#epic maternity

[min-pathologica]

i love my dad so i’m never telling him i also have a fictional father figure named yakou furio

[wyrmsandrocs]

I have thoughts about the possible castings I've seen of women as Poseidon in Epic The Musical but I'm not sure if tumblr would appreciate them.

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Ah this is the start of Angie and Esmeralda competing for Violetta's affection-

[midnight-in-town]

Ao no Exorcist is a Shonen series written by a woman and it shows

Since the latest chapter, I've been thinking about how several usual Shonen tropes are written rather differently under Kato-sensei's pen. No judgement or anything, it's just cool to observe. Some examples :

1) Rin's mentor is a woman

2) Rin's secret, despite being the MC, was revealed in ch13 to the entire cast, meanwhile Shiemi, The Main Girl, who was introduced to be so helpless is only starting to be explained.

3) Also, the Mysterious plot-relevant Shonen Parent is actually the twins' mother. (Of course Shiro is super plot-relevant too, but Satan is still angsting over Yuri and she's a huge part of the reason why he's the big bad)

4) Rin also changed his view about his future throughout the story: from dropping out of school, passing by hoping to become the Order's Paladin (probably to cope with Shiro's death and also to antagonize Arthur), to finally showing way more interest and potential in the (less epic and heroic in appearance) field of talismanic cooking.

5) When it comes to arcs, mental illness is a valid reason to build a character arc around...

6) And so is making an arc about girls being "cursed" to basically "get married and have children before they hit 30, the age where their beauty fade thus they become useless" :

7) ANE is a story about women becoming traitors to protect their loved ones, like Mamushi

or becoming overwhelmed because men toyed with their feelings like Tamamo

8) Older women can be absolute badasses like Shiemi's grandma

or Lucy.

9) Complicated mother-daughter relationship and girl friendships are given as much focus as complicated father-son relationships and sweet bro friendships (like Bon and his dad during the Kyoto arc, as well as the complicated but deep bond between the Kyoto Trio)

10) And one of my favorites: full time single dad, asking for help to do the job as well as he can and finding his true purpose in life by doing so :D

Hmm and now that I think about it, the only other Shonen series written by a woman I've been as invested in is Kuroshitsuji, by Yana Toboso, and similar examples can be found in it too, namely:

1) If Ciel ever finally admits needing a mentor, his aunt Frances will probably play that role

2) Girls can be super strong & skilled (Elizabeth, Mey Rin) and clever (Sieglinde)

3) (one part of) the Big Bad is a woman (Queen Victoria)

4) maybe Ciel's entire revenge stems from a conflict between Queen Victoria and Ciel's maternal grandmother, Claudia.

5) the Undertaker has been a continuously freaking pain in the ass because he probably fell in love with that same maternal grandmother and couldn't mourn properly

TL;DR we love our boys and their spectacular growth and development under women's pens a.k.a shonen series written by ladies are hella fun to read. :D

[fairy-writes]

I HEARD GOODBYE

Reblogs and Comments are greatly appreciated!!

__________________________________________________________________________

Fandom(s): Kaiju No. 8

Pairing(s): Hibino Kafka x Reader

Word Count: 1.1k

Genre(s)/Tag(s): Female!Reader, Pregnant!Reader, Reader is smaller than Kafka, Arguments, Established Relationships,

Notes: Based on the song “I Heard Goodbye” by Dan + Shay and vaguely on the song “My Goodbye” from EPIC: The Musical (mainly the vibes).

PART TWO HERE

__________________________________________________________________________

Kafka should’ve known something was wrong when you kissed him goodbye that morning. But a lot had happened in the last few months, so he blamed it on the stress of everything. 

As soon as he got to work, he thought back on that morning and realized something was off. Something was missing. But he couldn’t figure out what. However, that was pushed to the back of his mind when he received the letter from the Defense Force about his initial exam score. 

He passed!

Kafka was on cloud nine up until he got home. He greeted you the same as he always did, with a kiss on your cheek and a hand on your slightly swollen belly. But the folded paper in his pocket made him giddier than he had been in a while. 

“You’re excited about something.” You mumble against his mouth, thumbing his wedding band before turning back to making dinner. Kafka takes a seat at the kitchen island and tries not to let his grin get much bigger. 

“Just got some good news at work today, is all. I’ll tell you over dinner.” He says, and you just hum. 

That should’ve clued him in that something was wrong. 

Things come to a head at dinner. You’re eating slowly as you are trying to prevent heartburn. You had gotten the idea from your doctor. Something about eating slower and smaller meals could maybe prevent heartburn. And with how often you got it, you were nearly desperate for anything to work. 

The two of you chatted aimlessly at first, with you updating him on your pregnancy and him profusely apologizing for not being there at your appointment. You revealed that your best friend (who had apparently gone with you) knew the gender, but you refused to learn—not until he was home to look with you, at least. 

“Now,” You begin abruptly when cleaning up your mess from making dinner. Kafka looks up from where he’s scrubbing the dishes. “What’s the big news?” You finish after a moment’s pause. Kafka hesitates for barely a second before turning off the sink, drying his hands, and fishing the paper out of his pocket. He hands it to you without a word, and you frown, unfolding the piece of paper and staring blankly. 

Then, you set the paper down on the counter and leave the kitchen silently. 

“Wait!” Kafka gives chase and finds you in the bedroom. You’re packing a bag. He pauses in the doorway, almost dumbfounded, as you continue to shove loose-fitting clothes in your duffel bag. You weren’t pregnant enough for maternity clothes yet, but your regular clothes were getting a bit tight. So you usually just borrowed one of his shirts to sleep in. 

“What are you doing?” He asks quietly, and you look up at him,

“I’m staying with Haru for the night.” You say, brushing past him to head for the front door. 

He’s too stunned to stop you.

You don’t contact Kafka for three days after that. In fact, he’s fairly sure you blocked his number, with none of his texts going through when he tried to talk to you.

It affects his work. He’s slower than usual, not nearly as gung-ho as he typically is. And people notice. Mitsuike notices. Mori notices. Tokuda notices. Hell, even Ichikawa notices! They try to comfort him in their own ways, but nothing helps because Kafka has no idea what he has done wrong. 

At least until you show up again. 

Kafka is sitting at the kitchen island, staring at his exam results—no longer excited when you aren’t there to celebrate with him—when he hears the keys jingle in the lock. He stuffs the paper in his back pocket and slides in slippered feet into the hallway just as you open the door. 

You spot him, looking spooked like a deer in the headlights. 

“I thought you would be working overtime tonight.” You mumble as you shut the door behind you and take off your shoes. You’re carrying a laundry bag full of what he assumes is dirty laundry. 

“They uh… Let me go home early.” He replies, voice petering off slightly near the end of his sentence. You frown,

“You never go home early.” You comment and go to move past him to head to the laundry machine situated at the back of the apartment. 

But he catches your arm. 

“Can we talk?” Kafka’s voice cracks, and you stiffen. 

“There’s nothing to talk about.” You say, your voice as cold as ice, and he flinches back. You shrug off his hand and make it to the washing machine before he manages to catch your attention again. 

“There’s a hell of a lot to talk about!” He reins in his temper at the last second, but you seem intent on ignoring him regardless. “Is this about the Defense Force?” He tries and sees you freeze as you’re dumping the laundry detergent into the machine.

Bingo.

Eventually, you sigh and lean on the washing machine as it rumbles, your wedding band glinting slightly in the flickering light of the laundry room. At least you were still wearing it. He didn’t know what he would’ve done had you taken it off. 

“I never wanted you to join the Defense Force.” You say quietly, and Kafka isn’t upset. Not exactly, at least. He’s just glad you’re talking to him. 

“Why?” His voice sounds broken and oh so small. You knew from the get-go that joining the Defense Force was his dream. You knew from the start that he would apply each year. And each year throughout your four-year marriage, you would comfort him when he got the bad news that he had failed. 

“Because everyone I knew who joined the Defense Force has died. My parents included.” You say bitterly, and he stops in his tracks. 

Your parents?

“I thought they were military?” He said, confused. You shake your head, 

“That was a lie. Because I knew how you felt about it. I had just hoped you would fail one more time and give up on this dream.” You whisper, and he sees a tear streak down your cheek. 

He hated it when you cried. 

But when he got closer, you cringed away. Your hands clenched into fists, and when you look at him with tears in your eyes, he feels his heart break. 

“Are you still going to join the Defense Force?” Your voice is quiet, almost so soft that he can’t hear you. His own hands clench into fists as he fights with himself.

He had made a promise to Mina. But he had also promised you when you got married.

The longer you stare at him, the more the light dies from your eyes. 

“I guess that answers that, then.” You whisper and push past him yet again. You tell him that you’ll be back for your laundry, but he can’t bring himself to move from his spot by the washer. 

Had he just lost you forever?

[faithtrickedhope]

do you think athena ever resents Zeus for robbing her of the chance of having had a "normal birth" and a mother like everyone else has? does athena ever imagine what being a child would have felt like? what holding her mom's hands and hiding behind her dress would have felt like? i wonder if hera is nice to athena because she knows athena never had a mother. she was born before Zeus and her got married, after all, so Hera has no real reason to hold grudges like she held against Apollo, Artemis and Dionysus (all born out of affairs and not out of a previous union). Hera and Athena are often in the same side, they supported the acheans against troy and seem to generally respect each other.

Am I thinking all this just because of that "Hey, baby" in Hera's level in God Games? YEAH ABSOLUTELY.

ohh you came to the right person because mother-daughter dynamics drive me wild actually

i think there’s something to be said about a girl raised by her father because her father had his will that she would not have a mother. a girl who was born adorned in armour because her mother crafted it for her. athena was born a warrior of the mind (quite literally), and though zeus may shaped her and taught her as she grew, a lot of who she is can be attested to her birth. to her mother. so i think, yes, although athena is loyal to zeus, although she is his favourite, pe4ect daughter - there is still going to be a part of her that grieve for the mother she didn’t get to have, an resents the father who bears the reason.

i do like the idea that hera has a maternal dynamic with athena, then, because i think it would be good for both of them. athena finally gaining a mother-like presence in her life, and hera making a conscious choice of treating her as a daughter, knowing that the decision is hers, the girl is hers, and this isn’t like the other children of zeus. i think the “hey baby” line is quite telling, i definitely interpreted it as a sort of maternal-inflection, mother greeting daughter (in a sense). also just the whole way that hera interacts with athena in god games is really interesting. specifically her lines:

Try harder

and:

You can do better than that

it’s almost like she wants athena to win. where all the other gods presents their own arguments against odysseus, hera is giving way for athena to presents hers for him. she’s actively encouraging her to persuade her; she knows what athena - goddess of wisdom - is capable of, and she’s waiting to be hit with the wit that she knows athena posses. she knows athena “can do better than that”, she wants her to. she’s by far the most relaxed and causal of the gods throughout the games, i think to her this is just for fun and she sort of just wants to play around with athena for a bit. i like the interpretation that they’re locked in a dance during their conversation, like hers is using this as an excuse to just have some fun. maybe just for her own sake, but also maybe to spend sone time with athena.

headcanon wise, i do like the idea that hera is the one to take athena away after zeus’ wrath, or at least is the first to go to her. like i said, she seems to see the games as a very casual thing and doesn’t show any real contempt towards athena like the other gods do. she probably didn’t expect things to ever actually get dangerous. and of course, she also has her own qualms with zeus, so seeing him do something so heinous to his own daughter - i feel like that would kick in some kind of material instinct within her. she’d want to keep athena safe.

i should preface this all with the fact that this is all based solely in the context of epic. i’m sure the gods and their dynamics are different within wider mythology, but looking solely at the musical, these are some of my takes

[elvensorceress]

wip wednesday

tagged by @diazsdimples @hoodie-buck @theotherbuckley @wikiangela @spotsandsocks @exhuastedpigeon @hippolotamus @daffi-990 (though I think these were mostly for Tuesday so consider this me also tagging you for Wednesday 😘💕) tagging @eddiebabygirldiaz @evanbegins @ebdaydreamer @shortsighted-owl @messyhairdiaz @wh0re-behavi0r @rogerzsteven @loveyouanyway @bekkachaos @giddyupbuck @tizniz @disasterbuckdiaz @epicbuddieficrecs @transboybuckley @spaceprincessem @confetti-cupcake @heartshapedvows @monsterrae1 @loserdiaz more Unless firefam silliness that directly follows this scene 💕

“Okay, enough stalling,” Chim waves a hand to redirect their attention. “So far we have heard nothing about what happened after the party and what came of our intervention and what is going on with the two of you?” He points at both Buck and Eddie for emphasis. Like he means business. 

Eddie just turns to look at Buck. “Intervention?”

Buck makes a face and waves it off. “It was— I’ll tell you later,” he says to Eddie and then addresses Hen and Chim. “What do you want to know about our private personal lives that are private and personal and none of your business?” 

Hen and Chim make identical groaning noises. 

“Oh, suddenly you’re not going to say anything?”

“It’s personal and private now but not when we have to hear about infamous firehose escapades?”

“You go on about the reporter and the dispatcher—”  

“—and snake lady and all the yoga teachers and bartenders and dancers and surfers and cowboys and cowgirls and poor, unfairly slandered Lucy—”

“But not about this?” 

“We have to hear disturbing details for weeks, months, years but now you want to plead the fifth?”

“We have to suffer through that and you won’t even tell us what we want to know?” 

“We’re your squad goals family!”

From where he’s sitting, Eddie can clearly see Bobby rubbing at his forehead and possibly contemplating prayer. If that is a thing that can be ascertained by an expression. Eddie’s pretty sure it is. At least where Bobby is concerned. 

“It’s only fair,” Hen says. “If you’ve finally realized you’re both epically in love with each other in a way that puts all tales of fictional love to shame because the both of you—”

“Buck mostly,” Chim clarifies and then says to Eddie. “We had to intervene because red alert reporter demon and questionable 2.0 decisions and did you know he went and broke poor Ravi? Ravi couldn’t take it anymore. He went back to B shift. That’s where he went.” 

Bobby chimes in to very patiently say, “Ravi chose to switch a few shifts because Eddie is back and we still have to figure out a good schedule for everyone while Harper is on maternity leave and Jackson is recovering from a broken arm and Bailey is out on her national guard rotation.” 

“Nuh uh,” Chim eloquently argues. “You were there. You saw it. Buck and the red alert reporter broke him.” 

“Both of you,” Hen persists as if there has been no interruptions. “Are driving us insane with this oblivious, ‘he doesn’t love me, we can’t be together’ thing. So, I think you owe us some information.”

“I swear if you two haven’t figured out something here,” Chim gives them a frazzled, frantic, desperate look. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.” He turns in his seat and leans around the edge toward the front. “Cap, what are we going to do?”

Bobby glances back at them, and he could easily disclose that they both signed certain paperwork already only moments ago. Because he knew even without them saying anything. But Bobby just shrugs and nonchalantly turns and faces forward. And probably prays for peace and quiet for them all. 

Leaving the choice to them.

read on to part 3

[readysetimready]

“Mortal characters, as it happens, do not see Hera at all (cf. Il. 1.208). Jason does not know the identity of the old woman he carries over the Anaurus; Hera's agency is mostly hidden from the Argonauts; and it is left to the prophet Phineus to explain that of all the gods the most concerned with Argo's voyage is Hera (2.216-17). At one point the Argonauts do hear her terrifying, aether-shaking cry of warning about Ocean (4.640-42) - an action that recalls the Homeric Hera who gives voice to the natural world: honoring Agamemnon with portentous thunder during his arming scene at Iliad 11.45-46 and granting speech to Achilles' horse Xanthus at 19.407. There is a greater divide between the mortal and divine worlds in Apollonius than there is in Homer, but this division serves to highlight the activity of Hera, who enlists many allies and modes of expression in order to bridge that gulf. As Hunter observes:

“The Argonauts' protecting deity, Hera, works through silent action or suggestion (3.250, 818, 4.11, 1184-5, 1199-1200), through signs (3.931 a talking crow, 4.294 a shooting star, 510 lightning, 640-2 a scream), and through the words and actions of characters. Her only "personal appearances" in the poem are the scene on Olympus which opens Book 3 and her appeal to Thetis in Book 4. 40”

[that-ari-blogger]

Connection (Reaching Out)

In the wind up into a series’ final arc, episodes tend to feel janky. As if they are trying to pad out the series or are unsure whether the arc has started or not. As a rule, these tend to be below average in so far as quality goes.

The Owl House, however, exists by subverting expectations, so these episodes are some of its best. Reaching Out, for example, uses the plot limbo to tell a focused story that is by far my favourite episode of the series, as well as being one of my favourite stories ever put to screen.

This episode deals with family first and foremost, specifically through the lenses of grief and legacy. It’s about memory and tradition, as well as connection and love.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD (The Owl House)

The Owl House has a very specific style of story that it likes to tell.

This is different from genre, and part of why I dislike that concept. It’s simultaneously more broad and more specific. The series plays around in fantasy and horror, it takes inspiration from classical epic fantasy as well as shonen anime, it’s a satire of itself.

But that’s just the breakdown of genre, The Owl House’s style of story is centred around quests and humour. Episodes give you a problem that can be tangibly fixed, and either find a solution or work towards it, Understanding Willow gives you a magical accident and a spell to fix said magical accident. It’s self-contained and questy. "Go do x." "Find y." "Bring back the golden hoop of hoopiness." Etc.

This episode does things differently, in the sense that I challenge you to find a tangible solution to the problem of grief and physical distance. Even in The Owl House, dead people stay dead, and there is no foreseeable way to get home within the next day. You can’t fix that; you just have to find a new way of doing things.

It will not have escaped your notice that the episode’s opening scene is the shortest in the series, and that is because it doesn’t need to be longer.

A cold open needs to do one thing and one thing only. It needs to establish the plot of the upcoming episode. It’s a tidy way of getting across the core conflict to come, and let the audience know what they are in for.

This is the issue I have with Batman Beyond, but it’s a minour issue and not the point, so I’ll leave that for a future post.

Reaching Out opens with an event reminder. The scene has no words in it, but it is sold entirely by the acting. The animation conveys the emotions going through Luz’s mind perfectly, and it’s unclear. Guilt, fear, sadness, its ambiguous to allow for a sense of mystery, but you do know that she doesn't feel good about whatever this may be.

Then she presses “Ignore”, and the scene ends.

That’s the entirety of the cold open, any more would feel cluttered, and yet you know exactly what kind of story you are in for. This will be an episode about Luz’s relationship with her mother and will provide detail into how Luz handles her own issues.

That jacket is a gift in this context from Eda. It may be Luz's technically, but this scene sets up Eda giving it to her to help her. Now Luz has a gift from a maternal figure, its a proxy that she will cling to over the course of the episode.

When the episode actually begins, Luz procrastinates on doing the thing she probably needs to do by making a list of everything else in the world that she would rather be doing. So, we get the defining conflict of the episode spelled out more specifically. She’s avoiding something. You could have got that from the opening, but now we get a little insight into why.

“Every year, me and Mom have this little ritual we do. It's nothing big. I just miss her. That's all.”

This episode has a slow burn to it, revealing more and more of the details of this ritual over time. It’s framed as a discovery, which works with the idea of the audience slowly discovering things about Luz.

I want to dwell a little more on the animation of this episode for a moment. I promise I’ll try to talk about other stuff as well, but this episode is just gorgeous to look at.

Luz doesn’t stop moving until the confession. She’s frantic, but in a really smooth way that I find rather interesting. In just the above shot, she flows from one thought to the next, from one action to another.

This creates a feeling of momentum that diminishes over the course of the scene. It’s dynamic, like the series as a whole, but it's slowing down to something slower paced signifies the episode’s decision to focus in on something small.

“What you need is a healthy distraction from your problems.” “I have a problem, and it could distract us all day!”

That’s a very specific word choice to happen twice in twenty seconds, it's almost as if the there’s a theme going on here, and there is. Luz is seeking that distraction from her issue.

Which brings me to the subject of said issue, the grief ritual.

According to a Psychology Today article titled “The Power of Rituals to Heal Grief”:

“Rituals are an important way for people to find meaning when they lose a loved one. Everyone is familiar with rituals. Perhaps you’ve performed them during holidays, in church, or even before ballgames. You may have performed rituals to acknowledge important life changes—graduations, retirements, and even funerals... The power of rituals lies in their symbolism. Consider the ritual of graduation. Walking across a stage and shaking someone’s hand is no big deal as an act in itself. We walk all over the place and shake people’s hands all the time. But this act takes on special meaning when it’s performed at graduation, symbolizing an important transition.”

A grief ritual is crystalised emotion, allowing you to act upon it and let the pain out in a healthy way. In Luz’s case, the picking of flowers brought about a connection between her and her mother. The two grieved together, and now their physical difference means that Luz doesn’t have anyone who understands her pain exactly to share the moment with.

Enter Amity, and I want to cover that scene last, because I believe it to be the series’ magnum opus, and it needs some more build up.

Please remember that this guy helped with the experimentation on the Basilisks. He wasn't just complicit; he was an active participant. Remember that when talking about Warden Wrath.

Amity is going through what I hesitate to call a generic The Owl House plot, but it's definitely something more in the series’ general wheelhouse. She has identified two problems, those being a rift between her and her father, and the decision that was made for her about joining the emperor’s coven; and she has decided upon a solution, win the Bonesborough Brawl.

This is achievable and presents room for hijinks. Its self-contained. But it’s also an example of how well The Owl House handles theme exploration.

Each episode of the of this series has an idea that it wants to explore, and every plot point within it delves into something about that theme. In this case, it’s connection and drifting apart. Amity is drifting away from her father, Luz can’t get to her mother, and the two of them are being driven away from each other by Luz’s increasingly desperate attempts to distract herself.

You would think that grief is a secondary theme here, but it’s not. Connection is a facet of grief as an overarching idea. That’s why this is about grief rituals rather than just the feeling of loss.

The article I mentioned earlier has a passage that goes into this concept in more detail, but from a slightly different perspective.

“For Donald, this ritual was meaningful because it shared his great love of nature with his dad. For his father, it was meaningful, because it kept a piece of his son alive and well. Eventually, Donald passed away. To this day, however, his father visits the preserve four times a year, once for every season. There, he speaks to his son, takes a few pictures, and doesn’t show them to anyone.”

It's about connection to the deceased, with the person gone by. It’s a way of communing with the only thing left of that person, their legacy.

Which reframes Alador a bit here doesn’t it. He’s set up as a mirror to Manny, and yet he’s still alive. Except, is he?

In a physical sense, yes. But the person whom Amity wants to connect with is long gone at this point. Young Alador and Old Alador are very different people, specifically in terms of agency. Young Alador acted, Old Alador reacts.

So, Amity tries her own ritual to connect with the Alador that once was. Alador gets to see this and is forced to think for a moment. Suddenly, his world has been rocked just far enough for him to start listening.

The conversation is all well and good. But for my money, the look of abject pride on Alador's face here sells the connection more than anything. This is someone who, for the first time, has looked at what his daughter is rather than what he wants her to be, and he is proud of what he sees.

“What? You don’t want to join the Emperor’s Coven anymore? But that’s always been your dream.” “No, that’s always been Mom’s dream. And you went along with it. I bet you didn’t even know I was dating Luz!” “Edalyn’s kid?” “See, you don’t talk to us anymore! You’re too busy making these monsters for the Emperor, and Mom’s been too busy trying to dye my hair green.”

Turns out, when you stop listening to your kids for a while, you miss things. Your assumptions might be wrong. Your understanding of who they are might be way off the mark.

That’s what Alador realises here, that the thing he’s been trying to connect with his daughter over was never truly there. So, he takes a different approach.

“I like your new hair colour. Its abomination coloured.” “Finaly someone gets it. Can you tell Mom that?” “I’ll talk to her.”

The hair dying has been a symbol of agency for Amity over the course of the series. It was green as she sought her mother’s approval, then that faded and she was given the choice of what to do, and she chose the pink. It’s an expression of her own wants and desires, and she wants to be like her father.

Alador’s new approach isn’t to bond with his daughter over expectations, its to take an interest in something she does, and find common ground there.

I like the act of reaching for a hug and getting subverted. The relationship has mostly collapsed, and they’re now rebuilding it almost from scratch.

“It’s a start.”

Connection, relationships, love, loss. We have some key themes, let’s get into that tree scene.

I’m not going to give you the entire scene here, watch the episode. Writing out the words doesn’t have nearly the same impact as the stellar voice acting.

Instead, I want to highlight how this episode achieves its nuance, and that is through the grief rituals that I have kept mentioning. Any story can talk about how loss makes someone feel, but this doesn’t mention that at all. Instead, it highlights how the physical separation interrupts with the process.

Luz’s grief centres around sharing that emotion with her mother, she expresses it through the practiced motion of picking flowers with someone else who can share her pain.

“I don’t know what rituals you have in the Human Realm, but, I’ll help you pick some flowers, and we can do something here!”

Amity doesn’t know what Luz is going through, but she can empathise. She can see her girlfriend is going through something and help her out. She can take the place in the ritual and allow Luz to grieve.

Love isn’t about the good times, it’s about everything. Love is about joy and heartbreak and triumph and loss. Its about sharing emotions together, lifting each other to new heights, and supporting each other in the lowest moments.

The episode doesn’t give us a fix to its issue. Luz is still separated from her mother, but it gives us a substitute, and that leans in to a theme I haven’t really mentioned yet at all in my coverage of the series, distance.

Yes, the obvious of Luz being away from home and wanting to get back has been a core part of the plot, but the series hasn’t really engaged with what that means up until now.

Sometimes distance separates people, whether it be through forced movement, or just the twists and turns of life. And sometimes that comes in the way of rituals like this. Do you bottle up the emotions until you get back? No. You find a new way of doing thing, you adapt, you change. You find the light.

Light, do not faulter.

Final Thoughts

This episode also establishes lore for how the Wild Witches work, specifically through that idea of connection again. The Wild Witches are a group of people who accept and protect each other, you don’t have to be skilled at anything to be a Wild Witch, you don’t have to meet any criteria. Which is good, because Edric is awful at potion magic. But that’s not the point, the point is that he has an interest in going outside the box, the point is the effort not the execution.

Considering how the Emperor made wild magic illegal, the Bad Girl Coven takes on a ton of queer/pride coding. They support each other because nobody else will. Anyone who slips through the cracks has a home in the Bad Girl Coven. Just like pride, where there isn't a bar at a parade that says: "you must be this gay to enter", it's about accepting everyone for who they are.

Next up is Them's The Breaks, Kid, so stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[monimccoythings]

Mama Wolf

Woah, I've been wanting to write f!Logan since I first saw a drawing about her. She is so butch and gruff and dreamy... And I love the fics where Logan is a dad.

tags: f!Logan and m!reader, pregnancy, Logan has animal traits, a bit of nsfw, chaotic pregnancy because Logan has a very nasty temper. Logan can be a bitch to anyone but you.

It wasn't really a surprise when you two saw the two lines on the pregnancy test. Given how horny and hormonal she had been lately.

Logan had many animalistic traits, her senses were as sharp as the deadliest predator, which was great for tracking missions. But that biological advantage also involved having to deal with less practical animal traits like heats that stroke twice a year.

Oh, you were always so eager for those times of the year, she was unsatiable. You barely could keep up, almost coupling to the point of exhaustion, but you would gladly die just to be buried between her legs one more time.

At first, she didn't know how to react. Her? a mother? Fucking Godzilla had more maternal instincts than her. But you knew better.

Despite her gruffiness and callous exterior, despite how annoyed she seemed to get with the younger mutants, deep down inside her was buried the urge and need to protect them at any costs. There was zero doubt in your mind that Logan would make an excellent mother to your child.

The first months were hard, morning sickness didn't go easy on her, and given her extra sensitive nose, any smell could really send her crawling towards the toilet with you tailing close to gently rub her back.

If anybody at the mansion thought that regular Logan was short tempered and harsh, they just hadn't met a hormonal pregnant Logan. Her already volatile temper grew in unison with her belly. Everything seemed to set her off, claws out and fangs ready to tear anyone and anything apart; some lights were too bright, some whispers where too loud, her highly developed senses were constantly going overdrive and it was driving her insane.

Despite the hormonal changes, Logan did not cry, ever. She would rather vent her pent up frustrations as she had always done: through alcohol. When Hank told her she wouldn't be able to smoke or drink for the entirety of the pregnancy, she threw an epic fit that left the medbay unusable for weeks. Only your reassuring presence and gentle kisses were enough to soothe her down.

When she started showing, Logan also felt the need to start nesting. Soon your shared bed had become a bundle of clothes, cushions, sheets and towels. She reluctantly told you that she felt calmer if she was constantly surrounded by scents that reminded her of you.

The first time she felt her baby kick Logan was stomping through the mansion, in one of her moods. It was so sudden that for a couple of seconds she didn't know what to do, her anger long forgotten. With trembling hands she slowly caressed her belly, afraid that if she made any sudden movement, the magic of the moment would be lost. That was when reality hit her like a ton of bricks. She was going to be a mom, she was going to build a family with you, her partner. That was really happening. Logan was at loss for words, but surprisingly, she didn't feel anxious, in fact, she felt extremely happy.

Logan found herself becoming more protective of her cub as the months passed, always with a hand on her swollen belly and the other arm extended, just in case she needed to use her claws. The animal in her only recognizing you as a non-threat towards the baby.

Don't think that just because she is with child she will want to stop training in the danger room or working out at the gym. She wants to keep herself in shape in case someone attacks the mansion. It takes a lot of convincing on your part (and Hank's, Charles', Jean's, Scott's....) to make her take it easier.

During the third trimester of the pregnancy Logan was more than done with feeling so swollen and out of control of her own body. Everything ached, everything sucked and she was hornier than ever. And believe me, if she gets horny, nothing will stop her from feeling satisfied. She will shove you against the bed, with impressive strength for a pregnant woman; well, this is Logan we are talking about, and have her way with you. Not that you're complaining obviously, your main concern is that she doesn't overdo it and accidentally harms the child.

It was a hard pregnancy for everyone involved, but specially Logan. It pained you to see her so uncomfortable, knowing there was little you could do to help her feel better. Yet you did everything you could to take that weight of her shoulders.

Everynight, when you two laid together in the safety of your improvised nest, with a hand on her swollen belly and her nose nuzzling your neck, you knew that you would die a thousand deaths and endure the cruelest of tortures just to hold the woman you loved in your arms and feel your baby moving inside her.

[apoemaday]

Nearly a Valediction

by Marilyn Hacker

You happened to me. I was happened to like an abandoned building by a bull- dozer, like the van that missed my skull happened a two-inch gash across my chin. You were as deep down as I’ve ever been. You were inside me like my pulse. A new- born flailing toward maternal heartbeat through the shock of cold and glare: when you were gone, swaddled in strange air I was that alone again, inventing life left after you.

I don’t want to remember you as that four o’clock in the morning eight months long after you happened to me like a wrong number at midnight that blew up the phone bill to an astronomical unknown quantity in a foreign currency. The U.S. dollar dived since you happened to me. You’ve grown into your skin since then; you’ve grown into the space you measure with someone you can love back without a caveat.

While I love somebody I learn to live with through the downpulled winter days’ routine wakings and sleepings, half-and-half caffeine- assisted mornings, laundry, stock-pots, dust- balls in the hallway, lists instead of longing, trust that what comes next comes after what came first. She’ll never be a story I make up. You were the one I didn’t know where to stop. If I had blamed you, now I could forgive

you, but what made my cold hand, back in prox- imity to your hair, your mouth, your mind, want where it no way ought to be, defined by where it was, and was and was until the whole globed swelling liquefied and spilled through one cheek’s nap, a syllable, a tear, was never blame, whatever I wished it were. You were the weather in my neighborhood. You were the epic in the episode. You were the year poised on the equinox.

[jedimandalorian]

Dear Sabezraites,

Today the Prophet of the Church of Ezrabine has obtained another of the sacred texts. I am referring to the Star Wars Rebels Visual Guide: Epic Battles.

Although the book’s main focus is on the many battles from the first two seasons of Rebels, the book does reveal important information about Ezra Bridger’s relationships with his fellow Ghost crew members.

For example, Hera Syndulla is a maternal figure in his life.

But, you may be wondering, are the heretics correct in their interpretation of Ezra’s relationship with Sabine as being sibling-like? Nay, I say unto you!

Is she his teammate? Yea. Is she his reliable partner in battle? Yea. Is she his friend? Well, let’s ask Sabine. “Sabine, did you say that Ezra is your dear friend?”

I digress. There’s no mention of anything sisterly or sibling-like here.

In addition, Ezra and Sabine have this glorious two-page spread devoted to their relationship:

It chronicles Ezra’s attempts to impress the girl he fancies and his jealousy of anyone who catches her attention. It describes Sabine’s perception of Ezra evolving from that of an annoying kid or little brother to someone she admires and really cares about. They have a strong partnership and devoted friendship developing at this point in their lives which could lead to something more when they are older.

Also, since we now know that Sabine’s Loth-cat Murley reminds her of Ezra, here are some interesting Loth-cat facts:

And finally, here are some nice pictures of our favorite duo to enjoy.

Keep the faith, Sabezraites. Their song has not yet been written, and I will ship them until it is and beyond.

I have spoken.

[twinwound]

It's hard to escape the conclusion that Ovid's stories of mothers who engage in son-slaughter are graphic fulfilments of the patriarchal fantasy which asserts women's causal contribution to man's death as well as his birth. Their inner psychic turmoil, leading to a renunciation of a maternal 'love' in the service of paternal power, is yoked symbolically by Ovid to the unconcealing of all that was supposed to remain inside, repressed, hidden from view (...) it is as if the body's inner uterine spaces, the viscern, are turned outwards to engulf and reconsume the men who emerged from them. The monstrous wombs of Ovid's murderous mothers seem to epitomize (by representing in reverse) the abjection of the maternal body as irredeemably, terrifyingly "other". The abject, for Kristeva, is an inassimilable or excessive component of the superego that is radically excluded and draws me to a place where meaning collapses', where insides and outsides are terrifyingly conflated. The original object of abjection is the maternal body, on whom we existed in a necessary, but potentially overwhelming dependence (...) In Kristeva's account, the abjection of the maternal body is a process that is necessary for the formation of human subjectivity in Western culture.

And yet I want, perhaps improbably, to resist such a determined conclusion, even though Ovid's text clearly flirts with and is seduced by the fantasy of demonic, dismembering mothers, and the supposed necessity of their abjection. Alongside their viscerality and bodily interiors, I've drawn attention to these women's internal dilemmas, articulated through rhetorical debates with themselves, debates which are contrary to the model of maddened maternal speech usually perceived by critics in Roman epic-rational, eloquent, thetorically coherent in their own way. They may be frenzied, but these women do not at least at this point 'wail'. Their debates are particularly Ovidian reflections on agency and the limits of language: "I want to act and I cannot," as Althaea says, "now pietas and the name of mother break my resolve". The primary metamorphosis in the cases of Procne and Althaea is thus not of shape but of psyche: they experience a radical switch from joy to grief to rage, but express this painful metamorphic process in terms of a certain loss of self and the struggling emergence of another. Split between words and action, conjugal and natal identities, Procne and Althaea engage in projects of self-fashioning, exploring a notion of the self in progress or flux. Which should come first, sisterly or motherly love? Passion or reason? Living kin or the dead? Like Medea, Ovid's mothers who kill their kin are radically unsettling because they do not so much reject their motherhood outright as choose, according to social and rhetorical context, to generate another identity out of what they perceive as their degraded maternal bond. The causal relationship of maternity and death is presented here not as inevitable and 'natural', but as the anguished offspring of masculinist violence, patriarchy's guilt coming back to haunt it.

'Matermorphoses: Motherhood and the Ovidian Epic Subject' from Reproducing Rome: Motherhood in Virgil, Ovid, Seneca, and Statius by Mairéad McAuley

[dwellordream]

thoughts on HOTD episode 3, season 2 (spoilers below)

i think the opening scene between the Blackwood and Bracken boys is very well done. some people complained about not seeing the battle itself, but the general audience is not going to care about seeing these minor characters flung into a battle. cutting between an immature, petty teenage fight that then escalates into a pointless slaughter, leaving both sides massacred, does a much better job of showing us how the civil war is going escalate feuds that would otherwise stay barely civil.

Rhaenys lecturing about peace comes across as a hypocritical when she massacred hundreds of peasants during her escape from King's Landing. but i also think it shows that while people like her, Rhaenyra, and Alicent are horrified by the death of highborn children, none of them are thinking in terms of the toll on the smallfolk. they think about the peace between the nobility- not protecting peasants. the deaths of Luke and Jaehaerys are horrifying, as are highborn men and women dying in battle, but not the slaughter or scapegoating of the peasants for the sins of their 'betters'.

the Alicent/Criston breakup seems to be pretty final, though I wouldn't be shocked if they crawl back to each other before the end of the season, more out of mutual self-loathing than genuine love or passion. I think it's pretty clear that while Alicent was attracted to him all along, their affair was moreso both of them venting their frustrations, repressed sexuality, and hatred (or, in Alicent's case, 'hatred') for Rhaenyra, then any actual epic love story.

the scene where Rhaenyra shunts Rhaena off to the Vale to 'protect' the children and their hatchlings is very well done. without a dragon, Rhaena stands no chance of subverting any Westerosi gender norms. Rhaenyra seems to recognize that, but is also prepared to sacrifice Rhaena's happiness if it means giving her sons a maternal figure. I see a lot of meta about how Rhaenyra is a much happier and more affectionate/gentle mother than Alicent, and I don't think that's wrong, per se, but I also don't think Rhaenyra is as comfortable with motherhood as many fans insist. of course, she's in an impossible situation- she cannot be a queen leading a war effort and also a doting parent. but I wouldn't say being a mother is what brings her the most happiness and peace, either. Daemon has disappointed her again and again as a husband and partner, and while her children adore her, they also find her difficult to live up to.

I'm glad there wasn't an epic battle of Daemon claiming Harrenhal. the castle itself is supposed to be an eerie, demonic, almost living sort of abomination, and so Daemon takes it with ease, because that's what Harrenhal wants. the Strongs themselves put up no resistance, because there's no point, and because they know Harrenhal is reluctant to let go of anyone who enters its halls. Daemon comes across as massively insecure and paranoid despite his easy conquest, both because Harrenhal itself unsettles him, and because he knows Rhaenyra's faith in him is greatly reduced.

someone told Freddie Fox to look to Jaime Lannister's depiction in the early seasons of GoT for his inspiration as Gwayne, and I don't think that was a bad idea, lol. he nails it as the smug, superior, posturing knight, and I'm excited to see what they do with him. of course, Alicent uses him as a tool against Criston, and Criston takes the moment to embarrass Alicent by loudly requesting her favor- I would not be surprised if his resentment towards her boils over by the end of the season, and he begins to loathe her as much as he does Rhaenyra.

I think the scene between Aegon and Aemond in the brothel was very well done. Aegon is probably right when he claims Aemond has only ever slept with the very first prostitute Aegon forced him to 'sample'. emotionally, Aemond is still that stunted, angry, frightened little boy who loathes being laughed at and wishes people feared him. he refuses to directly challenge Aegon out of a misplaced sense of duty and decorum, but has no issue humiliating a sex worker to preserve his own pride.

Daemon's dream sequence in Harrenhal is fantastic. it's the kind of thing GoT refused to engage in because they thought it too silly or esoteric, but I think future ASOIAF-related shows need to lean into the supernatural, not shy away from it. embrace the fantasy of the setting, please! and of course Daemon's ideal version of Rhaenyra is still a naive, impish young girl- who hasn't seen his flaws or his cowardice. he wanted the dream of a happy, perfect Valyrian family with Rhaenyra, but reality is far harsher. he's abandoned his children and made his wife out to be a kinslayer with his actions.

the contrivance of the Alicent/Rhaenyra sept scene is absurd, obviously. however, i disagree with those arguing that it 'ruined the episode'. it is hardly the most contrived scene in the show thus far, and i can forgive its contrivance because the audience wants- and needs- to see a scene like this between Alicent and Rhaenyra- maybe one of their final conversations in private, ever. yes, Alicent could have seized the moment to have Rhaenyra captured or killed outright, but that still wouldn't stop the war. Daemon and Jace would not suddenly surrender- even if they wanted to save Rhaenyra's life, they would know their own lives would be forfeit the moment they surrendered. and honestly, anyone who thinks it would be more 'in character' for Alicent to have Rhaenyra killed right now is kidding themselves. yes, she hates Rhaenyra- and she also clearly still loves her.

i've enjoyed this episode the most out of all this season. a 9/10, in my opinion, and i hope we don't backslide with the second half of episodes.

[starry-bite]

i love hermes of course and obviously but consider: persephone narrating hadestown

she takes orpheus under her wing

the sweet maternal smirk as she watches him lovestruck for eurydice, remembering what that felt like

during epic i, we learn that she told orpheus the story of her great love (the thought of her singing a song of love from long ago, long time since i heard it though lays me out)

she rages and leads the chorus all through condemning hadestown in way down

even more direct horror and pain at eurydice being taken down

DISILLUSIONED AFTER HER OWN BETRAYAL DURING HEY THE BIG ARTISTE (you'll find another muse somewhere)

a whole new layer and familiarity to our lady of the underground as she introduces the audience to her domain (and what is her crack in the wall for but telling stories and sowing hope?)

more power/standing for the confrontation of how long?

watching the seeds she planted by telling orpheus stories come to bloom in epic iii

then breaking the good and bad news to orpheus and eurydice after his kiss, the riot and giving hard-earned advice

witnessing orpheus fail as she and hades did and retelling the story despite it being an old song. because it's her song to sing.

[therealmak]

INTRODUCTION

🖤𝑬𝑼𝑵𝑶𝑰𝑨🖤

"No one needs love as much as the ones who have nothing but only love to give."

"Thank you for loving me when I still tasted of heartache and war."

Emma Chamberlain as Chloe Noelle Monnier

"The Sweet Mama-To-Be🤰"

"In less than a year I had a beautiful baby and found epic love. I'm pretty sure I won the freaking lottery."

"What bothers me is that he was my husband and yet every day I had panic attacks, stomach aches, heart palpitations. I mean I went and got an EKG for my heart because I was stressed. My body was rejecting my marriage and I just never listened to it. The second it was over it all stopped."

"I mainly go to clubs because my friends and loves feed me. I also like to dance too, but food."

🖤🖤🖤🖤

Cole "Colby" Robert Brock

"The Protective One"

"I trust you with parts of myself I'm afraid to show to anyone else."

"Just let me protect you, take care of you, and hold you."

"We signed up for you, Chloe. We've done this shit completely backward from the beginning. We moved in with you before we started dating about two weeks ago. I don't care that you're pregnant with a baby that isn't mine, we want to be with you. Plus backward seems to be our thing, but Malia and I want to be here and want to be here with you and the baby."

🖤🖤🖤🖤

Malia Gee

"The Caring One"

"God you're so special. You're so fucking cute. Everything you say is so adorable."

"You do have a place, love. You have a place with me, Colby, the baby, and the rest of our chosen family. You are never alone in this."

"You can't let anything happen to her on the trip, Colby. It's scary enough when you go, and now Chloe is going with you."

———————————————————

✨𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑶𝑺𝑬𝑵 𝑭𝑨𝑴𝑰𝑳𝒀✨

"There are friends, there is family, and then there are friends that become family."

"My circle is small but the love is enormous + genuine. It gets no better."

Samuel "Sam" John Golbach

"The Soul Brother"

"There is not a man or woman, no matter how fit he or she may be, who is capable of carrying the entire world on their shoulders. Not even you, Coco. Let us carry the weight together."

"I want you to be every bit of yourself. So if that's being super kind, loving, and chaotic then so be it."

"Chlo we brought tons of snacks and drinks, so, at any point in the investigations, you could snack if you need to."

💛💛💛💛

Katrina Stuart

"The Soul Sister"

"What baby and Chloe want, baby and Chloe get. So Sam just go get the fucking breadsticks for Coco!"

"Don't eat that it's super spicy. Omg Chlo, spit it out, spit it out!"

"Chloe, Colby just doesn't want you to worry like this. Ironically, you're worrying for him and he's worried for you."

💛💛💛💛

Anastasia "Stas" Siver

"The Future Sister-in-Law"

"Send me the measurements and I will find your maternity clothes."

"Aunt Stas is going to make sure baby wears the cutest things ever!"

"The upside to me dating your brother is that we might be sisters-in-law someday!"

💛💛💛💛

Nate Hardy

"Ride or Die"

"That baby is going to be spoiled rotten by Uncle Nate. You best believe that."

"You can't just disappear like that Bubba, Colby would kill me if you weren't next to me."

"I can't tell if Chloe is laughing or crying right now, I actually think it's both."

💛💛💛💛

Amanda Raye

"The Friendly Medium"

"You're like my sister, where you go, I go."

"If you think I'm going to let you hurt Chloe, you're out of your mind. You cannot touch her, you cannot hurt her, and you may not follow her."

"Oh, Chloe everybody sees the way you look at them."

💛💛💛💛

Kristina "Kris" Lee Halliwell Collins & Celina Myers

"The Partners in Crime"

"At the end of this pregnancy, Chloe is going to have a dead mouth and a beautiful baby."

"Auntie Kris and Auntie Celina are going to teach you how to be crazy like us."

"We have to stop before we make Coco pee herself."

💛💛💛💛

Tara Yummy & Jake Webber

"The Cool Aunt & Uncle"

"That punch was for Chloe, how dare you disrespect her like that."

"It"s Tara Yummy and I'm here with one of my favorite people in the world... Chloe Monnier!"

"So me and Chloe are officially going to start documenting our McDonald's runs. I think we'll call it Jake and Coco late-night adventures." 

——————————————————— 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑴𝑶𝑵𝑵𝑰𝑬𝑹 𝑭𝑨𝑴𝑰𝑳𝒀

"Family is more than blood, it is heart, it is the courage to be present in people's lives and to bear other people's burden."

Marion Cotillard as Isabelle Monnier

"💞Mama Bear🐻"

"Chloe, accepting help from others is hard, but what you made for yourself here is family. So your papa and I are moving to be closer to this family."

"I'm sorry sweetheart but I knew that Luca was no good for mon bébé."

"We tried our best to raise you both with an open heart and open mind. I'd say that me and Papa did a wonderful job."

💞💞💞💞

Vincent Cassel as Jean-Pierre Monnier

"💞Papa Bear🐻"

"That girl is too much like her mother sometimes, mon dieu."

"I like this Colby and Malia. In general, chéri, you've made wonderful friends yourself. It's a beautiful family."

"Mon petit-enfant, my gosh she looks just like you when you were a baby, Coco." 

💞💞💞💞

Timothée Chalamet as Gabriel Monnier

"💞Older Big Brother🙄"

"If I see him I'll hit him, as much as we fight you're my little sister." 

"I like Stas, like a lot. Coco, it would mean a lot if I could ask her out. Pretty please?" "Someday, I'm going to put a ring on Stas' finger and we'll fight whether you're my best woman or her maid of honor."

💞💞💞💞

Mae McKagan as Amèlie Monnier

"💞The Twin Sister🫀"

"Through every challenge, I stand firm, knowing my family needs me."

"Love is the legacy I want to pass down to Chloe's baby."

"Family isn't an important thing. It's everything."

———————————————————

Michele Morrone as Luca Silva

"The Ex-Husband"

"The world revolves around those who know how to spin it." 

"Chloe, people like me don't settle for anything less than perfection, including you." 

"In the grand scheme of things, Chloe, it's all about winning. And I've never been comfortable losing."

I DO NOT own any pictures or gifs they belong to their rightful owners. The pictures of clothes belong to SHEIN, CIDER, and ROMWE, not myself.

OTHER WARNINGS⚠️ -SAM AND KATRINA ARE TOGETHER IN THIS STORY (because I miss them and am still in denial. -CUSSING -SEXUAL CONTENT? -POLYAMOROUS RELATIONSHIP (if you don't like it leave) -SENSITIVE SUBJECTS