#and just how much their kid will bend backwards to come up with any excuses for what theyve done to them is fun

[dairyfreenugget]

(Alt text under read more)

I think "one or more of them is in danger or almost fucking dies, in the process discovering their child's impurity, and then after a lot of emotional turmoil they just pass the fuck out the second they're safe and calm again thanks to the awful, exhausting day they've had" is a scenario I write weirdly often for this messy as hell family

Anyway. Family cuddles. My babygirl is exhausted and deserves to be held for once

ID start: A black and white doodle of the Pale King, White Lady, and Pure Vessel from Hollow Knight as humans. The three of them are covered in bruises and scratches. They're sleeping in a pile of blankets with the Pure Vessel tucked in between their parents, with only their face showing. The Pale King is hugging them with both sets of his arms, his face buried in their hair, while the White Lady lays beside them with her arm drapped over the both of them and roots coiling around them. End ID.

[invested-in-your-future]

do you think some rwby characters have been unfortunately unitentionally turned to mary sues/gary stus

Jaune. Jaune. Jaune.

Perfectly describes Jaune and I don't even know if unintentionally.

We started with an okay set-up - a screw up with all the wrong ideas about "being heroic" and all the insecurities about his masculinity learning to be his own person and learning to express himself is actually a pretty strong starter premise for a character. But at some point that turned into "a burdened man learning to be the HERO through SUFFERING and DYING WOMEN as everyone gets to understand his PAIN and how much he DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS"

The writers kind of...forgot that he isn't the protagonist and just a side-character? And then kind of gave him ALL the screentime and ALL the plotlines and ALL the importance.

SOMEHOW Jaune feels like both a self-insert OC, Author's Pet AND yet somehow also blank slate at the same time.

As far as Fanfic OC aspect goes, Narrative will ALWAYS find an excuse of just WHY Jaune should absolutely be involved in something. It's almost like plot can't be allowed to progress with him. There's a "slight"(understatement) change in how he is written after the first three Volumes in that the narrative intent is to frame him as the inspiring one, the heroic one, the one that comes up with various ideas and the one that is the "heart" of the story. Ironically that's also pretty common with fanfic OC self-inserts being added, as the first thing a person usually does is to try to find a reason on just why the character matters and why the character sticks with the "cool kids(original protagonists)". Maybe the protagonists have an issue, but the OC is there to come up with a solution?! Maybe the OC had a very sad past that he shares with the protagonists showing how much the whole situation thematically is about him too?! Maybe the OC has a History with one of enemies that makes them motivated to defeat them (so what if often the fanfic OC's "history/motivations" ends up overlapping with actual story protagonist's reasons to want to fight the said antagonist) - pretty often involving a dead LI. Suddenly its the OC who is having this journey while the protagonists of the story are along for the ride and are affected by his growth and actions.

As far as Author's Pet goes, the narrative will ALWAYS self-congratulate itself on Jaune's growth and progress and how much of a bigger-person he is in spite of all his Flaws(tm) and in spite of how much he "didn't ask for this". Let's say it again, but bit more bluntly - In a story where the main message just now was that trauma and flaws don't matter and the protagonist is flawless and psychological trauma isn't real, the narrative will STILL self-congratulate itself over Jaune's growth over...his flaws and trauma?! There's pretty clear-cut subconscious element to the character writing too as Jaune is the inexperienced youngster who is thrust into the role of leadership and is reluctantly leading the narrative forward, in spite of everyone (especially villains!) telling him of how he is not a hero and how this is a hard path to walk. He is overwhelmed by the responsibility but perseveres through all the loss and tragedy to inspire others and all other characters recognize his growth and note how much stronger and mature he is now and how he's wise now. Even if we ignore the absolutely clear-cut (un)intentional metaphor of "just two inexperienced white guys writing this huuuuge show" as Miles would likely put it, There's an intent behind the narrative to try to make him likeable. In fact there's more intent in trying to make JAUNE likeable than literally any other character in the story including the ACTUAL protagonists. The narrative DESPERATELY wants the audience to see him as the "heart of the story". The story by all means shouldn't be about Jaune or relating to Jaune or telling us how Jaune feels but the narrative absolutely bends over backwards to make it so. Which gets ESPECIALLY ridiculous when the writers try to find a reason to put Jaune together with the PROTAGONISTS in their Filler Character Development Goof Dimension.

Which leads to the blank slate part, because since narrative is trying extra hard to make the audience relate to Jaune's "just a normal guy" status, intentionally or unintentionally, the character does fit the "audience self insert" idea too - Jaune is written as non-descript enough for the audience to self-insert into him ( and the show actually manages to make him MORE non-descript in terms of appearance somehow), he is surrounded by all these larger than life characters (most of them women) telling him how much he has grown and travelling with him. Even villains(most of them women) focus on him and he gets to save others and tell others how much its all about him and his emotions and struggle. Sure there's trauma (that's fine because people inserting can just ignore it, like they always do), but there's also no lasting negative consequences for his actions so the audience doesn't feel bad about relating to him too much. Sure the premise started with him having flaws but "he changed" and there's no real effort to examine the consequences or meaning behind his actions or character tropes. If one didn't say the name of the actual show, the whole set up would be pretty close to a cheap light novel premise.

The sad part is I genuinely couldn't tell you if all of that is the writers of MilesWBY being THAT self-indulgent intentionally or if parts of it are just an unintentional result of bad writing.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Worldbuilding Astronomy crash course

There is a general rule about worldbuilding before we begin: The more you deviate from what people know, the more you are required to spend time explaining or showing the difference and then coming up with plausible handwavium for it.

For the diverse writers out there: No, that does not include you having to explain what an oni is. Or bend over backwards on explaining queer qualifying. These are things people can look up on the internet in a library or ask. 

But it does apply to things you “make up”.

The second rule I have to say is “If you’re going to change the rules, understand what the current rules are.” Which means if you plan to change the very nature of astrophysics well, you better know your astrophysics well or have access to someone who does. You don’t want any excuse for any reader to be pulled out of the story.

That said, I did take a 101 Astronomy class and took extra notes specifically for worldbuilding purposes. All of the itchy things that you wish you knew I have a sense of.

So following the rule about largest to smallest unit:

Universe- Changing the mechanics of the universe is usually not recommended because you need to know a ton of information in order to do this, but if you are going to do it, your best bets are: Physics, Astrophysics, string theory and quantum theory. Also Einstein and reading all of Stephen Hawkings works will help. lol I got a crash course about this when I was 7-9 because my father was reading Stephen Hawking’s book, so was trying to spend time getting us to understand various theories of the universe. (I likewise made a protag that was about my age when I was learning it, and people didn’t believe a child could understand it--but then I exist. I’m not a particular genius or anything, just was a kid who had a parent who was reading Stephen Hawking.)

BTW, our universe is expanding. There is no center. You are literally at the center of the universe. It’ll peter out into nothingness according to the last theories. (The other theories were, it expands, then collapses, ah, deja vu all over again, or that it is shrinking. The expanding until it collapses into nothing won. Kinda depressing.)

My Astronomy prof, in particular, was against this sort of tinkering and string theory in general. But if you understand theory of relativity so well you think you can talk about the flaws and how time machines can’t travel to the past, then go for it.

Galaxy

My Astronomy prof warned that other galaxies aren’t well known, so knowing how they act in terms of physics, etc isn’t something to tinker with much. We only know about the closest one in any sort of any kind of remote detail (though this is not much). Galaxies do collapse on each other and combine, though.

Solar System

The thing is that strictly speaking, much like Swiftly Tilting Planet (Madeline L’Engle), you don’t need a Solar System. BUT, per the above rule, if it’s not a Solar System, you’ll have to spend a fair amount of time on it.

Despite this, I would encourage you to look up warm moons like on Jupiter (Europa), and also wandering planets. There’s so many cool plot bunnies off of these two things. Yes, Moons like Endor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_planet

The majority of planets are probably more like desert planets, though keep in mind not all deserts are warm. Mars is cold and a desert planet. (Also tundras are technically deserts)

Also, further away from the sun==Gas Giants like Jupiter. Closer to the sun, more likely you’re going to get fiery hellscapes like Venus/Mercury with less mass.

So, if you do go for an Earth-like planet you need to know 3 basic things to feed to the reader:

- The class of star the planet is orbiting.

O, B, A, F, G, K and M are the ones that your Astronomy prof asks you to memorize, but there are also L class stars.

https://www.astronomytrek.com/list-of-different-star-types/

https://www.atnf.csiro.au/outreach/education/senior/astrophysics/spectral_class.html

The sun for reference is growing in size and will wipe us out. The sun is a G2V.

L, for the Science Fiction fans would be fun to play with.

The majority of the Fantasy people are going to go for G.

There are solar systems (as Stephen Hawking pointed out) where there are 2 suns: 

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/resources/97/orbiting-in-the-habitable-zone-of-two-suns/

But they are on a course to wipe one another out.

Our universe is weird and wonderful enough.

- The Goldilocks zone.

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/resources/323/goldilocks-zone/

- The orbit of the planet.

The orbit of the planet is played with in Game of Thrones and the Pern series.

There are some minor rules about the orbit of planets, such that it is always an ellipse of some sort, but you can also look at how Uranus and Neptune switch and how the gravity of planets might affect each other. They also occasionally crash into each other: Earth itself likely crashed with another planet.

The class of planet is NOT the most important thing. The more important information you need is how much is the angle deviating from Earth’s angle. And keep in mind that the angle of the planet can change over time--as with Earth. This is because the angle of the planet will directly affect the climate system. The more severe the angle, the more severe the weather. (Uranus is on its side.)

The other 2 cool rules I learned is that if you planet has native life, the planet needs to have likely 

1: Crashed into another planet. 

2. Had a sun that blew up once or absorbed another sun.

This is because the more complex elements, like gold, etc that are needed to make life possible in the first place? You need a sun to blow up once to get there. We are literally made of star stuff and will return to being star stuff. This is what that means.

And if people were really good at mining burned out stars, then gold’s value would plummet drastically. (Does that mean you can make up metals, etc... maybe. But talking about how you have 2000 worth of gold bullion in space is nothing.)

Planet/Moon

So you’ve settled on a celestial body... what’s next? You’re down to the planet level. You need: 

Atmosphere make up. (To be clear our atmosphere is mostly Nitrogen.)

Ozone layer y/n? (Or somewhere in between...)

Water percentages?

Light cycle?

Angle of the planet/celestial body relative to Earth (if making Earth-like planet/Moon)

Indigenous fauna and flora y/n?

Here, I’d also build the wind/water currents. If the planet has a moon, then the moon will create the waves, etc. You need a round planet for that. Wind runs along the same currents as water. (The major ones). So theoretically, if you put a boat out on the Gulf stream, you should end up in Europe somewhere. So with a desert planet, you need to figure out the wind system. The Wind/water currents will help you figure out trade later.

Remember, the rule is, the more you deviate from an Earth-like planet, the more you have to explain the anomalies.

BUT I WANT A FLAT PLANET

My Astronomy professor was STRONGLY against this, even as a theoretical model, with a big frowny face, citing problems such as, and not limited to: 

- Currents would not work (this got to Tolkien, BTW, later. Tolkien was a keen Science lover, but he wrote several treaties on how he messed up by making Middle Earth flat and wished it was round and tried to *fix* it.), 

- Seasons would not occur at all. (Say goodbye to Europe or such climates.)

- The weather would be far more severe.

- There would be no biomes to work with.

- There is NO way you could get a plausible atmosphere with this model.

- The physics in forming a planet like this doesn’t work out.

If you’re picturing a White People Utopia--you’re *cough* flat out wrong. If you’re picturing anything like CS Lewis’s (who probably is the culprit that got Tolkien into the mess he did) Narnia, you’ll have to to a TON of handwavium to even get close to making it work. And you’ll have to know geography and physics from the *cough* ground up. (Also my geography prof who worked specifically with water systems pulled a face like he’d be out of work if that happened.)

My Geography Prof was like it’ll collapse very soon and won’t be able to support life.

Your planet is on the verge of dying without a water system. You’ll have to pull something out of your butt to get this to work. (Also, why Tolkien was crying near the end of his life trying to fix this and trying to include more plausibility into his worldbuilding.) Avoid the problems that plagued Tolkien?

Yeah, you have a round planet, you require PoCs, but not white people--but we’ll cover that in the biology part. You have a flat planet, you have to give up agriculture (and its dying fast because there is no way you can sail place to place--where is the wind system?)

So these should give you the basics.

BTW, if you would like to add things I missed by reblogging, go ahead, but be sure to have your sources lined up from CREDIBLE sources, say like NASA, Science Direct and reputable places with peer reviews and make sure you actually understand the studies being cited. Thanks. (I do fact check and I dislike having to correct people who don’t know their stuff because it’s messy.)

The next in the series, the Physical Geography and Map Making Crash course is here: https://www.kimyoonmiauthor.com/post/704668966231179264/worldbuilding-physical-geography-and-map-making

[psychic-refugee]

This has some references to Ch. 10, so go read before you read this!

I have such a hatred for Kinbott. I really felt like she gave no consideration for her Outcast patient’s unique needs.

I especially did not like her seeing Xavier in the privacy of her own car. That is such an ethics issue! She has to be getting paid a premium to treat him in secret (this is all on top that there is doctor-patient confidentiality already), otherwise no real therapist would risk any hint of impropriety with a patient. AN UNDERAGE patient.

I really hope they expand more on Xavier’s attack because I do feel like it’s much worse than the show was able to cover.

Especially since Tyler can be quoted as saying “He could have made it more difficult for me…” that to me says that Xavier could have sued or arrested if he pressed charges. This wasn’t some school yard fight, it was a legit attack that could have had real consequences. Tyler also implies that he has court ordered sessions with Kinbott as well.

My headcanon/theory is there is a 3-prong gaslighting attack on Xavier. His dad doesn’t want to deal with the bad press/aftereffects on his son’s mental health, so he works with Weems and Kinbott to “manage” Xavier.

Weems doesn’t want to anger the Normies because two of the attackers are sons of powerful men in town, the Mayor and the Sheriff. Both could make Outcasts lives much harder if provoked. I think Galpin would take the first convenient excuse to go hard on Nevermore. We continually see how Weems bends over backwards to placate Normies and ignores when they harm her students. Part of me kind of understands if Outcasts have been historically oppressed. She knows just how dangerous having Normie enemies are, perhaps she thinks she has to sacrifice one or two students for the safety of the majority. I don’t like it, but I could understand it.

We also know she’s aware that the “bear” attacks are probably done by an Outcast, possibly one of her students. She goes out of her way to also gaslight Wednesday to cover up the murder. We don’t know what she’s doing to figure out what the monster is or how to stop it, but she does want to protect the school by fervently denying it could be an Outcast.

Weem’s motivation and priority has always been to protect the school.

I am also of the belief that most things boil down to money. I don’t really see another motivation, other than pure incompetence, for Kinbott to dismiss Wednesday’s testimony right off the bat. Like, Outcasts are known and open to the world as having powers.

Wednesday doesn’t have a history of attention seeking, only of trying to run away and some legit sociopathic tendencies.

Both of these together make me think it’s weird that Kinbott would just dismiss the idea of a monster and that Rowan was dead. A good therapist would not have just right off the bat called her a liar. If she really thought Wednesday was lying, I think she would have asked questions about the situation to point out holes in her story and then led her to admit on her own either her mind was playing tricks on her or to catch her in a lie.

The fact that Kinbott didn’t even entertain that Wednesday could be telling the truth, makes me question her motives.

This to me opens the possibility of a conspiracy between Weems and Kinbott to keep Outcasts under control, with Kinbott more or less grooming these kids to think that certain things are just in their head. Kinbott is used to calm and gaslight the “troubled” Outcasts in return for seeing them at a premium.

Another reason I think it’s a conspiracy is that they waste so much time sending Outcast kids to Kinbott, we’re talking wasting almost an hour round trip per session. This is on top of the hour long session for students. That’s a lot of time to dedicate to non-school related issues. I would have thought that the school would find it more cost and time effective to simply hire an in-house therapist or have Kinbott come to them and give her space to treat the students at Nevermore. It’d be much more efficient to schedule Kinbott at Nevermore on certain days and she sees the students throughout. Then does days in town for her Normie patients.

The maths ain’t mathing, as they say.

I used her “whimsy-dermy” hobby (the whimsical taxidermy dioramas she creates for Uriah’s Heap) as a front to launder money. I presume that she doesn’t want to leave a trail of her charging Outcasts more, or at all in some cases, so she has to explain where the money came from to the IRS if she wants to use it.

I think the whimsy-dermy was supposed to show that she was “weird and quirky” in her own way and not so different than Outcasts. But I like a tax fraud scheme better.

I think the OAA is rather ingenious from a legal standpoint. lol I think in a world that is aware of Outcasts, then there is legislation to protect and accommodate them, if they have any kind of equal standing in the States.

I also like showcasing the different revenge methods of the twins. Wednesday is very about physical pain. Sending mousetraps, releasing carnivorous fish. Freya is about sending you to paperwork and litigation hell. Kinbott could very easily see her next decade fighting in the legal system (including appeals), jail time, and six figures of attorney fees.

As someone who has dealt with attorney fees and how slow the government works, I’d rather try my luck with fighting piranhas. 

[your-favorite-roommate]

OC Interview: Mickey and Abraham

based off of [this] amazing template by @marnie-mixs-meteors (please let me know if you want me to untag)

What would you put on your burger? 

Mickey: I’m a sucker for any good burger with an egg on it

Mickey: What?

Abraham: I- what?

Abraham: Why would you…ruin a perfectly good burger?

Mickey: Alright I know what we’re eating tonight.

Abraham: NO anyway, I like… I don’t know, normal stuff. Pickles?

Mickey: He’s my designated pickle eater.

Abraham: If it makes you happy, sure.

How much junk food do you eat? Has it affected your health? 

Abraham: Oh god, the amount of junk food Mickey eats is ridiculous!

Mickey: You say that as if you’re any better…

Abraham: Hey, I didn’t grow up on Earth, so I need to catch up on all the foods I never got to eat. Besides, I’m your guardian angel. I’ve got to make sure you stay alive, and you can’t exactly do that with cotton candy stuffing your arteries.

Mickey: Oh so that makes it okay for you, though?

How good are you at sharing? How do you share something if there's not enough supply? 

Abraham: Obviously!

Abraham: Mickey has the kindest heart of any creature I’ve ever met, hands down. And I know so many angels! But Mickey would bend over backwards to give everything to anyone around him.

Mickey: …Are you just saying that because you’ve got to keep up the perfect angel image?

Abraham: Oh, god no. That’s long gone. But I’m supposed to be taking care of you, and you’ve only taken care of me since day one. You gave me your spare bedroom and put up with my bullshit when I was at my lowest, and have been helping me ever since. 

Where do you work? How much are you paid, and would you prefer a different job? Why? 

Mickey: I have a job at the local library, I’ve been there for a couple years. It’s minimum wage, but I don’t mind cuz I enjoy the work I do.

Abraham: Well, usually you do...

Mickey: Obviously there’s awful customers everywhere. Bitchy moms who are so confused as to why I can’t loan a book out to their kid when we don’t even have the book in our system. But for the most part, everyone’s wonderful.

Abraham: People could stand to be nicer, though… I don’t see why I can’t just stay with you, make sure people are being nice.

Mickey: Because you’d scare them by pretending to knock them out over my shoulder! Besides, we need the extra income from the coffee shop.

Abraham: I work part-time at the coffee shop in the library and it’s alright. The owners are pretty nice, the pay is kinda garbage but I make tips, so that helps. But I’ll be honest, some customers are not helping my opinion of them when they come in looking for trouble. 

Mickey: They’re probably tired, you do serve coffee after all…

Abraham: No excuse to be yelling at service workers at 8am.

What's your favorite flavor of edible thing (e.g., strawberry)? 

Abraham: Vanilla, Mickey thinks it’s a basic bitch choice, but I like it.

Mickey: I never said that! I just think that salted caramel is better, that’s all.

How do you compose yourself in stressful situations? 

Abraham: Is “I don’t” an answer?

Mickey: You know, you’d think for someone whose purpose is to protect others, you’d be better at keeping your cool in situations.

Abraham: I must’ve missed that class in school.

Mickey: That’s alright, I’ve got enough cool for both of us.

Abraham: God help us if you’re the cool one in this relationship…

What is your biggest flaw? How do you deal with it? Do you deal with it? 

Abraham: Ha, bold of you to assume I have flaws!

Abraham: Alright you didn’t have to say that, dude. 

Mickey: …Yeah alright, Mr “you could never comprehend what I’m going through”

Mickey: Don’t “dude” me, bro!

Abraham: Don’t “bro” me, dude! In my defense, that conversation we had was really eye-opening, and I’ve been working on my selfish tendencies a lot since then. 

Mickey: Wait, what’s my biggest flaw…. 

Abraham: Probably that you suck dick or something.

Mickey: You’re right, that must be it.

Abraham: And you deal with it by suc-

Mickey: And on to the next question!

Do you prefer things simple or extravagant? 

Mickey: I prefer simple things, extravagant stuff is just too much usually.

Abraham: I’m gonna have to agree. I always thought I wanted big grand things, but I think that’s just what my uncle wanted for me. I’m happier with the smaller stuff in life.

How do you celebrate your birthday? With who, and where? 

Abraham: Angels actually don’t have birthdays, or at least they’re not kept track of like humans. 

Mickey: Which I still think is so weird…

Abraham: I think I had been living with Mickey for a month already before he asked. So he took it upon himself to come up with my birthday for me.

Mickey: It’s important to me! What kind of awful friend would I be if I didn’t know your birthday? 

Abraham: Not an awful friend, on account of I don’t even have a birthday to know!

Mickey: Anyway, my birthday is April 30th, and Abraham’s honorary birthday is January 29th.

Abraham: Isn’t that….

Mickey: The day you fell from the sky? Yeah, that was intentional.

Abraham: How have I never noticed that before…

How does your partner change as you get to know them? 

Mickey: Delicious character development in this one.

Abraham: Gross, don’t ever say that again.

Mickey: Scrumptious.

Abraham: Ew.

Mickey: Abraham’s gotten a lot more accustomed to life here, and also has just become a more adjusted person living in the real world.

Abraham: Just because I can’t go back home doesn’t mean it’s not real….

Mickey: Hmm, I'm gonna need some proof there.

Abraham: Mickey hasn’t changed much, except that he feels more outgoing now. Maybe I just didn’t see this side of him though.

Mickey: No, you’re right. I was definitely way more reserved before you came crashing into my life like a bull in a china shop. For as much chaos as you’ve caused me, it’s been good chaos.

Abraham: Ew don’t be sweet about it, go back to your gross adjectives. 

If you had to describe your partner using flavors, how would you (e.g., 'they're very sweet')? 

Abraham: …Vanilla.

Mickey: I can’t tell if you mean that you love me like you love vanilla, or that you think I’m a basic bitch.

Abraham: Who’s to say!

Mickey: Alright then, well I think he’s like a sour patch kid.

Abraham: Salty, sweet, gone?

Mickey: Wrong commercial.

What's the longest journey you have gone on? What was it for? Did you succeed? 

Abraham: I mean, leaving my home and coming to Earth, though it didn’t feel like that long of a journey…

Mickey: Maybe the journey was the friends you made along the way.

Abraham: Maybe shut the fuck up.

What can't you ever quit? 

Abraham: I’ve been raised to protect a human, that is my life’s purpose; if I can’t protect my human, what good am I as a Guardian Angel? I must always stay vigilant, ready to protect Mickey at a moment’s notice.

Mickey: Alright all powerful guardian angel, where were you yesterday when I burned my hand on the toaster?

Abraham: I can’t protect against one’s own stupidity.

What would you like to receive for Valentine's Day/as a token of love? 

Mickey: A big old kiss!

Abraham: That’s so untrue, last time I tried to kiss you I thought you were gonna rip my lips off.

Mickey: Okay, maybe not at ass o’clock in the morning.

Abraham: What other time is there?

Abraham: I like cuddling, that’s all I want. Or comfy clothes.

Mickey: So many time…. Many other time….

Would you ever share food with someone? 

Mickey: What do you think I did when Abraham first moved in? You think I starved the guy?

Abraham: This is true, Mickey has never shared food in his life and I did in fact starve.

Mickey: Shut up, you ate so much of my food. You still eat so much of my food.

Abraham: Yeah, and I replenish it when I can!

Mickey: Getting me fresh coffee everyday doesn’t count as buying me food.

Abraham: What, you want me to stop?

Mickey: No! Please don’t take away my free coffee…

Expensive restaurants or cheap store-brand microwave meals? 

Mickey: Cheap microwave meals all the way!

Abraham: Hell yeah!

Mickey: And when we’re feeling bougie, we buy the branded shit too.

Abraham: Goodbye Kroger brand mac and cheese, hello Kraft!

Mickey: We don’t have the money for expensive restaurants, to be honest.

Abraham: Fanciest we get is Olive Garden. But by god are their breadsticks good… Who needs the expensive shit, honestly!

At what point does someone seem sickly sweet to you?

Abraham: Oh god, yeah no thanks. I don’t think I’ve met anyone like that so far? Maybe some of the angels I used to know, but I can’t hold it against them. 

Mickey: Anyone who acts fake, I guess? I’ve got a couple old coworkers who would pretend to be everyone’s friend just to shit talk them behind their back. I hated those girls…

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Day 129: Pangea

cw: mentions homophobic slurs

It was their day off.

Their one day when they didn't have to work and their five year old was at the muggle nursery school. They often cleaned and did laundry on days like these, but they always made a point of spending some quality time together. Harry had realized shortly after they'd adopted Cassie that it really hurt their relationship not to have time they set aside for just the two of them.

Today they were headed to get some ice cream and talking about the slumber party they were going to be hosting in a few days and all of the arrangements that had to be made when Harry's mobile started to ring.

Draco watched curiously as Harry pulled it out of his pocket, "Hello?"

"Yes, hi, is this Mr. Potter Malfoy?" a woman asked.

He glanced at Draco and put the phone on speaker, "Yes, this is Harry."

"Hi," the woman said again, "This is Linda in the school office. We're going to need you to come pick Cassie up."

"What? Why?" Draco asked before Harry could reply. "Is everything alright?"

"Sorry, I have you on speaker so my husband could hear you."

The woman chuckled and Draco looked ready to reach through the screen and strangle her. "Everything's fine. She just had a little disagreement with one of the other students and is pretty upset. The head mistress will have a chat with you when you get here."

"The head mistress!" Draco hissed.

Harry laid a hand on Draco's shoulder. "Thanks for calling us. We'll be right in." He hung up and braced himself for the inevitable.

(Read more below the cut)

"What happened?" Draco asked immediately.

He rolled his eyes and turned around to walk back to their house so they could drive to school, "You heard what I heard," he said. "I don't know any more than you."

"Yes but you went to Muggle primary school!" he protested, walking quicker. "You should have some idea-"

"I don't."

"Do you think it was accidental magic?" Draco asked.

He shook his head. "That was not the sound of a call about accidental magic."

"Then what do you think she was fight about?"

"Draco, there are a thousand things to fight about. Muggle children are just as unpredictable as wizarding children." He reached over and took Draco's hand, "She's only five, how much trouble could she be in?"

----------

When they arrived Cassie was over talking to a different adult and the headmistress waved them in.

She seemed happy enough so Harry let her be and followed the headmistress in, Draco all but vibrating with nervous energy behind him.

"Mr. and Mr. Potter-Malfoy, thank you for coming."

"Harry and Draco are fine," he said.

"What happened?" Draco asked quickly.

Harry glanced at him, "Sorry. We've just never been called in before. Is Cassie in trouble?"

"This afternoon, Cassie told a story to her classmates about how the continents got separated."

"Gaia," Draco nodded. "It's one of her favorites, she likes to hear about how life thrives no matter what."

Harry took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Right," Headmistress Blake replied, "and that's great. Storytelling improves communication skills and it's great for students to share like that."

"So why are we here?" Draco asked.

"Jacob told her that Gaia wasn't real, that the whole story was made up, and tried to tell her about Pangea."

"Pangea?" Harry asked incredulously. "How old is this kid?"

She chuckled, "His parents are geologists."

"Still!" Harry said, "That's pretty advanced for a five year old." Draco looked completely befuddled as though he had no idea what they were talking about. "But I still don't understand why we're here."

"I'm getting to it," she said. "She tried to tell him that it was just a story that her father told her."

Draco nodded, "Should we not tell her stories like that?" he asked, sounding panicked.

"Not at all," she said, giving him a warm smile in an obvious attempt to diffuse his anxiety. "But Jacob called you a liar and used a bit of derogatory language."

Harry's entire body froze, "Excuse me?" He'd been hoping that she'd be in Hogwarts by the time other kids were old enough to understand the implications of having two dads. It wasn't a big deal in the wizarding world, but it mattered in the muggle world still.

Headmistress Blake nodded, "She told him it wasn't nice to talk about people that way and insisted that Draco wasn't a liar. When Jacob doubled down on the slurs, she punched him."

"Good." Harry covered his mouth, "Sorry," he said quickly. "Sorry, it's just-"

"We have taught our daughter not to hit," Draco insisted, glaring at Harry. And while this was true, they had, it was only because Draco was already teaching her the words for jinxes that would be more effective. She was going to be a terror once she got her wand. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid that I don't understand what sorts of slurs you're referring to."

The headmistress rubbed her eyebrow uncomfortably, "He called you poofs and said that fags can't be trusted," she said and Draco's jaw dropped, his hand clenching Harry's so hard that Harry was afraid he'd need a healing spell cast when this was over. "Other students overheard and told Miss Murray after the fact."

"We taught her not to hit," he said, "But we've also taught her that it's important to stand up for what is right," Harry said. "It sounds like she tried to use her words first and then when that didn't work she used a different means available to her."

"But the next step should have been talking to her teacher, not punching another child."

Harry nodded, "I can understand why you'd-"

"Excuse me, Harry," his husband interrupted, "But I can't," Draco said bluntly. "And here's why; we are raising our daughter to be strong and independent because Salazar knows that women are not taken seriously in this world. Teaching her now that there is someone to help her when she is being verbally assaulted will not help her when she is grown."

"Mr. Potter-Malfoy, I understand what you're saying but-"

Draco shook his head, "With all due respect, there is no but. If her teacher didn't notice that another child was shouting bigoted slurs at her because she has two fathers then no one was coming to her rescue."

The headmistress squared her shoulders, "Cassie's being suspended for two weeks."

"What?" Draco spat.

"We cannot set a precedent that allows for violence to be the answer."

"And what is Jacob's punishment?" Draco demanded.

She blinked at him, "He's got a broken nose."

"Setting aside that his actions still deserve a punishment from a source of authority so he doesn't continue to grow into a bigoted prick, let's just say for the sake of argument," Draco said, voice sharp as nails, "that she'd gone over and told Miss Murray about what he'd said what would his punishment have been?"

"He would to apologize," she replied.

"What? Just said he was 'sorry'?" he asked incredulously. "That's it?"

She nodded, "Yes. He's only five."

He turned to look at Harry completely outraged, "This whole school can fuck off," Draco said, standing from his chair and pointing at Harry, "I told you this was a bad idea."

Harry winced, he had in fact said this was not a great plan, just not for this reason.

"We'll be taking our daughter home today and she will not be coming back," he said. "And we will be telling this story to anyone who will listen."

"Mr-" she started, looking taken aback, since Draco had always been the polite one of the two of them.

"Oh, don't even start with me," he growled. "I run a very successful design business and while I do not understand how most of the social media works, I have someone who I pay to do it and she and I have been friends for a long time. Get ready to lose any family that you have that has a conscience, you can become the place for all backwards bigots." He started toward the door and Harry stood up.

"We'll sue you for slander," she said.

He looked over at her, completely unimpressed, "It's only slander if it's not true."

"It'll be your word against ours," she replied.

A pale eyebrow rose, "Yes it will. Lucky for me that I've recorded this entire lovely exchange," he said, twirling a pen that the Weasleys sold at the joke shop that did just that. "Feel free to contact our solicitor about anything else."

And with that he swanned out of the office.

Harry stared at her for a long moment, "Maybe you should consider educating your parents and students." Then he followed Draco out.

Draco was already squatting next to Cassie, murmuring softly to her, "yes, well done, my darling," he said pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"He was really mean, papa," she murmured.

His husband nodded, "I know, love."

"Hey, bean," Harry said, ruffling Cassie's curls and bending over to kiss her temple. "Let's get out of here, yeah? Do you have all of your things?"

She held up her unicorn backpack and nodded.

Harry helped her get her backpack on and then they set off, each of them holding one of her hands.

Cassie chattered away about the rest of her day, not even mentioning her run in with Jacob again.

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

After they put Cassie to bed they came back downstairs and Harry collapsed onto Draco on the sofa, resting his head in his lap.

"Pansy says that story is spreading like wildfire."

"Really?" Harry asked.

Draco nodded.

"S'kinda sexy," he said.

Draco laughed, "Sorry?"

He shrugged a shoulder, "You getting all livid and protective. It was sexy."

His husband's fingers combed through his fringe, "I'll always fight for you, for her, and for us," he promised.

"I know," he replied. "You're a good man Draco Potter Malfoy."

"It's only going to get harder," Draco said.

"Maybe, but we'll look for a more inclusive nursery school-"

Draco shook his head, "I mean when she heads to Hogwarts."

"I don't think so. People don't care about a man marrying another man," he said.

"But they care about the savior marrying a death eater and then disappearing for almost a decade and a half." He sighed, "I just wanted her to start somewhere where my sins wouldn't burden her and here we ar-"

"Hey," Harry said, sitting up and stopping the words coming out of his mouth. "You are not a burden to her and our marriage isn't a sin that could ever burden her-"

"I didn't mean to imply that you-"

"Listen to me," Harry interrupted. "Draco, you are a good dad," he said as he cupped his cheeks in his palms. "You are a good husband and you are a good person. We are both lucky to have you."

"Harry," he murmured, eyes downcast.

"You are," he promised. "I love you and Cassie loves you. and we are so blessed to have you."

"I love you too," he said, "But this isn't the last bully-"

"I know," Harry assured. "And we'll always be here for her, yeah?

Draco took a deep breath before nodding. "Yes. You're right."

"Ooh," Harry replied, crawling over him and straddling his hips. "I love it when I get to be right."

His husband rolled his eyes, "Just kiss me already."

And of course Harry obliged him.

Life wasn't always easy or perfect but they always had each other and Cassie always had two dads who would go to the end of the earth for her.

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

Day 128: Snake | Day 130: Forfeit

[pushpinsheep]

Hopefully this puts things in greater perspective because some tourists just don’t get it and need to hear this. For those who are curious and looking to travel in the future I hope you find this is informative! :) We could all use more perspective on linguistics and traveling imho. I have made some of these mistakes in the past too. We can all learn to be better guests/tourists. This mindset people have that not only is it okay for tourists to exploit and mistreat local populations, but it’s something that should be encouraged is wrong. You’re not entitled to anything special as a tourist just because you have enough money to play around somewhere “exotic” for a few weeks. Regardless of where people travel to. As a guest in someone else’s home you should put more effort into not being a total asshat. You will have a better time and you might learn something cool along the way. I will mostly be using France as an example since I live here and have more insight, but everything I say applies outside of France as well. Note: This information only applies to tourists. Immigrants and refugees are a unique situation and thus face different challenges and have different needs. A tourist chooses where to go and has time (and money) to plan for their trip, which is often only a few weeks or days. Immigrants and refugees often don’t have that same luxury and remain in the country for far longer. (in many cases permanently) Moving to a country places a greater linguistic and cultural demand on an individual. Remember to check your privilege. tourism =/= immigration/asylum. A) English is not the only language in existence. It might be a widely spoken language, but it’s not the most widely spoken language (that honor goes to Chinese) nor is it the only lingua franca. Chinese, Hindu, Spanish, French, and Arabic are all widely spoken across multiple borders and where you are on the planet will obviously dictate which one of these people go with. If you expect that to be English because your sphere of the internet happens to put you in that bubble of “my language or bust” ignorance then like... that’s on you pal. Get with the times and stop assuming everyone should just speak English. English speakers are not the only tourists and English, though widely used, is not the only other language a person might need. I have a friend from Laos who speaks absolutely no English. He doesn’t need it and never has. (even now) He speaks Lao (the regional dialects can be as different as Thai is from Laotian btw), Chinese, a bit of Thai, and French because they still use a lot of French for business dealings there. (something I didn’t know ngl) Assuming he should just speak English because “everyone else does” is ignorant. It’s rude. It puts no thought into his situation. It’s entitled. He’s traveled to visit friends in England and he has an English phrase book. He doesn’t need a lot of English so like... the phrase book is absolutely perfect. Most of what he does in England is sight see and speak Chinese with his friends. Be more like my friend from Laos. B) Official languages may not be the only language a country speaks within its borders. Regional and native languages exist and expecting the locals to speak a 3rd language on top of all that is unbelievably entitled. France has a number of them. There are people who are born and raised in France who don’t speak French in their day to day life. (or at all) Basque, Breton, Occitan, Alsatian, Yiddish, Ladino, Arabic and a number of others are all spoken within French borders. Many are at risk of being permanently lost (that’s why our new regional language law is important btw) and as a result a greater emphasis is placed on preserving them as opposed to learning something new. Most people have to learn the official language as it’s the only language a lot of countries will accept for paperwork, but anything else is up to the individual and you can suck an egg if you don’t like that. (this also applies to immigrants and refugees btw) Heck there are places in the US where people don’t even speak English day to day! Some places actually speak French or Spanish. I heard more Spanish in my day to day life than I did English where I grew up in NC! (moved to Florida and Spanish exploded. loved it!) C) Borders are a thing. People working and living across borders exist and English is often not the language they chose to go with as a result. France borders Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, England, and Switzerland. People who share these borders often choose to go with these languages. English is in there, but please note it’s not the only one. D) Culturally speaking a country may not like [insert common language here] and as a result may refuse to speak it. That’s entirely their choice. If you don’t like that then don’t visit the country. It’s really that easy.  Colonialism is often a major factor at play in these situations. Respect that choice. You do not get a say in how people reclaim their identity. As for France? This might come as a shock to some people, but France doesn’t like England. I’m 100% certain these two places exist solely to punch each other in the nuts. (ball tap. an international past time) As a result getting English people to speak French or French people to speak English is about as easy as pulling your own teeth. I’ve been spit on for speaking English because people here just assume I’m from England or they hate “annoying Americans” and after seeing how y’all responded to the last post I made... yeah I totally get it now. Granted, that’s no excuse for someone being hostile, but it is something to keep in mind when you visit and applies to more than just France too. E) Retail workers and small shop owners don’t owe you shit. You have absolutely no right waltzing into a shop and demanding the staff speak your language (I don’t care how common it is) for the two weeks you’ve decided to play around in their home. Always ask them first. If they can’t or choose not to then tough luck. This is why a phrase book is important!

Retail workers and small shop owners get treated like shit enough. Some of y’all have never worked retail a day in your life and WOW does it show. Please respect retail workers and small shop owners. You don’t know what their day or life has been like. If they’re tired and don’t want to speak to you in a foreign language then that’s their right. I have had no issues using my phone or a phrase book to help communicate concepts when there is a language barrier. (and I fucking live in France. I’m not even visiting) Emergencies also happen and a phrase book or medical card in the native and/or official language is absolutely essential! Even if you just have an allergy to something! This is a great way to stay safe! When you visit another country being aware of and researching cultural differences includes linguistic differences. Tourists are guests. You don’t live here, you don’t get a say. Remember, learning a second language (esp if you don’t use it often) is really hard. If you’re visiting a country do not expect them to just use whatever language you speak. Mind you a phrase book is also important because people within a country may not have a strong grasp on English even if they do speak it. You can very easily get lost or injured without a phrase book to help you. These things allow you to better experience a country and communicate without actually having to learn the entire language... or any of it. And, once again, they exist for free online! You do not need to learn an entire language to visit somewhere, but you need to be prepared for there to be a barrier. People assuming I mean you need to learn a whole language are uh... really something else. Like do you guys think half the people bending over backwards to communicate with you know the full language? Go ahead. Fuck around and find out. ;) Obviously I’m not saying you should be treated poorly when visiting if you don’t know the language. Unfortunately no matter how much effort you put in there will always be someone who’s a jerk and I’m sorry for that. All I’m saying is as a tourist you owe it to yourself and others to be better prepared. Trust me. You’ll have a better time in the end. (and if you did the research you’d find that Paris is not the best first place to visit... even if you’re french lol) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS64ZT4eWUA Please watch this guy’s video. It is hilarious and touches on a lot of the same points I just made. Thank you for your time. :) ---------------- Cultural tidbit for those who are curious about where I live in France: I live in Alsace currently! (moved from Lyon, but my spouse is from here) In Alsace you might meet people who speak English, but it’s also entirely likely you won’t! Alsace is also a very tourist heavy area because it looks like a German fairy tale and has a lot of tiny villages with cool stuff to do! I highly recommend visiting here over Paris! We have so many storks! (clackclackclack)

Our logo is a pretzel!

That being said, Alsace has its own regional language!

It’s not uncommon to see bilingual signage or to pass someone on the street and hear them speaking Alsatian. You’ll usually hear it from older people, children, or those from rural areas. It’s really fun to listen to and absolutely wild to see written on museum signs!  Kids here will start school learning French, regardless of what they speak at home, which has resulted in a downswing of Alsatian speakers in recent years. That’s why the new regional language law I mentioned waaaaaay above is so important. It’ll allow schools to teach most of the day in Alsatian instead of French with the goal being fully bilingual adults! :) As of right now, most kids here choose German or English (depending on the school) as their second language. Some kids pick Alsatian and honestly? Good for them! I’m glad!

[slytherinwh0re]

Warnings

Draco Malfoy x Female Reader AU

Warnings: SMUT(18+ minors dni) and swearing

Summary: Where you accidentally break curfew and Draco catches you in the library.

Masterlist

A/N: I forgot how much I love writing smut lmao

You’d been in the library for hours studying for potions, the upcoming exam was worth a lot of your grade so unfortunately you’d spent the greater part of your Saturday hunched over a cauldron in the back of the library. What you hadn’t realized was that it was now past curfew and your common room was all the way across the castle.

“Fuck.” You whisper to yourself; hurriedly gathering your supplies before Filch and the prefects started doing their nightly rounds. The last thing you needed right now was a detention, final year was already kicking your ass.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” While trying to stuff the last of your books in your bag you’d accidentally knocked over the potion you’d been working on. The heavy cauldron couldn’t have been any louder as it dropped to the floor. You quickly cleaned up the mess but it was too late.

“What do we have here?” Of all people Malfoy would be the one to find you, his deep voice carried throughout the empty library as he leaned on the table you’d been sitting at. His arms were crossed and he had that stupid smirk on his stupid handsome face.

Of course you found him attractive, he is Draco Malfoy after all, anyone with functioning eyes knew the boy was the main character of many girls dreams. The blonde looked you up and down before finally setting his stare back on your face waiting for your answer.

“Oh, uhm, hey Malfoy. I was just studying for the potions exam on Monday and lost track of time, now if you’ll excuse me I’ll just be heading back to my dorm now.” You’d hoped he’d understand since you shared the same classs but before you could even get two steps in he was grabbing you wrist and stopping you.

“Not so fast (y/l/n), you’ve broken a rule, and I, as a head boy, am in charge of making sure you get the appropriate punishment.” You watch as his eyes travel down to your legs, butterflies errupt in your tummy under his gaze.

“Please Draco, couldn’t you just give me a warning this one time.” You beg the slytherin as your stare travels to his crossed arms; his forearms on display from when you watched him rollup his sleeves in potions earlier in the day. The veins that lead to his ring clad hands were enough to make a girl weak in the knees.

“I could let you off with a warning,” he starts walking towards you as you walk backwards until you feel the table on the back of your legs, “but it’s gonna cost you.” Your body on fire at the proximity of the blonde.

You knew exactly where this was going but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t want it. Both his hands land on the table behind you on either side of your body, essentially trapping you in.

“I’ll do anything.” You whisper up at him, a second later his lips are on yours, kissing you hungrily. Your hands find his hair tugging on the back of it as he slips his tongue in your mouth, the moan that leaves his throat already has you rubbing your thighs together.

His lips travel down your jaw and to your neck, nipping at the sensitive skin, surely leaving marks that’ll you’ll have to cover up tomorrow. Draco’s hands begin unbuttoning your shirt, hurriedly pulling it off along with your bra, his long fingers playing with your nipple as he continues the assault on your neck; the moans leaving your mouth sound filthy but you couldn’t care less.

“Get on your knees.” He pulls off the shirt you’d just gotten unbuttoned, watching as you immediately obey and sink down to your knees in front of him. You start working on his pants, when you finally get them unzipped you don’t waste a second on pulling them down, followed by his boxers.

His dick springs up to his stomach, extremely hard and already dripping with precum. You take him in your hand, pumping slowly as you look up at him, a smirk on your face. Once you wrap your lips around him his head falls back, groaning as he grabs your hair.

You take as much of him as possible, using your hand on what you couldn’t fit. The hand in your hair lowers your head further on to him and you gag around his dick, making the boy above you moan. You hollow you cheeks and pick up the pace, making sure to drag your tongue up the base every time you bob your head. You knew he was close but before he could finish he’s pulling you back up to your feet in front of him.

Draco’s lips find yours once again before he reaches under your short skirt, dragging down your soaked panties, and sliding two fingers through your slick folds.

“Do you want this (y/n)?” He pulls away to look at you, both of you breathing hard in anticipation. “Yes.” You’re barely able to get out before he’s turning you around and pushing your face down onto the table.

He flips your skirt over your ass, slapping a hand on both cheeks before sliding all the way in, making both of you moan. Immediately he sets a fast pace, the slapping of skin and your moans were the only sounds in the empty library.

“Always wanted to bend you over a table, these little skirts you wear drive me fucking insane.” Your fingers grip the edge, rocking back onto him to match his thrusts.

“Draco, oh fuck.” He grabbed you hair and started slamming into you even harder than before, his dick feeling impossibly deep as he fucks you into the table.

Suddenly he’s pulling out, flipping you back over and sitting you on the edge so he could push himself back in. You wrap your legs around his waist, the new angle putting you on cloud nine.

You let your hands travel down his toned chest, the pale skin warm against your fingers as you trace his abs. Draco’s hand finds your throat, the cold metal of his rings makes you shiver as you throw your head back, screaming his name on repeat. His other hand rubs circles on your clit and you know you won’t last much longer.

“Go ahead (y/n), I want to feel you cum on my dick.” A few more deep thrust and you’re falling apart, your walls clench around him and your body trembles as you ride your high. Draco isn’t far behind, your name leaves his mouth as he finishes and Merlin knows you’d do anything to hear it again.

“I can’t believe no one heard us.” You say as he laughs, both of you now cleaned up and clothed.

“I cast a silencing charm before we started.” You raise your eyebrows trying to think of when he managed it, not realizing he’d even taken out his wand but thankful nonetheless. “Come on I’ll walk you back to the common room.”

You walk in silence, the events that just happened leaving you a bit confused but greatly satisfied, that was the best sex you’d ever had. When you reach your common room you turn to look at him.

“I’ll see you around (y/n).” He winks before kissing you on the cheek and walking away.

“I’m fucked.” You whisper to yourself.

*

Tag list: message me to be added/removed!!

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[sketching-shark]

LMK fandom: Oh, what do we do about this guy who has nothing but hurt Xiaotian, tried to replace Sun Wukong and his crew, hurt Tripitaka and ordered servants to cannibalize a monkey? Oh I know! We’ll turn him into our little meow meow~ he’s so innocent and Sun Wukong is obviously the villain!

What doesn’t help is this idea is perpetuated by multiple fan fic writers and artists for some reason. Especially some aus they make that turn SWK into a bastard for the sake of the story rather than considering cultural context and thinking they should be respectful.

And almost everyone lets them get away with it just because the art or fanfic is good and they get so popular that no one can point what is actually wrong without feeling like they’re going to get attacked.

I'm starting to feel like my blog is the one anons go to specifically to vent their frustrations about the Six Eared Macaque in his lego monkey show form & the associated fandom lmao. But I guess this makes sense, as I’ve had fun quasi-dragging him before & will in fact use this anon submission as an opportunity to have my own, to put it academically, bitch fest about not just this fandom's favorite protagonist-traumatizing meow meow, but about the way villains are often treated in not just fanon, but increasingly in canon works as well. But same policy as with the last anon; I'll post my opinions below the cut, and as fandoms love to say, don’t like don't read if you don't want to see me dunking on the six eared simian & common fandom tendencies towards villains.

Oh man I would say where would you even begin with this but anon you’ve pretty much started yourself with my main gripe with a lot of ways that the Six-Eared Macaque is portrayed in fandom; there seems to be this unspoken agreement that his acts of violence towards Sun Wukong, Qi Xioatian, and Qi Xioatian’s loved ones are either to be framed as somewhat or totally justified, to be immediately forgiven/excused, or to simply & completely be ignored. Like friends maybe this is just me not seeing the proper posts but while the fandom is inundated with art and fanfics of Macaque as a generally decent individual & a true member of team good guy, I have yet to see one person address the fact that this monkey literally kidnapped & mind-controlled Xiaotian’s best friend and father figures & forced them to brutalize Xiaotian while ol’ Six Ear looked on and laughed (X_X). Like this kind of fandom villain treatment is definitely not something that’s solely at work for Monkie Kid, but it is kind of nutty how fandoms will swing between yelling that people should be allowed to like villains without even mild critique, and then will just flat-out not address the villainous behavior, and will even bend over backwards to frame even characters who committed genocide as just poor innocent widdle victims who need a hug. At its worst, I’ve even seen tons of people in a fandom get really angry at other people who don’t like a villain, and will even start accusing those people of hating real-life mentally disabled or abused individuals all because they don’t like the fandom’s favorite literal war criminal. The Monkie Kid fandom is FAR more chill & better than a lot of other fandoms I’ve come across in that regard, but that is an exceedingly low bar, & the tendency to woobify certain kinds of villains-- as with Macaque and the extreme emphasis on his bad boy/sad boy thing--is very much at work.  

 I’ve also talked before about a kind of monoculturalization of certain character interpretations and story beats in fandoms, and one of the more popular ones that seems to be applied to Macaque a lot is the “hero actually bad, villain actually good” cliche, as observable from the general fandom assumption that Mr. Six-Ears he wasn’t even slightly lying or remembering things through a rose-tinted or skewed lens when he gave his version of his and Sun Wukong’s past. Like at this point it seems the possibility that people WILL NOT even consider is that Sun Wukong never did & still doesn't care that much about the Six Eared Macaque (in JTTW they weren’t sworn brothers & in Monkie Kid the only thing the monkey king really said to Macaque before attacking him was a pretty contemptuous "Aren't you ever going to get sick of living under my shadow?," & responds to his "beloved friend" getting blown up with "You did good, bud" to Qi Xiaotian, who did the exploding), or that their original fight may in fact have mostly been instigated by Macaque. After all, to repeat what this anon summarized & what I've said before about their original JTTW context (& in an example of the things that do feel like it's often lost in translation) is that the Six Ear Macaque was a villain not just because he beat up the Tang Monk, but because he wanted to take over Sun Wukong's entire life and identity so he could have all that glory, prestige, and power for himself. To quote the macaque himself from the Anthony C. Yu translation, "I struck the T'ang monk and I took the luggage...precisely because I want to go to the West all by myself to ask Buddha for the scriptures. When I deliver them to the Land of the East, it will be my success and no one else's. Those people of the South Jambudvipa Continent will honor me then as their patriarch and my fame will last for all posterity." And in order to do this, the Six Eared Macaque had apparently made Sun Wukong's "little ones," his monkey family, his captives through either trickery or force, and gotten a number of them to take on the appearance of Tang Sanzang and the other pilgrims. It's also made clear that in very direct contrast to Sun Wukong, he doesn't care about these monkeys beyond how they might serve him. In fact, after Sha Wujing kills the monkey posing as him the Six Eared Macaque not only all but immediately replaces him with another, but also "told his little ones to have the dead monkey skinned. Then his meat was taken to be fried and served as food along with coconut and grape wines." So this monkey is not only willing to risk the lives of a lot of other monkeys for his own personal benefit, but is also a literal cannibal. And yes yes, I know a lot of people have argued that Monkie Kid shouldn't be considered a direct sequel to JTTW & that's fair enough (for example, Sun Wukong probably shouldn't be smashing anyone into a meat patty in a children's cartoon lol). And of course, it needs to be noted that there are a buttload of really out there & really cursed pieces of media based on JTTW & that were created in China. Yet the above description is the oft-ignored in the west original facet of the Six Eared Macaque's character. And it is this selfishness, entitlement, and treatment of other individuals as tools for his own self-serving ends  that is, from where I’m standing, still very much present in Monkie Kid. Like besides repeatedly going out of his way to physically and psychologically traumatize Xioatian, with the last episode Macaque seemed to be going right back to his manipulative ways. I’ve seen people frame their last conversation as Macaque softening to Xioatian a little bit, but personally that read a lot more like that common tactic among abusers where even after they’ve hurt you they’ll dangle something you want or need over your head (in Macaque’s case, the promise of desperately needed training and information about a serious looming threat), with the implication that you’ll only get it if you do what they want you to, such as, in this case, Xioatian going back to Macaque as his student even after having been so terribly hurt by this monkey, which would give Macaque power over Xiaotian and probably Sun Wukong as a result. And it is this violence and manipulation that it seems the fandom at large has tacitly decided shouldn’t even be addressed, instead leaning more towards a (and this is an exaggeration) “Six-Eared Macaque my poor meow meow Sun Wukong has always been bad & has always been wrong about literally everything” reading. 

And while it is the case that I am not Chinese and feel that as such it would be best left to someone who actually comes from that background to provide more context into how common interpretations of the Six Eared Macaque from China may clash really badly with the stuff the western fandom creates, it also must be noted that, as much as we all want to have fun in fandom & in spite of all the out-there versions of JTTW from China, we westerners should recognize that there is a very long and very ugly history of western countries stripping other cultures’ important religious and literary works for parts & mashing them into their own thing while implying or even insisting that what they present provides a true understanding of the original piece. And while I trust most individuals in regards to Monkie Kid are able to step back and think “this is a lego cartoon and not a set guide for how I should understand JTTW” (especially given the insistence that JTTW and Monkie Kid should be considered there own separate works) there does nevertheless seem to be something of a tendency to take the conclusions people come to, for example, about Sun Wukong’s characteristic in his lego form & then assume that’s just reflective to Sun Wukong as a totality. I imagine a good portion of this is due to people not reading JTTW & especially to not having easy access to solid information or answers about JTTW’s many different facets (like geez awhile ago I was trying to get a clear answer on what is considered the most accurate translation of the names of Sun Wukong’s six sworn brothers & got like 5 different responses lmao), but that tendency to take a western fandom interpretation & run with it instead of doing any background research or questioning said interpretation is still very much at play. As such, & as made prominent in the way people have been interpreting the dynamic between Sun Wukong and the Six Eared Macaque in the lego monkey show, tbh it does seem kind of shitty for western creators & audience to sometimes go really out of their way to ignore all of this original cultural & narrative context for the sake of Angst (TM) in Macaque's favor, demonizing Sun Wukong, and shipping the monkey king with his evil twin (X_X).

And speaking of which, even beyond the potential inherent creepiness & revulsion that can be inspired by this specific ship given common interpretations of the og classic's original meaning (again, it's my understanding, given both summaries of translated Chinese academic texts I've been kindly provided with, my own reading of the Anthony C. Yu translation of JTTW, & vents from a number of Chinese people I've seen on this site, that the Six-Eared Macaque is commonly interpreted in China as having originated from Sun Wukong himself as a living embodiment of his worst traits, hence why only Buddha can tell the difference between them & why the monkey king is much more slow to violence after he kills the macaque), I'd argue that in the face of all the uwu poor widdle meow meow portrayals lego show Macaque is, especially if you include JTTW's events, still in the role of “Sun Wukong but worse” as he is very much a violent & selfish creep. Like he was basically running around in JTTW wearing a Sun Wukong fursuit, but there he had the sole reason of wanting to replace Sun Wukong wholesale so he could have all the good things in the monkey king's life without actually having to work as hard for them. But if you combine that with Macaque now claiming that he used to be best friend with Sun Wukong in his pre-journey days (something that's made funny from a JTTW context given that that status actually belongs to the Demon Bull King lol), his original violence has now blown into this centuries long and really unhealthy obsession with the monkey king. Like he's apparently gone from wanting to literally be Sun Wukong to being so obsessed with getting revenge on Sun Wukong that he's got basically nothing else going on in his life. Like he's only appeared in two episodes but...does he have any friends? Any family? A career or even a hobby that DOESN'T center the monkey king? Anything at all outside of his "get revenge on and/or kill Sun Wukong/use his successor as my personal punching bag” thing? Like dude! That is extremely creepy and extremely bad for everyone all around! As I’ve said before, this seeming refusal to see beyond the past or to do something that doesn’t involve Sun Wukong in some capacity is a trait that makes Macaque an interesting and somewhat tragic villain--he even seems to be working as Sun Wukong’s reflection in a mirror darkly, with lego show Sun Wukong pretty clearly not being able to heal from his own past which is hinted to be defined by one loss after another, and with Monkie Kid even kind of having these two characters somewhat follow their JTTW characterizations in that in the latter half of the journey Sun Wukong often gets sad & starts crying in the face of what seems insurmountable odds (& Monkie Kid Sun Wukong does seem to be hiding some serious depression behind a cheerful facade), whereas the Six-Eared Macaque retains a worse version of Sun Wukong’s pre-journey characteristic of getting pissed and lashing out if things don’t go his way--but it’s also what would make any current friendship or romantic relationship between these monkeys horrific. Although to be fair even the fandom seems to recognize this in an unconscious way, in that a lot of the art & fanfic seems to swing erratically between them kissing & screaming at each other in yet another example of bog-standard fandom adulation of romanticized toxic relationships lol.  

At the end of the day, of course, this is nothing new. You'll find versions of this dynamic across a ton of fandoms and now even canonical work. And as such, I can only look at this kind of popularized relationship dynamic with a kind of resigned weariness whenever it pops up, & my frustrated question with the popularity of this kind of pairing is the exact same one that I have for a multitude of blatantly toxic villain/hero ships, given common fandom discourse & the tendency to either ignore or justify the villain's actions & demonize the hero: if you're THAT convinced that everything is the hero's fault, if you believe THAT much that the hero is the one in the wrong for the villain's pain and their subsequent actions, then why are you so set on them not only becoming a romantic pair, but framing this get-together as a good thing? Like I know we contain multitudes but that's waaay too many contradictions for me to wrap my head around. And it definitely doesn’t help that one branch of underlying reasoning behind this kind of pairing seems to be the ever-present “you break it, you fix it” mentality, where the assumption is that if you’re in a failing, abusive, and/or generally toxic relationship (platonically or romantically), if you put in enough time and effort & attempts to compromise, you’ll be able to restore/have the relationship you dreamed of, even with someone who hurt you really badly. And this assumption isn’t limited to fandom: I’d even argue that it’s everywhere in the culture, hence why a lot of people feel like they “failed” if they have to get a divorce or make the choice to leave an unhealthy friendship. Personally, I feel like people could really benefit from more stories about how it is not only the case that the people you hurt don’t owe you their forgiveness & you can still become a better and happier person without the one you hurt in your life, & that while it can be really hard it can also be a good thing to leave a relationship, even if it’s one that once meant a lot to you. 

  But in all honestly, from my own perspective this kind of pairing is starting to read far less like enemies to lovers and far more like a horrible fantasy where you can pull whatever shit you want, even on the people you "love," & never be held accountable for your terrible behavior or even have to consider that maybe you were in the wrong. It's another facet that makes me larf every time I see people insist that fandom is an inherently "transformative" or "progressive" form of storytelling like friends you are literally just taking status quo toxic monogamy & rebranding it as somehow beneficial & romantic (X_X).

But as to anon’s last frustration, it is hard to know what is the appropriate response with this kind of thing...like for my own part I’m keeping my frustrations to my blog & now increasingly to posts that you would have to click on the “read more” button to see what I have to say, but I totally get the hesitation to give even a mild critique to big names in a fandom. Like I've now seen it happen repeatedly where someone who has a big name in a fandom will make something that's kind of shitty for one reason or another, someone will message them with some version of "hey, that's kind of shitty, you shouldn't do that," and the typical response is either to blatantly ignore the issue completely, or more popularly to make a giant crying circus that seems deliberately geared towards stoking emotions on both sides of the, for example, fiction does/doesn't affect reality issue so that something that didn't even have to be that big a deal gets blown out of all proportion, with the big name often framing what often started out as a very mild critique into a long crying jag about how the initial response to their kind of shitty thing was so mean/cruel and they're just a poor innocent & that YOU'RE the true racist/sexist/bigot etc. if you don't agree with their opinion. It must of course be noted that there have also been numerous instances of people taking it too far the other way & sending not just big names but smaller creators literal deaths threats over stuff like innocuous ships which like holy hell bells people that’s a horrible thing to do. But for the big names at least, the end result of all this fighting is usually that once the dust has settled they have more attention/fame/money/power in the fandom than before, and with anyone who might have a problem with their stuff feeling afraid to voice their opinion lest they be swarmed by that person's fans. In that way fandom does often seem to increasingly be geared towards presenting an “official” fandom perspective about various facets of a piece of media instead of allowing for a multitude of interpretations, and with criticism, no matter its shape or form or how genuinely warranted it may be, being hounded out of existence. I feel like a lot of this could be made less bad if there wasn’t this constant assumption & even drive to think that a different interpretation of or criticism of your favorite work of fiction or your fanwork isn’t a direct claim that you are a thoroughly loathsome individual (& maybe also if people cultivated an enjoyment of learning things about important works from a culture outside their own, even if what you learn clashes with your own initial understandings), but I guess we’ll see if that ever happens. 

So these are my general thinks about the Six Eared Macaque’s current fandom meow meow status & some of my bigger gripes with fandom tendencies as a whole. I stand by my idea that the most interesting & beneficial route for Macaque moving forward would be a kind of “redemption without forgiveness from the ones you hurt” arc--as I think was done pretty excellently with the character Grace in Infinity Train--and if for no other reason than gosh dern this monkey really needs to cultivate some sort of identity beyond his “Sun Wukong but worse” persona. 

[maschotch]

It's a huge stereotype in the hotchgirl world that we all have daddy issues and I think its interesting that so many of us flock to him even when his fatherhood is his express issue lmfao. I had a pretty shitty dad growing up and when I watched criminal minds as a kid and even as a teenager hotch was like this archetype of the perfect father. The way he sits with Jack in bed, the way he frames his artwork, him coaching his soccer team? Ahh it was just so perfect to me and It just sort of sucks having that perception shattered as I get older because he's only a great dad when he's there, which as you say, isn't a lot of the time. I do think the writers truly try to make him an amazing father but after haileys death I think they sort of lazily piece together an excuse to return him to work. Because they've made this whole storyline about how important his family is to him and now he's a single parent to his son, so logically he would retire early and stay at home. But hotch is a super popular character, they can't just write him off. So they make it seem like everyone is okay with him returning to work and rarely make his absence from Jack an issue 👍 asjdhssbsh I'd truly love to believe that his shitty rarely-there dad characteristics are because of the writers making it his prime issue but not coming up with a satisfying solution rather than an actual character flaw

ok this is not how i thought this was gonna go when i read the first two lines ajkshdlj but i actually completely agree w you?? i feel like they did that so intentionally, and it really goes to show why jack loves his dad as much as he does: for all intents and purposes, hotch is a terrific father. he's loving and gentle and supportive... but he's not really there for his son, which says a lot about his priorities

i love hotch, the audience loves hotch, the writers love hotch, so we all wanna give him the benefit of the doubt. it's clear how much he loves his son. but there's just... no way for him to actually be a good father and still have this job. especially as a single parent. they really bend over backwards trying to figure out ways for all of this to work out perfectly so hotch can stay on the show. i mean thank god jessica is there to drop everything and take care of his son any time he needs to go hundreds of miles away for days at a time.

it's frustrating that they'll scramble to smooth everything over without actually making any changes. like. hotch is still working the same amount of hours. his caseload is the same. morgan helps out with the paperwork, but im sure there's even more. nothing has changed? the situation is the same, but somehow hotch is #1 dad of the year

[theclockworkmonk]

What Happens When You Assume

Written for @kataang-week

(I know, I know, it's late because my life kind of got consumed by the Olympics)

Day 6: "Tease"

Words: 1,081

Read on AO3

Read on FF.net

Summary: Katara finds out about a piece of Aang's past that she doesn't care for at all.

********

Katara slammed the door shut and nearly collapsed from exhaustion, leaning against the door to catch her breath. It only took a few seconds for her to start to calm down. The frozen block of ice at the bottom of the world would always be her home, but this house in Ba Sing Se that she shared with her friends and boyfriend had still become a refuge for her.

As she felt more at peace, she smiled to herself as she thought that word. Boyfriend. It had been months since the end of the war, but she still had trouble believing that she had gotten such a happy ending.

"You okay?" she heard the boy in question ask, and she opened her eyes and saw him looking at her from the doorway to their living room, his face full of concern.

"Oh, nothing new," she waved him off, "just the usual reporters and scholars wanting to know everything. Even when I don't wear Water Tribe clothes, I'm probably the only girl in the city with this skin tone, so it's not hard to get recognized as the Avatar's girlfriend."

"Well, as much as I love the whole world knowing you're my girlfriend, I'm sorry that it gives you so much trouble," said Aang sadly.

"Don't start that, you're more than worth it," said Katara, giving him a kiss. "Make it up to me by brewing me some tea."

"Way ahead of you," he said proudly.

They went into the kitchen, where a pot of tea was already sitting on the table. The rest of the table was taken up by piles and piles of books and scrolls that Aang was studying: the entire history of the last one hundred years of the Earth kingdom. Aang was determined to stop being caught off-guard during negotiations by some deeply important piece of context that made his suggestions unacceptable.

"In case you've forgotten already, I fought against an evil empire with you," said Katara playfully, "So I think I can handle a few biographers wanting every detail of the Avatar's life."

Aang frowned as he started pouring them tea. "You know, I would hope that there's still important things about my life coming. Seems a bit early to start writing my biography."

"Well, a lot of these people aren't interested in anything important, silly," Katara laughed. "They're more after gossip fuel. Does the Avatar have any annoying habits? Is he tortured and broody from the war? What's his favorite food? How was his first kiss?"

"Well I'll show them broody, if they keep sticking their nose into stuff like that," Aang grumbled, pouring his own tea.

"Oh, rest assured, I'll tell anyone who asks that it was dazzling," said Katara lovingly.

Aang snorted as he went back to reading his scrolls. "Well, I wouldn't say that, there's no need to lie to them."

Katara huffed indignantly, "Oh, excuse me, Mister Avatar, were my kissing skills not 'dazzling' enough for you?"

"Oh no no," he said quickly, still not looking up at her, "Our first kiss was amazing, once I stopped comparing kissing you to dying. My first kiss ever was a lot more embarrassing."

Aang reached for his own cup of tea and took a sip. The loud slurping sound drew his attention to how oddly quiet the room had gotten. He looked up at his girlfriend and flinched backward when he saw the look on her face. Her mouth was gaping open and her eyes were flashing dangerously.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Are you kidding me!?" Katara shrieked. "You're not just messing with me? The cave really wasn't your first kiss?"

Aang just blinked at her for several moments, before he broke into a disbelieving grin. "I...never said that it was?" he chuckled.

"This isn't funny!" said Katara, jumping to her feet. "When exactly were you planning on telling me this!?"

"Well I'm telling you now, it's never come up before!" said Aang defensively, putting up his hands. "What did I do to imply you were my first kiss?"

"You didn't have to do anything!" said Katara, rolling her eyes. "That's the natural—"

She suddenly stopped herself and bit her lip. Aang's eyebrows shot up and he gave a smug smirk.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"No, no, go on, finish that sentence," Aang teased, crossing his arms and sitting back. "You assumed that you were my first kiss, because who would actually want to kiss me, if not to just escape a magical cave?"

"That's not what I—"

"And of course if the beautiful and popular Katara hadn't had her first kiss by then, then surely short and dorky Aang wouldn't have, since you're so out of my league."

"Shut up!"

"If only all those fans and biographers knew the truth," Aang lamented sadly. "People think that the Avatar is this spiritually pure being, but to my shame, I used my extensive romantic experience to take advantage of an innocent, naive Water Tribe girl—"

He was cut off by a jet of water hitting him in the face, soaking him and filling his open mouth.

He spat out Katara's bending water and raised his eyebrows at her, as she continued to glare at him with her arms crossed.

"Really?" he asked pointedly.

"Don't tease me," said Katara quietly, pouting her lip, but Aang could tell she was trying not to laugh.

He sighed, stood up, bent the water off of him, and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend's waist.

"Would it help to know that my first kiss was only because of a dare?" he asked. "She caught me after a game of airball, her group of friends giggling behind her, and she just grabbed me and pressed her face against mine in front of half the Southern Temple."

"Oh, poor you," said Katara, rolling her eyes.

"Let me finish," said Aang. "I was so shocked that I launched myself into the air, landing in the bisons' feeding trough, and knocking her back into a fountain. She ran off with her friends crying. Nobody would let me live that down for months."

Katara didn't meet his eye, but she snorted in laughter and draped her arms over his shoulders. "Okay, yeah, that does make it a bit better."

"So, tragically, you weren't the first girl I ever kissed," Aang sighed, "could you settle for being the last girl I ever kiss?"

"Hmm. Deal," Katara whispered, and got a head start on it.

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and Dating Mike Damone

(Not my gif)(Requested by anonymous)

- Mikes pretty infamous at your school. Pretty much the entire student body knows who he is; mainly because they’ve bought tickets off of him at one point or another.

- Everyone knows Mike and Mike knows everyone so it’s no surprise that you’d encounter him at some point; even if your initial meeting was a memorable half a second of him checking you out while you both walked to your separate classes.

- When Mike first sees you, he honestly doesn’t think twice about you. He sees you, he processes that you’re decent looking, and then he moves on. He only starts to take real notice of you when you seem completely disinterested in his existence.

- That sounds pretty harsh but it’s the truth. Later that day, he sees you at your locker and he approaches you, introducing himself and making his usual charming conversation. And while you’re arguably incredibly polite, you’re just not into him.

- And for some reason that bothers the hell out of him.

- If it were anyone else, it would have never mattered, and he sincerely does not understand why you’re any different. But the more he thinks about it, the more it bothers him and the more he wants you. Which leads to his pursuit of you.

- Mike likes to act like he doesn’t care; he really does, and he’s gotten pretty good at playing the part, so he always seems pretty nonchalant whenever he approaches you and tries to start a conversation; no matter how little time of day you’ll give him.

- But inside, he is losing his mind. His smile always drops whenever you aren’t looking at him and he lays in bed at night thinking about every tiny amount of attention you give him. He wants to hate you, and maybe he does, but more than that …he thinks he loves you.

- Your usual “avoidance” of him leads to him feeling like a kid on Christmas when you finally talk to him on your own accord; though it’s definitely just to try and purchase tickets. He gives you a ridiculously good deal and is on his best behavior the entire time, trying to charm you as much as he can while you’re actually paying attention to him.

- And to an extent, it does work. He was really sweet and did you a big favor so you felt a little more obligated to play nice. So instead of completely blowing him off, you made an effort to greet him in the halls, sometimes willingly talking with him for a few minutes or giving him a compliment every now and again.

- He’ll talk a big game around other people; mainly Mark, telling him that he’s got you in the bag or somewhat jokingly saying that you’re all over him, but it’s just to save face and keep up his overly confident façade.

- Regardless, you finally agree to let him take you out around a year or so after the two of you first meet. He’d probably asked you out or tried to hint at the two of you potentially hanging out dozens of times but this was the only one you actually accepted which made him do an internal double take.

- There was nothing different about his approach, he played suave, he told you what he was planning on doing that Friday night and then he invited you to join him. But this time you actually agreed, as though it were totally normal, he was compelled to ask if you were feeling all right.

- For your first date, he takes you to the mall and you spend the afternoon/evening going into different stores, grabbing a bite to eat at the food court and so on and so forth.

- You didn’t expect it but the two of you actually hit it off pretty well once you gave him a chance and kept an open mind. He was frustratingly smooth most of the time but he was also sweet and made you laugh.

- And he was on cloud nine; especially when you absentmindedly grabbed his hand while leading him somewhere or walking through a crowd. He enjoyed your company so much that trying to kiss you completely slipped his mind until after you were already back inside your house later that night.

- You share your first kiss after he walks you home from school one day; maybe after the two of you go on a few more dates. You’re standing at your front door and you’re trying to say goodbye when you sort of just look at each other and begin to lean in.

- After a minute or so, you pull away and when you do, you invite him in for a drink; an offer he eagerly takes. So he comes in, you get him his drink and the two of you spend the next half hour making out on your bed; but that’s besides the point.

- You kissed him and now you’re gonna see if you’ll regret it.

- There’s a lot of Pda in your relationship but a good amount of it is sexually charged or the sort of affection that fits his cool guy attitude. He’s proud of you and wants to be touching you at all times but he doesn’t want to look like a wuss while he does it.

- He puts his arm around your shoulders a lot. He’d probably try to do it even before the two of you started dating so it barely even phases you at this point.

- Neck and jaw kisses.

-  Soft, sometimes sort of clumsy kisses. Mike acts like a ladies man but he’s been with very few girls so he doesn’t have a whole lot of kissing experience under his belt.

- You definitely have the capability to make him drunk with your kisses. You put him in a daze and get him wrapped around your little finger the minute your lips touch his.

- Making out a lot. It’s pretty much his favorite thing to do; though he secretly really likes all your innocent and doting affection.

- Sitting in his lap.

- He doesn’t use a ton of pet names but he does throw a couple of them at you from time to time, namely babe, sweetheart or princess.

- He likes to pretend that he doesn’t care for cuddling but he isn’t convincing anybody with his halfhearted complaining and nonexistent resistance while you pull him in. When you do cuddle, you’ll usually lay facing each other with your head tucked under his chin; or occasionally with his tucked under yours.

- He’s definitely a lot sweeter and softer with you when the two of you are alone together. He feels the need to keep up a reputation while you’re out in public so you only get to see his real, loving personality when you’re by yourselves.

- Su casa es mi casa. After his first visit to your home, you might as well consider him a roommate because he sure as shit acts like it’s his house.

- He’s usually too shy or embarrassed to tell you that he legitimately missed you and just wanted to see you so whenever he drops by, he’ll make up some excuse for him to be there; even though it would be perfectly in his right to answer “what are you doing here” with “I just wanted to see you”.

- He knows how to appear cool; whether it’s a conscious effort for him or not, so he usually has little trouble when trying to impress you. Either way, you’re pretty proud to have him for a boyfriend and your praise consistently makes him wanna to act up.

- He definitely tries to act like people he think you’d find impressive are his friends; even though you probably already know he’s bullshitting you. You just halfheartedly let him believe he’s fooled you.

- Sitting around sorta bored while he tries to swindle people. You get interrupted by his business quite a lot.

- Getting walked home from school.

- If you’ve got a car then you’ll usually pick him up and drive him to or from school; or wherever else, because fun fact: that wasn’t his car that Linda spray painted, it was his moms!

- He has a habit of “fixing you”. He’s always plucking things from your hair or clothes, adjusting your shirt, smoothing out your jacket, etc. Sometimes he pretends like he’s doing something just to annoy you or have an excuse to touch you.

- Consistently looking at your ass.

- Whenever you ask him for a favor, he’ll always tell you that you owe him before begrudgingly doing whatever it is. That being said, after he does it, he’ll usually “forget” that you owe him or tell you to forget about it; or settle for a kiss as payment.

- No ones allowed to know but he’s legitimately whipped for you. It might not seem like it but behind the scenes, he’s bending over backwards to make sure that you’re happy.

- Mall dates. It’s your #1 hangout spot. He’s the boyfriend who shamefully holds your hand as you drag him from one girly shop to the next.

- Concert dates.

- Renting vhs tapes and watching them together.

- Mike has a full on bar area in his room so if you’re down to drink, he has the liquor. Although, to be honest, I think he’d secretly be one of those guys who wouldn’t let you get drunk because you’re his girlfriend and he cares about you. He’d teasingly refuse to give you any before allowing you to have a tiny glass.

- I feel like his parents aren’t home a lot during weekdays; because of work or what have you, so you’ll probably hang out more at his house than yours; unless your parents also usually aren’t home.

- He usually ends up eating dinner by himself and spending most days at home alone so he’ll oftentimes call you up and have you come over. You mostly just end up hanging out and eating in his bedroom while watching television together.

- He lowkey likes stupid old tv shows so the two of you marathon them whenever they’re on tv.

- Going to his house to listen to your favorite music because it’s the 80s and he’s got a whole fucking music station set up in his room. He’s also got more albums than anyone you know.

- Occasionally, he’ll fiddle around with his keyboard while you’re at his place and you’ll convince him to teach you a few little jingles while he’s at it.

- I think that every now and again he’d surprise you with a little gift, oftentimes nonchalantly telling you not to mention it or not to worry about it. He’d probably say something like “how did that get there” and teasingly pretending like it wasn’t him, secretly reveling in the smile on your face and the way you kiss his cheek.

- Him stealing your food.

- Trying to hold back your laughter as he jokingly serenades you.

- Stealing and wearing his sunglasses.

- Ratner third wheeling. The boy gets to see a whole new side of his friend; a side that makes him seem much more down to earth, because even though Mike will pretend like he’s the same playboy, it’s easy to see that he really loves you.

- Giving Ratner advice when he needs a different approach to girls or anything else in life.

- Motivational talks. He might not be the most eloquent but he’s definitely the most supportive when it comes to people he cares about.

- Lots of teasing. It’s his favorite thing to do besides make money.

- He loves messing with you so expect to be annoyed with him quite a lot: whether it be because he threw you in the pool, shocked you, or pretended like you had something on you.

- Defending him when people insult him. Quite a few people don’t understand why you’re with him so expect a few comments from your friends, family, or just random people you know.

- He tries to act nonchalant whenever he’s jealous but it rarely ever works. He usually ends up either having a smug look on his face; because he knows you have no interest in them, or he’ll try to get information out of you about them, maybe making fun of them a little while he’s at it.

- Mike isn’t incredibly protective, he’ll usually leave you to solve things on your own, but if the problem is serious enough, he’ll get involved. He’ll try to walk away with you, maybe say something snide to the other person or about the situation, but he isn’t scared to throw hands if need be.

- Mike is pretty good at keeping his composure but certain situations just make him lose it so sometimes he’ll say something he doesn’t mean in the heat of the moment and regret it later.

- He tends to avoid his problems rather than try and fix them which might lead to him avoiding you after a fight. That being said, he isn’t above apologizing and will always do so is he knows he did something wrong or made you upset.

- He’s a bit embarrassed to tell you that he loves you so he’ll usually only say it after you say it to him.

- Mike certainly isn’t the best boyfriend, he definitely has some maturing to do, so it’s up to you to decide if you want to stick around and wait for it to happen. Just know that he likes you a lot; even if he doesn’t always act the greatest.

[wildingrose]

intrigued police

dark alley help part 6

part 5: diamond in the rough | part 7: refusal

word count: 1.9k

》 mild violence, riding

- ✿ -

You texted Raymond that you were waiting in the lobby of his hotel.

"Y/N?"

You spun around and found the man that you dreaded to see and were ready to run out the door if it weren't for Taeyong beside you, holding your hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Hey Raymond," you greeted without much interest.

He glanced over to the man beside you. "Who's he?" he asked, almost snarling in disgust for someone other than him to be holding your hand.

"This is Taeyong. He’s going to take your place soon. Wait, what am I saying? He already did!"

Raymond didn't see that coming and was utterly shocked. "What?"

Meanwhile, Taeyong was amused by the way you introduced him to your... former future prospect.

"Okay then, Taeyoung-"

"It's Tae-YONG," you corrected with a glare.

He disregarded it and continued. "What do you do?"

Taeyong had been warned of this and kept his mouth shut. Instead, you spoke up. "That's none of your business."

"Yes, it is. Clearly, you're replacing me with him, so I need to know what he has that I don't."

You scoffed. "Something really big."

Raymond gaped. "You slept with him?"

Taeyong's eyes widened from the directness, yet you coolly retorted back with, "I meant heart but sure. We can consider that too even though I haven't seen yours."

Raymond laughed, almost sinister. "I thought I was the one doing you a favour to let you take the spot that other girls would die to have. Your mother really..." he muttered the last part real quiet, and something snapped in you with rage.

"I dare you to say that thing about my mom."

He rolled his eyes. "Your mom is the desperate one to have you married off to me. And look at you, next to another guy while standing in front of the one you're supposed to be with. Both mom and daughter are such..." he trailed of shaking his head in disgust.

Your blood boiled, knowing exactly what he was going to say but didn't want the filthy words to taint his mouth. You'd bear with it if it was only you, but if your mother was getting dragged into this, you weren't going to stand it.

"You fucking asshole! Don't you fucking say that about my mom!" you shouted.

He didn't listen to you, liking that he got you triggered and added, "There's that term. What's it called? Ah yes! Motherfucker. I can just imagine your mom-"

You didn't let him finish. In a blink of an eye, you slapped him hard. His head snapped to the side, fingers coming up to touch the stinging cheek. His eyes locked on you in shock as you fumed furiously.

Raymond clenched his teeth with seething anger. "I let it go when you called me an asshole, but this? You're such a slut- no, whore. Go have fun with your new-"

A yelp of pain came out of his mouth when Taeyong had enough of the shit he was witnessing, especially when Raymond called you names. Names that he couldn't fathom you being labeled as. You were an angel, his doll that did nothing wrong.

How dare he had the nerve to? Taeyong thought.

He couldn't stop himself from getting involved when you had strictly warned him from doing so. And so he yanked Raymond by the hair, hard, bending him backward till his arms were flaying around for something to grip onto. "Let me go, dude!"

Taeyong did, letting him go immediately and caused Raymond to fall to the ground. Humiliation burned throughout his body and he got to his feet right away to make an attack. But Taeyong's fists were ready to leave a nasty mark on his face. Taeyong swung it hard right in the center, making Raymond's head bumped backward and he screamed in pain as he clutched onto his nose.

Your hands covered your mouth in shock and fear. It wasn't because Taeyong had butted in for you and hit the jerk.

But for what Raymond was going to do next.

-

The constable on duty strolled in unhurriedly. "Kids these days always get into fights," he muttered under his breath. He sat down at his desk and finally looked up to the three people sitting across with you in the middle. Taeyong crossed his arms and was looking elsewhere while Raymond hissed, holding onto his broken nose.

The officer gasped. "Taeyong?"

Taeyong met his surprised eyes and mirrored it.

You frowned and asked, "You know Taeyong?"

He nodded. "I sometimes help out with the construction crew to manage the traffic so he's a familiar face. It's nice to see you, boy. But I wasn't expecting it to be like this."

Your heartrate picked up and warily glanced at Raymond. He looked like he was too much in pain to pick up on Taeyong's identity.

"Who are you two? Are you together?" The officer inquired when shifting his eyes onto you and the asshole.  

You rolled your eyes. "No, thankfully. I'm with Taeyong. He was only defending me after this..." You sent Raymond a scowl. "...one attacked me. So please don't arrest Taeyong. If anything, it's him," you said, pointing to the injured one.

A smile tugged at Taeyong's lips, seeing you defend him. The officer raised his eyebrows, intrigued that Taeyong had a girl on his side and stood up for you.

Raymond snapped out of his pain and spoke up. "She's lying! I didn't even touch her! Plus, I'm the one needing medical attention!"

"Shut up! Just take the blame and end this. You have the money anyway for treatment," you argued.

"Have you always been this rude?"

"Now that I have an excuse to get you out of my life, yes."

Raymond huffed in annoyance. "I can do anything for you, buy you anything that you want, and this is how you treat me?"

Taeyong stiffened upon hearing the words. He couldn't do that for you. He couldn't buy you anything that you'd ask for. He didn't have the kind of money Raymond did.

Though that didn't affect you and replied, "Then, why don't you go get yourself a sugar baby?"

The officer stifled back a laugh as Taeyong was stunned by your response, touching his heart. He butted in once again and muttered, "While I might not have all the money, I definitely have the strength to snap your neck easily."

Raymond gasped loudly and shouted, "Arrest him, officer! He's threatening me right in front of you!"

The officer tutted calmly. "Nah, I would never on Taeyong."

"What? You're abusing your power to save someone you know? I'll get you fired!" All his yelling was hurting your head and you rubbed your temple in circles.

The officer clasped his hands on the table. "No, I'm not. I know that no matter how strong Taeyong is, he would never use violence under any circumstance, even if a fight breaks out onsite. Him using it on you shows that you were being extremely rude to this young lady and he had to intervene. This is my reasoning for not arresting him. You all are dismissed."

Stepping out of the station, Raymond started laughing hysterically. Your hands wrapped around Taeyong's bicep and gave him a silent signal to not say a word, to which he nodded.

Raymond pulled his phone out and began typing something on the phone. "Your mom is going to be so shocked to hear that her future son-in-law is a laborer."

Your heart got caught in your throat. So he did hear it. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I texted her. Think of it as payback for what he did," he sent you a wink. "May you have all the bad luck trying to get her permission, Taeyoung." With that, he walked to his car and drove away.

Taeyong felt your hands squeeze on his arm. You did your best to stay composed, reminding yourself of the plan that you had in mind. If that went well, then there was nothing else to worry about. Even if your mother knew about Taeyong's work.

"Y/N?" he called for you softly, placing a hand over yours.

The touch brought you to meet his worried gaze and gave your best 'don't worry' smile. "It'll be okay."

He let out a long sigh. "This happened cause of me. Sorry," he mumbled.

Your shook your head. "She would have found out eventually." Your phone began ringing and learned that it was from none other than the one you'd expect. You ignored it and said, "Let's go home."

Taeyong hummed. "I'll drop you off and come later."

Chuckling, you clarified, "I mean our home."

Taeyong's heart stopped beating before going completely erratic. Our home, he thought. He absolutely adored that.

-

You watched him quietly close the door behind him and take off his shoes. Taeyong hadn't uttered a single word on the way back to his place, making you worried when he refused to make eye contact with you. "Tae?" He finally did, meeting your concerned look. "What's wrong?"

He shifted his gaze to the floor and still kept quiet.

You huffed and mischievously narrowed your eyes on him, "Where's the confident stranger I asked help for the first time?"

That brought a very subtle tug at his lips. Success!

You cupped his face and lifted it, making him meet your eyes again. "Seeing you like this makes me sad," you said with a pout which made him chuckle softly. "Remember our deal in the car?"

That seemed to excite him as his eyes darkened rapidly. He licked his lips with half lidded eyes and asked, "Really?"

You nodded with a tender smile, glad to see him back to the version of Taeyong you were used to.

With quick feet, he led you by the hand into the bedroom and sat comfortably on the sheets, pulling you to sit on top of his lap. A loud gasp left your mouth when he flushed his face against the skin above your covered breasts, his hot breath fanning over your chest and your shoulders shook as a shiver crawled up your spine. You were confused with what he wanted in this position until he started grinding up into you, going slow and steady until his pants grew super tight and your core began to throb. You mirrored his action, grinding down onto the hard tent and a beautiful moan fell from his lips.

Taeyong's hands came to your hips and lifted you off briefly, enough to unbutton his pants and pull out his dick. He shoved your panties aside and slowly pushed in while you helped simultaneously by sinking down.

"Fuck, doll, so pretty." His brows were furrowed as he concentrated on the feeling of being enveloped by your paradise.

You set a pace, steadying yourself with hands on his shoulder as you bounced on his cock. He rolled his hips up to meet you perfectly and you cried out quietly at how heavenly he felt deep in your womanhood. You mewled when he tugged one strap of your dress over your shoulder, letting it fall and expose your breast to the air. His mouth attached to suck on your nipple, your hands coming around to hold his head close to your chest.  

When he got close, his pace slowed before stopping altogether and came hard into you, your pace not slowing to draw out his release and shortly after, you came.

tag list: @cosmiclatte28 @mel-yjh @johnnysuhisnotmyproblem @kttyongie @chantellsievert

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - “Rapunzel Knows Best!” ( A first half of S3 Recap)

So I decided to place the recap after Be Very Afraid for several reasons. For starters it’s where the season three hiatus took place. It’s also framed like a cliffhanger episode the same as The Great Tree and Queen for a Day; so while Cassandra’s Revenge is technically the midseason finale, Be Very Afraid functionally servers this narrative purpose better. Finally I want to keep the Cassandra heavy stuff contained in it’s own recap later same as I did for Varian’s arc in season one. 

Also keep in mind, everything I discussed in previous recaps still apply here. Nothings changed and you could argue that the issues I bring up now could have also apply to past seasons; they just happen to be at their worst here. 

Here are the past recaps 

To Filler or Not to Filler

Hey, What Ever Happened to That Varitas, Guy?

What Is the Point?

‘Whatta Twist’

And here are the episodes that’s covered in this recap

Rapunzel’s Return Part 1

Rapunzel’s Return Part 2

Return of the King 

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf

The Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne

No Time Like the Past

Beginnings 

The King and Queen of Hearts

Day of the Animals 

Be Very Afraid 

Poorly Defined Conflicts 

I’m not just talking about Cassandra’s lack of goals here either, though that is a part of it. I mean in several episodes the central conflict isn’t laid out clearly enough before being resolved.  We flip from one set up to the next without ever resolving the first; like in Rapunzel’s Return when Cass and Varian fight for screen time or whenever Rapunzel is suppose to learn one lesson only for someone else to learn a completely different lesson in every other episode. And to this day I don’t know what Rapunzel and Feldspar’s subplot in Lost Treasure was suppose to be about. 

There’s also of course the ill-defined overall conflict; which at this point has become convoluted and nonsensical to the extreme, and will only grow more aggravatingly stupid as the season progresses. The main villains lack clear goals, their motivations don’t align with previously stated facts, and the actual interesting conflict involving the threat of the rocks and their destruction of people’s lives and homes is just shoved under the rug and forgotten about.  

There is no story without conflict. Having the conflict be all over the place is not only confusing but makes it harder for the audience to invest in what’s going on. 

Failed Narrative Promises 

Tying in with the above statement regarding conflicts, we have failed narrative promises. Rapunzel is repeatedly told to that she needs to learn something in several episodes only for her not to learn it at all. She either learns some unrelated ‘lesson’ that wasn’t established, (like in Rapunzel’s Return with her pervious goal about ‘opening up to others’ being switched out for a generic ‘responsibility’ lesson that at the last minute, where she doesn’t even do anything responsible,) or she winds up ‘teaching’ the opposite lesson to a different character thereby rewarding her for her bad behavior.   

And that’s just within the induvial episodes themselves; there’s also broken narrative promises through out the overall story arc; like...

no justice/redemption for Lady Caine, 

no acknowledgment that the Saporians are the victims of colonization

no conclusion regarding Corona’s murky past

no satisfying ending to Varian’s plot that sees everyone in involve grow

a poor copout of an explanation for Cassandra’s face/heel turn

The Dark Prince reveal going nowhere 

The Brotherhood being put on a bus 

King Frederic, or any royal, not being held accountable for their past actions 

Lance’s new found responsibilities just being thrown away for the tenth time 

The Disciples plot being being dropped 

next to nothing in season two winds up being relevant 

And Rapunzel, the protagonist of a coming of age story, fails to learn anything at all 

I could probably go on but you get the gist. Tangled is incredibly frustrating show to watch because doesn’t deliver what it promises. You’re not being clever by ‘subverting audiences expectations’ unless you can justify your narrative decisions with previous set up. Tangled is too lazy to build proper set ups so it’s ‘twists’ leave you wanting to punch things rather then impressing you. 

Character Assassinations 

Every single character in Tangled the Series gets thrown under a bus, driven off a cliff, and then allowed to drown in the ocean of their completely unaware self-congratulatory smugness.  

Rapunzel is turned into a bully

Cassandra is given the idiot ball to hold permanently 

The King and Queen are lobotomized

Quinin gets replaced by a robot  

The rest of the Brotherhood are pale shadows of what they could have been 

Edmund is transformed from tragic complex figure into a dumb jerkoff who abuses his kid for a laugh 

Zhan Tiri, once an ancient demon warlock, is reduced to a floating impotent ghost girl 

The Saporians become poor hipster parodies

Cap is put on a bus

Any villain who isn’t Cass is gets ignored

Lance is infantilized to the point of absurdity

Eugene becomes a doormat 

and poor Varian is forced to become a complacent victim to his abusers as oppose to being allowed to keeping his dignity 

I think the only person who escapes this mass murder of characterization is freaking Calliope, and she’s hasn’t even appeared yet! (Well okay her and Trevor, maybe) 

This all ties back into the poorly defined conflict and failed narrative promises. Rather than let the characters drive the story, they’ve become puppets to the plot, and plot is really stupid and forced, and circles back in on itself and is full of contradictions. 

Manipulating the Audience’s Empathy to Do the Work for the Writers  

The reason why the creators believe they can get away with such poor characterization and lazy writing is because they expect the audience to do all the heavy lifting for them.  

Cass isn’t given an on screen reason for what she does because they’re hoping her fans will just automatically excuse her because they like her/relate to her and not, you know, get mad at the writers for dumbing her down. And after all who doesn’t love the creator’s pet? Meanies! That’s who! 

No one calls out Rapunzel’s bullshit on screen, because if everyone likes her, then you, viewing audience, should too. Because if you have any sort of independent critical thinking abilities and a sense of right and wrong then clearly you’re ‘just a hater’. 

Everyone should just shut up and be satisfied that Varian is even on screen now and be grateful for the scraps that they get cause he’s not the real point of the show and according to Chris ‘Varian fans aren’t real fans’. Even though they make up most of his viewing audience. 

I could go on, but it’s just variations of the above. The writing in this series is very fond of gaslighting the audience and trying to trick them into justifying the absolute worst behaviors while desperately hoping they doesn’t noticed the continued downgrading and dismissal of characters they do like or once liked.  

And the sad thing is, it’s worked. There are people to this day that still try to justify this show’s shitty morals and bend over backwards to excuse the likes of Rapunzel, Frederic, Cassandra, and Edmund.  Worst, there are loud sections of the fandom, (usually on twitter) who think bullying is okay and follow in Chris and his characters footsteps. Most of them young impressionable girls who are now ripe for TREFS to indoctrinate because they use the same bullying tactics and excuses for authoritarianism. 

Media does effect reality, but not in the way purists and antis would have you believe. No one is going to become a violent manic from playing a video game nor a sex offender because they read a smut fic. But they very much will conform to toxic beliefs if it’s repeated enough at them by authorities they ‘trust’; like say the world wide leading company known for family entertainment and children’s media, and the ‘friends’ they find within the fandom for said company... 

I’m not saying you can’t enjoy Tangled the series or that you’re some how wrong for liking it’s characters, nor do you have to engage with every or any criticism thrown it’s way. But yes you need to think about the media you consume on some level and valid criticism is very much important to the fandom experience for precisely the above reasons. 

Conclusion    

This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg of what’s wrong with this show, but it is most of its biggest problems laid bare. Anything that haven’t covered here or in the past recaps will be explored in the final recap. Cause this is it folks; the last leg of the journey for this retrospective. When come back, hopefully next week, we’ll tackle Pascal’s Dragon.  

[chocoholicannanymous]

Concepts in Action (Glee)

Follow-up to Concepts of Insanity, spawned by a talk with @jwmelmoth

Slighty different mood than that one, but same base principle.

Returning to the loft after skating should be a relief after the awkwardness of doing such a loaded activity with his ex. Except it doesn't feel that good, and he's got some uncomfortable suspicions regarding Blaine's backpack.

“So, dad. You brought Blaine. Exactly when's his ticket back?”

“Day after tomorrow, same as mine.”

“Right. And where is he staying?”

“Well...” His dad's facial expression answers that question in a way that makes Kurt's heart sink.

Fan.Tast.Ic.

“So when you said I could return my present if I wanted to, exactly how was that supposed to work? It isn't, is it? I'm stuck with him whether I want to or not.”

“Kurt!”

His dad's voice is full of surprise and a bit of censor, but Kurt isn't going to let that influence him. His dad's crossed a line, and Kurt's not going to pretend otherwise.

“Remember the first Christmas after mom passed away? How you sat me down and apologized for my presents, before I'd even opened them, because you just weren't good at buying gifts? And remember how I told you that anything you'd gotten me would be perfect, because it was from you and I loved you? Yes?

“Okay. I still love you, but I'm taking the rest of that back. You coming here to tell me you have cancer was bad enough. Finding out you consider my ex an acceptable 'gift' for Christmas goes from bad to really shitty, and I don't know what you were thinking. Especially seeing as apparently you felt it was okay to tell him about your cancer before telling me.”

“I didn't want you to be alone.”

Kurt just stares, unable to process.

“I have cancer, and I knew you'd have a hard time to deal. I brought Blaine because I figured you'd need the support, the comfort.”

“And you brought my ex for that?”

Then again, support wasn't Blaine's strongest suit even when we were together, was it?

“Hey, you're the one who told me he wasn't just your boyfriend, he was your best friend too.”

“Yes, but that was before” he cheated on me “we broke up.”

His dad still doesn't seem to get it and Kurt can't take it.

“You know what, I need some air. I'm going to take a walk. You stay here, make sure Blaine stays out of my bedroom.”

Kurt starts out with going around the block, but he's still upset after and takes another loop, this time longer. It takes half an hour for him to feel ready to go back inside and deal.

Sitting on the couch with his dad and Blaine as they watch baseball is annoying as hell. Any other time, he'd take the closeness and read Vogue, especially now that his dad has admitted to knowing about it. But with Blaine actually watching and interacting with his dad about the game Kurt feels uncomfortable not doing the same. So he tries. Once he gives up and reaches for his magazine he heard his dad and Blaine joke about having bet about how long he'd hold out.

And then the next hit comes.

“So, Kurt, I know that this might be a bit weird for you, and you can totally say no if you want to,” sure, just like I could return the 'gift' of your presence, “ but I'm applying to NYADA for next year.”

Kurt sighs silently. Of course he is. The thing is, he can see it, the way Blaine probably assumes it'll play out. Blaine moving to New York, going to NYADA, buddying up to Rachel just like in high school... Kurt being expected to just take it, regardless of if he had been accepted or not. Any contacts Kurt might have gotten supposed to be at Blaine's beck and call, Blaine talking his way into Kurt's classes trying to replace him, like he had in Glee and with Cheerios... Kurt bending over backwards to make Blaine happy, just like in high school.

Because there would never be a chance of him being allowed to continue to say no to Blaine with them at the same school.

Thank god that's not going to happen.

And really, what was Blaine trying to do here? Pretending that Kurt's opinion mattered? The time for that would have been months ago, before applying.

“Oh really? You know what, I think NYADA might be perfect for you.” Not in terms of actual schooling, maybe, as Kurt's had the blinds torn off regarding Blaine's talent, but for the rest... He imagines Carmen Tibideaux subjecting Blaine to some of her special treatment. The definition of Karma, surely.

“Really?”

“Oh yeah. From everything I've heard you'd get along really well with the dean, and well, Rachel seems to thrive. Good luck.”

With no encouragement to keep talking about NYADA Blaine wanders off to grab something to drink and Kurt refocuses on his dad, trying to squeeze out as much of this visit as possible.

“Hey Kurt? What does NUY want with you?”

Kurt turns his head so fast it feels like he's in danger of whiplash.

“Are you going through my mail? Stop it!”

The words come out hard and he can see both his dad and Blaine react. He doesn't care though.

“You know, you going through my personal things wasn't cute when we dated either. Back then I just cared more about keeping the peace than about keeping my privacy. Since that's not a problem anymore, let me just be clear. I might be allowing you to stay here, but that's not an invitation in any way. Not to snooping, not to feeling at home, and not to getting back together.

“This is my home, and you are – putting it kindly – a guest. Behave with the decency I know your mom expects of you. If you can't do that then leave.”

He wishes Blaine would, but knows it's not likely.

“Buddy...”

“Kurt! You can't mean that you'd throw me out. Where would I go?”

Blaine looks like Kurt has done the verbal equivalent of throwing a bucket of ice water in his face. It has no effect on Kurt's resolve though.

“I neither know nor care. You either respect my home or you don't stay in it. This is New York. There are thousands of hotels and hostels.”

His dad just stares at him, as if he doesn't know who Kurt is anymore, and it hurts. Out of all the people liking Blaine better than him Kurt had never figured his dad would be one. And yet here he was, feeling the same way as he'd once felt with Finn.

“Buddy, you're being a bit harsh here, don't you think? Yes, I'll admit that maybe bringing Blaine without warning you was a little...impulsive, but why are you so angry? And don't be so hardnosed about getting back together, for your own sake.

“Like I said earlier, love's important. Holding on to love is important. I don't want you to throw away what you and Blaine have, not when you never know what will happen, or how long you'll have that opportunity. It's a cruel world, Kurt, but having someone to share with makes it better.”

Kurt takes a deep breath and tries, really really tries to keep his bitterness in. He's not doing that great a job.

“Holding on to love is important, sure. But there's such a thing as holding on too long and too hard. Blaine and I broke up for good reasons, and I wish you'd respect that.”

It's like his dad isn't even hearing him though.

“You know, your mom and I found it hard being apart too.”

Kurt did know. As a kid he'd loved hearing about his mom's semester in France, and he'd been told enough to know that it'd been tough. He'd read some of their letters to each other though, and he doubts either of them dealt the way Blaine did.

“So? Yes, being apart is hard. But that isn't an excuse for everything. I didn't want to get you involved in all of this, but since that's obviously not going to be an option anymore, fine. Blaine cheated. He felt I didn't pay enough attention to him, you know, between finding a job and a place to stay, and making enough money to pay the bills, and generally trying to make myself a life here after he practically pushed me to go here.

“And so he went and found someone else to give him that attention.”

He practically spits out the last sentence. It feels good to finally allow himself to say it, but the look on his dad's face doesn't feel as good.

If he was less angry maybe he'd be able to stop himself, worry about his dad's heart. But the anger's been simmering too long for that.

“That's why we broke up, and that's why I find the idea of getting back together objectionable. And you can talk about holding on to love until you're blue in the face, but I'm not the one who needs that lecture.”

He swallows down the lump in his throat, but goes on.

“As for the rest of it, are you seriously suggesting I take back my cheating boyfriend because that's better than being alone? Or because I don't know how long I'll live? Because if you are... What's next, dad? Telling me I should marry him because you and mom didn't get enough time together?

“If any of those things are going through your head you are also welcome to leave. I'll never not welcome you in my home, dad, but I need you to respect me. I need you to not act like you're putting someone else's son above yours.”

That's a warning that hits the target, and it's obvious that Burt Hummel remembers a row of uncomfortable talks about Finn. He deflects by turning on Blaine though.

“You...”

“No, dad. It is over and done with. Leave him be. Just... Just leave it alone. I don't want to take anymore fighting. Please?”

They stare at each other and for a while Kurt wonders if he should have done as he normally does and just backed down. Swallowed down his hurt and anger and frustration, kept quiet about the injustices done to him, and just pretended to be okay. Tried to not upset his dad, and risk his health.

Except he's done that for years, and it's clearly not working. His dad's health has failed again, with the cancer – and no matter how good the prognosis, or the treatments available, a cancer diagnosis is a health failure. Plus his dad is trying to fix him and Blaine, out of some misguided idea that they're going to be the next Burt-and-Lizzie, and he never would have done that if Kurt'd been honest about the cheating instead of blaming distance.

At least Kurt hopes he wouldn't.

“Sometimes, dad, first loves end. They end because of death, or because they're not meant to last, or because of something else. And then you meet someone else, and they make your life amazing. I'm not going to deprive myself of that by holding on to something that's ended. Just like you didn't. You found love again. I will too.

“I just need to be allowed to do so.”

They keep staring at each other, and then his dad nods. Kurt can't help it, he throws himself in his dad's arms, with tears already beginning to fall.

As they hug Kurt hear Blaine muttering in the background about finding a hotel, but he doesn't care. The door to the loft closing feels like it's closing on him and Blaine too, and it's such a relief.

After several minutes they let go. Both need to remove traces of crying, but that's good.

Once they're seated again Kurt searches for something to talk about, but his dad beats him to it.

“So, NYU? Or should I pretend I didn't hear that?”

“No! I have been thinking about things, about school, and I was an idiot for not applying to more schools last year. So, I did some research and then I did something about it. I've applied to half a dozen schools, and I've already been accepted to one for the fall semester. I don't know if there's any school willing to take me for the spring, but if there's not I'll just keep working and try to save up money.”

“And what about NYADA?”

There's no judgment in his dad's voice, and Kurt smiles as he tries to describe the situation diplomatically.

“It's...not looking as good in my research as I thought, so while I did reapply there I'm not sure I want to go there. I really shouldn't have listened to Rachel last year, because as it turns out? NYADA actually isn't the most prestigious school for performing arts, and it's probably not even the best for me. I guess we were both a little starstruck, you know?”

The game is back on, but they ignore it and talk, and it's everything Kurt would have wanted.

O--o---o--O

Months later as classes start up Kurt receives voicemail after voicemail about Blaine starting at NYADA, about how bad it is that Kurt's not been accepted, about them meeting up. Kurt ignores them as he did the calls and walks into vogue.com with a smile.

He doesn't feel the least bad about not getting in. Hell, he didn't even apply for the fall semester.

No, Kurt's happy where he is, with his job at vogue.com, a spot at the New School and a couple of scholarships helping pay the way. Oh, and a new boyfriend, which also contributes to his happiness.

Turns out? Acting in new ways can get you new and rewarding results. All you got to do is try.

[malachi-walker]

Happy birthday, Mal! I love your fics, they evoke so much emotion in me and have made me cry many a time. I don't often reread fics, but i've reread multiple chapters of Rhythm and Blues because they're stuck with me so much. You capture the emotional pain of their trauma and the catharsis that comes with their growth so beautifully. You also write some brilliant meta and just consistently post some fantastic thoughts. Also your love for swords is very appreciated. <3 have a lovely day!

First of all, my apologies for not replying sooner. I was making my mind up about something that would definitely require the use of a read more and thus necessitate dragging myself to desktop (which I hate because my laptop predates the dinosaurs.)

But seriously. Thank you so much. This is honestly one of the sweetest comments I've ever gotten and definitely made my already pretty sweet bday even better.

So about that read more. In honor of you, @metalesbo, my friends @n7punk and @jem-jarrett and everyone else who sent me well wishes or just really loves my work... Here's the opening section of the next chapter of R&B. Enjoy. It's a long one.

Adora Eternia is about two months shy of her fourteenth birthday when she first realizes she's in love with her best friend.

Though--if asked--she would hasten to explain that it wasn't when she fell in love. But trying to pinpoint the exact moment is an exercise in catching mist: the more she tries to grasp it in her hands the more it spreads out and covers everything. It just is: pure and simple and very, very complicated.

It's the beginning of December and the whole town is covered in a thick blanket of snow. Winterfest will be here in a few weeks, so to help out the kids who want to get gifts for their friends the Right Zone administration has shuffled around the groups that usually take their monthly trips on the third and fourth Sundays of the month to double up with the other two. As part of group three, she and Catra got the first week (the other three members of their crew are week two folks anyway and thus outside the reorganization.)

It's still kinda weird to think that: their crew. For so long, it was just Catra and Adora. Adora and Catra. One unit bound together, just them against the world. But there's also something nice about being part of a small cluster, their "scrappy little lone wolf pack" as Catra had once put it with a wry grin before Lonnie shoved her over with an, "Excuse you, I'm a great people person when I'm not busy making sure you idiots haven't set yourselves on fire!"

They all got a good laugh out of that one.

But regardless, the holidays are coming up and this is the first year that any of their group has felt like actually doing anything for it, aside from wrangling together a sleepover and seeing if they can convince the kitchen staff to slip them some leftover eggnog.

They made each other promise not to go too extravagant and keep each person's gift to ten dollars or lower. Even though their quarterly stipend has increased from three hundred to four hundred to match with inflation over the past eight years, it still isn't a whole lot for three month's worth of expenses, especially when they also have to budget regularly for clothes to keep up with the seemingly endless growth spurts.

There's also the usual budgetary concern of keeping her and Catra's first aid kit well supplied...

Adora shakes her head to dislodge the intrusive thought and continues marching onward through the snow. This trip is a good thing. She won't let all the awful realities of their life taint it.

With so many kids running around and wanting to shop on their own to surprise their giftees, Right Zone had to negotiate with both the local police and whatever other civic authorities they could get ahold of to come out en masse and keep an eye on them all. The kids had still come with their usual teachers, of course, but doubling the load and also splitting up was a logistical nightmare. Which is just a convoluted way to say the town is positively crawling with uniformed officers, off duty members of the fire brigade, emergency personnel, and other such authority figures quietly keeping watch and making sure no one tries anything.

Adora knows that somewhere in the press of bodies, Grizzlor's busy wrangling two new "brats" (seven and nine, respectively, and definitely not friends.) Somewhere, a certain Magicat is probably grumbling over the indignity of being forced to wear shoes and kicking every snowpile she can, like she can send a direct message to whatever cosmic force is responsible for her current frustration.

On an ordinary month she and Catra--being old enough to be allowed a bit more freedom to do what they want--would buddy up to watch each other's backs while they did their shopping. But this isn't an ordinary month, so once they'd each gotten gifts for the other three they'd split up on opposite ends of Main Street with an agreement to move clockwise to avoid running into each other. Afterwards, the entire group would rendezvous at the small clock tower in the park a block over before heading back to Right Zone.

Ten dollars wasn't a lot to work with, but Adora had done her best: a new stress ball for Kyle, some moisturizing oil for Rogelio since the early winter shed had wiped out his supply and he'd been too busy to pick up some more, a twelve pound kettle weight for Lonnie now that their shared exercise routine was getting a bit too easy for her... Utilitarian choices, to be sure, but she's been paying attention and that has to count for something.

Catra's the difficult one, of course. Partly because Adora doesn't want to just get her something practical, but also because they share nearly everything between them already. About the only thing that is definitively off limits is Catra's guitar, and she's told Adora enough about her time with Tao over the years that Adora wouldn't even ask. Beyond that... Well, there's a reason why most of Adora's day off hoodies have small strands of orange fur stuck to them.

Still. I want to get her something that's hers. Something she'll like. Something she doesn't have to share with anyone, not even me.

In the end, she nearly walks past it. In one of the artisanal shops that dot small towns like liver spots, she finds a display of hand stamped necklace pendants, with a design sheet beside it. There are a lot of the usual nature designs and such, but the one that catches her eye is a treble clef with the five staff lines bleeding out from it. They ring the edge of the pendant in a half circle, and scattered haphazardly along the lines are the other music notes.

The lack of proper order would drive Adora insane. She understands that it's just meant to look pretty, not be an accurate representation of musical notation, but still... She knows her own (broken) brain well enough to know that.

It suits Catra, though.

"Hey," Mismatched eyes looked down at Adora as her head draped backwards over the back of their desk chair, the throbbing behind her left eye threatening to escalate into a migraine. "Guess I don't have to ask how the composing's going."

"It sucks," Adora groused back, sitting up and gesturing Catra over. She jabbed at two particular spots with the half chewed off eraser end of her pencil, two hard jabs each, like she was filing a complaint. "Most of it is just what I'm going for, but these two places here... They aren't sounding right. I've been going back and forth over structure all afternoon, but nothing I do helps."

"Hmmm..." Catra stroked her chin and nudged Adora over so she could sit on the arm of the chair (they'd never gotten around to requesting a second, mostly because Adora didn't want to risk Shadow Weaver suspecting they were getting too chummy.) "Got any scratch paper?"

Adora pointed to the pile of half crumpled notebook paper she used when making adjustments and Catra snorted. "Ok, dumb question. Just let me see here..."

Grabbing a pen, she quickly inked a fresh set of staff lines and copied the notes Adora had already put down, making sure to leave space to work. Glancing between the two, she drummed her fingers on the desk, playing along in her head.

"Hmm..." Catra murmured, worrying at her lower lip with a fang in a manner that was... Oddly distracting. "Ok, how 'bout this?"

Adora jolted, tearing her gaze from Catra's face to look at the sequence of notes scribbled onto the scratch paper. She paused, brow furrowing as she played them over in her mind's eye. It was a little unorthodox, veering away from the path she had carefully laid out... But also blending well with the next part. Almost like the notes took a quick detour and then lead the listener back to where she wanted them.

"Yeah..." Adora replied thoughtfully, the tension all over her body starting to smooth out. "Yeah, that could work."

"Awesome. Let's take a look at the next part."

They ultimately ended up spending several hours going over the entire piece, sussing out every place where Adora was having even the slightest niggle of unease. She didn't accept all of Catra's changes and Catra didn't push the matter, but the ones she did...

They felt right. More right than they had ever felt when it was just Adora running circles around herself.

When they finally finished up she looked over at Catra, tail waving sedately in that way it got when she was simultaneously engaged but relaxed, and asked, "Umm... Do you want to learn with me? I like doing this."

'I like making music with you.'

Catra paused, looking over at Adora searchingly, almost like she couldn't believe the question had come up. No matter how many years had passed between them, that look never really went away, and every time she saw it Adora's chest ached in a way that was hard for her to process.

"I'd like that."

Catra's composing style is very different from Adora's. More wild, more willing to bend and break the rules if it means maintaining audience engagement, but there's always an underlying order to the chaos. To her surprise and pleasure, Adora found herself learning just as much from Catra as Catra was learning from her. Their styles brought out the best in each other.

The jingle of a bell kicks her out of the memory. Mind made up even though it's nearly double her budget, Adora scans the stand of necklaces for the one with the treble clef pattern.

It isn't there. Adora swallows down the disappointment, though she can't help the sigh. Of course. The town was well aware of the large population of music students a short drive away and catered to them accordingly. But there are also dozens of kids out on the street tonight. It isn't that big of a surprise that the design sold out.

Not surprising, but disheartening nonetheless.

She's just begun to turn away when a voice calls from the back. "Hang on a sec there, little miss."

Adora jumps, but remains where she is as a large Taurian man with a massive snow white beard trundles out from a door behind the counter, wiping his hands on his apron. "Was there a particular design you were interested in?"

Adora points at the treble clef, hope rising. "This one. But it looks like it's already sold out."

"Hmm..." The man scratchs at his chin. "Well with Winterfest coming up, I'm out of blank pendants-"

Adora's shoulders slump.

"-But," The man continues with a smile. "I can double stamp it onto the back of another. Ordinarily I'd charge extra for that, but it's my fault for not ordering enough blanks. Rookie move. Besides, it's the holidays. Now would that be all right by you?"

Nodding frantically in case he changes his mind, Adora scans the other designs, quickly alighting on one in particular. "That one!"

"The claw marks? Bit of an odd combination, but the customer is always right," The old man winked as he reached out to take the necklace from her. "My jig and press is in the corner over here if you wanna watch."

Adora was glad he specified, because as nice as the man seemed there was no way in hell she was going into a back room with a stranger. But she stood next to the window beside a display of miscellaneous knick knacks and puzzles, watching him carefully place the pendant in a cushioned stand to avoid damaging the already printed side and tighten it into place before moving beside the machine.

"You're gonna want to cover your ears," He tells her, patting the machine with one massive hand. "Had to switch to a steam press when the arthritis caught up to me. Used to do it all by hammer. This boy's okay, but he gets loud."

Adora nods, glad for the warning when he bellows "Clear!" and the machine's hammer comes down once, twice, three times with a sound like the ringing of an enormous bell. Once the machine is stopped and carefully turned off, the old man removes the pendant from the press and hands it over to Adora for inspection. "What do you think? Does it pass muster?"

Adora runs her fingertips over the impressions in the metal, memorizing the feel of it, the leftover warmth of the impact. "Perfect."

"Good. Now let's get you rung up."

Counting the five dollars she attempted to surreptitiously slip into the tip jar (the old man winked as he turned back around, so stealth fail) Adora went very over budget, but the others would have to put a gun to her head for her to admit it.

Besides, it's Catra. They already know she's the sole exception to all of Adora's carefully maintained rules.

With everything finished, she continues trudging through the snow toward the park, breathing a sign of relief as she moves away from the shopping district and the people thin out; no one wanting to go to the park in the middle of such bleak weather. Angling around a clustered group of bare trees, she spots the small clock tower in the distance, as well as the figure already standing beside it. Grinning, Adora picks up the pace a bit until she can see Catra clearly and--

Her breath catches.

Since her only experience with this kind of thing has been through books, Adora always expected this moment would be more dramatic. Like back to back in the middle of a fight, or eyes locking from up on stage. Something spectacular, like fireworks, lime explosions, like the feeling of playing a song without a single mistake for the first time. It's always seemed like such a big deal in the stories, and in a way, it is.

Because there's Catra, lost in her own world as she gazes up at the streetlight that's just come on, her left hand extended to let the snowflakes fall into her palm and the light catches the orange of her fur just right to make a blaze of color against the black of her coat. She looks so small, standing in that space all alone on a cold winter's night, but Adora knows deep down that she could never be that small, not when she's Catra, not when she means so much...

Pretty much everything about the past hour--about her entire life since they met if she's being honest--snaps into crystal clear focus.

Oh. I get it now. I'm in love with you.

It's a bad idea. Adora knows that. Shadow Weaver is enough of a menace while believing Catra is simply her roommate, her sometime tool--and Catra had ended up being all too right about the torture not stopping, even after years of Adora trying to direct Weaver's attentions away from her. If the evil old bitch figures out Adora's feelings run deeper, so much deeper...

Her heart beats double time. This whole thing is an unmitigated disaster.

But it's still the best worst thing that's ever happened to her.

She must make a noise, because Catra's ear twitches in her direction, snapping her out of that distant contemplation. She turns her head and looks at Adora, lips curling in a lopsided grin. "Hey, Adora. Wow, you look like you've seen a ghost."

Adora blinks, coming back to herself and mumbling the first excuse that springs to mind. "... Just cold."

"Well no shit. C'mere."

When she closes the distance Catra glances around warily, making sure they're the only ones around, before reaching up and retying the scarf around Adora's neck, patting it once when she's done. "There. I know I make it look good, but you don't have the advantage of fur like me."

Adora looks down at the thin AC/DC t-shirt that Catra's wearing beneath her half open coat, the line of her collarbones and neck, and makes a snap decision. "Is it okay if I give you your present now?"

Catra blinks, a little thrown by the non sequitur. "I mean... Sure? Do you want me to give you yours?"

"I'm good with either," Adora shrugs, trying to ignore how fast her heart is beating, how much she wants to do this before this moment slips away. "I just want to."

There's a long moment of silence as they each examine the other, equally searching. What Catra's looking for, Adora doesn't know. She isn't sure she wants to know.

"Okay."

Breathing deep, Adora reaches into her pocket and pulls out the necklace on its leather cord. Careful to keep the pendant hidden in her hand, she passes it over, fingertips sparking as it's taken. Catra brings it close to her face, running her fingers over the four parallel slashes on the side facing her.

"Why the claw marks?"

Adora laughs, nervous butterflies positively rioting in her stomach. "Because you're a badass. Duh."

"True," Catra smirks, flipping it over and squinting at the other side. "And this?"

"Badass, loves music with all your heart. Not mutually exclusive concepts," Adora says, trying not to give away how much she thinks about this, how much she wants to take that hand in hers. She settles for a playful shoulder bump instead. "Plus we all know you're secretly a big softie."

"Excuse you, I am all sharp edges," Catra giggles, lightly elbowing her before transitioning into a soft little smile. "... Just not with everyone."

Oh God oh God oh God. That smile will absolutely be the death of her.

Swallowing past her horrible awareness of that softness, Adora asks, "So you like it?"

"I love it. Good luck ever getting me to take it off," Catra laughs, then frowns, flexing her fingers. "Hands have gone a little numb, though. Help me put it on?"

Adora.exe promptly crashes to desktop. But she still somehow manages to move, helping Catra hold back her mane so she can slip the leather cord over her head and tuck it beneath her hair. If she hesitates a moment too long in letting go, at least Catra only shoots her an amused glance. "How's it look?"

"Great," Adora manages to croak out, trying to swallow past the sudden dryness in her throat. "You look great. Umm... Happy early Winterfest, I guess?"

"Well, I'm gonna hold onto yours a little longer," Catra laughs, playfully sticking out her tongue before reaching out. "C'mere, you big dork."

Adora shuffles closer, mind and heart both screaming as Catra draws her into a hug, nuzzling her head against the side of her neck. A little whisper. "Thank you."

Adora swallows again, even harder. "You're welcome."

Between them, the necklace rests, the music side pressed right up against Catra's heart.

----------

Fun fact: the shopkeep is based off a cool old dude selling machine pressed necklaces I ran into at a Scottish festival when I was 13, and he made such an impression I never forgot him. Anyway, happy Valentine's! Have a Big Gay Realization!