#I realized that my favorite ships have a pattern

[paperglader]

“El desarme”– Alba Reche// Open me carefully– Emily Dickinson// Killing Eve (Episode 0308)// Critical Role (Campaign 3, Episode 38)// The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the genius young lady (Episode 0104).

[randomrandomalright]

It has come to my attention- that I like the happy, cheerful characters x sad, repressed characters… ships a lot

I love when a character sees the other one as their sun, their light, something that brings them happiness or peace.

[lookingforcactus]

Went to a big quilting convention today and am feeling inspired so here's todays edition of

What the fuck do you mean that's a quilt??

Most people have no idea about how much craft goes into quilting or how much quilting as a craft, art, and even a science has been evolving in recent years. So here's my personal appreciation post

And btw the flat images do NOT even do these quilts justice, especially in terms of the absolutely amazing and detailed texture embroidery that a lot of quilters are using these days. Up close the texture and the sheer detail of many of them is just stunning

These are all from the Road to California quilt show 2023

1st Place: Portrait

Title: Sharing the Moment Maker: Hollis Chatelain Quilter: Hollis Chatelain Design Basis: Maker's Original Design African-American women are a powerful force in motivating their families and communities to vote. I wanted to create a piece about this and highlight the fact that African-American women did not receive the right to vote in all 50 states until 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed. I met Phyllis at a rally. I was drawn to her and asked if she would be my model. Without hesitation she said yes. She later brought her friend Loretta with her.

1st Place: Naturescape

Title: Augustinii Maker: Andrea Brokenshire Quilter: Andrea Brokenshire Design Basis: Maker's Original Design “Augustinii” is a blue/purple variety of rhododendron my momma planted within her forest garden. I was lucky to be home on when it was in bloom. When I see this quilt, I am reminded of my momma and how she loves to tend her garden and “grub in the dirt.”

1st Place: Pictorial

Title: Leap of Faith Maker: Kestrel Michaud Quilter: Kestrel Michaud Design Basis: Original design In this Steampunk fantasy world, men and women have taken to the skies on ships held aloft by hot air, ingenuity, and luck. Faith’s favorite past-time is bungee-jumping off the side of her airship, with Bubo, her pet clockwork owl. This quilt depicts the photo Faith took on her latest jump to test her brand-new camera and selfie stick.

2nd Place: Naturescape

Title: Homage to Birches Bare Maker: Jessica Noble Quilter: Jessica Noble Design Basis: Fabric recreation of Kesler Woodward's Birches Bare, acrylic on I fell in love with Kesler Woodward’s Birches Bare painting and knew I had to create it in fabric. I cut about 1,700 pattern pieces out of freezer paper and then fused fabric, through the fall of 2019 until the pandemic started. During this time, I homeschooled my two children and the quilt sat in quarantine. I quilted this freehand on my midarm in the winter of 2021. I managed to take the majority of the summer of 2022 on the binding.

2nd Place: Pictorial

Title: Toroweap Overlook Maker: Sandra Mollon Quilter: Sandra Mollon Design Basis: Derived from a photo Toroweap Overlook, in the Grand Canyon National Park, is an incredible view of the Colorado River. When John Slot sent me the photo to consider for an art quilt, I realized the complexity of the amount of the pieces it would require, but knew I had to do it. Raw edge fused, machine quilted, small amounts of media.

3rd Place: Pictorial

Title: Catch it Yuri! Maker: Hiroko Miyama and Masanobu Miyama Quilter: Hiroko Miyama Design Basis: Maker's Original Design Inspired by dogs’ action. Yuri, golden retriever big jumped to catch a ball and Ponta, mix hardly waited his turn. Dogs and girl were fused appliquéd.

Seriously can you believe these are all quilts!!! incredible amazing showstopping spectacular

[instantdoodlez]

Jashtober days 1-20

Alright, it's a while later than I was hoping to post it, but here it is. Same deal as the warmups, moving my art and commentary over from Twitter, because that site sucks ass <3

Day 1: Single. Didn't realize it meant like.. a music single until the day of, so it's pretty basic. Got a Mr Jash Like ™️ though, so that was a strong start to the project.

Day 2, Astral. Space themed Soul drawing. Soul is the Stars in my hc (the way that Mind is the sun and Heart is the moon in canon), so I figured it would fit well enough.

Day 4, Light. Nothing to really say on this one. (skipped day 3 since it was a duplicate prompt, 'power hour')

Day 5, Angel. My best try at what the angel at the gates in Chonny's inferno looks like. Biblically accurate because it's just cooler. Meant to add a normal-ass clipboard in their hand for the funny, but I forgot.

Day 6, Forest. Dear god, the background on this one killed me. Took many layers and overuse of the blend tool. On another note Mr Jash liked the post on twitter and that, yet again, jumpscared me (This is a pattern /lh)

Day 7, Moss. The little mushrooms were my favorite part to do. Didn't know I would ever call fungi cute, but the little mushrooms were my favorite part to do. Proud of this one overall. And it got Jash liked as well, so! 🎉

Day 8, Tidal. Jesus, did all my ship of theseus drawings do relatively bad in the algorithm. Anyways, this one was based on the fifth ship of theseus. Very pretty color pallete, cool colors.

Day 9, Cruisin'. This one was posted late because I couldn't get the shading right and just left it for the next day. Looks much better now.

Day 11, 8-bit. Dug out my old pixilart account to make this one. (Skipped day 10 because "apathy, haha funny". Also to help stave off burnout)

Day 12, Haiku. Heart coming up with his magnum opus (that line from Haiku/lh). This one's background took forever. Many different layers.

Day 13, Encore. Drew The Announcer, everyone's favorite eldritch horror story narrator. Props to GW for making me actually like Monster Mash, I don't even mind the original one now. Mr Jash liked this one too, so that's nice :]

Day 14, Reflection. Whole with a scribbled out face… cool design, and pretty visually interesting. Happy with this one. It also got jash liked.

Day 15, Momento. Had a hard time drafting this one before I realized "oh.. momento.. like.. momento mori.. I am very dumb". Regardless, very happy with this one. It's probably my favorite out of all the jashtober drawings I've done.

Day 17, Theseus. Based on the first Ship of Theseus song, a drawing of the shipmaker. (Skipped day 16 because it was another repeat prompt, Hindsight)

Day 18, Sunset. Based on the lines "When I woke it was daylight, and the clouds were pink / The sun was coming up or going down, I think" from Drink to Death.

Day 19, Savages. The crowd sure does love an upset.

Day 20, Crowned. Mind. Wanted to add a nightlight in the shape of the sun but the composition got too crowded, so I compromised with the lamp chain.

And, that's it! All 17 prompts I've done so far. I'll continue posting the rest of the Jashtober prompts one by one on here. Have a good day/night, and thank you for reading this far if you have!

[discoursecatharsis]

I've noticed this pattern with antis in fandom where, in their attempt to distance themselves from anything and everything "problematic" in their fandoms, they refuse to acknowledge when they DO enjoy something problematic. Therefore, they don't recognize the problematic elements of the ship, character, media, etc. They'll also heavily downplay or deny any problematic. aspects of their favorite fandom thing.

I just saw an example of this and it is blowing my mind right now and I need to share this with y'all.

It involves the comments on this video.

Some context for Princess and the Frog: the blonde girl is Charlotte, also called Lottie. She's the main character Tiana's best friend. Charlotte's goal was always to marry a prince, and she almost marries (who she believes to be) Prince Naveen, but once she sees that Naveen and Tiana are in love, she tries to help them turn back human so they can be together.

At the end of the movie, Tiana and Naveen get married, and this scene plays after. Charlotte dances with Naveen's kid brother, and says "I've waited this long" in response to him saying that he's 6 and a half years old.

Now Charlotte's line here, if you look at the context clues of her story line, implies that she's saying "I've waited this long for a prince to marry, so I can wait longer for Naveen's younger brother to grow up." It's just a joke. Albeit, a joke that many will find to be very uncomfortable and inappropriate, but a joke nonetheless. I highly doubt Charlotte is actually going to "wait for" this child to grow up to marry him. She's making a joke at her expense, about her desperation of her dream to marry a prince.

BUT FOR SOME REASON.... many of the comments are like "she means that she's been waiting to DANCE with a prince."

I'm completely and utterly serious y'all. Here are some of the comments along those lines, with thousands of thumbs up each.

If you've seen this movie, you'll realize that these comments make absolutely no sense for more than one reason.

1) Charlotte danced with Prince Naveen (or at least with the villain disguised as him) earlier in the movie. She danced with a prince already. Why would that still be her dream if she already accomplished that?

2) Lottie speaks multiple times (during her childhood and in present day as a young adult) about her dream of "marrying a prince." Not dancing with a prince. Not meeting one. No, she wants to MARRY A PRINCE AND BE A PRINCESS.

This video has some clips of her saying this, at the time stamps 0:20, 2:52, 4:08, and 5:21.

Charlotte does give up her dream of marrying Naveen specifically for Tiana, because she see that he makes Tiana happy. But with how she jumps in like a wide receiver to catch the bouquet at Naveen and Tiana's wedding, it's clear she still has her dream of marrying *A* prince, just not Naveen.

But back to the comments on that video.

The comments seem to be downplaying the actual implication of her line. It's almost like they're desperately trying to ignore what she actually meant and make it more wholesome because they don't want to admit that their favorite movie has an uncomfy and inappropriate joke.

It's disturbing that this is yet another example where people in fandom (who are fantis or have been influenced by that fanti mindset) are downplaying a scene (or a ship, trope, etc) that is ACTUALLY problematic because they personally like the movie or the character and they don't want to admit that it has some issues. Instead of just admitting "yeah that scene/line was kinda fucked up and gross," they are jumping through HOOPS to make it seem more innocent than it was. And this is completely blowing my mind and is honestly concerning.

If you want to personally interpret it in a different way, in a way to make it more palatable to you, be my guest. That's what fandom and fanon is all about and I do that a lot too. But to see so many people outright deny the actual implications of this line is... bizarre af. It's one thing to be like "hmm yeah I don't like that, so I'm going to personally interpret this ship/trope/scene differently so it's more comfortable to me." It's another thing entirely to be in complete denial and ignore the actual context of the character and their story.

Also, so many of the other comments on the video aren't even commenting on the actual scene or on what Charlotte said. They're just generic comments on how much they love Charlotte as a character or how they miss this 2D animation. It's like they're trying reallyyyyyy hard to ignore the joke that's being made.

On the grander scheme, this is concerning because these people are refusing to acknowledge something that's inappropriate at best and predatory at worse (an adult "waiting" for a child to grow up) because they don't want to be caught enjoying/supporting something "bad."

All their talk about normalizing and normalization, but they're the ones kinda normalizing bad things by downplaying them or being in denial of it when it's in THEIR favorite media. And that is very concerning and a big issue.

[jamneuromain]

Divorce with either Steve/Andy I'm feeling angsty.

Whether happy/sad ending is up to you :)

Hi bestie <3 I'm sorry it has taken more time than I thought but my drabble turns into a one-shot before I can even realize skjksjskjskjksj

hope you'll enjoy this <3

Lie, Lie, Lie

Steve Rogers x You (Mutant!Reader)

Warning: Swearing, Angst, Divorce, (also asshole-ish Avengers?)

W/C: 5.4 K

Summary: A small leak will sink a great ship. -- Benjamin Franklin

A/N: My first entry to the bingo challenge hosted by @the-slumberparty.

It starts with a minor, insignificant detail.

Just some static in the phone, really.

A snippet of sound that common people would interpret as bad signals, considering that Steve is phoning you from thousands of miles away, while you are using the landline.

For holy Mary’s sake, who the hell still uses landlines today?

Apparently, the academic conferences you attend do.

Steve notices the small static buzzing the call you are having, after which you grumble in frustration, “Stupid signals, can’t even function properly.”

He smiles, knowing that you can’t see the expression on his face. You are cute even when you are complaining.

You sigh deeply on the other end of the phone, your voice slightly distorted from the electronic, or wireless, transmission, “I miss you, Stevie. Can’t wait to come home.”

“It’ll only be two more days,” Steve reassures you with his soothing timbre, “I’ll be waiting for you at the airport, alright? First thing you’ll see after getting off that plane.”

“Okay.” You know he can hear you pouting, but you pout anyway, “Gotta have some sleep now. I’m going to the keynote tomorrow morning.”

“Take care of yourself.” Steve holding on to his phone, wincing again as the static buzzes again, but it appears only on his end, as you seem unaffected by it, “Take care of my favorite scientist and my favorite girl for me, okay?”

“I am your favorite girl. And you know I have my powers.” You try your best to stifle a large yawn, but Steve senses your tiredness right away.

“Sleep tight, okay? I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Steve blows a kiss, hoping that it would travel across oceans and lands via the phone, and reach your forehead.

“Night, Steve.”

“Good night, sweetheart.”

You are about to hang up when the static tortures his ear again.

You hang up.

Static isn’t a problem for most people, who, unlike Steve, don’t have super hearing and super memory.

Steve could think that the static is a minor interference, however, static that appears during phone calls are hardly inconsistent. And if he has learned a thing or two during the time that landlines are still fairly popular – 40s, by the way – is that static doesn’t go on and off, nor does it blur on different pronunciations since static should naturally have a pattern.

Since Stark phones issued by the friendly billionaire is certainly off the question, he suspects that someone might be tapping into your landline.

Something is off. His intuition is telling him. So, he called Tony and asked for a favor.

After some analysis that Steve couldn’t fully understand, Tony presses his index finger to his lips tightly, humming to himself.

“Anything?” Steve watched as Tony chugged down the fifth cup of coffee ten minutes ago, and now Tony has been unusually quiet.

Tony spins his chair around, looking thoughtful. He waves his fountain pen in midair, pointing at his screen in general, “This isn’t some sort of prank Bruce asked you to play, is it?”

“Prank? Tony, this is my wife we’re talking about.” Steve is about to lose his patience. He crosses his arm, dead serious, “What is … this? Am I being paranoid or …”

He wouldn’t dare to think about you in actual danger and he’s sitting cozily in Avengers Compound. He could’ve been risking your precious rescue time. Or warn you, somehow.

Even knowing that you have your special powers.

Your mutant powers.

Still, there are hundreds of ways for you to be defenseless.

A collar could suppress all your powers. A shot of the new dose of Mutant Serum could make you lose your X-gene once and for all. And all those terrible things that could happen to you.

Tony scratches his goatee, his expression is puzzled, to say the least, “this static that you provided, looks like the interface Bruce and I were cooking up for a Friday-upgrade.”

“English, please, Tony.”

Tony magnifies the example of static extracted from the recording that is automatically stored on Stark servers, and pulls out a random MRI brain scan from Steve’s health exam last year, “See what I mean?”

Steve watches the two waves on the screen closely, almost stuttering from what he is summarizing, “They look … similar.”

“Exactly.” Tony throws the MRI scan off the screen and points to the static, “This? This isn’t sound. This is human thinking. Hell, thinking, I’m not even sure it’s human. And it has a purpose. The reason you are hearing the ‘static’ – I’ll name that thing later, is that it serves as a relay, that patches you through its – thinking, whatever, and directs your call to Y/N.”

“It isn’t Friday?” Steve blurts out the only AI he could think of.

“If it is Friday, the Nobel committee is handing me the award right this moment.” Tony snorts, but he turns serious as soon as he notices Steve’s worrying look, “but with this fragment, I can locate Y/N,” and with a few taps on the keyboard, a global map appears in front of them.

Tony mutters to himself, “Can’t track the relay itself, but I can … ”

Another few keystrokes and a red dot blip.

“… in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.” Tony isn’t even sure about what the blipping dot shows, “Now this can’t be right-” Tony looks back at Steve, whose eyebrows are tying up like knots, “Where did you say she’s having this academic conference?”

“Leipzig, Germany.” Steve answers without a second thought, “Quantum 2023.”

Tony looks awe-struck.

“I’m sending a team to get her.” Steve stands up from his seat abruptly, heading to the doorway, but Tony’s words make him stop.

“Quantum 2023 is next week, Steve. And it isn’t held in Leipzig.”

“But that’s impossible,” Steve turns on his heels, glaring at Tony, “She told me that she came into contact with some Professor, who invited her to this conference because she was doing so well with her panel back in January.”

“And what’s that panel?”

“CPS Quantum Computer-”

“CPSQ was never held this year.” Tony shakes his head, “The conference was cancelled because a main member of the CPSQ committee passed away last December. What else has she told you?”

“I can’t tell you.” You dare not read his face. Your gaze lands on the marble counter that you and Steve agreed on two years ago, instead of him. You lied. And you know you lied. And the fact that you know that you can tell him nothing, makes you even more scared and frightened, as you are well aware the last things Steve would tolerate are betrayal and infidelity.

Your shared home, once a sanctuary for you and the love of your life, now withering and shaken, cold and gloomy. It no longer is a safe haven for you.

“Did anyone blackmail you with anything?” Steve asks calmly.

He’s prepared for the worst things to come.

He spent the whole night with Tony trying to figure out the so-called “academic conferences” you were supposed to be a part of, and there were eight of them during the last three years.

Some calls were too old to trace, but Tony has figured out it with the recent three conferences, you weren’t doing Keynotes or presenting your results to academia, but in the same spot in the Pacific doing God knows what.

It was undocumented waters. Tony could only gather so much info that the islands in the vicinity were bought by a mysterious wealthy man who paid through his Kaymen Island account.

And you were visiting it almost every four months. Like clockwork.

There were a few heat signatures on the island, but with no visible vehicle, neither ferry nor helicopter in sight, Tony would have to guess that you would need someone who can transport you from where you were to the island.

“No.” You have no excuse. No reasons. No idea what you should say.

But you weren’t blackmailed. You went there voluntarily.

His gaze feels heavy on your shoulders. From the corner of your eyes, you can see he’s looking at you intensely. Trying to figure out whether you are still lying to him.

“Are you cheating?”

The other possible explanation he has thought of. Frightening, if an answer of certainty comes out of your mouth, but it would explain your lies. Steve curls his hand into a fist, the veins on his hand popping briefly onto his skin.

The hands that caressed your hair and your jaw, cradling your face when he leaned in to kiss you. All the gentle moves. Treating you as a soft and delicate being. Now a hard fist on the table.

He didn’t touch you on your way back to your home. Nor did he accept your hugs and kisses at the airport.

He was very disappointed.

“No.” You answer, with your head low.

How could he doubt your relationship? How could he doubt your love for him? Waiting for him to return after every battle, taking care of his wounds, having-

How could he think all of those were lies too?

“Then what are you hiding?”

Steve maintains his best manners not to crush the table under his fist into bits and pieces. He wants you to answer. Something. Tell him why he has been kept in the dark.

Anything.

You open your mouth, but no word comes out.

“I can’t tell you.” You whisper, your resolve of keeping the secret faltering under his piercing gaze. But you can’t tell him.

There’s turmoil in your stomach, wreaking havoc in your guts. You want to throw up when thinking about the truth, but cannot say it. Not with your teeth and tongue. Not with pen and paper. You cannot. You physically cannot.

Nothing remorseful or any expression similar appears on your face, as Steve observes your reaction closely.

“Please, Steve. I promise I’ll tell you, but now is not the time. It was – is an important … deed, to do.”

Steve stands up from his chair slowly.

Not even looking at you anymore, he sounds emotionless. Cold.

“I thought for a moment you were kidnapped. Tortured. Lured into a trap.”

“Steve-”

“I was this close,” he pinches his index finger and thumb together, “sending a full-blown rescue tactical team, to get you out.”

“Steve, please, just listen-”

“And are you talking, Y/N? Are you telling me what I need to hear?” He stands with his back to you, shaking with uncontrollable anger. “The truth, that’s all I want.”

“I can’t-”

“I can’t, either.” He interrupts you. For the entire time you can remember, from his cute and sweet attempts to ask you out on a date, from his chivalry of taking you out and asking you to be his wife, from the start of your happy marriage, he hasn’t once interrupted you when you were talking.

Tears roll down your eyes as you are tongue-tied, unable to utter a sound.

But Steve didn’t see those tears. If he did, he would have some idea that you are truly sorry for what you have done.

Steve stands with his back to you.

“I’ll save us the trouble and ask Tony to wipe our marriage from the system.”

Almost a shriek, your hands and feet are placed in the bottom of the ice pit, “You can’t-! I- You can’t!”

Your sobbing fills the room that was occupied by a dreadful silence. From your husband.

You would never imagine that a lie would go this far.

“Watch me.”

He can’t, not when you are-

Not when you are working on-

Not when you are trying to-

He can’t.

Realization dawns on you that even if you did tell him one thing that you can say to make him stay, he would consider it a lie.

Or an effort you make, trying to be bound to him.

That your trust is broken forever.

With that realization hitting you, he leaves the room.

Five years later, somewhere near Hawaii.

“This is really nice, what you got over here,” Tony comments in honesty, taking a step back to observe the rippling portal gate, “How long has it been put into use?”

Jean, the woman with flaming red hair and a scarf around her shoulders, has an impeccable smile on her face, leading the way as Natasha and Steve boarded the small vehicle up ahead, “Four. We used to transport to and from all over the world with the help of mutants who can create a portal. But as larger machines and construction materials were needed on Krakoa, the very land that you are standing on, our top scientists decided to benefit us all by inventing an instant portal device- Devices, should I say.”

As there are three large portals, each the size of a house, standing next to each other on the founding stones.

“Why are we even here?” Steve murmurs to Natasha, sounding confused, “I thought bargaining was Tony’s specialty…?”

“Smile, Rogers.” Natasha murmurs back, her eyes scanning the tropical island for any anomaly, “It’s a diplomatic event, not a business one.”

“Like a photo Op?”

“Like a peace offering.” Nat lowers her voice as she notices a mutant with bright green hair start the engine of their car, and take the position as their driver, “Krakoa now has the most efficient cancer eradication solution, and if we all behave and act like adults, the world would accept the possibility of the first mutant country. The UN is considering whether to add Krakoa as a new member country as we speak.”

“And if we blew it, WW3?”

“Worse. We will be hanged before we could say ‘assemble’.” Natasha sits straighter when Tony and Jean, the woman with red hair approaches the vehicle, and asks with a louder voice, “Would you mind telling us about the three-day trip planned on Krakoa?”

“Certainly.” With a look from Jean, the green-hair starts the car and drives away from the beach, heading towards a road that leads to the Krakoa city center. “We don’t have anything planned for this evening, so Lorna – our temporary driver - and I will show you around this place in general and escort you to your residence, where you will have dinner with our high council tonight. Tomorrow you’ll visit our university facilities and our most advanced laboratory, with our head scientist Hank. If you would like to visit any place else, feel free to tell us and we’ll try our best to satisfy your demands…”

Their residence is a small building near the city square. After a brief tour of the area, Jean tells them that normally they wouldn’t expect many visitors, so the building, though more well-equipped than most hotels, only resides the three of them, plus Jean for now.

Natasha strides across the room as Tony takes voice notes on his phone.

“… Their technology is at least two decades, if not three, more advanced than our top scientist.” With that as a summary, Tony stuffs his phone in his pocket.

And the room is filled with deafening silence.

“Do you think they cleared this place out when they are expecting us?” Steve sits on the edge of the bed, looking up at Tony and Natasha.

“They are afraid of us, as we are afraid of them.” Natasha says slowly. Not really answering Steve’s question, but hinting at the opinion that she has in mind. Her striding comes to a halt, “The looks we had on our way here? Not all friendly.”

“Too bad we don’t have a mutant as a middleman.” Tony clicks his tongue, moving around his jaw like he has a toothache.

“Tony-” Starts Natasha warningly.

They all know one mutant who helped around in the Avengers a few years ago. They know one mutant was exceptionally close to Steve. Hell, they were even there to witness the wedding of-

“I’m gonna go get some air.” Steve pinches the bridge of his nose, taking a long exhale, before walking out of the room.

Of Steve and you.

You were not a powerful mutant. But you would be helpful, under a circumstance like this.

But Steve divorced you a few years back.

No one knows why. No one knows any information regarding the terrible divorce that made Steve leave you, leave the States for months.

Except that you were “missing” from time to time.

Natasha sits on the other armchair in the room, looking closely at Tony, and his greying beard. She chooses her words very carefully, “Was she…” Were you cheating back then? On Steve?

Tony shakes his head, “He never told me.”

“But is it possible that…”

“I wanted to believe the other way.” Tony nibbling at his bottom lip. In the end, he looks back at Natasha, the former Russian spy, “But the incident right after she left…”

A breach that erased all of your data, along with the data of three staff within the Avengers Compound, happened a few months after you left the Compound and disappeared. Not only the records of your information, but also calls and texts, almost every trace of your presence was erased completely from both Avengers Compound and the government system as well.

The three staff later identified as mutants. They fled from the compound on the same day of the incident.

No one knew where you were. No CCTV or surveillance camera has recorded your prescence ever since.

It's a shame to admit, but no one bothered to look either.

After all, there were no demands or ransoms asked. And they were too busy saving the world to care for such trivia.

Nothing else was missing.

A few printed photos that Steve kept in his office survived. Printed photos of you and him together. That he had kept in the bottom of his drawer ever since your divorce.

A week later, Krakoa was established, announcing itself as a country and providing shelters for all mutants.

Steve suspected that the two events might be connected somehow, but Krakoa banned anyone who isn’t a mutant from entering the territory and has been moving on the map ever since, refusing any prying eyes.

Steve wanders into the patch of green a few hundred inches away from the hotel, heading towards the beach.

He was painfully reminded of you.

Of your happy times together.

And the determination you showed when you refused to tell him about your affair.

Yes, your affair. Even though you denied it. Steve believes that you were lying to him. About your location, about your everything.

About your lover.

“… come on down little monkey!” A familiar voice ghosting his ears.

A little girl screams at the top of her lungs, before giggling and sitting at the far end of a branch on a tree a few meters away, “But it’s out of power-Hi, Uncle Hank!”

The girl has blonde curly hair, bouncing as she jumps on the thin branch that could snap at any second. Steve is about to sprint to rescue when he hears you.

Your familiar voice.

“Come on, Mommy will catch you.” You clap your hand, your back facing Steve, who is hiding in the bushes. Your arms stretched wide open, urging the little girl to come down.

Urging your daughter to come down from the tree? From a branch seven feet in the air? How are you even encouraging the little girl while she could break her neck is unfathomable to Steve. This is stupid. Reckless. Irresponsible. A total -

“Come on, little monkey.” You clap your hand again, “It won’t be half as fun if I have to come up and get you.”

“Sorry, Y/N, I didn’t know that the rocket boots will die so soon,” begins a man on your side, apologizing. A thin man with glasses in his 40s. “The battery is supposed to last five hours when I put them on- Oh.”

“Yes.” Steve hears your grumpiness, “Batteries. Hank. My expertise.”

Steve knows your expertise.

Although you studied quantum physics and its application, your interest in Physics derived from your ability to absorb power and power transformation. However, you were not particularly interested in fighting bad guys, that’s why you weren’t on missions as often as he thought you would.

Batteries. You would absorb electricity from it in an instant, even when you are not intentionally doing so.

“Exhibiting her abilities so soon?” Hank gasps in disbelief, raising his head to look at your daughter jumping on that twig, “Normally it would be until their teen years.”

You chuckle, “Missing out on the latest Bio lab, aren’t you? They just published a paper about how mutant parents would cause a higher rate of mutant children, and as a result, their abilities tend to show earlier. Even so,” you kick the sand under your feet, your voice less exciting, “Hers is showing earlier than I did.”

“You showed your ability when you were five, right?”

“Two months till five. But yeah, pretty early. She made the light in our room flick on and off, starting from a month ago.” You make one last attempt at your daughter, who is having her fun with those thick rocket boots on her feet, “Be a sweetheart and come down, alright? Mommy is getting tired and we haven’t had dinner yet.” You plead softly.

“Alright, Mommy.” The little girl answers.

As Steve watches from afar, worrying sick that your daughter would fall from the tree, she spreads her arms and falls from the tree. But like a piece of paper, descending slowly into your arms.

Absorbing gravity to cancel it out. One of your typical moves too. Steve thinks bitterly. No doubt the little girl is your daughter.

Hank offers something as you three walk further from Steve and the bush he’s hiding. Steve didn’t quite catch what he said, but he hears you reply with a certain “Yes”.

Your voice trails away, “But it’ll be fine. Won’t we, little monkey?”

The little girl giggles again.

“Do you want Daddy back, Mommy?” Your daughter Maddie asks abruptly as you take out the storybook before bed.

“I-” It would be a lie, to say that you do not want Steve. But years have gone by and you’ve built your life around Maddie and Krakoa. While you were desperate, wanting him back when you found yourself pregnant with Maddie, the night when he left your house, you knew that the only reason Steve would stick around, which is knowing that you are pregnant. Despite the responsibility he would be burdened with, he would also doubt whether he’s raising some other people’s child, since he already suspects that you were cheating, and your life would be miserable with his indifference.

You remember your panicking and fearing his leave.

Thinking that he can’t leave you, not when you are pregnant, not when you are working on a home and a shelter for your future children, trying to create a safe haven for you and your family.

But he left.

“I don’t know, sweetheart.” You tuck a strand of her blonde curls behind her ears, gazing into her beautiful cerulean eyes, “I hurt your father really bad when I made the big mistake that we talked about. And he hurt me too. Not that he wanted to, but he left me alone in this world.” You kiss her short chubby hand, placing her hand on your cheek, “We won’t be happy ever again. Because I lied to him. And he will always remember it.”

“Oh.” Maddie sounds disappointed, scrunching her little face together, “But Daddy knows you are doing the right thing, right? Building Kra-Kra-Krakoa and our home?”

She tried a few times to pronounce the word “Krakoa”, making you smile.

“I don’t know, sweetheart.” You explain to her with more patience than you can ever imagine, “I have never seen your father ever since.”

“He should!” Your daughter curls herself up into a ball in your arms, nuzzling your soft pyjamas, “He should be proud of you. And what you did. You help build the island, Mommy. Daddy should know. And he will forget your lying.”

Kids. Always thinking everything in the world is so simple. A small grin creeps up your lips.

But in your heart, the bitterness swirls into a dark pit.

Everyone else understood. Other mutants who had a family, who told their partners they will be gone for a while, who lied to their partners that they were needed for a job.

Their partners did. Their partners understood the cruelty of separation and the pain that those mutants cannot utter a word about their whereabouts, or the details of the job. The worst you’ve heard of, aside from yourself as an example, was a huge fight between Lorna and her boyfriend, but in the end, she forgave him after a week, having enough trust for both of them to continue their relationship and got married two years ago.

But no. Not Steve.

Steve, who quickly jumped to the conclusion that there was no need to continue this marriage.

Steve, after leaving word of divorcing you, left. To some shit-eating place in South Africa, for two whole months.

Two months. Two months of prying eyes and prodding questions from the Avengers, which you knew they were being kind and helpful, but you couldn’t stay there. Not when it brought pain and scars to your chest every time you’d see some possession that belonged to him, and cry your eyes out, nearly losing Maddie as a result. Not when they were also suspecting that you cheated on Steve and scolding you lightly, telling you to “speak to Steve and ask for his forgiveness”.

They were his family. Not really yours.

Yours is here.

You kiss her forehead, tucking her in, “I sure hope so. Good night, sweetheart.”

Your smile fades as your mind drifts to the human delegation that is alleged to arrive today.

You asked to be kept out of the loop and out of the trails that the delegation is visiting. You even confirmed with Hank today that you would take these three days off from the lab.

You blocked all relevant information regarding those visitors.

You were raised by this mutant family, by mutants such as Jean and Hank and befriended them, and you had your heart broken in the human world. You don’t want anywhere near humans ever again.

“These are some state-of-the-art devices. I have to say, I’m very impressed.” Tony tilts his head to the side, reading the metrics recorded on the screen in the up-state Bio lab, “This is not quite my expertise though, the project you are operating here.”

Hank magnifies the part Tony is observing onto the huge screen behind them, “We are trying to incorporate human thoughts into robots, but in a wireless form. With a thought-” Hank, the man in glasses, places two stickers onto his head, and a robotic arm on the far end of the lab begins writing “Welcome”, stopping dead when it comes to “O”. Hank shrugs, not even bothered by the failure of the demonstration, “We have a talented specialist that helps with coding, but there are always some interferences with the transmission.”

Natasha clears her throat to gain their attention, “I’m also very impressed with the construction of the island as a whole. A construction this large should take … what, five years and a couple hundred workers?”

“Two and a half, to be precise.” Hank gestures for them to move forward onto the Physics lab, peeling the stickers off his temple, “About three dozen mutants involved. It would be sooner if it weren’t…” As if he suddenly was reminded of something, Hank let out a short “Ah”, and a brief pause, “if it weren’t some … unintentional held-up with one of our finest mutants.” His eyes land on sulking Steve, only for a few seconds.

Hank said it with a proud smile on his face. It didn’t take Steve forever to recognize the man from the beach last night, who gave your daughter, very irresponsibly, Steve might add, rocket boots.

Your daughter’s father is very irresponsible too. Not even showing up when your daughter is in danger. He thinks, clenching his jaw, praying for strength that he would punch that guy in the face if he ever meets him.

Natasha and Tony exchange a glance behind Hank, failing to notice Steve and his stern expressions.

“But it must have been a huge effort, even with three dozen, to keep them silent?” Natasha jokes light-heartedly, “There’s hardly any secret in the Avengers Compound without the full staff knowing it in three days.”

Hank nods politely, holding the door for them to come through, “Well, yes. But as you are well aware, a few of our best mutants are telepathic, meaning they could plant a gag order in our heads,” Hank taps his temple with his knuckle, “We couldn’t speak to anyone else about Krakoa for three years until it’s established. Our mind forbade us to speak of it because of the gag order.”

“Masochists, and they are proud of it,” Natasha whispers to Tony in a rush.

“It is troubling. Misunderstandings and arguments have aroused based on the gag order and its implementation.” Hank walks them through the long hallway from one building to another, “But we agreed it’s for the best at that moment.”

Tony makes a face that isn’t as obvious, but Steve and Natasha could tell that’s his disapproving face.

As Hank opens another door for them, the first thing they see is a little girl playing with her toy car on a tall chair. She slides the car down from a colorful track, and the track would deliver the toy car back to her hands.

“Maddison!” Hank rushes to her side, looking up and down to see whether the girl got hurt, “What are you doing here?”

“Mommy needs to pick up something.” Maddie points at you, cheering, “Look! Mommy Mommy!” She drops her toy car to the ground, and jumps off the tall chair, running to you and hugging your thigh.

Steve stops breathing. Seeing you, well and alive in front of him, with your daughter, in a rosy-pink dress that you bought while dating him a few years back.

You look … the same.

“Get behind me, Maddie.” You tug the little girl on her arm, to have her shielded fully behind your legs. An undetectable shakiness in your voice.

Maddie peeks from behind you. She doesn’t understand where this tension is coming from, but she understands one thing: “Mommy, is that Daddy?” She raises her head and asks.

You hate to lie to your daughter. But you are not going to let her be exposed to Natasha and Tony, and most importantly, Steve.

“Christ. It’s Y/N.” Tony mutters.

“Mommy, he looks exactly like the photo you showed me.” Maddie asks in confusion, pointing towards Steve, “He looks exactly like Daddy?”

“Maddison, not now.” It takes all your willpower not to push them all out of the lab at once, “Hank, would you mind?” You glance icily at Hank, urging him to solve the problem at hand.

“Yes, of course.” Hank starts to head the other way, “I’m sorry, but we’re behind schedule. If you would come with me-”

“No one is coming anywhere until we deal with this,” Tony announces, one hand already on his wristwatch, which you know contains a small plasma canon if he activates it.

“Is she…?” Steve knows the answer to his question before he asks. The hair and the eyes are similar to his, and the nose and lips resemble yours-

“Boys,” Natasha raises her voice, “Let’s be civil, shall we?”

“How old is she?” Steve feels a lump down his throat, “is she-”

“Civil?” You let out a dry laugh, the exact opposite of amused, “Tony Fucking Stark is ready to attack when he pulls out that wristwatch. And Natasha, long time no see, the same goes for your widow bites too. Yeah, I saw the glowing blue under your sleeves. You are trying to take my child away from me in a heartbeat and call yourself civil?”

“Tony, Nat.” Steve speaks.

Two words that bring the two of them away from their weapons.

You pick Maddie up from the ground, having your back to the Avengers, protecting your daughter from their grasp, “Let’s go, Maddie. I am apparently not welcomed here.”

“Y/N!” Steve calls to your back, “Y/N, please!”

Natasha is tempted to step forward and ask you to stay and talk this out, being blocked by Hank.

“I assume it is best that you stay right where you are,” Hank says politely, though his thin body has no intention of moving.

Maddie hugs your neck, laying her head on your shoulders. Her blue eyes focusing on Steve while you walk away.

Find my The Slumber Party Present Bingo Challenge here 👈

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[moonlit-dreamers]

Name all your favourite TSAMS ships

fuuucckk dude

this is like asking someone which pet is their favorite you cant do this to me man ;-;

but i might as well talk about some specific ships that ive been rotating around in my brain more recently tho fair warning that a lot of these will have more abusive themes (tho i'll try to be as brief as possible since i dont want this post to go on forever lol)

off to a great start with sunvant/lord eclipse. ik a lot of ppl like to make them fluffy but they got so much toxic potential. like idk man. the power imbalance + lord eclipse being both physically and emotionally abusive is some good shit. sunvant is absolutely and purely devoted to him. nothing eclipse could do would change that. every punishment is a lesson. every reward is a blessing. every command is a job he does happily. yes, hes absolutely terrified of his lord, but isnt everyone? isnt everyone meant to be scared of their god? if he isnt scared then is he really appreciating his lords true beauty and raw power? idk man. some good shit right there

the obvious sun/eclipse. i can never escape them in any form. main dimension sun/eclipse, dark sun/eclipse, sunbeam (eaps sun)/eclipse, sunvant/eclipse. all of the above pls. but if we're going with MAIN dimension suneclipse their relationship could be sooo many things. (which is y i like the ship so much bc its so versatile!) it could be a fixer-upper, abusive, friends/enemies with benefits, you name it. anything and everything is possible with these 2 bitches and its wonderful

sun/solar is actually the first thing i shipped. even BEFORE sun/eclipse. shocking, ik, but i felt like they had sooooo much potential THAT NOBODY FUCKING SAW. like- an emotionally broken down mechanic who feels guilty over the death of his own sun and an anxious mess that just wants to make things better. how could it be any more perfect??? solar coping over his suns death with sun by accepting that hes gone but at least he has another to love and he wont be empty forever. AUGH

solar/eclipse. im fucking rabid over these 2. like idk man. i feel like theyd be so weird about potentially liking someone whos like a distorted reflection of themself. projecting their own self loathing onto each other then realizing just how similar they actually are and how it.. might actually not be that bad. then learning to love themselves by loving the flaws of the other and accepting who they are now. idk man. this is just wholesome thoughts tho dont think for a second i dont have toxic thoughts about them lol

sun/solar/eclipse (are you noticing a pattern yet?) is THE polycule. idc what you say, theyre all kissing each other. fuck you (/silly)

this is for my own au becuzzzz i wont let go of a chance to talk about them :3 we got sunshine(sunvant)/solstice(eclipse) and they are an absolute WRECK. theyre both fucked over by their past and the beginnings of their relationship is so rocky bc sunshine doesnt trust anyone + doesnt understand nor believe he deserves affection (hes also constantly wanting to go back to lord eclipse). meanwhile solstice doesnt even see sunshine as a person and rather as a project to work on (and also an opportunity to maybe better himself. maybe if he can help someone then that means he can be a better person). solar comes in later and while i havent Completely thought about their dynamics i will say that both solar and solstice are very overprotective of sunshine. they both constantly butt heads bc they both want to protect him while sunshine just sits in a corner head in hands trying to figure out how to get them to stop without having his own panic attack (they get better tho dw <3)

anyway uhhhhh i think thats all for now lol

have fun with this info ig

[buggabuggabug]

ok so little fact about me, I don't really ship a lot of characters really intensely in shows and movies

but when I do

I get very, very crazy about it

funnily enough all of these couples and WLW couples, which I have lovingly decided to call "my lesbians"

so in honor of pride month you all have to hear about them here's the list in no particular order

#1 Cleo + frida kahlo (clone high)

- beautiful, no words

-the are really funny, like this ship was so left field for me but they became my favorite part of this entire show so quickly

- I just love their dynamic of tall pretty woman and little gremlin who's obsessed with her, but fridas also the chill one in this instance and Cleo is the freak

- they are the calm in whatever the fuck is going on with the rest of clone high

#2 Megan + graham ( but I'm a cheerleader)

- if you have not watched this movie please do holy shit

- it's just ??? so sweet ??? opposites attract kinda dynamic, sweet girl just realizing she's gay, and veteran lesbian who acts all mean cause she's too scared of letting anyone close to her again

- this movie is phenomenal and so funny, and they make me cry every time

#3 elodie + Enid ( ok KO)

- I will never stop talking about them

- they walked so questioning lesbians everywhere could have an intense all consuming slightly gay relationship with their best friends and then the friendship explode and they never speak again

- I am so a sucker for childhood friends to enemies to friends again to lovers

- they are canon in my heart

- LOOK AT HOW GAY THEY ARE OH MY GOD AHAHAAHAAA-

#4 luz + amity (the owl house)

- mandatory lumity posting

- their just too cute and sweet, and I love crazy optimist brings the sheltered A+ mean girl out of her shell

- you can probably sense a pattern with my opposites attract thing

- I just love a power couple who balance each other out

#5 Susie + Noelle (deltarune)

-these little freaks

-noelle being obsessed but also so damn nervous is so cute

-susie is so fucking stupid oh my god

- again, opposite attract, but this time it's dumbass chalk eater (yeah) and the straight A student who is smitten

- I love them your honor they need to be happy or I will explode

#6 and final pairing, rei + Hanna ( not so shoujo love story)

- ok if you haven't read this webtoon, please do oh my god

- it's mostly comedy focused but like

- THE ROMANCE

- Hanna is so fucking crazy, and so is rei but in the opposite direction

- everyone in this series is fucking insane

- their friendship is so funny, and like, the slow burn as you watch the feelings get caught is immaculate

- please read it I'm begging you I need more people to talk about this with, even if romance is not your thing, the characters are so funny it won't matter

OK so that's it, those are my lesbians. I'm sorry this post is so crazy long but I needed to scream this into the void, thank you for your time, and feel free to add your own lesbians if you have them!

[snek-panini]

Very belated Binderary books, uh...I've lost track actually. I think they are #6 and #7. And it's another two-volume split! This is (Slow) Burn, Baby, Burn by orchidlocked, an extremely long Good Omens fic set in the 1970s. It's about our favorite angel/demon pair navigating the disco scene, and it's not an AU, which is sort of usual in a fic this long and with such a specific premise. There are a fair few real people featured here, some as major characters, and a lot of music history and an excellent playlist alongside all the fun and angsty relationship stuff that so many of us are here for. I learned a lot about disco reading this fic and it was fascinating and also way more queer than I ever realized.

For the cover up there we have a white Allure book cloth on the spine, and white HTV over homemade book cloth for the main cover. The cloth pieces both come from the same sheet but I oriented the stripes this way so they'd be coordinated-but-not-matched and I really love the effect. They're also cotton and really nice to hold. It's funny, I was thinking of binding this fic when I found the fabric while digging through the Joann's remnant bin, and as soon as I saw it this fic not only came to mind but moved up to the top of the to-bind list. It was fate, clearly.

More photos under the cut!

Both spines and a top view. That's orange HTV for the titles. This it the first time I've worked with matte HTV (I usually use metallic or foil) and I was surprised at how much thinner it is, and how easy it was to stick. And I like the color inverse here in counterpoint to the front cover. The top view shows off the handmade endbands and bookmark, and also the rounding job. I'm still working on rounded spines, and the turn-in over the spine didn't come out as smooth as I'd have liked, but I think it's a good result. The ribbon bookmark was supposed to be blue to match the endbands, but every blue ribbon I could find clashed horribly with the cover so it's this nice leafy sage green. Which actually works really well with...

The endpapers! I got these as Joann's too. All four are cut from the same print, but I shifted and rotated them when I trimmed them so the patterns wouldn't all be in the same place. I had desperately wanted this other paper I found on Etsy with little vinyl records all over it, but the pieces weren't the right shape and I'd have had to ship them from overseas ($$), but I like the mood these ones set. And they're thick and nicely textured and look awesome with the cover, so really I think things worked out very well.

Couple of pics of the interior. I kept it fairly simple but I feel like it fits the story.

The scene break line is orange, to match the covers. I usually use gray but wanted something more fun. I recently bought some off-white paper that I used for most of my binderary projects this year because I've heard it's easier on the eyes, and it is, but I used the older bright white for this so the color contrast would be sharper. No complaints; I think it looks amazing. The second image above is the appendix I put together for the volume. Being so centered in the music industry, this fic has a really long playlist that the author put together with their preferred recordings. It's linked in the story and I did include the link text in the book, but I had my mind on preservation and the challenges of digital archiving while I was making this one, so I also took all the title/artist/album info and just listed it here. It was too much to do all by hand, so I learned how to export a Spotify playlist into an Excel doc, then moved that into the Word doc to print. A lot of steps, but not nearly as hard as I'd thought, and way less tedious.

I have to say this book is aesthetically really different than all my previous ones. I ran into so many design hurdles but I honestly couldn't be more pleased with the end result. I'll have to push my comfort zone like this more often, I guess.

[olderthannetfic]

i saw this post today where this person was talking abt fandom racism and was pointing out some real issues within my fandom and favorite ship that I too had noticed… but then kept bringing it back to the lack of one particular other ship they liked, when it's like, no that's not the problem, and that ship is unpopular because those characters have zero romantic or sexual chemistry and barely any scenes together. (it was really funny that someone had reblogged this to take their 'lack of seeing this one character in a sexual way in fic miiight be racist' complaint to be like 'i think you're right! we should have more fic about [a long list of different ships involving that character with people they have ACTUAL chemistry with].' it was really funny. ofc op totally missed the point they were making there.) anyway i just feel like way too many useful conversations about this stuff are ruined by people making it about shipping or other really subjective fandom preferences. i get that this is because something like 'number of fics X ship or character has on ao3' is an objective measure, and something like 'level of orientalism in how a lot of people are writing this desi character' is not, but i wish people would realize it tends to alienate more people that it converts. and ime, it's often the people who maybe would most benefit from hearing those criticisms (e.g. are writing unintentionally racist stuff in their works, and are someone who would want to know about that and how to do it differently) who tune it out the second you make it into insulting their shipping preferences.

i mean, there WAS some real racism in the star wars sequels fandom, including among the fanfic/shipping side. not just the shitty dudes harassing kelly marie tran. we saw the really bizarre 'predator' language people directed at john boyega just for making some joke posts on instagram about disliking reylo and its shippers. it was the very classic racist thing where people see something as automatically more threatening when a black man does it. ....but how many people had already tuned all that out because the people most outspoken about the racism in the fandom kept reducing it to 'if you ship reylo over finnrey, or kylux over finnpoe, you're a racist'? it's like a boy who cried wolf thing. if you've shown that you can't uncouple serious discussions and concerns from just being pissy that your otp is not more popular, people are going to see you as someone who can't be taken seriously and then ignore you when you do have a real complaint. it's like how i'm sure that some of stitch's essays are thoughtful and important, but i have no desire to read stuff by someone who is infamous for harassing people just for what they ship. i don't feel like i can take any of that person's judgments about fandoms i'm not in, for instance, seriously.

that's not to say fandom preferences in shipping can't ever be influenced by racism (or other 'isms') but is it ever really *that* specifically that is the problem, or the broader pattern it is part of? and i feel like 'maybe fandom is a little too focused on het and slash ships between two young skinny conventionally attractive white people' is a message more people are open to than 'your specific white M/M or F/M otp is racist'

anyway it reminds me of the stuff i've seen sometimes in academic fandom studies about how you can't really honestly study a fandom where you're deeply mired in its discourse - you need to focus your work on fandoms that you're familiar with but not in that way. and i think that maybe also applies to some of these discussions about fandom racism and misogyny. maybe you're just going to have better takes on something when you're not deeply invested in other unrelated arguments about it, like about which ship is the most popular. like i could not care less about star wars shipping and have zero take in reylo vs. finnrey, so that's why i feel like i could trust my perception that the way a small minority of reylos were posting about john boyega's instagram posts was racist. it didn't matter if he was genuinely being a jerk to them or about their ship. he obviously wasn't a 'predator' and it was pretty telling language for a group of largely white people to use about a black man making fun of their ship on a different social media site.

--

The laying pipe thing was blown so out of proportion, yes. Call it sexist, sure, but it wasn't fucking predatory.

[ofstormsandfire]

Do you have any good BotW/TotK fic recs? Yours or other people’s!

Boy howdy DO I.

Going to preface this by saying that I have preferences, and those preferences tend to veer towards gay shit and people who don't initially get along ending up ride or die, and as such a high proportion of these are going to be Revalink.

Anyway. The fic that got me into that ship, changed my brain chemistry, and is a large part of why I go !!!! about ghosts (literal and nonliteral) haunting the narrative, characters with amnesia who are supposed to be dead, and the Rito as a whole, is Pinesong by aperplexingpuzzle and that is the fic that makes me go "if you read NOTHING else in this fandom read THIS holy fuck."

(But also you should be reading other things too, because there is so much good shit and I adore it greatly I go back to reread my favorites regularly. Also check out the authors I mention apart from just the fics I link there is so much good fic I'm forcing myself to just pick one per author or else I will be here literally all day.)

Next up: Moonlight (every single night) by Heleentje. Do you like time loops? Do you like characters slowly, painstakingly figuring out how to get it right? Did you get very attached to Revalink from the last fic? how about some ~queerplatonic Zelink~ in this trying time?

Frankly, it is very hard to pick just one fic by Ginneke, they've got so many good ones but I'm going to have to settle on Flowers from your Beloathed, which is another Revalink fic set before the Calamity where, y'know, Revali is getting flowers from a secret admirer. Except he's Revali. Hilarity ensues and I enjoyed the hell out of this one ^-^

Also also. Come Morning Light by misscoconi. Post-Calamity, they are both idiots (affectionate) and I am starting to realize that I have a bit of a pattern in my taste in Revalink fics. Huh. I'll unpack that later actually.

Skybound Wishes by Baddrummer is unfinished (unlike most of the fics I've recommended here) but y'all. Y'all it makes me lose my shit in so many ways because I am a SLUT for creative fix-it fics and gratuitous weaving-in of references to other games in ways that still respect the established canon but respect all of it, y'know, not just doing the TOTK thing of "actually nothing pre-BOTW matters anymore and neither does BOTW lol."

...I am starting to realize there may be a reason why I don't have a lot of TOTK recs. Also if this post is starting to sound unhinged and disconnected that's probably because I'm bouncing between Tumblr and studying for one of my finals like a ping pong ball.

But I do have one really, really big fic rec for TOTK. Y'all should check out Show Me the World Outside by IllusionOfDeath. The Sages get to do things, the Divine Beasts don't just vanish without a word, the Champions get actual recognition, and you can tell that the author is the Linguistics Georg (affectionate) of the fanfic world.

Anyway I think I will shill myself a bit too since you gave me permission to anon! If you read no other Zelda fics by me, may I recommend no one ever mentions fear, a fic that... it really was, in a lot of ways, a love letter to the fics in the fandom that I'd read and loved before. You've got the Champions getting to live and have nice things, you've got Revali being a dumbass (affectionate), you've got gay shit, you've got Problems Being Caused by the Yiga Clan in the background.

...Oh god this post is getting. A little longer than I meant for it to I've realized. Um. I love fanfic and tbh if you end up reading everything I've recced and still want more, my bookmarks on AO3 are public and I tend to bookmark just about everything I've read and liked enough to want to find again.

......I should probably get back to studying now but thank you for the ask! I like rambling lol

[ghostshipernr1]

WITCH-HUNT

chapter 3

"Dewdrop gets a little lost in the castle and meets a strangely tall man"

or

16-year-old Dewdrop doesn't have it easy.What he would like most in the world is to bury his nose in books and never leave the room. Unfortunately, his family thinks otherwise and forces him to marry a stranger. Who will save him from such a terrible fate?

Its time for...

My favorite ship but its Vampire Middle ages Universe!!!

Human Dewdrop x Vampire Aether

It was already light outside. The night fog had long since disappeared and the trees had taken on a much more cheerful character from their ominous attitude. Dewdrop surprisingly discovered after waking up that he was indeed in a very good mood. The fear that had recently gripped him to the limits seemed to have evaporated today. What was even stranger was that the room lacked any traces of the man who had put him to sleep just a few hours ago. The blond looked around the room, everything seemed the same and yet there was a note on the small bedside table.

"GOOD MORNING!!!

I sincerely hope you slept well! Knowing that you might still be tired I decided to give you some space but I'll be back soon to check if everything is okay. I also saw that your clothes were ruined so I encourage you to choose something from the closet in the room.

~Aether"

However, the piece of paper wasn't the only thing lying on the bedside table. There was also a plate with something that was probably pork. Dewdrop wondered at first whether to try it, after all he didn't trust this place yet, but the strong rumbling in his stomach reminded him that if it weren't for them, he would still be lying in a damp ditch with a broken arm.

Dewdrop didn't expect the meat could ever be this good. Every bite melted perfectly in his mouth and before he knew it, everything was already eaten, whoever prepared this meal must have definitely known what they were doing. With his belly already full, Dewdrop decided to finally take off his dirty clothes and put on something neater. He looked into the closet, searching through the most diverse dresses, until he finally decided on a flowing, long black dress. Remembering his lack of footwear, the blond looked for some substitutes. Oh well, a pair of fluffy socks and cat slippers would have to do for now.

A steady knock on the door echoed through the room. Dewdrop probably already knowing who it was, opened the door looking at the taller man in front of him.

"I see you've already picked out some clothes" He said looking the other up and down.

"I hope that won't be a problem, by the way thanks for the breakfast. I usually don't eat meat in the morning but this was a nice change" Dewdrop spoke up. Aether definitely noticed how the shorter one straightened his back and lifted his chin slightly, trying to emphasize his noble lineage but he didn't comment on it. Instead he gestured for him to follow him.

Dewdrop didn't trust the man at first, but after remembering the events of the previous night, his attitude warmed up considerably. After all, what did he have to lose? Despite everything, he still kept to himself, and when they walked arm in arm through the large corridors, the blond still felt a deep-rooted distrust.

During the journey, in which Aether showed the shorter one around the large complex of corridors and rooms, telling him with great gusto what was where and what it was for, Dewdrop began to realize where he really was. This was no ordinary cottage where a happy family lived. It was a large castle straight out of the legend of Uranus. However, there was a radical difference between the history and what he was currently seeing. The blood-curdling torture chambers were actually warm rooms with a visible family atmosphere. The rooms that were supposed to be lined with occult symbols were actually lined with embroidered wool blankets in cat patterns. There's no way a bunch of bloodthirsty beasts living here would be ready to squeeze the last of his life out of him in less than a second.

However, ignoring his delight at the castle, Dewdrop had to ask a few questions. "You didn't say your family lives in the castle," Dew said, breaking the silence. He moved forward slightly to be able to see Aether's reaction. "I didn't want to spoil the surprise," Aether replied, clearly avoiding the topic.

Okay, Dewdrop could play this game too.

"I wonder where the people who so graciously welcomed me here are then," The blond deliberately avoided the word family.

"Well, you know...they decided to give us some space, I know how it is when..." He stopped suddenly. "And why are you asking so much? Do you want to stay here longer?" Effectively cutting off the higher topic. "Stay?! Please, no matter how big this castle is, no matter how rich your wealth is, I'm leaving today and going back to my family." Dewdrop replied firmly.

Gilded shackles, they'll still be shackles.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea, your hand is still not in good shape and it would be better to leave it for observation." Aether said clearly trying to keep the blond inside. "If it calms you down I can assure you that I'll go to the doctor right away so there won't be any need for me to stay tonight." There was no way Dew was staying here even a day longer. It was humiliating.

Aether decided against it anyway. "Are you sure? Because you know... this castle is surrounded by a large forest, and it's full of dangers. We don't want you to get hurt, do we?"

Okay now that was suspicious. Dew definitely didn't want to stay here. "If I leave during the day nothing should happen to me."

Aether, in a losing position, decided to use his ace up his sleeve. "I've never seen you wandering around the area, this place is deep in the bush so to get through you need a guide"

"Let me guess, you're supposed to be the guide?" Dewdrop sighed.

"In exactly 7 days, my family and I are going to a fair that will be held in the city. We'd love to take you, but not before those 7 days." Aether said firmly.

7 days is a long time. Dew was tormented by thoughts of whether his parents would be worried. Maybe they'd venture deep into the forest and get lost themselves? No, that wasn't like them. After all, it wasn't the first time the blond had run away from his family home for a few days. The last time he left, his father asked why he came back so quickly. In this case, those 7 days wouldn't make much difference, would they? He'd come back, marry Uranus, and everything would be as it was supposed to be from the beginning. Dewdrop wasn't the type to run away. He won't run away from his family or his responsibilities. Freedom is for the strong, and he's definitely not like that.

"If my posting here won't be a problem, so be it" He agreed with Dewdrop's proposal. It was impossible to miss the other's sudden joy. "In that case, I, as well as my family, will do everything to make you feel as good as possible here" Aether said excitedly.

The two continued walking around the castle for some time. Aether happily talked about every little historical context that Dew was almost certain were made up. During the journey, Dew and Aether often caught up in various chats, whether about the nearby flora or their similar interests. As it turned out, Aether was very interested in astronomy, he was absolutely convinced that he knew everything about the stars, the blond, seeing that the other was able to argue about it solidly, only nodded in agreement.

Finally, Aether led Dew to his room, and as he left, he mentioned that the other could move freely around the building.

Aether went straight to one of the more hidden chambers, which surprisingly was the favorite place of a certain group of vampires. The most prominent thing in the room was an old, elegant couch standing in front of the fireplace. The whole room looked very cozy.

Everyone in the room had a handmade blanket with them.

"Oh, the prince is back." A tall man with a truly pearly smile smiled, turning to him. "Good morning to you too, Swiss." Aether said casually, sitting down next to him on the couch. "And how was the tour of the new guest?" Cumulus asked curiously. "It went exceptionally well, he was quite a conversational experience." Aether said.

"I don't really understand one thing, Aeth." Rain suddenly spoke from the other end of the couch. "Why did you bring him to us? I understand that he was injured and you have a hero complex and all, but you usually heal the injured quickly and then leave them where they were" The blue-eyed vampire stated. "You could say that our guest is very important to us. Especially after the last incident" Aether sighed.

"Don't tell me you're planning on eating him? You know the rules..." He didn't have time to finish. "EAT?!" Aether was outraged. "None of that! I'm just helping him and nothing more" He shouted. "Relax Aeth, Rainy's just joking" Swiss interrupted.

"But that doesn't change the fact that he's right" Cumulus spoke up. "Even if we can hide as much as we want, he'll eventually notice that we prefer to stand in the shadows outside and drink blood for dinner Aeth. Let's not make a fool of him" "I know that, that's why I have a plan. I'll try to effectively distract him from our nature, he'll spend the day in the castle and I'll bring food to his room. Mountain will definitely be happy that he'll finally have someone to cook for." Aether said proud of his plan.

"BUUUUTTTTTT AETHER... can't our guest spend time with us at night? We'd like to meet him" Two small, about eleven-year-old vampires who had overheard the conversation were outraged and decided to add their two cents. "Phantom, Aurora I'm sure our guest would definitely like to play with you, but he's a human and might get scared of you and run away" Aether sighed, knowing what would happen next.

The two little beasts immediately jumped at Aether, pulling his clothes, hanging themselves on him and trying to cause as much commotion as possible. "Maybe you should let them go, after all we won't be hiding here forever," Cumulus said. "Maybe if he gets to know all of us he'll form a good opinion of us, after all that's what you care about, right?" She added. Aether leaned back more on the sofa. He didn't know what to do. On the one hand, he would prefer to avoid the rest of them from contacting their new guest, but if Dew got to know them all better, it would help them a lot with their problem. As it turned out, the final nail in the coffin was the puppy-like gaze of the twins. But do we have the right to be surprised? After all, nothing interesting has happened in that castle for years.

"Okay, I'll see what Copia has to say about it and together we'll figure something out." As if on cue, the siblings hugged Aether, clearly happy that the conversation had ended.

The man sat by the fireplace for a while longer, admiring the tongues of flame clashing against each other, but he was quickly overcome by the need for sleep, so he headed towards his chambers.

What the hell is going on here? Dewdrop whispered to himself as he walked through the stone corridors. A good half a day had passed and the blond was bored, so he decided to go for a short walk. Unfortunately for him, the flood of thoughts also accompanied him.

This place seemed more and more strange to him with each passing moment. Day by day he learns about some mysterious castle and then, just a few hours later, it turns out that it exists. And on top of that, some strange man lives there with an even stranger family. If Dew still believed in fairy tales, he really might think that it was the work of vampires. But now? It's impossible. Vampires don't exist. Luckily, he'll be leaving in less than x days and he'll be able to forget about this place, and at the same time, laugh at Uranus for believing in the existence of monsters.

Along with the river of individual sentences flowing down his consciousness, Dewdrop was getting further and further away from his room. It got to the point where the blond realized he was lost. A quick shiver of anxiety ran down his spine, but the blue-eyed boy decided not to panic and tried to follow his footsteps.

He got even more lost

"Holy shit" They cursed under their breath. "Why does this castle have to be so big? Uranos said it wasn't big"

"Don't be so dramatic, our house isn't that big" A deep voice rang out from somewhere deep in the room the blond was currently in. Dewdrop held his breath sharply. For a moment he looked like a deer in the middle of a gun waiting in fear for the trigger to be pulled. "Oh, my sincerest apologies, I didn't think you'd scare so easily" He said, slowly approaching the boy. When the man was close enough for the light of a nearby lantern to fall on him, Dewdrop could finally get a good look at him. The man was very tall and well-built. By well-built, he meant REALLY well-built, and he knew that because of the lack of a shirt in the man's attire. His face was adorned with a light stubble and a mass of freckles, and his brown curls perfectly matched his tanned complexion along with a pair of brown eyes.

Does everyone in this castle have to look like living statues of Greek gods?

"No problem, my name is Dewdrop, and yours?" The blond asked. His definitely shaking legs did not support his statement. "My name is Mountain, and you seem to be lost," he stated with a smile. So Mountain was his name... Quite nice if Dew was being honest. "Unfortunately, yes, could you show me the way to..." At that moment, the blond realized that he did not know how to describe where he wanted the taller one to take him. Mountain, sensing his confusion, looked him up and down, stopping only at the sight of a hand in a lab coat. Noting the distinctive black dress. "Ooooo is this about Sunshine's former room? In case, I know where it is" Mountain stated. "I guess so, then lead the way" Dewdrop decided to trust the freckled man. "I'd love to show you around, unfortunately I still have one more important thing to do. Would you like to accompany me on this adventure? Then I'll be happy to take you to your destination," he asked. Dewdrop could feel the other's slight excitement.

Was it a good idea to go with a man he had just met, who was three times his height, to a place he didn't know? NO

Did he care? ...

"In case, we'll do it your way"

[reddpenn]

Honest Question: What's your opinion on Kazuichi Souda? Do you like him? What's your favorite straights ships with him?

Look, let’s be honest. Kazuichi is bisexual and hasn’t realized it yet, and therefore by definition no ships with him are straight ships.

I do think he and Sonia got together during the Despair Era in one glorious, toxic, train wreck of a relationship that made them both miserable. This being the Despair Era, that was the point. It is a relationship that is fascinating to explore in fiction and which I would never wish upon anybody in real life.

Do I like him? Kazuichi is my favorite character in the entire Danganronpa franchise. Maybe because I remember being this kid in high school - smart and bookish and neurodivergent and so socially awkward that I basically went through high school without any friends, and so, so aware of my family’s money problems that I wanted to skip anything that cost anything, and with very little self awareness about when I was being annoying, and… look, I can’t be too hard on this kid. I was this kid. I get it.

But anyway, you've opened up this Pandora's Box and now it's Blorbo Time, so let’s talk about Kazuichi Soda.

Here is what we know about Kazuichi.

This kid is sixteen. Puberty is hitting him hard. He has a lot of big feelings and a lot of hormones and not a lot of experience in what to do about that. He does not have a lot of social awareness. He probably has ADHD, maybe on the autism spectrum, almost certainly undiagnosed.

He has a lot of trouble making friends because of his poor social awareness (again, this kid is neurodivergent and awkward and sixteen).

He is very, very smart. Despite how he dresses, he is a nerdy, bookish kid who likes to study. He dresses like that because he is sick of looking like a nerdy, bookish kid who likes to study. He is sick of people pretending to be his friend so they can copy the nerd’s homework.

He has a lot of trust issues, because he’s used to this pattern of people calling themselves his friends so they could use him. He doesn’t even mind if people use him, what hurts him is the way they drop all pretense of friendship afterward. He would be perfectly happy to let them copy his homework if they were actually friends with him.

He has gotten used to assuming that nobody actually wants to be friends with him.

School is not a safe place, for Kazuichi.

Kazuichi’s family lives in poverty. Their family business is failing. The constant awareness of that eats away at him. He admits to skipping a school trip because his family couldn’t afford it. He has probably skipped other things. He has probably skipped meals, skipped outings with friends, walked when he could have taken public transportation (and not gone anywhere too far away to walk), anything that saves money. This has all contributed to his difficulty making friends.

(This is a problem I relate to so intimately, because I remember being exactly this kid. I watched my family’s small business come crashing down during the early 2000s recession. I remember finding out my parents had filed for bankruptcy. I remember being afraid to buy food at school, because every penny increased my family’s financial burden.)

Kazuichi’s dad hits him for skipping things and “making them look poor.” Kazuichi’s dad has probably hit him for other things. Kazuichi does not register this as abuse. It is normalized, in his household, that sometimes his dad gets too drunk and gives him a smack.

Home is also not a safe place, for Kazuichi.

Look at this childmurder death game from Kazuichi’s perspective.

Kazuichi has never been on a class trip before. He has never been surrounded by friends before. He has never even been to the beach before. He has never been away from his abusive home for this long before. Despite the death game going on in the background, being stranded on a tropical island is the best thing that has ever happened to Kazuichi. He has no desire to escape the island and go home. In his mind… is it really that hard to just ignore the death game and not kill each other and have fun?

It's worth noting that up through chapter 2 of the game, his crush on Sonia is that of a hormonal, socially awkward teenager. He likes her a lot and he’s annoying about it, but thus far she hasn’t given him any signals to stop, and he hasn’t pushed any boundaries or crossed any lines about it. His big sneaky master plan in chapter 2 ends with him flat out telling Sonia, “hey I really want to hang out with you, can we please tag along?” Which is what he probably should have done from the beginning, but he was having a lot of fun hanging out with Hajime and pretending to do espionage.

This entire scene at the diner during chapter 2 is my favorite scene in the game. It’s just the cast of this game being such normal teenagers. They’re hanging out and having fun! They’re making plans to go to the beach! They’re goofing off and teasing each other and being entirely too hormonal about each other’s swimsuits!

And Kazuichi, throughout this scene, is having so much fun. He’s riding the emotional high of being a normal teen with normal friends having a fun time at the beach. He has never gotten to do anything like this before, and it’s awesome.

And then, still riding that emotional high, looking forward to playing at the beach with his friends and his crush... he walks in on a girl with her head bashed in.

I mean... think about the emotional whiplash of that. Put yourself in this sixteen year old kid's shoes and imagine what that does to a person.

Actually, you don't have to imagine. The game shows you. This… breaks Kazuichi. The trauma of this moment is something that, for the rest of the game, he does not ever recover from. This moment marks an immediate, permanent change in how his character is written, the beginning of the downward spiral that makes so much of the fandom hate him.

Let's look at Kazuichi after this moment.

He’s just had a harsh reminder that everyone on this island is trying to kill each other. He was wrong, these people aren’t his friends, so he falls back into old habits. Be useful to them so they’ll keep you around, but do not trust them, because they will betray you. Even Hajime. Especially Hajime. The people who seem closest to you just hurt you the most, in the long run.

He is increasingly on edge, wound up tighter and tighter, waiting to be betrayed. When Nagito mentions to him that Hajime might be the traitor, it feels like the other shoe dropping. Of course Hajime is the traitor, because Hajime was basically his best friend, and betraying you is what best friends do.

And Sonia? The way Kazuichi acts toward Sonia throughout the rest of the game becomes pretty unacceptable, I will not argue against that. I get why people hate him for it. It’s not okay. It really, really sucks for Sonia. It’s also a cry for help which is not really about Sonia.

Kazuichi's obsessive crush on Sonia is a coping mechanism. It is escapism. He is trying to recapture that emotional high. He desperately wants to go back to that moment in the diner when they were all having fun, when this was a normal school trip and they were normal teenagers and he was going to the beach with his friends and Mahiru wasn't lying there with her brains bashed in, in a room covered in blood, and he walked in on it and he set off the body discovery alarm and he ended that sunny, happy, normal afternoon.

This kid is traumatized and trying to cling to normalcy. He is clinging to something that was a part of that moment. Crushing on a girl is normal. He desperately wants normal back.

The school trip is not a safe place, for Kazuichi.

[writeblrgarden]

PLANT GROWERS - MEET THE WINNERS - RAE

Meet Rae, who got third place in our grow a plant event in november! Rae goes by she/her, has a second degree black belt in kendo, and you can find her at @koala2all. She has been writing for about 30 years, primarily YA fantasy.

Tell us about the WIP you'd like to talk about today.

I'll be talking about The Pirate Knight. Being a pirate is all Nonie has ever wanted. Freedom, camaraderie, and a beautiful girl in port to welcome her back. But returning from a lucrative voyage, she finds her home in shambles and her bonny lass missing. Desperate to find her, Nonie makes a deal with the god of the sea. In return for helping return her lost love Nonie vows to become his holy knight, saving the weak and defending the helpless. Together with a cynical sorcerer, a naive orc, and an ex-girlfriend from a rival ship who promises not to rest until their mission is a success, Nonie sets out to prove that she can be a hero in time to save the love of her life. But when a world changing secret is revealed, Nonie will need the help of her friends to navigate the tempest.

Describe your writing process. Do you like to plan everything or are you more spontaneous?

I'm more spontaneous. I usually start a bit backwards actually. I know how I want a story to end, then where it begins, and the rest is a matter of figuring out how to get from point A to point B. Music plays a huge part in my process, as well. I often get inspired by a song for a set of characters or a situation, then I try to figure out where it can fit.

What have you found to be the most challenging and/or rewarding about writing?

The most challenging part of writing for me is that I often feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just kind of winging it, writing stories that make me happy about characters that I enjoy writing about… but up to a year ago I didn't know what a beta reader was. My background is in theater, so I know how to frame a story in three acts… but without the background in creative writing, the imposter syndrome is real!

Below the read more is more of our conversation with Rae

What inspires you to write?

Books were such an escape for me when I was little. All those amazing worlds and vivid characters really helped me through some tough times. And that's what I want to share with others. The world is a hard place right now. I want to give readers a place that they can escape to, with characters they can empathize with as they face trials and overcome them. And maybe take a little hope with them when they're done.

Share some advice for other writers.

The best advice I ever got was from a Terry Pratchett quote. He said, "The first draft is just you telling yourself the story." I am definitely the type of person who dreams of the first draft coming out absolutely perfect. When it doesn't come out that way, I can tend to get a little frustrated. But after I heard this quote, I realized that the first draft is going to be rubbish. That's okay, and that's what editing is for. First, I just need to tell myself the story.

What do consider your writing strength?

Dialogue and worldbuilding are my strengths, for sure. I have such a strong sense of the world my characters find themselves in. My favorite technique is to not explain too much to the reader, but let them come across the world naturally as the characters navigate through it. It's my favorite way of experiencing the world of a story! Dialogue writing is so much fun. I love bantering with my friends, and imagining the banter between two characters is just as entertaining. I myself am a bit snarky (in a delightful way, of course) and that tends to make its way into at least one of the characters speech patterns.

What has been the nicest compliment you've received or what has been the toughest criticism you've received?

When I finished my first novel, I sent it to a knitting acquaintance of mine who happened to be a book reviewer as well. It was nerve wracking, since I had only let friends and family look at any of my writing before, but I had dreams of publishing and wanted to make the story as good as I could before I started sending it out. Her review came back glowing. Four out of five stars, and compliments about the worldbuilding, the characters, the plot, the dialogue. It was such a good feeling!

What do you love the most about writing?

My characters, and sharing them. I love making characters… ever since I was little. I get such a kick out of giving a character a backstory, and then seeing how they grow through the course of the story. Sometimes they really surprise me! And seeing them become important to the readers is really exciting, too!

[dairy-farmer]

genuine question, how was like dc incest ships formed? like how did it all start :0

ooof that stretches back WAYYYYY back to like...the birth of dc comics. i'm no comic historian and i have limited knowledge for the rest of dc aside from batman but based on what i've read and know i'm 99.99% certain that the first ever batcest ship was between bruce and dick. and it became rather infamously known because of this psychologist named fredric wertham who sort of waged a war against comics- remember in like the mid 2000s when parents were clutching their pearls and saying videogames made kids violent?

well this was that, only with comic books and in the 1950-60s. he said comic books were filled with violence and sex and they would make kids violent and engage in sexually promiscuous behavior.

he directly addressed batman and robin's relationship calling it essentialy queercoded. his exact words about their relationship were:

"Several years ago a California psychiatrist pointed out that the Batman stories are psychologically homosexual. Our research confirms this entirely. Only someone ignorant of the fundamentals of psychiatry and of the psychopathology of sex can fail to realize a subtle atmosphere of homoerotism which pervades the adventures of the mature “Batman” and his young friend “Robin.” (p 189)

"Just as ordinary crime comic books contribute to the fixation of violent and hostile patterns by suggesting definite forms for their expression, so the Batman type of story helps to fixate homoerotic tendencies by suggesting the form of an adolescent- with-adult or Ganymede-Zeus type of love-relationship." (p 190)

"Sometimes Batman ends up in bed injured and young Robin is shown sitting next to him. At home they lead an idyllic life...They live in sumptuous quarters, with beautiful flowers in large vases, and have a butler, Alfred. Batman is sometimes shown in a dressing gown. As they sit by the fireplace the young boy sometimes worries about his partner: “Something’s wrong with Bruce. He hasn’t been himself these past few days.” It is like a wish dream of two homosexuals living together." (p 190)

my favorite is this one:

"The Batman type of story may stimulate children to homosexual fantasies, of the nature of which they may be unconscious. In adolescents who realize it they may give added stimulation and reinforcement."

translation:

the goddamn batman is going to make kids GAY

however there is one thing to note about what wertham was getting at: he was outraged that batman and robin were gay- not that they were incestuous. in fact, nowhere in the book does it mention anything about incest but i just ctrl + f searched that so it's possible they COULD have mentioned it, but if they did they didn't call it "incest".

outrage from conservative parents and "proper" communities of course meant they didn't want their kids reading this "filth". internet archive, which has a copy of this book you can read for free if you're interested in the quacky stuff he was trying to argue, has a footnote about the very REAL conseqeunces his publishing of this book had.

it was that "fredric's book and testimony at Senate Hearings within 6 months of his book publiation, was used to ban many comic books and an industry-wide self-censoring to be launched."

this is what led to the Comics Code Authority (1954). below i included a screen shot from wikipedia of a list of the things they censored and banned. you'll be able to note not a single bullet point mentions 'homosexuals' and that's because it fell under the umbrella of "Sex perversion". gay people were percieved as sexual predators by default then and still today they're viewed that way, though the conversation has shifted more towards pointing fingers at drag queens and trans people.

batcest has a pretty deep history and i could go on about how adam west and burt ward's flamboyant portrayal of batman only fanned the flames of the whole 'batman and robin are gay' thing but i think this small batman history lesson was enough.

even though the Comics Code Authority is no longer a thing, getting dissolved in 2011, i think you can still see the little threads of influence that remain and the fact that many of the writers and artists really don't have full creative freedom and control over the character they're writing for.

which is a shame. an enviornment where creativity isn't allowed to thrive is not an enviornment where it will survive.

[ecargmura]

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Episode 14 Review - The Mirrored Lotus

Beautiful episode. Probably my favorite so far. It’s nothing action-packed, but the subtlety behind each scene was beautifully crafted. Seriously, the writer is seriously talented for being able to give out a lot but not too much simultaneously. There are seriously good moments spread throughout this episode and Sein seriously blends well with the group.

The first half was so cute. Sein really gives the group dynamic a push forward positively.  He suddenly becomes the father figure of the team with the way he’s giving advice to Stark and Fern after they had a spat. The reason for the quarrel is because Stark didn’t know it was Fern’s birthday and that he didn’t get a present for her. Sein actually does a good job being a mediator for both sides as he gives Fern insight on how Stark feels as a boy towards a girl his age and knows that she is inexperienced with boys in general due to her upbringing. Sein is seriously very intuitive and the mature balance the party needs. It sucks that he won’t be around for long.

Being a proper and reasonable adult gets Frieren to be reminded of how Heiter behaved once he adopted Fern. While he looks proper and mature, he is actually playing a farce; he isn’t a proper adult, but he is pretending to be one because children and those younger than him need that stability in their lives. When Frieren asked who would praise him for behaving virtuously, he replied with the Goddess, which then caused Frieren to pat Heiter on the head; remember that Heiter was always the one who patted Frieden’s head, much to her annoyance. Now that the roles have been reversed, Heiter’s reaction is different from Frieren’s in that he enjoys it. The flashback then cuts back into Frieren who pats Sein’s head and praises him for being a proper adult. I think this is a very sweet scene in that Frieren is now understanding the concept of being the proper adult. While adults give a lot, they rarely receive, so Frieren decided to be the one who gives praises to the adults that deserve it. Make sure to give head pats to the kind and proper adults around you!

Stark and Fern’s interaction really is cute. Stark brings out a cuter side to Fern that Frieren doesn’t. Because both are around the same age and both were sheltered, they’re hilariously awkward around each other. Watching them feels like a slow burn teen romcom and I’m all for that. I ship these two a lot. It’s nice to see that they both learned something after this ordeal. I liked that these two ACTUALLY took time and apologized to each other for their actions. It’s pretty rare for a shounen story to have two characters in conflict directly say they’re sorry to each other’s faces. Good job on the writer’s part!

As a birthday present, Stark buys a bracelet with a mirrored lotus design on it. Sein tells Stark that it symbolizes eternal love. While Stark had no idea about it, Fern still finds the bracelet precious and doesn’t want Stark to second-guess himself. It turns out that Frieren has a ring that Himmel gave to her with a similar design. The second half of the episode is about Frieren realizing how important that ring is to her after realizing that Himmel definitely knew what the mirrored lotus pattern meant. The scene where Himmel knelt down and placed the ring on her finger definitely showed that Himmel was clearly in love with her. While Frieren didn’t feel the same way yet, her feelings for Himmel are special in a way, much different than what she felt for other humans.

There’s a difference between the ring and bracelet, however. The ring looks like a bud, while Fern’s bracelet has the flower in bloom. I think it symbolizes the stages of love the two pairs are in. For Fern and Stark, the lotus is in bloom, meaning that love has definitely bloomed between them. For Frieren and Himmel, it was a bud because it has yet to blossom—in fact, the mutuality of their love is only starting to bloom; it’s unfortunate that the process has started after Himmel’s death. The budding lotus really does parallel to the slow passage of time Frieren has.

The people from the Hero’s Party were really good people. Heiter, while a corrupt priest with his alcoholic tendencies and his pickiness, was still kindhearted and virtuous. He didn’t stray off course and abided to his duties as a priest. He even adopted Fern because of Himmel’s influence. While I’ve seen people talk about Himmel a lot, I feel like Heiter isn’t as appreciated; he’s definitely a very compelling character. I love that Eisen is comically hilarious. He does these monstrous feats that is impossible for humans, yet doesn’t bat an eye; the fact that Heiter is always freaked out about this is hilarious. Himmel is actually a very interesting character. The story always has glimpses of what he’s like as a character and he reminds me a lot of Sorey from Tales of Zestiria in that both are kindhearted, pure and always stands their ground which never allows them to stray off their path; most of all, they are always there for others more than themselves. Himmel seems like a flawless character, but it’s actually amazing how he’s not written to be bland despite his lack of flaws.

This anime is already at the halfway point now. There are 28 episodes total, if you wanted to know. It’s crazy how half of the show has already aired. I do wonder how this show will end and if there will be a season 2 in the future. The overall message of this episode is that the passage of time can be cruel, so it’s best to appreciate what you have before you lose it—I think that’s the overall message of this story too? What are your thoughts about this episode?