#Childe Harold Wills

[dispactke]

Model-T 1908 advertisement, design, and 1910 photo, designed by Childe Harold Wills, and Hungarian immigrants Joseph A. Galamb (main engineer), and Eugene Farkas.

[arolesbianism]

Y'know I know I've said like a billion times I don't want to know shit abt Jackie's past but erm. Hi klei. Please just tell me if Josephine and Alan are her parents or some miscellaneous relative this is so important. Did Jackie seriously come from a household with a colonel and another person with a doctorate or does she just happen to be related to them this is so important for how I decide to move forward with my Jackie hcs and with my aus in general I need to know so bad tell me right fucking now

[gancegancerevo]

Rides to Lake Silberneherze Thoughts

It was great. The second major visit to Kjerag sees us return three years after the previous event to see how the nation has built itself up after the Saintess reforms the political system of Kjerag and accepts the Silverash clan’s plans to open the country to outsiders.

Degenbrecher is the main selling point of the event in my opinion and damn did they work hard to make her appealing. She’s not only very strong, very skilled, very pretty, and a lot less long-winded than the other politicians, she’s also got her own story. It’s quite beautiful to see someone immigrate to a new country and have it just be a story of finding a home you can settle with. She’s the kind of character who’s physically strong enough to survive hardship. And in a sense, she is emotionally strong as she does not hold any grudges against her old nations. Probably in part because she’s beaten up the ones she needs to and let go of what she doesn’t need. She’s very much her own person and she herself has decided she wants to stay in Kjerag as one of its people. Makes you think about all the immigrants who makes their homes in new countries and how that experience is unique to them.

Leto was adorable in this event. The way she takes everybody she passes by and makes them her friends is hilarious and wonderful. It’s also great that they made her a competent field operator. She was able to sense and threaten a Trillby Asher all by herself even if that went awry. She also knew when to call up her superiors when she needed help.

One of the best parts about her arc here is how they turn the classic father-daughter reunion on its head. Because for one, Tatyova, her mother, is alive and well. And seems to be perfectly capable of continuing to care for Leto. Leto ultimately doesn’t care about her father, as she should. Arctosz’s decision to make his family leave for political safety makes it obvious that he knows nothing about the wider world. His privileged upbringing means he has no idea about how others would treat a single mother and what it means for a child to grow up without a father. The thing that really brings it into perspective for me is the attack on Chernobog. If you don’t know how bad it was, read the Ursus Student Group side stories. It makes every excuse Arctosz make seem extra moronic. This story takes the “looking for a long lost father�� trope and makes it an ode to all the mothers who had to deal with single-parenthood themselves.

Harold is quite interesting. He’s your classic bumbling high-spirited old man except he’s also a Victorian military officer. Like Degenbrecher, he’s someone who also adjusts well to Kjerag life finding work as a veterinarian and doing old man things. In spite of this, he remains loyal to Victoria and when told that he would need to attack the people he’s lived with for months, he ultimately sides with his country. This is an interesting contrast to bring in this story. About how some people would throw away their old countries while others would remain loyal. Though overall, he was just fun to watch. Especially when paired with Leto or others who humor him.

By far my favorite part of visiting Kjerag is seeing the Saintess and Enya and Kjarr do not disappoint.

Before I gush about yuri though, I should say I love how Enya, and especially her relationship with  Enciodes has evolved. She’s much more active in the goings-on of the nation and is willing to use the Saintess as a state official rather than just a ceremonial position. She and Enciodes managed to separate their personal lives from their work in nation-building and it’s so interesting to see it play out. Enya inserting herself when Enciodes tries to avoid more direct interactions. The whole banquet scene with Harold. It was great especially when they both admit that the Head of the Silverash clan and the Saintess have a similar vision and plan for Kjerag’s development and both go silent when others ask about the relationship between Enya and Enciodes Silverash as siblings.

Enya and Kjarr have to be the most wife and wife coded characters I’ve seen in Arknights so far. Like a pair well into their golden years, they have a mutual respect and trust of one another while still disagreeing on some issues. There’s also that sense of both of them playing an active role in the relationship rather than the usual one stays at home and one works sort of dynamic. I especially like when Kjarr is like “babe, are you sure I shouldn’t use my god powers?” and Enya keeps insisting that they can’t rely on god to fix things for them. And of course the eternal pestering of Kjarr for a statue adjustment. If she can’t ask Enya for it, she’ll let Degenbrecher and the Trillby Asher do it. I always love Enya and Kjarr and this has cemented my favorite Kjerag dynamic even more.

Lastly, I really appreciate the way they included the Doctor this time. It’s not the take control of a situation you’ve only been aware of for a few hours. Instead, they made reasonable assumptions about what others are plotting and taking a few small steps to push pieces into the best place possible. Kinda like how they can’t rely on Kjeragandr, they also can’t rely on the Doctor of Rhodes but that doesn’t mean either of them can’t do one small move themselves.

P.S. What do you mean Kjerag has a battleship under Lake Silberneherze. Though it might be more shocking that Enciodes expressed approval of Sciurus before Ratatos did AND that Ratatos liked Sciurus naming the battleship Walnut to mess with her kids.

[land-of-evergreens-and-dye]

Ok so I know I reblogged @morganbritton132 post about steve not being an only child but the youngest of like a really big family and I added my 2 bits to that post, but now I need to get this out of my brain now or it will explode. The ages are how old they are by season 4 I hope I did the math right and it makes sense. Im also hopped up on 2 midols so hopfully this makes sense.

Steve who has 7 older siblings this including 2 sets of twins. His father started his first family young after getting his high school sweetheart pregnant and was forced to marry her at 17. Thankfully his side of the family was already loaded, so his Richard's father just had him work for him and provided a cushy life that provided nannies to raise his children so he didn't have to.

He has Rebecca (38) the oldest a stay at home mom with 3 kids and a divorce from her deadbeat, useless husband.

Oliver and Penny (36) the first set of twins. Oliver has 1 kid and works as a principal and is happily married. Penny never married but lives with her "roomate" of like 15 years she's a photographer who's opened many art galleries.

Peter (35) he's a lawyer and the most like their father. Stern and doesn’t believe in handouts that a man has to work for what he gets, despite being handed everything on a silver platter his whole life. Also never been married but enjoys his secretaries a little too much.

Harold or Harry (30) as he likes to be referred to is a firefighter. He keeps to himself and honestly gets overshadowed by his other siblings' achievements. He is the most like Steve personality wise and had always liked Steve as a kid, but shunned him just so he wouldn’t get the same treatment from his full siblings.

And finally the youngest and final set of twins Olivia and Cecelia (27) identical twins who look exactly like their mother. Olivia is a professional ballerina she travels a lot for work going from theater to theater never staying in one place for long. Cecelia on the other hand is a pediatric doctor who takes her work very seriously and is one of the harder siblings to get ahold of.

Richard ends up knocking up his 20 something yearold secretary when he was in his early 50's and decides to leave his wife and kids for her. Despite how successful his 7 previous kids are, they still do not meet his high standards and thought he could do better somehow. He makes the same mistakes, though, since his new wife is paranoid that he'll cheat on her when she's not with him. Poor steve is left with nannies until he's able to properly dial 911 all by himself.

No one in Hawkins has ever met steves older siblings since Richard's first wife won the house in the divorce so he moved his new family to his old grandparents house that was willed to him after their passing. And so poor Steve grew up alone in that big empty house despised by his older siblings he never gets to see. Their mother won full custody over them the only time he got to see them was from the ages 1-7 when their dad would actually hold christmas parties at his house to show off his children and claim their accomplishments as being due to his influence. During these parties his siblings would stay for a week or 2, and Steve was never included with their activities, as he was deemed both the reason their dad left and an annoying youngest brother.

Once Steve turned 7 and the yougest of his older siblings were now 13 they no longer wanted to be around him or their father so they just stopped coming and Steve was the sole bearer of their father's high expectations. While his older siblings had each other to rely on or to share the load. Steve was all alone and was crumbling under the pressure fast.

He befriends the wrong friends and falls into the popular crowd trying to please his father, who was never around. His new friends and ability to play sports pleases the old man for a little while, but his subpar grades really canceled out any sort of positive attention he thought he could possibly receive.

Then season 1 happens, and Steve discovers just how alone he is in the world. No one can get ahold of his parents who are out of the country again and not 1 of his 7 siblings even called him back when he left a meassage telling him that he was scared and alone and concussed. He understood the ones with kids probably couldn't do much they had to take care of their own families, but the other 5 were close enough to at least call him back. He made sure to keep tabs on them in case he ever needed to contact them. They were all close enough to at least care for his well-being, and they just plain didn’t.

Season 2 happens, and Steve's new and more real family starts to take shape. Steve had bever been an older brother, so the thrill of becoming an older brother like role model to these children he had semi adopted was quite the rush. Not to mention that Joyce Byers was a force to reccon with when she set her mind on making sure the lone teen in the group was well taken care of she made sure he was well taken care of. He finally had a family after wishing for something close to unconditional love his whole childhood, and he was finally getting that. He had family dinners with the Byers and Hendersons. He spent christams at different party members' houses throughout the day it was the best christmas he had ever had. He was loved and happy. Hopper wasn't 100% a father figure, but he was there more often than his own father, so he was already leagues better than his bio dad.

Unfortunately season 3 happens and Steve is met with the unfortunate pattern his life keeps taking. Where any good thing that happens to him, wether that be secret hangouts with Harry when they were kids or dinners with Hopper and El, must come to a usually lonley and painful end. Hopper is dead and Steve blaims himself, he loses the Byers +El, and he is once again ignored by his bio family while suffering a high grade concussion and side affects from the drugs still left in his system. Not 1 person from his family could come to the phone or call back. He doesn't even know why he bothers he's positive that he could die and no one would care or find out until his parents returned moths after the fact and found the house empty and covered in dust. And even then it would take a week of being mad about the state of the house before someone paid their condolences to his parents that they'd find out what happened to the youngest Harrington. Steve's convinced that they wouldn't even be sad for long. Why would they be sad about someone they hardly knew, he was just a background character in their lives if that. Not a thought spared to poor homewrecker Steve, probably served him right. But Steve does get a platonic soulmate in the form of one Robin Buckley who fits in perfectly with his found family and helps soothe the loss Steve feels in the Byers/Hoppers absences.

Season 4 happens, but they defeat Vecna. The plan works Eddie makes it. I'll bet a couple of pounds lighter and a few skin graftes later. But Eddie lives and is promptly handcuffed to the bed still being charged with the death of Chrissy and now Jason. And Steve can barely stand, but he will not sit around and let Eddie get pinned for this whole mess, not on his watch. He calls and calls and calls Peter until a full 2 days pass he finally picks up.

13 years and he finally picks up Steve is pleading and crying and bargaining, trying to get Peter to take Eddie's case. He promises never to contact him again if he would just help him this one time. That Steve will pay double no tripple what he charges for his services if it means he will help him. Peter hems and haws but finally agrees. And tells Steve that he only needs to pay the regular price. Steve finally sags into the hospital bed in the same room as Eddie, who is thankfully asleep in the bed next to him. He can finally relax knowing his family will be safe and happy, Peter has never lost a case yet.

The issue Steve was not prepared for was that apparently Harry had had enough of his family treating their youngest brother like nothing and after the most recent call from Hawkins general decided to go and collect his brothers and sisters to all go make sure their little brother was alive and fine. They had been talking about reconnecting with the youngest for a while now, but never really did anything about it, life got in the way and the yearly phone calls regarding their brother never seemed important enough in the grand scheme of things going on in their lives.

Well Harry had had enough and when he went to collect his siblings and finally got to Peter, Harry was absolutely furious to find out that after getting ahold of one of his family members. Family members who were supposed to love and care for him, their youngest sibling. All Pete did was charge the boy his usual going rates for his services. Didn't even ask if Steve was ok, he just agreed to the job nothing more, nothing less. Harry almost murded his brother right there with his 5 other siblings as witnesses. He wanted to cry for his baby brother, who he cut ties with so he didnt suffer the same fate, had no family to speak of and was alone in a hospital, again.

It took 3 days for Harry to force all of his siblings to Hawkins and into a cramped hospital room with 2 beds and a truck load of visitors for the the two occupants in it. Steve looked so confused when more than just Peter walked through the door. And at first the party thought they were more angry mob coming to finish Eddie off, but found they didn't recognize any of the faces. Except they did look familiar, but they couldn't put their fingers on why they looked familiar. Meanwhile, Steve's confusion just turns into a feeling of nothing. He's numb and not from the pain meds. No, he's numb because in his mind the only reason his siblings are here is because they think he has money. Peter must have told him about how desperate Steve was for his services and how much he was willing to pay. It's the only explanation he could come up with.

After like 10 minutes of silence as Steve's bio family stare at their little brother beaten to hell and bandged like a mummy from being demobat food, it's Erica who finally inform these stranges that they got the wrong room and to please leave. That seems to shock Steve's family into action as they all start talking over each other in response to Erica as well as critiquing the state Steve is in, the room is in, and the town is in. This starts a migraine in Steve's head almost immediately, and Robin clocks it almost just as quick. She demands quiet and gets it before asking the intruders who they are what they want.

Peter finally steps forward and introduces himself as both a Harrington and a lawyer who will be representing one Eddie Munson in his upcoming trial. All of the party's eyes land on Steve who just looks tired. But finally Steve introduces his siblings and with each new introduction he can see the hatred growing in his found familes eyes. Steve's embarrassed that they have to find out what a huge piece of nothing he is. He knew it was gonna happen at some point. After introductions are made none of the Harrington's are able to get a word out before Steve's found family decend onto his bio siblings for being the most absent and biggest piles of shit they have ever met. They defend Steve like it is their jobs and that steves siblings should be ashamed of themselves.

It's safe to say that the upcoming moths of healing, Eddies trial, and subsequent win are all very awkward and full of hate towards each other. Steve's bio family are convinced they did nothing wrong while the found family held tight to the belief that the bio family did everything wrong. And Steve has just accepted that from now on he will bear witness to Rebecca having full-blown arguments with Erica like that's a normal Tuesday for him.

This does result in a happy ending though with Steve gaining not just found family but also his bio family. It's a lot of work on both sides but in the end its totally worth it. Steve finally has the big happy family hes always wanted.

I personally think this would end in steddie and the whole family minus his parents would be at their wedding. And that Steve's bio siblings would have to also win over Wayne's approval. But that is totally up to you. Thank you for reading my midol fueled rant.

[deepdeanvsweston]

Trans Alex headcannons <3

- actually Daisy who gifts her her first dress, a silky blue number she wore for an exeat weekend one time thrown onto Alex's bed with a note that reads 'i didn't want it anyway'

- (Daisy is less than pleased when Alex comes in and gives her a huge hug)

- Alex learns to plait her hair from George, who of course just already knows how to do it

- following this, she orders in fancy hairstyle instructions from women's magazines, which Daisy and George pore over trying to work out how they do them

- she is of course also autistic, and stims by swishing her skirts round her legs

- Alex really likes the way heels look on her, only they hurt her when she wears them and this makes her cry because she WANTS to wear them > Hazel stops wearing heels in solidarity

- George is a little bit more excited than he'd be willing to admit at the opportunities that half the Junior Pinkertons being a girl now presents

- she used to dislike dancing as she felt she was too lanky and awkward, but LOVES it now as she's the one being led around the dancefloor and can twirl her legs and skirts as much as she pleases

- Alex and George are embarrassed that they had to ask Hazel how to put on a bra >

"No, Alex, I think women clip it up at the back..."

"How? Surely there's an easier way..."

- she eventually comes out to Harold (he is like a brother to her at this point) and Alex can't tell if he's truly ok with it or not until he asks her to dance at some party, him leading > she glows with joy all evening

- hates mirrors but loves what she looks like in shop window reflections as if she moves quick enough she looks just like a Woman On Business

- hates tights and thinks they should die a fiery death

- now she's come out, Alex feels like she's 'allowed' to do and have all the things that were period-typically reserved for girls, so she starts to decorate her room differently, with embroidered flowers on her sheets and at least 2 music boxes

- (Alex likes that the teeny ballerina inside one of them looks like her)

- pyjamas make her really dysphoric, even if she's wearing her new Girl™ pyjamas, so she wears George's instead > partially because of comfort, but also because it relieves her dysphoric feelings as in her head it explains them away by it being someone else's clothes and not her thinking she just looks bad in her own

- you may have noticed she keeps her own name > just genuinely likes it, and also she couldn't get used to a different name

- Daisy starts calling her a shrimp because it's her 'first year' at being a girl

- just really loves skirts trust me when I say this

- Alex both despises and adores the beach > despises it because you wear a swimming costume and adores it because you wear a swimming costume

- (has a complicated relationship with swimming costumes as it's like the one thing she was most jealous she couldn't wear as a boy but also they give her major dysphoria)

- all Alex's toys as a child were girls, and made her brother pretend they were Nancy Drew and her friends on a case when they were younger > she of course played as Nancy Drew

- her favourite lipstick colour is pink, and she purposely tries to leave a lipstick mark on all her drinks glasses and mugs simply because it makes her happy to see

- idk I just love her so much

[northwest-by-a-train]

Zadie Smith's lack of any hill she's willing to stand on, much less die on, has made her a wonderfully blessed novelist. A very apt mimic of any particular coordinate of the political spectrum, a wicked satirist of modern bourgeois mores, a reader with an incredibly wide palette. Though she has gotten less adventurous as a writer as the years have gone on, she has gotten better at the craft, and she did build from a higher mastery than most.

That said, most of her energy, and in this she joins a great many writers coming from the urban working class of color, seems to be spent not being conflated. Conflated with other black female writers, conflated with protestors, conflated with critics of the establishment. Oh, she does criticize, empathize, recognize herself. But always prefacing it with layers upon layers of self-justification and differentiation. She, like her icon & model David Foster Wallace, feels the need to set herself apart from anything we could categorize her as in bad faith.

So she is a feminist, but worry not, she still loves Updike, Larkin and Pound. She is a utopian socialist but she has nothing in particular to say about the state of the world. She of course has an opinion on the current conflict in Palestine, but she won't tell because it's not important and it's "just words".

Of course you can read Larkin and Pound as a committed leftist feminist and think your personal opinion on world politics is irrelevant compared to what is going on in the world. My gripe is that someone with such high literary pretensions, such admiration for the gusto of free spirits both past & present (someone willing to go to bat for Kanye's trumpist phase in the name of poetry in the very same magazine where she so artfully defends at length that no statement from either student protesters or counter-protesters has value, nor hers) someone who spends so much of her time quoting moral philosophers and pondering the future of writing... That this someone has essentially given up on politics.

My gripe, my visceral annoyance at her, my point is that the "towering mind of her generation" has given up on politics except as background, coordinates to tack the nuance-lacking masses onto, but that great spirits transcend somehow. No wonder she loves Harold Bloom & James Wood. Or that she's a child of Blair's cool Brittania. As a public intellectual, there is no duty to say anything meaningful, or whereof one cannot speak, to remain silent. If your thesis is that you have none and the dead are more important, why spend 4000 words talking about yourself, and how above it all you are and how ineffectual anyone writing about it is, and how you're the only one smart enough to have the dignity of recognizing it ? Why not make form fit content, as you have so often done ? Why not attack specific words, specific utterances that ignore the dead, instead of fighting strawmen ?

The truth is that Smith's outbursts of calling for dignity, reason, nuance, cooler heads are not anything new, not anything groundbreaking, nothing unprecedented, even by the great. You can hear echoes of it in Camus refusing to denounce colonialism because Algerians refuse to speak French. It is the cry of the moral esthete, for whom to side with the dubious, the inarticulate, the incoherent, the angry, all that is like poison to her. Oh, yes, she can defend Kanye's nonsensical racist, and already then antisemitic rants. But Kanye is an artist, "one of our best living poets". So are any writers of dubious politics, any convicted felon, any instance of sustained personal cruelty worth defending against the mob. Their sensibility just hasn't been expanded far enough, they just don't get it. The mob hasn't created anything worthwhile. The mob is childish, does not know the right words, does not rise up to the occasion like it should.

The truth is that Zadie Smith stands for something. If she really believed in the dead, or in utopian socialism, or in responsible public intellectuals, she would have written differently. She stands for transcendence. Her right to be in the world without anyone being able to make moral pronouncements on her, her work, the work of others. She stands for a plane above this world that matters to this world in ways she finds complex and delicate. She stands for herself being judged only on, and from, this plane.

Thankfully, like a child in a playground that insists the game she devised is very good and we should all follow the rules, and really she is a skillful player and we will all have fun with once we simply follow the rules, we are all free to ignore her.

We are free to live in the real world and make real moral decisions, getting our hands and our consciences dirty, yes, but also stand by real human beings. Beings whose freedoms to play pretend, to read and write, to transcend, is hampered by real people who do not care for the right words or the correct moral stance. We are free to fight for a liberated Palestine though we may be partisan, simplistic, quick to anger and inarticulate.

[kit-williams]

Established Love

Male Lead: Castle Universe/AU: Warhammer 40k/Space Marine Husbandry Canon Status: ???

NOTE: This is Platonic love/found family love/just platonic love if it comes off as anything other than that... this is me (a smut writer) trying to write something platonic (its like an NSFW artist drawing SFW)

NOTE 2: IM SORRY IF THIS IS HURT COMFORT

Castle knew no fear. Fear was an alien concept to Castle. But he knew what it means to love. Alone and uncertain was when he met Susan... and that bond that he felt with her... he loved her then. He loved her as he watched her grow from a child to a young woman. Castle would have loved her even as others told her to separate herself from the strange space man as it was... unbecoming of a young woman to be so close to a man like himself. He would have loved her even if it caused him so much pain.

He loved her as she scolded him trying to leave... she loved him as she chased after him with tears in her eyes, having skipped her lessons and all other things she should be doing during the day to chase him down and yell at him. She poured out how much she really loved him as she told him that it was suppose to always be 'Castle & Susan' and it was always going to be the two of them.

And it was... and he loved her... he loved her as she found her Harold... he loved her as she gave birth to her children. He was slowly falling in love with her brood... the boys and the girls... and the way their personalities grew and shrank.

He loved their family as it grew as her children were having children... and eventually even they were having their own children. It grew and shrank and soon it was just Susan & Harold and Castle in a house... and eventually it once more became Susan & Castle. And eventually... it just became Castle.

He was ready to walk away from Susan's home... to return to his life... to heal from the pain that loving can cause... how funny it was that the more you love the stronger you feel and when it's ripped away... it leaves a gaping wound that even the most skilled apothecaries struggle to heal.

But that's when you and your brood came into his life again... and Castle could give love more of a chance... it came to him so easy to love you... to love your children... he was already so willing to love to ease the pain and hole that Susan left in his heart... but he would outlive you... and most likely your children... and that love and heartbreak would spider out across his form... healing and changing.

He felt like a stuffed animal that he sees children having... how they start all pristine and then time wears on... some of them get left behind... others get broken and torn... and then there are those that weather the storm of life... they are utterly changed by love. Their arm might have been stitched back on several times and some of the stuffing has lost its fluff... impromptu bath times... left out in the rain... and yet it endures.

And like that well loved toy he has been there for all the tears... the fevers... the fawning... the heartbreaks... the screaming and all the I hate you's mingled with the I love you's. But as Susan told him from her book...

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails... and for Castle... Love always endures it seems.

Fluffuary Tag List: @bispecsual @the-californicationist @egrets-not-regrets @libraryshadow @bleedingichorhearts @liar-anubiass-blog

[iluminaru]

random daily td headcanons:

《Will they be a good parents?》 edition with my favorite ships

Alejandro and Heather. In my opinion, they can be a pretty good parents, if they want to be ones. I don't think that they would have more than a 2 kids, since I'm sure that they totally not willing to put themselves through pregnancy and childbirth multiple times. Plus, even with an option of adoption, they probably don't want to have too many kids. In terms of parenting, no doubt that they won't raise their child the same way they were raised. Trying to be a "better parents ".

Courtney and Gwen. I think, they can be quite decent parents if they learn how to cooperate. I just can't help but think, that their parenting methods are so different and they often argue about this, leaving their child in confusion about how to behave.

LeShawna and Harold. This one is kinda hard. I guess, yes..? LeShawna already has a caring-but-strict mum energy and Harold totally would want to pass down their mad skills. But there also may be a similar to Heather and Alejandro situation, where they might not be willing to have a child. LeShawna might say "No, we won't do that". And what will Harold do? Argue with her? Yeah, nope. LeShawna is the head of the house. But overall, I guess they may be good parents.

Izzy and Eva. No. Total no. I don't think they would be able to take care of a pet fish, let alone a child.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

So I have this character.

He only exists within the realm of a roleplay between @redwingedwhump and I where poor Harold Nightley gets stolen away from the battlefield by a vampire intent on using him as bait to coerce Yves into giving up the secret of his seemingly endless immortality, and Harry ends up said vampire's, uh, let's say unwilling guest and prized possession.

So there's a servant in the house who befriends Harry, hesitantly at first and then with firm loyalty. A young man sold by his parents to vampires as a child, raised as a blood doll and eventually won by a different vampire in a card game, where he is quite happy to be a servant.

His name is Friedrich.

He ends up dying due to having helped Harry, murdered before Harry's eyes as a punishment, left to slowly bleed out from a gut wound with Harry forced to watch it happen.

Then he is turned into a vampire, brought to England in the middle of WWI, and discovers a whole countryside town more or less willing to just call him Freddy and fold him right into the community as though he always belonged there.

And I have been thinking about him all day. Finding a family in the midst of what he has been told is the Enemy, taught how to be a vampire without causing suffering, and going from having never gone beyond a few blocks in Berlin to wandering meadows and fields and befriending sheep.

[fraudulent-cheese]

opinions on sugar

hehe i loveeee her

probably the funniest part of Pahkitew for me, along with Max's EVILLLL schemes! She'll just say the most out of pocket weird shit and then move on it's great. She's super mischeavious and is just a menace all season. Amazing.

Her perspective is also so so interesting. Since she was raised in pageants she treats TD like one and it informs her relationships with most of the other contestants - her throaway line about Topher being a suck-up, being willing to bend the rules to get by and driving a wedge between her and Sky, hell her entire dynamic and relationship with Ella's driven by that!

She thinks Ella's full of shit and just manipulating people but no that's just how Ella is! But how would Sugar know? This is a competition. Why be nice and innocent and play by the rules if you're not just gonna use that goodwill to backstab your opponents into the dirt afterwards? It's kind of tragic they never did hit it off, Ella was really desperate to befriend Sugar and it just. Didn't work out. Sad.

Also i love how she's impressed by Leonard and finds Max incredibly endearing, it's awesome. She in awe of their tism fr

I didn't wanna end this post on a bad note, but i feel the need to mention that im a little uncomfortable with what she was based on. At least when other TD characters were based on things that weren't tropes they were fictional characters (you cannot tell me Harold and Heather weren't based on Napoleon Dynamite and Heathers/Mean Girls respectivaly, and MK's based on a character Aquafina played to my knowledge) or at least adult celebrities (i belive Anne Maria is one such case)

but. Sugar's based on Honey Boo Boo. Who was like 8 years old in 2014? And the show treats Sugar super awfully. It constantly treats her as unattractive, annoying, gross and untalented, and while i don't think making a character gross on it's own is a bad thing, coupling it with the previously mentionned traits and the fact she's fat... Just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It really feels like they're using this fictional teenage girl to mock a literal child. She deserved better from the show, but it's Total Drama. It was never gonna happen.

[fandom-nursery]

Viktor agere headcanons

Usually regresses around age 5-6

He doesn’t regress very often. When he was on the medication that blocked his powers his emotions felt dulled and it was difficult to be in a child's headspace. Now he’s doing a lot better than he used to be but still struggles to slip into his headspace 

Voluntary regressor. His regression is mostly a way for him to process some of his own childhood and a way to help mend his relationship with his other siblings 

He tries to be conscious of his emotional state before regressing. Due to the nature of his powers it can be dangerous for him to regress if he isn't doing particularly well. While he’s little there is always at least one person on viktor watch who step in to calm him down if he starts to get upset  

Occasionally nonverbal and prefers to sign or, if he’s feeling big enough, write to communicate 

He’s pretty shy and quiet when small as he is still slightly unsure of his place in the family but he is always very eager to be included in his siblings games

Social napper. He won’t nap on his own but the second one of his siblings gets tired and needs a nap he is out like a light alongside them

Not comfortable with bath time due to dysphoria and general negative memorie from that one bath with Harold before the first end of the world 

He loves to play with his siblings and is willing to go along with almost any game they choose. He will happily run around outside with Diego and Luther or play dress up with Allison and Klaus or read stories with five. He also likes to dance and listen to music 

His siblings have tried to make up for leaving him out of things by reinventing their old pastime of sneaking out to get donuts and because of that they have become one of Viktors favorite things. He also loves food that reminds him of the kind Sissy used to make 

He’s got a few stuffed animals along with one or two things that don’t actually belong to him but that his siblings have dubbed “his” while regressed 

He found a recording of Sissy’s favorite song and listening to it always calms him down if he’s getting upset 

Loves getting to have a boy childhood! He gets to wear boy clothes and play games with his brothers and be in their no girls allowed clubs! It’s very exciting for him 

All his siblings know about his regression. He hasn’t told Lila or any of the sparrow academy but he’s not really trying to hide it from them either 

He doesn’t technically have a caregiver. His regression is mostly something he does to get to have a second chance at his childhood with his siblings. The “being cared for by a parental figure” aspect isn't that important to him. He is perfectly happy being occasionally watched over by his siblings 

[saintsenara]

happy to do my part 😈

severus snape/cormac mclaggen

rubeus hagrid/regulus black

ernie prang/draco malfoy

hannah abbott/augusta longbottom

cornelius fudge/fenrir greyback

james potter/oliver wood

blaise zabini/arabella figg

thank you very much, anon - whichever random number generator you used for these is a real comrade, because they slap.

cormac mclaggen/severus snape

given that he one hundo pilfered that pound of doxy eggs from snape's private stores, and given that he therefore ended up in the mother of all detentions once he was released from the hospital wing, and given that his willingness to be publicly parred by hermione indicates a latent humiliation kink, i think the set-up for the fic is obvious...

regulus black/rubeus hagrid

yeah, go on. the striking thing about regulus in canon is that - in contrast to sirius, whose schooldays [as we glimpse them through harry] are defined by his relationship to james and his position as part of the group of marauders - regulus doesn't seem to have had any friends [whatever fanon may say]. this is, obviously, a mirror of hagrid's experience at school - as is the fact that dear old reg can be written fairly easily to have an interest in magical creatures, especially dangerous [and/or serpentine...] ones.

the meet-cute? having a gander at the thestrals, obvs.

draco malfoy/ernie prang

sanctioned and impoverished following the conclusion of the war, draco has to take the knight bus to london to attend his latest hearing. having never been on public transport before, he doesn't have a clue what's going on, but ernie is more than willing to show him the ropes...

hannah abbott/augusta longbottom

the standard cultural expectation is that #boymoms think that no woman could ever be good enough for their [grand]sons. not so with augusta. she's told hannah within seconds of meeting her that she's far too good for neville, and she intends to build her self-esteem up enough for her to realise this by showing her what she really deserves from a lover.

cornelius fudge/fenrir greyback

this is the first one on this list that i think you can make a case for as something other than a crack ship. it's clear in half-blood prince that voldemort has a direct line of communication with the minister's office, which he uses to issue threats and give warnings of atrocities [those of us who lived in certain parts of ireland during the 1990s having flashbacks here, i fear...]. it is also clear that greyback's role within voldemort's organisation prior to deathly hallows is to be hugely important when he's speaking to other werewolves and nothing more than a low-level thug, who does the dirty work the marked death eaters consider beneath them, when he's allowed near humans.

that dichotomy is also present in fudge's life as well. he's the minister for magic, which means he is the person who ends up taking the fall for the government's decisions, but he's also in thrall to the whims of people the wizarding elite evidently consider far more impressive: albus dumbledore and lucius malfoy.

i genuinely think you could do something with either one saying "i'm sick of malfoy speaking to me like i'm an idiot" and the other saying "same. and i've never met anyone else i can say that to".

get writing, lads.

james potter/oliver wood

nailing your child's sports coach is a trope for a reason.

arabella figg/blaise zabini

once again, i've seen harold and maude.

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

BETWEEN THE TEMPLES (2024)

Starring Jason Schwartzman, Carol Kane, Caroline Aaron, Robert Smigel, Madeline Weinstein, Matthew Shear, Dolly de Leon, Lindsay Burdge, Jason Grisell, Cindy Silver, John Magary, Annie Hamilton, Julia Walsh, Brittany Walsh, Diane Lanyi, Keith Poulson, Jason Grisell, Jaden Waldman, Simona Sickler, Pauline Chalamet, Stephen Lack and Jacob Morrell.

Screenplay by Nathan Silver & C. Mason Wells.

Directed by Nathan Silver.

Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. 111 minutes. Rated R.

Between the Temples is both wonderfully human and terribly uncomfortable all at the same time, which I guess is like life. I can’t quite decide if I liked it or was a bit freaked out by it, but that is like life, too.

The basic idea of Between the Temples is reminiscent of the classic 1970s black comedy Harold and Maude – although this film never quite reaches the dark depths that one takes on. Between the Temples in general has a lighter, slightly goofier vibe, although there are still several scenes which can still make the skin crawl, just a bit.

Jason Schwartzman is Ben, a cantor at a synagogue in upstate New York. However, his wife died in a sudden accident a year earlier and Ben has completely become unglued. He has moved back home with his two mothers (Caroline Aaron and Dolly De Leon). He has lost his voice, and his will to work, and even perhaps his faith and his will to live.

Early on, he lays down in the middle of a darkened road, willing a vehicle to come and run him down. When a truck stops in time not to crush him, the driver drops him off at a local bar. Ben is not a drinker, but he has a few chocolate mudslides until he gets wasted and picks a fight with one of the other guests.

After being flattened, he is helped up by Carla (Carol Kane), an older woman who Ben realizes had been his music teacher when he was a boy. Carla doesn’t recognize him, but she feels responsible for getting him home safely, not realizing the address on his license is his former home which he shared with his late wife.

As they get to know each other a bit, they recognize a kindred spirit in each other. Beyond the simple fact that both is getting over the death of a spouse, they both feel like outsiders, in their communities, in their families, even in their religion. (Carla was born Jewish but converted from the faith for her husband and family.) They also have a shared history – Carla does eventually remember young Ben when she sees a picture of him as a child – from a time when both had more hope in life.

Having been separated from her Jewish roots for so long, she decides that she wants to have a bat mitzvah – a ceremony which was withheld from her at 13 by her Russian communist parents. She feels that the ceremony will reconnect her with her religious roots. Cantor Ben is the tutor for students getting their bar/bat mitzvah, and Carla joins his class, although she is the only student there over 12 years old.

As they get to know each other, they become fast friends. And Ben, whose emotions have been tangled up in knots for most of a year, starts to develop feelings for her. But are those feelings romantic or simply misplaced companionship?

Things get even more complicated when his mothers – who are constantly attempting to set him up with a nice Jewish girl – connect him with the Rabbi’s daughter Gabby (Madeleine Weinstein), a sweet-if-slightly-neurotic woman who just happens to be the perfect likeness of Ben’s late wife. (Weinstein also plays the ex in periodic short flashbacks.)

This all leads to two of the most awkward scenes in recent cinema – a flirtation between Ben and Gabby at the local cemetery and perhaps the most passive-aggressive, antagonistic dinner party ever. Literally, the scenes do make you laugh, but only partially because they are funny, also partially from discomfort.

Schwartzman is terrific as the deadened and introverted Ben, but this film is really Kane’s triumph. She breezes in with her unmistakable voice and her practiced eccentricity and Between the Temples comes fully alive when she is on screen. It is rare that Kane gets such a significant role at this point in her career and that is a sin – she is a truly unique screen presence who should be used as often as possible.

Between the very specific and Jewish niche storyline and the general enhanced quirkiness and awkwardness of the action, I can’t see Between the Temples reaching any kind of mass audience. Still, it is the kind of movie that could probably inspire a rabid cult following. I hope it gets that chance.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: August 23, 2024.

[queenofmoonstonetarot]

CHOOSE A CARD ANGEL MESSAGE

If you can follow my instagram @queenofmoonstonetarot

Scroll down to see what card you got!

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Raphael: you are bogged down and every day issues and this is keeping you from discovering a greater sense of purpose in your life. Have you lost sight of what is really important? Perhaps you have lost touch with your child like qualities that keep life, exciting and fun. Remember a time when life was simpler, the world seems like a giant playground just waiting to be explored. Archangel Raphael is here to remind you that you are much more than your career work or study. When you leave this earth, you take nothing with you, but your soul. Achievements and worldly possessions will pile into insignificance as your soul journeys home to light.

The amethyst angel has appeared in your reading today to bless you and let you know that the turmoil you are currently experiencing will soon clear. Amethyst will help transform and transmute all that no longer serves you. You will soon be free of inner turmoil and conflict, free from the fear, frustration, and anger, which has adversely affected you in recent times. Be willing to surrender past and present issues. While your heart yearns for this transformation, there is a part of you that will instinctively resist change. Trust that you are protected and safe.

Lotus Rose: this card Harold’s a time of positive change that is about to unfold in your life, deep and profound changes. You may have been hurt or disappointed recently, however, the weeks to come will bring renewal as new friendships and opportunities blossom. These new opportunities and friendships will be deeply inspiring and rewarding. They are the result of the love and faith you have shown in the universe. You are so giving it’s finally time for you to receive. This card is a blessing from the universe.

[gpuzzle]

3 and 12 for book asks. And then a general "read any good naval stuff?" question.

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Fiction List

Mason & Dixon, by Thomas Pynchon

Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, by George Gordon Byron

In The Heart of the Heart of the Country, by William H. Gass

This Side of Paradise, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Non-Fiction List

The Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871, by Quintin Barry

Mastering the Art of Command, by Trent Hone

Nonstate Warfare, by Stephen Biddle

Bond of Union, by Gerard Koeppel

Empire of Liberty, by Gordon S. Wood

Honorable mentions include Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley, The Rebel League by Ed Willes, A History of the International Chemical Industry by Fred Aftalion, Tractor Wars by Neil Dahlstrom, Europe's Babylon by Michael Pye, and The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.

12. Any books that disappointed you?

Peter Frankopan's The Silk Road was very middling. It's an attempt at a less Eurocentric view of the world, which is nice, but it is dull and often wrong and missing parts altogether. There is something interesting there, but he just fumbles over himself.

Good Naval Books I Read:

Mastering the Art of Command which is about Chester Nimitz, Andrew Boyd's The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters - Lynchpin of Victory.

[ao3feed-winterhawk2-archive]

I can't tell

https://archiveofourown.org/works/51329248 by ivvic Clint Baron's dad has a secret that he is not willing to let get out. When young Clint stumbles on it he goes ballistic. Words: 1028, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Marvel Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Clint Barton, Harold Barton, James "Bucky" Barnes Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton Additional Tags: Canonical Child Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Childhood Trauma, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, flash fic friday, #FFF225, Secrets read it on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/51329248