#If there's a lot of Finns surely there's at least one version of who I'm thinking of who could make this particular Wish...

[sysig]

Okay so I’m deeply on nightbrain rn but I’m having a lot of Thoughts about Winter King (again)

[fellow-anime-weeb927]

I am back :D (the anon who recently asked you about the idea of reader being mother to the 6 sons in mashle)

I just that the necklaces would probably annulate the magic of the owner too, but reader doesn't really care about it since nobody in her family had magic before (if we don't count the sons). But, since it's a familiar relic (or something like that), naturally her sons also would have their own four necklaces at some point. Neither of them use them, it's not beneficial for them, but they do keep it with them since they see it as being closer to their mother. I also thought about how the smallest area in which the necklaces work would be around the core of the necklaces, to protect it from being destroyed by magic.

I'm sure at least some of them (especially Domina) would be jealous of Mash for being a lackmagic, at some point, since they think about it as the fact that Mash resembles their mother the most (no matter how their mother looks physically). Pops would be so weirded out when four necklaces appeared in Mash's hand in the period of 1 year (I think it would be better if they didn't appeare at the same time?) And Mash would have 0 idea about why or from where (at first he thought that Pops was the responsible for it). I think it would also be convenient that the necklaces wouldn't break forever unless all four are broken in the spam of a certain amount of time. If the time passed, but other necklaces wouldn't be destroyed, the broken would be repaired by itself. I imagine the necklaces being just a square with a beautiful pattern inside and a chain holding it by one of the edges (with a time of hook of the edge?) and since it's a familiar relic, it would probably have more antique style (baroque? Or maybe the renaissance?). The sons would probably treasure it deeply, especially since when their mother fell into a coma. Also, because of the background of the reader (the mother) I believe that the necklaces would only left their owner to lift them. Also, the more damage the owner receives the deeper the necklaces (the core/the square) will go into the owners skin (where the heart is located) as if to protect them better, since if the necklaces break (the four of them in the certain amount of time) the owner either dies or suffers a lot of damage. It doesn't burn or anything, tho.

Since Doom is the nicest of the siblings (not counting Mash and Domina's change in behavior) I would say it's because he's the oldest and has been with their mother the longest. I also believe they (the sons) would visit their mother, no matter if she's already in the coma or not. Epidem would be so obsessed with his pudding because mother "introduced" it to him, idk. Fanim would definitely enjoy the freedom so much because his mother always talked about it and how they always should be free (he got his own version of freedom but nvm). Delisaster likes to party so much because mother said that you never know what will happen next and if there's will be food on the table tomorrow (because of how bad her background is) so they should enjoy their lives at the fullest while they can (she would try to somehow ignore that she married a power hungry man, but it was for her own best). Domina would anticipate the day mother wakes up because all his older brothers told him about how kind and nice and beautiful mother is. Mash wouldn't even know about the existence of his mother (spoilers ahead) since he just randomly disappeared from there. If mother wakes up the day of the eclipse without a clue of what is going on (her husband trying to hunt down their youngest son just to take his heart and be immortal), first of all, all the sons that would be there at that time (depending on when exactly mother wakes up, but we'll take the time after they fought the first four visionaries, but before Dot, Finn and the gang arrived there to fight) would be delightful and shocked (imagine Innocent zero manipulating them to do the horrible things they did because "It will wake up mother") that mother finally woke up. Reader would try to get their head around what is going on and how much time passed while the four of them are sitting or rather standing around her bed where she was laying for all this time. Imagine if when Doom is fighting Mash, Doom says something like "You came in the perfect time, mother just woke up" while Mash doesn't have the slightest idea who this "mother" is. While they're fighting Doom explains a bit more and Mash is just like 🧍‍♀️. If Domina sees her when he there or if he hears Innocent zero talk about her awakening while fighting him he would be so shocked and probably feel slightly betrayed because "what do you mean she wakes up when I'm no longer welcome there?" Mother would definitely not know about how Mash disappeared from the 'house' or how Innocent zero abandoned Domina. I also can guess that she wouldn't be arrested alongside Innocent and the four sons, and rather the Bureau of Magic would let her free like Domina, since she was in a coma for like 15 years and didn't know what was happening exactly (I'm 100% sure Domina would convince them somehow, doesn't matter the fact that she passed out into a coma only after giving birth to 6 sons. He probably asked the boy who used magnetic magic and had a twin for a favor (since his dad is the head of the Bureau of Magic? I think)). And so she would have time to get to know Domina and maybe Mash more?

That's it for now, I will come back >:) Also, can I be '🎨 anon' ?

Woah :O long Mashle rant, I like it picasso✨👍🏻

Very interesting about the necklaces, I can already imagine how pretty they would look👀✨

This does fit the original manga very well hello?? You even managed to make it seem like it actually happened in the past omfg-

Props to you 🎨 anon🛐

(maybe I should make an anon list just in case hehe-)

[reo-bylerwagon]

wait can you elaborate on the Patty/Mike thing? Is it just the we can fight the monster lines or are there others?

sure thing anon!

i do explain it way better here

but to sum it up, there's a line patty uses in the broadway version that apparently didn't exist in the west end and it's something along the lines of, "we can be superheroes". reminds me a lot of mike calling el a superhero throughout s4, so to me, the usage of the line is meant to remind the audience of mike/his monologue and thus subconsciously make comparisons between mike and patty as they continue watching to see if they find any more.

as someone who endorses byler endgame, i believe that these parallels are also made to exemplify what mike should've said to el, or how things should've gone for mike and el in certain scenarios (like the end scene with henry and patty + brenner at hawkins high parallels the scene in the hawkins middle classroom at the end of s1 with m*leven. or even simple things like henry asking patty to hold his hand while he's in the void in chapter 1/act 1, meanwhile this is never the case with mike and el, and is instead a slot that joyce and hop fill in for her, particularly when she's in the kiddie pool in s1 which the attic scene with henry and patty seems to be calling back to -- at least the start of it. also, creelby's second kiss, which i'm not sure happens in the same way in the west end version, happens at melvalds after patty asks henry if they can go on a date soon, and henry asks her to clarify if it's a "date or a date date" and patty says something like "how about a date date date?" it's so cute lol; it could be seen as reminiscent of mike asking el to go to the snowball, even though lumax and jopper have similar scenes too. they're just following the classic st theme of "planning a date before disaster occurs, dooming the couple involved") .

there's other things too, like mike with will, patty always seems to be the person to break henry from his episodes.

apart from the creelby/byler parallels, mike and patty have individual similarities, too.

what comes to mind right now is the hospital scene where patty and the others go to the hospital to try and talk to mr. newby. patty is really the person to take initiative here, and it's very "leader mike" of her. she's the one who comes up with executes the diversion to get to her dad, and is successful!

other general things that i got from patty is that she sees the best in people, particularly henry, and she is very eager to let him know that she understands him. she is practically the one person henry trusts, before and after brenner.

also, like mike, she does not respect orders from authority -- hence how she so easily confronted brenner in the final scene with them + henry at hawkins high i mentioned earlier.

she's in her church choir, and talks about feeling "different" from the other girls who are "prettier than her". one of the first scenes with mike is troy calling him "frog face", and also finn recently referred to mike as a "natural outsider".

this is smaller but, she also has this negative attitude against high school which ofc reminds me of, "i hate high school". but their desire to leave hawkins (mike's is more so implied ig) might be notable too.

there is definitely more, but this is all i've got right now!

[finnoahsource]

As much as I enjoy getting content of Finn and Noah, I think it's kinda invasive for someone to upload a CCT video of Finn buying a camera. Like, the cast is never allowed any form of privacy, and that's disturbing. Maybe I'm blowing things out of the water, but I feel like not every little thing these people do has to be shared online. I understand why Finn's becoming more reclusive the older he gets.

totally see where you're coming from, and right to care about invasiveness! I suppose it somewhat felt like another version of a candid on the street since those are also always celebs minding their business lmao, but those get shared around too. I think there's feelings about this sort of thing maybe from 1D days where fans would get into airport cameras just to watch them in real time (way more extreme), so it's understandable here because it also just looks odd.

in this specific instance, this guy who posted the footage is somebody a little known in some circles ("the backpack kid"), so even though he said finn didn't recognise him I a) dunno why he didn't ask for a photo with finn normally unless he forgot or was trying to be chill and b) to me has the mindset of online creating and it didn't surprise me that he'd post something like that to show a famous connection/experience he had, a "you'll never believe what happened today!" situation as opposed to if it were him recording finn in his everyday yet not even interacting with him

I think what has been really good this filming season is that the culture in atlanta IS to respect celebs, part of that I'm sure is being desensitised to seeing them, but we have a lot of instances where the ST cast - or our boys at least - have been spotted but left alone, we only know through word of mouth. OR when denied a photo, that's been immediately respected. so that's something worthy of noting on this topic, and I hope stays true once they leave atlanta too!

like I've always said about this blog I didn't intend to be an update on every little crumb, if I see one I'll likely post it, so I end up tossing between a lot of "do I need to post this or no?" like every noah letterboxd entry etc! this was another of them, but I boiled it down to candid + nice to know he was still in atlanta. it could be changed to a photo or text giving an update that he's in atlanta, but when asked for a source it'll end up going back to that footage regardless, is the thing. there's a lot of a grey area with celebrity spotting/updates, it's definitely an ingrained culture (for better or worse) so it is good to stay in reality about it

[paragonrobits]

I'm exploring a few different ideas for a fic that ultimately focuses around the idea of damaged people from ruined worlds or little left to go back to coming together in the form of Farmworld Finn surviving his battle with the Scarab and traveling to Vampire World to continue the good fight in a way that matters to him while his kids get to grow up somewhere safe; there, he meets up with Vampire World Bonnibel, and they team up to fix things as best as possible, possibly even following their worlds merging as a result of cosmic auditors noting that their worlds are otherwise untidy enough and better suited mashed together

But its not enough to just have Princess Bubblegum, Finn the human and Jake the dog together again; there is a FOURTH member of that found family. It's not complete without Marceline, adopted Petrikov. But the Marceline of that world is... perhaps, too far gone. A corruption of the Marcy we know and love. Redemption is for her, perhaps not IMPOSSIBLE, but certainly something outside the scope of what I want to do. But you know one possibility?

The unknown fate of the original Marceline of Winter King's world. And one potential vibe I have for why she might be angry at Winter King even after his death and the source of some complex feelings, and what Ice Marceline actually was, can all be summed up by a relevant panel of Protoman from the Mega Man comics:

Winter King Marceline raises a LOT of questions and open ideas.

We don't have anything to go on, besides the fact that an Ice Marceline acting as a play replica implies that she is either gone or Winter King THINKS she's gone. Betty is also dead, or that Winter King believes she is. So here's my idea; the Marceline of that world IS still alive, but quite different from mainline Adventure Time world; I propose that she actually occupies a similar role to Magic Woman Betty, as a magically powerful wizard who has done complicated things and even acted as an antagonist in her desperate attempts to save Winter King from himself, but in the end it was too late, and she couldn't save him.

The idea I have is that for various reasons, she is not connected to the Finn of her world or Princess Bubblegum; its likely that if they ever knew each other, the circumstances behind her Simon's death and his crimes against that PB left her with a very severe conflict of loyalties and was ultimately too distanced from either; its not impossible that at some point she MIGHT return to them, but I'm thinking that the mode her is that these are people who were meant on some level to unite in the Finn/PB/Marceline family triangle, but due to accidents of fate or bad circumstances, it didn't turn out that way.

In this case, that particular part of the eternal recurrance did NOT work out for them, but through the actions of Fionna and Simon bringing other worlds together, they have a chance to start anew; Magic Marceline comes to vampire world and meets up with them, deciding that she can at least fix SOMETHING even if she can't save the man that used to be her father.

This take on her draws much more on her demonic nature; her soul sucking powers have been honed so that she's stolen magical power from others with the intent of ultimately trying to find a way to do the same with the Ice Crown without harming Simon in the process, and she's garnered a bunch of different wizard powers that let her do the sort of things Marceline can otherwise do. This version of her most likely looks more human, similar to Marshall Lee in Fionna's world; not sure why yet but maybe she has actively altered her appearance to distance herself further from her father, or she simply looked more like her mother here.

As another detail on how warped and tragic the dynamic of Winter King was, I'm also thinking that her relationship with him was full of conflicts leaving her feeling tremendously messed up; she loved him but she hated what he'd become, she known for a while there was not coming back from what he'd done but she still tried so hard, and in the end he deliberately forgot her in favor of an illusion of the child she once was.

[microwavetoaster-selfships]

Little drabble for today, since technically today(or perhaps yesterday?) Was the day I had my little...moment of. Wow it would be so funny if I got engaged with Finn and of course it happens to be cliche a few days before Valentine's Day. Anniversary. I know I don't really post my writing a lot and keep it more private but that's mostly just cause it's harder for me to write things that aren't very emotionally incorporated, if that makes any sense? With drawing I can do a little cute doodle, draw some hearts around it, and that's it, a nice simple little thingy. But with my writing it is normally a lot more extensive, even if whatever I'm writing is just fluffy stuff. And. Not to mention. A lot of people normally brush over drawings after like five reasonable seconds, but with writing it isn't entirely something that can be consumed so quickly. But! I yap a lot on here anyway.

I don't thinkkkkkk this needs any content warnings? I tried to not go into detail about the actual extent of the woes I experienced and just said enough to get it out of my system, but everything else is true and accurate😉 it gets super sappy fluffy at the end because it is me we are talking about here, so of course it does. I did a shorter Speedrun version of my proofreading, so hopefully it has a nice flow to it!

--------

"Yes, but I want to actually do SOMETHING for today, I mean, something nice at least. It is a special day, we should do something.. special for it!" Kane reasoned, still in bed and curled up to a pillow. He cautiously rolled over onto his back, and his expression twitched like he had winced. He kept the pillow in his arms and loosely hugged it against himself.

"Kane, I'm pretty sure I just watched you die, I'm not going to let you expend what little energy you have left that needs to go to resting." Finn sighed, upset, sitting carefully at the edge of the bed. He certainly wasn't upset at Kane, more so the situation; and perhaps what little he could do- or have done- to remedy it, to no fault of his own, of course. Or anyone's, really.

Considering that Kane wasn't always that keen on bigger events anyway, his prying for one was a bit ironic. But just because he didn't like going out to restaurants or typical romantic events that involved eating out in public or resulted in lots of noises going on like at restaurants, it didn't mean that Finn didn't like those things. And, perhaps, Kane felt a little guilty inside, because he had been out of commission for most of the day, so anything that they could've done couldn't happen.

"It's not like I didn't know this might happen." Finn said gently, turning a little so he could look at Kane when he said it.

Kane sighed a little, almost in a pouting manner, and glanced at Finn to meet his gaze for a moment, "I mean, I know that we both knew it was going to happen, cause the prediction and all- and I could feel it- but..."

"But I'm feeling better now and-"

"Rest." Finn interrupted firmly.

Kane groaned in response, why must he need rest and recovery. Why must he be aware of how truthfully exhausted and sore he felt. "Okay, well I wasn't dying, I was just-"

"You were withering in pain, and trying to tug out your own hair so you could feel something else, you-"

"Okay, okay, but worse case scenario you could've just- I mean we live in England, all the houses and buildings are brick- you could've just bonked me out on the head and then drivin me off to the ER or like, urgent care or something."

Ah, and Kane was met with the look of a man who sometimes forgot what country people grow up to be. A look laced with concern because it was his partner he was looking at, but there was still a slight hint of "Fuck? No!" Whether Kane's country roots lying in America added to this was a different story.

"Er- euhm- Whatever the uh. Thing is called the-..." Kane looks around the room as he racks his brain for it, "The NHS! Yes! Whatever those.. they have like those walk-in urgent rooms, right? Like buildings?"

Finn looked like he wanted to respond with several things like "The NHS wait time isn't worth it" and "The day I put you out of your misery like some animal even if it is to temporarily knock you unconscious is the day I [redacted]" but with as ruffled and exhausted as Kane still appeared, he wasn't going to have the man waste his breath on discussing the complexities of the NHS and every other healthcare system, or whatever else was going through his mind. Instead, he ever so gently nudged Kane over closer to the middle of the bed so he could lay down next to him. He understood that going from forever sleeping on a bed that was hardly bigger than him to the luxuries of a bed that was probably a bit bigger than your dining table was something for Kane to adjust to, but it still drove him mad that Kane, for some reason, slept right at the edge of the bed. Even if he has yet to actually fall off of it.

And Kane couldn't help but crack out a grin over it, he spent a lot of time in bed so there was hardly a moment where Finn wasn't wordlessly gently shuffling him closer to the center of the bed.

"But we aught to do at least something, right? Today isn't just any other day today- not to me at least- I want to at least mark it like that by doing something special. Even if it is something small."

As Finn stretched out and laid down net to Kane, he let out a long exhale, "And you call me foolish?" Finn mused, and with as much little movement as possible he rolled over so he could face Kane and gingerly wrap an arm around the other man, tucking it under the pillow that Kane was still holding closely to himself. He was sure Kane was still feeling sore, so he treated every movement and touch he did like he was trying to do a waltz in a minefield.

Kane cocked an eyebrow, "I do call you foolish. Not that I'm any less foolish- if not more." "You certainly are," Finn's voice turned to a mumble as he tried to nuzzle himself infinitely and impossibly closer to Kane.

"And would you like to elaborate on that?" Kane asked, with a faint grin. He was feeling far more amused that he was able to express himself at the moment.

"The whole point of the day is just to spend it however we'd like, and I don't care how we spend it, I just want to spend it with you."

This was one of the moments were Kane was glad that Finn had his face buried up against him, because even if Finn could feel Kane hold his breath, it at least still spared Kane a little dignity because Finn would miss seeing his eyebrows furrow and the corners of his mouth twist and maybe his eyes watered up just a little as well. "Yeah, but you spent the day like a medieval doctor watching a patient and not being able to do anything about it but sedate them."

Finn frowned a little, but he would've frowned regardless of what day it happened on because it was still something that happened in the first place.

Kane let go of the pillow with one of his arms, and then decided to forfeit the pillow entirely altogether and shift his position so he was laying more towards Finn now. He didn't really have much left to say.

"I just want to enjoy the day with you, Kane." Finn murmured, the weight of affection in his voice was undoubtable.

Kane was quiet for a moment, his eyebrows were still furrowed, "I just want you to know that you are special," he responded, and if his sentence had been any longer his voice might've croaked.

Finn smiled, and tried to be as gentle as he could as he softly tugged Kane ever so slightly more closer to him, "I know that you think I'm special." Again, Kane took a moment before he responded. His mind was having trouble arguing with someone who seemed to radiate their love out of their body.

"You do?" Kane asked. Of course he would want Finn to feel special.

"This is where I get to use one of your own sayings against you," Finn said, starting to grin, "You always say that actions speak louder than words, don't you?"

As much as Kane loved that saying and thought it to be true, it bugged him a little that it sounded like something you would find spelled out as the lesson in the back of a book or TV show for children. Which perhaps was exactly where he had gotten it from.

"I do say that. And at least in my experience I've found it to be relatively true, give or take some case scenario exceptions; as with anything there's exceptions."

"Well I think it is plenty special that I get to do this with you," Finn gave Kane the lightest squeeze possible in his arms, "And you tell me in plenty of different ways all of the time how you feel about me." Kane knew that he did that, but part of him almost wanted to respond with "I do?" because it wasn't the usual for someone to be able to understand the funny language that he seemed to speak.

Kane looked at the ceiling for a little while, soaking in the words and the moment. Finn seemed quite content and peaceful with things right now- which is what Kane wanted. Truthfully, in an ideal scenario Kane would've spent the day treating Finn like he was some royalty- not that he didn't have tomorrow to do that, anyway.

"I like you, Finn," Kane said.

"I like you too, Kane." Just for a few moments Finn had closed his eyes. Then again, no one ever goes to close their eyes for just a few moments and it turns out that way.

No, maybe today wasn't and couldn't be spent as a day for a big grand gesture and display of love and affection, perhaps that was something that was going to be saved for another time, but there was still just as much love to be felt in getting consumed by the peaceful tranquility that came with not having anything but a nice warm and safe home, and being willingly boxed up in a room with someone literally, and figuratively, wrapped up around you.

[castlebyersafterdark]

I think Finn and Oakes (glasses guy) definitely had chemistry in The Goldfinch! That’s also, like, the only good part of that entire movie. I would have watched a whole film just focused on the “friendship” between the younger version of those characters.

(and this is the one he famously called “brotherly” which I find it hard to believe that’s what he really thought. finn is a smart person, and the two characters literally kissed. it honestly seems more like not wanting to be accused of being gay, which is fair. that and the infamous “i’m not gay, that’s a…” read like classic internalized homophobia to me. but if he really didn’t see the queercoding at all, then that means he accidentally had chemistry with a guy. finn, I know what you are…)

I also think he and JDG had A LOT of chemistry back then! (sorry, I was a Fack). I love IT, and I think their vibe made the movie even as friends. When I first saw IT, I hadn’t heard about the Reddie ship, but once I heard about it, it made perfect sense. And then IT: Chapter 2 included more explicitly romantic scenes like the hammock scene. And Finn even had chemistry with that boy in the arcade!

Finn’s voice acting even gave him (likely accidental) chemistry with Pinocchio in the Del Toro movie! He really can’t beat the allegations

And then yeah. In WYFSTW and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, he doesn’t really have chemistry with his female love interests, but also those ships are written weirdly. In WYFTS, it’s SUPPOSED to be a weird energy cause Ziggy is a weird guy, but I’m not sure if Trevor’s interest in Lucky was supposed to feel weird or not? Either way, they dropped it in the sequel and gave the vaguely gay plot to McKenna instead. But in the process, they gave Finn basically nothing to do other than flex that his character was 18 the whole movie which is just a ChatGPT created teenager subplot. And I was really disappointed they never even mentioned Ziggy’s bisexuality in WYFSTW cause I was promised it was part of the GFWCU and then it just wasn’t? I mean Ziggy definitely had bi energy, but so does Finn himself. Finn’s actually the one who records the audio for the audiobook, so at least we have that…

And obviously we know about his lack of chemistry with Millie, but that’s intentional. (although some people seem to think that mike and el is the greatest and most chemistry-filled love story of all time). Out of all his romantic plots, he has chemistry with Noah the most!

I’m really curious if he can convincingly act in a heterosexual romance on screen? I mean IMO he did so in S1 of Stranger Things when Mlvn was still cute, but that doesn’t really count

Responses and more ask screencaps under the cut to keep the topic precise and together 😊😊

I hear suuuuch mixed things about the Goldfinch and I have no idea what it's about and I don't really have an interest in watching it? So taking everyone's word for it! Maybe very true that not everything can or should be adapted from book to screen. Perhaps that was the issue.

INTERESTING in that they do kiss in the movie and have implications? Right? And Finn wanted to underplay that. I mean, he was young there. Not far-fetched at his age if he didn't think he was some sort of way or didn't want anyone to conjecture about him - he's gonna deflect. For both Goldfinch and IT, maybe. I mean, we know Noah's gay as we can assume that even if he's said he wasn't sure about it for a long time - he knew in a way, he struggled massively with it from a young age I'm very sure - and I've read interviews and statements from early seasons where Noah wanted to deny that Will was gay, saying it doesn't matter, not worth speculating. That's normal at that age. He wasn't out. He didn't want the spotlight on that, the heat. We can say the same for Finn if he's any sort of queer.

I can definitely speak more to IT as I've seen them - and I guess I wouldn't consider myself someone who was in the fandom more so as someone who enjoyed the movies and was on the periphery of the fandom. I know a lot of the lore and drama and vibes because I followed a lot of people who ended up super into during the peak, fandom osmosis, and I read a lot of fix-it fics after the second movie was out because the potential was there and there were a lot of talented writers. It's funny, because as much as I become a Finn fan now and love Mike throughout all of Stranger Things - he wasn't my draw during that movie. I just thought it was cool the "stranger things kid" was in another 80s themed horror. I knew of him from watching stupid videos people would post from the IT cast. Funny kids! But for IT? I only really cared about the 27 years later portion for fic, post story, canon divergent AU. And it was a casual interest, too.

All that to say - yeah, I wasn't looking for it and didn't see the romance angle in IT chapter 1. I thought those kids did a great job in the first movie!! It's just an entertaining film because I love the idea of groups of friends running around, getting into trouble, nostalgia era movies. A lot hit. But i wasn't there for more than that. The unrequited secret gay feelings angle in chapter 2 was wild and that kinda sparked my brain, I'll give it that. Finn's chemistry with Jack was not something ever on my radar. I do not know anything about that other boy. I'll take everyone's word!!

This is really long but agreed - his most important role, his iconic role - the chemistry with Noah is top tier. There's the most material, too. A decade of working together, knowing each other, 5 seasons of a television show. I'd honestly be curious to see how he'd really act in a het relationship MEANT to be convincing, and not 13 year olds, either. Because sure Finn's awkward and has his ways - but he's grown now. I'd love to see him branch out into things and take roles that aren't catered to awkward teenagers, as much as we love him and are fond of many of those roles.

[lunarnekomancer]

Don't you just love it when thoughts sit in your brain for nearly 4 months straight and pester you at least 5 times a day (yes this is about Dandy's World)

Is it just me, or has anyone noticed that a majority of extractors in Dandy's World (aka Toons with high Extraction Speed and/or Skillcheck) are either explicitly stated or heavily implied to be, highly intelligent and/or knowledgeable (in a certain field)?

Brightney and Rodger are the obvious examples. Vee is a TV who keeps acting like a computer (correct me if I'm wrong: I know jackshit about IT) and is implied to be quite knowledgeable, as lots of information seems to be pre-programmed into her system. (I wonder if she ever updates said programming?) Plus, she's also just a machine. Information and logic is kind of what she's made for. Glisten is a bit of a tricky case here as we can only grasp at straws to estimate how intelligent he actually is. There are signs that he seems to know the Ichor machines quite well. (There's lots of machine instructions in his room in RP mode. Those instructions are slightly sized up versions of the ones that Dandy sells you for, like, 40 tapes or something.) This other bit of 'evidence' is more of a stretch, but his love for sweets may point towards an inclination for mental work, as the brain uses glucose as its main source of energy. Therefore, people who do more mental work may find themselves craving sweet foods. (This also brings weird biological implications to the table: where do Toons keep their brains if they have any?)

On the other hand, Toons with high Skillcheck seems to have more inclination towards being knowledgeable instead of regular intelligence. I've already stated Vee's example above. Shelly's area of expertise is obviously, prehistoric life. Finn's area of expertise is marine biology ('there are many benefits to being a marine biologist'). Although Tisha doesn't really have much hold on the 'knowledgeable' claim, you could argue that her area of expertise is hygiene. If you're her level of obsessed with cleaning, you'd know quite a lot about it and how to do it well. As for Gigi, well, I don't have much on her. The best I can say is that she probably knows a lot about things like probability, game theory (matpat mentioned 👁️👁️) etc.

If all I've said above is true, the resulting implication here is that extraction is a cerebral job. I've seen a post somewhere on this site about how Extraction Speed is the only stat that doesn't start with the letter 'S' and proposed 'Smarts' as a replacement. So, surely I'm not the only one who noticed this.

(also does anyone have kinnie bingo cards for Dandy's World characters? i can barely find any 😔)

[sometipsygnostalgic]

16 for the violence ask game 🔪

Thank you Jagm, I can always count on you to choose violence.

16 - you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

This is a hard one to answer because I absolutely understand why people like most things, at least in the things I enjoy. I consider myself to be very good at analysing what makes media and even fanfic feel good.

The main problem is that my answer deeply ties to every other question on this bloody post!!!!

But with She-ra, this largely ties into romance.

With Entrapdak I don't like the Suave Hordak trope. To me he's not suave at all, I don't like it when he calls Entrapta "Starlight" which is a popular thing people came up with. I prefer a straight up abundance of autism with my Entrapdak. Hordak calls Entrapta "Entrapta." and Entrapta calls him "Hordak!!!!" and nicknames are for losers.

With Catradora I don't like that people remove Catra's fangs. This is probably my answer to every damn question on that post. Why do people mischaracterize Catra as a pathetic little blorbo who is a victim of everything and is mildly tsundere. This is what Hordak should be-- okay ignore that, I have my own issues with Hordak's blorbification especially in canon-compliant fanfic. But in fanfic AU scenarios, people love working with S5 Catra in her final form, they don't bother touching on dysfunctional earlier show Catra, nevermind her S4 self. If I write a Catra-focused AU I think I'm going to focus on that broken version of her.

What is the obsession with characters having kids? Okay I know that we are all gay and gay people having kids is a fantasy but, fucking hell, raising kids is HARD. I don't think "this relationship is so much richer because they had children who look like a cursed crossover of both characters". You can agree with me on that one, right Jagm?

Oh and finally I don't like that everyone has decided the romance is UNAMBIGUOUSLY set in stone. I blame Nate somewhat for this because he basically word-of-god canonized all the unconfirmed romances. But specifically I think of Entrapdak. It's a good reading but it doesn't need to be romantic to still be one of the most amazing dynamics in the show. Same for Scorfuma, a lot of doors have been opened for them and I'm sure they're falling in love, but it doesn't mean they'll settle down immediately and have flower babies. Queerplatonic relationships are good and valuable too, as is intense platonic love. These characters still prioritise each other.

With Adventure Time, it's the way everyone wants Finn to have a GF at the end. Who gives a fuck!!!! The entire point was Finn learning about his own strengths and weaknesses without fixating on the next girl. He is now able to stand on his own two feet and he isn't going to wallow in misery because he isn't smooching someone. After all, Jake is his soulmate, nobody else.

[rosechilds-writing-desk]

I've been reading up on pluralpedia and I think we are a proxy system and I'm partially a headmate challener(?) Byt not really? There are things I "just know" about some headmates and tend to feel their emotions really strongly. But this still doesn't explain why Shimon and I are basically the same but different, to the extent that sometimes things that happen to me in the headspace also happen to him.

Random things I know about system (for my own notes but you can look too!) I might be missing things or things may change who knows. I still don't know much about us.

I am the only host that has ever been in front. I do have vivid memories of disasociating in grade school, so I know we are traumagencic.

There are at least nine of us counting me. Oliver, Fujioka, Clary, Shimon, Jace, Koko, Kurt and Finn.

I cannot access the inner world at all. I have no idea what it's like back there apart from Clary and Fujioka who has "shown" me their "rooms". Other that that I've never accessed the headspace. However, the others come co-con occasionally and have real time reactions to what's going on. I have been told by them that it also helps that I have such a detailed internal monologue.

I can feel a lot of their emotions so I often have to stop and think whether or not their emotions are me or them. But that's also a bit wonky. It's not always 100% and I do not think all the headmates are aware of this connection? It also took me a long time to tell the difference between things I inatately know about them vs what they tell me. An example being a miscommunication that accured when I noted Clary's sexuality and she got upset and thought I was making assumptions based on her personality or something and Shimon had to explain that I can't sort out what I "just know" from what I've been told.

I know headspace is technically a synonym for inner world but I'm not exactly sure what to call the co-con space. I can see them in the co-con space extremely clearly and this is where we converse when we are co-con. Sometimes I have a very weird partial "avatar" in that space and its used to interact with them but I am still front, I feel through this partial me when the others touch me but do not get phantom feelings of it in the body? Anyway It is all black, sometimes shades of Grey. Kind of like the skyrim loading screen! Shimon is usually leaning up on an invisible ledge as he talks to me. He is there 9/10 even if he is not communicating with me, followed by Clary.

They tend to dissappear into "the back" when they leave this space. It feels like there's a gap between two black walls (that just looks like one sea of black) that they vanish into/appear from behind.

I do not know how many people are in the inner world and I certainly do not know who the "gatekeepers are" but they seem to not want me in the back/not want me to know who's in the back. I've tried asking and don't really get much.

I am aware that at the very least I have more Glee fictives. I asked Kurt if there was anyone he would want to talk to if I saw them and he got mad and said he didn't want to talk to my shitty friends and everyone he needs is in the inner world but did not elaborate.

I do not know who the gatekeepers are. I do not know what the inner world looks like as a whole. I only know that Clary's room is at the institute and that Fujioka spends a lot of time in an exact copy of the library from my irl middle school.

Shimon and I are extremely confconfusing and I also have a version of his source as a kintype. I call him my co-pilot because he is almlst always here. He also is the one who gets most frustrated with being stuck in the back and unable to front. But the connection I have with Shimon is still very confusing. Someone suggested that we might be in a subsystem together. I'm wondering if that's possible. But its also worth noting that all 3 of my headmates from his source are from different sources. (I originally thought Shimon and Clary introverted from the same place, however I am now seeing more clearly that Jace, Clary, and Shimon are from all different spurces. Shimon and Clary being married is unrelated to their source)

To elaborate on Shimon and I's memories. One of us has memories of Luke being a detective as he is in the television show and the other has memories of him owning a bookstore as he does in the books/film and we have no clue at all who's are who's. It's a mystery.

I have a partial theory that he partially split durring a traumatic event when I was in high school and didn't fully split until later though I know this isn't exactly something I've ever heard of. I do not think it follows any structures of plurality, however. I'm not entirely sure how subsystems work. But it kind of feels like we are like this:

I think Koko might hold some of my autism symptoms. He only uses physical communication and has a very intense draw to cats.

Ollie (Oliver to everyone outside the system + Kurt) for some reason only protects Fujioka. I am not entirely sure why that is. I have reason to believe that Fujioka could be some sort of school trauma holder.

Kurt feels like a prosecutor of some kind. He tends to cause problems on purpose when he shows up. He is very easy to pacify though. He tends to target Fujioka, Ollie and I. He also lashes out at his sourcemates when we watch his source. He likes touch Fujioka (nothing weird, but he likes to dress them up and touch their hair. Fujioka is 100% with this however he does it because it makes Ollie REALLY upset. I have seen Ollie get violent with Kurt before and I've been told by Shimon that it was not that first time after breaking up the fight) he also just likes being mean at times. He insulted Fujioka's looks and insulted me. It seemed at first to be retaliation against me for how I regarded his source counterpart but I get the feeling more that he is pre-dispositioned to be antagonistic towards us. Even after I've pacified him and made up he gets very angry very easily and seems to want to take it out on us or his sourcemates.

Another thing about Kurt is that I believe he appeared in middle school and went to the back sometime durring high school. When he first emerged he thought I was leaving for school soon and age slid when we learned we were older now.

Finn is some kind of caretaker. He's very gentle and tends to shake me from my intrusive thoughts spiral at times.

I have a joke running theory that my gate-keepers are also two specific fictives and I'm starting to question if im correct because they won't way a word. However I have no proof of this. I have considered trying to bait them out but I think that would be cruel.

Update: as I was writing Oliver revealed his room to me as well.

All of the headmates are over 20 years of my age with (Shimon and Clary aging with the body) apart from Fujioka who is 16. The world is very small for him it feels like? Leading me to believe she is a trauma holder. When Kurt came out of the back he changed his age because he didn't want to be a teen. Haruhi stayed the same and... as far as she's concerned so is everyone else? Fujioka refers to Shimon and I as senpai as if we're in school together and they do speak to each other in Japanese. (I no longer speak it, but Fujioka seems a little formal with Shimon) I originally offered to let Fujioka use kun or chan for me and they seemed uncomfortable. I offered san and this left them confused so I stopped pushing the issue. I see no reason to shatter her reality as she does not front.

Fujioka tends to call Ollie "dad" at times and I believe she spends a lot of time in his room or he guards Fujioka's library. He takes his job very seriously. He views attempts to get close to him as a threat to her. Their relationship seems to be a flip flop between bodyguard/asset and father/child. Both these dynamics exist separately but at the same time.

While Fujioka identifies as Aroace I have reason to believe she had feelings for Ootori.

[tuiyla]

Glee covers that recontextualized the original song

[originally on r/glee]

So I think that the best thing a show like Glee can do to a song is use the original meaning and transform it into something different and hopefully meaningful to the context of its characters. We all know that out of the 700 or so songs covered a lot were just cash grabs, covering what's popular to chart and get that iTunes money. But there were also some that were genuinely poignant to the characters and the storylines or just in general special in their own way. Recontextualisation can mean a lot of things and most GCVs are transforming the original just by virtue of existing within the narrative of the show but I'm looking for Glee versions that really feel like they elevate the song in some way, like they make you look at it in a different way.

I'll share a few examples that have been on my mind but I'm sure there are many, many more, so please do add your own and explain it in as much detail as you'd like, I'd love to hear your faves. I've chosen three solos and, as a preamble, I'm usually not a huge fan of solos as a type of cover on Glee. They were far more common than duets or group numbers but I think a solo has to work harder, in a way, to justify its existence as a cover. At least if you cover what was originally a solo as a duet or group number, you can play with several voices and the distribution of parts and create meaning through that. This really is just imo but I think a solo needs to have at least some form of recontextualization to make me care that a new singer is now covering it.

Luckily this does happen often in Glee and without further ado, here are just three examples that are my favourites/have been on my mind recently.

I Want to Hold Your Hand

I just rewatched "Grilled Cheesus" today so I have very fresh memories of this Kurt performance. Originally, it's a pretty straightforward Beatles song with some generic lyrics and a pleasant melody - Beatles fans don't come for me, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with generic. It's a pretty tame love song and not so overtly romantic that it'd be weird for a song to sing it about a hospitalized father. In fact, it even has that soft quality that makes it pretty wholesome.

The recontextualisation, for me, comes in when we consider what holding his father's hand means to Kurt versus what it meant for the Beatles as a tame love song. It's no longer about this most innocent of physical contacts between lovers but the desperate cry of a boy who wants his father to squeeze his hand back. It's still about intimacy, in a way, but it's now about a familial bond and the need for someone to hold us and say it's gonna be okay.

There's one line in particular why this got stuck in my head and even made me write this post now, despite having been thinking about the other two examples for months and months. It's this part:

Oh, please, say to me

You'll let me be your man

As I was crying my eyes out watching flashbacks of the Hummels, this part struck me as particularly emotional in the context of their relationship. We get the feeling that before the series' start the relationship between father and son is somewhat distant. Don't get me wrong, Burt has always looked after Kurt and tried his best but prior to Kurt officially coming out and the two actively working on this relationship it was an uneasy dynamic. They've been getting better and trying more and it's wonderful to witness, but they both occasionally struggle with navigating their father-son bond in a homophobic world where Kurt is constantly being put down and Burt tried to unlearn harmful ideas he grew up with. As we see in season 1, there's tension between the two when it comes to this concept of The Son who learns from The Father, and I'm being dramatic with the capitalization but that's because these are larger themes they're working with. Conflict arises when Kurt feels like Burt is getting the father-son bonding they never did with Finn and, even though Burt doesn't want him to feel this way, there's a sense that Kurt isn't manly enough to be his boy. It's not their individual fault but it's a shitty thing regardless that Kurt doesn't always feel like he's the son whom his father wanted, like he can't grow into the man he wanted.

So when Kurt sings, "let me be your man", it's such a small thing in this already emotionally charged performance but it alone is enough to make me reconsider the whole song. Because Kurt wants nothing more than to be able to hold his dad's hand again and maybe even be the one who says it's all gonna be okay this time. He wants Burt to live long enough to see him become a man.

If I Were a Boy

That Kurt section was longer than intended so let's see how much I've got to say about Unique, lol. Alex Newell's voice is such that a Unique solo was bound to end up as one of my favourites in the entire show but I'm really glad the character was allowed not only stunning vocals but narratively important songs. There are many interpretations to every song, but the way I see it Beyoncé's original version is about femininity and the double standards women face. It's about trying to challenge people, specifically men to change perspective. It's essentially a thought experiment about gender-swapping and it tells the story of misfortune on a small and personal scale.

Now think about it in the context of Unique's character. Particularly in the episode "The End of Twerk" but really throughout her run on the show, Unique struggles with misgendering and flat-out transphobia. She's not always recognized for the woman she is, challenged about her gender identity, challenged about her right to exist, really. So it's in that context that we're giving "If I Were a Boy", a song about hypothetical gender-swapping, to Unique, a trans woman. When Unique sings about the double standards between genders, it hits different because she knows what it feels like to be perceived as a man and it wasn't true to who she was. Instead of challenging an unfaithful partner, Unique is challenging anyone listening to see that yes, it is different for men and women and it makes all the difference for her when people recognize and respect her as not just a boy but a woman. A woman who didn't choose to be one and didn't choose to have transphobia and gendered double standards be imposed on her.

I think that Unique's version still has that underlying plea of asking men to consider how it feels but it just has so many more layers now because of her identity and journey. She's speaking as someone who has been seen as a boy before but also as someone who is a woman and knows how tough it can be. We see some great acting through song from Alex Newell as they tear up during the performance without taking it too far and making it melodramatic. Instead, the heartbreak of this cover lies in its simplicity. As the song ends, it's ultimately that last line that keeps haunting me:

But you're just a boy...

Because that's what Unique's been told over and over again, and that's a kind of meaning that never would have been there in the original version.

Mine

This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's heard me go on about, well, any aspect of this whole scene. I'll try to keep it brief and we'll see how it goes. So with this one, Taylor Swift has spoken on several occasions about the idea behind the original song and I'm sure any Swiftie could do a much better job of explaining that context than I could here. For the purposes of this post, let's consider Taylor's version as a song about a could-be, a potential future that plays out with all the ups and downs and the hope of making it work despite everything that could stand in its way. Honestly there's way more to be said about the original song but for now really just leave it at "ultimately hopeful love story about a future together."

So what does Santana Lopez do, she uses it as a breakup song. It's a serenade to Brittany reminiscent of "Songbird", except that was before a proper relationship between the two even formed and now here they are, at a painful end. It's a slower and more melancholic version of the song and that alone means it's different but there are so many layers to what makes "Mine" such a transformative cover and a very, very strong contender for my favourite Glee cover of all time. One, it's how Santana seems to use it to lament about their past and the future she imagined they would have but they might never get to experience. As Brittany says, she turns it into a sad song while the original was really more hopeful than anything. Two, Naya Rivera's acting once again shines as she conveys all the emotions she needs to while doing nothing more than sitting there and facing the girl she loves, in the room where they fell in love. Even without watching the performance, even if you just listen to the studio version you can hear the pain behind her words and how difficult this decision to end things is for her.

Those two aspects would already be enough and I could talk much more about both the context of the song and Naya's vocals and acting, but I also want to focus on a third aspect. Much like with the first two songs, there's a particular bit in the song that cements it as a recontextualised one in my mind. Said bit in "Mine" is when the song switches perspective and the lyric changes to quoting this lover Taylor imagined a future with. Some of it is cut in the episode version but my favourite part made it in:

You said, "I remember how we felt, sitting by the water

(And every time I look at you, it's like the first time

I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter)

She is the best thing that's ever been mine"

Words cannot express how much I love this but I'll try anyway. So once again there are several layers, and the one that strikes me the most is the pronoun. "Mine" is a not very gendered song save for a few words here and there and the most we get is that the singer is a woman because of this quote part that's from the lover's perspective. When Taylor sings "she" and when Santana sings "she", we understand that they're talking about themselves through the lovers' lens. But I love it so much when Glee does the pronoun change thing and though that's not quite what happens here, I think it's important to highlight this one line and one word nonetheless. Because of the way Naya sings it, putting some slight emphasis on "she is the best thing" and the way the whole scene is structured, Glee doesn't have to touch the lyrics for us to still understand that this is transformed and it's Santana talking about Brittany. She is the best thing that's ever been hers and she'll always love her the most. And do you believe it now? Even though they're breaking up, they'll make it somehow.

[shadowmaat]

Racism and BoBF

I haven't watched Book of Boba Fett yet, mostly because I don't trust Disney to do justice to the character. What I've heard from folks who have been watching is encouraging, though. I'm still leery, but I may give it a shot.

It sounds like Temuera Morrison is being allowed input into the show, which is fantastic. There are a lot of Māori influences into who Boba is as a person and I LOVE the sound of that. I'm also liking what I've heard about the Tuskens and how they're being handled. Ep 1 reviews sounded discouraging, but- surprise- it seems it's going to be more layered than one single take.

The biggest problem I've seen so far is, of course, fandom. Middle-aged white men are furious at what Boba has become, with at least one going so far as to say that he was better "when the helmet stayed on."

I've also seen people- including white women- complain that he's "boring" now, that he's been "Disneyfied" (well, DUH), and that he's basically just "Mando Too."

Look. I'm a white girl (or girl-adjacent) too, but this is Red Flag territory. "Boring" is a label that gets applied WAY too often to Brown and Black characters. Witness white fangirl reactions to Finn, who wound up sidelined in his own goddamn movies to make more room for the white villain that the fangirls loved.

If you still want to call Boba "boring," that's fine, but I hope you're able to articulate WHY, other than "he just is." I can find similarities between him and some white characters who are incredibly popular, so there's gotta be something to make Boba different and less good, right? Maybe it's the same problem white fangirls had with John Boyega: they think Temuera Morrison can't act. That he doesn't emote as well. Uh huh. Sure.

I can see being frustrated with this version of Boba being "Disneyfied," because great and little gods do I hate how the Mouse tries to sanitize everything, but until someone else buys the franchise there isn't a heck of a lot that can be done. I am maliciously curious to see what happens with the Kenobi series and if Obi-Wan will suffer any Mouse-related clean-up efforts.

That being said, however, one of the things I like about this "new" Boba is that he's being given a chance to try a different path. I won't call it a "redemption arc" since that's a loaded and inaccurate term, but I think it's great that he's trying to be a good guy now. Or less bad, at any rate.

I've seen people be mad about that, too; that Disney took a great villain, removed all his teeth, and made him a generic hero instead. It's a complaint that sounds valid and could be valid in some cases. The thing is, though, that as much as fans wish they could ignore it, Boba Fett is a Brown man. Villainous Brown men getting a chance to balance out past mistakes isn't something we get to see often, especially not in the racist landfill known as Star Wars. It's important that Boba Fett in particular is getting this chance. Previously, in the SWCU at least, that's an opportunity that has only ever been given to white men.

So, no, I don't really see the problem with a bad guy trying to be good. Especially since there are eleventy billion stories featuring exactly that. And as much as I enjoy who Boba Fett was, I'm not sure he'd really qualify as one of the Greatest Villains of Star Wars. He was memorable, sure, but his appearances were as brief as his dialogue, and as soon as Lucas realized he was getting popular, he killed him off in as humiliating a way as he could.

There's a whole lot of drama surrounding the "original" version of Boba, the white nerdbros who projected themselves onto his blank slate to such an extent that the rest of fandom grew to hate him, and the selfsame white nerdbros who had a collective aneurysm when the PT revealed Boba to be a "whiny" little Brown boy.

He hasn't had a very good history; not in canon and not in fandom. It isn't really a surprise that fandom continues to have issues with him, but personally, I'm more inclined to listen to the nonwhite fans, most of whom have been wildly enthusiastic about BoBF for the representation, the touches to native culture, and the stances taken so far in regards to colonizers. Those are the voices that matter, and they're the ones telling me that maybe I should swallow my distrust of the Mouse and watch to see Boba does next.

One thing I've heard that does sound valid is that it feels like a big chunk of Boba's backstory is missing. That can be frustrating as heck, but one can certainly HOPE that it's something that will be explored in future eps and not, for example, in some bullshit tie-in material like a book or comic. I do agree it'd be nice to know more, though, and that it's a bit of a necessary item to link Then and Now.

[harusha]

I just saw your post about PJ and I'm wondering, do you have any book recs?

On mythology specifically or overall? I’m gonna do both since I’m not sure. Also sorry for the relatively late reply, I had to think about this, and I just got back from dinner.

The Count of Monte Cristo- Fantastic page turner, and a genuinely good “revenge” tale. It’s actually one of the first of that kind (or at the very least, one of the most popular ones). It’s also a book that a lot of people cite as the one that changes their mind on classics as “boring.”

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Somewhat of a controversial pick (both because of its subject matter and because it’s often “required high school reading,” ie “boring” to a lot of people.)

Huck Finn is an exceedingly complex character, and his friendship with Jim is really good. Pay attention to what Huck Finn does and says; he’s an unreliable narrator due to how he was brought up, his age, and his illiteracy. There’s also a lot of symbolism and other literary devices at play in his character (ex. notice his fixation with death and how it colors how Twain writes him). It’s very much a book I recommend if you want to study the unreliable narrator as a trope, the  Naïf version of it.

As a side note, it’s very poignant because of how Huck learns to condemn his racism. One of the messages you can get from this book is “If this uneducated poor white boy can learn to overcome his prejudices, so too can someone who has been educated, has money, etc.” It is a brutal condemnation of racism (though you do have to consider the time period, the “lens” of which you have to view through.)

Lolita- Another controversial pick, and one I’ll upright say as a lot of trigger warnings attached (google the summary, and you’ll see what I mean).

Beautiful prose (some of my favorite in literature actually) and a monster of a protagonist. When you read this, remember how Humbert Humbert is framing it. He is telling his tale to a court; he is unreliable and will frame events to make himself appear sympathetic. One notable factor of the author’s skill is how often Humbert gains the readers’ sympathy despite the atrocious subject matter. I personally felt viscerally uncomfortable reading his thoughts, and this is one of the few books that has ever made me feel that way. I didn’t fall into the sympathy trap, but look at any discussion of the book, and you’ll see what I mean.

I also recommend this author’s (Vladimir Nabokov) other works.

Franz Kafka’s literary works- Kafka is one of my favorite authors because he really showcases the isolation (both due to WWI, technological advancement, and the “beginnings” of modern capitalism) of the beginning of the 1900s, and he’s one of modernism’s premier authors. His works often deal with the themes of isolation, judgement, and outcasts. 

In particular, I’m fond of “The Metamorphosis” (cliche pick I know) and “In the Penal Colony.” The former is a short story so quick read if you just wanna try his writing style + it’s very influential (See Part 1 of Tokyo Ghoul for one example).

Also know that Kafka had a very strained relationship with his father and a conflicted relationship with his religion. I recommend reading “Letter to his Father” first to get an understanding of Kafka’s psyche to truly get pass the “nonsensical” nature of his works. It, like the title says, is a letter he wrote to his father, but his mother never delivered it.

If you want even more info on Kafka to understand his works, I recommend Kafka: Judaism, Politics, and Literature which covers a lot more (and in more succinct words) than I can on his works and life. As a fun fact, Vladimir Nabokov also placed him as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. On Kafka himself, he thought he was a failure of a human being and writer, and now look at him. He’s up there in the Western Canon with Shakespeare.

Paradise Lost + Paradise Regained- If you’re interested in Lucifer (or Samael if you subscribe to that theory), this is a must-read. Beautiful, haunting, and with a very charismatic figure in Lucifer. Alongside the obvious Divine Comedy, this work has influenced the portrayal of Lucifer and Hell quite a bit imo. Namely, the “sympathetic” portrayal you find in works such as Supernatural. It’s also an epic poem so it’s best listened to imo rather than read.

No Longer Human- Osamu Dazai’s work if you’re into that one show. An incredibly depressing book that’s often thought to be semi-autobiographical. It’s a haunting book that I don’t recommend for prose, but for the mood it evokes. I don’t recommend this unless you’re in a decent state of mind.

The Catcher in the Rye- Mildly controversial pick in that you either hate Holden or love him. It’s a book where you have to be in the “right” state of mind to appreciate Holden. For example, the period of moving away from home for college  This work deals with societal isolation and human loneliness and features an unreliable narrator.

It’s just a very particular feeling you have to be experiencing to appreciate Holden. I think anyway.

The Epic of Gilgamesh- Not super fancy or a reinterpretation of whatever. Just the oldest known written work of mankind. I like it a lot, but I like Sumerian myth so YMMV. It’s still missing a few tablets last I checked, but still a good read.

Also the related Enuma Elish, you get the creation myth.

Vampire Chronicles- I recommend the first three or four so books honestly. Afterwards, Anne Rice just goes off the rails. Prose is pretty, and Lestat is a terrible person but fascinating to read about. I am partial to Armand though tbh.

Dracula- I think this is another page-turner. I certainly enjoyed it. I don’t think it’s as scary as it would be in its’ published time period, but it is a classic Gothic horror. The unabridged version may look intimidating, but like Monte Cristo, you’ll sweep through it rather quickly.

“A Rose for Emily”- One of William Faulkner’s short stories. I think it’s a lovely piece and showcases the Southern Gothic (crumbling house, decaying and failing tradition and the southern nobility, etc.) There’s a theme of decay and time passing throughout this work.

As a side note, I actually enjoy Faulkner a lot, but he’s a difficult author imo. It’s not as apparent in this work, but more so in Intruder in the Dust (the first racial thriller) and especially The Sound and The Fury.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof- A play that deals with repressed homosexuality (maybe, it depends on how you interpret Brick’s dialogue and actions), loss, and denial. I quite like it a lot, and Tennessee Williams actually was gay (was because he’s dead and all). I read it, but tbh I feel like it would be better watched if you can find a performance on Youtube.

The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde’s most well known work imo. I enjoy the prose and the themes of corruption and indulgence present throughout the novel. There’s also a lot of allusions to Faust in it if you’re interested in that.

Peter Darling-a more modern choice but it features a trans and gay protagonist. Part of what I enjoy is how it’s not browbeaten into you that the protagonist is trans. It’s interwoven into the character where it’s an important part of him, but to where it doesn’t overwhelm his entire character. However, this is a novel where I feel the beginning and ending are great, but the middle is so-so. It’s a retelling of Peter Pan.

The Tain- Focuses on Cu Cuchulain and his cycle.

Poetic Edda- A must read if you’re interested in exploring Norse myths outside of Marvel. It’s basically a collection of tales.

Arabian Nights- Scheherazade is one of my favorite female figures from literature. She’s daring, clever, and particularly resourceful. It’s a frame narrative sort of tale so you technically won’t be seeing her as much since she’s telling each story, but it’s a lovely piece and perfect for a bedtime read because of its collection of tales. A lot of them have been referenced in media and related as well.

The Book Thief- Classic YA novel rec. It’s set in WWII and one of the novels that really showcases what YA could be. Basically a classic gem in the rough pile.

John Keats- He’s a poet, but I love his poetry because of how haunting and dark it can get; he often deals with themes of mortality.. Ode to Nightingale is particularly good.

China’s Four Great Classical Novels (Journey to the West, Dreams of the Red Chamber, Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms)- I decided to clump them here since this is already super long. Each one is incredibly well-known in Asia (and obviously China), and you can find allusions everywhere to these four novels. Each novel is rather long and expensive though (I paid like 40 USD for each set). Journey to the West follows Sun Wukong, unarguably one of the most well-known figures in literature (at least in the East; he’s super influential, but somewhat less so in the West; keyword somewhat). Dreams of the Red Chamber has some very pretty poems, but it’s often thought to be the semi autobiographical work of the author (it deals with the rise and fall of his family and the dynasty).

Daiyu’s flower poem is one of the most memorable for example.

The blossoms fade, the blossoms fly,  the blossoms fill the sky. Their crimson fades, their scent dies out,  and who is there to pity?  Drifting threads gently twist together  and float past the springtime lodge;  Falling willow floss lightly sticks  and strikes the lady’s window drapes.

Water Margin is a bit “bawdier” than the other ones imo, but it’s a good tale and has many notable figures and scenes. On Three Kingdoms, it’s the one I’d recommend to start with if you’re interested in military intrigue and battles.

I also have a Goodreads where I organize everything by shelf if you prefer to look at that. I do need to update it though tbh.

https://www.goodreads.com/Mahariel

[spaceorphan18]

I'd love to hear more of your thoughts re: 23, how Chris' artistic choices were mistaken for apathy. I apologize if you go into this in your meta (which I didn't realize you were finished with and I'm SUPER excited to jump into!) -- clearly you're acknowledging that there is some sort of shift in Kurt's character. I think he's noticeably not as into the "Klaine" relationship and I just assumed it was because Chris was over Glee at that point. What do you think?

Okay - so yeah, I do get into it within the meta - so if you want super specifics - it’s there.  You think a scene looks off? Go check what I have to say - cause I’m sure I’ve tried to hit every complaint.  

So - first of all, though, I need to say this - there’s this habit of -- hey this scene isn’t the be all and end all of everything I wanted it to be -- especially after I’ve been spoiled about it.  And I do think /that/ plays into it.  

And yes, I do think Chris was getting tired of the show, but so was everyone else.  And I feel like it’s disingenuous to saddle him as being the one checked out when I think everyone had their moments - especially the last few seasons after they’re all dealing with the tragic early death of a friend and coworker.  But I also think once an actor says admits that (and Chris did) -- people jump on to every little thing not quite up to their personal standards and declares that it’s Chris not being into it.  

And quite frankly - it does frustrate me a little bit.  Cause no other actor gets as much scrutiny for it, and I really don’t think that it’s fair -- especially when there were other actors who had lackluster moments, too...   

I also think that, as a fandom, we micro-analyze these scenes and sometimes forget the bigger picture of what’s going on -- and we did that especially in season 5 when we weren’t sure what was going on with season 6, and I feel like once we have the whole picture - a lot of Chris’s acting choices actually make more sense (to me).  

I also believe Chris is professional enough to do his job, too...  

There is another huge thing I’d like to point out -- Darren, when talking about his time on Versace, mentioned that a lot of time, performances are shaped by directing and editing - and when he watched Versace, he felt like there pieces missing (cause they had to cut them out) and that some of his process wasn’t shone.  

And that clicked with me.  An actor’s performance is only one part of it.  There’s direction - what the actors are specifically /told/ to do, and then editing - where other people piece together what we see and create a performance out of what they’re given.  And I think a lot of times - things were edited together weirdly, tbh.  But I think it’s important to remember that someone’s acting/performance isn’t the full picture - and that there are other factors that go into creating a show.  

That said -- some specifics...  

I haven’t heard of many complaints about Chris’s acting until the end of season 4 - if there’s another, earlier moment you’d like to know more about, I’d suggest checking the meta.  I probably won’t get into this again because people get super wanky easily over this - and I’m just a little tired of it, tbh.  

1. The Lesbian/Breadstix scene of All or Nothing (4x22) - So.  First of all, this is an editing issue more than a performance issue.  If you look at a lot of the over the shoulder shots, or shots when Kurt’s very off to the side - you can see him smiling happily at Blaine.  Kurt wasn’t dismissive of Blaine at all - but because of the editing wanting to keep Kurt’s inner thoughts more of a mystery (because of the ending cliffhanger) they didn’t show the times when Kurt seemed to be having a good time.  Plus - they’re with strangers, and Kurt isn’t exactly the most open person when people he doesn’t know.  Plus also - the point of this scene isn’t about Klaine’s relationship, it’s about LGTB rights and the lesbians getting engaged.  

I know I go on about this scene in the meta - so I do suggest you check that out for more details.  

2. In Love Love Love, Chris’s acting is spot on - and I see absolutely zero issues.  He’s completely checked in and plays Kurt masterfully here.  People don’t complain about LLL - I’m just bringing it up because I feel like that Chris hits the major Klaine moments out of the ballpark every time.  

3. Movin’ Out - in general there was grumbling about the Klaine stuff, but again, I don’t see the issue.  Their one real scene together was awkwardly staged, but I see no issue with the acting in the scene.  And it’s not Chris’s fault there wasn’t a scripted kiss there.  **shrugs**

4. Mid-season 5 - did people have problems with Kurt’s acting during this? Did people notice? I feel like people only seem to have issues when it’s directly connected to Blaine, and that doesn’t feel fair.  

My only issue with Puppet Master is that they didn’t have a final scene for Klaine to reconnect and be over the conflict - but Glee is bad about those kind of things. 

Other than that...  ??  

I personally have an issue with Previously Unaired Christmas, but only because they never wrote Kurt to be that flirty and up on Blaine.  That’s not Chris’s fault either.  

5. The New York Arc - So, for detailed info, I really suggest the meta, cause I go super into Kurt’s headspace and defend Chris’s choices here a lot.  the tl;dr version -- 

Kurt’s not in a good place in general - partly cause of Finn’s death, partly cause he’s not ready to be married, partly because he’s constantly surrounded by an onslaught of people who are very much about them, partly cause he feels like his career isn’t going anywhere.  Kurt’s in a sad place through most of the arc - which leads to the break up.  

Kurt’s far more irritated and annoyed by Rachel than he ever is with Blaine throughout the arc

When Kurt was supposed to be happy with Blaine he was -- and I didn’t see any issues with Chris’s acting there.  

I know people have issues with the end of Tested - but that was definitely acting choice/direction over performance/actor bleed - and I go way into in the meta.  

I find there’s only one real bad Klaine scene - and that’s their first scene in the Back Up Plan - but its a) a badly written scene and b) It’s Darren whom I find off in it, tbh.  

I do agree that we should have seen more downtime/happier moments to balance out the drama - glee’s writers dropped the ball on that.  

And -- in season 3 we were used to the background moments of Klaine because that’s all we got... but now they’re front and center, we didn’t get background moments the same way.  Personally, I prefer the story and the conflict and the growth, and while yes, I think we could have used some more minor moments, I don’t think we got nothing? Nor do I think Chris was purposely pulling away in what we did see - or least in my own interpretation.  

6. I have zero issues with season six Kurt.  Chris totally knocked the whole thing out of the park, so I have no idea what people’s issues are during that season.  I mean - I kinda understand the lack of feeling married post the Wedding episode - but that was due to the story telling issues and the show not focusing on them as characters /at all/.  I think the finale was fine? 

7. As for Kurt, the character, not seeming as invested in Blaine?? Ug - Kurt loves Blaine.  It’s there, I promise, it really is.  There’s never an instance in the show where I thought - huh, Kurt seems like he doesn’t love Blaine anymore.  Not even during the break ups.  Whether you believe Chris’s acting choices were valid or not - the writing was always there when it came to Kurt loving Blaine. And yeah, I’d have loved to have seen more of it.  But it is there... I spend most of my meta analyzing time talking about it, lol. 

Do I think Chris was 100% on all the time? No - but no actor is.  But I ultimately think that most of the bigger complaints I’ve seen over the years are more from purposeful acting choices during season 5 than Chris being unprofessional.  Hey - if you just don’t see it that way, that’s fine, I’m not going to try to convince you otherwise.  But I really do wish people would go back and watch the full thing with an open mind before outright dismissing or judging it.  

**shrugs**

[scuttleboat]

It's interesting you bring up Kane "Finn Collins-ing", because in all the discourse over how Bellamy has/hasn't changed, I'm getting a sense of "new Kane" off him that I think is why I'm not connecting. It's a very "let me rationally explain things, Octavia, as I expect things from you that I myself was incapable of" vibe, where it's not like he's WRONG, but he's coming off vaguely self-righteous in a way I hope isn't a pattern (especially if Kane is dying and B steps in as "moral authority").

*sigh* I mean, that all kind of is happening? For now, at least. Bellamy turning into Kane or being his apprentice or being his metaphorical son has been really popular in fandom for a long time, and in the show since s3. Which I don’t want to knock at all for other fans but is still, like I said, only like a halfway-interesting thing for me. So anyway. 6 years.

Bellamy Season 5 Big Picture Speculation

To me it seems clear that one of the major goals that came with the time jump was to dramatically change the main characters. They have to do this to make the time jump believable and to justify its existence. If characters come back the same, why bother? Examples: Clarke has changed a lot in terms of what she prioritizes (her child) and how candid she is with herself about that (100%, no hesitation.) Octavia has changed in terms of adopting Jaha’s world view of violence as a necessary outcome of government and then, tragically, by enduring 6 years of starvation and hell that seemed to validate the choice. Bellamy has changed a couple ways: by bridging his internal emotional self and his external social self, allowing honest and self-reflection. By six years of fighting the elements instead of people, letting him grow a faith in humanity that he probably never really had before. By six years of forcefully talking himself into “think before you act”, to honor this person he loved who died to save them. And most importantly he’s genuinely internalized forgiveness, to himself and to others, finally opening him up to deeper and more meaningful personal relationships without being hamstrung by doubt.

That’s a lot of change for him to go through, and the results kind of resemble Kane a lot. However, I don’t think this will hold forever, for a few reasons. One, Bellamy is not Kane and while Kane has influenced him, we’ve also seen the series draw some lines in the sand about it. Two, we’ve seen New Bellamy get more and more frustrated as he tries to hold his old and new families together, but fails. Acting as New Bellamy allowed him to get his people to the ground and save Clarke and open the bunker, which is wonderful. But it’s not enough for what happens next, when all the people he cares about are in escalating and conflicting dangers. He’s trying, and he’s doing everything ‘right’, and it’s not enough. Everyone is leaving him and people are dying… He’s evidently not doing enough bc his plans are not working, but he’s got to struggle to find what will work (while being scared of / not wanting to become the person he used to be). Contrast that with Clarke, who we saw in 503 is way past doing “what’s right” and is in the zone of “what’s necessary”. Clarke + Octavia makes two women in Bellamy’s life who are making decisions that resemble the person he tried to change away from being. Bellamy now resembles Kane, sure. But Kane is a character who is regularly captured, undermined, beaten, and taken prisoner for holding to his beliefs, whose inaction cost him rule of Arkadia in season 3, and who ultimately had to be rescued time and time again by characters with more shakey moral stances. Kane is often right in an ethical way, but he’s also a reactionary character, and you can’t win just by playing defense. So what I’m getting at here is that none of these approaches are necessarily superior, in the long run.

This is the 100, and what I get from the show after four years is the theme that ALL the characters are somewhat right and somewhat wrong. So if you take Bellamy who is both right and wrong, and seemingly do a 180 spin on how his judgment operates…you still get a Bellamy who is both right and wrong. Same for Clarke, same for Octavia. It’s like being on one end of an ellipse or the other. S3 Bellamy becoming S5 Bellamy completes that switch. But neither version of Bellamy is the best fit for surviving on the ground, now that space sabbatical is over. He’s got to change again, this time, hopefully towards an adaptive middle.

So yeah, I was leery about Kane-Bellamy, but it’s clear to me that this is only the first half of a season where he’s going through a process. I think the situation is gonna get worse, and Zen Bellamy ((hi JtV fans!)) is gonna crack. Rational morality isnt gonna be enough to save his loved ones, and accepting that means Bellamy will have to accept that he can’t fully divorce who he used to be from who he is now. This is going to mirror the main character, Clarke, who is moving from the other extreme (survive at all costs) toward moderation. They’re on a journey towards the center again, and they’re going to discover each other there like they always have. Octavia and Wonkru are also people who gone deep to one way of thinking (far more extreme a move across the graph than either Bellamy or Clarke), and who will be pushed and tested this season. When Bloodreina reaches a breaking point, we’ll see Octavia come forward again, and the values she used to hold be reasserted in her judgment again. But she’s moved the farthest so her return orbit is gonna be the most painful.

CONCLUSION: At this point, I’m not *overly* worried about Bellamy becoming Kane; I see “Kane” as a phase that Bellamy is transitioning through. I hope my instincts are right about that, anyway. I like a little dirt and blood in the water, and Bellamy’s always being a reliable character for that. I think when the season is over we’ll see how much of him is the of the person he grew up as and how much of him is the person he molded himself into for the time jump. They’re both real aspects of him. I anticipate he’ll end up with some of both.

But, to your ask, I don’t think Bellamy is gonna be a moral authority forever. That’s a hot potato that the show passes around pretty freely, all the while saying “btw this potato you’re holding, is it even real? I mean moral relativism….” I know the fandom always wants characters to be or not be “right”, but the show writers only seem interested in seeing the impact of the question, not providing clear answers.

[nifujiswhore]

III - Different kind of Leech

“So…. you guys are leeches, yeah?” Sam started off the conversation, not to be rude or argumentative, but curious.

“We don’t prefer the term leech, moroi is better. But for the sake of the argument, yes, we are a different kind of leech.” Rebekah responded as talia was still shifted because she didn’t have spare clothes. Hearing a warning growl and a nudge on the arm from the wolf behind her rebekah amended, “well, we as in me, my brothers Finn, Kol and Elijah are the original moroi, whereas my brother Niklaus is the original hybrid, half-moroi half-werewolf, my niece is the original tribrid, wolf, witch and moroi, and my sister is an upgraded original moroi with her shifting and mutations on the side and then there’s my older sister who is a witch.”

“What do you mean by ‘original’?” paul asked. “From us came the species of moroi or ‘traditional vampires’. Were faster, stronger, can bite harder and the only thing that can destroy us is hidden away. Talia is an upgraded version of us, stronger bite, faster speed, with the addition of lethal venom that kills even one of us.”

The pack were in awe, not knowing how strong their elders actually were, and if talia was intimidating when she wasn’t shifted then imagine the whole family. Paul gulped nervously knowing that he just imprinted on someone who could snap his neck like a rubber band.

Not long into the silence did emily come back onto the porch with some clothes in hand for the girl. “I’m not sure if these will fit, but at least they’re something to wear right?”

Trying to smile as gratefully as she could in wolf form the girl accepted the clothes and shifted back into her human state behind her sister. Paul, sam, emily and jared all turned away respectively while embry (the only one who hadn’t imprinted, was skillfully avoiding rebekah’s glare and ogling like he’d never seen a naked girl before, which he hadn’t.

“Ow!” startling talia out of getting dressed she looked up to see embry rubbing the back of his head while paul suppressing his laughter with his back facing the girls. Cheeks turning pink she teleported behind a tree in the nearby woods with a bamf! “Hey where’d she go? How’d she do that?”

“She’s a mutant, you idiot.”

- - -

After settling back down in the house while emily was cooking, talia decided to see if emily needed help in the kitchen while rebekah got to know the rest of the pack for her. Talia’s social skills outside of her family were atrocious and with her inattentive adhd, conversing and getting to know new people was a pain, but emily had a patient motherly aura so talia decided to give it a try.

“Do you need any help here? I’m a great cook, my family doesn’t complain and the ones who do haven’t suffered from food poisoning or they haven’t told me yet or they can’t ‘cause they’re supernaturals, but anyway the point is I'm not a terrible cook.” Talia started then dissolved into muttering before getting back to the point.

Giggling quietly at the eternal teen before her, Emily realised that the girl muttering to herself in the entryway to the kitchen was just that, a girl standing in slightly baggy denim shorts and an oversized shirt that did not match at all with the expensive heels on her feet while trying to be social.

“You don’t do this a lot do you? And i can’t help but ask, what’s your real name?” emily turning her back to the muffin mix behind her, to fully face the girl.

Nervously laughing with a quiet “oh” she couldn’t take her eyes away from the pretty face in front of her scars and all, but stopped staring after realising emily asked her a question.

“Um.. n-no i don’t, in fact im the least social in my family and thats saying a lot, a-and my real names talia but no-one really uses it because Nik started calling me that around the 20’s and my mum called me Citali, which-” “-which means ‘beautiful star’ in cherokee. It fits.”

“Are you sure you're not trying to hit on me?” laughing quietly with tinted cheeks before walking over to the bench to help emily with the muffins.

“Which name would you prefer, sweetie? And could you grab that tray from the top shelf over there?” pausing mid-step at the pet name and the question. “No-ones asked what i wanted to be called before.”

Smiling sadly at the girl, emily brought her into a motherly hug. “Well, i think i’ll call you Citali” and all she received was a teary nod accompanied by a ‘i’d like that’ before the two went back to baking.

“So, you mentioned the 20’s earlier, did you mean the 1920’s?” realising early on that emily just had to follow the path of talia’s brain rather than control it to have a proper and interesting conversion with the girl, she waited for lulls in their, rather talia’s, talking to ask her questions.

“Did i? And no, not the 1920’s though they were fun though. Nik gave me that nickname in the 1320’s, i had been with the mikaelsons for about…” counting the decades on her fingers, she then held up three “three years?” emily supplied

“No, three decades i think, but history gets boring once you’ve lived through it.”

Continuing to lick the freshly made (extra, just so she’d stop eating the other batch) brownie batter while sitting on the bench while watching emily bake and observing the scars.

“Do they hurt?” the words slipped out before she could stop them and immediately slapped a hand over her mouth while emily froze. The boys, especially Sam and rebekah who had been discreetly listening in the whole time the girls talked, froze as well and rebekah just slapped her forehead getting ready to go and whack her sister on the head before she heard emily’s reply.

“Sort of, every now and then they sort of ache, why do you ask sweetie?” She was a sweetheart honestly, and rebekah was very thankful that emily had the patience to deal with her sister because although she loved her immensely she was pretty clueless in most social situations.

“Because i have some too, see-” turning around and pulling up the top to show emily her scared back “-i got them when my wings were still coming through, the bones had to sprout straight out of my skin, i healed most of them but these were to deep to be healed properly and the skin was always more sensitive-Ahh, that’s cold!” she yelped after feeling emily’s cold hands trace the scars on her back.

“Your wings, where do they go?” pure curiosity in her voice as she got sidetracked “the just sink into my skin and become faint white outlines when i’m not putting on a front in public. Kinda like battle scars, i guess” shrugging while giving the response, Talia dropped the shirt to be face to face with emily.

“Hey, are we gonna kiss right now?” it was just sitting there, and she had to break the tension somehow. Not only did emily laugh at the joke but everyone in the other room could be heard cackling as well.

“No were not, don’t pout i’m taken, see this. This ring means im off limits” pulling back to watch as talia’s expression brightened before going back to her original thought.

“Do you want me to heal them for you? I c-can at least try.” She was nervous, gods bless her, and while the offer was tempting emily declined, because without them she wouldn’t be here right now, with the love of her life sitting in the next room, with a rowdy pack to cook for.

“That’s very sweet of you, sweetheart, but these are my own battle scars if you will.”

- - -

“Geez, can’t you sit still or somethin’? I thought you dead were supposed to be like perfect corpses an’ shit?” paul grumbled at talia while she was just sitting cross legged on a chair while bouncing her knees and eating a now cooked brownie.

“Uhm, no actually. ‘M not sure about strigoi but becoming a moroi just enhances who you already were, and we have heightened emotions as well so frustration can feel like hate, sadness like despair, and hopefulness can feel like passion. Traits that we died with like mental health disorders, such as mine, only become enhanced. I actually didn’t know i had a mental health disorder until Nik took me to a psychologist and they diagnosed me with ADD, now referred to as inattentive ADHD and because of my supernatural status i can’t take meds.” scoffing, she continued “believe me, i’ve tried.”

“It’s also why she’s atrocious in any social interaction, and has us do it for her” gaining a nod of an agreement from talia as rebekah finished off.

Changing the topic, jared asked a question none of the others thought of, “if you both are immortal teens, are you going to high school?”

Both girls groaning in response with ‘don’t remind us’ floating out by both of them.

“We start at Forks High next monday, this sucks. I mean I shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a school. I can’t sit still for six hours straight, everyone annoys me, we can smell everyone's hormones. It’s disgusting.”

Laughing in agreement, jared and embry exchanged mischievous glances with one another.

“Well, if it’s really that bad maybe Paul would like to drop you guys off he just graduated, so he’s got a lot of free time now when he’s not on patrol.”

“Ugh, no thanks” “Yes, please.”

Snorting at what the boys were doing she played along, “sorry bekah, but i’d rather gag on a back of sweaty gym socks then watch you two flirt, i’ll just take my bike to school then and you two can use my car.”

Smirking at the two and wriggling her brows watching paul race put the house to check out the jeep, she added a horrifying afterthought “AND IF I EVEN SMELL THE SCENT OF ANYTHING UNSAVOURY IN MY CAR YOU WILL BE BUYING ME A NEW ONE!”

Everyone burst out laughing at that. Smiling to herself she felt the happiest she had felt in a long time

Yeah, i could get used to this.

- - -

“Hey, we should probably get going.” rebekah reluctantly told the pack. “But we’ll see you guys soon, and paul here’s my number so you can come get me.” Talia rolled her eyes before waving to the boys and muttering a ‘really beks?’

Stepping up to give sam a friendly - but awkward nonetheless (she was hopeless at this shit) - shoulder pat before moving onto emily who gave a bone crushing hug.

“Don’t be a stranger Citali” digging her face into the crook of her neck and smiling, emily received a small “i won’t be” before joining rebekah at the car and waving.

Both girls were smiling on the drive back, but the smiles turned to dread when they realised they had to go school supply shopping, heck talia never finished the first time she attended.

Pulling up to the local target, cards in hand, both girls glanced at each other before heading into the store.

“Next stop Forks High, go Pirates!”

“It’s timberwolves.”

“Oh, I know.”

<<prev | next>>