#and everyone else gets to live happily ever after with no nuance

[cr-nack]

I’m finally catching up on bridgerton and I’m confused. Why do they have scenes showing Lady Danbury still being effected by marrying that geezer but want me to think Cressida is this irredeemable villain for trying to escape the same fate?

[cornyonmains]

Decided to read the novel for My Stand In, which is titled Professional Body Double. I'm a little disappointed with some of the changes the show made. Needless to say, novel spoilers ahead, though I won't touch on anything that hasn't happened in the show, as I'm only halfway through the book. Anyways, on to my first beef with the show.

One of the most informative aspects of Joe's character was changed. In the novel, Joe had also never been on bottom before, but that wasn't because he was holding out for someone special. At the beginning of the novel Joe is fielding offers for threesomes, the guy's been around the block and doesn't have a huge attachment to his virginity. Joe's character never bottomed because he'd quite simply never gotten the offer thanks to his more masculine looks. What makes this even more depressing is you find out that he thought it might have been his preference in the first place, but Joe being Joe, advocated about as well for himself during sex as he did anything else.

I think it was unwise to switch things up the way they did, because it really does explain a lot about why Joe was willing to suffer so many indignities to be with Ming. Joe asked for very little from the people in his life and didn't get it. Joe never really stood a chance when Ming came along and started giving him what he wanted.

Another thing I thought it was a shame the show didn't highlight is that in the novel, there's a fairly considerable age gap between Joe and Ming. Ming is 20 and Joe is 30. This actually offered a lot of explanation as to why Joe ignored a lot of Ming's red flags. He didn't ignore them, he just chalked a lot of it up to Ming being young and spoiled. But that's not to say the novel lets Joe off the hook.

Joe was, and I truly do lack a better word to describe this, completely servile to Ming. In the novels he waited on him hand and foot, created no real sexual boundaries with him, and preferred placating Ming's temper over challenging it. He was willing to meet any conditions for them to be together.

Ming's character progression is something I wish the show could have found a way to depict. Because during this time, Ming's development wasn't stagnant. What Joe had right, to an extent, was that Ming was young and still learning how to process his feelings. Towards the end of their first relationship, Ming had managed, for the most part, to regard Joe as completely distinct from Tong, and not just as a replacement. It's heavily implied he was in love with Joe, but just didn't know how to process these realizations that kept coming to him in piecemeal.

Ming liked the happy and relaxed environment he had with Joe in his condo, he was convinced nobody would ever be as sexually compatible with him as Joe, and he'd actually wanted to support him the first time Joe came home completely exhausted from set, but didn't say anything about it until he fucked up. Ming, who ran away to America as soon as he realized he was gay, did what Ming always did, he was quietly processing things, and was too young and stupid to give Joe a clue. He took for granted that Joe would be, in HIS words, obedient and docile.

The author of this, Shui Qian Qeng, is so good at writing gay toxicity it's stupid. It made me wonder if they're part of the community, but we don't speculate in this house, it's just a passing thought I had due to how nuanced the depiction of sexual confusion in this book is, particularly with Sol's character. Sexual confusion in BL tends to play very formulaically on screen. Existential crisis, a few heartfelt conversations, one cursed episode, a kiss at the end of the season, and everyone lives happily ever after. In the novel, Sol struggles for years, and is still processing his sexuality in an unhealthy way because the 'I'm straight, but only gay for this one guy in particular' trope so often used in BL is used in this novel, but to convey denial and sexual struggle. Upon Joe's death, Sol is still saying he's straight, but that Joe's the exception. This is treated with much deserved skepticism. Shui Qian Qeng, as a queer person who knows you're not reading this, bless you for that. I so desperately wish Sol's story would have been better adapted for the show.

To wrap things up on a lighter note, I also found out by reading this novel that tops and bottoms are referred to as ones and zeros in China. And my sheltered Midwestern ass was like, "Well that's rude." because one of them was a zero. Then I was like, "Well why would someone refer to themselves as a zero? That's not healthy." Then I started thinking about what the numbers looked like, 0 and 1, and was like, "Oh." It was an emotional rollercoaster.

[lurkingshan]

Gay OK Bangkok

Well, holy shit. I had been planning to watch this ahead of Only Friends because @shortpplfedup named it as one of the Jojo shows that would serve as a good primer for the types of themes we could expect. I didn’t know much about it except it was an Aof/Jojo collab and had openly queer cast members. I expected something like a short Thai Queer as Folk. 

And it kind of is like QaF, in the sense that it’s very much a show about a group of queer friends and their romantic (mis)adventures that features frank discussion of gay sex and sexual health practices, but it’s not really like it at all in terms of its tone. Where QaF is known for its explicit sex, trippy drug sequences, and heavy doses of camp, GOBK is much less smutty and has a thread of deep melancholy running through it (oh hi Aof), and it is primarily interested in doing some serious character work alongside delivering its messages about safe sex. And these characters got their hooks in me much more than I expected.  

I think what I appreciate most about this show is how real the characters feel. They’re wonderfully flawed, fully realized human beings—beautiful and ugly in equal measure, wrong as often as they’re right, and just doing their best to balance their needs and desires with how they want to show up for the people they love. Even the characters I didn’t like much, I still understood and felt some empathy for, and I think that’s a credit to the compassion and care with which this series is written (not a surprise given Aof and Jojo are the ones who wrote it). Everyone gets the benefit of nuance and grace, including the side characters. And to be clear, I wouldn’t consider this a bl. I’d call it a queer slice of life drama that includes romance, but is not about romance—there is no primary romantic relationship that acts as the plot driver and it’s not at all interested in happily ever afters or even firm endings for its relationships.

My only real complaint about this show is I wanted (a lot) more of it. But still, for a show that only had eight hours total runtime over two seasons, it managed to do a lot with it. I am going to avoid getting into spoilers because as usual, I want y’all to watch this! But I really loved seeing a few years in the life of Arm, Pom, Aof, Big, Sathang, and their various friends, family, and lovers. And, crucially, it’s all so very queer. There is so much to unpack here about the nature of loneliness and desire and the guilt and shame that often comes along with them. The show is interested in exploring lots of ways to be in love and in relationship with each other, and it lets the characters fight, fuck up, break up, make up, and express their own confusion and discomfort and dissonance along the way. The only thing it’s interested in being preachy about are safe sex practices; everything else is presented in shades of gray. And it doesn’t limit itself to romance; we see the characters at work and with their families and out living their daily lives in a society that is often actively hostile to them. This show sits squarely at the center of @wen-kexing-apologist’s by/for/about Venn diagram (can’t wait for you to watch this, friend).

I highly recommend this show to anyone who plans to watch Only Friends (which, by my count, is just about everyone I know on here)—homework is of course not required before enjoying a new drama, but I do think familiarity with this work will enhance your experience, and it’s such a quick watch! If you’re interested, the show is available on YouTube here and here. It also has a great and surprising soundtrack which has also been compiled into two playlists. 

Tagging friends @neuroticbookworm, @waitmyturtles, @chickenstrangers, and @lurkingteapot who are all in the midst of their own watches or planning to start soon, and @bengiyo, @so-much-yet-to-learn, and @imminentinertia who saw this awhile back and shared some interesting reflections about it during my watch. 

[onglai]

On Ali and self-worth

Ali is a character that I never thought I'd relate so much with. On first viewing all those years ago when the show came out, Ejen Ali was nothing more than a superhero cartoon show. While this wouldn't be the first time we've gotten a nuanced and complex characters in Malaysian animation history (Keluang Man, Anak-anak Sidek, Bola Kampung), Ejen Ali surprised me a lot when I went to rewatch it last year.

If you ask 16 year old me what kind of person Ali is, I'd describe him as a kindhearted and heroic kid who'll help anyone in need.

If you ask the current me, those are all still true... but in addition to that what I also see is a troubled kid who needs hugs. Lots of them.

This is going to be long.

Season 1

On the first few episodes, the show establishes Ali as a problem child. Right from the start, he is shown to be disorganized, lazy, and every undesirable quality you could imagine. His dad is distant, his mom is dead, and the only thing holding this miserable gremlin together is his sweet, sweet best and only friend Viktor.

And then comes this magical device that turns his life upside down and he lives happily ever after... not.

You know the phrase money doesn't corrupt but only amplifies what's already in someone's heart? Well, IRIS is the money in this case, and it amplifies Ali's inner insecurity. The first thing this little gremlin does after obtaining IRIS is to use it to get good marks and impress his classmates and teacher.

Being an emotionally neglected child he naturally craves attention, and nothing satisfies him more than when people give him exactly that no matter how. This ultimately reaches its climax when Ali uses his newfound fame during S1E10: Sensasi to farm his fans' adoration. He learns his lesson at the end of the episode, but this won't be the last time he goes out of his way to seek for others' approval.

This is why Rizwan is such an important figure in Ali's life. Regardless of the man's opinion towards him, Ali sees him as someone worth idolizing. The best agent in MATA, Charismatic to boot, the man is everything Ali wishes to be. And good for him, Rizwan is the perfect teacher.

Guy teaches Ali disciplines, doesn't put up with his childish sense of entitlement, and very much treats Ali like he'd do anyone. For the first time in Ali's life, someone actually sees him as his own person and doesn't demean nor overhype him.

Season 2

In this season, Ali meets the junior agents for the first time, and upon learning that they idolized him, he grows a bigger head. He starts pushing Alicia away, the only person who's looking out for his safety (her wanting to meet her dad's expectation is a discussion for another day).

Now, all this time Ali has actually been praised as an agent. He had his bad moments, but for the most part he believes himself to have contributed a lot to the agency, which isn't inaccurate. But this belief is what resulted in him doubling down in his insecurity when the mentors pointed out his flaws during his training with the other agents. He's already a nobody at school, and now comes another realization that he might also be a nobody compared to the other agents if not for IRIS.

This is where things take turn for the worse.

Again, Ali seeks to prove himself by disobeying the mentors and drags his new friends along as well. This turns out to be a bad idea when Ali watches Rizwan betray the agency and in his anguish starts attacking everyone after activating Override Mode. He later tries to deflect the blame towards IRIS which only makes the other agents hate him more.

Coupled with Rizwan's desertion and that he already burned his bridge with Alicia, he didn't have anyone to turn to anymore. In his pursuit for approval, he loses everything. This is the lowest point in his life.

Thankfully, Zain gets through to him and makes him see his worth beyond his skills, that he's helped a lot more people than anyone else has. This is a bandaid to the larger issue at hand, but it rekindles his spirit enough he can stand on two feet again.

On the flip side however, Alicia later choosing to stand by his side is likely the first time he receives (a form of) affection despite not doing anything to earn it. This is something that he'll finally learn later on during the movie.

Regardless, with Alicia's help, Ali began to take accountability for his actions and reformed his friendships with the other agents.

Movie

This movie is what happens when all of Ali issues accumulate to the point of no return.

This movie starts off with Ali realizing that he's no longer worth anything as an agent. Or rather, he's no longer the main character in the grand scheme of things. Feeling himself having been replaced by more experienced agents, this is where Ali adopts a new crutch to lean on... his mom's legacy.

On top of IRIS, a crutch that he's been holding onto to prove his worth, Ali is also burdened with Zain's expectation of him from the previous season. His excuse is that he wants to help people, which may be true to some extent, but it's obvious from the get-go that it's only one manifestation of his insecurity and self-worth issue. After all, if his MATA agent shtick doesn't have a point anymore, why not quit and start over.

Niki, whether she realizes it or not, capitalizes on this and convinces Ali to join her side. It doesn't help that the people from the slum see and appreciate what he's doing for them, which further incentivises him into staying. His growing resentment towards MATA and the likes of Dato' Othman pushes him further towards deserting the agency altogether. Alicia being his friend warned him of MATA's suspicion of him, but it's too late by then.

We've established before that for Ali, love and adoration always has to be earned before. In an ironic fashion, he runs away from Alicia, the one person who's stood by his side in his lowest point, to seek protection from someone he sees as a mother figure... who just so happens to only see him as a useful tool so long as he contributes to the slum. There is also a reverse-elitist undertone with how Niki treats him which is... yikes.

Niki betrays him and this slaps Ali hard in a lot of ways.

I wouldn't say Alicia's pep talk when they're trying to escape later is any better, cause god, ugh. Both of you need therapists. But for what it's worth, she teaches him one very valuable lesson; that he isn't alone. He has her, he has Bakar, he has so many people who care for him despite him being blind towards them.

Remember when Alicia stood by him in season 2? Well, she does it again and shows Ali that yes, love and loyalty doesn't need to be constantly earned. This is the turning point to Ali's worldview where he stops equating his worth to his usefulness.

At the end of the movie, Ali willingly gives up IRIS to make up for his mistake. But at the same time, we can see that he is much more confident in himself. He still has a need to prove himself, but starting from here, he does it in a much healthier way, as we can see in the following season.

Season 3

This is when Ali starts having a purpose. All this time, he's letting everyone else decide his worth, but after the events of the movie, he begins looking inward for acceptance of all that he is.

He knows he's weak, he knows he still has a lot to improve, so he focuses on that with his mother as his goal post.

Throughout the season, we can see Ali stumbling and standing up again. When he's caught in a hitch, he looks for help from others. This isn't something the old whiny Ali would've done. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, he picks himself up and strives to be a better version of himself.

From his new maturity, he also manages to resist peer pressure and doesn't antagonize the international agents like his friends do. It's no surprise that he ends up connecting with Sam the most, a direct reflection of his past insecurities. Of course he'd relate to a kindred spirit and help the guy climb out of the hell he's been through himself all his life.

When Ali loses IRIS to Alicia in the end, it is the best outcome anyone could've hoped for. Not because Alicia deserves it which she does, but because it symbolizes the end of Ali's dependency on cool shiny gadgets to make himself look like a somebody. Because he is already a somebody.

Conclusion

Ali's character growth throughout the series is simply phenomenal.

You know the Ali in season 1 and season 3 are the same characters but if you put them side by side you'll see that they're anything but. They're too different.

Ali's journey as a character may have been riddled with hiccups, but it's those exact hiccups that make us appreciate the person he's become.

Is he perfect? No. He's still flawed as any 12 year old is. He'll learn in time and that's okay.

[lunar-years]

3, 6, 8, 13

not even bothering with anon idgaf I love to be a hater 🔥🔥🔥

we can be proud haters together since i'm over here happily typing out my answers lmao. putting most of this under a cut because of length.

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

no idea if these were ever on tumblr, probably it was twitter, all the worst takes i've seen come from twitter, but the top two contenders battling it out for Worst Ever have got to be:

One) Henry should've moved to London because he "hates the political climate of his own country" Henry is like, what, NINE? absolutely a wild take, worsened by, "And having a premier league coach as his dad is way cooler than having a dad who coaches his pee wee league" or whatever like. Again, the boy is nine. I think Henry cares more about having a Dad who's present in his life than he does about how "cool" his dad's occupation is.

Two) "Zava was actually way more disciplined than Jamie because he has fantastic habits, whereas Jamie is the type to just give up and go on a reality show." ohhh don't even get me started lmao. i was fuming for days.

6. which ship fans are most annoying?

lol. do i even need to say. specifically the twitter breed of them & no hate to the ship on the whole, just the portion of shippers that are cuckoo bananas about it and target the show creators. An extremely close second for me is the portion of r/k shippers who loathe Jamie for "getting in the way" because I take that personally 😭. Like I'm sorry your endgame didn't happen but please leave him out of this. it's not his fault they had problems the entire time they were dating, lmao. ugh.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

so many. here's a running list.

Roy and Keeley shouldn't have broken up and/or should have gotten back together in the finale.

Roy was OOC when he asked Keeley who the tape was for.

Ted shouldn't have gone home to his son

Matthijs was inherently "creepy" for inviting Rebecca back to his boathouse to get cleaned up after she plummeted into the canal right in front of him. (have you guys never taken a risk ever in your lives?)

Nate didn't deserve redemption

Jamie was CLEARLY completely over Keeley by season 3 (as evidenced by...what exactly?) and it ~came out of nowhere~ to dredge up the "dead" love triangle

I could go on....

13. worst blorbofication

to me the crime is less blorbifying them (because I consider them my blorbos too <3) but I definitely dislike the way some people blorbify Roy and Jamie. Roy for reasons previously discussed and Jamie because there's definitely been a pattern of woobifying him to the extent of like, taking away his agency, dismissing all of his mistakes, and treating him almost like he's weak and constantly needing to be protected when he's absolutely none of those things. Idk. What appeals to me about Jamie is not how "soft" he is it's how relentlessly brave he is. Anyway. They're both my blorbos and i love putting them through the ringer and watching them scramble to pick up the pieces as much as everyone else, but i also think it's important to recognize they're both very much grown adults with asshole tendencies and a large capacity for cruelty who have made plenty of mistakes yet still are deserving of love. what happened to nuance. it's funner to make blorbos out of complex characters you view complexly. anyway.

[bohemian-nights]

as a queer woman i don’t even necessarily mind the michaela thing as much, but they need to get some queer woc in that writer’s room to actually add nuance to their story that i fear a white queer woman may lack

And as a Black woman(not a “WOC” because that inane catch all term is another problem) it’s another stereotype. It doesn’t matter who they get in that crappy writers room. All they’ve done, all they will ever do with this putrid show is write Black women as oversexed, unloved, manless, rape victims, abused by their husbands, pregnant and unmarried, living on the margins of society, etc. Whatever crap they can pull off without the general audience caring and/or cheering it on they’ll do it. This situation should’ve never happened. Period point blank.

Y’all want to support this shit just because you see some tokens or “WOC” who don’t mind throwing Black women under the bus while everyone else gets a fairytale happily ever after be my guests, but you can count me out for the continuation of that.

[cjbolan]

Why Jake and Mary Penelope are my favorite Emily Windsnap couple...

1. They’re the ONLY couple to stay together for the entire series! Seriously everyone else either breaks up, starts dating later, dies, or just disappears.

2. They kicked off the entire series when you think about it. Seriously without them Emily wouldn’t exist and there would be no books. Same reason I loved Rhaegar and Lyanna (also starcrossed lovers who secretly give birth to the hero of their series)

3. They fricking EARNED their happy ending!! Seriously to get there they fought so many obstacles: anti-marriage laws, unsupportive parents, killer Krakens, even each other.

4. They subvert many literary tropes...

The man-meets-mermaid trope ( I think they’re the first merman/human couple. Because after them came much more famous examples: Namor/Shuri, Elisa Esposito/the Asset, Mabel/Mermando, etc.)

the "adults are useless" trope (they're often helpful to Emily even by accident) 

the "fun dad & strict mom" trope (they both have a sense of fun and are each strict about different things. You could probably make an argument that Jake is the stricter parent. Because the few times Jake got strict, unlike Mary he showed 0 willingness to compromise. And no matter how much Emily disagrees with Jake, she never dares challenge him the way she often challenges Mary. Likewise you could argue that Mary is the “fun” parent, because she often leaves Emily alone to go do fun things like book clubs and dancing while drunk with underage boys. As a kid I thought Jake and Mary P. played this trope straight, but I now see it’s much more nuanced.)

The Happily-Ever-After trope. Their happy reunion is not the end, but rather the beginning of their story. They’re given a new lease on life, and the series cover how they best use their second chance at love together. And while their reunion solves the problems at hand, it also causes several new problems that will test their love.

5. They’re perfect for each other in ways I didn’t realize until now. Both love literature (Jake is a poet, Mary works in a bookshop) and they both defy gender roles (Mary loves “masculine” activities like sailing and hated the stereotypically “feminine” Beauty&Deportment classes. Jake loves making jewelry and even wears earrings. In that sense they’re also like Rhaegar and Lyanna).

6. We see these two deal with lots of real-life relationship problems. How to live together, how to raise a child together, even how to deal with disapproving in-laws.

7. Instead of being a perfect couple, they BECOME a perfect couple. Their character development over the course of several books is so satisfying, and again makes their relationship feel so sweetly earned. They each had to learn to be better parents, before they could learn to be a better couple, and by the end a better family.

(artwork above by this person)

[goblincow]

Deeply relatable to me. I get incredibly exhausted any time I see someone proudly claim that they don't give a shit or even believe men are oppressed by the gender binary. Because obviously men do get a massive upper hand and benefit from the power imbalance but it's not like I was given a choice? I don't want it? It's restrictive and actively harmful to me too?

Like it's crazy to me that there are conservative feminists (like I get where they come from but those ideologies are so wildly contradictory, conservative feminism can never be meaningfully feminist) and they would tell you a guy like me or nick offernan has no right to speak on it. But you can't challenge the patriarchy and refuse to understand that it's bad for men too & you cant want it to change and stay the same. Like that's literally just perpetuating the patriarchy.

This should be no surprise to literally any trans person and I should hope it would be obvious to all queer people too – hell I want to live in the world where cishet people understand this as well because then gender dissolves and we're all free woohoo happily ever after (not a joke).

But yeah gender as its widely imagined is clearly a social construct & tool of patriarchal power and it sucks for EVERYONE except those who are in positions of power, who embrace it for obvious reasons. Obviously this applies to all men to some extent regardless of any attempt to reject it but like, only because it's forced on us in the first place? I want actual equality please, I don't want anyone to have more power than anyone else? And that can't happen as long as the gender binary is so rigidly enforced. Like honestly while you could argue that binary broadly fits *most* people (and honestly I'm really not sure I believe that) it necessarily restricts all of those people too.

I'm a radical feminist (NOT the genocidal fake kind, you know the evil fuckers I'm talking about) partly because it's in my own personal interest to be – and a prerequisite of that is understanding that gender oppression affects all people because literally every single human being to ever exist has had their own unique genders & pretending otherwise must either be naive or malicious, and obviously both of those (intentions aside) have the same result: the worst people on the planet continue to hoard power and control the rest of us by denying us the very ability to conceive of our identities and shape who we are. Hmm where have I seen that before? 👀

They get to decide who we get to be on our behalf (and obviously their interests and ours do not align) and a major tool for doing that is this perpetuation of what's essentially a myth about what human beings inherently are and are capable of being. All working class people suffer from the binary gender lie, and frankly I dont give a shit if the ruling class suffers from it too because the same rules and laws don't apply to them and for any of us to be free from this they need to cease to exist. Failing to understand the obvious class implications there is antithetical to any effort to collectively do anything about it. While women are "more oppressed" as a social class than men (a loaded term for sure, and there's certainly nuance there that theorists I haven't read have dug into, but for all intents and purposes here I think it's a pretty uncontroversial statement), ultimately we're all insignificant peasants and second class citizens and the differences between us are meaningless at that scale – it's just a matter of how efficiently we can all be exploited.

We're all the working class regardless of our genders and the people who benefit most from the gender binary are the ruling classes. They reap the vast majority of the rewards for it and we are so far beneath them that whatever differences there are in the material experience of living as a working class man or woman are so small that I'd honestly be surprised if they even registered at the scale required to see the big picture – I should be clear here that I am NOT saying there is no material difference and it IS obviously fucking huge at any scale that we mere peasants will ever get to experience: I am instead saying that we can't ever address it without understanding that we're all crushed to an indistinguishable pulp at the bottom of the hierarchy.

But yeah doesnt this all sound really familiar? Can't you apply this framework to all forms of oppression and develop greater class consciousness because of it? Doesnt that help you understand how crucial intersectionalism is? It's divide & rule folks, do you think it's an accident that women's opression is deeply tied to the home & childcare and yet this work is not compensated and free childcare does not exist? Do you think it's an accident that disabled women of colour experience even more of it? The ruling class NEEDS us not to understand this shit. They NEED it to control us and acknowledging the reality is the only way we can collectively do fuck all about it.

Class dismissed! 🫡

Yo why did I put this in the tags. At least I got to give it a second draft.

I want to be free too & none of us can be until we all are. We've got to understand the functions of all oppression under capitalism if we hope to achieve it and that means understanding that opression for any of us means oppression for all. You get me.

I want to be free too.

Have I mentioned how much I love Nick Offerman?

[aro-comics]

History (Part 3)

History, Part 3/3 - And here we are, friends 🐸🐸🥰!!! We've made it, yet again. I'm so glad I'm finally getting to share this part of the comic with you, it was what I wanted to say at the beginning of all of this 💚💚💚. 

To answer my own question from a few weeks ago - what does it mean to be aro?

I think realizing you're aro is an eye opening experience. It forces you to question amatonormative values that are saturated in society, makes you see what life can be without romance. There's no precedent, because we exist in the gaps between the pages where everyone lives *happily ever after* (implied, obviously, in romantic love 🙄). It's hard to tell what life will have in store for us, when our tales aren't the ones that get told. Yet I've always liked to think that those gaps was where the ✨real magic ✨ happens. It's like a blank canvas. Nothing is defined, so it gets to become whatever you want it to be. So being aro, to me, means opportunity, and freedom. The ability to choose what I want and don't want in this life with as much honesty and sincerity as possible. On a grander scheme of things too, I think we, as a community, are going to get to decide how we want to define the meaning of our identities, too. It makes me excited. It makes me hopeful. Above all else, I’m looking forward to how much we have ahead of us 💚 -- A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered to be drawn in this post (slides 2 and 6)!!! 🐸🐸🐸 it was nice to draw real people that aren’t, well, me for once😭😅 for real though, y’all are the best and this was a lot of fun! I hope I can do this again sometime!!! 💚💚 I've tagged everyone in the post, but here's a list of their accounts as well 😄 @_pallavimvutharkar_ @beck.oh @i_am_hope_ @matilderdiogo @aspec_resources_research @river.stickz @astrini.adisoma @an.aroace.kat

[Image Description:

Slide 1: Celia speaks to the viewer with a small smile, “But … despite all of this, I think these are exciting times to be an aro”

Slide 2: “We are the first generation of explicitly aromantic people!” 

Drawn around Celia are a number of other arospec people who have asked to be drawn. From left to right, top to bottom: A black girl with curly long hair, a blond non-binary person holding up a peace sign, a girl with long teal-dyed hair and a septum piercing wearing an aro flag, another person with short purple dyed hair with another aro flag, Celia herself, and a south asian girl with a short bob cut.

Slide 3: “It will be our actions -” A man waving an aromantic flag grins.

Slide 4: “- our thoughts -”

Celia talking to two other arospec people. They discuss the nuances of what is considered flirting and how weird it is. 

Slides 5: 

“- our words -”

Celia stands in a side view, and from her spill forward objects like papers from a book, a petition, which spills into a drawing of her sketching out comics and another random person filling out an aromantic survey.

“- our feelings and fears and journeys of self-discovery -”

The drawing leads to a group of aro people who are standing as though at a parade. A non-binary blond person holds a big aro flag, while a guy with short brown hair stands next to them throwing a casual peace sign. Finally, a taller southeast asian girl stands next to them both, holding a sign that says “aro pride”.

“ - our activism”

Slide 6: [Text slide] “- that will build the foundations of our community.”

Slide 7: “Future aros will look back to us.”

An older chinese woman talks to a group of youth dressed in futuristic looking clothing. They are looking at a book together. She comments that the events feel just like yesterday as one of the kids asks her about the events described in the book. 

Slide 8: “And … I think, at least, that it’s a blessing.”

The scene returns to the riverside where Celia was standing at the beginning of the comic. It shows Celia from the front, up close, and she’s smiling wistfully as the wind blows in her hair.

Slide 9: A zoomed out shot of the same scene from the very beginning of the comic. 

“I’m grateful that I get to be here, with all of you, making history.”]

[goatsandgangsters]

*chanting* DAR-KO-LAI! DAR-KO-LAI!

When I started shipping them: It really only took a couple months in the fandom tbh. but I also kinda realized it by accident. Anytime I tried to write them in the same fic with 0 shippy intentions, it would take an EXCEPTIONALLY flirty turn. I remember sitting here writing a fic for a different ship and being like “NIKOLAI WHY ARE YOU JOKING ABOUT MARRIAGE, THAT IS NOT THE DIRECTION I INTENDED FOR THIS SCENE??” It would legit just go there naturally without me ever intending for it. but also it COMPLETELY tracks with my usual Ship Dynamic so nobody should really be surprised 

My thoughts: NARRATIVE FOILS!!!!! honestly this is THE ship for sexy people who love the grishaverse sociopolitics. Darkolai is a philosophical debate personified. I just love how they’re THE two characters who are most cognizant of Ravka politically and who are the most invested in their country As A Philosophical Concept. 

I also love the well-matchedness of them. Their conversations must be the most intricate dance, such a natural back-and-forth. They throw each other off, in a way they’d both find refreshing. They’ve really found an equal in each other. (I’m going to plagiarize myself because I phrased it before:) Aleksander can’t outsmart Nikolai the way he does everyone else. Nikolai can’t dazzle Aleksander with charm the way he does everyone else. So they have to face each other as themselves, as equals.

What makes me happy about them: There’s SO much you can sink your teeth into with them! Literally endless, boundless potential. I don’t think you could ever run out of angles. There’s the politics, their shared history, the way Aleksander frankly understands Nikolai’s family better than he does, the sense of history that Aleksander brings with him (of Ravka, of the Lantsov regime). You spend hours and hours writing the two of them volleying back and forth on any given topic without either of them running out of things to say

What makes me sad about them: how hard canon works to keep them from ever having a Significant Conversation with each other, which I’m convinced is because she doesn’t want to reckon with the reality of how much Nikolai understands him. like, Rule of Wolves is a very long and often meandering book, Nikolai has the Darkling’s power literally living inside of him, they PSYCHICALLY CONNECT ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS, not to mention their lives pre-canon were very intertwined given their respective positions which should allow for reflecting on that shared history ….. and yet there’s somehow NO room for them to have any kind of meaningful exchange with one another?? Talk about untapped potential.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: that there’s not very many fics

Things I look for in fanfic: in this fandom particularly, because canon offers me so little of it, I really just love nuance. I like a little friction, a little tension. A little duality. Some kind of counterpoint between characters. I like fic that explores something, whether that’s an aspect of the character or an aspect of the world or a broader theme

My wishlist: Ben Barnes sneering “sobachka” on my TV screen. and at least One Scene together like those very Electrically Tense couple ones he had with Archie that came off WAY less hetero than they probably intended

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I have dual citizenship with Darklina (tho this man is capital T Tragic Figure, he’s not ending up with anyone in actuality). For Nikolai—ahahahaha—uhhhhh. Well. I’m very Salty about his character arc getting gutted like a fish and thrown out the window in Rule of Wolves so thaaaat influences some of my ship opinions. sooo I’m gonna endgame him with The Goddamn Ravkan Throne and getting a character arc :))

My happily ever after for them: Just run the country, JUST RUN THE COUNTRY!!! They’d be so good at it. And like, symbolically, the healing of the country as metaphor for the healing of the self. The way it brings Nikolai’s desire to reconcile with Ravka’s past failures full circle, because Aleksander IS the embodiment of the harm Ravka has inflicted on its people for centuries. (I don’t like “and then they were happy and there were no problems ever again” endings because that’s boring, but I like quietly hopeful/healing/peaceful endings—and I think they have the potential for that, symbolically. At least for a few decades before we veer back into tragedy-land, but can it truly be a tragedy when so much has changed, when it was so worth it?)

Can you imagine that sense of awe at Nikolai as king? Because Nikolai is good, Nikolai cares, Nikolai doesn’t goddamn sleep because he’s so dedicated to his country. Sometimes Aleksander tells him that he’s young still, he’s naive, but Aleksander is as much an idealist at heart. And when a bitter, jaded, wounded, burnt idealist meets Nikolai’s still-fresh idealism, how much is that hope re-awakened? How much does it re-kindle that pure, genuine belief that drove Aleksander too? After centuries fighting an uphill battle, Sisyphus shoving that boulder alone, how good does it feel that this fuuuucking family finally managed to produce someone who cares? Someone who is GOOD for Ravka? Someone who’s actually worthy to sit on the throne? What a miracle Nikolai must seem. What a long-awaited, improbable miracle. 

And in return, how loved would Nikolai be for his entire life? He can’t grasp at the scope of it. I’ll live another 60 years, Saints willing—if of course you don’t leave me when I start losing my marvelous hair, and that sounds like plenty to him. But that’s not enough for Aleksander, how could it ever be enough, that’s nothing. Not even a century! He’s an intense person at the best of times, but the clock is ticking and he is not going to waste a second. The sand is already slipping between his fingers and he will hold Nikolai tight because he knows it. Nikolai knows too, but he can’t really understand. but he knows he is loved. he is loved fiercely, every day of his entire life, by someone who’s counting the seconds. 

Nikolai says nothing, but he will pay him back in kind by one day leaving Aleksander with a Ravka that can finally love him in return. 

[itsclydebitches]

Oh I just had a horrifying thought. Based on how the interaction between RWBY co and Oz went, If they ever have him and Qrow reconcile, its going to be the exact same isn't it? Him being the only one apologizing even though Qrow punched both him and Oscar.

Most likely, yeah. We have no reason to believe that Qrow would be written as more mature and open-minded than the other 8+ people involved, not after the show had him straight up lie about how Clover died. If Qrow isn’t allowed to accept some of the responsibility for a comparatively minor character, why would we think he’d accept some responsibility for the character the story hated on for three volumes, four if we count Yang’s accusations in Volume 5, and who has already been made to shoulder all of the guilt for this conflict himself?

Looking back, getting an apology for the punch was always a lost cause. The group clearly didn’t care that it happened, were slow to react when Jaune had Oscar up against the wall, Ruby took a headshot at a potentially aura-less Cordovin, Weiss arrives at the mansion armed against her brother… the group is now quite happy to excuse any and all violence against allies (trusted friends, family, political allies, etc.) provided they think they deserve it. And, sadly, we’ve seen lately that the show isn’t at all concerned with the moral nuances of these situations either. Actually, it’s not even nuance at this point, it’s straight up ignoring glaring, undeniable factors like “Qrow teamed up with Tyrian” or “Whitely is a minor your mom begged you to protect” or “Emerald was literally trying to kill Penny an hour ago.” Regarding Qrow’s situation with Ozpin, we’ve got the same problem as with Ruby: they’re both damning him for keeping secrets while they happily keep their own. Qrow kept everything else a secret from the group too, from magic existing to the war he was fighting. He kept the personal secrets of his semblance and ability to transform. He was there in the room when Ruby told those same lies to Ironwood, later absolving her (and thus himself)of guilt and continuing to help her maintain that deception, which included telling all of Mantle about Salem without mentioning her immortality. Qrow helped do to a city what Ozpin did to him, yet I have absolutely no doubt that this will be ignored. Or, if it's brought up, everyone will handwave the hypocrisy away by saying that Qrow is one of the established good guys, so it's fine if he does the supposedly morally reprehensible acts.

The problem with the Ozpin apology scene is that it builds off the feelings immediately post-vision (which are already uniform and incredibly narrow), rejecting everything else that has happened across nearly three volumes of content. It ignores the assumption that the group just needed time to cool down, that Ozpin saved their lives in the airship, that when push came to shove they repeated his choices (the biggest factor here), that they’re supposedly learning how hard it is to trust others, that they’ve now seen firsthand how powerful—terrifying—Salem really is, that they’ve told the world about her without any plan for mitigating the repercussions (what Ozpin was trying to avoid), and that Ozpin was just kidnapped same as Oscar was, helping him to both escape and turn two villains to their side (however stupid that was). But no one cares about any of it! Literally nothing Ozpin has or has not done in three volumes matters. The group isn’t grateful for what he’s done to keep them safe. The group also isn’t frustrated with how long he chose to stay away. Whether positive or negative, they have no new thoughts or feelings on the matter, nor do they think differently from one another in any regard. Notably, the apology from Ozpin comes after Ren has learned not to question the group's decisions, otherwise he likely would have taken Ozpin's side: we weren't ready for this, we made awful decisions with lasting repercussions, so are you honestly surprised he didn't want to tell us everything when this is the result?

Absolutely nothing has changed with Ren back to the status quo and everyone else has never left, so there’s no reason to think that Qrow would be any different. Especially when, beyond the Clover situation, we have the problem of Qrow ignoring that Ozpin exists, in the same way that the group mostly ignored Qrow’s existence throughout Volume 8. Does Qrow want Ozpin to come back? Does him deciding not to drink mean he’s come to terms with Ozpin’s secret? Did he see Clover as a replacement? Does he long for his mentor again like Ironwood did? Does he think Ozpin might have been able to help talk Ironwood down? Does he care whether Ozpin and Oscar made it out of Mantle? We have no answers because the most emotional work Qrow gets it silently shouting the names of his nieces at the volume’s end. That's it. Everything else is relegated to a revenge quest that disappears because Robyn (again) states that Qrow is better than the evil Clover. Does that remind us of any recent speeches Qrow gave to Ruby? Even if the show were interested in exploring the complexities of this situation and how views should have changed after months’ time to think on things and numerous, life threatening events having gone down… we have no foundation for that work. Qrow can’t easily go up and apology to Ozpin for his part in all this when, for three volumes, the most he’s mentioned Ozpin is to say that he’s a worse person than Ruby. That is by no means a hopeful or logical setup.

[tamhrayis]

but arent u dissapointed for EM conclusion? u yourself believed eren would survive and then he just didn't. what saddens me the most is that he really could live. there was a way for that to happen (u believed it yourself). it hurts even more that some characters got almost disney ending meanwhile EM (main characters) got the saddest ending from all. i think they deserved better after all the sh*t they went through. their ending was cruel, but to me not really much beautiful. one is dead and the other one is alone without any alive family member. yes, maybe mikasa will be able to open her heart to someone else, but she could never love anyone as much as she did eren, lets be honest here. if yams really wanted to kill eren i think he could at least wrap EM conclusion better. the last time they physically talked to each other was when E said to M that he hated her. they could at least talk to each other before decapitation, or maybe after decapitation in paths - tell everything to each other, say a proper goodbye (maybe a hug? kiss?) and then eren dies. now when we know that mikasa really killed eren in 138, we cant even 100% say whether eren knew she kissed him.. this ending yams gave them to me doesnt seem satisfactory. if eren really had to die i think they deserved at least a proper confrontation and a goodbye. but i still think they deserved to live together. overall i dont mind the ending, but i dont like the ending EM was given. :(

Hi! Let me state my view.

I genuinely wanted Eren to survive and get a positive conclusion with Mikasa. I really did and I believed it. But I never let it blind me and think that what I want must happen (as many people in our fandom wanted their “endings” to be true).

To be honest, as much as I love EM and was sad over the fact that they couldn’t get together, I looked at the story from writer’s perspective rather than reader’s.

Yes, EM’s happy ending would be great and we wouldn’t grieve over it as we do now, but on the other side, Eren’s survival would be full of controversies both in AoT’s world and real life. I think people somehow degraded Eren’s role to just being a shipping tool in ship wars without actually taking into account what kind of person Eren is as a character.

He is very contradictory and controversial. Eren is a maximalist and a literal adult child that didn’t quite change from what we have seen from his first appearance in the story. Even Eren himself said that he was always like this, a boy who desperately sought freedom that doesn’t even exist on practice.

Eren was never actually free in a sense that he himself described it. He was a slave to his fate, circumstances and personal ideas. Eren couldn’t look beyond his ideas, but at the same time, he would scrap them for his personal happiness even if it was temporary.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that Eren was a bad person and he deserved to die like this, but that’s simply who his character was, a person full of tragedy. Eren couldn’t live in the present and enjoy his time with his friends and Mikasa. He literally lived in the past and future. Even if Eren actually survived, I personally doubt that he could be as happy as we imagine him to be. Eren had a strong sense of conscience and responsibility.

He never wanted any of this to happen, but he still went for it, because...That’s what Ymir, Eren himself and his fate wanted. As long as Eren was alive, he couldn’t escape the burden of responsibilities and decisions. Even in ch.138, Eren was still conflicted if he did the right thing by eloping with Mikasa.

Yeah, he probably could live under a fake identity or permanently isolate himself from society and live with Mikasa for he rest of his days, but it would be still nuanced, because his character itself is very flawed and nuanced.

Undoubtedly, Eren and Mikasa deserved their happily ever after, but the world they live in still wouldn’t be merciful on them.

Other characters got their own endings, but I personally wouldn’t call them “Disney endings”. Armin, Annie, Pieck, Reiner, Connie and Jean will need to directly face the consequences of rumbling and deal with all the mess Eren has left behind. Historia’s ending is close to “Disney ending”, but she also will need to deal with everything.

Levi deserved to have a peaceful life after everything he saw. Falco and Gabi had to have a normal childhood/teenage years after being child soldiers.

Mikasa got a tragic ending, but I would say...her ending is still full of mystery and I feel like there’s something that yet has to be revealed by Isayama himself. All in all, I think everyone got pretty much open and ambiguous endings.

However, what makes me positive is that no matter where they are, Eren and Mikasa are tied by the red string of fate and their love for each other isn’t bounded to specific place, time of dimension.

After all, it wasn’t a permanent goodbye. Mikasa still smiled and said “See you later”. The bird came to wrap the scarf, which means that Eren’s spirit isn’t dead.

They will definitely meet again someday and their reunion will be beautiful.

Note: extra EM CD drama will come.

[richincolor]

New Releases for the Week of May 3, 2021

It's great to see so many new books hitting the shelves this week. I know I've been waiting for several of these and am happy to be able to finally read them. 

The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He Roaring Brook

Cee has been trapped on an abandoned island for three years without any recollection of how she arrived, or memories from her life prior. All she knows is that somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, she has a sister named Kay. Determined to find her, Cee devotes her days to building a boat from junk parts scavenged inland, doing everything in her power to survive until the day she gets off the island and reunites with her sister.

In a world apart, 16-year-old STEM prodigy Kasey Mizuhara is also living a life of isolation. The eco-city she calls home is one of eight levitating around the world, built for people who protected the planet―and now need protecting from it. With natural disasters on the rise due to climate change, eco-cities provide clean air, water, and shelter. Their residents, in exchange, must spend at least a third of their time in stasis pods, conducting business virtually whenever possible to reduce their environmental footprint. While Kasey, an introvert and loner, doesn’t mind the lifestyle, her sister Celia hated it. Popular and lovable, Celia much preferred the outside world. But no one could have predicted that Celia would take a boat out to sea, never to return.

Now it’s been three months since Celia’s disappearance, and Kasey has given up hope. Logic says that her sister must be dead. But as the public decries her stance, she starts to second guess herself and decides to retrace Celia’s last steps. Where they’ll lead her, she does not know. Her sister was full of secrets. But Kasey has a secret of her own. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee Quill Tree Books

Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.

When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.

In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

They Better Call Me Sugar: My Journey from the Hood to the Hardwood by Sugar Rodgers Black Sheep

Growing up in dire poverty in Suffolk, Virginia, Sugar (born Ta’Shauna) Rodgers never imagined that she would become an all-star player in the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association). Both of her siblings were in and out of prison throughout much of her childhood and shootings in her neighborhood were commonplace. For Sugar this was just a fact of life.

While academics wasn’t a high priority for Sugar and many of her friends, athletics always played a prominent role. She mastered her three-point shot on a net her brother put up just outside their home, eventually becoming so good that she could hustle local drug dealers out of money in one-on-one contests.

With the love and support of her family and friends, Sugar’s performance on her high school basketball team led to her recruitment by the Georgetown Hoyas, and her eventual draft into the WNBA in 2013 by the Minnesota Lynx (who won the WNBA Finals in Sugar’s first year). The first of her family to attend college, Sugar speaks of her struggles both academically and as an athlete with raw honesty.

Sugar’s road to a successful career as a professional basketball player is fraught with sadness and death–including her mother’s death when she’s fourteen, which leaves Sugar essentially homeless. Throughout it all, Sugar clings to basketball as a way to keep herself focused and sane.

And now Sugar shares her story as a message of hope and inspiration for young girls and boys everywhere, but especially those growing up in economically challenging conditions. Never sugarcoating her life experiences, she delivers a powerful message of discipline, perseverance, and always believing in oneself. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney HarperTeen

Quinn keeps lists of everything—from the days she’s ugly cried, to “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud,” to all the boys she’d like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing…

An anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn’t know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett—the last known person to have her journal—in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.

Together, they journey through everything Quinn’s been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield Wednesday Books

Tilla has spent her entire life trying to make her father love her. But every six months, he leaves their family and returns to his true home: the island of Jamaica.

When Tilla’s mother tells her she’ll be spending the summer on the island, Tilla dreads the idea of seeing him again, but longs to discover what life in Jamaica has always held for him.

In an unexpected turn of events, Tilla is forced to face the storm that unravels in her own life as she learns about the dark secrets that lie beyond the veil of paradise—all in the midst of an impending hurricane.

Hurricane Summer is a powerful coming of age story that deals with colorism, classism, young love, the father-daughter dynamic—and what it means to discover your own voice in the center of complete destruction. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Indivisible by Daniel Aleman Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

There is a word Mateo Garcia and his younger sister Sophie have been taught to fear for as long as they can remember: deportation. Over the past few years, however, the fear that their undocumented immigrant parents could be sent back to Mexico has started to fade to the back of their minds. And why wouldn’t it, when their Ma and Pa have been in the United States for so long, they have American-born children, and they’re hard workers and good neighbors?

When two ICE agents come asking for Pa, the Garcia family realizes that the lives they’ve built are about to come crumbling down. And when Mateo returns from school one day to find that his parents have been taken, he’ll have to come to terms with the fact that his family’s worst nightmare has become a reality.

With his Ma and Pa being held in separate detention centers, Mateo must learn how to look after his sister and himself. The choices Mateo makes, and the people he turns to for help, might reunite his family… or tear them apart for good. With his parents’ fate and his own future hanging in the balance, Mateo must figure out who he is and what he is capable of, even as he’s forced to question what it means to be an American teenager in a country that rejects his own mom and dad. — Cover art and summary via Goodreads

Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan Inkyard Press

Karina Ahmed has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents’ rules—even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything.

Karina is my girlfriend.

Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. But Ace Clyde does everything right—he brings her coffee in the mornings, impresses her friends without trying, and even promises to buy her a dozen books (a week) if she goes along with his fake-dating facade. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back.

T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal—but what if Karina no longer wants it to? — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

All Kinds of Other by James Sie Quill Tree Books

In this tender, nuanced coming-of-age love story, two boys—one who is cis and one who is trans—have been guarding their hearts to protect themselves, until their feelings for each other give them a reason to stand up to their fears.

Two boys are starting at a new school.

Jules is just figuring out what it means to be gay and hasn’t totally decided whether he wants to be out at his new school. His parents and friends have all kinds of opinions, but for his part, Jules just wants to make the basketball team and keep his head down.

Jack is trying to start over after a best friend break-up. He followed his actor father clear across the country to LA, but he’s also totally ready to leave his past behind. Maybe this new school where no one knows him is exactly what he needs.

When the two boys meet, the sparks are undeniable. But then a video surfaces linking Jack to a pair of popular transgender vloggers, and the revelations about Jack’s past thrust both Jack and Jules into the spotlight they’ve been trying to avoid. Suddenly both boys have a choice to make—between lying low where it’s easier or following their hearts. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Southampton, 1912: Seventeen-year-old British-Chinese Valora Luck has quit her job and smuggled herself aboard the Titanic with two goals in mind: to reunite with her twin brother Jamie--her only family now that both their parents are dead--and to convince a part-owner of the Ringling Brothers Circus to take the twins on as acrobats. Quick-thinking Val talks her way into opulent firstclass accommodations and finds Jamie with a group of fellow Chinese laborers in third class. But in the rigidly stratified world of the luxury liner, Val's ruse can only last so long, and after two long years apart, it's unclear if Jamie even wants the life Val proposes. Then, one moonless night in the North Atlantic, the unthinkable happens--the supposedly unsinkable ship is dealt a fatal blow--and Val and her companions suddenly find themselves in a race to survive.

Stacey Lee, master of historical fiction, brings a fresh perspective to an infamous tragedy, loosely inspired by the recently uncovered account of six Titanic survivors of Chinese descent.

[beauregardlionett]

morning begins with your lips

AO3 Link

The Mighty Nein was a group that one could describe as existing in a constant state of flux. Sometimes they appeared competent and sometimes...well. Precious little in their lives remained as a fixed constant, including themselves. They were always changing and shifting one way or another, and it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It did, however, make it rather difficult for allies and enemies alike to keep up.

There was, however, one consistent constant - even if it was a minuscule detail. Beauregard Lionett always woke first in the morning.

Her training was a hard thing to shake, and life on the road did not lend to sleeping late most days. Beau also wasn’t in the market for changing her sleeping habits. So she woke moments before the dawn each morning and went through her usual workout.

That morning found them in a tavern, Caleb having used up too many spells the day before to cast their tower. It was a fairly nice tavern, so none of them minded. Beau sat herself at a circular table in the corner with coffee and some food (thankfully they had bacon here), and waited for everyone else to arrive.

The rest of the Nein arrived in a particular pattern - one Beau kept intricate familiarity with. About twenty minutes after she got back from her workouts, Caleb would show his face, slightly haggard, but awake. His inner alarm clock benefited him in waking up on time. Veth often followed close on his heels, especially since they frequently shared a room.

Fjord came next, no more than ten minutes after Veth. Beau suspected his life at the docks had ingrained the habit into him over the years of work. Jester and Caduceus were a toss up because sometimes Jester arrived first, others it was Caduceus, and sometimes both appeared at the same time. No matter what the order, the clerics always arrived to breakfast looking perky and put together.

Yasha always woke last, and Beau knew it was because the Aasimar always struggled to fall asleep at night. She slept late every morning, and usually just rolled out of bed, straightened out her clothing, and came down to breakfast.

A consistent morning routine that Beau knew by heart, a practice in a punctual routine that soothed like meditation. A promise kept the same way the sun rose every morning.

Sure enough, Beau sat in her seat, nursing her coffee and savoring her bacon as Caleb trudged down to the tavern. His tired blue eyes scanned for her, his feet carrying him her way once he located her. Beau watched as he gave the barmaid his quiet request for breakfast on his way over. The wizard dropped into his seat beside her and yawned a greeting.

Beau slid what remained of her coffee his way in silent commiseration. His fingertips were ink stained, which meant he probably had gotten little sleep, the fool.

Veth came bounding over minutes later, cheerful and sleep rumpled as she perched on Caleb’s other side. Stretching up on her tip-toes, the Halfling planted a sweet kiss to his cheek (a practice only done occasionally) before hollering an order to the barmaid that hollered back.

“Morning,” Beau said as she tugged a piece of bacon into two, trying to make it last longer.

“Morning,” Veth returned, fiddling with her crossbow already. Beau didn’t ask what she was attempting this time, just monitored the mechanism in case it misfired.

Their conversation didn’t extend much past that as Veth continued fiddling and Caleb tried to keep his eyes open. Beau was content with the familiarity.

They had barely finished exchanging pleasantries when Fjord arrived, yawning but alert. The half-Orc caught Beau’s eye with a nod before he wandered over to the bar. She watched him exchange pleasant conversation with the barkeep for a few minutes, probably gleaning some information about the town or surrounding area. He did this sometimes when they got to new towns none of them had heard of or been to before, and it almost always helped.

Beau tracked Fjord’s movements as he left the bar with a coffee, making his way to their table. The barmaid arrived with Caleb and Veth’s plates as Fjord sat down on Veth’s free side.

“Whatever you’ve got works for me,” Fjord said pleasantly, his effortless charm pulling a smile to the woman’s face. She bustled away, and Fjord suppressed another yawn as he turned to the table.

“Barkeep says the town’s been calm ever since the war was called to truce. Decreased presence of guard, not as many brawls in the streets and bars, and trade has been up. I don’t think there’s much going on here if we want to move on later. We might have some luck in the market for rations, but beyond that,” Fjord ended with a shrug.

Beau appreciated his forethought in matters like these, because she sometimes got caught up in the bigger picture. Her mind worked in ways better attuned to connecting threads and digging up nuanced details. Sometimes she could ground herself enough to get shit done in the present, but it was hardly ever regarding mundane day-to-day plans.

“So, shopping and hit the road?” Beau said, tearing her bacon into smaller pieces again.

“Sounds like a plan,” Fjord nodded, sipping at his coffee. The barmaid arrived then with the half-Orc’s food before she bustled off again.

Beau settled into her seat, one leg thrown over Caleb’s lap as he chipped away at his plate. Veth began needling at Fjord in teasing conversation, the half-Orc indulging her with fond exasperation. Beau watched on and chuckled now and then, thoroughly entertained.

Veth had just convinced Fjord to play a game of boulder parchment shears for his last piece of sausage when Caduceus and Jester arrived. The clerics were discussing the benefits of talking to the massive oak tree they saw on their way into town as they took their seats. Jester flounced into the seat beside Fjord, Caduceus sitting on her other side as they kept talking. The pair paused long enough to greet the table before getting back into it.

“I’m just saying - morning guys! - we should try it,” Jester said, eyes boring imploringly into Caduceus’. “Maybe the oak will be friendly!”

“Of course we can try,” Caduceus agreed, setting his staff to lean against the table. “But in my experience, oak trees are always rather stuck up.”

Beau decided not to question how many oak trees Caduceus spoke to in his free time. The barmaid swept up to their table again, distracting the clerics momentarily.

“I’ll have some potatoes and tea, please,” Caduceus drawled with a pleasant smile.

“Do you have any pastries?” Jester asked predictably, violet eyes wide as she twisted in her seat.

“We’ve got muffins?” The barmaid said, eyeing Jester’s bright, eager eyes warily.

“I’ll take three!” The Tiefling chirped. “And a glass of milk, please!”

“Sure,” the barmaid nodded before sweeping off.

Beau gnawed on her bacon as Jester and Caduceus resumed their conversation, Fjord dejectedly losing his sausage to Veth’s victorious crow. Caleb started tapping an absent rhythm against Beau’s knee, and she let him. All was as it should be thus far, Beau’s eyes wandering to the stair as she waited for the last piece of the puzzle to fall into place.

Yasha’s absence when she had been under Obann’s control was a jarring discontinuity to Beau’s routine. She had been off kilter for more than one reason the entire time Yasha had been away. Beau hated to remember those days. As much fun as they had on some of their adventures, there was always that missing piece, that quiet snark that never piped up in conversation. There was no one at her back in those fights, no familiar battle cry, no unyielding support that Beau could fall back on with absolute trust.

She knew Yasha was last to rise, but the passing minutes never failed to pulse in Beau’s veins with anxiety. An irrational yet rational fear that she would never show.

Beau counted the minutes, tuning out conversation, absently aware of Caleb’s pattern against her kneecap.

Yasha stumbled down the stairs, tugging her tunic into order as she made her way over to their table. A surprising amount of tension bled from Beau’s shoulders with every step closer Yasha took. Jester came up from devouring her muffins long enough to greet Yasha, crumbs falling out of her mouth as she did.

“Mornin’ Yafa!” Jester managed through her food. The Aasimar offered the Tiefling a sleepy smile as she headed for the only empty seat between Caduceus and Beau.

“Good morning,” Yasha murmured as she rounded the table. Her eyelids still drooped with exhaustion she had yet to shake off. But she smiled small and warm at them all, her eyes landing on Beau as she stepped up beside the monk. Fondness made Beau feel like her heart was melting in her chest as she grinned up at Yasha, tipping her head back to catch her eye.

Yasha bent down and planted a quick, sweet peck on Beau’s lips, the monk’s smile curling wider as Yasha pulled away with a murmured, “morning Beau.”

The Aasimar wandered off to the bar a moment later to get a drink, yawning as she did. Beau happily went back to her bacon, picking it into pieces and popping them in her mouth. It took her a few moments to realize that something had changed.

Looking up, Beau froze with bacon halfway to her mouth when she found everyone at the table staring at her in stunned silence. Caleb’s tapping against her knee had ceased, Veth’s mouth was hanging open with sausage half-chewed. Fjord and Caduceus were giving her matching stares that were somehow both knowing and awed. Jester looked as if she were two seconds away from combusting into glitter.

“What?” Beau asked, somewhat defensively.

“Beau!” Jester exploded, squealing loudly. “You didn’t tell me you and Yasha finally talked!”

Beau’s cheeks grew hot, and she put her bacon down slowly. “Talked about what?”

“You kissed Yasha like it was a normal, everyday thing!” Veth said, thankfully swallowing her mouthful of food beforehand. “When did that happen?”

Beau froze, eyes going wide.

Oh.

“Uh...just now.”

“What?” Fjord said, brows furrowing.

“It happened just now,” Beau said, quiet and struck.

“Oh my gosh,” Jester gushed, practically vibrating in her seat. “That was your first kiss with Yasha? And it was that easy? And we all got to see it? That’s so romantic, Beau!”

Beau’s eyes flit to where Yasha stood at the bar. The Aasimar had twisted around to look back at the table, eyes wide and mouth agape. Clearly, she had come to the same realization as Beau. That same fondness from before softened everything in Beau’s countenance near instantly, and she smiled across the tavern at Yasha. She watched the Aasimar blush as she grinned back, turning to the barkeep to order when they came up to Yasha.

“I guess it is pretty romantic,” Beau whispered.

Veth and Jester squealed with each other as Fjord and Caduceus went back to their breakfasts. Caleb gently pinched the inside of Beau’s knee where her leg was still across his lap. He smiled when she looked at him and squeezed her ankle.

Beau’s chest felt full to bursting when she realized that her happiness could spread so easily among this family she had cultivated. She settled into her seat as Yasha came back and held her hand under the table for the duration of their meal.

This was something new Beau wouldn’t mind adding to their routine.

[talesmaniac89]

Choices - You Chose Dean

New to Choices? Start Here

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Summary: Choices is an interactive Supernatural choose your own adventure story where your choices determine the outcome and whether it’s a Dean x Reader or Sam x Reader. Go to the intro to start your story now!

Triggers: None really, some mention of Dean putting himself in harm’s way.

Choice:  [You chose Dean Winchester]

Y/N = Your Name

—

“Right… So, to make sure we’re ready…” Dean said with a sigh, eyeing the signs as they passed by. The tense tone and hard voice of a soldier enough for you to tell you were quickly closing in on the farmhouse in question. 

“There’s supposed to be five demons in there. We’ll have to take ‘em all out fast. Try to catch them off guard,” Dean spoke over the music, echoing the earlier plan and case details. Though you didn’t mind. It was better to be prepared. Know the case inside out. Especially when you were dealing with those slimy black-eyed bastards. They tended to try and wiggle their way free if you left them even the slightest bit of breathing room.

According to the briefing, the five demons had made themselves a cosy little home in the middle of farm town USA. Happily living their best evil little lives and causing havoc wherever they went. But they weren’t big shots. So, the fight shouldn’t be too hard for three experienced hunters. In, out, find a motel for a snooze if necessary and home in time for lunch tomorrow.

“We’ll have to split up. (Y/N), I think…” Dean started, those infuriatingly striking green eyes glancing up at you through the rear-view mirror and nearly leaving you tongue-tied. Damn him and his… Gorgeous fucking bastard. You couldn’t even think straight. Dean Winchester did things to your mind; filthy, explicit, breathless things. Leaving you mentally winded and unable to string two words together with just a flash of green or a blinding smile.

Yet you somehow still managed to get the protest out before he finished his sentence. The stubbornness of a hunter tackling the wanton daydreamer in you to the floor and wrestling the not-so-innocent devil on your shoulder into submission for long enough to let you find your voice again.

“I’m not sitting this one out Winchester,” You snapped back. Allowing your annoyance to mask the way the hunter always left you winded as you shot down Dean’s attempt to keep you out of harm's way. Like he did every hunt. Disguised as you either taking on the research-, backup- or otherwise removed from action roles.

Though he always failed. You were just as unwilling to see him hurt as he was to see anyone hurt. There was no way in hell you’d be able to sit a fight out and risk the man you loved (oh so very secretly and silently mind you) get hurt because of it. 

“Alright… But you’re staying behind me,” Dean sighed after a moment. Clearly sensing the fight brewing as he backed off quite easily. Plus, even the infuriatingly protective hunter had to agree that 3 against 5 were still better odds than 2 against 5. No matter how much he wanted to go in, guns blazing, alone to keep his little brother and you out of harm’s way.

“Ok, so… We’ll head in the front, while Sammy goes around back?” You clarified; happy he’d dropped the fight for once. And doubly happy since you’d be right there by his side. Able to protect him and the heart you’d silently slipped him without him noticing. 

“Yeah, after, we paint some Devil’s Traps outside. Give ‘em nowhere to run,” Dean’s voice was all business again as he revved the engine, green eyes hard as you sped down the old country roads. Straightening in your own seat, you felt the adrenaline start coursing through you. It was show time, and you were planning on kicking some serious demon ass. 

--- 

“Nice place they’ve got here…” Raising an eyebrow, you kept your eyes on the dilapidated farmhouse through the trees as you stepped out of the car, hidden just out of view from the demon hideout. Unable to stop the disgusted shudder that crawled up your spine as snapshots from some of the goriest movies you knew flashed in front of your eyes.

It looked like something from a classic horror movie. You could nearly hear the Deliverance banjo music in the background as your eyes scanned the rickety porch and rotting wood. It was the kind of place you’d normally scream at the characters on the screen to run away from. Not in fear, but in pure exasperation. After all, nothing good was ever found in old abandoned farmhouses. The demons in the one in front of you just helped prove your point. 

Following Dean to the back of the car, you kept your angel blade by your side as you busied yourself stocking up on holy water and enough iron to make Tony Stark jealous. Taking extra care to ensure everything was safely strapped to your body, and that none of the ‘pointier’ weapons would end up turning on you if you took a tumble. Though you knew you’d most likely just end up sticking to good ol’ reliable and angelic in your hand. The silver white blade thumping against your thigh matched your heartbeat. Adrenaline already coursing pleasurably through your veins from the thought of the upcoming fight.

You needed action, and you needed it fast. The nearly uncomfortable buzz in your body seemed to be reacting violently to the evil in the air, culminating in an itch in your bones that nothing but gunpowder and steel could scratch. So, as you finished building your wearable arsenal of guns, knives and all things pain-inducing, you glanced over at Dean, lips parted to get the show on the road. However, Dean wasn’t moving next to you. 

The gun he’d picked up first still heavy in his palm as he stood frozen, watching you. Worry making the green summer days in his eyes cloud over like a sudden midday storm. The barely hidden pain in them squeezing at your heart as you readied yourself for words you knew would come. 

“You don’t have to…”

“Yes, I do Dean,” You sighed, unwilling to even let him finish his usual attempt at making you sit the hunt out. The same frustrating song and dance as always, yet you couldn’t help the way your heart followed the rhythm of it. The kind, protective streak that made the hunter ask you that same question every time you set out to fight another monster was, after all, part of why you loved him. 

Always so willing to carry every burden on his own shoulders, yet hiding that small, fragile part of himself that showed how everyone’s burdens were taking their toll. Keeping his own pain, his own burdens, hidden until he was alone in the bunker. Or at least, until he thought he was alone. You’d caught him more than once. Tired green eyes squeezed shut as he rested his head in his hands, gasping for breath through the onslaught of guilt and hurt. Strong shoulders shaking with unshed tears and the weight of the blame he placed on them. 

He wanted to keep you safe. Not just you, but the whole god damned world. Still, he was just one man. One soldier in a war that had been raging since the beginning of time itself and he never put down his weapon. Always ready to jump back into the fray. Even as his armour cracked, and his blade dulled. Even as he collapsed under the weight of it all.

The family business; his life since childhood had forced him to hide away his fears as weaknesses. Shaping himself into a shield instead, as he readily threw himself into harm’s way if he believed it could save someone else. Dean Winchester lived like he had a death wish, even though he feared the unknown darkness that was waiting on the other side. Always a little too ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good. 

Never seeing that he was greater than the sum of his sins. That he was good. 

Never willing to believe that the world was a better place with him in it. Though to you it was. Hell… Without him in it, the world would just be a black and white imitation of its formerly vibrant self.

Because you knew the truth that he spent every waking moment trying to hide from the greedy world that just kept demanding more of its one-man army. That behind the soldier, there was a man with a big heart and a need to be loved. A young boy who was denied a childhood. A broken big brother that always blamed himself for pulling Sammy back into the life. A friend willing to sacrifice anything just to see you smile. And, a beautiful soul, who hurt and mourned deeper than anyone else whenever you failed to save someone. 

Dean Winchester was a complex man.

He wasn’t just a hunter, brother, friend or secret keeper of your heart. Dean was a heartrendingly beautiful story with untold depths, a full unexplored universe. With all the nuances and colours that painted a picture of his painful history in scars, heartbreaks and timid smiles that he felt guilty for letting slip. 

A story made up of all the stifled emotions and locked in screams, that easily brought those who knew him to tears. Peppered with small verses of agonisingly fragile hope and the long forgotten innocence of a childhood he never got to have. Hidden and hard to decipher among the many self-deprecating jokes and harsh rejections, yet not lost to you as it was to many others who saw the man as unfeeling and cold. Dean just had to grow up a little faster than most, it didn’t make him a monster, it didn’t make him any less human.

And you didn’t want to add new bruised and battered sentences to that story. You never wanted to be the reason for him to ever get hurt. So, as always, you told him the same thing you’d repeated for an immeasurable number of former hunts. Speaking into the quiet air around you as you grabbed one of the spray cans from the trunk.

“We’re in this together Dean. I’ve got your back, you’ve got mine. Forever,” 

--- 

Straightening back up with a stifled groan you admired your work. 

If all else failed and hunting didn’t work out, maybe you could turn to street art. The Devil’s Trap was expertly painted, if you’d say so yourself. Which you did. Albeit silently and in your own head, as to not alert the demons in the farmhouse to the right of you. 

The trap you’d been assigned was the closest to the Impala, another attempt from Dean at keeping you safe. Yet, it was also the most likely escape route if the demons turned cowards and tried to run for the hills. 

The sliding door just a few steps away to your right was not a planned entry point. So, they’d be most likely to try and use it to scutter away like the scared little black-eyed rats they were if it came down to that. So, your work had to be perfect. Allowing yourself just one more careful look over the symbols, you stepped back. Turning on light feet to carefully, and silently, re-join Dean by the front door. 

The worry in green eyes had once more been replaced by steely determination once you made it back to the front of the farmhouse. Squaring his jaw, he watched you quietly jog up to him before just as soundlessly signalling for Sam to start moving towards the back door with a raised hand and to fingers pointed down the path around the house. His own eyes moving to lock onto the front door, weapon at the ready while he relayed the wordless orders. Missing the small nod from Sam as the younger hunter stayed crouched and quiet, moving before Dean’s hand even had time to straighten out and silently relay his next orders.

Lifting his hand to you, you frowned at the straight palm facing you. He was asking you to wait outside for his signal. To let him walk in through the front door first and act like your shield in case something went wrong. 

Looking at him you gritted your teeth to keep the angry whisper at bay. Gripping your angel blade a little harder, you chose to instead just silently shake your head at him in protest. Catching his eye as he glanced away from the door to make sure you caught the order you tried to silently plead with him. But this time he wasn’t backing down.

His own wordless reply was just a repeat of the single hand gesture that was supposed to be your command and role in the coming battle. Green eyes leaving yours to cut off every silent argument you had as he kept his shoulders tense and jaw squared. 

Your stubborn hunter wasn’t going to let you argue this time as he slowly but surely started moving forward, towards the door. Leaving you standing in the gravel, fuming silently.

—

Make your choice below to move the story along:

What do you do?

[Follow him in] or [Wait outside]

—

Confused or New to Choices? Start Here Choices is an interactive Supernatural choose your own adventure story where you pick your Winchester brother and go on a hunt for one of 8 different endings in total. Four for Sam and four for Dean (2 happy and 2 bad endings per brother). Go to the intro to start your story!

—

[konglindorm]

The Missing Half

So if you’ve been around for a while, you’ve probably heard me talking about Prince Lindworm, and not just recently, as I prepare to release my book. I’ve been obsessed with this story for a long time, I’ve written several blog posts and essays about it, and it’s even the source of my username on many websites—konglindorm.

But today, I’m going to talk about something new: the second half of the story.

I honestly didn’t know until very recently that this story did not end with the lindworm being transformed and everyone living happily ever after. I’ve been working for a long time on my own translation of the story, from a 100+ year old Danish book, and last month I finally reached the end of it.

And then saw that there were three more pages.

Now, I’m preparing to publish my first novel, and I don’t have the time or the energy to translate another three pages. But I did a quick read-through, enough to get the basic idea, and I did some more research. Then I ran it through Google translate, which produced something that’s…pretty rough, but it’s useful to having something in English to glance back at as I work on this post.

So it’s not relevant to my retelling at all, and it’s actually a really common fairy tale type that I’ve encountered many times before, but I’m really excited about this. Quick recap, before we start: Barren queen wants baby. Queen is instructed to eat one flower if she wants a son, another if she wants a daughter, but not, under any circumstances, both. Queen eats both. Queen gives birth to lindworm. Lindworm eventually demands bride. Eats her. Demands second bride. Eats her. Demands third bride, third bride does some really weird stuff that somehow turns him into a human. Great rejoicing, etc., etc.

Now on to part two. I’m gonna be honest; some really weird stuff happens here. Which shouldn’t be surprising, coming from the same fairy tale that brought us “To turn a snake into a man, make him molt ten times, dip some whips in lye, whip him a bunch, and dunk him in a tub of milk.” My understanding of the story is hindered somewhat by lack of a complete and accurate English translation, but it looks like at some point our girl helps break the spells on two other enchanted princes by feeding them her breast milk? It’s, um. It’s something, and something I’ll need to fully translate eventually to understand better. I think I’m missing a fair amount of context and nuance.

(Between the two halves, I ‘m thinking I need to do a lot of research on the healing properties of milk in folklore. Is that a thing? Does it come up elsewhere? This story is Danish; anyone from Denmark know if there’s some cultural element to this or something?)

But for now we’re going to focus on the main thing, the basic plot of the second half.

Our girl gets pregnant. Lindworm and his dad go off to war, leaving pregnant girl with Lindworm’s mother the queen. Now, normally, that would cause some trouble in the fairy tale world, because usually, old queens are not fond of their daughters-in-law, and often try to frame them for horrible crimes.

But not our queen. She gave birth to a monster. Her only heir was a dragon, and he was eating people. Then our girl came along and turned him into an upstanding member of human society. This queen loves her daughter-in-law. So we need a different bad guy.

Our girl gives birth to twins. She sends a letter to the lindworm, letting him know. Normally, in this story type, the queen swaps it out with a letter saying she gave birth to something else, but not our queen, so that role is filled by the Red Knight. No information on who this dude is, what he has against our characters, or why it’s his job to run letters back and forth between the palace and the war zone.

He gets rid of the letter saying our girl had twins, replaces it with a letter saying she had puppies. Lindworm gets the letter, thinks, “well, that’s super weird, but who am I to judge, my mom didn’t give birth to a human either.” Sends back a letter saying, “Okay, we’ll sort that all out when I get home.”

Red Knight was apparently hoping for a less go-with-the-flow type answer, because he replaces that letter with one telling the queen to set our girl and her babies on fire.

The queen gets the letter, and I guess she’s probably thinking that maybe the transformation didn’t quite work after all, maybe her son still has some monster in him, because what the heck, dude? I’m not burning my grandbabies.

So she doesn’t know when the lindworm is coming home, and she’s afraid of what he’ll do to his family when he does; she sets our girl up with some supplies and sends her and the babies out into the world where they’ll be safe.

(This is when she turns a couple birds into princes by nursing them, and apparently hangs out with them in their palace for quite some time. Not clear on the nature of their relationships, a little concerned, will update you guys someday when I’ve sorted it all out; if anyone’s read this entire story in Danish and fully understands it, or if you’ve encountered a complete English translation, please do let me know!)

Lindworm comes home, looking for his wife. Queen is pissed at her son. Son isn’t sure what she’s so upset about; he thought he was pretty chill about the whole gave-birth-to-puppies thing. Queen isn’t sure what puppies have to do with anything, but setting your family on fire is in no way chill. They argue for a while, eventually get to the bottom of things, Red Knight is in big, big trouble. Lindworm goes looking for his wife and kids. Eventually finds them hanging out with these two other princes.

This is where Google translate really breaks down on me, and things just make less and less sense, and I can’t go down to the source material with my Danish-English dictionary and sort it out right now; I’m on a bit of a tight schedule. But it’s looking like the Lindworm and the two other princes sort of fight over our girl, all three of them drink her milk (it seems like it’s been long enough that she shouldn’t be producing milk anymore; it also seems like these two dudes are drinking her milk regularly? I am so concerned about so many things.)

Somehow the conflict is resolved, the other two princes marry other princesses, and our girl and the twins go home with the lindworm.

Now, there’s a lot to unpack here, obviously, and a lot of it is going to have to wait until another time. It is nice to know that King Lindorm is consistently just absolutely bizarre through both halves.

But what I really, really like about the second half is that some new dude is our bad guy, and the queen is fully and firmly on our heroine’s side.

Before I made any effort at even the crappiest translation of the second half, I did some research on what it was about. And I was so concerned about it as soon as I found out what story type it was, because some sort of mother figure is almost always the bad guy. (Shout out to the Grimms for not doing that in “The Girl Without Hands,” too.) And it just seemed really awful that the queen would turn around and try to sabotage our girl after she fixed the lindworm. So I was really relieved to find the Red Knight in my first quick skim-through.

I’m just really impressed with Grundtvig, Adjunct Levisen, and Maren Mathisdatter for deviating from the norm here.

(Another notable deviation, aside from “The Girl Without Hands,” listed above, is the French fairy tale “Bearskin,” by Marie-Madeleine de Lubert; I doubt it’s a coincidence that women were definitely involved in the telling/recording of 2 of these 3 stories where people are not out to get their daughters-in-law.)

Also, like. Can we just take a moment to appreciate the incredible stupidity of the Red Knight? The lindworm was born as a giant snake monster, and for some reason Red thinks he’ll be shocked and horrified that his children were born as puppies? The lindworm is pretty much the only person in the world who has no right to be upset by that. He, of all people, should know that these things just happen sometimes, and they’re totally fixable, though not, perhaps, without bloodshed.

(Also, also. As I said above, I don’t know who the Red Knight is or what he has against our characters. It’s possible that the text does tell us and it just didn’t come across in my incredibly quick and crappy translation. But my theory is that he’s somehow connected to one of our two dead and eaten princesses. In which case he’s entitled to be upset, even if he’s handling it poorly.)

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