#as in the specific way that she's written is honestly pretty rare for a female character. idk how to describe it but she's *actually* mean-

[spingtail]

every day on this earth is another day being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment (having to see a whole thread of people saying the one (1) "androgynous"/even slightly just barely masc female character in a franchise looks better with her hair down because she's pretty)

[wlwmedarda]

I'm honestly just looking to rant and this might be long depending on how fast I get irritated the more I type so if this isn't coherent or well written I apologize in advance. Since it looks like Ambessa will take on a more antagonistic role in arcane season two, I would like to unpack the fandom's antiblackness that you guys are either blind to or aware and too pussy to call it out as my gut is telling me it's gonna increase and if no one is gonna start the difficult conversation then I sure as hell will.

Sevika:

Mel:

Starting off strong with the definition of "you guys want complex female characters but can't even handle her". Mel Medarda is in quite the predicament seeing how she's morally grey, a black woman, AND "gets in the way" of a mlm ship so she was kinda screwed from the start. A cunning politician disowned for her pacifism who acts as a sort of bridge to Noxus' slow introduction, and is THE ONLY CHARACTER IN THE SEASON 1 MAIN CAST SPECIFICALLY CREATED FOR THE SHOW. She's treated like satan incarnate or a Jezebel (highly suggest looking into that if you don't know what that is), GOOD character analysis is rare, and when she is talked about positively, it's so often chalked up to appearances that I'd rather yall not talk about her at all. Oh you love Mel? Then can we talk about her relationship with her mother? Unpack her dynamic with Jayce? Maybe more fanworks centered around her? I've seen yall's fake asses dropping the shittiest fucking takes about her only to turn around and gush over how pretty she is, and yall think you're slick about it and you're not. I would say I prefer the ones who are loud and proud about their hatred but that'd be a lie, they're two cheeks on the same ass; annoying and couldn't give a decent break down of her character if a gun was pointed at they head even she's perfect to dissect. I could talk about her more but we'd be here all day and so many black women even from outside the fanbase have already talked about yall so there's no need for me to add on 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️.

Quick question, have you guys ever tried to talk about her in a non sexual way? Yes, Sevika is undeniably sexy and you could argue that true stans of hers talk about her outside of horny time, but a good half of the fandom is a different story. In a similar case to Mel's, deep dives into her character are rare to find which is crazy when she acts as Zaun's own "kingmaker". She's loyal to her city and the cause, never to a specific person and will not hesitate to betray you. She could be your right hand man one day, and the next she might find a better kingpin to follow and stab you in the back like it all meant nothing. "Were you tempted?" "Not for a worm like him". Simple and subtle and probably my favorite Sevika scene; she comes to realize Silco is no longer the best leader for Zaun, but he's as good as it gets for now and so she sticks by him. I remember a YouTube comment breaking down how she's essentially the quintessential Zaun: a brute warrior molded by her environment, who defied Vander's peaceful ways and embraced Silco's cruelty. Her mindset and goal is interesting and you'd think it'd result in some fascinating meta or exploration of her upbringing when we got a hint that she potentially has some daddy issues right? Obviously, but what do we get instead? White sapphics treating her like nothing more than a sexual object. How delightful!

Ekko:

This might partially be Riot's fault because — and I hate to sound like a league lore nerd — Ekko is quite underdeveloped compared to the richer origins of his former pre arcane self, but I'm gonna hold off on that till the season finale to see how they handle him. Anyways, at this point the fandom clearly sees him as Jinx's trophy husband. When you talk about him, she is brought into the convo 90% of the time. That's exactly why I prefer black timebomb shippers over the nonblack ones because I trust they actually love Ekko as a character on his own. Even though I have my complaints regarding how's been written so far, I still know he's too good to be reduced to Jinx's loverboy. He fights and cares for his city, the only character that you can confidently say is pure of heart, and is the revolutionary leader Zaun really needs. He's just as smart as Jinx too, he is literally going to create TIME TRAVEL. Why does no one wanna talk about that? Can we be excited for his character development and arc not just for the timebomb scenes you'll get out of it?

Ambessa:

Can't even deny this woman is awful but her presence on screen enthralled me after a couple of rewatches and I also love bad mothers in media so I've settled on a love/hate relationship. Yes, she's definitely gonna have some influence on Caitlyn, which makes sense since she has now lost her mother; she's vulnerable and as we have seen, naive. She's practically free real estate for Ambessa. My recent worry though has been how the fandom seems to be willing to put all of Caitlyn's actions on her as if Cait isn't a grown ass woman who can make her own decisions. Of course being grown doesn't mean you're immune to manipulation, but I've seen some Silco and Jinx comparisons and it is NOT the same. Mind you we haven't even seen the first three episodes; we don't know how far Ambessa's manipulation is going to go and we can't really tell what the dynamic is gonna be like based off of clips and trailers that are likely shown out of context on purpose to throw people off. I'll never defend her actions, hell I'll join in on the lashings, but my black ass is also not gonna sit here and let yall talk about her weirdly or pin all of this on her.

Some might say I'm overthinking this, but I've been here since November 2021 and have sat back and observed for 2 years. You don't have to write deep, philosophical conversations 24/7, I'm sure it's not all in bad faith and I won't act like I don't thirst over Sevika or marvel at Mel's beauty. I'm not saying you have to like these characters and that you're racist if you don't. My frustration comes from the lack of nuanced conversations and hypocritical opinions surrounding black characters in this show. When you try to say something about this, you're hit with excuses; it reminds me of how man obsessed fujoshis act when they're questioned for not giving two fucks about female characters. They're either reduced to one character trait, only admired for their looks, or only discussed when it's about the white character they're connected to. Do NOT under ANY circumstance be black and morally ambiguous, you WILL be held to higher moral standards than everyone's wittle blorbos who can do wrong and are defended from all sides when you dare to take the rose colored stan glasses off and criticize them. What's really ridiculous is you hear the "complex characters" bullshit every two to three business days and some of you have the nerve to boast about this series being diverse while simultaneously ignoring the complexities in the characters of color. This is the main reason I took a step back and with season two around the corner I thought "Hey, maybe it'll be better this time!" and it was a mistake. Good to know yall still have an underlying racism problem you don't wanna address but with some extra classism thrown in. "What will we do once Arcane ends?" hopefully get a job, touch some grass, and reflect. Lord knows yall need it. The faster yall sizzle out the better. I'm done that's all I have to say lol goodnight 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽.

[cubesandblobs]

flourishing peony review (spoiler-free): why I put a pause on it & why I still recommend it

i'm gonna start with the good things because I do like what the drama has done

acting, music, directing all seem solid. I like the colour scheme & costuming (again, not sure about historical accuracy but it's very pretty)

going into more details: i like the way Peony (Mu Dan) was written to be genuinely capable. a lot of dramas want the girl to have inciting events to start appreciating the guy so they always put her into situations she can't solve, and I'm happy that this drama doesn't do that. Peony gets very far based on her own capabilities despite her relatively low social status, but gets screwed over by unforseen circumstances and her lack of experience. Fair enough.

speaking of the guy, the way official jiang is written is another big plus point for this drama. the 'high status male with a mean streak' is a real hit in the historical cdrama market right now and JCY is by far the most healthy and likeable iteration because it never felt like he was punching down when he jokes with/at Mu Dan.

also, he's feminist without the drama portraying it as a big deal which is nice. like him standing up for Mu Dan against misogyny doesn't focus on how great and amazing he is but rather on how absurd the patriarchal system. he's pretty casual about it. I think this is the best way to capture that he's one of the rare few decent dudes in the story but also yes, not being sexist is only the bare minimum

I'm really interested in the princess (jùnzhǔ) (Mu Dan's husband's childhood lover). I appreciate when writers put some effort into their antagonists instead of slapping the 'screaming insane female character' archetype onto her.

Okay, here's why I still dropped it:

I just felt really bored, to be honest. Even though the drama never made me frustrated or annoyed (honestly pretty rare). I think I've watched too many dramas that're similar to this way (think of every historical cdrama featuring a woman running a business lol) so that's why i'm just like 'oh, this again' with every single plot point

Some specific gripes: i really liked it when the drama let Peony solve her own problems (this is because letting the high status male step in kills all suspense: of course the dude can get shit done when he's got the twin privilege of being a man & a high status official! i'm watching because I wanted to see how she can solve her problems in a society that treats her words like their nothing, not to watch this privileged rich boy verbally bully assholes into submission.) rant aside, the problem is that even though Peony does solve most of her issues by herself, she doesn't do it in a way that makes you think 'oh, i didn't think of that' or 'wow, that's impressive' but rather because she just...chances upon some really decent people every now and then who allows her to get her shit together just by virtual of being honest and dependable. Do I prefer this to the dude jumping in to save the day? absolutely. But it doesn't make the drama interesting to me who have watched a gazillion shows with similar plots.

Liu Chang (the neglectful controlling ex-husband) left much to be desired in terms of character writing. Basically he's both austere & highly moral/anti-corruption but also deeply f*cked up and controlling. He despises Mu Dan and doesn't want anything to do with her but also refuses to let her leave. But there's also the fact that he just hates being controlled (family trauma) and he interprets Mu Dan leaving as part of everybody thinking they can mess with his marriage however they like. Now, the idea of a moral preachy dude who's also a piece of shit but isn't even self aware about it is right up my alley but the way liu chang's written is just a muddle mess. I felt like I had to do the heavy lifting & theorising to see how his pieces fit together instead of the narrative leaving clues for me to understand him with. He ended up being less like an interesting character study but more like a stubborn stain on Mu Dan's life that refuses to be washed off. (Compare him to The Double's ex-husband, whose writers do a much cleaner job presenting his various layers, facades, and hypocrisy to the audience.)

I'll stop here for now. I definitely recommend this show despite what I've said and if you're someone who likes these historical china female-led dramas, I'd recommend this one above most of the others I've watched before. I'll be checking out Sijin to see if I'm just done with this genre for good or if it's just something about flourishing peony that isn't hitting right with me.

[binxyu]

Being the main writer for the college paper made it particularly hard for people not to be in your business because, well, you were in their’s. Thus, everyone in the school was aware of your relationship with Juyeon and Hyunjae. But, that doesn’t stop a flirty athlete from hitting on you.

>>Pairing: Lee Jaehyun x Lee Juyeon (doms) x fem!reader (sub) | athletes!jaehyun and juyeon x writer!reader

>>Word Count: 4.3k

>>Genre: Oneshot / Requested / Smut

>>Warnings/Kinks: Choking, creampie, cum eating, cum play, double penetration, exhibitionism/public sex, harassment (not from the boys), marking, oral (giving + receiving), possessiveness, praise, saliva, and unprotected sex

The reminder you had set on your phone was not enough to take your focus off the man in front of you.

Truth be told, you were quite forgetful for a person with such a tight schedule.

Writing on your hand was tried. It didn’t really work considering you washed your hands consistently throughout the day (damn the germs in colleges), smudging the ink to an unreadable blur on your hand.

Thankfully, that’s how you had met your boyfriends. Yeah, plural. There’s an s there.

You had been rushing towards an assignment you had been given for the paper. It was a request to interview some of the top students in the music department and damn late wasn’t even enough of a word to describe how long ago you were supposed to be there.

Showing up a couple hours late resulted in most of the students already gone, hiding away in their dorms for the afternoon.

But, there were two students still waiting for you. Lee Jaehyun (although he likes people to call him Hyunjae) and Lee Juyeon.

They were your saving grace for your paper and, in return, you let them take you out on a date.

Now, months later, your relationship with them still ran strong.

But, apparently your hearing didn’t because the reminder sound on your phone didn’t even register as you write down practically everything the athlete was telling you.

He actually was a classmate of your’s and a pretty popular one at that. The whole school practically knew about him.

“And that’s how I beat the record”, you nodded sweetly, keeping that signature interviewer smile on your face. It did a fantastic job of getting people to open up and this guy was no exception.

“So, one last question, are you dating anyone?”, you weren’t asking for yourself. Especially not when you were already quite... busy... with the two men you were already dating. It was more for the majority of the female population in the school who did like him.

Besides, everyone in the school knew about you and, more specifically, your polyamorous relationship. It wasn’t seen everyday to be fair. You three stuck out like a sore thumb.

“No, I haven’t really been looking”, bullshit. You had been to the football games, the man loved to rile up the crowd. He practically chucked his shirt into a girl’s face the other night when it was “too hot”.

It was just above 50 degrees that night.

“I see. Thank you for the interview”, you smiled and he nodded, smiling back at you before a lightbulb seemed to go off in his mind.

“Are you looking?”, he must have noticed the shocked expression you had because his hand encased your’s, seemingly trying to soothe you as his thumb traced the back of your hand.

All it did was make you more anxious.

“No, sorry, I’m not. I’m actually taken”, there goes that reminder again but you ignored it. It was probably just your reminder to take your gummy vitamins or something stupid the boys put in there because they cared. Maybe a little too much sometimes.

“Oh, by who?”, it wasn’t a curious question. He didn’t believe you. His tone said it.

“By us”, uh oh.

Turning around, you were met with your two lovers. They hovered over you like angry wolves and you could only feel like a little lamb underneath them.

The athlete had flirted with you before and that only made the situation more intense. Of course the football player knew about your relationship. It just didn’t seem to matter to him.

Until, well, now you guess.

“You didn’t come”, shit. So, that was the reminder?

You had a date with them after this interview and it completely flew out of your mind like a paper lost in the wind.

“Sorry, I lost track of time”, they nodded and, for a moment, you thought you saw their eyes soften as they look at you but they just returned back to those icy cold stares.

Even the muscular athlete was scared. Everyone knew how possessive your boyfriends were.

It was pretty obvious after a particularly ignorant party animal laid his drunk hands on you. Before he could do anything else, he was already thrown on the floor with Juyeon’s fist landing on his cheek while Hyunjae pulled you back into his chest like he was some kind of shield.

It was hot, you weren’t going to lie, but it did make you a little worried for people you truly did just want to be friends with.

“Hey, babies, let’s go. Let’s go have our date now”, you placed each of your hands on their chests. It was a gentle move that always seemed to calm them and you smiled as you felt their heartbeats slow down, your own starting to match theirs as you felt it through your hands.

“Fine but you”, Hyunjae pointed with precision at the man, “stay away from her. She doesn’t like you and she’s said no multiple times. She’s ours” the man finally nodded and ran off while you were stuck standing there with a wave of arousal shooting to your core.

Ignore it. You can’t be walking around with marks again-

The internal scold fell short as the boys wrapped you up in a hug. You could practically feel the warmth from their anger coming off of them in waves.

“Next time listen to your reminders. We set them for you for a reason”, Hyunjae scolded you, grabbing your phone to turn off the pesky sound. You really didn’t hear it. Maybe your hearing does need to be checked.

“I know I know. I’m forgetful”, you pout and the boys looked at it, wanting nothing more than to kiss your pouty lips until they’re swollen. Juyeon just chuckles instead and ruffles your hair sweetly.

It was such a sharp contrast to how cold he looked a minute ago but you were used to it. They were usually cold to others but were exceptionally sweet to you.

Well, most of the time.

“Come on, dory. We’ve got to get outside”, that’s always been Hyunjae’s favorite nickname for you. Sadly, you couldn’t argue that it didn’t suit you.

Sometimes you even forget what your name is.

“Okay”, you nodded and held their hands, walking securely in between them. You always did feel safe with your boyfriends and being without them was honestly terrifying. They were like your bodyguards.

Out in the beautiful field of the campus was a little picnic blanket, laid out with plenty of your favorite foods.

They always loved to spoil you and, while the sight in front of you wasn’t much of a surprise considering it was their favorite form of dates, it made you happy nonetheless.

“Aw, thank you boys”, you gave them both a peck on the cheek and sat down. You weren’t much for public displays of affection.

Hand holding? That was fine. It was their way of saying that you were their’s. But, the bigger things like kissing or hugging? That was more of a private thing for you.

Those were actions you did when the three of you could safely display your love for one another without being judged because, let’s be honest, you’re not much of the outgoing type.

Sure, you have to talk to lots of people for your writing, but that didn’t mean you liked to. You actually liked to keep to yourself.

It was odd considering Hyunjae and Juyeon were quite popular due to their singing skills. Everyone wanted them but they only had their eyes set on you.

They helped you sit down, filling up your plate with delicious treats that almost had you drooling. You just realized how hungry you were when your stomach let out the most obnoxious growl you had ever heard.

Okay- maybe you also forget to take care of yourself. When you’re busy the last thing on your mind is what your body wants. Just the task at hand is important.

“Dory, do we need to start setting reminders for food and stuff too?”, Hyunjae shook his head as Juyeon handed you the plate of food. You quickly shook your head back, taking a bite of the fruit sitting on the plate in your lap.

“No, I just got busy. I’m not too hungry”, Hyunjae looked at you with the most untrusting look. He knew you and he knew that you frequently “got busy” and that meant you frequently forgot to take those vitamins or to at least drink water.

As you ate, you started to circle the important details you had written down during the interview, making a clear note in your head to add those facts into the paper.

Sad thing was: the athlete barely gave you anything to work with. Most of it was just bragging or hitting on you.

“What an asshole”, you sighed and rested your forehead on Juyeon’s shoulder. He simply chuckled and started to run his fingers through your hair. You weren’t a saint by any means but cussing was rare. You found it to be a bad habit in public while you swore like a sailor in the safety of your bedroom.

“Frustrated?”, Hyunjae asked, rubbing your back with his large palm, working the knot he knew you had. They really did know your body so well.

“Yeah, he didn’t really give me anything to work with. Just flirting”, you didn’t mean to let the last part slip out. It was just what you thinking about and sometimes that filter in your brain was clogged with all the useless information you kept there.

“Maybe you could do your report on someone else?”, surprisingly, the response was calm and you had to let out a sigh of relief.

“Maybe. I’d have to ask”, you were the writer for the school but it didn’t mean you had free will. Everything had to be ran by someone else. Every decision.

“Alright, I’d feel much more comfortable if you didn’t have to talk to that guy again”, you nodded in agreement.

God forbid something go right because weeks later, after one failed attempt at switching stories, you were put on the athlete’s case once again. This time it was because he was the reason the school won against their rivals.

So, there you sat on the desk chair. You had just finished your journalism class and, ironically, the jerk was in the class with you. You both just agreed to do the interview in the classroom.

You had already told the boys about it and they promised to check in soon. You were worried but also thankful. Your gut had an awful feeling about this guy.

As you were reaching for your notepad and pen, a hand stopped you. It was wrapped around your wrist and you looked up in surprise to see the athlete’s eyes sparkling with mischief.

That can’t be good.

“Come on, no one has denied me before. Why won’t you go out with me?”, it made you scoff and you yanked your wrist from his cold, rubbing the red flesh with your other hand.

“Because I’m taken. So, drop it”, that seemed to strike a nerve. He looked furious and fear flowed through your body when he got up.

Before he could reach you, a hand gripped the collar of his shirt, lifting him up and throwing him out of the room. Juyeon rushed to you, gently wiping away tears with his thumbs.

Wait- you were crying? You hadn’t even noticed.

Hyunjae seemed to take the high road and just simply shut the door in the student’s face, locking him out.

They honestly rarely fought but when they did it was brutal. That’s why they tried to never do it in front of you.

“Are you okay? He didn’t touch you?”, you reassured him you were fine by letting him look you over, his eyes quickly looking over you as if you had some hidden life threatening injury.

After some time, you were already feeling better. The boys had made it their mission to make you laugh as much as possible in the classroom, doing silly dances and even tickling you. They just loved your laugh too much.

“Baby, I have an idea for your newspaper”, Hyunjae looked a little dazed. Well, more than dazed. You couldn’t blame him considering you had all been playing a game of cards and you sucked so fucking bad at it. Therefore, your little game of stripping if you lost resulting in the boys completely clothed while you sat there completely bare.

“And what is that?”, you shivered as the cold air hit your back. Juyeon pulled you in between his legs and wrapped his arms around you in an attempt to keep you warm. Plus, his hold was barely below your breasts and he truly did love those.

“Make it a smut”, you gasped when Hyunjae connected his lips with your’s harshly, a little more rough than usual. Then, it hit you, they held all that anger in just to use it on you.

While you would never actually write a smut for the school paper (unless you really wanted to be fired), you liked to idea of using it to rile them up. They loved your writing and, more specifically, the wonderful sex scenes you wrote.

Anytime you were busy, you’d write them one and then you’d be happy to oblige to their request to act it out when you got back to your dorm. Sometimes they were short scenes and sometimes they were long. Either way, the boys were happy to help you fulfill your fantasies.

The only difference today is that there is no prompt. They get to make up the story themselves.

“Do you want me to tell everyone how good you two fuck me? How well you stretch me out?”, just your words alone had Juyeon’s erection desperately trying to escape the confinement of his jeans. You could feel the bulge against your back and you watched as the wetness started to coat your thighs.

“Yes, tell everyone how good we make you feel”, you nodded in agreement and looked at the door, thankful that there was no windows uncovered in the room.

Finally, feeling safe, you turned around and started to unzip Juyeon’s jeans, pulling it down his legs along with his boxers. You simply tossed them, watching them land on the surface of one of the desks.

Hyunjae wasn’t far behind, removing his own clothes and doing a similar action to them, discarding them as if they were the trash beneath his feet.

“Turn around”, you nodded, turned your body back around and you immediately knew what he wanted. You leaned down to make yourself level with his cock, your eyes running over the veins and the angry red tip. Your ass was right where the man wanted it, high up in front of him.

Your lips wrapped around his shaft, running your tongue along the sides to coat it in your saliva. It always made the movements a bit easier. Juyeon groaned and dove his tongue down your slit, suckling at your clit once he reached it.

The moan you let out sent a vibration through his sensitive tip, causing his thighs to shake slightly. It was a beautiful sight.

Not forgetting about your other boyfriend, you looked up to make eye contact with Hyunjae. He licked his lips as he watched you practically gag on the large cock that belonged to Juyeon.

He was always a bit of a voyeur and, as much as he loved the sight, he couldn’t wait any longer. He sat on his knees next to you and moved his own cock closer to your mouth.

Hyunjae was bigger than Juyeon, stretching you out beyond belief but Juyeon was longer, hitting your cervix with every thrust. Both were a perfect mix of pleasure and pain. Different but well balanced.

You brought your head back, releasing Juyeon from your mouth and you replaced where your mouth had been with your hand, jerking the man off. A long string of saliva connected your mouth to his but you couldn’t care because Hyunjae’s dick was far too tempting to forget.

You wrapped your mouth around his cock now, feeling your jaw lock slightly from the sheer volume you had taken in. He was just as delicious as the previous one and you couldn’t help yourself from sucking him like he was your favorite lollipop. To be honest, he was.

Juyeon slipped a finger inside of your dripping cunt and you whimpered, listening to the sound of your pussy clenching around the digit, soaking it in your wetness.

“I think she can take both of us now”, you stopped for a moment, a little surprised. Sure, you three had discussed double penetration but you never really felt ready. Could you really handle that much?

Maybe you could.

“Let’s do it”, your words came out muffled since you were still infatuated with the taste of Hyunjae’s dick. The boys smirked at one another and Hyunjae gripped your hair to pull you off of him. Your hand instinctively let go of Juyeon’s dick too, missing the feeling of having something to play with.

You never liked to sit still but you knew you probably were going to have to after this session.

“Up here then, baby”, Hyunjae chuckled as you yelped, his arms under your body as he laid you across the desk. You winced when a pencil sharpener landed on the floor off the desk, probably breaking into pieces.

How had no one heard you before this? You had no idea.

Juyeon got up off the floor, rushing to Hyunjae’s side. Hyunjae held your thigh and pushed it open more, taking in the beautiful sight of your glistening pussy. It was his favorite work of art and Juyeon wanted nothing more than to continue the feast he was in the middle of.

“Alright, we’ll go one at a time, okay? If we need to stop then tell us. You okay with this still?”, Juyeon asked softly. Despite how cold they were, they still asked for permission and it was especially important now.

“I’m okay with it. I’ll tell you if you have to stop”, you nodded and looked up at the two. Fuck, you were so lucky.

They both had little stars in their eyes whenever they looked at you and it always reminded you that they were indeed your stars. Those little stars in their eyes only lit up when they looked at you.

Hyunjae decided to go first as the bigger of the two, gently easing his way into you. The stretch was slightly uncomfortable at first but no longer painful. You had adjusted to both of them rather quickly solo but together? That may be a bit harder.

Right when he brushed against that specific spot inside of you, you covered your mouth and moaned, gripping the edge of the desk.

Hyunjae watched you, smirking when he realized you were already becoming overwhelmed with pleasure. He loved watching you try to hold onto anything to keep your grounded to reality. He always seemed to bring you to cloud 9.

“All in. Now you’ll take Juyeon too, right? You’ll be a good girl and take him too?”, you nodded obediently and looked between your legs, noticing that Hyunjae had completely bottomed out inside of you. You already seemed so full, a bulge present in your stomach from where Hyunjae had settled.

Truly, no one could make you feel this good with so little effort but them.

Juyeon gripped your other thigh and pressed small kisses there, a gentle reminder that it was okay to stop him. That he loved you.

He sucked a few marks to the skin, making you whine because once they start they don’t stop. You’ll be covered in marks by the end of the hour.

Once you were spread wider, almost completely folded, Juyeon guided his cock in beside Hyunjae’s. Now, that hurt.

“Slower! Slower please”, Juyeon quickly nodded, noticing that your eyes were watering. He gently wiped them away and stayed still for a moment so you could get used to the stretch. When you nodded, he slowly moved again and you felt your vagina quickly adjust to the size. Like you were made to handle both.

And, now, you couldn’t stop moaning under your hand. It did very little to muffle the noises but it was your only hope of not getting caught.

Hyunjae was pressed against your g-spot as Juyeon had taken it upon himself to settle his tip against your cervix. And, inside of you, their cocks rubbed against each other in an unspoken competition to see who could go deeper.

Of course, Juyeon would win that category but that didn’t matter to Hyunjae.

Both watched their bulges in your stomach as one pulled out and pushed back in. Then, they started alternating until you were so stretched out that they could move together in perfect unison.

The sounds of skin slapping filled the room as they fucked you raw, sharing you in the most perfect way. Everything felt so good that you could already feel the knot forming in your stomach, begging to be released and coat their cocks in your cum.

“You like it, hm? Does it feel good?”, Juyeon teased as he watched your eyes roll back and your nails dig into the wood beneath you. You nodded but your love didn’t like that. He gripped your throat, squeezing it slightly right where he needed to.

The blissful feeling only became more unbearable as you felt some oxygen escape your throat. Tears spilled down your cheeks before he let go, allowing you to breathe.

“Yes! Fuck, I love it!”, the boys leaned down to suck marks all over your breasts, stomach, and hips. Still easy to hide but you knew that wasn’t going to last long.

Their hips snapped against your core as they moved, Hyunjae’s pelvis bone rubbing against your clit perfectly. It made your mouth hang open in a tiny scream and you couldn’t hold it anymore, squirting all over the two as you came.

You had never done that and you were scared that they would hate it but the bright smiles on their faces made you relax. It made you feel good and that’s all that mattered to them.

As the thrusts continued, you squirmed from the overstimulation and Juyeon had to pin you down by your wrists to keep you from falling off the desk.

Their movements became more sloppy and they came together, filling up your clenching cunt with their cum. You felt way too full with all of it and their cocks still inside of you, tapping Juyeon’s arm in a silent plea.

He understood and nodded at Hyunjae, the both of them pulling out to milk the rest of their orgasm’s on whatever they could find. Your thighs, clit, stomach, chest, arms, etc. You looked like the filthiest thing they’ve ever seen and they couldn’t be more proud.

Juyeon put his clothes back on and went out to grab a towel from the locker room as Hyunjae just stared at the cum spilling out of you and down the side of the unfortunate wooden desk.

He seemed to be deep in thought as you tried to breathe correctly, his finger entering your hole without warning and you looked down to see him pull it out. He looked you dead in the eye as he licked off the mixture of cream, humming happily when he found out he loved the taste.

“We taste delicious together”, he leaned down and held your ankles as he started to lap at the cum dripping out of you, eating it up like it was a five star meal. You shivered from the feeling of his warm muscle meeting your cold skin as he licked you clean, licking his lips every time he came up for air.

“How in the world am I going to write an article when that is in my head?”, you motioned to the sight of the cum dripping down his chin. His lips were swollen and his brown locks stuck to his forehead from the sweat. He looked ravishing.

“Smut”, he popped the m for emphasis and you shook your head, letting him kiss you so you could taste it too. It tasted like the best mixture of fruit and you found yourself diving your tongue in his mouth for more.

“Oh yeah, we definitely have to stay together if this is how good we taste”, you giggled and Juyeon had entered just in time to get a taste too. He kissed you, swirling his tongue inside of your mouth before he pulled away. He licked his lips and acted as if he was critiquing a meal.

“I’d have to give my thanks to the chef”, he joked and you smiled, letting out a little chuckle as you tried to sit up but your legs were not having it and neither were your boyfriends.

They rubbed your thighs as you laid back down, trying to ease the soreness in them. Juyeon kissed your hand lovingly and your heart swelled from all the love you felt for the two.

You had no doubt that they were really the ones you were going to spend your life with.

“Looks like the school newspaper is going to have to wait. Unless you feel like writing on a cum stained desk”, Hyunjae chuckled and you huffed, knowing that that paper was definitely not going to be done by its due date.

[percabethfeelsfandom]

How I’d rate the Gods/Goddesses(riordanverse)

This is my rating based off the way Rick Riordan portrayed them in the Riordanverse. The traditional myths have been taken into account but do not make up my entire opinion. 

Hestia:

10/10 would give my life for this goddess. In all aspects of the word, this goddess is a goddess. I want a novella of her watching over the hearth and watching out for her family and the heroes. I imagine her being a very comforting presence and warm like a hug, and maybe this is me projecting my mummy issues but I just want her to hug me. 

Dionysus:

A solid 7.35/10 for Mr D. Naturally he was a bit annoying, but we were never under the pretence that he he was meant to be anything more than what he provided and I respect that. Him caring about his kids at camp, and staying relatively loyal to his wife is always a plus. And I like his relatively humble beginnings being a hero and becoming a god and then not causing that much trouble in the series. Unlike some other pieces of shit. 

Hermes:

4/10. Mans had no right blaming Luke’s thirst for mass genocide on 16 year old Annabeth. Not cool man. Not cool. He gets the points he got because he did genuinely care about Maia, and Luke, but he lost the rest of them by having a blatant favourite (who literally caused so much destruction). However I do still like his line about family in sea of monsters and never giving up on them. Nice meaning. But he was still a shitty father and only intervened out of self interest most of the time. 

Aphrodite:

2/10. I hate how low I have to rank her. But my god did Rick do her dirty in his depiction. Just the misogyny, the lack of depth, and the untouched potential she has as a character, as a goddess, THE OLDEST GOD/GODDESS and Rick really made her throw rose petals around the battle fields on one of (what was meant to be) the biggest fights of the riordanverse. Absolute robbery. If I’m not mistaken as well, she was a huge contributor to the issues and obstacles percabeth went through and we do not Stan. HOWEVER, I love her as a goddess normally, and what she could represent if she’s written properly. 

Hephaestus:

8/10. I have no qualms with this man. I too prefer the company of inanimate objects to people and get stressed about social interaction. And I too have mummy issues. So me and Hephaestus are on the same page. Let this man tinker away in his little bunker. He never went out of his way to make things harder for demigods, and was helpful when they came to him for help which I can also respect. (Point deduction because it was on his land that Bianca died…if I’m not mistaken). 

Ares:

-12/10. This man was introduced as a bully, and gives off the vibes of every phobic, known to humanity. I do not vibe. I do not agree. I do not stan. ALSO his motorbike seat is apparently made from "Caucasian human skin”!!!!!!???? We as children never questioned this? We just went sure aight move on?! Please this man has the biggest small dick energy if I ever saw it and I despite him so much. Mans was also never helpful. Ever. I don’t think. I think Mars was better than him though so I’ll give him that. 

Artemis:

9.99/10 all hail queen of the lesbians. Mad respect to this woman. In what she stands for, who she protects and in her actions. She’s what I embody when I stand up for myself in fights and when I speak to have my voice heard. I like Rick’s depiction of her and I love seeing her and her hunters pop up in his books. Would love a couple books on the hunters and their adventures. Also I love archery. And I’m biased to the moon because I love the night so she gets extra points for all of that too. 

Apollo:

Prior to Trials of Apollo 7/10, after TOA 9.90/10. Yes it’s a big jump but my god did Lester grow on me. Prior to TOA he was pretty average. He was funny, always provided a good laugh to the plot and was always helping the demigods which I loved. But I know he’s an asshole full of himself so I can’t give him any higher than that until he had some character development, which we got in TOA (specifically after Burning Maze). And I really like who he is now and the type of character Rick shaped him out to be. In the myths he’s a big creep, and I still stand by that idea, hence why he doesn’t get a full 10. 

Athena:

3.5/10…ughhh I hate to say this. But part of it is the same reasoning I gave about Aphrodite. I just have so many issues with the way she’s portrayed and it’s not accurate to what I believe in my heart she should represent. And as a child of Athena, I feel like Rick then did her entire legacy dirty. She has her moments, but since I can’t even fully recall one right now, it just proves my point. As a goddess as a whole though, what she represents is everything I aspire to be in life. She’s my entire aesthetic of hard work, creativity, and strength and grit, without taking away of being a powerful female. Zeus’ lead strategist like shit, Rick could have done so much. But he did not. And I am thus sad about it. 

Demeter:

6/10. I have no issues with Demeter. Kinda boring. I think that’s what most of the fandom thinks as well. She just didn’t get enough screen time or development. I have no attachment to her. I think the powers that she has, and has passed on to her kids is cool though so there’s that. But in the series as well she doesn’t do much. She also (initially) doesn’t fight in the battle of Manhattan so maybe I’m slightly bitter there. But yeah, i’m indifferent. 

Hades:

8.99/10 Okay so hear me out I know this man gets so much bad rep in the myths and that’s part of why he doesn’t get a full 9. But I really really love the way he’s depicted in the riordanverse, especially with his entire arc with his kids/specially with Nico. Like literally one of my favourite quotes In the entire series is “my children are so rarely happy, I would like to see you be the exception.” Out of the gods listed here (and excluding Dionysus), he acts like a genuine parent to his kids and tries. And like there’s issues, sure, but he works on them. And since so much of the first series is about how the gods are neglectful, seeing him change and seeing him fight for Nico is my everything. 

Poseidon:

7.1/10. Honestly this feels too high considering mans was nearly If not just as bad as Zeus in keeping it in his dam pants. His points come from treating Sally like the queen she is, and trying with Percy (albeit too little too late but I can see the minimal effort). That being said, he’s really shitty in the myths so I can’t really give him anything higher than this. He’s barely a dad, and sees Percy more as an ally than an actual son or human being that needs attention. I like him more in Fanon and the way that I write him lmao because I humanise him. But I won’t lie he’s dilf material, and I still like rick’s depiction of him. 

Hera:

3/10 I’m surprising myself with this rating because tbh I might even push her to 4.5 just because she’s so consistent in her own goals and agenda, and that perseverance is very admirable even if it was at the cost of some of my favourite characters. She was very much two faced though and fucked around stuff that she should have stayed out of. Her hatred for literal children though is a bit problematic. I have no attachment to her but I admire how much she just wants a family. However she just really needs to assess how she approaches that since it’s a bit messed up.  

Zeus:

-5/10 I really don’t Zeus, his character, him in the myths, everything about him. He gives off the vibes of a man who abuses the power that he was given. And I don’t like that. It makes me uncomfortable and I don’t like him at all. His treatment of his children, of the demigods, and the way he governs Olympus. Not a fan. I could rule Olympus better and I’m a mentally unstable, serotonin deficient 20 year old with a hyper fixation on greek mythology and Minecraft. However despite not liking his character, I think Rick does a great job at depicting him accurately to how he was in the myths. 

[fairymascot]

when i started watching harley quinn TV, about the last thing i expected of it was to be feminist in any way. i mean, it's an adult comedy cartoon. it's based on 2016 suicide squad's take on harley. the poor woman doesn't even wear any pants. but man, the more i think about it, and the more i consume other dc content featuring those characters, the more appreciative i am of its takes on its female cast.

let's talk about ivy. i watched the btas episode 'house and garden' today, and was honestly appalled by how blatantly male it all felt. in this episode, ivy 'rehabitilates' herself by getting released from arkham, marrying her therapist (which nobody even pointed out is illegal?!), taking care of his two kids from a previous marriage, and basically living the perfect suburban housewife dream. when batman suspects she's up to some shit, she tells him she's never been happier, and no longer has any need for crime. of course it turns out to be an elaborate ruse, but the ending reveals that she wasn't completely insincere -- she does, in fact, dream of having a husband and children, something she cannot accomplish due to the infertility caused by her powers.

unfortunately, this episode must have had a serious impact on ivy's characterization, as the book 'cycle of life and death' from 2016 is heavily founded on it. in my humble opinion, it's terrible. i mean, i get it, it was the nineties and written by men, and tv writers only really started picking up on how to write women as complex multilayered beings in recent years, but damn.

ivy's original character is already rooted in a very male, distorted perception of women. she's a textbook femme fatale-- she's dainty, gorgeous, scantily clad, and her powers are seducing men into doing her bidding. and to pile further on top of her misogynistic foundation, the only way they could think to humanize her is by forcing more of their stereotypical male perception onto her-- how do we show she's a sympathetic character? by making her deep down a 'normal woman', who has normal woman dreams of being a housewife with children. the rather blatant subtext that she turned to a life of villainy because her infertility denied her that dream -- a failed woman that has turned into a despicable monster -- only makes this depiction all the uglier. i'm actually amazed this take on her character managed to survive all the way to 2016.

but then you have hqtv ivy, who takes all that and unceremoniously dumps it in the trash. it rethinks the basics of ivy's personality and attitude from the ground up. she's a misanthrope -- the only company she seeks outside of her plants is harley -- why would she make a villain career out of seducing men? why does she have to be sensual and coy? no. instead, she's awkward, stoic, and anti social. she dresses a whole hell of a lot more practical, she's blunt to a fault, and wastes none of her time trying to appeal to men.

the sexual element of her powers has been removed, or at the very least severely limited-- no more poison kisses or seducing men to do her bidding. the only scene that incorporates that element at all is when she has to peck a bunch of dweeby 12 year old boys on the mouth to reverse the effect of her toxin that's been slipped into their bar mitzvah punch bowl by mistake. it's ridiculous, it's absolutely mortifying for her, and it's funny. nothing about it is remotely sexy.

as for her dreams of becoming a housewife... well, ivy very clearly doesn't know what she wants for her future. or rather, she's so repressed that she doesn't allow herself to want. she always saw herself ecoterroristing it up solo-- but then harley happened, and she found herself going soft, and opening up to other people through harley's influence as well. she allows herself to acknowledge that she's lonely, and that she does crave human connection. specifically, she craves harley -- but that's a part of her she had to seal away, out of fear of ruining their friendship. this leads her to pursue a relationship with kite man (or rather: be pursued by him), even though at every step of the way she pretty obviously has to force herself farther into it.

it's not that she doesn't like kite man. the opposite. she can tell he's a good guy, he treats her so well, he cares for her so deeply. for someone like ivy, coming from a life of abuse and isolation, that's rarer than rare. and that's why she forces herself to overlook all their differences, all the aspects of their relationship that clearly aren't working, and clings on to it regardless. finally, someone genuinely wants her, cares about her. she'd have to be stupid to let that go, right?

but she doesn't want it. that's spelled out the most blatantly on their wedding day-- while he's reciting his dream future of them living in a nice house with a white picket fence, a dog and three kids, ivy is horrified. unlike btas' ivy, who would've surely been delighted, it's completely removed from anything this version of ivy ever wanted for herself. and in that moment, she realizes she fucked up. she locked herself into a life she never wanted because she thought it was the best she could hope to get.

and then their wedding goes up in literal flames, kite man calls it quits, and ivy finally lets herself pursue what she really, truly wants: harley.

it's such a great, fresh take on ivy's character. she's written as a woman, but not some male writer's narrow view of one, but an actual honest, human woman. her struggles and insecurities are incredibly relatable to me as a female viewer, because she's allowed to breathe and grow and have depth outside of the list of stereotypes female characters are so often shoehorned into. she's aloof, she's cynical, she's a loner; she's carrying years of trauma that's made her insecure and closed off, and she's just starting to grow past that; she's desperate for love but forces herself to settle for tepid affection because she's too scared to pursue anything more; she's a genius biochemist and a badass with the power to control all of plant life, but she's fucking chickenshit and wishy-washy and doesn't know how to be honest with her feelings, leading her to hurt those she cares about. and the fact that they took btas' ivy's dream of getting married and having a family, and used it as a stepping stone-- subverted it as part of ivy's self-realization and growth-- that's just the icing on the cake.

hqtv ivy is hands down the best take of this character i've seen to date. god bless, i cannot wait for season 3.

[shihalyfie]

Sora, the Takenouchi family, and the position of the iemoto

Sora’s character arc through Adventure, 02, and Kizuna was very closely linked to the fact that she was the daughter of a flower arrangement iemoto, and it’s probably the Adventure universe character arc that’s most linked to something so culturally Japanese. I think most people understand by this point that it has to do with succeeding her mother in a very important position, but since the series didn’t really go into particular detail about the ins and outs of an iemoto’s position on screen, I thought I should write a bit about it!

Disclaimer: A large amount of the below cultural information is taken largely from extensive research from Japanese-written websites, blogs, and social media. I by no means claim to be a particular expert on the subject, but rather someone who happens to enjoy compiling this kind of info. I completely defer to anyone with better expertise on the subject and apologize if I’ve made any errors in the process of writing this.

So what the heck is an iemoto anyway?

The way to best describe an iemoto is, effectively, “the Grand Master of a certain school of a traditional Japanese art”. While the concept traces back centuries, in the modern era, it can be effectively seen as a sort of cultural preservation for traditional Japanese arts such as calligraphy or Noh performance arts. The iemoto is a position referring to the head of the school for that art; the position is passed down from a single master to an heir, and has absolute authority on issuing licenses on who can be said to be practicing their brand of the art.

In the Digimon franchise, we have two major examples: the Adventure universe’s Takenouchi school of traditional Japanese flower arrangement (ikebana/kadou), led��by Takenouchi Toshiko, and Appmon’s Asuka school of tea ceremony, led by Asuka Ryuutarou. (Appmon went much more extensively into the role and expectations of an iemoto and an iemoto’s heir, so you can see a much more intricate depiction there.) Outside the franchise, there’s actually a pretty famous example of an iemoto art that often isn’t recognized as such because the word was fully localized -- the Kurain Channeling Technique from Ace Attorney, for which the prospective iemoto is Maya Fey (Ayasato Mayoi).

(Note: I’m referring to Sora’s mother as “Toshiko” here because she’s named after her voice actress Fujita Toshiko, and the English-speaking fanbase has called her that for years, but the Adventure novel and the Japanese fanbase go with a “Yoshiko” reading, and I honestly don’t know what is right. I’m just going with what I’m used to for convenience’s sake.)

In any case, it should be understood that the position of the iemoto is an extremely honorable position that should not be taken lightly. How much, you ask? It’s to the point where “Takenouchi” is not actually a surname that comes from Sora’s father, but from her mother -- Haruhiko took on the Takenouchi surname when he married into the family, even though he wasn’t formally being adopted into it as the heir or anything. Japanese law requires married couples to register under a single name, and there’s no legal distinction in regards to who takes whose name, but for the husband to take the wife’s surname is very rare (although there are certainly people pushing to change trends, as of 2016, 96% of married couples use the husband’s surname, and societal pressure often creates a stigma against using the wife’s). Moreover, female iemoto are very specific to the modern era, as traditionally, the iemoto position was passed strictly through the male line only (hence why there usually wasn’t expected to be the question of whether a female iemoto would be losing her very important surname upon marriage). So even despite how traditionalist the Takenouchi family is, Toshiko’s position is quite unusual.

That said, even with the unusual situation of Toshiko being a female iemoto, it seems that the Takenouchi school of flower arrangement still holds to the strict rule of passing the position down by hereditary line. That means that Sora was probably expected to succeed the iemoto position from the very day she was born -- and that is where Sora’s troubles begin.

Sora’s family life

We never really got to see Sora’s parents together much in the actual series, thanks to Toshiko getting focus in Adventure and Haruhiko in 02 (similar to Jou’s situation with his brothers), but side material actually gives us quite a bit to work with in regards to Sora’s family background. Haruhiko met Toshiko in Kyoto, when he was still “a young scholar of folklore” and Toshiko still in training to become the iemoto (and a “fiery young girl”, at that). Kyoto being the cultural and historical center of Japan, you can immediately see the common thread between the two: they’re both really into traditional Japanese things, albeit Haruhiko more on the folklore side and Toshiko more on the cultural side.

With both of her parents having that kind of interest, Sora naturally grew up surrounded by a heavy dose of traditional Japanese things, including her house being Japanese-style. All things considered, it doesn’t seem like Sora has anything against it in particular -- she actually takes a sentence in the Character Complete File to gush about the tatami flooring in her room. I mean, you can’t really blame anyone here for being enthusiastic; the aesthetic is gorgeous and there’s a lot to love about traditional Japanese culture, plus there’s a lot of historical and cultural importance for the people who actually live in the country.

But as these things go, not everything was sunshine and roses. Sora spills some pretty intimate salt about her worries about her mom to Piyomon in the Adventure novels, and it’s not pretty:

Because Toshiko, as the iemoto, is responsible for all of the students in the school, she’s constantly busy with tending to the students, making Sora feel somewhat neglected in comparison.

Because Sora is considered “the daughter of an iemoto”, she’s expected to be on her best behavior and appearance at all times, and she hates being seen that way.

Because Haruhiko is out in Kyoto for long periods of time due to his research, and Toshiko never goes to see him due to how busy she is, Sora believes that Toshiko doesn’t love him. (The novels also admit that her behavior is actually pretty likely to make one think that she cares for her apprentices more than she cares about her own husband.)

This comes to a head in the incident depicted in Adventure episode 26.

A full transcription of the dialogue in this scene (translation by Ryuu-Rogue):

Sora: Please understand, Mom! I have to be there! Toshiko: Please, lower your voice or the flowers will wilt. Sora: Today is a really important match! Toshiko: And how do you plan on playing with that leg of yours? Sora: This is...It's nothing! Toshiko: Anyway, sit down. (Sora winces and sits down) Toshiko: I want you to quit soccer. You can't even learn to sit gracefully on your heels from it. Sora: No! I like soccer more than flowers! Toshiko: Sora! And you call yourself my daughter? Sora: Why can't you understand?!

A lot of people have taken this line about “learning to sit gracefully on your heels” to be about Sora’s femininity or something, but it’s not! It’s referring to how the Japanese form of proper seating (seiza) -- or, in other words, the position Sora will be needing to take when doing traditional flower arrangement -- requires sitting on one’s heels like that. It’s not a gender thing; you can see it multiple times from male characters in Appmon during scenes involving the Asuka tea ceremony school (and later, in 02, the members of the also very traditionalist Japanese Hida family use it every so often).

That’s why Sora’s outburst is “I like soccer more than flowers!” -- she’s basically protesting at the fact her position as the iemoto’s daughter is being used to dictate her behavior yet again. But Toshiko continues to crack down on her behavior -- again, that Sora is absolutely going to succeed her mother as the iemoto anyway is seen as the base expectation here. Hence, Sora’s complaint is that she feels that her mother sees her more as the heir to the position instead of as an actual daughter.

(That is not to say that the gender issue wasn’t in play at all when it came to the conflict between Sora and Toshiko nor in Sora’s character arc, especially in regards to Japanese views of femininity, but it does mean that “pressure to follow custom” would have happened even if Sora were a boy.)

But we eventually do find out that although Toshiko worded it very badly and didn’t handle it very well (in the same way that Sora herself eventually didn’t handle keeping the injured Piyomon back from battle very well, either), the actual reason she was being harsh on Sora was because of her leg injury, not because of the flower arrangement thing. The novels even go as far as to have Sora admit that Toshiko wasn’t necessarily against her playing soccer per se as much as it was about that specific match -- and the way the events are shown in the episode, Sora was honestly being pretty unreasonable about trying to force the idea that she could play and that everything would have been fine if she had only been there. (Her leg is bandaged pretty badly, and you can hear her wincing when she tries to sit down -- seriously, was she really trying to play in that condition?!) But the mixed messages and her mother’s way of being harsh and seemingly ignoring her feelings end up leading her to conclude that her mother doesn’t love her, and thus she herself wasn’t raised in a way to understand what love even is.

Ultimately, after the events of the episode, Sora and Toshiko reconcile, especially since Toshiko’s behavior in episodes 35 and after pretty damn well prove that she does, in fact, love Sora after all. Two-and-a-Half Year Break also establishes that Sora picking up tennis is part of that reconciliation -- apparently her mother played tennis in high school, and is currently acting as her (very strict) coach. (The jury’s still out on whether tennis is any less likely to cause injuries that would get in the way of sitting on one’s heels.)

Sora’s future as the heir

Actually, despite being more amenable to the flower arrangement thing ostensibly being part of Sora’s character in 02, we only ever see her do so once, in Hurricane Touchdown.

She actually ends up getting frustrated at her work in a way that’s not exactly the most dignified. At this point, it seems like her interest in flower arrangement is still somewhat casual, and she’s not necessarily in formal training yet -- just taking a little time to know more about what it entails. It’s only during Kizuna (or, more specifically, To Sora) when we start seeing serious concerns from Sora about whether she wants to do it as a career.

By the time of Kizuna in 2010, Sora is now most definitely serious about wanting to do this, to the point where -- according to the official profiles -- she’s firmly decided she won’t be pursuing employment after university and will be succeeding her mother as the iemoto. Her way of going at it is much more serious, too -- even when things aren’t going well, she still handles it with a lot more appropriate calmness (she wears the kimono while doing it, as well), and she even shuts out Piyomon while trying to work.

But as we see in the story, things are not going great -- none of her pieces are coming out right, she’s starting to cut herself off from all of her friends because of how busy she’s getting, and Sora eventually unleashes this complaint.

I want to be a normal girl! Not as a Chosen Child or the daughter of a Grand Master. I just want to live as Sora Takenouchi!

Why did Sora decide to pursue the path after all, despite initially being so against it during her rebellious phase as a kid, and even now clearly not enjoying it that much? Well, there are a few things going on here:

Sora reconciling with her mom meant that she probably recognized her rebellious phase as a rebellious phase, and figured that she should give this whole flower arrangement thing a proper chance (especially since it also doesn’t seem she hates it, she’s just not clicking with it as well as she’d probably like). But in the end, the issue with the relationship with her mom really didn’t have to do with the flower arrangement thing to begin with, and fixing her relationship with her mom doesn’t mean she was entirely wrong about flower arrangement not necessarily being the thing for her.

Episodes 26 and 51 of Adventure were also important to establish Sora as someone who compulsively lived for the sake of helping others, without any self-awareness on her part -- even when she was smack in the middle of thinking she was a horrible person incapable of love, she still couldn’t stop herself from helping everyone, and the pressure of living up to obligations started ripping at her in episode 51 because she could not stop thinking about her duty to save everyone. If Sora were to decline the position of the iemoto, she would end up causing a lot of trouble for her family (who would have to find a way to subvert very long-standing traditional inheritance rules in order to make the Takenouchi school continue) and leave the students in a bad position. In Appmon, Astra -- who, if I may remind you, was eleven -- had a lot of deep emotional conflict about the problems he would cause his family and the Asuka school students if he didn’t take the position, so it’s easy to believe that Sora, who is known for her difficulty in disentangling herself from obligations, would force herself into an uncomfortable role because she doesn’t want to be a burden.

Since Sora is also the kind of person who has a hard time thinking about what she personally wants -- something that To Sora depicts her as just finally starting to get a grasp of -- it’s likely that she may not have been able to properly come up with something she wanted to personally do at the time, and fell back on succeeding her mother as the iemoto because she didn’t have any better ideas about what to do with her life, or at least not any that she was passionate about to the point of fighting against becoming the successor. (Kizuna makes it clear that childhood hobbies don’t necessarily become things people would want to make into full-on careers; even back when she was playing soccer, Sora was angry less about the fact Toshiko was preventing her from playing soccer on principle, and more that, in her view, Toshiko preventing her from playing in the relevant match meant that the team had lost thanks to her absence.)

Ultimately, the fact that Sora is really not feeling this whole flower arrangement thing is probably the point -- especially since forcing herself into something she’s not and disconnecting herself from everything is implied to be tied to the reason she ends up losing Piyomon. And that’s especially when we take the 02 epilogue -- which, of course, came out long before Kizuna -- into account, which establishes that Sora does end up doing something very different...

The 02 epilogue only mentions that she becomes a fashion designer specializing in Japanese style, and does not mention anything about flower arrangement (although it does leave a few branches of flowers in the front). The fact it’s Japanese-style still indicates her family background and its influence on her tastes -- but it’s not flower arrangement.

Does this mean that Sora didn’t become the iemoto? Well...it’s hard to say. If Toshiko is still in good health by 2028, it’s actually possible that Sora wouldn’t be the iemoto at this time even if she wanted to be (since iemoto don’t usually retire unless they’re in too physically poor health for it). Even if she were acting as an iemoto, it’d be a hell of a lot of work to juggle both jobs (there’s a reason that, in Appmon, everyone considers it incredible that Astra seriously intends to juggle both AppTubing and iemoto duties). But like with Toshiko as a female iemoto, the Takenouchi family isn’t always that adherent to the old ways, and in a similar way to how Astra’s family constantly assured him that they wouldn’t force him to become the iemoto if he really didn’t want to, Sora’s parents, who do truly care for her welfare in the end, would likely concede if Sora really, really didn’t want to do it. (This is especially since modern movements have been challenging the inflexibility and limitations of the current iemoto system, especially that of iemoto as a hereditary position instead of passing the traditions via something more democratic.) On the other hand, there’s nothing saying that Sora wouldn’t be interested in trying to make both work (especially since being an iemoto, especially a female one, is a very powerful position) -- at the very least, given the flower branches in the front, whatever decision she made still allowed her to maintain her connections with her family and background, and it didn’t involve her cutting them off entirely.

In the end, what’s probably more important is that the one thing that is pointed out about Sora’s career -- that is, the part that Sora’s going to be remembered by -- is something particularly unique to her, and not the job she was being/feeling obligated to take. This is especially because her job as a fashion designer isn’t in strictly traditional kimono, but rather Japanese-style (wafuu) fashion -- it seems to be a fusion of modern fashion inspired by traditional aesthetic. So she’s not necessarily completely bucking everything she got from her family, but she’s also trying to do something new with it instead of sticking to the old ways -- which really does feel very Sora, when you think about it.

[bybdolan]

hey! saw ur post about tjr and her books, and honestly if you didn’t enjoy daisy jones or evelyn hugo, don’t bother with malibu rising, it’s just not very good. i enjoyed the other two, even with their flaws, but malibu rising just lacks the same charm, making the poor writing stick out. also your review of evelyn hugo is so real™️. i loved it but also wished it could’ve been more. the portrayal evelyn’s bisexuality was /interesting/ to say the least. and it would’ve been nice if she’d been with a woman other than celia, just to experience it and learn more about herself. not to mention, i wasn’t 100% sold on their relationship. but nonetheless i could still ship them and i enjoyed her queerplatonic relationship with harry. however the way race is handled is very sloppy. one line about barely being in the civil rights movement isn’t much considering that evelyn is described as non-white. it sometimes felt like i was reading the summary of a really good book instead of actually watching ya know, reading it

Thank you so much for sending this ask <3 i have sooo many thoughts of TJR and this allows me to share almost all of them.

I have heard a lot of. Not good stuff. About Malibu Rising, but I want to give it a try to see if the "telling instead of showing" aspect is as strong in it as it is in her other books despite being told in real time. The "looking back on my life" format plays into it so much because these people are able to say why they did what in hindsight; they've had time to reflect. And if Daisy Jones was a Rolling Stone cover story that wouldn't be an issue given that I signed up for having stuff explained to me, but in a novel it doesn't hold my attention. I don't need somebody to guide me through the story without ever giving me time to stray off the designed path a bit. TJR tends to be a tad patronizing in her writing, her characters are meant to be believed at all times and rarely ever questioned, but that doesn’t reflect the truth: All of these people are unreliable to some degree because they are human and misremeber things or hide stuff to make themselves look better. ALSO: A good interviewer doesn’t just write down everything the interviewee says but adds their own perspective (which is how we get stuff like the Jeremy Strong profile everybody is so obsessed with; it seems like a lot got lost in translation there). Sure, the published Evelyn Hugo book in the novel is a biography, so it isn’t supposed to have that, however, in the novel itself Monique could have or should have challenged Evelyn more imo. Why give your interviewers a backstory when they end up just being there to write down shit.

Re: The representation aspect... I am gonna focus on the bisexual rep here because I am a bi girl myself and therefore can talk more on that specific issue. There is no right or wrong way to be bi, being in love with one woman only is enough if you want to use that label, howeverrr narratively Evelyn’s sexuality only ever revolving around Celia is... weak? We know she sleeps with other women off-screen, it gets mentioned at some point, however, we never actually hear Ev mention or talk about genuine attraction towards a woman that isn’t Celia. The way she looks at other women doesn’t feel queer, if that makes sense. Gay women don’t want to sleep with every girl they meet obviously, but feeling flustered when a pretty girl touches you, or having very intense female friendships seem to be a pretty common part of the queer woman experience and none of that is found in Evelyn Hugo. The way it is written is very straight even though the main love story is queer. Evelyn doesn’t read as queer when she isn’t romantically involved with Celia, and that feels weird. Her bisexuality is only there to make her more interesting, to give her a secret, and to make Celia belittle her for it Plus: I think her only ever having negative experiences with her other partners (all men) makes the love story weaker. Celia and her are not a great couple, and her husbands ALL treating her badly (except Harry) just make it seem as if Celia is the best option she has. Had she realized in another good relationship that it doesn’t give her what Celia gave her, it would have been more impactful. Not to mention that Celia does a lot of thing Evelyn doesn’t like about her ex husbands.

I think it all comes down to what you said in your final sentence: The ideas are there but the execution lacks depth. Evelyn gets all these things taped to her (being queer, being a WOC, being sexualized for her entire life) in order to make the story more interesting, but the novel never gets DEEP into these things outside of very explicitly mentioning them a bunch of times. Evelyn never stops being bisexual, but we don’t see that side of her until we need to narratively. Same goes for her being Latina. We get one (1) scene of her regretting neglecting and hiding her heritage for so long, but there are never any subconcious things that makes us realize that before she does. TJR makes her characters tell us everything and it’s boring, which is a shame given that her ideas are so interesting. Every part of ourselves influences us every second of the day, sometimes more, sometimes less, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for her characters.

[tabriscadash]

I was asked this on my old blog right as I set about transitioning to this one, so...

The first character I ever fell in love with: for DA:O, dare I say Daveth? What can I say -- I irrationally got incredibly attached to him. otherwise, DEFINITELY Morrigan, and I have crystal clear memories of my first run through Lothering and looking at Morrigan like 😍 the whole time. For DA:2/E, Carver -- unless you count Anders & Justice since I knew of them from Awakening beforehand, in which case probably Justice. For DA:I, it’s a toss-up between Vivienne or Cole -- I technically liked Cole first but SPECIFICALLY in the supporting material (Asunder), and didn’t vibe with him anywhere near as much in the game, AND I got him as a companion after I got Vivienne, so probably Vivienne.

A character that I used to love/like, but now do not: for DA:O, I guess Oghren? I never loved him, but I liked the idea of him because I really liked the dwarves/Orzammar side of DA’s worldbuilding -- but he’s such an unlikeable character that I just.. don’t vibe with him at all. I debate recruiting him every single time now, and I don’t think I ever do his personal quest (in the base game OR Awakening). for DA:2/E, I don’t really have anyone that fits -- but I REALLY wanted to like Merrill and Aveline more than I did, and especially in Aveline’s case, I can’t stand her and genuinely think she’s the unintended, secret Big Bad of the whole game. for DA:I, probably Cole, bc I was really into the idea of a little walking-corpse serial killer animated by a spirit as per the book, but that’s not really the vibe in DA:I, and combined with the somewhat patronising/ableist language and how significantly he is infantilised (including by the fandom) I just got put off him. I do still like him, but not as much.

A ship that I used to love/like, but now do not: for DA:O, I don’t really have one? I guess see my DA:I answer, lol... for DA:2/E, has to be Anders - I don’t think he’s OOC in 2, but I think his writing does so little with him and he feels v. reductive. Where his relationship could be SO interesting and angsty, it instead is written in a really dull and/or cringey way. It would have been nice to see Anders more like the Anders of Awakening near the beginning of the game (rather than random, infrequent and questionably rare snippets), and then see the progression of his relationship with Justice as the game went on -- I want more interesting abominations, PLEASE. for DA:I, listen I cannot express to you HOW EXCITED I was for my planned Lavellan to romance Sera�� also I used to be way more tolerant of Cullen x Amell/Surana ships because, like, hey dark ships are fun, right? But since Cullen’s ~wholesome whitewash~ in DA:I, and his fandom clamouring to absolve him of any wrongdoing ever.. it’s boring to me.

My ultimate favourite character™: for DA:O, probably Sten? or Morrigan. They’re both fantastic, and also are significant comfort chars for me. for DA:2/3, honestly, probably my own Hawke -- I feel so hugely proud of her, and can’t imagine I’d enjoy the game anywhere near as much had I not played it as my Hawke. If not her, maybe Sebastian or Carver? for DA:I, I really love Vivienne, as well as Blackwall, and Solas is a great character even if I probably would not say I liked him.

Prettiest character: for DA:O, we all know it’s Zevran. for DA:2/E, I think Aveline -- although her aggressively bland colour-scheme lets her down in a major way (although I respect her dedication to all orange all day every day). There’s just something about her arms -- very Abby from TLOU:2. for DA:I, maybe Josephine? Ser Barris is very pretty, too...

My most hated character: for DA:O, I really didn’t like Alistair, Wynne and Oghren, and of my companions - Oghren is probably my least favourite. He’s vulgar and also profoundly uninteresting. for DA:2/E, it has to be Aveline. There’s just something about ineptitude and a complete, wilful refusal to take accountability for your actions that I can’t stand. It would be okay if it was an intentional character flaw, but the game/narrative treats her like she’s lawful good and it really annoys me. for DA:I, maybe Iron Bull? He was a huge disappointment for me. I also really dislike Sera, Cassandra, and Varric. I’m so sick of Varric - I never want to see him again.

My OTP: for DA:O, I really loved Zevran’s romance -- but I am also very amused by the fact that Leliana got to ‘love’ status with Kallian accidentally, AND I got the ‘love’ glitch for Justice (👀) and Velanna. I do sometimes wonder about an AU where Kallian is forced to make a politically expedient marriage with Nathaniel Howe for diplomatic reasons in order to consolidate her position as Arlessa, and it being an entirely platonic arrangement (it’s not like anyone expects an heir from an infertile Grey Warden) -- and maybe Zev and Nate kiss sometimes, who knows? I also LOVE my Darkspawn Chronicles AU where Kallian and Nelaros are a happy, married couple each hiding their skills with weapons from each other like dumb, cute sweethearts. They shelter Zevran when he fails to kill Alistair and a poly couple evolves. for DA:2/E, I love the IDEA of a Seb romance that isn’t so strictly conditional around the structures that abused him -- he should be allowed to love, chastely or otherwise, but free from the Chantry OR his position as prince/heir. I’d LOVE to actually have a romance with him where you can actually challenge the abuse he’s experienced. for DA:I, Malika doesn’t have a canon romance (although I think when I replay, I’m going to romance Josephine!) but I think Blackwall has an amazing romance. Solas’ is also iconic, it must be said. 

My NOTP: for DA:O, I really dislike Alistair in a shipping capacity; he’s immature and says a lot of misogynistic shit and I don’t think he’s the worst for it, but I don’t really vibe with shipping him, having played the game as a female city elf. for DA:2/E, I wouldn’t say I have one, particularly? although I really dislike Aveline’s relationship with her husband simply because it seems incredibly inappropriate, given that they work together and she has power over him -- and because I dislike her, generally, I don’t feel inclined to do something nice for her. for DA:I, I suppose Sera/Lavellan -- although I’m not AGAINST it, it just really isn’t for me, having attempted it. I also don’t really vibe with Dorian x Iron Bull. Something abt the way the game handled BDSM and their relationship banter specifically I don’t really like.

Favourite episode quest: for DA:O, probs Orzammar/the Deep Roads. I really love the dwarven lore! and, of course, Fort Drakon is really funny, even though it’s not canon in my game iirc. for DA:2/E, maybe the murder mystery with the serial killer, where ultimately Leandra dies? I also really enjoyed all the companion quests. for DA:I, The Descent (just, all of it, lmao) and everything to do with the Avvar. Crestwood also BANGED.

Saddest death: for DA:O, it’s frankly a fucking INJUSTICE that Shianni gets murdered if you make her Bann of the Alienage -- the idea of that happening whilst Kallian is in Amaranthine and unable to protect her :( genuinely very upsetting. I go back and forth on who is made Bann, tbf, so idk how canonical it is: I think maybe Cyrion would get it, but I’m also endeared to Soris holding the position, with Shianni as Hahren. for DA:2/E, Bethany. I wish both twins had had the chance to reach Kirkwall :(. Let Leandra die instead. for DA:I, maybe not the saddest death, but the most memorable for me was that one sleeping dragon in the Hissing Wastes.. leave her alone. Stay out of a womans’ business.

Favourite season game: DA:O!

Least favourite season game: DA:I.

Character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but I hate: for DA:O, Alistair. I cannot deal with his complacency and hypocrisy. for DA:2, I really disliked Merrill but I honestly cannot remember why. DEFINITELY Varric -- I hated how the game forces you to be his best friend, and if you’re low approval, you have to endure these pointless pissy little comments with this little anti-dwarf centrist pissant. After the expedition, I literally have no reason to put up with him, and I NEVER take him out. I hate that he plays the same role in DA:I, too. for DA:I, the Iron Bull was hugely disappointing, and I also really don’t vibe with Cassandra. She just seems very wishy-washy and complacent and hypocritical, and many of her comments about other cultures seem snide for literally no reason other than bigotry. 

My ‘you’re a piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave: for DA:O, lbr probably Sten. Mans is gonna launch a HORRIFYING invasion in the next game iirc and frankly, I’m ok with it. Just wanna see that big bastard again ❤🥵. for DA:2/E, I LOVE Gamlen, ok? for DA:I, I am not sure if I have one.

My ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave: for DA:O, if any of you so much as LOOK at Velanna wrong, it’s hands. That includes Bioware. I also feel incredibly protective of and sad for Morrigan. for DA:2/E, probably Sebastian -- I feel so sad for him, and so frustrated by the limitations with the game. for DA:I, I’m honestly not sure.. maybe Josephine? I don’t really feel this way about Sera, but I do think she deserves better from the game and its writing, and also from fandom: there are valid criticisms of her, but the hate she gets is not proportional to any valid issues with her -- and gee, I wonder why that is.

My ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship: for DA:O, I did use to find Cullen x Surana/Amell intriguing as a dark ship -- I actually hc that Neria Surana is actually Nelaros’ sister, and have dabbled with it as a dark ship. I also am interested in Loghain/Alistair - which each pretends the other is someone else. Alistair is wooby, hate ships are, in general, fun -- so long as we acknowledge that they are, indeed, unhealthy ships. for DA:2/E, I kind of feel like Sebastian romances are, invariably, kind of dark... and, similarly, Anders romances -- especially with certain red Hawkes, The way it ends is, invariably, bordering on fucked up. ALSO Hawkecest is weird and wonderful: GET WITH IT. 

My ‘they’re kind of cute, and I lowkey ship them, but I’m not too invested’ ship: for DA:O, I joked about Velanna x Leliana once and I’ve not been able to stop thinking about it ever since… Velanna x Sigrun is also something that can be so personal. Ariane x Finn is adorable and are paid DUST by Bioware AND fandom. I actually am really into Anora x Nathaniel & NO I will NOT explain myself; it’s a crackship but it’s MY crackship. for DA:2/E, Isabela x Fenris is super cute, but I don’t pay enough attention to them to really have super committed thoughts & feelings on them. for DA:I, Blackwall x Josephine is cute as a background ship; I also think Maryden x Cole is sweet.

[stitch-n-time]

Can you explain how the US housing laws work? You have me interested

Short answer: they don’t.

Longer answer (because I have to work tonight and truly don’t have like 8 hours to write the thesis, because you bet your ass I could):

There is actually an internal structure that the low income housing system has been built around that makes it nearly impossible to navigate, difficult to get into, and specifically works against the people that it was supposedly built to help.

I’m actually not quite sure where to start with this, so it’s going to be all over the place and bouncing back and forth, but that’s also kind of on brand for the low income housing system.

The system as we know it is very much a post WWII thing, so the info here will be from after that point. A lot of this will be in kind of broad, sweeping terms. But since the US is like 60 different states in a trenchcoat trying to sneak into an R-rated movie, very little of it actually covers the entirety of the country. There are also state and city levels of bullshit that people have to wade through. Most people don’t make it.

I’m going to use my own experiences as an example. But know that my experiences are NOT typical. When I started down this rabbit hole, I was a 30-ish year old white woman, a part time student, presented as a professional female on a daily basis, had a fairly stable income from a job I had held for years, and a vehicle (though making payments). All of this put together meant I had it pretty easy.

Some of that caused problems, though. The vehicle was a problem. It was a newer model gently used vehicle. According to the dealership, the previous owner had traded it in because it was a manual transmission and they wanted an automatic. When I bought it, it had less than 60k miles on it and was in excellent condition. In the eyes of the people who approve the paperwork and rubber stamp applicants for low income housing, I could get rid of that vehicle, and the moneys spent on the payments and insurance could go toward housing. Which would be reasonable, except most of the US doesn’t have public transportation at all. What public transport does exist is sketchy, rarely runs on schedule, and often does not go into residential areas. I COULD have gotten rid of the car, but that would have meant a 2 mile hike to the nearest bus station, 4 hours on a bus to get to class and 5 hours on the return trip twice a week, then a 2 mile hike home OR a 2 mile hike to the nearest bus station, 4.5 hours on a bus, another 2 mile hike to get to work, and the same on the return. At that point, I would have been spending more time on the bus than either at work or school, and might as well just live on the damned thing, since all I would have time to do at home is shower and MAYBE eat a sandwich?

But that’s also typical. Part of the laws as they are written specifically state that a person or household can not own physical properties that are over a certain value, because those properties could be sold in order to elevate the person/family’s lifestyle. That also makes household absolutely reliant on public transportation, which is simply not available in many poor areas.

Which goes into redlining, and systemic racism, which is a huge part of this, but is a whole ‘nother essay.

The fact that I was a student also worked against me. If a person can afford to go to school, they can afford housing. So why would you want/need help from the government? I’m just thankful that I was a part time student when the need for low income housing arose… If you’re a full time student, you are automatically denied on any application for low income housing. There are different legal designations for “low income housing” and “student housing”. They can not exist in the same housing complex for legal reasons. So if I had been taking one more class that semester, I would have been denied, and would have been homeless.

That in itself doesn’t sound terrible. And there’s reasons for the legal differences. But think about it… What if I had been in the last semester of school and something had happened? What about the people who are both enrolled in school and are working, trying to make ends meet, trying to be able to do something better, and either their lease is up or they get evicted or… I don’t know… their house burns down or a tornado hits or suddenly medical bills? If a person fills out that paperwork while still a student, even if they say “I’m graduating next month and want to move in the month after that” they still count as a full time student and would get denied. Which means leaving school and being spit out into the post graduate world probably without a job, while being denied help with keeping a roof over their head, when it’s absolutely necessary to have a physical address while searching for a job.

Which goes into the anti-homeless way of thinking, which is a huge part of this, but is a whole ‘nother essay.

I’m going to lump the “fairly stable income from a job I had held for years” and “presented as a professional female on a daily basis” into one, because they are directly related. I had worked my way through a trade school, and had been working in the medical field for nearly 4 years. The practice was open 4 days a week. I was there 2 days, the male counterpoint was there the other 2 days. If a client preferred one of us over the other, either they scheduled appropriately, or the doctor asked us to come in for that client’s appointment time. Because a large portion of the clientele were middle aged and older, as well as conservative, the dress code reflected accordingly. Since I actually REALLY liked the job, and the doctor and his family were pretty awesome people, I dressed and styled accordingly, on a daily basis. But because the number of hours on the clock varied with the number of clients scheduled for therapy appointments, there were times when those paychecks got mighty thin. There were absolutely trends of busy seasons and light seasons. Sometimes during that light season there were days when I would go to work for a couple of hours, go home until about 3PM, then go back for 2 or 3 hours. It was hard to pin that down.

Having to explain that I could not pinpoint an amount of annual income with any accuracy while filling out the application worked against me. And just about anybody who works in retail, food service, etc. - all the jobs that people with low incomes tend to have – will tell you that they suffer the same thing. Go  into work, put in a couple of hours, and have the manager come tell you to go home because it’s not busy enough to justify having people on the clock. But without having an accurate estimation of annual income (that could be verified by their calling your employer) means that the application is denied. The general consensus is that if you can’t pinpoint your annual income, then you’re lieing on the application, which means you’re untrustworthy, and therefore don’t deserve to get the help you need to keep a roof over your head.

That conservative professional look helped me here, though. I went into the office dressed well, in khakis and a nice blouse, to fill out the application and speak to the people. While I was there, another lady came in to fill out an application. This is somebody who I happened to know personally. She was also a professional, who was arguably in a slightly better place than I was because her income did not fluctuate (though it was low, as she was recovering from a divorce and most of the family income had come from her ex husband), but she was “dressed down” in shorts and a t shirt. We made the same arguments. I ended up in an apartment, and she did not.

Honestly, I was actually lucky to get into an apartment. A lot of people don’t realize it, but even with things being classified as low income housing, it takes a LOT of money to get into places. Just like every other rental in the US, before you move in, you have to pay the first month’s rent. And a deposit. And if you have pets, another deposit. And the cost of having the electricity and water turned on. And depending on the specific details of the contract you have to sign, possibly trash pickup. And if you want internet, either you pay for that and get a modem through the ISP, or you pay extra on signing the lease. And if you want to do your laundry in your home (if there’s even a hookup), there’s an extra rental fee for a washer and dryer, unless you bring your own.

I got lucky. When I applied and was approved, this particular housing development was running a “special” - if you sign a lease, you get one month rent free to use within 12 months of signing. I had to use it immediately. With all the extra fees and everything else, I could either pay for the rent OR the deposit, but not both – so I paid the deposit and laughingly told them I’d like to use that free month on the first month, immediately, right now, please and thank you, now where’s my key? They almost turned me away at that point.

I honestly believe that if it hadn’t been for my professional clothing and the fact that I could point to a couple of scabs on my face, that I would have been denied at that point. (The scabs were from a dog. I had been renting a room from a “friend” who is no longer a friend. Her dog bit my face, and instead of punishing the dog, she decided I needed to move out that weekend. Note: this is literally the ONLY time I’ve had a dog bite me, despite having been around them most of my life, and this particular dog had snapped at multiple people before.)

Which goes into classism, which is a huge part of this, but is a whole ‘nother essay.

Now the thing that has been on my last nerve for a few years now is a good one. The laws state that if your household changes in any way, you have to fill out the application again. Doesn’t matter if you literally got approved the day before: you fill it out again. Because there have been household changes. It doesn’t sound terrible at all, but I know somebody who got evicted from low income housing and ended up homeless because his wife left. Suddenly the household size was smaller, but had the same income, and it was over the limit for the household size. Sorry not sorry you have to go. I know somebody who was evicted for “falsified paperwork” because she had a baby and was in the hospital for 2 weeks, so didn’t get the paperwork in on time. They ended up in a homeless shelter (in this city, homeless shelters are more expensive than a lot of low income housing). Now she’s in debt that she’ll probably never get out of, due to that.

What’s more is that the eligibility requirements to be able to pass those income thresholds change constantly. Out of curiosity, I tracked the changes over the course of a year. Just checking on the first of the month. In a single year, the income requirements changed 10 times. It’s not easy to keep track of, and there’s not much reason to track it unless it’s literally part of your job, in order to keep in compliance with the laws.

My own personal gripe is much less severe than that. I can’t get married. Technically, my fiance can’t live with me. On paper, he lives with his parents, miles away. But he spends most of his time in my apartment, which is under my name only, because I’m disabled (but ineligible for disability) and need his help. We’ve been together for a decade. We’ve been engaged for over 5 years. But if we get married, then the household changes, and we have to fill out the paperwork and get approved again. The thing is: if we put together our incomes into one “household” income, we would never be eligible for low income housing. Which means we would have to move out.

Moving out comes with it’s own difficulties. Because of the paperwork you have to sign to lease low income housing – and depending on where you are because 60 states in a trenchcoat – there are hoops to jump through. The lease in this particular development,  you get a choice. If you break the lease you either a) pay the full amount of rent on the apartment through the end of the lease term or b) pay two months’ rent on the apartment after termination of the lease. So not only would we have to find other housing that we could afford (with all of the move in fees, deposits, transfer of service fees for utilities, bla bla bla), we would also have to pay 2 months’ rent on top of everything else. Which means either borrowing literally thousands of dollars from an individual – banks won’t do loans for this – or having to decide which bills get paid and which don’t while surviving off of ramen noodles for months at a time. Which… uh… would not work well with the man-thing’s diabetes.

Which all goes into respectability politics, and deciding whether or not poor people deserve to have stability and emotional fulfillment, which is a huge part of this, but is a whole ‘nother essay.

Now this may sound like a whole lot of personal whining. And it kind of is. But I can’t speak for anybody else. This is my personal interactions with these people and with the laws behind their behavior. But it’s the laws themselves that are written to be exclusive of the people that need help the most.

Homeless people can not apply, because they don’t have a current address.

Unemployed people can not apply, because they don’t have an income.

Full time students can not apply, because of the legal definitions of the different types of housing.

People with “disposable” property (such as cars) are often denied because they could turn those assets into monies.

People who rely on that “disposable” property for work are unable to take advantage of low income housing due to the above.

People of color who have been relegated to specific neighborhoods where public transportation is not available due to the redlining of the last century are unable to take advantage of low income housing due to the above.

People who do not have thousands of dollars readily available are denied because they can not pay both the deposit and rent.

People who face employment discrimination (even though it’s illegal) are denied because they can not provide proof of steady income.

People who have bounced from employer to employer are often denied for the same reason.

People who have successfully gained low income housing are often unable to change anything about their household.

People who have successfully gained low income housing are often unable to get out of it if their situation improves.

All of it is written into the laws surrounding the housing itself.

So…. Yeah. It doesn’t work. But if you want me to actually get into the nitty gritty, I can start actually researching. But somebody’s gotta pay me for it.

[connorinabeanie]

A slightly salty take on North and fandom

Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is meant as an attack on anyone. Fandom is subjective and you have the right to interpret media, form your own conclusions, and create whatever you want. These are my opinions about what I’ve seen, as well as my experiences in previous fandoms and the patterns I’ve seen play out over and over again. It’s okay to disagree with me, and it’s okay to have a respectful discussion in reblogs/comments! Just keep it civil. That out of the way…

North. She’s polarizing character in DBH; she tends to be loved or hated, and I’ll admit it: I didn’t like her at first either. I wanted to, but as I played through my first time I just couldn’t get past one of her traits in particular, which was that she was so convinced she was right; she blamed Markus for every mistake, refused to adapt her tactics or consider other methods, and seemed more driven by vengeance than anything else. So as much as I wanted to enjoy her character, I found her to be a poorly written “strong female character” archetype that fell flat in execution, as most characters of that type do.

Honestly, I think this is the reason most people who dislike North dislike her, at least consciously. They genuinely think she’s a terribly written character, and they’re not necessarily wrong. One playthrough on a standard route, with no extrapolation or extra consideration, combined with a lot of people getting the awkwardly forced romance (I actually avoided this, completely unknowingly, on my first playthrough) leads to a dislike of this character. That’s understandable! I would expect this from people who played the game once. But that’s where the problem comes in, for me.

People active in a fandom usually haven’t consumed the media they’re into just once. They usually don’t engage in surface-level interpretation, and they usually don’t lack context. But I find it hard to believe that so many of the opinions and interpretations regarding North could possibly come from people who have approached her character with an open mind and additional information, because just one major path divergence shows a completely different side to North’s character.

I’m talking, of course, about North’s leader route. When we see her in Markus’ role, leading instead of advising, her true motives come out: she loves her people and is willing to fight for them. She isn’t interested in playing nice with her oppressors, and why should she? There’s a whole discussion here about how oppressed people are judged for how nicely they fight for the rights they should already have, where there’s a ‘good’ way of protesting and a ‘bad’ way of doing it (which is, ironically and showing how tone-deaf Cage can be, supported in the narrative of DBH as well), but I won’t go into that in depth; other people have posted really good takes on this already. I’ll just mention it here and there where relevant.

Once of those relevant places is that, as I said, in North’s leader route she isn’t interested in peaceful protesting. And you know what? When I played this game the first time and had Markus, I had been peaceful up until Night of Soul, which is where North would be making her first major decision as a leader if you don’t have Markus. Yet when it came down to it I made the same decision with Markus that North makes on her own, because you know, as a Jewish woman, I wasn’t super interested in peacefully protesting at the gates of camps that were currently killing people. Playing nice hadn’t worked, and it was time to fight.

So maybe I’m in a different position that some others when it comes to interpreting North’s choices, and as I saw that she made the same choice that I did when playing Markus, I’m just… Not impressed that the fandom tendency to criticize this choice as warmongering, unreasonable, and a ‘betrayal’ of Markus’ peaceful actions (always assuming that Markus had been completely peaceful before, which is the way the story pushes on you, but certainly isn’t a given.) As far as I’m concerned, North is taking the action needed to save her people who are in danger right that instant, and humans don’t deserve a nice civil protest (and if I were in her position with Markus alive, I would be furious that he wanted to just sit and talk while people were dying.) They need to be stopped, and she’s going to stop them.

But it wasn’t just her choice in the church that brought me around to North’s side during her leader route, it was her behavior during Crossroads. Specifically, it was her behavior toward Connor, and how it contrasted with some of her actions earlier. So, going back a bit to Spare Parts, where the Jericrew goes on a mission to steal parts from the Cyberlife warehouses at the docks, and you run into John. North votes against taking him with them, citing that they can’t trust him and it’s too dangerous. Moving on a little, to Stratford Tower, if (or, more likely, ‘when’ since it’s pretty difficult to avoid) Simon is injured, North suggests shooting him. These are pretty harsh marks against her, because they seem needlessly ruthless, but are they really?

With John, the answer is maybe yes. But think about it from her perspective; they’ve never seen the ability Markus used, in turning an android deviant. So as far as North is concerned, John was a threat to them about two minutes earlier, and now wants to go with them? With no traumatic catalyst or trusted android vouching for and giving him the key to Jericho? To North John is a potential threat, a potential danger, and she has no reason to trust him. But as the story goes on, North never makes another objection to an android joining them in this way, because she knows they’re truly deviant. As soon as an android is deviant, they’re one of her people.

With Simon, the answer is probably no, because North is exactly right; if Simon lives, and Connor finds him, Connor finds Jericho. It’s that simple, and it’s not a rare series of events. North might be a little fast to jump on the option, because there’s a genuine argument to be made that it isn’t worth killing someone just because there’s a chance that something (even something very serious) might go wrong, but she clearly isn’t choosing this option because she wants it; she’s choosing this option because she thinks it’s the most guaranteed way to protect her people. It’s a difficult, ruthless decision to make, but it isn’t one made out of malice.

(It’s also worth noting that Simon suggests leaving North when she’s in danger in Crossroads, when the only people that would be at risk from saving her were Markus and Connor, and this happens whether or not North suggested killing Simon one the rooftop. Yet this choice is almost never criticized, because it comes from Simon, and I’ll get into that later.)

But with those particular attitudes from North out of the way, it’s interesting to see how she reacts to Connor in her leader route. North instantly shows concern for him, never blames him for the attack on Jericho, and—like Markus—tries to prevent him from going on his suicide mission to Cyberlife Tower. She’s kind and understanding, and it’s clear that she accepts Connor immediately as one of her people.

This is a place where I have some trouble with fandom interpretations of North and Connor’s relationship, specifically in terms of North being angry, cold, or extremely suspicious of Connor (a little suspicion, especially in a more ‘good end’ route where she has less direct interaction with Connor during the revolution, is reasonable; I’m talking about outright refusal to even consider accepting him.) It bothers me for two specific, and somewhat different reasons.

One is that it directly contradicts a theme of North’s history, which is that deviant androids are not their pasts. They’re not what they were before they woke up. The idea of North holding someone’s past, before they turned deviant, against them is just… I can’t imagine it. I can imagine her suspicion, as I mentioned before, until she's very sure Connor is truly deviant, but that seems very apparent to her right away in any route (I find it hard to believe she’d think he was faking deviancy after delivering the army to Markus.) Some concern or suspicion after finding out about the attempted hijacking makes sense, but the way I see it portrayed in fic is often jarring; it seems completely out of character for her to blame Connor for something like that, as opposed to being angry on his behalf, because North wants androids to be free (and, more deeply, she’s experience being used for something she never wanted.) She wants androids to have the chance to live, to become their own people, and to leave their pasts behind them. Why would she blame Connor for what he was made to do, whether before he was deviant or when Amanda tried to take control of him? It goes against everything North stands for, and that leads me to my second reason:

I think people choose this interpretation because it makes North a villain. Maybe it’s not an active conscious decision to do this (and in fact I doubt it usually is), but it reminds me very painfully of the trend in fandom of villainizing a character—especially a female character—in order to woobify a male character (and, often, get the female character out of the way of a ship) and I can’t help but see that here. It seems like a cheap, easy way to excuse other characters turning against North for her behavior, and therefore getting her out of the way as well as causing drama and conflict for the characters the writer really wants to focus on.

And that seems like a good segue into the big topic that people are gonna get mad about being called out on: misogyny. And even more specifically, misogyny when it comes to shipping.

I’m just gonna state this super clearly at the forefront: I have no problem with shipping whoever you want, whyever you want. I’m not personally into most ships for various reasons, but I do have some favorites (most of which other people aren’t into) and shipping is fun! Not everyone agrees on shipping, and that’s okay; not everyone has to like what you like, we can all still exist in harmony.

But that isn’t to say that people don’t engage in, for lack of a better word, ‘problematic’ behavior in their ships. As opposed to just going ‘hey, I like this, I’m gonna do it’, way too many people become obsessed with justifying their ship (and I think this comes from an underlying desire to ‘prove’ it’s canon or based in canon, as a way of making it seem more legitimate, which is a whole other topic I could rant about.) In the process of these justifications, and then often as a part of the fixation or obsession that some people develop about their ships/characters in their ships, any character or ship that ‘threatens’ someone’s favorite is a target that must be destroyed. And, in what I would say is arguably the vast majority of times, that threatening character is a canon female love interest.

Open bashing has (with good reason) gone out of fashion in fandom, so the way to get characters ‘out of the way‘ is to argue an unlikeable interpretation of them. I feel like this is what happens a lot of the time with North, and with the poor writing and flat portrayal of her character in the ‘good end’ route, it’s very easy for people to take the worst of her personality, say it’s canon, and then get rid of her. This is usually a bit side-eye worthy when it happens in any fandom, but it’s extra ridiculous in DBH for one very distinct reason:

North doesn’t have to be a love interest. As I mentioned before, when I first played through I never got the ‘lovers’ scene, because North said way back when Markus first met her that she didn’t want to talk about her past and so in the scene on the roof I just didn’t ask her (and I could write another whole discussion about how no means no and pressuring someone to tell you their past is NOT how to get a romantic option with them, but that’s an issue with another time.) The rest of the game progressed completely as normal, with the only changes being a lack of kissing options in a few later scenes. There’s no reason why fic writers can’t just choose this option for their fic’s canon, and move on.

And yet I can’t tell you how many times North is an obstacle that has to be overcome in order to get Markus with Simon or Connor (because let’s be real, North, Simon, and Connor are the only major ships for Markus even though Josh is RIGHT THERE, but again that’s another topic for another time.) It’s completely unnecessary, and yet there it is: North is this unreasonable, horrible person who is terrible to [insert love interest here] and Markus has to overcome this internal struggle to break free and be with [whoever] and truly be happy.

It’s such nonsense. It’s using this ‘undesirable’ female character as a source of drama and angst for this poor sad male character to have to deal with, as opposed to taking even a moment to treat the female character as a person who might have motivations, experiences, and emotions, and I’ve seen this over and over and over in every single fandom I’ve ever been in. This isn’t a North-specific thing, it’s a female character thing, and honestly if Kara’s storyline weren’t so separate from the fandom favorite shipping characters then I think the same thing would happen to her (as opposed to her existence just being entirely ignored.) This is such a pattern in fandom that I find it very difficult to believe this is a special case where it’s somehow legitimate.

One of those reasons is that the ‘justifications’ for disliking North tend to be complete double standards between North and whatever love interest the writer is going for, whether that’s Simon or Connor. With Connor, it’s extremely obvious; almost all of North’s negative traits are traits he has to some extent as well (ruthlessness, solving problems through violence, stubbornness,) but those traits are not only not usually treated negatively in Connor (and instead are depicted as justified and necessary in context, which I’m not saying they aren’t, but that it’s unfair to say that about him and not her) but often erased entirely, leading to the obnoxiously delicate, wilting flower version of Connor that shows up in so much fic. But again, an issue for another time.

For Simon, it’s less obvious because North and Simon are quite different, but not in opposite ways; North and Josh are opposites in many respects, but Simon is, in a sense, perpendicular to the line North and Josh are at opposite ends of. Simon doesn’t have particularly strong opinions about anything, just going with the flow and being supportive; his strongest opinions are about being cautious and not taking risks. Except, of course, for that scene I mentioned before, where he outright says they should just leave North to die. For such an overall bland character, that needlessly harsh moment stands out to me and I find it kind of amazing how it’s just completely ignored, often while holding it against North that she suggested shooting Simon on the roof.

So I guess the whole point of this rant is that I wish people would think more critically about North as a character, rather than a flat archetype, especially in the context of shipping. It’s cringey and painful to see blatant flanderizing of her character for the sole purpose of being ‘able’ to ship other characters together, whether to use her as an antagonist or just to get her out of the way, when it’s completely unnecessary to begin with. It’s also very obvious where someone’s priorities and biases lie when they’re happy to write North off but then obsess over other poorly written, bland, or even outright purposefully antagonistic characters that they deem somehow to have more potential and be more worthy of attention and character development.

Overall, there’s no requirement to like a character. It’s totally fine not to like a character. But double standards and needless demonizing of a character go far beyond not liking them, and it’s important to stop and think about why it might be happening. Is it always misogyny with North? No, I don’t think so, there are definitely people who don’t like her for her traits and that’s fine. But I think it’s very telling when someone who claims to dislike North for her personality and behavior then spends time in fan works purposefully making her a villain for the benefit of drama in their pet ship. It’s even more telling when someone who claims to dislike North for her personality and behavior, yet they celebrate the potential of characters that are canonically far worse (but who just so happen to be attractive men.) And, unfortunately, both of those situations coincide quite often with vocally disliking North, and there are only so many ways to interpret such a correlation.

[freyaeu]

HALSTON SAGE. CIS FEMALE. SHE/HER. ⟩ though the mist might prevent some from seeing it, FREYA ANDERSON-SMITH is actually a descendent of K H I O N E. it’s still a question of whether or not the TWENTY-FOUR year old KINESIOLOGY MAJOR from COPENHAGEN, DENMARK has taken after their godly parent completely, but the demigod is still known to be quite GRACEFUL & SHELTERED.

hello, hello, beautiful friends ! i still need to figure out more things for freya but here’s her bio which i should have really just really written out bc i said it’d be short and sweet and my brain said, i think not ! anyway, i’m super excited to plot with everyone ♡

she  knows that there was an entirely different life that she led before she  was taken in by her adoptive father, she just doesn’t remember much of  it.

memories come back in snippets — like the little cottage nestled in the mountains with the beautiful lake up the hill. or man with the warm smile who she called papa. she  remembers the tea parties during the summer and snowball fights in the  winters. but most of all, she can still hear the sound of ice crackling  beneath her feet as she tried to run across the lake before falling in.  how cold she felt as her body hit the water before she felt embraced by  the icy temperature and everything turned black.

that  aside, her ‘earliest’ memory is being cradling by khione. her icy skin  providing comfort as she mused about a brand new life in a place far from the one she had known so far with a new father and a brother who would love her very much. ( the latter is to be debated ).

‘a  gift’ was what she called freya when she introduced her to her new family. the hold khione still had over alexander anderson-smith being one  so powerful that he didn’t even question who the small child hiding behind  khione’s leg was or where she came from. he welcomed her with open arms, believing that the goddess still loved him because why else would he have entrusted her with  another demigod?

while she had an extremely affluent upbringing, she didn’t rot from how spoiled she was. she  always remained levelheaded, never letting such a luxurious life get to  her head. perhaps because of this, she was always seen as the ‘white  sheep’ — she was soft like snow, not cold as ice. while her entire  family ( goddess mother included ) used whatever mean was necessary to  stay on top, freya was always perfectly fine just being freya.

along with her brother, she grew up in one of copenhagen’s most  elite hotels — the penthouse, to be exact, and one rarely spent any time  in. while to others, the most luxurious suite in the hotel would have  been anyone’s dream getaway, to her it resembled a very fancy prison  cell.

instead, she’d often sneak out as a kid,  watching from afar at the  different gala’s that would take place in the ballroom or sneaking into  the hotel kitchen for a snack. as the daughter of the hotel’s owner,  there was nothing anyone could to stop her. especially considering how  much of a daddy’s girl she was. freya may not have done or said anything  had anyone complained but it didn’t mean alexander wouldn’t have had reacted badly.

as she grew older, her adventures in the hotel became more specific. spending hours  on end learning how to cook from the best chef’s around to  spending her time working on homework next to the concierge’s desk as she  waited for guests to walk up for suggestions of the best places around  town.

the older she got, the more people whispered about her in disapproval. she was the ‘weird’  girl who stayed after social events to help the staff out, the one who  at parties sat in the corner of the room with a book stuck in her nose,  the one who didn’t care about status or reputation.  

while  she participated in things like the debutante ball and summer camp, she  only did so to please her father. as much as he wanted her to be as  cutthroat as nicolai, there was an unspoken understanding that freya was interested in marching at the beat of her own drum and doing things her way.

this  became evident when he pushed them to start properly developing and  advancing their powers. freya, being a child, didn’t take things  seriously. it was the first time and last time he ever made her cry and  the only time he took the treasure chest full of books she cherished  away.

by the time khione came back once  again demanding they get proper training, freya was curious to say the  least. camp with other demigod kids? it sounded cool enough. which it  definitely was though her interests aligned more with learning as much  as she could about the camp and other gods rather than training.

shortly  after freya’s arrival, the two demigod’s gained a step-mom and their  mutual dislike for the woman is perhaps one of the very few things they  have in common til this day. freya can’t stand her. while she chooses to look the other way in regards to her father and nicolai’s behavior, the  same can’t be said for her. she may not approve of how they act but love and blood connects her to them. the step-mom? no connection there.

while  she excelled academically, the same couldn’t be said about her social life. despite the influence her father had, not even he could save her from falling to the bottom of the social food chain. her indifference toward the status she had due to her last name caused many to be both envious and dumbfounded at how she didn’t take advantage of it. she was  pretty and rich, why didn’t she care?

the answer  to that was simple, she had better things to do — when alexander came  up with the idea to create a training center for his kiddos, he included  a rink because children of the goddess of ice and snow~~ well, to no  one’s surprise, that caught freya’s interest. despite the traumatic ( and mainly repressed ) event  that happened on the ice, freya absolutely loved being on the ice. at first, it became her incentive to train, being able to spends hours afterward skating around the rink. then, alexander noticed her talent, bringing in the best coaches money could ensure she’d become the absolute best.

what  started out as a fun pastime turned competitive soon after with freya  spending hours in the rink, diving her time between figure skating and  school. when she wasn’t training or competing, she was studying.

it wasn’t long before she became one of the  most promising individual junior skaters, always placing within the top five and very easily  a fan favorite. by the time she hit senior-level, it was evident that she was on her way to the olympics.

she made it as far as placing silver two years in a row in the world championships before it all came crashing down. after performing the best she’d ever done, she ( and everyone else ) were sure she’d take gold in the ladies individual’s section. to her absolute shock, she didn’t and highkey had a mini freakout moment with her ire directed at the gold medalist who she believed stole her spot. it was the one time she used her powers intentionally to hurt a mortal. the girl was fine in the end but freya still feels absolutely bad about it. she retired that same year and decided to focus on academics instead.

which is how she ended up at eonia. it was definitely a huge adjustment at first. not only did she let go of something she’d done for a little over ten years but she also said goodbye to the home she’d known since she was four. it took a second for her to settle but in the end, she found herself straying away from the sheltered routine she’d grown so accustomed from.  

at least that’s what she tells herself. honestly, while she did spread her wings a little more in terms of discovering new things, she’s stuck to the same routine upon finding her rhythm. she’s extremely predictable like that.

she’s currently a graduate student in the medicine program and completed her undergrad in chemistry.

[inmyarmswrappedin]

Hi, you are one of the few blogs who write really intelligent well thoughtout metas for Skam. Can you suggest more such blogs I could follow. Suggest anyone, really. I trust you. Vapid fangirling has its benefits, but I need to balance it with some quality analysis and opinion pieces. I'm sadly not able to find many such. I do not mean to sound condescending to other members. Each fan has equal worth in fandom but I am just not able to easily find what I want, could be looking in wrong places.

Hi anon 💞💖✨ This is SUCH a flattering ask gvhvh, it’s honestly so gratifying to think that I’m not just rambling into the void and people out there care. Thank you so much. (You didn’t mention it but I’m going to pretend that you’re also talking about the Amira M posts, because I want to think people are liking those. 😂)

As for recs!

(DISCLAIMER: when it comes to these blogs, I don’t necessarily agree with everything they post or on every single topic. We’re all different people coming at these shows from different perspectives. Recommendation isn’t necessarily 100% endorsement!)

@lightsandlostbells is inactive these days, but posted some of the best and most comprehensive posts comparing the remakes to Skam. And by doing so, pinpointing what made Skam so special and where the remakes were failing. I made an easy list of all her reaction posts. I still eagerly await her wtfock s3 post which will probably murder it.

@norgestan has written some really good meta for Skam España, and is making her way through the other remakes as well. In her posts, she has pointed out things that had escaped my notice or I hadn’t seen as harmful. Super worth it, particularly if you’re interested in Noora seasons.

@norwaydumpsterfireremakes should be listed in any such rec post tbh. Her interpretation of the remakes from a (US) postcolonial POV should be required reading for any Skams fan, just to get people to watch these shows more critically. If you’re interested in any Skams character of color, then follow asap.

 @floraflorenzi doesn’t post meta all that often, but when she does, it’s well-written, concise and decisive. Flora was one of the people whose posts I would keep reading before I made my own tumblr. I also consider her gifsets to be meta in animated form, because she makes her points by highlighting certain scenes and dialogue.

 @naybetamira has posted a bunch of Skam España meta. Her writing style is more warm and loving, for a change of pace. 💛

@cfgc I started following recently, specifically because I was interested in her analysis of Lola Lecomte’s sexuality. I don’t even like Skam France or watched Lola’s season, so that should tell you how interesting I find her posts to be. 😛 I would also recommend her tags to the gifsets she reblogs. (As I would with pretty much everyone else on this list.)

With Amira Naybet’s season coming up, I would also check @rumaan (white hijabi), @nolabballgirl (hijabi of color) and @overthemoonwithme to get the perspectives of Muslims and/or women of color. I can’t remember if Overthemoonwithme is Muslim (sorry 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♂️). 

If you for some reason feel like venturing out to twitter, @procrastinatingbisexual is there at @zoskazu, and her understanding of her own generation (Gen Z) and female characters have influenced and impacted the way I think about these characters, particularly for Druck and lovleg. (She’s currently into The Umbrella Academy but I’m hoping the upcoming seasons bring her back to the fold gvvhvh.) 

@skamenglishsubs posted a commentary series going over cultural and subtext elements in Skam, which I recommend if you want to have a better understanding of the motifs Julie Andem used for each season. 

And finally, though you asked for meta, I do want to recommend a couple of gifmakers, because their gifsets have often made me notice a detail I overlooked or a microexpression that informs a character: @matteoflrnzi, @kikimachwitz, @katyazhuravlik, @naslostcontrol.

Honorary mention to my friends with whom I discuss these shows privately, but don’t post meta on their blogs or very rarely: @thescorpioracer, @wodrueckts, @feingeister, @dusuessekartoffel, @hachibe

[fizzingwizard]

So I watched Enola Holmes!

As a long time Sherlock Holmes book nerd, I... didn’t actually know if I was going to bother watching it. I pretty much avoid any published Sherlock Holmes fanfiction. It’s not because I think it’s all wrong or bad (there are some pretty famous successful ones out there after all). It just those stories always makes me wish I was reading the originals, I think because my own vision of that world is so strong.

But I also like Millie Bobby Brown, and also, honestly, I just wanted to see what a Henry Cavill Holmes would be like. Because as much as I like Henry Cavill, he’s very much not the guy I’d cast as Holmes.

That’s point number one: Sherlock Holmes is not that important in Enola Holmes. He’s a prop that holds up her story, but not much more. That was clear from the trailer, so I wasn’t expecting him to be anyway.

I also didn’t know that Enola was based on a book series, though I did assume so because of the way they have Enola address the audience directly or sometimes just stare into the camera. It seemed like a way to stylize a first person novel that has a lot of exposition. I haven’t read the books, and I’m not going to, so maybe I’m off on how its written, but anyway, I was right that the movie is based on books.

So as I started watching, I quickly felt concerned over these questions:

Why Sherlock Holmes at all?

Why make Mycroft such a bad guy?

Will Enola be interesting by herself or am I expected to find her interesting just because she’s a Holmes and a feminist?

Where is John Watson?

Now understanding that the movie is based on books, the answers to all these questions are obvious. But I didn’t want spoilers, so I didn’t look it up. Fortunately, the movie answers each question itself anyway.

So I can say it was a fun little movie. Millie Bobby Brown did a really good job. It’s not going to be the next blockbuster, but the quirky Holmes women, as well as the other quirky characters, were more than just entertaining to me. And I enjoyed the specific way they painted the backdrop of the women’s suffrage movement. In school you’re pretty much taught that it happened. It’s things like these - books and movies, etc - which may take creative liberties with history, but also showcase the details and grittiness that textbooks wash out.

And I did like Enola for herself. She’s like Anne of Green Gables if her hobby were puzzles instead of daydreams. I liked The Boy too (sorry I can’t be bothered to type his name! let’s call him Tooks). He was pleasantly ridiculous while being any teenage girl’s dreamboat. Does he qualify as a himbo?

The relationship between Enola and Tooks was cute and didn’t distract from everything else. I loved the framing of Enola’s injury tryng to rescue the sheep with her trying to rescue Tooks. At first, it was just sweet, but that scene at the end where we find out that she succeeded at rescuing the sheep totally cinched it for me. Although it’s the typical thing for a young heroine to do - go against her mother’s advice because she hasn’t experienced life enough to become so careful and calculating, and do the selfless thing - it also meant that Enola’s not just her mother’s puppet, she makes her own choices.

We’re seeing the dynamic of competent-woman-idiot-male-sidekick a bit more often, and the thing that always stands out is how rarely the male sidekick is ever really an idiot. Like Tooks, usually they get chances to be cool. So it’s not quite the same as the old trope of “hero rescues damsel in distress.” But honestly, nowadays, who’d want it to be? A totally passive character is boring. You rarely remember the damsel, only that the hero won her. Women actually like romance, we want to like and remember the love interest. :P And even then. The true hero/damsel trope appears rather historically that people think. Because, guess what, most writers like to write characters, not tropes.

The flip side of all this is that there is also a theme that’s becoming more and more common about feminism where the woman still ends up in a relationship, and it still being feminist. Like the recent Little Women movie, where Jo has to suffer and wrestle with herself for so long in her journey to achieve her dreams and in the end discovers marriage is part of her dream. None of this is wrong, but it is interesting how we see “lone feminist” as someone cold and sad about being alone, and are so quick to embrace the feminist who wants to be in a romantic relationship with men. The feminist can’t be whole if she’s sacrificed her ability to love for feminism. Meanwhile, in Enola, Sherlock Holmes, a man, is right there, being unmarried and uninterested in love and happy anyway.

None of this is Enola Holmes’s fault, it’s just a trend that I keep seeing in modern, uncomplicated feminist stories.

In sum, I liked Enola, I liked Tooks, the movie didn’t blow me out of the water or anything but I wasn’t expecting it too... I’m pretty sure this is for kids? In which case it’s fun and interesting the way Matilda or Pippi Longstocking are fun and interesting. As for the other questions...

Why Sherlock Holmes? Because he’s Sherlock Holmes. If you want to write about a female detective, and you want to do it against the backdrop of women’s suffrage in Victorian England, I think it’s only natural to make her a Holmes. That being said, Henry Cavill... is great, but not Sherlock Holmes. Bahaha. He has way too much chin. Who was that person, not Sherlock. RDJ was a more convincing Sherlock (and RDJ is not a convincing Sherlock!). That doesn’t mean I didn’t like him (I like RDJ too), it’s just a reminder that this is not a Sherlock Holmes movie. That’s why he doesn’t act much like Sherlock Holmes. Inspecting some coal dust does not a Sherlock Holmes make.

Why make Mycroft such a bad guy? Because Mycroft represents England. In the same way the assassin Enola kills says his employer is “England,” Mycroft’s job means the way he feels about Enola reflects the way England feels at the time about what a woman’s role should be. Why they made him such an idiot compared to Sherlock, though... Even after I answered these questions, I sometimes couldn’t help feeling “but it all feels so pointless when you’re just going to change so much of canon!”

Where the heck is John Watson? This one stumped me, but it is answered in the movie as well. I missed it because it wasn’t answered in a way I found satisfying. Pretty much, there’s no Watson because Holmes in Enola hasn’t met him yet. This makes no sense in terms of canon - timewise they’d have met a couple years ago, but canon Waston isn’t the best with dates, so I could overlook that - but Holmes is becoming popular. Holmes is becoming famous. Watson does that. Before Watson, Holmes is well known at Scotland Yard, but he’s more infamous than famous, and he’s not in many headlines partly because he makes an effort not to be. So Enola Holmes shouldn’t be well known at all if there’s no Watson praising him from the hilltops. I was half-expecting the movie to end with “pssst... Enola is the real Watson!” but I’m glad it didn’t. It sounds like Watson is a background character in the books so all of this was just “we couldn’t think of anything for Watson to do so we cut him.” But as weird as it is to ever see Holmes without Watson for me, if he’d been included he probably would have had like a couple stupid pro-patriarchy comments to make and that’s it. The Sherlockian me is baffled, but the wiser me thinks his absence is for the best.

[johnnys-green-pen]

Random E! Thoughts: S2E9 - Women

ohboy.

petition to have Johnny not interact with women for like half a season so I can stop dying of second-hand embarrassment for a bit.

Ha. I imagine the trainee thing didn’t happen TOO long before this one - so they finally got rid of one person who thinks they’re better at being a paramedic than Johnny and Roy are... just to be saddled with the next one, and this one is even more clueless.

It’s honestly a wonder Johnny didn’t run for the hills screaming the second he heard “I wonder if I coulda done the same thing”

Also, as far as we see, all Johnny does before she accuses him of being “one of the most prejudiced men she’s met” was his usual brand of incredibly clumsy flirting. I’m pretty sure that, had this episode been written by a woman, misfiring Gage Charm wouldn’t have even registered on her prejudice scale. 

Fun fact: Same writer responsible for THIS episode also did Weird Wednesday - which is a fun episode, but also had the Terrible ~Female~ Parachutist, for instance. Folks, I think this one did not like women very much. 

Long story short, it’s telling that Christie here is the only one who complains about Nothing regarding Johnny, it’s telling that she thinks she can do “a better job than Men(TM)”, it’s telling how “women’s lib” is brought up specifically and how it’s talked about, and even Dix apparently thinking that just because she knows (and.... enjoys....?? Granted, I’d bet Dix loves the verbal sparring, but I very much do not think she enjoys that specific set of attitudes) how to handle sexism, there’s no need to change anything is telling. 

Also like... literally everything else about this episode.

Now I remember why I usually skip 90% of it.

This episode is bullshit on so many levels, and unlike other episodes like that, which really do have the best of intentions despite being a little flawed sometimes, there’s really very little that redeems this one. 

On the other hand, I do appreciate that this is one of the relatively few episodes were I can’t find anything to redeem it and I love how much of a better job they usually do.

And that’s the monologue for today. Now I’ll go back to griping about fictional characters instead of sexist writers because that’s more fun.

Or, rather, it’s Brackett Appreciation Time.

Morton sits down and it takes Brackett all of a second to A) realize that wow, he is not doing okay, and B) decide to say something about it.

Also, pretty much his first impulse is to ask if there’s anything he can do to help.

Scary, callous Doctor Brackett, eh? Gotta love that sap.

Also, one of the rare, early looks at Morton really caring about a patient, even though I don’t think he ever gets quite as comfortable with that concept as Brackett. 

The warehouse rescue at the end is genuinely tense as heck

Johnny’s reaction to getting pinned (after he’s done screaming) sounds suspiciously like “oh shi-”. Bit of an understatement, but a pretty good assessment of his situation nonetheless. 

“It’s exactly 2 o’clock, I’m going in after him” “Roy-” “Yeah, I know”

OOF.

I’m vaguely surprised that Captain Stanley let him - especially after the way he physically grabbed Johnny and hauled him back when he tried to go after Roy in S2E1

I wonder if he knew there was no way to keep Roy from going in there and was worried that wasting time arguing would be the thing that kills them in the end. 

[terramythos]

TerraMythos' 2020 Reading Challenge - Book 28 of 26

Title: The Only Good Indians (2020) 

Author: Stephen Graham Jones 

Genre/Tags: Horror, Fiction, Third-Person, Second-Person, Female Protagonist (kinda).

Rating: 6/10

Date Began: 10/5/2020

Date Finished: 10/11/2020

Almost a decade ago, four Blackfeet Indian men went on a hunting trip. They did something terrible on that day, which they now call the Thanksgiving Classic. As the ten-year anniversary of the event approaches, the three remaining men have moved on with their lives -- but the past has come back to haunt them in a disturbing and vengeful way. 

First, though, one of their calves is sitting in eighth-grade geography-- girl, girl girl girl, not “calf”. And this girl has this certain father you remember, and that father, he has a friend you remember well, from looking up a long snowy slope, their monstrous forms black against the sky. 

For them, ten years ago, that’s another lifetime. 

For you it’s yesterday. 

Some spoilers under the cut. 

This is the first full novel I’ve ready by Stephen Graham Jones, but I did actually read a short story by him in The Devil and the Deep, a collection I read earlier this year. “Broken Record” is a horror story about a man trapped on a desert island, but with an interesting premise/twist that I don’t want to spoil. So I had one of his novels, Mongrels, on my TBR, but decided to go with this one when I saw it making the rounds. 

I feel kinda bad giving The Only Good Indians a 6, because there are some things I really, really like about this novel. But as a whole, I have to be honest with myself and how I feel about it, and that’s a pretty accurate score. There are certain elements that don’t work for me. While some of this is due to personal taste, several of my issues are with the execution. 

To start off, things I love about the novel. The Only Good Indians is separated into three parts, each of which is a distinct story connected to the others. The first part, “The House that Ran Red” knocks it out of the park. It’s a creepy and self-contained psychological horror story about a man named Lewis (one of the four) who is especially haunted by the hunting trip of ten years ago. Specifically, he remembers killing a young, pregnant female elk. His guilt and shame about what he did to her torment him to this day. As the decade anniversary approaches, he begins to see things around his home in Great Falls, Montana, and descends into paranoia and anxiety that overwhelms his otherwise happy home life. Things get more disturbing and surreal the further into this part one gets, and I really dig it; especially the shocking and fucked up ending. (Side bar: I love that there’s an “ordinary” explanation for everything that happens, except for one little detail at the end that proves supernatural shit was going on. I eat that kind of stuff right up). 

One criticism I’ve seen of this novel is that it really toes the line between horror and literary fiction. However, I think that’s a huge credit in this first part. Jones does an excellent job playing with tension; he makes me juuust feel comfortable with these characters and their ordinary lives before suddenly introducing something weird and fucked up. While tension is a hallmark of horror, Jones masters it so well here that I have to admire the execution. In addition, there’s something totally cinematic about this part (and, to be fair, many parts later on). It’s hard to describe, but there’s a lot of visuals that I’d love to see adapted to a comic book or video form because I can just picture the shots. 

At its heart, The Only Good Indians becomes more slasher horror than anything else. But the monster at the core of this, Elk Head Woman, is really well-written and interesting. Convincingly making an elk mother a creepy, violent avatar of vengeance and death is fucking impressive. It’s pretty rare that the monster gets a point of view, but Elk Head Woman is a full-fledged perspective character with her own motivations for what she’s doing. I think second-person was a great choice for her narration. Paradoxically, it manages to be both jarring and smooth with the rest of the story (”wow, ‘you’? we’re doing that?” vs “that second-person snippet really blends with the third-person narration, huh?”). I find these flairs really cool, and Jones totally nails a challenging style.  

So, high praise for the above, but unfortunately I just didn’t vibe with the second part of the novel, “Sweat Lodge Massacre”. For story reasons, it stars a totally different cast of characters than the first part. Unfortunately, this means much of the page is concerned with introducing these new characters and giving them backstories and motivations. So horror gets cast aside, and the pacing just tanks at this part. Sure, there are periodic slips into second-person to remind the reader the horror element is still in the story, but this doesn’t pay off until the very end. And when it does, it’s just not worth all the setup and wait. 

I think my main issue comes down to personal taste in horror. “The House that Ran Red” primed me for psychological horror with gory asides. That’s just not the case in “Sweat Lodge Massacre”, in which the horror is largely absent until the end, then is pretty much just violence and gore. Thematically, it doesn’t make sense to me that Elk Head Woman is the monster in this part. Lewis’ part, sure -- he’s haunted by what he did to her, specifically. But Gabe and Cass, the leads in part two, lack this. They aren’t haunted by the Thanksgiving Classic, at least not in a way that’s explored in the novel. So to have Elk Head Woman commit vengeance on men who barely even remember why is just disappointing. It comes off as senseless violence and death without the symbolic punch of “The House that Ran Red”. It’s a shame because Elk Head Woman is such an interesting monster/character and she feels wasted here. 

Part three, “It Came From The Rez” is fine-- mostly an extended chase scene that manages to be engaging all the way through. I love how everything loops back and ties together at the end, but honestly don’t have much to say about the part other than that; it’s pretty short. 

I don’t know, I think this novel just needed more time in the oven to really refine certain things. There are lots of ideas I wish were explored further -- parenthood, the whole elk/train thing, and so on. I’m also a little confused about the timeline. Ricky, one of the four, gets killed off in the prologue. But his death doesn’t really track with the book’s explanation on why everything is happening ten years after the Thanksgiving Classic. I don’t know, I could be digging too deep. But I can see the potential in this novel through its excellent first part and wish I felt that way about the rest of it. 

If you’re interested in reading The Only Good Indians, please be advised there’s a lot of graphic violence, gore, and death-- both animal and human. If you’re into slasher horror this might be more up your alley than it was mine. Stephen Graham Jones is a good writer, don’t get me wrong, so if this story sounds like your kind of thing, give it a shot.