#especially their criticisms of predictability as if a book has to break all expectations and subvert all tropes to be enjoyable

[theninthmember]

okay shrieking shack hunger games is wild they’ll be like “I think mutant killer bees is kind of silly” and I’m like haha yeah looking back that is kind of silly!!

and then they’ll be like “I wish Peeta was sexist and evil and killed Rue” and I’m like. girl what

[rookie-icarus]

The Heavenly Industrial Complex or The Metatron is a Union Buster

I do think the coffee is a critical element of the finale and Aziraphale’s ultimate decision, but not for the reasons you may think.  Here's why:

Part I: An Institutional Problem

Heaven has a growing optics problem, but an excellent PR department that knows how to put a spin on a media hit.

“For one prince of Heaven to be cast into the outer darkness makes a good story. For it to happen twice, makes it look like there is some kind of institutional problem.” — The Metatron, Season 2, Episode 5

Communications strategists sometimes refer to this as creating a “Winning Narrative”, where a set of values are shared and are overwhelmingly supported by the public as a cultural norm, bringing more people to your side. And, most importantly, a winning narrative drives behavior.

Now, imagine the most famous angel in the bible who is essentially heaven’s press secretary publicly says, “You know what? Not only do I not want this job anymore, but I’m rejecting the institution I’ve always represented outright.”

Now your Winning Narrative is put into question at best and, at worst, breaks down the entire confidence in your institution and the behavior of those who support it — or worse, who make up the institution itself:

*Ahem*

One angel and demon collaborating to thwart The Great Plan was already dangerous four years ago but was generally contained within the senior leadership of Heaven and Hell. But now, with the defection of Gabriel and Beelzebub, there is a growing pattern and The Metatron has to deal with it before it spirals out of control.* So, he does what a leader should do when presented with a threat: he studies the opposition.

The opposition isn’t hell, it’s the humanity that has crept into and influenced Crowley and Aziraphale over the last 6,000 years.

Crowley: For my money, the really big one is all of us against all of them.

Aziraphale: What? Heaven and Hell against humanity?

— Good Omens, Season 1, Episode 6

Part II: Human Nature

Something we see over and over again this season is the extreme ignorance of Heaven and Hell as they don’t even try to understand not only human nature but human anything. (Reproduction, law enforcement, how to drink tea, how long humans even live, what is sushi, etc).

(Muriel is a precious baby duck and I will fight anyone who hurts them.)

But the Metatron knows exactly how to queue, and place a generally common coffee order, he has the knowledge that the other ethereal and occult beings who have visited Earth don't have — how humans interact. It's disarming and very clever.

When The Metatron asks Nina about the coffee shop's namesake the key isn't "give me death" it's "so predictable".

Study humans long enough, you see the patterns that push them into action: values, convictions, and love.

A heavenly intervention won't do, but a simple conversation has the power to obliterate the expectations Aziraphale generally has of heaven’s bureaucracy and petty nature. It’s everything Aziraphale wants to believe and what he’s been conditioned to trust. It’s propaganda.

Think of how coffee is often a pretense for other interactions among humans, especially in a work setting.  Your boss takes you out for a coffee because they see the warning signs that the company may be unionizing, establishing a false relationship, or camaraderie.

“[...] management’s politeness comprises a small tactic in a much larger strategy on the part of Capital to delude workers and maintain labor peace .”  Jay Bettencourt, “Nothing in Common: Your Boss is Not Your Friend”

It’s also worth pointing out that another union-busting tactic is promoting lower-level employees and turning them into managers in order to create a riff in solidarity. *cough*

As we’ve heard from Crowley over and over again: humans often invent much worse things than he or Hell ever could. I wouldn’t be surprised if The Metatron took a page from a union-buster book.

Part III: The (failed) promise of change from within

In this conversation, The Metatron does two things: appeals to Aziraphale’s values and offers him proximity to power to act on those values.

He has a chance to make the changes he feels would have the greatest impact on a broken system. As a former non-profit employee, Aziraphale's "I can make a difference" broke my heart. I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with peers about wanting to change the non-profit industrial complex from the inside and the disillusionment that comes with it when you realize you can’t. 

“Nonprofits — through the services they provide and the media and other campaigns they design — explicitly and implicitly reinforce and perpetuate certain ideas. For example, in their work they frame what is the “appropriate” solution to social problems. [...]

Finally, nonprofits also reinforce an ideology about the most appropriate way to bring about change — namely, working for a nonprofit.

And who benefits when good-willed people committed to social justice get drawn into a system that they depend on for their livelihood and that incentivizes not rocking the boat?” — Erica West, Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex

I predict that’s going to be the greatest and most interesting challenge Aziraphale faces in S3, the disillusionment he will receive because institutions do not change because of leadership — there first must be a larger cultural shift among every individual in that institution. In my opinion, Aziraphale’s choice wasn’t out of character, but deeply, deeply human — doing the best he could with the information he had at the time and with an olive branch of coffee in his hand.

(*I also truly believe The Metatron knew about the fraternization between Gabriel and Beelzebub before the beginning of the season, which is why he didn’t want all of Heaven on alert for the missing archangel, refused to cast him down to hell, and wanted to erase his memory.)

Quick note: I have another S2 finale theory that would totally negate this one and may post about it later, but it’s fun to speculate, even if I contradict myself on a silly blogging site

[pleasantspark]

Little Blue Book (Oneshot) Vegeta x Majin! OC (Orion) x Jeice Genre: Tragedy & Hurt/Comfort Tropes: Jerkass Warnings: SpongeBob inspired Oneshot, Vegeta being Vegeta, Cringe is dead I killed it, Vegeta being an asshole, Reading out diaries from someone who doesn't want to share anything with you is NOT mature, The only person whose sane af in here is Orion Jeice and FRIEZA of all people, if you are that FUCKED up to where even a HEARTLESS monster thinks you're in the wrong then you should probably give up, Nappa criticizing Vegeta and getting his ass kicked for it, Spoiler Vegeta did all this because he had a crush on Orion lmfaooo. AUs Utilized: Overhaul AU A/N: Yeah, this was inspired by SpongeBob's episode "Little Yellow Book" while it's something that's IN CHARACTER for Vegeta, it's still heartless to ALSO bully someone who writes their feelings in a private journal.

Vegeta... Was confused.

He watched as Orion wrote down in a little blue book and quietly giggled to herself. It was strange really. She spent the most of her downtime before a mission writing in this book and glancing at Jeice... Which caused him immense amounts of Jealousy.

Yet, Orion wasn't even... Well, a saiyan I suppose you can say she was, but not anymore. The Majin wrote down words on paper, and the giggling. Oh god, the fucking giggling. Get's on the prideful man's nerves.

He just clenched his jaw and ignored it...

Until he couldn't.

He thought, maybe she was giggling because she wanted him to ask what she was doing. Yeah, she was trying to goad a response out of him.

She won't get him that easily.

So he just turned away, and ignored it, until the giggling became too much to handle. With an exasperated sigh, one that might rival the most patient of parents. He bit the bullet and decided to ask what she's giggling over.

"Woman, what the fucks so funny?" Vegeta asked. Orion, momentarily scribbling down for a minute, immediately stopped when Vegeta addressed her as a "Woman" and not by her name.

Which, by now, Orion has accepted that's what he refers to her by. Orion smiles a little too eagerly.

"Oh, it's nothing." Orion dismisses, and went back to writing.

"What do you mean it's nothing?" Vegeta asked.

He was not expecting her to immediately dismiss him just like THAT. Which was what took him off guard, normally she was predictable enough to where he could see what she would say, but for her to dismiss him?

Especially when she was a former Saiyan?

That made him mad.

"It's not a big of a deal... Veg! It's just. You know personal things." Orion waves her hand off. Vegeta got a little angry at that. Personal his ass. He wants to know more.

He leaned in to see what she was writing, which caused a negative reaction. She covered the book to her chest defensively like it was a vice. And she glared at Vegeta.

"Don't you dare." She yelled.

"What do you have to hide?" Vegeta sternly said.

"Nothing, as I said, it's not a big of a deal. It's just private matters. I have every right to reserve this. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go ahead and walk to my room. I need to prepare for a mission." Orion huffs and walked off.

Vegeta watched and narrowed his eyes. "Oh like hell she is."

Vegeta found himself in Orion's room, she was currently out on a mission. And he knew that whatever she was hiding in that journal had to be SOMETHING relating to him.

So, he spent the next few minutes rummaging through the room, overturning everything but cannot find what he was looking for, when he was about to leave, he saw a floorboard being stuck.

He pulled behind the floorboard and saw what he was looking for, a book. He smirked and picked it up. He opened the book and flipped through the pages and at first it was normal girl things. Where Orion talks about Frieza Force, and their missions. But once he flipped long enough is where he got to the good parts.

Dearest Journal, I was tasked with joining the Ginyu Force on respit. I was excited to get a break, and with the Force that made my heart tingle! None the less I was pretty happy. If there's one thing I love more than working for Frieza is doing a friendly spar with most of the Ginyu Force, although Zarbon thinks they are "meatheads" and the "lowest" of "lows" I don't care!

Truth be told, I do have another reason why I am looking forwards to the relaxation with them, I've always had a crush on the member Jeice, he has such beautiful green eyes that made my heart race. Yeah, it's weird that a Majin who was formerly a Saiyan is in love with... Well, a Mutated Brench-Seijin. Interspecies Romance is frowned upon. Especially one such as myself. But I don't care. My heart wants what it wants, and if it's someone as dreamy as Jeice then so be it!

Hopefully, I don't embarrass myself around him, or the others. But I can only dream, right?

Signed, Orion

Vegeta snickers and scoffs, although, he didn't know if this is one of disbelief or irony, but he knew he was jealous, why the hell did she fall in love with someone like Jeice?! Blinded by jealousy, anger or revenge, or some mixture of the three. He decided to do the unthinkable.

Orion just got back from a mission, and was ready to write in her journal. When she heard laughter, she was curious. Naturally, no one seemed to laugh at all on a dreary ship such as the Frieza Force, so that peaked her curiosity. She pushed past a bunch of expendables, and she heard Vegeta's voice rang.

"...And I always thought that what Zarbon says is a bunch of HOGWASH! Jeice is soooooo dreamy and I would never believe a single word of what my superior thinks! He just doesn't understand things the way I see them! If it were up to me, I would tell Jeice how I feel about him!~" Vegeta reads, mockingly.

Orion froze.

She recognized what Vegeta is saying, it was her journal entry. Judging by the laughter by the others. They were not laughing because of other reasons...

No, they were laughing at her.

Vegeta seemed to turn a page before snickering. "But as I said, before. No amount of whatever propaganda that my superior unleashes, this will never change my feelings for the Red Magma." Vegeta snickers.

Orion felt tears pool in her face, then she felt her heart race as the world around her ceased to exist. She noticed that the Ginyu Force was around as with Jeice.

Oh fuck, did he hear what...

As the laughter subsided and they noticed Orion, Vegeta looked up and made eye contact with Orion, and he stopped what he was doing. For a split second he registered that what he did was wrong but that all was removed once he smirked.

"There she is, the Jeice-Kisser!" Vegeta taunts. Everyone bursts out in laughter, as Orion ran out of the room sobbing.

It's been several weeks since the incident, and Vegeta has been noticing he hadn't seen Orion around since then.

He chalked it up as her being busy, but when he did notice she was out, she would wear a paper bag with different clothes. She was trying to hide what she looked like.

She was going out of her way to avoid others, including the Ginyu Force and by extent Jeice. He begin to think about what he did was "Wrong"

But shook the idea aside as he was fully in his right. She did all of this herself.

Then he begin having regulars whisper about her crush on Jeice, which led to others bragging about how they beat her up because of the "Interspecies Relationship" Vegeta began to worry about this, as... Well... Interspecies Relationships were taboo. And he felt bad.

He saw her around base, bruised and would avoid conversation with anyone, and when he tried to walk up to her, she made excuses to not talk to him or just straight up avoid him. He was concerned but didn't care enough.

Eventually, he began to get shit.

One day, he was sitting at the table with Raditz and Nappa, when Zarbon stormed in, and slapped his food out of his hand.

"What the fuck." Vegeta said.

"You and I, need to talk, buddy." Zarbon said, Vegeta rolled his eyes.

"About what?" Vegeta asked.

"About what you did to Orion." Zarbon said.

"Oh yeah, reading her personal journal?" Vegeta scoffed.

"You violated her privacy. Which was a SCUMMY thing to do, and because of that, she's hurting!" Zarbon snarks.

"Yeah, so?" Vegeta asked.

"You're heartless." Zarbon sneers, and storms off.

Vegeta scoffs and went back to eating.

"I still think what you did was nothing short of fucked up." Nappa said, Vegeta snaps his head at the bald brute.

"What the fuck did you say?" Vegeta asked.

"I mean, come on, what did you expect what was going to happen? We live in a era where people do NOT like two different races being together. So of COURSE she's going to get hurt." Nappa points out.

"I didn't ask for your input Nappa, stay the fuck in your lane." Vegeta snaps.

"If you think this is the way to go, to get Orion then this isn't..." Nappa said, Vegeta gets up and attacks Nappa. Raditz chokes on his food nearly dying before backing away from the fight.

Orion stayed in the back of the Cafeteria eating near the trash cans. She didn't want to join the Ginyu Force at all. She felt ashamed. She was essentially an outcast. Having her secret be exposed to the open all like that.

She wanted to fucking die.

"Mind if I join ya?" Said a familiar aussie accent, she sniffles and looked up at the source, it was Jeice. Orion looked back down.

"Hey, don't wawrry. I am not fahkin' mad awr weirded out by ya." Jeice said, he was holding his tray. And sat down next to you.

"..." Orion couldn't look at him.

"Look, I know ya might feel upset about wat Vegetah did, but I assah ya. I'm not heah ta be rude ta ya, awr call ya weird. In fact… 'ahah… Burder encouraged me ta talk ta ya…" Jeice said, plopping down next to her.

"..." Orion still wouldn't talk.

"I… find it very flatterin' that, well. Ya said all those things. About me, my pose, my 'air… 'n my eyes." Jeice said with a smile. "It's nice to see someone I admire too, admire me back."

Orion's eyes widened. "Really?" She asked. Jeice chuckled.

"Yer, really. I actually… Really found it sweet. 'n, I do want ta see weah this would go." Jeice said.

Orion hesitated, and Jeice hums. "Befawah ya wawrry, don't. I can 'andle the bloody backlash if it comes ta that." Jeice reassures her. Orion nodded.

"If you want." Orion said.

Vegeta realized most of the ship has turned on him in a day, when he tried to greet Raditz and Nappa, Nappa would turn away and Raditz was avoiding him.

Eventually even Frieza got involved.

Vegeta was called to his room.

"You called?" He gruffs.

"Yes, insolent Monkey, it's why you're here." Frieza sneers.

"Well. What seems to be the issue?" He asked.

"I am aware most issues arise on the ship... And well. I noticed you have done something truly despicable." Frieza sneers.

"Yeah, what about it?" He asked.

Frieza raised an eyebrow, seeming to chuckle before shaking his head. "What I am saying... Is what you did was wrong. Normally, I would find this level of sadistic behavior amusing. But I can't help but sympathize..."

Frieza seemed to get serious.

"What... You sympathize? Hardly even believe it." Vegeta snaps.

"What do you know about me? Other than the fact of what you see of me?" Frieza asked.

"..." Vegeta went silent.

"As I was saying... I can't help but find your level of... problematic behavior unacceptable. What Orion does is none of your business and you prying into her business was straight up, callous. Yet, I applaud you. At the same time, I also have to denounce you. Many people write in Journals to record their feelings, and what you did was a mere act of pettiness." Frieza said, Vegeta felt speechless.

"Now, you are dismissed." Frieza waves him away, leading Vegeta to leave with a look of disbelief.

[draculeo]

As a muslim Iraqi American with a significant tumblr following, I feel as though I should let it be known exactly where I stand when it comes to Riordan’s statement about Samirah. I have copied and pasted it down below and my reaction to it will be written down below. This will be the first time I have read it. If you want to engage with me or tell me that I’m wrong, I expect you to be a muslim, hijabi, Iraqi American, and from Baghdad. If you are not, I suggest you sit down and keep quiet because you are not the authority on the way I should be represented.

Like many of my characters, Samirah was inspired by former students of mine. Over the course of my middle school teaching career, I worked with dozens of Muslim students and their families, representing the expanse of the Muslim world and both Shia and Sunni traditions. One of my most poignant memories about the September 11, 2001, attack of the World Trade Center was when a Muslima student burst into tears when she heard the news – not just because it was horrific, but also because she knew what it meant for her, her family, her faith. She had unwillingly become an ambassador to everyone she knew who, would have questions about how this attack happened and why the perpetrators called themselves “Muslim.” Her life had just become exponentially more difficult because of factors completely beyond her control. It was not right. It was not fair. And I wasn’t sure how to comfort or support her.

Starting off your statement with one of the most traumatic events in history for muslim Americans is already one of the most predictably bad moves he could pull. By starting off this way, you are acknowledging the fact that a) this t*rrorist attack is still the first thing you think of when you think of muslims and b) that those muslim students who you had prior to 9/11 occupied so little space in your mind that it took a national disaster for you to start to even try to empathize with them.

During the following years, I tried to be especially attuned to the needs of my Muslim students. I dealt with 9/11 the same way I deal with most things: by reading and learning more. When I taught world religions in social studies, I would talk to my Muslim students about Islam to make sure I was representing their experience correctly. They taught me quite a bit, which eventually contributed to my depiction of Samirah al-Abbas. As always, though, where I have made mistakes in my understanding, those mistakes are wholly on me.

As always, you have chosen to use “I based this character off my students” in order to justify the way they are written. News flash: you taught middle school children. Children who are already scrutinized and alienated and desperate to fit in. Of course their words shouldn’t be enough for you to decide you are representing them correctly, because they are still coming to terms with their identities and they are doing this in an environment where they are desperate to find the approval of white Americans. I know that as a child I would often tweak the way I explained my culture and religion to my teachers in order to gain their approval and avoid ruffling any feathers. They told you what they thought you’d want to hear because you are their teacher and hold a position of power over them and they both want your approval and want to avoid saying the wrong thing and having that hang over their heads every time they enter your classroom.

What did I read for research? I have read five different English interpretations of the Qur’an. (I understand the message is inseparable from the original Arabic, so it cannot be considered ‘translated’). I have read the entirety of the Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim hadith collections. I’ve read three biographies of Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) and well over a dozen books about the history of Islam and modern Islam. I took a six-week course in Arabic. (I was not very good at it, but I found it fascinating). I fasted the month of Ramadan in solidarity with my students. I even memorized some of the surahs in Arabic because I found the poetry beautiful. (They’re a little rusty now, I’ll admit, but I can still recite al-Fātihah from memory.) I also read some anti-Islamic screeds written in the aftermath of 9/11 so I would understand what those commenters were saying about the religion, and indirectly, about my students. I get mad when people attack my students.

And yet here you are actively avoiding the criticism from those of us who could very well have been the children sitting in your classroom. 

The Quran is so deep and complex that its meanings are still being discovered to this day. Yes, reading these old scripts is a must for writing muslim characters, but you cannot claim to understand them without also holding active discussions with current scholars on how the Quran’s teachings apply today.

When preparing to write Samirah’s background, I drew on all of this, but also read many stories on Iraqi traditions and customs in particular and the experiences of immigrant families who came to the U.S. I figured out how Samirah’s history would intertwine with the Norse world through the medieval writer Ahmad ibn Fadhlan, her distant ancestor and one of the first outsiders to describe the Vikings in writing.  I knew Samirah would be a ferocious brave fighter who always stood for what was right. She would be an excellent student who had dreams of being an aviator. She would have a complicated personal situation to wrestle with, in that she’s a practicing Muslim who finds out Valhalla is a real place. Odin and Thor and Loki are still around. How do you reconcile that with your faith? Not only that, but her mom had a romance with Loki, who is her dad. Yikes.

First of all, writing this paragraph in the same tone you use to emulate a 12 year old is already disrespectful. “Yikes” is correct. You have committed serious transgressions and can’t even commit to acting serious and writing like the almost 60 year old man that you are. Tone tells the reader a lot, and your tone is telling me that you are explaining your mistakes the same way you tell your little stories: childishly and jokingly. 

Stories are not enough. They are not and never will be. Stories cannot even begin to pierce the rich culture and history and customs of Iraq. Iraq itself is not even homogenous enough for you to rely on these “Iraqi” stories. Someone’s story from Najaf is completely unique from someone from Baghdad or Nasriyyah or Basrah or Mosul. Add that to the fact that these stories are written with a certain audience in mind and you realize that there’s no way they can tell the whole story because at their core they are catering to a specific audience.

Yes, those are good, but they are meaningless without you consulting an actual Baghdadi and asking specific questions. You made conclusions and assumptions based on these stories when the obvious way to go was to consult someone from Baghdad every step of the writing process. Instead, you chose to trust the conclusions that you (a white man) drew from a handful of stories. Who are you to convey a muslim’s internal struggle when you did not even do the bare minimum and have an actual muslim read over your words?

Thankfully, the feedback from Muslim readers over the years to Samirah al-Abbas has been overwhelmingly positive. I have gotten so many letters and messages online from young fans, talking about how much it meant to them to see a hijabi character portrayed in a positive light in a ‘mainstream’ novel.

Yeah. Because we’re desperate, and half of them are children still developing their sense of self and critical reading skills. A starving man will thank you for moldy bread but that does not negate the mold. 

Some readers had questions, sure! The big mistake I will totally own, and which I have apologized for many times, was my statement that during the fasting hours of Ramadan, bathing (i.e. total immersion in water) was to be avoided. This was advice I had read on a Shia website when I myself was preparing to fast Ramadan. It is advice I followed for the entire month. Whoops! The intent behind that advice, as I understood it, was that if you totally immersed yourself during daylight hours, you might inadvertently get some water between your lips and invalidate your fast. But, as I have since learned, that was simply one teacher’s personal opinion, not a widespread practice. We have corrected this detail (which involved the deletion of one line) in future editions, but as I mentioned in my last post, you will still find it in copies since the vast majority of books are from the first printing.

This is actually really embarrassing for you and speaks to your lack of research and reading comprehension. It is true that for shia, immersion breaks one’s fast. If you had bothered to actually ask questions and use common sense, you would realize that this is referring to actions like swimming, where one’s whole body is underwater, rather than bathing. Did you not question the fact that the same religion that encourages the cleansing of oneself five times a day banned bathing during the holiest month? Yes, it was one teacher’s opinion, but you literally did not even take the time to fully understand that opinion before chucking it into your book.

Another question was about Samirah’s wearing of the hijab. To some readers, she seemed cavalier about when she would take it off and how she would wear it. It’s not my place to be prescriptive about proper hijab-wearing. As any Muslim knows, the custom and practice varies greatly from one country to another, and from one individual to another. I can, however, describe what I have seen in the U.S., and Samirah’s wearing of the hijab reflects the practice of some of my own students, so it seemed to be within the realm of reason for a third-generation Iraqi-American Muslima. Samirah would wear hijab most of the time — in public, at school, at mosque. She would probably but not always wear it in Valhalla, as she views this as her home, and the fallen warriors as her own kin. This is described in the Magnus Chase books. I also admit I just loved the idea of a Muslima whose hijab is a magic item that can camouflage her in times of need.

Before I get into this paragraph, Samirah is second generation. Her grandparents immigrated from Iraq. Her mother was first gen.

Once again, you turn to what you have seen from your students, who are literal children. They are in middle school while Samirah is in high school, so they are very obviously at different stages of development, both emotional and religious. If you had bothered to talk to adults who had gone through these stages, you would understand that often times young girls have stages where they “practice” hijab or wear it “part time”, very often in middle school. However, both her age and the way in which you described Samirah lead the reader to believe that she is a “full timer,” so you playing willy nilly with her scarf as a white man is gross.

For someone who claims to have read all of these religious texts, it’s funny that you choose to overlook the fact that “kin” is very specifically described. Muslims do not go around deciding who they consider “kin” or “family” to take off their hijab in front of. There is no excuse for including this in her character, especially since you claim to have carefully read the Quran and ahadith.

You have no place to “just love” any magical extension of the hijab until you approach it with respect. Point blank period. Especially when you have ascribed it a magical property that justifies her taking it on and off like it’s no big deal, especially when current media portrayals of hijab almost always revolve around it being removed. You are adding to the harmful portrayal and using your “fun little magic camoflauge” to excuse it.

As for her betrothal to Amir Fadhlan, only recently have I gotten any questions about this. My understanding from my readings, and from what I have been told by Muslims I know, is that arranged marriages are still quite common in many Muslim countries (not just Muslim countries, of course) and that these matches are sometimes negotiated by the families when the bride-to-be and groom-to-be are quite young. Prior to writing Magnus Chase, one of the complaints I often heard or read from Muslims is how Westerners tend to judge this custom and look down on it because it does not accord with Western ideas. Of course, arranged marriages carry the potential for abuse, especially if there is an age differential or the woman is not consulted. Child marriages are a huge problem. The arrangement of betrothals years in advance of the marriage, however, is an ancient custom in many cultures, and those people I know who were married in this way have shared with me how glad they were to have done it and how they believe the practice is unfairly villainized. My idea with Samirah was to flip the stereotype of the terrible abusive arranged match on its head, and show how it was possible that two people who actually love each other dearly might find happiness through this traditional custom when they have families that listen to their concerns and honor their wishes, and want them to be happy. Amir and Samirah are very distant cousins, yes. This, too, is hardly unusual in many cultures. They will not actually marry until they are both adults. But they have been betrothed since childhood, and respect and love each other. If that were not the case, my sense is that Samirah would only have to say something to her grandparents, and the match would be cancelled. Again, most of the comments I have received from Muslim readers have been to thank me for presenting traditional customs in a positive rather than a negative light, not judging them by Western standards. In no way do I condone child marriage, and that (to my mind) is not anywhere implied in the Magnus Chase books.

I simply can’t even begin to explain everything that is wrong with this paragraph. Here is a good post about how her getting engaged at 12 is absolutely wrong religiously and would not happen. Add that on to the fact that Samirah herself is second-generation (although Riordan calls her third generation in this post) and this practice isn’t super common even in first generation people (and for those that it DOES apply to, it is when they are old enough to be married and not literal children). 

As a white man you can’t flip the stereotype. You can’t. Even with tons of research you cannot assume the authority to “flip” a stereotype that does not affect you because you will never come close to truly understanding it inside and out. Instead of flipping a stereotype, Rick fed into it and provided more fodder to the flames and added on to it to make it even worse.

I would be uncomfortable with a white author writing about arranged marriages in brown tradition no matter the context, but for him to offhandedly include it in a children’s book where it is badly explained and barely touched on is inexcusable. Your target audience is children who will no doubt overlook your clumsy attempt at flipping stereotypes.

It does not matter what your mind thinks you are implying. Rick Riordan is not your target audience, children are. So you cannot brush this away by stating that you did not see the harm done by your writing. You are almost 60 years old. Maybe you can read in between your lines, but I guarantee your target audience largely cannot.

Finally, recently someone on Twitter decided to screenshot a passage out-of-context from Ship of the Deadwhere Magnus hears Samirah use the phrase “Allahu Akbar,” and the only context he has ever heard it in before was in news reports when some Western reporter would be talking about a terrorist attack. Here is the passage in full:

Samirah: “My dad may have power over me because he’s my dad. But he’s not the biggest power. Allahu akbar.”

I knew that term, but I’d never heard Sam use it before. I’ll admit it gave me an instinctive jolt in the gut. The news media loved to talk about how terrorists would say that right before they did something horrible and blew people up. I wasn’t going to mention that to Sam. I imagined she was painfully aware.

She couldn’t walk the streets of Boston in her hijab most days without somebody screaming at her to go home, and (if she was in a bad mood) she’d scream back, “I’m from Dorchester!”

“Yeah,” I said. “That means God is great, right?”

Sam shook her head. “That’s a slightly inaccurate translation. It means God is greater.”

“Than what?”

“Everything. The whole point of saying it is to remind yourself that God is greater than whatever you are facing—your fears, your problems, your thirst, your hunger, your anger.

337-338

To me, this is Samirah educating Magnus, and through him the readers, about what this phrase actually means and the religious significance it carries. I think the expression is beautiful and profound. However, like a lot of Americans, Magnus has grown up only hearing about it in a negative context from the news. For him to think: “I had never heard that phrase, and it carried absolutely no negative connotations!” would be silly and unrealistic. This is a teachable moment between two characters, two friends who respect each other despite how different they are. Magnus learns something beautiful and true about Samirah’s religion, and hopefully so do the readers. If that strikes you as Islamophobic in its full context, or if Samirah seems like a hurtful stereotype . . . all I can say is I strongly disagree.

I will give you some credit here in that I mostly agree with this scene. The phrase does carry negative connotations with many white people and I do not fault you for explaining it the way you did. However, don’t try to sneak in that last sentence like we won’t notice. You have no place to decide whether or not Samirah’s character as a whole is harmful and stereotypical. 

It is 2 am and that is all I have the willpower to address. This is messy and this is long and this is not well worded, but this had to be addressed. I do not speak for every muslim, both world wide and within this online community, but these were my raw reactions to his statement. I have been working on and will continue to work on a masterpost of Samirah Al-Abbas as I work through the books, but for now, let it be known that Riordan has bastardized my identity and continues to excuse himself and profit off of enforcing harmful stereotypes. Good night.

[imjustheretoseetheprivateblogs]

Qrowin Week 2021: 6/21-Childhood Friends AU

Two little snowbirds sitting in a row

 They met in the garden at one of her father’s lavish parties. She’d gone outside because little girls didn’t like being told to sit still and not talk nor do anything fun, so she decided she didn’t care if the dress daddy bought her got messy, she’d go outside and spend time in the hedge maze.

They’d gotten it installed, in the shape of the Schnee family crest no less, because the Marigolds had one in the shape of their family crest and daddy could be silly about when people had things he didn’t.

The white roses that grew from the foliage walls, fragrant and delicate, were always calming to her, especially on a cool and cloudless night like this when the moonlight was at its brightest.

For Winter, to get lost in its lush corridors and marble statuary, it’s hidden gardens and fountains would be enough to get the annoyance of her father’s party out of her mind.

Most of that went out of her head when she found a grungy boy in a cape stuffing his face with what looked like a rabbit.

He stared at her, like an animal in a vehicle’s headlights, bits of his meal hanging from his mouth.

He couldn’t be older than her, gaunt with gunsmoke-colored hair stuck up at odd angles and eyes like carbuncles.

The clothes he wore were grubby and layered and obviously used long before he’d begun wearing them, especially that tattered cape.

For a moment, neither spoke, merely staring at one another in the moonlight.

Finally, Winter broke the silence.

“That’s disgusting.”

The boy dropped the rabbit from his mouth.

“Sorry if I’m not fancy enough for you, Miss Uppity.”

Winter felt her cheeks heat with indignation.

“How dare you!”

The boy threw back his head and laughed, a sound that reminded Winter of a pair of birds she’d once heard fighting in the yard.

“Is that all it takes to get under that pale skin!” he laughed, a sound which soon died in his throat when his stomach made a loud groan.

Winter huffed as he reached for the dead rabbit.

“Wait here and don’t touch that,” she said, turning on her heel.

She returned with two plates piled high with hors d'oeuvres.

“I didn’t know what you liked,” she said, handing him one, “so I got you one of everything.”

The boy said nothing, just shoveling food into his mouth in a way that probably promoted choking.

“You’re welcome,” Winter said, sitting down and spearing a piece of salmon on a toothpick to eat.

The boy coughed, pounding his chest.

“You shouldn’t eat so fast,” Winter said, “you’ll get sick.”

“Well, some of us don’t know when our next meal is gonna be,” he said.

His words brought back to Winter the memory of her father sending her to bed with no supper when he found she’d invited a faunus over to play, with threats of no breakfast if she didn’t break it off with the girl tomorrow.

“You might be surprised,” Winter said.

The boy said something through a mouthful of hummace.

“What was that?” Winter asked.

The boy swallowed.

“I’m Qrow,” he said.

Winter smiled.

“I’m Winter.”

One named Winter

She saw him on days when it wasn’t raining or snowing after that. The family he lived with (his “Tribe” as he called them) were camped out in the woods behind their house, the ones nobody would let daddy cut down.

At night, he told her, they danced and played instruments and drank until the early hours of the morning.

Winter never really cared for people who drank (her mother’s growing dependence on liquor was a factor in this) but Qrow never really showed up smelling like wine, so she supposed associating with him was no trouble.

It was also refreshing that he never stood on ceremony.

He never rolled his eyes at her when she spoke of wanting to learn fencing or told her how things were supposed to be when she complained about how someone (usually daddy) was being unfair.

He also taught her new games that were much more fun than anything that the boys and girls daddy introduced her knew.

Kick the can, stickball, and he played hide and seek and tag with her. And he’d tell her all about the places he’d been. Mistral, Vacuo, Menagerie, his tribe had traveled all over Remnant.

And while he could be crass, she still remembered seeing the way he rescued a baby bird from a stray cat and returning it to its nest with the tenderest care.

Or how when she complained of how her father was so bossy and so dumb, that he listened. Didn’t judge, didn’t criticize, just listen.

And sometimes, it was enough to know that they’d meet once a week, at night, in the hedge maze.

One named Qrow

She wasn’t what he expected.

Sure, she told him annoying things like “don’t slouch, eat slower, no burping, don’t pull up the flowers—no! I don’t need them, put them back!”

But she never called him weak. She never said he should practice more like his sister did.

Winter gave him food, and listened to his stories and ideas, and never asked if he wanted to fight. Sometimes, they would even just sit together.

She even taught him how to read; starting with big letters scratched in the dirt with a stick, before lending him books that they could read together.

Mr. Bruin is a Shoe-in was the first he read all by himself. And he was so happy when she let him keep it afterwards.

And she never told him to stop being so dumb, like his sister did.

And sometimes, it was enough to know that they’d meet once a week, at night, in the hedge maze.

Fly away, Winter!

Their shouts bring the servants running. All they saw was Winter on her knees, face in her hands as she wept piteously.

If only they’d come a few minutes earlier, then they could have seen the argument in all it’s glory. Voices rough from the volume and occasionally cracking, tears streaming down their faces, they weren’t that little boy and girl anymore.

He’d grown lanky and lean, she taller and with longer hair.

But they didn’t care right then.

She’d told him she was joining the military.

He said his tribe would be moving and asked if she wanted to join them instead of some stupid army.

She said it was a noble profession.

He said only for assholes.

She defended her position.

He reiterated his opinion.

She shouted at him, asking why couldn’t he be happy for her.

He shouted at her what would be wrong with going with him.

She said something about duty.

He told her to shut up, that he didn’t want to hear duty again in his whole life.

She told him that if he was going to act like a filthy little boy, then he could go off and sulk like one.

He said he wished he’d never met her and hoped she enjoyed killing people.

Arguments like that, they learned, ended with no winners.

Fly away, Qrow!

 That was the end of the time Qrow considered himself happy. Life seemed to plan for him a long drawn out death, bracketed with disappointments and tragedy’s.

Transformation

The death of friends.

The death of family.

The horrors of war.

Secrets and betrayal.

Abandonment.

And the drink

So, so much to drink.

It didn’t fix anything. It didn’t make him feel more human. But it kept the nightmares at bay. It kept him as a predictable disappointment rather than an out-of-the-blue-never-seen-that-kind-of-train-wreck-before disappointment.

But the worst part of the drink, thought, was that no matter how many shots he took, no matter how many chasers. Black liquor, brown liquor, red wine, white wine, it didn’t matter. Melancholy brought back visions of that girl from that time he had been happy.

Come back, Winter!

First impressions had never come easy to Qrow. So really, it should be no surprise that impression number 15 the horrible sequel nobody wanted or needed.

But really, denying common sense by chucking an empty whisky bottle at James Ironwood’s head was not only pointless, it was utterly puerile. He was drunk. He was upset that his latest search for intel on Salem had turned up next to nothing, he was itching for a fight and if that pompous wannabe hero wanted to take it up with him, that was fine.

Except he hadn’t expected the woman by his side to turn out to be someone familiar. Someone he hadn’t seen since he was a dumb, romantic, fifteen-year-old kid.

Someone whose reappearance upset his stomach enough that he emptied it onto the general’s uniform and shoes. With enough force to make his eyes water.

The woman in the Atlesian uniform said she would take care of him and asked another girl, another white haired girl, where their room was.

As they walked towards Beacon, he thought he heard her say “Qrow Branwen, what has the world done to you?”

Come back, Qrow!

Qrow awoke to a cold rag on his forehead.

“Lie still,” she said, “I think you got a hold of some rockgut.”

“More like rockgut got a hold of me.”

Qrow’s attempt at humor was met with a scowl.

“Gee, you got frosty.”

“And you became an alcoholic,” she said, wringing out the cloth into a nearby basin.

Qrow looked away from her and to the wall, as if a better retort than her’s existed there.

“It eases the pain,” he said.

“No it doesn’t,” Winter said. She threw the rag into the basin, causing the water to splash.

“Qrow, my mother is an alcoholic. It doesn’t fix anything! It just makes you want more of what’s essentially fermented grass!”

“You don’t think I know that!” Qrow snapped. Tears pricked at his eyes and his heart sank when he saw the hurt in her eyes from his tone, something he hadn’t seen there since their last meeting.

“There are nights when no matter how much I drink, I still can’t forget the loss of all the people around me and how--”

He paused and swallowed.

“How everyone is just one day going to leave me!”

Tears were starting to fall as all the regrets he’d kept at bay with drink and fighting and everythng else he could find came rushing back into him and coiling around his lungs.

“I’m bad luck, Winter,” he said, “I lost my sister, my tribe, I lost the people I care about, and every day, it’s missions, missions, and missions to find an enemy I don’t even know exists.”

His shoulders were shaking and he remembered his sister, back when they were little, telling him how ‘boys don’t cry.’

God, Winter must think he’s so pathetic.

Instead, she took him by the shoulders and gently brought him into her embrace.

“It’s alright,” she said, “just let it out. Get it all out.”

Not knowing what else to do, Qrow gripped the back of her uniform and sobbed into her shoulder, years’ worth of pain and loneliness deep inside him rising to the surface and finally escaping. And the pressure went with it.

At some point, they ended up lying together on the bed (wait, were they in a bunk bed?), still in each other’s arms.

“We all have regrets,” Winter said, “things we said. Things we wish we could take back.”

Her hand tightens on his shirt and his hand closes around it.

“But, if you really want to know, if I could do it over...”

Please say it, he wanted to think, but every time he had thoughts like that, life saw fit to swat him down again.

“I would go with you. Even if after the first day, I went back home, I think I would go with you.”

Qrow felt his heart swell and suddenly, he didn’t feel so sick anymore.

“And... if you wanted to start over... I would like that too.”

“I still have Mr. Bruin,” Qrow said.

He didn’t know why he said that. She never asked about the book, never said “Qrow, what kind of literature do you normally read?”

Whatever the reason, Winter looked up at him, shocked.

“Still? I thought you would’ve thrown that away.”

Qrow looked down at her, eyes glassy.

“I tried a few times. But I just couldn’t get rid of something that reminded me of you. It’s missing the page where Mr. Bruin loses his boot, but I tried to keep it safe.”

Winter’s hand rises to his cheek and Qrow leans into it, the human contact easing the hole in his soul he’s tried to fill with booze.

“I’m sorry I didn’t turn out as someone you could be proud of.”

“The fact that you kept that book tells me everything I need to know.”

Later that night, Winter’s sister and Qrow’s niece would get the shock of their lives when they enetered their room and saw the two of them sleeping on Weiss’s bed together.

[oliviermiraarmstrongs]

mid-year book freak out tag

thank you @bloody-wonder for giving me an excuse to share my book thoughts!

1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2021?

It’s gotta be The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood; I hear “feminist period novel about mentally ill woman unable to cope in upper-class society” and I am THERE! It’s like [Stefon voice] This book has EVERYTHING: repressed women, a decaying old house, a complex relationship of two sisters, a pulpy sci-fi story-within-a-story-within-a-story, criticism of capitalism and reactionary attitudes and politics, commentary on how conservative society shuns those it perceives to be “other” and a threat to the social order (poor people, socialists, “unconventional” women). It is EXTREMELY my shit.

2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2021?

The only one I've read is Siege and Storm, so Siege and Storm! Shadow and Bone was captivating, if a little simplistic, but the sequel really fleshes out the characters, setting, and themes. It’s great to see Alina take a more active role, and I love the exploration of sainthood. 

3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To?

I’m really curious about Michelle Zauner’s memoir Crying in H Mart. Same with Axiom’s End, which I haven’t really been seeking out, but it’s been resting on my list since I like a lot of Lindsay Ellis’ stuff.

4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2021?

5. Biggest Disappointment?

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. I’ve been getting into Atwood, and I have a soft spot for female-centric retellings of myths, so this was on my list for a long time. It’s not bad; it’s decent as a character study and offers some good perspective on the hanged slave women from The Odyssey, but overall it came off as...bitter? And not in a good way. It’s reasonable to include commentary on how bad things were for women in ancient times, but after a while I’m just like “But there had to be a time when Penelope was happy, right?” But the biggest failing has to be the treatment of Helen. Why a story focused on bringing literary justice to silenced women also characterizes Helen of Troy as a manipulative, arrogant bitch who single-handedly ignited the Trojan War because she enjoys fucking people over, I’ll never know. Ironic that in the opening chapter, Penelope bemoans being used as a yardstick with which to judge other women, and then the book proceeds to do exactly that with her and Helen. Can’t let Penelope have a positive relationship with another woman! There could be some form of unreliable narrator at play, but there’s not much indication that that’s the case here. Even Homer had a more nuanced portrayal of Helen than this!

6. Biggest Surprise?

I suppose The Red Tent. I picked it up at a Goodwill because of my aforementioned interest in female-centric retellings. It’s not amazing, but I wasn’t really expecting it to emotionally affect me like it did. You spend so much time setting up Dinah’s family and this supportive community of woman within a patriarchal society, only to have Dinah abandon it all after getting betrayed by her father and (most of) her brothers. Hearing about how her family fell apart after she left and she never got to see her mothers again really gets to me. The book has flaws for sure - neither of Dinah’s romances are developed very well, and some of its themes can come off as gender essentialist - but I think it’s a nice exploration of female labor and traditions that too often get ignored.

7. Favorite New Author?

The only relatively new author I’ve been reading is Leigh Bardugo, soooooo... honestly I don’t know what I can say that hasn’t already been said, I got into the series pretty late. Great world-building, witty dialogue, a familiar type of story with enough interesting ideas to make it feel fresh. Check out Shadow and Bone if you get the chance. Sound of the summer.

8. Newest Fictional Crush?

You would think it would be Nikolai Lantsov since I just finished reading Siege and Storm and he seems to be the fan favorite... but nah, not yet. He’s fun, but he doesn’t hit me in that way (Though very sexy of him to just casually proposition Alina and Mal for a royal polycule, a la Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot; would love an AU where they accept his offer). However, I would let Zoya murder me. Every time Zoya is not in a scene I am asking “Where’s Zoya?” Also shout out to Alina, just because I would treat her better than all the men in her life! 

9. Newest Favorite Character?

Gonna try to do this without spoiling too much, but Laura Chase in The Blind Assassin really resonated with me. Her personality reminds me a lot of myself, especially as an an autistic person, like the way she has her own way of thinking that makes perfect sense to her, but makes other people see her as odd and naive. I love how she’s set up in-universe as this Sylvia Plath-esque tragic heroine, with Iris spending the rest of the book interrogating and deconstructing, and in a way, reconstructing this image of her. Atwood you’re insane for this. I forgive you for the Helen thing now.

10. Book That Made You Cry?

I never got as far as crying, but the part in The Goldfinch where [spoilers incoming] the art heist goes wrong and Theo is alone in the hotel room and he’s spiraling and considering suicide and finally dreams of his mom… all that was too much for me and I had to put the book down for the night. This guy just can’t catch a fucking break.

11. Book That Made You Happy?

fucidjdjdj I didn’t read any happy books this year. Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm because I read them really fast unlike my usual months-long reading schedule.

12. Favorite Book Adaptation You Saw?

Predictably, Shadow and Bone. I basically bought and read the book less than a week before the show came out because I thought it looked interesting and wanted in on the hype (mostly because Jessie is cute 🥰). Honestly, the show improves a lot on the first book; the multiple storylines make it more dynamic and complex, the actors really help to make the characters feel more fleshed out, and Alina and Inej interacted for like three scenes, introducing an unexpected but thematically rich ship.

13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year?

14. Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought So Far This Year?

I impulse-bought this book of Romantic poetry at Barnes and Noble just because it was pretty and I had a gift card

15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End Of The Year?

Besides finishing The Grisha Trilogy/Six of Crows duology/Zoya’s duology that I forgot the name of….I don’t know. I’m not a reader that plans in advance. I acquire books, finish whatever I’m currently reading, look through my stacks deciding what to read next, spend an hour doing so because I can’t decide if I’m in the mood for any of them, and either force myself to read one or buy/borrow a new one.

I’m tagging @betweenironyandsilver, @illuminaticns, @borispavlikovskys, @chdarling, @sctine, @mightyaubs, @excuseforadrink, and @trckstergods, if you wanna! Or anyone who wants to yell about books.

[mallowmelt-down]

Okay so do not continue reading if you have not finished Unlocked(Keeper of the Lost Cities Book 8.5). These are just a couple of theories and thoughts I had. Again, do not read unless you have finished the book.

First off:

- Possible Predicition: Keefe might touch Sophie’s hand and feel that she has another ability.

- Keefe might touch his mother’s hand and predict her other ability, if she has one along with Polygot.

- Definitely lots of rifts in the friend group as Sophie starts to take control. Although I must say I do like the new Sophie much better. She is less meek and afraid. I can’t believe she is finally fighting back and everyone is like “What? No, let’s go hide in our sparkly castles!” And Forkle is like, “Spill the tea, tell me more”

- What is in Kenric’s caches? ?

- The Moonlark symbol is going to become like the Mockingjay from Hunger Games.

- Glimmer and Sophie friendship?

- Also, all of the items they stole from the warehouse have to be useful, right?. Like, each item has to have some use to the plot or something. I can’t wait to see what they are.

- Dex is returning to the books more! Yay!

- Linh is fading from the books. Boo!

- Tiana suspicions confirmed?

- Anyone else though the Registery Files were weirdly specific? Especially with their love life, like what? Can you say “Invasion of Privacy?”

- Not to criticize or anything, I think the book was great, but don’t you think Keefe was given like a lot of abilities all at once. I was only expecting one. It was a little surprising.

- Is Keefe a Descyr(I can barely spell human words so give me a break) kind of?

- Where in the Forbidden Cities will Keefe hide? And when looking for him, will Sophie encounter Amy and her parents?

- Did the photo of young Sophie with her parents make anyone else super sad?

- Love Elwin’s house and his art!

- We got Council art! And Blackswan art! Honestly the art did not disappoint and I love it all!

- Keefe’s letter in the end killed me! Why Shannon, why?!

- I can’t believe I waited a year, finished the novella in like an hour and now I have to live off fanfiction and this app for the next year until book 9?! I am officially passing away.

- Please post any theories or comments on the book. I seriously need people to talk to about this.

[the-big-nope]

While I’m certainly nowhere near ready for the story of the Mighty Nein to come to an end, I am also a D&D nerd and there’s a new sourcebook coming out soon with a bunch of new subclasses in it. By the time Campaign 3 of Critical Role gets underway, that book will be published, leaving a wealth of new options for the cast members to choose from, so why not entertain myself by making barely justified predictions of what the cast is most likely to pick for their next characters! (Disclaimer: Some of the new subclasses have been confirmed and some haven’t, so for a few of these picks I’m just going off of what I think is going to be in the book).

Travis

Cleric (Tempest Domain): Travis has been playing lowkey EMT since campaign one, and Laura’s already confirmed that Travis almost went cleric for campaign two. Between Grog with his barb-boosted movement speed to get around the battlefield so he could shove healing potions into his squishier teammates, and Fjord multiclassing into paladin and lovingly tapping his friends with single hit points to get them back up, it would be delightful to see him fully jump in and embrace the classical healer role. Of course, this is Travis, so I don’t see him picking a cleric domain that doesn’t allow for at least some whoop-ass, and Tempest Domain brings plenty of it. You get proficiency with all armor and weapons, Divine Strike at level 8 for boosted melee damage, you can use a reaction to inflict lightning or thunder damage against any enemy within melee range that’s hit you. And if you climb up high enough in levels, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking one whenever you’re outdoors. Pretty nifty, and makes for a fitting subclass for a guy that’s voiced Thor on multiple occasions.

Blood Hunter (Order of the Lycan): I mean, come on. The only reason it isn’t number one is that it was already widely assumed this would be Travis’s pick for campaign two, and I wouldn’t put it past him to surprise us again. But still, we saw him get a taste in Liam’s one shot and he was clearly having the time of his life. Besides, we lost Molly far too early to really see the blood hunter’s potential come to life; it would be damn cool to see someone else take a crack at it, and Travis is enough of a D&D gambler to not shy away from the class’s riskier features.

Artificer (Armorer): Speaking of Marvel connections, if Travis doesn’t lean toward fantasy Thor, then fantasy Iron Man might catch his attention instead. Artificer is an official class now, and since it’ll be reprinted in TCoE by the time campaign 3 gets underway, it’ll be a lot more visible as an option. The Armorer sits in almost a perfect middle ground of what Travis has done before: tanky and a frontliner, but also still has spells and tricks to help the party. Plus, you get a badass suit of power armor out of it. What’s not to like?

Marisha

Bard (College of Creation): After Hazel Copperpot, we all saw the pure magic that was Marisha Ray playing a bard. I know she implied that Hazel was supposed to be her campaign two backup character, but I hope this doesn’t discourage her from making another one. There are quite a few bard subclasses, a number of which I could see her being drawn to (Lore, Glamour, maybe even Swords), but I really vibe with the idea of Creation. I can’t exactly say why; maybe the idea of the ‘dancing object’ feature in Marisha’s hands is very funny to me (remember Keyleth’s adorable “Be Our Guest” moment? That, but this time it’s a walking wardrobe beating the shit out of the enemy).

Paladin (Oath of Vengeance/Conquest): As of yet, no one on Critical Role has ever played a paladin from the start, only multiclassed later down the line. I think this would be a cool departure for Marisha. Both campaigns she’s played characters that were either suspicious or at least indifferent to faith and the gods. Paladins are typically associated with deities, but they’re not tied quite so closely to them as clerics are. It would be fascinating to see what she did with it. As for the subclass, I just think Marisha’s earned her turn on the Goth Character Carousel, and while I know Conquest paladin is very unlikely given its moral grayness by default which might cause undue conflict and that Vengeance is a much more likely and acceptable pick, I just think it would be a sexy character choice. 

Wizard (Bladesinger/Graviturgist): This is a much more pie-in-the-sky, wishful thinking pick on my end, but not impossible imo. Marisha has experience with heavy spellcasting already, so she probably wouldn’t shy away from a wizard, but like Travis I suspect she likes a bit of oomph to her characters, and probably wouldn’t play as support heavy as Caleb does. To that end, Bladesingers get a bit more survivability and some modicum of physical prowess alongside their spells, while Graviturgists are definitely on the more aggressive side of the spectrum for wizard subclasses, with unique dunamancy spells to boot. I’m not sure how restrictive Matt would be about Xhorhassian characters in the next campaign if it takes place on another continent, but hey, you never know. Plus, she picked one of Matt’s homebrew subclasses for the current campaign; it would be cute if it happened again.

Liam

Druid (Circle of the Shepherd): At some point before Critical Role comes to end (hopefully far in the future), I know Liam’s gonna play a druid, I can feel it in my bones. He's too big of a Kiki fan not to. However, while Circle of the Moon might feel obvious given the potential for homage and how much he likes turning into animals, I feel like he might regard it as getting too close to old territory (also, I don’t know if Circle of the Moon is like an exclusive thing to the Ashari tribes, and if it is that would be rather restrictive for building a backstory). If that’s the case, Circle of the Shepherd feels like the next best bet. It has some great support options via the totems you can put down, and rather than becoming badass animals, you instead just get really good at summoning a fuck ton of them. It’s like Frumpkin, but ten of him. And they’re bears. (Honorable mention: If Circle of the Moon would feel like treading old territory then I’m certain Circle of Wildfire would too, but I’d bet my dice collection it would at least be tempting). 

Cleric (Unity Domain): Listen. The pure sap potential that would be at Mr. O’Brien’s fingertips with this subclass is incredible. The domain all about strengthening and protecting the bonds between friends and loved ones?? The domain with the Channel Divinity that can spread damage taken by one creature across the party however the cleric chooses to distribute it to lessen the blow to the individual??? The domain that used to be called the Love Domain???? I’m practically gagging on the soft moments and unspoken devotion conveyed through spellcasting already.

Fighter (Rune Knight/Psi Knight): Liam has yet to play a tank in a long-term campaign, and while I’m more enamored with the potential of the above classes, it would be novel to see him play a character with an actually respectable amount of hit points. However, I feel like if he was gonna commit to a straight frontliner, he’d probably want something a little more unique than a Champion or Battle Master (especially since he’s played those already for one-shots). Rune Knight has some fun options and built-in flavor, and with Psi Knight you can basically be a Jedi. Not bad options at all if you ask me.

Taliesin

Warlock (Fiend): Yeah, it might be expected, or Percy might have been too close to warlock anyway to feel like there’s new ground to cover, but hear me out. Both Percy (who, let’s face it, was a warlock multiclass in all but the actual mechanics) and Fjord were the classic reluctants. They got in over their heads without really knowing what was going on, and once they did they wanted out, cutting ties with their patrons and getting clear with only the scars remaining. I want to see Taliesin commit to a warlock in a way I imagine only he could manage to pull off. How fun would that balancing act be, to have a character that has no intentions of breaking their pact, who’s here for the powers, and is willing to work that delicate balancing act between keeping what he’s got and not letting his contract holder get the better of him? Give it to meeeeee.

Sorcerer (Psionic Soul): Psionic Soul has a bit of that eldritch flavor that vibes with Taliesin so much, with the added interest of introducing a brand new feature to 5E, the Psi Die (with this subclass, using them can do things like letting a sorcerer learn a spell they don’t already know for a few hours, allow you to cast spells without needing verbal, somatic, or material components, and can give you telepathy). Taking both Percy and Molly into account, it seems Tal likes to lean into those unique additional mechanics, and while Psi Die aren’t as risk-heavy as Gunslinger or Bloodhunter, they do add a layer of variability and unpredictability that seems to match his style.

Rogue (Swashbuckler): We only got a little bit of time with Molly, and so missed out on the opportunity to see Tal play a more cavalier character this time around. If he feels like leaning away from spells next time and back toward martial, I think a high-charisma, high-swinging swashbuckler from Tal would be a delight to watch.

Laura

Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian): Laura deserves to hit things, okay? Yes, spellcasting is great and comes in clutch frequently and Jester’s amazing, but you can tell Laura misses doing fat stacks of damage to the enemy in a single round. I personally think it would be amazing to watch her just cut loose and go full rage machine. As for the subclass, I’m not glued to the idea, but Ancestral Guardians are pretty kickass, have decent support capabilities for a barb without detracting from their DPS at all, and it doesn’t tread on any previous characters’ toes or their aesthetics.

Rogue (Scout/Soulknife): Laura deserves to play her favorite class at last, okay? She’s been class poached two campaigns in a row, and though that resulted in both Vex and Jester and I wouldn’t trade them for the world, Laura has earned first pick. Seeing as she already dipped into Assassin as Vex and Sam took Arcane Trickster, I could see Scout being a viable subclass choice. It’s in the classic sneaky vein, relatively simple in concept, but comes with features that grant easy-to-understand benefits that you can never turn your nose up at (boosts to movement, advantage on initiative, giving advantage against a target to everyone else in the party, etc.). If she’s looking for something a bit flashier, Soulknife has the benefit of retroactively dunking on Vax by taking the basic knife-rogue and making it better, with psionic knives that you can manifest with a thought, that can teleport you around Whisper style, and cranking up that stealth to ridiculous levels by just being able to turn invisible for ten minutes, no concentration or spell needed. The psionic die mechanics are a little funky of course, but I don’t imagine it’s any trickier than learning to manage all those cleric spells.

Monk (Way of the Open Hand): Between Beau just being super cool and her brief stint as Farriwen Breeze, monk wouldn’t be a surprising pick from Laura. An Open Hand monk might be the definitive version everyone knows, but you can’t deny it’s a solid subclass, and between previous overlap and the concepts of the other subclasses just not seeming to fit, I could see the classic being what she went with. But hey, it’s Laura Bailey. She could surprise us with Way of the Drunken Master or something.

Sam

Ranger (Monster Slayer): Let’s be real, I don’t think this would be his actual first pick for a Campaign 3 character, but the amount of shit-stirring he could achieve by making a character with the aim of pissing off Laura Bailey specifically would be hilarious (and since Matt isn’t completely opposed to UA and acknowledges that PHB ranger has a lot of issues, I wouldn’t be surprised if they went Revised Ranger this time).

Warlock (Genie): Actual first pick here, Pact of the Genie Warlock is confirmed by now, and the potential of a warlock in the hands of Sam Riegel is pretty vast (for some reason I’m imagining he would go the ‘spoiled sugar baby’ route). The subclass doesn’t matter as much, but the Genie one is nice in that, depending on the type of genie patron you pick, you can get a wide variety of extra spells, you get a container like a classic lamp or lantern that you can bamf into for short rests, and you get a limited Wish ability for your capstone, all features I feel like would especially appeal to Sam.

Barbarian (Path of the Wild Soul): I want to see Sam play a fairy barbarian. ‘Nough said.

Ashley

Fighter (Eldritch/Echo Knight): Ashley really seems to vibe with the crushing power of martial classes (she does love her brutal kill descriptions), so I could see her sticking with it rather than going back to full caster. However, I do see her picking one of the magical subclasses for some variety after Yasha. Eldritch Knight is a classic and reasonably easy to manage, but tbh I’d LOVE for it to be Echo Knight. And think, if my wishful thinking came true, with Ashley picking an Echo Knight and Marisha playing a Graviturgist wizard, they could link up their backstories and be a traveling Kryn battle duo that left their homeland behind to explore the world!

Sorcerer (Draconic): If she does want to go back to full-time casting, Sorcerer doesn’t require near as much bookkeeping as a cleric, druid, or wizard while still having decent variety, and the Draconic subclass is a bit beefier than the other subclasses. Also, it would be the third campaign in a row where Ashley Johnson’s character eventually got wings, soooo...

And tbh I have no idea what a third pick might be for Ashley, so I’m just gonna throw a dart or two at the board and say either College of Whispers Bard or Way of Mercy Monk *Shrug* We can only wait and see!

[sunriseseance]

HECK YEAH alrighty here we go then! 1. Broadly: what do you predict we'll see from Klaus in s3? I know you've mentioned him snapping a bit- what're your thoughts on what that might entail? (1/?)

I think that Klaus is experiencing his first full moment of independence, especially power independence, at the same time he is experiencing extreme emotional turmoil. They’ve told us that alcohol (at east) does jack shit to prevent his powers. I think that he has spent a long, long time with people who (IMO) do care about him, but don’t think about him all that often. “Klaus is still Klau” as a modus operandi for the entire family, at least at default. Now he no longer has a Powerful or Moral (although I have my problems with this interpretation) Ben to lean on, I think we’re gonna see a Klaus who is coming into his own, who is hurting deeply in ways the sibling do not (and possibly cannot, Klaus lies and masks A LOT) know, and who feels that the turmoil inside of him belongs outside. 

2. Do you expect to see Klaus’ powers expanded on in s3, and if so, how do you think they’ll go about that? I think levitation and telekinesis would be amazing but seeing as they’ve already given those away to his siblings, I don’t think it’s all that likely. I love your clairvoyance theory (more on that shortly), and I've been playing with the idea of a telepath or empath Klaus, something akin to his "channeling" powers from the comics. (2/?)

I think that probably the primary thing in store for Klaus is commanding ghosts and being possessed. These play together interestingly and are both extremely powerful. He can command an army without a second thought, and they listen to him, but also if he slips up they can jump in his body, he’s gone and they’re in charge. It’s an interesting and fruitful dichotomy and power structure. Also I think he can make ghosts possess other people. They made a big point of showing that Klaus was conscious before Ben entered Vanya’s mind. If he can command spirits, and spirits can possess other people that is a great deal of power. (Also, like, Klaus is able to make Ben not possess him. Neither of them may know it, but he DOES command spirits. He does.)

As to his comic powers, I think we may very well get them!! They’ve teased levitation multiple times in s2 alone, and I think this idea that a show about shitty superheroes would care if their powers were redundant does not quite vibe with me. Like, what’s the point of Luther if Vanya can stop bullets and lift a tank with sound waves. Klaus’s version of TK could EASILY have its own niche (no need for a trajectory or sound waves). I don’t want to promise that it’s coming because, like, focusing on his psychic related powers is more cohesive, but I don’t think that the option is in any way off the board. 

3. If they go ahead and give him clairvoyance, how would you like to see that play out? 4. Similarly, do you think his possession powers will be explored further in s3? (3/?)

I think that giving him clairvoyance would be a very handy plot device on top of being interesting for the character. Klaus’s powers have pushed him to the extremes of apathy. Imagine what that would look like if he has the capacity to know everything? He is a person who deals with the hurt of others by denying everything. He has had too much asked of his empathy and compassion. Giving him clairvoyance gives him access to all the hurt in the world. I would love to see that. I would love to see his brain forcing him to care about people because in this particular regard he CAN 100% help. 

Yes absolutely I think his possession powers will be explored further. I know this is a controversial subject, but I think the show took care to make it clear that is is awful and terrifying for him (however it was for Ben) and that it plays interestingly with his ability to summon and command spirits. It serves as a way to even the playing field, almost. He command them, they can take him over. That’s scary for everyone. I don’t think this is one and done at all. 

4. I would LOVE to hear more about your thoughts on Hotel Oblivion's influence on TUA s3- disclaimer, I haven't read the comics (yet). (4/?)

YES OKAY. Based on my own personal desires and my knowledge of the comics (Sparrows locked up) and also the Sparrow crest, I think s3 is going to include at least some of Team Zero locked in the hotel. It could EASILY be all of them, but I could see Reg deciding to keep Five, and even Vanya. This would be interesting because it allows Five to age, allows Five to rest, allows Vanya to see the horrors of actually BEING on a super hero team, and requires 1-4 to save themselves, and in my IDEAL world, save Five from Reg, as well. It would be so fun to watch 1-4 escape the hotel and rescue Five. IMO the hotel is going to be the best if it is treated as a piece of horror. Not something they can understand, something simultaneously enticing and hostile, and something that they have to fight their individual Bullshits to escape. Whoever is in it. I think that would be beautiful. 

5. How would you like to see Klaus' character develop this season? Seeing as s2 has left him unprecedentedly broken, I think this will lead to an AMAZING pay off in s3, esp when it comes to him being without Ben. His powers have so much potential (even w/o the comic book expansion pack) but they have all have come back to Ben's help. This is true of his choices too- Ben is constantly supporting/criticizing him. I'm so excited to see him alone and newly independent. (5/?)

YES SO MUCH. We watch Klaus shatter and regress completely in s2. I know a lot of people feel he wasn’t treated with respect by the narrative, and I respect that, but my general thinking is that this is a part of the whole, and everything we saw of him is in line with a) intense hurt b) the act he puts on. I think that Klaus shattered in s2. He killed the love of his life, he relapsed, and he did his best to make sure nobody cares about him. Ben turned into more of a harmful figure in his life than ever before, and now he’s lost him completely, left with only guilt, resentment, and complicated feelings. 

I think Klaus is going to actually have to DEAL with himself. He’s been able to deflect or hide or bury his hurt and his power and everything else. Like you said, he relied on Ben for a lot, and now it is only him. I think he is going to externalize the chaos he feels inside (and so does Sheehan), and I think he is going to have to confront who Klaus REALLY is, whatever that means. I think he will admit he is powerful, he is hurt, and he is angry. Ultimately, I think this will lead to him with more balance, and he will have a better understanding of himself. But I think he MUST snap a bit first. Nobody takes him seriously, not even himself. He has to change that before he can move on. 

6. How would you like to see Klaus' relationships with his siblings grow this season? I am wondering how him mourning Ben will be received by his siblings. I am also thinking a lot about whether him hitting rock bottom & truly alone for the first time will push him to be more vulnerable and open with his siblings OR if it'll be his breaking point where he shutters out everything he can, emotions and more OR a mix of both. (6/?)

This is a really good question. I’m not at all sure I have a definitive answer, but here I am typing anyway. I think the obvious setup of the first 2 seasons is that everyone thinks Klaus is fine, and that he can Manage, whatever that looks like. This includes Klaus. So my Most Fruitful Idea is to show that he isn’t fine, in a way he cannot hide. I feel like possession could be a good start to this, but so could him diminishing in his ability to respect ghosts, or many other things. Basically, I want the siblings to see through Klaus’s act. None of them, fucking none of them, ever have. He’s done his best to make that the case. I want the act to spread thin in s3, which I think is supported by how the act looks in s2, and I want the sibs to see through it finally, and I want it to be almost too late because he’s lost and angry and goddamn POWERFUL and he knows them in ways they have never known him. 

Also, I like the idea of Klaus and Allison snapping together. They are the two who lack hope, the two who accept as a blanket the end of the world, the two who enable each other, and also the two who bonded with Vanya. Seeing them go down a dark path, and seeing Vanya recognize it and help them stray away from it? Amazing. 

7. Any songs you would love to see in s3? (7/7) Sorry for the IMMENSE amount of questions, comments, and concerns, I have been pondering these things for weeks and since I always adore your tua content, I would love to hear your thoughts and any input from others!!

YES SO SO SO MUCH

I would love “Be True To Your School” by the Beach Boys because of the 60s and the irony factor. Any Bob Dylan song would send me to an early grave due to joy, but I’m gonna say especially “A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall” which is an incredible song about futility and trying and hurt. I also love the idea of ANY Masseduction by St. Vincent song, but I would especially nominate Masseduction, Young Lover, and Happy Birthday Johnny. 

ALSO NO NO NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE AT ALL THIS WAS SOOOOOOOOOO FUN OH MY GOD do this any time (or come off anon and into my DMs I promise I’m friendly). Thank you so so much!!!

[purplebass]

@jedilicious Hi! Sorry if I’m tagging you, but I’ve just read your post and I wanted to corroborate on parts of your theory. LOL.

About James and Matthew and Cordelia triangle, I also see that Math is the Will of this triangle while James is the Jem of this triangle. James is also very similar to Tessa in some ways. 

Anyway, I agree that the family tree could be wrong, but don’t forget that despite the Herondales have blue eyes as a dominant trait (in fact even Anna, Christopher and Max have blue eyes, even though Kit has lavender eyes, but it still is a shade close to blue), Cordelia has black eyes, which, in my opinion, could be a dominant trait in some unions, but only if she carries a dominant trait, I think. If Jordelia does end up together, it would be harder for their son to inherit James’ eyes, because that’s not dominant. And about Marcus, Stephen and Jace - their traits could come from “far”, since Edmund had blonde hair and blue eyes. These things tend to happen. I know people with red hair that inherited this trait from their great-grand parents. Maybe Owen (if he is the only child they will have) may have black hair (dominant) and blue eyes or black eyes too. And the woman the tree says he’ll marry may have other traits that will help the following generations of Herondales to be blonde, same goes for Marcus: Imogen Whitelaw (Jace’s grandmother) has blonde hair. 

EDIT: To further add to the genetics argument, let me tell you about my personal experience. My grandfather had blue eyes while my grandma black eyes. Their first son has black eyes, while their second green eyes. They had 8 children and my father was the 7th. Ironically, he is THE only one out of the 8 of them who inherited my grandpa’s sapphire blue eyes (in fact he is the only son IDENTICAL to my grandpa, I’m not kidding). Which means that even if my grandpa had blue eyes, it probably wasn’t a dominant trait in fact my aunts and uncles have 50/50 of green eyes and black eyes. My mother had black eyes as well. In a combination of black eyes + blue eyes, you would expect that I would have a 50/50 chance of having either color, but nope. Even more ironically, my maternal grandmother also had sapphire blue eyes whereas my maternal grandpa black eyes (they also had 50/50 daughters with green eyes and brown eyes). I have pale green/grayish eyes with some small yellow and brown specs in them, and I have absolutely no idea where they came from (PIC). I only had blue eyes until I was 5-6, then my eye color settled to the one I have now. Even my hair were blonde, now they are chestnut brown. Two or three of my aunts from both sides have similar green eyes, but not the exact shade. My sister also has greenish/blue eyes, but it isn’t the same shade. This to prove that the results of eyes is not always predictable. Even if the parents have different traits. For the Herondales, even Lucie doesn’t have Will or Tessa’s eyes but a sort of cross color between their eyes. 

But yes, technically we could be all wrong about Jordelia ending together like the tree says, and Cordelia ends up with Matthew. If this is the case, it would explain how red hair were inherited by that line of Fairchilds, since Cordelia herself has red hair. Clary and Jocelyn both have Matthew’s eye color, or close to it, after all. But I don’t know, even if I’m not opposed to the idea of Matthew and Cordelia together, I think that in this triangle he is going to suffer. Or maybe, like it often happens with CC, in CoI everyone will discover James and Cordelia’s marriage is blanc and they will break it. Perhaps Cordelia could get closer to Math and see him a new light, but eventually go back to James. I don’t know, because I can’t see any interest from Cordelia’s part (yet). And until the engagement is on, I guess Jordelia may try to be faithful to each other, especially her, since she is loyal... but then again we don’t know. 

I could see Mardelia happen in the last book after Jordelia’s engagement is off (if it will be ever off) and James finally realizes that he is in love with her and not with Grace. Or with Matthew professing his love for Cordelia to her and proposing her to marry him to fix the engagement mess they created. If you think about it, it also mirrors the plot of Clockwork Prince, with Will finally declaring his feelings to Tessa but Tessa telling Will she is engaged to Jem (here James would be like Will, while in CoG he is like Jem, proposing to the girl first, while Math would be like Jem here). Even though we could also argue that when Graces asks James to run away, that was also a sort of an indirect marriage proposal to him. Or who knows, Jordelia does really get married! It is hard to tell, but considering the situation and the fact that they intend to marry but they don’t want to really marry (well, if James loved Cordelia back, she would gladly marry him), it is possible that in the end they don’t and they have to face the consequences of their lie.

About James dying, I don’t think so. In the epilogue of Clockwork Princess, it says that both James and Lucie were there when Will died, which means they don’t die in TLH, or this should assure us of this. I don’t think CC will contradict herself, lol. From the epilogue of CP:

Their oldest child, James, had spoken laughingly about Will’s unrelenting fear of ducks and his continual battle to keep them out of the pond at the family home in Yorkshire.

What you quoted about Tessa’s hardships with her children I think it has to do with the fact that supposedly, after Will’s death Tessa decided to run away and not see James and Lucie anymore, since she wouldn’t bear seeing them die as well. Still from the epilogue of CP:

It never had stopped hurting, remembering when Will had died. After he was gone, Tessa had fled. Her children were grown, had children of their own; she told herself they did not need her and hid in the back of her mind the thought that haunted her: She could not bear to remain and watch them grow older than she was. It had been one thing to survive the death of her husband. To survive the death of her children—she could not sit by and watch it. It would happen, must happen, but she would not be there.

Last but not last... is is still possible that in the end James marries Grace and not Cordelia, but I don’t think so. Grace is a semi-villain in certain ways, and besides this, the “love” or better, the infatuation between James and her, was clearly produced by the bracelet, which means he doesn’t really loves her (in fact all of the juicy stuff with Cordelia and the whispering room happened when James didn’t have the bracelet on). And I’m 99% convinced that the concept of James and Cordelia is fire and shadows or better, hot/cold, fire/ice... and the list goes on. It is clear that Cordelia is the fire that lights James’ alight, and she seems like a sort of soulmate to him, someone who could help him destroy their enemies - a pairing that is stronger only if together. I think Tatiana or Belial at the end of CoG said that Cordelia was protecting James. Surely they have a tight bond.

Besides this, I guess from a critical point of view it wouldn’t be a great plot if James went to marry a girl who not only probably enchanted him (as I’m also sure Grace might have fairy blood) but who also wanted him to leave everything behind to go to Gretna Green? Nope, it wouldn’t be interesting. And in these kind of stories it’s usual (but of course, there may be exceptions) that the first girl or boy a character likes, is usually the one he/she won’t get together with because they understand along the way how they idolized that boy/girl.

Plus, it wouldn’t have that angst and bitterness, passion, etc. that I would expect from a CC couple. CC couples are interesting because they have conflict, they are real. James and Grace look like they couldn’t be more different and the fact that, like I mentioned above, Grace wanted him to leave everything to get married with her - everything James loved to death - is a big red flag. James, run! lol. I don’t think CC would have one of the main characters of the series get married with a character like Grace. It would be anticlimactic. Unless Grace changes, which I don’t see happening. 

James is with Grace like Matthew at the moment is with Cordelia and how Cordelia is with James at the moment (sorry for the wordplay): their love is unrequited. Or maybe not yet shaped like a great love. Grace and James’ “love” is obsession, silly love. Cordelia’s love for James may be a silly love as well until he loves her properly (and we know he’s capable of doing so, he showed it when he didn’t have the bracelet on. Jordelia are on fire, basically). Matthew’s love for Cordelia could be silly too, because it’s in the beginning phase (so when it can still change).

Anyway, I talk too much. lol.

[pleasefeedthebirds]

A Relatively Deep Dive Into My “Crème de la Crème” MCs - #1. Mavis Linnet

(From the astonishingly crisp interactive fiction by @hpowellsmith! ...It’s not weird to tag, right?)

Mavis “Miss Linnet” Mallee-Linnet

she/her/hers

Light brown complexion and loosely curled brown hair

Favors conventionally masculine fashion 

Accommodating

Manipulative

Traditional

Exceptional Poise

Noteworthy Wit and Intrigue

Commonplace Spirit

Unremarkable Flair

LOADS more info and spoiler content under the cut!

I envision Mavis as having grown up in a wealthy household, where she was still raised reasonably well about the importance of non-profligate spending. Her parents both taught at Olmstead’s Valley School, where she was in attendance for the bulk of her college-age years. Sailing was manageablely smooth. Mavis got along well in her studies, had time for both dressage and lacrosse, and—for her genuine interest in the subject matter—made it on the good side of many educators there (albeit not as often her fellow students, being for all the world their definition of a teacher’s pet!).

Her life took an abrupt shift in its trajectory when Mr. Mallee, her father, had a shameful affair come to light. Their rural community was small enough that such a thing made waves. Her other father, Mr. Linnet, sent Mavis off to Gallatin with the still-favorable Linnet name, and spent a pretty penny to do so. Primarily, he did this to save her from suffering by association, and was very vocal about these intentions. He’s definitely also relying on her to save their social standing, and despite the point being markedly unspoken, Mavis quietly understands.

So, Mavis feels an immense pressure to make the most of her time at Gallatin. She tries to conform unfalteringly to the school’s every long-winded social expectation, which exhausts her utterly. However, by her proficiency in book research, and her sincere knack for studying people, she has grown excellent at “playing the game” in high society. 

More than ever, Mavis is dedicated to her studies at Gallatin, even when the prescribed syllabus is less than stimulating. She keeps her head down so to never risk rocking the boat. This mode of being doesn’t make her happy per say, but the Gallatin atmosphere has her shoehorned into believing there’s no feasible alternative. She’s cognizant of surface level flaws in the system, but plays along because she thinks she has to. After all, it’s her way out of rural smallmindedness and into an academic world. That said, things certainly can change, particularly when one can’t help but notice atrocities being committed against literal children!

5’10”, with broad shoulders but slender hips. Her body makes an upside-down triangle shape.

Prone to acne, her skincare routines are extensive, and she’s usually up at the crack of dawn every day to get her proverbial ducks in a row.

Her hair is thinner than it looks, and she takes especial care when rationing it about her scalp. She feels vulnerable with it all the way down, so favors hair styles with low centers, such as looped pigtails, a nape bun, or double braids. Also labors to hide her considerable widow’s peak.

A heavy tea drinker. For all of her wits, she doesn’t realize that her mug o’ choice (earl grey) is highly caffeinated. She slugs the stuff down each day without ever realizing, because it “makes her feel better” about mornings.

Though it’s hardly polite, she LOVES gossip, and writes down every secret she hears as her guiltiest pleasure.

Miss Dalca and Mr. Griffith both make her uncomfortable—the former for her extreme progressiveness, and the latter for his gruff demeanor. Mr. Blanchard is her favorite teacher, and I bet she’s accidentally cried in his presence before. She’s scared of Lady Renaldt, and makes herself known to the headmaster only out of necessity.

Virtue: 91%

Popularity: 75%

Coursework Grade: A

Exam Mark: A+

Extracurricular(s): Birchmeier Society and the Gallatin Swans (goalkeeper)

*[Though not doable ingame, I like to think that she overloaded her schedule and dropped the Swans halfway through the semester. Mavis is never the type to drop anything, so having to take that step back was a double-edged blow to her confidence, in addition to being a sheer relief on her stress levels. Since the Birchmeier Society was where her heart truly lay, she managed to build herself back up there with Freddie’s support.]

Entanglements: Romantically engaged to Freddie.

Besties and then some with Freddie. They’re both hardworking scholars with each their own zest for learning, and by preparing for classes, exams, and Birchmeier Society biz in the same shared spaces, Mavis spent disproportionately more time with her than with anyone else. Freddie encouraged Mavis to be a bit less hard on herself, and was brave enough to stand up to her whenever Mavis’s fatigue was turning her curmudgeonly. Mavis helped get Freddie out of her own head on multiple occasions, taught her to break the most overwhelming situations down to deal with day-by-day, and bolstered her confidence anytime it faltered in the face of the Gallatin sphere. The engagement was Mavis’s idea, which she accidentally blurted out in a rare impulsive burst of feeling. After processing the implications, she was ashamed to have second thoughts upon remembering Freddie’s financial situation. It seemed for a while that the engagement was off, following a hard conversation that soured their relationship for awhile. I don’t think Freddie would easily bounce back after having her family standing scrutinized. However, the mine plot—when Mavis had to ultimately turn her back on everything she’d built at Gallatin—spurred character development enough that Freddie deemed her worthy of a second chance.

Friends with Gonzalez, who couldn’t help but respect that Mavis was competent in lacrosse, academically accomplished, and generally pretty nice to people. I don’t think she realizes that Mavis keeps a stiff mask. Mavis found Gonzalez refreshing, albeit off-puttingly honest, and couldn’t find a way to fault her spirited nature. I can’t imagine them engaging much off of the field (i.e. post Mavis quitting the team), but the two were mutually supportive in their interactions, even if Mavis was probably repressing some criticisms of Gonzalez’s fast and loose attitude all the while.

Friends with Max after he tutored her in flair, per Lady Renaldt’s instruction, via a sick dance sesh. I like to imagine him groaning about the task, assuming that Mavis would be a hopeless case, and then being pleasantly surprised at the fact that she can absolutely hit it (even just in the name of compliance with authority). He tried to make a move on her and was politely rejected. I think he supports the idea of her at a distance after recognizing that she’s not trying to breathe down anyone’s neck, and really is a kind, tired gal being squeezed dry by the system.

Friends with Hartmann, who was initially confused about which “side” Mavis was on in her prefectural feud with Max (Mavis shushed him at the opening commencement, which she liked, yet supported Max when he dipped out the common room window). They came to understand each other in the later game, bonding over how ill-affected they both are by the pressures of their respective positions. They don’t “hang out” much, but a couple of key deep conversations put each in the other’s good books.

Pleasant acquaintances with Karson. Mavis rarely went out of her way to talk to them, but whenever they crossed paths, she was good to Karson, and sympathized (albeit at a respectable distance) with their situation as a servant. When trouble in the mines was first coming to light, Mavis got sniffing, and sussed out enough clues that Karson eventually passed Blaise’s note on to her directly, trusting her moral compass enough to do so.

Unpleasant acquaintances with Delacroix. His unconventional take on life, passion for the intangible, and apathy towards collegiate procedure all make her uneasy. In his own right, Delacroix probably takes her for a stuffy, self-centered dud, which after all the times she’s reflexively shut his occult talk down, is pretty fair.

Acquaintances with Blaise. Mavis made nice in the early game because she had to, and was secretly relieved when she “resigned.” This was short lived, and turned into a misplaced sense of guilt after what actually happened to Blaise came to light. Mavis didn’t end up in the mines herself, but she did everything she could to help her, Miss Dalca, and eventually Gonzalez escape. When all was said and done, Blaise still made Mavis uncomfortable, and she let her be to get on with her life.

Approached Rosario at the punch table in an attempt to court the princess in the room… absolutely blew it. Ended up tripping over her own tongue when she realized that the heir is not so predictably wooed by traditional measures as originally anticipated. I like to think of that moment as a point of deeper connection for Mavis and Freddie, where both were totally overwhelmed by the noble sphere at Archambault and turned to each other for comfort. Otherwise, Rosario was a Rosari-no for Mavis.

Was weirded out by Auguste. Mavis fears any authority figures who don’t like her right away, and they’re too close to the ever-frigid Lady Renaldt for her comfort. She did totally trash them (benevolently) at dressage on sports day, though.

Gave Florin the widest possible berth. Mavis wanted nothing to do with that kind of scandal, but definitely found her shallowly cute. 

Some Choice Plot Pieces (cue spoilers):

Gathered evidence against Miss Dalca in compliance with Lady Renaldt.

Had an adequate working relationship with Miss Benton.

Gathered information for Annick against Lady Renaldt.

Endgame (cue SUPER spoilers):

Worked in secret against Lady Renaldt.

Sent Gonzalez to the mines, but most everyone got out (I believe Miss Dalca died?!).

Settled things quietly with Kathrili Burgin.

Went on to study at Gessner.

Joined Freddie for the summer.

[aion-rsa]

Oscars 2021 Predictions and Analysis of Frontrunners

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Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Oscars 2021 nominations is how unsurprising they were. There were course a handful of snubs, from One Night in Miami and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom being left out of the Best Picture category to LaKeith Stanfield surprising awards watchers with a Best Supporting Actor nod thanks to Judas and the Black Messiah (displacing Chadwick Boseman from Da 5 Bloods). But by and large? Things proceeded the way prognosticators pretty much expected.

With the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences picks in, we can see that David Fincher’s Mank is the technical favorite with below the line voters, pushing the Netflix deconstruction of Golden Age Hollywood to eight nominations. These include major nods for Picture, Director and Best Actor (Gary Oldman) and Best Supporting Actress (Amanda Seyfried), but also a lot of technical recognition too in Cinematography, Production Design, Costume, and Makeup and Hairstyling.

Even so, the obvious frontrunner remains Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, a beautiful film that turns the tragedy of the Great Recession into a bittersweet celebration of American Nomad culture. The Searchlight Pictures release garnered six nominations, including Zhao in the Best Director category and another for Best Picture. Zhao’s directing nod, alongside Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman, additionally made history with this being the first time two women were nominated in the Best Director category in the same year.

Meanwhile fans still mourning Chadwick Boseman’s tragic loss, as well as celebrating his tour de force final performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, can take some small comfort in the actor being the heavily favored contender in the Best Actor category.

In the end, things proceeded more or less as how the breathless awards race media class hoped it would. All of which raises an interesting question: Will there be any actual surprises then on Oscar night? Well… below is our best, and entirely too early, guess at what will win Best Picture and the other major categories. Be sure to check back here on Oscar night to remind us how wrong we were.

Just for clarity, nominees we want to win will be italicized while the ones we think will win will be bolded. When they’re one in the same, one contender will be italicized and bolded.

Best Picture

The Father Judas and the Black Messiah Mank Minari Nomadland Promising Young Woman Sound of Metal The Trial of the Chicago 7

I’m not sure I can think of a year with a more clear cut and inevitable frontrunner than Nomadland in 2021. There have been other years with dominant frontrunners—almost every year in fact—including several that go on to win, such as Green Book just two award seasons ago. However, there is almost always a counter-narrative that threatens the perceived frontrunner. Sometimes those whisper campaigns unseat the presumptive winner (see La La Land and 1917), and sometimes they don’t. But in the case of Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland there isn’t even a serious challenger.

This in part because Zhao made an extraordinary film which uncannily mixed documentarian filmmaking and its study of real-life American Nomads with narrative storytelling. It’s a trick Zhao has done several times before, including memorably with the Independent Spirit Award winner, The Rider. But here it is done with Oscar favorite in star Frances McDormand, and it draws attention to a whole culture of forgotten (white) Americans. Additionally, Nomadland is opening in a pandemic year where most of the more traditional awards contenders have vacated. The ones that haven’t are mostly being produced by Netflix, including The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Mank. The former might be a real contender for Best Picture under different circumstances, but the Academy is notoriously recalcitrant toward awarding Best Picture to Netflix originals and other streaming efforts. Just ask Roma for more.

Nomadland braved a small theatrical debut ahead of its premiere on Hulu, supporting the theatrical experience during COVID, while Chicago 7 was snubbed a Best Director nomination, suggesting there is some skepticism toward the film among a large wing of Academy voters. Mank, meanwhile, is an acquired taste that appeals to my personal sensibility. But it’s quite cold and less a love letter to the movie industry than a loving middle finger. That fact will probably hurt it in a number of categories, including Best Original Screenplay where it was snubbed today.

Best Director

Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round David Fincher, Mank Lee Isaac Chung, Minari Chloé Zhao, Nomadland Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman

While I would vote another way for Best Picture, I am totally onboard with seeing Zhao pick up the Best Director plaudit. Hers is an entirely unique cinematic voice that has successfully blurred the lines of how narrative filmmaking can be conveyed, and she’s done so while cultivating a great sense of empathy in Nomadland. The picture that finds beauty and resilience in a story that could’ve been a tragedy, memorializing the Americans left behind by the Great Recession.

Her groundbreaking techniques make her stand out in her field. Plus, Academy will be acutely self-conscious this year about the disappointing fact that only one other woman, Kathryn Bigelow, has won a Best Director Oscar. So be prepared for Zhao to make that two.

Best Actress

Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman Frances McDormand, Nomadland Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Carey Mulligan is phenomenal in Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman. Acerbic but devastating, guarded but vulnerable, and equal parts righteous and occasionally terrifying, she provides a multifaceted turn unlike anything else we’ve seen from the now twice-nominated actor. Previously she was recognized for her ingénue breakout in An Education, but now as an adult thespian, she’s a true revelation. That narrative will appeal to Academy voters, especially as they tend to favor younger actresses in the lead category. Frances McDormand is a famous exception to that rule, but McDormand has two Oscars already, and one is for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri from only three years ago. Also Mulligan is much more keen on playing the awards season campaign game.

Admittedly, Andra Day won for Best Actress in a Drama at the Golden Globes … but the Globes are always going to be their own thing (ask Jodie Foster for more). And while Day is wonderful in The United States vs. Billie Holiday, that movie’s more meager quality is going to be an albatross.

Best Actor

Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Anthony Hopkins, The Father Gary Oldman, Mank Steven Yeun, Minari

In his final performance, Chadwick Boseman is heartbreaking and utterly riveting. All strained bravado and barely masked desperation, his Levee is cool to a tragic fault in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The film he occupies, based on the August Wilson play of the same name, enjoys its contrasts about Black artists navigating white dominated industries. But while Viola Davis’ charismatic turn is above the title, the B-side to her story as embodied by Levee is where the film’s ghosts wait. And they stayed with me long after the Netflix film ended.

Read more

Movies

How Chadwick Boseman Created His Final Performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

By Don Kaye

Movies

Promising Young Woman: Director Emerald Fennell Breaks Down the Ending

By Rosie Fletcher

Boseman deserves a posthumous Oscar for his turn—which would make him only the third performer to win one after Peter Finch for Network and Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight—and he’ll almost certainly get it on Oscar night.

Best Supporting Actress

Maria Bakalova, Borat Glenn Close, Hillbilly Eleg Olivia Colman, The Father Amanda Seyfried, Mank Youn, Yuh-jung, Minari

Conventional wisdom says Olivia Colman will win Best Supporting Actress for The Father. The Academy certainly likes her, having awarded her Best Actress two years ago for The Favourite, and the Academy also has a history of being more lenient on relative back-to-back Oscars in the Supporting category, unlike the historical precedents in the leading actor categories. However, I’m taken by the relative lack of consensus-building around Colman to date. Granted the Golden Globes denied Colman in favor of Jodie Foster, whose performance wasn’t even recognized by the Oscars this year. But the Critics Choice Awards also overlooked Colman while providing Maria Bakalova with a surprise win for Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm.

Precedent should still make me wary of picking Bakalova to win the award. After all, it’s a comedic performance which the Academy usually shies away from. However, this comedic turn was so good, it was able to expose Rudy Giuliani to be a creep with his hand down his pants in front of the world. That will appeal to Academy voters, especially after a year like 2020. Meanwhile my personal choice—Amanda Seyfried’s understated but wholly authentic restoration of Marion Davies’ image after Citizen Kane—may suffer from just a general apathy toward that film’s demeanor, at least from above the line voters. Her snub by her peers at the SAG Awards unfortunately speaks poorly of her chances.

Best Supporting Actor

Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7 Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami Paul Raci, Sound of Metal LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah

Daniel Kaluuya’s performance in Judas and the Black Messiah is a sweltering achievement. With limited screen time—despite being the ostensible messiah of the film’s title—Kaluuya is searing as the Black Panther Party Chairman who created the Rainbow Coalition and was hounded to his death by the FBI through illegal means. I’m also partial to Sacha Baron Cohen’s turn in The Trial of the Chicago 7 where he showed a more sardonic range as a counterculture activist in the Windy City. But even I’ll concede his performance isn’t the one folks will probably be quoting for years to come.

Best Original Screenplay

Judas and the Black Messia Minari Promising Young Woman Sound of Metal The Trial of the Chicago 7

Traditionally the Screenplay categories are where Academy voters tend to recognize the more challenging outside-the-mainstream Best Picture nominees they don’t want to give the top prize to. Ergo, it’s a great place for Emerald Fennell to pick up an award for Promising Young Woman. The movie is too candy colored bleak and light hearted in its tragedies to garner enough Academy support in Best Picture, but its originality will be awarded here.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Borat 2 The Father Nomadland One Night in Miami The White Tiger

I suspect the love for Nomadland will continue in the Adapted Screenplay category with Zhao picking up another Oscar. While the screenplay is quite brilliant, I personally feel the movie’s greater achievement is in its visual storytelling and melding of real stories with a broader fictional narrative. Whereas Kemp Powers’ adaptation of his own play is magnificent. There is a fair criticism to be made that Powers couldn’t fully escape the stageniess of his original conceit about spending a night in a motel room with Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown. But the acute intelligence of his dialogue, and the way it cuts to the tensions of Black responsibility juxtaposed with soft American power, is as potent as it is finally exciting.

Best Cinematography

Judas and the Black Messiah Mank News of the World Nomadland The Trial of the Chicago 7

I suppose I’m predicting a sweep for Nomadland, which in some ways will be earned. In others it may not, such as if Sean Bobbitt’s cinematography in Judas and the Black Messiah.

Best Film Editing

The Father Nomadland Promising Young Woman Sound of Metal The Trial of the Chicago 7

Film editing should be the one category Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 has locked up. With a breathless pace executed in nervy style by Alan Baumgarten, The Trial of the Chicago 7 makes dialogue exchanges out to be as exciting as any special effects-heavy set piece.

Best Costume Design

Emma. Mank Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Mulan Pinocchio

I suspect Costumes will be one area where Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom receives some technical applause by the Academy. However, I think the pastel and historically accurate designs in Autumn de Wilde’s meticulously designed Emma. shouldn’t go overlooked.

Best Production Design

The Father Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Mank News of the World Tenet

The amount of painstaking research and effort that went into so minutely recreating 1930s Hollywood in David Fincher’s Mank is undeniable. While I am expecting largely a shutout for my favorite film of last year, this will be one place where Mank will not go ignored.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Emma Hillbilly Elegy Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Mank Pinocchio

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom can win for Viola Davis’ immersive transformation into the Mother of the Blues alone.

Best Original Score

Da 5 Bloods Mank Minari News of the World Soul

It stands to reason that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross will pick up another Oscar for the score of Soul, which will also mark the first one for co-writer Jon Batiste. This would be a happy outcome, but if I’m honest the Emile Mosseri score of Minari touched me more.

Best Animated Feature Film

Onward Over the Moon A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon Soul Wolfwalkers

It’s another open and shut year for Pixar thanks to Soul. There’s of course a case to be made for Wolfwalkers, which was a beautiful work of art that’s actually hand drawn. But it’s an open secret that most Academy voters (sadly) do not watch all the animated nominees, and pick solely from the Pixar/Disney catalog. And Soul really is one of the best Pixar films in quite a while so…

Best Visual Effects

Love and Monsters The Midnight Sky Mulan The One and Only Ivan Tenet

There is precedent for the Academy to award less than deserving films in this category simply because the winner is associated with a more popular movie in above the line categories. However, none of the above the line darlings were visual effects heavy this year, and for whatever you might think about Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, there is no denying its visual wizardry is astounding, from the stunt work that sees men bungie jumping upwards to having in-camera effects happening simultaneously in different time streams. So the movie that wanted to “save cinema” may not be entirely overlooked by the industry on Oscar night.

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[danwhobrowses]

AEW: Predicting the Next Champions (from Dec 2020 Onward)

Note: Spoilers for AEW Dynamite ‘Winter is Coming’ 2nd December Show

So Winter Came, and it came for Jon Moxley’s title reign. With a new champion, Kenny Omega’s reign will begin and most likely rule into and potentially beyond the year 2021 - along with what seems to be a budding relationship with IMPACT wrestling as well. At this current point I am expecting all the current champions: Darby, Cage, Young Bucks, and Shida to still be champions come the year’s end. So now is time to determine who will take the title from them? Note: While I am Legitimizing the FTW Championship for these predictions I am not doing predictions for the AEW Diamond Ring since it seems to be an annual trophy thing, the same applies for the Deadly Draw medals.

Potential AEW Trios Championship Prediction: Death Triangle Alternative Options: Jurassic Express, Best Friends & Orange Cassidy or Dark Order This is just an out-there one because there currently is no Trios Championship, but recently Tony Khan has noted that there is the possibility of a Trios Championship being introduced in 2021, and with several stables having 3 members it does look very likely.  So for my money, PAC and the Lucha Bros’ faction Death Triangle (or Triángulo de la Muerte) will be the first to claim the gold. Currently a tween faction having feuded with Eddie Kingston and family, Death Triangle is definitely one of the most popular trios stables in AEW, to the point that we’ve anticipated their reunion longer than they’ve been a stable. Also, the Lucha Bros are due a title win, they fell short on the AEW Tag tournament and kinda hovered in the midcard, so they do need this the most. Alternatively, I can see other trios winning with the same appeal. Jurassic Express have been a favourite babyface faction who also seem to lose more than they win, the Best Friends with OC could use their experience to establish a solid reign and the Dark Order’s resurgence and usage of the Freebird Rule could allow them to enable dominance by numbers. While Team FTW and the Inner Circle could also be long shots, FTW have their own title and the Inner Circle, may have other plans for them. One can wish that the Trios Championship could be Intergender to allow more women to wrestle and be involved in factions, could have All-Women trios or mixed Trios but I do doubt so I won’t entertain for now.

FTW Championship Prediction: Cody Rhodes Alternative Options: Eddie Kingston, Lance Archer, ‘Hangman’ Page, Wardlow or Mr. Brodie Lee Recently the FTW Championship has been gaining attention due to Team Tazz’s prolonged feud with Darby Allin overlapping with Cody Rhodes. The rankings do have Cage and Starks very high up without title matches - save for Cage’s Casino Ladder Match victory entitling him to one. In the prior Dynamite, Tazz demanded that the FTW Championship be legitimized, and I feel like this will only happen if it changes hands to Cody. As much as he is talented and has a good head on him, Cody has unfortunately been reluctant to leave a form of spotlight. With the Shaq thing going nowhere like the Tyson thing was with Jericho, Cody making a ‘rise up’ feud with Cage and winning the FTW Championship would be a means to keep Cody in a top billing as he looks to legitimize the title only under his possession. This could also further storyline with Tazz, having ‘Hook’ perhaps side with his father and FTW fight to reclaim their branded title, or even Tazz vacating the title from Cody in stubborn rage. The alternative would be down to who else would have Brian Cage in their corsairs to be a legitimate threat. The FTW Championship this way could be a ‘Big Man’ belt since not many can beat Cage and share the FTW mantra Tazz would allow the belt to change hands for. With that in mind, Archer, Wardlow and Brodie are definitely ‘Big Man’ wrestlers capable of dethroning Cage and Eddie Kingston would definitely be someone who fits the FTW attitude, the man is money after all. Hangman Page would also be a decent shout to further his slow-burn storytelling, having Hangman fall into nihilism with this title, but for it to bring him no joy since this first singles title of his is from an illegitimate championship.

AEW World Tag Team Championship Prediction: Santana & Ortiz (Inner Circle) Alternative Options: FTR, Best Friends or Dark Order It is no easy feat to dethrone the Young Bucks. There’s not much else you can say about that, because of this it is not easy to determine who in the uber talented tag division can usurp them. Acclaimed, TNT, Private Party and Top Flight are not ready and Hybrid 2 are so talented but not in the champion mentality, the Trios Title talk also makes JE and Death Triangle less likely to just go for the tandem title. As a result, I am picking the former LAX to beat the Bucks. While Jericho and Hager seem to be representing the Inner Circle’s tag front right now, I do not think they would be successful to defeat the Bucks, this could trigger Santana and Ortiz to finally get involved. Like the Lucha Bros, despite some stellar matches they have found themselves aimless, so this is a good time to rebuild them to the great tag team we know them to be. With the advantage of the Inner Circle backing them also, it would restore legitimacy to the faction’s name. Other than the Inner Circle, FTR are probably the most likely to usurp the Bucks, I only don’t think they will because as the former holder it’d be a bit of a flip flop. The feud doesn’t need a title after all. Best Friends may not have to team with OC to capture gold, the same way that Dark Order don’t need to go for the Trios to capture gold, the Dark Order’s overness and the fact that the Bucks have taken responsibility for their booking could mean that they will seek to pay off the faction as a whole.

AEW TNT Championship Prediction: MJF Alternative Options: Sammy Guevara, Jungle Boy, Ricky Starks, Orange Cassidy or Miro Darby Allin is definitely entertaining as hell, but now he has the test of seeing if he can carry momentum on a weekly TV basis as a champion. I am certainly sure he can do it, but his downfall can easily be putting his body in too much harm’s way, which fits the strategy of MJF. Potentially without the AEW Diamond Ring when his challenge comes around, MJF can certainly profit from being a title holder in year 2 of AEW, his prior snipes at Darby especially before his World Title match against Moxley can fuel his confidence going against him and with the Inner Circle and Wardlow flanking him it can lead to him resorting to cheat tactics for heat and potentially lead to his downfall for when he loses the title, as well as neutralizing the legendary Sting - who I expect to stick around Darby, or at the least have a paternity test - for that extra dose of nuclear heat. Ricky Starks is considered the common alternative right now given their long-term feud, but let’s not forget Sammy Guevara had a great series of matches with Darby in the early days too. Miro right now is in one of AEW’s weaker gimmicks at the moment but a TNT title reign can restore dominance to his character. One possibility we do have to consider though is the heel turn, Darby could easily become consumed with defending his championship by any means, or his challenger obsessed with claiming gold, the former would better suit against opponents like Orange Cassidy - who will then be forced to ‘try’ - or Jungle Boy - who would seek to establish himself as a future world champion and not just an athletic midcarder.

AEW Women’s World Championship Prediction: Britt Baker DMD Alternative Options: Abadon, Kris Statlander, Thunder Rosa or Jade Cargill Despite its criticism, I believe that Hikaru Shida’s record-breaking title reign has been for the most part great. Shida herself has made a great fighting champion, calling on all contenders and having very good matches, to the point where we hold Shida matches at a higher standard to others. While I would love to have a strike match between her an a strongly-booked Tay Conti, I don’t think it’ll happen in time for Shida to still be champion, because the Doctor is in. Britt Baker was intended to be the Face of the Women’s Division, but after failing to connect with the crowd she became a revelation as a heel, only to be cut down by injury. In my opinion, AEW have maintained confidence in Shida’s reign because they want Britt to overcome her, likely by snide heel tactics to subdue Shida when she continues a juggernaut run through the division. Bringing a heel champion in will also open the door for more face challengers to shine, including returns for Riho, Statlander and Yuka Sakazaki. Currently Abadon has began to feud with Shida, crossing paths for the first time since Abadon’s only AEW loss against the then-not-champion Shida. Leaning on having the champion face fear, despite the Champion’s insistence that she is not afraid, it is still possible for fear to take over and for Abadon to win the championship, her gimmick definitely stands out and she has a definite following, there is also crossover value for her if AEW link her with or against IMPACT’s Su Yung and/or Rosemary. Other than Abadon, Statlander’s return from injury could start with a Heel turn of her own, allowing Statlander to use her power moves to more intensity, former NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa may also rekindle the rivalry for a second crack. While I’ll admit I’ve not seen Jade Cargill wrestle, if looks are to be judged, Cargill can certainly rule as a smarmy heel champion, and there can be added story with Vickie Guerrero allying with her and guiding her to get personal vengeance on Shida where Nyla failed.

AEW World Championship Prediction: ‘Hangman’ Page Alternative Options: PAC, Brodie Lee or Brian Cage Storytelling doesn’t have to be convoluted to be great, AEW and NXT have proven that with stellar stories even when we knew how it would end. And climbing Adam Page from the gutter to the top is certainly the story one would top off a big PPV or an Anniversary show on. Granted, it’d be a super slow burn, but Omega is certainly a champion you expect to hold ‘Big Platinum’ for a long time, it also serves AEW better to limit the amount of times their main belt changes hands, which I’m sure the EVPs are all well aware of. Kenny’s alliance with Callis can usher in some IMPACT wrestlers to perhaps bolster Kenny’s allies and opponents but for now I feel that AEW should keep their world title at the very list restricted to their roster. Outside of Hangman, PAC definitely has unfinished business with Omega, the Bastard’s talent cannot go amiss and his character has been a proven success in WWE and the Indies as strong titleholder. Brodie may also fit the top title, his feud with Moxley was brief but very entertaining, I would love him to have the same coveting that he did in the Moxley feud, even having Dark Order members carrying the title for him to the ring. The final option so far has to be Brian Cage, in NJPW Kenny had multiple foils; Okada, Tanahashi, but one of the major ones was the ‘Stone Pitbull’ Tomohiro Ishii, a man with plenty of physical similarities to Brian Cage. Cage’s deceptive speed and monster power could prove to be a similar foil to Omega as Ishii had been for him years prior. So yeah, congrats to AEW’s new champion, I wonder how many I’ll get right.

[queermediastudies]

Creating Identities: The Coming Out Narrative of Love, Simon

Love, Simon is a 2018 film adaption of the book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, written by Becky Albertalli. The film follows the life of Simon Spier, a seventeen-year-old closeted high school senior and his relationship with his parents and younger sister, his friends Nick, Abby, and Leah, his blackmailer Martin, and his anonymous crush who goes by the alias of Blue. Simon himself knows he is gay and has known since he was thirteen. However, he has never had the opportunity to engage in this part of himself, as he has been in the closet for the last four years and surrounded by assumedly only straight friends and family (I say “assumedly,” because, later in a companion novel the audience learns that Leah and Abby are both bisexuals). Love, Simon, both as a book and a movie, explores concepts centering mainly around aspects of coming out and being gay in a heteronormative society, the production and engagement of queer identities amongst queer people who are in “the closet,” and finally touches on issues surrounding who is allowed to create and produce queer stories.

The movie begins with Simon narrating his life, explaining that he is a typical high schooler with a great family and amazing friends. However, Simon then reveals he has “one huge-ass secret,” he is gay. Moments up to Simon revealing this secret to the audience, we see him looking longingly at a boy across the street who is doing yard work and is interrupted by his dad, who jokes about Simon being in a relationship with Gigi Hadid. While this moment is deceptively simple, throughout the film, many characters make similar comments about sexuality. For instance, later on, when Simon and his family are watching the Bachelor, his father makes numerous comments about how the Bachelor is gay and describes him as “so fruity.” While Simon knows his family would still accept him for being gay, it is moments like this that queer audiences can relate to, and the exact reason that Simon does not feel comfortable coming out to his father. These scenes and jokes reflect both the dominant, mainstream ideology of heteronormativity and the reality many queer people face daily. Additionally, scenes such as this or the one between Simon and Leah, where they are guessing the identity of the anonymous gay classmate and Leah, assumes a classmate is gay because he likes Les Mis, which demonstrates contemporary stereotypes of gay people and the reinforcement of gender roles that support these stereotypes.

While we do see instances of Simon’s queer identity, it is not until Simon discovers Blue on the school’s blog, Creek Secrets, after reading Blue’s post about the ups and downs of being closeted, that Simon finally gets to engage queer identity work (Cavalcante 2017, 12-15). Queer identity work is “the collective labor of crafting, articulating, and performing LGBT identities” (Cavalcante 2017, 13). Throughout the film, we learn how Simon and Blue can engage in crafting and performing their identities as gay teenagers in the closet through their developing relationship over a series of shared emails. The boys have conversations about the dynamics of coming out being only for queer people (there is a hilarious, imaginative sequence where Simon’s friends come out as heterosexual out to their parents), college as a fresh start to be open, and the difficulties of being in the closet.

 Although it is cute to see the developing relationship between Blue and Simon, at one point, Martin, another classmate, screenshots the emails and weaponize Simon’s sexuality against him by blackmailing him into helping him win Abby’s affections. Ultimately Simon agrees, fearing that if the emails and his identity were leaked, Blue would be scared off and goes through with interfering with his friends’ lives. Predictably this all goes wrong, and a hurt Martin exposes Simon’s sexuality anyway. As a consequence of being out to the whole school, there is an instance in the lunchroom where Simon and Ethan – an openly gay classmate – are bullied. Although the teachers and vice principal are on Simon and Ethan’s side, their bullies are told the school expects them to be tolerant. Walters (2015, 2) states, “it doesn’t make sense to say that we tolerate something unless we think that it wrong in some way.” This quote is important in its relation to Simon’s fear of coming out because he does not want to be treated differently or “tolerated,” Like many other queer people, he just wants to be himself and accepted. After this, the film quickly wraps itself up, with Simon becomes more confident with himself after some heartfelt conversations with his parents, reconciling with his friends, making a public post about his sexuality, and asking Blue to meet him at the Ferris wheel. In general, the last half of the movie does feel rushed, which is a shame because Simon seems to lose everything and get it all back too quickly.        

While overall, I think the film succeeds on many marks relating to a more positive coming out story save for the part about blackmail and outing someone, there are moments in the film that can be perceived as problematic. Firstly, while I disagree with many of the points made in Ashley Kim’s (2018) review of Love, Simon whereby she explains why she sees it as a poor representation for queer stories, I can agree with her that the scene in which Simon learns Blue’s identity does feel like a “spectacle,” as she calls it. While it is nice that Simon has support, the fact that so many of his peers are watching him riding the Ferris wheel waiting for Blue felt strange, especially when one girl – who thankfully the other characters stopped – tried recording the whole event. It just felt odd that so many people were intruding on this personal experience, especially since I feel like having that many people watching would have made it difficult for Blue to want to reveal his identity to Simon (since this was a conflict throughout the movie of Blue being not ready to do so).

Another issue with the representation in this movie is that although there is a diverse cast in Love, Simon, it would have been nice to see a focus outside of the one placed on the coming-out narrative. In Dow’s (2018, page) analysis on the visibility politics on television, she mentions that there is a refusal to “recognize the existence of organized, systemic, or politically oppressive homophobia.” Similar to the Ellen episodes, I think while coming out stories are still necessary forms of representation, the lack of intersectionality with any other issues (besides two instances of Simon and another gay character getting bullied), there is no discussion about the repercussions of being gay in a heteronormative society. The biggest issue for Simon is coming to terms with himself and his identity, and the fact that he was outed to the whole school. Although the film does address that Simon is privileged with having an accepting family, I would have loved if this theme was explored more.

Finally, the last issue is about my point on how Love, Simon represents a debate about who can produce queer movies and stories. At the time of the movie and book, Albertalli was assumed by many to be a straight, cisgender woman. However, since then, Albertalli (2020) in a post called “I know I’m Late,” discusses how at the time she was questioning her sexuality, but so many people had already assumed she was just a straight, cisgender, white woman writing about a community she isn’t apart of. Albertalli also brings up how it is fair to question the production of queer stories and want more queer authors, but asks audiences to recognize not every queer author is out of the closet. Going forwards in our studies of queer media production, I wonder how we can reconcile queer content made by people who are in the closet and those who are straight and profiting on a community that is not their own.

References:

Albertalli, B. (2020, August 31). I know I'm late. Retrieved October 30, 2020, from https://medium.com/@rebecca.albertalli/i-know-im-late-9b31de339c62

Cavalcante, Andre (2017). “Breaking into Transgender Life: Transgender Audiences’ Experiences With ‘First of Its Kind’ Visibility in Popular Media.” Communication, Culture & Critique, 1-18.

Dow, Bonnie (2001). “Ellen, Television, and the Politics of Gay and Lesbian Visibility.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 18(2), 123-140.

Kim, A. (2018, April 06). Stop praising Love, Simon. Retrieved October 30, 2020, from http://cu-sentry.com/2018/04/04/stop-praising-love-simon/

Walters, Suzanna D. (2014) “Introduction: That’s so Gay! (Or is it!?)” in The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes, and Good Intentions are Sabotaging Gay Equality, 1-16.

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I've never done this type of post before but it's sort of still within the studyblr theme and I have some Thoughts™ so I may as well.

I can't do a read more on mobile and this will be a long post so be warned.

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus Review (contains spoilers)

(excuse the bad cropping I tried)

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.

Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.

Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.

Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.

Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.

Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.

And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose?

Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

Description from Goodreads.com

TW - mentions and themes of depression, suicide, mental illness, homophobia, being outed

What I liked

I generally liked the four main characters, they have personalities and flaws and they're likeable for the most part

Addy's character arc was probably my favourite, her realisation that Jake was a controlling boyfriend, cutting off her hair and expressing herself, becoming more independent from her mother and learning to improve her relationship with her sister, in general I liked the character she became by the end

Speaking of sisters, I liked the dynamic between Maeve and Bronwyn. Bronwyn doesn't baby her despite her medical history and they get on well, as well as the odd normal sibling arguments

Despite being sceptical at first, I thought Nate and Bronwyn's romance was quite cute by the end of the novel

There was decent suspense surrounding the mystery

As much as I found flaws in Cooper's story (see below) I liked how he could have been the horrible jock, but he was actually a decent person. A nice difference from the typical jock character

Nonny is my favourite adult. We love wise old ladies

What I disliked

I called quite a lot of the major plot points. Not to brag or anything, but it shows it's slightly predictable at times. I predicted that Bronwyn and Nate would get together pretty early in the book, I predicted that Janae would be involved, I predicted that it would be a suicide. I predicted those last two about 2/3 of the way through the book so it wasn't obvious from the start but yeah

The characters are very one dimensional and stereotypical at the start, and if it weren't for sheer will power I would have given up fairly quickly. Bronwyn is a geek who does all the extracurriculars, Nate is a bad boy with a criminal record, Cooper is great at sports and Addy is very shallow. Literally what they're said to be on the title in the first few chapters

The good girl/bad boy romance between Bronwyn and Nate was predictable. I've read enough Wattpad books to know the formula and spot the signs - childhood friends, pretend to have nothing to do with each other but actually have feelings for each other secretly, good girl finds out that bad boy has bad home life, bad boy finds out good girl isn't as much of a rule stickler as first appears, love. Ta da. A couple

I was disappointed with Cooper's arc and story. I thought near the start when it was shown that all of them have secrets "If one of the characters' secrets is that one of them is gay, that could be cool to explore the themes of homophobia in high schools. It would be even cooler if it was Cooper, as toxic masculinity within sports is a problem" I was proud of myself for kind of calling that one but I was disappointed with how it was handled

I feel like we could have seen more of Cooper and his father repairing their relationship after Cooper is forced to come out due to circumstances. Like the father is disappointed, then a couple chapters later he's kind of talking to him again only after Cooper starts receiving baseball offers again. There's no awkward conversation, no trying to understand from the father, it just happens and then it seems to be over and is never touched on again. There could have been a lot more done with this plot point and I feel he was robbed of the character development that the other three got, especially Addy. I was so happy with her arc and disappointed with Cooper's

There was no follow up with the police basically outing Cooper and getting away with it?? Like there's talk of people being angry at what the police did but the police never faced consequences nor was there any discussion within the novel about why outing someone is bad. I know it's not the main plot of the novel and I'm not expecting a Simon-Martin-carpark masterpiece exchange like in Simon vs The Homosapiens Agenda but there could have been something??

Sidenote - I want to do more book reviews, especially on queer books, and Simon will be the first.

There was the cafeteria scene and the mention of those boys being nasty at a baseball game but Cooper faces relatively little opposition after coming out. Yes, I want queer characters to be happy. Yes, I know this is not the main plot of the book. I'm just saying Cooper was robbed of a good character arc and if there had been more between him and his father I would have less complaints

I get why he cheated on Keeley, compulsory heteronormativity is a real and difficult problem, but Cooper faces no consequences for cheating on Keeley. She's not my favourite character for reasons I don't know how to explain but she deserved better

The explanation of how and why for the ending is confusing to read, we know almost nothing before Janae reveals everything. It's a lot of info to take in at once and so it makes everything very confusing

OK here we go, my big problem with the book - its handling of mental health, particularly depression, self harm and suicide. Final TW before things get serious.

The final twist of revealing that Simon's death wasn't murder, it was suicide - I get he was depressed, I get his reasons, but I've also seen other people complain about this - Suicide is a delicate and serious topic that needs to be handled with sensitivity and shouldn't be a plot twist for shock factor. No hate to the author, but it needs to be said, I don't like how this was handled at all

I have similar comments to write for Leah's character

Final rating - 2/5 (⭐⭐⚫⚫⚫)

The characters are what saves this from a lower rating. I was disappointed in general - with Cooper's arc, the handling of sensitive topics and the ending. I'd heard such good things about this book and I'm disappointed.

If you liked this book, tell me why! Yes I was very critical, but I want to hear different opinions so my view of the book becomes more rounded. I want to do more of these so I hope you enjoyed :)

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bts astro soulmate reading | for elliot

This reading is for Elliot, a very sweet Yoonjin bias who sometimes (often) finds himself thinking about Kim Taehyung. Can you blame him? Thank you so much for your patience, love. I hope you enjoy and are staying safe a well. <3

A Cancer Sun and Libra Moon makes for a very mysterious, contradictory personality, with Cancer existing on a highly emotional and reserved plane while Libra yearns to roam, explore and adapt to their surroundings. You are all at once highly sociable, deeply enjoying the company of others, and private - often swimming away on your own to escape the harsh realities of the world - enjoying  a cozy night in with a good book or podcast almost as much as a delicious dinner out with a large group of friends and acquaintances. Those who don't know you well may accuse you of being a bit unsteady, seeing all the ways in which you adapt to your surrounding and feed off of others energies. Your close friends and family know that you are just water and air, constantly seeking balance and harmony in your relationships above all else. All three of your placements are geared towards security and balance, and at your core you crave stability and a strong foundation in your home that is calming, peaceful and without too much tension or unpleasantness. It is because of this that you are drawn to creative artistic pursuits, though you likely hold a more traditional full time job to ensure you are financially secure and comfortable. Those possessing your star placements are innately empathetic, nurturing of others and self-critical of self. While your Virgo rising lends itself to additional self-criticism, towards others you are incredibly soft, sentimental, and supportive - if only you showed more gentleness towards yourself! It is likely that you are loved by many, serving as a strong emotional refuge for family and friends alike, who admire your compassionate, trustworthy and purposeful nature.

A true lover of life's simple wonders, you are likely to gravitate towards the arts, spending your free time exploring museums, galleries, concerts, and any other large gathering around creative ideals. On one particular early fall afternoon while exploring an outdoor exhibit in the city with friends, your eyes gravitate towards a man playing a piano in the square. His presence is magnetic to you, your eyes immediately  drawn to his slouched posture as his fingers stroke each key, his face covered by short, black hair and a black cap. The shadow of the mysterious figure piques your curiosity, enough for you to approach him to have a closer listen, the melody floating through the crisp air of the changing seasons. It is almost as if in that moment nobody else is in the square - just you, the music and the mysterious gentleman - until his fingers stop moving, as if breaking from a trance. Fully immersed in his own world, he doesn't notice you standing there until several minutes later, his dark eyes moving to meet yours in a moment of instant attraction, one that only two water signs could possess.

Imagine your surprise when you find out that the presumably down-and-out aspiring artist is actually the esteemed Min Yoongi, a fact that he conceals until you're on your second or third date.

Ever the optimist and hopeless romantic, your Cancer Sun lives to love and be loved, both platonically and romantically - longing for a partnership that is all encompassing. This is amplified by your Venus in Leo, which makes you a lover of big love (think grand displays of affection, gift giving, and passionate quality time.) You want to spoil a partner, seeing no reason to skimp or cut corners for the people you love and expecting the same adoration in return. This is especially true once you fall hard, as it often takes some time for people to get past the barriers of your outwardly serious Virgo rising and your impenetrable deeper Cancer shell. At first you will keep your feelings close, waiting for the other party to reveal themselves to be genuinely trustworthy and open before letting them into your inner world. Once in love, you want to pull out all the stops, becoming the most nurturing, adoring lover - almost as if making up for lost time of keeping your emotions reigned in for so long. Yoongi's Pisces is also cautious in love, but it does not take long for him to show the range of his emotions, his romantic energy and empathy all at once making you feel secure and understood in ways that you do not often experience with other signs - signaling that it is okay to open up and be vulnerable. You are drawn to Yoongi's artistry that flows out of him, the sparseness of his words that hold meaning in every syllable, and he adores your compassionate nature - thinking of you as a true friend and companion, though the connection is very much a romantic one. A Cancer and Pisces are likely to spend countless hours tangled up in their sheets, hands softly caressing every inch of each other before even becoming overtly sexual. This is a duo that is incredibly intimate, enjoying savoring each and every delicious moment in each other's company and romantic spirits. You could undoubtedly spend the rest of your life laying next to Yoongi as his fingers graze your hair, cheek and neck, sweet nothings pouring into your ear. You naturally connect on an innately intimate level, the tone of his voice enough to rile you up long before his long, skilled fingers even begin to move down past your neck, chest and belly button. In bed, Yoongi brings a gentleness alongside just the right amount of kink to set you on fire.

Your desire for romance cannot be outweighed, however, by stability and comfort. A Cancer, while a hopeless romantic, is not excited by the idea of a tumultuous, unpredictable love wherein.spontaneity reigns. While you are ruled by water as a Cancer, your Libra heart and Virgo moon crave balance and relative predictability - something that our Pisces Yoongi wants but often escapes him in his quest for greatness. Yoongi's Venus is in Aries, making his love is a bit more impulsive and spontaneous, Ultimately, after many nights in bed alone with your partner huddled in his studio, you realize that Yoongi's more free-flowing Pisces spirit proves to be a bit too fluid for your Cancer heart. The dissolution of this relationship is extremely challenging given your shared emotional depths, and there is surely a continuation of the relationship via long, late night phone calls and sentimental texts until one of you breaks it off to preserve your sanity and wellbeing. This is a pairing that makes a lifelong, profound impact on each other, likely prompting Yoongi to write some of his best work to date.

A Cancer Sun and Libra Moon is not likely to be single for too long, very much preferring the company of a romantic partner to single life. Luckily for you, people are inherently drawn to your warmth, which lies beneath the surface of your Virgo rising but is quickly detectable by some. You're happy to find yourself approached by a handsome stranger while browsing through an indie record shop downtown, his fingers floating across the top of the album you've taken interest in. That's a great album, are you a fan? You aren't sure how long you are in the shop chatting up the boy, who introduces himself as Kim Namjoon, before you're off to grab a coffee at a nearby cafe.

It takes many months of seeing Namjoon the Virgo - who would prefer to be alone with a good book than in the presence of bad company - to reveal a more emotional side of himself. Despite approaching you first, Namjoon is not exactly suave, his endearingly goofy mannerisms a result of his high level of independence and time spent in solitude away from prying eyes. This relationship begins as more of a friendship with two generally cautious people tiptoeing around their emotions, wondering who is going to take the risk of revealing their true self first. But after some time it becomes clear that his more business-like, stoic Virgo exterior does not stand much of a chance against the depths of your Cancer emotion and Libra charm. When partnered, you are your person's biggest cheerleader, and it is your emotional range and empathic powers that can successfully soften the coldest heart as you only see the good in others - never the bad. Early on, much of the relationship is spent with you intently listening to his ramblings or championing his many professional creative endeavors - his words like poetry to you as he workshops new lyrics, projects, or his dreams of the future that he will so clearly put into action as a result of his . The Virgo is happy to open his mind to you over countless walks along the river or through lush parks outside of the city, a bond forming from your desire to be needed and wanted if even as a supportive listener. He senses your genuine interest in his thoughts - not for his status as a celebrity but who he is as a person. Your empathic qualities, while natural to you, are also a form of protection against getting hurt: speak less frequently, and you won't need to reveal many of your insecurities around your own potential. More than anything, Namjoon wants you to open up and let him in to your world. your innate strengths and talents, bringing you away from all of your negative self-talk and doubt around your abilities - something he can relate to deeply as a Virgo Sun. Maybe it is the warmth of his brown eyes as he tells you how special you are, or the way the sun rays perfectly hit his brown hair, but you can't help but believe him.

Once you are able to move into understanding on a deeper level, you find that Namjoon is one of the most sentimental, loyal people you've ever known. Namjoon's Venus is in Scorpio, meaning that despite any hurt he has experienced in the past, he is a true romantic at his core, looking for his one true love and willing to devote it all to that special person. The Scorpio is notably possessive in love, which serves to both frustrate and excite you in just the right ways. While your Libra moon may be naturally flirtatious, Namjoon is the one that holds your heart, and you enjoy being consumed by his love through song and writing - with his Mercury in Libra, you are likely to be his muse in all things creative. This is a pairing that can spend endless hours nestled in bed reading a book, bouncing ideas off of each other, and exploring each other's hearts before diving into the physical. You, Cancer, are the sexual initiator, wanting to know him body and soul - exposing him to an entirely new emotional plane of sexual connection. For the Virgo man, sex is often just another thing to be skilled at, and you are able to expose the innately vulnerable, emotional, and outwardly animalistic nature of his sexuality. The sexual relationship between these two is almost transcendent, with you taking the reins as the boss to show him the ropes, allowing him to unlock a different side to himself and learn how to please you. As someone who gets off to the idea of learning and achieving, expect marathon sessions in each other's arms (and mouths).

Ultimately, Namjoon is the member best able to bring you the stability you crave alongside an unwavering emotional commitment, with an earthly ability to firmly ground you when you are lost at sea. He will allow you to swim into your solitude - as you need from time to time - but you can rest easily that he will always be there when you are ready to return to reality. More than anything Namjoon is a provider, his mind working over time to help you solve your problems and achieve your dreams with his quintessential Virgo intelligence and flare, likely pushing you to pursue your creative ideas full-time instead of shying away from your potential and making sure you have everything to feel secure. You are someone who becomes a better person when in love, flourishing under others affection, and with Namjoon you have a special opportunity to truly come into yourself and achieve more than you ever imagined. Meanwhile, you provide a level of nurturing that he so deeply desires and a softness that he so desperately needs and few others can provide. In this partnership, you are the caretaker of the physical and emotional realm, while he is a provider in a more literal sense: making sure you have everything you need financially to create a sanctuary home base curated for the two of you to create and restore yourselves when the day is done. This is a duo that is steadfast and secure, prioritizing home and family and partnership over frivolity and spontaneity, appreciating travel and gallery openings abroad but also knowing how to take comfort at home with nights in and a vinyl on a record player. It is in this secure, stable lifestyle that you are both stimulating and fulfilled. Overall, this astrological pairing is comprised of two very synchronized and amenable plane, existing on a very calm, comforting foundation that is impossible to shake.