me to move on a bit.

#Urgh #I need to sit in a corner and try to cheer myself up again before I can write anymore #Maybe watching some Brienne and Jaime fan videos will help cheer me up #And also simultaneously depress me even more.

[donnieluvsthings]

anyway i’m still thinkin about roceit newsies au...this got SO LONG its basically a bullet fic of the whole plot at this point but uh enjoy!!! its has all the sides and remy and emile bc i rly wanted to shove them all in here aldkaldka

this is based on the musical mostly bc i have never watched the original movie all the way thru oops

roman is jack and remus is crutchie (thanks boop). remus does crazy stunts even with his crutch and roman is Constantly Worried TM and overprotective of remus even tho remus can DEF take care of himself

on the other hand remus knows roman hates working as a newsboy and just wants to escape to some small town where he can become a local artist of some sort. remus wants roman to go CHASE his DREAMS even tho he’s afraid roman might leave him behind

roman may be the actor but remus is great at coming up with gruesome yet intriguing headlines that get people to buy papers and would totally be a great author of some sort

ON THAT NOTE roman dreams of santa fe and can picture it perfectly but whenever he tries to explain it, it comes out as senseless rambling and longing. it’s remus who can really put into words what roman feels (bc theyre bros and they just GET each other)

virgil as davey, patton as les, logan as sarah (its the musical but they have an extra sibling okay. let me have older brother logan)

virgil and patton show up and virgil is super untrusting and hates that theyre basically lying to get people to buy papers but patton is just EXCITED to meet New People!!! and looks up to roman (and remus), like, instantly

it helps that roman promises to take them to a real actual theater after they sell all their papers owned by the one the only emile picani !!!

also roman is the one who first calls him “virge” which is like jack saying “davey” instead of david. yes this is necessary information

so they sell their papers (and roman briefly meets an ESPECIALLY handsome guy wink wink) and go see emile who performs some variant of That’s Rich like the star he is. u cant take singer emile away from me

roman also performs bc i said so. he spies someone watching him during his act up above the stage and climbs up there when he’s done

janus. its janus, if that wasnt clear or u dont know the plot of the newsies musical aldkaldlal

so yeah janus as katherine!! he may be pulitzer’s son but that doesn’t mean his father wants him to be a journalist. pulitzer thinks he should prepare to inherit the publishing company or be a banker or smth, not be a journalist

i just think janus’ “society is a LIE” vibe fits with katherine. i mean, just look at Watch What Happens. “give life’s little guys some ink,” “they’ll storm the gates,” “rich greedy sourpusses” .... idk it just SCREAMS janus to me

ALSO, katherine technically lies about her identity for like 3/4 of the musical, so

anyway! roman meets janus and janus is all suave and lowkey flirty at first but then roman starts flirting BACK and jan is like “uh oh how to talk to cute boys????”

so then he gets all “i have more important things to do” *hair flip* and goes back to the article he’s supposed to be writing about emile’s theater (a lot of his notes are about roman’s performance but nobody needs to know that shhh)

roman draws a portrait of jan and leaves it there and janus gently & dramatically picks it up, stares at it, and tucks it into his suit with a soft smile

uh oh prices for papers went up! virgil steps up and helps roman lead a strike. turns out his caution works GREAT with roman’s determination and they keep each other from going towards extreme overthinking (virgil) or extreme stupidity (roman). they are a TEAM and they are BESTIES.

remus: lets SET THE PAPERS ON FIRE

roman, starry eyed: HECK YEAH LETS DO IT

virgil: how about we dont do that and instead form a union

and then the twins are like GOOD IDEA and tell everyone else. virgil may be a cautious and untrusting and afraid of public speaking but he has good ideas dangit

the intro to seize the day yknow? virgil says a Good Idea (which can probably be traced back to him always listening to logan rant about his studies) and roman spreads the message in a Firm Rebellion-y way to the other newsies

and patton is there doing his absolute best. he may be small but he knows that this isn’t right or fair to the newsboys and he’s ready to physically fight someone

enter logan who is lowkey really proud of virgil for stepping outside of his comfort zone to do whats right. logan may be scared out of his mind for his little bros but he’s gonna help them as much as he can between college and trying to work side jobs to help their fam

basically logan knows janus and tells him that he should report on the strike bc logan wants to help his bros AND his friend however he can

cue janus seeing his opportunity and TAKING it. he’s gonna write about this strike even if no one else will!!! take THAT, father

he also maybe possibly wanted to see roman again. but roman never needs to know that okay what he doesnt know cant hurt him

seize the day happens!!!! they strike!!!! they r powerful!!! but then no one else from any other sections of new york strike with them and they lowkey get rekt

remus mocks the delanceys but that was a BAD decision cuz now theyre targeting him and he gets taken to the REFUGE

roman is SAD bc his brother’s been taken away, no one showed up to help them strike, his brother’s been taken away and he just wants to get OUT of there. run away to santa fe, his ideal world, but he can’t even articulate that because his brother is gone

how is that just act one. how have i written so much yet left out so much???

remus is at the refuge and he’s a little more scared, now, that roman really will just leave him behind even though he knows deep down that roman would never.

still. he writes roman a letter and maybe he goes into a little too much detail about his injuries and the refuge but hey, that’s remus. he writes about how maybe they can run away to santa fe together. he signs it “your brother” and i CRY because they are the best bros

roman reads it and ALSO cries. especially because there it is, the description of santa fe he can never come up with by himself. remus rly does know him, huh

total scene change: janus finds the other newsies (and logan) in a restaurant? bar? and is like “!!! ur on the FRONT PAGE on my newspaper” which i just decided is called the snake instead of the sun

virgil didn’t totally trust janus would follow thru at first but now he’s convinced. they did it!!!! theyre on the front page!!!! the world WILL know!!!!

cue tapdancing!!!!!! king of new york is an absolute bop. i need logan tapdancing daintily and then janus LAUNCHING into some complex tap routine bc the newsies think he too will dance daintily

i know they wouldnt,,, actually dance but just let me have this self-indulgence in this entirely self-indulgent au

the Bro Trio + janus go hunt down roman to show him the paper and find him painting stuff at emile’s all sad and upset bc, well, they lost and remus was taken

but virgil is trying to show him that they made progress!!! sure pulitzer won but he won the BATTLE and actually the poor guy’s head is spinning bc theyre gonna win.

“cmon, ro, if i’m is telling you to be optimistic there must be hope”

see virgil calls him RO and its cute bc roman gave him the nickname ‘virge’ and now virgil’s giving him the nickname ‘ro’ theyre just besties okay

roman is unconvinced but then logan, who roman has actually never met before, steps in with Facts and Statistics, and patton adds some adorable words of encouragement, and janus sassily waves their Front Page Story at him, and roman starts realizing they DO have a chance

but then uh oh pulitzer threatens remus and the Bro Trio and roman is forced to speak out against the strike or risk ruining the lives of everyone he loves. and also he finds out that janus is pulitzer’s son and is Betrayed TM

theres some “he’s just trying to build up a false confidence in u so u can plummet to even greater depths” parallels in there somewhere....u can’t trust many people as a newsie and when roman DOES trust someone turns out he’s the son of the guy ur trying to fight

so roman says overnight in pulitzer’s basement, sleeping on an uncomfortable old printing press, and makes his decision

now for the RALLY

remy is spot conlon bc he DESERVES to be the leader of the brooklyn newsies. brooklyn, flushing, richmond, etc all show up to a newsies rally and are like YEAH!!! STRIKE!!!!

virgil is trying to tame the crowd nervously and keeps waiting for roman to show up bc they work best when theyre working together!!!! finally roman’s there and virgil introduces him (the attention isnt solely on him now thank gosh)

but then roman starts talking about how they dont stand a chance and how they shouldnt go on strike and virgil is just. confused and upset and angry

especially when he sees one of pulitzer’s employees slipping roman wads of money

virgil corners roman afterwards and is absolutely RIPPING into him. roman could fix this if he would just tell virgil the truth, tell him he doesn’t care about the money, he just wanted to keep him and patton and logan safe—

but roman knows if he tells virgil, then virgil will turn all his anger towards pulitzer, will be able to convince roman to keep going, and roman won’t. he can’t put virgil, put his family, at risk.

so he lies.

he doesn’t mean any of it. but he says it.

and maybe he kind of understands why janus lied, too.

he says he’s never had anyone to take care of him or remus, not like virgil does with his parents and his older brother. he says virgil will never know what it’s like.

virgil scoffs and glares and beneath all his fury looks crushed. but there’s still fire in his eyes, a spark roman saw that first day that only grew and engulfed any doubts virgil ever had.

roman says he’ll take the money and go, leave new york behind.

virgil says fine. we don’t need you. because you know what? all those words you said were mine. i didn’t have the courage to say them back then but now i do. we don’t need you.

(because i watched that scene in the movie and like YES go OFF davey i mean virgil)

roman flees to his “bedroom” which is really just a fire escape and just longs for remus’ reassurance. he has the letter but it doesn’t seem as encouraging now, not when he’s lost everything else important to him.

then janus shows up and roman’s mad at him but not mad enough to kick him out. and janus watched roman just give up on everything they’ve been fighting for and just wants to know WHY. why did he turn his back on the newsies when they were so close?

and roman, tired and upset and defeated, just says they wouldn’t succeed. even if all the newsies went on strike no one would report on it, anyway, because pultizer has all the printing presses on lockdown, even the one janus published from. and they already lost once! what more could they possibly do?

roman looks out over the railing, chest heaving from his rant, longing for his imaginary santa fe where he doesn’t have to face his failures. janus stands next to him and puts his hand over roman’s.

“i don’t have a simple answer to that question....but here’s a start.”

and janus pulls out a paper with roman’s words (well, and virgil’s, because virgil said it first but roman rephrased it powerfully, and that’s why they worked as a team) typed out, words that make the strike not about newsies but about ALL working children in the city who are being exploited for their youth and naivety.

it’s an entire article, expertly written. if published it would get the word out to the other newsies that they haven’t given up and show other working children and adults alike that this is IMPORTANT and they aren’t going away.

and then roman remembers his drawings of the refuge and remus’ graphic descriptions and shows them to janus and hey!!! they have a plan!!! they just need to print it....

roman’s like yo there’s an old press in ur dad’s basement he’d never suspect anything

and theyre both so excited and theyre gonna DO this, FINALLY, and janus sees hope on roman’s face again, maybe permanently this time, and janus just leans in and kisses him.

its very sweet and cute and theyre in LOVE

they pull back and kinda stand there awkwardly for a few seconds before both of them start grinning

and they both know its fragile, that they’ve hurt each other and trust was cracked, but it wasn’t broken completely, and they can fix this. they believe in each other and that’s enough for now.

and then they go find virgil at his house

roman knocks on the door and virgil opens it and just. glares at roman. and roman starts rambling apologies and explanations and tries to tell virgil about their plan and did he mention he’s sorry

virgil kinda just stares at him as he goes on and on and the only thing that stops him is patton running out and launching himself at roman

then logan appears behind virgil, and virgil kinda just smiles

“glad to have u back. again.”

and then they go sneak into pulitzer’s basement and print the article with jan’s writing and ro’s drawings and remus’ descriptions and the other newsies go spread the papers ALL around the city

the next morning EVERYONE is out on strike!!! u cant get ANYWHERE without seeing ppl, newsies or otherwise, filling the streets with chants of “seize the day”

roman, with the Bro Trio and Janus trailing close behind, waltzs on in to pulitzer’s office and flings the money pulitzer gave him back on the desk and is like whatcha gonna do NOW, joe??

pulitzer angrily tells them he’s a fool for going back on their deal and logan steps in sayin pulitzer is a fool for letting this get so out of hand over a 10 cent price increase. his sales are down 70%!! objectively the price increase was like the worst business decision ever

virgil’s like plus it’s making u look bad that ur business is the reason most of these kids are suffering. people really love kids, mr pulitzer and patton smiles brightly but in like a menacing way

then emile walks in with a ~dazzling smile~ and is like ur son told me about this whole situation, it’d be a shame if i contacted my good friend governor roosevelt who won’t be as kind as these brave newsies since u tried so hard to stop him from being elected :)

((in the show roosevelt is actually there but i want emile to have a moment to SHINE))

so pulitzer’s like FINE and talks to roman alone and roman wears him down, throwing words from janus, virgil, and pulitzer himself right in pulitzer’s face until FINALLY they have a deal. he’ll lower the prices by half AND pulitzer will buy back whatever they don’t sell full price

roman bursts out of the office into the streets where all the newsies are waiting and is like WE WONNN

and since they published all that stuff about the refuge in the paper, the guy who runs it is being arrested and REMUS IS FREE

the twins hug for like a full two minutes

then pulitzer offers roman a job as a political cartoonist and roman’s like. well idk now that this is over i should probably...head out

bc lowkey he’s thinking virgil still doesn’t wanna see roman ever again and he did say he would leave, so

but then virgil’s like come on, ro, you don’t really think we want u to leave, do u? what’s santa fe got that new york aint? tarantulas? sandstorms? stampedes? you can’t go to santa fe what if you DIE—

and logan says new york’s got us!

patton: and we’re family, right?

then janus is like you got a union to lead! and...you got me.

and remus is like bro, anyone can dream, all you do is close ur eyes! but some made up world is all you’ll ever see. (bc he’s the wordsy one, u see. he helps roman have the poetic realization that his santa fe isn’t real, but this IS)

so roman says well if u guys INSIST.....and then he takes jan’s hand and kinda asks w his eyes and then kisses jan in front of all the newsies who proceed to cheer obnoxiously

when they break apart roman leads janus by the hand over to the paper-buying-cart and slaps some couns down on the table and BUYS SOME PAPERS BC THEYRE NEWSIES BABEY

and everyone lived happily ever after🥰

[iadorayou-blog]

Hide - Chapter 3

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Today in class Lance brought all his makeup to practice turning me into a repulsive zombie before we have to present tomorrow. Pidge and Hunk are finishing up the research part of our presentation. When I walk in Lance already had his makeup spread across our desks and our chairs facing each other so he can put makeup all over me. He was looking straight at me while he gestured to my seat with an open hand as if he were some sort of fancy usher showing me to my reserved seat. I quickly sat down and waited for him to speak.

“Okay, Keith, I wanna get started as soon as I can because, to be honest, I don’t know how long it will take me to finish. You look good today, well rested.” He took out a pale color and a makeup sponge and started to apply it all over my face.

I laughed, “Actually, no I wish, I spent most of my night - um overthinking things.”

“Really, what about?” The way he applies makeup is almost soothing, gently patting a thick, smooth, room temperature cream over my face. However the question made me panic, I didn’t know how to answer I couldn’t just tell him that I was thinking about him, I’m not a person who can lie so I had to find a way to half answer his question.

“Just life, I’m trying to be more social this year well, Allura is making me but she’s right I do need to have friends in my year. Her and Shiro have been the only people I’ve been comfortable talking to for years so it’s kinda hard to not hyper-analyze every interaction I've had recently. Mostly wondering if people actually like me or if they’re just being nice.” I responded.

“ Did Allura have you talk to m- us. Did she make you talk to Hunk, Pidge, and I?” He sounded a bit hurt.

“No, well yes and no. She knew we had all been in the same class for years and that I thought you were cool. So really she just forced me to do something I wanted to do because she knew I was too much of an antisocial baby to do on my own…” I messed up and said the singular you instead of a plural you guys or y’all. I hoped he didn’t pick up on that.

“Aww that’s cute, Keith, you thought I was cool?” He had been gently patting a grayish green color around my face to add depth if I hadn’t had so much makeup on he probably would have seen a bright red blush spread across my cheeks. Zombies don’t get flushed.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said as I crossed my arms and tried to feign ignorance.

“Wow, you are a terrible actor. It’s okay, I always thought you were cool and mysterious, I was always impressed with your strength. I remember once when nobody was paying attention during set change you started moving the ballroom stairs all by yourself, and yeah it was on wheels but it was also like the size of forty Keith’s so in summary I was in awe,” I was stunned into silence at Lance’s ramble, “of course I was with Nyma at the time so I had to pretend I wasn’t staring at your legs- did I just say that?” Lance had been rambling and I can only assume he forgot it was me that he was talking to.

“Uh, yeah you did say that,” I was really glad this stage makeup was thick and had green undertones. Without it, it would have been extremely obvious just how red I was turning.

“Keith, dude, I’m so sorry just pretend I never said anything…” he sounded upset as if that one statement was going to ruin everything.

I opened my eyes to reassure him that everything was fine and saw how close he was. That entire time I had kept my eyes closed. Suddenly I was utterly aware of how intimate getting your makeup done is. Lance’s arm had been resting on the back of my chair just above my shoulder. He had been leaning over me so close that his face had been about six inches from mine. There we were basically having a staring competition because both of us hadn’t realized how close we actually were until that exact moment. “I mean it’s not like I’ve never stared at your legs before…” I said slowly not fully realizing what I was saying until it was said.

“You two are the biggest gay disasters I’ve ever met!” Pidge suddenly interrupted. Lance swiftly stood up he was both blushing and nervously scratching the back of his head.

“Well, I’m about done so is now a bad time to say that I don’t see my makeup wipes?” Lance fake laughed sort of sounding like he thought I was going to kill him.

“Jesus Christ, does it at least look good?” I’d be more upset if he hadn’t sounded so remorseful.

“I’d say we’ll get an A,” Hunk started, “like if I saw you like that out on the street I’d definitely run in the opposite direction.

“Let’s take some pictures and then we can go to the bathroom and remove all that makeup!” Lance exclaimed. He took out his phone and snapped a variety of pictures some with the flash and some without. “Okay let's go.”

“Slav, Lance forgot his makeup wipes we’re gonna go to the bathroom to clean up!” I shouted and walked out knowing I didn’t need a response. He doesn’t care about things like that.

“Keith, I’m sorry again about forgetting my makeup wipes. I can’t believe of all the things I forgot that. I promise I’ll bring them tomorrow.” Lance apologized again, guilt in his voice.

“Lance, it’s totally alright, you just have to help me get all of this off,” I told him, trying to sound sweet.

“I can do that.” His confidence was restored. He held the bathroom door open for me, “This isn’t going be feel great because we don’t have an actual rag we just have the rough paper towels, soap, and water.” Lance started wetting a paper towel and gently dragged it across my face. There was a silence between, us not an uncomfortable one, but it seemed like there was something the both of us wanted to say. He was the first one to speak up, “Has anyone ever told you how soft your skin is?”

“Only Allura, she’s the only one who’s ever been close enough to me that her touching my face wouldn’t be weird,” I replied honestly.

“Is it weird that I’m touching your face?” I couldn’t read his emotions during his question. It seemed like he was testing the waters, gauging how I would react.

“No, while I don’t know why you’re holding my face right now, it’s undeniably nice.” My mouth had started to speak before I can even process my own thoughts.

“I don’t know why I’m doing it either.” He immediately started cleaning my face off again, “It’s actually coming off easier than expected which is good.”

“That is good because we have a minute until class ends,” I stated.

“Shit, okay, this might hurt a bit I’m sorry!” He was being a lot less gentle with my skin, but in his defense, we didn’t have much time for him to be slow and gentle. “Okay, I think your face is all clean.”

I turned to look in the mirror to mess with my hair and I saw he was staring right at me with a huge grin spread across his face. “Yeah, it looks like you got it all thanks, Lance. Why don’t we head back?” Lance and I rushed back and started gathering up our things.

“Hey Hunk, Pidge, did y’all finish the presentation?” Lance asked them.

“Of course we did, how dare you underestimate us? We are like the smartest people in here.” Pidge responded sassily.

“No, I just wanted to make sure! I would never underestimate you. Not are you just the smartest people in here, Pidge, you are the smartest person I know. You gave me the answer I expected.” Lance said matter-of-factly.

School ends and I am meeting Allura at her car. “Allura, I am in love with this boy. You don’t understand, I’m dying.”

“How can you already be in love with Lance?” Allura questioned.

“He’s the sweetest, funniest, most handsome guy ever! Today he talked about how he admired me before we talked and he like touched my face and I have no idea how any of this happened, but I feel like I deserve cosmic brownies for a month.” I rambled as we got into the car.

“What do you mean he touched your face like that’s so vague and confusing?”

“While he was cleaning the zombie makeup off my face he just like held my face and told me I have soft skin. He also asked if it was weird that he was touching my face, and I was like no it feels nice but I don’t know why you're doing it.” It felt great to finally freak out about that situation to someone. I had to pretend that wasn’t playing on repeat in my head all day.

“So you’re going to make a move on Lance at the party?” She asked.

“I’ve come too far to back down now. It would be weird if I just randomly stopped talking to him. Plus I’d miss talking to him he’s really interesting.” I told her.

“Well, that settles it, when we get home we have to pick out our outfits for the party. We need to make Lance not be able to take his eyes off you.” She sounded super determined.

“Sounds like a plan. Did I tell you he said he stares at my legs?” I asked excitedly.

“No, but now I’ve decided you’re going to wear shorts.”

“Allura, you are an evil genius.”

Allura and I got home and scurried off to our rooms to grab clothing items that might work. The first thing I looked for is a pair of shorts, bright red, high waisted, pleated, almost school uniform type shorts. They reach just past my fingertips and are sort of loose around my thighs. These are the shorts I wear when I want to be noticed, so this is the first time I'll be wearing them besides when I tried them on at the store. Next, I grabbed my favorite pair of fishnets, they have bigger spaces in the netting to show off more skin. Then I looked for a plain shirt, I thought that white would look best so I chose my favorite white T-shirt. It's like a nicer version of any old regular undershirt. The fabric is softer and less stiff it moves and flows easily. Lastly, I grabbed my vintage 80’s denim jacket, it is oversized, light-washed and adds flair to any outfit. I already knew I would be wearing my shiny black doc martins, they're the nicest looking shoes I own and work with the rest of the outfit perfectly. After I grabbed everything I headed over to Allura's room where she sat waiting for me on the bed surrounded in a million different outfit options.

“Alright, Keith let's see what you got.” She said while still sitting on her bed. I slowly handed her each item of clothing and watched as she analyzed each one.

“Also with my doc martin’s I just didn't feel like grabbing them. So, what do you think?” I already knew that this was going to be the perfect outfit to keep Lance’s eyes fixed on me, but I always ask for Allura's opinion. She usually suggests an additional item or switches something making an outfit I never would have thought of.

“Do you know what would go well with this?” she started, “some long necklaces, hold on I have just the thing.” she ran to her bathroom because that's where she keeps all her jewelry. She came back into the room with a long gold necklace with a rose quartz pendant hanging from it. She was right it does go well with the rest of the outfit.

We spent about twenty minutes going through Allura’s outfit options, she is a lot more indecisive than I am about picking the perfect outfit. I have always chosen what was comfortable and sensible. She eventually settled on a pale pink right t-shirt dress with a pair of maroon lace-up knee-high boots. With our outfits picked out we were party ready well, Allura was ready, I however still needed to get better at flirting. Talking with Lance had become easier from spending so much class time with him, but at the party, I had to make my intentions known. My goal had been set I have to directly flirt on Lance.

[piratesandexplorers]

I’m quite enjoying these self-indulgent rambles about my childhood faves, so here’s another. The other day I talked about Nancy and Peggy Blackett. Today I’m going to attempt some thoughts on John and Susan, since I don’t think I stand a chance of getting all the Walkers into one post. 

So here you are: The Captain and Mate of the Swallow.

 I’ve always loved John and Susan, even though I can understand the people who find them boring. I think it’s refreshing to see characters like them represented in kids’ fiction. You might say John’s too serious, or even that Susan’s plain unrealistic for a child (I’ll talk about that in a bit), but in what other children’s book do you see such a range of different children with different skills and qualities, all celebrated for what they can do and the important role they play? I was never a Susan - I didn’t have her skills or any motivation to learn them, and I was much too disorganised. But I could understand her worries, and John’s too. I was also naturally a rule-keeper, not a rule breaker. I cared about what my parents would say, what strangers might think, and I noticed risks and worried about them. I wanted to do the right thing, and John and Susan are all about that. So in those ways, I always identified with them a bit. And I also loved their relationship with each other, because it’s based on kindness and mutual respect, and that only increases throughout the books.

The truth is, yes, John is a bit too serious. He is, especially in the early books, a bit inward-looking; he takes himself very seriously and puts a lot of weight and importance on his own actions and how people see him. But that’s not very unusual in a kid his age, especially (I think) in a kid who’s the oldest in a large family, and who has a father who is someone important. And of course, the fact that Ted Walker is away most of the time plays into that too. In his absence, Ted’s built up into almost a hero figure for John. It helps that when he is around, he seems to be a great dad who takes an interest and a pride in his children, who loves them (and their mother) and shows it. So it’s natural enough that John would want to follow him, to become someone like that too.

One thing John never wants to do is let his parents down, and when he thinks he has done that, he beats himself up endlessly about it. Susan is the same, but their subtly different roles in the family mean that that’s one thing Susan worries less about than John does. Susan is responsible for providing regular meals and making sure everyone goes to bed on time and nobody hangs around in wet clothes and gets ill. She’s good at that, she knows she’s good at it, and generally she can still do it even under less-than-ideal circumstances, so she can rely on herself without worrying. John, though, is the one who ultimately makes decisions for the four of them. When Susan freaks out, it’s usually because someone’s actual safety is at risk, but John is at his most unhappy when he feels that he, personally, has failed at something. Partly it’s his need to succeed, and partly it’s his need not to let his parents down, but really you can’t separate those two things for John. Success is making his family proud, and being as much like his father as possible.

I don’t think we see that lessening at all in John, and I think it’s probably going to be a motivating factor for him all his life. What we do see is a growing confidence; the more he does to prove himself, the less he needs to prove himself. In the early books, we see him make mistakes, mostly due to stubbornness and pride. And yes, there’s an element of competitiveness with the Amazons, but really the only person John’s competing against is himself. The amount of growing up the kids do within the books is subtly drawn, without many references to their actual ages or outside milestones, but for John the main thing I see is that he goes from someone whose decisions are frequently misguided (although well-meaning), to being the one who usually makes the right call, and has the skills to follow through on that call.

But what I always come back to with John is that he’s just a thoroughly nice person, and again, that’s an often underrated characteristic in fiction. One of the things I’m most wary of about the recent film is how they seem to have butchered his personality. John Walker is polite and respectful. He may idolise his father, but he also loves, admires and trusts his mother. He’s kind to his younger siblings, enjoys their company and takes care of their wellbeing. On no occasion does he show any signs of seeing girls as anything but his absolute equals, or have any thought that they should be anything other than equal (a common trait in Arthur Ransome’s children, I have to add). He acknowledges when other people are more skilled or knowledgeable in a particular area than him, and is happy to defer to them, even if they’re younger than him. Sometimes he even does that when they’re not necessarily more qualified to take the lead than him, simply because it’s the respectful thing to do under the circumstances, for example in his attitude to Peggy in Winter Holiday. I have no doubt at all that John will get where he wants to go, and that he’ll be the kind of naval officer that all naval officers should be.

For all I love her, I’ve found Susan one of the hardest to pin down in words. There are all the obvious things to say – Susan is the rock of her family. She’s the mother hen of the group (the Mum Friend if we were talking about modern kids), she’s the rule-keeper, the sensible, responsible one, the one the adults trust. And (maybe more surprisingly), she likes that role. Those aren’t skills and characteristics she’s needed to develop – she has two loving, dependable parents and a comfortable, well-off life; there’s no necessity for her to look after anyone. It’s just who she is.

It’s easy to see why she might be labelled as boring or even unbelievable as a child character. There’s an argument to be made that Ransome created Susan as a plot device, as the only way such young children could actually be capable of living alone on an island. Supporting that, she’s also the character who shows the least obvious growth and development (because she’s the most grown up to start with). But even if that’s part of the reason he wrote her the way he did, I don’t think that’s all she is, and I don’t think that’s all Ransome saw her as.

Susan is in many ways also the emotional touchstone of the stories. She’s probably the one we see the most raw emotion from – examples include big moments like her complete terror in We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea, and small ones, such as the expression Titty catches on Susan’s face when Mrs Tyson believes they started the fire in Pigeon Post. Susan behaves like an adult, and she also feels emotion in quite an adult way. She can’t live in the moment – she’s constantly thinking of all the risks and possible outcomes. And while most children have difficulty imagining a hypothetical situation with any real emotional depth and connection to it, Susan doesn’t – she feels a very adult horror associated with things that haven’t actually happened. The others, particularly Nancy and John (unsurprising, as they’re the oldest) show signs of that too now and again, but unlike them, Susan can’t brush it off or put it behind her easily.

Part of Susan’s realness lies in the contradictions in her character. She somehow manages to tread a line between being very decisive (and somewhat immovable in her decisions) and being an overthinker and a worrier. But Susan’s worries are less about herself and her own capabilities, and much more about outside circumstances and situations. She’s pretty confident in her own judgement, and because she’s capable of doing very quick thinking and seeing all possible outcomes in a short space of time, her judgements are usually good and sensible. The times when Susan comes apart are when there is no obvious right judgement – when she cannot take over and make everything right, because circumstances are outside her control. Those are Susan’s worst fears coming true.

As I say, she’s someone who’s hampered not by any lack of confidence in herself, but by her ability to see worst-case scenarios. It makes her over-cautious, scared of risk, and at times lacking in understanding of people who either can’t see the same thing, or are able to see it but continue anyway. Her preoccupation is with keeping everything safe, ordered and comfortable (with the emphasis on safe), and that blinkers her sometimes into seeing the world only from her own particular perspective. She struggles to see that there might be times that risk is justifiable, and she also struggles with the whole idea of imagination that’s so central to the series. Unlike the others, Susan doesn’t find much comfort in flights of fantasy, because if Susan lets her imagination go, it shows her all these unpleasant and nerve-wracking possibilities. She much prefers to stay within the safety of her own perimeters, the ones she’s carefully created and maintained herself, and she can get irritated when people try to drag her out of them.

Susan’s development as a character is less noticeable than some of the others, because a lot of it is about growing into herself. The ways she thinks and acts aren’t as unusual in someone in their mid-teens as they are in a ten-year-old. But she also gains a more developed sense of perspective, and a more nuanced view of the world. Her gifts (and they really are gifts) are the things that enable all their adventures, and I think Susan learns to see that, and therefore begins to find ways for them to enable her personally, instead of limiting her.

But I think that one of the most important things in Susan is that she learns to see the value in other people and their differing skills, priorities and views on the world. I can’t imagine the Susan of Secret Water being nearly as dismissive of Titty’s imagination (or dismissing things Titty claims to have seen and heard as only imagination) as the Susan of Swallows and Amazons is. Her relationship with Bridget is another lovely example of Susan growing kinder and more tolerant. And that’s going to be very important to Susan in developing adult relationships, because at some point (and I don’t think she’s quite got there even by the end of the series), she’s going to have to learn how to depend on other people, not just be the one everyone depends on.