#can i marry his non biological sister is that ok

[kaleiidoskope]

it’s not bad i guess but like

^tagged by @soctherapy but the post was getting too long

this isnt a win for me.......

Tags!: @rae-unbeloved @lil-gae-disaster @fictionalcharactergraveyard @livelaughlovelams @alexanderhamiltonhasafatass

[respected-coconut]

Crazy how so many feminist readings of Frankenstein are consistently so heteronormative and lowkey sexist in it of themselves.

Like, the whole “the women of Frankenstein are boring and docile” argument, while has its amount of merit, feels more like an excuse to just further ignore and over-generalize the women in the book instead of actually trying to analyze them. Elizabeth especially is the main victim of this reading because she’s always read as the subservient woman that doesn’t have much say in the book, yet one of her most defining instances is her standing up for Justine in front of a court of law when others were too frightened to.

She literally dropped “They call this retribution. Hateful name! When that word is pronounced, I know greater and more horrid punishments are going to be inflicted than the gloomiest tyrant has ever invented to satiate his utmost revenge” and people still want to dumb her down and define her solely through her “reliance on men”.

And the whole “Victor usurped the biological/feminine power of women to give birth.” I’m sorry, but I kinda really hate this reading so bad. Not only does it read as incredibly transphobic, but at the same time it further pushes the idea that the only power/purpose a woman has is to give birth. How can you condemn Elizabeth for being “docile and subservient to men” but then turn around and say she and women are powerful through their ability to give birth and be mothers/wives? Does that imply Victor should’ve just married and impregnated his sister/cousin? Would that have “preserved Elizabeth’s power”? because it seems to me her marriage to Victor destroyed whatever power or autonomy she had. And what about how Mary Shelley herself was struggling with pregnancies and childbirth before and while writing Frankenstein? Was she a weaker woman for not being able to give birth properly?

The women in Frankenstein are obviously less active than the men, and that is a point to be made, but at the same time, we do such a disservice by making broad and disconnected assertions without actually giving the women the time of day for what they do do.

Can we talk about how Elizabeth was groomed into the role of a mother/bride since she was four? How she had dreams and wanted to “people [the world] with imaginations of her own”? How she lost hope in those dreams following the wrongful execution of her “more than sister”? What about how Caroline Frankenstein haunts the whole narrative; how her death influences Victor’s obsession with the dead and how she forced her children into an incestuous, (mutually) non-consensual relationship? Why is it so common that people will read Justine’s existence as solely a character to bring Victor guilt rather than looking deeper into how her conviction and execution affected Elizabeth’s perception of the world? Why is there so much focus placed on what these women aren’t instead of what they are?

Ok sorry for the messy ranting. Just had a burst of energy. As usual, I’m sorry for coming off as hostile and kinda confusing but at the same time I’m just a bit frustrated with the common interpretations of Frankenstein and wanted to yap. Feel free to add more ideas, I like talking abt this kinda stuff.

[bluefirewrites]

I'm sorry about your presentation, idk if your still doing hcs but can you do one where Reggie is julies older brother by 1 or 2 years and Julie in love with Luke and Luke likes her as well but neither will do anything because of Reggie. If not its ok. ☺

I brought up an idea similar to this a while back! But let’s rework it. 

In this scenario, let’s say that the Molinas and the Peters' have known each other for a long while, ever since Julie and Reggie were kids. They’ve pretty much grown up together. 

And then they get older and a lot of shit happens. Julie’s mom dies. And Reggie’s parents finally get a divorce. 

As the two families are healing and trying to move on, eventually Ray and Reggie’s mom sorta just clicked. 

And years later, they ended up getting married- officially making Reggie Julie’s brother. 

They move into the Molina’s house and they transition to one big family so seamlessly that Julie often forgets that Reggie isn’t her brother in the biological sense. He’s always been an older figure to her, always looking out for her and Carlos. 

She’s so used to having him around. And even used to having Reggie’s friends around growing up. 

They all met when they were in middle school, but Julie hasn’t seen them much over the years, only seeing them during special occasions or whenever she would go to the Peters’ from time to time. 

She remembers Alex, the shy blonde one who does his best to keep the peace when everyone got too rowdy. 

And then Bobby, who is just hitting his stride in his sullen, moody teenager phase. Still nice though. 

And Luke, the wild one. The guy was all long haired, energetic, and sporting some gnarly braces the last time she saw him. 

She hears a knock at the door the night Reggie and his mom had moved in. Julie opens it and it’s the boys: Alex, Bobby, and- woah. 

“Julie?” Luke smiles, his long hair cut to a still shaggy ‘do, braces gone, and now ripped, telling by how he’s proudly wearing his Nirvana cutoffs, “No way! Long time no see,” 

“Y-yeah,” Julie instantly wishes that she wasn’t wearing her dinosaur slippers at the moment. She leads them all inside, telling them to make themselves at home while they wait for Reggie to come down. 

Julie hurries off to her room, red in the face, internally freaking out about the idea of a cute guy coming over to her house on a regular basis. 

A cute guy she cannot get involved with... imagine how Reggie would react... 

The guys note the dreamlike expression on Luke’s face as he watched Julie go up the stairs. Once she’s gone, Luke whirls around, “Has she always been like that?” 

“Squirrely?” 

“No...” Luke drops his voice down to a whisper, “I mean, has she always been that cute?” 

Alex and Bobby shoots this idea down real quick, “Woah! No no no! Off-limits! She's off-limits, Luke!” 

“How come?” 

“She’s Reggie’s sister,” 

“Step-sister,” 

“Still,” Bobby cuts in, “You know Reggie. He takes the brother role very seriously. He won’t let you stand a foot away from her if he heard what you just said.” 

“If who heard what?” Reggie says, coming down the stairs. 

“Nothing!” They all exclaim, and Luke silently thanks the boys for not ratting him out and invoking Reggie’s wrath. 

He does know how Reggie can get when it comes to Julie. He’s already so protective of her. So he’s not going to try and do anything to piss him off. 

And besides, he just finds her cute. It’s not like anything’s gonna come from it. 

Wrong. 

Luke and Julie are hardcore pining for each other the more time the boys spend over at the house. 

And they’re over a lot. 

Julie would come into the garage, now a studio space for the boys’ band, and watches them practice. 

Somehow Luke finds a way to gravitate towards her. Always standing beside her, ready to show a song he’s been working on or just ask how she’s doing. 

And Julie would find an excuse to hang around the boys, whether offering to help with songwriting or help clean up the equipment. One time, she hands Luke his guitar and their hands met. They both blush but quickly part before Reggie could see what transpired. 

They sneak little casual touches here and there, both to gauge if the other person reciprocates their feelings and to hide whatever was going on between them from Reggie. 

This all coming from the fear of Reggie flipping out on them. 

Apparently when the boys bring up Nick from Julie’s class, joking about the way he was starry-eyed when dancing with Julie (secretly trying to get a rise out of Luke), Reggie immediately asks Julie about a thousand questions: 

“Who is he? What does he do?” 

“Do? He’s a student. In my grade...” 

“Oh. No job? So he’s a deadbeat, huh? Doesn’t sound like a suitable match,” 

“What are you going on about?”

“Does he like the Star Wars Prequels? Yes or No? There is a right answer” 

“What does this have to do with anything, Reggie?”

“I need to know if he’s good enough for you!” 

Reggie starts watching Nick like a hawk at school, going out of his way to intimidate the junior (well as much as he could. he’s still pretty much a puppy and super non-threatening). 

It’s getting ridiculous. 

So Julie goes to talk to Luke, to try and nip this in the bud before Reggie notices their weird behavior. She manages to play off needing help to get something in the laundry room to get him alone without suspicion. 

“Look, we can’t do this anymore... whatever this is,” 

Luke nods, “Agreed. Reggie’s my best friend.” 

“And he’s my brother,” 

“I don’t want to do something that would upset him,” 

“Me neither. Glad we’re on the same page,” 

“Right. Same page. So just friends. Deal?” she sticks her hand out. 

He shakes it, “Deal,” 

They lock eyes, appreciating how the other one looks under the warm dimmed light. 

It takes only about .5 seconds for them to crash their lips onto each other’s, igniting a full on make out session. And by the time they finished, they realize their mistake. 

Uh oh. 

They can’t go back after this. 

Now they really have something to hide from Reggie. 

They sneak around the house, whenever they could. 

Luke would make up an excuse to grab water or go to the bathroom in the middle of rehearsal, just to sneak up to Julie’s room to grab a quick kiss and maybe a small tickle fight just so he could hear that laugh he loves so much. 

And Julie would join the boys at the dinner table, sitting next to him and discreetly slipping cue love notes into his pocket that she knows would make him blush and smile all goofily later (and if they turn into potential song lyrics? Well that's for them to know).

Alex warns Luke the next day, “I think he’s catching on. Be more careful,” 

They spend more time together now that Julie starts writing songs for the band. Her and Luke would huddle over the piano, scribbling the night away, always sitting dangerously close to each other.

Once, Reggie observes them quietly from the couch with an unreadable expression on bis face.

“We are careful,” 

Bobby raises an eyebrow at him, “Really? You tried to pass off the hickeys on Julie’s neck as rashes.” 

“And Reggie bought it, remember? He went out and got ointment for her and everything,” 

“He’s not stupid, Luke. You better do something about this. Fast,” 

Luke sighs, “You’re right.” 

Later that night, Luke pulls Julie into the upstairs bathroom, the one between her room and Reggie’s, to talk. 

“Jules, as much I want to keep doing this... I can’t stand lying to Reggie,” 

“Me too,” she says, “So, let’s just tell him. I don’t like hiding you.” 

“But we need to plan it out. We can’t just spring it on him,” 

“Catch him in a good mood hopefully, and we’ll tell him together,” 

“Sounds like a plan, boss,” 

“Love it when you call me boss,” Julie smiles, angling her head up to kiss him. 

Just then, the door connecting to Reggie’s room bursts open and the said bassist enters in his bathrobe. His eyes grow wide at the sight of them tangled up in each other. 

“What is going on here?” 

The couple breaks apart. Julie and Luke jump to opposite sides of the bathroom, hands up in surrender. 

“You didn’t lock the doors?” Julie hisses at Luke

“Was not my main priority!” Then Luke steps forward in an attempt to calm Reggie down, “Hey, Reg, pal, um, what you just saw-” 

“You guys were kissing in here?” he yells. 

Julie and Luke lower their heads, “...yeah,” 

Reggie sighs, throwing his hands up in the air, “Unbelievable!”

“Reggie, we’re sorry-” 

“In the bathroom, really? Can’t you guys do this in the laundry room like you usually do? My toothbrush is here, come on!”  

Wait. What?

Did they hear him correctly? 

“You knew?!” Julie all but screamed at her brother. 

“Duh. You’re not really subtle,” 

Luke splutters, “B-But Nick-” 

“Found out real quick that he’s not the one I should be worried about,”

“And the... the, well..?”  Julie gestures lamely at her neck, “Why did you get me ointment?” 

Reggie smirks, “Just to mess with you.” 

“So... you’re not mad?”

“Nah. Like I said. I need to make sure whatever guy you end up with, Jules, is good enough for you. And, well, I’ve known Luke almost all my life. And I trust him. Honestly, there’s no other guy I could think of that could be a better match for you.” 

Luke’s hand rests on his shoulder, “You mean that, Reg?” 

“Of course. I’m happy for you guys. But uh...” he sticks his thumb towards the door, “Could you like skip on out of here. I did come to the bathroom for a reason.” 

“Oh, right,” 

“Your Tia’s chicken went right through me-” 

“Ok, Reggie! We’re leaving!” 

“But one more thing,” 

Luke and Julie stop in the doorway leading to the hallway. 

“If you think I’m bad,” Reggie shakes his head, “Try breaking the news to Carlos,” 

Luke pales, “Oh no,”

“’Oh no’ is right,” 

The couple spins around to find Carlos in the hallway, arms crossed, staring them down, “Care to explain why you two were in the bathroom?”

“Well, uh, um, we were-” Luke turns to Julie, but the girl is nowhere to be found, having already yeeted to her room to escape an overprotective Carlos. 

Luke throws a pleading look at Reggie, “A little help here, buddy?”  

Meanwhile, Carlos is unamused, carrying so much tension in his small body that it has Luke gulping nervously. 

“Nope you’re on your own,” he winks, “Make sure to tell him about the ‘rash’ while you’re at it.”

And with a laugh, the bathroom door closes. 

“I can explain...” 

[tellywoodtrash]

balh2 31.08.21 lb

priya stops the auto to let ram in, but he's whisked away in the now-fixed car by his posse, and she's like yeahhhhhhh seems about right for rich ppl, and goes her way.

very subtle playing of song show title is based on. ram hums along happily while priya tells auto bhaiyya to pls turn it off. lol she really does hate any type of sentimentality, and i'm here for this peak grumpy girl representation.

blah blah time waste establishing ram's family. aaaaaaaaaand they have shubhaavi choksey playing his mom when she's the same age as him irl. wonderful. best. very nice. i'm not angry about this at all.

snobby rich ppl greeting exchange. air kisses missing.

priya comes home to discover maitreyi and her husband are visiting. she just ignores them and walks into her room.

meanwhile ram walks into heartache after heartache. ek toh sagaai went on without him, and shivi's toast is only for her other brother shubham and her mom and her besties. (one of whom looks very familiar, where do i know her from???????) anyway someone give ram a (non-vegan) cupcake to feel better from having a shitty fam.

vedu notices ram and points him out to shivi, who's suddenly all RAM BHAIIIIIIIIIIIII, MY BIGGEST SUPPORTERRRRRRRR. pssssh.

oh btw, that fucker who wanted to use that totally non happening video for blackmail seems to be vedu's husband/???

ponky from naagin 5 is a friend of ram's. but he's a literal fetus???? i'd have thought he was a younger brother ala rudra.

priya's brother has his fucking shoes on her bed and mereko jo gussa aa raha hai na by goddddddd. YOU JUST CAME IN FROM THE FUCKING RAIN YOU DIRTYASS............

anyway priya's like idgaf that maitreyi married my ex bf.

"humein khush rehne ke liye kisi ki zaroorat nahi hoti." she's saying words i agree with, but show immediately cops out by showing her tearing up and blubbering "i don't need anyone, i'm fiiiiiiiiiine" unconvincingly. guh. idk if i'm gonna be able to watch this show if it keeps diluting its messages like this.

ram toh udhar giving lecture on baarish. BRO ENOUGH. I AM SO DONE WITH THIS TOPIC OF CONVERSATION. itna toh baarish se lagaan ke champaaner waalon ko pyaar nahi tha jitna iss show mein log karte hain.

priya doing a very convincing mimickry of kinda pretentious maitreyi to entertain one new younger sibling. how many fucking siblings does priya have??????? (too fuckin many, is the answer.)

i do not appreciate the characterization of ram's chamcha friend's wife as a nagging ball and chain type.

new mangatar and bitchy shubham are snidely remarking about ram and his bechaara broken dil thanks to vedika.

ok if shivaay was obnoxiously self assured, ram is just......... almost annoyingly roll over and show your belly type of soft and diplomatic and people pleasing. only extremes for nakuul sir i guess.

adi's wife (brinda?) catches him looking out into baarish and shedding a few silent tears, and she's here to nag HIM now about getting a wife. yes brinda, because you make marriage look like SUCHHHHH AN APPEALING PROSPECT.

ram's like no i don't need anyone and then wistfully stares at vedu saying i'll never find someone who loves like she does her husband.

brinda's like it's all fake, dude. real couples fight and argue and cuss at each other and wow.... i think brinda and adi might need couples' counseling coz..... you're not SUPPOSED to be so complacent about your marriage being so dysfunctional.

oh breakup was 6-7 saal pehle. ok yeah sir you should have gotten over it by now. therapy for you too.

NO NOT THE EK TARFA PYAAR KI TAAQAT SPEECH NO FUCKIN NO OK

SHUBHAAVI AS NAKUUL'S MOM WILL NEVER NOT ENRAGE ME. I NEVER THOUGHT IT'D GET WORSE THAN MANASI SALVI, BUT LOVE THAT TELLYWOOD MANAGES TO FUCKING ENRAGE ME WITH THIS SHIT WITH EVERY NEW SHOW.

priya refuses to have ice cream because of her principles against capitalism. which............... ok??? there's no ethical consumption under capitalism, sis. just eat the overpriced ice cream.

just realised that the eldest sister is played by the actress who was jai's elder sister in just mohabbat.

anyway eldest sister (sara) and youngest sister (sandy) are team!priya over maitreyi.

priya is as anti-shaadi as me and asks sara if she's happy (priya clearly doesn't think much of sara's husband who leaves all the child-rearing to her, in addition to running the bakery) and sara's like "maate, mujhpe mat shuru ho jaate, pls" snort. yeah, no one likes their bad choices rubbed in their faces.

oh, their dad ran away after allll the betiyaan and married someone else. zindagi gulzar hai sitch hai.

more of priya asserting that she's happy single and show undermining her with the music cues and character reactions. fuck this messaging. why can't it be that she's genuinely happy single and ram is just a good complementary partner she finds and decides to change her mind about marriage coz that's what they want for themselves. i hate this black and white nonsense.

sisters are forcing priya to go on a date (with whom?????) and the scene just cuts off awkwardly.

ram has PINK shoes on today. man this is so a nakuul thing, this one (1) atrangi styling element of an otherwise formally dressed man.

ram also being set up on date by adi/brinda. should be with someone else, i guess. i don't think brinda and priya run in the same circles.

ram is right in that the least these ppl could do is ask consent before setting it all up.

priya is grumpily refusing to do any thaam jhaam dress up for date. good for her.

lol @ sara trying to sneak away priya's beloved raincoat.

anyway psych 101 shit ki priya has confidence issues and is so down on herself that she rejects everyone before they can reject her.

lmao priya is me at hearing the date is in some hoity toity place where they give small portions for exorbitant amounts of money.

sara di gets call ki some "unhone" didn't pay their share of bakery emi? the nikkamma husband? or some other business partner??

priya is out on warpath to go confront that person.

she's psyching herself up outside their door. i think it's her dad?

OMG CHACHI FROM IMMJ2 LMAO, IS SHE THE SECOND WIFE?

ok dad's a rudeass fuck. he's all she's not my daughter, but all ready to dole out thappads when she says it like it is. sperm donors like these should be kneed in the nads.

idgi tho? there's ONE beta there tho???? is akshay not his biological son?????

anyway, priya is right in thinking men suck. #yesAllMen

precap: her date niiiiiiicely validates the misandry by being a fucking jerk. looks like ram is cheering her up in a sweet moment? priya catches akshay getting cosy with.... shivi i guess??? idk all these girls look the same to me. #faceblindness

[aethersea]

you know what, I never do these things, but actually I’ve decided I would like to get to know people better! I would like to partake of the mortifying ordeal! I would like to talk about myself for a bit!

ok for the next...let’s say five days I will answer any of these things that people tag me in, or any random personal questions you plop in my ask box. I don’t have an ask meme on hand but just....pick one you’ve seen recently, or make up questions of your own, and I’ll answer. (the answer might be ‘nope that’s private’ but I will answer.) (@ the anon who asked for book recs - I see you, I’ve been thinking of books all day, I’m going to give you SUCH a long answer, I hope you don’t regret your choices bc it WILL be full of gushing)

alright, let’s go!

🌻 Tag 9 people you want to get to know better

Tagged by @booksandchainmail​

Last Song: I’m currently listening to “Falcon in the Dive” from the Scarlet Pimpernel musical on loop. I watched one or two Scarlet Pimpernel movies when I was just barely too young to fully get what was going on, and the story’s held an odd but deep-seated place in my heart ever since. A few years ago I found out there’s a musical and most of the songs are pretty stellar (go listen to “Madame Guillotine” if you like big ensemble broadway numbers, it’s a banger, the bit where he cries out for God has been running through my mind on and off for a few days now haha not like that’s topical or anything), so every once in a while I spend a few days listening to them a lot.

Sometime last year I read the actual book, and got super into the whole concept of the Scarlet Pimpernel for a while. I plotted out Pimpernel aus for several fandoms, I read the entire wikipedia article, and I went looking for bootlegs of the musical. I didn’t find one, but I did find a full radioplay-style recording of the script, complete with full musical numbers, and listened to it like a podcast.

Reader, I was so disappointed. The play adds some scenes, bc a lot of the dramatic tension of the novel comes from internal conflict and that doesn’t stage super well, and the very first scene of this play – a play written in the NINETIES – features our dashing hero rescuing some aristocrats from a French prison, and then saying to the person in the next cell, who begs for rescue but is not an aristocrat, “We have enough of your kind in England.”

Enough! of your KIND! What in the merry frickety HECK my dudes!! The book has some rather unfortunate™ takes but it is from 1905, it’s regrettable but sadly to be expected. This play is from 1997. It has NO excuse. This scene wasn’t even in the book! What! the heck!

I was so disheartened that I lost my excitement for the play, and a couple songs later I stopped listening. It occurred to me just a few days ago that you could actually stage that ironically, with the person in the cell giving the audience a “can you believe this” look, and then the rest of the play could feature assorted non-aristocratic ensemble members constantly looking at the audience like they’re on The Office. And hey, maybe that’s what they did, or something similar – maybe that was never meant to be taken as a cleanly heroic stance, and the play deals with it in a complex way. It’s possible. I wouldn’t know. Kinda doubt it though, based on song lyrics.

Favorite Color: red, probably

Last Movie: I watched that new lesbian christmas movie with my family for christmas, the one with kirsten stewart and the guy from schitt’s creek. it’s very sweet and good and kinda sad, and I really enjoyed it. it also incidentally has the best gay best friend trope in probably anything ever, bc it’s not a trope (I didn’t realize until several hours after watching that it technically fits), it’s just a guy who is the protagonist’s best friend, and they’re just all gay, and then when he Gives Relationship Advice as a gay best friend always does, it’s advice about how to deal with your partner’s hangups around coming out.

actually every part of the gay best friend trope becomes better when they’re just best friends who are both gay. the big dramatic gestures (in this case, driving some ungodly distance in the snow on no notice) go from “haha how kooky” to “queer man will do anything he needs to to rescue his queer friend from an isolating & potentially triggering situation”. the relationship advice isn’t “honey you deserve some self-respect, treat yourself”, it’s a deeply sincere reminder of the vulnerability that is shared across almost everyone’s queer experience, and look I could ramble about this for a long time before reaching a coherent point but I’m INTO IT, okay? I’m into it.

Last Show: you want me to remember what show I last finished???? impossible, cannot be done, it was a long time ago and the adhd has eaten everything that happened before last week. here, instead I’ll tell you about another movie I watched, late at night with my mom in cozy companionship just a couple days ago. it’s called Quigley Down Under and it’s about a cowboy who goes to Australia and kills a bunch of racists, 10/10 would watch again. it’s from 1990 but it feels much older, with the music choices and the cinematography of a 70s Western. the cowboy is great, honorable and fearless and kind, but the breakaway star of this movie for me is the woman who attaches herself to his side and refuses to leave. her name is Cora, and she’s crazy, in the sense that she’s not altogether tethered to reality, but this never for a second diminishes her agency. she’s fierce and clever and compassionate, and she basically never does anything she doesn’t want to in the whole movie. her arc is about overcoming trauma by taking charge of her own fear and facing it head-on, she is never belittled or dismissed by the narrative or the protagonist, and look she’s just so cool. I love her. she’s so vibrantly alive. her story could probably have been handled with a bit more nuance, but honestly for the 90s it’s pretty great. I’m no expert, but I found nothing objectionable in it, just a bit of heavy-handedness.

anyway the theme of the movie is that racism is evil and racists deserve to be shot, and this too could have been handled better (not a single aboriginal character speaks a single line of english in this movie), but it follows through on that message in every way, while still being a fun kinda campy cowboy movie. overall a very good time.

Currently Watching: started showing my sister Hilda the other day, and she’s liking it! I love that show, it’s so incredibly cute. can’t wait to see season 2

Currently Reading: lmao I wish. lately the brain has firmly rejected all attempts to read anything of any length. currently pending, bc I was halfway through them when my brain stalled out, are tano’s fic What Does Kill You Can Make You Stronger, Too, a Toby Daye book - I think it was The Brightest Fell, I got like half a chapter in and haven’t picked it up in over a month, the Locked Tomb series, and probably a few other things too. ooh! also a book called Making Sex by thomas laqueur, which is my fancy academic reading that I’ve been doing in short bursts for the past year or two when I feel fancy and academic. it’s about the development of the concept of biological sex and of gender in Western society, and it’s fascinating. has among other things introduced me to the idea that until quite recently, fathers were a matter of faith. the mother? yeah, you can watch the baby pop out, we all know who the mother is. but the father? how can you know? how can you really know? we have paternity tests these days, but for all of human history up until now, we've just had to take fatherhood on faith. (not to mention we didn’t even know what fathers were contributing to the production of a fetus. clearly it was something, since you can’t get pregnant without a penis getting involved, but we have literally not known what until the past few decades. and that is wild. it has colored ALL of human history, all of our conceptions of society and family and kinship and gender, all of it, and it hadn’t even occurred to me until it was spelled out for me in this book, and it’s just......wow.

Salty, sweet or savory: for christmas my sister and I made seven different types of cookie, most of them involving chocolate somehow.

Craving: no bc I ate so many cookies. unless sleep counts. or maybe pringles, it’s been many moons since last I had a potato chip and I miss them.

Coffee or Tea: no thank you

Tagging: @coloursisee, @krchy-tuna, @sam-j-squirrel, @xzienne, @mirandatam, @viciousmaukeries, @sepulchritude, @elidyce, and @navigatorsnorth bc it’s been a while since we’ve talked, and I’m super hyped that you’re married now. v happy for you!

[su-univeralai]

MAILEE???? AS PARENTS???? Tell us more Su.

Ok, Joy, so I was thinking about this a lot last night, and had originally thought that they would have 3 biological kids, Mai and Ty Lee get different sperm donors. Mai would get pregnant first and have a girl, and then Ty Lee would have twin boys. They would also foster orphans and teach them etiquette and how to defend themselves (but I'm not going to include them since they're only there until they age out of the system with some dope skills, or are adopted)

BUT THEN!!!

I thought.... Ty Lee is 1 or 7 identical sisters WHAT IF instead of having twin boys, she had like quintuplet (5) boys!!! But she gave them all very different names and made them do very different activities so they were their own people, unlike how she felt with her sisters. Of course the five of them would end up forming some sort of group gymnastics team or something so they could spend more time together.

IDK Joy! I'm conflicted on which route I wanna take. I'll lay both groups of kids out for you (and anyone else who's interested) and y'all can help decide which Mai Lee family will make the cut lmao.

Also going to put a cut here because... well this is gonna get looong

Yaisha (F) Firebender, 29: Yaisha is Mai's biological child, yet very much has personality close to her Titi (Ty Lee). She isn't a very skilled firebender when she starts, but cousin Ichika (Azula's daughter), trains her to become a pretty an average bender before heading off to the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. She latches onto Kya (steambaby) who is 3 years older than her and they become close like sisters. Seeing that Yaisha isn't the strongest bender, she is also taught dagger throwing, which she excels at like Mama. Although her firebending skills are quite avaerage, she uses them masterfully in the kitchen, specifically as a baker. She ends up marrying an earthbender at some point in the future (I have no other info on this dude yet, sorry lmao) and they settle down in Ba Sing Se and open a pastry shop next to the Jasmine Dragon.

Yaisha is there in both iterations of my idea. The rest of these OCs will be split between Ty Lee having twin earthbending boys (bc her sperm donor was an earthbender) or two firebenders, an earthbender, and two non-bender quintuplets.

Twins:

Siju and Dizai (M) Earthbenders, 27: Siju and Dizai are pretty skilled earthbenders for people who live in the Fire Nation without any proper training. While Yaisha trains at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, the twins are shipped off to train with Toph. The twins get super close with Suyin they become a trio until Su gets sent to Gao Ling to live with her grandparents. Siju is quite a skilled metalbender, but Dizai turns out to be a lavabender. Once they hone their skills, both of them come home to show Mama and Titi their skills. Everyone is very impressed.

Siju stays home and meets a midranking officer in the Fire Navy and they fall in love.

Dizai travels around the world and meets Sokka and Suki's daughter, Alayi. Even though Dizai is 6 years younger than Alayi, the two fall in love and settle in the SWT where Alayi wants to teach the new waterbenders how to master their element. Together, they have two children, an earthbender and a firebender.

Quintuplets:

Jaree (M) Non-Bender, 20: Jaree is a skilled chi blocker like Titi, but is also interested in welding. He becomes the youngest and best-known welder in the world but the age of 15. People come from all over the world to get beautifully designed weapons made by the boy. Jaree makes customized weapons for his Mama and Zaija on a regular basis as 'practice'. When he turns 18, he only does commissions because he enjoyed spending his time with his brothers dancing and messing around.

Zaija (M) Non-Bender, 20: Zaija on the other hand, takes after his Mama and is a skilled thrower. Jaree makes customized throwing stars, daggers, knives, etc for him. They are perfectly balanced and ensures that he never misses his target. when he's not small weapons and going on top secret missions for Shushu Zuko, he writes under the name Wang Fire (courtesy of Sokka). Wang Fire is the best-selling author for teen dramas. Only Sokka knows his secret.

Mozu (M) Firebender, 20: Mozu is an awful combat firebender, but he's very skilled in firebending as a healing art. He studies under the Bhanti sages to learn how to energy read with firebending. From there he learns the power of Reiki and massage therapy to heal people. Mozu and Shain start a healing business together, as Shain is a skilled acupuncturist and acupressurist. In his small amount of free time, he likes to study teas. Eventually, after the quintuplets stop competing, Mozu goes to help Iroh in Ba Sing Se at the tea shop.

Yaro (M) Firebender, 20: Where Mozu could barely fight, Yaro excels. Yaro is sent to the Sun Warriors to learn firebending from Ran and Shaw. After returning, he makes it his life mission to learn how to control the colors of his fire. By 17, he is able to create any color flame he wants. He explores how different things react based on the different temperatures and colors the flames are. Yaro becomes a potter, creating unique bowls, plates, etc for the nobles. He and Jaree open a gallery together to sell their masterpieces.

Shain (M) Earthbender, 20: Shain is the odd man out, being the only earthbender in the family. He is sent to train with Ayi Toph and discovers he's a very skilled metalbender. Between his metalbending abilities and knowledge of muscles and pressure points, Shain creates a better way of doing acupuncture than the experts have done for the past 300 years. Shain spends one season each year in Zaofu with Suyin and Bataar to better his metalbending and teach other metalbenders his acupuncture technique.

The five of them are all super flexible and able to get some height when jumping. They form a gymnastics and dance troupe of the five of them. They compete in the group version of bending dance competitions that Tiao Wu does. He's a big fan of them and is always siked when they let him dance with them.

OK! Here is a much longer than I intended answer to your Mai Lee babies ask. Please let me know what you think and which direction you think I should go because both would be interesting to have.

[disaster-fruit]

could you tell us more about the brarg family au with the 3 babies and trans luci?

I definitely can! This au has been living rent free in my head since i started that drawing and I was actually sketching more stuff for the AU right before I got this ask so- I definitely can ramble more about it

This was supposed to be just a collection of a few hcs and now it’s a multi-pages word document the size of a fanfic so – Im really sorry.

I didn’t think a lot about their backstories tbh, though I have it in my mind that Luciano transition in his late teens and that he and martin either met after that or knew each other before luciano came out, lost all contact, and then met again after (and you can blame oxiosas fic for that yeah im not even subtle)

But I imagine them having some sort of meet cute and kinda progressing really fast in their relationship without realizing – yk, its just a fling, no big deal, yeah ive met his parents, yes I basically spend every weekend in his apartment, yeah I have a spare key now, ops I guess we’re adopting dogs and plants together- oh I think we’re married. Yeah. We’re married.

Ok but for real Luci does the proper proposal-with-a-ring-and-knelt-down-on-a-special-day thing and Martin is just bright red saying yes over and over again

It is Afonso (port) the first to be all WHERE ARE MY GRANDCHILDREN like… the night of their wedding.

They live in a house in a not too big city with two dogs, one cat, one parrot and all the birds that Luciano feeds and names that aren’t actually theirs. Still, they choose the house with two spare rooms because they always talked about having two kids.

In this AU they can buy a nice house and don’t have to worry about money and can raise kids like the world isn’t ending.

I think right after they got married they got in line for adoption. However, everything indicated that it would take a long long time so they started talking about the possibility of trying to have a biological kid. I think luci was the one to suggest it when he noticed martin had been thinking about it but not saying anything for a while.

Lots of boring doctor visits and confused doctors looking at luciano and trying to process it like the dumb cishets they are. Boring exams and all that, but everything is on track eventually, luci pauses his hrt and keeps his jockstrap on the drawer and they’re googling the best positions for fertility on those weird cishet sites and doing it like bunnies etc etc

Getting pregnant the natural way after years of testosterone is not the easiest thing in the world, so it takes a while. But eventually it works.

Both of them are kinda freaking out with this whole first pregnancy thing. Martin is the ultimate protective husband, and spends way too much time on the internet finding out what luciano can and can’t eat, what exercises he should do, and going to every single doctor visit. He’s very committed to it.

Luciano has to drink non-alcoholic beer and hates life. There’s a single teardrop shed every time he buys it. And drinks a lot of lemonade like it’s the same as caipirinha. Poor guy. Martin doesn’t help on that, life isn’t fair, he buys his own beer.

But he also has to drive absurd lengths to find the weirdest fruit or make the most hideous, blasphemous pizza toppings because Luciano is constantly craving absurd shit. But poor baby actually really NEEDS that chicken M&M pizza at 8am.

They’re super proud daddies though, and both their instagrams at this point are just baby belly pictures. Luci had top surgery on this au on my hc so also. Lots of shirtless pics. He looks like an old uncle with a beer belly and he’s PROUD. Just. Baby bellies all over.

Martin picks the entire baby layette. Because of course he does.

Their baby shower is a huge deal though. Their dads are there, Antonio brings an entire trunk filled with diapers and tells everyone how many tincho used to need when he was a baby, Afonso is cooking for everyone and talking about how he’s gonna be a grandfather (!!!). Iracema (pindorama) is scolding Luci about his bad habits while also quietly being a super proud grandma. Zola (angola) bought toys because she knows that’s what kids actually like, Samero (Mozão) keeps asking if they installed all the necessary security stuff in their house – we will, chill, we still have some months to go – Vera (Tomé) is teasing Simão (Timor) about him no longer being the family baby, Fatima (g.bissau) is another one who bought a huge amount of diapers, Rosinha (cabo verde) is taking pictures of everyone and everything, Sebas and Dani are discussing if the kid should speak Portuguese or Spanish, Maria brought a huge pink plushy as a gift, it’s quite a party.

Once they’re late in the pregnancy, Luciano mostly spends his time on Martin’s oversized t-shirts asking for foot rubs and not getting much sleep because the baby keeps moving. Martin on the other hand is a little nervous about being a dad, but absolutely loves feeling the little kicks and talking to the baby all the time, except when its 3am and he wants to sleep but Luci cant because of it so he just does his best to keep him company. He mostly ends up falling asleep on his chest though and doesn’t help much

I wrote all of this but I still don’t have a name for the girl lol Anyway, she’s finally born, and if martin was overprotective when Luciano was pregnant, he’s ten times more with his baby girl. Tbh theyre both kinda going crazy with this whole parenting thing, both are overprotective, tired, and have no idea what theyre doing.

Zola and Sebastian are the girl’s godparents. Sebastian isn’t very good with kids so when he takes care of his niece he either puts on a tv show and lets her eat whatever crap she wants, or relies on Daniel to do the actual taking care, since he is good with kids.

Luciano and Martin are very much neurotic first-timers and have all this schedule of what their girl can eat and when and when she has to sleep etc etc.

When Zola takes care of her, she just ignores it and does it her way. She helped raised Luci since he was a baby anyway, he survived just fine and even married and reproduced, she knows what to do better than both the dumbasses, and they never even find out.

Afonso on the other had follows everything when he’s with his granddaughter, determined to be a better grandfather than he was a father, and the baby loves him so he’s doing a good job.

They’re a very cute family yes yes

She grows up well and happy, a bit shy maybe but very smart and sweet, loves the dogs and her aunts and uncles and granddads (afonso more than antonio though)

By the way, Iracema is soft like butter with her granddaughter.

When she’s about four or five years old they start talking about having a second one, considering the age difference and all. So back to doctors, Luci stops the hrt again and they go back to trying, but again it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do it naturally after years of hrt.

But god listens to the prayers of such good catholic family, and right after they start thinking about a second child, they receive the news they will finally get to adopt a baby.

Luciano is the one to receive the news, he’s working at home when the social worker comes to tell him they can finally adopt. He’s extremely happy, he hugs the poor lady and is barely able to concentrate as she explains the paperwork that is left and the details of it because he can’t stop smiling.

He immediately texts martin saying something like “CALL ME RIGHT NOW WE NEED TO TALK” and it’s in happy caps but martin understands it wrong and thinks someone is dying or dead but then his phone is what dies so he gets home as fast as he can thinking all the worst scenarios just to find luciano jumping on him with a smile for ear to ear. It’s such a shock he takes a while to react but when he does you have two idiots so happy they can’t function.

It’s another girl, she has big brown eyes like her sister and it’s a few months old.

They quickly reassemble the crib and paint the second room to get everything ready in time to take her home, and the next week or so it’s nothing but all the family visiting to meet their new baby.

Since they managed to adopt, they decided to stop trying to have another kid. Luciano goes back to the doctor do some routine exams so that he can go back to testosterone and the doctor just awkwardly explains that, well, that won’t be exactly possible. Not for the next eight months, at least.

He’s quite shocked at that, and takes him a while to tell martin. They just got a new baby and do they even have space to raise three kids? Eventually it just escapes from him and martin is shocked as well, but ultimately both of them are just worried about their place being too small, and once they relax about that they can’t shut up about having another baby on the way to anyone.

Still, it’s not easy to manage, martin is just as worried as he was with their eldest, except that this time he’s simultaneously worried about their new baby and about Luci’s pregnancy. Poor dude needs a break asap. So he’s trying to do most of the work of caring for a little baby to spare luciano from the stress, while also taking care of him as well as he did the other time.

Luci is more chill about being pregnant, he’s done this before, he’s fine. He’s even a little too chill about it, as shown in the art, he still wants to carry their kid on his shoulder and having a few sips of martin’s beer is no big deal and honestly he’s fine, he can help with the baby, and Tincho just needs to relax and it will all be fine.

Again, poor tincho needs a break.

Some things don’t change though. Them being super proud daddies who do nothing but take pictures of their kids and Luci’s belly every chance they get. And they’re really happy and excited to have their house full and this big family.

Just a good cute family AU where nothing bad ever happens thank you very much.  Yet it took me almost 2k words to say it. I have no self control and I’m very sorry. However, if anyone has their own hcs to add about this whole au, I will be more than happy to hear and talk about this AU even more than I’ve already done.

[onf-headcanons]

ONF SIBLING (E-tion and J-US)

So if you had already known me I tend to keep my hcs flexible. Same goes to this ONF DUO as siblings au. It can be either you are blood related with one of them or even not. Also doable if you are older than them, your birthday are in between them, or even you are the youngest, have fun!

Now this duo is super fun because they share the same family name even though not related. Which makes there is new scenario possibility. All of you related by blood is a very lazy way to open up possibilities for fun hcs.

1. Either you three are not related by blood at all. Changyoon and Seungjoon sharing the same family name are just pure coincidence but from different ancestry

2. Changyoon and Seungjoon are related with the same biological parents but you are from the new parent that married with one of their parent

3. They both you met in young age due to marriage of both of your parent and the parents give birth to you later

4. Either you are related from Changyoon or Seungjoon side and either one of them later joined the family. Confusing? OK example you are Changyoon's sibling by blood and then later Seungjoon joined. Or in reversed, Changyoon joined. (this is for the reader to share same family name with them both)

My recommendation goes to number 3😉. Age gap suggested would be 5 to 7 years (this is absolutely intentional you will know why later) .

I personally think is the most fun one

Common hcs for both of them. I will kind off focus on this part for the double Lees this time.

• Changyoon and Seungjoon always give me the frenemy type of chemistry

• Loud af especially if you three plays game. (The house will be even louder if Hyojin and/or Minkyun joins. So is either you join to fun or rip your ears. But if you happened to the eldest sibling, you will glare at them so that they can be quiet)

• Btw loudest happy birthday song and wishes. It does not matter whose birthday was it, it will still gonna be loud.

• Once them both and you 3 gets really comfortable with each other, or should you 3 grow up together, pranking each other is a definite thing you siblings will do.

• To lend an idea from the modern fantasy au I wrote, maybe once they planked you way too hard and you decided to revenge. You bought a fake bug and then when they are minding their own businesses, you suddenly just random throws the fake bug in front of them

• I could it will be like a cue hint for them that they went overboard pranking you when you pulled the fake bug prank move. So they will make it up by taking you out, buying you food or even timidly asking if you have anything in your amazon/shopping cart

• This household shares the same universe with Hyojin Minseok and Jaeyoung Minkyun households. So you will see Hyojin visiting alot. And Changyoon slowly gets to know about his new younger brother's bff and them 3 hang out comfortably in no time.

• If your bff happens to be the younger sibling from Jaeyoung and Minkyun household, you would see them both often when they drop by to pick their younger sibling.

• Who knows? Maybe you later on develop a crush with those good looking visitors

• Lol. Sorry that i got sidetracked, lets go back to the common hcs.

• Changyoon need time to adjust to new environment and people while Seungjoon is the opposite

• If you are happened to be a cheerfully active type, you easily interact with Seungjoon. But if you are not, they will approach you very cautiously. Maybe Changyoon even enough an introvert himself, will initiate first to show that the nuance of this household is perfectly fine. Especially Changyoon, working very hard to not accidentally step on your emotional landmine

• Changyoon stuttering

• Seungjoon glaring/swearing with his eyes

• It will be a very good contrast if Changyoon and Seungjoon are weak against horror or jumpscares but you being the youngest sibling is perfectly fine about it

• Lol even maybe you are the one who kills bug in the household

• 3 of you have own room because apparently Changyoon has really bad sleep qualities so he prefer to sleep alone and you get your own room too either for the same reason or, you being the opposite sex sibling and your parents thought it's best to sleep separately.

• Either you 3 are related or not, they will be a devoted elder brother. But wont over spoil you.

• Seungjoon giving out critique in a gentle tone. While Changyoon is more on expressing his honest thought that meant well.

• Contrast example : Seungjoon will use phrases of compliment like you did wonderful job, you aced it. But Changyoon will just simply said, you worked hard then just pose you a thumbs up.

• I can totally see Seungjoon and you either helping you with your studies and revisions at the living room while Changyoon just sitting there enjoying the presence of you two. Or, Seungjoon just drags you out to the town library and monitor you. Reason you and Changyoon are having way too much fun with video games.

• Seungjoon will later buy you ice cream as reward.

• Btw if you are born later, this is how it will be when you parents brought the baby you back home.

• Seungjoon is excited to see you while Changyoon is a bit timid but still fascinated at how smol you are

• Maybe when you cried, Seungjoon will be the boy in action to help calm you down while Changyoon lowkey panicking.

• Could be Seungjoon is the type of brother who show you toys and demonstrates to the baby/toddler you just to make you laugh.

• But Changyoon's style would be getting himself a hand puppet, the shark one is his fave, and move the hand puppet around while giving light chomps, making you feel ticklish. Once you start smiling, big bro Changyoon starts smiling too.

• But once them both got the hang of it, they help out parents to take care of you. The type of brothers that won't let go of the younger sibling away from their arms and sight.

• Changyoon follows your mum out and help selected your clothes. And even later when you grow older, you would always go to big bro Changyoon for fashion advice

• Both are very reliable elder siblings when it comes to giving advice.

• I can see if you are leaning to socialising advice, you will go to Seungjoon. For a more inwards self contemplating advice, you will go to Changyoon. Overall they are both good listeners.

• Also, them both singing. I do like the tendency of them singing at home ever since you were born, humming short tunes so that you can sleep when you are still a toddler until you graduated kindergarten. Will elaborate more in below if reader stand in also like singing and dancing

• If Hyojin side as a big brother is more attentive towards younger brother, I can see this two are more attentive if its younger sister. Not that their caring will die down if its a brother but when it comes to a sister, they will be gentler

• Oh,also defo the ones who volunteer to accompany you to prom night

Scenario 1. If you are related with any one of them

• Being Changyoon's sibling, maybe you are a contrast of him. He is a scaredy cat and full of expressions, but you are more of a chill zen type. The one who pushes Changyoon's jaw back up when he was too surprised with his mouth open wide.

• Even though you are Changyoon's sibling, you might team up with Seungjoon and Hyojin to tease Changyoon a bit lol

• If you happened to share the same passion of singing just like Changyoon, you two tend to finish each others lyrics or even try harmonising. Seungjoon will join too once he gets comfortable

• Every year in your birthday card, Changyoon will always write "You are the best, Luv you!" (Taken from Changyoon's "Non choigo ya saranghae"

• Being Seungjoon's sibling, you are also close with Hyojin before Changyoon joins

• Lent from above, you are the one who kills bugs at home because you brother will be using you as shield. And then bluffed that he wanted to train you lol

• And yes, the fake bug prank is legit here

• Even though he is your brother, you would gang up with Changyoon to tease Seungjoon . But you won't go overboard,you two stops the moment he starts his death glare.

• If you happened to share the same passion of dancing with Seungjoon, I can see you two dancing to Taemin's and Shinee's discography alot.

Scneario 2. If you are not related with any one of them.

• Seungjoon is gonna talk to you alot to try to know you more

• There will a lot of cute bloopers and maybe Seungjoon passed through either judging you two being weird or maybe later joins

• Changyoon would try and it will more time compared to Seungjoon but if you share something in common with him, you will get him open up quickly. Maybe tiktok, and then you two filmed tiktok snips together

• If Changyoon and Seungjoon happens to know/acquainted already then things are easier, your sibling only just need to help the other party who is the shy and introverted.

• You might think they are both cold and distant when first meet. Especially Changyoon because of his eyes and how he looks when he is not smiling.

• Pranks in this scenario will be lesser than above. The fake bug prank move won't appear in this scenario

• But both Changyoon and Seungjoon are quite of the unexpected bomb lol they sometimes do weird sounds or weird actions lol but those weird quirks always give you good laugh

• Changyoon works a few part time job and sometimes fall asleep on the sofa at the living room . Will always tiptoe if you found Changyoon sleeping at the living room, snoring

• If you found Seungjoon sleeping, and later found out he is a deep sleeper...

• Cues you and Changyoon maybe lowkey pranking or playing around of loud noises just to try waking him up

• (The similar scene in wake up boys video could totally happen)

• If you happened to be also a light sleeper, you are envious of Seungjoon

• You and Changyoon both will never unsee Seungjoon's face as the orange face meme after Hyojin points it out due to revenging Seungjoon calling him piggy

• You will bond with Seungjoon quickier if you are a Taemin fan

• If you are more of a R&B/soul/hiphop lover, you will bond with Changyoon quicker.

• Amazed at Seungjoon able to take in spicy food.

A/N : sorry that it gotten longer because I side tracked

[ruffiorocks]

If Lena was a man 'he' could still be the same Lena.

So I just got sent a link to one of Kramreciets screen shots and even though the shot was from the same two people who just hate SC shippers simply for existing I'm feeling the need to address it.

The post addressed the claim that if Lena was a man then Supercorp would have already happened by now. But they turned it into if Lena was a man SC shippers would basically call her a white, rich, privileged, abusive creep and if Mon El had been female then SC shippers wouldn't have cared that he was a slave owner and had lots of sex. (Not attacking Mon El here, just reiterating what was said).

So... Here's my two cents only one person asked for 😅.

Honestly I think it's bullsh*t and people need to really find something better to do with their lives to begin with.

Quickly to begin with if Mon El was a female slave owner having lots of sex with his slaves male or female and then leaving them to die and/then lied to Kara and was possessive etc. Then 'she' would be just as much as a douche bag as male Mon El would be.

Now for the main point, the claim is working under the false understanding that if Lena was male that she/he would have to be bad simply because he was male. That every male character is toxic and that LGBT+ women/etc hate men in general. If Lena was a man but acted the same way Lena does then it doesn't make the character any different to how Katie plays her.

You may have to rearrange a few things (like would she/he then date Alex? Because for her to date James they would have to make her/him and James both gay or bisexual, would that mean Alex doesn't come out as gay? I suppose that would leave Kara free to be the one to come iut as gay since the idea of two main characters being gay is apparently a stretch).

But there's no reason why she/he couldn't still be Kara's best friend, not all men are bad and incapable of being just friends with women and believe it or not men can be best friends with women, yes even straight men can be best friends with straight women. Not everyone is attracted to everyone because they are sexually compatible.

We can't have sensitive male characters? I bet to differ since Winn and Brainy both exist. Kara managed a best friend relationship with Winn, he had a fleeting crush on her, was an ass and then got over it like a grow up does.

So male Lena is a bit more sensitive than you expect, no issues there. Female Lena likes to act tough and she is but we all know she's super sensitive, a man can be exactly the same. No reason why male Lena couldnt still hug or have a game night with Kara. A man can be grateful to his female friends and buy her flowers to say thankyou.

No reason why Kara couldn't still save male Lena's ass, she does it just fine with Winn, James and Mon El. We see Winn doing science and we don't accuse him of being a mad scientist.

I don't watch Legends but isn't the Atom a billionaire scientist who is a really nice and sensitive guy? Isn't Cisco a scientist and a really nice and sensitive guy?

Male Lena could still be best friends with Sam, he could still realise that Sam was Reign, he could still make Kryptonite and not intend to hurt Supergirl with it, only thinking of saving his friend. Also, remember that Supergirl is the one that tends to pick fights with Lena over things. So Supergirl attacking male Lena about having Kryptonite or calling him a Luthor or having a go because he made Harun El is not male Lena being toxic, that's actually still Supergirl being an ass to her friend.

Male Lena coming to the DEO and saving Supergirl's life or building her a statue or making her tech to protect her works out the exact same way.

Male Lena could even ask Kara to come and meet her ex with him.

Male Lena could still decide to sacrifice his ex girlfriend to save Supergirls life.

Supergirl betraying male Lena's trust by asking his significant other (James? ) Is still Supergirl being the ass, gender changes nothing here.

Male Lena would still have saved the world several times.

The whole Rhea kidnapping her to make her marry Mon El would have to change, but then again Mon El said himself 'the more the merrier' on Daxam, so maybe he could be bi? Maybe an heir can be made with just make DNA (that would be an interesting storyline). Or maybe Rhea disinherits Mon El and wants to marry male Lena herself? Male Lena could still have the same mother/son relationship with Rhea.

Perhaps Male Lena could have been gay? He could have got with Winn, I'd of been OK with that. Lena and Winn always had better chemistry and more in common than Lena did with James. (But no hate). Male Lena getting with Winn? You wouldn't have had the issues with him disliking her for being a Luthor like James did avoiding the issues that that causes among fans. But that's another story.

Oh and the whole Adam situation? Soo... A man decides he wants to cure Cancer and that's an issue? A man accidentally kills his test subject (male or female ) and that somehow changes the story? No, the story stays exactly the same, we just wouldn't have had male Lena showing as much skin as female Lena does. No reason why male Lena couldnt have the same background as female Lena or the connection with Adam.

No reason why male Lena and Alex couldn't become great friends.

It doesn't even change the relationship with Lex, he's simply an ass to his half brother instead of his sister. (He had a half brother in Smallville, Lena could easily have been Lucas Luthor, or Lex's full biological brother who died in infancy Julian Luthor).

Also to quickly address the comment made on the OG post as to why SC shippers ship SC when Alex and Kelly are canon well that's easy. SC has been around since before Kelly showed up and even before Alex came out as gay. SC has been a ship since the very first episode of season 2 when Kara first set eyes on Lena. 'Technically' Lena and Kara made eye contact and officially met before Kara even met Mon El, Kara met his unconscious form. So unless you shipped Karamel at the very beginning because you knew he would be her love interest then SC and Karamel were both born at the same time, and there's nothing wrong with that. Supercorp continued to be a ship when Alex came out, when Alex dated Maggie, when Alex broke up with Maggie, when Alex slept with Sara, when the AgentReign shippers emerged with Sam and even now when Alex has another canon love interest. You are allowed to ship more than one pairing, you are allowed to be more invested in the main characters storyline than the secondly ones. You are allowed to believe it's possible for more than one lesbian couple to exist and you're allowed to like your non canon ship which you have shipped since before the canon lesbian came out than the actual canon lesbian couple.

Whether or not SC would be canon if Lena was a man is debatable, I think it would be more likely to happen if she was a man, but it isn't set in stone.

Anyhoo that's today's rant!

[jonathanlejonhjarta]

🌻 🌻 🌻 😊

ok so listen. the book series a lot of people on here were into when they are kids, like asoue and pjo? i didn’t get into them until i was like 15-16. you know what i was into?? the swedish adult historical fiction books by jan guillou called the crusaders trilogy + the sequel the heritage of arn. i have read these books so many times, probably five times before i turned 13. i reread them last summer and you know what? they’re still so fucking good! i love them and am so sad that i have no one to talk to about them :--( 

the trilogy set in 12th & 13th century sweden, when the state religion was catholicism and sweden was on its way to be united under one king for the first time. you follow the politics of medieval sweden through arn magnusson, a member of one of the big and powerful clans in sweden at the time. he grew up as a novice in a monastery due to reasons, but when he turns 17 he is allowed to return to his biological family and the world outside the monastery. there he meets cecilia, and they fall in love, and are to be married, but then cecilia’s sister messes things up to them. arn and cecilia are punished, and while cecilia has to spend 20 years as a nun in the monastery of gudhem, arn is sent to the holy land to try to keep it in the hands of catholicism. the books follow their lives together, inside the monastery and at the battlefields in the holy land, and the friendships they form when they’re a thousand miles apart from each other, but also the clan politics of 13th century sweden!

it doesn’t sound that exciting, but for me, it is!!! i think the love story is very sweet, arn is a very honest, curious and good man (due to been raised by monks and interpreting the words of the bible in his own way), cecilia is a cool, strong, smart and caring woman with a will of steel and so many ideas! and there are so many more interesting characters and historical people and conflicts. i only know about the politics in sweden from maybethe year of 1520 and forward, so it’s so neat to hear about the politics before that! 

when arn is palestine, he spends so much time around muslims and islamic cultures, and he is very respectful about the different cultures and is so ready to learn from others and consider their perspectives and religious views! i just love that he is so respectful to his muslim friends and helps them out to be sure they can keep their own traditions even when they end up in a country where islam isn’t the biggest religion. even though it is fiction, i feel like medieval people are rarely depicted as open and ready to learn, so having arn who is a very empathic and kind man as a main character makes me very happy.

another cool thing that a lot of the place mentioned in the book are/were actual places! the monastery where cecilia spends those 20 years? it existed! i visited the ruins of it last november! the monastery and the church were arn grew up? while the monastery is torn down and only runis are left, the church is still standing! (i also visited those two places). the town where i went to school and almost live in is mentioned a couple of times in the books too! 

i love the mix of fiction and non-fiction. there is a lot of actual history depicted in that book, and if you learn what is what, you have an entire history lesson about swedish medieval politics right there. 

tldr: while i didn’t read any international children’s series as a child, i did enjoy a lot of nice swedish fiction. a lot of astrid lindgren and tove jansson, who both wrote books that are written for/often read by children, but also jan guillou’s story about arn, cecilia, their and the entirety of medieval sweden’s fate!

send me a 🌻 and ill just tell you whatever the fuck i want

[xladyalaeria-ht]

The images above are not mine. I found them on Pinterest and Tumblr. 

( katie mcgrath, 23 (30), cisfemale. )  ♟  raise your glass for ( alaeria hightower ), the ( lady ) hailing all the way from ( oldtown ). the word on the kingsroad is that they’re known as the ( wildcard ), and apparently they can be ( - subserviant ) and ( - secretive ), but at least the gods blessed them and made them ( + charming ) and ( + creative ). no one is positive as to their intentions but they’re loyal to house ( hightower & targaryen ), so they can’t be all bad.  Hello my lovely friends, it tis I, the slowest turtle in the planet finally finishing up and posting my bio for Alaeria. If anyone wants to plot a connection or a thread with her, please do feel very free to hmu, sweethearts!! <3

Ok, so let met first start off by saying what some/most of y’all might have suspected or guess by now, that my girl's  no.1 biggest secret is that she's actually not the real Alaeria Hightower! XD But, she is a Hightower by blood though, as her dad is the current ruling Lord of Hightower. Now let the story begin...

So about 2 yrs before she got married to Drogon Targaryean, she was actually the very secretly unknown, bastard child of Lord Dietrich Hightower from an extremely discreet liaison he had with a woman (who is actually a descendant of the Free Folk & also from another land/kingdom ( i haven’t really decided which one just dfghjklkjh ^.^”). He was a lustful dickhead of a guy who basically just wooed and charmed her mother with fake promises of love and he hid his true identity from her. When she got pregnant and thus found out her lover's real identity, she then immediately left, (to his relief as well as he didn't want to fuck up his marriage and spoil his shiny & extremely proud reputation) because she didn't want her child to known as a bastard and also to prevent her from getting gossiped about , bullied, etc...And also cos her mom still hopelessly cared for that idiot lover of hers despite knowing better. XD

Alaeria and her father never once met until one day, 2 years ago, thru a chance meeting and it was hard to not believe that she was his child as she had a unique birthmark which only members of his line would have, and she was the exact spitting image of her paternal great-grandmother XD They also eventually came to find that she also possessed quite a mixture of a few physical & non-physical traits of Maris the Maid, one of the most legendary Hightower ancestors.

Dietrich Hightower’s  only legitimate daughter with his legal wife, the current ruling Lady of Hightower, was the real Alaeria Hightower. She was a rather sickly and a pretty weak child. She also had the misfortune of having some facial scars and horrible looking birthmarks on her face and neck, and was also slightly disfigured due to a terrible accident while growing up. Her overly-proud and image conscious/ shallow parents were pretty dismayed by her appearance and was extremely fearful that she might not be able to make a good & strong match with other great houses. So from when she was 8 or so, onwards, they kept her carefully hidden in Hightower and she hardly went out of their fortress of a home. Plus whenever she had to be presented out for public events , they covered her face with pretty but dark-coloured veils and spread word that it was "prophesied that she had been both blessed and cursed with great beauty upon her 5th birthday and whoever who caught any single glimpse of her face from that point onwards, before she was married, would be struck down with  a great misfortune at a major point of their lives." So yeah, they managed to make many people believe this bullshit fake prophecy with asking a few servants to spread rumors that she was an incredibly beautiful baby & toddler & a few daredevils who had tried to sneak a peek of her face properly when she was 10/ 11 had been afflicted with horrible accidents and disastrous illnesses. The ruling couple also were planning to tell their in-laws after she managed to be wedded, that “this gift of beauty of her was also two-edged curse as she would be struck with a minor harmless affliction (ugly facial marks and stuff) after her wedding night”  XD rofl

They also obviously never told anyone that her health wasn’t that strong and constantly on a see-saw condition ;)

Ruling Lady Hightower was overly-protective of her poor little girl and devoted a lot of her time to pampering and spoiling her daughter so much, that the real Alaeria Hightower, grew up to be quite the brat : shallow, entitled  & extremely lazy young woman that was only interested in material items and frivolous matters, never bothering to study much or read nor get well-versed with current political events (despite having pretty sharp brains). She was also pretty selfish, never genuinely concerning herself at all with the welfare of anyone but that of herself and her beloved mom. She never ended up being close with her father at all as well.

In the meantime, my baby ( who I’m still struggling with deciding on her real, original name asdfghjkl, forgive me ^.^”) had been growing up in a pretty nomadic lifestyle with her loving mother, who had quite of a wandering soul in her. Despite never truly having a proper home or a long-term abode, she was pretty happy with her life as a travelling low commoner. She adored her mother and her mother cherished her right back, always making sure that she felt safe and secure. During all her many years of growing up, she had travelled to many & all sorts of lands and kingdoms & had a very rich past filled with memorable experiences and cultures as well as meeting all sorts of people. Her mother taught her to always be kind, loving and to be compassionate no matter what, as well as to always hold on to the hope that there will always be a light shining in the darkness in end. Her mother also always(!), highly stressed on filial piety and thus her daughter become an extremely dedicated & very dutiful daughter, that rarely counteracted nor really argued with whatever decisions her mother made ( even if very secretly sometimes doesn’t really like it nor agree with it :p)

In the end through it all, Her personality is that of a warm, genuine, sincerely charming and pretty affectionate woman. She's also pretty gentle sometimes. She's happens to be quite witty and pretty knowledgeable as she has a huge thirst for knowledge and was always very eager to learn as much as possible about anything & everything from when she was a child till now still. She's very loving and always tries her best to smile a lot no matter what, and also is very generous. Her flaws are that she is pretty naive towards the noble-people’s  manipulation, cunning & wicked ways since she's so open. She gets anxious(TM) easily at times and can be quite the worrier over some matters. She's also too docile/ overly-fillial towards her elders which would be her dad, his wife and all the older relatives of Drogon's family. ( this would give them a bit of power over her and it's kind of second nature to her to feel obliged to obey whatever they demanded of her...for now) She  is actually rather clumsy on some occasions, but now she has to try her best to be elegant & graceful  as much as possible ( so hard tbh XD) . She actually doesn't like the idea of battles and war and doesn't fully enjoy being a royal.  All she ever wants in life is to just live simply, happily and peacefully with her loved ones and that's it. Poor gurl. She likes spending time outdoors a lot and her hobbies more lies with cooking on her own, making small herbal soups/drinks (which she learned a great deal from her mother), swimming, riding and wood-crafting and playing with animals. She also has a pretty curious nature and high penchant , nay desire(!), for exploring all kinds of new places.

Now back at Hightower: (3 and a half years ago, before everyone came to King’s Landing) ;D: Shortly after Drogon's mother & his privy council and the rulers of Hightower came to an agreement & set arrangement to wed Drogon and (the real) Alaeria in the near future, the real Alaeria unfortunately got infected with a fatal and incurable, long-term, disease. Lord Hightower was panicking hard over what to do with the marriage arrangement as he really wanted to strongly bind their house with the great House of Targs, (cos despite whatever their current status may be , he wisely deemed that this powerhouse could potentially rise up to take over the Iron Throne again in the future & if not, well, it was better to be allies with this formidable house than be enemies ryt incase of any future wars?)

And this is when he unexpectedly & finally met with his bastard daughter at this critical emergency time. Upon meeting her and seeing some potential in her, he then had this brilliant but crazy & extremely risky solution, that my baby should take over her royal half-sister's place and pretend to be her for the benefit/good of the kingdom.

My baby had been seeking hard for her biological dad a few months prior to that life-changing event, as her beloved mom had just recently died but she managed to tell her daughter the truth of her real-parentage and told her that if her dad ever accepted her as his own & welcomed her  , she (my baby) must promise to be an obedient and filial daughter to him as my baby had been to her all these years.

However, when her father revealed his plan of deception to her, she immediately didn't  wanna do that plan with her dad as she was so damn scared that it would quickly derail and go wrong and they'd be exposed within the first day of her setting foot in Dragonstone XD Plus, also she ever truly wanted was to meet her biological dad and get to know him, not to be powerful lady! She was fearful for both hers & her dad's lives if they were found out and that she might either be facing life imprisonment , exilation or the worse of all, death, if her future husband and his council was so enraged over the whole major deception and wanted to punish them badly. BUT because of her promise to her mom and also because her dad eventually managed to sway her with lots of showers of affection and eager interest to bond and get to know his bastard daughter, which Dietrich quickly detected that she longed for fatherly love and acceptance ( half of this stuff he did,  was subtle manipulation which my poor baby will not realize until later) she then eventually did reluctantly agree to go with the whole plan.

Thus they spent that two years, before the day she was to step foot into Dragonstone for the engagement party and the wedding, coaching her relentlessly on how to become  perfect princess. The becoming Araelia part was easier to get into bcos,  nothing much was really known about the real Araelia outside of Hightower, since she was kept hidden most of the time by her parents, and had minimal interaction with folks during any major public feasts & events happening there and only a handful of highly trusted folks in Hightower knew of this whole matter. SO basically my baby could really be her own character & personality when she was and is still, now going about as "Lady Araelia.”

Atm, my poor gurl feels so conflicted internally, cos she loves Drogon so, so much and she's so torn over whether to  finally tell him the truth rn or continue holding it a secret to her grave. Cos she doesn't know how he is going to react!  She's in so much agony over her current dilemma right now, because the one thing she's no.1 scared of,  is losing him and his love . She's felt so happy, secure and at peace with him eversince the day they got married till now hence, she's so scared of losing him & this happy marriage forever if she confesses.But then again, she feels so horrible for still continuously lying to the man she loves, every single day.

Also, eversince arriving at King’s Landing for the past few days, she’s been holding an ever-persistent anxiety  at the back of her mind  over her true identity being discovered out. She’s been trying very hard to hide and keep her anxiety & stress at bay as often as possible. The current occasion she was attending and the place where it was held was the most riskiest of situation to be in at the moment, as there was the fearful possibility that someone from some other place which she could have bumped into during her past life of nomadic living with her  mother, would chance upon her and recognize her. Thus, inadvertently exposing her real identity and bringing the dreaded drama that was sure to follow.

[chaoticlamphoagietaco]

Interesting research... also told my nana about grey at least now she has time to know about his age and know him..... now we just have to talk about this DUI.....

But about the research I’m on the cusp of Millenial and Gen Z, while grey is on the cusp of Gen X and Millenial, in other words we can be categorized by both milllenial and previous/future generations..... it’s like a complete interesection of generation, with harmony of the Millenial and the pandemic, also realized that grey is genetically predisposed to have hair loss, so any natural product he tries won’t work because he needs a product that works at a cellular or biological level, while some plants do.... and I will continue to give him as treatment, I honestly think that he should take suppplements.... I wonder what other genetically predispositions he has, and how they will affect his future health. I mean he has a doctor so he’s ok, but if we are going to eventually get married, I need Tom know these things.

A little frustrating talking to him today, I care about the details, and he didn’t tell me it was his sisters birthday Monday, even if he thinks he did, and I feel bad because I would have loved to celebrate with her and buy her a gift, but I’ll just have to save these for the next year, make note and move on.

My nonprofit is also interesting, I realized that the difference between digital marketing and marketing is crucial. The nonprofit has marketing team but not a digital marketing team. The ceo is a graphic designer, which is probably why the website looks pretty darn good, but is not optimized and doesn’t have a good amount of website traffic.I’m excited to have any title I want, and I chose SEO manager because that’s the goal title for the upcoming years for an 6 figure income ad hopefully moving to Spain. The linger I stay the more experienced I gain, and there’s also 10,000 in question that’s for website optimization which geeks me out, I can also learn not only all the essentials of SEO but possibly in the future now to manage a team, hire a team, and see the fruition of a given project, namely 3$ printed homed in Madagascar. They seem pretty on the ball, they plan to be done by summer and build three more.... and the girl is my age! It’s pretty awesome the synchronicity of this phenomena, I hope to have more experiences like this.

For artistry I’m slowly learning all the foundations of my chosen topics..... I’m pretty excited to share my passion in a fun, non-professional way, and to see where my SEO and digital marketing skills can be applied.

I’m also didn’t realize Thinkful had a project management program the same as SEO, I’m thinking I might do that while I’m doing the SEO specialist at the DMI, while also studying marketing and management at UCDenver, while also possibly maintains a full time job.... wow I’m going to be busyyyyy! I wonder what my future holds!

[valkerymillenia]

I ask all 50!!! Fill us with fun facts about you!

Holy shit, again?! I’m not that interesting, you know?But ok, I’ll try, I’ve already answered some though.

1: What color are your socks?

Answered.

2: Have you ever lied about your age? Why?

Answered already!

3: What is something you regret in the past month?

So much wasted time…

4: Do you believe in love at first sight?

I’ve answered this before- no, I believe in attraction at first sight; love, however, needs to be earned, grown and nourished.

5: When was the last time you wrote someone a letter on paper?

Do notes to translate conversations into paper for my deaf dad count? If so, then today.If you mean real letters… I honestly don’t remember.

6: How old were you when you first learned how to ride a bike? Who taught you?

Answered!

7: Do you get along with your parents? Why or why not?

Oh my gods, this is such a loaded question…Ok, I’ll try to keep it simple. Who am I kidding? That’s not possible.

Mom- ok so my mom is denial of any form of mental illness but she clearly has manic depression and war PTSD since forever. So as a result my mom has always been a bit aloof, irresponsible, neglectful, super permissive, a sneaky opportunist and a slightly childish and impulsive. Never thinks ahead, just goes nuts on the moment or spends too much time asleep (no in between).So my mom wasn’t the best mother in the world, she was a great caregiving and spoiling mother when we were babies but as soon as we gained minimal independence (aka around 5 years old) she just slacked off on the motherhood department. She’s not very bad, she’s just irresponsible and opportunistic and won’t interfere if we need help which doesn’t suit a mother but she’s a great person so she makes a very good friend (as long as you set boundaries and basic duties), she’s funny and sweet and a bit geeky, she’s also beautiful and used to be a model before I was born so she’s that fashion and beauty oriented friend (if fact she’s a certified beautician and taught me all she knows).So… Complicated relationship, lots of love but not the best mom (can’t blame her, grandma was a bitch).

Dad- I love him, he raised me, but I was also his main caregiver since I was 10 since he’s deaf and crippled. He’s a funny and permissive dad (except when he had explosive bouts of rage but that was a phase…a traumatic and slightly violent phase around the divorce time but short), he tried to be a provider and friend with shared interests with me. BUT he was also quite neglectful, being deaf made him very introverted, paranoid and isolated so he just let me run wild (I didn’t, I was taking care of the house and school instead) while he was cooped up playing pc games. We have that friendly daddy’s girl relationship but we both lack trust, we keep our more important thoughts to ourselves and I’m always afraid that as a deaf person he’ll misunderstand important things or judge me for whatever (and he’s always also feeling judged) so our relationship often feels shallow, he’s also the type in denial about people’s mental illness.

Biological father- Fucking complicated. As a little child he babysat me and was our neighbor so I was always hanging out and getting candy, he was also the person that cherished me the most to take hundreds of photos of me. I moved at age 5 so after that we only communicated through my grandma when she traveled between countries, he’d send me presents and worry about me. I only found out he was my progenitor when I was 10 and it took me years to accept it. Saw him again when I was 18, in fact it was like shock therapy- I spent a whole month living with him as I visited my hometown again. He likes to spoil me as much as he can and he’s very kind but also naive and stubborn and not the type that likes to talk about feelings or important things so talks between us are extremely awkward chitchat.

Stepdad- Terrible relationship. He’s the kind of person that is a caregiver for us all out of duty but then uses that to emotionally manipulate everyone. He’s small minded, old fashioned and selfish and blames everyone for his problems, he also seems to have a personal thing against me- pretty sure he doesn’t hate me but I’m his natural verbal punching bag, anything I say or do in front of him, no matter how innocent, even standing still for a moment or asking to pass the juice at dinner, he twists everything into insults and psychological abuse. Luckily my sister is his baby so she escapes his judgement but he wasn’t that much of a present parent to her either and let her run wild a lot (I’m so glad I could turn that around and teach her to be way more responsible than her parents). The only reason I don’t totally hate him is because he gave me sister, who I love most in the world.

8: What’s your favorite season?

Answered!

9: Do you currently like someone?

Yup, also answered before.

10: Have you ever used an Ouija board?

I know how but I never used it, as a Wiccan my preferred specialty for spiritual communing was pendulum scrying.

11: What’s the last song you sang?

“Havanna” by Camilla Cabello has been stuck in my head for weeks.

12: What’s your favorite scent?

Telling me to choose just one fav of anything is hard af… But here are some favs.

Fresh peppermint, lavender, petrichor, burnt eucalyptus, baby powder, sea water, freshly baked bread, and oddly enough- gasoline.

13: What’s your favorite urban legend?

Can’t choose favs but off the top of my head… La Llorona.

14: What’s a bad habit that you have?

Procrastinating.

15: What’s a strange habit that you have?

All my odd stims and ocd rituals.

16: What’s the first instrument that you learned to play?

Answered.

17: How would you describe your ‘type?’

Already answered in the previous ask meme.

18: Would you rather stay in or go out?

Both, when I go out I make it special and try to make the most of it because it’s rare… But I guess I do prefer the safety and routine of staying home.

19: What was the last thing you said to your mom?

“Never going to see what you borrowed from dad again, am I? This is why people don’t trust you, you never keep your promises…

Well, whatever! How are the stitches? You’re better, right?

Ok, put my sister on. Kisses, bye.”

20: Do you want to get married someday?

Already answered in the previous asked meme.

21: Have you ever snuck out?

Not that I needed to with my kind of parents but yeah, a couple of times.

22: Can you sing well?

I love to sing but whether I’m good or not is up to the listener, I can post a song sample if anyone wants.

23: What’s an embarrassing thing that happened this week?

Other than grovelling desperatly for help?

24: When was the last time you went sledding?

Never?

25: Have you ever/do you liked someone you know you can never be with?

Yeah.

26: Do people often mispronounce your name?

Yes! If you’re not a Portuguese speaker, I DARE you to pronounce my surname. Go ahead- Coelho.

27: Would you like to live in another country?

I do miss my home country, South Africa holds my heart… and I’ve dreamed of a stint in Japan. But all in all, I like this country, it’s…interesting, safe.

28: Do you like to watch ghost-hunting shows?

Not really, they tend to be too over the top and stereotypical. 

29: Who was the last person you said you loved to?

Boyfriend.

30: What’s something you’d like to be better at?

Follow through.

31: Have you ever stayed up to talk to someone who was sad?

Very often, Some right here on tumblr.

32: What was the last thing you cooked?

Chili con carne. Been eating leftovers of it for a whole week now.

33: Do you think you would make a good parent?

Answered already.

34: Do you have trouble sleeping at night?

Answered!

35: Where is your best friend right now?

Given the day and time, my sister is probably at dance practice now.

36: How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

Depends if I’m making an effort (an hour) or if I’m just being casual (20min).

37: How late do you usually stay up at night?

Answered.

38: When was the last time you cried and why?

I don’t know… 

39: Have you ever won a contest?

Yes, started this year by winning a Justice League pop contest. But that was more of a giveaway... Actual contest? I won a couple b of art contests before but nothing big.

40: Can you draw well?

I have art posted here so you tell me.

41: Would you ever date someone you met on Tumblr/the internet?

Sure. I already do.

42: What was the last thing you ate?

….Bread.

43: Do you think you’re/you’d make a good boyfriend/girlfriend?

I sure hope so, I try my best… But to be honest I don’t think I’m a very good partner.

44: Have you ever had a near-death experience?

About 6 actually.

45: What do you think people think of you?

I don’t know… I’ve been told I make people feel comfortable and I’m easy to open up to? But to be honest I don’t really know.

46: What is your middle name and do you like it?

Augusto. My mom’s maiden name, because that’s how it works here (Name+ maybe 2nd name + mom’s surname + dad’s surname). 

Yes, I like it, it’s latin. But people sometimes mix it up with my paternal grandma’s first name.

47: Are you close with either of your parents?

In my own way, yes. Both mom and dad.

48: Do you like yourself?

Some days…

49: State five facts about your appearance –

-I get a lot of comments on my boobs and I really don’t mind

-I look pale because I stay inside a lot but I tan very easily, probably because my mom is dark

-I love my tattoos, I’m proud of them

-I wear glasses or contacts in important occasions 

-I have the worst time looking people in the eye

50: State five facts about your personality –

-I’m patient but full of anxiety

-I don’t have just one personality

-I try to be as unbiased and non-judgmental as possible

-I’m obsessive about random things

-I like solitude but I also like interacting (though the more non-physical the better)

[zoeygreensimblr]

Wildest Dreams (episode 4)

In the harsh light of day the weight of the night before is setting in.  My mouth is super dry, my head is pounding and I'm having flashbacks, hot flashbacks but it's hard to concentrate on them with the pain.

I can here a conversation going on, I guess Angus finally got that FaceTime call from his sister. I can hear his end clearly but her replies come through muffled. I focus in on what he is saying and I realise they're talking about me.

"No Immie, Im not going to give you her name"

muffled reply

"you know exactly why, you'd look her up on simstergram and stalk her profile, trust me, you'll  meet her when the time is right, I just don't need my big sister scaring her off"

I get up and move closer to the door, I've never been the kind who listens in on private conversation but considering Im the subject matter I can't stop.

"Look Immie, it's more than likely that she's going to wake up and pretend nothing happened again, just like she did on Thursday."

"Give her time Gus, If she's as sweet as you say she is I'm sure she's worth the effort" Imogen assure him.

Am I worth the effort?

Angus ends his call and I can now hear a blender stopping and starting. Time to venture out of the room. He's standing in his kitchen dressed only in shorts and it's freezing.

"Morning" he says in an upbeat tone, "Did I wake you?"

"No, my hangover woke me, I swear Im never drinking again" I pledge

"Famous last words Miss Green, we've all been there"

"Ah Im sure you never have Mister McKennzie, given that you don't consume carbs"

"I use to be quite a heavy drinker"

"Oh, sorry"

Change the subject Zoey

"what are you concocting in the blender?"

"The worlds best hang over cure"

And he's going to make me drink it!

"Are you not cold, it's freezing Angus"

"I went for a run earlier, sorry, is it making you uncomfortable? I'll go put a shirt on"

Don't think Zoey, just act on impulse, you can do this.

"No, don't" I plead, reaching my hand out to touch his rock hard abs and I don't know which one of us is more shocked. My fingers move slowly up his torso, sweep across his neck and make the way to his mouth, I let my thumb play with his bottom lip and he kisses it softly. He pulls me in closer and brings his lips to mine, I'm anticipating his kiss but he just opens his mouth and asks "Is there a chance that you're still drunk?"

I shake my head, no

He kisses me, lifting me up off the ground.

"Do you have to be home at a certain time today" Angus enquires.

"No but I do have homework I need to do at some stage this weekend so I will need to get our bags from your office" I reply

"You mean those bags" He asks, pointing to the corner where he's carefully placed both my school bag and Tess' too.

"What do you have planned Angus?"

"I was thinking we could drive up the coast to Sulani, I know it's winter but there some great spots to grab lunch on the Island"

"How do you get to the Island  though?"

"Ferryboat from New Crest" He informs me

"Im in"

I check my phone in the car and I'm surprised to see that I only had 2 missed calls, one from home and the other from Tess. That's very unlike Tess, usually she would just keep calling until I picked up, her record was 35 calls in the space of an hour. I call home first and my mother answers.

"Hi Zoey"

"Hi Mum"

"I called before to see if you'll be home for dinner tonight and if Angus would be joining you?"

"How did you know I was with Angus?" I asked, thinking Tess must of ratted me out

"Oh, He called us last night, said you had passed out drunk on his couch and he had put you in his sisters bed. Lovely boy he is, we had a long chat too"

I shoot Angus a look and he just smiles, keeping his eyes on the road.

"So, Im not in trouble?" I ask mum

"Why would you be in trouble, we know you're safe and not lying in a ditch somewhere, plus you're our good girl, we know we don't need to worry about you, unlike Tess"

When I hang up the phone my head is filled with so many questions, like what did they chat about.

"We talked about you Zoey, how you're going to University next year and you're hoping to study medicine" Angus informs me, like he's reading my thoughts, "I didn't know you wanted to become a doctor?" he continues

"My parents want me to become a doctor and don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind studying medicine, my marks are high enough to get in too but I wouldn't mind becoming a vet either, I love animals, especially dogs" I explain

"You should do what makes you happy Zoey"

I wish it was that simple though.

The ferry ride from New Crest to Sulani takes about 40 minutes, the water is choppy and the wind is blowing a gail but Angus holds onto me tightly the whole way.

"This place is beautiful" I say when we arrive, the water is crystal clear and the sand is pure white.

"Yeah it is, I come up here a lot in Summer, we have a house on the beach and locals are so accommodating"

"I need to ask a question and I apologise is advance if it comes out rude but you're 22, how do you own so much property, it's like you hit the motherlode" I ask and he laughs

"Immie was a world renowned scientist. she invented a cloning machine, among other things, made Billions from it, retired at 32 and now travels the world, she comes home in the warmer months, helps me out with the gym but mostly she leaves me in charge of making the big decisions, I've got creative control over everything" He explains.

We walk to The Sand Bar, a small bar with a food stall out front. We put our orders in and find a wicker cane lounge to sit on.

"Ok Zoey, I think it's my turn to ask the personal question" he says, I can hear the reservation in his voice but still he pushes on, "You've talked to me non stop about your relationship with Tess and I've met your Mother and Step Father, who you also seem to be really close to but you've not once mentioned your actual father"

It was a painful subject, a wound that had never healed. I can feel the hot tears welling up in my eyes.

"Oh fuck, Zo, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up, it's none of my business, forget I've asked. Shit, I wanted to have the best first date with you and now I've ruined it and made you cry." He comforts me, wiping my tears away with a napkin

"It's ok" I assure him, "I cry when I'm angry, I'm not angry at you or that you asked, please don't think that. I'm angry because our father abandoned us, left my mother with nothing, alone to raise to two children on her own. Tess and I were only 10 and he just didn't come home, he moved to Oasis Spings with his girlfriend, Eliza Pancakes and they started a new family together, we never heard from him again"

"Im so sorry Zoey, what a prick, you're poor mother and you girls" He exclaims, shocked

"There were some pretty dark times, bills went unpaid and our power was shut off a few times but Ruth got us through it, she took a job as the hostess at Chez Llama and worked really hard to make sure we had everything we needed. That's where she met Don too, he was head chef. They married about a year later and we moved to Brindleton Bay." I explain

"Imogen tells me that Don Lothario was a bit of a playboy in his younger days at Riverview High. Your mother has done a great job taming him" He laughs and I do too

"You wouldn't even know he once had a wild side, he's so devoted to Mum and is more of father to Tess and I than our biological father ever was"

On the drive home from New Crest I receive a call from Tess.

"Where are you? Im bored and have no-one to talk to" she cries

"I'm about an hour away, I'll be there soon, I promise. I just remembered, I forgot to call you back too, I'm the worst sister in the whole world" I laugh

"You so are Zoey, You get a boyfriend and forget all about me, the real love of your life. Nah, it's all good, I called Angus, I knew you were safe" she assures me.

BOYFRIEND? What? I hadn't thought about that label, it was all too new, I hadn't even had a chance to debrief with Tess. I can feel my breathing starting to become more rapid

"I gotta go...see you soon T"

"I'm pulling over Zoey, just hold on" Angus cries, anticipating my oncoming panic attack.

As soon as the car has safely come to a stop I jump out. The cool evening air hitting my hot cheeks. The attack takes about a minute or two to pass but the shame and embarrassment sticks around.

"Im going to kill your sister" He announces

"It's not her fault, she just has no filter sometimes and get excited" I explain

"I was going to ask you, I just couldn't find the right moment today" He rambles

"Ask me what?" Now Im confused

"To be my Girlfriend, to make this offical, I know it's sudden but I'm not the type to be out there dating multiple girls all at once. I want to be committed to just one girl, to you Zoey, I want you to be my girl?" He asks, sheepishly

"I've never been a Girlfriend before though" I explain

"It's not like applying for a job at the barista house Zoey, you don't really need previous experience"

"I know Angus but look at me? Normal girls get excited about moments like this, I have a panic attack"

He takes me by the hands and looks me deep in the eye

"Zoey Green, would you do me the honour of becoming my Girlfriend"

Don't overthink it Zoey

"Yes, Angus McKennzie"

He picks me up, spins me around and plants a kiss on me.

[jeremystrele]

The Meaning Of Motherhood, With Actress Madeleine Madden + Curator Hetti Perkins

The Meaning Of Motherhood, With Actress Madeleine Madden + Curator Hetti Perkins

Conversations

Hetti Perkins and her daughter Madeleine Madden. Photo – Alisha Gore.

Actress Maddy is on the cusp of her Hollywood breakthrough, staring in the forthcoming film, Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Photo – Alisha Gore.

Hetti Perkins is an Eastern Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman. Photo – Alisha Gore.

Maddy is Hetti’s youngest daughter. She has two older sisters Lillie and Thea as well as a brother Tyson. Photo – Alisha Gore.

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I know you as Mum, a big group of people know you as Aunty. But who do other people know you as?

Hetti Perkins: I’m also kind of known as Mum to people I actually didn’t give birth to, which is lovely. That for me is something very special because it’s not so much a biological relationship but more of an emotional relationship. And aside from my very close extended family, I think I am best known for working in Aboriginal art and in an activist role. I feel that I’ve always tried to represent the voice of artists on a national stage if the opportunity was presented.

I remember when I was nervous about getting up to do a talk one time and my Dad, Charlie Perkins, said to me, ‘It’s not about you. If you get the chance to speak for your people… get up  and you do it, and you do a good job!’ In some ways that is quite intimidating, but it’s also liberating because it isn’t about you, it’s about the work you can do for your people. That is the way I was raised.

The Art And Soul documentary series on ABC TV , the show I co-curated for the Venice Biennale in 1997 and Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, which was also exhibited at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2000… I’d like for people to see that those projects are part of a bigger strategy for the promotion of our peoples’ interest, collectively.

Madeleine Madden: I love that advice that Pop gave you and that you have passed on to us.

It kind of takes the fear out of it, it empowers you. And, you know, it’s what makes it all worth it – not some personal ambition or dream, it’s like the dream of the community.

In the public eye, Pop is seen as a fighter and really passionate and outspoken. But some people might know him best for his for his soccer career as well as his civil rights activism [achieving justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including leading the Freedom Rides through NSW and becoming the first Aboriginal person to lead a federal department].

What was it like being in the spotlight when you were young, and how did that influence you?

Hetti: Myself and my younger brother and sister were very fortunate in some ways. We had a very strong mother, Eileen, who is still with us and will probably outlive us all! She supported Dad 100%, enabling him to do what he had to do and what he wanted to do.

When we were in Alice Springs  and I was in primary school, the kids knew who my dad was and what he did, and they weren’t very complimentary about it – they would call him a shit-stirrer and things like that. That’s pretty confronting when you’re in the third grade. When we went to Canberra to live for a long time, the racism took a different form: it wasn’t sort of as personal and about Dad, but it was more schoolyard taunts about being a blackfella.

It’s interesting because if, say, I wore glasses I’d have been called ‘four-eyes’ or if I was a bit chubby it’d have been ‘fatty’ or whatever. But racism is different, it’s such an insidious thing. They try to make you feel that you are genetically a lower form of life.

Being black is something intrinsic to you and certainly, it was to me. Even though my mother is not Aboriginal, we grew up and still do feel 100% blackfella. I loved being a part of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, and being with Dad, going to all the demonstrations, having people over and hearing them talk. What I remember most about it, is that some of the toughest activists were so gentle and kind to me, and extremely funny.

Growing up, there was a sense of unity, of collective action, and if there was in-fighting, people sorted their stuff out behind the scenes. I guess that has sort of changed, now, there are a lot more platforms for people to have their opinions, informed or otherwise, and share them widely. Back in the day, if you pardon my cliche, people earned the right to have an opinion and make a statement, because they had done the hard yards. They got off their arses, they were going to the demonstrations and meetings, doing things rather than sitting at home in front of a keyboard, spraying out about whatever was going on.

Maddy: Nowadays you feel like you are standing on the shoulders of giants, because back then people literally put their lives on the line, and risked their personal safety so that others could have opportunities.

A lot of people have wanted to know about the man Pop was, but I also think of Nanny Perks standing with him. It would have been very difficult for her marrying an Aboriginal man in the 1960s, as a white woman in this country.

Hetti: I remember talking to Mum about that. I said, you know, ‘A black, poor, young fella with uncertain prospects.. and you married him anyway’. She was, still is, deeply in love with Dad, and I think theirs is a great love story! They are two very well oiled parts of a synchronised unit.

Often Dad was under pressure, I see that now he could be volatile and angry, but he was always loving. We felt that we were the things that mattered most in his life. He simultaneously had a fire in his belly, a burning sense of injustice, and he just couldn’t swallow it. I think almost dying at quite a young age, with his kidneys and the transplant and especially the experiences he had as a child, he felt that he was given this chance and he wasn’t going to waste it, he was going to devote every energy to it. But as I said, he had Mum. And it wasn’t like ‘There’s Dad and he goes to work and we don’t really know what he does, just that he’s never here’. We actually knew that he was sacrificing time to do the work that he needed to do for our mob. We were ok with that because we also felt that we were part of that fight.

When you were young we all lived together with your Pop and Nanny, and you were exposed to a life where the politics and the personal were the same thing. At 13, you were the first teenager in Australia to deliver an address to the nation, which really sort of set you on a trajectory. From playing a cat in the preschool play or Dora the Explorer’s bestie in the forthcoming Paramount blockbuster, for me observing, your acting and activism has always seemed like a natural path.

Photo – Alisha Gore.

Photo – Alisha Gore.

Photo – Alisha Gore.

–

Do you feel like acting and activism was a natural path for you?

Maddy: I think so, I mean it would be weird if I wasn’t political in the house that I grew up in. We were always encouraged to have an opinion and stand up for what we believed in, we always had a seat at the table and were involved in the dialogue the adults were having. I think it was a blessing to have experienced that and the voice that this instilled in us, from such a young age.

I have heard actors of colour that have said, ‘I’m not really a political person’. And I’m generally shocked about that because I am like, ‘How can you not be?’ I get that some people are all don’t-talk-about-religion-and-politics-at-the-table, but we can’t just keep our heads buried in the sand. If you have a platform you need to use it. Obviously many people face difficulties in their lives, and we should normalise talking about that. And that also means talking about politics. It shouldn’t just be left up to the 1% to make decisions for us. I am going to keep speaking up for as long as I can.

Hetti: You’ve had a very strong sense of injustice from a very young age and that need to correct any injustice you may see around you.

It’s interesting in my work too, with artists, a few have said, ‘I’m not an Aboriginal artist, I’m an artist’. And I’ve always found that quite confusing. Over the years I have unpacked the idea, and I think to say something like that infers that there is something lesser in being an Aboriginal artist. But to be connected to your own identity and express it doesn’t reduce your opportunities. For example, It doesn’t mean you can’t play the role of a non-Aboriginal person.

Maddy: I think there is still this fear, from the past when people got typecast or stereotyped, of being called a ‘black artist’. People are worried they are getting boxed in… but, well, break the box. I can understand how you just want to be treated like an equal like anyone else, but unfortunately, that’s not the world we live in. I think you need to just be a front runner and do the damn thing you want to!

Hetti: As you were growing up, I was working at the Art Gallery Of NSW (my children literally had free rein on the gallery, thanks to some very friendly childcare policies during my 13 years!).

Do you think being brought up in a home where work and life merged together has influenced the choices you’ve made?

Maddy: I think the way you intertwined the two has definitely trickled down into our lives. Yet you have always prioritised family first over work and I know that my siblings and I definitely do the same. The Gallery really was a second home. It was such an incredible place for children to exist in – among people that were just so passionate about art, life, love and natural beauty!

I tap into all of that with my acting a lot – all that we were immersed in.

Hetti: Artists would come into our home and stay with us – people like Mike Rakowitz,  Christian Thompson, and Tony Albert. There have been a lot of amazing creatives in your lives and it’s always been remarkable to me how you have all just gone with the flow. You know, ‘Move over, make some space on the lounge’… Or ‘Now they want a turn at Guitar Hero!’

Maddy: Yeah! And I think artists take a real leap of faith, really go out on a limb and risk it all. A lot of those people overcame really hard challenges and made art out of them. We have always just been surrounded by brave, wonderful, kind people and that is the best childhood that anyone could ask for. I think that’s why you are such a great mother because you mother people of all walks of life… and now we have ‘siblings’ from everywhere!

Hetti: Yes we are very fortunate. You had a wonderful childhood, and I’m glad you did because I think that it is such a formative time and it is often too short. These days, I don’t think kids get enough time to go outside and climb a tree, walk the dog, or just sit down and do nothing. There is a lot of focus on homework and goals and tasks. But having the time to hang around and be in each other’s company in an unstructured way is something that’s really important.

Photo – Alisha Gore.

–

What’s the best piece of parenting advice you’ve been given?

Hetti: Even when I was a child myself, I was one of those kids that loved looking after the littlies! I feel like I did get some good advice – everything from always keep the baby’s feet warm to don’t use nappy wipes… practical things – but I guess, in some ways, I always felt innately maternal.

When I was growing up I felt very strongly about what kind of life I wanted for my children. I really wanted my kids to grow up in Sydney (where I moved to for university), to experience the multiculturalism, the plurality – the best of Australian society… The excitement and creativity of a city like that with all its beautiful natural attributes, a very strong Aboriginal community, and a fabulous LGBTQI community.

But I’ve also very strongly felt that parents actually need to earn the love and respect of their children. It’s not something you should take for granted. I don’t believe in any sort of physical punishment or anything like that; I think it’s much better to try to get kids on the same page and to achieve a balance. You know, happiness is really the most important thing.

Maddy: Yeah exactly, I think you lead by example and that’s the best way: showing by doing and putting in the hard work… like the extremely hard work of raising four kids by yourself! Kids make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, but I think the important thing is to hold yourself accountable. Do you take responsibility for that behaviour? Do you grow from it and learn from it, and go ‘Ok I’m not doing that again’? I think that’s a really nice aspect of how you have raised us to behave.

Hetti: I think some kids, when they really muck up or go off-the-rails, are hurting themselves but also punishing people as a way of hitting back. It’s an interesting one.

Your father, Lee, passed away when you were six, which seems at odds with saying you had a great childhood. But you’ve always had loving family around you.

What do you think you’ve learned from your childhood?

Maddy: I think it was definitely a very tough year for us because Pop passed away and then Dad soon after. But I think from those moments, that were obviously very hard, we now know how to deal with grief well. When you have Earth-shattering, soul-destroying, ‘How do I get back from this?‘ moments, you remember you’ve always got each other. I am so blessed to have that reassurance that our family can all band together and keep going.

It’s also a reminder of how you stepped up, which was huge: you were the mum, the dad, the best friend and everything. I think it’s a massive testament to you as a person, and to our Grandparents on both sides.

I remember how Nanny Lil (Dad’s mum) said, ‘You just have to keep going, lots of upsetting things have happened in our lives and in our collective past’, (referring to growing up as a black woman, and the really tough things she faced). She added, ‘Grow from it, get strong from it. Life goes on and so should we’. Now I feel that anything life kind of throws at us, we will be able to get through it.

Hetti : I think it’s important to have that security because it gives you confidence. I also think of your grandmother Lily and how she relates to her grandchildren. She has taught me a lot. She’s one of those people that really laughs with you, and that’s a beautiful thing too. You say I stepped up, but I did so because I was supported to step up, and we all knew we had to keep going.

In many ways, the world is quite different from the one that I grew up in. To me, you are someone who is very social-media savvy, articulate, and seem to enjoy the opportunities that being online gives you, especially to engage with others.

What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of the social media world?

Maddy: I love that quote by RuPaul, who has been a massive idol and inspiration for us. She says ‘Unless them bitches payin’ your bills, pay them bitches no mind.’ and I think that is the best approach to have with the haters. The negativity is always going to be there and sometimes social media makes people think it’s ok to behave in certain ways when it’s not. Online bullying is awful, a kind of a silent killer.

But I love the opportunities social media gives me, and by that I mean the art, the cute videos and funny memes – that’s what I get out of it! I took a break from social media (Instagram and Facebook) for three months and it was really good for my mental health. I felt less anxious, I was on my phone less, I was only caring about people who I actually care about. Then I got back on it and I just did a big cull on what I was seeing. Social media can be fantastic for raising awareness for good causes, getting people power going, and building momentum for movements. I’m really grateful for that too.

Hetti : Yes, when it’s used for good, not evil, it’s brilliant. There is a risk, but you know what, in every generation, there is always something that people are rolling their eyes about or freaking about. It used to be about watching too much TV!

Maddy: We have all grown up to be very connected to the outdoors and involved in the community.  I volunteer with Seed Mob, an indigenous climate action group, and we’re all genuinely concerned because we can see the impacts now. A lot of women around the world are going on birth strikes because they don’t want to raise children in a world that’s essentially dying, as world ‘leaders’ stand idle.

Hetti : I can understand that. I think it is responsible parenting to think about what our children will inherit, whether in their local community, or the wider world. Do I want to bring a child up in an apocalyptic world? This threat to our beautiful creatures, plants, rivers.. the list goes on. And it’s because of one thing and that’s us: humans. The decisions that are being made from the Adani Coal Mine to the fracking in the Northern Territory to Oil prospecting in the Great Australian Bight make me feel extremely anxious and also furious. It’s all about the short-term and votes – no taking responsibility, making quick decisions to get the quick bucks and support, pulling the wool over the eyes of the community, and branding anyone who is a dissenting voice as Lefty-latte sippers!

Maddy: or calling them green-collared criminals! Even saying that to kids, who go on the school strikes, when their parents have said, ‘No you go out there, we support you to fight for your future’. And that’s a privilege you have given to us; always supporting us to go out there stand up for what is right, for our future, and people who can’t stand up for themselves.

What does Mother’s Day mean to you?

Hetti: There is a very conventional sense of what ‘Mother’s Day’ is. Obviously, we celebrate it – because we’ll take any kind of excuse to give presents and get together. Doesn’t matter what the cause is, we’re there!

Maddy: [laughs] Yeah, I love Mother’s Day, it should be Mother’s Day all day, every day, 365! It’s a moment where we can all just really celebrate the people in our lives, whether they are our biological mothers or people who have inspired us or anyone who has given us love or guided us. It’s a wonderful day to say thank you and make those people feel lovely and special… and have cake! We all love having a celebration at our house.

It’s nice how you always raised us to be affectionate and loving in that way, because it feels like that door is never closed, you know. I think It’s really important to show children that you love them, have an active interest in what they are doing, and that they have done a good job. This comes back to that leading by example; I think that is the best thing a parent can do!

Hetti: Beautiful… Well, that seems like a good spot to conclude this wonderful discussion – maybe one day we’ll look back on this one as another of our highlights!