#and a big fan of whatever is wrong with Arthur

[masdane]

*twirls hair* so there's this horror podcast....

[volleypearlfan]

On Cringe Culture, Kids' Shows, and Elitism

i'M nOt rEaDiNg aLl tHaT" Ok, scroll down for the TL:DR. (Also on SpaceHey and Blogspot)

The now ex-CEO of Disney, Bob Chapek, has stated the animation is only for children. Never mind that this is the same company that owns The Simpsons, and was founded by a guy who said, and I quote "You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway."

Naturally, this has caused universal backlash within the animation community, with many people defending animation as a medium for everyone, not just kids. However, the animation community was also mocked by outsiders for using kids' shows, such as Gravity Falls, to prove that animation is for everyone. In fact, the animation community (more specifically the western animation community) has always been cruelly harassed by outsiders for watching cartoons, especially ones aimed at children.

There is nothing wrong with watching children's shows AT ALL. Watching kids' shows doesn't make you immature, a pedophile, or whatever bullshit that outsiders want to spew. Remember the Walt Disney quote above; many kids' shows are designed to be appealing to multiple audiences, including adults. Kids' shows with adult appeal (or ones that don't annoy the living daylights out of parents, or are legitimately good for kids) are more likely to be praised and recommended by said parents than, say, Cocomelon.

However, because of the stigma attached to kids' shows, many animation fans feel the need to hate on/ignore slice-of-life or comedy cartoons, while only praising plot-driven or "dark" ones like Gravity Falls, The Owl House, and Avatar, and say that they are "not for kids." Again, there is NOTHING wrong with liking kids' shows (these shows do feel more YA-ish though, but that's another subject for another blog). All three of these shows are very high quality, and you don't need to justify your enjoyment of them to outsiders. The constant prioritization of dramatic cartoons over lighthearted ones in the cartoon fandom creates a sense of snobby elitism, and leads to...

...fans of lighthearted shows like Big City Greens and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic being bullied for liking said shows because they are "childish." Which, in turn, leads to fans of lighthearted kids' shows trying to make their shows seem dark in order to make the elitists like them. Back in the day, many bronies made dark fan works based on MLP such as "Cupcakes," "Smile HD," and "Rainbow Factory" and put them out in public with no age restriction, resulting in a bunch of traumatized children. The bronies also acted like they were the target audience and not children.

Apart from the bronies' fan works, MLP also suffered from exaggerated darkness on TV Tropes subpages. Speaking of TV Tropes, there was a very infamous incident regarding the kids' show "Ready Jet Go!" Aside from the stigma surrounding general kids' programs, you also have the stigma attached to preschool shows that they are dumb and for babies (never mind that babies/infants are too young to watch TV, and if they watch it before they turn 2, it would really hurt their brain. Look up the Baby Einstein controversy for more info), especially with GoAnimate users making it hip to hate on Dora and Barney. Not every preschool/elementary show is the same as Cocomelon. There are many high-quality programs for the little ones such as Arthur, Cyberchase, Sesame Street, Bluey, Mister Rogers, VeggieTales, Oswald, Blue's Clues, LazyTown, Bear in the Big Blue House, and WordGirl. Can you really blame fans for liking them when they’re just so good?

With all this in mind, someone once made a Nightmare Fuel page for Ready Jet Go on TV Tropes in order to make it more popular, because the user felt alone in liking the show and it was a big comfort for them. They also cited the snobbery of the cartoon community as a reason for their making the page on the Nightmare Fuel cleanup thread. The page was eventually deleted because it was mocked cruelly by 4chan. It didn't make the show more popular, it gave it a bad reputation.

The user shouldn't have to had made that stupid page with examples exaggerating the show's supposed scariness. If it weren't for the cartoon community being a bunch of elitists, as well as the kids/preschool show stigma, this wouldn't have happened. The sad part is, even though the page is long gone, the page STILL gets brought up by RJG haters to mock the show, its' fans, and TV Tropes for "pissing their pants over Ready Jet Go" which is beating a dead horse at this point. Seriously, make like Elsa and LET IT GO. Please stop bringing it up, and if you’re reading this blog, please don’t look it up. Please have sympathy for Ready Jet Go fans. We’re actually a very nice fandom.

The 4chan bullying also ties into cringe culture. On sites such as DeviantArt, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, and 4chan, many people are considered "cringe" and cyberbullied for "crimes" like making a colorful character or watching cartoons. The cyberbullies in question are just a bunch of pathetic lowlives who bully people for being happy, because they think that bullying happy people will make them feel better about their disgusting selves.

As noted here, cringe culture affects autistic people the most. Autistic people tend to get really passionate about their favorite things, or "special interests," and like to talk about them all the time and make their own characters. But according to some unwritten rule of society, your OCs have to be as deep as Shakespeare, and you're not allowed to like 'childish' things even a little bit. (I think it's worth mentioning that the Nightmare Fuel person was autistic themselves). Many proponents of cringe culture participate in concern trolling, acting like they don't want so-called "cringe" people to be bullied and want them to be good artists/writers. Cringe culture doesn't make people become better creators, it makes them become boring creators and repressing their true passions.

Every autistic person is different, which is why it's called the autism spectrum. However, it is true that a lot of autistic people enjoy children's media, likely because of how calming and simple they tend to be. For example, Thomas the Tank Engine is very popular with autistics because the engines' emotions are easy to tell, and the show has a chill atmosphere (by the way, the Thomas fandom is a frequent victim of cringe culture). Plus, it legitimately has Tolkien-level lore dating back to the 1940s. I'm not even kidding, look up "The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways." It always pisses me off when outsiders act surprised that "tHOmAs tHe tRaIn hAs A fAnDoM?!?1!" It's based on a book series that's existed since 1945, of fucking course it has a fandom, dumbass.

TL;DR - 'Animation is for everyone' and 'it's okay to like kids' cartoons/lighthearted cartoons' are statements that can and should co-exist. Also, autistic people can like whatever they want and those who harass them are the scum of the earth.

[generic-sonic-fan]

Helloo!! If you're still doing the ship chart I have a fun one for you: arthurlot. And you may be thinking "wait, isn't that just sonadow?" but no. I mean the fake King Arthur, the titular black knight himself with Sir Lancelot - which is what I thought arthurlot was before I realised that people are cowards.

In terms of reasoning, well who doesn't love an evil king and a knight loyal to a fault? But genuinely King Arthur has more parallels to mainline Shadow than Lancelot does imo. Created by an older man with a granddaughter for the good of the world, a plan which goes very wrong - sounds familiar! King Arthur becoming corrupted by excalibur's scabbard is also reminiscent of the dark routes in shth05. So someone with a similar character arc to Shadow paired with someone who looks and acts like Shadow without that arc - it just compels me!

In actual Arthurian legends too, Lancelot is the one commonly known as the black knight, so it's an interesting switch to give Arthur that title instead. "The Black Knights" is the closest thing to a ship name I can give them that won't confuse ppl lmao.

Depending on the timeline, the knights of the round table in SatBK would have served Arthur since before he was corrupted. Lancelot was the one to stay the most loyal after that corruption, and isn't that a fun dynamic to explore? You're the king's closest knight, his right hand man, you trust everything he's doing even when your brothers in arms are expressing doubts and you can see the tyranny for yourself. If Sonic hadn't come along, I truly believe Lancelot would have been loyal to his king up until the very end.

Whatever the relationship, it's extremely unbalanced, filled with one sided devotion and no doubt manipulation. And what can I say, I'm a big fan of toxic yaoi!!

(Didn't think I had this much to say but I guess they've been very much on my mind recently afjgjfhfhdg. I filled this sheet out for them too tbh, so I'm curious to see how you do it!)

Honestly I have no idea what the Knight AU thing is that some people in this fandom are obsessed with and at this point I'm too afraid to ask.

This is really well written though! But I don't know these versions of the characters at all, so I'll pass.

[larkingame]

here to hopefully help out with some spare change for the RO scenarios- how'd they be as parents? thanks and have a lovely day!

thank you for your spare change lol.

so what I'll say is that not all of the RO's would like to be parents--and I'll specify which ones would/wouldn't, but I'll write about the ones who would :)

nash: would love to potentially have kids one day. he's an uncle to a niece (that he's unfortunately yet to meet :c but is very desperate to.) He'd be very hands on I think--and big on his kids education. I think he'd prefer to raise them out west, beneath the big open skies he's fallen in love with, but he also wouldn't mind heading back to buffalo so that his kids could be more connected with his parents and brother. He'd want a couple kids--he wouldn't think it fair to leave behind an only child when he passed away--and his relationship with his own brother is one of his most treasured friendships.

cyrus: he's...well...he's complicated about kids. on one hand, he'd love to have them, he thinks...but on the other...he's not sure if his heart could take that. not again.

rose: rose took a large part in raising her five siblings, to a point where she views them as her own children, and doesn't think she could handle having any more of her own, nor does she really want them. as a parent she's a hard-ass, very tough on her siblings (but that's only because she loves them so much) she's very protective--but she also believes in pushing them to their fullest potential.

dominic: could not imagine himself as a parent. he can barely handle himself (?) and you expect him to look after another living thing(?) secretly he thinks he wouldn't mind it...but he doesn't trust himself to not fuck it up.

celina: never in a million years would celina sokolova be caught with a child. she is much too happy with her animals. (if this were modern times you KNOW she'd be like a millenial dog mom with an instagram account for her shih tzu and it'd be named something stupid like placek)

hollis: similar boat as dominic--they wouldn't mind a family--but they do not trust themselves to not ruin their kid.

ace: kids was the dream--especially with abrams. a little farm somewhere where they could run around, and ace could grow old surrounded not only by their children, but their grandchildren as well. they'd be loving, much like their own parents were--but tough.

ethel: has a habit of spoiling her kid. not to say that she's a quintessential Boy Mom TM but ethel is a boy mom lmao. Arthur is her little prince, who in her eyes can do no wrong. She wants him to have more than she ever had growing up, and she'll do whatever she can to make that happen.

cassidy: views arthur as his own, so there's a pretty clear indicator of what he'd be like as a father there. Cassidy's father was an evil son of a bitch, so cas is determined to break that cycle with arthur--he's gentle, he's kind--and doesn't behave the way he does with arthur with anyone else.

reyes: she's ambivalent about kids. on one hand the staunch catholic in them very much subscribes to the 'be fruitful and multiply' mindset...but on the other--they're afraid she'd ruin them.

montero: would definitely be on the r/childfree subreddit LMFAO. not a fan of kids, not in a million years.

adam: he's always been curious about fatherhood--he'd like to one day, to have something to call his own, to have a child...he supposes that is most likely the end goal here--but is he ready? he doesn't know.

[wizardfrogsbutevil]

Silly little thoughts on the suckening characters from the first episode- spoilers below :)

Emizel-

His design is really good, and his general personality is pretty fun as he seems to genuinely care about the people around him and his friendship with soda is really sweet but he is also ready to go beat people up at any given moment

His fight with the guy in the alley was pretty interesting, with him getting bitten and turning

His personality is also pretty different from other characters condi has played so I'm interested to see where he takes emizel

Shilo-

Definitely my favourite of the three, his voice is really good and his design is also great

He's described as looking a lot like emizel which is interesting. I suppose the papers mentioning the car repair shop could be related? Although that wasn't meant to be vampire territory as far as I know

I feel pretty bad for him given the whole being locked up his whole life and never being allowed to leave his room without supervision thing

But also he is clearly fine with murder which might be connected to how he has been raised with the knowledge that people can be killed for just speaking to him wrong idk

He's definitely going to struggle with being outside of the castle

His mother seems pretty interesting too, given that she is willing to use magic on her son to keep him quiet about whatever she is hiding which may be an issue if shilo ever wants to tell the others about what he found , although she does seem to be upset about it

Also gref(?)my beloved he's so silly

Arthur-

Once again, very cool design

Big fan of the cat, grizzly seems to end up giving his characters some sort of animal companion(sunny, bobo, now void) a lot

I thought he'd end up being a pretty intelligent character but then he goes and breaks down a door and suffocates a guy very loudly lol

His encounter with the cowboy vampire was interesting as well, he seems reluctant to associate with other vampires

Very curious as to how he will end up interacting with the other two

[terastalungrad]

Once again, I'm annoyed by people pretending Dr Who has a canon.

This week, I blocked someone on Twitter for claiming Big Finish stories are "Elseworld" stories, unless confirmed by the TV series. It's just the perfect tweet to annoy me.

Elseworlds

Elseworlds was an imprint of DC comics that presented alternate realities, set outside of DC's "canonical" stories.

Actually, I've started in the wrong place.

Canons

Canons are usually a big list of works, defined as significant by some authority.

"Significant" can mean different things:

The Biblical canon are books considered authentic - i.e. the Gospel According to Luke is considered a genuine book of the Bible, as opposed to some made-up nonsense.

The Sherlock Holmes canon are the books and stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle, as opposed to works by any other writers.

The western canon is a list of works of art and philosophy considered to have achieved classic status.

For various nerd properties like DC comics, Marvel comics, Star Wars, Star Trek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the "canons" are the works considered to be valid parts of the big picture. The Last Jedi, for example, is considered to have happened from the perspective of any stories set after it. Knights of the Old Republic, on the other hand, is non-canonical, and stories set later are free to ignore it.

Dr Who canon

Dr Who doesn't have a canon.

This sometimes surprises Dr Who fans, especially when they're also fans of comics or Star Things. But unlike those other things, nobody with the authority to declare a Dr Who canon has ever done so.

In fact, the first two showrunners of Dr Who in the 21st century actively stated that there IS no Dr Who canon, and the third said nothing on the subject at all.

The owners of Star Trek, Star Wars, Buffy, Marvel and DC had incentives to determine official canons - mostly financial. "These comics are canonical Buffy!" might sell more comics. "Old Star Wars novels don't count!" makes it easier to market NEW books as the ones that are really worth buying.

With so many nerd properties making declarations about what's in/out of the canon, a lot of people have absorbed the idea that a canon is an intrinsic feature of long-form storytelling.

But it isn't.

Continuity

"Continuity" IS an intrinsic feature of long-form storytelling, and maybe that's what people are thinking of. People often use the word "canonised" when the word they really mean is "references".

For instance, in the 2017 Dr Who episode "The Doctor Falls", the Doctor references the events of the 1987 Dr Who comic, "The World Shapers". People claimed that this canonised the comic - that the comic was now a valid part of Dr Who.

The implication being that, until the Doctor referenced it on TV, it was NOT a valid part of Dr Who.

But that's just not how this show works. The show happily references - and ignores - whatever it likes. The show's been regularly referencing spin-off material since 1964, when the show was a year old, referencing a Dalek comic. The same story contradicted a TV story from earlier that year.

Elseworlds

"Elseworlds" was useful branding for DC comics. The fact that these stories were set outside of normal continuity was a selling point. You knew you were in for fun you wouldn't get in canonical comics. Marvel's equivalent was called "What If". Doctor Who's closest equivalent is the audio series "Doctor Who Unbound" from Big Finish.

The selling point of Big Finish audios is that they're explicitly set within normal Dr Who continuity. They're not required reading or anything - you're free to ignore them, and the show will still make sense - but they're consciously part of the same story. That's how they're written, that's how they're produced, and that's the understanding on which the BBC licenses Dr Who to the company.

So when someone tweets "Big Finish are Elseworld stories", they're exactly, precisely wrong.

But that's because they're not trying to be correct. They're trying to convey a feeling, not a fact.

Authenticity

To this person, Big Finish audios don't feel authentic. The Girl Who Lived feels to them like a real Dr Who story that's part of the tapestry, and The Sword of Orion doesn't.

And the irony here is that if they'd expressed themselves this way, I'd have enjoyed the observation. But "this bit doesn't feel like MY Dr Who" isn't how fans like to express themselves. They prefer to say "that bit doesn't count".

So often, people will say "Dr Who books aren't canon", and what they mean is, they don't want to read Dr Who books, but they also don't want to be considered anything less than full dedicated Dr Who fans. They feel threatened - insulted - by the idea that being a true fan should require them to read novels, so rather than say "they're not for me", they say "they don't even count".

I hate this attitude. Dismissiveness woven into unearned authority. Who are you to say what parts of Dr Who are valid? Even the BBC don't do that. Even the writers and producers don't do that.

And it's especially annoying with Dr Who, because.

It's Not Even True

More than any other nerd media I can think of, Dr Who cheerfully builds on stories from its own spinoff media all the time.

You have to accept that Dr Who's spinoff media established elements of Dr Who on TV ...

(jumping here from the future to say - you can just ignore this massive paragraph, and the one coming up too)

... if the Daleks are made of Dalekanium, if the Tardis was built by an advanced civilisation, if the Doctor met Nelson/Churchill/Picasso, if the Dalek invasion of Earth was thwarted by the Earth's magnetic core, unless the Doctor lies to Davros, if the Daleks are accelerated evolution, if the Doctor can levitate, if the time vortex is blue when travelling backwards in time, if it's red wen travelling forwards, if Rose Tyler visited Justicia, if the Doctor met Arthur Dent, if Sarah Jane's K9 is broken, if the Void exists beyond the Doctor's universe, if the Daleks count in rels, if the Doctor has a brother, if the Face of Boe's final words are true, if the Citadel of the Time Lords exists in an enormous dome, if the Tardis is designed for six pilots, if the Doctor's a complicated space-time event, if Autons are vulnerable to heat and radio waves, if the Tardis archives old console rooms, if the Doctor was taught to swordfight by Richard the Lionheart, if he fought with Errol Flynn, if Kate Stewart has children, if the Master survived the events of Death in Heaven, if the Doctor wears pants with question marks on them, if the Doctor visited frost fairs before his trip with Bill, if Venusian Aikido requires five arms, if the Doctor loves the musical Hamilton, if Graham is from Essex, if there are talking cats on Gallifrey, if the Time Lords intentionally restricted regenerations to 12 per Time Lord, if the Doctor and Yaz witnessed the gunpowder plot, if the Doctor's previous incarnations exist in her mind, and if the Doctor can regenerate back into previous incarnations.

Other stuff introduced in spinoff media before featuring on TV:

The planet Vulcan, the Dalek Emperor, the President of Earth, the Dalek Supreme, the planet Karn, the Dalek lie detector, the glass Dalek, the Time War, UNIT officer Muriel Frost, Kronkburgers, the planet Lucifer, the nickname "the Oncoming Storm", the Kaled God of War, Millingdale ice cream, sabre-tooth gorillas, the Butler Institute, Davros's mechanical hand, UNIT's NYC base, the Space Agency, Henrietta Goodheart of the Silver Cloak, the planet Arcadia, Chelonians, Haemogoths, Professore Arthur Candy, Luna University, Kate Stewart, Paternoster Row, the Paul McGann Doctor's companions, the War Council of Gallifrey, class 1C at Coal Hill School (taught by both Barbara and Clara), Abslom Daak, Hyperspace Body Swap, vampire monkeys, the Velosians, the sonic trowel, the Ninth Dimension, the planet in Smile, Rassilon looking like Don Warrington, the Siege of Atropos, the type 75 Tardis.

The very idea that the absolutely wild selection of stories that led to these things are valid part of Dr Who but no other spinoff media sotires count - it's just such obvious nonsense, even by the standards of Dr Who fans' theories on canonicity.

So why say it at all?

To Ruin People's Fun

I'm not much of a Big Finish guy to be honest. Love the books, ADORE the comics, but I'm a lot pickier when I engage with the audios.

But they have a really passionate fanbase in their own right, and that's just lovely. Big Finish audios outnumber TV stories. It's a bigger piece of the pie.

And what I will say is, Big Finish fans are rarely obnoxious enough to sneer at other Dr Who fans. It's only the TV fans doing that.

Fiction

Fiction is a creative work featuring the imaginary.

People can be so invested in their fandoms that they throw their wright around to insist that some stories are more imaginary than others.

But these are all just stories. Even Star Wars. Even DC. You can just ignore the creators, you know. Enjoy the stories you want - and ignore the ones you dislike.

I've never seen Star Wars 9. I don't see it as a valid part of Star Wars. But it IS canonical. But woo, here I am, deciding on my OWN personal list of significant stuff (a ploss, if you will).

And there's all sorts of Dr Who stuff I consider true even though it's not in ANY media. Like the idea that she's been Jo Martin twice (once before Hartnell, once between Troughton and Pertwee). That's more real to me than the idea that Graham created a support group for old companions.

This week, someone on Twitter claimed Big Finish stories are "Elseworld" stories, unless confirmed by the TV series. So I blocked them, condemning their future tweets to a reality outside my own.

[vitalphenomena]

What do you imagine the most popular ship(s) for your character would be? /for spirit!

in the one timeline, daniel romano/spirit is incredibly popular and romanticized by a small sect of fans - aesthetic appeal, horrible people making each other more horrible, daniel being possessive is considered attractive. mostly it is really hated.

stevie/spirit is hated because ellie/stevie is literally superior.

andrew/spirit i like to imagine is incredibly popular despite not becoming canon except in that one timeline where theyre older and single and run into each other again.

in the timelines i write with charlotte/marci/syd (of at which there are at least two and perhaps three to four), sasha/spirit is more popular than deco/spirit partially because deco/kitsey is more popular. however sasha/spirit is ultimately treated (WRONGLY) like daniel/spirit and has similar fans. which is so fucked up but whatever.

rifat/spirit is more popular than gary/spirit and deco/spirit. enj/spirit is insisted upon by a small group of crazy people. arthur/spirit is to me a ship that should be in the bible.

in the other timeline, there is really just ezra/spirit :) and spirit is HATED for cass/spirit. kieran/spirit is popular among a small group of very wrong people.

in my various other timelines, swift/spirit is incredibly popular amongst people with big brains. but most of my other ships receive the same treatment i outlined in the other ask - they're bad for her and for the representation of women overall.

@feralego @withbeasts @tahitiwoke @midcenturies @corsey @jupiter3 @bluedprints @ruinaa @diicktective

[downinthehull]

thank you so much for the little arthur hcs!! they are so cute <3

If you don’t mind me making a second request (if it’s ok!) could I ask for some age regressor hcs for hosea as well? I just love the idea of him and dutch being caregivers to arthur, all is as normal when dutch just ends up finding out “wait a second… I’m seeing a lot of about-to-regress behaviors I’m used to seeing in arthur in hosea”, what can I say, I love the agere trope of the person who is almost always a cg getting little time! I’m sure he’s a real real tiny one when he is little too :)

sorry this took a bit :')

i'm glad you enjoyed them, friend! and of course you can have some little hosea hcs! i honestly haven't ever thought about little hosea (despite also being a big fan of the "character usually perceived as a cg by the fandom, getting to regress" trope)!

hope these are good!<3

little hosea matthews;

has a lot of the same tells as arthur

whether it's hosea quieting down a bit, starting to fiddle around with his sleeves, or his increasing lack of interest in talking about whatever plan/scheme dutch has next, it was all too easy for dutch to recognize the signs once he realized what was going on!

he's practically an expert on picking up when arthur starts to regress, so it wasn't much harder for him to pick up on hosea.

isn't very open about regressing

hosea really only wants dutch to know. he's known him the longest, and he feels the most comfortable with him.

it's been the two of them for the last twenty years, dutch was the obvious choice to look after him. and luckily for hosea, dutch was more than happy to take care of him just like the two of them usually do for arthur.

was it a bit awkward at first? yes! hosea wasn't even sure if he was doing the whole regression thing right! but dutch was there to support him and reassure him that it was all okay, and that there didn't seem to be a right or wrong way to regress.

prefers to stay inside dutch's tent

because he prefers to keep his regression from the gang, he spends most of his time in dutch's tent!

where he spends his time playing dominoes with dutch, listening to music, taking naps, or having his caregiver read him one of his favorite stories.

is usually pretty quiet

because hosea regresses rather young, he usually doesn't do very much talking. usually only saying a few words if he must, mostly making sighs and hums.

on the rare occasion he felt like babbling all of his thoughts to dutch, the caregiver provides his undivided attention and does his best to pretend to understand most of what's being said. using his practice from arthur and simply nodding along.

still loves to fish

even though he usually feels too small to actually throw a line himself, hosea's more than content with watching dutch do it!

he loves going out on the water and keeping dutch company as he fishes for the both of them.

dutch always makes sure to show off every fish to hosea, making remarks on how beautiful or how large the fish were, and asking if he knew what kind of fish they were. and making sure to praise him whenever he would get it right.

[solarsystementertainment]

New Year, New Dynamic

The members of Zodiac hit a bump

Things have been a bit awkward around the dorm since everyone returned from their Christmas/New Years vacation. For the most part everything was normal, but Arthur and Merlin were both acting standoffish, for lack of a better term. The other ten members weren’t really sure what had happened while the duo were vacationing together, but it was very clear that something had happened.

Arthur and Merlin were essentially avoiding each other outside of their schedules. However, even when the group was filming content, the duo would actively try not to be next to each other. They didn’t seem to be hating each other as far as they could tell because they were still willing to room with each other. Youngbin had offered to switch with one of them, thinking that might help with whatever was going on, but both of them were adamant about continuing to room with each other.

After a couple of days the awkward tension was beginning to get so thick you could slice through it with a knife. The older members Jehyuk, Daehyun, and Wonjae had actually decided to spend some time at their own apartment just to spend some time away from the potentially feuding Americans. The other members didn’t have the luxury of having a personal apartment to go to when dorm life was getting too much. The majority lived too far away to spend time at their own homes with their families. Not to mention if any of them were to suddenly go home right after returning to work, their families might think something is majorly wrong with the group.

The group then spent the next week and a half dealing with the weird tension. Giving the duo time was seemingly making things worse. Both Arthur and Merlin were seemingly getting a little bit jumpy whenever one of the others would walk into a room that they had previously been occupying by themselves. One weekend it had gotten so bad, that some of the younger members went with Jehyuk and Daehyun to their apartments.

Things came to a head a couple of days later when the group was doing their first live stream since the new year started. Arthur and Merlin were sitting as far from each other as the set up would allow. They also weren’t interacting as much in general, and Astrologers had noticed. Every couple of minutes one of the members would see a question in the comments asking if there had been any big fights because the atmosphere seemed a bit tense. Because they didn’t want to worry their fans, they ignored the comments entirely. However, they eventually denied fights having occurred as the question kept getting asked.

When the live stream ended, the group went back to the dorm. It seemed that tensions were even higher now. The van ride back to the dorm had been completely silent and it almost seemed like a pin dropping could cause an explosion. Jehyuk sighed as he closed and locked the door. “We need to have a meeting.” The leader said. This stopped literally everyone in their tracks and they hesitantly moved to the living room.

“Arthur, Merlin, What is going on with you two?” Jehyuk asked. Something clearly happened while we were all on vacation and it’s starting to affect the group.” Neither American responded, but they did bow their heads a little bit in shame. The group sat in silence for a couple of uncomfortable minutes, when it was interrupted by a sob.

“I’m sorry for causing the group problems. I’ll leave.” Merlin said while tears fell down his face. The other members were completely taken aback by the statement. No one had even remotely suggested  any one leaving and they had all been getting along great before whatever it was that happened. Arthur’s head snapped up at the declaration and he immediately moved from where he was sitting to wrap his arms around the younger.

“Lin, you are not going to leave. At least not without me.” This elicited gasps to come from the other members. As far as they knew, the two older Americans had been fighting, so why would they be agreeing to leave the group together?

“Hyungs, what are you talking about?” Jasper asked the question that everyone else was thinking. “Whatever is going on, I’m sure you guys don’t actually have to leave because of it.” The maknae looked very serious. He had an idea of what might be going on, but he wasn’t about to bring it up himself. Knowing that all of the other hyungs weren’t particularly good at English, he switched to languages and said. “If you’re not comfortable telling the others what’s going on, you don’t need to tell them. However, I for one will not think differently of you.”  This caused Merlin to cry even harder and he leaned into Arthur’s embrace while struggling to tell the older that they should tell the group.

Arthur turned to the group, still comforting a crying Merlin. “For starters, we were never fighting. Although we have spent several days trying to figure out how exactly to say this.” The oldest American took a deep breath before saying. “Merlin and I are gay and we’re dating.” Aside from Merlin’s continuing sobs, the room had become dead silent. It was broken by one of the dogs suddenly grabbing a squeaky toy and excitedly playing with it.

“Okay, so if you guys weren’t fighting, what’s with the way you were acting recently?” Daehyun eventually asked. He immediately tacked on a second later. “It’s totally fine that you’re both gay by the way.” 

Arthur sighed. “We were scared. Korea isn’t exactly the most gay friendly country. We didn’t want to get caught, so we decided to stay distant outside of our room.” The others nodded in understanding. The duo’s actions now making sense. Merlin slowly relaxed as none of the members had a negative reaction to the news, but he still wasn’t up to talking. Eventually Minseok got up to start dinner and Junseok joined him.

Dinner was still filled with some awkwardness, however the tension was much less than it had been. Jihoon had demanded ice cream sundaes for dessert, in part because he knew it was Merlin’s favorite dessert and he still seemed down from the conversation earlier.

Right as everyone began to eat their ice cream the doorbell rang. Wonjae eagerly got out of his chair to answer it. He walked back into the dining room holding the hand of a man none of the members had seen before. “Since Merlin was so nervous about coming out, I figured I’d come out to you guys too. Although you just need to find my personal instagram that I haven’t touched in like three years and you’d figure it out pretty easily.” Wonjae paused. “Anyway, this is my boyfriend of nine years Wookjin.”

[gellavonhamster]

monthly media recap: may 2023

the lusty month of May! this one is gonna be long

read:

The Terror by Arthur Machen - a properly unsettling short novel about strange murders happening in England and Wales during World War II. I gotta say, I think the narrator is wrong :D as in, based on the story, I have a slightly different opinion on the cause of what happened

The Great Return by Arthur Machen - a novella about the reappearance of the Holy Grail in a small Welsh village; short, but beautiful

The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories by Algernon Blackwood - not bad apart from, as usual, certain period-typical yikes, but after Machen and M.R. James it just doesn't seem as good, and the endings to many stories felt too abrupt to me. However, I am a big fan of the character whose rooms were haunted by his friend's ghost, so he went to his other friend's place to study because "there's no hallucination about that exam; I must pass that whatever happens."

Issues No. 1-3 of the Hellebore zine - yep, still reading this, still in an absolutely random order. Witch trials, poison plants, the cult of Pan and other good shit; I've bookmarked the names of some books I might give a try later. I feel like the articles in earlier issues were more, uh, informal and essay-like and became more scientific as the zine continued to be released, which I think is a good change tbh

Temeraire series, Books 4-7 (Empire of Ivory, Victory of Eagles, Tongues of Serpents, and Crucible of Gold) by Naomi Novik - hell yeah! I started this series in 2019 (I believe?), read the first three books, loved them, but then kind of forgot to continue. Catching up on it now and greatly enjoying the alternate history (in very broad strokes: Napoleonic wars with sentient DRAGONS in the air force), constant adventures, anti-colonialist themes, and the extremely likeable cast.

+ progress on Lancelot-Grail: done with The Quest for the Holy Grail, The Death of Arthur, and the first part of Post-Vulgate (The Merlin Continuation). Currently reading the Post-Vulgate version of the Grail quest and Book 8 of of Temeraire - Blood of Tyrants

watched:

Daisy Jones & The Six (2023) - there were changes in comparison to the book that I liked (loved Simone's storyline in the show, for example) and that I disliked. I think the novel and the adaptation work together best. The soundtrack is amazing, and the original songs are very good even out of context

Valkoinen peura / The White Reindeer (1952) - older horror films often are more haunting than the newer ones despite limited special effects and mostly relying on things like lighting and music - or maybe because of that - and this Finnish film is a good example of that. God forbid women do anything (turn into a murderous reindeer)

November (2017) - fascinating folk horror set in 19th century Estonia - mundane magic, deals with the devil, and the unrequited love no spells can fix. Beautiful and sad and very well-made

Yellowjackets (season 2, 2021-?) - AAAAAAA!!! I know many people found this season much worse than s1, but I honestly enjoyed it, even if I didn't agree with all decisions (they better do something unexpected about Van's cancer, or I'll be mad). The finale is devastating, but I kinda expected that to happen :( it was one of the most likely character deaths. Alas, the only one of these women I'd be ready to let go is the one who's certainly not dying unless they all die in the end (which is not that unlikely, I guess). Anyway, this is one of my favourite shows at the moment, and I'm really excited for season 3 (and the mysterious bonus episode?..)

[huntedlives-a]

name:   hope

nicknames:   hope   actually   is   a   nickname   because   it’s   my   middle   name!   my   first   name   is   lauren.   i’m   also   known   as   ziggy   because   of   my   intense   love   for   anything   david   bowie   or   labyrinth   related.

pronouns:   she   /   her

preference   of   communication:   tumblr   im   or   discord

most   active   muses:   honestly?   it   changes   daily!   my   utmost   most   active   are   the   ones   with   their   own   blogs,   denny   &   lucille,   but   genuinely         .   .   .         i   love   all   my   babies.   supernatural   wise,   right   at   this   exact   time,   i   would   say         :         adam   milligan,      bela   talbot,      ellen   harvelle,      john   winchester,      lee   webb         &         kelly   kline.   

experience   /   how   many   years:   listen         .   .   .         i’ve   been   roleplaying   since   we   used   to   make   freewebs   pages         &         try   to   advertise   on   neopets   without   getting   blocked.      if   you   know,   you   know.      if   you   don’t,   then   let’s   just   go   with   15   +   years.

platforms   you   use:   these   days   it’s   only   tumblr   and   occasionally   discord.   

best   experience:   roleplaying   has   literally   given   me   so   many   experiences.   i’ve   been   bridesmaid   twice   at   two   separate   weddings   to   people   i   met   through   roleplaying.   i’ve   met   my   sister,   who   came   to   live   with   me   for   a   month,   through   roleplaying.   i   was   given   a   cameo   from   ruby   modine   by   a   long   term   roleplaying   pal   just   this   christmas   eve.   for   me,   the   best   experience   about   writing   is   the   people   you   meet   and   the   friends   you   make.   

rp   pet   peeves:   i   run   a   lot   of   multi   -   muse   blogs,   so   i   think   my   biggest   pet   peeve   is   when   one   particular   muse   is   favoured   over   everyone   else.   don’t   get   me   wrong.   a   part   of   me   loves   the   hype,   but   it   can   be   super   disheartening   to   realise   someone   only   followed   you   for   the   one   person   when   you   have   so   many   others   available.   i’m   also   really   not   a   big   fan   of   call-outs      /      psa   type   posts   overwhelming   my   dash.   it   triggers   anxiety.   

fluff,   angst   or   smut:   give   me   all   three.   i’ll   never   pick   a   favourite.   it’s   like   asking   arthur   weasley   to   pick   his   favourite   child.   

long   or   short   replies:   write   whatever   you’ve   got   the   inspiration   for.   i’m   not   the   kind   of   writer   who   thinks   we   have   to   match.   i   think   we   should   write   whatever   comes   to   mind   and   work   with   it!   sometimes   when   i   do   a   starter   call,   i’ll   keep   them   to   one   -   liners         .   .   .         but   then   i’ll   gradually   build   them   into   paragraphs   when   i   reply.

best   time   to   write:   whenever   the   muse   hits,   my   dude.   don’t   force   that   shit.   let   it   flow   naturally.   

are   you   like   your   muses:   i   wish   i   was   a   super   cool   badass   hunter   saving   the   world,   but   sadly   no.

tagged   by:  @lilyspaintedred​ 

tagging:   you!   

[guineveredulac]

which guinevere storyline hurt you, OP?

I'm gonna be honest, I have problems with the texts OUTSIDE of Guinevere's storylines too, but the fact that Guinevere is IN a lot of the stuff I don't like made me wanna do angry jumping jacks around my room. So if you're ready for me to yap about everything I dislike, let's start with this: no Arthuriana content has angered me as much as The Once And Future King by TH White. The albeism, the misogyny, the racism, the unnecessary comparisons.. like my god?? Pick a struggle?? When it comes to Guinevere and Morgause..? get behind me omg..

I can't give you a long answer on a lot of the texts because I recently dived back into Arthuriana after taking a long break from it to hyperfixate on something else, so my knowledge is a bit hazy and I'm CURRENTLY re-reading all my favourite stuff, but what I CAN remember, I'll tell you! All in good nature, of course. I know I may seem intense, but this is all just my general opinions and not everyone has to really agree with them 😭 I just love Guinevere man!

I feel like a lot of the hate for Guinevere stems from the fact some authors made it seem like SHE was the sole reason for Camelot's downfall, and I feel like that's such a lazy, misogynistic writing move? That, and because a lot of men love Arthur for god knows what reason, they specifically target her. Why is the blame SOLELY on the woman who fell in love with someone she really loved? Don't get me wrong, I get it, medieval times were different and affairs were a whole fiasco, but I feel like as a writer you should still try to lean into the fact that Guinevere is just following her heart when she's in an ARRANGED MARRIAGE. Instead of making it seem like she's wicked and that everything's her fault, the audience should know that this outcome was caused by a whole lot of reasons outside Guincelot. THAT and also, at the very best Lancelot's and Guinevere's relationship is just a catalyst in the grand downfall. Mordred was gonna be a big problem regardless, but people wanna blame Guinevere for EVERYTHING and make Arthur look like some poor, sad, innocent man AKHSJS?? That mindset ran so deep that we have Guinevere hate in 2024, in all sorts of variation.

Like idk why we solely blame the woman. I mean, kudos to people who like Arthur, but he's just not my thing unless he's PlayChoices Arthur lol.

That, and I've seen (not specifically on Tumblr because everyone's very chill about ships, which I love) people just,, be misogynistic to Guinevere for no reason. Whether it be in BBC Merlin or Arthuriana. I've never watched BBC Merlin but I know enough to know that Merthur (Merlin and Arthur) are a really big thing, even though Gwen and Arthur married in the end. In BBC Merlin the fans want two men (Merthur) together, and OF COURSE the woman is SOMEHOW in the way of their precious ship! It would be fine if they just shipped the ship without hating on Guinevere for no reason or making it seem like she's intruding on something, but no! They just wanna hate her. There's this running trend that the woman, no matter how innocent she is or whatever way she is, always get degraded or made fun of in favour of the non-canon mlm ship. Tbh you'd believe it if you were on anime twitter for at least a month, lmao. The way they hate female characters on there while centering themselves around male characters is crazy 😭 I've seen women being called Hans Bellmer dolls, bitches and whores over SHIPS. Just really nasty shit that I'm glad happens not as often for Guinevere, but still upset that I sometimes see it happen.

Thankfully we are evolving as humans beings and FINALLY being critical about stuff.

[cappymightwrite]

What draws you to incest ?

*sighs* Ok, here we go. I'm a real card carrying Jonsa now aren't I?

Anon, listen. I know this is an anti question that gets bandied about a lot, aimed at provoking, etc, when we all know no Jonsa is out here being all you know what, it really is the incest, and the incest alone, that draws me in. I mean, come on now. Grow up.

If I was "drawn" to incest I'd be a fan of Cersei x Jaime, Lucrezia x Cesare, hell Oedipus x Jocasta etc... but I haven't displayed any interest in them now, have I? So, huh, it can't be that.

Frankly, it's a derivitive question that is really missing the mark. I'm not "drawn" to it, though yeah, it is an unavoidable element of Jonsa. The real question you should be asking though, is what draws GRRM to it? Because he obviously is drawn to it, specifically what is termed the "incest motif" in academic and literary scholarship. That is a far more worthwhile avenue of thinking and questioning, compared with asking me. Luckily for you though anon, I sort of anticipated getting this kind of question so had something in my drafts on standby...

You really don't have to look far, or that deeply, to be hit over the head by the connection between GRRM's literary influences and the incest motif. I mean, let's start with the big cheese himself, Tolkein:

Tolkein + Quenta Silmarillion

We know for definite that GRRM has been influenced by Tolkein, and in The Silmarillion you notably have a case of unintentional incest in Quenta Silmarillion, where Túrin Turambar, under the power of a curse, unwittingly murders his friend, as well as marries and impregnates his sister, Nienor Níniel, who herself had lost her memory due to an enchantment.

Mr Tolkein, "what draws you to incest?"

Old Norse + Völsunga saga

Tolkein, as a professor of Anglo-Saxon, was hugely influenced by Old English and Old Norse literature. The story of the ring Andvaranaut, told in Völsunga saga, is strongly thought to have been a key influence behind The Lord of the Rings. Also featured within this legendary saga is the relationship between the twins Signy and Sigmund — at one point in the saga, Signy tricks her brother into sleeping with her, which produces a son, Sinfjotli, of pure Völsung blood, raised with the singular purpose of enacting vengence.

Anonymous Norse saga writer, "what draws you to incest?"

Medieval Literature as a whole

A lot is made of how "true" to the storied past ASOIAF is, how reflective it is of medieval society (and earlier), its power structures, its ideals and martial values etc. ASOIAF, however, is not attempting historical accuracy, and should not be read as such. Yet it is clearly drawing from a version of the past, as depicted in medieval romances and pre-Christian mythology for instance, as well as dusty tomes on warfare strategy. As noted by Elizabeth Archibald in her article Incest in Medieval Literature and Society (1989):

Of course the Middle Ages inherited and retold a number of incest stories from the classical world. Through Statius they knew Oedipus, through Ovid they knew the stories of Canace, Byblis, Myrrha and Phaedra. All these stories end more or less tragically: the main characters either die or suffer metamorphosis. Medieval readers also knew the classical tradition of incest as a polemical accusation,* for instance the charges against Caligula and Nero. – p. 2

The word "polemic" is connected to controversy, to debate and dispute, therefore these classical texts were exploring the incest motif in order to create discussion on a controversial topic. In a way, your question of "what draws you to incest?" has a whiff of polemical accusation to it, but as I stated, you're missing the bigger question.

Moving back to the Middle Ages, however, it is interesting that we do see a trend of more incest stories appearing within new narratives between the 11th and 13th centuries, according to Archibald:

The texts I am thinking of include the legend of Judas, which makes him commit patricide and then incest before betraying Christ; the legend of Gregorius, product of sibling incest who marries his own mother, but after years of rigorous penance finally becomes a much respected pope; the legend of St Albanus, product of father-daughter incest, who marries his mother, does penance with both his parents but kills them when they relapse into sin, and after further penance dies a holy man; the exemplary stories about women who sleep with their sons, and bear children (whom they sometimes kill), but refuse to confess until the Virgin intervenes to save them; the legends of the incestuous begetting of Roland by Charlemagne and of Mordred by Arthur; and finally the Incestuous Father romances about calumniated wives, which resemble Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale except that the heroine's adventures begin when she runs away from home to escape her father's unwelcome advances. – p. 2

I mean... that last bit sounds eerily quite close to what we have going on with Petyr Baelish and Sansa Stark. But I digress. What I'm trying to say is that from a medieval and classical standpoint... GRRM is not unique in his exploration of the incest motif, far from it.

Sophocles, Ovid, Hartmann von Aue, Thomas Malory, etc., "what draws you to incest?"

Faulkner + The Sound and the Fury, and more!

Moving on to more modern influences though, when talking about the writing ethos at the heart of his work, GRRM has famously quoted William Faulker:

His mantra has always been William Faulkner’s comment in his Nobel prize acceptance speech, that only the “human heart in conflict with itself… is worth writing about”. [source]

I’ve never read any Faulker, so I did just a quick search on “Faulkner and incest” and I pulled up this article on JSTOR, called Faulkner and the Politics of Incest (1998). Apparently, Faulkner explores the incest motif in at least five novels, therefore it was enough of a distinctive theme in his work to warrant academic analysis. In this journal article, Karl F. Zender notes that:

[...] incest for Faulkner always remains tragic [...] – p. 746

Ah, we can see a bit of running theme here, can't we? But obviously, GRRM (one would hope) doesn’t just appreciate Faulkner’s writing for his extensive exploration of incest. This quote possibly sums up the potential artistic crossover between the two:

Beyond each level of achieved empathy in Faulkner's fiction stands a further level of exclusion and marginalization. – pp. 759–60

To me, the above parallels somewhat GRRM’s own interest in outcasts, in personal struggle (which incest also fits into):

I am attracted to bastards, cripples and broken things as is reflected in the book. Outcasts, second-class citizens for whatever reason. There’s more drama in characters like that, more to struggle with. [source]

Interestingly, however, this essay on Faulkner also connects his interest in the incest motif with the romantic poets, such as Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron:

As Peter Thorslev says in an important study of romantic representations of incest, " [p]arent-child incest is universally condemned in Romantic literature...; sibling incest, on the other hand, is invariably made sympathetic, is sometimes exonerated, and, in Byron's and Shelley's works, is definitely idealized.” – p. 741

Faulkner, "what draws you to incest?" ... I mean, that article gives some good explanations, actually.

Lord Byron, Manfred + The Bride of Abydos

Which brings us onto GRRM interest in the Romantics:

I was always intensely Romantic, even when I was too young to understand what that meant. But Romanticism has its dark side, as any Romantic soon discovers... which is where the melancholy comes in, I suppose. I don't know if this is a matter of artistic influences so much as it is of temperament. But there's always been something in a twilight that moves me, and a sunset speaks to me in a way that no sunrise ever has. [source]

I'm already in the process of writing a long meta about the influence of Lord Byron in ASOIAF, specifically examining this quote by GRRM:

The character I’m probably most like in real life is Samwell Tarly. Good old Sam. And the character I’d want to be? Well who wouldn’t want to be Jon Snow — the brooding, Byronic, romantic hero whom all the girls love. Theon [Greyjoy] is the one I’d fear becoming. Theon wants to be Jon Snow, but he can’t do it. He keeps making the wrong decisions. He keeps giving into his own selfish, worst impulses. [source]

Lord Byron, "what draws you to—", oh, um, right. Nevermind.

I'm not going to repeat myself here, but it's worth noting that there is a clear through line between GRRM and the Romantic writers, besides perhaps melancholic "temperament"... and it's incest.

But look, is choosing to explore the incest motif...well, a choice? Yeah, and an uncomfortable one at that, but it’s obvious that that is what GRRM is doing. I think it’s frankly a bit naive of some people to argue that GRRM would never do Jonsa because it’s pseudo-incest and therefore morally repugnant, no ifs, no buts. I’m sorry, as icky as it may be to our modern eyes, GRRM has set the president for it in his writing with the Targaryens and the Lannister twins.

The difference with them is that they knowingly commit incest, basing it in their own sense of exceptionalism, and there are/will be bad consequences — this arguably parallels the medieval narratives in which incest always ends badly, unless some kind of real penance is involved. For Jon and Sansa, however, the Jonsa argument is that they will choose not to commit incest, despite a confused attraction, and then will be rewarded in the narrative through the parentage reveal, a la Byron’s The Bride of Abydos. The Targaryens and Lannisters, in several ways excluding the incest (geez the amount of times I’ve written incest in this post), are foils for the Starks, and in particular, Jon and Sansa. Exploring the incest motif has been on the cards since the very beginning — just look at that infamous "original" outline — regardless of whether we personally consider that an interesting writing choice, or a morally inexcusable one.

Word of advice, or rather, warning... don't think you can catch me out with these kinds of questions. I have access to a university database, so if I feel like procrastinating my real academic work, I can and will pull out highly researched articles to school you, lmao.

But you know, thanks for the ask anyway, I guess.

[garthofshayeris]

I've seen you've talk about how rebirth Garth is not real Garth and I believe you obviously mean personally I am still annoyed over Roy's clone from n52 that everyone keeps acting like is Roy is still a thing, but how is he different?

I’m so glad you asked! It sounds obvious, but typically people like a character for their personality or their story arcs or their character development. Like, why else would you like a character, right? So when there are huge changes to the things that make you like the character, uh…there’s not much left.

So, obviously with reboots some things are going to be changed. Maybe someone’s appearance is altered. some of their backstory is switched up, some personality traits get dropped or added. What sucks about Rebirth Garth is they changed everything about his character, none of it for the better. And for a character who, until now, has had a major part to play in Aquaman and other dc comics for about half a century, it’s honestly pretty insulting. So many creators poured their hearts into shaping him into a character before the reboot. There was so much love put into his stories, that the comparison to rebirth is so, so noticeable. Like…if Dick Grayson was rebooted with a completely different backstory and personality and was only vaguely related to the Batfamily, I think fans would be rightfully upset. I feel the same about Garth.

His personality, or whatever attempt they made at one, is bland and boring. He’s a brute who likes fighting and….that’s it. Compared to preboot Garth who is consistently sweet and sensitive and emotional and good. He’s just a good guy who thinks of fighting as a last resort, because he would rather use his words than his fists. It was such a lovely, refreshing take on a male character (and one who is in big name comics like Aquaman and Titans and JLA) that to lose one of his key elements is terrible sad and disappointing.

Garth’s story is, ultimately, completely tied to Arthur’s. They bring out the best and worst in each other. Garth is Arthur’s foil, from the start he is there to complement Arthur as a hero and they’re part of each other’s arcs. And his backstory heavily influences how Garth acts and what he does. His story is one of grief and loss and identity and overcoming stigma, prejudice, and taking control of your destiny. His story is about healing. Or it was.

Because Rebirth Garth doesn’t have any of that. He is, essentially, a completely different character who happens to be named Garth. Sure, he mentioned offhandedly that when he was in Magic College he had a girlfriend who Died Tragically and then they never mentioned that again. It’s a cheap imitation of his Tula storyline, told in like 2 panels, because Tula is also a completely different character now. They’ve spoken in canon once. Two characters who have been so closely joined together for 50 years barely know each other now. This is the same for every other character who still exists in Aquaman canon (they’ve written out a ton). He’s never even spoken to his other love interest in preboot, Dolphin, at all.

Let’s get back to Magic College though. Garth’s powers (or the few he retained from his original power set, though honestly he just like glows now? They’ve never really explained what he can do) are there because he went to underwater Hogwarts and I guess you can just do that and become magic. In comparison, preboot Garth has magic because he’s an abandoned prince from a long line of powerful sorcerer-kings. But power corrupts and his father is murdered and his mother flees, and although she abandons Garth as birth he is so haunted by their deaths that they plague his nightmares. His powers are earned through an incredibly moving journey that includes (among other things) closure from grief and the literal act of taking ones destiny into their own hands. Garth earns his powers because he is pure of heart, because he is brave, and because he loves so, so much and because others loved him. And when he uses those powers in other comics, you remember the meaning behind them. So Rebirth Garth being magic “just because” is so reductive, so boring, so uninspired. I’d rather him be an average atlantean.

But Garth has absolutely no history with the Aquafamily. Giving us an emotional story with him now would be meaningless because he has no part in the comics or the Aquafam. Sure, they mentioned once that Arthur “raised” Garth but…there’s no evidence of that. They don’t speak to each other in Rebirth. There’s actually no way Arthur could have done that in the canon timeline, but it doesn’t matter because they make no attempt to show he’s even part of the family. Garth has been to exactly zero life events for Arthur. He’s never met Arthur’s daughter. He’s never shown just hanging with the others, and they hang out with assholes who tried to kill them before. He is never there. But we are told, once, that he and Arthur like each other. This character means nothing. You can write him out of the few issues he appears in and nothing changes. He’s completely worthless as a character.

So his personality is gone, his backstory is gone, his character themes and growth are gone…surely he still looks the same?

Wrong. He’a ugly. I’m sorry, he is. Everyone is always posting pictures of him saying he’s so pretty (and comparing him to his look on TT:YO as if those aren’t completely different continuities?) but he looks like every other black haired character in DC right now. He looks like Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson and Time Drake and every other fucking guy it’s boring and it’s stupid. He has ugly straight hair (a far cry from Garth’s usual big, curly locks) in a boring ponytail because apparently YJ and TT are the only source the artists ever used to draw him. And his eyes. He has blue eyes. BLUE. When his character has had purple eyes for his entire existence, when his purple eyes have been a major plot point for his entire existence, when his purple eyes were his one defining trait for his entire existence. Insulting.

And he has eye tattoos. Sure, you say, because we all know Garth got his eye scars while training with Atlan (also now a completely different character) when claiming his birthright (written out of canon) to gain his powers (written out of canon) so yeah, maybe they’re just tattoos now. Except some dumbass at DC couldn’t be bothered to put them on the right side of his face. Yet another defining character trait completely fucked up because nobody at DC cared about making this character. He exists to tick off a box, to say “hey, look, we brought back a character you guys wanted. Buy our comics.”

So, when I say Rebirth Garth isn’t the “real” Garth, this is what I mean. The characters are different in every way that makes characters matter. He’s a character who shares a name and nothing else. And I hate him.

[flourgirl]

When The Party’s Over

Part II to “Even If It’s a Lie”

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader, Peter Parker x Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn x Reader

Summary: The closer that Peter gets to Gwen, the more he realizes how irreplaceable you are to him.

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: A few curse words here and there.

A/N: There’s going to be a third and final part to this story, so if you’d like to be tagged in it, please shoot me an ask or a reply and I’ll gladly add you to the tag list. Hope you guys enjoy this new part and happy reading :-)

“Counted all my mistakes and there's only one Standing out from the list of the things I've done All the rest of my crimes don't come close To the look on your face when I let you go” -Where Do Broken Hearts Go, One Direction

It had been 17 days since you had last seen Peter and all you could do was sit in your favorite coffee shop and stare at all the muffins in the case. Peter loved muffins. His favorite flavor was banana nut, and usually the two of you would jam out to all of your favorite songs while you waited for them to come out of the oven.

“Y/N,” Betty said, snapping you out of your daze, “Are you alright? You’ve been staring at the pastries for, like, five minutes.”

MJ put down whatever book she had decided to read this week. “Yeah, if you want one, go for it. You deserve it. Here, I’ll pay.” 

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a wadded up $10 bill, dropping it onto the table in front of you, and returned to her book.

“You could get a slice of cheesecake,” Betty suggested. “I know how much you like the raspberry one from here.”

But all you could think about was how you wished Peter loved you the way that he loved those stupid banana nut muffins.

“I’m not hungry,” you muttered, crossing your arms and closing your eyes to take in the soft jazz music that was playing alongside the chatter of the café. “But I’m keeping the ten bucks.”

“Maybe it would help take your mind off of things if you met someone new,” MJ suggested without even looking up at you. It was honestly amazing how she could carry on a conversation while still being so engrossed in her book.

“Yeah, Y/N,” Betty agreed, “You’re so smart, and pretty, and you made all of the baked goods currently taking up lots of precious space in our kitchen.”

“You’re a stress baker,” MJ added. She was right. Over the past two and a half weeks since that night, you had baked three cakes, four pies, and seven different kinds of bread. Maybe tonight wasn’t the night you tried out the new focaccia recipe you had been eyeing.

“I don’t know, guys,” you said, slinking further down into your chair. “I just don’t think I’m ready for that sort of thing.”

“That’s okay,” Betty reassured you. “Take all the time you need. But we’re here for you, Y/N.”

And that’s how the rest of that day went. Lots of suggestions on ways to stop thinking about Peter and you shooting them down. No matter how Betty and MJ tried to make you feel better, your mind was stuck on the nine voicemails and thirty-two texts he had sent you saying how he was sorry for whatever he did and how he just wanted things to be normal again.

Except you didn’t want normal. You wanted him. You wanted his bad puns and the way his sweaters smelled when he let you borrow one. And the worst part was, he didn’t even know what he did wrong. He didn’t know that he had broken your heart.

----------------

It wasn’t like Peter didn’t like Gwen. She was outgoing and confident, and he liked how it felt like she was always the center of attention. People wanted to talk to her, or sit next to her, or even have her know that they existed.

But she wasn’t anything like you, and the more time that Peter spent with her, the more apparent that became. She didn’t rant about reality TV or get so overwhelmed during public speaking assignments that the only way she could calm down was with a hug from him. In many ways, she was perfect. Except for the fact that she wasn’t you.

“We’re still on for Flash’s party on Saturday, right?” Gwen asked as she walked with Peter out of the lecture hall where they learned about vascular mechanics.

Honestly, Peter hadn’t even remembered that she had asked him to go to that until she brought it up just now. He was too stressed out wondering whether or not you’d ever speak to him again. 

But what did he do to make you upset? He had promised that if you wanted to leave the party, you could tell him and the two of you would go. Except you never said anything. You just got up and left, without even saying goodbye. You hated him and it killed him to not know why.

Despite this, he wanted to be the good guy and not disappoint any more people, and so he took Gwen’s hand in his and said, “Yeah, definitely. I’ll be there.”

----------------

If someone had told you that you’d run into Harry Osborn in the middle of Arthur Avenue, you’d say they were crazy. And if that same someone said that you’d ask him on a date, they’d be even crazier. But somehow, some way, that’s exactly what happened.

You were on the way to interview a third-generation restaurant owner for your Italian class. You had never been very good at foreign languages, but you would use any excuse to take a trip to Little Italy. The nervous knots in your stomach from the possibility that they would only speak in a dialect that you couldn’t understand was worth it, because this little nook of the city was home to the best arancini in all of America.

To be honest, it seemed unbelievable that he’d be there, at that exact time, in that exact place to where you’d run right into him. You had been too busy reviewing the notes you had taken during the interview to see that you were on a direct path towards face planting into his torso.

“Fuck,” you grumbled, staring down at your notes scattered on the sidewalk at your feet. The guy you had just ran into kneeled down to gather them into a neat stack, handing them back to you.

“Y/N?” he asked, which caught you off guard. Who the hell was this? It wasn’t until you stared at his face for a few seconds that you recognized him. That guy that Gwen was with at the party. He looked a lot different in his button down and khakis compared to the sweatshirt and baseball cap he had on when you had first met him.

“Uh, hi. You’re Gwen’s friend, right? Henry.” You knew his name. You just didn’t plan on letting that you knew it.

“Yeah, but it’s Harry. Sorry about that, by the way. So, anyway, what brings you all the way down to Little Italy? It’s pretty far from campus,” he told you, as if you didn’t know that. I mean, you had walked all the way here, hadn’t you?

You shrugged, looking away from him. “I guess I could ask you the same thing.”

It was the first time in a while that someone wasn’t fawning over him just because he was rich. Honestly, it was really refreshing. “I asked first,” he noted, mimicking your crossed arms with a smirk.

Who does this guy think he is? 

“Listen,” you sighed. “I really don’t have time for this. I need to get back to my apartment and finish up writing this essay that’s due at midnight.”

“So you’re taking Italian, I presume?” he asked, it suddenly becoming quite clear as to what you were doing on the other side of the city.

“Yeah. And let me guess, you were eating brunch at some fancy, expensive restaurant that your dad owns, drinking some $100 bottle of wine while some nerd you pay does your homework, huh?”

“No,” he laughed. “I was helping put together Thanksgiving dinner baskets for underprivileged families down at the soup kitchen.”

It was only then that you noticed how annoyingly handsome he was. Essentially, he was the male version of Gwen. Same blonde hair and preppy style that just screamed “I have a trust fund.”

“Of course. What, did you need a good photo op ever since the Daily Bugle ran that issue where they called you a spoiled playboy who loves to party?”

You had no intentions of entertaining him, especially since he was a friend of Gwen’s. The girl that had kissed Peter right in front of you, and pretended like she couldn’t remember your name. The girl that Peter was probably with right now.

“I’m not going to pretend like that wasn’t part of it, but believe it or not, I’m not actually as big of a selfish asshole as the papers make me out to be.”

You rolled your eyes. “Sure, I can tell by the cashmere sweater vest and leather loafers that you’re wearing that you’re so down to earth.”

There was an awkward silence, and Harry decided to change the subject before he pissed you off even more. But what he chose to mention next was the one thing on the planet that you didn’t want to talk about.

“So, uh, I guess your friend Peter is with Gwen now,” he started, which had somehow managed to make you dislike him even more than you already did. Sure, there was no way for him to know how you felt about the whole situation, but it still pained you to think about how you had become an afterthought to who you thought was the guy who would always have your back.

You blinked back at him, frowning. “Yeah, I guess so,” you muttered. And then there was another awkward silence.

“Well, I’ll let you go now. It’s obvious I’m taking up some very precious time in your day,” he said, offering a weak smile. “Maybe we’ll see each other around campus.” 

It suddenly dawned on you that you might have been just a little too hard on him. He seemed nice enough, even if you weren’t a big fan of the company he kept. Before you could even really think about it, you called out, “Wait!” and walked over to meet him when he had turned around.

“I’m sorry,” you admitted, nervously toying with the hem of your sweater. “I’m just in a really bad mood.”

“It’s fine,” he reassured you, although he wasn’t quite as confident as when the two of you had started your conversation. “We all have bad days. I hope yours gets better.”

“It could, if you’d let me buy you a coffee,” you said, genuinely smiling for the first time in a while. Sure, it was nice to think that Peter would probably be upset once he heard that you had asked someone out and he knew nothing about it, but a small part of you was asking just because Harry Osborn seemed like the kind of guy you’d like to have around.

“Sure,” he answered back, running a hand through his hair, which seemed to be in a perpetually perfect messy-but-not-too-messy state. “Have you ever been to Hungry Ghost in Brooklyn?”

Your eyes lit up. “That’s actually my favorite café! They have this really awesome grand piano in the middle of the room, and every Friday they have an open mic where anybody can sign up to play it.”

Your enthusiasm honestly surprised you. It was nice to have something to talk about that didn’t somehow involve Peter.

“Actually, I’m signed up to play tomorrow night,” Harry told you, “Do you like jazz?”

It almost seemed too good to be true. You loved jazz. “Definitely,” you confirmed, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.

“Alright, cool. Let’s make a deal. I’ll let you buy me a coffee if you come watch me play tomorrow night.”

“Deal,” you agreed, before turning back towards your apartment, all giddy with excitement to tell MJ and Betty about what had just happened.

----------------

“You probably didn’t know this, but Y/N’s been hanging out with Harry Osborn,” Ned said, walking into the common room wearing his “special” Hawaiian shirt, which Peter knew meant he was going someplace fancy. “They’re kind of dating.”

Peter looked up immediately from his linear algebra homework. He had an uneasy feeling in his stomach about what Ned had just revealed, but he didn’t know why. He was with Gwen, and if you wanted to date Harry Osborn, then you could. But still, he found himself being just a little bit jealous that some other guy was filling in for him.

“Oh,” Peter said, looking back down at his homework. He couldn’t focus anymore, so he just shut the notebook and threw it from where he was sitting on the top bunk onto his desk. “How long has that been going on?”

“Two days now, but they’ve been spending every minute together since. Betty said that they bumped into each other on the street and she just asked him on a date out of nowhere,” he replied, tying his shoes to go meet his girlfriend for date night. “I just thought I’d let you know, in case you saw them when you were out and got mad at me for keeping it from you.”

“Thanks, dude,” Peter sighed, lying on his back, “You’re a good friend.”

“I know. Anytime, man. Now I gotta go. M’lady awaits,” he said. Peter didn’t even have to look to know that his roommate had just tipped his imaginary fedora.

Harry Osborn wasn’t even your type, Peter thought. You didn’t like guys as “pretty” as him, and you had always been more into brown eyes, not blue. So what was the appeal? His trust fund? Peter knew that you weren’t that shallow. It was just that, well, he couldn’t imagine you falling for someone like that.

You’re with Gwen, Peter kept reminding himself. So many guys would kill to be in your place. It wasn’t until he checked the time that he realized that he was actually about 20 minutes late to meeting her for the party. The stupid party at Flash Thompson’s tacky apartment that he didn’t even want to go to in the first place.

It was an understatement to say that Gwen was pissed when Peter knocked on her front door over half an hour late to the time they had agreed upon.

“What took you so long? I’ve been waiting,” she complained, smoothing out her sparkly silver dress that caught the light just right when she moved.

“I’m sorry,” Peter sighed, grabbing her hand as they walked down the street. “Uh, I guess I just lost track of time.”

“Whatever,” Gwen said, “Just don’t let it happen again.”

When they finally arrived at the party, the bowls of potato chips and mini pretzels were nearly empty. The floor was sticky, and Old Town Road boomed from the speakers in the living room. 

“I’m gonna go get a drink,” Peter told Gwen, leaving her to greet all of her friends that had been waiting for her to show up. 

As Peter wandered towards the keg, he couldn’t stop thinking about you and Harry, and all the things that he didn’t know about your newfound relationship with some guy you had just met. He still didn’t know why he was so upset about it. He should be happy you had found someone you liked. In high school, all you ever talked about was finding the perfect guy, and if that was Harry Osborn, who was Peter to make a fuss about it?

But that didn’t stop Peter from filling up his plastic cup more times than he should’ve that night. It wasn’t until he was being dragged back to his dorm room by Gwen after puking on Flash’s couch that he realized what was wrong. He wanted to be that guy. The one who got to hold your hand and cuddle with you during scary movies. The one that got to love you and be loved by you.

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Taglist: @hommyy-tommy @itsgonnabeohtay @alltimekyn

P.S.: Sorry to all the people I forgot to tag on this one! I didn’t know that when you answer asks privately, they go away from your inbox. Please shoot me another ask or reply to this post so I don’t miss you again!

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 2

The Girls Are Fighting!!!

We return to Aguefort Adventuring Academy where the man himself has just told the Seven Maidens that their party is being split up which they are NOT having even though it doesn’t seem to be a malicious plot so much as the fact that Danielle, Ostentatia, and Zelda are Juniors while the other four are graduating Seniors. Antiope casts Hunter’s Mark on Aguefort, Penny pleads, Katja threatens (well, “threatens”; she walks up menacingly and then says that he can’t do this because it’s the only group of friends she’s ever had and it’s heartbreaking like all of her non-hilarious dialogue is).

Aguefort understands that it sucks and has no respect for rules but says it’s out of his hands. Sam clocks that he’s hiding something (along with the fact that he seems to know about something going on with Antiope and Penny which we know is their respective internship/apprenticeship offers) and calls him out, hitting him with a Lightning Lure to drag his ass back when he tries to turn into a bat and escape out the window. She’s unhinged and I love it. 

So does Aguefort who decides to let them in on some school secrets, leaving a decoy while he leads them all to the super secret part of the forbidden library which is bondage themed because sure. Also, Ostentatia is topless for this also because sure. He does a lot of pomp and circumstance to summon a book which Yelle flatly says better not just be the syllabus and it isn’t but she’s close. It’s the bylaws of the school district which he has summoned for the guidelines on the special, magical thing the girls can get so they can graduate together…

Their GEDS!!!!! Trés mystical. 

Basically what they need to do is complete a level A, B, or C quest together (which Antiope knows are like the top 3 highest difficulty quests--they go from A-F) and get signoff from the superintendent. But the superintendent has been missing for 12 years and there can’t be a new one until she’s dead (which she isn’t or else they’d be able to appoint a new one). Her name is Tectonya Karkovnya (who I will be calling TK) and Aguefort calls her, “chaotic and impossible to predict,” which coming from him is como se dice, troubling. 

Sam pulls out her mirror to do a little snooping on TK’s past and sees that she’s a coppery, earth genasi woman. She also sees her talking to Aguefort and saying that the magic of consciousness is far superior to his beloved chronomancy. Then the scene shifts to show her getting more and more worried as she got deeper into her studies and then going to a dwarven holy site in the Mountains of Chaos with some kind of shadow figure following her. 

Penny gets photos of the super cursed bylaws and Arthur leaves since he very much is the principal of the school and has to do his job (ostensibly). With Aguefort gone, the girls discuss the proposition after conscripting a very reluctant Antiope to be their leader (Aabria hilariously improvises that a shaft of sunlight somehow comes down to illuminate her and she has to step out of the spotlight). 

They discuss whether they want to do this GED quest or not and Zelda says she wants to but she wants to give anyone who has other stuff going on an out so they don’t feel beholden. Ostentatia immediately shoots back that Zelda is just saying that because she has plans with Gorgug. That brings down the mood and Sam, despite being a water genasi, fans the flames by saying that Gorgug has lots going on that doesn’t involve her so she shouldn’t be running back to him all the time. 

Yelle tries to calm things down and says they should sleep on it but Sam and Ostentatia are taking this super personally and are offended that they’re even having this conversation. Penny accidentally lets slip that she has some kind of apprenticeship (she’s trying to keep it on the DL because it’s supposed to be a secret) and oh man it becomes a Whole Thing. They fight in the way that you do when everyone in the fight actually wants the same thing and cares deeply about each other but are in completely different headspaces which are making them lash out.

Penny, not wanting to be around the conflict, goes invisible. Zelda is suppressing going into a rage and says that maybe she should go be with Gorgug. At least he won’t yell at her. Yelle once again tries to cool things down and suggests they have a text thread where they can say if they’re in or out by the end of the night instead of hashing it out in the open. She’s accused of not being in and, in response, texts that she’s in. Ostentatia and Sam also immediately text that they’re in, which basically makes her “solution” entirely moot. 

Zelda is finally fully fed up and leaves (Penny following invisibly). Katja also follows. 

Antiope can tell that Sam is upset about something that’s not this but Sam brushes her off rudely and storms off (quite literally, causing storm clouds outside in her wake). Yelle goes after her. Ostentatia is left with Antiope.

Time for a string of very emotional mini scenes which I highly encourage you to watch because they are peak improv.  

Zelda, Katja, (Invisible) Penny

Katja runs to find Zelda who is under a tree crying and asks if she’s OK. Zelda says that Sam and Ostentatia are so beautiful and confident and eloquent and she gets so tongue tied and useless when they disagree with her because she’s so timid. Zelda wants this so bad but she doesn’t want to feel like she’s forcing her friends to stay with her. 

Katja, as we know, has major abandonment issues because of her constantly away dad (and prob her mom too) and she doesn’t want to be left behind again but she also doesn’t want her friends to factor her in so she tries to be stoic and says that the people you love have to want to stay. But with a 3, Zelda immediately clocks the emotion behind the words. Instead of calling her out, Zelda offers to listen to music with her. 

Penny takes this opportunity to make herself known (which has got to be terrifying--unless you’re used to it and then it’s like same shit as usual from Ms. Luckstone) and Zelda goat jumps to grab her out of the tree she was crying in above them and tells her that she doesn’t have to go invisible every time there’s conflict. They all agree that they hate confrontation and Rehka gets the funniest lowkey line of the episodes: that she wouldn’t know what to do if they didn’t agree on that. We then cut to…

Ostentatia and Antiope

Where Izzy gets the high key funniest moment of the episode by transitioning in with a big, “You know I LOVE confrontation,” which breaks everyone at the table. But she says it as a preface to admitting that she may have been a bit of a bitch to Zelda. She plays coy for like a half second before she breaks down sobbing with Antiope catching her before she sinks fully to the floor. Antiope comforts her and admits that while she wants to stay with the party, she hates having options taken away from her as they have been her whole life effectively. She was honestly kind of relieved when she was trapped in the crystal because it meant all that pressure was gone for a bit. They affirm that they love each other then Ostentatia goes to apologize to Zelda. 

Danielle and Sam

Yelle goes to talk to Sam (who she adorably calls “merbae”) and while Sam doesn’t wanna talk about it, Yelle says they don’t have to. She just wants to be there for her in whatever capacity she needs. She knows Sam loves her friends and would never hurt them on purpose so something must be wrong with her-- “History of abandonment?” Sam finishes, almost glibly. She’s tired of losing people. She doesn’t want to lose more. She doesn’t want things to change. Nature is change, Yelle says. Nature sucks, Sam says. Yelle is gonna pretend like she didn't hear that. 

Sam feels bad that she snapped at Zelda and Yelle says that they’re all a family. Things will be alright. The storm clouds that Sam reflexively summoned peter out into a cool, refreshing mist. 

Ostentatia and Zelda

Ostentatia goes to where Zelda and the girls are and full ass runs at her like they weren’t just fighting. After assuring her that she’s not there to fight she apologizes, saying she was a cow. Zelda says she honestly agrees with Ostentatia that she wants the group to stay together and wishes she could be bolder in non-rage settings. Ostentatia says that maybe if the Seniors leave they can still have a party and Penny vetos that even though, as Ostentatia says, it’s a pretty reasonable compromise. Anyway, they basically all go in a circle saying they love each other and it’s very sweet. 

I’m serious, I can’t do these heart to hearts justice in this format, just go watch them for that emotional girl group goodness.

Anyway, outside of the main group, Antiope goes to talk to her sister Corsica who is currently teaching a class. Antiope does not give AF. She orders the students out and they scatter. Wouldn’t you?

Antiope wants advice. Should she stay with her party after flaming out of her last one? Should she take the internship and stay on the path her parents want her on? Corsica really feels for her. Antiope has had to struggle in a way that she and their brothers never did. She finally answers that she and her brothers are awesome and successful fighters but none of them have been able to do the scariest thing possible: disappoint their parents. They’re soldiers. They like it that way. They fall in line. But maybe Antiope isn’t a soldier. Maybe she’s a leader. She ordered those kids out of the room without thinking after all and they obeyed. It’s an extremely good speech and Antiope basically has chills, as do I.  

I assume while this is happening or perhaps right before everyone goes home, Penny goes to see Jawbone (who has some spiffy new art--as did Gilear who cameoed early in the episode when Aguefort atomic wedgied him invisibly because sure) and talk about this uber difficult decision she had to make. Jawbone gets to the heart of the matter pretty quick. Penny is a high achiever who’s lived a life without choice. But now that she’s about to be off the rails for the time she’s freaking out. Penny sees the truth in the statement (after hilariously trying to solve his metaphor about an amusement park) and thanks him for the perspective. She then, in a very Fig move, tries to kiss him and Jawbone basically stiff arms her and breezes right past like it didn’t happen, showing her out. What a trooper that Jawbone.   

Moving on to Katja. When she gets home she tries to call her dad who is unreachable on his hell mission. She leaves him a message saying that he should call her back when he can and she knows what she wants for her graduation present now. She wants her party to not break up. This breaks Brennan and me. 

She then snoops arounds for info on TK. She sees letters of her dad trying to get her into Hudol. And she sees some stuff from the Ministry of Adventure, asking if he knew where TK was. But she doesn’t get anything else. At least, she doesn’t get anything else that’s helpful. She does however find a picture of her mom which makes her bolt to go talk to Cinnamon who prances for her to make her feel better. She joins in dancing, badly.

EDIT: I initially wrote that Katja’s mom was dead because that’s what I thought she said but @ennn said that in the Adventuring Party, Rekha said that her mom didn’t die, she left. Which is less dramatic in some ways but SO MUCH WORSE for abandonment issues so, yikes girl!

Yelle meanwhile goes home to talk to her unofficial third mom, Holly, who is the awakened tree under which her house is. Picture a Grandmother Willow situation from Pocahantas basically. Yelle talks about the conflict a bit and, as usual, ends up on a tangent about how the world is unfair and she has to speak for the voiceless. Holly is concerned for her (as are her other moms which I may have neglected to mention in the last recap). She asks Yelle if she can tell her something that might be painful. Yelle agrees. Holly says that Yelle is great and wonderful and kind but she spends so much time speaking for other people that she never speaks for herself. Her moms worry that there will come a day when she needs help and will have to ask for it without couching it in terms of the greater good and she won’t be able to. 

Yelle really hopes she’s high when the time comes. 

At her home, Ostentatia casts Commune With The City to see if TK has been around and she’s not there now but she can tell she has been (though there’s no indication on if that’s recently or not). On a 17 religion check she knows that there is a dwarven holy site in the mountains that matches Sam’s description from the mirror. She’s still avoiding her dad but when she prays for her spells, she asks for her dad to feel like himself again too. 

Hey, what time is it? Let me check my watch. 

Ah yes, it’s time for Sam to make some rash decisions. 

She feels like she should text Zelda but doesn’t. Instead, she goes into Penelope’s room. And she takes out her mirror. And even though she’s expended the charge for today, she tries to make it show her Penelope. 

OK, says Brennan. Sure. Hey, can you roll me a quick little Wisdom Save?

5. 

Haha, Sam’s in danger. 

The mirror heats up as it’s pushed beyond its limits and Sam sees an image of a young Penelope with braces grabbing her hands and grinning and saying that they’ll be best friends. Then, the image shifts and she sees the Penelope of the present in her tattered prom queen dress and glass shard crown. Her eyeless, haunting, demon prom queen form, teeth razor sharp as her words. 

“A call without a text,” she says. “Are you out of your mind?”

“You look better than you ever did alive,” Sam spits back. 

It is a battle of the bitches right out of the gate. The girls are fighting part two if you will. They snipe at each other for a bit and Brennan has Sam roll insight into herself. On a 19, Sephie says that’s not enough for Sam to get a read on herself (yikes girl) so she doesn’t understand that this fight can only ruin her because while Penelope enjoys causing people pain, Sam doesn’t. 

They both get in some very choice barbs but when Penelope tries to entice her into making a devilish pact and disparages her new party, Sam does the mic drop of the century by telling her that her parents are divorcing and hanging up. The entire table LOSES THEIR MIND. It is like a real life representation of one of those Draw The Squad memes. Everyone brandishes their fans in a salute to that truly epic conversation ender. 

As the night draws to a close, Brennan asks the girls who haven’t responded to the text chain yet if they respond. Katja texts that she’s in. Zelda texts Antiope and Penny that she’s not going to text whether she’s in or out until they respond because she doesn’t want it to feel like a 5 on 2 dogpile.

Antiope and Penny call then text, then call, then text, then call each other to discuss what they should do and also hype each other up because with all the drama, they didn’t really get to celebrate their opportunities. Penny tries to downplay her thing and insinuates that it wouldn’t be a big loss if she wasn’t in the group anymore and Antiope shuts that down immediately. You’re the last thing so many people see before they die Penny! That’s so cool! 

They both decide to text that they’re abstaining from voting for now and go to bed.

The next day, Antiope gets up and sees that her party’s schedule has been cleared for the next two weeks by the school for quest reasons. She tells her dad she wants to talk to Charity Blythe (the woman at the Ministry of Adventure she needs to talk do) and he sets up a no pressure (but actually tons of pressure) meeting with her before turning her 5 mile run into a 12 mile run because she is a Jones and 5 mile runs are for Amateurs. 

Ant texts the rest of the Maidens that this meeting is happening so they can maybe get some quest info from Charity and Ostentatia has in the meantime texted (after the 2 abstains) that she will be going for the GED regardless and anyone who wants to join can. Of course, there was never any reason to NOT go for it (besides the danger which they obv don’t care about) and getting it doesn’t mean any doors are closed to them. It’s just that emotions are running so high they can’t fully seem to see that (or at least some members can’t). 

Ant doesn’t have the clearance to meet at Charity’s office so they meet at the Museum of Adventuring instead. In it happens to be the skeleton of Kalvaxus who they killed (if you don’t remember, the Bad Kids killed him first and then he was resurrected so the Maidens could also kill him for catharsis reasons). Tensions are still super high as evidenced by Sam’s snide abstention comment to Penny and Ant and then by her TRYING TO LIGHTNING BOLT THE DRAGON SKELETON TO DESTROY IT.

GIRL.

That doesn't happen though because she’s Counterspelled by Charity Blythe who walks in, surprised to see that Antiope brought her whole party. Antiope says they were just leaving but Charity can sense shenanigans when she sees them and says if they’re gonna spy on the conversation they might as well stay for it which they of course do.

She gives Antiope a rundown of the internship: 1 year commitment with a possibility to expand to 2-3 years. Stipend. She’d have to live in Bastion City.

Katja remembers that her dad was talking to the Ministry of Adventure in the letters she found and asks Charity about it. Charity says they were asking him about TK’s whereabouts because he was friends with her. On that, Yelle casts Detect Thoughts with a Stealth roll of 17 (we see on a secret Box of Doom roll that Charity got a 26 to see her cast it). Anyway, she sees that TK took some object with her when she disappeared (which she later sees is a crystal screen with a map seemingly marking quest locations from A-F) and of course the fact that Charity knows this. Yelle shares this info with everyone as Antiope walks off with Charity to talk further. Katja suggests to the group that maybe Ant should take the internship to get more info for their quest. While she’s talking to Charity, Ant feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

See looks up and sees a figure with blood red lips look at her and disappear.

Yikes! Combat time baybee!

Superlatives 

Danielle: Most Likely to Talk Her Way Out of a Hostage Situation 

While, like her mothers, I am slightly concerned that Danielle is the type to set fire to herself to make sure others are warm, I also very much love her chill, warm, encouraging vibes. For those of you coming off of MisMag, she is like vibing at the same wavelength as Whitney Jammer but with the intensity turned all the way down. Danielle encouraging Sam honestly gave me like second hand calm. Excellent vibes. 

Random Thoughts

If you’re wondering how long it took for it to come up that Aguefort banged a phoenix, the answer is 12 minutes.

The concept of phoenix chlamydia is the definition of thanks, I hate it. 

Aguefort saying that TK is a crazy person could literally mean anything tbh. It could mean she is the most batshit person on the planet or it could mean she’s totally normal and just kinda bugs him. Literally no way to tell. 

Someone (I think Rekha?) mentioned that the cursed bylaws book is copper and so is TK. Idk if that’s relevant but thought I’d flag it anyway. 

We learn in this episode that the friendship bracelets Penny made them last week let them track each other and see each other even if one of the in knocked out (which is what gives it utility outside of what their crystals can already do).

We learn in this episode that Skullcleaver Elementary School is actually named after Katja’s family. 

Nothing like the fear you feel when a DM gives you what you wanted even on a failure. And on that note...

Sam, I wish you a very happy Please Go To Therapy. Please girl. 

This episode was such an emotional roller coaster. I deeply empathize with the horrible feeling that your friends have stuff going on and you don’t and you’re going to be left behind. It’s so rough to see everyone hurting and lashing out (or in the case of Yelle for instance, trying and failing to diffuse the situation). But it’s so nice to see everyone trying to be there for each other and apologizing and affirming that they love each other (from Antiope saying that she would kill and die for any of them to Danielle defusing the ticking timebomb that is Sam). The players really get the cadence of how teenage girl friendship works and it’s such a treat to watch. 

“Did we ruin your life?”

Do you think ep 7 of The Seven is gonna be when everything pops off? As a DM I wouldn’t be able to resist that.

Penny’s response to being told that she can’t take every path is, “You can with chronomancy” which isn’t a bad point. 

Rekha is the Zac of The Seven which is to say low key the funniest person on the planet. Her saying she was so scared that she wasn’t gonna be told “I love you” during that scene was so funny. Her comic timing is impeccable. 

Katja fainting at the end of the “I love you” session after Penny says she loves her and Cinnamon. 

I love the table ambient whisper of, “LCAB” under Antiope’s scene with Corsica. 

I really felt for Zelda in this episode. Like, I felt for everyone but especially her, being the quiet one with all this yelling happening. When she was talking about how much she hates to have to fight with Sam/O my heart really broke for her. I’m so glad she got all her hugs in after that. 

In this episode Katja, Ostentatia, and Sam roll nat 1s. No nat 20s.