#It’s so so so good of an episode for looking at what makes the characters tick

[e-dubbc11]

Such a Flirt

Photos are not mine. They are courtesy of Pinterest/Google.

Pairing: Dean Winchester x F! Hunter Reader; supporting character Sam Winchester

Warnings: SMUT! (18+ please or I’m telling on you) fingering, oral, p in v protected sex (be safe out there everyone), couple of swear words, love confessions

Word Count: 3.3K-ish

Summary: Dean and Sam ask for your help getting information from a bartender at a local bar. You’re a smooth talker and can get info from anyone but Dean hates having to watch you flirt with handsome men.

A/N: Fair warning, there’s only a little plot with this one. I really just wanted to get to the smexy time. I had the strongest urge to write some smut for this smexy son of a bitch, I don’t know why but I’m just very much in love with all things Jensen Ackles right now(I’ve watched Tracker, My Bloody Valentine, and started watching season 3 of the Boys again plus random episodes of Supernatural) I can’t wait to meet him in October! I hope you like this one!

As always, thank you for reading!  I appreciate it so much and comments, reblogs are welcome and encouraged. Don’t be shy to tell me your favorite part. 💕💕 💕

“Dude, why are you grinding your teeth like that?” Asked Sam.

Dean’s eyes were fixated on you as you flirted with the bartender. You were trying to see if he knew anything about a man who was in the bar a couple of days ago.

Later, the man couldn’t explain why he had beaten his girlfriend to death after being seen in the bar with a beautiful woman who was definitely NOT his girlfriend.

“Does she have to flirt so hard with that guy?!” Growled Dean. “He’s not even that good looking!”

Dean angrily took a sip of his beer and continued to watch you like a hawk.

Sam rolled his eyes, pressed his lips together in a straight line and tried to continue talking about the case with Dean but he was more interested in what you were saying to the bartender.

“She’s trying to get information for us, Dean. Relax.” Said Sam.

The boys didn’t always need a third “FBI agent.” Sometimes they just needed help getting information from the opposite sex. Men were a lot freer with their words with you rather than the “feds.”

You mostly hunted on your own but they would call you from time to time when they needed your…”wits,” so to speak. Plus, you liked to watch Dean struggle with his feelings for you and you very much liked him back but it was fun to make him jealous.

**********

Before leaving the bunker, you had asked, “What kinda bar is it?”

“What do you mean what kind? It’s a bar, y/n.” Answered Dean.

“Ok, I realize that, Dean but is it a biker bar, a country western bar, one that doesn’t have a theme? I need to know what kinda clothes to bring. I threw a whole bunch in my car, I’ll bring the one outfit I need, and pick up the rest back here before I head home.” You replied.

Sam was already on his laptop doing research so he did a quick search and found the bar’s website online.

“Looks like it’s quite the nice place, y/n. Reviews say it’s an after work hot spot for bankers, real estate brokers, professionals, etc.” Said Sam.

You replied, “Soooooo a little swanky, but don’t dress like a high end call girl, got it. You guys will fit in perfectly wearing your FED suits.”

You decided to go for the “classy attorney” look but without a blazer. A Kelly green fitted silk blouse, black wide-leg pants that had black studs on the seam, and black ankle boots. Your perfectly chosen outfit, paired with a black structured tote bag seemed like impeccable choices.

Eat your heart out, Dean Winchester.

While they were out eating lunch, you did your hair and makeup. You didn’t do this super girly stuff very often but you liked…feeling pretty. The times that the boys needed you to turn on the charm and bat your long lashes to get information, were really fun for you.

Drawing on your black winged eyeliner after having a little too much coffee proved to be difficult sometimes but you were a professional and could probably do it with your eyes closed if you needed to.

A medium tone matte eyeshadow and a bold lip completed the look while a strobe light like highlighter emphasized the high points of your face.

Satisfied with your look, you watched a little tv before changing clothes. They would be back soon to pick you up for drinks after they talked to the local cops.

While in the bathroom, you heard the door open and Dean called out to you.

“Y/n?! You better be ready; we gotta go!” Said Dean.

You emerged from the bathroom fully dressed with the exception of your shoes.

“Ok, ok keep your shirt on, Winchester. I just need my boots.” You replied.

After slipping into your boots, you picked up your bag and finally had a chance to look up. For once, Dean’s brow wasn’t furrowed and you could see his hypnotizing green eyes much better which caught you off guard.

“What is it? Do I have something on my pants?” You said, gazing down at your pants then turning in a circle with your head over your shoulder, trying to look at your own ass.

Dean was speechless and couldn’t get any words out so Sam answered as he tossed a burger at you, “Nope, all good. Let’s go. You can eat in the car.”

They walked up ahead as you locked the door behind you.

“Dude, what is wrong with you? You were staring at her.” Said Sam.

Dean replied, “She looks too good, Sam.”

“Can you wrestle with your feelings for her another time? She’s supposed to look nice.” Sam said.

Nervously, Dean whispered, “Well she’s distracting! And I don’t have THOSE kinds of feelings for her.”

“Whatever you say, dude.” Replied Sam with raised eyebrows.

You covered your mouth so they wouldn’t see you crack a smile.

While riding in the car, you leaned forward so the boys could hear you better. Making sure he could feel your breath on his ear, you said, “You two can go in first, have a seat, and I’ll make my way in after a few minutes. You can keep an eye on me as I walk up to the bar.”

A sly smirk stretched across your lips as you slinked back into your seat and looked at Dean in the rearview mirror, trying his hardest NOT to appear flustered but failing miserably.

You could have made it easy and told Dean how you felt about him but he deserved to be on the receiving end of the teasing. Women made it easy for him, just falling at his feet which meant he had his pick and he hated every time you teased him.

And now, drinking at the corner of the bar, you could feel him burning a hole in your head with his angry stare. It appeared that Dean couldn’t take just sitting there anymore. Sam tried to grab hold of his jacket but he missed and Dean started to walk over to the bar when the bartender walked away to wait on someone else.

“I’m getting some good stuff, Dean. Get outta here!” You whisper yelled at him without looking and without drawing attention to yourself.

He nonchalantly whisper yelled back at you, “You’re being a little TOO friendly with him, don’t ya think?”

“I’m perfectly capable of weaseling information out of a dumb bartender. Now get outta here before I kick your ass all over this bar!” You growled.

“Need something, friend?” The bartender asked Dean.

A tad flustered, Dean replied with a narrowed expression, “Two more beers, buddy. Thanks.”

You got what you needed from the bartender and after another hour or so, you paid for your drinks and left. Dean and Sam followed you out a handful of minutes later.

“Can we get pizza?” You asked.

Dean was always in a better mood if he was fed properly so as a peace offering, you bought pizza on the way back to the motel. And of course, Dean picked up more beer.

Settling in with your dinner, you told them everything Jeremy, the bartender, told you about what he witnessed.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, I didn’t know the two of you were on a first name basis.” Said Dean.

You rolled your eyes.

“Will you let me finish, please!?” You asked.

“Dean…let her finish. Come on.” Said Sam.

Dean continued to pace back and forth while you talked.

“…So the woman that he left with, Jeremy had never seen before. And this guy hung on her every word, gazed at her like she hung the moon, she said all the right things. Almost like he was legit under a spell or something.” You finished.

Sam had his laptop open. His fingers swiftly typed words into the search engine and he then flipped the screen around to show you and Dean what he found.

“I think we might be dealing with another siren.” Said Sam, confidently. “Two other women were murdered by husbands or boyfriends after encounters with beautiful women at that bar. Sirens need love and they compel people to kill to show devotion to them.” He turned to Dean. “Remember that one we dealt with before? The time where we were trying to kill each other?”

Dean nodded. “Yeah, I remember. I try not to though.”

Preoccupied with Dean’s eyes, they had darkened a little to match better with the green shirt you had on, you covered your infatuation by pushing the chair across from you out from under the table.

“Take a load off, tiger. You’re makin’ me nervous with all this pacin’ around you’re doin’.” You said in between bites of pizza.

The Winchester brothers were your second family and you knew them well, especially Dean so you knew when something was really bothering him. And right now, something was definitely bothering him.

Sam’s face was buried in his laptop, it was quiet in the room except for the sounds of fingers moving across a keyboard, and the tension in the room was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Something about you being there was keeping Dean on edge so you finally decided to break the silence.

“Dean? Come on. What is it? You’re being extra grouchy right now, so grouchy that pizza couldn’t fix it. Ever since I walked outta the bathroom earlier, you’ve been short with me.” You said, calmly.

He pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead and traced the outside of his lips with his thumb and forefinger before narrowing his eyes at you.

You knew that look. The look of an extremely handsome literal green-eyed monster glaring at you from across the table. Dean was close to blowing a gasket.

He pointed at you and in his low gravelly voice said, “I don’t like it when you flirt with other men. There! I said it, ok!? You happy!?”

In one fluid motion, Sam closed his laptop, grabbed the keys to the car and said, “I’m gonna go talk to the cops again. Lemme know when you two work THIS out.”

You started to say, “O-ok, well just be—“

“Yep, I’ll be careful. I know what to look for. I’ll see ya guys later.” Said Sam.

The door closed behind him, the Impala roared to life, and Sam drove off, leaving you and Dean alone in the motel room.

“Well that was weird. Anyway…Dean, I’m just doing what you guys asked me to do! You needed me to get information, so I turned on my charm and I got what we needed just like any other time you’ve needed me for something like this!” You said with a raised voice.

Dean stood up from the table and loosened his tie a little. Unbuttoning the top button on his dress shirt, he didn’t take his gaze away from you.

“You don’t have to be THAT good, ya know! They eat it up every single time! Lemme ask you this…did that Jeremy guy ask for your number?”

Seeing Dean this upset made you think that he didn’t just have a little crush on you.

Feeling a little warm, you unbuttoned a couple of buttons on your blouse and stood up also. You were reluctant to answer him but finally said softly, “Yes, he did.”

“HA! I fuckin’ knew it! They always do and did you give it to him?” Asked Dean.

You started to answer before he interrupted you, “Dean…”

“Did you!?” He asked again.

Not wanting to confess your feelings first, you tried to stall.

“No, I didn’t!” You shouted.

The table was in between the two of you. Both of you were breathing heavily, your jawlines tight with anger and frustration, and the sound of your heart beating inside your chest was deafening.

“Oh yeah?! And why should I believe you, y/n?!” Dean growled.

“I’ve never given any of them my number, Dean! Not a single one!” You bellowed.

His expression softened as he asked, “Well…why not?”

After a long day, you couldn’t help but collapse onto the bed. You allowed your legs to give out and sat down on the edge of the mattress before answering him.

“Why do you think, ya big dumb animal?! Because the only guy's number I want in my phone is yours, Dean! And Sam’s but for different reasons. You know what I’m trying to say, stop looking at me like that.” You said, nervously.

He walked around the table, gazed down at you with his beautiful green eyes, they were the color of fresh blades of grass, and leaned over to inch his face closer to yours. The sprinkling of freckles across his nose was so youthful and adorable. You swallowed hard as you felt his breath against your eyelashes.

“And why do you think I get the way that I do when I see you flirt with other guys? You know why, don’t you sweetheart.” He said, melodiously.

Dean’s lips were ghosting over yours. You were silently begging him to just kiss you and kiss you hard. All the tension that had been building over the years was coming to a head right now. His tie dangled down from around his neck, you were dying to just pull him on top of you and find out what he tastes like…all of him.

“Because you want me as much as I want you?” You replied, gently touching his tie.

Still holding his tie, you inched yourself up toward the headboard. Dean followed your lead as you removed his tie and began to unbutton his dress shirt.

“I want you more.” He purred into your ear before his perfect lips crashed onto yours.

Dean covered your mouth with his own, devouring you with every kiss he placed on your lips, neck and jaw. You won the fight to be on top, although you were sure he let you win, and you continued to unbutton his shirt while he grasped clumsily at the buttons on yours.

They were small so he was having a hard time with them until you stepped in.

“I’ll do them, baby.” You whispered as he haphazardly tossed his clothes to the side.

You stood up and let your pants fall to your ankles while you finished unbuttoning your silk shirt. His desire for you was very apparent by the large tent in his boxers that you felt against your core as soon as you straddled him. The bottom of the shirt brushed against his thighs and goosebumps peppered across his skin.

You decided to let him finish undressing you.

Dean’s hands gently pushed your shirt off of your shoulders and all that was left was the black lace bra that was barely containing your breasts that he could not wait to get you out of. The man was a pro at unhooking your bra with one hand. If you didn’t want him so badly, you would have stopped to give him shit for it.

He lightly nipped the skin down the side of your neck, making you gasp when he got to the spot where your neck meets your shoulder. You felt like you could have come just by him biting down on that sweet spot. The growing ache between your thighs was torture and you desperately wanted him to touch you.

Like he read your mind, his strong hands migrated from your breasts down to your waist. Reaching in between your thighs, Dean teased your entrance with one finger, then slid another inside with ease.

“You’re soaked, sweetheart.” He whispered as a strangled moan escaped your lips.

To suffocate your screams, you bit down on your lower lip as he continued to move his talented fingers, hooking them in just the right spot to make you see stars, and drew circles on your clit to really tease you.

“Dean!” You pleaded, just before you hit your peak and tightly clenched around his fingers.

“You can be loud, baby. These kinds of places are used to noises like that, if ya know what I mean.” He said with a wink and a smirk.

You smiled back, pressed your lips to his, and lightly bit down on his bottom lip before starting to pepper kisses down his chest.

After pulling down his boxers, you took him into your mouth. A deep guttural moan and words of praise fled from Dean’s lips when your tongue circled the underside. That made him draw in a sharp breath as his fingers tangled in your hair.

“Fuck, that feels good, sweetheart.” He hissed and mumbled something else incoherently.

Crawling up his body, he slipped on a condom and then as you straddled him, you replied, “My mouth isn’t just for flirting, Dean.”

He slid into you with ease, burying himself to the hilt, causing you both to gasp before he cut your moan short with a hard kiss. You circled your hips slowly, allowing him to go deeper inside you, and it sent sharp tingles down your spine.

You pulled him in close as your walls began to tighten around him, clinging to him like your life depended on it with your climax starting to build.

Dean’s body was a warm cradle for yours as his fast abrupt strokes were about to send you over the edge and fast. But he loved to look at you so he pulled away slightly and watched your pleasure surge through you.

As you were riding out one orgasm, Dean managed to pull another one from you as you loudly called out his name like no one else was around which made him feral.

His movements became faster, more brutal, pulling out of you just so he could slam into you again and again as his body went rigid underneath you. Crushing your waist, his arms were wrapped around you so tightly that all of the air escaped your lungs.

His release came hard and fast, followed by a strangled moan while your bodies trembled from overstimulation. Dean’s eyes were wide and unfocused as he tried to catch his breath while you leaned in for a gentle kiss and let your fingers glide through his soft brown hair.

Collapsing on top of him, you smiled against his chest as his fingers tickled the outside of your arm and the only thing you could hear was Dean’s heart beating rapidly against your ear.

Trying to get your breathing under control, you covered yourself with the sheet and finally managed to ask, “So…does this mean you don’t want me to flirt for information anymore?”

Dean kissed the top of your head and replied, “As long as you come home with me, I’ll allow it.”

“ALLOW IT?! You’re not the boss of me, Winchester.” You said, sarcastically.

He licked his lips as you looked up at him through your long dark lashes.

In barely more than a whisper, he said, “Well what if I told you you’re really pretty and that I might be…in love with you?”

“Awww…you’re really pretty too!” You said, jokingly.

Dean rolled his eyes, “Alright, I’m tryin’ to—“

Wrapped up in the sheet, you sat upright, cupped his cheeks and pressed your lips to his, your tongue slipped into his mouth to tangle with his as a low growl escaped his lips.

“I might be in love with you too.” You whispered against his mouth.

Chasing each other’s smiles, he continued to kiss you until you heard a key in the door. Sam walked in, took one look at the two of you and without missing a beat said, “Oh good, you two worked it out. So I was thinking, I might know who—“

He stopped, looked at the two of you and shouted, “Guys…that’s MY bed!!”

You and Dean started to laugh.

Oops.

Tag List: @munsonownsmyass @gijos @stoneyggirl2 @vaguekayla

Others that might enjoy: @k-marzolf @jvanilly @fluffyprettykitty @imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend @deans-spinster-witch @savorxe

If you would like to be added to(or removed from) my tag list(s) for this smexy Winchester, just let me know!

[butterflydm]

WoT rewatch thoughts (1x5-1x08)

Still has spoilers through the s3 information that we have so far and book spoilers through a memory of light.

1x05

Both beginning and ending this episode on funeral rituals worked so well. Great structure.

Time skip for traveling! Mark a month off on the calender.

We can really see how Mat has deteriorated in the last month by the way he snaps at the kid who runs into him.

Love the shot of Dragonmount looming behind Tar Valon. They exist always with that reminder of what the Dragon did.

Mat has no appetite. Poor sad wet cat.

The betrayal of there being Two Beds in this inn room, lol. Why are we not respecting the classic fic tropes?

Rand reassuring Mat that he didn't kill that little girl or her family. Rand believing so hard in Mat's goodness maybe partly because he can see that Mat is having a difficult time seeing it in himself.

Even with Nynaeve's coat off, she's still half Green and half Yellow.

Moiraine trying so hard to mentor Nynaeve and she Does Not Want It.

Man, Perrin and Egwene had a much more cheerful journey than either of the other sets. But they get plenty of trauma right now, so they don't need to be jealous.

Once again, the show does such a good job showing us the strength in the Tuatha'an. And this thread will continue into Perrin's storyline in s3, with both Whitecloaks & Tuatha'an. They've done a solid job of tying Perrin to them both.

Loial shows up and immediately calls Rand an Aielman, lol. Poor Rand!

Oh, I see you, Fain!

Oof, people throwing food at Logain and mocking him. Baffled at the people who say the downsides of being a man who can channel weren't shown.

The promise scene between Mat & Rand is so good. Ultimate sad wet cat Mat. I really do love everything about this scene.

I really like our exploration of Stepin's utter and compete grief and emptiness after Kerene's death. How much the other Warders try to help him, how Nynaeve tries to help him but it isn't enough.

Love love what they did with the old rings being melted down (to create new).

Between what happens with the Whitecloaks here and then the Seanchan in s2, Egwene reacting by being as fiercely independent as possible makes all the sense in the world.

The Whitecloaks and Tower novices both wearing all white seems like it might create some emotional dissonance for Egwene, but I understand why the show didn't go there. That's just down to Jordan making too many groups of people wear white.

Oof, the Whitecloak stuff with Egwene & Perrin is hard to watch.

But our first hint of Perrin's golden eyes.

I note how Valda feels about all channelers similarly to how Liandrin feels about male channelers. And then we can get into the Seanchan's dehumanization of channelers as well.

Liandrin trying to bond more with Nynaeve. Has she been having ta'veren dreams? Ishy has had a month to try to figure out at least some of the places where his potential ta'veren have gone.

Our first reunion! It's always such a relief when any of them get to reunite. Man, Mat really does look on the verge of death.

Nynaeve can now join Rand & Mat in the Not Trusting Aes Sedai or Moiraine squad. Oops.

She tells Rand a story about Egwene to reassure him of Egwene's strength, never realizing that it's also the moment when Nynaeve likely channeled for the first time (to heal Egwene).

Perrin shares his deepest shame and secret with Egwene here - that he killed Laila by accident during the battle. So Perrin & Egwene's journey ends up being also very traumatic but the trauma was concentrated into the last day or so of the journey.

And just like was hinted at with the fire, Egwene & Perrin are finding their power at the same time. I wonder if this will happen again with their TAR training in s3? I really hope they run across each other in TAR. Let the characters stay connected!

Liandrin definitely got shot down by Moiraine at some time in the past.

Love the whole "shrine to ward off the Forsaken" thing. Great touch.

Siuan has been off in Caemlyn - was she talking to Elaida about Elayne, or was it about politics?

Moiraine: the White Tower's Woman of Mystery. Everyone wants to know what she's up to!

Alanna got such a glow-up in the show compared to the books. She's great here.

We get another nod to accepted poly relationships (amid the Green Ajah, at least).

Great conversation between Stepin & Lan. And a heartbreaking conclusion to Stepin's little mini-arc of grief and the Warder bond.

1x06

Little baby Siuan! ❤️ ❤️

Our first look at Tear as well.

Such a great way to introduce Siuan, considering they wouldn't have her for more than one episode this season.

And we learn in some places that it's dangerous for a woman to learn to channel - it's not only the Whitecloaks who assume that everyone who can channel is a Darkfriend.

Given that we know now (as of s2) that Moiraine & Siuan are older here than in the books, I wonder if that means her dad has already passed on.

Much like Egwene, Siuan is strongly associated with the water.

(This scene made me tear up too. I've cried three or four times today, I think)

Leane wearing light colors here vs the darker colors she wore in the s3 sneak peek to bash a Darkfriend's head in.

Another scene that gains so much depth on rewatch- knowing about Moiraine & Siuan's relationship & knowing about Liandrin being Black Ajah.

We just saw Stepin choose death in the previous emptiness of losing his bond, now Logain seeks and is refused death while suffering the emptiness of losing his connection to the One Power.

Everyone does still look good here, but the costumes definitely got a glow-up in s2 & again in s3.

The only main player in this scene not playing an elaborate game is Alanna. Siuan and Moiraine are pretending not to be in cahoots, Liandrin is pretending not to be Black Ajah - Liandrin trying to fracture the divides between the Ajahs, and also throwing Moiraine under the bus. A lot of Daes Dae'mar going on.

I also feel obligated to note that around this time frame is the jumping off point of my (now over 500k!) fic series: voice in the back of my head (archiveofourown.org/series/2688649). It is Cauthor-focused (Mat & Rand romance), though it does bring in the canon romances for Rand later on and we have some fun poly relationships going on, and it is currently spoiling through the twelfth book, but each fic in the series says how far that particular fic goes with regards to spoilers. The fic premise is: Liandrin found Rand & co instead of Moiraine finding them, and Rand is motivated enough to instinctively Travel himself, Mat, and Nynaeve to Tear because he wants to escape her.

This fic has been a lot of work and I am pretty proud of it so if you feel at all inclined to read an AU of the series that starts with the idea of "what if we gently slid Mat into Rand's romance situation?" and is a mix of show and book canon... give it a try. If you like it, please let me know your thoughts. <3

Anyway, Moiraine be spying on Rand & co., waiting for Nynaeve & Loial to leave to go talk to Rand & Mat.

Rand's protectiveness over Mat on this scene is really what threw my shipping switches on for them. He pulls a sword on Lan, despite knowing he had no chance against him!

"The world doesn't need a Dragon like me."

But Moiraine has figured out this is something else, not going mad from saidin, and Mat gets healed of the dagger's sickness.

So... was Rand using the One Power to help keep Mat from succumbing to the dagger's pull? Moiraine thinks that Mat shouldn't have been able to resist as long as he did.

We get some Tower politics, and we get the first hints of the Seanchan.

Moiraine is just encountering so much weirdness with these kids. Now there are wolves, she must be thinking to herself. Wolves!

The romance reveal scene! I like this change for several reasons- it's better romance than either gets in the books, it follows naturally from the NS relationship setup, and it adds drama for Moiraine, who did get a bump from mentor figure to being a protagonist.

It also gives the show a chance to show softer and warmer sides to both Moiraine & Siuan. Plus the nice play between duty & love bodes well for other romances.

I love how they reunite and only afterwards does Moiraine let Siuan know about the Dragon. Priorities!

And it makes so much sense that Moiraine has been doubting their prophecies after all this time on the road, while Siuan hasn't been out there with disappointment after disappointment.

This conversation also (unintentionally, given that it was a last-minute change) sets up Moiraine deciding she'd rather have the Reds potentially gentle the Dragon than risk Mat choosing to join the Shadow, because she thinks he's not strong enough to resist.

Ishy deliberately sent Siuan that dream. 😭

Liandrin knows too much. She definitely has been getting Ishy dreams.

Another reunion!

And the convo with Siuan is great. Nynaeve not bowing still cracks me up. Egwene going "wtf, nynaeve can channel? and she's stronger than I am?" with just her face is also hilarious.

Egwene & Nynaeve get a much kinder pep talk from Siuan than poor Rand gets in s2.

Moiraine's exiling is another great, emotional scene. And it also teaches us more about how the Oath Rod works, and sets some reasons in place for the Hall to be wary of Siuan. And sets up some precedents for the future.

And Moiraine trusting and giving more to Siuan than she was asked to give in the Oath - not just exile but obedience. That's gonna hurt a lot when we get to s2.

Even though she literally asked for it, it's obvious how hard it is on Moiraine to see her Sisters turn their backs on her.

But now we do (briefly) get our full Two Rivers reunion, and that is lovely. Hugs all around! Fond teasing! They love each other!

So we know that it wasn't actually the Dark One who was trapped at the Eye, so... it sounds like the knowledge of the location of the Dark One's prison is lost to time. It does make sense that Darkfriends would target that info specifically.

Moiraine not able to tell them that she trusts them, due to her Oaths, is a. so funny and b. makes it mean so much in s2 when she is willing and able to say that she trusts Rand (this is the real reason why it's difficult for me to get on board with The Ruse (TM) theory - because it feels like it would retroactively ruin that 2x07 moment between Moiraine & Rand).

Now that he's pretty sure Mat can't channel and isn't the Dragon, Rand knows deep down who it really is.

But then we lose Barney-Mat at the Waygate and I'm sad!

You can tell this very last scene was shot after the post-covid shutdown, because Maddy (Egwene) lost some roundness in her cheeks during those in-between months and it makes her eyes look a lot bigger.

I adore Donál's Mat but also miss Barney's. The feelings are both very present.

1x07

The Blood Snow! So epic. I love everything about this scene.

I will say, given that we have a stabbed pregnant Tigraine in the side here and it looks like we're getting a flashback to pregnant Morgase in s3, it does feel fairly likely that we will get pregnant Elayne as well, later on in the series. Tigraine gets stabbed the same way that Elayne is described as being stabbed in one of the super-late books (can't remember which, so I'll tag through AMoL) iirc.

Tigraine really did give every ounce of herself to her destiny, and I'm so glad the show version of her got a moment of kindness and compassion at the end.

Moiraine's cynicism about Mat vs Rand's rose-colored glasses about Mat: fight!

Nynaeve doing her job as Wisdom to keep all the kiddos together and make a promise to find Mat later.

"The one thing that we cannot afford is for the Dragon to turn to the Shadow."

Lan trying to cheer Nynaeve up is very sweet.

Egwene wants to sleep near Rand and he lets her this time (contrast to 1x02, when he pushed her away).

I like negging Machin Shin better than the version in the books, I admit it. It's more personal! Just relentlessly dunking on everyone's deepest fears.

Everyone looks so haunted. Poor kiddos.

I don't understand the people who don't understand the big fight. Everyone is so on edge from what they just went through! They are all overly emotional and vulnerable right now. The fight could have been MUCH uglier and still been valid tbh.

Uno! Congrats on your s2 upgrade to Hero of the Horn!

Another confession: I find this Lord Agelmar & Lady Amalisa much more interesting and memorable than the ones in the books. And I was kinda relieved that the show took the whole Five Great Captains thing off the table right away.

I also love their outfits.

Oh, hi, Fain! I suspect we'll get to see more of him in s3.

Min is so much better in the show than the books, omg. Just... on every level. She actually is jaded and world-weary.

"There is a man they must find. A boy, really."

Given that we saw Mat visibly recoil at hearing the Red Ajah mentioned in that s3 clip, I wonder if we're going to see him & Moiraine actually talk about it. I mean, it's in character for both of them to avoid that particular convo, so we will see!

Egwene's little quip at Rand's cooking is cute but I bet contributes to that feeling of Rand's that she doesn't see him as a man but as a boy.

I like how Min's visions were used here. And that she does what Moiraine blackmailed her into but holds back enough to protect what she knows would be the biggest secret (that Rand is the Dragon) because she doesn't feel like it's hers to reveal.

I really love how the shot with the three kids is framed to show the empty chair at the back to emphasis Mat's absence.

Anyway, I like the fight. Characters should be allowed to be messy and argue. Each of them has a perspective and is stubborn about that PoV.

Egwene is right that Moiraine can't lie, but the others are right that she can mislead or withhold.

And I love that the tipping point for the actual fight is Mat & his absence.

And then Nynaeve lobbing a bomb into the conversation as soon as it gets heated enough that she's getting uncomfortable. I mean, they aren't arguing about Mat anymore, at least?

Perrin's super-close "the only woman I've ever loved is my wife" and the hot five seconds that I shipped Perrin & Rand (but then Mat was mentioned in Rand's 1x08 fantasy world and I was right back to Cauthor lol).

I like that Lan had Malkieri friends alive in Fal Dara & I'm pretty stoked about the s3 Melindhra spoilers as well. Very cool to dive more into those relationships than we did in the books. Nynaeve getting an introduction to Lan's people & culture! After he got to know hers in 1x01! Very nice.

Jump-scare Lan does crack me up.

Anyway, good for Nynaeve and Lan for hooking up when they think there's a chance they might die in the morning.

Rand struggles with coming to terms with being the Dragon but Egwene thinks this is all about the big fight earlier. So they are having two different conversations right now.

Hey, in light of this convo- Rand is going to go to, well, Tar Valon anyway. Maybe not the White Tower itself. We'll see if he gets a doorway visit or not.

But this is Rand's big final burst of denial before he goes and talks to Min, confirming to himself that he's the Dragon, as he's tried not to believe that he is. So we've now had two instances of Randgwene sex used to delay or avoid an important conversation.

I am... very curious if the pattern continues in s3. Pretty sure they'll sleep together again, from what we've gotten in the trailers & such, but I am curious about the framing & context.

This montage of Rand accepting the truth about himself gives me chills.

Min's exhaustion here makes her so relatable.

I am so glad Tigraine had someone to hold her hand at the end. That she saw that her son would be taken care of.

"Rainbows and carnivals and three beautiful women." 😍

Elayne only three episodes away (2x02, right?), and Aviendha a little bit after that, but they are on their way! And this is our first hint about them.

1x08

3000 years ago, whoo!

Love their outfits.

Love the choice to have the AoL scenes in the Old Tongue.

LTT is perfect. Genuinely so good.

And the gut punch of seeing how technologically advanced the world used to be. It was a magitek utopia (or at least seemed that way to them).

I do wish that Rafe & co could have brought their original vision of this episode to life, because it is so devastating to go over all the things they lost (a principal actor! Their original Blight location! Their stunt team! Even more that I can't recall at the moment too I bet) but they did so much with what they had. I am so fucking impressed.

"I love him, Perrin." And then she thinks he died to save all of them. Yeah they do need to finish things off properly in the show.

Lan 100% thinks that going after Moiraine right now means his death, hence the sweet but flowery speech to Nynaeve here.

Ishy and Rand come face to face. I wonder who Ishy thought the Dragon was (he says he didn't expect it to be Rand). I love the reveal of Ishy's true face. And trying to touch Rand's face right away lol.

"Stubborn as ever, Lews."

The convo between Moiraine & Rand is interesting (all of them are) but partly because Moiraine doesn't actually say that she believed it was Egwene. I think she hoped it was Egwene but that's not quite the same. And Rand doesn't ever really think it was Egwene either, except maybe at the start, because we know he was worried it was Mat during that month of them journeying together.

Hey, the horrible bully from Moiraine's story! We're gonna meet her in s3. Because that story is about Elaida. She beat a novice with the One Power to force her to channel.

Min is very amusing in the show. I like her a lot. I really like that we get to go on an emotional journey along with Min about the downsides of having her viewings in s2, instead of it all happening before we show up in her life.

Again, really like the relationship between the siblings here - Lord Agelmar & Lady Amalisa. It's sweet.

"Let us hope we will buy the women and men of this world enough time to stand a fighting chance."

Rand recognizes the place where he locked Ishy up years ago. Love that we get to see that moment in s2.

Moiraine talking about the Tower's histories getting destroyed by Darkfriends. Very important note, I feel.

And Ishy springs his win-win trap. There was no actual way for Rand to win here, because he didn't know who he was fighting.

I've mentioned this before but I love that the show split up the battle into philosophical (Rand) vs physical (everyone else) because that's the Last Battle too. Rand's fight is a philosophical one and it always was. The Power is there to get him to where he needs to be to make that choice.

Our mention of Mat in Rand's temptation world, where Egwene is clearly being fondly exasperated but not truly annoyed. So, you know, like how Rand feels about Mat.

Ishy plays with his food, taunting and shielding Moiraine.

Perrin and Loial's friendship being a throughline for all three seasons, getting to know each other here, spending more time together in s2, and Loial going home with him in s3.

Rand struggling against a hollow perfect reality. Major, major foreshadowing for the endgame so I'm glad I already listed amol spoilers.

And Rand also needs to forcibly let go of Egwene and his dream of their life together in order to wake up from his encounter with Ishamael, something that Egwene doesn't get the opportunity to do, because the boyfriend she recently reunited with heroically died in order to save the world (to her understanding). So Rand and Egwene go into s2 (and presumably s3) with very different contexts about where their relationship left off.

You know, in retrospect, it's so appropriate that the Horn was being guarded by one of the Heroes.

Ishy is so smug here because he really does win no matter what. Tbh I feel like waking up Lanfear was his big mistake in s2. Because her agenda is different enough from his that they ended up conflicting, even though they share an LTT obsession.

That being said, even though this is a win-win for Ishy, what Rand learns here can/will help him win the Last Battle. So it works out in the long run.

Rand & Moiraine believe that the Last Battle is won, so she's willing to let him wander off to die in the wilderness if he wants... and then she kicks herself forever when she realizes how wrong she was. Like, it's Moiraine & Siuan's plan that fully releases Ishy. They thought they could do an endrun around the prophecies (which Moiraine has to be fully aware that Rand has not accomplished!).

As Moiraine might say "the arrogance".

Love the setup here at the end by Fain.

"Rand may be the Dragon but all five of you have a part to play."

And Moiraine. "This wasn't the Last Battle. I fear it was the first."

And our great intro to the Seanchan and how wildly different they are to anything we've already seen.

Tomorrow, I'll start rewatching s2 and see how far I get!

[wirewitchviolet]

Let's talk about how Ranma is trans in the 2024 anime, part 1

Way the hell back in 2018, after a random exchange with a friend, I sat down and wrote a series of four blog posts where I looked at the manga Ranma ½, which ran from 1988 to 1996, explicitly through a lens where I assumed the protagonist is in fact a trans girl. A major component of the series being that Ranma and several other characters fell into various pools in a cursed set of natural springs causing them to magically change into whatever tragically drowned in one when hit with cold water, then back to their original body with hot, and Ranma fell in the girl one, so it was bound to be a series that would crack a lot of eggs regardless, but my memory of reading it years before transitioning was that it worked on a mundane level too, particularly later. I did somehow forget a bit towards the end where Ranma honestly just kinda straight up comes out of the closet, but I'm not going to link to that panel yet again for the sake of preview links not blending together. Anyway, those posts were already the most popular things I ever put on this blog and have never stopped circulating, despite it being a pretty old and largely forgotten series at the time.

I had always had the idea that I really should go back and also watch the anime adaptation(s) of Ranma, which deviates a good bit from the manga, but that is 161 episodes, 3 movies, and 11 OAVs which are terribly terribly paced, and I don't actually get paid for this. But then lo and behold, here's a brand new anime adaptation coming out decades later, looking really nice, and surely that will deviate even more from the source material, so here I am diving in to find all new bits of gender stuff to talk about, under the fold here and-

Oh. Turns out the new anime series is actually an EXTREMELY faithful adaptation of the original manga and the only deviations I've actually noticed are that there's a little bit less nudity and the one scene with Ranma's breasts fully on display goes the route of not drawing nipples. And really that's only significant because the original anime adaptation somehow got away with that one. Speaking of the original anime run, this adaptation brings back the entire surviving voice cast, and continues the tradition of coloring Ranma's hair red in cold-water form as an extra tell for the audience. And speaking of color, one thing this adaptation does now and then that I really appreciate is punctuating certain scenes with the sort of cool pastel palettes (see above) that were used for the cover illustrations of the original manga.

Another thing the 2024 anime does is throw in a quick little vignette before the opening credits of each episode to restate that Ranma and Akane are engaged, and the feminizing water thing, which mostly feels like it's there as just a little extra emphasis that regardless of all the other shenanigans going on, those two are the one actual couple and making it clear that the rest of the tangled web of crushes and obsessions don't really matter. Something I feel like this adapatation is keen to emphasize in general. In fact, being as nearly 1 to 1 an adaptation as it is, the title of every episode is directly lifted from the chapter names of the manga, so we can just slap together a little infographic and see what's getting compressed a bit and what's getting the time it needs to breathe!

We're chewing through the extended fight scenes pretty quick and slowing down any time Akane's having an emotional moment or some time in the spotlight basically. Which makes sense since the action scenes in the manga are like all full page splash images with a word of text and need to be flowing quickly, and because we have the benefit of hindsight knowing that the Kunos become irrelevant real quick. We're also squeezing out a little early identity crisis stuff for Ranma in the process (there's an early dream sequence after first meeting Kuno, coming to grips with the whole "since I'm a girl, dudes want to sleep with me" realization that barely makes it in and a few early moments of internalized misogyny that get dropped), and we really give Shampoo's debut some space (not QUITE as much as the above suggests, most of episode 10 is wrapping up a three parter on the ice skating with her just punching through the wall as a cliffhanger at the end).

The whole thing is also paced out to nicely cover the first four volumes of the manga, out of 38. They might up the compression rate a little, but as it stands, it's going to take another 8 or 9 seasons to get through everything at this rate. In comparison, my first blog post got through three times this much of it, but the original anime covered only the first half of this in the same episode count (and then for some reason introduced Shampoo and Mousse early and didn't get through the ice skating until episode 27).

Anyway, like I said, this doesn't really change things up enough to have a lot to say about how clearly Ranma is trans. Jumping back to the start though yet again, it really cannot be emphasized enough though just how clearly, even from the very first episode, she is SO much more comfortable presenting as a girl, not at all nervous meeting Akane's family like that, then suddenly super tense and awkward and closed off when interacting with... really anyone while boy-moding. So I guess it's time to bust out some of these other lenses to look at this...

Let's talk about how Akane is gay, part 1

I mean, we've established she's into Ranma, with extra emphasis in this adaptation, and we've established that Ranma is in fact a girl, but that's just the one data point. What else do we have? Well, she's quite explicitly not a fan of guys, particularly guys who are attracted to her, and we're keeping plenty of a focus on that while not wasting time trying to pretend Kuno matters at all in the grand scheme of things. The closest she ever comes to showing interest in a guy is Dr. Kuno, and the anime here is strongly emphasizing how that's less of a real crush and more just emulating her oldest sister (Nabiki of course is also some flavor of queer, and I don't think anyone has ever questioned that) since that's kinda what you do, right? She also gets intensely jealous of the idea of Shampoo kissing Ranma while assuming Ranma is a girl, talks about how hot she is, and hell, at the start of things when everyone's assuming they've somehow gotten into a situation where one of the three sisters has to marry a cis girl, Nabiki points out how that works out perfectly for her. Because she is extremely gay.

Let's talk about how Ryoga is trans, part 1

OK so this isn't the same absolute slam dunk as Ranma turned out to be, but there is a surprisingly strong case to argue that Ryoga is also a trans girl. What do we know about Ryoga after all? Real real socially awkward. Only has one sorta-friend from childhood, who turned out to be trans later. Can we call Ryoga a furry? I'm not even talking about the pig curse, but there's this whole feral wolf vibe before that's even established. In a series where basically every guy who is ever introduced is a horny creep obsessed with rigid gender roles, Ryoga does not bat an eye at seeing women naked (which comes up oddly often), spends a lot of these early arcs hanging out with the gal pals to help practice gymnastics and skating, deals well enough with the pink heart collar and being called Charlotte, and like so many of us, Ryoga is introduced to the series indignantly sputtering about how Ranma's situation shouldn't really be called a curse and is a situation we'd be happy to be in. You could argue that Ryoga's saying this just relative to the pig curse, I guess, but I do at least get the vibe that Ryoga wouldn't be too super worried about finding hot water with that one.

Speaking of the pig curse, I feel like every time I revisit Ranma I have a different perspective on the whole "P-Chan" situation. With this adaptation, it does feel significantly closer to "it's really just this super awkward situation where I've been looking for a good moment to explain and at this point it's been so long she'll probably kill me" than "I am a loathsome sex offender using a disguise to snuggle up with this girl who thinks I am a small animal" and Ranma is doing an appropriate amount of "I'm not going to blurt it out, but you should seriously come clean already" so, glad to know we're downplaying that.

Also, the emphasis on Ranma and Akane as The Couple in this adaptation really makes it clear that Ryoga isn't so much into Akane as just kinda... incapable of conceiving of any sort of existence that doesn't involve being Ranma's rival/friend/polycule member.

Anyway, I guess that's where I have to leave this until the second season drops? Have a patreon link?

[picturejasper20]

Speculation on Danny Phantom: Fair Game

With the premise and cover art of Fair Game getting released recently, i would like to do some general analysis of things i noticed and maybe how this could be tied to the graphic novel's plot.

First of all the premise is in part about how Danny is seen as an enemy in Amity Park because in this timeline ghosts were blamed for the asteroid event happening.

This already gives a lot of vibes to the episode ¨Public Enemies¨, when Walker tricks the whole city into thinking that Danny is their enemy. It is also the episode that Wulf was introduced and became an ally for Danny.

This is another important aspect because Fair Game has Wolf being one of the protagonists of the book by asking Danny for help with looking for a ¨wolf cub¨ of his (who is very likely Danielle).

Speaking of Danielle, her part of the cover shares a lot similarities with the title card of episode ¨The Million Dollar Ghost¨

In ¨The Million Dollar Ghost¨ has Danny being hunted by tons of ghosthunters that were payed by Vlad as a distraction while he steals the Fenton Portal.

In the Fair Game premise it describes Danielle being chased down by Danny's classmates to hunt her, much like it the Million Dollar Ghost episode happens to Danny.

Maybe we could see some parallels or references in Fair Game to The Million Dollar Ghost episode if the book cover is makes reference to that.

Another thing one can notice from the book cover is that story mostly seems like it going to take place in a nearby forest.

This reminds me a lot of ¨Claw of the Wild¨ episode, that takes place in a camp in a forest too. In addition to this, it happens to be an episode in which Wulf is a protagonist.

Other episode that takes place in the wilderness is ¨Maternal Instincs¨ with Danny and Maddie as protagonists. However, i think ¨Claw of the Wild¨ episode makes more sense in here since Wulf is a central character in Fair Game.

On last point, Fair Game starts both Valerie and Danielle as protagonists in the story, with i assume would be Valerie as part of plot A and Danielle as plot B.

One's mind quickly jumps to the Season 3 episode ¨D-Stabilized¨, which has Valerie meeting Danielle and in the end her helping with saving Dani from Vlad.

Both Danielle and Valerie get some good development in this episode and it is last time they both have an important role since the episode that follows it is the series finale.

Despite being recognized as one of the best episodes in the series, one issue that the fans have with D-Stabilized is that the plot that sets up at the end with Valerie learning about Vlad being Plasmius never got a proper conclusion within the show. Not only that, Valerie didn't get a satisfying conclusion for her character arc neither nor getting a proper scene when she learns that Danny is Phantom.

So what i could see happening is that the events of D-Stabilized are going to play a crucial role in the plot of Fair Game. We are very likely going to get some form of conclusion for Valerie's character arc that the series didn't give her.

What i'm curious about is that if Vlad could play some secondary plot in this novel since his character is both tied to Valerie and Danielle's. If there is one thing i would like to see is Vlad having a conversation with them and apologizing for the way he treated them if he is still trying to make amends.

Both Valerie and Danielle need to have some form of closure with Vlad, specially Valerie because the series set up for that plotline that was never given continuation.

These would be the parallels i found with the new things that have been revealed of Fair Game and some of the ideas of what i think the story of the novel could go. If more gets revealed later on i could make another post like this one.

[redgoldsparks]

February Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

I post my reviews throughout the month on Storygraph and Goodreads, and do roundups here and on patreon. Reviews below the cut. You might notice the layout image looks different! I have switched to using the Storygraph wrap up :)

The Baker and The Bard by Fern Haught

A sweet, slight fantasy story focused on friendship. A baker and her friend, an aspiring bard, go on a little adventure into the forest looking for a specific type of mushroom. On the way they encounter some misunderstood magical creatures, a nonbinary fey, and only the smallest amounts of danger and conflict. The gentleness of the story makes it appropriate for, and I believe aimed at, a fairly young audience, definitely middle grade or early reader rather than YA. 

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner 

This is a witty, well-written queer romance set in the mid-1800s, England. The story borrows heavily from Emma while still feeling like its own fresh tale, especially because of the inclusion of characters of color, queer characters, and a gender-nonconforming love interest. I was rooting for Eleanor and George all the way; both rooting for them to get together and also rooting for them to find the space to know themselves and express that authentically around the people they love! The art in this book is stunning, with beautiful colors, and so much thoughtful historical research went into the design of the houses, costumes, and world of these characters. Highly recommend, especially if you're a Jane Austen fan. 

Conversations with People Who Hate Me written and read by Dylan Marron 

I picked this book up after loving Dylan Marron's podcast The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks, a 6 episode miniseries that I find myself thinking about all the time. Unfortunately, I do think having listened to that already dented my experience of this book, because I already knew a chunk of the story from the podcast which made listening to the book feel a bit repetitive. However! I still finished and overall enjoyed Conversations with People Who Hate Me, which is about Marron's podcast of the same name, in which he called up folks who had left hateful comments on his youtube videos or facebook and just had a conversation with them. What prompted them to leave a hateful comment? What kind of values impacted how they saw the world? Might they change their mind if they had more evidence? Did they ever expect Dylan Marron to actually see their comment? (The answer to this last was almost always "no.") This is an interesting political moment to think about this project of deliberate, compassionate connection, and Marron is thoughtful about the privilege that allowed him the emotional bandwidth to pursue it.

You and Me, On Repeat by Mary Shyne

Time loop fans, rejoice! Mary Shyne has crafted a clever, gorgeous treasure box of a story. Part coming-of-age, part romance, part sci-fi, all heart. I was drawn in from the very first page, hooked with the stylish art and the intriguing premise. I fell so hard for Chris and Alicia and all of the stupidly teenage and deeply human choices that lead them into a pocket dimension of space-time. Who hasn't wanted a redo option on one of the most important days of their life? What would you do if trapped in a time loop of your high school graduation day? I left the book rooting for these two! I had the pleasure of reading this book early :) It's available for preorder now, or grab it from a bookstore in May 2025! 

You Are a Sacred Place: Visual Poems for Living in Climate Crisis by Madeleine Jubilee Saito

Saito reached a hand into some of my very own darkest climate crisis-induced depressive thoughts and drew me gently back into the light. We are all part of this natural world, and we are meant to be here, and it is good that we are here. Those things can be hard to remember sometimes, but these delicate comics underline their truth. I also got to read this early - It comes out March 25, 2025, so you can reorder it now or find it in bookstores soon.

Hey Mary! by Andrew Wheeler and Rye Hickman

Saints and stories come to vivid life in this compassionate story of a young man learning to balance his sexuality and his faith. For any readers out there trying to find space in their Catholicism for their queerness, I hope this book can light the way. Another one I got to read ahead of it's release! It's out on April 15, so you can preorder or book for it in bookstores and libraries soon.

Akane-Banashi vol 1 by Yuki Suenaga, illustrated by Takamasa Moue translated by Stephan Paul

As a child, Akane watched her father fail out of a program dedicated to training rakugo, traditional Japanese storytellers. Now in high school, she is pursuing the same career under the same teacher. This book has a lot of familiar series-set up elements- a rival older student, a series of fellow trainees, a reluctant mentor- but unfortunate didn't deeply capture me. I'm unsure if I'll continue on with this series.

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat vol 4 by Sakaomi Yuzaki translated by Caleb Cook

THIS SERIES IS SO FREAKING CUTE! I love how it's diving into some of complicated and logistical realities of being queer in Japan. I also love how supportive the friend group is. Yuri fans you need to pick this up! 

Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino 

Adina is born in 1977 to a human mother on Earth; but she is not totally of this world. Some part of her is also an alien, attuned to a planet with a collective consciousness, far away in the stars. Through a lonely childhood in Philadelphia, Adina faxes notes and observations on human life to her far away family. She grows up as the child of a single, working class mother, with few friends, but a fierce commitment to live as her own singular self. I really enjoyed the light-handed prose, the short slice-of-life chapters, and the insightful look at what it feels like to grow up an outsider. Adina reminded me of myself; she reminded me of many of my other oddball, queer, trans, or asexual friends who have always felt out of step with the lives of those around us. It reminded me, yet again, that there is perhaps nothing more human than feeling like an alien among one's peers. 

The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull read by Janina Edwards and Ron Butler 

Set on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, this debut sci-fi novel wrestles with some big and weighty concepts. We are introduced to two families, neighbors, with their own interwoven concerns: a married couple struggling with relationship, a woman questioning her sexuality, a teen questioning her faith, a man yearning for more ambitious career and travel options in middle age. Then an alien ship arrives above the island and the book jumps forward 5 years in time to show how a powerful controlling presence has impacted the lives of everyone on the island. The Ynaa offered advanced medicines and technology to humans in exchange for staying for a time to do an unspecified type of research. But the co-existence is not peaceful: the Ynaa lash out with extreme violence over minor provocations. This tense situation cannot last. There was much to enjoy in this novel, and the audiobook was very well read by two narrators. I did think the final act suffered from some pacing issues, and a second time jump near the end worked much less well for me than the big time jump near the beginning. It was interesting to read this after having read Turnbull's second novel No Gods, No Masters which contains similar themes but with a much more complex story structure and much larger cast. 

The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All vol 2 by Sumiko Arai

I'm obsessed with these little rock-n-roll lesbians. This series gives me some similar vibes as Nana except sweeter, sillier, and hopefully heading in a much less tragic direction! The art is to die for, I spent so long just looking at every page in awe. Makes me want to draw more comics!

Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo and Me by Ellen Forney

This comic has been on my TBR for a decade and I'm so glad I finally picked it up! Forney's cartooning is so clear, articulate and accessible; it really opened up a window for me into the experience of being bipolar. I loved the many creative visual metaphors, the inclusion of sketchbook pages, and the self-compassionate tone. I can see what this book set such an early high standard in the genre of comics memoirs! 

Lone Women by Victor Lavalle read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt

In the opening scene, Adelaide Henry is spreading gasoline through the rooms of her childhood home in a farming valley in California in 1915, and over the bodies of her murdered parents. She leaves California with a rucksack and a steamer trunk, bound for Montana, where a woman alone can claim a plot of land. If she lives on it for at least three years and establishes a farm, she'll become the owner of the parcel. But can she really survive the harsh coming winter, the white supremacy of the nearby town, and the deadly family curse she's carrying? I really enjoyed the audiobook of this novel, but found myself pondering whether or not I felt like it fit into the horror genre, which is the primary genre tag on goodreads. Can a horror book have a happy ending? Is it horror is I don't feel like the narrative voice is trying to horrify me, rather show how marginalized woman can survive, even against extreme odds, by banding together? If I was shelving it I'd more likely to put this in historical fiction. 

The Deep by Rivers Solomon, read by Daveed Diggs 

Yetu is the historian for her underwater society, a group of deep sea merfolk who live in the depths of the Atlantic. She carries all of the memories, beautiful and painful, of their ancestors- pregnant women tossed overboard from ships during the years of slave trading. It is a great honor and a terrible burden to carry these memories, and Yetu thinks it might kill her to carry them alone. When an opportunity comes to leave the memories and her people behind, Yetu takes it. But who is she without her past and her people? I listened to this 4 hour novella on audio and enjoyed it a lot of a mythical alternate history. 

The Hundred Years War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi

"His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..." -Lord Arthur Balfour, 1917, statement made on behalf of the British cabinet (page 24)

"For in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country... The Four Great Powers are committed to Zionism." -Lord Arthur Balfour, 1919, confidential memo to the British cabinet (page 37)

"'If you wish to colonize a land in which people are already living," [Ze'ev] Jabotinsky wrote in 1925, "you must find a garrison for the land, or find a benefactor who will provide a garrison on your behalf... Zionism is a colonizing venture, and therefore, it stands or falls on the question of armed forces.'" (page 51)

"In a cover letter to [President Woodrow] Wilson, the commissioners presciently warned that 'if the American government decided to support the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, they are committing the American people to the use of force in that area, since only by force can a Jewish state in Palestine be established or maintained.' The commission thereby accurately predicted the course of the subsequent century." (page 51-52)

This is an extremely well written, clear, concise book. The author draws extensively from primary source documents going back to 1895. His grandparents, his parents, and his immediate family lived through many of the events he outlines; he personally knew Yassar 'Arafat, long time leader of the PLO; he was an advisor to the negotiations between Israel and the PLO which began in Madrid in 1991 and ran (unsuccessfully) into 1993; he lived in Beirut through weeks of Israel bombardment in 1982; he and his father worked for the United Nations in the 1960s and sat through Security Council meetings on the Arab-Israeli conflict, including a meeting in which an intentional US political delay allowed Israel to make a preemptive attack on Syria. These personal anecdotes enliven what is overall a very grim history of broken treaties, broken promises, and conflict. I pulled the quotes because I want to be able to return to them later, to remind myself how clear it has been since the beginning that Britain and the US considered the Palestinian people necessary and acceptable sacrifices. 

[all-pacas]

If you could make any changes to House MD what would they be?

that is suuuuch a broad question and encompasses so much, so i'm just going to give my stock reply: i would keep cameron on the show.

i truly think writing her off was one of the show's biggest errors, and i think the show even realized it: masters and adams are both remixes of cameron, and even thirteen is a take on the same archetype (bonds with patients, cares about the moral/ethical problems and tends to over-emphasize with patients). actually, thirteen takes on a lot of cameron's role of the show: her relationship with house isn't romantically coded as cameron's was, but fulfills the same "i see you and our connection is different and special" niche cameron did to house. clearly the show thought cameron was important - she had far more focus and screentime than chase after s4, and more dedicated episodes and subplots in s5 than, like, actual members of the team. we know how deeply important cameron is to the show and the show's dna: she is a major part of the series finale despite it having been three years since she was on it. she is the final shot of the ending montage, smiling as she looks back on house and the original team.

the show also did a lot of work to position her as a future cuddy, as a clear parallel/successor to her: from s1 we hear that cameron's real strengths lie in administration and organization, in s4 she's on the hospital budget committee, in s5 she runs community outreach programs and literally gets a subplot about being dean of medicine for a week. had she not been written off, and had cuddy still gone, cameron absolutely would have been dean of medicine in s8. had cuddy not left, cameron probably would have been shown still taking up the role, maybe stepping in in some sort of unofficial second in command role during s7, dealing with house while he and cuddy were dating for example. i would have loved to see this, by the way. cameron has a pretty strong character arc and a very interestingly evolving relationship to house -- from naive idealism to treating him as and being treated by him as a peer -- and i think the arc of "underling to boss" makes a lot more sense from her and for her than it did foreman.

the official reason they wrote her off really does seem to be "we didn't know what to do with the character anymore." respectfully, i call bullshit: there was so much you could have done with cameron post s5, and it could have also opened up some fascinating other storylines. like, just imagine the chaos of still married cameron and chase, with chase back on house's team and cameron drifting further and further towards hospital administration. imagine a s8 with dean cameron and chase having to figure out how to deal with his boss house and his boss's boss, his wife. imagine the same chaos with them divorced. i'd love to see cameron struggling to define herself as herself, and learn to be in charge: this is a storyline we saw hinted at in s2, we know she wants to supervise and be a leader, but while we get to see foreman and sort of chase (in s8) struggle with it, we never get to see her: the two cases she brings to house in s5, she defers to him totally. she does a good job playing house in big baby, but doesn't ever step up and lead. i would have loved to see her management style. her leadership style. i would have loved to see her with masters and park (two young doctors who don't fit in and who i bet cameron would love mentoring). i would have loved her weird little friendship with wilson explored in the back half of s8, to hear the advice she gives him on his diagnosis. cameron was written off just as she was really coming into her own as a person and going in some incredible directions, and i will hate forever that we were robbed of seeing her go.

[sageourplanetmeow]

It happened- they cancelled it. DUDE ALL THE CARTOONS I USED TO WATCH ON BOTH DISNEY PLUS AND NETFLIX HAVE PERISHED!

I’m a poor unfortunate soul.

And uh, so you know how MGADD had amazing representation for minorities? Along with other shows such as TGAMM and TOH it has been cancelled. Now, originally it could be fair to say this is a coincidence and this was purely Disney’s poor advertising strategies and them wanting to spend more money on their trash CGI films (in my opinion). However…

Yeah uhm- this episode was removed 🤨.

Excuse me? Why?-

Oh right, Disney is showing its true colours now. It doesn’t care about LGBTQIA+ representation, let alone trans representation. It cancelled this episode because what? Oh- I just found it- let me just…

“Respectful of the role that parents play in the discussions they have with their children”. Really? This is very obviously just insinuating that they want parents to say whatever they want about trans people. Well, guess what? Not every parent is an ally. Shocking, I know. This episode could have played an important role in terms of a kid watching it on their tv (not on internet archive) and considering that ‘ah yes, supporting trans people does seem like common sense’. Hell, maybe it could have decreased SOME level of bullying that happens in schools. Also, they’ve already reportedly removed a trans character’s storyline from Pixar’s new show: ‘Win Or Lose’ (which I haven’t watched). Also also they stopped queer representation (even in the background) in Gravity Falls. Also also also look at what they tried to do with ‘The Owl House’. They tried to suppress its queer representation. And not to mention the whole ‘Inside Out 2’ situation where they were telling them to change the lighting to make Riley seem less gay. Wow, Disney seems totally cool for doing all this. There’s no way they’re just been cowardly, transphobic and homophobic. Case in point, I find it hard to believe that Disney (as a company) has good intentions here. At this point, they’re getting rid of their cartoons and are constantly making CGI cash grab films.

At any rate, I am incredibly sorry to those who worked on the episode (which was completely finished by the way) just for it to be “held” from air. That must have sucked. Also, to other trans people, you have very right to complain about the way that Disney and everyone else in the world is treating us right now. It’s not shoving our queerness down their throats and it is not (in the words of a Rishi Sunak) “we shouldn’t get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be. They can’t. A man is a man and a woman is a woman. That’s just common sense.” (I couldn’t bother to embed that quote).

Don’t listen to any friends or family members who say you’re exaggerating. They might mean well, but they’re been disrespectful. Don’t feel bad for fighting for your rights.

I’d also like to add that since trans representation for people of colour is already sparse/inadequate (as is representation for queer people of colour/people of colour and queer people in general), this is incredibly depressing. The show was very diverse and respectful, for that I have to applaud all of those who worked on the show. I mean that. It was amazingly well written, animated and designed. All the voice actors were brilliant at portraying their characters.

Ok I’ve said my piece, this is probably very badly written because I’m very tired. Join in the conversation if you have your own opinions or have more information to provide.

WATCH MOON GIRL AND DEVIL DINOSAUR

IT’S GREAT ESPECIALLY AT SEASON ONE’S FINALE I PROMISE YOU

PLEASE WATCH AND REBLOG THIS/ADVERTISE THE SHOW SO THAT SEASON 3 CAN GET GREENLIT

(Please we must prevent what happened to TGAMM, TOH, Ducktales and a bunch of other shows to happen to MGADD)

There’s also such clever writing in this show and the animation is creative and beautiful. The visual stuff is awesome. The fact that stuff have consequences and last and aren’t solved immediately means a lot. There’s some VERY powerful metaphors sprinkled in and the characters, their design and their VAs are fantastic and leave me wanting to see more of them after every watch.

Check out the tags cus I’m promoting more shows in there including ones that are already gone but oh well.

Oo imma also promote some indie shows in there.

[sugarandspite05]

im sure this theory is frequent but i got my friends to start yellowjackets (yippie!) and one of my friends said that adult taissa looks "robotic” in the scene where they’re taking family photos. and i don't know why it took me this long to realize, but when she mentioned that i was like….

okay, so the lines between other tai and normal tai just have to be blurred. it’s clear that adult tai doesn’t have control over other tai and it’s ruining her life…. or is it?

but anyway other tai doesn't just come out when shes asleep, its when shes awake too. and i get that, but i guess my friends comment just woke me up to the fact that when adult tai is on screen it could rlly be other tai or normal tai at any given moment, you have to really focus to see a switch. that’s if the switch is even noticeable?? i think it will get to the point of no one being able to tell. and tawny cypress is sooo good at showing the subtle changes in her face when needed, so honestly im feeling like ive been very dense this entire time😭 and now that im looking over these old scenes it rlly just shows me that other tai and normal tai are just coequal.

and then that also makes me believe that at some point tai is gonna fully release herself and embrace other tai. i mean, that’s what these recent s3 episodes are showing me.

(taivan appreciation coming out here now) i 1000% believe van is the catalyst for tai FULLY accepting and embracing herself… good tai and evil tai alike.

now thinking back to shauna telling tai about her affair, tai says what she had with simone was good, stable, but it’s clear that the “spark” she felt was referring to van, the relationship that’s messy and the inherent bad choice based on their shared trauma. but tai has always wanted van. and i think taissa’s demeanor change in season 2 really exemplifies the exploration of other tai, and that correlation to van. it always has. i mean, she goes to find van because of it.

but focusing on tai’s character, it’s also noticeable how her appearance even changes too, how her dress becomes more laid back and more masculine as she strays away from being a politician and keeping up her self image (she literally hires jessica robert’s for this very reason). jesus, i adore taissa’s character so much… but that’s more yapping for another day.

but overall there’s this freedom now that current tai is experiencing that she was heavily lacking before, and i believe the last time she felt it was the wilderness. so, i do think tai will eventually kill someone for van and other tai will take complete control. but then again, who knows with this show anymore… my faith in the writing is very very slowly weaning but i still have hope in this show

[kys02]

How the Digital Circus characters are connected?

Alright, I think we can all agree that the main five characters weren’t chosen randomly. Each of them has their own issues, and the way they interact only makes those issues more obvious.

Ragatha & Jax — Two Sides of the Same Coin

Ragatha is sweet, caring, and optimistic, but there are moments that hint she’s not as “perfect” as she seems:

• In the Pomni dream:

Cane: Looks like our new friend's already abstracted!

Raghata: Well, I guess we're not all cut out for it.)

• In episode 4, she tells Gangle: I feel like I'm way more responsible than you.

Sound familiar? Yep, that’s Jax energy. But while Ragatha plays the role of the good one, Jax does the opposite—he breaks rules, annoys people, and insults everyone (except for Kinger). That being said, there are moments where his real emotions slip through:

• In episode 2, he actually looks sad at Kaufmo’s funeral.

• In episode 4, he’s exhausted from all the shift and actually talks to Pomni and Ragatha in a neutral tone—no sarcasm, no teasing.

Basically, Ragatha pretends to be all kindness while hiding her anger, and Jax pretends to be all cruelty while hiding his kindness.

(by the way, I had a post on the topic: why the 5th and 6th episodes will be about Jax and Ragatha at the same time. That's the main reason.)

Zooble & Gangle

Remember that moment in episode 4 when Zooble gives Gangle a plastic mask? By the end of the episode, it turns out it doesn’t work, and Gangle gets upset.

Gangle: The mask didn't work…

Zooble: Look, the new mask was bust. So what? I'm sure we'll find something that works eventually.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting:

• Zooble hates their body and keeps replacing their parts, trying to find something that “fits.”

• Gangle wears a happy mask because, well, no one likes sad people. That’s literally a stereotype—crying is seen as weakness.

Fun fact: in one of the official artworks, Gangle is shown wearing different masks, some of which reference old Gooseworx projects.

Both of them want to change something about themselves, thinking it’ll make them feel whole. But the truth is, Zooble is still Zooble no matter what parts they have, and Gangle is still Gangle with or without a mask.

Kinger & Pomni

(in short, because I don’t see any big similarities here. Just little things that I noticed)

Kinger once told Pomni that he lost his wife.

In episode 2, Pomni makes a new friend— Gummigoo, and when he disappears, she feels the exact same loss that Kinger did.

Every character in the Digital Circus reflects a deeper conflict. Their interactions aren’t just fun or dramatic—they reveal the struggles they’re dealing with in their own ways.

I might add more to this later, but that’s all for now! And remember: everyone is always connected) Thanks for reading! 🩵

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

What do you think of the show's seeming obsession with everyone (the leads especially) being the best and the top? Like, Marinette's parents don't just run a good bakery, they run the Best Bakery in all of Paris! Kitty Section gets a record deal with the city's top producer! Marinette is the personal designer of Jagged Stone! Alya runs a super popular video blog! Max isn't just the resident smart kid, he can make AI with real feelings!

Oh, but actually, Marinette and Adrien are also top of the class (the webisodes straight-up state Adrien is best in class, surpassing Max and Sabrina, and Marinette gets top grades in Chameleon despite all the workload), because how dare our leads be not good at something?

And that's not getting into "Marinette and Adrien are the best LB and CN ever" stuff. That part is best chalked up to Tikki and Plagg being encouraging, because otherwise the show dunks on all the historical figures they made holders, all at once.

Anyway, with everyone in class being a) hyper talented and famous or b) related to some big nabob, it's not surprising that fans thought it was some elite private school. But no, it's apparently a regular state school (holy smokes, why would Andre and Gabriel send their children to a regular state school??)

That would work in a story where comical exaggeration was the absolute norm, but seems like Miraculous tries to be grotesque and realistic at the same time and fails at both.

Oh look, it's time to talk about Kim Possible again! Phineas and Ferb, too. I'll even use My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to really drive this one home.

It's incredibly normal for episodic kids shows to have the cast be ridiculously talented and connected. They do this for a couple of reasons.

The first reason is that the characters are meant to be stagnant. Every episode stands alone so there's no time for true character growth. That means that the characters need to be their best selves right from day one. Kim Possible doesn't have time to let Kim learn to fight and be awesome. That's just her default state.

Small life lessons may be taught as we see in both Kim Possible and My Little Pony, but you can miss an episode and still understand the characters because those life lessons didn't really matter to the characters. They weren't there as part of some major character journey. They were there for the kids at home.

The second reason is that kids shows star kids and teens. You don't want adults to be too involved, but sometimes you want "adult" powers and so the kid and teen characters get ridiculous upgrades. A great example is Wade from Kim Possible. Wade is Kim's tech guy. He's also 10-years-old. Absurd? Yes, but they wanted Kim to have cool teach while also keeping the reoccurring hero cast mostly teens and kids and so we get Wade. Phineas and Ferb is another example of this. The titular characters are shown doing things like welding even though they're around 10. This happens because they need to have ridiculous skills for the show to work.

The third reason is that the more connected the characters are, the more stories you can tell. If Marinette's parents don't have a successful and popular bakery, then they can't be hired to cater major events like a movie premier. If Kitty Section isn't wildly successful, then they won't get invited to appear on TV.

This is why Kim Possible made Kim's dad a rocket scientist. It let the show use rockets and advanced tech in several episode. There's at least one where they go to space! The main character of My Little Pony is the student of the kingdom's ruler, allowing the show to include princesses and have plot lines around things ranging from royal balls to diplomatic missions. Things they couldn't do if it was just about some random ponies with no connections.

Some kids shows keep the characters more normal and stick to more realistic hijinks, but when your show is about magic and superheroes, it makes sense to go big.

The reason Miraculous' version of these things doesn't work for some people is probably because of our ever present issue: Miraculous feels too serialized. There's too much connective tissue for the characters to get away with being stagnant. The lessons they "learn" are too big to just go away never and be touched on again. They are not their best selves from day one. They actually do need to grow! This makes the things they're good at feel hollow to some because the show didn't set Marinette and Adrien up the way Kim Possible set up Kim and Ron or the way Phineas and Ferb set up its leads. The character's adult skills don't fit their very real flaws.

Similarly, the show has added all these celebrity connections and then done stuff that makes it feel like those connections should matter to the plot when that's not the way this is usually played. My Little Pony kept Princess Celestia well removed from the things Twilight and her friends were getting up to. It never felt like she should step in. She had a kingdom to run! The show also never treated Twilight's connection as a big deal. Celestia might be the country's ruler, but she's very down to earth. She doesn't feel all that special.

Meanwhile, in Miraculous, the celebrities are treated like celebrities, they often have close ties to the cast, and they are actively around, making it feel like they should play a part in the story at times. The big example is, as always, Lila's lies. Many of them should fall apart because of who the cast knows or, conversely, the cast shouldn't care about Lila's celebrity friends because they have those friends, too. Princess Fragrance was a season one episode and gave Rose a close friendship with Prince Ali that is confirmed to be ongoing in season four's Guiltrip, making it deeply confusing when Rose never catches on to Lila's bullshit. You're really telling me that Rose never once talked to her good friend Ali about her good friend Lila? Really? Rose? Little miss loves-to-talk-about-her-friends-and-how-much-she-love-them? Sure, writers. Sure.

In summary, the problem isn't that the characters are too cool, connected, and talented, it's how those ideas were executed. There are versions of the show where the characters are fine being the best things ever and versions of the show where those elements should have been toned back. I can't really say which canon should have done because canon is a mess of episodic stories and serialized elements that has no idea what it's trying to be.

[cryingatwindermerepeaks]

Yellowjackets Agere Hcs and Moodboards

Lottie: she regresses very young 0-5 mainly, but even when she is feeling a bit older it’s harder to tell because she doesn’t talk. She likes being called “sweetheart” but also any kind of animal themed pet name like “doe” or “baby bear”. A lot of the time when she’s little the others will call her “Lots” and under no circumstances can anyone call her Charlotte. Very quiet bub, almost entirely nonverbal unless she’s alone with Nat - her primary cg. She knows a few basic signs in ASL but not enough to properly communicate and the other girls don’t really know anything but figure out what she means eventually. The only things she will say is like “mama” or the equivalent for different characters and usually she’s not even talking to them just babbling to herself. Unless she’s having a particularly bad episode of visions or thoughts she’s a very happy baby. She is giggly and smiley and just happy to play with anyone or help out with chores. She LOVES story time with Van and sometimes if she’s feeling extra brave she’ll whisper story requests in Van’s ear. She has one of those blankies with a stuffie attached from when she was growing up, it’s pink and soft on one side and floral on the other… at least it once was, now it’s very tattered and faded but she always carries it around with her. The stuffie is a cat, it’s called Daisy. That’s the one toy no one else is allowed to touch. She also has a paci which she uses pretty much constantly. She’s the queen of parallel play and is sooo happy just to sit and mind her own business next to anyone. When she is having a bad day she becomes sniffly and clingy and very panicked. She hates having scary thoughts and sometimes turns to less than helpful coping mechanisms but the others are quick to catch on and Nat can always calm her down. After a particularly bad episode she almost always regresses and spends a few days just lying around with her stuffies. Nat never ever leaves her side during this time and will give her soup and cuddles till she feels better. Nat will slowly coax her outside to sit on the porch for some fresh air and it always helps. She’s definitely still a klepto when she’s small but she only ever does it because she thinks it’s funny. Someone will notice something small (like a spoon or a cup) has gone missing and then look up to see Lottie poorly hiding a giggle and holding something behind her back. She does learn very quickly not to take anything that belongs to Shauna. She loves playing tea parties and she’ll set them up and then drag whoever is nearby over to play. I like to think they make paints out of rocks and water and Lottie loves to make paintings. She follows Laura Lee around a lot when they are both little - Laura Lee is very good at knowing what Lottie is trying to say without her having to say anything. *when she’s not little she loves taking care of Laura Lee <3*.

Laura Lee: regresses 1-5 but unlike Lottie is always very articulate. She’ll talk to herself, she’ll talk to Leonard, she’ll talk to Lottie even when she knows she won’t get a response. She loves reading and Van is always very patient and sits with her and helps her read. Leonard obviously never leaves her side. She takes him on walks and tells him what she can see. Sometimes during story time Van will put Leonard on her lap and use a silly voice to pretend he’s reading. She’s the happiest baby 99% of the time. She doesn’t get irritated when Lottie quietly follows her around all day or upset when Shauna is having a tantrum so she can’t play with the toys she wants to use. She does get upset sometimes but tries to hide it because she doesn’t want to be a bother. She’ll go off and cry into Leonard’s fur but Lottie is insanely in tune with Laura Lee’s emotions and she’ll go help her out or if Lottie’s feeling too little she’ll make sure to find someone (usually Nat) who can. Usually she gets darling, sweetheart, sweetness or flower when she’s small. Van always calls her ‘clever little one’ and it makes her feel so proud. She’s super content with all of the cgs and doesn’t really have a favourite but she does spend a lot of time around Nat because she spends so much time around Lottie.

Van: cg!!! I don’t think they have a specific little but all of the littles love Van. They love story time, they love the silly games van comes up with and van can always make everyone laugh. I think cg names vary for van - nothing really gender specific but a lot of them have taken to calling her bubby !! Will always hold a little on their lap during story time (especially if one of them has been having a particularly bad day) and rock on the rocking chair. She has the best voices for all the stuffies when she plays with littles or reads stories.

Nat: usually a cg, mainly just because regressing generally isn’t very pleasant for her. It really takes a lot for her to regress - I think in s3 e4 she’s feelin’ pretty small. when she does regress I’d say anywhere from 3-6. when she’s big she is the most patient cg in the world. everyone thinks nat is tough n everything but she’s really so gentle with the littles, especially lottie who struggles to communicate her emotions. and she’s all smiley when the babies are smiling. she can calm anyone down. mainly the littles call call her ma or mama depending on how little they are feelings. I don’t know what it is about Nat but whenever any of the littles find something super cool like a rock or leaf they run up to show her.

Misty: regresses around 4-12, she’s definitely older and loves getting to take care of the younger ones (especially if it means the cgs praise her for being helpful). Shes usually very happy when she’s small and wants to play with everyone but if some people don’t want to include her in their games *cough cough* little Shauna and Jackie *cough cough* she will throw a fit. She tends to gravitate towards Nat when she’s upset because she knows Nat won’t take sh*t from anyone and will make sure she’s included in the games. She loves to sing and dance and put on little performances for everyone. Jackie I think also LOVES starring in these performances. She has this vintage baby doll called Clarissa which she adores and treats like a real baby but it creeps out everyone else (except lottie).

Jackie: regresses 3-7. She’s the most energetic little, she always wants to play tag or climb a tree. But she’s also such a princess about it. She refuses to get her hair messy or touch mud. Her regression is very deeply connected to Shauna’s they are almost always together if one of them is regressed. She can be very headstrong and if Jackie wants to play a game then they are playing that game. Other than Shauna she is very hesitant towards any cg figure at first, eventually she eases into it though. She has definitely tried to start a bunch of clubs, most of which have required cg intervention because she was being a bit controlling. She’s literally a fairy princess who rides horses in her ballgown and has a sword and single handedly battles off armies of evil goblins. She’s a big fan of pacis, she has plenty and she uses them regardless how old she’s regressed to. Sometimes she gets a bit shy about it because not all of the littles use pacis and if so usually only the younger ones, but Nat in particular is very good at calming her down about it. She loves doing everyone’s hair!!! She tries her best to be a good friend to everyone all the time, even if she doesn’t always know how. She has a toy bunny called Peter. She HATES chores. She’ll do them, but you can bet she’s going to be whining the whole time.*if she’s big and Shauna is little she’s the biggest enabler ever and will indulge Shauna so much*

Shauna: regresses 3-7, same as Jackie. They are usually very in tune with their ages and often called ‘the twins’. She’s equally as rambunctious but couldn’t care less if she gets her hands dirty. She wants to make mud pies and make fake swords out of sticks. This is where being close with Melissa really comes in handy because Melissa is always happy to roughhouse a bit more than Jackie is. She’s a biter, obviously, and spends a lot of time in timeout for biting or taking a game too far. Shes looooves teethers and has heaps - sometimes she forgets to use them but the second someone notices her getting worked up they’ll just hand her a teether. She’s extremely jealous - especially of Tai and Jackie. If Tai is sitting curled up with Van, Shauna will wiggle her way in between to get cuddles from her Mama. If Jackie is playing with someone else Shauna will get pouty and grumpy and throw a fit. Jackie is equally as jealous so they even each other out. She loves story time with Van and sometimes she gets to help Van write new stories for the littles to read. If Shauna is getting really worked up Van will distract her by asking if she’s had any story ideas. She’s super attached to Tai. She’s always trying to hold Tai’s hand or babbling to tai about anything. Tai is the only one who can get her in trouble - she will literally just ignore the other cgs if they tell her off. She has a stuffed dog toy called Rupert. He’s a German shepherd and is best friends with Peter, Jackie’s bunny. They have a treehouse and Shauna loves to pretend she’s the guard. She gets called pup and kiddo a lot. She often gets baby from Tai but only Tai or Van can call her that. *she’s extremely good with Jackie when Jackie is little and she’s big, she’s super patient with her*

Tai: Shauna’s mama <3 she loves taking care of everyone but is especially good with Shauna. She loves making shadow puppets for the littles on the wall to act out whatever is happening in Van’s stories. Amazing for cuddles and the littles like to pile up on her. Tai gets extra scared about hurting the littles when she’s sleepwalking and gets super anxious about it. Definitely always the voice of reason and mediator for any arguments. The littles love to do drawings or paintings and show them to her because she always tells them how proud she is. Obviously they don’t have a fridge to hang the artworks on but they dedicate a small wall of the cabin to all the little’s artworks.

Travis: regresses 3-7. He doesn’t regress a lot and when he does he’s super shy about it. If Nat’s regressed and not super distressed they play a lot together. In fact, the only time Nat really regresses happily is when they go out for a hunt but end up spending the day chasing each other through the forest. He loves playing with little wood carved animals. I don’t think he regressed at all before the crash, hence why he’s extra hesitant about it.

Coach Scott: he’s everyone’s papa <3 peak girl dad. all of the littles adore him. They are always rambling to him about their games or their stories - they really want him to be proud of them. He’s amazing for hugs, they’ll curl up in his arms and he gives great bear hugs. Laura Lee sometimes begs him to go on walks with her because she gets worried about him being cramped up in the cabin and she’s super patient with how long it takes him. Jackie likes to decorate his crutches with flowers and vines she finds. He learns how to plait and in the morning the girls take it in turns to sit on the floor in front of him so he can braid their hair. He teaches them how to skip rocks and they all have competitions to see who’s can go the furthest.

Melissa: regresses around 5-8. Loves playing with Shauna and they have sword fights all the time. Loves getting called Champ or Buddy. Has a stuffed toy frog called Gregory. Gravitates towards Tai and Van as cgs. Built a rope swing out of rope and a branch hung around a tree and looooves to play with it. (idk how to explain it but I had one growing up and it was the most fun ever… also causes a lot of bashing into trees). Doesn’t like to sit still at all.

[blueraith]

I think there's some sort of fundamental problem a portion of the fanbase has with Show Don’t Tell.

You know, words verses action.

"The show never addresses Vi's trauma!"

Genuinely, what the fuck are y'all talking about? Pit Fighter Vi was nothing but a walking case of trauma if I've ever seen one. She descends briefly into alcoholism for fucks sake. Why do y'all THINK she was purposely allowing the shit to get beaten out of her, drink away the pain, and then repeat the next day. Some of y'all even want MORE of this fucking whump and somehow that doesn't translate as Vi literally living out her trauma in the most unhealthy way possible????

I'm literally confounded whenever I see this sentiment.

Of what about: "Caitlyn never apologizes!"

Huh????

What the fuck do y'all THINK Caitlyn was doing as she had that tender touch and look at the same spot she hit Vi during the sex scene? Or gave up her generational Council seat to a representative of Zaun if NOT to apologize for how she treated it? Or personally lead the front line defense of Piltover and lost a fucking eye for?

It's like y'all need Vi to stare directly at the audience and state "Yeah, prison fucked me up, fighting with my sister makes me sad, and breaking up with my not-girlfriend-girlfriend has sent me into a spiral that I don't know how get out of. I'm going to drink and punch away my problems until the pain becomes too much to bear, and then I'm going to risk dying in my fights to end the pain."

Evidently y'all need your hands held this much.

Or Cait: "Hello, I'm Caitlyn Kiramman, generational wealth here. My trauma and grief became out of control, and I hurt people through my own pain. I'm very sorry about that. Sorry for hitting Vi, sorry for declaring martial law on Zaun, sorry for getting mixed up with a Noxian warlord. I've given up the Kiramman seat and will use my wealth and influence to help, not hurt, for the rest of my life. Oh, I also sacrificed an eye. That was kinda a big deal to me, I don't regret it, though."

Like, what the fuck did y'all want? Even if I wanted to bother writing all that shit in character, it just comes off cringe as fuck. I'm not exactly a novice writer either, this is just frankly something Caitlyn would never do. She doesn't verbalize her feelings this way and never has.

But evidently some of you actually need Caitlyn to stand up at a podium and deliver some lame fucking apology with words for it to count in your minds. The actions don't matter, only the words do, because y'all can't recognize actions in place of words to save your lives.

This isn't even just relegated to Caitvi.

"They forgot about the sisters and their relationship!"

WHAT DO YOU MEAN??????????????

What were episodes 5 and 6 for if not the sisters and their relationship???????

What's hilarious about this one is that it comes the closest to actually just being outright verbally stated for y'all to follow and you still missed it. This whole story beat is basically a slowpitch softball being lobbed lazily at the audience to hit out of the park and some of y'all whiffed it so badly, you're cartoonishly spinning around on your back foot after your swing, Looney Tunes style.

There's an actual fucking letter Jinx reads out that's about Vander and Silco but is so obviously a parallel for Jinx and Vi that it's kind of embarrassing this is even a talking point in the fandom. The characters themselves literally even realize and see themselves in their fathers' broken relationship for fucks sake.

There's even a sibling fight and everything.

Vi basically wanted to stay at the commune with her family until Jayce showed up and fucked everything up. (For good reason.)

I do have some personal nitpicks about the sister stuff, but to say that it was "forgotten" is grossly false. Hilariously so.

Guess this is what y'all wanted:

"Hey, Jinx, I'm trying really hard to be a family with you again, prison fucked me up, and so it's kinda hard to get my mind around my new reality. Except you've been rejecting me and blowing shit up since I got out, I don't know what to do with that, so I'm spiraling."

"Well, geez, Vi, I have a whole slew of mental trauma and illnesses that are undiagnosed, so that's not helping things, but I'm also really mad that you worked together with a Piltovan enforcer after all our family has been through. I also have this whole "favorite person" thing going on that's really triggering the shit out of me that I don't know what to do with."

It's this what y'all wanted? Firstly, when is a well written and in character version of the above supposed to take place, and secondly for all that y'all bray about trauma and projecting your own responses on fictional characters (see any time someone is upset that Vi doesn't arbitrarily flinch at enforcers and Caitlyn like they think she should) don't y'all MAYBE think that neither Vi or Jinx are in a position to be this self aware about their own emotions and feelings? We're talking about two extremely traumatized young women from a mutual broken family doing the best they fucking can. It's not even close to adequate because it's not MEANT TO BE.

These things among many others are so frustrating to see the fandom nitpick. Media literacy and Show Don't Tell are two subjects being defensively criticized whenever anyone brings it up because y'all think we're using it to browbeat criticism away.

We're not. We're using it because y'all evidently are missing key plot points and then turn around and accuse the show of never addressing them. It's frankly bizarre. How are y'all watching the show? Is it on a second screen? The other room? At 2x speed? Are you on tiktok while you watch?

How are y'all missing this? And could you please rewatch the show before making these brain-dead "criticisms?" I promise I'm going to be fucking pissed if TV in the future has to have every character flat out state their emotions, motivations, and thoughts at the camera for y'all to fucking get it. This is just sad.

[snarky-magpie]

jeggy text fic!?! can you tell us about around the corner!!

Ooooh yes, so happy to! Thanks for the ask!

I plan to make it my next project after TCOS - it's all outlined and I already wrote an opening scene and then had to forcibly stop myself because I could see it taking over my life like PS. did and I really do want to finish TCOS first. I kinda went back and forth on whether it should be prongsfoot or jegulus because I wanted to write a prongsfoot text fic (there aren't any, or I don't know about them), but the theme doesn't really suit prongsfoot, and the idea started with jegulus, so I've decided to stick with it.

So anyway, it's a You've Got Mail AU, and if you know the movie, you can guess that James and Regulus will be friends online and rivals/enemies IRL. In the movie, a small bookstore owner fights against a Bezor-like (although less sleazy) character with his huge chain, I'm gonna make James run a small coffee/cat shelter, and the Black family opens a giant new branch of their coffee chain around the corner (title drop baby!). And who's overseeing the new project? Why Regulus Black, of course.

There's going to be a lot of shenanigans, vet Sirius, kitties running rampant, exasperated Remus, and a lot more. Since it's based on a romcom, it will be mostly unserious with a touch of angst, maybe, but there will be no stabbing and mostly no suffering. And the Black Brothers will not have a super close relationship but they won't be antagonistic, so no BB angst this time. Anyway, here's a snippet:

Remus: Did you see it?

James: See what? Could you be more specific, Moony? I can read your texts, not your mind.

James: Or are we playing a game?

James: Did I see a man wearing a fox as a hat?

James: Once, but not today.

James: I think it was taxidermied. I hope it was taxidermied. For the fox’s sake. Being paraded on a sweaty bloke’s head through London? Talk about a cruel and unusual punishment. 

James: Or maybe something else. Did I see the last episode of Severance?

James: Yes, and what a complete mindfuck. My head is still reeling. 

James: I really want a drag of what the screenwriters are smoking. Looks like the good stuff. 

Remus: Imagine me pinching my nose in frustration. How are you able to type that fast?

James: Voice messaging features. Welcome to the future, baby. 

James: Better question is, why aren’t you taking advantage of it?

Remus: Because the future is dark and full of terrors and chatty bosses. Also, I’m on the bus, and people would give me nasty looks. Tell me, are you at the shop?

James: You know it. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

James: Speaking of Peanut the Cat, of course, but it applies to me too.

[mermaidslabyrinth]

First off thank you @vhagar-balerion-meraxes and @dr-aegon for tagging me. This one made me think and i enjoyed filling it out. 🌈

What's the origin of your blog title? I’ve always thought mermaids were such fun fantasy beings. And really fun to believe in. Plus they’re my sister’s favorite (I’m a fairy girl…idk why I didn’t pick fairy but it’s who I am now). Labyrinth is a roll over from my old blog name (lost-in-lokis-labyrinth) but was just too much so I just took labyrinth. Plus, I really like Ariadne from the myth.

OTP(s) + shipname: Serena/Darien (I don’t think they have a ship name. Sailor Moon; old school dub [Forever sad my tapes got ruined 😭]), Kylux (Kylo Ren & Hux [Star Wars]), Harringrove (Billy Hargrove & Steve Harringston [Stranger Things]), Daemond (Aemond & Daemon [House of the Dragon])

I like how the three people above me are like: Aegond 🥰. And I'm over here like: ...Daemond 😃.

Favourite colour: Lavender

Song stuck in your head: Boss Bitch -Doja Cat (I had to look up the title and who sang it). I may have been watching a video about Daemon I have on my phone with this song.

Weirdest habit/trait: I am very particular where things go in the fridge and freezer. Like only liquids on the top shelf in the fridge. Nice, neat, organized. My mom asked the other day about it when she caught me moving a container to the second shelf. I said “yes, it drives me nuts.” Also my room, I’ll know if something is out of place. Even if it looks like it was haphazardly put there.

Hobbies: Writing, reading, rewatching shows from my younger years, making memes of my HotD OMC for my Pinterest boards, got back into drawing

If you work, what's your profession? I take care of my mother. And help out with my nephews.

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be? Be paid to travel or do nothing.

Something you're good at: Organizing. Cleaning. Set me loose in a home and will make every thing tidy and clean (except the bathtub…idk why but no).

Something you collect: Pins. Mostly Disney, Sailor Moon, cryptid, pride. Monster High Dolls (og) but only if I find them out shopping at thrift stores.

Something you forget: Simple tasks. If I don’t write it down I can get side tracked…

What's your love language? I just like to help or get something for someone.

Favourite movie/show: Ever After, I can watch that at any point in the movie. // Roseanne (88-97 series), season 9 sucked but there were a handful of good episodes in it.

Favourite food: Falafels and naan. With baklava for dessert.

Favourite animal: Elephant. They are the first thing I want to see at the zoo. I know it’s frowned upon now but I am so happy I got to ride one as a child.

What were you like as a child? Odd. Very imaginative. I could easily play by myself. Ornery (my grama called me that a lot, others just called me a brat). I was a spirited child and didn’t back down easily.

Favourite subject at school: English

Least favourite subject: Science tied with math (terrible teachers). Honorable mention: PE

What's your best character trait? I’m willing to listen. I may not give good or any advice, but I will listen to what you have to say.

What's your worst character trait? I can be quite stubborn. In my family we call it the ‘[Grampa’s last name] Gene’. Bc it seemed like everyone related to that side is beyond stubborn.

If you could change any detail of your life right now, what would it be? That I could travel to places I would love to see.

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet? I think it would have been fun to meet my mom when she was in her twenties to early thirties. Like just before she had me. She was such a lively, fun person. The stories I’ve heard, I’d like to see them first hand.

GET TO KNOW YOUR MUTUALS

@lonnson thank you so much for the tag!🫶

What's the origin of your blog title? It's an oxymoron-ish rendition of one of my childhood nicknames (Snow White).

OTP(s) + shipname: Hannigram (Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham, NBC Hannibal); Mary and Matthew Crawley, Downton Abbey (no ship name afaik); Farawyn (Faramir and Eowyn, The Lord of the Rings); Tomgreg (Tom Wambsgans and Greg Hirsch, Succession); Aegond (Aegon II and Aemond Targaryen, Fire&Blood/House of the Dragon)

Favourite colour: green

Song stuck in your head: The Line by Twenty One Pilots

Weirdest habit/trait: refusing to do certain things just on principle, without any kind of rational explanation (it doesn't happen often but some of those principles are very silly)

Hobbies: travelling, reading, writing poems, listening to music, watching movies/TV shows, making collages that I pretty much never post

If you work, what's your profession? I head a division of the Fares and Services department in a public transportation company.

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be? Project management (it's pretty close to my current job, so I'm fine in that regard).

Something you're good at: planning events and mediating conflicts

Something you hate: having to defer to stupid people's judgment

Something you collect: chopsticks

Something you forget: buying salt🤣 For some reason I'm always caught off guard when I run out of it and then go without for a solid week because my brain just can't process the fact that the salt is gone.

What's your love language? Problem solving.

Favourite movie/show: The Lord of the Rings, Love Actually, Inception (movies); Hannibal, Succession (shows)

Favourite food: OMG, I don't even know! I'm such a foodie that I can't really choose.

Favourite animal: cats

What were you like as a child? Very Hermione Granger-like.

Favourite subject at school: English and history

Least favourite subject: PE (mainly because the teacher was an effing tyrant)

What's your best character trait? I'm responsible and dependable.

What's you're worst character trait? I procrastinate way more than I should.

If you could change any detail of your life right now, what would it be? I'd like to be more certain about the future (big freakin' detail, right).

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet? My maternal grandfather who died before I was born. He was a remarkable man; plus I've been told time and time again that I resemble him a lot, often in really uncanny ways.

No pressure tags: @vhagar-balerion-meraxes @very-straight-blog @autumnrose11 @heretherebebookdragons

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

you are so whimsical i qant to check out this mdzs (..??) because of your whimsical nature thank you sorry im very high and your art moved me emotionally

This is simultaneously the sweetest and funniest thing someone has sent me, thank you.

[shima-draws]

Okay so like. I’m not caught up with BNHA in the slightest. I stopped watching midway through season 5. But I’ve kinda been in the loop with what’s going on? Anyway out of curiosity I watched the Bakugou apologizing scene and MAN. MANNNN. That’s got me feeling some kinda WAY,