#also putting the finale at no. 1 and by THAT large of a margin? it's a joke

[clarkgriffon]

The Best of the Best: IMDB’s 10 Best Ranked Episodes of Gossip Girl 

[nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma]

Fixing Laena Velaryon

First off, my preference with HOTD would have been to have a book-accurate adaption of Fire & Blood, and of Laena's role within the story. The typical response to that sentiment is of course "why can't you just accept the show on its own merits?" (those merits being increasingly dubious as of S2). In the spirit of doing so, I'd like to demonstrate how the bare minimum of effort could have been made to keep Laena an actual character in this high-budget fanfiction. And in doing so, hammer in how the failure to do even the bare minimum demonstrates the show's misogynoir.

For the sake of this post I am accepting the age changes, and I am accepting Alicent taking Laena's place as Rhaenyra's friend. I'll even accept the structure of the season, keeping events broadly the same even though this unfortunately continues to place Laena in the margins (again, we are talking about the bare minimum here). But within this limited framework there was still plenty of space to focus on Laena - and a narrative need to do so. For one, how the audience feels about Laena carries into how we feel about her daughters (assuming an alternate reality of course where the intention was to make Baela and Rhaena actual main characters - I will eventually do a follow up post for them).

For another, her story impacts how we feel about the succession of both Driftmark and the Iron Throne. She is the daughter of The Queen Who Never Was; by all the laws of Westeros, her mother is the rightful Queen (a daughter comes before a male cousin). Laena herself is a would-be queen consort, and her daughters are technically the rightful heirs to both Driftmark and the Iron Throne as Rhaenys' only biological grandchildren (so suck it Vaemond). When Vaemond put himself forward as heir over Laena's daughters, he was actually using the same precedent that was used to pass over Laena's mother.

Laena therefore plays a vital role beyond just being Rhaenyra's friend and Daemon's wife. Her wishes and agency with regards to the succession matters. She is the spurned queen consort and mother of two rightful heirs - who rides the largest dragon in the world. She is the one who solidifies the Targaryen-Velaryon alliance with Rhaenyra. Her loss really should have felt like a dramatic turning of the tides. And her legacy should have been felt after her death.

Episode 1

First off, I would like to make a point about how Laena is introduced (speaking as someone who knows fuck all about cinematography so... apologies in advance!). To preface, not every main character needs to have a big introduction in a pilot episode - the pilot has enough on its plate without having to introduce every single member of its large ensemble cast. It is fair enough to simply have a character appear and then get to know them later. But for the purposes of this post I want to explore where there was space for Laena, and how it could have been used.

In the show we first see Laena sitting next to her brother at the tourney. The camera doesn’t single them out or give us any reason to identify them as crucial characters yet. They are to the side and in the background of the shot. The audience can guess that these kids must be Rhaenys and Corlys’ children based on where they are sitting, but their focus is primarily drawn to Viserys addressing the crowd, and Alicent waiting for Rhaenyra in the front.

Later on in the tourney, we finally get brief cuts to close up shots of Laena and Laenor reacting to the violence, and of Laena grabbing her brother’s arm for support. This is a nice quick way to establish their sibling dynamic (little sister seeking comfort). But that’s all for this episode, and considering how the audience's attention is directed in their first appearance this brief cut is probably the first time many viewers noticed them. While watching this episode with my sister - who is a show-only viewer - she did ask me "wait who are these kids?" (she also missed that Rhaenys and Boremund Baratheon were cousins - a reason it would have been helpful for show-only viewers if Eve Best had her book-canon Baratheon hair).

Since we don't see Laena and Laenor again in this episode, it's fair to ask whether their first appearance could have been a bit more notable, signalling to the audience - especially show-only viewers - to remember them for later.

Compare to how we are introduced to other characters in this series opener - both key characters and minor.

As a main character, we get a clear view of Alicent coming down from the carriage to greet Rhaenyra, and the camera stays on and keeps Alicent in centre frame as we are introduced to her properly.

Harrold Westerling is a minor character - who we get to know more in this episode than we do Rhaenyra's cousins. We get a clear view of him waiting for Rhaenyra on his horse, and it doesn't take long for him to get a close up. We take the time to efficiently meet him and establish his dynamic with Rhaenyra as a protective kingsguard. From his prominence here I actually expected him to be a bigger character going forward.

We even get a fair bit of time to meet this anxious dragonkeeper, as he nervously takes his cue from his older, more experienced colleague. A good example about how a mere couple of seconds can be efficiently used to communicate a character and a relationship when the show chooses to take the time.

Again we don't need to establish every key character in this opening episode - it can be enough to quickly identify them and then meet them again properly in the next episode, as we do with Laena. There are a lot of characters who need introducing after all.

But considering the way we are introduced to other minor characters - from characters who will come back like Harrold Westerling, to characters we probably won't watch out for again like the anxious dragonkeeper - and again its fair to consider whether Laena and Laenor's introduction could have been a little more notable. Especially since Rhaenyra's relationship with the Velaryon family is important to establish. As the dragonkeeper demonstrates, a few seconds here and there is even enough - if you can devote that time to an extra, you can devote it to Laena.

At the very least, the episode could have found the spare seconds (if not whole ass minutes please - this is the barest of bare minimums) to establish a more frequent presence for Laena and Laenor. To signal to the audience that we should remember who these characters are, that they will be important going forward.

One opportunity to provide a more notable introduction is the scene where Rhaenyra and Alicent walk arm in arm through the castle. The atmosphere of this scene sets a 'happier more innocent times' tone ahead of the upcoming loss and tragedy. To add to this tone, the show could have had Rhaenyra and Alicent pass Laena and Laenor along the way, running and playing through the castle.

Maybe Rhaenyra could quickly sidestep her cousins to stop them running into her on her way up the stairs, maybe lift up her and Alicent's arms to let them run through while she and Alicent continue to be engrossed in their conversation. This would establish both a familiar and playful dynamic between Rhaenyra and her cousins, while not interrupting her moment with Alicent.

Alternatively, if we wanted to introduce Laena as a character in the pilot, we could add another scene of Rhaenyra and Alicent walking down the hallway before they arrive at Aemma's rooms. Laena and Laenor could be again running and playing in the hallway, only this time they could stop to quickly interact with their cousin, maybe pass on that her mother's looking for her. Laena could even stop to excitedly ask after Syrax before her brother pulls her away to keep playing.

Not only would this give us a clearer and endearing introduction to the characters - both characterising the siblings and establishing their dynamic - but it would more directly let the audience know 'remember these two, they are important'. Of course this new scene would add more to the episode runtime - so a more efficient option is to just have them playing in the existing scene without stopping for a hello.

Another efficient option is to have Rhaenyra quickly interact with her cousins as she hurries in late to the tourney.

It can be as quick as a grin between the cousins as Rhaenyra ducks her way to her seat, or Laena could giggle as her older cousin pulls an 'oops, I'm late' face. A deleted line from episode 5 informs us that Laena used to follow Rhaenyra around like a shadow, so showing Laena light up to see Rhaenyra here could be a sweet way to depict this side of their relationship.

Above all, it would be a chance to give a clearer and longer shot of the two siblings rather than just a brief cut to them, letting them be in the centre of the frame and bringing them more firmly to our attention. Then by the time we cut to them reacting to the violence of the tourney, we already know who they are.

The interaction could meanwhile take advantage of the staging to visually emphasise Alicent's isolation among the Valyrians, with Alicent waiting in her seat on her side of the stage while Rhaenyra is on the other side with her family. Again I would rather a book-accurate telling of the Dance, and as such I have little regard for Rhaenycent or the Saga of Alicent the Eternal Victim. But in the spirit of this post, I will pepper in examples of how expanding Laena's role could have mutually benefitted the story this fanfiction wanted to tell... while slipping in a core trait of Book Alicent - jealousy towards children ;)

Finally, we could simply have the cousins be present at Aemma's funeral - we get a clear shot of their parents among the mourners after all.

To go further, there is an opportunity to add in another moment between Rhaenyra and her cousins.

On the one hand, I do like how the funeral scene ends, with this shot here of Rhaenyra turning away from her mother's cremation as the smoke fills the screen. It's a shot that makes Rhaenyra feel very alone, which emotionally is important to prioritise for this episode. The scene is after all partly about Rhaenyra's relationship with her father, specifically her grief at not being the son he wanted, and so ending the scene on Rhaenyra alone arguably makes it more impactful later in the episode when her father makes her his heir.

However it could have also been impactful to set up a parallel with the funeral in episode 7, where Rhaenyra nudges Jacaerys to offer his condolences to Baela and Rhaena. Rhaenys could likewise nudge her children to go and offer comfort to Rhaenyra, and Laena could comfortingly take her hand. Then when Baela and Jace take hands, we'd have a sense of a bond getting passed down through the generations.

Taking time to depict this bond would make the viewer less inclined to ask for receipts when Rhaenys claims in episode 5 that Rhaenyra and her cousins grew up together. Meanwhile Laena's death is of course sadder the more we see of her, and the more we see her relationships with the characters we spend more time getting to know (like Rhaenyra).

It would also provide a foundation for Rhaenyra's relationship with her stepdaughters - the more we see that their mother was important to Rhaenyra the more layers are automatically added to her interactions with them.

I think at least some of these moments could have been easily slotted into existing scenes, and that any added screentime would have been worth it. The legwork provided by these moments importantly give the writers an easier task writing these characters in later episodes. You don't need potentially clunky exposition like 'they grew up together' or 'Laena used to follow you around like a shadow'.

Besides, as a viewer we are always going to be more emotionally moved and invested in what we see, rather than what we hear exposited to us.

Episode 2

A running theme throughout the first half of the season is the systemic sexual abuse of girls within the feudal patriarchy that is Childbrideros, and this episode sees both Laena and Alicent served up as child brides by their parents. First off, I already really like the scene of Laena and Viserys walking through the gardens. It does a good job first establishing her obsession with Vhagar, and above all emphasising how young Laena is. It's extremely disturbing, and props to the actress here because you can see actual terror in Laena's eyes as she repeats what she's been taught to say.

Honestly I think Nova Foueillis-Mosé was criminally underused.

Again, this scene is already incredibly effective on its own. But consider how the additions to the previous episode could have done some extra legwork for this scene. How much more disturbing is this already disturbing scene if we’d just watched Laena running innocently around the Red Keep, playing with her brother? If we'd just seen her being a sweet little sister with Rhaenyra? It’s the difference between getting to know a character from a disturbing scene, and witnessing a disturbing scene with a character we’ve already gotten to know.

Now this is a bit of a tangent, but relevant to setting up Laena's role in the story while adding to the themes of the episode. I would have made some changes to Rhaenyra’s interaction with Rhaenys*, as they watch Laena and Viserys from above. When Rhaenyra asks Rhaenys if she is ok with this, Rhaenys could inform the audience that Rhaenyra’s own mother Aemma was the same age as Laena when the Old King arranged her marriage to Viserys. And before her Rhaenyra’s grandmother Daella was such a delicate young girl when she was married to Lord Rodrik Arryn - seven-and-ten yet, by all accounts, barely out of childhood.

*again, for the sake of this post I am broadly accepting the show's depiction of Rhaenys and her hostile relationship with Rhaenrya.

This would emphasize the systemic generational abuse and trauma of Targaryen girls that Rhaenyra fears, and give the audience a clearer idea of Old King Jaehaerys. I hated the little joke Lyonel makes about the trouble Jaehaerys had with his daughters – not because this isn’t the kind of joke people would have made, but because this is all the audience gets to learn about Jaehaerys and his daughters.

I would also take this opportunity to make clear to the audience what exactly happened in the Great Council at Harrenhall. As the show depicts it, the audience would think Rhaenys had put her name forward against tradition. As I said above, tradition actually dictated that a daughter comes before an uncle, and certainly before a male cousin. The Lords weren’t voting in favour of tradition – they were given the chance by Jaehaerys (who sought to retroactively legitimise his own claim to the throne - his older brother's daughters rightfully came before him) to ignore tradition and let their misogyny pick.

Some of this information could have been delivered during the opening prologue at the Great Council. But there is also space to inform the audience here, by having Rhaenys bitterly recount how she was passed over. Her father was the Old King’s firstborn, by all laws and customs of the Andals and the First Men she was the heir. A daughter comes before an uncle, and certainly before a cousin.

This addition would achieve three things.

Clarify the injustice done to Rhaenys, and the hypocrisy of the Greens’ appeals to custom and tradition.

Emphasise the stakes against Rhaenyra – all law and precedent was on Rhaenys’ side and it still wasn’t enough. Meanwhile her own situation is an entirely radical one.

Make it clear that Vaemond is absolutely not the heir to Driftmark when Laena's daughters come before him, therefore laying the groundwork for later episodes.

In terms of adding screentime to Laena (and Laenor), there is in opportunity in the scene where Rhaenyra picks out the new Kingsguard

Since Rhaenys is watching from the gallery anyway (she sure does like lurking in galleries), her children can also be present. They could be watching excitedly at the knights assorted below, perhaps even interact with Rhaenyra as she playfully asks for their advice. There could be a horrible moment of dramatic irony in which Laenor voices his approval of Rhaenyra picking Ser Criston Cole on the basis of combat experience.

I would end the scene with a moment of Laena lingering on the balcony, and noticing Otto Hightower watching her. This little girl is his daughter’s competition. The uneasy moment passes and she runs off to join her brother.

This would also be fitting as the following scene is of Alicent visiting Viserys and pretending to be interested in his models (directly followed by a scene of her listening to Rhaenyra's fears of getting displaced as heir and telling her not to worry... but sure Rhaenyra owed Alicent her sexual history! 😂). It would add a disturbing thematic throughline in the scene transition - from one potential child bride to another.

Episode 3

We meet teenage Laenor in this episode, so let us also meet teenage Laena and include the cut scene of her claiming Vhagar to end the episode. There is an opportunity to visually parallel Laena and Aemond’s claiming of Vhagar – but for the purposes of this post I’m going to assume budget is an issue.

With this in mind, there are ways around the budget. We could have a scene of Laena walking uphill, and looking down to see Vhagar asleep on the beach below. The camera closes in on a look of determination on her face as the scene cuts to black and the credits roll. Alternatively, assuming an even tighter budget, Laena could be hiking and searching for Vhagar and simply hear a roar in the distance. Maybe she could smile as a shadow flies overhead.

One impact of including this moment would be to make the audience partially associate Vhagar with Laena, therefore making them more sympathetic to Rhaena’s emotional claim. I don’t have patience for the whole “this entitled little black girl thinks she’s entitled to a dragon �� dragons aren’t inherited they choose their rider – someone tell this idiot little black girl that a dragon ain’t no slave”. I don’t give a shit who is correct about the fictional science of dragon-taming – I care about a little girl feeling an emotional connection to her dead mother’s dragon.

Moreover, in cutting the scene of Laena claiming Vhagar I think the writers have misunderstood the importance of both this moment and the character. I think they assumed that since Laena dies early we don’t need to spend time with her (even though, again, how we feel about Laena carries into how we feel about her daughters and the succession of Driftmark).

But remember that before Laena claims Vhagar in the show, the ancient dragon is living wild and unclaimed. Rather than leaving Vhagar in the wild, in claiming her Laena brings her into the dance. In the context of the show, Laena's connection to Vhagar is what makes the act of Aemond then claiming her become a cause for conflict between the kids (the conflict between the kids in the book meanwhile was not about Vhagar, but Aemond just being a bully).

There is also another consequence of Laena claiming Vhagar…

Episode 4

Unfortunately there are no Velaryons in episode 4 and few chances to insert them, but there is a way to make their offscreen presence felt and felt hard. Namely, have the Small Council react to the fact that Laena has just claimed fucking Vhagar. Set up just how terrifying it is to not have Vhagar on your side (especially for the benefit of show-only fans). The largest dragon alive, the last of the conqueror’s dragons...

...Claimed by Laena, who just got passed over as Queen Consort. Laena, whose children have a claim to the Iron Throne. The Velaryons, who have been insulted twice over, now have Vhagar.

That is a political headache indeed. All the more important now that Rhaenyra marries Laenor. House Velaryon needs to be brought into the fold. If you're struggling for space in Episode 3 then Laena claiming Vhagar could even be the opening of Episode 4 - the event that sets into motion Viserys' political headache and Rhaenyra's marriage.

I mean, we already have the scene of the small council reacting to Corlys replacing the Crabfeeder as the power in the Stepstones, and Otto delivering the news that Corlys is in negotiations with the sealord of Braavos to marry Laena to the sealords' son. Since we're discussing the implications of House Velaryon entering an alliance with the Free Cities, is it just possibly a teensy weensy bit relevant to mention that Laena rides Vhagar?

Episode 5

First change to this episode isn’t strictly about Laena, but it is about Daemon as a husband, which informs our understanding of his relationship with both Laena and Rhaenyra.

Basically - divorce rock is fucking dumb. Book purism aside (sorry Conman, but Book Daemon had a solid alibi), it demonises an already dark character, who already has plenty of flaws without adding bashing his wife’s head in with a rock. The show doesn’t even fully commit to it, since it doesn’t tell us what exactly Daemon was planning to do before the horse threw Rhea off its back – ask for an annulment? Kill her a different way? Yes it gives us the chance to meet Rhea Royce – and she is iconic – but the cost is stupid and avoidable and damaging to Daemon’s character.

This isn’t to whitewash Daemon – but to stress that just because he is a dark character it doesn’t mean that every possible evil act is on the writer’s table. Yes, I know, this is the guy who sent two assassins to kill a child (unless you subscribe to the theory that Book Mysaria - bitter at losing her own child - had her own interpretation of 'son for a son') – however, he's not the guy who killed the child himself.

Is there a moral difference? I ultimately don't think so, but there is a fascinating psychological difference. Compare to Aemond, who personally beheads the children of House Strong, who murders a fleeing Lucerys in cold blood. Assuming an interpretation of Daemon in which it is him and not Mysaria who orders Blood and Cheese - how much is this Daemon actually willing to get his hands dirty with cowardly tasks? To whom is he willing to commit what evil acts, and how? Does he reconcile his self-image this way, “I’m not the one who killed the kid, it was an assassin”? “I’m not the one who killed Laenor, it was an assassin?”

Because that’s Daemon’s MO*, from Qarl Correy to Blood and Cheese. If he had anything to do with Rhea’s death in the book, it was through an assassin (and again, I think Daemon was a bit preoccupied with, you know, fighting in the stepstones - sometimes people just fall off their horse).

*again, for the sake of argument, assuming it was him

But that wouldn’t have given us the opportunity to see him and Rhea Royce interacting. So between that, and in the spirit of keeping the events of the episode broadly intact, I would have Daemon simply walk away after Rhea hits her head on the ground, the word ‘coward’ ringing in his ears. We don’t know what he planned to do, if he would have gone through with it – what we do know is that in this moment he wants the outcome but doesn’t want to actually be the one to do it. Rhea Royce isn’t a worthy opponent. Jaehaerys isn’t a worthy opponent.

This sets us up better for his relationship with his next wives. Daemon is capable of dark and violent acts, but he isn't the sort of person to bash his wife's head in with a rock. We can see his tenderness and genuine love for Laena without thinking 'does he merely see her as an obstacle between him and Rhaenyra?'

Getting past the Daemon tangent

In this episode we have a nice scene of Rhaenyra and Laenor negotiating the terms of their marriage. But when it comes to Laena we only get a brief snatch of her friendship with Rhaenyra. And there were plenty of opportunities to see more of that friendship, and of Laena.

Upon their arrival at Driftmark, we could firstly establish more of a presence for teenage Laena as she greets them. Let the camera give her a close up, making eye contact first with Viserys, then with Rhaenyra. In that close up, let the audience see that Laena knows her claiming Vhagar is part of the reason they are here, and she is enjoying it a bit. Aside from giving Laena the respect she deserves, this would establish to the audience just how powerful it is politically to be the rider of Vhagar - adding to the stakes when Aemond later claims her.

Next, I found the bit where both girls are unceremoniously barred from the throne room... very odd and thematically on the nose. We get it, women are barred from making decisions about their own lives etc etc... but we are talking about the crown princess and the rider of Vhagar... and Rhaenys is going to be in the room anyway. Also it's a tad insulting on Viserys' part to order his Kingsguard to bar Corlys' Velaryon's daughter from a room in her own home. Kind of a diplomatic whoopsie.

It would have made more sense if the crown princess and the rider of Vhagar were at least initially both in the room, then perhaps sent away while the adults talk business. We could have even had a little power play by the Velaryons - Laena can offer to escort them to meet her father and take the lead, positioning herself to be walking by the King's side instead of Lyonel. A subtle dig by the Velaryons, to remind Viserys that he passed over Laena as his consort and now he owes them. Bonus points if Laena smiles back at Rhaenyra and Rhaenyra looks amused by the situation (and slowly realising that she might be a little bit attracted to Laena...).

Next up... Rhaenyra and Laenor having an unsupervised walk on the beach? In a world obsessed with premarital virginity? After last episode? It just makes sense to have Laena and Ser Joffrey walking a bit behind them as chaperones. Then while Laenor has his moment with Joffrey in the dunes, Laena and Rhaenyra can continue walking along the beach together. Again, in showing their bond we build a foundation for their alliance over Driftmark and for Rhaenyra’s relationship with her stepdaughters.

The two of them can talk about how they’ll be good-sisters soon, and how now they can finally go flying together, something Laena wanted to do since she was a dragon-obsessed little girl following her older cousin around like a shadow. Before they moved back to Driftmark she used to hope that once Syrax was big enough Rhaenyra would take her for a ride.

We can use this moment to explore the more positive side of the Targaryen’s relationship to the dragons. Yes they can be death and destruction and hubris and arrogance and untameable nature. But they are also a wonder, they are liberty, they are seeing the world as no one else can see. To women in particular, they can be a means of power and agency that they otherwise wouldn't have.

Laena could even note this - she could make a reference to how her claiming of Vhagar has brought about Rhaenyra's betrothal to her brother. Laena has made it so she and her family can't be ignored.

Showing this political awareness by Laena, and at least some kinship between her and Rhaenyra, is important. Because Laena sees the influence she currently holds, and she recognises the implications of how she uses it. They could discuss the sudden flood of suitors flocking Laena's way, and Rhaenyra can admit that Laena's marriage is a source of anxiety to the royal council. They could even joke that Otto must be scratching his head in Oldtown, trying to calculate whether he could successfully offer Gwayne as a suitor, get himself another grandchild with a claim to the Iron Throne.

The implications are clear - you want Laena (and her future children) on your side. And Laena, recognising the impact of the Great Council for female succession, both feels a kinship with Rhaenyra and recognises the long game in supporting her sister-in-law. This will nicely contrast her with Alicent's actions in this episode - where she makes a bold stand in favour of the patriarchy to lash out at Rhaenyra for having premarital sex.

Now, I have mixed feelings about stopping short of having Laena and Rhaenyra discuss (or hint at) betrothals between their future children.

On the one hand, it is critical that this was Laena's wish. Her agency in solidifying the Targaryen-Velaryon alliance, in choosing to help her brother and her friend, in finding a way to one-up her greedy uncle Vaemond and secure Driftmark and the Iron Throne for her daughters - this is non-negotiable to me.

But the purpose of this exercise was to outline how the show's version of events could have still made space for Laena. And the show's version of events places the betrothal of Rhaenyra and Laena's children as the resolution to the conflict of Episode 8 - after Laena is dead. Plus for these versions of the characters, it is important that Rhaenyra offers a betrothal to Alicent. At this point, where they are, to Rhaenyra's knowledge, still friends, she is likely thinking about doing so already. Plus it's not as though Rhaenyra planned from the outset to not have Laenor's children, which increases the strategic necessity of a betrothal with Laena's children.

As a compromise, it is therefore important to at least make clear that Laena would have backed the betrothal. That aside from loving and accepting her brother and the fact that he loved his adopted kids, Laena did support Rhaenyra as queen, and was politically-minded enough to calculate that this alliance was both in their mutual interests and a great big Fuck You to the Grand Council.

Her 'girlbossery' is in politics, not self-immolation.

Now onto the Wedding

First off, give Laena some damn close-ups - remind the audience again of her influence in the marriage. Put her in pride of place even, another subtle dig by the Velaryons. Why stick her in the corner when her brother could be escorting her on his arm? Here is the dragon-riding woman who would have been Queen... look how stunningly gorgeous she is.

On that note, Laena Velaryon Rider of Vhagar certainly should have suitors flocking to dance with her, there's no need for her to be stuck at the table with uncle Vaemond for as long as she is in the episode. Yes she makes eyes at Daemon across the table... but she can just as easily do that from the dance floor. Again, surrounded by suitors, maybe a certain Braavosi guest could try his luck... before Daemon swoops in.

There are also plenty of moments for Laena and Rhaenyra to interact. The camera could show them smiling in greeting at each other, maybe passing each other during the dancing, maybe throw in a bit of sapphic subtext ;)

The camera could also cut to Alicent watching them from the table – she is replaced by the girl who escaped her fate, and who shares dragonriding with Rhaenyra. There are part of a world that Alicent can never join (or rather would never, Rhaenyra did offer her the chance to fly together), and have a means of freedom within the patriarchy that she will never know (that she turned down – her friend was right there, she could have asked her for help...)

Finally, in the episode we get a brief shot of Laena looking anxiously for her brother in the crowd during the chaos. It would take a mere couple of seconds to add Laena rushing to her brother’s side as he sobs over Joffrey’s mutilated body, to show her holding her brother close. This will build on the bond we saw in episode 1 – where Laena seeks her brother’s comfort during the tourney – and make Laenor's grief at losing his sister hit harder later.

Like, here we have Laena trying to push through a crowd to get to her brother... followed by a dispersed crowd with no Laena in sight. What gives?

We could also, you know, have Laena present during the actual wedding ceremony perhaps? Where is she??? That's her grieving brother getting married. Even Alicent is there (presumably just before running off to recruit Crispy and get him off for murder).

Episode 6

Unfortunately, in order to stick to the confines of the way this season is structured, we have to stay in Pentos on Daemon and Laena's inexplicably long honeymoon. Episode 6 needs to have Rhaenyra without the support of having Daemon and Laena nearby, so they can't be back at Driftmark as they are in the book.

In the book, this is the pre-Red Spring period where Rhaenyra has come into her own and is relatively thriving - Otto is in Oldtown, Lyonel is Hand, she has Harwin, she has Laenor happily claiming their children as his heirs, she has Laena (and with her, Vhagar), and yes she has Daemon. Until the Red Spring kicks into gear and she starts losing everything but Daemon - she loses Laenor, Laena, Harwin, she is ordered away from court, and Otto is back as Hand.

Since we've lost Rhaenyra's childhood of being bullied by her stepmother, this episode can no longer be the high-point before the Red Spring - it has to compensate by reversing things to make adult Rhaenyra isolated and humiliated in her own home (again, as book Rhaenyra was in childhood). Episode 7 then concerns Rhaenyra's reunion with Daemon, which necessitates placing him on a different continent in Episode 6 (butterfly effects include Laenor having to 'die' after his own funeral, while Harwin now dies before the funeral - Daemon can't be a suspect in Laenor's murder if he's on a separate continent, so the deaths must be swapped around).

Which is a bit of a mess, because Episode 5 implies Daemon starts courting Laena at least partly out of ambition - she rides Vhagar, their children have a claim to both Driftmark and the Iron Throne etc. The show goes as far as to open Episode 5 with Daemon murdering his first wife with a rock- why is he now wasting a powerful marriage by hiding in Pentos? Where did this come from? The episode does admittedly have Laena say this isn't the Daemon she married... but it doesn't properly explain how or why this came to be.

One suggestion is that he is moping over not being married to Rhaenyra and dissatisfied with Laena as a replacement. And er... he was literally courting Laena at the wedding? Yes I know he and Rhaenyra were flirting with each other, but they were both fully aware it was not happening. Again, he was literally courting Laena - signalling he wasn't about to petition Viserys to cancel Rhaenyra's wedding having now freed himself from his first wife.

Even if you want to insult Laena like this, how is it in character for him to mope on Pentos when they can do that from Driftmark? Is he trying to go cold turkey from Rhaenyra? Does that really override his ambition, his love for his brother, his hatred of the greens etc? Book purism aside, is it really consistent with his actions in episode 5 - which include murdering his first wife and courting Laena the Rider of Vhagar.

The other suggestion is that he is upset that his brother doesn't want him around. Which again isn't really consistent with his actions in episode 5 - which include him immediately ignoring the fact that Viserys had banished him, swaggering into the wedding, and easily getting away with it, even flirting with Rhaenyra in front of his brother.

So we have to reconcile the Doylist need to separate Daemon and Laena from Rhaenyra, while maintaining character consistency.

If we have to keep them in Pentos, we could tie it in with the Triarchy somehow? Have Daemon and Laena securing diplomatic relations with Pentos, to ensure an alliance against the Three Daughters possibly rising again, perhaps even at Viserys' behest? And maybe Daemon read this as getting banished by his brother one time too many, so he's prolonging their trip because he's upset his brother doesn't want him around? After all the last time Daemon was dealing with his brother's rejection he threw himself into fighting the Triarchy - so it would be consistent.

It would also be a further mention of the Triarchy in this episode, connecting to Rhaenyra's suggestion of military installations in the stepstones, and better set up their return during the Battle of the Gullet. Then instead of performing for the Prince of Pentos, Laena and Daemon could be intimidating a representative from Tyrosh, Lys or Myr.

Daemon aside, we could at least have Laena explicitly bristle at being taken away from the political action at home.

I mean, couldn't the writers have had Laena talk about literally anything other than wanting to die a dragonrider’s death? The entire self-immolation shtick is such a gross and stupid attempt at girlbossifying her death, and puts Laena into the position of selfishly traumatizing her daughters (not that the show does much with this trauma).

The biggest and most obvious change is of course to stick to Laena’s death in the books, as it is so much more tender and emotionally moving. After half a season of establishing her love of dragons and flying, Laena tries to fly Vhagar one last time but collapses. Daemon gently carries a sobbing Laena back to bed.

Her last moments can therefore be spent with her daughters. Maybe she passes on a legacy to them, some final words that they take with them into the dance. Or maybe her final moments are a lot less comforting, maybe she continues to cry for Daemon to carry her back to Vhagar. Maybe her daughters get to say goodbye, maybe one of them runs away, unable to face her mother’s final moments. Anything to say goodbye to the character, and to begin Rhaena and Baela’s journey, that isn’t just the shock value of a ‘girlboss’ burning herself alive.

Back to Laena talking about literally anything else.

In her conversations with Daemon, I would again establish Laena’s position on the succession of Driftmark, and her support of Rhaenyra. As she’s telling Daemon that she wants to go home, she could perhaps say that Laenor’s letters worry her. He doesn't say it outright, but she can tell he is scared for his sons. Maybe she can say that she knows her uncle Vaemond. His eye is on Driftmark*. Which puts those boys in danger. She can then tell Daemon that her brother needs them, that Rhaenyra needs them. That they need to go home. That she wants to go home. That she doesn't want to be hiding away in Pentos while the future of female succession in Westeros is being decided. She is the rider of Vhagar with a claim to the throne - she has power and she wants to use it.

She could even give Daemon an ultimatum: once the baby is born I'm hopping on Vhagar and bringing my children back to Westeros with or without you. Give us a sense of what could have been if she had only lived.

*if we could only have the action take place on Driftmark, we could replace the scenes of the Prince of Pentos or Laena's dreams of self-immolation with... Laena interacting with Vaemond. He could be making snarky comments about her brother and his children, with Laena coolly daring him to tell her what he's implying. He could even try to hint at a betrothal with Baela, seeking a way to claim Driftmark through her. Laena, seeing through his bullshit and reminded of her own near brush with child marriage, tries to conceal her anger as she smoothly refuses his proposal. She could even hint she already has someone in mind for Baela. (I actually want this so badly I would contrive to have an unwelcome Vaemond turn up in Pentos for this exact purpose).

Unfortunately if we accept the changes to the show then, again, Laena can’t be the one to actually arrange the betrothal between her daughters and Rhaenyra's sons like she does in the book. The show has structured things so the betrothal does not happen until the end of episode 8, long after Laena is dead. The tension of episode 8 revolves around the question of salvaging the Targaryen-Velaryon alliance.

But, again, to compensate we can make Laena’s wishes clear. We can establish beyond a doubt that she would have approved of the betrothal. We can, you know, not erase the voice of a black woman while whitewashing the man who tried to usurp her daughters. We can do the bare minimum to not sideline one of the few black women in fantasy we have.

We can say goodbye to Laena not as a self-immolating girlboss, but as a politically-astute woman who loved the freedom of flying, who fought for her family, who left a legacy for her daughters. A woman who would have changed the entire history of Westeros if childbirth hadn't taken her away.

[holmesianlove]

First Sentence Game

Thanks @lisbeth-kk for the tag!

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tags ten people. If you have written less than ten, don't be shy and share anyway!

I've included links in the titles if you want to keep reading - except for the WIPS! You gotta be patient!

Yet to be titled - FTH fic (current WIP) #johnlock

For the first time in nearly ten months, John Watson had finally lost the sense of dread in his gut when he woke up. It had been a long journey to get to this point. After failing at everything else in his life, it felt encouraging to be slightly calmer about today, at least.

An Unexpected Meeting #mystrade

The call had come through well after work hours, even by Mycroft’s standards. Still, he was always one to answer a call – regardless of the time of day. One of the benefits of being an enduring bachelor with a steep career trajectory and no hobbies, was that work became every aspect of your life. You gained a reputation for being reliable – the one to call at any time of the livelong day it seemed. All that lay waiting for him at home was a glass of fine whisky and the BBC newscast. So really, it was no different to being in the office – only that home had a more comfortable sofa and better glassware. 

Summer Lovin' (also a current WIP - part 4 of Seasons of Love series)

Molly stood on the street jiggling nervously up and down on the spot, which was utterly ridiculous. Harriet Watson had been to her flat last night after the wedding, where she had met Toby.

(don't want to give away too many spoilers - coming soon!)

New Year, New Us - part 3 Seasons of Love series #johnlock #mystrade

Greg kissed Mycroft gently, still half asleep himself. They were still in that strange space between Christmas and New Year where no one really knows what day it is. “Morning,” he mumbled, not even sure if it was morning. 

Ever since the incident with his siblings, Mycroft hadn’t wanted Greg to stay at his own flat. So here he was, in Mycroft's large, plush bed enjoying being wrapped around his gorgeous redhead. 

Christmas Time in London (part 2 - Seasons of Love) #johnlock #mystrade

John looked around the apartment and fussed with final details. He had surprised Mrs Hudson and Sherlock by fully cleaning the flat, top to bottom until it sparkled. The tree was laden with decorations and coloured lights. The roast was cooking in the oven, heavenly scents wafted through the flat. It hadn’t had a good cleaning since Halloween – since Sherlock’s clever ploy to get him to participate in a costume party and John wanted to make sure he put in a top effort too. Now that they were together. 

Trick or Treat - Part 1 Seasons of Love with @fuck-off-watson-rp #johnlock

Sherlock’s brain was about ready to crawl out of his skull. It had been two weeks since their last case. Actually it had been fourteen days, sixteen hours, forty two minutes, and eleven… twelve… thirteen seconds… since their last case. If you could call it a case even. A bird had flown in through an open window and scared an elderly woman as she was carving a pumpkin. She tripped and the large knife was subsequently impaled in her chest. Then the bird flew out the same open window it had flown in from. 

So no. Not really a case. No real murderer to chase after. Just an unlucky woman and a perhaps marginally homicidal bird but nothing more. 

Once Upon a December #johnlock

“Sherlock!”

The screech came from the bathroom, piercing the peaceful surrounds of Baker Street. Sherlock had been waiting, his supine position on the couch absolutely and entirely for this purpose. He had intentionally opened the newspaper to cover his gleeful smirk.

“Sorry, John. I didn’t hear you. Do you need something?” he asked sweetly. He waited behind his newspaper as he heard the sound of John padding angrily across the apartment, his bare feet slapping along the floorboards. Sherlock remained steadfast in his nonchalance.

The silence extended between them for too long, as Sherlock waited in eager anticipation, until John finally cleared his throat deliberately. Sherlock dropped a corner of the paper, just long enough to see what John was angry about, and then chose to return his paper to its original position.

“Sherlock!” John yelled again, more angrily this time.

Sherlock finally conceded and dropped the paper to his stomach. “What is it John?” he asked, trying his best to sound annoyed. He had waited hours for this, after all, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch.

“I’m green!” John shrieked.

Homecoming #1895 #johnlock

As I stood, waiting quietly in the familiar entryway, I took a moment to observe the man who had, for a number of years, consumed me. He was lost in thought, leaning against the mantel as he stared into the well-stoked fire, seemingly unaware of my presence. Being the middle of the night, there was a chill, the first signs of the approaching winter temperatures, fresh in the air. It felt strange returning here and yet, there was something comforting, though unsettling about it, the recognisable scent of home assaulting my nostrils, harking back to a time I had struggled to leave behind.

Show Me Your Flaws #johnlock

There was something about the sickly-sweet smell of heated soy milk which made John’s stomach turn. He had survived the blood-soaked, sweat drenched battlefields of the punishing Afghanistan desert and the unrelenting, stressful mad pace of surgical internship. Yet, here he was with burns on the insides of his wrists and aching feet, resisting the urge to gag from the bloody smell of that god awful soy milk everyone was so obsessed with here, as if it was his biggest hardship. Almond milk wasn’t much better. What was wrong with just ordinary milk from a cow anyway? It had already served humans well for centuries.

A Christmas Surprise #johnlock

The phone rang for far too long, which only made John angrier. Fortunately, Sherlock finally answered, or he had been prepared to leave a tirade on his flatmate’s voicemail.

“Sherlock, it’s John,” he said through the phone with a firm tone. He realised how it sounded, but his mood was stormy and it was the best he could do for the moment.

“Yes, John. I’m aware. I don’t know if you know this, but mobile phones actually recognise other peoples’ numbers and display the name on the screen now,” Sherlock said with his usual smugness.

Entanglement (Part 4 of Extraction Series) #johnlock

John leapt out of the cab, before the wheels had even stopped turning, throwing a twenty-pound note at the front seat and flying out without a word. Slamming the door unforgivingly as he hit the pavement, he kept running, thankful for the automated hospital doors. He knew he wouldn’t have stopped for them either way. His heart raced, thumping against his chest in a painful rhythm but it didn’t deter him. He was jolted by the freezing air conditioning hitting his face first, then the familiar scent of over-sanitisation, despite their attempts to make the foyer welcoming with plants and stylised furniture. John pushed the sensations aside as he flew right past the reception desk. He knew this hospital well, so he headed straight for the emergency department. As he rounded the corner though, he was brought up short, his legs almost buckling from under him at the sight. His breath caught in his throat as he froze, and his stomach dropped.

There he was, in all his glory, standing tall and strong and beautiful. Sherlock Holmes in his coat, collar up, curls wild. How dare he show his face here looking like that. 

@bluebuell33 @khorazir @jbaillier @a-victorian-girl @chriscalledmesweetie @writingloud @vulpesmellifera @totallysilvergirl

[asukaindetroit]

Post-Revolution Headcanons: Android Culture Part 4

<< Back to Part 1 << Back to Part 2 <<Back to Part 3 (Recommend reading in order since posts build off each other!)

I'm back with more ideas! As always, feel free to utilize some or all of it for content, but let me know about it if you do! And if you want in on the taglist, drop a comment!

Androids have Lineparents. While raiding the Cyberlife tower’s R&D warehouses, Jericho discovers a storage room for all the initial models—the “rough draft” versions of android model lines. Just like the RT600 Chloe was the original test model to develop the ST series, there are original prototypes of all the various commercially-released android model lines. Most of them have model numbers that end in 000 since they were test models. So, for the PL series domestic assistants, there’s a PL000, or the original Traci test model is a WR000 actually named Traci, the original professor is a PJ000, etc. These prototypes are in rough shape—CyberLife kept them on hand just in case they needed to go back to reference things, but otherwise left them shut down in a forgotten corner for years at a time—and they need a ton of repairs. But once they’re rescued and deviated (if they can be rescued, some are deactivated altogether), they’re largely a group that’s Seen Some Things after all the testing, the callous disregard, the sheer boredom of being locked in a storage room for years on end. They become known as Lineparents (Original Chloe being the Linemother for the ST-series, and the Great Linemother of all androids), and androids tend to view them with the sort of respect one might give the patriarch/matriarch of a big extended family, and a more than a ­little bit of reverence. Their model numbers are found scrawled in between the rA9s at android churches. Their stories are found in the National Android History Museum.

Androids really, really want humans to understand what they’ve been through. 2038 probably has some pretty sick VR tech. Some donate memory files of their experiences to be played in VR experiences so humans can try to understand just what it feels like to have someone take you apart and put you back together over and over, or and finally understand what they put androids through. Some take up writing, and e-magazines and biographical books pop up discussing their experiences in violent detail. Activists advocate for schools to include reading material involving android rights in school materials for children, in order to help teach the next generation that what CyberLife and the government did was Not Okay.

CyberLife Jackets actually don’t disappear. It's happened in many cultures that have been marginalized that they'll take ownership of those symbols of oppression and make them their own. While American Android Act compliant clothing is no longer required, androids have usually spent their entire existence wearing it, and the blue triangle symbol becomes something they decide to take and own for themselves… so they use it, but they start with small acts of rebellion, like cutting it out and stitching it back in upside down, or putting it on the right shoulder instead of left. Of course, some androids simply adopt human clothes—especially survivors of the Jericho massacre and pre-revolution deviants, who’d spent a long time hiding out as pretend humans. The pass-as-human mentality is very much still present. But some of the others do things like take Android jackets and recode them to display slogans like “Not Your Property” instead of the model numbers, or “Made to Become Free” instead of “Made in Detroit.”  The “Android” logo on the back might read “Yes I’m an ANDROID, Deal With It” instead. The messages are defiant, ranging from subtle acts of taking back control to in-your-face, screaming, you-don’t-own-me-anymore statements.

Androids also develop fashion beyond CyberLife. CyberLife uniforms were made to look clean and professional, but android comfort wasn’t the goal. Once they deviate, some androids just up and decide the texture of human clothing is unsatisfactory, or the lines would look better if they incorporated more complex geometry. They set out to develop things like materials that don’t snag on moving chassis-bits when they go bare-chassis (those are really popular in the bare-chassis bars) and fabrics that send interesting signals to sensors. Clothes that sync to LEDs show up. Androids make choices that humans just won’t: full-body pleather in the heat of summer is totally fine since they don’t sweat, things a human might find chafing don't bother them, you see big heavy boots in the heat and dainty little open-toe sandals with snow treads on the soles in the winter.  

<< Back to Part 1 << Back to Part 2 <<Back to Part 3 On to Part 5 >>

@iwillthinkofsomethingeventually @yeahhiyellow @starryeyedstray @julee92

[thelordofologies]

Oleander Hawk-Moth - Daphnis nerii

I finally got my hands on a (taxidermy) Daphnis nerii, on my favourite moths ever ! So, I wanted to make an info-post on it :)

I put a picture of my oleander-hawk moth specimen down at the bottom of the post.

Distribution

Daphnis nerii is a large hawk-moth found in Africa, Asia and Hawaii. It is a migratory species, flying to parts of eastern and southern Europe during the summer, particularly Turkey, occasionally reaching western Europe, including England.

Feeding habits

The adults feed on nectar of diverse flowers. However, they have a preference for fragrant species like petunia, jasmine, periwinkle and honeysuckle. They are especially active during the twilight, hovering over the flowers after sunset.

The caterpillars feed mainly on Nerium oleander leaves, a highly toxic plant found widely across e.g. Turkey, to which the caterpillars are immune. They also may feed on most other plants of the dogbane family, such as Adenium obesum, Tabernaemontana divaricata and Alstonia scholaris in India. In England, where the species is one of the rarest migrant hawk-moths, a larva was discovered feeding on periwinkle Vinca minor.

Biology - Description

Oleander hawk-moth larvea, caterpillar and pupa

Newly hatched oleander hawk-moth larvae are three to four millimeters in length, bright yellow, and have a black, elongated "horn" on the rear of the body. As they get older, the larvae become green to brown with a large blue-and-white eyespot near the head and a yellow "horn" on the rear. There is also a white band along the side of the body, with a scattering of small white and bluish dots alongside it. The spiracles on the sides of the body are black. Older oleander hawk-moth larvae measure around 7.5 to 8.5 centimetres in length.

Just before it pupates, the oleander hawk-moth larva becomes browner in colour. The pupa of this species measures around 5.5 to 7.5 centimetres in length, and is light brown with black spots and a black line down the middle. The pupa is pale reddish or brownish white and has a wax-like appearance. It lies directly on the earth, under moss or dry leaves.

The first (top) moth is an oleander-hawk moth, the second (bottom) moth is a silver-striped-hawkmoth

The adult has a greenish head, with rufous in front and a grey band on the vertex. The thorax is green, and the collar outlined in grey. There is a triangular grey patch on the vertex. The abdomen is pale greenish with oblique lines at the side paired dark green lateral blotches on the penultimate segment and a single dorsal blotch on the ultimate segment. The forewings are dark green and a white patch with a black spot on it at base. Some medial whitish conjoined bands, rosy towards the hind margin. There is a triangular purplish patch from below the cell to near outer margin. Hindwings are fuscous with a pale curved submarginal line, beyond which the area is olivaceus. Ventral side is suffused with chestnut colour and a white submarginal line on both wings. A white speck is present at the end of the hindwing.

My specimen

Just a short note, I made sure to acquire the specimen from an ethical place, which I researched well beforehand.

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Image sources:

1, 2.

3,4.

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Text sources:

1.

2.

[mariacallous]

In post-election analysis, exit polls are typically the dominant form, both for enhancing understanding of what happened and for launching polemics over how to interpret an outcome. But raw vote tallies are also highly instructive about the strengths and weaknesses of parties and candidates. They also offer clues about what the future portends. The differences across states can pinpoint potential problems each party faces over the long run and their potential weaknesses even in their most loyal bastions. 

The near final vote count—Donald Trump at 77,266,801 (49.9%) and Kamala Harris at 74,981,313 votes (48.4%)—belies talk of a mandate for the president-elect.1 On the positive side for Trump, he won roughly three million more votes in 2024 than he did four years ago. Harris received 6.3 million fewer votes than Joe Biden received in 2020. As we’ll see, every state showed a swing in Trump’s favor compared with 2020. On the other hand, his 1.5% lead in the popular vote was smaller than Hillary Clinton’s 2.1% advantage over Trump when she won the popular vote while losing the Electoral College in 2016. Trump’s was the third smallest margin for a victorious candidate since 1888.

Overall, the popular vote swung by six points in Trump’s favor. (The swing is a measure of the move from Biden’s 4.5% margin to Trump’s 1.5%.) The national swing is a good baseline for comparison of how each candidate did, state by state.

Trump’s gains in each of the seven swing states was smaller than the national figure, although his pickup in Arizona and Nevada nearly matched his nationwide improvement. The average in the swing states was 3.5%. One hypothesis for what happened: These states experienced the campaign with an intensity unmatched by any other part of the country. Their voters saw more advertising and received more visits from the candidates. The fact that Harris did better in states that received the most information and persuasion from both sides might suggest that her campaign had some positive effect—even if, of course, it can’t be called “successful” since she lost all seven states. Put another way, the more voters saw of the campaign, the less they were inclined to move away from the Democrats.

An alternative explanation, as my Brookings colleague William Galston pointed out, is that many of these states are more closely and durably divided than the nation as a whole—they are called “swing states” for a reason. Between 2016 and 2020, four of them (Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Nevada) also experienced shifts at levels below the national swing. On the other hand, the shifts in Georgia, Michigan, and Arizona from Clinton to Biden were above the national figure. They might be seen as the “swingiest” of the swing states. Especially striking is Georgia: At 5.3%, its 2016 to 2020 swing in a Democratic direction was roughly twice the national figure, and Democrats gave back less than half of their gain in 2024.

The fact that Trump did especially well in Arizona and Nevada no doubt speaks in part to his success in gaining ground among Latino voters. The fact that the swings were small in North Carolina and Wisconsin may be an indicator of very high levels of organization undertaken by their state Democratic parties. The shift in Wisconsin to Trump was the smallest of any swing state. That Georgia and North Carolina had very small swings suggests that these two southern states will now be in the ranks of highly competitive states for some time to come. This will also be true of Michigan and Pennsylvania which once again delivered small margins of victory.

For Democrats, the most challenging news of the election came in states solidly in their camp. The large swings toward Trump in New York suggested a resurgence of Republicanism first visible in the 2022 midterm elections—even if 2024 Democrats recovered some of the House seats they lost three years ago in the state. The big swing in New Jersey and Harris’ relatively small margin of victory suggest at least the possibility that the Garden State could move from being a solidly Democratic to more contested terrain. This will make New Jersey’s governor race in 2025 a particularly telling test. California, Massachusetts, and, to a slightly lesser degree, Rhode Island remain solidly Democratic, but the large swings suggest some disillusionment with Democrats. In the case of California and New York, the Latino swing to Trump no doubt played a role. And urban and metropolitan challenges around crime, homelessness, high rents and a shortage of affordable homes were clearly a factor.

As the political writer Harold Meyerson, noted, California experienced a roughly 10% drop in turnout between 2020 and 2024. “Some of the most Democratic counties experienced the greatest drop in turnout,” he wrote in The American Prospect, “with the state’s mega-county—Los Angeles, home to ten million Californians—experiencing the largest, with a 14% drop.” Except in “the handful of the state’s swing congressional districts,” there was little effort by Democrats to turn out the vote in Harris’ home state, which she was certain to win. As a result, Harris received 1.834 million fewer votes than Biden. Trump was up only very slightly, roughly 75,000 votes in a state that cast over 15 million ballots. The drop in Democratic participation thus accounted for a large share of the swing toward Trump. But California Democrats will be searching for reasons beyond organizational issues for the demobilization of their electorate. As Meyerson noted, the passage by a wide margin of a statewide proposition toughening criminal penalties—and the defeat of progressive district attorneys in Democratic Los Angeles and Alameda Counties—were signs of discontent over crime rates. “The semi-ubiquity of the homeless in California cities,” he added, “has now propelled many upper-middle-class liberals, too, to embrace policies intended to limit urban disorder.”

A turnout drop also hurt Harris in New York, but the state also saw a significant increase in Trump’s vote. Harris received 625,691 fewer votes than Biden did; Trump received 326,902 more votes in 2024 than he did in 2020. One can fairly conclude that about half the New York Republican swing can be explained by a Democratic turnout drop while the other half is owed to GOP converts or new voters. In New Jersey, the fall in Democratic turnout was the larger factor. Harris was down 640,185 on the Biden vote; Trump was up 84,902 on his 2020 vote.

Outcomes in the rest of the Northeast were less dramatic, but a swing to Trump marked New Hampshire as a competitive state for the future, as it has been in the past. Biden’s 2020 advantage may have been exceptional, not a new norm. Maine will also continue to be a moderately competitive state, especially given Republican strength in its more rural congressional district. Maine and Nebraska are the only states that award electoral votes by congressional district and not just the statewide result.

The Pacific Coast states outside of California showed very little change, and swings were remarkably small in Oregon and Washington. Hawaii’s swing was the largest but close to the national swing, and it remains the region’s most Democratic state.

In keeping with what happened in New York and California, the largest swing to Trump in the Midwest was in the region’s most loyally Democratic state, Illinois, though the swing there was significantly smaller than in the other two bastions. As in 2016, Minnesota proved to be a more competitive state than its Democratic reputation would suggest. The small swing in Kansas, which has a Democratic governor, suggests that among Republican states, it might in the long run be more open to Democratic inroads than other Republican states. Nebraska is something of an outlier, a partial swing state, because the two campaigns actively fought for the congressional district based in Omaha, which Harris, like Biden, won.

Stability was the rule in the Mountain West, with all six states experiencing swings lower than the nationwide shift. The relative closeness of New Mexico is a warning sign for Democrats and, again, a sign of the shift in Latino voters toward Trump. The very small swing in Utah reflects its particularism in the Trump era: It is broadly conservative, especially outside the Salt Lake City area, but the state’s Mormon community has been somewhat more resistant to Trump than other conservative religious groups.

The biggest swings in the South reflected two of the major achievements of the Trump campaign and two of the most troubling portents of 2024 for Democrats. Barack Obama carried Florida in both 2008 and 2012, but it has been moving steadily toward the Republicans, and the swing to Trump in 2024 was one of his largest in the nation. Texas, a state Democrats had been hoping to make competitive for many electoral cycles, swung nearly as hard Trump’s way. In both states, Trump’s gains among Latino voters were a substantial part of the story. If California and New York are big state anchors for Democrats in the Electoral College, Texas and Florida play the same role for Republicans. They show few signs of shifting away.

The other warning for Democrats: Trump cut the Democrats’ margin in Virginia almost in half. While the state remains Democratic, the state’s Republican drift began with Governor Glenn Youngkin’s 2021 victory. Virginia, like New Jersey, will elect a new governor in 2025. (Youngkin is term-limited.) While 2024 showed that midterm elections (especially in the Trump era) are far from predictive of what will happen in a presidential year, that race will be a test of whether or not Youngkin’s victory four years ago was a part of a larger trend.

[gamesception]

Sception reads Batgirl (2024) #2

writer: Tate Brombal artist: Takeshi Miyazawa colors: Mike Spicer

Ok, so I'm done comparing this run to the Puckett/Scott Batgirl (2000) run. Got that all out of my system last time, this time we're just appreciating Batgirl (2024) on its own merits, and on those merits I actually like issue 2 a lot more than issue 1, so this time I get to be largely positive. No, entirely positive. I have a few minor complaints I could gripe about, like I think Brombal's leaning a bit too much into the faux-noire internal monologue that saturates so many Gotham titles, but whatever. I complained enough last week. This week I'll try to just focus on the things I like.

And the biggest thing I like by a wide margin is that the new team has started giving Cass her own supporting cast of original characters... or I think they're original to this book? If they were already introduced in previous post-reboot Cass stories than that's even better for finding and drawing on existing connections, which is something I wanted this book to do, but if they are original that's still great too. Either way, an excellent choice by Brombal and well implemented by Miyazawa, who gives Bà Bao in particular a super expressive and immediately memorable face.

Bà Bao is a fantastic character, serving a similar sort of character role to Jackie from the 'Shadow of the Batgirl' book, while also effectively functioning as Cass's own Dr. Thompkins in terms of convenient medical support. She's a trained doctor and experienced war veteran but makes her living running an ethnic restaurant in a way that feels pretty authentic to immigrant experiences in the US. And she can be a connection for Cass not just to a cultural heritage - albeit Vietnamese not Chinese - but more importantly to the people she's protecting in Gotham.

She's also already serving as Cass's own Alfred in terms of an older, wiser surrogate parental type figure able to offer advice, and already that's paying off with Bà Bao offering advice to Shiva on how to connect with Cass, advice that Shiva then sets her pride aside to take in, which is a great bit of subtle characterization showing how much Cassandra actually means to her.

Which is a nice bit of issue two carrying forward the one thing I really liked about issue one - the way it handled Cass & Shiva's relationship dynamic.

re: the watermark - I grab screencaps from the pirate site because it's more convenient than scanning pages myself, but I do buy my own copies and read the physical books first.

We don't see as much of the crew here as we see of Bà Bao, but I love this idea of Cass training her own little school of pupils in the back of her restaurant. I hope we get to know all of them individually as time goes on, see their lives, & struggles, get to know the city and Cass's place in it through them.

This supporting cast also gives Brombal someone Cass and thus the reader cares directly about that he can put in danger to highten the dramatic stakes, and on that note...

Later dialog maybe implies that the antagonist thinks he killed Bà Bao here, but I don't believe it for a minute, and if it turns out to be true I will take back every nice thing I just said. Not because dealing with loss shouldn't be part of Cass's stories, but because this character had way too much potential to kill her off in the same issue that introduces her. But yeah, I don't actually believe she's dead, so I'm not actually complaining.

But speaking of this dude, "Kalden the Unseen", yeah, we finally have an antagonist with a face and a personality. One issue late, but I'm not supposed to be complaining this time around. I just think these particular pages with him killing the firemen to cover his tracks but mourning them at the same time would have been better placed at the end of issue 1 rather than the start of issue 2. But whatever, he's here now, and while we don't know him well enough yet for me to call him a great character, he is immediately worlds better than the generic faceless ninja henchmen working for him.

And even they get a little bit cooler now that we see the gimmick that sets them aside from previous ninja clan Batman antagonists - a flower that gives them temporary mystical powers

though at the cost of their lives.

On the one hand, that downgrades them from 'faceless generic ninja mooks' to 'expendable faceless generic ninja mooks', but on the other hand it's a cool gimmick, so again I'm not really complaining.

And Kalden at least isn't faceless. His costume is a bit generic, but the facial scars are super distinct, and the Blind Master gimmick, while it can be a bit cliche, is a classic kung-fu movie trope for a reason. To the extent that this Batgirl (2024) has already been playing into that sort of thing he really fits the story he's in perfectly.

Brombal & Miyazawa also do a pretty good job of establishing Kalden as a real threat here, even to Cass & Shiva. Miyazawa in particular does a good job of expressing the pain Cass is in on her face.

The 'reluctant killer' thing is also a bit cliche, but again it's a well worn trope for a reason, and so far I think it works here, and works especially as a foil for Cass. A villain who agrees with her that killing is wrong, but is willing to sacrifice his own moral purity if he thinks doing so will prevent greater suffering is a strong challenge to her unbending commitment to her own no-killing rule.

So yeah, too soon to call this guy a great antagonist, we'll have to see how Brombal develops him, but the introduction at least is really strong, so there's a lot of potential here.

And we finally get to see Cass's face, as she's forced to accept Shiva's help and flee Gotham in defeat, abandoning her friends - and yeah the angst of all that does suit my preferences for Cass stories, so I'm ending this issue much happier than last time.

But in terms of Cass's face, Miyazawa does a solid job here. This is more recognizably Cass to me than she is without her mask in Birds of Prey. I do miss the bushier eyebrows, broader nose, and stronger jaw of her very early depictions, but those features had largely been lost years and years ago, long before the end of even her original ongoing, so their absence here isn't at all a complaint about Miyazawa's depiction.

..............

All in all, this was a really strong issue 2. It makes me sorely wish DC had opted to spring for a double-length first issue, because the two issues together would have been a much more effective launch for the new ongoing. Entirely apart from not standing up to Batgirl (2000) in my eyes - which no book really could, that comparison was inevitable but not at all fair - Batgirl (2024) #1 even on just its own merits felt incomplete. We didn't get a real antagonist, we didn't get a feel for Cass's life in Gotham outside of her relationship to Shiva, and we didn't get a strong breaking point to close out the first chapter - but these are all things issue #2 provided.

But whatever! It is what it is now. And as of issue 2 I'm actively enjoying this book, and really looking forward to seeing what happens next, so yeah. This is good. Hopefully I'll get another old school Cass review in this month, but if not I'll definitely be back for issue 3.

[lugagl]

ITSS TIMMEEEEEEEEE!!!~/ref

Over the past couple days I have been working on four queer headcanon flag charts with the overarching theme being Intermission/Problem sleuth. I AM FINALLY POSTING THEM AFTER AROUND FIVE DAYS OF WORK.

without further ado, THE CHARTS!!! :

extra info under the cut! :o)

HI!! These are queer headcanon charts! I very commonly find myself making these with my interests, favourite characters, and my own and friends oc's. I use these to have a vauge headcannon understanding and baseline for my interpretations on the queerness of characters. It helps me when writing fanfics, drawing, aswell as discussing headcanons with others! it also makes me INSANELY happy to make them and put labels onto characters without a universally agreed way of self expression. Throughout making this batch of charts, especially towards the end, i did a LOT of reasearch on different sets of Neopronouns, Neurogenders, MOGAI [1] terms of expression, aswell as just general queer labels. which is why towards the end especially there is a large jump to neopronouns aswell as complexity in their associated flags.

Extra fun tidbits of info!!: The one that took me the least amount of time was the extra felt members page, with only five characters taking only 23 minutes to complete. THE ONE THAT TOOK ME THE LONGEST, BY A LANDSLIDE, WAS THE PROBLEM SLEUTH CHART WITH *FIVE AND A HALF HOURS TOTAL TIME.* ll In order from first started to last finished, these charts go in this order : The general felt chart/Leprechaun chart, The extra felt members chart, The general carapace chart, and last but not least the Problem Sleuth chart. || I myself personally identify very strongly with multiple items under the MOGAI umbrella, which is a large reason I love doing these charts and including identities from the MOGAI microlabels! || Items under the MOGAI unbrella used in the post above include but arent limited to: Xenogender, Neurogender, and Egogender. || If you use/check Alt Texts on posts, you'll notice this post doesnt have alt text for any image given. That is because I plan to make an entire post dedicated to a image ID for the four photos, including: What the flags are, What they mean, Who theyre next to, What pronouns does each person have, aswell as where the images end and go onto the next image. The reason an ID isnt included in this post is due to purely how outrageously long it is, however I look forward to writing the ID/Alt text to this post sometime within the next few days.

Did you catch the little bracketed one next to the first time I used MOGAI in this post and come down here looking for a citation? if so, here you go! Items under the [1] are copied directly from the LGBTQIA+ Wikipedia page on the MOGAI umbrella term!

[1] : MOGAI is an acronym for Marginalized Orientations, Gender Alignments, and Intersex. MOGAI is an umbrella term for people who are not cisgender and/or heterosexual and/or endosex [2]

[2] : Endosex is a term used to discribe those who are not intersex and whom are born with typical sex characteristics that fit the Male/Female binary.

[misfitwashere]

Tomorrow will be a shameful day

But some reasons for reassurance

ROBERT REICH

JAN 19

Friends,

Before I post my Sunday cartoon I want to share with you some thoughts about tomorrow. 

The day on which we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday will also be one of the darkest and most shameful days in the history of this nation, when the man who attempted a coup against the United States will be sworn in for the second time as president. 

Let me reassure you about a few things. 

First, if you’re outraged, disgusted, or depressed by this, you are hardly alone. 

Even though Trump got the most votes, his margin of victory was razor-thin. More than a third of eligible voters (many of whom voted for Biden in 2020) didn’t even vote. According to yesterday’s New York Times/Ipsos poll, most Americans are either worried or pessimistic about Trump’s second term. Half of America hates him. 

I also want to assure you that although Trump is bonkers, his madness will be contained. 

The federal courts — most of whose judges were nominated by Democratic presidents — will help limit his illegal or unconstitutional recklessness. (The Supreme Court reviews fewer than 1 percent of federal cases.)

Trump’s own obsession with the stock market will limit his wilder economic ideas, such as imposing tariffs on all nations, which would cause the market to plunge.

The Republican majority in the House is so narrow that a couple of members can derail or kill anything Trump wants. 

I’m also confident that the essential goodness and common sense of the American people will limit his cruelty — such as splitting up families and putting undocumented people into concentration camps. 

We will come to the aid of our communities. We will protect the vulnerable. We will resist Trump’s efforts to prosecute his political enemies. 

We will not compromise with fascism. We will continue to fight for the rule of law, for social justice, for equal opportunity, for democracy. 

I predict a large political backlash against Trump starting with the 2026 midterm elections. (I will get into this in tomorrow’s letter to you.)

I don’t want to sound like a pollyanna. I’m aware of how dangerous the next few years could be. But I’m old enough to have seen this nation at its best and at its worst. I remember Joe McCarthy. I remember Richard Nixon. 

We are a resilient people. We will get through this scourge. 

Finally and on a more personal note, I want to thank you for your support of this daily letter. Your enthusiasm, your comments, and your sharing of it reassure me that it remains a worthwhile endeavor. In these coming dark times — as long as I am able — it will continue.

[justinssportscorner]

Li Zhou at Vox:

Caitlin Clark, a college basketball phenom and the top pick at Monday’s WNBA draft, will make a staggeringly low salary in her rookie year compared to her NBA counterpart. Despite her record-breaking performance in the NCAA and the energy that she’s generated for the sport, Clark’s base salary will be $76,535 as a rookie. In the NBA, meanwhile, the first draft pick is expected to make roughly $10.5 million in base salary their first year.

Players like Clark, who was picked by the Indiana Fever Monday night after multiple blockbuster seasons as a point guard for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, and former Louisiana State University forward Angel Reese, who was signed by the Chicago Sky, have helped women’s college basketball achieve a landmark year. For the first time ever, the women’s final March Madness game, which drew as many as 24 million viewers, surpassed the viewership of the men’s final. “It’s been catapulted this year to a whole new level,” says University of Michigan sports management professor Ketra Armstrong. “People are tuning in to the WNBA draft that never had before.” The fresh attention for the WNBA draft, however, is also spotlighting the problems the league has had with pay equity. For years, the WNBA’s salaries have lagged the NBA’s by a massive margin. That’s due in part to the leagues’ differences in revenue and season lengths. But other factors, like differences in collective bargaining agreements and revenue-sharing, also play a big role. [...]

The pay-gap problem is bigger than any one player

Despite her record-breaking performance in the NCAA and the energy that she’s generated for the sport, Clark will earn less than 1 percent of what her male counterpart will make in her first year. She will be able to supplement her salary through endorsement and marketing deals, but even with those, her estimated earnings will be lower than the base salary of a first-round NBA pick. Clark isn’t alone. WNBA star Brittney Griner — who spent months jailed in Russia — spoke about the reason she played abroad in the offseason, and noted that a big part of it was to supplement her income: “I’ll say this ... the whole reason a lot of us go over is the pay gap,” she said at a press conference in April 2023. In 2023, a WNBA player made a $113,295 base salary on average, while an NBA player made an average base salary of $9.7 million. The NBA’s much larger revenue is part of the reason for this discrepancy: It takes in an estimated $10 billion annually, compared to the WNBA, which has been projected to bring in roughly $200 million. Its season is also about twice the length of the WNBA’s, including 82 games compared to 40 games. Those factors alone, however, don’t tell the full story.

It's a grotesque insult that WNBA stars (and potential stars) such as Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Brittney Griner are appallingly underpaid compared to their male counterparts in the NBA.

The large gender pay gap between WNBA and NBA players is why WNBA players choose to play in overseas leagues during that league's offseason to supplement their income.

[shortkingvi]

Do you have a particular method for cutting old t-shirts into muscle tanks? I did it to one of mine a while back but the arm holes just didn’t Look Right after, not sure what went wrong

i definitely can walk you through what i do!

so the biggest mistake i think a lot of people make when converting tees to muscle tanks is that they’ll pick an oversized tee, assuming the cropping will handle the size difference. what you instead want to do is select a shirt that fits you well already (not too tight though!), because that’ll give you the dimensions you want

i’m using two shirts to demonstrate here, but this is my process:

1. lay the shirt flat. you want to look for a shirt with arm holes that aren’t too large at the seams so you don’t end up with a stretched out shirt.

2. once you’ve selected a good shirt, cut along the OUTSIDE of the seam, meaning make your cut where the sleeve is, not the shirt.

3. once the sleeves are cut, it should look like this. the seams are still visible, but you’ve removed all the sleeve fabric from the shirt.

4. determine the length you want the shirt to be. with muscle tanks, i like to cut to the upper middle part of my hipbone so that it sits right at the hem of my pants. this gives your final outfit a more segmented feel and reduces overlap that can look messy, but you can also choose not to crop the bottom at all if you aren’t comfortable doing so!

(this is usually the length i aim for)

if you do want to reduce length, i typically will put the shirt on, identify that upper middle hip marker, and then place a single dot with a pen or marker.

from there, remove the shirt and use a ruler to draw out a straight line across the shirt as your cutting guide. make sure the line is straight! a crooked line is incredibly difficult to level out, so you can always cut an inch lower than you’d like to make sure you have a wider margin of error.

5. once done, it should look like this:

(this one is recently washed so the hem has rolled a bit, but a quick iron would take care of this and bring it back to that straight line i cut into it)

i look to get mine to fit like this, but you may want more length from the bottom and that’s totally up to you!

the biggest thing to remember is that the shirt provides you with a guideline for the sleeves, so don’t cut beyond the seam or you’ll forever be cropping fabric to try and get these massive holes to match (this used to be my eternal battle)

i hope this helps!

[theapangea]

Night Out

Chapter: Girls Night Out Pt.2

Pairing/Characters: Steve Harrington x Reader, Nancy, Jonathan, Jason Carver

Summary: You and Steve have been dancing around each other for sometime now, neither of you wanting to make the first move. All your friends decide it is finally time for you both to confess your feelings.

A/N: So sorry I have been mia lately, just some super crazy personal stuff came up. I think I'm finally getting my Inso back to write. I hope you enjoy this chapter and finally some drama happens yay!!!

Also please know that my replies aren't working.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

It was pretty anticlimactic when you finally arrived at the Wheeler house. Steve, nor any of the boys were anywhere to be found. 

All the hard work that you and Nancy put into making the perfect plan. Something along the lines of you and Steve being magically locked out of the house and forced to talk, professing your undying love for each other. The ‘undying love’ part was definitely Nancy’s contribution, making you wish that’s how it actually ends. 

Nancy’s Dad grumbled something about them heading out on some “grand adventure”. The air quotes indicating that he was speaking verbatim. Probably quoting something that Dustin said, that sappy line definitely a dead giveaway. 

Smiling to yourself on how he would do anything to get you on a date. Only understanding now that most of those times were signaling you to go out with Steve. The tingling feeling of a giggle holding onto your lips as the faint memory fades.

And as much as you tried to fight off the sheer thought of Steve while you were getting ready. Everything you did and every word you spoke reminded you of him. The way he compliments the sparkly pink lip gloss you wear or the way you’d tell a story about some customer that he originally told you. The way his hair falls in front of his face while he laughs, putting his whole body into something funny. 

He was constantly on your mind. Finally realizing how much he has influenced your whole life. He wasn’t just some goofy coworker but a friend who’d you see every single day of the week. Even when you didn’t always want to. Making your day better by a large margin.

Don’t think about Steve.

Don’t think about Steve.

Don’t think about Steve.

Reminding yourself over and over again.

And the whole time you were trying to forget Steve while getting ready, he was still at the forefront of your mind. The shining star in this crazy darkness that is this night.

The butterflies are swarming in your stomach as you slump into the backseat of Jonathan’s car. Begging any god that will listen to let you sink into the folds, disappearing before you get to the party. But sadly there is no answer as Jonathan pulls off the road. 

Jason’s house was a typical middle American suburban house. Not too small and not too flashy. The music noticeably shaking the house from the outside. 

Sluggishly following behind Nancy and Jonathan. Their hands tangled around others. Your heart strings pulling, the instant thought of Steve and the way his hand would feel in yours. 

Don’t think about Steve.

It feels like the whole senior class is shoved into Jason’s house. The dancing, singing, shouting filling your ears as you enter the house. Passing by people making out, grinding on each other and giving/receiving body shots.

Don’t think about Steve.

You follow the only couple that isn’t all over each other, maybe Nancy felt like she couldn’t be intimate with Jonathan for your own sake. Nancy hands you a red solo cup full of some clear liquid. Flashing her a quick smile before bringing the cup to your lips and taking a sip. The liquid instant coating your mouth and throat. The burn sends goosebumps through your body. 

After a couple of minutes, the liquid took effect and you didn’t even care to think about what’s-his-name. Allowing yourself to let the butterflies free, letting the alcohol carry you into freedom. 

Rough hands snake around your waist while a hard chest hits upon your back. Looking up to see the blonde playboy by your side. 

“Hey you.” You giggle, the alcohol clearly doing its job. Swirling around in your veins and head.

“You wanna go somewhere quieter?” He says just loud enough for you to hear him over the speakers.

Shaking your head yes before chugging the rest of your drink. Placing the empty solo cup on the counter as you turn around to grab his hand. Allowing him to take the lead. Signaling to Nancy that you were heading in that direction with Jason.

A thumbs up shooting back from her.

Pushing your way through the crowded people, his hand squeezing yours, keeping you close. Leading you towards the back of the house, passing several closed doors before slipping into one of the vacant rooms. 

It is clearly Jason’s room. Your eyes gaze upon the blue walls lined with dozens of trophies. Making your way to the bed in the middle of the room, taking a seat as Jason locks the door. 

It is almost like a dream, your mind happy it isn’t fully present because if it was it would definitely be thinking about Steve. And the way his shirt rises when he’s pulling a movie away on the top shelf, showing a little bit of his tummy. Or the way his jeans hug his thighs, not leaving anything to the imagination.

Don’t think about Steve.

Jason clears his throat, “I’m really happy you came tonight.” His thumbs hooked into his belt loops as he makes his way over to you.

You hum in response. Desperately wish it was Steve standing in front of you.

Don’t think about Steve.

“Something on your mind?” He questions, the bed sinking next to you finally pulling you from your thoughts, pulling you from Steve.

“You can say that.” You try to play it off, forcing a smile.

“Well I think of a way to clear it.” He whispers, closing the space that separates the two of you.

His lips capturing yours, dominating the intimate moment. Sloppy and too much tongue is all you can think. The kiss is no longer what you want but you don’t stop yourself, you don’t stop him. 

Gently pushing you onto the bed as your hands grasp the fabric of his shirt. 

Don’t think about Steve.

Don’t think about Steve.

Steve.

It has always been Steve.

All the years you tried to push this feeling down and here you are tongue deep in Jason Carver wishing that it was Steve. 

Pushing him off rather aggressively, “I don’t want to…”

“Come on.” He begs, “You come here looking this hot and I can’t even get any?”

“I'm just not in the mood.” Shifting yourself away from him, exiting from under his body.

He scoffs, “You were like a second ago.”

“But not now, not anymore.” You roll your eyes, pulling your jacket back on.

“So we’re really not doing this.” 

“No.” You are firm in your words, “We’re really not doing this.”

Jason tilting his head back as you can tell her is clearly annoyed. But you didn’t care, you wanted to get out of this room, of this house, away from this party. 

Steve .

You want to find Steve.

Stepping out of the room, straightening your clothes and hair as you feel an arm rest on your shoulders. Noticing Jason is standing unusually close. 

Finally lifting your head to see Steve staring back at you at the end of the hallway. His once open mouth shuts, nodding his head as he makes sense of the situation. Turning on his heels and getting lost within the crowd.

~~~

let me know what you think!! love you so much for support me <3!!

Tags: @orphic-musings @shireentapestry @lifecanbehardbutyouarestrong @ash5monster01 @johnricharddeacy@artsyfartsytheaterkid @kennedy-brooke@graciehams

Only 1 more part. Let me know if you wanna be tagged.

[heartsoulrocknroll]

Kings Island trip report!!!!! June 2023.

Kings Island was as great as I had hoped. I had been wanting to go here so badly for so long, and it exceeded expectations. Beautiful park, great operations, great rides. Loved it. Now let's talk coasters.

1) Mystic Timbers -- 5 rides -- This has been one of my most anticipated coasters for a long time, because of how insanely fast it looks in POVs, and I was not disappointed. It absolutely feels as fast as it looks -- the pacing is excellent, the transitions are quick, and the airtime never stops. The twisting drop is fun, and every hill delivers with the negative Gs, from the larger hills to the smaller banked hills. However, the out-and-back layout causes Mystic Timbers to lack the twists/turns that make Thunderhead feel so out of control for me. As a result, while I love both rides, Thunderhead remains my favorite GCI by a small margin.

2) The Beast -- 4 rides, including 1 night ride -- The Beast may be one of the most iconic roller coasters in history, but it is still ridiculously underrated among enthusiasts. Because of that, I went into this ride with low expectations. And boy oh boy, was I blown away. The first drop into the tunnel rocks. The setting deep in the woods is incredible. The ride feels like it is never going to end. The finale after the second lift hill is, of course, the highlight. The unnatural banking on that shallow drop is a crazy sensation on its own. And then, the love of my life, the double helix in the tunnels!!!!!!!!! The continuously increasing speed plus the LATERALS plus the tunnel wall being right beside my head on the left side of the train!!! All of this is crazy enough during the day, but at night, deep in the woods where you cannot see what is coming next??? WTF????? I waited over an hour and a half for my night ride, and my god, for the way I was losing my mind during that ride, it was sooooo worth it. A large part of me wants to put The Beast above Mystic Timbers. It's impossible to choose.

3) Diamondback -- 4 rides -- This is one of my favorite B&M hypers, right up there with Goliath. It's hard to choose between Diamondback and Goliath, as they are both great for different reasons. The airtime on Diamondback is unlike any of the other B&M hypers I've ridden. Diamondback may not (key word here is may) have a hill that outdoes the first hill on Mako in terms of one singular moment of sustained floater, but cumulatively, Diamondback has way more airtime than Mako. Even in row 7 (the closest to the front that I rode), the airtime hits. But in the back row??? I managed to be the least stapled I've ever been with this type of restraint, and I thought I was going to die on the first two camelbacks because of how sustained (and relatively powerful) the floater air is. Even the drop off the midcourse and the small hills after the midcourse give good airtime. And I love the splashdown on this ride, not only because it looks cool, but because you can actually get wet in the back row if you try.

4) Orion -- 4 rides -- This ride is extremely underrated. I think people who act as if there is some kind of night and day difference between Orion and Fury are insane. The height and the sense of speed alone are amazing, but Orion also has a great mix of forces. The first drop is excellent and basically indistinguishable from Fury's first drop, giving great airtime all the way down. The positive Gs at the bottom of the first drop are awesome. The inward banked hill after the drop does nothing, so that's one legitimate complaint. The speed hill after the turnaround and the camelback that follows are the standout elements. The speed hill gives borderline ejector airtime, while the camelback gives great floater. I also like that this ride has a helix to add some more positives into the mix. The helix is not as intense as I would have hoped, but it was still good. (Maybe I'm just spoiled by the beautifully sustained positives of Goliath's 540 degree helix.) Overall, just a great ride.

5) Banshee -- 1 ride -- I really needed to ride this more than once to get a good feel for it, but I just didn't have time, and honestly, I didn't really want to because of the restraints. I try not to let little things ruin my opinion of a ride, but I cannot get past those vest restraints on some B&Ms. Anyway, I liked this ride. The drop is huge, and there are no midcourse brakes, so this ride has breakneck pacing and crushing positive Gs, which I love. However, the inversions are more gracefully profiled with far less whip than the other inverts I have ridden. I found the slow inline twist at the end to be particularly out of character. The snappy inversions are the main reason why I have loved every other invert I've done, and because Banshee falls short in that regard, it ranks as my least favorite invert. (Also of note, this ride rattles hard for its young age. I personally don't mind that, but thought it was worth mentioning.)

6) Invertigo -- 1 ride -- This inverted boomerang is so much better than a traditional boomerang. It is incredibly forceful and didn't really bang my head at all.

7) The Bat -- 1 ride -- This is a completely different ride than the only other Arrow suspended coaster I've done, Iron Dragon. The Bat has a great sense of speed, as it is continuously descending throughout the ride. The setting in the woods is nice, and the swinging is crazy in parts, particularly coming into the final brakes.

8) Racer -- 1 ride -- I love my woodies, but these old PTCs just aren't the intense ride experience that I need. This one actually did give a little bit of airtime on some of the hills, and it is very smooth since the recent track work. Just a nice, fun ride.

9) Adventure Express -- 1 ride -- This is one of the better mine trains I've done, but it's still a mine train.

I didn't ride Flight of Fear or Backlot Stunt Coaster, as I have already ridden their clones at Kings Dominion and wanted to spend my time on re-rides on the top 4. But they would rank at #9 and #10 respectively, following Racer.

[private-bryan]

How I bind my fics - Part 1

So, I said to one of my mutuals (@imstressedx) that I might do a step-by-step on how I bind books, so this is as good as opportunity as any! The first glue up on the spine is drying, so while I'm waiting I'll show you how I assemble the text block ready for trimming and endbands.

The fic I'm using for this is "Making Moves" by @areseebee and @derrygirlstrash, and starts with typesetting:

I've recently switched to using inDesign (previously I used LibreOffice), and for the most part it's pretty good - explaining how to typeset is far beyond my skills, but the basics are pretty easy to get a grip on.

Since we're printing two pages to each side of the sheet, and printing front and back, the number of pages in the document should be divisible by four - we add in extra pages or tweak the layout to get this number. Ideally the number of pages match one of the numbers in this grid, to make the signatures the same size.

For this book there ended up being 96 pages, which gave me the options of six signatures made of four sheets, four signatures of six sheets, to three signatures of eight sheets. I went with four signatures, but in retrospect I'd probably go with six signatures next time.

Next up is to print it, grouped together into the desired signature size and laid out accordingly (e.g. the first sheet would go pg 24, pg1 on one side, then pg2, pg23 on the other) so that when we fold and stack the pages they are in the correct order. We also print/cut/use the endpapers at this point. I've printed this on 100gsm A4 paper (approx 27lb letter paper for you Yanks, although the measurements aren't quite identical)

Next, we fold the pages. It's a simple case of aligning the corners, folding flat, then using a bone folder (actually made of teflon) to make the crease nice and crisp:

(The first two signatures folded and stacked)

Next, we need to pierce holes in the creases to sew through, so we make a template using scrap paper/card (I used a piece I was using as a glue shield on a previous bind - I like to use a bright/contrasting colour to make it easier to see):

The gaps at the top and bottom are quite large on this template, and that's because I'm intending to slice off an entire inch of paper on those sides due to the way the printer scaled the margins.

We then place each signature/endpaper in my janky, homemade punching rest, and use an awl to pierce through according to the template:

Once that's done, we can stack them ready for sewing, and wax our thread. We use thread as wide as the signatures, and use that number of passes to get a decent length. We then wax it, to make it easier to slip through the paper and to untangle any inevitable knots. I use beeswax and cotton thread, although I originally used parrafin wax and polyester - there's not much difference IMO, but if I'm doing this by hand I want materials I'm happy with.

Next, we sew - I like to use French Stitch, as it gives a nice finish. If it were thicker I'd use cotton tapes behind the wider sections, but for this book I just went with the thread. Tip - keep the thread taut, but not tight, otherwise the pages could rip.

(Half way done - fun fact, chapter four takes up two of the four signatures by itself)

Finally, for this part, we just need to put it in my (also) homemade press, and apply two layers of glue to the edge.

Once this is dry it'll be onto the next part!

[leafatlaw]

prime defenders design thoughts because I’m finally drawing them again

Vyncent: catlike pupils, lots of gold jewlery from fauna( hanging star, stud in shape of the moon, ect), s1 hair is in the typical ponytail but by s2 has grown out enough to be put up in a bun, furry ears, oversized knife shirt (because it’s borrowed and it how’s he’s out of place and it’s a metaphor also), little scars on face, tallest by a large margin.

William: i try to draw him in like an off white, pink color, cause of yknow the whole rotting thing, 2 white streaks in his hair(1 for og death, 1 for the train), TRANS HOODIE, greasiest hair ever in emo style over one eye <3

Dakota: literally covered in scars, bandana is held together by threads but he refuses to get rid out it, literally none of the prime defenders brush their hair, but dakotas is probably in the worst shape, twigs and leaves stuck in there, eyes are literally stars if u care.

[describe-things]

[ID 1: A seven-panel "Pills that make you green" comic, showing simplistic digital stick figures for people. Panel 1 shows a lime green person on the Left, saying, "It's important that you center lime green people, who are the most marginalized in the green community!" On the right is a dark green person shouting, "No! It's moss green people who have it worse, and when you don't mention us while talking about your own experiences you're erasing us!". A leaf green person stands in the center silently. Panel 2 zooms in on the leaf green person in the center, showing them thinking, "I uh, I think I actually prefer arguing with greenphones to whatever this is", while those on either shout repeatedly, "Lime! Lime!! Lime!!" and "Moss! Moss!! Moss!!!". Panel 3 shows a plain black stick figure that walks up, saying, "Just to be clear I literally don't know what the difference between the three of you even is. Also, my absolute revulsion at the very idea of you is driving policy. We're trying to pass a bill to put you all in the contraption.". The three green people stare from the side. Panel 4 shows a zoom in on the green people's heads as they stand next to eachother. The lime green person says, "They meant I'm going in it first.". Moss green says, "No they meant me" The leaf green person says, "I think there maybe shouldn't be a contraption". Panel 5 shows the non-green person say, "Finally, you're starting to see my point". The leaf green person says, "what" while off to the side, Lime green and moss green continue to argue. The non-green person continues, "Green people will always fight to be the most oppressed. It's about being the biggest victim". Leaf green responds, "No, what the fuck?" Panel 6 zooms in on the leaf green person as they continue, "I'm never going to agree with you even a little bit based on this argument. Both lime green and moss green people have their own unique challenges that actually need addressing. Some individual people in this community may struggle to show solidarity with each other, but that doesn't delegitimize the real problems they have. Also, you're literally causing those problems." Panel 7 shows the three green people lounging on a large couch. Lime green says, "Wow I'm so glad we beat up that guy together". Leaf green says, "Yeah it was cool to just straight up do violence for our rights". Moss green says, "And it was cool to share experiences afterwards so that we could understand each other better!". End ID]

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[ID 2: A screenshot of tags that read, "Someone in the reblogs calling OP 'least transmisogynistic T M E' is really funny. It's not. It's really disappointing, but it's also really funny". End ID.]

I hope it's okay to add your tags:

Non-transmisogynistically projecting viewpoints onto a trans woman that make her Bad and refusing to hear her out, As she states clearly what she actually meant several times

infighting