#but actually my aunt was very supportive and referred to her niece as a woman and yeah

[brltpop]

Yesterday we went to an aunt's house (not blood related, i just call her aunt out of respect) and she told us that she has a niece who transitioned and moved to europe to start from zero and there she met a rich man, married him and now owns huge houses in different cities 🤠

[writingquestionsanswered]

Guide: Clarifying a Platonic Relationship

anonymous asked: 

this is probably a stupid question but in my wip there are 2 characters and one of them is the mentor and the other is the student so i want to create a kind of found family father-daughter relationship but i feel like at the moment it seems like it’s bordering on a romantic relationship which i do not want at all. there’s a relatively big age gap but idk it still feels like it could be perceived as a romantic relationship. do you have any advice on how to prevent that? thank u so much!

If you’re concerned a platonic relationship is coming off as romantic, this guide will help you understand platonic relationships and walk you through some pitfalls to avoid.

What is a platonic relationship? 

In modern times, “platonic relationship” refers to a non-familial relationship between two people where there is no romantic interest and no sexual desire.

What makes a platonic relationship different than a regular friendship?

While many friendships are technically platonic, in that there’s no romantic or sexual interest, “platonic relationship” refers more to very close friendships, where there’s such a deep connection between the two people, one might expect there to be a romantic or sexual component even if there’s not.

Platonic relationships are relationships with deep bonds, built on trust and mutual respect, with solid boundaries, selfless mutual support, and with no expectations.

How are platonic relationships similar to familial relationships?

Platonic relationships often bear similarities to familial relationships, such as those between siblings, parent/child, grandparent/child, or between an aunt or uncle and a niece or nephew. Like these family relationships, there’s a deeper bond than just friendship, and that bond tends to be very durable. Friendships--and even best friendships--can come and go, but platonic friendships tend to last through anything.

Platonic relationships can often mirror familial relationships, too. You may have two women who see themselves as sisters, an older man and a younger woman who see themselves as being like father and daughter, or an older woman who is something like an aunt to a younger man.

How are platonic relationships different from familial relationships?

While platonic relationships and familial relationships can be similar, the two kinds of relationships tend to have different kinds of boundaries. For example, a real father and daughter might not feel comfortable teasing each other about their sex lives, whereas that might not be an issue for a father/daughter-like platonic relationship. Platonic relationships are also not saddled with the same kinds of baggage that can come with familial relationships.

How to Clarify That a Relationship is Platonic

1. Be honest about what you’re trying to write...

Sometimes writers say they want a platonic relationship between two characters, but what they really want is the thrill that comes with writing two characters who aren’t supposed to be romantically/sexually interested in each other but absolutely are. Ask yourself why the relationship needs to be platonic. Is it what’s best for the story and the characters? Do the characters have undeniable romantic/sexual chemistry that you deeply want to explore, but feel like you can’t? Always make sure the thing you’re trying to portray is the thing you actually want to portray.

2. Understand what is and isn’t considered a platonic interaction...

3. Find ways to occasionally reestablish the platonic nature of the relationship. For example, two characters in a father/daughter like relationship might say, “You’re the daughter/father I never had,” or “they’re like a father/daughter to me.” Have other characters do the same. “You’re like a father and daughter, it’s so cute!” Or “she’s my best friend”/”you’re my best friend.”

4. Establish what the characters are and are not sexually and romantically attracted to, and illustrate the fact that these traits are not present in this platonic relationship. In other words, these two people should not be each other’s “type.”

5. Give your characters significant others or love interests, and have them talk about these interests/relationships with each other.

Example Relationships:

Coulson & Daisy in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are a great example of a father/daughter style platonic relationship. Despite him being an older male and her being a younger female, they have a deep bond built on mutual respect and trust, selfless mutual support, boundaries, and no expectations. They motivate and encourage one another, but aren’t afraid to speak up when they’re concerned or disappointed, and when they do occasionally break each other’s trust, it’s deeply painful and takes time to get over. This video by vidder Randy Lee highlights these aspects of their relationship. Spoilers, obviously, if you haven’t seen the show or aren’t caught up yet.

Clarke & Bellamy in The 100 are a good example of an opposite gender platonic relationship. Bellamy is straight, Clarke is bisexual, and although many fans thought they should get together and shipped them heartily, their canon relationship remained platonic until the bitter (bitter, bitter, ohhhh so painfully bitter) end. Clarke and Bellamy started out in opposition to one another, slowly became friends, and ultimately built a deep friendship and close bond based on shared experiences and eventually shared motivations. Their mutual respect and trust in one another was mostly unshakable, though was often tested and put through the ringer. This video by vidder Unspoken Faith highlights their friendship well. Again, spoilers if you haven’t seen the show or aren’t caught up yet.

You can read my Guide: Developing a Close Platonic Friendship for help in developing your characters’ platonic relationship.

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Have a question? My inbox is always open, but make sure to check my FAQ and post master lists first to see if I’ve already answered a similar question. :)

[mediaevalmusereads]

Mexican Gothic. By Silvia Moreno-Garcia. New York: Del Rey, 2020.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Genre: gothic fiction, horror

Part of a Series? No

Summary: After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemí’s dreams with visions of blood and doom. Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness. And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: violence, blood, body horror, incest, sexual assault, racism (including discussions of eugenics), references to colonialism

Overview: I love Gothic fiction. I can’t get enough of the creepy houses, the potential for supernatural horror, and the whip-smart heroines at the center of it all. So, when I learned that this book was a proper Gothic novel set in 1950s Mexico, I was intrigued. Overall, I loved everything this book had to offer: it didn’t so much reinvent or challenge the genre as it did put the conventions to work in a new setting, which may sound unimaginative, but I loved it. While I do think Moreno-Garcia could have leaned a little more into the melodrama and used more sensuous language to really bring the house to life, I enjoyed this book so much that I’m giving it 4.5 stars.

Writing: Moreno-Garcia’s prose is fairly straight forward in that it tells the reader what they need to know without deviating into lengthy, poetic musings of the landscape or the backstories of the characters. It flows well, progresses at an appropriate pace, and I think it balanced showing versus telling so I was never bored, frustrated, or confused.

If anything, I almost wish Moreno-Garcia had used more unsettling language to describe the house, evoking a more strong atmosphere almost in the style of classical Gothic literature. But as it stands, it’s a fine read, and I think the lack of elaborate prose actually invites more readers to enjoy the genre.

Plot: The main plot of this book involves our protagonist, Noemí, as she visits her cousin, Catalina, to determine the nature of her mysterious illness. Catalina is married to an English man, Virgil, and they live in an ancestral (colonial) home along with Virgil’s cousin, aunt, and father. While Noemí is at the house, she encounters some spooky “ghosts” and a troubled past that might just trap her there forever.

I loved that the plot of this book follows in the footsteps of typical Gothic narratives, but I also loved that a lot of the horror comes from a history of colonialism. Without spoiling anything, I will say that Moreno-Garcia did a good job tying the quirks of the English family to the history of the area and the colonial era, and I loved that we were invited to view the white characters with caution.

My main gripes regarding the plot are that I wish Moreno-Garcia had made Noemí a little more of an investigator, finding out more information about the house and its past not just by hearing it from other characters, but by actually putting some of the pieces together herself. For example, I would have liked to see her peel back the wallpaper in the house or lift up the floorboards, remark on the taste of the food and drink more, follow the “ghosts” somewhere to ofind some piece of information, or something that shows us that Noemí is paying attention to what her senses and intuition are telling her, so that when other characters reveal the history of the place, everything kind of falls into place more easily.

I also think Moreno-Garcia could have written the ending with a little more precision, as there were some moments during the “big showdown” where I got lost, but this wasn’t so bad where I couldn’t go back and understand what was happening, so it’s not a huge point of contention for me.

Characters: Noemí, our protagonist, is a smart, courageous heroine who struggles to balance being admired with being independent. She starts her journey as a debutante who is expected to survey the marriage market, and while she enjoys being admired by men, she also wants to attend university. Noemí has a tendency to avoid settling on anything, whether that be a man, a field of study, a place, etc. but rather than seeming flighty, she comes across as a woman in search of something big enough to satisfy her thirst for adventure.

I really enjoyed Noemí’s affection for her cousin, Catalina, who fills the role of “damsel in distress” from traditional Gothic fiction. Catalina resembles characters such as the narrator from “The Yellow Wallpaper” - smart, yet rendered helpless by her surroundings. I liked that Catalina and her well-being was the driving force behind Noemí’s actions, and I loved that she eventually got to have her own moments to shine (rather than remaining passive the whole time).

Catalina is married to Virgil Doyle, an Englishman whose ancestors opened a silver mine in Mexico and built a Victorian-style house at the top of a hill. Following diseases and the impacts of resistance movements, the mine has become less profitable and lays in disuse, leaving the family to live in “genteel poverty.” Virgil and Catalina live with Virgil’s cousin (once removed), Francis, and his mother, Florence, as well as Virgil’s sick and aging father, Howard.

The Doyles are all very well-developed characters that fit right into the Gothic genre. Howard, the patriarch, is an old racist who goes on and on about superior vs inferior races and eugenics while demanding that everyone bow to his rule within the house. Florence, Howard’s niece, is stern and also rules the house with an iron fist, catering to Howard’s will while imposing her own strict rules on the inhabitants. Francis, Florence’s son, is fairly passive, accepting that he must follow the rules or be punished, though he desperately wants to break free of his family. I really liked the relationship Noemí developed with Francis, which seemed to progress from friends to allies. Virgil, for his part, revels in being the heir to the family estate and playing the role of the dark, seductive hero from Gothic literature, and I loved to hate him.

Supporting characters are also fairly likeable. I enjoyed the genuine selflessness of the town doctor, Dr. Camarillo, as well as the cheekiness of the town healer, Marta. The Doyle family doctor, Dr. Cummins, was also appropriately suspicious.

TL;DR: Mexican Gothic is an eerie tale that takes the conventions of Gothic fiction and recasts them in a new setting. With a likeable heroine and a cast of unsettling, suspicious supporting characters, this book is sure to delight those with a penchant for spooky tales.

[arofili]

HCs about Elemmírë?

Oh man, for a character we have next to no information about other than “Vanya” and “sang a really sad song about the Trees,” I have a lot of headcanons for Elemmírë!

First of all, Elemmírë is named after a heavenly body (possibly Arda’s version of Mercury?) and the name is not given in either a masculine or feminine form, so we don’t know Elemmírë’s canon gender. This of course means that Elemmírë is trans, you can’t change my mind! I’ve seen depictions of them as nonbinary, which I love, but personally my Elemmírë is a trans woman!

All the rest of my headcanons are pretty much made up whole cloth :)

I intended to make like, a bullet point list of headcanons, but I ended up referencing my recently created personal timeline of the Years of the Trees and the First Age, and...it kind of expanded into an essay on Elemmírë’s role in the larger story of that verse of mine. So, under the cut is a roughly 2,000 word essay on my take on this blank slate of a character!

~

Elemmírë is one of the Unbegotten elves who awoke at Cuiviénen. When she awoke, everyone assumed she was a male elf, which didn’t really sit right with her but she didn’t know how to express herself at the time. For the first part of her life she lived as a nér.

Elemmírë has a sister*, Calima (one of my OCs). Calima marries an Avar, who she manages to drag with her on the Great Journey despite his reluctance to go West. Right before Ulmo takes the Vanyar and the Noldor to Aman, Calima’s husband leaves her and disappears into Taur-im-Duinath...but not before Calima becomes pregnant. Elemmírë comforts her and supports her through the birth of her child, Elenwë - the first child to be born in Aman.

*(My headcanon around Unbegotten siblings is that some elves woke with soul bonds that connected them to other elves, which while they aren’t genetically related, they consider to be siblings of their fëa. This is the case for Elwë, Olwë, and Elmo; I also gave Nowë (Círdan) and Ingwë OC siblings. Finwë is a loner, which is part of why he’s so concerned about creating and keeping a marriage bond...)

While Ingwë is busy building Tirion with Finwë, his sister-in-law Alcariniel (the mother of Indis; her spouse died on the Great Journey and has yet to be reborn) leads some of the Vanyar to the foot of Taniquetil and founds what will become Valmar. Calima, Elenwë, and Elemmírë go with Alcariniel.

At this time, Elemmírë enters into the service of Varda. She develops a close relationship with her Vala, and feels more comfortable in the beautiful starry robes and among the company of mostly priestesses than she ever did in the more gendered Vanyarin society. She sings and composes hymns to Varda and the heavens.

About a century later, Elemmírë is an established and well-renowned musician in Valmar. It is then that she meets Findis, daughter of Indis, when Findis is visiting Taniquetil with her grandmother Alcariniel. Findis greatly admires Elemmírë’s songs and engages her in a discussion about poetry; the two quickly become friends.

After another hundred years or so, Findis’ half-brother Fëanáro has his fourth child. Finwë invites his whole family to the celebration; Findis now lives in Valmar and does not always attend these begetting day parties, but she happens to be in Tirion for the occasion - with Elemmírë, who tags along to the party.

At the celebration, Makalaurë (a young teen in Elf Years) sings a piece he wrote for his new baby brother, and Elemmírë is greatly impressed by his talent and offers to teach him personally. He’s had music tutors before, but none so renowned, and he is absolutely star-struck. Fëanáro has an inherent distrust of the Vanyar, but he cannot deny his son anything, especially when it comes to furthering his craft, so he agrees to let Elemmírë teach Makalaurë, on the condition that she move to Tirion. Findis offers to move back as well, so her friend won’t be alone; they move in together.

A few years later, Elemmírë takes her star student Makalaurë to Valmar so he can perform at her niece’s 200th begetting day party. This is, of course, Elenwë; Makalaurë is immediately besotted with her, and does his best to impress her. Of course, Elenwë is well into adulthood and Makalaurë is still an awkward adolescent, so nothing ever comes of this, but they do eventually become friends.

All this time, everyone has assumed that Elemmírë is a nér, but with every passing year she becomes more and more certain that is not actually the case. At last she confesses to her dear friend Findis that she thinks she might be a nís, and while Findis isn’t quite sure what that means at first, she’s very supportive and encourages Elemmírë to go to Varda with this revelation.

I do operate in a verse where some homophobia and transphobia exist in Aman, kind of accidently put into place by a well-meaning but ultimately harmful decision by Manwë, but Varda is significantly more chill than her husband. She doesn’t really get what Elemmírë is saying, but she supports her servant’s change in expression. Elven gender roles are pretty loose, so it’s not really that much of a difference, and with Varda’s support Elemmírë feels more confident in herself and comes out to the public.

Most elves, especially the Vanyar, likewise don’t really get it, and privately they still see her as a nér, but there is a firm taboo against rudeness which means they will refer to Elemmírë with the correct pronouns and honorifics and such because it would be incredibly rude not to. The discomfort with someone else’s non-normative expression is easier to deal with than the social impropriety of deliberately refusing to respect someone’s wishes about their personal identity.

This, along with Varda’s kind-of-confused-but-she’s-still-got-the-spirit support of  Elemmírë means it’s a pretty smooth transition process for her. Since her name isn’t gendered, she decides to keep it, and she is much happier now that she can express her true self. She also has a staunch ally in Findis, who she has recently begun courting.

Again, there is some homophobia in my verse, and two níssi in a relationship is generally frowned upon, but the half-acceptance of Elemmírë’s gender allows them to exploit a loophole in that particular Law/Custom. Manwë, at least, still sees Elemmírë as a nér, and so doesn’t see anything wrong with her dating Findis. It’s not the ideal situation, but Elemmírë and Findis aren’t really the “fight the system” type, so they’re content to live with the happiness they’ve been allowed.

Eventually, Makalaurë reaches his first coming of age** and Elemmírë takes her student on a tour of all Eldamar to show off how exceptional a musician he has become. He is declared a master singer, and leaves Elemmírë’s side to pursue mastery in instruments, beginning with the harp. His teacher couldn’t be more proud.

**(In my headcanon, elves have two coming-of-age ceremonies: one when they reach age 50, and are considered physically mature and old enough to be given more freedoms in their decisions, including now being of a socially acceptable age to start dating; and the other at age 100, where they are considered a Full Adult and able to marry. Sometimes elves marry younger than that, but it isn’t super common. Age pretty much stops mattering, especially when it comes to age gaps in relationships, when an elf is about 150.)

Not long after this, Elemmírë and Findis get married! Makalaurë performs his then-masterpiece at their wedding. Also at the wedding, Findekáno is caught up in all the glorious romance, and the possibilities of same-gender marriage now that two níssi (one a princess!) can be wed, and confesses the depth of his love for Maitimo. Maitimo...immediately panics and brings up all the reasons why their love is doomed, how their aunts are the exception and not the rule and besides there’s that loophole they’re taking advantage of that doesn’t really work for néri like us - but notably does not deny that he feels the same way. Findekáno is heartbroken by the rejection; Maitimo is terrified of his feelings and distances himself from his beloved cousin for a time.

But of course that doesn’t last long - and it’s at the celebration of the birth of Laurefindil, Findis and Elemmírë’s son, that Maitimo brings himself to reconcile with Findekáno...platonically. Of course. Until a few months later where he just can’t take it anymore and breaks down and confesses he can’t deny his feelings any longer, and they get together at long last.

Findis, Elemmírë, and Laurefindil return to Valmar and settle down there. Laurefindil is buds with both his Vanyarin cousin Elenwë and his oodles of Noldorin cousins. At his first coming of age celebration, he introduces his cousin Elenwë (on Elemmírë’s side) to his cousin Turukáno (on Findis’ side), and Turukáno immediately falls madly in love and begins some intense pining that will rival even his older brother’s romantic dramatics.

As strife grows among the Noldor, Findis and Elemmírë distance themselves from Tirion as much as they can; Makalaurë is pretty much the only Finwëan who is allowed to visit them. However, Laurefindil misses his Noldorin cousins and, after his second coming of age, chooses to move to Tirion and join his grandfather Finwë’s court. He becomes even closer to Turukáno (who has by now married Elenwë) and is very loyal to his older cousin.

At the Darkening, Elemmírë is deeply grieved at the destruction of the Two Trees, and it is then that she composes her most famous song, the Aldudénië, “Lament for the Trees.” Her grief is compounded when her son chooses to go into exile with his Noldorin kin - and, almost worse, when her niece Elenwë chooses to leave as well.

Elenwë is the only Vanya who leaves (well, the only Vanya who is fully culturally Vanyarin without any Noldorin ancestry), mostly because she cannot bear to be separated from her husband and young daughter, but also because she knows the story of her Avarin father who stayed behind in Endórë and hopes that she will meet him on the hither shore. (Unfortunately, she perishes crossing the Ice. Idril will eventually meet her maternal grandfather, but not until just before she and Tuor sail West. Elenwë is reborn in Aman shortly after the founding of Gondolin; she reunites with her Vanyarin family and with her good friend Amárië.)

I don’t have a whole lot of headcanons for Elemmírë and Findis during the events of the First Age; they live mostly a quiet life. I think Elemmírë rededicates herself to the service of Varda, and pleads with her Vala to show mercy for the Noldor in their need. (Perhaps that helped to convince Varda’s husband to send an eagle to Thangorodrim?)

When they hear of Laurefindil’s death in the Fall of Gondolin (because of course Glorfindel followed his favorite cousin Turgon to his hidden city, and got a noble house out of it!), Elemmírë and Findis grieve his loss all over again. They don’t know how long it will be before his rebirth, and they soon decide to have another child together. This is their daughter, Faniel, who grows up on stories about her brother’s bravery.

Eventually Glorfindel is reborn, and he has a few good centuries in Aman with his family (and his husband Ecthelion, who he finally gets to marry; they had gotten betrothed the day before Gondolin fell, RIP) before the Valar send him back to Middle-earth to play the hero again. Elemmírë and Findis are once again heartbroken to lose him, but they are at the same time incredibly proud of their son for his bravery and dedication to all things good in the world. This time, he leaves with the blessing of Varda, his mother’s patron Vala, and a promise that he will return when his task is complete. He does, but not until the Fourth Age, when he sails back to Valinor with Elladan and Elrohir!

[aquariusrunes]

The Superfriends AU (part 1)

Her nails were like daggers prodding into his cheeks. He was honestly surprised his skin wasn’t being pierced, that blood wasn’t running down his angler face, dripping from his chin. His siblings always squinted when grabbed by the smaller woman, but not him. Damian’s bright green eyes were wide open, staring back into the woman’s large brown ones, watching as she examined him.

“My god, its like someone chiseled your cheekbones out of marble.” She whispered, turning his face to the left sharply.

It had been almost three years since Damian saw his father’s eccentric aunt in person. Since then practically all of his baby fat had melted away, he’d grown half a foot, and had leaped over the finish line of puberty coming out the other side lean and lithe. All of the height and dominance of his father with the beauty and charm of his mother. 

“Well, I suppose mother did plan ahead with my looks while I was incubating. Probably did have a professional design my bone structure.” He wouldn’t put it past her at least.

Edna released his face and climbed off the table she had jumped up on to get to him. Back when he was ten or thirteen, he didn’t remember her being so staggeringly short, but now the height difference was alarming. 

“Truly a work of art, I must give credit where credit is do.” She walked past him towards his father, who was smiling with his hands in his pockets. “You will do nicely.”

“So glad my son will work for you Edna.” 

“Credit does not go to you,” She said, walking out the door, the two men following her. “From the story I heard, you quite literally had nothing to do with his creation.” Damian watched the woman walk and couldn’t help but compare it to the trot of a proud dog, which reminded him of Titus who was sitting back at the hotel all by himself. “Now Damian, my assistant will take your measurements so we can make sure all of the outfits fit perfectly for the photoshoots. We’ll be having it in the next couple of months.”

“Alfred could have done that back in Gotham.” He mused, following his father’s lead by resting his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “I didn’t have to miss school to come with you Father.”

He could hear the taller man laugh. “Just last year you nearly took my head off when I wanted to send you to the academy.” He was catching up to Edna now. “You should have seen him, we had to bribe him just to get him to go quietly.”

“Well, at least he’s enjoying it now.” She said.

Yes, he was very much enjoying school. Which he father appreciated, but Damian doubted he’d appreciate it quite as much if he knew his class was full of metahumans, demi-gods and demonically influenced children. Gotham Academy had not been what he expected but he did enjoy it. The pure chaos and calculatingly cruel aura of his class was something to behold. They may only be Sophomores but they were feared throughout the entire Gotham and Metropolis Educational System.

“I like to learn.” He said simply, walking closely behind the two. “What’s your collection about Enda?” He asked, ignoring the look his father shot him when he left off the family classifier. 

“I was visiting Greece last summer and was struck with inspiration upon hearing about the twins.” She pushed up her glasses as they walked into a studio space, a professionally dressed eighteen-year-old waiting for them. “This is Violet Parr, my assistant.” Edna introduced quickly. “Violet, be a dear and take Damian’s measurements.” She was y’all and very thin, with a round face and inky black hair hanging around her shoulders. Her eyes were large and a soft shade of lavender-blue. They reminded him of his cousin.

Damian followed the girl’s lead as she led him to a slightly raised platform and began pushing his arms straight out, a position that’d make her job easier. He’d had his measurements taken several times in his life, the most recent was when he was getting fitted for a new Robin Uniform, now that it was assumed he was finished growing.

“I can think of a few myths with Greek Twins.” Bruce said, sitting down in a white egg shaped chair. “Which ones inspired you?”

“Apollo and Artemis!” Edna chimed. “The Sun and Moon.” She twirled around, suddenly two sets of chains, golden and silver, in her hands. “The color scheme alone has been clogging my head for months!”

“Chains?” He heard his father ask.

“You think of me as an  Apollo?” Damian asked, ego flaring slightly.

“Oh no.” She set the chains down on the coffee table. “You will be my male Artimes. I have another model in mind for Apollo, I’m in talks with his father currently.”

“Artemis?” He and his father echoed. 

The Greek Goddess? Artemis? Damnian had met Artemis on a handful of occasions thanks to Diana, and he could attest he looked nothing like the amazon, even if she were male he still wouldn’t look like her. He didn’t even act like her. And he also felt like portraying her as a man was insulting her legacy quite a lot.

“Yes! One of them, I am planning to have a female set of my twins as well.” She smiled to herself, turning towards the desk in the room. She traced a picture frame with her finger. “And I have the perfect model to be Damian’s counterpart.”

The hair on the back of Damian’s neck stood, he could practically see the same reaction course through his father. They both knew immediately who Edna was referring to, because Damian only had one counterpart. One person who, when with, he felt an equalness or sense of yin and yang from. His blue eyed half.

His father would gush about his niece, really his cousin, whenever he got an opportunity to. Sometimes she would send him things, or make him a nice suit jacket or tie. So when he wore something the girl had made for him, he never missed a chance to network for her. He would never give out her name, just talk about how brilliant and kind and professional she was. Whenever she was ready to go public with her talent and family connections, Wayne Enterprises support would be evident. 

She was of course, all the things his father described her as, and so much more. But to their small inner family, she was also notorious for her relationship with Damian. Dick often cooed about how she helped him to act his age, and embrace being a young and childlike, which was just a nice way to excuse their pranks. Most of his family often failed to notice the utter awfulness of the girl’s mind and just what Damian did to it.

She was terribly clever, had been her whole life, or at least as long as Damian had known her. She was also hilariously sassy, never before had he come across someone who could rival Alfred’s one liners. His cousin was one of the few who would actually make him laugh. She was downright evil when his influence was added. And while she did helped him act his age, she also brought out a lot of his more devilish qualities. They were a lethal combination and everyone who had ever seen them interact knew it.

“Isn't she a tad preoccupied?” Bruce asked. “What with all of Hawkmoth’s rampages? I highly doubt Marinette could, or would even be comfortable with leaving Paris.” Damian glanced warily at Violet for a moment as she started the measurements of his legs. When the girl caught his gaze she gave him a strong reassuring smile and a small nodded. A super then, he quickly concluded. He knew Edna employed a handful of the ones she trusted.

“Oh, I’m sure I can convince her.” Edna’s smirk was deadly. “And if not, I’ll just have to have a chat with an old friend of mine.” She snatched another picture frame from off the desk. Damian could barely see the photo from his current angle, he was only able to make out the pattern of a Hawaiian shirt. 

_______________________________________________________________________

(part 1) - Here (part 2)  (part 2.5) (part 3) - soon

@graduatedmelon  @northernbluetongue @violatiger8

[locktobre]

Ok one more thing about PCS that will FOREVER make my brain hurt from thinking about it too much is HOW was Sophia like,, not in the accident? In fact, if the crash was even investigated, how did they see that oh, hey, the baby isn't the car! Like?? Why did they assume she was dead if she wasn't in the crash? It hurts my brain I can't even explain it. BARBIE EXPLAIN PLEASE.

Oh, believe you me I’ve thought about THAT a lot! It’s probably the thing in barbie I’ve analyzed the MOST. So let’s dive in!

It’s going to get morbid, but I mean, there’s no way it won’t given the situation we’re talking about. Also, length again, sorry.

I actually believe that baby Sophia was in the car. I think it’s the only thing that makes sense. I go back and forth on what her body not being there meant--it could be that the car was too burnt up for anyone to be recognizable, so they thought maybe they just missed her in the wreckage. (She was only 1 after all, she’d be quite small.) Or they knew her body wasn’t there, but they might have thought she got thrown from the car, or otherwise got out somehow... and then, being a small baby out in the wilderness, she died of exposure. I picture the crash happening somewhere rather remote, not in the city proper, so they were basically out in the woods. It would be reasonable to assume that she died if she was not at the crash site, even without her body being there, bc again, she was just a baby. I have her as 14 months old, which means she’d probably barely be able to walk at that point.

Of course, there is a conspiracy theory around the crash. They say vaguely in the beginning that maybe the whole family didn’t die in the accident, without really namedropping Sophia specifically until they see her portrait... so it’s possible (even probable) that there are multiple theories about it. But Sophia’s body being missing or otherwise unaccounted for would probably do a lot to keep that one circulating.

On that note, the novelization has this to say:

According to another rumor in the kingdom, some of Queen Isabella’s family members were still alive. Some thought these family members were kept as prisoners in the palace dungeons.

It’s vague again, but it has the added detail of thinking they’re in the dungeon. It also says “some of,” again not singling out Sophia specifically, which is interesting. That could have some basis in the reality of the crash, or it could just be 18 years of conspiracy theories. That’s something I try to keep very much in mind--even though it’s basically true, in that Sophia is obviously still alive, it’s not the actual truth. So her missing body could have easily spurred the initial theory that she survived, and that became a theory that multiple ppl involved didn’t actually die, and so on.

This is where it comes back to Miss Martha Willows, for me. Bc if Sophia’s body was obviously missing from the crash (and not unrecognizably burnt, as per my other theory)... they would have been looking for her. They would have searched the woods, any nearby houses, any place that a baby could conceivably be. They would talk to anyone around, there would probably be some kind of reward set up, they would want any and all information about where the lost princess could be. So.. why, exactly, wouldn’t Martha come forward and say “Hey, I found this baby on my doorstep, I live close by, this is probably the baby you’re looking for.” Like, is that even the real story?

Also in the novelization, after Hadley speculates that maybe baby Sophia was found and left on a doorstep, Delancy thinks:

Could someone have really left a baby on a stranger’s doorstep? And could i have been my very own mother?

And I don’t believe that at all, not for one second, as I said in a post last year. If Dame Devin (Regina) went through all the trouble of killing her own brother, I don’t think she’d spare a baby. If only bc doing so means that events like the movie could happen--having Sophia out there would mean a loose end. It would mean that Sophia could figure out who she was and come back at any time. Which is... exactly what happened.

Now, since Regina was left as Delancy’s regent after the crash, I presume she had some influence over the investigation. It’s entirely possible that she would want it shut quickly, so there would be less of a chance that anyone could find evidence of her involvement... But Sophia’s missing body would still be a loose end. She could easily play up being the grieving aunt hoping to find her baby niece still alive, while in actuality she was just trying to make sure that nothing was going to come back to haunt her. I think that fits her personality the best.

Regina and Martha working together in some capacity, with Martha perhaps being paid off to adopt Sophia... might explain how Sophia came to Martha in the first place, but I just don’t think it makes sense. Regina’s too meticulous. She got away with murder for 18 years, and she would have kept getting away with it if she hadn’t literally confessed on live tv. At no point does anyone point a finger at her; everyone always refers to it as an accident. Even when Hadley is pushing the theory that Blair is baby Sophia, Isla only thinks that Delancy and Regina know who Blair is and that’s why they mistreat her. And she’s half right about that, since that is what’s happening on Regina’s side. (I’ve pointed it out before, but singling Blair out like she did was SO stupid of her, since it’s literally one of the things that points them to the theory of Blair being Sophia!)

Also, I’ll say it again: Regina literally murdered her own brother--her twin brother, in my headcanon. (Hence the similar names. It’s also funny bc it means ‘queen.’ But I really needed them to be twins for their ages to work out correctly.) And the only reason we’re given for any sort of conflict between them (really, between her and Isabella) is that Regina was passed over for a lady royal position. I’ve headcanoned a little more depth to it than that, but the woman is clearly crazy. Like. She’s nuts. If her own brother meant nothing to her--at least, not enough to not murder him--then she is capable of anything. Including murdering a little baby. (Or, trying to.) There’s no way around that.

Anyway, that’s a whole tangent, but back on topic: Yes, I think Sophia was in the car. How she got out of the car and into Martha’s care is a matter of considerable debate, but she had to be in there, otherwise nothing else makes sense. And it makes sense to me that she would be considered dead after long enough passed with no one finding her body and no one coming forward to say they had her safe. She was a tiny, helpless baby, so it’s the only logical conclusion. Ppl would want her to be alive, of course, and enough of a fuss was made that a conspiracy theory sprung up about her survival... But without any evidence to support it, they’d really have no choice but to close the book on it and move on.

[wolfpawn]

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 88

Chapter Summary -  Tom meets Danielle's uncle accidentally before the pair discuss a few matters, one of which Danielle is less than willing to discuss.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long.  This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously.

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog​ @jessibelle-nerdy-mum​ @nonsensicalobsessions​ @damalseer​ @hiddlesbitch1​ @winterisakiller​ @fairlightswiftly​ @salempoe​​ @wolfsmom1​​

If you wish to be tagged, please let me know.

Tom yawned as he walked through the small home to the kitchen, paying little heed to his surrounds as he filled the kettle, it was only halfway through filling it that he realised the appliance was already warm, indicating that it had been heated already, but Danielle was still very much in bed, asleep. He had hoped to bring her the tea as he woke her. Frowning, he turned around and took a slight step back as an older man sat at the table across the room, quietly smirking into his own mug of tea. Tom thanked whatever form of divine inspiration caused him to put on pyjama pants and not just his boxers.

The man rose from his chair, clearly eyeing Tom up and down and walked over to him. "So, you are the Brit that is keeping Danielle over in England? You're taller than I expected."

"Her Uncle Michael?" Tom assumed, going by the photo he had seen in Danielle's home and his odd accent, a mixture of the many places he had resided.

"Aye, that's me. And what were you christened, since no one told me a name for you?" He extended his hand.

"Tom, " Tom said, putting out his own hand. "I had not thought anyone else was here."

"I had noticed," Michael chuckled, his attention going to Tom's accent. "I spent a few years in London myself, you're from close enough there, aren't you?"

"I am, Oxford is where I spent my childhood."

"Fancy spot, and nowadays?"

"London City."

"I was in Highbury for a few years myself, nice spot, good Irish contingent, yourself?"

"Belsize." Tom cleared his throat as he spoke, suspecting that Danielle's uncle was very much not going to stop until he got everything from him.

"Oxford, Belsize, your not from the sort of background that usually has a girlfriend from the background like Danielle's," Michael commented. "How does a West of Ireland girl catch some wealthy boy's attention?"

Tom felt somewhat uncomfortable at the interrogation he was facing, especially before his morning tea. "She lived next to my mother, of course, someone like Danielle, bright, intelligent and vivacious caught my Mum's attention immediately, so she became part of the family, it went from there."

"Aye, she's like that, you can't help but admire her." Michael nodded. "She's got a hell of a temper when pushed though."

Tom chuckled slightly, "I am well aware, I have borne witness to and the brunt of such."

Michael studied him a moment longer before laughing. "Well, as long as you're aware of what you're in for with her." he slapped his hand on Tom's shoulder. "She is equal parts Mattie and Bridget, and by Christ, is that both a great joy and a terrible warning. She doesn't suffer fools, as this malarkey with Bernie would suggest."

"Yes," Tom's brows furrowed, the alteration in Michael's demeanour told him that the older man was no longer acting as though he was part of Scotland Yard. "Do you think it can be resolved?"

Michael sighed. "I cannot afford ten grand on it, my wife had surgery back home and isn't working at present, and Lourda has two kids in college in Limerick and Dublin so she cannot afford it either. And with Danielle in Britain, what way is there to stop her?"

"If it could be kept?" Tom prodded.

"I will tell you this here and now, Thomas, if I could make sure my family home, the home I was born and reared in could stay in the family, I would be a happy man, but realistically, there is little chance of that happening." He swore solemnly. "I'm getting far too old for this, Mattie, God rest him, used keep the auld bitch in line; Danielle, fair dues to her, is of the same mould, but legally, Bernie can force the sale, whatever anyone else wants be damned." Tom did not get to reply before there was a sound of movement from upstairs. "I guess someone is up."

Tom threw on the kettle as he heard Danielle's footsteps on the stairs. "What devilment are you up to?"

"Just talking to the man that according to you, Siobhan was talking out her arse about," Michael commented.

"Jesus, if that isn't worrying. Whatever he says," Danielle walked into the room, looking at Tom, "ignore him, he thinks he holds authority."

"I am the last man of the Hughes name I'd like to remind you." Michael pointed out.

"Not the last Hughes though," Danielle smirked.

"Aye, that's your plan so, tag this poor man along and keep the name?"

"I don't have to take a man's name if I ever get married."

"Jesus, you're awkward for the sake of it so you are." Michael shook his head.

"Did you honestly come out here to just get a cup of tea and go snooping?" Danielle laughed at her uncle.

"I need a good cuppa before heading back home." he shrugged. "Listen, Danielle." She stopped smiling and gave her uncle her full attention. "You know I can't afford this at the moment, but you know Mam and Dad would never have wanted this place sold."

"It was why they divvied it up, so everyone would look after it."

Michael nodded. "If it can be, I support what is needed, just let me know." Danielle nodded. "Now, I am off to the airport." he extended his hand to Tom, "You better look after my niece, Thomas," he warned.

Tom nodded as he shook his hand. "I will, and good to meet you."

Michael nodded before turning to his niece. "Danielle, do what you can, no better woman for it." He embraced her in a hug. "He's fair fancy, but I think your dad would have liked him anyway," he whispered.

Danielle smiled. "Thank you, Mike, I will let you know how things go here."

"Do, sure and Lourda too." with a final wave, her uncle turned and left the small cottage.

"So, where's my tea?" Danielle grinned playfully, causing Tom to grin and pull her to him.

"I got sidetracked by unexpected uncles."

"I dare say you did." She laughed. "But I still want some tea." she turned and began to make it.

* "What time are you flying back tomorrow?"

"Early enough, I have to get a few things done, and then the fun for the press tour starts." Tom sighed, pulling Danielle to him. "I wish you were coming home too."

"I have too much going on here."

"Would it not be easier to come home and get the loan and then come back and deal with it, and what about that guy that wants to meet you about your exam?"

"I have to see if I can stop here putting it up for sale before I can even consider going into NatWest and asking for a loan." Danielle groaned. "As for him," she inhaled deeply, "It’s all so much at once."

Tom watched as Danielle began to stress out again. "Elle?"

"What?" she noted something in his eyes.

"I was thinking."

"Oh, Jesus."

"I want you to listen to everything I say before reacting, please." Danielle looked at him worriedly. "You have a decent amount of the money for the house already, don't you?" She nodded slightly. "And you know the bank would give you more?"

"I don't know if they will, but I have no reason to believe they wouldn't. I have collateral, my credit card is never used, I am a good candidate." She explained, "Why?"

"If I.…"

"No." She cut in and pulled back from him.

"Elle, please, just listen to me." Tom pleaded. "Why won't you even listen?"

"Because I know what you are going to say and I don't want to discuss it."

"You have no idea what I am going to say, and why not discuss things?"

"You are going to suggest you spot me the cash, right?" He did not respond. "No Tom, I am not even going to consider it."

"Why not?"

"Because I am not a money-hungry bitch only interested in your financial worth." She snapped back. "I am not doing that."

"I know you're not and that is why I am offering." Danielle just shook her head. "Elle, I am suggesting this because one, you and I both know, the sooner we get your aunt off your back, the sooner it is sorted, and two, because I know you love this house, because it stops this from going any further, and most importantly because I want you to stop lying awake wondering about it, I want you to actually enjoy yourself again. You are incredibly stressed since before I got here, and yes, I am a part to blame, but I like to think we are fixing that and I want to fix this too." She said nothing, instead, she looked at him guiltily. "I know you are not sleeping, you have to force yourself to be yourself in front of me because you are anxious and are trying to hide it, please, let me help."

"It's not possible." she shook her head.

"Why not? I go home tomorrow, transfer the…wait, I can just transfer it to you now." he got out his laptop and got his banking page up. "Yes, I can."

Danielle bit her lips together. "How would I withdraw it, there is no NatWest's here?"

Tom typed on his laptop for a moment. "Is there an Ulster Bank?"

"Yes, that's Irish, I think."

"Well it's part of the grouping with NatWest according to this, so there you go." He smiled.

"I don't have an Ulster Bank account though." She pointed out.

"What have you here?"

"Just a credit union account."

Tom typed for a moment before grinning. "All credit unions have IBAN numbers, so yes, you can transfer to it." He looked at her. "We can have this done today Elle. You can come home and meet this American guy, I can be selfish and admit I want a few more days with you before the tour starts, I know you would have to wait for legal papers to be drawn up and everything, but we can do this right now Elle, just give the word. You are trying to be polite and decline via excuses, but I have rubbished them all, I know you don't want to do it, I know you would never ask this of me, but I want to do this for you, Elle, to make you happy, that makes me happy."

Danielle continued to think about it as he looked at her, pleading silently for her to accept his offer, to end the stalemate that was in play.

[fabulouspotatosister]

harana

filipino (n.) - seranade

summary: hi! so i wrote this fic kind of for me, because i love being self indugent, but i also wrote it for the all the filipino thirteen stans out there. if you're out there, kumusta.  i hope you enjoy this really self-indulgent mess of a fic. this is kind of a prequel to another fic i'll be writing!

filipino words used:

tita - aunt anak - child 'te/ate - big sis/older woman inday - little sis/younger woman

Asking the Doctor for favors is complicated.

It's complicated because there are favors that aren't hard to grant and favors that are. The problem is figuring out which is which, because in the Doctor's mind, those vary wildly. How does going to see a life threatening event in alien history that could probably get everyone killed count as an "easy favor"? Why does going to a shop on the day it was selling something limited edition count as a "hard favor"? You're probably never going to know.

Not to mention the fact that looking the Doctor in the eyes has been really tricky for some reason. Just a little thing.

Which makes this favor a little tricky.

"Doctor," you begin, carefully, "can I ask you something?"

The Doctor's peering at a little thingy on the TARDIS console, her face scrunched up the way it does when she's really focused and her blonde hair messy and falling over her eyes. She doesn't look up at you, lost in her examination, but her voice is gentle - "Always."

Always. The word is a nice reminder.

The Doctor - an incredible, unfathomable, indescribable alien with a wealth of memories, responding to little human requests with "always". She was here to help, after all.

"I was thinking of going home," you say slowly, not taking your eyes off the Doctor. Not that that wasn't hard.

The Doctor looks up at you, her eyes crinkling - you don't bother to pinpoint their color anymore, as they could go from an already beautiful hazel to looking like the universe. "To Sheffield?"

"No, not there." You fight the urge to smile when the Doctor blinks in confusion. "I meant where my family is. The rest of my family, I mean. If that's alright with you."

You pause. The Doctor stands up and wipes her hands on her coat, her expression totally unreadable (as it usually is) - and then beams at you.

Okay. You were expecting rejection but you know what? This is good. Her smiling at you makes it ten times better. Scratch that, make it a hundred.

"It's definitely alright with me," she says through a grin, already starting to fiddle with the various switches and levers on the console. "The Philippines in 2019 - I haven't visted since the Spanish occupation! I always did love Rizal's work. Did you know he's an absolute riot at parties? Apple throwing and everything!"

"I hope you're not saying apple bobbing," Yaz's voice rings out, and you turn to find her walking into the room. "That brings up some bad memories."

"I love apple bobbing," the Doctor gasps, echoing herself. "And not all of it was bad! We did get to defeat an intergalactic criminal. Apple bobbing's not the worst of it."

Yaz just smiles, shaking her head. "Are we heading somewhere?"

"You fancy a trip to where I lived as a kid?" you ask, nudging her with your elbow. Yaz blinks at you, confused, before her smile breaks into a wide grin.

"You're joking."

"Nope! I thought it would be a nice change of pace from all the adrenaline-fueled trips we go on." You look at the Doctor and shrug. "Not that I don't enjoy those. No offense."

"None taken," the Doctor replies. She holds your gaze for a little while before breathing out and whipping around. Her hand rests on a lever - the "launch lever" as you liked to call it, because it's the lever she pulls before you take off.

You lock eyes with the Doctor, seeing her eyes shift colors in the dim light of the console room. Another mesmerizing thing about her to put on your list, unfortunately.

"Right. Let's get a shift on, then?"

You open the TARDIS doors to the smell of grass - and not cut grass, just plain old grass. Long stalks tickle your ankles as you step out, the air growing more humid than the TARDIS interior. The sun casts a warm glow on everything, bathing everything in gold.

"I can already say this is gonna be much better than our last trip." Behind you, Graham spoke. "Another one off the bucket list."

"How long is your bucket list?" You hear Ryan ask, only to get an annoyed "oi" from his grandfather.

"Yes! Perfect landing. Thank you." The Doctor walks out of the TARDIS. "That was a perfect landing, right? Tell me that was."

You don't speak for a little bit. It's weird, being home after such a long time. The warmth of the air is warmer than you remember, but you remember it, and it's enough to make you feel at ease.

"Yeah," you manage, still tranfixed. "Thank you."

The Doctor moves to stand next to you. Her very presence is both a reminder of how you've been gone and how you came back. And you're incredibly grateful. "You're welcome," is all she says, but there's so much behind her words.

(The Doctor enjoys seeing you enjoy home, more than she should anyway.)

"It's getting dark," Yaz says. "Why don't we get to your home?"

The walk doesn't take long. The Doctor was right about it being a perfect landing, as the TARDIS had parked just behind a hill that stood in front of a highway, which was the highway where your family's ancestral house stood. It stood tall, its walls old and wooden and laden with history.

It was good to be back.

You take that back very quickly though, when a family member catches your eye, turns to the inside of the house, yells your name, and suddenly you're caught up in a wave of relatives. Yaz sends a look your way that reads "family, am I right?" while you get bombarded with questions.

"Sit down, sit down," your aunt - a lovely lady you call Tita Grace gushes, leading the team to sit down on an old sofa set. Yaz seems right at home in a single armchair, completely understanding the enthusiastic family reunion, while the rest of the team sit down a bit awkwardly on a longer chair. You decide to keep standing.

Tita Grace sighs at you, but it's more of a "oh my goodness anak look how much you've grown" sigh rather than a disappointed sigh. "Look at you! Back home just in time to see everyone together. We haven't seen you in months, and you didn't even tell us you were coming home!"

"Yeah, well," you tell her, glancing at the Doctor, who gives you a supportive nod, "I've been busy."

Very busy travelling the universe, getting our lives threatened, nearly dying, and enjoying this beyond normal comprehension with four of my favorite people, is what you don't say, although you know that doesn't exactly make for great reunion talk.

"Busy, huh," Tita Grace teases, the corners of her very pink lips lifting. She looks at the rest of team TARDIS, and they all smile politely at her in unison. "Who are these friends you've brought along?"

Graham begins, introducing himself and Ryan as his grandson; Yaz goes next, saying her name and dropping the fact that she's a police officer; the Doctor, on the other hand, stands and takes Tita Grace's hand.

"I'm the Doctor," she says, grinning politely. "Can I just say, your niece is a wonderful person. She's been a great companion on our travels so far."

Ding! Plus one point for being called a "wonderful person" by the Doctor. Of course, this Doctor wasn't shy to give out encouragement and praise when necessary. That didn't mean it didn't feel great when she gave it out. Plus one point, as well, for acting a little bit like a lover asking for familial permission, which was… nice, for some reason. More on that later?

Also, our travels, not her travels. That was nice.

"That's great. And a Doctor of what, may I ask?"

"Oh, of a lot of things," the Doctor replies, "Legos, for one."

You laugh, not noticing the glance she throws your way.

Tita Grace turns back to you. You didn't know a person could smile so wide. "Making so many friends already. Actually - " she says to the rest of your group - "I'd like a word with my niece, privately - would it be okay for you to wait a little bit out here?"

It's pretty much a unanimous "sure", and you look helplessly at your friends before your aunt pulls you into the kitchen.

"You didn't have to drag me away, Tita Grace," you complain, rubbing your arm. "They pretty much know everything about me anyway."

"But this is a private matter, anak." Tita Grace holds your shoulders.

Oh my God. This was going to be a very, very long night.

"It's about your love life," Tita Grace continues (oh my God it was definitely going to be the longest night of your life, why do all families ask questions like this). "Are you seeing anyone?"

Your "no" is a well-worn answer that Tita Grace isn't satisfied with. She prods a little more.

"Any of those three? Graham?"

"He was married!"

"What about the boy?"

"Ryan? Oh, uh, he wouldn't be interested in me."

"Yaz? What about Yaz? She's pretty."

"She is, but no."

"Okay, what about the blonde one? That Doctor lady?"

The question knocks the air out of your lungs for some reason. It's a little hard breathing after that. "I'm sorry - excuse me?"

"What? Are you?"

"I'm not." The answer comes out a little too forcefully. Why are you so defensive? And why do you sound like a schoolgirl with a crush - "I'm not seeing anyone."

Or do you wish you were? says the nagging voice in the back of your brain you begrudgingly refer to as your conscience. Why do you keep thinking about the Doctor anyway? And why did you even bring her with you to meet you family, no less?

Shut up, you tell your conscience.

It doesn't, to no one's surprise, and snarks back with what a telenovela cliche before you squash it to finally get some words out. "And what about it?"

"Sorry, but I'm looking for the - "

Graham pokes his head through the thin cloth that divides the living room and the kitchen, and you feel like this is it. You're ready to die now. You give him a suffering look, and he cringes.

"Bad time? I was just looking for the toilet," Graham stammers, gesturing back to where he just came from. Friendly conversation filters through, and you catch the Doctor talking with some of your relatives.

"No, not at all." You purse your lips, trying to ignore the fact that your stomach has probably dropped to the floor more times than you can count, your heart doesn't feel like it's in your chest, and that your face feels like a sun going supernova. "I just got held up. You know, the usual family talk."

Tita Grace gives the most sickening smile you've ever seen and looks at Graham. "Would you mind helping us with something?"

You hope to God that it's over.

It's not over.

When night falls, Tita Grace drags you outside the house, and asks you to sit down next to a balete tree that you're pretty sure is actually haunted and then runs away at the speed of light.

Okay. You're just outside, there's nothing to worry about, surely your family would never do anything do embarrass you in front of the person that you're most likely attracted to, right? Right?

You look up to find that you're standing in front of a balcony, Romeo - style.

Not right, then.

The Doctor's voice rings faintly from inside the house. "Where are you lot taking me?"

"It's a surprise, Doctor," says Ryan. He sounds like he's having the time of his life.

A few young men walk up to you - you recognize them as your uncle's friends - hauling some things behind them. You squint, and then find that they're holding a few guitars, a beatbox, and a small amplifier.

You sigh. "What has Tita Grace made you do?"

"'Te - " One of the young men raises his hands in mock surrender, while the rest of his friends set up the impromptu band. "Don't be embarrassed. If you like her, you can't go wrong with a good old serenade."

"I don't - " You pinch the bridge of your nose, ignoring the weird feelig that seems to settle right in the center of your chest. "There's no changing your minds, is there?"

"Living abroad's made you grumpy, inday," another young man says. He slings the guitar strap over his shoulder and strums a few notes. "Lighten up, have a little fun with this."

Impromptu band assembled, the group of young men all look at you expectantly.

"What - you want me to sing?"

"That's the point, isn't it?" Another well-played strum to a song you faintly recognize. "Look, she's coming."

You look up to see the Doctor being practically pushed onto the balcony, the rest of Team TARDIS trailing along. You give them another suffering look before deciding to focus on the Doctor, who smiles and gives you a wave.

"Hello! What are you doing down there?" she brightly asks, and you give her a pained grin. It comes out more like a grimace. Her gaze flicks upwards, to the massive tree that you're sitting under, and her entire face lights up. "Oh, look at that tree! Well, it's not really a tree, more of a vine really, called a strangler fig."

The wonder in her voice - the Doctor was like a prism. She took ordinary things, things that you saw everyday, and just through her sheer enthusiasm, made them extraordinarily beautiful.

"You guys couldn't stay here without experiencing a traditional Filipino tradition," a young man begins. He says it with a flourish. "Elsewhere, you'd call it a serenade. Here, we call it the harana."

The Doctor looks at you, and the rest of the world seems to disappear.

And so you sing.

Hindi masabi ang nararamdaman Di makalapit, sadyang nangingining na lang Mga kamay na sabik sa piling mo Ang iyong matang walang mintis sa pagtigil ng aking mundo

"I can't say how I feel - I can't get close, I just tremble. My hands long to touch you; your gaze that doesn't hesitate to stop the world."

(Yaz manages to tear her eyes away from you and to the Doctor - maybe, Yaz thinks, this is the first time in so long that she's been truly speechless. The Doctor was normally a bouncing ball of energy, but this - this was different, this was new. The Doctor wasn't looking at anything else. The Doctor was looking at you.)

Ako'y alipin ng pag-ibig mo Handang ibigin ang isang tulad mo Hangga't ang puso mo'y sa akin lang Hindi ka na malilinlang

"I'm a slave to your love, ready to love someone like you. Until your heart is mine, you won't be decieved - "

(The Doctor - to put it simply? She's floored. She's been sung to before, she's sure she's got songs about her, but this isn't the same.)

Ikaw ang ilaw sa dilim At ang liwanag ng mga bituin

"You are the light in the dark and the brightness of the stars."

You look at the Doctor - she looks so intruigued, so endeared, something dancing behind those bright eyes of hers, the barest hint of a smile on her lips - and you're sure she feels loved.

The song is over before you know it, and the rest of the world comes back into focus. You hear the band make teasing noises and the everyone else cheering, but it all sounds like you're underwater.

You feel… satisfied, somehow, in a way that only you can understand.

The Doctor's still smiling, but she's smiling at you, and that makes all the difference.

Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all, you think to yourself, still basking in the light of the Doctor's smile.

[purrincess-chat]

You're absolutely right lol why is it that the main female is always expected to grow and take responsibility for her emotions, even when she’s not at all in the wrong but when the guy is acting up it's cuz of his "man pain" and any bad behavior isn’t his fault and he’s immediately emphasized with. Because, oh, all of his wrong doings are the reflection of the world’s, not him. This “girls are flawed for having emotions and boys are not” trope is annoying and not at all a good message for girls

So, I’ve put off commenting on all of this for a few days because I wanted to see what other things came out of it and take time to stew over my opinions and give Thomas a chance to potentially explain himself further. Gonna include a bulk of this under the cut because I don’t know how long it will be. It’s just gonna be a mixture of me rambling about my thoughts and being a little salty. Not too much I don’t think, I dunno we’ll see when we get there. (spoiler I get kind of salty… and by kind of I mean a lot)

For anyone who doesn’t know what this refers to, a few days ago someone asked Thomas on Twitter what he considered to be Adrien and Marinette’s biggest flaws to which he replied that Marinette has “poor control of her emotions” and that “Adrien is perfect. But his flaw comes from the fact he’s not accustomed to the “ outside” world. His innocence makes him vulnerable. To sum it up: he’ s not flawed. The world is.”

This did not sit very well with fans who are already not too pleased with Thomas and his treatment of certain characters, for good reason. It does come off as misogynistic, and even if he is just trolling and not being serious, why does he want to troll in such a way that he comes off as misogynistic when he’s supposed to be writing a cartoon that empowers girls? Salt under the cut: (seriously, the Dead Sea ain’t got nothing on this salt)

For me, this didn’t surprise me too much because Thomas has always spouted shit and come off as extremely rude and belittling to fans even if they aren’t doing anything wrong or being aggressive, i.e. this fan who just asked him for his opinions, not even asking for spoilers, and who genuinely wanted to chat with him about his show. I could write novels about how un-progressive this show is and all of the unconscious misogyny that’s in it, which Thomas will deny wholeheartedly, and actually did in this same thread. I don’t know whether or not he genuinely doesn’t realize that his episodes are riddled with internalized misogyny or if he just doesn’t care? Because many times throughout both s1 and s2, male characters acting problematically have been glazed over, and not just in Adrien’s case, whereas females, typically Marinette, get a much harsher treatment when shown in similar circumstances. Females (Marinette) are often made out to apologize for other characters wrongs and their actions are blown way out of proportion when they do even the tiniest thing wrong.

Take Glaciator, for example: Ladybug tells Chat straight up that she probably won’t make it because she already has other plans. Chat still gets his hopes up and believes she will come which that in and of itself isn’t necessarily wrong, but when she doesn’t show up, which he knew she might and was even reminded by Plagg that she didn’t say yes, gets angry and throws a temper tantrum at her for not showing up when she told him from the beginning that she probably wouldn’t. And then SHE has to apologize to him sincerely and practically plead with him for forgiveness and in turn all she gets is a *shrug* Sorry. Maybe next time. What is the message you are hoping to convey with this, Thomas? “Women should be more decisive when giving men answers?” We aren’t fucking psychics. She didn’t know how her evening was going to play out and if she’d have time to show up. “She didn’t say no.” Yeah, but not saying no isn’t automatically a yes. That’s how most men get convicted of rape. Didn’t say no =/= yes. “I really wanted you to show up and when you didn’t that hurt my man feelings because you didn’t say no, so I got my little hopes up.” Cry me a river. Really couldn’t care less. Like real talk, if a man ever pulled that shit on me I’d block his ass to hell. If I explicitly state that I probably won’t make it, and then some asshole gets upset when I definitely do not just because I didn’t say no? Bitch, bye??? You are not entitled to my time, and if that’s the attitude you’re going to have then you are not worth my time. But ohhh Chat is such a sad, pouty cinnamon roll whose daddy doesn’t love him enough to eat dinner with him, boo-hoo.

Not to mention at the end when Ladybug tells him they can’t be together for very legit reasons like, um, the safety of everyone they care about, Adrien is just like *sigh* I’ll just keep hoping. Like bitch she rejected you. Move on. That exact mindset of “if I keep trying maybe she’ll eventually love me back” is exactly why women feel unsafe to walk the streets at night because men feel like if they keep pestering women that eventually they’ll see the error of their ways. Which just no. That’s obsessive as fuck and men often get really violent with women when they eventually don’t like them back. (not saying that Adrien would, he’d probably just throw another hissy fit and take off his ring) But this show is aimed at children, and that’s not a good message to teach boys who are not Adrien and won’t necessarily react the way Adrien did. If a girl rejects you, move the fuck on. She doesn’t owe you shit just because you like her, and your continued advances will likely only make her uncomfortable and less inclined to like you back. Reminds me of a post I’ve seen where someone’s teenage nephew talks about how a girl rejected him, and when the aunt asks him what he’s gonna do he says “keep trying” and she’s like bitch, no. Leave her alone, and it blows his fucking mind. Men are constantly reinforced on this “keep trying until she says yes” mindset, and it’s honestly why violence against women is so prevalent. Because manbabies never get told that women don’t owe them affection or sex or whatever the fuck they want. And you know when a good time to teach them how to respect a woman’s boundaries is? When they’re children.

“But I was talking about Adrien, not Chat Noir.” Yes. Thomas actually legit separates the two in this instance. I’m not making it up. Mr. Ship Wars are stupid because Adrien and Chat are the same person has separated the two as not the same person. It doesn’t matter if they’re “treated differently”. Chat’s flaws are Adrien’s flaws and vice versa. They’re both petty and jealous. (And, no, Adrien defense squad, I don’t hate him as a character or even think he’s a bad person. Recognizing character flaws isn’t the same as hating. Unclench) 

This isn’t a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation where the two halves function separately and have no recollection afterward. Taking off the mask doesn’t suddenly make all of those flaws disappear. It also doesn’t make sense based on his earlier reasoning that “Adrien doesn’t know how the world works” does that mean Chat fucking does? Shouldn’t Chat be excused from his wrongdoings by that logic because he also doesn’t know how the world works and is just as naive as Adrien? You can’t say one identity is perfect while the other is flawed. People don’t work that way. Characterization doesn’t work that way. A character is still inherently the same character regardless of whether or not they’re secretly a superhero. Superman is still Superman regardless of whether or not he’s got his fucking glasses on. Hell, a whole plot point in Antibug was that Marinette is a hero with or without her mask. Don’t pull this bullshit, Thomas. It’s not believable, and you haven’t supported it in canon. In fact, you’ve unsupported it in canon.

“Ladybug and Chat Noir are supposed to represent yin/yang.” Okay, yes, that’s a motif we’ve picked up on like since episode 1. Cool, but still doesn’t make up for shitty characterization. “I have a personal theory” okay, cool motive, but still shittily executed. Your personality doesn’t magically fucking change just because you’re in a new situation. Who you are as a person is constant. Your reaction might change as a result of the circumstances you find yourself in, but who you are does not just change because you put on a mask. Someone who knows fuck all about the world doesn’t suddenly learn how to function just because he gets superpowers. “People are constantly fluctuating” please, do the world a favor, and take a class in personality. That’s not even an insult. Like there are literally classes out there that teach about how personality works. I’ve taken them, so I know they exist. 

I’ve also mentioned before that I’m not a fan of Thomas’s whole “puzzle-piece” plot line because it doesn’t fucking make sense. Like I could be okay with it, if it made sense, but it doesn’t fucking make sense. It’s like he dumped 6 puzzles together and told the audience “here, figure it out” and like that’s exhausting. If I wanted to build a puzzle, I’d go build one (assuming my cat doesn’t absolutely destroy it). And if I as an adult have problems keeping up with your plot and character development (which is only present if you squint) what makes you think a child can keep up with it? My niece who just turned 9 calls your shit out for not adding up. Don’t say kids don’t notice or care. Cause if you give them good media to consume, they notice when something is bad. Seek to raise kid’s standards of what a good show looks like. Don’t use them as a crutch to be lazy. 

“Plot driven kids shows don’t do well.” Um, bitch wanna give some examples? Cause I can give some examples of many beloved childhood shows of mine that have a cohesive plot. ATLA, for example. Everyone fucking loves it. MLP is another one I enjoy which does still have “lesson of the day” set-up but at least those lessons come into play later?? Like I think it was s4 or s5 where they all got some friendship object that ended up being a key later in the finale. So all of those episodes then had a purpose outside of the token friendship lesson of the day. Didn’t particularly matter what order you saw those episodes in for the most part, but you could see a progression of the characters and plot the whole time. You knew things were important to the overall plot of the season, and the development of those characters actually sticks around for more than just that episode. Kids can handle shit. Look at the latest Incredibles movie. I never once had trouble keeping up as a kid when watching plot driven shows. Not once. Saying it’s a kids show is a cop out. It’s an excuse, and a bad one at that. And that’s not even to say that the other things I listed are perfect either. They have their problems, but they dull in comparison.

Thomas also tried to boast some shit about how they show guys and girls being akumatized and emotional equally, and I’m like we’re not talking about background people, Tommy. We’re talking about your leads and how unbalanced they are and how you hold one to a higher condemnation than the other. Because one has daddy issues and conveniently happens to coincidentally be a boy. But he gets a free pass because he’s sheltered. Yes, and who made him so sheltered, Tommy? Who made that executive decision? Who decided to give him all of these excuses for his behavior? Who in turn decided to make everything the girl does her fault even if she’s right? Who also calls himself “Hawkmoth,” (and has always used the nickname Hawkdaddy) a villain established to be a neglectful, emotionally abusive, and controlling father bent on something that isn’t entirely clear and willing to allow his son to be in danger multiple times to achieve that something, meanwhile two teenage girls are the worst things you could think of because they’re bratty and they lie, and anyone who sympathizes with them are just fooled by their good looks? Cool. #female empowerment, am I right? 

Honestly, I could dissect every single thing Thomas said throughout this discourse but truthfully it’s tiring, annoying, and frankly he contradicts himself way too much I could just write a book if I actually cared enough about him. At this point things that he says doesn’t really surprise me anymore because I’ve just accepted that he’s got loads of internalized misogyny, borderline narcissism, and just overall isn’t worth anyone’s time. Bitching at him is never going to change his mind because he doesn’t believe he’s done anything wrong. It’s why I say that Adrien is his self-insert OC. He’s a perfect little golden boy who never does anything wrong, and if he does, it’s the world’s fault, not his. Sounds a lot like how Thomas approaches anyone who tells him what they understood from his writing because it’s fucking there whether he realizes it or not. 

(Tl;dr I guess) My advice to anyone who read this far is this: Ignore the fuck out of Thomas because he’s always gonna be a piece of shit who doesn’t care if you think he’s a piece of shit and actually seems to enjoy people thinking he’s a piece of shit. Lower your expectations for the writing of this show tremendously, basically only subscribe to it for cute interactions every once in a while, and you’ll enjoy it. If you are here for detailed plot or good character development, might I suggest rewatching ATLA? Basically, expect nothing from this show, and you’ll never be disappointed. It’s what I’ve started doing because this ^^^^ is what happens when you pick it apart. And there’s a lot that I left out for time’s sake and because I don’t want to look at this man’s Twitter anymore. I have a migraine.  

[ayearofpike]

Christopher Pike’s Tales of Terror #2

Pocket Books, 1998 207 pages, 5 stories ISBN 0-671-55076-4 LOC: CPB Box no. 1462 vol. 11 OCLC: 40117246 Released December 1, 1998 (via B&N)

Five more short stories, but they’re all kinda longer this time. I knew it was too good to be true. One of these is 75 pages, and the others (with one exception, maybe two) smack of a big idea that he needed to get out but didn’t have the pages to do it justice. It seems like maybe he knows his contract is coming up and that he’s not going to be retained? See also the dedication page: the book is dedicated to the longtime YA editor at Simon & Schuster, because she “has always supported my writing.” I can’t find any evidence of turnover or retirement through a cursory Googling, but this seems very much like a veiled shot at changing leadership that sees new trends in YA and doesn’t feel that Christopher Pike will be a part of it.

The Burning Witch

Pike jumps back into short stories with the longest one in this book, and with a return to Marvin Summer’s side, who he says is “a thrill” to write as, considering Marvin has “ten times the talent” Pike does. Which ... I don’t know about that. Obviously we can’t see anything Marvin has written, and whatever he spurts out is going to be via Pike’s brain anyway, so I guess we just have to imagine it.

But anyway, there’s this old friend from high school who needs Marvin’s help to extricate herself from a cult. Because when you’re in trouble with a cult, of course you go to the horror writer, which now that I say it actually makes a little sense. They go to the ritual, because the old friend has a feeling that they already have her in their magical clutches and to no-show would be worse than sticking it out. Of course Marvin is immediately in over his head, feeling drugged and soporific, unable to stop the three witches in charge from treating his picture of his girlfriend in such a way that she drowns in the hot tub the next day.

By chance, Marvin is writing a novel about a young woman who channels through typing, and slowly comes to realize that a future self is giving her warnings through her present self about some changes attempting to be made to her past self. Yep, we’re back on that whole contiguous timeline thing again. But he came up with the idea after a fan letter suggested telling a past self something, and as the witches want him to bring the manuscript to the next session he’s now suspicious. He breaks into Old Friend’s apartment and learns she’s been using hypnosis to regress into past lives, and then he tracks down the hypnotist and tries a session himself, upon which he suddenly realizes that not only did he and Old Friend have a dalliance sometime in the past, but that sometime was 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. 

I didn’t mention that Old Friend was known for having terrible scars on her face from a childhood bout with antivaxxer parents smallpox. But when she reappeared in Marvin’s life, the scars were almost gone. She claimed it was plastic surgery a year ago, but everyone he talks to who she’s worked with in the last couple of months noticed a sudden change, right around the time Old Friend said she was sucked in to the cult. Marvin realizes that maybe she started it, solely in order to get back at him for what his past self did to her; i.e. outing her as a witch. But she hasn’t counted on his work on plots to come up with a devious one for himself. See, she was looking for a clue in his manuscript about a way to change the past, one that would make him the witch instead of her. Of course he beat her to the punch and gave a false clue, which swiftly and suddenly reverses her facial healing. And then he pulls out a Molotov cocktail and says they’re both done.

So she panics and runs out to the balcony, where he’s loosened the railing, and she falls off fifteen stories to her death because that’s what happens in a Pike story. But then the woman Marvin thought of as the head witch shows up and offers him a deal to serve the Dark Side or whatever. Marvin says OK and that his payment is to be Shelly alive again. Sure, the witch says, just go to sleep and in the morning she’ll be next to you and neither of you will remember any of this. Of course Marvin feels like he’s smart enough to get out of anything, and goes to take some notes for a “future story” about escaping a deal with the devil ... only he has writer’s block.

The Tomb of Time

This story works on an almost identical conceit as “The Burning Witch,” in that past and future timeline selves are showing up to help Shannon White change the course of the world through positive and negative vibrations. The difference is that they’re physically manifesting, rather than using fireside witch chants to pass information back and forth.

Basically, it’s the last day of school, and Shannon wants Senpai to notice her. She’s encouraged by the random appearances of women who claim to be this dude’s aunt and niece, who say he talks about her a lot and not to tell him because he’d be embarrassed. She’s discouraged by this blonde chick who smooches all over Senpai and writes a phone number and a time on his notebook. Weirdly, immediately after all three of these encounters, there’s an earthquake, and they grow stronger each time, so that after the last one school is finally canceled and Shannon goes home.

The blonde is there, though, and suddenly she realizes that she’s looking in a mirror except for the hair. Blonde Shannon explains that yes, of course I’m you; alien beings of a negative vibration got hold of some of your DNA and sent me to now, where I could affect the world in such a way to make it explode through enhanced negativity. The positive ones are trying to meddle, though, and they also have Shannon’s DNA and are showing up as different-age versions of herself so that she’ll go through with asking Senpai to notice her and create more love and affection in the world, which will reduce the tension that is currently threatening to literally tear it apart.

It’s too late, though: Blonde Shannon has given Senpai Now Shannon’s phone number and is going to shoot her and then answer the phone and be rude, which will cause the earth to blow up. (Now we see why I never called girls in high school ... too much responsibility.) Too bad for her, Good Future Shannon plugged the barrel of the gun before Blonde Shannon ever showed, so it explodes in her hands, and Now Shannon is able to answer the phone and apologize for weirdness and get a date for ice cream, thus saving the world. Yay!

Bamboo

This story is certainly not what we expect from Pike. It’s a lot closer to Sati than any of his other work, in that there’s a narrative about a group of friends trying to find the right path in life with some guidance from a teacher who leaves too soon. It’s more about mood than visceral grossness, and so I think it works. This is my “maybe” caveat for a story that was conceived as a short story — yes, he says he wrote it “in a few hours,” but there’s potentially room here to make this a novel.

We start with three friends that embody the good, the bad, and the neutral, much like the soul concept from The Lost Mind. They go to meet a new man who’s just moved into town, an Indian who had lost his whole family to circumstances of poverty, and who has a story for them about lost souls being trapped in shafts of bamboo and the possibility of saving them through cleansing fire. The kids are eight or so at the beginning of the story, and they stay friends with the old man through high school graduation, at which time he gives them gifts symbolic of hope and protection of their souls. And then he dies, because he’s old.

Two of the friends follow quickly: the bad soul in military action in the Middle East, the good soul (who had married the bad one and was pregnant with his child) of an overdose. She doesn’t die right away, though, and the neutral one (our narrator) understands that hey, her soul is trapped in the bamboo because of the severity of her action in trying to end her life. So he goes to the old man’s house, which by now is overgrown with giant stalks of bamboo, and starts a fire in the yard. And sure enough, by morning she’s gone.

Again, this story is really reliant on mood. It doesn’t feel like there’s a lot here, and I think Pike could have done a whole bunch with who these kids are and how they interact with each other and the rest of the town to make it into something bigger. But what came out is pretty and poetic and reasonably good.

The Thin Line

A disgruntled injured ex-basketball player shows up at his school with guns, intending to kill the coach and the whole team and maybe the cheerleaders, which include his ex-girlfriend. He gets cold feet at the last minute and turns the whole deal into a terrorist situation, for which he steals money and a plane and jumps with it and a parachute and his ex-now-on-again girlfriend. But then she feels upset about the one kid who got shot in the leg and the pilot who died jumping out of the plane, and kills herself by walking in front of a bus. So even if the injured kid won, he has now lost.

I really don’t have a lot to say about school shooting stories, and so I am not going to unpack this any more. However, it is important to note that Pike references the school shootings in Jonesboro, Arkansas and Springfield, Oregon, which seem to have stayed his hand in fleshing this out and making it into a full novel. (Columbine happened five months later, too.) It pisses me off that we had what seemed like a flash point in school shootings and that it felt like enough to mobilize us, but twenty years later we’re still having the same fucking conversation.

The Tears of Teresa

This one is the most on-brand Pike story we’ve seen in years, It’s also the shortest, just seventeen pages. It’s so solid and strong that I hate to sully it by trying to write a recap, because the storytelling is so reliant on the intercuts between past and present that we don’t realize are happening until the last couple of pages.

It starts with a middle-aged couple coming home from a date to find that there is an intruder in their house. He forces them at gunpoint to drive to a house in Las Vegas, and then announces his intent to cripple them, to take away their mobility just like Max. 

Who is Max? This is the past intercutting part. Max was a young man who worked for his father, a successful business owner, but didn’t have any wealth of his own. He’d recently gotten his girlfriend pregnant, and knew that it wasn’t possible to support a child, so he paid for her to have an abortion. She’s torn up about it, but when he offers to take her away for a weekend to help settle her mind, she agrees and asks to go to Vegas. So they get a nice hotel room, and when he steps out on the balcony he unexpectedly gets thrown over it, because Pike.

(That’s a tweet for the thread: “Submitted for your approval, The Kid Who Got Flung Off a Balcony.”)

Max wakes up in the emergency room in pain, and overhears his girlfriend talking with some other dude — no, shit, it’s his BEST FRIEND — about their plot to kill him and give birth to his child and go after his rich dad for money. There’s a baby crying nearby too, obviously in distress, and after Max gains enough consciousness to let the schemers know they’re caught, he dies. But the baby survives, and eighteen years later he is getting Max’s revenge.

Like, fuck yeah. I don’t know that this was worth pushing through fifty pages of a school shooting, but I’m glad I didn’t put the book down before I read this story. We’re back at the blend of the evils that people are capable of with a little bit of supernatural magic that made me love Pike and be excited for this project back at Spellbound in February. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.

Two more Archway Paperbacks, and Pike will be done with a certain era of writing for teenagers. Surprising? Not so much, and it really does feel like he sees the writing on the wall with this collection. Still, we close on a very solid and satisfying note here. If Simon & Schuster wanted to reprint the Fucking With Teresa trilogy (Road to Nowhere, “Revenge,” and “The Tears of Teresa”) it could have been a strong mover. I bet Pike would have no problem with it, seeing as he apparently continues to hold a grudge and keeps naming these victims after her.

[hiphopscriptures]

Fresh Artist Fridays: Miya Guggs

Miya Guggs has a talent for capturing raw emotion in her music. In her song “SITUATIONSHIPS”, she sings about a connection that she can’t read: should she dive into her love or let it go. Her crooning voice takes control of the song. It’s longing, yet determined to stay focused on not getting hurt. Miya wrote the song and it was produced by ProdRicci. "The song tells the story of a person trying to manage emotions and expectations in a relationship," mentions Miya. “I was on Twitter one day and one of the topics that was really trending was situationships, and I was like I can talk about that because I’ve experienced that,” she recalls. “So I kind of put my little take on it – my little two cents and it became something really cool."

"SITUATIONSHIPS" was just the #3 most added song at Urban radio last week and made its Billboard Magazine debut at #33 this week. Markets already in "situationships" include: Atlantic City, Chattanooga, Buffalo, Kansas City, W. Palm Beach, Shreveport, Jackson and Dayton, among others.

"SITUATIONSHIPS", is available on all streaming platforms now and will appear on Miya's forthcoming debut EP, "Patterns", available later this Summer, via the TopNotch Music label imprint.

Check out her music through the links above and stay connected with Miya Guggs through her socials to make sure you never miss new music. Remember to follow Hip Hop Scriptures to stay updated on the latest Fresh Artist Friday.

Mia Guggs Bio:

Unapologetic and focused are two words that describe singer and songwriter Miya Guggs.

The qualities that allowed her to be an elite athlete on the basketball court now help the independent artist launch her music career. A woman of many gifts, Miya’s talents on the hardwood allowed her to earn a scholarship to her hometown college basketball team, Kansas City (Kansas) Community College. Nobody would have blamed Miya if she had pursued her hoop dreams to their logical conclusion – a college education, maybe attracting the attention of a Division One school and becoming a Lady Jayhawk and achieving the ultimate dream of being drafted into the WNBA.

Miya, however had a different dream. It’s a dream that Miya first spoke into existence during late nights in the presence of her aunt, Denise. “We would sit there and watch music videos because me and her are night owls,” Miya recalled. “We would be up watching music videos, and I remember watching those videos and I was like, ‘I want to do that.”

This is a part of the story where Auntee Denise tries to talk sense into the child by telling her about the steep odds she faces in trying to make it in the music business or describing the cautionary tales of heartache that befell those tried to make it in the industry and failed. However, Miya’s aunt encouraged her niece to follow her dream.

“She was like, you can do this, and I was on my way,” Miya said. The singer and songwriter also received support from her parents to pursue the music that constantly played in her head and her heart – even when Miya was on the court.

“It’s crazy because during halftime I would just think about music,” she recalled. “It was a hard decision to leave basketball because I do enjoy the game, but school and basketball kind of wore me down.” With the encouragement from those who cared for her the most, Miya was all in. “A lot of people expected me to have a back-up plan, but I don’t really believe in that,” she noted. “I’m just going to keep going and it was nice to hear encouragement, especially at a young age, because most people will tell kids to be more realistic. I appreciate what my auntee told me and I feel like the universe spoke through her.”

So, Miya decided to devote efforts to pursing her passion. The results can now be heard in a series of singles that showcases a vocal her range and diversity that allow her to move from sultry ballads like “Situationships,” to conversational rapid fire, hip-hop inspired delivery of “Bad Boy,” a club banger where Miya playfully and seductively where she lets a roughneck guy know that she can be his ride and die chic. “Bad Boy” pairs Miya with Richard Wingo, member of the legendary R&B group Jagged Edge. That track gave Miya an opportunity to work artist who made music that was a part of her mom and aunt’s soundtrack. “It was a very nostalgic feeling and I really enjoyed working with him,” Miya recalled. “He’s funny and a very talented person. And yeah, my mom and my aunt listened to Jagged Edge a lot, so they were really excited for me.”

Miya takes her next step in her career when her EP, “Patterns”, drops later this year. “I’m excited for that and I am putting the finishing touches on it." The EP will be a mix of new tracks and tunes from her existing catalog. She said that the album’s title tells a story. “It actually refers to the patterns in relationships that I’ve seen that are just negative and I am kind of making people aware of that.”

That mindset of using music to seek truth, shows that Miya is following a path laid down by singers like Amy Winehouse, SZA and Jazmine Sullivan. “All of those women are unapologetically themselves and that is what draws me toward them, and that is what inspires me to be unapologetically myself,” she said. “That is what it’s all about. Following your own dreams and being an inspiration to others to achieve their dreams. The same thing that those artists do for me, I want to do for others_.”

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[trentteti]

The Logical Rose-ning Section: Your Recap of The Bachelorette, Episode 7

Rachel Lindsay is a practicing attorney who once took the LSAT. And you, dear reader, are an aspiring attorney who will soon take the LSAT, Rachel Lindsay is also an aspiring married person, serving as the Bachelorette on this season of The Bachelorette, the love story these depraved times deserve. And you, dear reader, may also be an aspiring married person? Either way, you definitely have at least a few things in common with Rachel. So every Tuesday, we’re going to be tracking Rachel’s romantic journey on The Bachelorette, and see what we can learn about love, loss, and the LSAT. Welcome back to the Logical Rose-ning Section.

Last time: We traveled to Switzerland with the remaining six contestants, getting odes to conspicuous consumption, the endurance of sled dogs, and France. We then threshed out the chaff, ridding Matt and Adam, leaving our final four contenders for hometowns this week.

Hometown with Eric in Baltimore, MD

We don’t waste any time (other than having to sit through a lengthy introduction, of course) getting to the first hometown showdown. First up is Eric, the formerly insecure, but increasingly confidant and enthusiastic, personal trainer. Eric’s been building momentum up, but he risks it all with a sartorial gamble: a light denim shirt over light denim pants that strongly evokes the Canadian tuxedo. It’s a bold look, but one that could maybe evoke a humility and working class realness that might set him apart from dandies like Peter, Bryan, and Dean?

They start their date on a picturesque hill overlooking the Baltimore harbor, but travel to a tougher part of the city where Eric grew up. As they drive, Eric notes, “Look, they’re selling drugs right here,” presumably passing by Bodie Broadus.

They play some ball and Rachel displays a tight handle, before Eric introduces Rachel to Ralph, whom Eric refers to, at least as well as these old ears can tell, as his “A1.” I wasn’t expecting a network reality show to make me feel like a decrepit old person, but I have no idea what that means. Is Ralph Eric’s steak sauce? He’s been in his refrigerator forever? He’s a little too overpowering to be an everyday condiment?

The big topic of this date is that this is the first girl Eric is bringing “home.” Home in this case being in the largest quotes you can envision. It’s pretty strange that every home these contestants go to, regardless of where they’re from or what they say about their background, is dressed up with the same HomeGoods accoutrements, and has nothing in the way of family photos, trophies, or any of the normal stuff you see in people’s homes. Anyway, they head over to Eric’s aunt Verna’s house, who has either let the producers use a heavy hand to spruce up her place, or has a crippling addiction to Overstock.com.

Rachel being the first woman Eric brings home doesn’t seem to be an issue. If anything, Eric’s family’s reaction is “Fiiiiiiinally … Rachel, take this guy off our hands.” Eric’s fam is super welcoming to Rachel. When leaving, Eric then drops the “love” bomb–not the “I can see myself falling in love with you” or “I am falling in love with you”–but an actual code 143. He immediately qualifies that with “…and by that I mean I care about you.” Which makes the statement a little less convincing. You usually don’t use support a very strong claim with a weaker one–that’s a logical fallacy, folks. Rachel wouldn’t face the jury and say, “My client is definitely didn’t defraud the plaintiff, and by that I mean he really cared about the plaintiff’s feelings.”

Anyway, Rachel admits to “falling for Eric.”

Let’s assign an LSAT score to this date, based on four criteria:

1. Was the guy’s outfit on point? Eric gets 19/25 points in this category. You gotta admire a bold decision with the denim on denim look–if it’s good enough for Britney and Justin, it’s good enough for you too. Plus, a clean white tee and fresh white sneakies will never go out of style.

2. Was the activity fun? 17/25. The basketball court had sentimental importance to Eric, gave insight into his childhood without being overbearing or obvious, and gave them an opportunity to goof around. Points deducted for inviting comparisons to Rachel’s college boyfriend—Kevin Durant—though.

3. Was the family a good sport? 24/25. The family could not have been more welcoming to Rachel and really helped prop up Eric. Shouts to Aunt Verna for unhesitatingly telling Rachel that Eric is ready for marriage.

4. Did the guy say the L word? 20/25. The guy did say the L word, but walked it back in his explanation. That unforced error is going to cost him 5 points.

So Eric winds up with a raw score of 80, which on the June 2017 LSAT would have net him an impressive 162.

Hometown with Bryan in Miami, FL

We’re in Miami, which according to Rachel, just screams “Bryan.” “It’s hot, it’s steamy, there’ something sexy about it. Sometimes it speaks to you in Spanish,” she says. Is Rachel hearing voices that she attributes to the actual city of Miami, which has gained voice and consciousness (and apparently sex appeal and the Spanish language) in her mind? Is Rachel OK?

More to the point, is Bryan OK? To make his best impression on Rachel, dude wears a golf shit with a grey v-neck visible underneath and grey joggers that look like baseball pants.

We may be in Miami, but that look is pure Tampa, man.

They play dominos—still the only board game that can be considered even remotely cool, sorry backgammon—in Domino Park, enjoy some arepas, and dance in an empty bar. Bryan smooth talks her, and she is absolutely in the bag.

What could ruin this? Bryan’s mom, that’s what. Here’s her calmly sizing up the woman determined to take away her baby (37 year old) boy.

Here’s her hearing that Bryan thinks Rachel is “the one.”

She backs that up wondering, “You have gone out with so many girls, and you go on a show, and you fall in love with the girl on the show? I’m in shock!” Good point, Bryan’s mom.

Here’s her pledging her undying loyalty to her son.

Here’s her making small talk with Rachel.

Here’s Rachel imagining her new life with Colombian Cersei Lannister as her mother-in-law.

Bryan does some damage control by telling Rachel that he is “in love” with her. No qualifications from this guy.

How did Bryan do?

1. Was the guy’s outfit on point? You’re an attractive guy in a humid climate. You think you can pull off anything, so you go for comfort–light joggers and a polo shirt with sweat-wicking material. You want to go bold with a bright color, so you get some red, but you don’t want to come off too strong, so you temper it with some dark gray. The outfit is a little matchy-matchy, a little minor league baseball. But you go for it regardless, because hey, you’re a hot guy. This category awards no “hot guy” bonus points, though. 5/25.

2. Was the activity fun? 16/25. Bryan was able to flaunt his Spanish speaking skills with the domino players, show off delicious South American cuisine, and salsa dance with Rachel. Well chosen activities, but what do they show about Bryan? Tough to say.

3. Was the family a good sport? 0/25. Bryan’s mom was the undeniable MVP of this episode, a ferocious mama grizzly of a woman who I am 100% convinced was not joking when she said she would straight up murder Rachel if she crossed Bryan. Problem was, Rachel seemed convinced too.

4. Did the guy say the L word? 24/25. Big time. One point deduction for not backing it up in Spanish.

So Bryan winds up with a raw score of 45, which on the June 2017 LSAT would have net him a 144. Looks like Bryan’s taking the December LSAT (read: we’re going to see this guy again as the next bachelor).

Hometown with Peter in Madison, WI

Peter—sensing the mistakes made by Bryan, his most significant competition—goes classic in his ‘fit, with a grey t-shirt (that artfully complements his graying temple), blue jeans, and brown boots.

That scoop neck is made for a younger man, though. No need to flaunt those clavicles in your thirties, dude.

Anyway, Peter gets the award for most boring date. Peter takes her to the farmers market, my go-to for those times when I really can’t think of anything better to do. Peter orders two honey sticks for them, which makes me question his commitment to personal training.

Peter then takes Rachel to an empty bar to meet his friends, who, let’s just get this out there, are two black dudes. Apparently, Peter bragged about this Rachel early on, and now … I mean, maybe these guys are Peter’s closest friends and confidants. Or maybe Peter is showing them off to show Rachel how down he is? At any rate, these guys look positively thrilled to see their close buddy for the first time in months.

Bryan then takes Rachel back to his parents’ place. His parents, btw, are the archetypes of Midwestern parents.

Just look at that goatee and cropped haircut on the dad. That smooth in the front, spiky in the back, peacock-y haircut that is bestowed on all moms at age 45.

The mom commits a major oopsie doopsie when she says that Peter may not propose her at the end of this, instead saying that Peter may be willing to give Rachel a verbal promise ring or something. Peter could have saved this with an L-bomb, but decides to just say he is “very happy.” Sounds like someone doesn’t want to go to law school.

1. Was the guy’s outfit on point? Not only was his outfit timeless, he displayed tremendous body heat regulation by not sweating through the grey shirt on a balmy day. But I’m going to have to scoop out a couple points for unnecessary collarbone exposure. 23/25.

2. Was the activity fun? 3/25. Walking around a farmers market and making both your date and your friends feel uncomfortable at a get together? Doesn’t sound very fun.

3. Was the family a good sport? 12/25. Peter’s niece did the yeoman’s work of making Peter seem like he would be a fun and loving dad. Peter’s mom undid a lot of that good work in her convo with Rachel. In all, it was kind of a wash.

4. Did the guy say the L word? 0/25. Nope. Not even a preemptory “I can see myself falling in L with you.” Big loss.

So Peter ends up with a raw score of 38, giving him a 140.

Hometown with Dean in Aspen, CO

Dean, last week, mentioned his dad’s growing eccentricity. Must be something in the Aspen water, because Dean’s outfit is extremely eccentric.

What’s going on man? You can go classic with a button-down blue oxford, you can go crunchy with that weird alpaca hoodie thing and way too many bracelets, or you can go contemporary, with a tight maroon pants that cut off half-way up your shins. Doing all three together is the definition of eccentricity, my mans.

Anyway, Dean is not from the beer-flows-like-wine part of Aspen, but the rural outskirts. So they put on like, children’s bicycle helmets and ride ATVs to a champagne hale-barrel picnic.

The big issue, as mentioned last week, is Dean’s estranged father. If this were a normal relationship, you probably wouldn’t be meeting your SO’s family after a couple months of dating, much less forcing your SO to visit an estranged family member, much less doing all of that when you’re also dating three other guys. But that’s not how we do things on The Bachelorette.

Dean’s dad is a converted Sikh, which certainly doesn’t make him eccentric. And he seems pretty chill throughout the early parts of the date. He plays a gong for everyone, which sounds oddly soothing (and is some low-key promo for ABC’s The Gong Show). He gifts feathers to Dean and Rachel to represent the bond he and Dean had with Dean’s late mother. He makes them a macrobiotic meal, which, I mean, doesn’t look great, but I’m sure was delicious.

But then Dean and his dad gather for some “one on one” time, and things get super rocky (mountains) from there. There’s clearly a lot of unresolved issues and resentment between them, and it’s tough to watch unfold, much less make jokes about. Fortunately, Dean’s dad remains cordial with Rachel, but more or less kicks the cameras off his property.

Dean does admit that he is “falling in love” with Rachel, which will net him some much needed points in the fourth category.

1. Was the guy’s outfit on point? He gets the worst outfit of the night dishonors with a weird mishmash of office casual, crunchy surf bro, and streetwear doofus. 2/25.

2. Was the activity fun? 10/25. ATV’s look moderately fun to me. It also seemed like they were going pretty slow. I’m all in on gongs now though.

3. Was the family a good sport? Not really the family’s fault, per se, but I can’t say that airing out deep-seated resentments is the best look. This definitely hurt Dean’s chances. 3 bonus points for having a brother named Ross. 3/25.

4. Did the guy say the L word? 13/25. He gets halfway there with a, “I’m falling in love with you,” the present continuous hedge that only exists on this show.

So Dean ends up with a raw score of 28, giving him a paltry 131.

Rose Ceremony

At the rose ceremony in Rachel’s hometown of Dallas, Rachel can’t ignore the math. Dean will not be admitted into the fantasy suites. Upon rejection, Dean transmogrifies into a giant opalescent tear, and is immediately purchased by Jerry Jones and displayed prominently in the art museum at AT&T Stadium.

The Logical Rose-ning Section: Your Recap of The Bachelorette, Episode 7 was originally published on LSAT Blog

[makinoemii]

Hold on tight, ” “And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. ���Khalil Gibran”

        Taal volcano was referred to as a complex volcano as it was considered to be one of the most active and dangerous volcanoes of the Philippines. During in my visit last August this year, my sole purpose was only to took photos and viewing Mt. Taal from a distance. But the tricycle driver who took us near the popular park where you can view Mt. Taal was so damn good in persuading me to cross the lake and see the crater myself. And my aunt who took me to Tagaytay located in the south of Manila, a popular town for holiday. Had no choice but to come with me going to Taal volcano’s crater. 

Expenses that we least expected:

Boat ride fee to and fro was P2000.

Environmental fee P100.

Horse ride fee (optional) P500 each.

Tour Guide fee (optional) P500.

Tricycle ride to and fro Silang Junction North, Tagaytay, (Super Metro Gaisano) fee was P400 and going down the port.

Hidden fee: P50 for the local old woman who put a small ladder while the boat’s on stationary.

P.S. Please expect to get wet while crossing to Taal volcano’s crater as the wind in the lake was too unpredictable. It was indeed and adventure crossing the lake by banca (local term for small boat) because the speed was a bit fast and wavy. My aunt could not complain who accompanied me seeking a nice place that’s not too far from Manila during my visit. After I’ve watched Paramore’s concert at that night, I deserved a nice out of town trip before heading back to my beloved city. 

From Makati it took us long time to find a bus that can take us to Tagaytay because of the route changes since there was a new sky way construction on going somewhere in the city. Please bear with me as this was my second time in Manila and I am so lucky that my aunt was so supportive of her niece whose always got itchy feet at this time of the year. From Manila to Tagaytay it took us ETA 3 hours because we’ve encountered a congested traffic in Dasmariñas.

We arrived at Super Metro Hypermarket at Silang Junction North, Tagaytay Cavite around 12 noon so we ate lunch first at Greenwich pizza located in the lvl 1. Outside the supermarket there were motorcycle lining and I’d really commended the locals hospitality. Good thing my aunt’s a bit aggressive since she’s on her senior stage already and she’s very straightforward and never hesitate to ask to the locals.

  Our main destination supposedly was Tagaytay’s Picnic Grove but suddenly when the driver told us a lot of things I was convinced to followed his suggestion. And of course while we we’re heading down on zigzag like in Ligaya drive. Numbers of resorts can be found for you to choose from on which would take you the crater of Taal. Our driver already had his contact which he’d take us at that moment.

  I was actually too hesitant because it was almost 2 o’clock in the afternoon. But since we’re already there we need to make the most of it, fighting!

Banca’s on stationary along the shoreline as we chase Taal Volcano’s active crater.

Meet my aunt Lourdes, very active and aggressive for her age to explore and have fun far from the city. 

This smile on our face faded as we head along the lake. The waves crashing all over me. I really had fun though I was so wet for the whole trip and the caretaker of the banca told me no need to change for I will get dry on trail going up the crater. I highly recommend that if you visit Taal’s crater be on your proper attire. I was too enthusiastic heading to Tagaytay wearing a casual dress. 

Can’t take a photo using my camera because it was too wavy. But I’m still lucky to take a photo for the non active part of Taal. 

When I was still on my elementary years, I’ve learned that Taal volcano the small mountain you can see in the picture really look like that. But our companion in the small boat told us that part of Taal was not active.

So we’re all set to go up hill and I’m so freaking loving my horse, by the she’s Katherine. My horse pretty enthusiastic as I hop on top of her. 

Please don’t mind my position, along this trail we passed by a rock that blow’s smoke. 

Katherine “my horse” whose very enthusiastic won’t like that the guide holds the rope and follow him in trail. Instead he wanted to slowly hopping and was about to run and forgot that I was on top of her.

Finally we’re here, we arrived less than an hour heading on the top viewing of Taal’s active crater.

Was just using my phone to take some photos since, I forgot to bring my digital camera with left in my bag. 

As we are trying our best to take photos on top, locals nearby were very persistent to take photos of us together. I found out that they’ve a printer where they can print the photos and sell it to the tourist for P150 each. Just WOW! We’ve paid so much before going up here and now there trying to ruin everyone’s mood.

Even tourist from other countries were distracted at that time. I was about to head to the red rock part where you can really take a great picture for the whole place. However; there was a separate entrance fee for P50. It was a bit disappointing because I was already on top and we decided not to go to since my aunt told me we’ve already paid a lot.

Smile, even though the winds trying to ruin our hair lol!

If you’re already on top you should tie your hair. This photo was taken from my phone as well. But on our way home locals were very persistent to sell the photos they’ve taken from us. They gave up and sold us the five photos for only a hundred because we really told them that we’re not interested to buy the photos but eventually my aunt gave them a chance and its a lesson for us that we experience this on top of Taal’s active crater.

On the other side of the crater my aunt told me that she’ll probably wont comeback here if I invited her for the second time because of the experience.

On top of the right side part of the crater, there was a small building where you also view the whole crater. But the wind ruin my back lol! 

Sunset’s approaching and we need to head down because we don’t want to in the banca where the sunsets already. Meet Yang my companion for my Paramore trip. 

Don’t mess with my hair. 

To wrap it up, experience’s the best teacher. We wont learn something if you won’t give it a try, and I’m glad I did! My aunt as well told me that this experience was part if you travel. “If there are two roads on your way, which would you choose then?” Choose the crooked one, it may be difficult but that’s life. Don’t live life that you’ll regret on something because you didn’t even give it a try.

Thanks for dropping by, see you in  my next adventure. Cheers!

  Unanticipated adventure @Mt. Taal’s Active Crater Taal volcano was referred to as a complex volcano as it was considered to be one of the most active and dangerous volcanoes of the Philippines.

[literary-lioness]

Nanowrimo Day 9

This morning I was thinking about how behind I have felt in working on this novel and how bothered I had let myself become about not making my daily goals and word counts, and I realized something. Stressing about this was making me dread writing. Normally I have a pretty good time writing, I enjoy it, but I have not felt that way in the past few days, which is a big problem. 

My solution? Forget word counts and just enjoy writing again. Don’t get me wrong, I plan to continue working on this project, but if I don't finish all 50,000 words, or the story itself ends up being shorter than 50,000 words? I’m not going to stress about it. Again, I still hope to finish the 50k, but I’m not going to sacrifice my love of writing to do it. Anyways, here is what I wrote today.

Nanowrimo Word Count: 12230

                                                         VII

                                                       Emery

           Emery and Bucky were taking their nightly walk down main street, when Emery’s phone rang. She stopped walking to pull her phone out of her jacket pocket and check the caller id. Bucky pulled on his leash a little bit before stopping with a huff, one leg stuck straight backward in his funny little snow boot walk. He looked at her indignantly as if to say, first you make me wear these ridiculous things on my feet and now you make me stop walking?

           “Sorry, bud. It’s Lauren,” Emery said apologetically. She hit the green accept button and put the phone up to her ear, “Hello?”

           “I am dying over here, Em. Spiiillll,” Lauren said into the phone.

           “So dramatic,” Emery laughed.

           She resumed her walk knowing that Lauren had no intention of letting her off easy.

           “I am not dramatic! But, you defiantly made me wait too long!”

           “She’s dramatic,” She heard Dave say in the background.

           “Hush, you. Ok, so tell me about the very gorgeous Quinn Stone.”

           Emery felt her cheeks heat, “There is nothing to tell.”

           “Bullshit, tell me.”

           “She really just came so that I could show her some of her niece’s work, and then she left. She was there for less than five minutes, and that’s about it.”

           “Uhuh, and then?”

           “What makes you think there is an ‘and then’?”

           “’That’s about it’ is Emery code for, ‘there are other pieces of this story that I have not yet told you’.”

           “Unfair.”

           “Whatever, just tell meeee.”

           “When I was leaving, she and Daisy were throwing snowballs around, one hit me, and I might have engaged with them.”

           “Oh, spicy, a sexy snowball fight.”

           “Jesus, Lo, you heard the part where her niece, my student, was there correct?”

           “Admittedly it was out of my mouth before I could stop it.”

           “I see that,” Emery said chuckling.

           “And that was it?”

           “Yeah, that was it.”

           “Ok, so, you’re totally into her right.”

           Emery heaved a sigh, “I wouldn’t say totally.”

           Lauren screeched in delight, “I knew it! I saw the way you looked at her in when you walked in, all wistful.”

           “Knock it off, even if I am into her, I’m not going there.”

           “What?! Why?”

           “Well first of all, her niece is in my class, so that would be weird.”

           “Weak! Next reason.”

           “What? That’s not weak, it’s a valid concern, what if it causes a conflict of interest! Imagine how weird it would be if I gave Daisy a poor grade and then I had to face Quinn? What if she asked me to give Daisy a better grade?”

           “Does Quinn strike you as that type of person?”

           “Well no, but I mean, what if?”

           “Like I said, weak.”

           “Ok, well what about Daisy? She might now want her teacher and aunt to date. She’s my student first and foremost, I want her to feel comfortable in my class.”

           “While more valid, still weak. What if Daisy doesn’t care or is happy about it?”

           “Ugh, you’re turning it around on me.”

           “I’m just asking a different ‘what if’ than you, so if we’re done with that scenario. What is your next reason?” Lauren asked.

           “Ok, well I don’t know if she is interested,” Emery said.

           “That-is actually fair. I defiantly didn’t get a vibe from her one way or the other.”

           “Maybe because you were too busy staring?”

           “I was not,” Lauren said indignantly.

           “You were.”

           “Fine, maybe a little. Anyways, I get where you’re coming from, but I think you should put yourself out there.”

           “Lauren, I literally met this woman three days ago, and on two of the three occasions we met, it wasn’t exactly pleasant.”

           “And yet, here we are.”

           Emery groaned, “I just don’t think it’s the right move.”

           “Ok, but just like, be open to it?”

           “Maybe,” Emery said. She paused when she saw a familiar figure walking toward her. Jade. Great. “Hey, Lo, can I call you back?”

           “Sure, but be warned! I shall not be made to wait too long again!”

           “Drama Queen,” Emery said and hung the phone up.

           Bucky started growling, his hackles rising as Jade drew closer.

           “Bucky, you know me,” Jade said, trying to play nice with the little Frenchie.

           “And he doesn’t like you,” Emery said firmly.

           Jade’s laugh sounded forced and Emery had to fight the urge to draw away from her, “He never really did, huh?”

           Emery shrugged, “I can’t say that I blame him.”

           “Ah, don’t be like that. I saw you walking and wanted to say hi to you.”

           “Pleasantry received. Look it’s cold, and I need to get Bucky home. I’ll catch you later.”

           Jade bit her bottom lip in what she probably felt was a seductive manner, but the only effect it had on Emery was to make her stomach roil, “Maybe I could walk you home.” She ended the statement with a wink. Clearly, Jade thought she had a chance of seeing the inside of Emery’s apartment.

           “No,” Emery said in a tone that would have shut down anyone else.

           “Ah, Em, don’t be like that,” Jade said reaching out to touch her arm and step closer to her.

           Emery pulled her arm back and wrapped her arms tightly around her torso. She stepped away despite her efforts to hold her ground, “Leave me alone Jade.”

           Jade leaned closer to her still, “Ah, but we had so much fun last time.”

           Emery shivered, shame and regret washed over her. She knew exactly what Jade was referring to, and it wasn’t something she liked to dwell on. Bucky let another threatening growl fill the space between them. He had never bit anyone, but in that moment, she wished he would just take a little bite out of Jade’s leg.

           “Ms. Webster!” A yell of joy ripped through the air, and Jade immediately drew back

           Emery looked past Jade to her savior, and saw Daisy barreling toward her. She caught the little girl in her arms and help her tightly like the lifeline she was, “Hey Daisy.”

           She looked up from Daisy and saw Quinn walking toward them with her hands in the front of a black Nike hoodie. Emery had never been so glad to see other people before.

           Quinn looked from Emery to Jade and raised an eyebrow, “Everything ok, here?”

           Jade forced a smile onto her face, “Of course, I was just offering to walk Emery home. I don’t think we’ve met; my name is Jade.” She stuck her hand out toward Quinn.

           For a moment Emery thought Quinn wouldn’t take Jade’s hand, but she shook it briefly, “Quinn.”

           Quinn looked back at Emery and asked more directly, “Are you ok?”

           Emery’s throat felt dry, Quinn was offering her a lifeline, she took it, she gave her head a small shake. Quinn raised an eyebrow and turned back to Jade, “You know, I think Daisy and I can handle walking Emery home.”

           Jade’s eyes narrowed, “Excuse-.”

           Quinn cut her off, “You’re excused. Have a good night.”

           Daisy, who Emery was still holding onto said, “Um, Ms. Webster? You have to let me go if we’re gonna walk you home.”

           “Oh! Sorry honey,” she released Daisy and turned toward the direction of her apartment, “I’m this way.”

           Quinn nodded stoically and walked closely beside her. So closely that she could smell the pleasant scent of cinnamon wafting from her.

           “Ms. Webster? May I walk your dog please?”

           “Sure, he’s a good boy, just make sure you keep an eye on him, if he sees a cat he might try to chase it,” she said handing Daisy the leash.

           “Is that how he ended up in the street the other night?” Quinn asked, casting a sideways glance at her.

           “Unfortunately.”

           They walked a little further, the silence wasn’t uncomfortable, but Emery could feel the questions hanging in the air between them, “Thank you, by the way, for the save.”

           “Thank Daisy, she’s the one who saw you when we came out of Sam’s.”

           “Still, you helped.”

           “You’re welcome. You looked pretty shaken up, I couldn’t leave you there. Who was that jerk anyways?”

           “My ex, she doesn’t seem to realize that all parts of the relationship are over.”

           “Ah, the worst,” Quinn said.

           “The very worst,” Emery replied.

           They continued to walk in silence, Emery’s hand brushed the back of Quinn’s, and she felt her cheeks heat at the simple contact. She had to fight against doing it again, or worse, grabbing Quinn’s hand. Finally they reached her apartment building, “Well, this is me.”

           “Woah! You live in a tall building, Ms. Webster,” Daisy said in wide eyed amazement.

           “I do! Except, I only live in a small part of this tall building,” she said smiling.

           “Oh, neat!”

           Quinn laughed, “Alright Daisy, tell Ms. Webster goodnight so we can head back.”

           Daisy gave her a third hug, “Bye Ms. Webster!”

           “Bye Daisy,” she turned her eyes to Quinn, “Bye, Quinn and thank you again.”

           “Bye,” Quinn said simply, before taking Daisy’s hand and walking back toward Sam’s pizza.

           Emery picked Bucky up and carried him up the stairs to their studio. When she got inside, she closed the door and leaned against it for support. Maybe totally was the correct word to describe just how into Quinn she was. She sighed and thought about calling Lauren but didn’t. Lauren would call when she wanted to talk anyways, and right now Emery just needed a moment to collect herself.

           She thought about Jade and their encounter. She wished that she had never muddied the waters after their break-up, somehow leading Jade to believe her door was open anytime she wanted. She knew she needed to get the situation with Jade under control, she didn’t ever want a repeat of those three minutes before Daisy and Quinn had saved her.

           She felt her heart do a flip when she thought of Quinn. She had saved Emery. With a single look she was able to tell that she needed help and hadn’t hesitated to swoop in to save her. That doesn’t mean she’s into you, crazy. Emery told herself, though that didn’t seem to stop her brain from thinking fondly of the red-headed woman. Of her soft hand, or her inviting lips.

           Emery’s eyes widened at the thought, and she shook her head. She forced the thought of kissing Quinn out of her mind. She refocused on all the reasons she would never get involved with Quinn Stone. The only probably was that now, as Lauren had said, they sounded weak.

           She turned the TV on as a distraction and flipped to Hallmark, they would be showing some sappy Christmas movie with a woman leaving her inattentive suit-wearing boyfriend, for the handsome, small-town carpenter that would defiantly take her mind off Quinn. Except the one that was showing was about a small-town doctor. Emery sighed, settled into her sofa, and accepted that the universe was going to force her to think about a woman she had sworn she wouldn’t get involved with as penance for her misdeeds.

[lindyhunt]

Meet the Markles: A Comprehensive Timeline of Meghan’s Family Drama

Since the beginning of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s royal romance, Markle’s family — in particular, her half-siblings and father, Thomas Markle— have been more than willing to give their two cents about the Duchess of Sussex. Here is a look at the family drama that has occurred since the royal romance began.

Meet the Family

Before we dive into this sordid timeline, let’s go over its key players:

Doria Ragland is Meghan’s mother. Doria and Meghan’s father, Thomas, divorced when Meghan was six years old. Doria has met Prince Harry, and he thinks that she is “amazing.”

Thomas Markle Sr. is Meghan’s father. The former lighting director filled for bankruptcy in 2016, which has turned to one of the same sources of family accusations against Meghan. He now lives a seemingly laid back life in Mexico.

Samantha Grant (who now goes by Markle) is Meghan’s half-sister. They have the same father, and Samantha is 17 years older than Meghan. She has been the most outspoken member of Meghan’s family since her courtship with Harry in 2016. She is said to be writing a memoir called “The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister.” According to Samantha, it is less a tell-all and more to do “with the interracial evolution of this country through the lens of my life and my family since the civil rights act until present.” Keep in mind that while Meghan Markle is bi-racial, her half-siblings are not.

Thomas Markle Jr.  is Meghan’s half-brother. They also share a father and he is 11 years her senior. He was arrested last year for allegedlyTyler and Thomas Dooley (Thomas Jr. Jr.?), with ex-wife Tracy Dooley.

It all started when…

December 28, 2017: Markle’s siblings slam Harry for saying the royals are “the family she never had”

Meghan’s siblings were quick to respond to a BBC interview in which Prince Harry referred to the royals as “the family [Meghan] never had.” Brother Thomas Jr., told the Daily Mail that their father was “extremely hurt” over this comment and that “obviously, she had a family. She was very privileged. She got everything she ever wanted.” Half-sister Samantha also responded via her Twitter account (which she has now made private), saying: “Actually she has a large family who were always there with her and for her. Our household was very normal and when dad and Doria divorced, we all made it so it was like she had two houses. No one was estranged ,she was just too busy. Read my book complete with facts and photos.”

Jan 10, 2018: Samantha Markle calls sister out for engagement photo 

Photography via instagram.com/KensingtonRoyal

Half-sister Samantha did an interview with In Touch  in which she claims that Meghan owes much of her success to their father, saying that “he gave her so much of who she is.” She then went on to call out her half-sister about not helping their father with his financial troubles, mentioning the $75,000 Ralph & Russo gown Meghan wore in her engagement photos. “If you can spend $75,000 on a dress, you can spend $75,000 on your dad.” She also added that Meghan’s mother Doria has become “possessive and controlling” over her daughter.

Feb 5, 2018: Samantha says that she’s disappointed in Meghan

In an interview with Australian news show A Current Affair, Samantha once again called out Meghan for not helping their father financially since he declared bankruptcy in 2016. “I don’t think that he feels that she owes him but, that is how I see it,” said Samantha. She then went on to seemingly discredit Meghan’s philanthropic work by saying that she’s seen “a lot of situations where celebrities visit a place that is poverty stricken and they’re wearing impeccable clothing. They themselves are wealthy, and it really feels like a photo opportunity. So it’s a little exploitive in my mind.”

February 8, 2018: Thomas Jr. says that Meghan is “ignoring” his plea for help

Meghan’s brother Thomas Jr. told In Touch magazine that he has received no help from his younger sibling in light of her royal engagement. According to Tom Jr. the connection to Meghan has caused a lot of media scrutiny for him and his family. “There was a time where people were following me around at work, taking pictures and posting horrible stories about me and my family saying I’m a white supremacist, a drug addict and a dealer, all this crap that just isn���t true,” said Thomas Jr. His lawyer has been in contact with the palace lawyers in hopes of getting some help with the negative press, but the interactions have been less than successful.

February 24, 2018: Samantha’s ex-husband speaks out

Samantha Markle’s ex-husband, Scott Rasmussen, told The Mirror that the royal couple should refrain from inviting the bride’s half-sister to their nuptials. According to Rasmussen, his “fame hungry” ex-wife is exaggerating her relationship with Meghan. “Harry and Meghan need to know the truth about her. She’s the last person who should be at Windsor Castle,” said Rasmussen. Rasmussen also said that his ex-wife “should act with some dignity, keep her mouth shut, and leave everybody else alone.” Samantha responded by saying that Rasmussen “wants to take advantage of my sister’s high profile. Scott vowed to get revenge when we got divorced. He is saying anything he can right now to disparage me.”

Mar 11, 2018: Brother Thomas Jr. does not receive wedding invite 

An inside source told UK news outlet Express that Meghan’s brother, Thomas Jr., will not be invited to her wedding. The source said that her brother did not receive an invite due to all the interviews he has done with the media about his sister. “If he would quit talking to the media, Meghan would probably be more into the idea of inviting him,” said the source.

March 26: Meghan’s nephew and former sister-in-law confirm that they won’t be going to the wedding

Photography via youtube.com/goodmorningbritain

Meghan’s nephew Tyler Dooley and his mother Tracy have revealed that they have not been invited to the royal wedding, according to an interview with Good Morning Britain. However, Tyler remains optimistic, saying, “At this point, who knows? This all goes back to Meghan, it’s her day and her happiness.” Tyler’s mother Tracy, who was married to Meghan’s half-brother Thomas Jr., added, “I don’t think we’re going to get an invitation, and that’s fine. We’re OK with that and we’re supporting her. We’re so proud of her.”

March 28 2018: Meghan’s estranged family are revealed as wedding correspondents 

An inside source told Us Weekly that Meghan’s half-sister Samantha, nephew Tyler and ex-sister-in-law Tracy are planning to fly to London to be correspondents for the royal wedding.

April 14, 2018: Meghan’s nephew begins making commemorative cannabis

Tyler Dooley, son of Thomas Jr., is planning to make a special hybrid of weed to celebrate his aunt’s wedding, appropriately named The Markle Sparkle. If for some reason the couple would like to try the custom cannabis, he told the Daily Mail that he would be “more than happy” to supply them with a sample, providing they come to Oregon where Dooley is a licensed medical marijuana grower.

April 23, 2018: Meghan’s niece begs family to leave Meghan alone 

Meghan’s niece has spoken out in hopes that her family will leave her aunt alone, according to Metro UK. The estranged daughter of Meghan’s half-sister Samantha said  she is “embarrassed” by her mother’s actions and that her mom’s interest in having a relationship with Meghan came after she started dating Prince Harry. “She wanted to be nice, to be friends, to say how much she loves her sister – but after years of telling me and the rest of the family how much she hates Meghan, how much of a narcissist Meghan apparently is and what a horrible woman Meghan is, which isn’t true at all.”

May 2, 2018: Thomas Jr. tells Harry not to marry Meghan 

Meghan Markle’s half-brother has sent a letter to future brother-in-law Prince Harry as a final plea to call off the wedding. “Meghan Markle is obviously not the right [woman] for you,” he writes in a letter shared exclusively with In Touch. He then goes on to accuse her of abandoning their father after using him for money. “She easily forgets if it wasn’t for my father she would be [bussing] tables and babysitting to pay her old debt off.”

May 4, 2018: Palace confirms that Meghan’s parents will have roles in her wedding

Today we have provided an update on the Wedding of Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle.

Read the full statement here: https://t.co/bhrPnJtrNm

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 4, 2018

Days after Meghan’s half-brother told Prince Harry and In Touch magazine that their father was snubbed, Kensington Palace confirmed that both Markle’s mom and dad will have roles in her wedding. “On the morning of the wedding, Ms. Ragland will travel with Ms. Markle by car to Windsor Castle. Mr. Markle will walk his daughter down the aisle of St. George’s Chapel. Ms. Markle is delighted to have her parents by her side on this important and happy occasion,” wrote a Kensington Palace spokesman.

May 12, 2018: Thomas Markle Sr. begins staging paparazzi photographs

Photos of Meghan’s father taken by “paparazzi” turned out to be taken by photographer Jeff Rayner in collusion with Thomas Sr. himself. The Daily Mail reported that the pair was caught on the security camera of an internet cafe in Mexico staging a photo of him looking at images of his daughter and Prince Harry. Other photos that were proven to be staged include him being measured by a “tailor” (who turned out to be an assistant at a party goods store), browsing through a book about English landmarks at a Starbucks, and lifting weights. It’s reported that Meghan’s father could have received up to £100,000 for the photos.

May 14, 2018: Meghan’s father pulls out of wedding, reveals he had a heart attack

After he was caught staging photographs with paparazzi, Thomas Markle Sr. has said he will not attend his daughter’s wedding, telling TMZ that his motives for the images were not “principally about money.” He was hoping improve his image but now he “deeply regrets” it. The report also revealed that Meghan’s father had suffered a heart attack six days earlier, but checked himself out of the hospital so that he could attend the wedding. However, the embarrassment of the photo scandal has led to him opting out of walking his daughter down the aisle.

May 14, 2018: Half-sister Samantha takes credit for staged photos

On the same day, Samantha Markle did an interview with British TV show Loose Women, defending her father and taking responsibility for the staged photos. “I have to say that I am entirely the culprit. As we know, the media can take very unflattering photographs on their casual days and blow it way out of proportion… I said ‘you need to show the world that you’re getting in shape and doing great, healthy things,’” said Samantha. She then went on to say that the plan was not money motivated and that if her father did receive any compensation for the photos it would be “a pittance.” She also confirmed that the last time she and Meghan spoke was in 2015, when she called Meghan to talk about their father.

May 15, 2018: Samantha gets called out by Piers Morgan

Photography via youtube.com/goodmorningbritain

Samantha returned to Good Morning Britain for an interview with a less-than complimentary Piers Morgan. On the show, she confirmed that the last time the sisters saw each other was in 2008, and that their last contact was a phone conversation in 2015. Samantha then went on to blame the media for her father’s heart attack as well as the negative portrayal of their family. Piers was having none of it, and responded by saying, “We can’t respect it coming from a woman who’s been trading her very tenuous relationship with Meghan Markle, who’s had one conversation with her in ten years and has been popping up on the world’s airwaves…Some may say it’s pretty rich coming from you, Samantha Markle, to come on television and blame media vultures.” Samantha then went on to tell Piers that he shouldn’t believe everything he reads just because it’s in quotes. Yikes.

May 15, 2018: Some of the family arrives in London

Also on this day, Meghan’s nephews and former sister-in-law were photographed arriving at London’s Heathrow airport. Though they have not received invitations to the royal wedding, it has been previously speculated that they are going to be TV correspondents on Meghan and Harry’s special day.

May 15, 2018: Thomas Sr. is having surgery

Finally, Thomas Sr. told TMZ that he has changed his mind and now wants to walk Meghan down the aisle. However, he has to undergo heart surgery this week which means it’s unlikely that he will be able to make it to the nuptials. To really add to things, Meghan’s father said that the open letter his son sent to Prince Harry at the beginning of the month is what triggered his heart problems. The article also revealed that, according to Samantha, her father did receive compensation for the staged photographs—around $1,500 plus royalties (pun intended?).

May 16, 2018: Thomas Sr. heads in for surgery and Samantha Markle does another interview

As it stands, Meghan’s father’s surgery is said to be scheduled for this morning. In the meantime, Samantha Markle had a chat with TMZ about, you guessed it, Meghan Markle. The interviewer tells Samantha that Meghan has reportedly made it clear that she does not want her half-sister to be speaking to the press. “There’s something in this country known as free speech. She doesn’t have a copyright on that and she’s not going to tell me that I can’t speak my own life or my father’s where it’s a matter of public self defence because the media is disparaging us… She’s way out of her league to tell me that I can’t speak,” responded Samantha.

Samantha then went on to say that she and her half-sister do not have a relationship as of the past year, blaming the media for their falling out. However, if we look back just two days, Samantha confirmed that the last time the sisters spoke was in 2015. I’m so confused.

May 16, 2018: Samantha Markle in car crash after “paparazzi confrontation”

Half-sister Samantha has been in a car accident after an alleged run-in with the paparazzi, according to TMZ. Samantha’s boyfriend, Mark, told TMZ that he swerved into a concrete barrier after a photographer swerved in front of them in hopes of getting a clear shot. Mark then drove Samantha (who is said to have a broken ankle and fractured knee from the accident) to the hospital.

May 16, 2018: Thomas Sr. is out of surgery 

Also in the hospital? Meghan Markle’s father, who just had surgery after suffering a heart attack eight days ago. TMZ spoke to Thomas Sr. after his surgery, where he said “I’m ok. It will take a long time to heal. Staying in the hospital a few more days. Not allowed to get excited.”

May 17, 2018: Meghan Markle confirms that her father will NOT be at the wedding 

A statement from Ms. Meghan Markle: pic.twitter.com/TjBNarmuBU

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 17, 2018

This morning, Meghan Markle released a statement confirming that her father will not be attending the wedding. “I have always cared for my father and hope he can be given the space he needs to focus on his health,” reads the statement. There has been no word yet on who will be walking Meghan down the aisle, but there is speculation that it could be her mom, Prince William or Prince Charles.

May 18, 2018: Prince Charles will walk Meghan down the aisle 

An update on the #RoyalWedding: pic.twitter.com/wfJ6ZFyzHi

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 18, 2018

Kensington Palace has announced that Prince Charles, Harry’s father, will walk Meghan down the aisle at their wedding. This news comes just one day before the couple’s wedding. The statement reads that Meghan asked Prince Charles if he would walk her down the aisle and that Charles is “pleased to be able to welcome Ms. Markle to The Royal Family in this way.”

May 18, 2018: “No evidence” found of Samantha Markle’s crash

According to local law enforcement in Florida, they have been unable to find any proof of the “paparazzi confrontation” that lead to a car accident for Samantha Markle and her boyfriend. “We can’t find any reports basically from all of central Florida. We can’t find a report by name or a scenario that was similar to this,” Lt. Kim Montes told the DailyMail.com. Furthermore if Markle’s boyfriend, Mark, did hit a barricade and failed to report it, he could be charged with a hit-and-run under Florida law and face up to two months in jail.

May 22, 2018: Samantha Markle takes to Twitter

Samantha has returned to Twitter to give her two-sense about her half-sister’s royal wedding. Most of the critique was targeted to Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, who she said “looked more like the hockey player in the penalty box” at the wedding. She also tweeted how it was “ridiculous” that she was sitting by herself at the ceremony and accused her of being a sell-out. Doria wasn’t the only subject of Samantha’s critique, she then went on to slam the bride after it was reported that Meghan didn’t mention her father in her toast. “So she didn’t mention my dad and his shout out at the reception either? I guess she ignored the bishop’s sermon about love and forgiveness,” tweeted Markle. She then compared the royal family to the Addams family “but with billions of dollars.”

May 29, 2018: Samantha critiques Meghan’s Coat of Arms 

View this post on Instagram

Introducing The Duchess of Sussex’s Coat of Arms. Follow our Story to find out more.

A post shared by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on May 25, 2018 at 6:39am PDT

Meghan Markle’s coat of arms was revealed this past week, and Samantha Markle is NOT impressed. In her latest take to Twitter, Samantha said that it “looks like it was drawn by someone in a kindergarten classroom”. Yikes. But that’s not all, Samantha then went to go on to attack Meghan, saying that the new coat of arms does not suit her. Her main issue appeared to be with the three quills that are said to represent communication. “She does not communicate with people she cuts people out of her life including a best friend of 30 years and two speeches in her whole lifetime does not make her a public speaker,” said one tweet.  Along with “Her degrees are in drama and foreign affairs and only a bachelor degree,” and “Her motto is say nothing and she cut everyone off.”

Speaking of Meghan’s “only a bachelor degree,” her university education makes her one of two royal brides in the history of the British Monarchy to receive a university education. She is accompanied by sister-in-law Kate Middleton who has a master’s degree in Art History.

June 18, 2018: Thomas Markle Sr. has his first tell-all interview

Thomas Markle Sr. opted to speak with Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain for his first tell-all interview. In the world exclusive, Thomas Sr. speaks about his relationship with the royal family, missing his daughter’s wedding and, most surprisingly, Prince Harry’s political affiliations.

Clearly, Markle’s father is unaware of the longstanding tradition of royals avoiding political talk. Or, he just doesn’t care. Speaking about a phone call with his daughter and Prince Harry, Thomas Sr. shares that he and the British royal discussed President Donald Trump. “Our conversation was, I was complaining about not liking Donald Trump, he said ‘give Donald Trump a chance.’ I sort of disagreed with that.”

On top of sharing Harry’s opinions on the political climate across the pond, Thomas Sr. also spoke to a conversation he had with Harry about Brexit. (The tricky topic was, of course, brought up by Morgan.) “It was just a loose conversation about something that we have to try. There was no real commitment to it.” Morgan pressed further, asking if Harry supported Brexit. To which Thomas (thankfully) kept his answer somewhat vague: “I think he was open to the experiment.”

This is why @KensingtonRoyal won’t welcome Thomas Markle’s interview on @GMB. He’s talking about his conversation with Prince Harry about Donald Trump and Brexit 😳 pic.twitter.com/P6OfJtbWHX

— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) June 18, 2018

The interview wasn’t all politics: at another point in their on-air chat, Thomas Sr. teared up as he reflected on his infamous staged photos, calling them a “mistake.” He continued on to say that he “spoke to them both and apologized” for the images, insisting that Harry and Meghan were “very forgiving.”

July 16, 2018: Thomas Markle Sr. gives his second tell-all interview

In a new interview with British tabloid The Sun, Thomas Markle Sr. asserts his belief that his daughter is miserable in her role as the Duchess of Sussex. Here are some of the highlights. (And by highlights, we of course mean cringe-worthy moments):

“My thing about my daughter right now is that I think she is terrified. I see it in her eyes, I see it in her face and I see it in her smile. I’ve seen her smile for years. I know her smile. I don’t like the one I’m seeing now. This one isn’t even a stage smile – this is a pained smile.”

“Meghan seems like something out of an old movie. Why in 2018 are we dressing like the 1930s? Why do they have to cover their knees?”

“Anyone who makes a profit off the Royal Family becomes shunned. But I could have made well over $100,000 by just doing a talk show. So if I moved to London and started selling cups with my daughter’s face on, would they shun me?”

August 12, 2018: Okay, Thomas Markle Sr. seriously doesn’t know when to stop talking…

Thomas Markle’s latest — and according to him, last (ha!) — interview has him addressing the facts and fiction of his narrative in the media. In the story, he claims that drinking a class of red wine with dinner is good for the heart, that fish from McDonald’s is part of a healthy post-heart attack diet and that he had a “heated” pre-wedding phone call with Prince Harry.

Shortly after the third explosive interview, the Daily Mail‘s Richard Kay reported that the royal family is in a state of “existential crisis” over the nonstop drama. “The perception is that he was treated very much as an afterthought,” said one royal aide, “No one went to visit him when the answer would have been to have someone fly out from London and explain to him how things were going to happen. Even after he started talking to the media it was not too late.”

December 9, 2018: Thomas Markle Sr. launches pre-Christmas campaign to get Meghan to speak with him

Well, well, well…it looks like Mr. Markle has lied to us all when he said he would no longer be giving interviews to the press. Meghan’s father, once again, spoke with the Daily Mail, where he shared intimate details about their relationship. “I have been frozen out and I can’t stay silent,” he said, “I have made dozens of attempts to reach my daughter via text and letters, but she and Harry have put up a wall of silence. They have done what they once told me not to do – they are believing everything negative that has been written about me.”

Then, in an effort to prove himself worthy of being let into the oh-so-private royal inner circle, Thomas Markle shared letters that the Duchess has written to him over the years — including the ‘Save the Date’ card from her first wedding. (She’s wearing a bikini. It’s on the beach. There’s a beer. It’s just a little different from the wedding announcement Kensington Palace made for Markle’s second nuptials.)

December 16, 2018: Samantha Markle criticizes the royal Christmas card

On December 14, Kensington Palace shared Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s first Christmas card as a married couple. The black and white photograph is a BTS shot from their May wedding, and shows the royals holding onto one another as they watch a firework display over Frogmore House.

View this post on Instagram

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are delighted to share a new photograph from their Wedding Reception at Frogmore House on 19th May. The photograph, which was taken by photographer Chris Allerton, features on Their Royal Highnesses’ Christmas card this year.

A post shared by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Dec 14, 2018 at 3:01am PST

Samantha hit Twitter to respond to Kensington Palace, writing “Interesting that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have their backs turned. Is this towards the world or just the Ragland and Markle family? It’s a bit sad. Face the Christmas spirit.”

“It’s incredibly rude to turn your back in a Christmas photo that is meant to share warmth and good wishes with the world,” she wrote in another tweet. “Those that criticize me for pointing out the truth, need to get that brown stuff off their noses. I hear the worlds smallest violin playing.”

December 16, 2018: Thomas Markle Sr. feels he’s been ‘ghosted’ by his daughter

During an appearance on Good Morning Britain, Thomas Markle—who Piers Morgan confirmed “received no payment for today’s interview”—said he’s tried to contact Meghan every day since the royal wedding, but has yet to receive a response.

WORLD EXCLUSIVE

’We’re family. Please reach out to me.’

Meghan Markle’s father Thomas says he tries to reach out to his daughter every day but hasn’t had a response.@piersmorgan | @susannareid100 | #GMB pic.twitter.com/o4VgU96SGD

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) December 17, 2018

“She has always been a very controlling person and that is part of her nature, but she has never been rude. She has always been in charge,” he said. “I’ve been ghosted. I’m not sure why it’s happening. I love my daughter very much. I wish she would reach out, send me a text, anything. There has to be a place for me. I’m her father.”

Thomas then issued a statement directly to his daughter, you know, just in case she was watching: “I love you very much. I would like to hear from you. Whatever difficulties we’ve had I hope we can work through them. We’re family.”

[austenmarriage]

New Post has been published on Austen Marriage

New Post has been published on http://austenmarriage.com/retracing-themes-austens-life-works/

Retracing Themes in Austen's Life and Works

My blogs over the last two years have covered a wide expanse of territory: Jane Austen’s fiction; her speech patterns; her looks; her romantic life, both real and possible; the close biological relationships of people involved in courtships; the effect of the war on her life and that of her family; taxes; and even the jewelry she wore.

Over that time, I have come upon additional information about some of these topics. This post follows up with material that expands on what I originally wrote, providing additional background and depth on repeating themes and ideas in Austen’s life and works.

In honor of tax day in America (April 15), I summarized the many taxes that individuals paid back then in England, much of the funding supporting the war with France. One of the highest duties was paid on carriages, which were the province of the rich. Jane Austen’s cousin and sister-in-law, Eliza, who enjoyed the high life whenever she could, complained about such levies on luxury items. “New taxes will drive me out of London and make me give up my carriage,” she griped—though she continued to live in grand style in the expensive capital for most of her life.

I pointed out that Mr. Bennet’s horses in Pride and Prejudice would not have been taxed, because they were primarily farm horses. Jane Austen herself makes a similar point through an indirect reference in real life. In a letter of 24 January 1813, she speaks of riding with Mr. and Mrs. Clement in “their Tax-cart,” so named because this open work cart had a lower tax rate than a fancy carriage. Most of the taxes were paid by the rich, but a few, including taxes on spirits, hats—and carts—were paid by the poor and middle classes.

In one of my earliest blogs, I wrote of a turquoise ring Jane owned. It might have come from the meager inheritance the family received through the Stoneleigh inheritance, a story too complicated to repeat here. The point was that the stone was odontolite, a polished blue fossil that connected Jane to Lyme Regis’s Mary Anning, in 1804 a child fossil hunter. Mary’s family dug out fossils from the cliffs at Lyme Regis and sold them in the local market when Jane lived there. It’s even possible that this is where Jane bought her ring. As a pioneering paleontologist, Anning became the most famous woman scientist of her day—though like most women, underpaid and underappreciated.

After Jane’s death, her sister Cass gave the ring as a wedding present to Eleanor, the second wife of brother Henry (Eliza, Henry’s first wife, had died a few years earlier). Eleanor must have been very beloved for Cass to give her this precious keepsake. The ring came down through the family, was purchased by the Jane Austen Memorial Trust, and can now be seen at the Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire.

As I described just last month, all the able-bodied men in Jane Austen’s family helped England’s military effort in some way, but only the women suffered direct casualties: Cassandra, who lost her fiancé, Tom Fowle, to disease on a military expedition; and Elizabeth, Jane’s sister-in-law, who lost her youngest brother in a naval battle.

Still other casualties, it turned out, haunted the women: Tom Fowle’s brother, a medic, died in Egypt in 1801, a few years after Tom. (A few years after that, another Tom Fowle, a nephew of Cass’s fiancé, moved up through the ranks by serving successively on the ships of Frank and Charles, Jane’s sailor brothers.) Finally, Lady Burrell, a dear friend of Eliza, lost her son, a captain of the dragoons, in an abortive British invasion of Argentina. Often in the background of her novels, the war weighed heavily on the country in actual life.

Two of my blogs touched upon marriages involving consanguinity—close blood ties. Austen’s work and life were replete with marriages involving first cousins and a couple that involved a psychological closeness akin to siblings. At that time, marriage between first cousins in England was technically forbidden. The practice is now legal in the United Kingdom and is fairly common around the world, but remains problematic in the U.S. Today, cousin marriage is illegal in about half the states—including the two, Oregon and Arkansas, where I’ve lived most of my life. In five states, cousin marriage is a criminal offense! An advice columnist even received a query in 2017 from a foreign-born woman whose American friends were concerned about her marrying her third cousin (their closest connection being great-grandparents). American law is based on largely debunked concerns of damaged offspring.

In Regency society, cousins married all the time. The practice was common among the wealthy to keep family fortunes intact. In the Austen world, the reason must have been love, for no fortunes were ever melded. The most visible, of course, was Henry’s marriage to Eliza, but Frank’s son and Charles’s daughter also married. In addition to the several I mentioned, I found at least one more: Henry, a son of Jane’s brother Edward, married another cousin, Sophie Cage. Others may lurk in the interconnected tangles of families close to the Austens.

The Mansfield Park marriage of Edmund Bertram and Fanny Price was the biggie in Austen’s novels. A reader, Cinthia, pointed out that I had overlooked one in Persuasion, between Henrietta Musgrove and Charles Hayter, whose mothers are sisters.

Several commentators, most recently E.J. Clery, in her 2017 book Jane Austen: The Banker’s Sister (pp. 208-211), have noticed how close the cousins orbit toward the psychological sphere of brother and sister and how that closeness sometimes leads to amorous rather than sibling affection. When he takes Fanny in, Sir Thomas Bertram worries about her becoming too close with his sons, but Mrs. Norris, the meddling aunt in MP, dismisses his concerns with her usual lack of judgment, saying nothing improper could come of Fanny being “bred up” as a sister to the Bertram boys.

Edmund and Fanny’s first major encounter involves what Clery calls a “triangulation” of sibling affection involving William Price, Fanny’s brother, now in the Navy. Edmund comes upon Fanny weeping because William has asked her to write but she has no paper. Edmund not only provides the paper but also slips in a half-guinea coin for the young man. “With this small transferal of wealth,” Clery says in, Fanny becomes “devoted to Edmund”—a sisterly affection that becomes stronger and more romantic over the years.

Though at times a modern reader might squirm at such thoughts, Clery cites the critic Celia Easton as saying that in Austen, “sibling-style love lays a good foundation for committed relationships.” Austen herself sees nothing unnatural about the closeness of cousins, encouraging one of her nieces to develop a relationship with one of hers. “I like first cousins to be first cousins, & interested about each other,” she says in a letter to Anna Austen Lefroy, 29 Nov 1814. “They are but one remove from Br & Sr.”

Another couple “but one removed” from brother and sister are Emma and Mr. Knightly (image by headline, from 1995 movie), who struggle with emerging romantic feelings after twenty years of sibling-style affection. They begin with a dance, which as Austen says elsewhere, is “a certain step towards failing in Love.” Emma says that they are “not so much like brother and sister as to make it all improper,” to which Mr. Knightly exclaims, “No, indeed!”

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The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen, which traces love from a charming courtship through the richness and complexity of marriage and concludes with a test of the heroine’s courage and moral convictions, is now complete and available from Amazon and Jane Austen Books.