#but everybody in this house got seasonal affective disorder so there's been a lot of sitting around and watching tv today on all fronts

[batemanofficial]

dad got laid off and i haven't started my new job yet so it is naught but little caesar's for our people for the next couple days at least

[bugmangaka]

Character of the Day #0 (Intro)

Here are the Main Characters for Mae and the Kingdoms of Seasons!

Mae, the Titular Character

Mae is a young adult who struggles with severe anxiety. Because of her anxiety, she is selectively mute, and she can sign. She is adopted, and therefore is an only child which is unusual for Seiki. She has two moms, and is bisexual herself! Her best friend is Dolly, her mentor is Noble, and her partner is Joel.

Asha

Asha is a Seiki from the past era who had a fierce spirit. She swears the most out of any character and doesn't act very "lady-like," which she learned from her strong mother. Sexism was rampant at that time so her disposition was seen as inappropriate  for a girl. However, her outgoing personality made her extremely popular with her peers. She took shit from nobody, and wasn't afraid to speak her mind. When she met Thatcher, he sadly took those qualities out of her. She spent the entirety of her afterlife following her family tree down and searching for a way to make up her past mistakes. She passed down a letter explaining what really happened to Ruben, but nobody in her family took it seriously... until Mae.

Ruben

Ruben was a bright-eyed student who really loved learning. He was an only child just like Mae, except for him it was because his family was extremely poor and the rest of his parents' eggs didn't make it. He's neurodivergent and struggles in social situations, but he just really really wants friends. He's picked on a lot but doesn't often realize that he is, he'll talk to anybody to try and befriend them. He'll often brag about his good grades and intellect as a way to impress people and make them like him, but others usually find him annoying. He wanted to grow up to do something so great that everybody would love him. He's overwhelmed by his own feelings, feeling too happy or too sad burns him out and causes him to shut down. When he starts to feel 'too much' he'll hide his face in his scarf. he studied with the human because he thought it was a great idea and that he was going to help everybody. He never intended things to go so south.. and even when he was reformed he never intended to hurt anybody.

Joel

Joel is Mae's partner, and one of her closet friends! He is pansexual, and completely mute because he was born without vocal chords. He learned how to sign when he was in elementary school thanks to his twin brother, Jeremiah. He grew up in a horribly abusive household, his mother thought that the Gods were punishing her for giving her a mute child. She tried to get him to talk by hurting him, and disapproved of him signing. He has a scar under his headband from his mom, from when she pulled so hard on his antennae that one split open. She would verbally and physically abuse both of her kids as 'punishment' for being 'such a burden to her,' and her husband just went along with it not bothering to stop her. One night, when he was 12, she was so mad that she kicked him out of the house. He only was able to take one of his journals with him and some food scraps and spent a while wandering around the kingdom homeless. Eventually, he stumbled upon an old man who helped him build a small shack to live in. He then found Mae's middle school, and watched the kids go in and out for a few days until a teacher noticed him and brought him in as part of the class. He met Mae when she walked past his house one day, and when he signed to her she signed back. He had never met another person besides his brother that could sign before and he instantly started crushing on her. The two became close friends in high school, and Joel was pining for her hard the entire time. Mae returned his feelings, but they didn't get together until during her big journey. Joel is a writer! He's mainly a poet, but he's been writing ever since he was little and is what he does for his job. He wrote the book "Tales of Kingdoms Past," which was about the other three kingdoms and what they did during the 200 year gap in communication. Joel has serious trauma from his past but denies it. He just wants his mom to love him and believes it's because he wasn't good enough, and was his fault.

Dolly

Dolly is Mae's best friend! They've been super close since they met in kindergarten. Dolly comes from a wealthy, higher-class family that has 5 daughters, her being the oldest in the litter. She's super upbeat and easily excitable, and loves getting to know knew people. She's very popular in her school and is invited to a lot of things, but she always makes sure to spend time with Mae and stick by her side. Dolly's parents are neglectful despite their family's "perfect" appearance. Her dad wanted a son, so he doesn't give them the time of day, and her mother doesn't bother to get to know them and is always away. Her parents usually leave her money and then leave for a couple days. Dolly and her sisters constantly want their mom's attention, but because Dolly was born looking the most like her mom, she's the only one that gets the sliver of attention. This affection is superficial and meaningless, and leaves her feeling empty, but it causes intense jealously between her and her sisters, they don't get along well at all. Her mother always advised her daughters to marry someone rich like she did (which is an indicator of what her parents' relationship is like), and to always appear submissive and weak because guys are 'turned away from powerful women.' Because of this, Dolly always dated higher-class boys her weren't the nicest. Several of them would try to take advantage of her because they knew that her dad didn't care enough to go after them. She'd always break up with them within a few weeks or so, they weren't her type at all but she was only following her mom's advice. Dolly is a very talented seamstress and sketcher, and wanted to own her own boutique one day. However she never thought she could because her mother would tell her women shouldn't work. When she graduated she met Anthony and started dating him, and she was able to be herself around him. The two got married very quickly on a whim, and then immediately after accidentally made a litter of 7 babies.

Anthony

Anthony is Dolly's husband! He's very timid and has a slight stutter. He comes from a notoriously wealthy family that is known for their extremely successful sons. Their family consists of two litters, the first being of 4 boys, Noble being the oldest of them. These are the 4 sons that are so famous. The second litters is of all girls except for Anthony. His sisters are very successful too, but outsiders always forget about Anthony and don't recognize him. He's very smart and loves math, and studied outside of school to become a tax collector for the queen (in this kingdom, taxes are only for the rich). He loves his wife and kids very much, and loves making horrible math puns.

Noble

Noble is the Captain of the Royal Guard! He is also Mae's mentor, and is gay and autistic. He is close friends with Queen Dahlia. He's the strong quiet type, a man of few words. He's strict and knows how to command his men, not somebody you'd want to mess with, He's well respected for his skill and leadership. He was a prodigy, and started learning how to use a sword when he was three. He was mentored by the previous captain of the guard himself, September. When he was in middle school, he was allowed into the guard program early. He lived away from home in the guards quarters from then on. While he was growing up there he figured out he was gay, but the royal guard is generally full of unaccepting people. He worked hard and was chosen to become September's successor, being the kingdom's youngest captain. He values his reputation a lot, and is terrified of people finding out his sexuality. He eventually gets together with Jeremiah, and is outted to the guard by somebody.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah is Joel's older twin! He's quite poor, and lives in a worn down one-room house where he runs his business, "Jeremiah's Shipping and Deliveries." He delivers tools and building materials to those who request it. Jeremiah was the one that was left behind with his mom after Joel left. Growing up, he always tried to act as the tough one and would stand up for his little brother when he was picked on. He's also queer, liking both girls and boys, but heavily denied it. He always picked fights with others that he couldn't win, and was used to getting beat up. When Joel was gone, he became very lonely and even more self-destructive. He became more violent and did horribly in school, he became friends with his pervious bullies and got into a lot of trouble with them. When he was a sophomore his dad left, and he had to deal with his mother by himself. He inherited bipolar disorder from his mother but he doesn't know that. When it came time to graduate he left home and never looked back. He's an alcoholic, he drinks to numb his feelings. He sleeps around with girls all the time, only to feel loved for one night. All these things just leave him feeling worthless and empty. Eventually, he reunited with Joel after seeing the book his brother published. He loves Joel and Mae so much, and is afraid of messing up his relationship with them. He has horrible self-esteem and constantly worries that he only has a bad impact on others. Eventually he meets Noble, who helps him accept himself and starts dating him.

Dahlia

Dahlia is the current reigning queen of the Seiki Kingdom. She's close friends with Noble. It was her controversial decision to send Mae out on her journey, but she was pressured into making a hasty choice by her brother and royal advisor, Cedar. Dahlia is quiet and regal, and tries to keep her emotions to herself. The entire purpose of her birth was to become the next queen, so she never had the chance to be a child. From day one she was taken and raised to be the perfect ruler. She's constantly under the pressure of Cedar, who is mean to her behind closed doors. Later on, Cedar pressures her to make an heir with somebody since she's getting older. She chooses Vincent for that job, but the two actually fall in love and she appoints him as her and her newborns' official doctor so that she gets to see him again.

Thatcher

Thatcher..... is basically the worst person. He is one of the worst villains in this universe. He was Asha's husband in the past era. He's a sociopath and a misogynist, and very rich. He's albino, which makes many see him as unique and attractive. Thatcher is incredibly clever, and nows how to manipulate everyone around him into thinking he's great and can do no harm. In reality, he has a violent mind with dark desires. He's the kinda guy to fantasize about keeping a girl in his basement. He owns an expensive store that sells jewels and holiday items. He met Asha when she was about to leave on her holiday trip. He noticed how loud and outgoing she was, and he thought that it'd be fun to "break/tame" her and force her into the role that he thought a woman should have. He flirted with her that day, but she rejected him. He saw this as part of the fun and proceeded to stalk her for the rest of the day. The entire time she was gone, he never stopped thinking about her and what he wanted to do to her. When she came back in tears after Ruben was "killed," he used that chance to act as her shoulder to cry on and worm his way into her life. They started dating, even though she wasn't very into it. Her mother and her friends encouraged her to marry him because of his status within their community. She did, but once they were married shit hit the fan fast. Thatcher was abusive to her, he'd slowly add onto what he could get away with. He'd pressure her into intimacy, and eventually would force himself onto her. He wanted kids, so he forced her to have his. She tried avoiding it for a while by using contraception without his knowledge, but when he found out he started getting physically abusive. Eventually, Asha became a shell of who she once was. Thatcher succeeded in breaking her, her fighting spirit was gone and she was quiet and numb. When their kids were four, Asha took her own life. Thatcher had pushed her too far. The loss of his wife was Thatcher's biggest regret, he couldn't take that back. But to him it wasn't the loss of his love, it was the loss of his favorite toy. He tried to regain his pride by manipulating his kids into believing that their mother passed because she didn't love them.

Verity

Verity is the current reigning queen of the Kitsuga kingdom! She was a strong warrior and leader, but her life was changed forever when the plague attacked. When Ruben's plague got to her kingdom, it killed many of the Kitsuga warriors, including her husband and the king, Clay. Her two kids Sato and Mana managed to hide, but many other Kitsuga were injured. Her son, Sato, decided to cocoon early to get his wings and encouraged many of his young peers to do so as well so that they could be more useful to the kingdom when they emerge. Verity is not silent most of the time, and just stands watching the kingdom from her den. She's still grieving the loss of her husband. She treated Mae like her own daughter, and was the one that taught her Mae's signature dive-bomb technique.

Marvin

Marvin is a Hachitsu, he's an inventor! He's autistic, asexual, and aromantic. He loves loves tinkering with machinery, coming up with ideas, and making friends. He's super passionate about his work and showing people what he does, but he sometimes is oblivious to social cues and accidentally  oversteps some boundaries. He's broke, and can just barely afford the rent on the garage he lives in. He bakes in his free time and sells his pastries to get a smidge of income. His sister, Pamela, is the only sibling that visits him regularly and makes sure he's taking care of himself. He's the only one in his family without a "real job," so his siblings and parents think that he's a disappointment. He met Mae when she came to the kingdom and was wandering around lost, unsure why people were ignoring her/acting rude (she was flying, and since the Hachitsu can't fly its considered rude to fly in their kingdom instead of using the stairs and pulleys). He saw this as an opportunity to finally make some money and made her pay for him to show her around. He ended up giving her her money back after she saved him when the plague attacked the Hachitsu, and the two became close friends. The two remain pen pals! Marvin's dream was to create an invention that would finally allow the Hachitsu to fly, he spent months trying to get the design right, and he just finally succeeded in creating a glider.

Charlotte

Charlotte is the current President of the Hachitsu kingdom, and she has been since she was 14 (Hachistu can run as many times as they like). She is the daughter of the previous president, who passed away when she was 14. Her mother encouraged her to become the next leader in her place. Her mother was killed by wasps, which gave Charlotte an intense fear of wasps ever since. She really loves bees! Bees are like dogs to them, they're dangerous to all other forest spirit species except for the Hachitsu, their bee-like colors and pheromones let them exist harmoniously with wild bees. Domestic bees are nice to everybody, regardless of species. She had several guard bees that she loved dearly, when the plague came, infected wasps came after her. Her bees gave their lives to protect her by fighting them off, but became part of the plague themselves. Charlotte is bisexual, but not very interested in dating. She's outspoken and very confident in herself, she's been runnin' this job for a long time and she believes she knows what she's doing.

Bel

Bel is an elderly Kameshi. He's the first and only Kameshi Mae ever met during her journey, although she does meet more later on in life. During the 200 year gap, the Kameshi kingdom had a civil way that led to its destruction. Now, the kingdom is just ruins, and Kameshi live on their own scattered across the forest. He lives in a cave near the remains of the cabin, and often goes through it to find human items. He's a collector of human things, and his cave is littered with various human objects. His scarf is made of a green cloth and thread that he found in the dirt near the cabin, and is actually where Mae's needle came from! When Mae found her needle it was attached to a green thread, it was the very same one. Bel approached Mae because he noticed the needle on her back, and he wanted to get a better look. Bel is everyone's grandpa, he ofc treats Mae like his own granddaughter and is protective of her. He was the one that encouraged her to look inside the cabin to help with her journey. Mae came to visit him over a year later with Joel, and Bel didn't like Joel much sbhjdshsdshd simply because he was "dating" Mae (they were already married at that point lmao). He had also adopted an orphaned 5-year old Kameshi girl who he named Scamp. He gets his own arc later on in the series when he finds a hidden village of Kameshi, and he reunites with his past love, Tuft.

[dramaticviolincrescendo]

Ian and Monica vs. Yevgeny and Svetlana

That’s right. I’m going to do a meta post. Because this fantastic gifset from @sickness-health-all-that-shit got me thinking about something from a different angle. I’m not sure if this has been noted in the fandom before since I’m still relatively new compared to the Shameless veterans, so sorry in advance if this has been talked about to death. 

From the time Ian returns in season four through the last occasion when we see him with Yevgeny in season six, it’s pretty clear that he loves that kid almost as much as Svetlana does and far more than Mickey seems to. Obviously, Mickey has a lot of justifiable reasons for not feeling particularly paternal towards Yevgeny that I won’t get into here, and we do see a bit of a shift in the police station on that front for the first time. However, the fact of the matter is that Ian is more of a father to Yevgeny than Mickey--even Svetlana mentions his help when she’s talking to Kev. In my meta-viewing rounds, I’ve seen a lot about how Yevgeny’s relation to Mickey and Ian being just a genuinely kind, compassionate person play a huge role here. I agree. There is, however, an enormous parallel with his own upbringing that I want to explore at length, and since writing is kind of my medium, I figured I’d do it here. (Again, if this has been talked about before, please continue scrolling and have a wonderful day! :D )

Ian has mommy issues. 

Ian also has daddy issues. 

There. I said it. 

All the Gallagher kids have issues with Frank and Monica, and we see them “act out” throughout the series in ways that would indicate that they suffer from a level of trauma strongly associated with their parents. For now, let’s focus on Ian’s since he’s who this post is ultimately about. 

Frank:

Unlike the rest of the Gallagher siblings, we don’t really see much happening directly between Frank and Ian without the rest of the family involved in the first four seasons prior to Ian meeting Yevgeny. To my knowledge, all they really have is a brief deleted scene conversation and Frank offering “advice” when Ian is trying to warn him that Mickey is upset. Their other interactions tend to be more negative, with Frank beating on Ian or Ian joining the rest of his siblings in getting Frank out of the house. At the end of the first season, he even finds out that Frank isn’t actually his biological father. His speech to Lip and behavior for the rest of the series seem to indicate that it doesn’t matter to him and he still considers Frank his father regardless, but that was a heck of a smack to the face when he was already growing up with Frank’s special brand of manipulation and neglect. 

So, where does that lead him? Places where a child his age shouldn’t have been. Interacting with much older men who preyed on him rather than trying to find him help or just staying away. They had an aura of stability that we have seen time and again is what Ian craves, through ROTC and West Point and these relationships with people who seemingly have their shit together. (In reality, we all know it’s a facade. Kash and Ned absolutely do not have their shit together, and Ian’s demeanor around them visibly shifts when he finally sees that with Kash shooting Mickey and Ned’s family falling apart.) As with Frank, he is willing and able to let them go when he realizes that they are more of the same: another deadbeat. 

Now, let’s table that and come back to it in a moment. 

Monica:

Ian’s relationship with Monica clearly has a greater impact on him throughout the series in more ways than merely their shared bipolar situations. She’s the only biological parent he has, and she’s definitely the only parent that has shown him any real affection from what we’ve seen. (Until the wedding. I’ll give Frank a few karma points for not causing trouble and being happy for Ian.) Monica loves him--he knows that. Unfortunately, he also knows that that love is not enough to keep her around or make her a better mother to any of her children. If anything, the combination of her affection, his grudging love for her, and her disorder render any efforts she does make counterproductive. For example, Frank has never engaged with Ian’s dreams of becoming a soldier, but when Monica finds out that that is his goal and that he’s upset about not having the grades for West Point, she hauls him right over to the recruitment office. To her, it’s an act of adoration. Everybody else knows it’s insane: Ian was underage and shouldn’t have been anywhere near there. Just like he shouldn’t have been anywhere near clubs, being objectified. Monica wasn’t being malicious. She seriously thought that she was doing what was best for him in her own way. Her own way just happened to be really messed up. To a large extent, it seems like Ian recognizes this fairly early on until he gets sick and doesn’t know who to turn to.

Rather than write her off the way he does Frank, however, Ian stays in touch with her behind his siblings’ backs. He knows she isn’t a good influence and that they would be appalled if he told them that they still talk. But he cares. She’s important to him. Fiona is fantastic, but she’s his sister. This is his mother, who obviously loves him even at her worst. He can’t let that go. He has to cling to that one parent in the same way that the others cling to Frank at various points in the earlier seasons before he burns their final bridges at one moment or another. 

Character Foils: Yevgeny, Svetlana, and Mickey

I think Ian’s relationship with his parents is a huge reason for why Ian behaves the way he does with Yevgeny in part based on the timing. It doesn’t begin when he moves into the Milkovich house. It doesn’t start with the obligation if he is going to live with Mickey since Svetlana isn’t going anywhere. Even though his discomfort over Mickey going to the baptism surfaces afterward, Ian starts actively trying to take care of Yevgeny the same day he sees that baby. Why bother? He hasn’t shown any concern for Svetlana before. He even sarcastically congratulated Mickey when they found out she was in labor without actually pushing for either of them to be there. Why does he decide at that moment to get involved, knowing that Mickey wouldn’t be happy about it and that Svetlana wouldn’t accept the charity from him, of all people? 

Well, because it’s a painfully similar situation to what he’s accustomed to, isn’t it? 

Mickey left home, just like Frank. (I’m not saying he didn’t have a good reason: he had a lot of trauma to endure that Frank didn’t. Frank not wanting kids has nothing on what Mickey went through to wind up here.) He didn’t want a baby. He didn’t want to be a father. He is just chilling at the Gallaghers’ house, both of them pretending that things are the way they used to be because the changes aren’t right in front of their faces anymore. When Svetlana walks through the front door looking for him not because they’re married, but because of the baby? When Mickey doesn’t care? Regardless of the reasons, that has to look familiar to Ian in practice. 

Svetlana gives a shit. She’s willing to threaten Mickey with something that could end his life (if Terry were so inclined) if he doesn’t step up to support their child. Again, she’s not asking him at that point to be a husband. She doesn’t ask him to move back in, and when she does later, there’s no reason to believe that Ian knows about it since he wasn’t there. For her, it comes down to love for her child as far as Ian is concerned. She’s got problems--there’s no denying that. But she loves her kid more than anything. She comes to find Mickey for the first time looking frazzled because their kid needs things. When Ian needed to feel better about Mickey going to juvie, Monica was there. When Ian needed to be comforted about his future, Monica was there. By that point, Monica was even there for him when he went into a severe manic episode, ran away from the army, got kicked out of Ned’s condo, and had nowhere else to go. She didn’t stick around, as Monica’s MO tends to dictate, but she was there when he was in need and was gone when he reached a state of what she would define as stability. (We know he wasn’t stable. Dear heavens, he was so not stable.)

It’s not Yevgeny’s fault that his parents are kind of a shitshow (courtesy of Terry, of course), just like it wasn’t Ian’s fault that Frank and Monica were the same. Yevgeny was born into an awful situation he can’t control. Ian must understand that better than almost anybody. By this time, his older siblings have found a sense of control over their lives while Ian’s whole world is bouncing up and down around him, spinning too fast for him to keep up. 

Ian has something that Yevgeny doesn’t: experience. This kid is just getting started, but Ian has already been there. He’s grown up with a dad that doesn’t want him and a mother who loves him, although his own mother didn’t stick around the way Svetlana did. Then again, Ian barely knew Svetlana beyond her occupation, so for all he knew, even that wouldn’t last. Maybe she would go the same way as Monica. 

Nobody would have wanted that for Ian, and it only makes sense that he wouldn’t want it for Yevgeny.

So, he steps up right away. He doesn’t have time to go through the mental process of coming to terms with the fact that this is Mickey’s kid and how he’s going to need stability. That much is obvious when he questions why Mickey is going to the baptism only to be told, “He’s my son, man.” It clearly hadn’t registered for him entirely, they’d been so encapsulated in the bubble they’d built for themselves when Ian came home. 

Tl;dr - That gut-instinct to act? That immediate response to seeing--not hearing--that Yevgeny needed things that parents were supposed to provide for their children? Ian is such a kind-hearted person that I don’t put it past him for an instant to do what he could, but I think his own upbringing played a large role in the decision. He wasn’t looking for praise or to get Svetlana off of Mickey’s back. He saw a newborn baby who was in danger of growing up with a father who didn’t want him and a mother who loved him but perhaps not enough to save him someday. 

Just like Ian. 

[were-all-idjits-here]

The Family You Have Here

Pairing: Dean x Reader (non-descript)

Warnings: mentions of abusive family, mentions of abusive comments, self deprecating thoughts, crying.

A/N: Although I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday season, I know the holidays can be hard for people who don't get along with their families (me included). I thought we all could use some comfort from Dean Winchester to feel better. Thanks for the read! Comments/likes/shares are greatly appreciated.

Read here on AO3

~~~

You sighed and slid to the floor as your door clicked shut behind you. Biting your lip, you let your head fall back against the hard wood with a dull thud. Although most people loved the holidays, you hated them for a very specific reason: your family. Not the one you’d created with the Winchesters and their friends; the one that was biologically related to you. Growing up in Sioux Falls, you’d always had Bobby’s place to run to when things got rough. He’d been a friend of your uncle’s, who was estranged from the family. Once you’d connected with him, you’d realized the only reason he was estranged in the first place was because he was much saner than the rest of your family. It was a shame a ghoul had done him in years ago. You just hoped both he and Bobby were in a better place now.

Your phone vibrated next to you, making a rattling sound on the wood of your bedroom floor in the bunker. You jumped at the noise and looked to see a new message from Sam: Still hunting?

No, you typed. Just got back. Heading to bed now.

At 7pm? Sam asked. You ignored it. You hadn’t actually been hunting, you’d been with your family for Thanksgiving dinner. The reason you didn’t tell the brothers was because you knew they would’ve given you a lecture about it. Neither of them liked your family and had even gone so far as to call them abusive. Sam had mentioned narcissistic personality disorder multiple times while describing your mother. Especially since the two of you had gone to Stanford together for a little while and he’d met them multiple times. Dean had only met them once when there had been a hunt in your hometown, but that was enough for him to decide your mom was “a douche” and your dad was only enabling her. However, you still wanted a relationship with your dad and as much as he worshipped your mom, it was either cut both of them off or cut neither of them off. You tried to stay as low contact with your mom as possible, but it was hard. For so long, she’d been your entire social life, since she didn’t really allow you to have many relationships outside of her. The few you developed were either from school when she wasn’t around, or when you snuck out. It was especially hard to believe her behavior wasn’t normal, or that the horrible things she’d said to you weren’t true, when she’d been the only voice in your ear for nearly two decades. She had trained you to need her, but never to rely on her. Hence why you’d felt obligated to show up to family Thanksgiving. Now sitting on your bedroom floor completely drained of both feeling and tears, you’d wished you hadn’t.

Your stomach growled and you groaned. Your anxiety had been so bad the entire time, it had given you an upset stomach. You’d barely eaten anything in the last few days, since eating while your stomach was churning was never a good idea. Deciding you should at least have a nice hot shower and maybe something light, like crackers, you hauled yourself up off your floor, grabbed your bathroom things, and headed to the showers.

 ~~~

You’d thought you were drained of all possible tears, but you were wrong. It had been impossible to tell which was the water from the shower on your face and which was the tears. Your stomach continued to twist in knots and your anxiety was now so bad that you’d had to make a run for the toilet about every fifteen minutes. Why must your bowels betray you now, too?

You were starving, but nothing sounded good except maybe some applesauce and crackers. At least you felt nice and clean as you shuffled your way into the kitchen, sniffling and rubbing your tired eyes, wearing your comfiest pair of PJs with the hood up over your head like a hug. You could definitely use one of those right now, but both of the boys’ doors had been shut and you didn’t want to bother them. They rarely got a day off, much less the full week they’d been taking—and never on a holiday. You doubted they’d really celebrated Thanksgiving the way most people did, but you still wanted to make sure they had their downtime. Besides, you bothered them enough whenever you needed something—which seemed like a lot.

You sighed as you pulled out the jug of applesauce you kept in the fridge, grabbing a spoon and just eating directly out of the jug. You plopped down on the island stool with your water bottle and closed your eyes, swinging your feet as you did so—at least, until your foot bumped into a lump.

“Ow,” a gravelly voice mumbled beneath you. Your eyes shot open to see Dean Winchester sitting on the floor next to your feet. “Why are you kicking me?”

“Why are you on the floor?” you asked around a mouthful of food.

“It’s a free bunker.” He hauled himself to his feet using the bar stool next to you, groaning all the while.

“Old man,” you mumbled.

“Whatever. You ain’t that much younger than me, kid.”

“Then why do you still call me kid?”

“’Cause…free bunker,” he muttered, plopping down next to you with a sigh, his beer bottle clunking on the table.

You snorted and shook your head, just enjoying his company. Although you’d had a crush on him since you were a teenager, you knew the type he went for. Ever since you’d joined them on hunts years ago, you’d had to watch him go after numerous women in bars who looked nothing like you. Attractive, for example. Your mom constantly reminded you every time she saw you how you needed to “lose weight.” Although you and Dean had become practically inseparable over the years—eating burgers together, watching dumb horror movies and rocking out to Metallica in the Impala—there was no way he saw you as anything more. If he had, he would’ve said something, right? Either way, you would take whatever affection from him you could get, even if it was just platonic.

“You feeling okay, kid?”

You nodded. “Just a little queasy.”

It was quiet for a moment before Dean finally said, “You weren’t really on a hunt, were you?”

You finally looked over at him. You were about to deny it, but one look in his probing green eyes told you there would be no getting away with it. “I’m really not in the mood for a lecture right now, Dean.”

He held his hands up in a surrendering position. “I wasn’t gonna lecture you. I just want you to feel like you can come to me with this stuff.”

“How’d you find out?”

“Guess your mom was having trouble getting a hold of you, so she called Sam ’cause she knows you two still talk.”

You sighed and closed your eyes, pushing the applesauce away from you. “Why did he pick up?”

“He got that new phone last month and didn’t transfer her number, so I guess he didn’t know who it was. Thought it might be another hunter.”

You groaned. “I’m sorry he had to deal with her.”

“I don’t get why you still deal with her.”

“Dean—”

“Listen, I’m not here to lecture you, okay? I’m just saying, I know you come home from being with them and feel like shit about yourself, and I don’t want you to feel like shit about yourself.”

You glanced over at him to see his face softer than you were used to.

“You’re pretty frickin’ awesome, kid.”

“I don’t know…”

“Well, I do. So does Sam and everybody else in our family. Jody and Donna love you like their own kid, Claire thinks you’re the best thing that happened, which is pretty high praise coming from her.” He paused. “I know I’m not so good at the whole talking about our feelings thing, but I’m here if you need anything.”

You swallowed. “What if…what if I’m just a crybaby and the stuff my family does is normal?”

“Trust me, kid, that ain’t normal. I’m an expert in not-normal, and your family definitely qualifies.”

You snorted, grabbing his beer and taking a mouthful.

“Hey!” he cried.

“Sharing is caring.”

“Okay, then, you won’t mind if I do this.” He stuck his tongue out and leaned towards your applesauce.

You couldn’t help but laugh at his face. “Back off, Winchester.”

He smiled. “There’s the smile.” He surprised you by reaching out and rubbing your back. “Glad to have you home, kid. If you need anything, you know where to find me.” He yawned, chugging the rest of his beer and heading towards the door. He ruffled your hair before making his way out of the kitchen, the beer bottle crashing against the others in the trash can on his way out.

~~~

It had been a few weeks since the disaster that was Thanksgiving dinner with your family. You tossed and turned in your bed fitfully as you thought about the text your mother had sent you just a few hours ago: We want you to sleep over Christmas Eve, so we can all be together Christmas morning to open gifts like we used to when you were little. When you asked if anyone else was sleeping over, she’d merely said she didn’t know, but if they didn’t, we can always have some mother-child bonding time. You shuddered at the thought.

Eventually, you fell asleep sometime around two in the morning. Not even an hour later, you bolted upright in bed, sweating and panting. You’d dreamed Sam and Dean had finally had enough of you and kicked you out of the bunker. Before you’d even been able to blink, Castiel had transported you and your belongings to your parents’ house, where your mom hadn’t even given you space to breathe. When you tried to explain you just wanted to be alone for a little while to grieve your relationship with the Winchesters, she’d gone off on you, even going so far as to chain you to the kitchen table leg while laughing maniacally. You’d tried to call out to your dad for help, but he just shrugged, saying he didn’t see what was abnormal about the situation and how you should be more “grateful” to your mother.

You clutched the blanket beneath you and frantically looked around your room. You were in the bunker with the Winchesters, and you were safe.

Before you even realized what you were doing, you found your feet carrying you to Dean’s bedroom door. You hesitated. It was three in the morning. Dean needed all the sleep he could get. However, something in you pulled you to slowly crack his door and peek through. The light from the hallway shone on his sleeping face. His mouth ajar with soft snores pouring out, his hair sticking every which way and his long lashes brushing his cheek made it hard for you to pull yourself away. He stirred and frowned before rolling over away from the light. You quickly backed out of the doorway, closing it shut behind you quietly.

You fell against the wall, hiding your face in your hands as you took a shaky breath. You were enough of a burden. You didn’t need to give them a reason to really kick you out. You loved Sam and Cas like brothers and Dean…after years hunting with him, you’d come to really be in love with him. You couldn’t ruin things by letting your heart get in the way of your head. He wouldn’t feel the same, things would get awkward and then you really would have to leave the bunker—

“Y/N?”

You jumped, looking up to meet Dean’s eyes. You hadn’t even heard him come out of his room. He looked even more adorable as he rubbed some sleep from his eye, his hair full hedgehog-mode, making your heart ache even more. You couldn’t help but glance down at the way his boxers hugged his hips, butt and…other things. You quickly looked away, sniffling as something wet ran down your nose. You hadn’t even realized you’d been crying.

Before you could reach up to wipe them away, Dean gently turned you to face him. His hands rose, hesitating in midair as he stared at you. You were surprised by the slight fear you saw there. When you made no move to pull away, the rough pads of his thumbs gently wiped the tears from your cheeks. You bit your lip as you felt more tears forming before collapsing against his chest. You hugged his middle tightly as he wrapped his arms around your shoulders, pulling you close and burying his face in your hair. After a few minutes, you felt his fingers gently massaging your head, his fingers carding through the soft strands. You melted against him.

You stayed like that for several more minutes before he pulled away, his hand gently running down your arm to grab your hand. “Come on,” he mumbled, tugging you gently towards his bed.

You paused next to his bed, feeling awkward as you watched him climb under the covers. He threw the covers next to him back and patted the empty side of the mattress. “C’mere, sweetheart.”

Your heart leaped at the nickname. It wasn’t like he’d never used it before, but this felt different. He was using it to invite you into his bed. But not like that, you told yourself, he’d never invite you in like that. You glanced at his open arms before quickly accepting the invitation, settling your head against his chest and falling into a peaceful sleep with his heartbeat thumping in your ear and a hand gently massaging your scalp.

~~~

A rough pounding on your door woke you up. You jolted awake, looking at the clock on your nightstand to see it read eight in the morning.

“Up and at ’em!” Dean’s voice called from the other side of the door. You smiled at the childlike excitement evident in his voice. With the support of the two brothers, you’d been able to find the strength to tell your mom that you wouldn’t be sleeping over for Christmas. Instead, the Winchesters had insisted they take the week off and you, the brothers and Cas would celebrate Christmas together. She’d thrown a fit about and tried to call you multiple times, eventually causing Sam to block her once she started calling him nonstop as well. You’d almost picked up multiple times, but Dean had been your rock throughout the entire situation. He’d rarely left your side the past few weeks and had slowly started becoming more physically affectionate, making you wonder if maybe he did feel something for you. He always made you feel better, but the past few weeks, it had seemed like his mission to make you feel like you were on top of the world: buying all your favorite foods on supply runs, marathoning movies with you and even insisting you start spending the night in each other’s rooms more often. Although it was usually his room. Who could resist that memory foam mattress (and how everything smelled like him, but of course you didn’t tell him about that part)? One night that was particularly bad, Dean had even had a dance party with you in the kitchen—music provided by Metallica, of course.

You swung your legs out of bed and threw your bedroom door open as his knocking became more intense. He had a stupid grin plastered across his face that you couldn’t help but mirror. He was practically vibrating in excitement.

“Well, someone’s excited,” you laughed.

“You kiddin’? You know when the last time we actually celebrated Christmas was?”

Your smile became wider, if that was possible, as he grabbed your hand and tugged you towards the man-cave, which had apparently been decorated, but you’d been forbidden from stepping foot in there. Dean said he wanted it to be a surprise.

“Cas, we’re coming in!” Dean yelled before skidding to a halt with you in the doorway. His face fell and you burst out laughing at the scene in front of you. “Cas, when Sam suggested ‘simple banners,’ I don’t think this is what he meant…”

Cas tilted his head in confusion, still holding onto one of the many plain white banners with the words “Merry Christmas” typed on it in large Times New Roman font. Although it looked ridiculously out of place next to the lights hung up on the walls and the Christmas tree groaning with the weight of too many ornaments on its branches, a small model Impala on the top in lieu of a star, it was 100% Cas. “Is this not satisfactory?”

You tried to contain your laughter. Dean ran a hand down his face in frustration as you said, “No, it’s great, Cas.”

Sam appeared behind you with two mugs of coffee in his hand. “You’d think I’d remember how literal he takes everything by now.” He handed you and Dean the mugs before helping Cas hang the final few banners.

You sipped your coffee, your eyes growing wide as you noticed all the presents under the tree. You recognized the wrapping paper you had used for the gifts you purchased for the boys, but the pile with your name on it was a little bigger than you expected.

As everyone sat around laughing, talking and opening presents—and of course, roasting each other—you were in Heaven. This was the most stress-free Christmas you’d ever had. Sam had gotten you several books you’d been wanting to read, Cas had gotten you some cozy PJs and some more coffee mugs and thermoses, and now only the presents Dean had gotten for you lay unopened. There was an uncharacteristic shyness in Dean’s smile as he pushed them towards you. You gave him a reassuring smile back as you ripped the wrapping paper away.

He chuckled at your noise of excitement as you opened the bag of your favorite candy, shoving several in your mouth. The second present contained the complete box set of your favorite TV show. But the third was what really got to you: a small framed bulletin board full of pictures of you and the Winchesters. Pictures of you and Dean together dominated the board and the word “family” was written across the top and bottom of the frame.

You felt your eyes fill with tears and looked up to see Sam and Cas had disappeared, leaving you and Dean alone sitting by the Christmas tree. “Did you make this?”

Dean nodded. “I know your family kinda sucks, so I thought you could use a reminder that you’ve always got a family here with us. I know you don’t wanna go no-contact and if you never do, me, Sam and Cas will support you. But I just thought you could use a reminder that you’ve got a family who thinks you’re pretty damn awesome just the way you are, kid.”

You laughed. “Look at you, getting all chick flick-y.”

“Shut up,” he mumbled, his cheeks turning pink as he looked away.

You leaned over to hug him. “Seriously though, thank you. I love it.”

Dean pulled you as close to his chest as he possibly could. “You’re welcome, kid.” He adjusted his legs beneath you as he pulled you into his lap, burying his face in your hair. It had become your new way to hug.

You weren’t sure how long you stayed like that, just enjoying the feeling of being in Dean’s arms, but a crash from the kitchen made you jump. Cas’s voice carried from the kitchen, “Sam, somehow I don’t think this is the customary way to make pancakes.”

Dean groaned and you giggled just as you turned your head to look at him. He turned his head at the same time and you froze as your lips brushed against his. The two of you stared at each other with wide eyes for a moment, and you couldn’t help glancing at his full lips. You yanked your eyes back up to meet Dean’s green orbs to find him staring at your lips as well. Wait, did he—

“Fuck it,” he mumbled before crashing his lips into yours.

You made a noise of surprise and tensed. If there was anything you were expecting from Christmas morning, it certainly wasn’t this. You were frozen in shock and after a minute, Dean tensed beneath you as well. Afraid he would misread the situation and pull away, you relaxed in Dean’s arms, your hand going to the back of his short hair and scratching his scalp with the blunt ends of your nails. He relaxed in turn and let his hands wander all over your body. You leaned into him, unsure how you’d enjoyed anyone else’s kisses up until now. You always knew Dean was a ladies’ man and was probably a good kisser, but now realized how your imagination paled in comparison. “You’re gorgeous,” he mumbled in between kisses.

Just as his tongue gently ran over your bottom lip as he pulled you impossibly closer, his hands making their way to cup your ass, Sam’s voice boomed behind you, “About damn time!”

You jumped and pulled away to see the younger Winchester with an annoyed but amused grin on his face in the doorway.

Dean cleared his throat, moving his hands back up to your hips. “A little privacy, Sammy?”

Sam’s face fell. “Um, so the pancakes kind of exploded…”

“What?” Dean cried as you howled with laughter. “How the hell do you make pancakes explode, Sam?!”

“Cas did it!”

“That is an inaccurate statement!” Cas yelled from the kitchen.

Tears leaked out of your eyes from laughter as Dean groaned and buried his face in your shoulder.

“I’ll just—go—clean things…” you heard Sam sprint back down the hallway.

Dean sighed. “All right, let’s go teach Dumb and Dumber how to cook without destroying the bunker.”

Before he could move, you rubbed your nails across the back of his neck one more time. He immediately relaxed at the action. “Dean, seriously, thank you.”

He smiled. “You just seemed to have such a shitty Thanksgiving, I wanted to make sure Christmas was awesome.”

“It was the best I’ve ever had.”

He kissed you again, leaning towards you as you started to pull away. “Merry Christmas, sweetheart.”

You beamed. “Merry Christmas, Dean.”

[nefelibata-agibilibus]

Why Young Justice is a disappointment

I just rewatched Young Justice, and I’m thinking about the disillusion I felt, and why, for a few days I have been thinking about this, and I want to write it, this will be a long post, and is just me venting about my feelings.

Why I like Young Justice

I love to see cartoons, series and movies. I always liked superheroes, and, when I found Young Justice I loved it, the animation was great, the fights were cool, the characters, the plot, It was awesome, into the things I like are:

The big plot: It was awesome, as we learned about they machinations of the villains, we met them, the idea of the Light, this group of people, using the Justice League, in the fight between Darkseid and Vandal Savage, the two of them conquering the universe, waiting to fight each other in the last, ultimate, fight.

The way we learned about the Light was cool too, in the first season we don’t know who they are, we watch a lot of people planning things in the background, before knowing what they want we know who they are, and, by learning all the kind of villains are part of this, we understand the plans are big, mixing technology, chaos magic and metahumans powers, with influence on the ocean, the world politics and one of the greatest group of assassins, even alien conquerors.

The core of the show: We can say this show, deep down, is about found family and teenagers stepping up.

The team is about found family, in the first season Artemis, Conner and M'gann are alone, and they found family on the team and their allies, Mount Justice became the house of Zatanna after Zatara puts on Nabu’s helmet, they are kind of a surface family for Kaldur’ahm, in the second season a lot of people live there, and call the place home, this is the new home for Bart, and the kids kidnapped by the Reach found friends on each other, in the third season the team is a family for Violet, Bryon, Vic, Tara and Forager, and the youth center for metahumans is meant to be a home, they even buy a new place to be their quarters.

This is specially for Artemis, she was raised by abusive parents, Sportmasters trained her to fight, in the comics we see she knows other villains kids, Jade ran away, Artemis wanted to ran away, and her mother is manipulative, she cries so Artemis accepted entering Gotham Academy, despite not wanted to do it, her mother also uses Lian to make her quit the superhero life and enter a relation with Will.

At the beginning she doesn’t trust the team, she hides the truth about her origins, and she is really worried they would find out, at the end she trust them, and, after five years, she and Wally even consider start their own family, in the mental playground M'gann created is clear they talked about marriage and having babies, she offers a home for Violet and Tara, not only teaching them how to control their powers and work as a team, but offering kindness, and that kindness saves Garfield life and helps Tara cut the relation she had with the Light, both of them were in abusive places, and a group of friends they made are the ones helping to be better, they choose the kind and loving people over the manipulative and abusive.

The second core of the show is teenagers asking to not be treated like kids without agency, untrusty of the league secrets, they can make decisions too, they can fight crime too, the world the grown ups are crafting is theirs too, and, yeah, the grown ups are more mature, can take better decisions because they have more experience, their brain is fully developed, and, at the beginning, Red Tornado, Black Canary and Batman look after the kids, keep and eye on them, assign the missions, do the training, Black Canary is a teurapet too!. They are taken care of physically and emotionally, but they ask for trust, Garfield and Conner said it, work with me or move away, this is my world too, and, if I can take decisions about what’s happening to it, I will act.

Artemis and Kaldur’ahm act won’t have worked without the team, they were trusted enough by the league, so, Kaldur betraying would be useful to the Light, but the big public didn’t knew a lot about him, and their missions were undercover, no big shows and public fights for the normal people to know about them, so the betrayal affect just the heroes, Artemis death just affects the team and the league won’t need to said out loud that she died, and then said “Just kidding, she was in a deep undercover mission”, like, If Wonder Woman, Superman, or any league member died, the people would get angry if later they just take back that and go away with it.

And they are important in other ways, during the first season, when Klarion created two worlds, the team were essential to calm the kids, and asked for the older ones to take care of the youngers, and, during the fight, they needed them to fight against Klarion and brake the stone in their reality to join the worlds, Zatanna is the one to put on the Helmet of Fate, she is the decisive piece to win the fight; in the third season, when the outsiders stepped into the spotlight, they save people, and show that Luthor’s impediments could cost lives, in the final moment the outsiders, by defeating Granny on earth, saved all the heroes.

The fights: The animation is 10/10, smooth, easy to follow, clean, I love it, but, especially in the first season, the fights are more than heroes punching villains, the fights develop a character, give exposition about their history, an inside on their minds, or moves the plot.

This is awesome, taking on account the first two seasons were made to be broadcast on cartoon network, for a casual viewer, while zapping, would stay for seeing the fight, but, for a viewer who wants to know the characters, it is always going to have exposition, for the plot or the character.

You can take, as an example, the episode 5 season 1 “Schooled”, we watch how Superman don’t want to work with Superboy, and we’re reminded about Conner’s anger issues, he’s acting proudly and Black Canary defeats him easily, Robin is the one smoothing him, a kind of foreshadowing for Dick being the leader, Conner gets the lesson “raw force won’t help you win every battle”, and, during the fight with Amazo, he understands that, they even present Artemis.

Some people would stay, watch the episode, and enjoy it, it has its own story, there is no real need to know all the plot to enjoy it, for a fan, or someone invested in the show, the episode is good, we watch the relation between Superboy and Superman, foreshadowing about Robin leadership and a lesson for Conner. 

The consequences: The things happening to the characters aren't capsuled on one episode, they do things that will affect them in the future.

I will take, as an example, the episode 17 of season 1 “Disordered”, chronologically is after the exercise of the aliens, a traumatic experience for the characters, and it isn’t swept below a rug, we got and inside of every character, you have the cool episode fight, and an introduction to New Genesis and Apokolips tech, something really important for the next seasons.

We deal with the feelings of everybody, and they give us hints about the secrets or the future of the characters, Robin wants to be away of Batman’s darkness, putting on track Dick’s journey to become Nightwing, for Wally, he acts like nothing happened, and is still in denial about his feelings towards Artemis, we get hints about M'gann secret and how she is affected by the idea of others knowing, the writers foreshadow Kaldur’ahm leaving the leader position for Robin, the fear Artemis has about her friends finding out about her family, and, Superboy’s wish to be Superman, all of that is the road to the character grow.

But they ruined it with the time skips.

        2. Where Young Justice failed?

Time skips: I was watching Young Justice with my dad, it was my second time with the series, he ended the first season, we started the second one, and my dad asked me if Netflix didn’t add a season, no, they didn’t forget a season, they decided to age the characters, put a lot of info in the firsts episodes, and I felt robbed.

The first skip is of five years, the team grow, M'gann is less like Hello, Megan, she and Conner broke up, she is dating a L’gaan, is treated like a sister by Garfield, whom developed powers and now is Beast Boy, Superman is treating Conner like a brother, he have less anger, and helped the Genomorphs to be free of Luthor, Roy tried to enter the Light undercover, with Jade help, they failed, decided to have a normal life, married, have a baby, and now Roy is in a bad place, everyone is worried and Jade rejoined the villains, Artemis and Wally keeped their relation and leaved the superhero life, they were doing fine, Dick became Nightwing and is the leader, dated Zatanna and broke up, Barbara became Batgirl, Batman adopted Jason, Jason died, he adopted Tim, and Kaldur’ahm, lost Tula, discovered Black Manta is his real father, (in the comics we met his father and mother, so everybody lied to him about his family), quit the team to become a villain, but, plot twist, is on a deep undercover mission, and, apparently, only Dick, Wally and Artemis knows about.

And we didn’t need the skips, like, all the things happening would be useful for one or two seasons, and, if you wanted the undercover thing, you have Roy, you, literally, said he was undercover with the Light, you had things with every character, a way to develop them.

The second skip is shorter than the first, but it wasn’t necessary either, they grieved Wally, Dick ended his time out of hero life, Barbara became Oracle, Bruce adopted Stephanie and Cassandra, and they became Orphan and Spoiler, M'gann and Conner were doing a home life, M'gann was the team leader, Roy decided to be a normal man, changed his name to Will and raised Lian with Artemis, she kept Tigress alias, and lied to his mother about being a hero, Kaldur’ahm got a boyfriend and became Aquaman, leading the Justice League, all Atlantis knew he betrayed them, and now he is the great hero for all the atlanteans, Bart took Kid flash’s mantel, got adopted by the Garricks, and was able to spend a good time with his grandparents, father and aunt, Jaime got a girlfriend, and the kids kidnapped by the Reach aren’t around, except for Eduardo, who is helping in the Youth center for metahumans, and Virgil, who’s a hero and wants a girlfriend.

If you start a show with a core group of characters, and they are the main characters, you can’t insinuate grow for them, give the hints about their future, and swept them under the rug with the beginning of the next season, then, the new characters I’m starting to care about are pushed away too, it disappoints me. I wouldn’t be surprised if in season 4, the team are the babies we saw in season 3.

And there is no need to do this, are little things you could justify to need the time, but aren’t really important or could happen before is stated in the show.

In the first jump you could justify the Kroletan invasion as a reason to skip the five years, but the Kroletans aren’t the main villains, they are only used to make a database about the Justice League, and, in the comics, changing the leader of Bialya to be under the control of the Light, (and this is never brought again), furthermore, you could justify the building of a complex base under the earth in few months, days or weeks with alien technology, or just begin with the Reach, and justify the existence of the database about earth heros with info given by the Light.

And during the second time skip you could say, Tara needed time to be brainwashed by Slade, the tech to activate the metagen is new, and the mental controls to the metahumans.

But, technically, they said Vandal Savage is a meta human, and he is older than human history, if you don’t want to count him, you could start the metahuman gen active since 1950, I think, if they have on the Light mind controllers, people older than the team, and literally made clones, have access to Apokolips technology, they have Lex Luthor! The Light didn’t need the time, and the way to activate the metagen is really different between the Reach and the Light, they didn’t need the Reach to begin the investigation.

The lack of character growth: They were doing well at the beginning, and were good, and they hit a few things on other characters during the other seasons, but they miss a lot.

Dick, for example, has a lot of little brother energy, out of mission he is teasing his friends, when Black Canary defeated Conner, he laughed, he made fun of Wally the first time they were with M'gann, he is asking, with mockery, Artemis about what she is doing in Gotham, he calls M'gann Bald Megan, when they are on the first mission on Santa Prisca he is mocking Kaldur about explaining the disaster to Batman; he is going to be the leader of the team, but he is young, despite being the one with most time working as a vigilante, he is only 13, in age the next is Wally, with 15, and that Robin is interesting, in the comics he is the leader of a lot of teams, he is the older brother of the batfam, but he has to learn how to work with a team, to be trustful, to talk to others.

Creating Dick’s growth about leadership is an excellent idea, learning to guide people, how to talk to them, and, when he is a leader, he learns to be a mentor, he is teaching Violet, Bryon and Forager to control their powers and work together, an seeing a character grow to this point, would be satisfying, but they don’t do this, and yes, he is leader on season 2, but he is barely there, the missions, the action they are doing, Dick is away, he only fights one or two times, when the alien traps them on the Justice Hall he is not there, when Bluebettle betrays them, Dick’s not there, and he leaves, M'gann is the new leader, and they never gave hints about her doing that, Barbara has more foreshadowing than M'gann, Dick tells Kaldur Batgirl can step up and help, not M'gann, and we don’t see her really leading, Dick is the trainer, and Garfield is the one creating the Outsiders; Dick is a leader, you want him leading a team, but you don’t let him be one.

And if you wanted a love interest, in the comics they said Dick and Barbara liked each other before the team started, when you only watch the cartoon is, almost, out of nowhere the relation, Barbara is in Gotham Academy a few seconds on season 1, she makes a joke with Dick on season 2, they are dating on season 3, and they only interact a few times, I would rather see both of them grow into a relation than Mal and Bumblebee having a drama, Barbara, literally, said she is waiting for Dick to be ready, right now he is a dog, textual words from Wally and Barbara, and the idea of two peoples saying “I love you and I want to be with you the rest of my life, but right now I’m not ready to give you all you deserve” is astonishing, or, you could talk about healthy polygamus relationship, condemning the jealousy that could destroy a couple.

The show had good points, other character starting big, but falling flat, is Bart, he is from the future, a dystopian future, he is willing to leave behind all his friends and family to be in the past, he had a flashback when he is, literally, slaved by the Reach, he is using a collar, doing hand labor, and we don’t know if he really succeed, the only glimpse we got is the man helping Bart, not scarred and radioactive, but still on a bad world, and, on the third season he is a comic relief, saves a girl, and takes a photo with Jay and Barry saying #WeAreAllOutsiders.

Too many characters: Having six characters as the core team, none of them being more important than the others, could be hard,  but they were doing it fine, the things went down with the second season.

Now we have a big team, we don’t really know their names, how they became heroes, why they are here, in the first season we met Zatanna, and get a few chapters of her interacting with the team and Artemis, the only one that the watcher don’t really care about is Roquet, but she is important showing the sidekicks they aren’t a shadow of their mentors, they aren’t just kids on costumes, they are real heroes, they inspired her, and, we could guess, inspired others.

But in season 2, there are a bunch of characters I don’t know, and I quit the show at the beginning of season 3 because I wanted to watch the original cast, Wonder girl wanting to be more, Mal and Bumblebee having romantical issues, L’gaan jealous about M’gann and Conner, Tim wanting trust, nothing of that matters to me, you didn’t need them, needed their drama, because they go nowhere, and, in the third season, they aren’t bring up again.

You needed Jaime, he was the weapon against the Reach, and Bart was a good character, but his presence meant they failed saving the world, and he was a kind of comic relief, but not annoying or silly, and they did good when Tye was kidnapped, we watched the worry of Jaime, how he searched for him, by that we cared about Tye.

I understand why they created Violet and Victor, having a father box and a mother box with them, not as a computer, but as thinking beings, Violet is the answer for Darkseid plan, Victor was created from the father box, and now is working with the team, and they are poc, Violet is no binary, they are good characters.

Bt they started a journey with a character, gave us hints about they journey, and then, all the developing on the background, in season 3 Will tell Dick to stop being a loner, Jefferson is surprised Dick searched for him to save the kids at Markovia and asked help to enter Granny’s house, Dick, for the viewer, was never a loner, on the first episode he is making the team, in the second season he is the leader, his first appearance on third season is working with Oracle, asking help for the mission on Markovia, doing a team with the Harper boys, and training Forager, Violet and Bryon, Will said “Whom are you recruiting this time?” For us that means Dick, usually, asks for help to do the missions, they tell us Dick was working alone, but never showed it.

        3. Conclusion

The most infuriating thing is the show is good, they have a lot of great ideas, I will watch the fourth season, I want to watch the DC Fandome, I love the show, all this babbling came from my heart, and I’m sad, because they have great ideas, they put seeds for an excellent show, but barely water them, they let the ideas rotten and die.

[theosirianischosen]

How House of Anubis helped save my life

Please be warned this is a long story, but I finally got up the courage to write this all out.  Every word of this is true.  It explains how I got into House of Anubis, what was going on in my life at the time, and how the storyline from season 1 actually helped save my life.  It’s crazy to think about HOA this way, but I honestly think I wouldn’t be here without it (and no, it has nothing to do with me drinking the elixir of life)!

Trigger Warning: Bullying by authority figures, slight ableism, depression, suicidal thoughts

Transitioning into high school can be hard for everybody, but it was especially hard for me.  As I stated before on this blog, I am a Christian.  In fact, I started high school at a private Christian school.  However, what you may not know unless you follow my main blog is that I am autistic.  Specifically, I was diagnosed at an early age with Asperger’s Syndrome.  Because of my Asperger’s, I need certain accommodations for me to succeed in school.  These include extra time on tests, projects, and assignments in certain cases, and getting a notetaker to take notes for me.  Now, in the US, it is required by law for public schools to provide these accommodations for people with disabilities.  However, the same requirements do not apply to private schools, like the Christian school I went to.

At most public schools, they have a whole special education department that helps those with disabilities, often with their own sections depending on the needs of the children.  However, as you can imagine, a private school doesn’t have the funds for a whole department.  So at the Christian school I attended, there was one teacher designated as the learning coordinator who, among other things, essentially is the entire special education department.  For the purposes of this post, I will call this teacher Marijke.  (Yes, that is in reference to the villain from HHA.)  It’s also important to note that Marijke wasn’t just the learning coordinator, but also the English teacher for every Freshman at the school.

Every child with a disability that needs accommodations in schools has what’s called an IEP (Individualized Education Program).  This document describes the needs of the child and what accommodations need to be in place for the child to succeed.  It is reviewed at least once per year.  At the last IEP meeting before my freshman year, Marijke was in attendance.  She was asking good questions and taking notes.  Based on how everything went at the meeting, my mom and I thought we would have nothing to worry about when it came time to start high school the following school year.  Boy, were we wrong!

Early on in the school year, Marijke wasn’t following my IEP, but rather the notes she took from the IEP meeting.  This might seem like a small difference, but it isn’t.  The notes were basically her interpretation of what was talked about at the meeting, and these notes didn’t 100% match up with the actual needs detailed in my IEP.  For example, she didn’t provide notetakers to my classes because she wanted to see if I could do it myself first.  Keep in mind, the need for notetakers wasn’t just a generalized instruction inserted into my IEP.  I was actually tested thoroughly before the IEP meeting.  The result of this test shows that my mind can’t keep up with taking notes and paying attention and learning what’s being discussed in class at the same time.  My mind can only focus on one or the other.

Another theme Marijke kept mentioning whenever I didn’t like how my accommodations were being handled was that I needed to be prepared for college, and she has helped people in the past and while they might not have liked her methods at the time, they later came back and thanked her after they had graduated high school.  First of all, I was a freshman in high school.  Anyone starting high school would need some time to adjust to this new environment before even thinking about college.  In fact, trying to prepare someone for college as a freshman in high school is doing so prematurely.  Most people don’t know what college they want to go to or what they want to study at that age, and even if they do, these ideas change over time.  (I was no exception to this; as a Freshman, I wanted to go to MIT and later work for IBM, but I later got into filmmaking, and I wound up going to a local tech school for an associate’s degree in digital media.)

Second, and this is most important, autism is a spectrum disorder.  No two people with the same diagnosis will have the same needs.  And I’m not just talking about those who are nonverbal and need full-time care vs. someone like me who can take mainstream classes and generally become a fully-functioning member of society.  Everyone in the latter camp will all be very different as well.  Some (like me) would need notetakers, others wouldn’t.  Some (like me) are very skilled at math and science, others are not.  And I’m not even talking savant-level stuff here.  Autism affects everyone on the spectrum differently.  So saying that her approached worked for Joe Schmo years ago does not necessarily mean she would be successful using the exact same approach on me.  In fact, odds are that it wouldn’t work, as I was pointing out.

Now, as I alluded to above, I frequently advocated for myself and explained to her what I actually needed.  However, Marijke didn’t take too kindly to that, accusing me of questioning her authority.  Marijke was essentially taking the “my way or the highway” approach, and it wasn’t good.

My mom tried to get the principal involved early on, saying that Marijke wasn’t meeting my needs.  At first, he appeared to be concerned for my needs and although a little hesitant, he appeared to be on my side.  That all changed once he talked to Marijke.  He then completely sided with Marijke on everything, saying that I shouldn’t be questioning Marijke’s methods and that I should just listen to her as an authority figure because she knows best.

This was a source of stress and depression for me.  It wasn’t just the notetakers that were the issue.  Extra time on tests and projects wasn’t being provided, and assignments were another source of issues.  For example, my math teacher established a rule that late math assignments could be turned in up to one week late and it would be given full consideration without penalty.  After that, it would turn into a 0 and couldn’t be changed.  Another thing worth mentioning is that Marijke held what was called a structured study hall, which is essentially like a study hall period except with a structure provided by her.  This isn’t uncommon in public schools, either.  But when I became behind in Marijke’s English class, in the structured study (which took place BEFORE math class), she tried to get me to work on late work in her English class, citing the rule that I had up to a week to hand in the math homework without penalty.  Keep in mind, I wasn’t behind on one or two assignments, but rather a lot of work.  While I wanted to turn in everything that was late in Marijke’s class, I didn’t want to do it at the expense of falling behind in another class, especially when I had no set time limit on turning in Marijke’s late work but only one week to turn in late math assignments.

I tried explaining this all to my math teacher.  Just like with the principal and my mom, at first, he sided with me.  He then went to talk to Marijke in hopes that he could help me, but he came back siding with Marijke completely.

Another example of her not meeting my needs was her idea of helping me develop social skills by participating in a roundtable discussion with other students.  It’s not that it wasn’t a good idea, but rather it didn’t help me with any of my other social issues (as I will explain below), and it felt like just a regular class activity as opposed something that would actually help me.

Eventually, things really got out of hand with me and Marijke.  Marijke essentially became a bully.  She didn’t care for what I had to say about my needs, insisting on doing things her way.  Whenever I talked to another teacher about my troubles with her, even if they didn’t switch sides like the Principal and math teacher, Marijke found out that I had talked to them (somehow) and said she didn’t like me doing that.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, I couldn’t seem to find support from my peers either.  Some of the friends I made in middle school just thought I was using my Asperger’s as an excuse for things, and none of my other friends seemed to care.  And of course, Marijke took issue at me talking to my peers about my troubles with her.  (But come on, what high school student doesn’t complain to their friends about teachers they don’t like?)

And to top it all off, there were also a group of boys who were bullying me and wouldn’t stop (and it’s not like the principal or Marijke did anything to stop it, even going as far as saying I was making it seem like I was enjoying it), and girl troubles.  That’s a long story in and of itself, but long story short, a girl I liked didn’t like me back.  Even though she said we could still be friends, she certainly never acted like one.  At most, all I felt like I could say to her was “Hi” and “Bye” because anything more wasn’t acceptable to her and I had to keep my distance.

Now, I’m sure you’re asking me, “Why didn’t you just leave the school?”  At the time, I actually wanted to get a Christian education at the Christian school.  I kept looking at it through the lens of trying to make things better at that school as opposed to leaving for a public school.  Keep in mind, had this been a public school (or even a private school who got funding in some way from the government, such as with a school lunch program), what Marijke and the rest of the staff were doing would have been illegal, or at the very least we would have had legal options.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case, and so I truly felt I had nowhere else to turn.  I even started becoming suicidal.

Anyway, as I was deep in this whole situation, I discovered House of Anubis on Nick on Demand one weekend.  I remember seeing previews for it earlier.  It appeared to have a supernatural element based on the previews, and I wanted to see what it was about.  Believe it or not, the character I connected to the most was Patricia.  Early on, I saw her concern for Joy mirror my situation with Marijke.  Every teacher seemed to work together in covering up what really happened to Joy.  That’s just like how every teacher at my school was defending Marijke, even when her methods were not helpful at best and a form of bullying at worst.  While I believed Nina had nothing to do with her disappearance, I became frustrated with Patricia over how the teachers and police were involved.  There seemed to be nowhere for her to turn to, and that’s where I felt with my situation with Marijke.  And to top it all off, Patricia and Jason essentially embodied how I felt it was like whenever I tried talking to another teacher about my situation with Marijke.  My math teacher essentially was Jason Winkler.  He heard my story, sided with me, went to Marijke, and came back on her side.  Jason heard Patricia’s story, sided with her, went to Victor, and came back on his side.  Victor was just like Marijke in my book.

At the very least, House of Anubis helped save my life in the sense that it stopped me from killing myself in this situation.  I kept watching to learn more about the Joy/Patricia/Victor part of the mystery, in the hopes that maybe something could be used to help improve my situation.  Obviously, even though I did like the show, finding that miracle solution in the show didn’t happen.  Marijke, the principal, and the rest of the teachers weren’t a part of a secret society trying to become immortal.  But I truly felt it was like a conspiracy.

Eventually, my mom got involved again, talking to the music department about the issue.  Every freshman had a music class and was a part of a chorus, and I also was in Band as well as the musical, which was a production of The Wizard of Oz.  The musical was another reason why I didn’t want to leave this school.  If I left, I couldn’t be a part of the musical.  Keep in mind, I didn’t have a major role.  I was one of the Winkies, but I still wanted to be a part of the show.  This is important to note because my mom was looking to see if I could switch to a public school.  At this time, I was more open to the idea, but I still wanted to be a part of the musical.  In order for me to join the public school, I would have to leave BEFORE the musical and therefore I wouldn’t be able to be a part of it.  At this point, while I was thinking about maybe joining the public school my sophomore year, I still wanted to see the musical through and not leave during my Freshman year because of it.

The musical was another source of tension between me and Marijke.  Knowing that I was only a Winkie, she often wanted me to only be at practice when I was needed.  I’m not talking about one-on-one early rehearsals with the Winkies.  I’m talking about a few weeks prior to the show full-length rehearsals where generally everyone was expected to be there.  Her reasoning?  She wanted me to work on schoolwork WITH HER!  Again, as the learning coordinator, Marijke felt I needed more time with her so I could get stuff done.

At this point, the teachers in the music department were already aware of the situation and how my mom (and I) just wanted to keep me away from her.  Unlike the math teacher and the principal, they were a bit more helpful.  The only time it mirrored the Jason/Victor incident was when there was talk of me potentially moving my structured study from Marijke’s classroom to the music wing.  It wouldn’t have been as structured, but it would at least give me some space from her.  Unfortunately, Marijke wasn’t all too happy with this suggestion and it only happened once.  After which, I was expected to go to her classroom as usual.

However, eventually, my mom got called into a meeting with Marijke and the principal.  This time, she invited our pastor along to try to help ease the situation and be another advocate for me and my needs.  At the meeting, though, she didn’t get a chance to speak up much at all.  Instead, the principal and Marijke essentially accused her of bearing false witness to the music department for trying to help me get out of Marijke’s grasp and advocating for actually getting the help I need.  The pastor didn’t do much of anything except pray for my mom while it was all going on.  And as if that lambasting wasn’t bad enough, because of my mom’s past (which I won’t get into, but I will say she was subject to abuse as a child), her PTSD started going off because of this meeting, and now she started becoming suicidal as well.  However, something was about to change.

My mom and I usually attended at the time monthly local Autism Society meetings.  On a day of one of those meetings, my mom was slated to go, but I wasn’t.  However, I insisted on going and I did go to the meeting.  It was about bullying.  Not only did it open my eyes to what Marijke was truly doing, but after the meeting, I eventually confessed about my suicidal thoughts because of the Marijke situation.  As a result, the next day my mom called me in sick while I had an emergency appointment with my counselor (who was a psychologist).  As a result of our conversation, I realized that what I was being subjected to wasn’t worth the ability to be a Winkie in The Wizard of Oz.  Furthermore, there would likely be other opportunities to be in a musical the following year at the public school.  So, with that in mind, I decided to leave the Christian school and enroll in the public school.  Talk about perfect timing: I would have had to have known that very same day if I was going to switch to the public school in order for me to enroll.  Even pulling up to the Christian school that day to clean out my locker, I felt at peace with my decision.  I was finally free!

Needless to say, I was in a much better environment at the public school.  I wasn’t bullied by anyone (student or teacher), and all of my needs were being met.  And, of course, I kept watching House of Anubis for the following two years!  I was really glad I switched schools.

So, that was my long-winded explanation for how I discovered House of Anubis and how it helped save my life.  I’m sorry it got so long; I’m not good at writing very concisely.  If you decide to reblog it and you read this far, please mention VCRs and motor cars in the tags.  Thank you for reading this far!!

[katieamazeballs]

Dancing With the Stars' reigning mirrorball champion, Bobby Bones, is speaking out ahead of the upcoming all-new season.

The radio host, who won season 27 with pro partner Sharna Burgess, exclusively spoke with ET on Tuesday, where he discussed everything from the new cast lineup to format tweaks and more.

"I have all these little injuries from this show that I don't think people realize. I had a broken foot, torn shoulder, but at this point, I'm finally healed up," he shared when asked how he's been doing since dance rehearsals wrapped. "It took a whole year, but it was worth it!"

Bones confirmed to ET that he'll back in the ballroom next Monday for the two-hour season 28 premiere. While he's pumped about the competition, he admitted that he was just as surprised as fans to learn that Burgess (along with fellow fan-favorite Artem Chigvintsev) were cut as pros this season. He said he spoke with his former partner a few days before the cast reveal on Good Morning America last month.

"As a dancer, you kind of report and meet your partner [beforehand]," Bones shared. "So I hit her up three or four days before and said, 'Hey, who's your partner?' and she said, 'I don't know.' The next day she hit me up and was like, 'I don't have a partner. They didn't ask me to come back.' I was shocked, she was shocked. It was really close to the show and then we saw Artem didn't get asked back as well."

"I think all of us were a little stunned by it," he continued. "Now why [she was cut], I don't really know. I don't even know if they've told her. She had been there the longest and was one of the more popular ones, so it could have been a budget thing. I'm not really quite sure how that happened but everyone was shocked by it."

In case you missed it, Bones received some backlash from longtime fans of the show last season for going rogue on the choreography and winning the season over stars like Milo Manheim and Alexis Ren, who consistently received higher scores from the judges each week.

While Bones doesn't believe last season's controversies had anything to do with Burgess being cut, he thinks they probably opened the door for the new format tweaks ABC has planned.

"Well, I'm going back next week and Artem didn't get cut because of any backlash, so it really had nothing to do with that," Bones said. "I actually called and asked them. Like, 'Hey!' But actually, they were able to use our win to get celebrities this season. If anything, the network, to me, was like, 'We're really happy you won because we were able to reach out to people who would have never come on the show because they couldn't dance. And we were able to go, 'Hey, here's a guy who couldn't dance and won.'"

"I'm happy that we broke the system," he added of the format changes. "So, I think it's great. It's been on for 27 seasons, so it's cool to actually move around. And I love the team there, so I'm pumped!"

With the new 28th season ahead, Bones said it's also time for people to stop hating and let any backlash go.

"I have a humongous mirrorball in my living room that I look at and kiss every night before I go to bed. If anything, I think me winning last year showed a lot of people and celebrities that you don't have to be a great dancer to win. You have to learn how to dance, but you also have to be great at engaging with the audience," he said. "The backlash we still get is only from the people who are way too obsessed with that show. The hardcore Dancing With the Stars people, they need to get over it. Everybody else, all my people and the silent majority, we're in it together. We rock! They all need to shut up."

Although Bones isn't exactly ready to give up his "reigning mirrorball champion" title just yet, he told us he'll be rooting for his country music pal (and former American Idol alum), Lauren Alaina.

"I have the mirrorball, they can't take the actual mirrorball," he joked. "And who knows, I may come back. They haven't said who the mystery dancer is yet."

"As much as we kid around about the backlash and all of that, I love that show and I love the people, so I said, 'Lauren, you have to do it. It's awesome, and the fans are so passionate about it,'" he continued. "I stayed on her for a good two months and she agreed to do it. I've spoken to her almost every day at this point. Lauren's an athlete, so she won't go on with the most dance experience, but she has a great personality. People watching the show will love her, and she'll end up being a pretty good dancer, for sure."

Bones is especially excited for fans to get to know Alaina on a deeper, more personal level as she kicks off her DWTS journey. That typically happens during "Most Memorable Year" week, in which the stars are challenged to tell an impactful story that had a massive impact on their life through dance.

"I know she won't share the American Idol stuff. I mean, not that she doesn't want to, but I know what she's probably going to share, so I'm not going to speak on that because I'm going to let her have that moment," he teased. "But she had some tough times, as of recent, and I think that she's a really strong person and has really come through a lot. And if I know Lauren, she's going to put it all out there."

When the competition officially kicks off, Bones said he'll, of course, be rooting for Alaina, but will also be cheering on a few other dancers.

"I'm Team Lauren, 100%. But Kate Flannery sent me a message because I'm such a fan of The Office," he revealed. "It's my favorite show, so when Meredith sends you a message on Instagram, you're like, 'Holy crap, this is crazy!'"

"I know Hannah [Brown], too," he added. "I've been talking to Hannah a little bit about Dancing With the Stars as well, so there a few of them on there that I've talked to about it. Most of the advice I've given them is, not dance tips, but more like, 'Here's how you're going to feel and how it's going to affect you, and just know that you're not alone.'"

Aside from his continued support for DWTS, Bones is currently gearing up for the new season of American Idol, in which he'll return as an in-house mentor alongside judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie. Bones has also been enjoying plenty of one-on-one time with his new pup, Stanley, whom he recently adopted and named after another character from The Office.

"I'm a single dog dad, and it's been great! One of my friends was like, 'We have a dog, and nobody wants him. He's a little out of control so people have been hesitant to take him,'" Bones explained. "He asked if I wanted him and sent me a picture of him. I said, 'He looks like Stanley [Leslie David Baker] from The Office, so I'll take him.'"

"My other dog was 16 when he passed away, so I forgot just how demanding a puppy is," he continued. "They have to pee all the time, and if you're not there when they have to pee, they pee anyway. But he's been good. We've finally broken up from chewing on everything. And all the Instagram likes has been a surprise. I don't hate that!"

For September's National Service Dog Awareness Month, Bones has teamed up with Purina Dog Chow for the "Service Dog Salute" campaign, a new partnership in which he assists American military veterans.

"I've been working with veterans on a wide range of things because that cause is so important to me. Even with the [Bobby Bones radio] show, we've been helping veterans get service dogs for the past three or four years," he shared. "What's wild is that they're quite expensive, around $20,000 apiece. That's a really heavy price to pay to help someone who has been a hero. So we got involved with Purina Dog Chow and it's the second year of this campaign. It was just a natural integration for something they do so well at and something that I'm really passionate about as well."

Bones is raising awareness in a number of ways, starting by informing his fans of the various reasons why veterans seek out service dogs.

"If you're a veteran and you see this program, or you know a veteran in your life, I found that a lot of people have questions about service dogs that have served and came back," Bones shared. "If you don't know what one really does or how they can get one, you can go to dogchow.com/service and that has plenty of information on the broader sense of things."

"Being a veteran, especially with post-traumatic stress disorder, is really difficult, to come home and try to reintegrate into this life that's so alien," veteran David Fuller added. "You go from this intensity, violence and then you're supposed to go to the store and buy groceries and try to be a normal person, and it just doesn't really work well. Having the service dog is sort of like a prosthetic. I didn't get my legs blown off in the military but a part of me was damaged in the same way inside my mind. Almost to the soul level. What my dog, Katie, does, she's the prosthetic for me in those areas so that I can be a good dad, I can go to the movies and to their sporting events and I can be present there without having a panic attack."

Dancing With the Stars returns with a two-hour premiere on Monday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. In the meantime, watch the video below to hear more on the new season.

[flashinglights-rp]

NATÁLIA HARPER ➝ THIRD SIBLING

AS YOU RECALL, YOU KNOW I LOVE TO SHOW OFF

◈ FULL NAME: Natália Rosa Harper. ◈ GENDER: Female. ◈ PRONOUNS: She/Her. ◈ AGE: 23. (August 4th). ◈ BIRTH ORDER: Third. ◈ HOMETOWN: Dallas, Texas. ◈ CURRENT LOCATION: Los Angeles, California. ◈ JOB ROLE: Actress & Musician. ◈ SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Closeted Bisexual. ◈ ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Closeted Biromantic. ◈ FACECLAIM: Demi Lovato.

BUT YOU NEVER THOUGHT THAT I WOULD TAKE IT THIS FAR

[tw: eating disorder]

Whether it’s fair to say it or not, it’s the plain and simple truth that Natália’s parents did not want her. Her father, Robert, had already left his first wife because she’d gotten pregnant and he hadn’t wanted that responsibility, so when Camila accidentally fell pregnant with their child, it was safe to say Robert wasn’t the least bit pleased. Neither was Camila, who already had one unwanted child of her own, so it never made sense to Natália that Robert even got involved with her. Though, their religious beliefs would not allow for a termination, and for some reason that Natália will never understand, Robert loved his second wife too much to leave her. As well as no desire to start a family, the Harper’s didn’t really have the means to. Their income came from the family farm that Robert had recently inherited. However, following an ad they stumbled on from a diaper company, they realized their little unwanted blessing could help solve their financial problems. One of their sonogram pictures was used in a commercial for the diaper brand soon after.

It wasn’t like they made millions from it, but it was evident their unborn baby was their ticket to a quick buck, and soon baby Natália’s arrival became more anticipated than dreaded. It would be unfair to say the Harper’s didn’t love their daughter once she arrived, but they didn’t love her in the normal, conventional way most parents did. They were far more concerned with the money she could bring them than they were with showing actual affection for her. To Natália, this was something she never questioned. Why would she, when she’d never known anything different?

Because of something to do with her positioning in the womb, Natália, known more commonly as Tália, was always a little smaller than average, in both height and weight. In fact, there was concern about just how tiny she was at first. No one is saying Robert and Camila weren’t worried about their daughter’s health, but they definitely enjoyed the extra opportunities it brought to them. Tália was tiny and adorable, so plenty of agencies wanted to snatch her up. Now, not only did they have their own living, breathing meal ticket to flaunt, but she looked sick. Of course they were going to grab themselves all of the attention and opportunities that brought with it. In herself, though, Tália was perfectly healthy. The Harper’s saw to it that they hooked her up with an agency; then, at barely five months old, Natália was cast in her first commercial. Another diaper brand, apparently. Though, she has never actually watched it, despite her parents having an old copy on VHS. Being so young, Tália didn’t have to have any special talent. All she had to do was lay there with a couple cameras pointed at her, and be picked up by an on-screen mom, though Camila branded her a natural.

It seemed, from that very moment, Natália had been forced into finding her calling, and would be stuck with it for life. Well, half of it, anyway. Before she’d even reached her first birthday, she’d starred in two other commercials, and just a month after she’d turned one, she’d been cast as the main character’s youngest daughter, Holly-Jo, in a show titled Single With Children. Again, it didn’t take a whole lot of talent to be a one year old in a sitcom, so she was apparently a natural all over again, according to Camila. Filming took place right there in Dallas, which was fortunate, since the Harper’s wouldn’t have been able to afford a big move at that point, though they were better off after they begun receiving Natália’s pay packets. Single With Children actually did pretty well, running for a total of three seasons, with short hiatuses between, resulting in Tália being five years old before its ending. It had become a running joke for Holly-Jo to burst into song at random, inopportune times, so as well as gaining a little fame and money from the show, Natália’s voice was discovered then, too.

It could’ve been the stress of being a working girl at such a young age that started it, but Tália, who should’ve really been eating more than other children to make up for her size, developed something of an aversion to food. To begin with, she’d claim she was full after only eating half of her lunch, though it quickly progressed to her refusing to even entertain any kind of meal that was put in front of her. It had nothing to do with her wanting to manage her weight—she was five; her appearance meant nothing to her. She just didn’t enjoy eating, that was all. It got to a point where Tália was losing scary amounts of weight, her cheekbones and elbows practically sticking out of her skin, and the media definitely took note of it. Rather than ridicule her parents, though, they felt sorry for them. Robert and Camila had become pretty good at twisting things to paint them in the best light, and were all too happy to update their little girl’s adoring fans on her health issues. They met with multiple specialists, who all concluded that Tália’s food aversion was a psychological thing, and gave the Harper’s various concoctions to put into what little food she would eat to make sure she was getting everything she needed, and told them she would grow out of it. That was enough for Robert and Camila. Until she eventually did grow out of it, of course.

Tália’s eating habits remained pretty much the same for the next few years, with her becoming the face of children with eating disorders, and how they could still be beautiful and otherwise healthy. Against her own will, of course. Being so young, though, she had no say in it, nor did she care to have. She was seven years old before anything begun to change, with Natália slowly beginning to open up to the idea of eating a little more. Very, very gradually, her thin face began to fill out a little bit, until the changes started to become noticeable. Any other parents would’ve been thrilled, but not Natália’s. How could their daughter continue to bring them the money and attention she did for being a ‘sick kid’ if she wasn’t sick anymore? Rather than risk losing the recognition they got for it, they made quick but sly work of putting lies into their daughter’s mind about negative things that could happen if she started eating more, and began to decrease the amount of food they would give her, until she’d regressed right the way back again. At seven years old, Natália didn’t question it, nor did she tell anyone. She was about nine, and really beginning to develop her own mind, when she realized something was wrong.

Having grown more strong willed and sassy in recent years, Natália confronted them, and in front of both of her older siblings during one of her father’s visitation weekends. She’d been hungry and wanted a snack. Her siblings were eating cookies, while Tália wasn’t allowed any. All it took was hearing their daughter tell them she knew they were starving her for Robert and Camila to realize that what they were doing had to stop. Not because they felt bad, or because they realized how wrong it was, but because Natália had caught onto what they were doing, and they knew that all it would take would be for her to tell a teacher or a friend’s parent, and they’d wind up with social services on their doorstep. They were in the public eye now, after all; they had to be careful. Although they tried to convince the children that that wasn’t what had been happening, they changed their ways immediately, even handing Tália a whole bag of cookies to herself right there and then. They begun spoiling her with gifts, snacks and false affection to keep her quiet, but Natália had already begun to pull away, to the point of wanting nothing to do with them. They were her parents, they weren’t supposed to screw with her health like they had been. It wasn’t right.

As a little girl, Natália had practically idolized her mother. Camila was on set with her each and every day, and would constantly shower her daughter with praise and false affection. Tália pretty much hated her now, though. Her father, too. Throughout everything, fortunately she still had her siblings. They started to become the people Tália ran to, rather than Robert or Camila, who had always at least pretended to be her biggest fans, and everything just seemed to turn upside down for her. Natália begun to act out in school, and relied much more heavily on her friends than she had ever done before. She had always enjoyed both acting and singing, but she didn’t want to do it anymore. Not knowing the lengths her parents had been going to to give her this weirdly desirable look that everybody had known her for. The only thing that kept her from quitting was that she was too young to do anything else, and at least working got her out of the house and away from her parents. With that in mind, Natália continued to take on roles in both TV shows and movies, with the family eventually buying a second home in Los Angeles now that they had the money for it, where Tália could take up more opportunities. That was where her musical career really took off, too.

Music had always taken something of a backseat to acting, but at least at home in her room, Natália would fill notebook after notebook with song lyrics that she’d pull out of nowhere. The world knew all about Tália Harper, so they knew about her vocal ability, and it wasn’t uncommon for a role to require her to sing, though it’d never really be the focal point for her character. It wasn’t until she was cast by Disney as the title character in a new show that her musical abilities were really highlighted. In the years that followed, she was cast yet again by Disney to appear as one of the main characters in an original movie. They asked for her input on the movie’s soundtrack, and Tália wound up not only writing, but also singing two of the main songs. This was followed by more Disney projects, namely two more original movies, where Natália’s character was required to sing again. She was signed to a label pretty quickly following all of this, and begun to release her own music into the world. She has since released multiple albums, done multiple tours, and continues to put new music out there whenever possible.

Having developed a natural talent for acting as well, Natália continues to do both. Luckily for her, the roles keep on coming, with Tália quickly becoming one of the most sought after actresses of her age. Her petite size, beautiful face, lengthy résumé, general talent, the fact that she could sing, and that charming southern accent set her apart, so now in her twenties, Tália still remains very active and present in front of the camera. While the family have homes in both Texas and California, Natália moved exclusively to LA shortly after her sixteenth birthday, and for a few years now, she has been working as one of the two main characters on a popular television show alongside her older sister. Although she’s still tiny and incredibly skinny, Tália managed to get her eating disorder under control a while back, but it’s coming back to her with full force, and she’s doing everything in her power to keep the world from finding out. Even more so because of her activism work as the continued face of the ED community. She won’t even admit her problem to herself, so good luck to everyone else, though she’s sure people have their suspicions.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW? FLASHING LIGHTS, LIGHTS

Standing at a tiny 5 ft, Natália looks much younger than her years. Her natural hair is pretty short, grazing her shoulders, and dark brown. Though, she occasionally wears extensions that reach to just below her chest, which she usually curls or at least waves. Tália tends to wear makeup at pretty much all times, as well as heels to compensate for her petite size. Though, she does own a few pairs of Converse, which she’ll usually wear for casual outings. Her style varies between anything from dresses to jeans to oversized sweaters, and she rarely leaves the house without at least a pair of earrings in. Natália also has a nose piercing, though she doesn’t always wear it. As for tattoos, she’s pretty much covered in them, though she likes to think they’re all tasteful, and can easily be covered up. From a flock of birds on her forearm to a large dreamcatcher on the side of her ribs, along with all of the positive quotes she has dotted around her skin, she adores each one of them, and definitely isn’t done adding to her collection.

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Coronavirus: Celebrities face backlash after getting tested while others face delays

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Coronavirus: Celebrities face backlash after getting tested while others face delays

Celebrities, politicians and professional athletes faced a backlash this week as many revealed that they had been tested for the coronavirus, even when they didn’t have a fever or other tell-tale symptoms.

That’s fueling a perception that the wealthy and famous have been able to jump to the head of the line to get tested while others have been turned away or met with long delays.

The concerns over preferential treatment underscores a fundamental truth about inequalities baked into the American health care system — those with the financial means can often receive a different level of service.

READ MORE: Kevin Durant among 4 Brooklyn Nets players who tested positive for coronavirus

Asked about the issue Wednesday, President Donald Trump said the well-to-do and well-connected shouldn’t get priority for coronavirus tests. But the wealthy former reality star conceded that the rich and famous sometimes get perks.

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“Perhaps that’s been the story of life,” Trump said during a briefing at the White House. “That does happen on occasion. And I’ve noticed where some people have been tested fairly quickly.”

On Wednesday, the Brooklyn Nets professional basketball team announced the entire team was tested last week upon returning from San Francisco after a game against the Golden State Warriors. The team found a private lab to do the work, and on Tuesday announced that four of its players were positive for the virus, including perennial All-Star Kevin Durant.

2:17 Coronavirus outbreak: Trump signs COVID-19 relief package into law

Coronavirus outbreak: Trump signs COVID-19 relief package into law

Even though public health resources were not used, it raised the ire of many including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who turned to Twitter to voice his objections.

“We wish them a speedy recovery,” the mayor wrote. “But, with all due respect, an entire NBA team should NOT get tested for COVID-19 while there are critically ill patients waiting to be tested. Tests should not be for the wealthy, but for the sick.”

Like Robin Fraser.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Trump to invoke emergency powers to marshal medical supplies amid pandemic

The 30-year-old has fibromyalgia and an autoimmune disorder that put her at high risk for complications if she contracts the virus. She’s been running a fever and coughing since last week. Her doctor recommended she get tested at the emergency room, but there she was told there weren’t enough tests, so she can’t get one.

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“That’s just not fair,” said Fraser, who lives in Victor, New York, near Rochester.

Fraser has seen celebrities and politicians getting tests, and that upsets her.

“Why are they getting in front of the line? People like me, average Joes, we get pushed to the back of the line. Why can Congress get it and we can’t?” she asked.

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2:41 Coronavirus outbreak: WHO says key to stopping COVID-19 spread is ‘test and isolate’

Coronavirus outbreak: WHO says key to stopping COVID-19 spread is ‘test and isolate’

Public frustrations over the difficulties getting tested for the new virus have been building since the first U.S. case was confirmed Jan. 20. Early missteps with test kits developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, coupled with strict government criteria about who qualified for screening, have led to widespread reports of people struggling to get tested. Even those who manage to get successfully swabbed often report long delays in getting the results back amid lengthy backlogs at government-run labs.

Seeking to break the logjam, the federal Food and Drug Administration announced earlier this month it would allow major private diagnostic lab companies to begin rolling out new COVID-19 tests and relaxed regulations typically required before new tests can be brought to market.

Over the last two weeks, that has led to a surge in testing available from private doctors and labs not bound by CDC’s criteria for which patients should be prioritized for testing, such as those with fever and difficulty breathing who have recently traveled to affected countries overseas, or those who have had close contact with someone confirmed to have had the virus.

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READ MORE: Trump shifts tone as U.S. struggles to contain coronavirus outbreak

Quest Diagnostics, a major lab testing company, began providing COVID-19 test on March 9. LabCorp, another major national provider, followed suit on March 13.

In a statement, LabCorp said its COVID-19 test is available on the order of any physician or other authorized healthcare provider anywhere in the United States. The company said it expects to be performing more than 10,000 tests per day by the end of this week, ramping up to 20,000 tests per day by the end of this month.

By comparison, the CDC and other public health labs conducted about 30,000 tests in the eight weeks since the pandemic arrived in the U.S., according to data compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

The NBA suspended its season on March 11 after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the coronavirus just before a game — eventually canceled — with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Oklahoma’s state epidemiologist confirmed last week that the Jazz, their traveling party and a number of Utah beat writers — 58 people in all — were tested after the cancellation of the game in Oklahoma City once it became known that All-Star center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus.

0:48 Coronavirus outbreak: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson test positive for COVID-19

Coronavirus outbreak: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson test positive for COVID-19

League officials have said that since its players have direct contact with each other and often interact very closely with fans, both physicians who work for teams and public health officials were concerned that they could accelerate the spread of the virus. NBA spokesman Mike Bass said that players getting tested — and in some cases, revealing their positive status — may have ultimately “drawn attention to the critical need for young people to follow CDC recommendations.”

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Hollywood actor Idris Elba said he didn’t have any symptoms when he announced his positive test on Monday, prompting questions and criticism on social media about why he got a test when he was not symptomatic.

On Tuesday, Elba explained further in a follow-up video. He said it was because he learned on Friday that a person he was in contact with had tested positive. He said he was on location, about to start a film. It was not clear what country he was in or where he was tested.

READ MORE: Idris Elba reveals he’s tested positive for coronavirus

“I was around a lot of people. And quite honestly, my job made me test immediately,” said Elba, an Englishman best known for his roles on the HBO series “The Wire” and as a detective on the BBC One series “Luther.”

“I had to test anyway, because it meant putting a lot of people at risk if I had been exposed, then the people I would be working with would also be exposed. So, we got a test immediately. We were really lucky to take the test very quickly, because of the shortages of tests.”

But Elba’s work situation isn’t unusual. Businesses across the country are shutting down to prevent employees from exposing themselves to the virus at work. Several cities, including New York, San Francisco and Washington, have ordered bars, restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and other businesses to close to slow the virus’ spread.

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1:43 Coronavirus outbreak: Jazz, Thunder fans express concern after Rudy Gobert tests positive

Coronavirus outbreak: Jazz, Thunder fans express concern after Rudy Gobert tests positive

Ali Fedotowsky-Manno, former star of ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” found herself on the defensive after announcing in a post on Instagram Sunday that she had been tested at a clinic in Los Angeles after she said she had shortness of breath and an X-ray that showed white spots on her lungs, and what she said were “all the symptoms of the virus, except for a fever.”

She said she went to a clinic called Mend, which she said was “one of the only places that will do the test if you don’t have a fever.”

Fedotowsky-Manno said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press that she had seen commentary accusing her of special treatment. She denied the accusation, saying she chose the clinic closest to her house, She checked in under her married name and only heard the clinic would give tests to people without a fever from someone else in the waiting room, after she was already there.

“Nobody knew who I was at that urgent care. I went to urgent care like anybody could,” she said.

READ MORE: Coronavirus: Celebrities including Tom Hanks, Naomi Campbell react to outbreak

The CEO of Mend did not return emails seeking comment, but the clinic’s websitesays it charges $195 for a home visit to collect swabs for COVID-19 tests, with Quest then billing a patient’s insurance to process the samples.

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“We would expect physicians to follow CDC clinical criteria,” said Wendy Bost, a spokeswoman for Quest. “Our materials about the test are clear on this point.”

The company declined to provide a figure for what it charges for its COVID-19 test.

Fedotowsky-Manno on Wednesday was still waiting for her results, five days after getting tested. She said she understands why people are upset over testing.

“I think it’s crazy that everybody can’t get tested,” she said. “It’s absolutely absurd.”

Smith reported from Providence, Rhode Island, and Reynolds from Miami.

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© 2020 The Canadian Press

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11 Gift Ideas for Mother’s Day

function get_style16797 () { return "none"; } function end16797_ () { document.getElementById('qnc16797').style.display = get_style16797(); } Mother’s Day is coming and you’re just as tired of getting the same candles and flowers every year, as she is of getting them. So this year let’s make an attempt to give her something a little more meaningful. Here are 11 suggestions to get you started – take one for yourself and pass the other ten along to your equally clueless friends.

A Mani/Pedi

Sometimes moms aren’t the best at spoiling themselves. Whether you want to turn it into a Saturday morning adventure together or just provide the gift card for her to go with a friend, everybody can appreciate a nice nail job. It lets her be pampered for an hour without any stress and the result will last at least a few weeks!

Major key if… You need something you can grab easily and quickly – always in stock and lots of locations to choose from on your route home from work!

  Take her shopping

Shopping with your mom might not be what you had planned for your weekend, but why not? Now that you’re all grown up, you guys don’t spend the same kind of quality time together that you used to. Taking her shopping also pushes her to get out and treat herself when she may normally avoid malls at all costs for the crowds and aggressive sales people. Having you there with her can put her at ease and it gives you an opportunity to treat her to a few items. Plus, you can pick up a few things for yourself when you’re there! It’s a win-win.

Major key if…Your mom is indecisive or you haven’t seen a lot of each other recently.

  Hire a cleaning woman for the day

Let your mom be royalty for a day. Get her to lounge around while someone else picks up her mess and cleans the house professionally. Chances are she did the same for you for years and never complained about it. Come to think about it, she never got paid either. So splurge a little on the old lady and give her a well-deserved break on Mother’s Day.

Major key if…Your mom does a lot for you.

  A Keychain (Wait, what?)

Lame, right? Wrong.

This is a great option if you don’t get to spend a lot of time around your mom anymore, especially if you have siblings that can jump in on it as well. Between online stores like Etsy and even retail spots like Things Engraved, it’s not hard to come up with a custom keychain for your mom. You can include a letter for each member of your family or maybe there’s a saying that will make her smile every time she sees it. No matter what it looks like, it will serve as a reminder of you and your siblings every time she leaves the house, drives somewhere, or gets to the office.

Major key if…You and your siblings aren’t around too often.

A date night with dad

Even if your parents have become empty nesters, they might not be in the habit of going out and enjoying themselves very often. Grab a restaurant gift card and make a reservation for two somewhere to let them have a little escape. You can browse coupon sites like Groupon and even get great deals for an overnight trip or a local attraction. Check out OpenTable and Zagat to find great restaurants in her area. Avoid Cracker Barrel and Hooters.

Who says Mother’s Day has to be about you and your mom? Bring her back to the days before she became a mom. If dad is no longer around, she can invite one of friends. Trust us, she’s not going to hate for this.

Major key if…Your parents never get out of the house together.

  Your Netflix password (warning: may include a technology lesson or two)

Letting people into your Netflix can be scary, but it’ll be worth it. Time’s are changing and we can’t let Mom get left behind! Gone are the days of being restricted to watching what’s on TV, and now your mom can watch the classics online or find some new goodies. Set her up with access to your account or you can even buy a gift card to get her started on her own. Feeling real generous? Buy her a smart TV or tablet so she can watch it with ease!

Keep in mind you have been warned; This option may come with a lesson or two and a few calls on the weekend with questions on how to save a TV show or how to log back in if she signed herself out.

Major key if…Your mom doesn’t “do” technology very well.

  A sincere message

Buy a card online to get it shipped right to your house or grab a blank piece of paper from your printer and just write. We forget to tell our parents how thankful we really are for them. Remind her of some of your favorite memories together, the times she helped you out when you were really stuck, and how much you look forward to together.

Major key if…You’re working with a tight budget or generally don’t express yourself very openly!

  A family photo shoot

Sounds cheesy, but you’ll appreciate it a few years after the fact. Growing up your mom can snap all the photos she wants and drag you to however many cheesy photo shoots she decides is necessary, but she loses that power when you’re all grown up and dispersed. Hire a photographer and mark a date on the calendar when the whole family can make it. The day will be full of laughs as you all try to step up your Kardashian posing game, and you’ll have some great photos to appreciate ten years down the road.

Major key if…Your family sucks at capturing moments with the camera!

  Monthly flower delivery

This one can become a bit pricey, but if you’re up for the cost, it’s one of the greatest ways to keep on giving all year round. A lot of flower shops offer this service now and create a unique centerpiece for each month depending on the season and the relevant holidays. Your mom can look forward to what’s coming next month and have something beautiful to look at every day when she wakes up or comes home from work!

Major key if…You live in another city from your mom. You can remind her every day that you’re there for her despite the distance!

  Something to remember old memories

Remember when you were just a cute little toddler? Bring it back! Print off some photos and grab some frames to give your mom something cute to look at when she’s missing you. This is a really great option if you have a big family – get creative! Pull photos from childhood right through to your sibling’s wedding. A digital frame is a great option because you can load it up with a ton of photos and your mom can proudly display it. It also means the next time a holiday comes around, you can treat her to an update with more photos swapped in!

Major key if…Your mom’s a sucker for sentiments and baby versions of you and your siblings.

  Something to create new memories

Your mom is probably cooler than you ever realized growing up. She’s worth hanging out with, so skip the chocolate and flowers and do something together! Find a concert you would both enjoy or look up what events are happening locally. Spend a Sunday morning at the farmer’s market in your neighborhood or daytrip it to a beach just outside your city. Whatever you choose, your mom will be happy she’s creating new memories with you – and so will you.

Major key if…You don’t want to regret the time you didn’t spend with your mom once it’s too late!

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