#he's just a really good dad and ronan is so lucky to have such an understanding dad

[johnsbleu]

Not asking for spoilers😭 but how do you think John would react to the kiddo’s teenage angst and attitudes? Is he more of a logical or emotional responder to the kid’s problems? Or how would he TRY to act? Sorry just love hearing about dad John💗

i absolutely love talking about dad john so ask me anything!

i honestly think john is going to be the more logical parent, though he can be more emotional at times too. if it's anything like bullying or teachers/grades, john is definitely the more emotional one, like he wants to go to the school and talk to the principal or talk to the kid's parents. but i think when it comes to other things, i think he'll be more logical. i can see ronan wanting something and john is totally on board but reader is like "uh, not sure" and john is like come onnnn. i definitely see him trying to persuade her a lot so ronan can get her way (which she most likely will for a while since she's the only child). i think he'll figure out a nice balance though. he just doesn't want his kids to dislike him or be scared of him. everyone's been scared of him and he doesn't want his babies to ever be scared of him (he's a big teddy bear, so they won't be. and he's a SUCKER for his kiddos).

john would definitely shut down any backtalk or disrespect towards reader. i don't think ronan would be like that and talk back (lbr she probably will at some point), but if she ever did, john would definitely not tolerate that. teens can be pretty moody and mean sometimes, so i can see him putting his foot down when they get a little out of line, but he'd definitely go apologize after for raising his voice too. i think the first time it happens though, he'll be completely blindsided lmao. i think he'll probably just be so shocked and not even know what to say. again, he'll find his balance eventually but at the end of the day we all know he's a really really good dad!

[anythingbutmyname00]

 “I thought if I acted like it didn’t matter, then it wouldn’t.” for pynch? Thanks in advance 💛

Prompt #2: “I thought if I acted like it didn’t matter, then it wouldn’t.” for pynch :) I set it somewhere either before the books or in the very start of TRB hope that’s okay!

TW: mention of abuse

Adam knocked on the door of Monmouth Manufacturing but it was already open, so he guessed it didn’t matter anyway.

He remembered seeing the inside of Monmouth for the first time. The books and historical memorabilia scattered around the room. The factory style window panes with tiny square after square of glass; the way light shining through them made a checkerboard pattern on the floor. There was an air of mess and simplicity about it that could only be money trying to pass off as aesthetically thrifty. 

Seeing it now, today, Adam saw more. He saw that the miniature model of Henrietta on the floor had a new row of buildings, meaning Gansey hadn’t slept the night before. The sheets were off his bed and curled in a ball on the floor just past where the model ended. he saw—

He saw Ronan Lynch, sitting in Gansey’s desk chair with his eyes closed and headphones on, blasting music so loud Adam didn’t know how he hadn’t gone deaf. His feet were up on the desk, resting on top of an open book. Adam scoffed. If Gansey were here, he knew that wouldn’t be tolerated. Which means Gansey wasn’t here.  

“Lynch.” Adam said, rather loud, he had thought. Apparently not though, because Ronan did not even open his eyes. He stalked over and lifted one of the headphones out of Ronan’s ear. “Lynch.” he repeated. 

Ronan peaked open an eye. “Parrish.” he said, and then closed it again. 

Adam rolled his eyes. He couldn’t understand what about Ronan drew Gansey in so much. But he supposed Gansey liked things as beyond comparison to anything else as him. Ronan was certainly inimitable. 

“Is Gansey here?” 

“No.” Ronan said, eyes still closed. 

“Do you know where he is?” Adam asked. “He has the work I missed.”

“I’m not his mother, Parrish.” Ronan said. Even with his eyes closed and his face relaxed, he seemed to be scowling. Like he was disappointed at what he was seeing, even when it was nothing. 

“Okay. Great, thanks.” Adam said, dropping the headphone and turning to leave. What a waste of time, he should have just called Gansey before he came or coordinated an actual time to get the work. He would’ve been saved the interaction with Ronan which did nothing but raise his blood pressure. 

“Rowing practice.” Ronan said from behind him, when Adam had gotten just about halfway across the apartment to leave. “Nice shiner, by the way.” 

Adam stopped walking. His eyes were trained straight ahead. He had missed school because he had stayed out too late helping Gansey with the search the night before and hadn’t fixed up the car, or mowed the lawn, or repaired the leak, or any of the other things his father had asked him to do. Those weren’t the actual reasons he’d missed school, but they directly correlated to what his dad did when he got home. 

Which is why he missed school. 

He had only been apart of this thing—this Gansey, Ronan, Noah, and Glendower thing—for a few months. Until now, the details of Adam’s home life included a lot of gray areas. They knew to pick him up from the end of the dirt road that led to the trailer park and not to enter. They knew sometimes he said he had to be home and he meant he really had to be home. They knew one time that he slipped in the shop and bruised his side up real good in a way that falling on a tool box shouldn’t have. 

Gansey was smart; he knew something was up, but he was just subtle and polite enough to know he couldn’t just ask. 

Ronan was less constrained by the laws of upperclass society. 

“Should’ve told us.” he said. 

Adam didn’t turn around, but he could picture Ronan still sitting there with his feet up and his eyes closed looking so extremely cavalier and not at all understanding the delicate terrain on which he was treading. 

“I thought if I acted like it didn’t matter, then it wouldn’t.” Adam said in a low voice. This was not the conversation he wanted to have. Especially not with Ronan Lynch.

“Bullshit.” Ronan said. 

Adam turned back around. “Excuse me?” he asked. 

“Talking about things doesn’t make them fucking valid. They’re valid when they happen.” It might’ve been the longest sentence Ronan willingly constructed in Adam’s presence without Gansey around to draw it out of him. 

Talking about things doesn’t make them valid. It explained a lot about how Ronan saw things. Adam considered it. He’d just assumed Ronan didn’t speak because he had nothing to contribute. Maybe, he thought now, Ronan didn’t speak because he didn’t think it changed things. Actions speak louder than words. 

Adam huffed. “Right.” he said, a little in disbelief that this conversation was happening. He looked at the door again, and then back at Ronan, who was the less appealing option for Adam’s attention. 

Not because he wasn’t appealing, but because he was too aware he was appealing, which made him arrogant. And that’s without listing all of his other disagreeable qualities. 

Adam decided once again it was time for this conversation to be over and for him to leave. 

“Didn’t anyone teach you to throw a fucking punch.” 

“God, no, Ronan. Would you like to insult my upbringing any more or may I go.”

He turned and expected the same careless image of vanity, but found Ronan instead with his feet on the ground his headphones around his neck and his eyes trained on what was previously the back of Adam’s head before he’d turned. 

Ronan stood up and walked towards the center of the room. He said “Parrish.” and pointed at the ground directly in front of him. 

Adam walked, against his better judgement, and stood across from Ronan.

“Make a fist.” he said. 

Adam did.

“Fuck, no, Parrish your thumb goes outside. Do you want to fucking break it.” Ronan grabbed Adam’s fist and corrected its positioning. 

The whole time, Adam was studying Ronan’s face. It looked a lot less mean and like he was on alert when he wasn’t paying attention. His effort was no longer on looking like a flashing neon sign that said “danger: will bite!” 

Adam filed this away to remember the next time Ronan did something he thought was cruel. Where did this Ronan go then?

“Better.” Ronan said. Adam looked back down at his fist. 

“Fucking splendid.” Ronan sighed in admiration of his handy work. “Now punch me.”

“What!” Adam snapped out of his reverence over his fist. 

“Fucking punch me, Parrish.”

Adam looked at Ronan appalled. “No.” he said, and took a step back. 

Ronan took a step forward. “No, do it. Parrish punch me.”

Adam didn’t respond. He searched in Ronan’s eyes for the joke, but there was none. Ronan didn’t joke.

“Don’t act like you’ve never fucking wanted to. Here’s your chance. Your lucky fucking day.” Ronan looked almost annoyed that Adam hadn’t done it yet.

“I don-” Adam started and stopped. I don’t want to? I don’t know how? I don’t know what the fuck is going on? All valid questions Adam didn’t ask.

“God, Parrish. You have the fist. Pull it back. Only instruction is don’t think about how much it will hurt.” Ronan said. His hands were in his pockets. He was standing straight, not shying away from Adam despite their decently close proximity and the chance he was about to be punched. 

Adam looked in Ronan’s eyes for something that would tell him what to do. He found it though in his own reasonable thought: if you do this, you’ll earn his respect. 

Adam desperately wanted Ronan’s respect, as much as he hated to admit it. Gansey had it, and Adam wanted to be good enough to have it too. 

What Adam had failed to consider was that if Ronan didn’t already respect Adam, he wouldn’t be teaching him to throw a damn punch. He wouldn’t bother.

“Adam,” Ronan said. “just pu-”

Adam punched him. Ronan stumbled back a step, and one of his hands went to touch his face lightly. Adam cradled the hand he hit Ronan with in his other. He was right, it hurt.

“Jesus fucking christ Parrish.” Ronan looked up at him, but he was smirking. Adam, despite his utter shock, smirked back.

“That’s how you throw a fucking punch.” 

Little longer than a drabble but oh well!! I really enjoyed writing it, hope you liked it :)

[tabloidtoc]

Star, March 1

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Humiliated Jennifer Lopez used for money and fame by Alex Rodriguez

Page 1: Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank, who is a UK ambassador for George Clooney and Rande Gerber's tequila brand, welcomed a son on February 9 at London's Portland Hospital

Page 2: Contents, Robin Thicke in front of a piano at Gold Diggers studio in L.A.

Page 3: Star Shots -- Serena Williams honored late Olympic gold medalist Florence Griffith Joyner by rocking a one-legged Nike catsuit at the first day of the Australian open, Chrissy Metz brought some vibrancy to the virtual SCAD aTVFest where she discussed This Is Us and was honored with the Vanguard Award, Olivia Culpo checked out the view before heading to the Shaq Bowl in Tampa

Page 4: Inside Britney Spears' nightmare -- a shocking new documentary exposes how Britney was used and abused by people she trusted -- Britney's unable to communicate with fans directly without permission -- fans flooded Justin Timberlake's Instagram to demand an apology for what one called profiting from trashing a woman

Page 5: Facing a lawsuit from her estranged older sister has rattled Mariah Carey -- Alison Carey alleged to a NYC court that Mariah had intentionally inflicted emotional distress by writing about her in the 2020 tell-all The Meaning of Mariah Carey and Alison is seeking $1.25 million after the singer accused her of, among other things, throwing boiling hot tea on her and trying to sell a 12-year-old Mariah to a pimp -- now Mariah has become wary of even those in her inner circle and is making longtime employees re-interview for their jobs -- Mariah's always been on the paranoid side but everyone is a suspect now and she's grilling everyone from bodyguards to chefs to stylists and household staff who have been with her for years and if anyone pushes back they are shown the door -- her great fear is that people could cross over and spill secrets to the enemy because she's been caught off guard before by those she trusted

* Catching ZZZs has become a real problem for Kelly Clarkson -- between her gig as a daytime host, trying to sell homes in Nashville and Encino, and battling her ex Brandon Blackstock over custody of their two kids, she is beyond stressed and she can't sleep and nothing works; the most shut-eye she gets is two to three hours -- it's gotten so bad she's even tried hypnotherapy but her workaholic brain outwits it -- meanwhile her legal woes including a lawsuit with her husband and ex father-in-law's talent agency are getting nastier and Brandon has told her in no uncertain terms that he's not going to stop until he gets what he wants which is a ton of money and time with the kids

* She was the most loathed mother in America and now Casey Anthony wants her say -- 10 years after she was acquitted of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee, Casey is making a documentary about the trial and she thinks she can clear her name -- she's not looking for sympathy but she believes she's a victim too and was unfairly convicted in the public eye -- she is planning on dropping bombshells in the doc including her take on the theory that the toddler accidentally drowned in the family pool as well as shocking secrets about her own abusive upbringing but don't expect much remorse

Page 6: Just over a year after her father Kobe Bryant and sister Gianna Bryant perished in a tragic helicopter crash, Natalia Bryant who is Kobe's oldest daughter, has signed a modeling contract with IMG Models who also represent Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid and the just signed Inauguration standout poet Amanda Gorman

* Rumer Willis was heartbroken when her months-long relationship with Armie Hammer fizzled out in December but after harrowing reports of Armie's alleged abuse of women including asking to barbecue their ribs and carry their severed toes in his pocket, Rumer is telling friends she feels lucky -- she wanted to defend him when the cannibalism stories first came out because she thought they were outrageous and now she feels badly for all of the victims and she's really grateful she didn't get caught up in the Armie nightmare

* Star Spots the Stars -- Eva Longoria, Mandy Moore, Demi Lovato, Dan Levy, Dorinda Medley

Page 8: Star Shots -- Meg Ryan wore some wide-legged trousers and a cute cap on a nature walk in Santa Barbara, Gavin Rossdale wore pink socks while playing tennis in L.A., Ciara holding six-month-old son Win during a family getaway to Hawaii

Page 9: Delilah Belle Hamlin and Love Island's Eyal Booker removed their masks for a quick street smooch during a coffee date in L.A., Sofia Richie enjoyed some PDA with shipping heir Gil Ofer in Miami

Page 12: Kate Upton doing yoga, Tia Mowry-Hardrict and her husband Cory Hardrict shared dishwashing duty after cooking at home, Robin Roberts tasted a treat on Good Morning America in New York City

Page 13: Pregnant Brittany Cartwright brought her dog along to retrieve the mail in L.A., Victoria Justice showed off her toned tummy post-workout in L.A.

Page 14: Goldie Hawn turned quality time with granddaughter Rani into a workout toting her in a backpack, Madonna and Guy Ritchie's son Rocco Ritchie waded in during a vacation in Tulum in Mexico, Lucy Hale on a stroll with her dog Elvis in L.A.

Page 16: Chris Noth put in a day's work on The Equalizer in Paterson in New Jersey, Flavor Flav and Flo Rida at The Super Glow Super Bowl kick-off party in Tampa, Bradley Cooper kept daughter Lea close as the two ran errands in NYC

Page 17: More than a week after celebrating 18 months of sobriety Lily Allen enjoyed a snack on-the-go in London, Jessica Alba lifted her son Hayes while riding scooters with husband Cash Warren in Beverly Hills

Page 18: Normal or Not? Cody Simpson got physical with new girlfriend Marloes Stevens during a romantic getaway in St. Barts -- normal, Selling Sunset's Christine Quinn picking up a portrait of herself in L.A. -- normal, Jack Black raised Thor's hammer in a parody posted on Instagram prompting Chris Hemsworth to call it the greatest thing he's ever seen -- not normal

Page 19: The Crown's Emma Corrin looked intrigued by a leafy object she stumbled upon during a stroll in London -- not normal, Sarah Jessica Parker kicked back in heels during a break from assisting shoppers at her flagship store in NYC -- not normal

Page 20: Fashion -- stars look sweet in tiered dresses -- Maude Apatow, Logan Browning, Margot Robbie

Page 21: Julianne Moore, Camila Morrone, Saoirse Ronan

Page 24: After months of quietly dating, Aaron Rodgers and Shailene Woodley are ready to marry and they announced it in the most low-key way possible and the couple are madly in love and feel unequivocally that this is the real deal -- Aaron and Shailene were friends long before sparks flew in August last year and having to endure a long-distance romance during football season actually made their bond stronger -- Aaron and Shailene are already planning to start a family and they're at that stage when they feel ready to be parents and are keen to have a baby

Page 25: Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles have found another dynamic duo to spend their downtime with which is Florence Pugh and Zach Braff -- the foursome hit it off on the set of Don't Worry, Darling which Olivia is directing and in which Florence and Harry star -- they have the best time together and know how to forget the world outside -- as it turns out bearing witness to Florence and Zach's happy relationship despite their 20-year age difference played a part in Olivia taking a chance on dating Harry who is nine years her junior following her split from Jason Sudeikis and seeing them together inspired Olivia to go for it with Harry and she's so glad she did

* While some couples are overwhelmed being with their kids 24/7 in lockdown, Prince William and Duchess Kate have enjoyed the extended family time with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis -- having the kids at home during the pandemic has given Kate baby fever and she loves being around them and wants to have one more and she and William are trying for another, with Kate saying she's hoping for a girl -- as for raising four young kids, the pair are up to the challenge because Kate's a pro at multitasking and William is a devoted dad and they'll split parenting duties

* Matt Damon is hoping a change of scenery will save his rocky 17-year relationship with wife Luciana Barroso as the couple and their three girls have set up house in a lavish $7000-a-night rental in Australia's tony Byron Bay while the actor films Thor: Love and Thunder -- the beachy new surroundings are just what the couple needs after hitting a rough patch and Matt is working overtime to make sure Luciana enjoys herself Down Under by arranging date nights and buying gifts for her to open every day and even when he's working he's got time set aside for just them and the gestures seem to be working and it's the shot in the arm they both needed

Page 26: Cover Story -- Jennifer Lopez humiliated and used -- shocking cheating allegations rock J.Lo's world as fiance Alex Rodriguez's mistress Madison LeCroy tells all -- while Jennifer is putting on a brave face the affair rumors are devastating to her whether she admits it or not -- after revealing she and Alex exchanged DMs Madison said she doesn't want anything bad for his family or for hers -- Alex says it was innocent and that nothing happened but Jennifer is not fully buying it -- Jennifer and Alex's relationship is personal but it's also business; together, their fortunes have doubled

Page 30: Chip and Joanna Gaines -- inside our farmhouse reno -- Chip and Jo are expanding and renovating their Waco home and it may be their toughest job yet

Page 32: Celeb Parenting Fails -- these celebrity moms and dads share their hilarious hapless moments -- Anne Hathaway, Brad Pitt

Page 33: Willie Geist, Mila Kunis, Pink

Page 48: Parting Shot -- Despite it being her first concert in over a year, Miley Cyrus was ready to rock while headlining the TikTok Tailgate Super Bowl pre-show event in Tampa -- the show treated 7500 Florida-based healthcare workers to a set that included guest appearances by Joan Jett and Billy Idol, who both collaborated on Miley's latest album

[ask-apophisrising]

hi! I would love to see 16, 19, and 52 for any character!

I think I'm actually gonna try to answer a couple of these for all of them.

16. Can they drive?

Ronan is a Gay Who Can Drive. Fear him.

In all honesty I think most of them can drive but like... some better than others. Ronan and Niamh I think are the best drivers, Jack is the worst and absolutely should not be trusted to drive, and the rest are somewhere in between (although Tapio still doesn't have his license, and Lukas doesn't really see the point of driving bc Tapio can just portal them places). Also I think Damien prefers his motorcycle over a car. Side note Tapio actually loves long car rides.

19. Hobbies

Man, they don't have time for hobbies! Jk jk. Niamh likes drawing and painting, Aino likes video games, Damien experiments with makeup a lot, Tapio also likes to draw but legitimately doesn't have much free time, Jack likes shopping and travel and dying their hair crazy colors, Lukas is in a D&D group, and Ronan will often hit the gym in his free time bc the man has just. So much energy he needs to get out.

52. How are you and your character the same? How are you different?

So first of all I'll say that I've projected some aspect of my music taste on all of them.

But also I think I'm gonna answer this for Tapio bc he's the one I think I have the most in common with. He's like... if you slapped a tragic backstory and a Finnish accent on me, honestly. (Also if I were taller :( ). We're both trans and queer, we both play at least one instrument, we have basically the same music taste, we both like to draw... hell, we even both have Finnish names (which makes a lot more sense for him bc he is Finnish...)

Anyway, it's really... we have the little things in common. Bc a lot of the big things are very different. Like the fact that while I'm lucky enough to have very good parents, his dad was extremely abusive and his mom didn't really care (which led to him running away at 13, finding an abandoned house with a basement full of old spellbooks, and teaching himself magic). So, y'know, we're pretty different on that front! Also the fact that I didn't kill my own father. (My dad doesn't deserve that. Tapio's kinda did. Just a little bit.)

I will also say that Ronan having way too much energy at any given time is 100% projection lmao.

[nora-jayne]

And now, for something no one asked for.

Back in October, @lookbluesoup had a fun little event for their SoSu, Nate's, birthday with art and a whole bunch of stuff about him and Piper and everything. The second I learned he was a baseball guy, my brain latched on to the idea they would be friends with my Theo and have long conversations about whether the Red Sox or Orioles were better based on stats from teams that hadn't existed in two hundred years. So I thought, oh I'll write something quick and post it as a surprise for the birthday thing.

And then I looked up after doing a last editing pass to realize more than a month had passed. Whoops. Thankfully, there's no timeline for crossovers that no one actually asked for. And no, I will not explain how two SoSus exist in this AU. They just do. Enjoy!

---------

It was Theo's lucky day, he decided, as Polly had gotten in a sizeable chunk of deathclaw meat, and Myrna had not one but two boxes of Fancy Lads. Hayley had become something of a picky eater since they had moved to Diamond City. Curie said that was developmentally normal, but these were things she would eat without a fuss. He was ready to just walk past Moe and his normal sales pitch on baseball bats when he spotted Piper at the stall.

He never liked to forget a friend, and Piper really had been while he was still getting settled. She kept an eye on Hayley when Theo couldn't make it back to Diamond City for a bit. Codsworth could do a lot for a five-year-old, but there were some things that were best left to human intervention. He was sure he'd never be able to pay her back for that kind of a favor, and the least he could do was be friendly.

"Piper! It's been a while since I've seen you," Theo said. "Got a big article coming out?"

"Not exactly. I've been out of town, running around with this guy," Piper said. She gestured to the man next to her, easily as tall as Theo, who scoffed.

" 'This guy' like we aren't dating," he said with a shake of his head. "I'm Nate Ronan."

"Theo Carter," he returned. There was something different in an old world handshake. It wasn't anything Theo could even explain exactly. He could just tell Nate was from Before too.

Then Theo glanced at the bat in his hand. He recognized it immediately, besides the nails that had been crudely hammered through the end. There was a bad stain on one side of the barrel when he left it in the mud after practice, and a small notch just before the grip that had come from one of his brothers throwing it around. He couldn’t even remember which one of his brothers did it, but he knew his bat when he saw it. That beauty was the Rockville Slugger.

"That's my bat," Theo blurted out. Nate furrowed his brow, more confused than anything.

"No? I just bought it," Nate replied. He leveled his gaze at Moe, who was already offended that anyone might accuse him of buying stolen goods.

"I meant, as a kid. It wasn't taken recently," Theo explained. "But if you look under the grip tape, you'll see my name carved in the handle. The C is bigger than all the other letters." He had been twelve and using a pocket knife he wasn't supposed to have, but he'd been proud of his carving work.

Nate glanced down at the bat and then at Theo. He had every right, by how law worked in Diamond City, to refuse to listen to anything Theo said. Really, Theo couldn't even blame him for wanting the bat. 

"C'mon Blue," Piper said. "That's really specific. We'd know for sure, and then move on with our lives."

"I do offer to rewrap grip tape, only a ten cap fee," Moe offered. 

"I'll pay the rewrap fee," Theo offered. "I'm wrong, you get a bat with new grip tape. I'm right, and I get my bat." Theo paused as Nate thought about it. He wanted to press, to make it happen, but he knew it wouldn't help. He would only make things worse if he pushed.

"Alright, that sounds fair," Nate said. He handed the bat back to Moe, who carefully unwound the tape. Little by little, an R carved into the bat became clear, then an E and T. Sure enough, carved in, more shallow than he remembered, THEO CARTER was carved in block letters, and indeed the C was bigger than any of the other by far.

"I'm sure Theo would be happy to reimburse the caps you spent," Piper said. She was right, if pointed.

"That's not necessary," Nate said. "What position do you play?" Piper scoffed and crossed her arms, but there was a smile on her face.

"Right field," Theo said. "I had the power to get the ball to base. That was back in high school, though."

"Didn't play in college?"

"I took the Army track instead," Theo said with a shrug. "If I went to Maryland, I could've played."

"Had to go that far south to get on a team?" Nate ribbed, and Theo grinned. He loved his new world friends, but he missed good ol' fashion sports smack talk. 

"Born and raised there," he said. "Might've been an Oriole if I stuck with it." This wasn't strictly true. He knew he would have ended up with a job in his dad's garage and been perfectly happy.

"And they had their last World Series when? 2056?" Nate teased. 

"It's better than being cursed," Theo shot back. They laughed and Theo felt like he had just a little piece of his old life back. 

"You should join my team, " Nate offered. "Some of the ghouls at the Slog are pre-war and have a team. Real baseball, not whatever More calls baseball."

"Hey!" Moe said in the background as he rewrapped the bat handle, though they both ignored him. 

"It's casual enough, but I set up a game," Nate explained. 

"Yeah, without a team to play with," Piper chimed in.

"I have most of a team," Nate said with a wave of his hand, as though it were mere details. "I'm confident we can win."

Theo brought up his PipBoy and made more solid plans. Of all the things he expected from the day, none of this would have been included in his most random dreams, but he was happier than he'd been in a while.

[lastsonlost]

Comedian Ricky Gervais is clearly enjoying himself as he rides the outrage wave from his fan-loved and Hollywood-loathed performance as the host of the Golden Globes Sunday night. After gaining hundreds of thousands of followers as a result of his celebrity slamming performance, Gervais took a moment early Wednesday to provide a helpful list of reminders about humor for his “offended” critics — many of whom happen to be journalists, who Gervais also made sure to mock.

In his instantly famous opening remarks at the awards show Sunday (transcript below), Gervais announced that it was his “last time” hosting the show and then promptly proceeded to do what so many viewers have been longing for a host to do: put virtue-signaling Hollywood in its place. “Let’s go out with a bang, let’s have a laugh at your expense,” he said at the start. “Remember, they’re just jokes. We’re all gonna die soon and there’s no sequel, so remember that.” After calling out Hollywood hypocrisy — including on sexual misconduct, corporate corruption and human rights abuses — Gervais ended his blistering opening statement by telling all the winners, “If you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your God and f*** off, OK?”

His brutal rebuke of Hollywood was met with predictable outrage from many, including media figures and journalists, which Gervais pointed out in one tweet Tuesday.

“I always knew that there were morons in the world that took jokes seriously, but I’m surprised that some journalists do,” he wrote (tweet below). “Surely, understanding stuff is pretty fundamental to their job, isn’t it?” He ended the post by twisting the knife: “Just makes it funnier though, I guess.”

Early Wednesday, Gervais felt compelled to help out some of those particularly suffering from a case of perpetual offense by offering a list of reminders about how humor works and doesn’t work:

1#. Simply pointing out whether someone is left or right wing isn’t winning the argument.

2#. If a joke is good enough, it can be enjoyed by ANYONE!

3#. IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU!

4#. Just because you’re offended, doesn’t mean you’re right.

As The Daily Wire reported, Gervais spent Monday after the Globes having fun at his critics’ expense online, ridiculing responses to his performance from The Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter and The Independent, along with the very show he hosted.

Among his posts was one in which he slammed those calling him “right wing.” “How the f*** can teasing huge corporations, and the richest, most privileged people in the world be considered right wing?” he tweeted (post below).

He also made a point of thanking his hundred of thousands of new followers. “Welcome to the 300,000 new followers I acquired today. I promise you won’t like everything I say, but here’s a sexy photo,” he wrote.

Gervais continued to hit his critics on Tuesday, including retweeting a defense of his Golden Globes jokes by Second Amendment champion Dana Loesch, who called The Independent’s condemnation of Gervais “garbage.”

“Oh garbage,” Loesch wrote. “[Ricky Gervais] demonstrated that good comedians go after everyone. No one should be safe, but the prevailing thought these past 10+ years is that one group IS exempt. They can lecture from the stage but he can’t mock their inconsistencies? You prove his point.”

<I mean if calling out corrupt corporations and the super rich is right wing then I guess the right wing is better at being liberal than liberals.

Below is the transcript of Gervais’ opening comments at the Golden Globes:

You’ll be pleased to know this is the last time I’m hosting these awards, so I don’t care anymore. I’m joking. I never did. I’m joking, I never did. NBC clearly don’t care either — fifth time. I mean, Kevin Hart was fired from the Oscars for some offensive tweets — hello?

Lucky for me, the Hollywood Foreign Press can barely speak English and they’ve no idea what Twitter is, so I got offered this gig by fax. Let’s go out with a bang, let’s have a laugh at your expense. Remember, they’re just jokes. We’re all gonna die soon and there’s no sequel, so remember that.

But you all look lovely all dolled up. You came here in your limos. I came here in a limo tonight and the license plate was made by Felicity Huffman. No, shush. It’s her daughter I feel sorry for. OK? That must be the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to her. And her dad was in Wild Hogs.

Lots of big celebrities here tonight. Legends. Icons. This table alone — Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro … Baby Yoda. Oh, that’s Joe Pesci, sorry. I love you man. Don’t have me whacked. But tonight isn’t just about the people in front of the camera. In this room are some of the most important TV and film executives in the world. People from every background. They all have one thing in common: They’re all terrified of Ronan Farrow. He’s coming for ya. Talking of all you perverts, it was a big year for pedophile movies. Surviving R. Kelly, Leaving Neverland, Two Popes. Shut up. Shut up. I don’t care. I don’t care.

Many talented people of color were snubbed in major categories. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about that. Hollywood Foreign press are all very racist. Fifth time. So. We were going to do an In-Memoriam this year, but when I saw the list of people who died, it wasn’t diverse enough. No, it was mostly white people and I thought, nah, not on my watch. Maybe next year. Let’s see what happens.

No one cares about movies anymore. No one goes to cinema, no one really watches network TV. Everyone is watching Netflix. This show should just be me coming out, going, “Well done Netflix. You win everything. Good night.” But no, we got to drag it out for three hours. You could binge-watch the entire first season of Afterlife instead of watching this show. That’s a show about a man who wants to kill himself cause his wife dies of cancer and it’s still more fun than this. Spoiler alert, season two is on the way so in the end he obviously didn’t kill himself. Just like Jeffrey Epstein. Shut up. I know he’s your friend but I don’t care.

Seriously, most films are awful. Lazy. Remakes, sequels. I’ve heard a rumor there might be a sequel to Sophie’s Choice. I mean, that would just be Meryl just going, “Well, it’s gotta be this one then.” All the best actors have jumped to Netflix, HBO. And the actors who just do Hollywood movies now do fantasy-adventure nonsense. They wear masks and capes and really tight costumes. Their job isn’t acting anymore. It’s going to the gym twice a day and taking steroids, really. Have we got an award for most ripped junky? No point, we’d know who’d win that.

Martin Scorsese made the news for his controversial comments about the Marvel franchise. He said they’re not real cinema and they remind him about theme parks. I agree. Although I don’t know what he’s doing hanging around theme parks. He’s not big enough to go on the rides. He’s tiny. The Irishman was amazing. It was amazing. It was great. Long, but amazing. It wasn’t the only epic movie. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, nearly three hours long. Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere and by the end his date was too old for him. Even Prince Andrew was like, “Come on, Leo, mate. You’re nearly 50-something.”

The world got to see James Corden as a fat pussy. He was also in the movie Cats. No one saw that movie. And the reviews, shocking. I saw one that said, “This is the worst thing to happen to cats since dogs.” But Dame Judi Dench defended the film saying it was the film she was born to play because she loves nothing better than plunking herself down on the carpet, lifting her leg and licking her pussy. (Coughs) Hairball. She’s old-school.

It’s the last time, who cares? Apple roared into the TV game with The Morning Show, a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing, made by a company that runs sweatshops in China. Well, you say you’re woke but the companies you work for in China — unbelievable. Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service you’d call your agent, wouldn’t you?

So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.

So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your God and fuck off, OK? It’s already three hours long. Right, let’s do the first award.

[queen-of-deans-booty]

I Believe the Children Are Our Future: Part Two

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 2,180

Warnings: typical supernatural violence, language, angst, blood, you know the usual

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. Any and all comments on these are appreciated. I really want to hear what you guys think about this one!

Feedback is the glue that holds my writing together.

Tags at the bottom

“You’re going to get sick if you eat all this ham,” you noted as Dean worked on his third sandwich of the early evening. Sam walked into the motel room and rolled his eyes when he saw his brother eating.

“Dude, seriously—still with the ham?”

“We don't have a fridge,” Dean said with his mouth full. Sam placed a map in front of you and Dean before explaining what he found.

“Well, I found something,” Sam pointed to each of the red X’s he marked on the map. “Um, tooth fairy attack was here, Pop Rocks and Coke was here, then you've got itching powder, face freeze, and joy buzzer—all located within a two-mile radius.”

“So, we got a blast zone of weird, and inside, fantasy becomes reality?” you wondered.

“Looks like.”

“And what's the A-bomb at its center?”

“Four acres of farmland and a house.”

“Then I know where we need to go next,” you declared as you snatched the keys from the table.

“Why don’t you just knock?” you asked as Sam tried to pick the lock.

“There might not be anyone home,” he said just as the door opened.

Sam quickly put away the lock pick kit as you three stared at the kid who answered the door. There was a soft black glow around the kid’s body, and your eyes widened when you realized what that meant.

“Can I help you?”

“Hi. Uh, what's your name?”

“Who wants to know?”

“The, uh, FBI,” Dean said as he and Sam took out their credentials to show him, but you couldn’t seem to move.

Dean looked at you to see what was wrong when he noticed your pale face. There was something you were seeing that they weren’t and he became worried.

“Let me see that,” the young boy said as he grabbed Dean’s badge. When he was convinced that they were real, he handed it back. “So, what, you guys don't knock?”

“Are your parents home?” you whispered.

“They work.”

“Could we please take a look inside? Maybe ask you a few questions?” you asked, trying to show the boy you can do more than just stare at him in fear.

“Fine,” he sighed as he let you inside.

He walked to the kitchen where a pot of soup was cooking. He turned off the stove and began pouring it into a bowl.

“What's that?” Sam asked, trying to make conversation.

“It's called soup. You heat it up and you eat it.”

“Right. I, I know. It's just, um... I used to make my own dinner, too, when I was a kid.”

“Well, I'm not a kid,” he said defensively.

“No, you’re not,” you muttered.

Dean noticed artwork on the fridge, and he took it down before showing it to young boy.

“I’m Robert, by the way,” Sam said as he shook his hand.

“Jesse.”

“Did you draw this?” Dean asked as he motioned to the drawing of the tooth fairy in which Sam described exactly at the hospital.

“It's the tooth fairy,” Jesse nodded.

“That's what you think the tooth fairy looks like, huh?”

“Yeah. My dad told me about him. What, didn't your dad tell you about the tooth fairy?”

“My dad?” Dean chucked. “My dad told me different stories.”

“Well, the tooth fairy isn't a story.”

“What do you know about itching powder, Jesse?” you asked.

“That stuff will make you scratch your brains out.”

“Pop Rocks and Coke?”

“You mix them, and you'll end up in the hospital. Everyone knows that,” he shrugged. Pulling out the joy buzzer, you showed it to Jesse whose eyes widened. “You shouldn't have that.”

“Why not?”

“It can electrocute you.”

“Actually, it can't. It's just a wind-up toy. It's totally harmless. Doesn't even have batteries.”

“So, it can't shock you?”

“Nope. Not at all. I swear.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“I mean, all it does is just shake in your hand. It's kind of lame. See?” you demonstrated by placing the end of the buzzer on Dean’s chest.

It shocked him in the way it was supposed to be shocked, but he didn’t know that. His form stiffened up, and he gave you a murderous look for doing so. Jesse grinned and giggled when he saw Dean’s reaction, but you could only give a half-assed smile.

“What the hell was that?” Dean growled when you three left his house.

“I had a hunch. I went with it.”

“You risked my ass on a hunch?”

“You're fine. Sam’s fine. I’m fine, but that boy is not fine,” you whispered fearfully.

“What did you see earlier?” Sam asked when he remembered the look in your eyes upon seeing the boy for the first time.

“He’s a demon.”

“What?”

“Or half-demon. I don’t know, but there is a black glow around that boy. It’s faint, but it’s there. He’s not a witch and he doesn’t have cursed objects. Whatever he believes in comes true because he’s a damn demon that has the power to do so.”

“I guess we need to figure out who his parents are.”

“Tell me you found something,” you sighed when Sam walked into the motel. Dean was on the bed reading something, but you were too nervous to do anything like that.

“It's not much. Uh, a B student who won last year's Pinewood Derby. Get this, Jesse was adopted. His birth records are sealed.”

“Tell me you unsealed them.”

“There's no father listed, but Jesse's biological mom is named Julia Wright. She lives in Elk Creek, on the other side of the state.”

“Great, let’s go. I need to know how this kid is a demon and didn’t try to kill us at first glance.”

Julia lived in such a secluded part of town. It didn’t make sense for her to be out here unless she was hiding from something or someone. There was a gate that separated the house from the street, and on the front was a “no trespassing” sign, but you ignored it as you pushed your way through. Approaching the front door, you rang the doorbell and waited.

“Whatever you're selling, I'm not interested.”

“We’re not salesmen. Agents Ronan, Page, and Plant. FBI,” you announced. Taking out your credentials, you held it up to the peephole along with Sam and Dean.

Put your badge in the slot. Your partners’, too,” she said. Sighing, you did as was told, and a few second slater, Julia opened the door and handed back the badges.

“What do you want?”

“We just had a few questions about your son.”

“I don’t have a son.”

“He was born March twenty-ninth, nineteen ninety-eight, in Omaha. You put him up for adoption?”

“What about him?”

“We were just wondering, um, was it a normal pregnancy? Was there anything strange?” you asked. All of a sudden, Julia slammed the door in a panic with fear in her eyes.

“Stay away from me!”

“Mrs. Wright wait!” you exclaimed as you pushed your way through the doors. When she slammed on, you opened it and continued on.

“We just want to talk!” you exclaimed. She finally entered the kitchen, and when you entered, she threw salt t the three of you.

“You're not demons?”

“I knew it!” you gasped as you lightly slapped Dean’s chest to prove your point.

“How do you know about demons?” Dean gasped.

“Mrs. Wright, we are not here to hurt you. My name is Y/N Y/L/N, and these are Sam and Dean Winchester. We’re hunters, and demons are one of the monsters we hunt. Now, please tell us about your son because we really need to know more about him,” you said in a calm manner. Julia sighed and nodded before taking you three to the dining room.

“I was possessed. A demon took control of my body, and I hurt people. I killed people.”

“That wasn’t you,” Sam sighed.

“But I was there. I heard a woman beg for mercy. I felt a young girl's blood drip down my hands.”

“That's how you knew about the salt,” Dean observed.

“Yeah, I picked up tricks. It was in my head for months. Many, many months.”

“How many?”

“Nine.”

“So, your son…”

“Yeah, the whole time. The pregnancy, birth—all of it. I was possessed. The night the baby was born, I was alone. And the pain was—the pain was overwhelming. I screamed, and it came out a laugh because the demon was happy. It used my body to give birth to a child. When it was over, something changed. Maybe the demon was tired or if the pain helped me fight it, but somehow, I took control.

“And the demon wailed inside me. It pounded against my skull. I thought my head was gonna explode. But I knew. I knew what I had to do. When I was alone with the baby, a part of me wanted to kill it. But, God help me, I couldn't do that. So, I put it up for adoption, and I ran.”

“Who was the father?” you asked.

“I was a virgin,” she shook her head. “Have you seen my son? Is he human?”

“His name's Jesse. He lives in, uh, Alliance. He's a good kid,” you said, leaving out the part that made him a demon. It took some time, but you three left her house with frowns on your faces.

“So, now what?” Sam asked.

“We need help.”

“You think he’s here?” Dean asked as you walked into the motel room.

“I said half-demon baby child. So, yeah, I think he’s here,” you stated as you turned on the lights. There, in the middle of the room, stood Castiel.

“It's lucky you found the boy,” the angel spoke.

“Oh, yeah, real lucky. What do we do with him?”

“Kill him.”

“Castiel,” you sighed after a few moments of staring at him in shock.

“This child is half demon and half human, but it's far more powerful than either. Other cultures call this hybrid Cambion or Katako. You know him as the antichrist,” he said as he took a seat at the table.

In an instant, fart noises was all that could be heard, and you three stared at Castiel as it continued to happen. Dean tried to hide the smile from his face until it was done. Castiel reached underneath him and pulled out the whoopee cushion Dean bought before placing it on the table.

“That wasn’t me.”

“Anyway, I don't get it. Jesse is the devil's son?” Sam asked.

“No, of course not. Your Bible gets more wrong than it does right. The antichrist is not Lucifer's child. It's just a demon spawn, but it is one of the devil's greatest weapons in the war against heaven.”

“Well, if Jesse's a demonic howitzer, then what the hell's he doing in Nebraska?”

“The demons lost him. They can't find him, but they're looking.”

“Why did they lose him?” you asked.

“Because of the child's power. It hides him from both angels and demons. For now.”

“So, he's got, like, a force field around him. Well, that's great. Problem solved.”

“It’s why the shit’s been happening in a two-mile radius. It’s his ‘force field’ as you put it,” you observed.

“With Lucifer risen, this child grows strong. Soon, he will do more than just make a few toys come to life—something that will draw the demons to him. The demons will find this child. Lucifer will twist this boy to his purpose. Then, with a word, this child will destroy the Host of Heaven.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait. You're saying that—that Jesse's gonna nuke the angels?” Dean gasped.

“We cannot allow that to happen.”

“Wait,” Sam stood. “We're the good guys. We—we don't just kill children.”

“A year ago, you would have done whatever it took to win this war,” Castiel glared as he stood.

“Things change,” Sam narrowed his eyes.

Dean stepped forward and placed a hand on his brother’s chest to calm him down before speaking.

“Okay. Hey, look, we are not going to kill him. Alright? But we can't leave Jesse here either. We know that. So, we take him to Bobby's. He'll know what to do.”

“You'll kidnap him? What is going on in this town, it's what happens when this thing is happy. You cannot imagine what it will do if it's angry. Besides, how will you hold him? With a thought, he could be halfway around the world.”

“So, we tell him the truth. You say Jesse's destined to go dark side—fine, but he hasn't yet. So, if we lay it all out for him—what he is, the apocalypse, everything—he might make the right choice,” Sam tried to reason with the angel. Castiel glared and leaned forward, his eyes deep with disappointment and anger.

“You didn’t. I can’t take that chance,” he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Damn it,” Sam groaned.

“Come on, he’s headed for Jesse,” you exclaimed as you grabbed the keys to the car.

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[womantryingtoexist]

The Raven Gang at Hogwarts

I am aware that there are probably hundreds of hot takes out there regarding The Raven Cycle and Harry Potter. But that also means that you have not yet heard mine! ^^

Ronan: 

Son of a Dreamer, Son of a Dream. His father is a powerful wizard, profoundly talented in Charms. Many whisper that his wife is just a charm brought to life. But that does not matter to young Ronan. He grows up surrounded by magic, being magic - even though Declan is the one who has all the “adult” talks with Niall. Even though Declan is a Squib (Mom said, he shouldn`t use that word but it is true).

When Ronan gets to Hogwarts, the Hat is fast to sort him into Gryffindor. Ronan is a bit put out, with his father a proud Slytherin and his mother a Hufflepuff. But then again? Daring and Brave? That is something Ronan can get behind on. He is only a little bit annoyed that he doesn`t get to share a dorm with his best friend Gansey.

Gansey:

Gansey is actually a half-blood. And proud of it. His father comes from a long line of wizards dating back to Merlin and his mother is a fierce muggle politician who could not resist the charming wizard with an obsession for everything muggle. The only draw back was, that Gansey seemed to be graced with bad luck.

His death had been foretold numerous times and the summer before he gets to attend Hogwarts that seems to finally come true. He dies, for approximately 15 seconds, before his father is able to heal him. Everybody is relieved - his foretold death is not permanent after all. The only one not content with that conclusion is Gansey himself. He knows that there is something more to it. Which is why the Sorting Hat wastes no time to put Gansey`s searching mind into Ravenclaw.

Adam:

Adam walks into Hogwarts and almost wants to back out again. He does not belong at all. Being already fiercely independent at the age of eleven, the idea of a magical school out of his comfort zone does not overjoy him. He is muggle born after all, part of the dirty apartments of Hodge Hill in Birmingham, poorest of the poor. 

He talks to no one on his way to Hogwarts. There is no need to. He sees their glances, he hears their whispers. He is dirt even for the wizards. Which is why he is not surprised to land in Slytherin (though, he does not yet understand the disgust of his classmates  - but he will soon).

 Blue:

Blue is not a Squip. She is not. She may not be graced with the power of Divination like the rest of her family, and her magic might be a bit on the weaker side, but she is not a Squip. Her father is not here, she lives in Hogsmeade and her will to throw down at any time, makes her the perfect witch.

She is even a little bit sad, when the school year begins because she does not take the Hogwarts Express, because she is not going to stay in the castle but with the Sorting Hat putting her into Gryffindor everything seems possible. She is a Sargent after all - and a Sargent does not take shit.

Noah:

The friendly Hufflepuff ghost spent most of his time in the Ravenclaw Dormitory and Gansey had not realized for way to long that Noah was not only not in his house but also dead. But a quick friendship was found nonetheless.

Ronan adored Noah. The two of them were fast friends and while Gansey asked all sorts of questions about the first wizarding war and the history of this place, Ronan only wanted to have fun.

It was fun, until the Boy Who Lived joined the school. Gansey and Ronan were third years at this point, and they had many friends but where closest to each other. Harry Potter did not interest them at first.

But then in their forth year things changed. The chamber of secrets was opened. And Slytherin got really hostile. Gansey started to notice that Gryffindor girl (she was a Chaser - and so good at it) and Ronan noticed that Slytherin boy who was always alone.

Noah bullied them into talking to them. 

Adam Parrish had not had a problem in Slytherin until that weasel of a boy Draco Malfoy appeared. His classmates had been cold but not hostile. It had been easy to stay the best - and even easier to hide the bruises he came back with after the holidays. But not anymore. Adam was almost relieved when the Gryffindor boy spoke with him. 

Blue Sargent was loud. That was what everyone told her. She was also okay with that. Being load was better than being overlooked after all. She likes the twins (and pitied them because they had to share with Ronan Lynch) and when the Boy Who Lived came along, she had a weird feeling. Fate was a lucky thing. She did almost punch Richard Gansey III in the face, however, when he came and asked for a date.

From three to five.

Their fifth year, Henry joined.

Henry:

When his mother told him that he would have to change schools, Henry imagined a different magic school, maybe in Korea instead of Canada. But no, his mother send him to Hogwarts. A school so small and obscure, he knew instantly that his mother wanted for him to do something.

Things had heated up in Europe the last few years with the Dark Side rising again. And his mother had no need for a war, so Henry should find information on how to stop that. Because people might stop buying, if they were dying. 

And so he went. Ravenclaw, said the silly Talking Hat, with a hint of Slytherin. Henry only grinned. Ravenclaw it was. 

He made fast friends with Richard Gansey, who seemed to be his own kind of wonder and yet not the Boy Who Lived. Ronan Lynch was a bit mean but overall enjoyable. That Adam Parrish guy was way to good at Divination - and at taking Extracurriculars. Blue Sargent was wicked and Henry was a tiny bit in love with her. But who wasn`t? Especially since she was currently dating Adam. (And Henry did notice, that this fact turned both Gansey AND Ronan into pinning idiots). And Noah? Noah loved Henry.

And then the shit hit the fan.

Ronan`s dad was murdered during the summer holidays. Voldemort came back. Ronan was not the same. Adam could no longer evade the questions - and yet did not leave. Persephone died - leaving a legacy for Adam - and a prophecy for Gansey: He would die again. Relationships broke. 

Their last year brought Umbrigde. And political chaos. Ronan knew his father had been involved in the last war - he knew Declan was now. Henry was told to leave - but he couldn`t. Not anymore. A magical assassin showed up at Blues doorstep. All of Adams precautions said Death. 

The Boy who lived survived, that year at least. 

And The Gangsey went into hiding. There has been attacks and they felt no longer safe. Adam was afraid of going home (what even was that?) but what else could they do? 

The year after Hogwarts was spent planning. They found Noahs killer, the made deals with old things, they sold their souls. They made sure that the artifact their families dealt with would not count in this war. But they did so silently. 

Until that was no longer possible. Because they were called. The Boy Who Lived had sent the sign. The sign for the Last Battle. 

The Battle of Hogwarts.  

[cowboylikedean]

FIRST THOUGHTS

Okay everyone welcome to my Lover first thoughts!!!

Overall: I love this album. It isn’t what I expected at first, I was expecting something stripped an acoustic but it is what I hoped for. If I wasn’t going to have stripped and acoustic, I wanted something Bubblegum in the modern way Carly Rae Jepsen is and guess what? I got an album that sounds like my FAVORITE parts of EMOTION from nearly top to bottom. This album is a lot so it’s gonna take a while fo me to digest, but I adore it. It’s already up there with Speak Now, Red, and reputation in my top tier. 

Below is my track by track

I Forgot That You Existed: I’ve seen people skip over this one but honestly? I needed it. I don’t know who she’s talking about, she lost a lot of friends summer 2016. But I am singing about that jackass who up and left my life and took me for several hundred dollars and then laughed as his asshole boyfriend posted a long ass blog post lying about me, misgendering me for sport, and making fun of me all while laughing about how he’s “not nice” (and being proud of that) when even HIS FOLLOWERS called him out for being cruel. I had that moment where I forgot that he existed and it was so freeing. This is gonna be one of my most listened to.

Cruel Summer: This song. Holy wow. Like talk about bridge city I guess lmao! Nah but it’s a vibe. and the chorus is so exciting and like I mentioned Carly Rae Jepsen and like THE CHORUS CAN’T  YOU HEAR HER???? I love this theme all over this album about falling into a relationship with someone in the midst of something hard or pushing through something difficult with someone. Cruel Summer is the first instance of this in this album and I’m going to need more time with the lyrics… There’s little things that I’m gonna need more time with… But I adore this vibe where she’s like telling the other side of Getaway Car. In Getaway Car we learned that you can’t run away from your problems, it doesn’t end well. In Cruel Summer we find her release in doing so. We find how that release of running away was what she needed to find herself and stability again. We find that without her past, she could never have arrived so wondrously and brutally, by design or some violent, exquisite happenstance… here.

Lover: Instant fave the second I heard it. Best love song she’s ever written and I 100% understand why she named the album Lover. This track is beautiful and the slower tempo doesn’t in any way detract from the sheer joy and excitement expressed in the song. It’s a public declaration of a private love in the most excited way and I get it. Also I did get some acoustic singer songwriter on this album!!

The Man: DID I HEAR TAYLOR SAY BITCH TWICE?!?!??!? also fuck she’s right. and I GUESSED HOW THE LYRICS WE HAD WOULD SOUND AND I WAS RIGHT i felt like a bomb when that happened. hahah tbh though, not my fave. Don’t get me wrong, far from the worst but just kind middle of the road to me. Also I think it’s the breakdown after the chorus that pushes it towards the middle to me. But again… Bridge city. The bridge is by far the best part of this song. 

The Archer: I still think this is my favorite song on the album. It has already helped me so much and I think Taylor and I feel depression, anxiety, and other stuff very similarly. Basically everything she’s released about it has highly resonated with me. I have so much to say about this song and its impact on me but I don’t think if I said all of that it would be much relevant to this post. Basically, I never grew up it’s getting so old. This song helps me grow up.

I Think He Knows: This song is so fucking fun and cute I jive and the chorus again I feel the Carly Rae vibes… I also love “bless my soul” like that’s such a great lyric. This is another one I feel is middle of the road for this album though. Like as a pop song, it’s top rate. As this album, it’s middle of the road. I’m happy to hear the vocoder again though! 

Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince: So I love this song. Everyone loves this song but I love this song both as its political commentary and just a commentary on depression in general. Like as a song about the specific depression and disappointment that struck us all after the 2016 election, it’s nearly flawless. As a song about disappointment and depression in general, it’s nearly flawless. I really love both readings but in the later, I really love the line “they whisper in the hallway she’s a bad bad girl” because in this reading, I like to see that about Taylor and how she is Miss Americana and the heartbreak prince. idk I think the fact that this song can work in both contexts’ and have completely separate meanings speaks to the strength of the songwriting. I’m so impressed. She hit it out of the park with this one.

Paper Rings: OKAY SECOND FAVORITE/TIED WITH FAVORITE HAPPY LOVE SONG WOW WOWOWOWOW The Last Kiss reference, the vibe that sounds like a teen movie when the kids break out and are running wild and free, idk why but I love “The moon is high just like your friends when we first met” it’s just so…. vivid. You cannot miss the feeling of freedom. This song is about finding freedom in love. Falling in love is the most exciting and free feeling in the world, whether that is romantic love or not and this song captures that feeling when you get to that ledge and you just….. slip. And the best part is it works for everything. Like idk I’ve always been able to take the feeling a song presents and take it out of its specific context and apply it to another instance of that feeling so I can easily take this song about the freely falling in love and look around and find hundreds of applications. Every time you love something or someone to the point where you don’t need anything else than what they give you to feel whole and complete, this song is there in the background reminding you that you do in fact like shiny things, but you don’t need them. Because this thing or person is all you need. LIKE STOP IT’S SO GOOD also 100% if she sang it with a country accent, it’d be a country hit. It sounds so much like Sam Hunt I cannot even, i have died.

Cornelia Street: The ROOFFKLJDSLKFJKSLDJFKLSDJLKFJLKSDF also like I am here for the storytelling songwriting so much. This is another one I need more time with but I think it’s already a classic. Again, it’s so nice to here something other than “I love you and everything is great” I mean it is like that but it’s the fear of being forced to say goodbye and how that would feel. It’s knowing you’ve gone all in and there’s no turning back. I see this song so beautiful contrasted with All Too Well. All Too Well focuses on a heartbreak that only time could help, but it seemed like time wouldn’t. It takes you through the beginning, middle, and end of that relationship and explains why it hurts so much. Cornelia Street takes us through this relationship, especially the beginning, and explains why this would be a heartbreak time couldn’t fix. It’s so vulnerable and honest in some really beautiful and profound ways.

Death by a Thousand Cuts: Okay so first of all, I would ADORE this song if that very low bass and synths weren’t there. I don’t know why they’re there but it muddles they for me and I can’t focus on anything because it’s like everything else is covered in a thick layer of mud trying to move around. Second I have no idea who or what this song was written about but it’s jarring to hear a breakup song on this album. I love asking the traffic lights if it will be okay and them saying “I don’t know.” Like that’s honestly incredible writing. We’ve all had those times when we’re hurting or scared and we’re in the car and we’re looking for a sign it will be okay but we have nothing. Also I need more time with the second verse. There’s so much there, I haven’t had time yet to process.

London Boy: “But God, I Love the English.” Yep you got a TYPE GIRL!! this song is so fun!! it’s so bragging… I love it! She’s just like “yeah I love a London Boy what OF IT BITCH” and it just feels like a mic drop like she’s like doing that move where you slam your hands at your crotch like a dick??? like idk it’s such a bde to me. Like she’s name dropping all these London things and bragging about how she’s English now because she’s got this guy and bragging about her type and her Anglophile fetish and idk it just feels like “you got something to SAY??!??!?!” I’ve heard that vibe is very London but idk because I do not have a london boy like she does.

Soon You’ll Get Better: Either Taylor played the album in the wrong order for these fans at the secret sessions or something because this 100% is that song she couldn’t listen to. I have heard it once and I am doubtful to listen to it again. I have listed to Ronan 3 times total. Soon You’ll Get Better is up there. I can’t. I’m so lucky my Dad is in remission and has been for 10 years… If his cancer came back, I don’t know what I’d do. It’s my biggest fear. And the Dixie Chicks sound beautiful on this track, so does the plucking country instrumentals. Gorgeous. I just… can’t. I admire Taylor and family for sharing this, but I can’t.

False God: I understand why this comes after Soon You’ll Get Better. She needs that thing to fall into, to give herself over into. The hard times my hurt and might be difficult, but they don’t end a relationship. Soon You’ll Get Better is a really hard time and a sick parent can put a lot of stress on a relationship and False God feels like the perfect way to pick up the main overaching love story and give it a response to Soon You’ll Get Better. It’s hard, but they can get through it. Even if it’s a false god, they’ll be there. That said, this song is far from my favorite. I feel so disconnected from it. It just feels boring. I get sucked in the last few lines of the pre-chours where she rushes through the lyrics and then the chorus is nice, but by the time the chorus ends, I’m bored again. The production gives me almost nothing. It feels like What A Feeling… a perfectly fine song, but boring as fuck and like it’s got a vibe that I don’t really fuck with. Like it feels like a song you get high to… and I don’t get high often, and I only do it ever when I’m going to sleep. So it feels like I’m going to sleep.

You Need to Calm Down: Let me start by prefacing that I ADORE the song. It was really important for her to say and I needed something to respond to the internet’s take down cancel culture and remind me not to get in the middle of the fights. However, this song sticks out like a sore thumb to me. It doesn’t feel like it fits. Coming after False God it feels like a complete outlier and like it doesn’t relate to the rest of the album. I could see an argument that it is about basic human respect and that kind of love and therefore has its place, but is this placement in the tracklist it??? I am thankful for the break when YNTCD comes because Soon You’ll Get Better is so heavy that it caries over to False God, but YNTCD feels completely unnecessary if you skip Soon You’ll Get Better and all of that heartbreak. Again though, it’s a classic and I adore it. Just not sure if I adore it for this album.

Afterglow: It’s so nice to hear a song from Taylor in which she apologizes and makes up after a fight. I don’t know why but I was worried she wouldn’t let us into the fights her and Joe have. That we would be outside. But like Ed said in End Game “you know that good and bad end up in a song.” Having a song from Taylor after 13 years that shows her experiencing conflict with a partner, apologizing, and ends without an end to the relationship…. And in this song it’s different from how she previously portrayed conflict too. Mine, in it’s hypothetical, expresses her “partner” chasing after her in. ME! (which we’ll get to in a second) also shows that kind of conflict resolution. Afterglow shows her taking responsibility and chasing after them. It’s one of my favorites for sure. Never underestimate the value of an apology. I have a lot to say.

ME!: First of all, fuck everyone “Hey kids, spelling is fun!” is hilarious and I cannot BELIEVE she took it out I am pissed. Second, I like this song so much more in the context of the album. Coming after Afterglow, it is important the next song both take responsibility for her negative traits that lead to that conflict and also not dwell on it. Me takes the whole conflict of Afterglow and reframes it from “I fucked up please don’t leave. Love me despite my flaws?” to “I know I’m difficult, but I am also so much more and damnit, I love me so I know you do too.” While the production still feels a bit hokey, I understand it’s purpose. I will forever be bitter about spelling is fun and you all are so mean. I hope you enjoy what you’ve done monsters.

It’s Nice to Have a Friend: My least favorite song on the album. It’s just so boring to me. The steel drums are nice, but it doesn’t feel like it ever goes anywhere. The chorus is too short and simple and I just feel nothing. idk I like the story I guess… meet in school, hang out timid first step… but then it ends in marriage? Haven’t we done this with Mary’s Song? idk i think I would like it better with a bridge in between the second chorus and the third verse because it’s like they skip the whole dating step. They go meeting, timid first step, MARRIAGE!!!! and the chorus is just not enough to separate second step from third. That and the fact the production doesn’t really go anywhere… It’s just so one note and boring and without any sort of conflict. I get it’s supposed to be like a daydream, I think… but even day dreams have conflicts. idk it’s a bad story because there’s no movement. 

Daylight: I see why this album was almost named Daylight. I’m going need a lot more time with this song. I can see it being one of my favorite Taylor songs ever eventually but I need to memorize every second of it to let myself go into it. The Red reference FUCKED ME UP. And the voice message at the end. And just the release of this song. The whole thing is an exhale. A total release of tension. It’s truly astonishing. Like I said though, to really immerse myself in it, I’m going to need to memorize it. Because it’s a release of tension, to find that and feel that, I need to focus on every lyric, every production element, every note and just….. let go. I do think this is one of the most important songs she’s ever written. Both for herself and for the rest of the world. This song is a reminder to breathe. To let it go. To focus on love. To find the love in your life. To not let it get too dark. It’s beautiful and it will keep me going on my path to recovery… as I expect it will for many others too.

Favorites (in order of most to least): The Archer, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, Lover = Paper Rings, Afterglow

Least favorites (in order most to least): I Think He Knows, False God, It’s Nice to Have a Friend

[originaljediinjeans]

MCU Rewatch: “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014)

kid Peter Quill getting beaten up because he tried to save a little frog from the other kids picking on it grows up to be Star-Lord who is not going to stand by while a nutcase terrorist tries to wipe out billions of people

Meredith was kind of played by Ego, or at least deceived into thinking he was a better person than he actually was

Peter Quill is actually a great space pilot and the film shows it

the opening credits scene is perfect, you have no idea how perfect

Drax isn’t the brightest bulb in the set but don’t mess with him when he’s angry. just don’t.

The Avengers have their quarrels but they can get along, especially when they’re slightly inebriated. The Guardians….attack each other when they’re drunk. We only have one instance of either party being drunk in the same room but that’s what I’m seeing.

The Broker is underrated. He’s a little bit of a snob but he’s kind of high-strung. Love him. Did the Broker realize later that Ronan had an Infinity Stone that had actually been in the Orb that Peter had tried to sell him? That was a close one.

Ronan is a drama queen seriously.

Peter Quill thinks at the start of the film that he has street cred. He doesn’t.

Quill’s day out on Xandar was…not his best day

GOTG is not only Marvel’s first real “space” movie, but it’s also the first movie where the main characters end up together on accident. They only sort of came together because Gamora wanted to sell the orb and split the profit when they got out of prison, and Drax wanted their help killing Ronan. After that they were only working together to stop Ronan. They had no plan for afterward, much less for if they survived.

AKA what might have been in Rogue One if they had…yeah

Nebula and Gamora have been working for Ronan for a while. And they’ve done a lot of killing with him and for him.

Day’s face when he saw that Quill was calling him XD JOHN C. RILEY WAS THE PERFECT CHOICE FOR THIS FILM

I hope we see at least Danerian Day in a future MCU film. GOTG 3 or a Captain Marvel sequel.

I love PQ’s long coat that he has in the opening. The shorter leather jacket just isn’t the same.

I love Nova Prime. She’s got great hair.

Seriously the NovaCorp’s military uniforms are on fleek

You’d think the NovaCorp would have the time and resources to reform their criminal justice system…

I think Ronan’s beef with Xandarians is that the Xandar-based Nova Empire have a pan-commercial mass-media culture kind of like the USA that is influencing the rest of the galaxy with its ways and Ronan and a lot of Kree just don’t like it

Never noticed this before, but Xandar’s capital is built shaped like the Nova Star. You see it on Nova Prime’s interactive map in the board room

If prison was a popularity contest, Gamora lost bigtime

The Guardians are really lucky they left the Kyln when they did

It’s also really fortunate that the Milano was impounded at the Kyln

It’s really a good thing for the whole universe that Yondu decided to not give Peter to his dad

Adult Groot is as much of an idiot as the rest of the Guardians, and he doesn’t really have the best morals either, but he is a saint

Carina’s death is really intense

Peter Quill has moved on from his life on earth, yeah–sounds like his childhood wasn’t really that great. But even if it leads to a new life as a space pirate, getting abducted is still traumatic

The well of Nebula’s hatred, anger, and spite vastly deep. It’s probably bottomless.

Gamora deciding to quit working for Ronan and Thanos probably influenced Nebula to make the same decision.

Rocket compulsively builds things

Ronan may be a “drama queen,” but when things are going his way he’s very patient and calm. Overall he’s not super active/jumpy. He’s really slow and deliberate.

Chris Pratt was the perfect man to play Star-lord. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I think PQ has been going through a phase where he’s decided to rebel from Yondu and go on his own

The brother that I watched this with says the side characters are entertaining and he’s absolutely right

Yondu w/ that arrow is so hardcore I can’t even

I also love how he collects little trinkets

Groot: *attacks all the soldiers with giant branch* Brother: “That would be the time to say something in the vein of, ‘Why was she up there the whole time?’”

You know what the MCU needs? More Kraglin.

Yondu was probably listening to the Guardians “planning” meeting

My brother also thinks that Quill’s face cracking when he’s holding the Power Stone is related to his Celestial origins

Gamora’s dress at the end is cute. But does she only wear black because she’s emo or do only dark colors go with their hair/complexion?

Why does no one talk about the fact that Quill literally “trolled” Yondu?

[fitzronan-blog]

Hello

I got recommended by a friend of mine to try start a blog where I could talk about my experiences and the journey I am going on. This is mostly because whenever I try to access online resources to find information, the only valuable sources are from those who have gone through it all before and I want to contribute to that. It might make someone who stumbles across this have a way easier time of it.

This first little post is just going to be a little introduction, laying out complete honestly as far as it won’t reveal my identity and stuff (haha dont want people knowing this is me)

My name is Ronan Fitzpatrick, and I am a ftm Trans guy. I am 18, 19 in a few days and just recently I came out to the people in the world who are the closest to me. Those being my nuclear family and my closest friends. All in all i have told 5 friends, my parents and one of my brothers. 

All of my friends generally had the same reaction. “this makes so much sense” which caused a sense of huge relief to me, to hear that people that had known me for over 7 years say “yep that makes you as a person seem clearer to me” was just so good. It was like validation that of course I’m a lad because all of these people who know me so well are not at all surprised. I have been lucky so far in the friends I have told that all of them are allies of trans issues, and one of them is trans themselves. They understand and I don’t feel any different really, just happier. 

It was the same thing with my brother, a member of the LGBT community he was instantly accepting (not all will be, because they’re trans exclusionary) although not without wanting the reasoning behind why I thought I was Trans. (.which I will post on a later post) he was just excited to have a younger brother and to be honest, I was ready as I’d always been to be his little brother. He also told me that it just fit into place with my whole childhood and growing up. 

Then there is the parents. I deeply love and care about my mam and dad. They are some of my best friends and have always been there for me, when I came out as a Lesbian, when I was in depressive states. They were by my side. I knew this would be a shock to them though. 

I told my mum first, and she was supportive. She didn’t give me a hug or anything but she asked what was next, as in what could we do about it. This was better than a hug, because I knew she would take me seriously about what I wanted even if she disapproved herself

My dad was a different story. He coaches my gaa team (sports team) and I told him as we were finishing off our last pints after the rest of the team had headed off.  He told me I was too young, that surgery was gross, that I was beautiful and that he couldn’t wrap his head around it. 

Fair enough, He wasn’t raised in the same society I was or my friends or brother or even mam, he was in the country under the thumb of the catholic church. What shocked me so much was what a loss he felt, he said to me that he felt as though he lost his best friend, that our relationship could never be the same and it all boils down to him not understanding transness as a concept. He thinks even if I do get treatment or whatever I will eventually regret it. 

My advice to myself is this. Give it time. He loves me, I know he does. I am not going to stop trying to make myself happier now though. I will do all I can to quell the weight that is on my chest. 

When I speak to people who are supportive, I am so sure of myself because they validate me and how much sense me as a guy makes not only in my head, but in theirs as well , but it makes me feel like I’m making it all up when my dad looks at me and calls me his darling, because I was for so long and part of me identifies with that person but way more of me is Ronan, his son, who justs wants to play gaa and go on the sesh with his mates.

[everly-kindred]

Everly’s Diary - Entry #26

Synopsis: Eve details her first two days at Hogwarts, including the Sorting Ceremony! (Finally!)

Words: 2,670

Date: 1st of September, 2026

Dear Diary, 

So… yesterday was the Sorting Ceremony, and the first day of Hogwarts. My wrist is about to hurt from how much I have to write!

Firstly, there was the train ride. Admittedly, I cried a lot, and it all started with having to say goodbye to my family. Once I was on the train, Bonnie gave me a crate and asked me to watch it on the train ride for her. I took it and found myself a window seat in an empty compartment, and then I got to meet a lot of students.

I finally met Evan, who Aures had mentioned to me. He seemed very nice, if not quiet, though he got a lot brighter when she entered the room. I met a boy named Levi, who also seemed very nice. He and Evan both like to draw, like me! Evan was sorted into Hufflepuff, and Levi went to Gryffindor. Oh, also, Aures was sorted into Gryffindor, which… Made me sad, to be completely honest, though not as sad as Evan. I could tell he looked crushed. But, she looked very happy about it, and I think it suits her. Anyways, it’s not like we can’t be friends just because we’re in different houses! 

I also met a set of twins, two girls named Celeste and Soleil. They seemed nice, too, and got sorted into Hufflepuff as well! So that’s exciting. Finally, there was a boy named Felix, who got sorted into Ravenclaw. He was also very sweet, so I guess I got lucky with my train compartment friends! He actually helped identify what creature was in the crate Bonnie had me watch over, because he had a copy of Fantastic Beasts with him. 

It turned out, they were something called a “Jarvey.” There were two of them. They looked like ferrets, and they were wearing cones on their heads. That wasn’t the weirdest thing, though. The weirdest thing was that they could talk! And they didn’t have anything nice to say, either.

Once we got off the train, all of the first years were guided by a Professor named uh… Well, I don’t know how to spell it yet, but it sounded like Pre-Oh. She wore a really pretty gold robe, and is actually the Hufflepuff Head of House! She guided us to the boats, and me, Aures, Felix, and another first year all shared one. Aures said it was our first adventure together, and I said it would be the first of many. 

We got off the boats, and walked up to the castle. It’s honestly much, much bigger than I imagined it to be. I mean, I knew it would be big, but I guess I just wasn’t prepared for how big, you know? And I’d bet galleons that I’ll be getting lost in it very, very easily. I hope I can figure out how to make my classes in time.

Anyways, we stood outside of the Great Hall, and met the Deputy Headmistress. Her name is Professor Blightly. I won’t lie, I was a little scared of her at first. She’s a very pale, thin woman and one eye is… Well, not missing, but… I mean it doesn’t look okay. And she has very white hair although there’s a streak of black. Actually, she’s very pretty, but I was expecting her to be a lot more… Cold? Than she ended up being. She was quite nice! And gave a very comforting welcome speech to all of us. 

We all went into the Great Hall after that, and it was… Well, magnificent! It’s not called the Great Hall for nothing! The ceiling was full of stars and clouds and the moon, and there were candles floating over all of our heads. It was everything I had read about in Hogwarts: A History, and more!

While we were waiting to be sorted, a ghost flew through me, and honestly even laying in your undies in the snow couldn’t compare to how cold that felt. It was both gross, and really cool at the same time. It came over me like a sort of sadness, and made me feel incredibly lonely in that moment, but then it was over. I must say, Hogwarts has a lot of ghosts, and I’ve honestly never seen one like that aside from the one I saw at Christmas. But these ghosts were socializing, and weren’t trying to hide at all! It was bizarre but very, very interesting, and they were all quite beautiful. 

The sorting hat sang a song about all the houses, and this really weird, colourful… I mean, I guess he was a ghost, but he didn’t look like the other ones? I don’t know how to explain it. He looked like a puppet without strings, the way he flew around the Great Hall. Anyways, he kept interrupting the song, and saying mean things, which was a little irritating. 

Once that was done, it was time to be sorted. Get this - Ruby was a Ravenclaw! He was so sure he was going to be Slytherin, and he honestly looked so upset that he wasn’t. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet, but… Maybe it would be best to give him time. I’ve never seen him look as unhappy as he did, like that. 

As for me? Well, Grandpa won the bet, because I’m a Hufflepuff! So I’ll be with Evan, the twins, and Bobby! Plus Talula and another girl I met named Marigold. It seems like my house is full of a lot of good people, so I’m not unhappy about it at all.

After I was sorted, that was when things started to go downhill for me. The Headmistress spoke, and even sang a song for the Headmaster. I think they’re meant to do this every year, because most of the people in the hall knew the words already. I didn’t know the words, but I still hummed and swayed to the music. It was haunting. The Headmistress was a woman dressed in black, with a very sharp eye. She seemed a bit more stern than the Deputy Headmistress, but she wasn’t without a smile for the new students, at least. She was dressed in all black, so I think she’s still mourning Headmaster Fox.

After her speech and song, the feast began. That was also when the trouble began. A clown entered the room, though, it wasn’t really a clown. It changed into something else that I honestly don’t remember, as it walked between the tables, and then… it locked eyes with me, and turned into a skeleton. I honestly froze with fear! I couldn’t move, or breathe, and I think I screamed, before I ducked under the table.

Apparently, it was a boggart, and the Headmistress shooed it away from the hall, but now it’s running loose in the school. I was really shaken up after that, but I was able to eat some food. They had mashed potatoes, of course, which is one of my favourite foods. They had a bunch of other stuff, too, but I was honestly too frightened to really pay attention or want to eat anything more solid than that. 

After dinner, the prefects guided us to the common room, and the dorms. I went ahead of everyone else, so I got there first, and then a boy named Anton showed up. He had a very large hat that hid most of his face! He was very nice, and gave me a few tips about the common room and the dorms. The prefects came, and showed everyone how to get in. You see, the entrance to the Hufflepuff commons is a bunch of barrels, and you have to tap them the right way, or else they’ll douse you in vinegar. The smell was very, very unpleasant. Anyways, we got in, the prefects gave us a speech about being good students and how we were all family now. I honestly really like our dorms, they remind me of the Hobbit Holes in this muggle book my dad likes. After the prefects talked to us, we all got shown to our dorms. 

I took a bed in the very back, against the wall. Puck was already there, along with all of my things. I took a shower and got changed into my pajamas, and then stayed in the commons with the others for a little longer before going to bed.

You know how I was saying I cried a lot? Well… yeah. It was a good thing that I went to bed before anyone else. I’ve honestly never felt so homesick and lonely in my life. All I wanted was a hug from my mum, and I was so sad and scared that I ended up crying until I fell asleep. I feel better now, for the most part, because I think I’m making friends, but… It’s hard. I miss home.

I ended up having a nightmare about the skeleton, too. I dreamed I was in the Great Hall again, and the hall was full but everyone had their backs to me, and I was standing in the middle of the aisle with the sorting hat on my head. The skeleton was coming towards me, slowly, crawling on all fours. It started off human, but it was slowly morphing into the skeleton of a frog, which was honestly less scary. But it was a big frog! Well, frog skeleton. 

Anyways, I was still terrified, because I was in a nightmare, and everyone was facing away, not looking at me, not helping me. I couldn’t move my feet at all, because it felt like I was stuck in something sticky, like trying to walk in honey or something. The frog was getting bigger and bigger, and was about to swallow me and trap me in its bones like a big cage. Finally, I managed to say ‘stop’ and I ended up saying it out loud, which woke me up, but I experienced a little sleep paralysis first. It was the first time I’d ever had that happen to me, but I knew what it was when it did, which made it less scary. It was just like, my brain was awake but my body wasn’t yet, so I still couldn’t move, and the dream was fading before my eyes. 

I managed to go back to sleep, but I didn’t have another dream after that. Then, I woke up kinda early, and went down to breakfast. I met two more Hufflepuffs, one named Willow who told me that if you laugh at the boggart, it’ll go away, and that I should travel with someone in case I run into it. The other one was named Ronan. Him and Willow were doing sign language, I think, but I don’t know sign language, so I couldn’t really keep up. They were talking a little while they were doing it, though, so I wasn’t left out or anything. 

After that, we had to leave the Great Hall so they could prepare it for the memorial. They filled it with benches and bubbles, and there was a portrait of Fox at the front - life size. I ended up sitting next to my potions professor, Professor Green. She actually loaned me her hat, because I complimented her on it! It’s a pretty black hat with a blue ribbon and a big, glass yellow star hanging off the tip. 

Then, the memorial started. And a lot of witches and wizards showed up for it.

Headmaster Fox was a man of many talents and accomplishments. He sounds as though he might’ve been one of the greatest and strongest wizards alive, when he was. And certainly one of the most beloved, as there were so many people around me, crying as the Headmistress spoke of him. It was very hard to be in that room, honestly. It broke me a little, to see the hurt everyone was feeling. 

I wish I had known him. 

Mum, Dad, my Step Dad, and Grandpa all showed up, and it was nice because I really needed a hug. Some people shared words with us about the Headmaster, including the Minister of Magic, Wilfred Bloom, who said the statue in the Ministry would be taken out and replaced with one of Fox. Talula sang a song I didn’t recognize, but it was very pretty anyways. 

I’m really grateful that Bonnie is here, and that she’s Head Girl. I feel so lost in this big school, and so alone… I’m friendly with some people but it’s not the same as being at home, with family. I hope the castle becomes home soon, and that my classmates become family. I’m really homesick, and I don’t know what I’ll do without Bonnie next year.

Hufflepuff had their first house meeting, after the memorial. Anton suggested to Professor Pre-Oh that we grow fruits and vegetables, and then someone else suggested a scavenger hunt to help the first years (like me!) learn the castle. Kites and dances were also suggested, but I was most excited about the gardening and the scavenger hunt. Especially because Pre-Oh said she could ask our herbology professors about helping grow the pumpkins! I love pumpkins so much! Eating them, using them for decoration… they’re amazing!

Eventually it was decided that Hufflepuff would organize a castle-wide scavenger hunt and that all houses were invited to participate, especially the first years so that we could get to know the castle. I’m very excited to see how it turns out, and try my hand at it! 

We also decided to have a night where we all sleep under the stars in the Astronomy tower, so that’s exciting too! Anton wanted us to transfigure our legs into tails and swim in the lake like mermaids, but the Professor said no to that idea. It got me wondering, though, if a person could be shrunk with magic and given transfigured wings? What if magic could make me into a faerie?

I also talked to Evan a little. He seems nervous about being a Hufflepuff, but hopefully we’ll both be fine. I told him we could be scared together. Also, I got to talk to Bobby, when I was writing in the courtyard. It was good to see him again, and it reminded me that I’m glad to be a Hufflepuff. I’m glad to be in a house with many good friends. 

Before dinner, I decided I wanted to explore the dungeons a little. Maybe a little stupid, especially because I was alone and there’s a boggart on the loose, but I was curious and ended up getting lucky. I was truthfully hoping I’d run into Ruby maybe. Even though he’s a Ravenclaw instead of a Slytherin, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was hanging out down there. But, I didn’t see him. 

It’s very dark down there, but I saw something white in the shadows. It turned out to be a very scared little rat! She seemed hungry, so I gave her some of the chocolate I had with me. After that, she crawled into my pocket, and didn’t want to leave, so I guess she’s mine now? I brought her with me to dinner, and she seemed very fond of the peas, cheese, and strawberries, like me! I didn’t hear anyone say anything about losing a pure-white rat, so I suppose she was wild? Or at the very least, not missed. 

Then I took her back to my dorm, and decided her name would be Venus. She seems scared of Puck, but Puck doesn’t really pay her any mind. For now, her and Cornelius share a cage. Hopefully no one notices that I’ve now got three pets…

Anyways, that’s been the past two days. Absolutely crazy, and my wrist hurts from writing it all out, just as I thought it would. Classes start tomorrow, so I’m going to go to bed. I’ll write soon!

Much love, Everly

About the Character: Everlina Rosemary Kindred is an imaginative Hufflepuff attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She keeps up with her magical journey through a series of diary entries, dream journals, and tarot readings, all documented for future reflection. Her diary is a small glimpse into her enchanted life, and her adventure into the wizarding world and all its splendors. If you’d like more information about Eve, visit her wiki page. 

About the Author: My name is Katherine! I am a 21-year-old Hufflepuff & Pukwudgie from Louisville, Kentucky. This page is my creative journey into the magical world, through the lenses of Second Life. Here I post diary entries, dream journals, and tarot readings all from my character’s perspective. If you’d like more information about me, visit my Flickr! 

[9lph9tr0n5s]

rohan au Q & A: part 2

welcome to the second Q & A, this time there will be a new host since the last one got fired after asking about the wildesavage’s intimate life 

before we start, this will be a private conversation, so very few mammals will know about this. the studio will send you the recording later. are you ok with that?

robyn- yes i am. what about you hannah?

hannah- uhm... yes. i don’t know how to feel. Wasn’t the last interview public?

It was, but it became private after that incident about your intimacy

Robyn- oh…

Q: anyway, let’s go with the first question: how did your families take your revelation to the public of your secret?

A: hannah- not very well: everyone was shocked, but the ones who took it pretty rough were robin sr and marian; they called us irresponsible and didn’t want to tell us a word. luckily luna, kodi and kion were supportive of us. olivia was neutral at the beginnig, but later she confessed me she was supportive of our public confession

robyn: really? then i must add her to the list of the ones who were good with this

which are?

robyn- my parents, lu, kodi, kion, jack and skye, alice... and i think that’s it. i don’t know how is everyone else

Q: what about your refound family members? how were they when they came back from the dead?

A: robyn- according to mom, ryan, ronan and reggie were on cloud nine when they had the chance to meet me, just like my grandparents... well before the confession

hannah- princess, don’t worry too much; i can say i was in tears when i met my grandma and luna’s mom: it was an hounor for me. i hope the decision to revive mr big and his bodyguard, though.

i think fru fru will be grateful for that

robyn: thanks for the support

Q: what about the “gem world”? i thought you mentioned something while you were live

A: robyn- that’s pretty weird, because apparently there is an alternate dimension where these “gem spirits” live. I think they represent something important for the universe…

Hannah- just to clarify: the fragments became gems after we first snapped. As for what the gems represent: they represent an essential part of the universe: power (materializes the red gem), time (materializes the orange gem), reality (materializes the yellow gem), soul (materializes the green gem), mind (materializes the blue gem) and space (materializes the purple gem). What you have in front of your eyes are the foundations of creation itself

Can i touch one?

Robyn- NO! If you touch one of these you’ll disintegrate. I tried handling all those at once aand i would have died if hannah hadn’t fused with me on the island.

Ok… got it

Q: hey, speaking of this, what happened to the drowned agent? He claimed to be the last agent of the drowned.

A: hannah- exactly, he CLAIMED. There are still other mammals who were brainwashed on the loose who don’t want to stand by the rules and fight for the wave. He was another with it’s mind torn and he was drugged to execute anyone of team ceartais.

Robyn- and for his damn luck, he found us first when we were at the airport for the canaries

Q: last question, it will be tricky though: do you think anyone will forgive you? I’m not saying this for critisising you, but because i care about you and i can’t stand your family being against you. If i were a superhero, i would have done the same thing you did five days ago

A: Hannah- oh, wow…. (starts quivering), that’s… very nice of…you

Robyn- (crying)thank youuuu!!!! (jumps onto the interviewer) i…i appreciate that. I hope someone will forgive us through the ones who didn’t. and i’m sad, because…

Because…

Robyn- BECAUSE MY DAD IS GIVING EVERYTHING FOR PROTECTING MEEEE! (sobs)… even when i beat him and mom down in anger he still loved me…

Hannah: robyn! when did that happen?

You WHAT!?

Robyn: it happened yesterday! i said they were responsible for everything that happened after the wave… i claimed that they didn’t want me to suffer because of their cowardice in not letting go of all the sadness and pain of my siblings dying… i EVEN SAID EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR THEM IF I WASN’T BOOORN! I can’t take back what i said, i don’t excpect forgiveness from anyone for that, but i do want to say to my folks: i’m sorry! I should have treated you better.

Well… i didn’t mention a thing

Hannah- what?

Judy, nick, come i. is that enough to make you see robyn apologized?

Judy- no… it’s not worth it

Robyn- huh?

Nick- you can’t apologize kiddo… we’re the one to apologize.

Robyn- dad, are you drunk…. I, i betrayed you, i had no respect for you, how can you forgive me?

Judy- because you were right(sobbing)… alla long. Nick and i would have never stepped iut of this vicious cycle of lies and paini f it wasn’t for you. Come here(hugs robyn) you deserve all the hugs in the world and more

Robyn- uhh…(hugs nick and judy) THANK YOUUU!!!

Nick: i’m sorry for being overprotective, and i wish you could forgive us

Robyn: i do! And i can do more…

Everyone: huh?

Robyn: look: with the power of the gems combined, i rejuvinate you( emits a raibow glow)

Judy- what the? (Looks in a mirror) oh, wow…. Nick, NICK, you need to look at this!

Nick- carrots, what are you talking about…. Oh, my god! I look as young as when we first met

Judy- me too, robyn… i don’t know what to say

Robyn- consider it a greeting for not giving up on me

Judy- and we never will (hugs robyn)

Nick- never. I promise to be better (joins the hug)

Robyn- i love you

Judy and nick- me too

---meanwhile---

Hannah: should i join in

(quivering) no, let them have thier moment. It’s too precious

Hannah- it’s still beautiful, but how come a simple Q & A inteview turn into a reunion

I don’t know, but i was lucky to convince robyn’s parents there was still good in robyn

Hannah- well, thank you. I’ll go pick my wife and my parents in law if you don’t mind

Nonono, absolutely not. Hey do you mind giving me your number?

Hannah: sure. (exchanges number) hey you can come with us if you want. What’s your name:

Vanessa, Vanessa LaTorr

Hannah: thank vanessa, bye. (outscreen) come on robbie, let’s go home

(later at home)

I just befriended two of zootopia’s best superheroes… my day couldn’t get better

so...yes: what should have been a Q & A turned out to be... this. i also want to introduce @esso-is ‘s zoona vanessa in this au, who was also the interviewer and semi-protagonist of this post. esso, i’m sorry i didn’t ask your permission but i found vanessa too adorable to not include in this au. i hope you understand.

anyway, thanks for staying tuned and not abandoning me. i had a creative block, thus i didn’t upload immediately this post. please stay tuned, like and reblog

see you soon, and next up: the final part of the backstory. after that i will post all the remaining old content, before posting new stuff

[moistwithgender]

Curry Read 60s Marvel, King-Size, Nuff Said

According to my tag, it took me about a month to get through this decade (eight years, technically), spending most of my free time reading. I’ve been following Comic Book Herald’s “My Marvelous Year” reading guide because it seemed like the quickest way through while cutting out the chaff. This was not...consistently the case. But, I’m still glad I followed it because this started out with me just chewing through early Spider-Man in black and white (don’t do this to yourself, nice flat colors do wonders for these older stories). I’m gonna go ahead and give the disclaimer that because I was following a speedy reading guide, I missed a lot of stuff, so if you know some really good issues I missed feel free to say so.

I’m afraid to type all this out because it’s a lot and idk where to start!

Okay well I have one idea of where to start.

Fantastic Four

This is Marvel’s best series up to this point and the fact that we’ve had so many garbage movies is a tragedy (don’t @ me about The Incredibles, I know). The FF comics are consistently the most fun, the weirdest, and the most creative.

Going through my reading list, I had to skip parts of FF, which is probably going to be where more of the good stuff was. Though, I will say that I prefer the latter half of the decade over the first half. FF started off with Mole Man, Skrulls (something I first realized was a thing back when they showed up in MvC3), The Puppet Master, The Red Ghost... The first few years of FF was probably best whenever it involved Namor and Doctor Doom. I don’t think anyone’s gonna argue with that. The latter half had The Inhumans, Galactus, The Silver Surfer, Black Panther, the Negative Zone... a whole lot of neat stuff! I actually missed the introduction of the Negative Zone, so all of a sudden Reed’s just got a portal to A Very Bad Place in the middle of his lab and he keeps opening it whenever things get slightly inconvenient. Stop doing that, Reed.

Highlights: - Namor being Namor. Usually at his best as a fish out of water (heh) in human society. With his absurd monarchic pride, and his occasional anti-hero tendencies, he’s...kind of like a wet Vegeta in hot pants. - The Thing. For a while he was back and forth as a character I liked or tolerated, and his incessant backtalk would occasionally become one of those “telling an unfunny joke until eventually it’s hilarious” things. - The Watcher. A being so committed to his vow to never interfere with the fate of the universe that he jack-knifes out of his lane every single time he gets the chance. EXCEPT FOR THE TIME HE WATCHED THE BIRTH OF GALACTUS AND DID NOTHING. THANKS UATU. - The fact that Doctor Doom is a Romani character being written by Jewish authors. That’s a lot to unpack. - The Sandman. Wait, you say, you mean that one Spider-Man villain who was played by the guy from the sitcom Wings? Yeah, it turns out once he’s done being a Sinister Six villain, he goes on to harass the Fantastic Four and gets his own Jack Kirby style super villain outfit!

Look at that badboy. Also he teams up with an angry furry made of explosions from the hell dimension that is the negative zone. - The Inhumans. All of these kids are cool, Lockjaw is an adorable giant bulldog that can teleport across infinite distances, and even Maximus is some sort of play on Shakespeare villains. The fact that differentiating these guys from mutants is really awkward. The short version (if I have it right) is that mutants are born with a unique x-gene, and inhumans come from a hidden society that commonly did genetic manipulation on its citizens at birth. - Galactus. He is arguably the weirdest thing Marvel has in this decade. A thirty foot tall man who flies around the universe and eats planets. He’s literally so powerful that he and the narrative both treat his eating habits as natural, and any victims that happen to get in the way as unfortunate but unintended sacrifices because GALACTUS MUST NOT DIE. Galactus is a vegan metaphor (maybe). - The Silver Surfer. The shiniest, angstiest boy in the multiverse. Originally from a planet where global society had literally hit its logical utopic conclusion, he was bored as shit. Galactus comes along, the entire planet gets spooked and blows itself the fuck up on accident, and Norrin Rad agrees to be Galactus’ herald and pick out planets safe to eat if he leaves his planet alone. Sometime after that he gets punished for trying to fight Galactus, and is punished to remain on Earth, where he would play around with being a very obvious Jesus analogy for a while. - That time where a guy impersonates The Thing in order to kill Reed, and then ends up getting respect for Reed and sacrificing himself atop a meteorite speeding off into an atmosphere of explosions. Really fucked up issue, honestly. - Black Panther. Wakanda is not as cool as it would eventually be portrayed, and BP’s first appearance is as an antagonist (he kidnaps the FF and hunts them for sport), but he has a fucking slick cape. - That time Doctor Doom stole The Silver Surfer’s infinite cosmic power and nearly fucked up everything for everybody for four straight issues. Also he got into a fist fight with the Thing, which is like...hell yeah. - The Negative Zone. WHY DO YOU HAVE A WINDOW TO HELL IN YOUR HOUSE, REED. - The Kree. I have no idea why the Kree are just white people in space. Bad move imo, even Namor’s race are mostly blue people. Anyway, there’s a rad fight with a sentry robot, and a decent introduction to Ronan the Accuser, who you might remember was the (reasonably overshadowed) villain in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 movie, where he is blue. - Psycho Man. This guy has a remote control that makes you feel emotions and that’s kinda dumb but more importantly he’s from a microscopic universe and controls a non-microscopic robot version of himself to fight the FF and the implications of all that is absurd. - Reed goes into the negative zone (again) to try and find something he knows nothing about that might help his pregnant wife and unborn child survive the gamma radiation they still have in their bodies. He gets pretty lucky. Jesus christ, dude.

The worst parts of the FF this decade is probably every time Susan gets the shaft because she’s a woman, whether it’s her being talked down to by Reed or whether it’s her being written as way more concerned about ~lady things~ when things are going to hell. In the issue where her life is on the line and the baby is coming and Reed has to go into the negative zone, she doesn’t even make an appearance until like the last page. Susan deserves better. My reading guide actually didn’t recommend any 1969 issues of FF? I wonder what was going on...

Oh, skrulls impersonating 1920s gangsters and doing super-human trafficking, of course. Well, let’s move on.

The Incredible Hulk (Tales to Astonish)

I have had a soft spot for the Sulk ever since...probably the 2003 three Ang Lee film? Where I realized that 1) Bruce has bad dad issues and no one likes him, and 2) Hulk isn’t just a big boy, he is really fast and jumps crazy far and that’s a physical concept my teenage brain had never considered. I hadn’t even considered liking the Hulk growing up because I was so uncomfortable with almost all expressions of masculinity and machismo. My mom in fact was the one who told me “Don’t you want to see the Hulk? He’s big and scary like a bad guy, but he’s a good guy!” and I assume that’s what helped change my mind?

Anyway, Hulk has had a rough time in terms of popularity as well. His magazine lasted some six or seven issues before being canceled and his stories would continue, shorter, in Tales to Astonish, alongside Ant-Man (and eventually Namor’s own series). In the last few years of the decade he’d get a new magazine starting with The Incredible Hulk #102 (following Tales to Astonish #101... comic numbering is extremely bad), and...it’s okay so far! In the modern era, Hulk had a cartoon I never watched, a few nonstarter films, there was that series with Lou Ferrigno I know nothing about... He seems to always function best as a side hero. It doesn’t help that all the villains in his series are, like. Weird? Not like FF crazy weird, just like weird and not seemingly a great match for Hulk himself. Most of the ones that come to mind are dudes who are also mutated by gamma radiation or something else (and sometimes also green? why is the green supposed to be a common thread, that feels coincidental).

Which reminds me, Bruce is almost never present in what I’ve read so far. It’s just Hulk, usually talking way more than feels natural for him (it took a while for him to start speaking mostly in the third person). As a result, Hulk is usually given a very limited range of characterization and expected to coast on that, and it doesn’t often work. You have to put Hulk in casts and settings that complement him. For a while there he has a support character in Rick Jones, a (very uninteresting) teen boy who eventually can’t keep up with the increasingly antagonistic Hulk, bounces over to Captain America as a ward, eventually is confused by a cosmic cube-wielding, Cap-impersonating Red Skull, and fucks off on his own. He is immediately possessed by, and becomes a host for, Mar-Vell/Captain Marvel. I do not give a single fuck about Rick Jones.

In the earliest issues, the Hulk is gray, and also...just a non-furry werewolf. HE changes at night, until issue #102 retconned this.

Highlights: - That first issue has some really nice panels but I’m gonna say that’s all Jack Kirby’s doing. - Ends up harassing the FF, Spider-Man, the Avengers (after being one of them and then getting buttmad and running off), the Silver Surfer, the US military (regularly)... - Hulk goes to the far dystopic future?? He gets back I guess. - Hulk goes to Asgard! This is arguably the most interesting place to put him because all Odin’s warriors try to fight him and then decide lol this guy’s cool let’s go hang out. Meanwhile, Loki keeps fucking with him. But then the Enchantress and the Executioner become the villains and things get kinda boring again. - The Leader (that’s actually the name of a villain) makes a big robot and Hulk throws it into a volcano and then activates said volcano with his FISTS to fuck it up. Then he manually diverts a nuclear missile into the atmosphere after suddenly caring about people even though he has no reason to. Shrug! - Hulk goes to Attilan, the hidden nation of the Inhumans! There’s potential for interesting stuff here, but it’s mostly wasted by a full cast of extremely uninteresting one-off characters. This is all in a double length annual issue with a gorgeous cover by Jim Steranko, but the issue itself is drawn by Marie Severin. She does good stuff! But Steranko’s work is gorgeous.

Whatever!

The Mighty Thor (Journey into Mystery)

Thor’s winged helmet is really dumb, goodnight everybody!

Okay but yeah Thor started out in the Journey into Mystery magazine, and I guess I’d describe his stuff as... Dungeons and Dragons by Marvel? I struggle with it aesthetically but I like some of the ideas. Mjolnir is fucking cool, Asgard is both a real place and an planet (a flat one, even?), fucking Olympus is also a place and Hercules exists, Loki is... well, Loki hasn’t come into his own yet, but we’ll get there one day. On the other hand, some of the villains are dull as dishwater and a number of the good guys took their time getting interesting. Clearly there was some appeal, because he did eventually get his own magazine starting with Thor #126, I think? There’s that bad numbering again.

A big weird problem with Thor is that originally he has a secret identity. Like. Donald Blake is a surgeon who needs to use a cane to walk, and he goes hiking by himself and gets lost I guess and finds a stick and it turns out oops it’s Mjolnir and he becomes Thor! And Thor is not just a new identity, but also a person that is both the Thor of Norse myth, and the actual son of Odin up in Asgard and has been so forever and aaaaaaa

Donald Blake is not super important. He mostly exists to give Thor a weakness in that he can’t let go of his hammer for 60 seconds or he’ll turn back into a guy with a PhD. Eventually, in the latter half of the 60s, they add on to his backstory in a way I like, by saying “oh no no, he was always Thor. At one point Odin punished him by sending him to Earth with amnesia and in the guise of a handicapped guy getting through medical school. For some reason.” Which really only makes his dual identities more confusing, and I actually dig that. The MCU does not fuck with this at all, and I’m assuming the comics throw it out in the decades to come. Also, this semi-retcon was not included in the reading guide, I found it on accident. Anyway.

Highlights: - Thor joins the Avengers! I mean, duh, of course he does. He eventually leaves because he’s too popular and needs his own series or something. He occasionally pops back in to do cool stuff. - Thor accidentally ends up on Olympus and gets into a big sweaty fight with Hercules. They decide they are pals. This was an annual issue. - Thor goes into space! This is where things get good, and I really like Thor’s archaic ass as a cosmic sci-fi hero. Great juxtaposition. - Thor meets/fights Ego, the Living Planet! Okay, I said Galactus was the weirdest thing, and I was wrong. Ego is. Ego is almost as described on the tin, because he is actually described as an entire “bioverse”, and capable of changing the entirety of his physical makeup at any time. It is intensely cool. He’s also kind of evil and wants to spread out to control everywhere. Also, Thor makes friends with a nice recording robot and becomes an ally of robot rights. - Thor dies! A guy with a giant crowbar is accidentally given asgardian power by Loki, and then kills Thor because Thor has lost his power because Odin is punishing him again. And then Hela shows up as the goddess of death and says hey Thor. And he says hold on I got this and gets back in his body and saves the day and it’s fine. Hela does what she does best, stand there and look cool and do nothing else.

god she’s hot

- Thor rescues Ego from Galactus? Kind of on accident, he’s just trying to save the people inbetween who got their planets ate. Actually though, this arc fucking kicks, and he hangs out with the recorder bot too. In the end, Ego is grateful and lets the planetless nomads live on him. - Thor hangs out with Galactus and listens to his tragic backstory! Then Thor decides he’s gonna hit him anyway, and Odin decides “that’s enough for this story arc” and whisks Thor off to fight a robot instead. - Volstagg. - Volstagg.

- VOLSTAGG.

- Thor’s dudes go to the human world and there are shenanigans. It is good.

The Amazing Spider-Man

We all knew this was coming. Marvel’s own Pikachu. Possibly the most popular superhero alive (well, second to Batman anyway). And probably the hero I cared about the most growing up. We got associated a lot because we share a name. Spidey is probably the coolest idea for a superhero anyone has ever had, and they better CGI gets, the better his fights look. I do not care how many QTEs are gonna be in that new videogame, I wanna look at Spidey swing. Spider-man is just cool cool cool cool.

Early Spider-Man comics are fucking boring! Goodnight everybody!

Okay just kidding sort of. Spider-Man takes a while to pick up, in my opinion, and I’m 100% positive part of that is because I’ve seen these early stories retold in better and better definition so many times. I watched the cartoon as a kid, but the Sam Raimi movies are probably what comes to mind when I think of Spider-Man. Steve Ditko nailed a fucking iconic costume design, and did a great job of visually communicating Spidey’s agility on paper. But, in the earliest issues there was rarely any variation in panel size and shape, and action scenes were laid out like diagrams. Both those factors, along with the fact that each panel had dialogue because Peter kind of never shuts up, meant that pacing slowed to a crawl, and I had to chew through those issues. Also sometimes he just fought, like, mobsters with lassos. Jesus christ that’s boring. As the decade goes on, we start getting some good stuff, and to be completely honest, I’m looking forward to the weird dumb 90s stuff the most?

Highlights: - Peter has a persecution complex and uses his secret identity to be an asshole! Even after Peter’s iconic and still very well written origin story, he spends a lot of time harassing people, good and bad. He regularly breaks into JJ’s office in costume and makes fun of him, he crashes the Torch’s party to beat him up and flirt with his girlfriend, he breaks into the Baxter building to fight the FF in hopes they’ll recruit him with pay, he...gets into an argument with black students who are very passionate about affordable housing? He wasn’t even in costume for that one. Jesus, Peter, go to a therapist. - Nobody likes Spider-Man! Kind of makes sense why he’s got those personality issues, though those start with jocks calling him a nerd (he’s a nerd). Half the city doesn’t trust him, he works for a newspaper that is dedicated to anti-Spidey propaganda (Peter, you’re partially at fault for this), even the X-Men just assume he’s a bad guy, and that’s usually a problem they have to deal with. - Really appropriate villains! Wow! The Vulture matches his high up action, Doc Ock is both another victim of weird science and an intellectual rival. Also, like, their namesakes have a lot of legs. The Lizard is...Florida Man. Maybe the better argument is that many of these villains are memorable, in a decade that featured a concerning amount of “large humanoid monster/robot” baddies in all of the running series. - Like the Green Goblin. Who knew that would be Spider-Man’s Joker? Maybe that’s a bad comparison. Also bats and clowns aren’t usually connected with each other. Where was I going with this. - Spider-Man tries to quit the superhero gig twice, I think? He’s the only Marvel hero to consider this, as far as I know. Part of Peter’s appeal is that not only is he a young adult, unlike the rest of Marvel’s adult cast, but he’s also financially disadvantaged, has a non-nuclear model family, and has to look out for his often ailing Aunt. He has to work a side job while going to school while fighting bad guys, and it’s a lot more interesting than what Tony Stark’s doing up to this point. This has all been said so many times by so many people, but it’s an obligatory mention. - Peter donates blood to Aunt May at one point and accidentally gets a radioactive particle in her body. OOPS. Spider-Man goes on a rampage to find an antidote and tears a metal stairwell off its hinges. He also, like, completely destroys a villain’s underwater base and nearly doesn’t get out himself. - The Green Goblin discovers Peter is Spider-Man! Most of the Marvel heroes have this anxiety, but it never ends up a problem, so this is pretty big. The Goblin kidnaps him in broad daylight, ties him to a chair in a secluded place, and infodumps his origin story that he’s actually the father of Peter’s college roommate and is kind of very unhinged and obsessed with Spider-Man? In the end, Gobby gets amnesia and forgets the whole supervillain and mental illness thing and turns back into a good dad. - Spidey goes to the Casbah! Yeah, go figure. He learns his parents were traitors to America, and it fucks him up so much he flies there to find the truth. He ends up exploding the Red Skull and learns his parents were actually double double agents and were spying for America and so things are a-okay!

also peter kills a dude with a missile

- That aforementioned thing about affordable housing happens! Some black college students are unhappy that the university is taking old dorms that could be used as low rent housing for students and instead giving it to visiting alumni, and start a big protest and the narrative actually pins them as sympathetic even when they get overzealous and physical? I’m...kind of surprised, to be honest. Not used to seeing this at all.

Ant-Man, and...other identities. (Tales to Astonish)

ima keep it real with u founding member of the avengers hank pym, this will not improve marvel’s declining sales

This guy is a goddamn mess.

People like to say “pfffft there’s an ant-man? that’s goofy! that’s the weirdest thing ever! that’s a bad idea!” and buddy let me tell you, Hank Pym has a career specializing in bad ideas. Let’s list them!

- Adopt a young woman while she is grieving over the loss of her father and take her in as both a crime-fighting ward (The Wasp!) and also a love interest. Feel bad about it for about five minutes so it’s okay. - Develop a “growth capsule” that allows you to turn huge and decide to adopt two super hero identities, Ant-Man and Giant-Man. Assume this will not confuse anyone. - Eventually do weird science to make it so you can grow and shrink at will. Assume this will not have negative repercussions on your body. - Change the name Giant-Man to Goliath because you feel like Giant-Man is a dumb name. Confuse everyone for multiple issues. - Get stuck as a twelve-foot tall 90s beverage mascot lookin ass motherfucker (you are terrible at costume design, hank) and get real mad at everyone all the time about it. - Create an evil robot called Ultron and forget about it. Oops! Surely this will be fine.

IT’LL BE FINE

- Fail to relate to your robot-grandson-turned-avenger The Vision. Be a bad grandpa. - Inhale chemicals and get all fucked up on temporary schizophrenia (???), adopting a second personality. Call yourself Yellowjacket, claim to have killed Hank, and kidnap your girlfriend and force her to make out with you. - When assaulting your girlfriend makes her, uh, somehow realize that you are Hank, she will rope you into marrying her, thereby...uh...legally cuckolding yourself I guess? Realize you are Hank during/after the wedding, and be perfectly fine with this egregious violation of consent. Nothing about this will have lasting negative consequences. - Adopt the identity of Yellowjacket, and abandon Goliath. Continue to confuse people. On the bright side, finally have a nice costume. - Make a new Goliath costume in celebration of refusing to ever be Goliath again (WHY), and store it and a beaker of growth serum (WHY) in an unlocked locker out in the open (WHY). Hawkeye will steal it and become the new Goliath II.

So far that’s everything about Hank-Man! Stay tuned to see more of this trainwreck.

Iron Man (Tales of Suspense)

YO THIS DUDE SUCKS

I really like Iron Man’s origin story and his overall concept but the tech culture would not advance far enough to match it for a while. Also this was in the era of the Vietnam War and so Tony’s greatest enemy is The Mandarin, an extremely awkward asian stereotype and I! Ain’t! Got! Time! For! That!

Avengers

The Avengers are, at their most interesting, characters already in their own magazines. At their worst, they’re a bunch of characters no one cares about, fighting villains no one cares about, with last second ass-pull victories. There was a brief period there were I suspected the Avengers magazine was going to be true gristle of Marvel I was gonna have to chew on for hours to get through. Thankfully we are eventually given Marvel’s goodest boy, Vision. After that, things start to pick up a lot.

bless him and his little intangible heart

Highlights: - Captain America is found frozen in an ice cube! He’s been in cryo for twenty years, wow how the world has changed. I guess. Another case of time passing eventually making an origin story better. At this point Marvel has revived three 1940s comics properties: Cap, Namor, and the Human Torch (the lattermost in this case being an entirely different person). - Kang the Conqueror! Kang is a hell of a villain concept. He’s a time traveler who once ruled ancient Egypt as a pharaoh named Rama Tut and, uh, will eventually rule over Earth in the 41st century. He keeps harassing the 20th century for some reason. Also he is hint hint maybe related to Doctor Doom, I guess. - Hawkeye joins, having previously been a one-off villain, and proceeds to be an asshole to everyone forever. Eventually he becomes Goliath II because why not I guess. - Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver join, having recently bailed on Magneto’s Brotherhood, and they are...kinda boring, tbh. Wanda’s “hex power” isn’t very well defined (it makes unlucky things happen), and neither of them have much personality yet. At one point they fight Doctor Doom and he uses a machine to cancel out the hex power (???) and outpaces Quicksilver without using any enhancements (???). Some of these issues really blow. Quicksilver’s costume is lazy as hell. - Hercules joins for some reason, even though he says he doesn’t wanna be part of a team.  - Magneto does some sneaky bullshit and tricks Quicksilver into thinking someone at the UN shoots at Wanda on purpose. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch join Magneto again because fuck normies. - The Avengers are killed (sort of) by the Grim Reaper! Their newest member, the Black Panther, rescues them.

Pick a color you trilobite.

- The Vision joins, Ultron-5 is introduced, and things finally settle in for the good stuff. - Ultron rebuilds himself in adamantium as Ultron-6 and replaces his legs with a rocket chariot thing. No one is brave enough to tell him it looks dumb.

no shut up its cool and i can fit still fit through doorways

immediately the next chapter he re-rebuilds himself with legs and calls himself Ultimate Ultron. mmmhm.

sounds like somebody was havin some self esteem issues about their body. sounds like a talk that ultron and their dad hank pym could probably relate to each other over.

- The decade ends with an arc where Kang abducts the Avengers and ends up himself wrapped up in a proxy wargame with the Grandmaster. Kang uses the Avengers as his pawns, and the GM creates four superhumans that he totally didn’t get from DC no sir. Perfectly original characters, do not steal.

I just...I just really feel like that last one could have used a few more minutes in the boardroom.

- Even better, the second half of the arc pits the avengers against Captain America, Namor, and the Human Torch...in their 1940s renditions!

Hank even comments on the fact that Namor’s diction is different. It’s great.

The Uncanny X-Men

So I grew up in the 90s, and despite never really engaging with comics, I was quite aware that Marvel’s hottest shit at the time was Spider-Man and X-Men. The X-Men had a slow start, but once they caught on, they never really dropped off. Actually, I think they might be less popular now? They’re at least not the ever-present icons they used to be, and I suspect that is partially to do with middling-quality movies diluting the brand.

But, the appeal is there from the start. Children born unique but feared by society are adopted by Patrick Stewart and spirited away to a special boarding school that is secretly dedicated to teaching them to use their powers for the sake of fighting evil. This was the proto-Harry Potter, though Snape’s gonna win no contests against Wolverine.

Unfortunately, we don’t have Wolverine, yet. We’ve got...these guys!

(Not pictured: Marvel Girl/Jean Grey)

The creative potential in mutant design has not quite picked up yet, so the main team (of five teens and an old man) includes such marvels as Guy With Wings, and Guy What Got Big Feet. Seriously, Beast’s feet get way too much attention.

I cannot wait until you are a blue cat instead of this.

I wish I could comment on the political commentary on the series, but it hasn’t quite started up yet, whether that is intentional or not. The rampant fear of mutants is there, we’ve even had a Sentinels arc, but it’s mostly just surface stuff. I had a lot to say about Spider-Man, so I feel kind of silly coming up short here!

Highlights: - Magneto. Despite the slow start this series is going through, Magneto is immediately introduced and has his wonderful costume design and his super threatening magnetism powers. I am a bit confused as to how his magnetism affects all things, not just metal, but magnets are an irl mystery and I’m willing to let it slide. - The Juggernaut. The two-issue arc introducing Juggz himself are effectively told, if not sliiightly silly in structure. The first issue has the X-Men building up defenses because he’s coming, and later, as he tears through each single one, unseen to both the kids and the reader, Xavier explains his and the Juggernaut’s tumultuous childhood together. It builds the tension really well, but it’s a bit funny by the fourth time the X-Men are saying “we gotta go meet him before he breaks in here where we are!” and Xavier’s like “I’M NOT DONE TELLING MY ORIGIN STORY.” - The Sentinels. This is probably the last interesting arc in the 60s, published as early as ‘65. It’s almost the last material in the reading guide, next to an issue where they all get into a fight with Spider-Man for no reason. If I understand correctly, the Sentinels are later depicted as humongous robots, where here they’re closer to ten feet tall or so. I’d always thought the idea of “a bunch of mass produced robots designed to kill mutants” seemed uncreative growing up, especially given that they don’t, like, have an x-gene suppressing ray or anything, but it works well enough in the moment. - Wholly unnecessary amounts of sexual harassment towards Jean Grey. All the boys have the hots for her (well, maybe not Iceman (pun not intended)), including even Xavier saying that she’s attractive when she first arrives. What the fuck, dudes.

X-MANS IS CANCELED

Doctor Strange (Strange Tales)

The reading guide included a ton of Strange Tales to read, including an 11-issue arc at one point. Good grief it was a lot.

Steve Ditko, of early Spider-Man, did the art for Strange for a good while, and I found that contrast between the diagram like action of Spider-Man, and the much more fantastic illustrations of Strange to be the most interesting thing. Eventually Marie Severin would take over as the penciller, and it would take a bit of time to adjust, but the more abstract it got, the better. Also, I don’t really like the footie pajamas Severin draws him in.

This is Steve Ditko. He has thin lines and exact shapes and while you don’t see it here, his magic fights are very clear and easy to follow.

This is Marie Severin. In comparison her lines are thick and smudged (well, okay, we have to give credit to the inkers for these as well, though I think she did her own inking?), but is capable of uniquely evocative images like this. Her action scenes are harder to follow, but she is equally capable of the kind of surreality that appears in Doctor Strange’s comics.

Also, while the topic has been touched on a lot, especially around the time the movie came out, it still bears repeating that Doctor Strange is built on a foundation of cultural appropriation and mystic eastern boogie woogie nonsense. I’m parroting the words of people that know this much better than me, but it’s a problematic and somewhat common trope that media will depict a white protagonist in a foreign setting who not just excels but surpasses everyone else, particularly peers who are native to the setting. At best it’s well-meaning and oblivious, at worst it perpetuates a narrow worldview where everything has to revolve around white people.

Anyway, when the comics focus more on the dread dark dimension of Dormammu, most of these problems aren’t around, and you get lots of fun and bizarre imagery and goofy spell casting.

Highlights: - Dormammu. He’s a prideful otherworldy being who refuses to be caught explicitly going back on his word when beaten at a game of skill, but easily breaks down and claws at loopholes with which he can attempt his petty revenge against Strange. He is also portrayed as a necessary evil, in that he uses his power to erect a barrier that keeps his servants safe from mindless laser-eye cyclops monsters that are just perpetually punching each other. That conflict makes for complicated situations where usurping him may be more harm than help. Also his head is always on fire, and that’s cool. - Trippy visuals. Ditko’s backgrounds lean closer to pop art with abstract shapes, bright colors, and twisting pathways. Severin’s art, if I can remember (there hasn’t been a lot yet) leans closer to mysterious and somewhat vague settings. I’m describing it very poorly.

That’s kind of it for Strange, I guess!

Daredevil

oh my god how many of these have I done now im so tired

I haven’t read much Daredevil yet! The reading guide has given me some seven issues so far out of the full decade, and while there has been some good stuff, I don’t know if I can draw a big mental picture.

DD is, theoretically, in that same category as Captain America, where rather than being a super powerful character, he is merely very very good at what he has. DD got hit in the face with a radioactive dildo or something and it blinded him but enhanced his other senses so intensely that if you sneeze he can tell what brand of nasal spray you use. Also, he’s super acrobatic and has a swiss army walking cane that he can use to do just about anything. And he’s a working attorney. Fuck you and your eyeballs, Batman.

Marvel has not begun to embrace noir, and as I understand it, that seems to be the genre most people know DD for aligning with. As a result, things are kinda silly! DD’s first outfit was yellow and he fought a man who had robot stilts in broad daylight.

Highlights: - Killgrave, the...Purple Man.

I can’t believe this is how Jessica Jones starts.

Uhh, Killgrave got some pheromones or something embedded in his skin on accident and now everyone just does what he says to no matter what. He’s purple now, too. This has not been taken to its terrifying possibilities yet, but I’m very excited to see where it goes. - Daredevil fights Namor. Okay, seriously? Seriously? This is my favorite issue, no joke. Namor busts out of the ocean demanding a lawyer (Matt himself) so he can sue the human race. Shenanigans ensue, and a trial is attempted, but ultimately falls apart when Namor decides “you know what? fuck this I’m gonna start breakin shit”. Matt changes into the DD costume and takes on Namor with everything he can think of, including construction equipment, but fails.

Out of respect, Namor leaves.

- Stilt-Man.

Stilt-Man. (Stilt-Man eventually shrinks into a quantum state that he remains trapped in for months until he suddenly isn’t.)

- And finally, Mike Murdock. In an attempt to ward off suspicion that he might be Daredevil, Matt...pretends to be his twin brother who is never in the same room at the same time as him. As Mike, he is a cocky jerk to everyone and insists that he is Daredevil. And people believe him.

As you would expect (for once), this nearly gets people killed.

Nick Fury (Strange Tales, Agent of Shield)

NICK FURY IS THE BEST GOD DAMN SONNUVA BITCH IN THE WHOLE MARVEL LINE UP

Nick Fury is like if you took James Bond and made it not suck. You get to keep all the gadgets and world traveling but swap out the “ooh, I’m so cool and serious” with kicking open doors and telling fascists to go fuck themselves. Most importantly, it’s a near-parody of the overwrought machismo that the series runs on. It’s so busy getting from point A to point B in as fun a way as possible that it’s impossible to take seriously.

Actually, it might be like if Battle Tendency was less sympathetic to real world fascists. Which is to say, it’s the pinnacle of evolution.

Look me in the eye and tell me this isn’t a JJBA action scene. (Also, Jim Steranko blessed us with a shirtless Fury in latex pants.)

A highlights list would be ridiculously long because I love these comics, so I’ll instead focus on one thing in particular.

- Jim Steranko’s art is gorgeous

Yes, these are all Nick Fury title pages.

Captain America (Tales of Suspense)

Steve is just now starting to get interesting, mostly through his own series, but he’s had plenty of time for notable moments throughout his screentime (pagetime?) in Tales of Suspense and Avengers. While talking about Daredevil I mentioned Captain America and how he’s less of a nigh-supernatural being like most heroes, and more of a particularly exceptional human. He hits really hard, but more impressive is his stamina and agility. Something that I’ve liked in the MCU is how they’ve portrayed him as always capable of what is just one step beyond what people think is possible of him. He can’t fly, but he’ll do as many impossible leaps as necessary. He’s not super strong (well, not to the degree of Spider-Man), but he sure can run for miles, and he knows his way around that shield.

I feel like a lot of what I’m writing is surface level readings of these comics, but the characteristics of Steve that really identify him haven’t quite shown themselves yet, I think. When I think of him, what always comes to mind is that his “american good boy” values take priority over allegiances, and so you’ll see Captain America himself abandon his title if America no longer represents the values of protecting the weak. Steve Rogers is kind of a perfect flawless human (when not written terribly), but that’s pretty okay at the end of the day, when a superhero is more of an icon than a person.

Highlights: - That time the Red Skull got the Cosmic Cube (not the Tesseract), and became a god for like five minutes.

- That time Cap fought a giant baby.

- That time Cap pretended to be dead and then stopped Hydra from burying all the avengers alive even Vision who would...be able to just phase out of the grave. I’m not really sure what the plan there was. - That other time the Red Skull got the cosmic cube and then switched bodies with Cap and they made a lot of facial expressions.

- That time Rick Jones thought Captain America didn’t like him, meanwhile Cap was stranded on a desert island and hanging out with The Falcon and it was cool. Nobody cares about Rick Jones.

Namor, The Sub-Mariner (Tales to Astonish)

I didn’t read a fuck shit about this dude! Sorry!

Captain Marvel

we’re so close to being done

The reading guide gave me nearly nothing on this dude. Issues #1-3 and then #17. He’s a Kree (whoa!) named Mar-Vell (lol) who should be helping to fuck up Earth but ends up liking it and chooses to defend it. He’s got a jet pack and a laser and a really shit costume and he’s NOT BLUE.

Marvy, I need you to move over, the more interesting hero is behind you.

He’s got an asshole commanding officer who keeps trying to get him killed because he wants to fuck his girlfriend and SNORE, I do not care. Come on dude. I have been psyched to learn about 

At some point in-between chapters #3 and #17, and...shit, I’ll just quote wikipedia for this:

After aiding humanity several times, Mar-Vell is found guilty of treason against the Kree Empire and sentenced to death by firing squad. Mar-Vell escapes in a stolen rocket, but becomes lost in space. After drifting for 112 days, he is weak and on the verge of madness. He is manipulated by Ronan the Accuser and Kree Minister Zarek into helping them overthrow the Supreme Intelligence. To better help them, Mar-Vell is given a new costume and enhanced abilities. After the conspiracy is foiled, Mar-Vell tries to return to Earth. On the way, he is hit by a blast of radiation that traps him in the Negative Zone.[16]

The Supreme Intelligence enables Mar-Vell to telepathically contact Rick Jones, which he uses to lead Jones to a set of "nega-bands" at an abandoned Kree base. When Jones puts on the bands and strikes them together, he trades places with Mar-Vell and is encased in a protective aura in the Negative Zone. The pair discover they are able to maintain telepathic contact. Using this method, Mar-Vell can remain in the positive universe for a period of three hours.

well what the fuck that might have been worth reading, thanks reading guide

Anyway, so yeah, Rick Jones! Both of these characters were pretty boring, and mayyybe this will help the both of them. Or not. At least the new costume is cool.

Silver Surfer

IT’S THE LAST ONE THANK GOD

Once again, I don’t have much to say here! I wrote all my thoughts on the surfer up in the Fantastic Four section, so you can read that if you haven’t. The reading guide only gave me three issues to read, though they were quite good. The first was his origin story, which I already wrote about above. The second one was about invisible aliens that manipulated the surfer and people’s distrust of him (part of this is because he keeps occasionally attacking humans because he thinks it’ll make them be nicer to each other). And in the third issue, Mephisto kidnaps his long lost girlfriend from his home planet. It works out kind of badly for everyone involved.

begone, thought

And that’s everything for the 60s. Phew! This took a long time and I don’t know if it was worth it. Let me know if you read it, if you enjoyed it, if you pity me, whatever. I got more comics to read.

[priioritys]

saga’s massive app intros pt. 1 aka 8 intros in one post and 9 more are coming soon because i’m a wreck of a human being and i’m trying not to spam the dash !! ya’ll know the drill !! hmu for plots or give this a like and i’ll bother you !!

TESSA TELLER looks an awful lot like GAL GADOT. SHE is TWENTY EIGHT and while they're BRAVE, they have a tendency to get pretty NAIVE. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to WE MUST BE KILLERS by MIKKY EKKO. 

exists only in the super & future verses because of Reasons you’ll see soon

grew up with a good family and a good life until she was about 14 when she ( super verse ) developed healing powers and was kidnapped by a malicious organization or ( future verse ) was kidnapped by a malicious organization

for years, she was experimented on and turned into, more or less, a bionic woman

large amounts of her body were replaced with technology, including large parts of her brain that led to her being brainwashed and controlled by the organization

she was used as a weapon for years, but eventually managed to break free and now she’s trying to figure out how to live a normal life

CASSIOPEIA LIU looks an awful lot like CHLOE BENNET. SHE is TWENTY THREE and while they're INQUISITIVE, they have a tendency to get pretty STUBBORN. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to SERA WAS NEVER by RANEY SHOCKNE.

3000 feet of Angery in a 5′4″ body

raised by a single dad that was the best and she loved him more than anything

her town was tormented by a serial killer for a long time but the killings eventually stopped around the same time her dad disappeared

everyone decided that meant her dad was the killer but cas was having none of that

so she packed up everything she owned in to her VW van and decided to go on a road trip to find her dad and prove his innocence

CORIANDER WHITTLE looks an awful lot like THOMAS MCDONELL. HE is TWENTY FOUR and while they're GENTLE, they have a tendency to get pretty SELFLESS. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to HELLO MY OLD HEART by THE OH HELLOS.

had a really good childhood and grew up really happy and things should have been fine but then his little sister joined a cult

he ended up joining the cult in an attempt to save her, but she was too brainwashed and refused to leave

he tried to escape, but he was caught and punished several times, leaving him physically disabled and mentally traumatized

EVENTUALLY, he managed to escape fully but he still lives every day in fear of being found by the cult and forced to go back

FINNICK PORTER looks an awful lot like DYLAN SPRAYBERRY. HE is EIGHTEEN and while they're DETERMINED, they have a tendency to get pretty FRAGILE. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to AFTER THE STORM by MUMFORD AND SONS.

was a total jock and douche-y rich kid tbh

thought he was the best thing that ever happened to anybody and everyone should consider themselves lucky to even speak to him

then he went on a trip with his family to a remote cabin up in the mountains and tragedy struck

there was an avalanche and they were trapped - he was the only one to make it out alive and he had to do horrible things to survive

now he’s rightfully traumatized and attempting college but doing really badly at being alive

HADRIEL ALEXANDER looks an awful lot like SAM CLAFLIN. HE is THIRTY and while they're FORGIVING, they have a tendency to get pretty SOFT SPOKEN. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to GRAVEYARD WHISTLING by NOTHING BUT THIEVES.

raised by super religious parents with horrible senses of morality that were driven more by greed than any holiness

they forced him to be part of their travelling ministry as part of a con act where he would pretend to heal people 

he hated everything about it, but he was abused when he tried to speak up or tell anyone the truth

that went on for years until he was finally rescued 

after readjusting to life away from his parents, he decided to rediscover his faith outside of them

he became a preacher, establishing himself in a church in kola and hoping to help people who had suffered like him

RONAN FISHER looks an awful lot like BOB MORLEY. HE is TWENTY NINE and while they're INTUITIVE, they have a tendency to get pretty RESENTFUL. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to SHADOW PREACHERS by ZELLA DAY.

only exists in the super verse because he has visions of the future

his parents loved him, but after he predicted his mother’s death in a car wreck and it came true, things were never the same

he even saw when and how his future wife would die on the first day they met, but decided to marry her anyway because he wanted to ignore his visions

tried to save her, but ended up just shifting fate so that  his sister died instead and his wife died only a year later from cancer

now he’s bitter and angry and doesn’t care about anyone in the world because he doesn’t want to be hurt by what he sees anymore

ASTORIA WHITMAN looks an awful lot like LILY JAMES. SHE is TWENTY SIX and while they're OPTIMISTIC, they have a tendency to get pretty SELF-HATING. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to HURRICANE by FLEURIE.

was raised in a pretty conservative family, but loved it because she didn’t know anything better

she was treated like an object more than anything, home schooled and constantly lectured about how nothing was more important than staying pristine and holy

so when she started realizing that girls were just as pretty as boys, well, it wasn’t good news

after she went to college and finally got away from her parents, she got herself a girlfriend but someone saw them together and sent a picture back to her parents

they had a falling out and disowned her completely, leaving her to fend for herself

now, six years later, she’s happily working as a waitress in kola, glad to be free of their oppressive weight

SOPHIE DETTWILER looks an awful lot like SAOIRSE RONAN. SHE is TWENTY and while they're RESOURCEFUL, they have a tendency to get pretty STANDOFFISH. You’ve probably seen them around Kola listening to RAISE THE DEAD by RACHEL RABIN.

had a good family growing up, but lost her father and older brother in a car accident when she was ten

the same accident left her scarred, but more noticeably damaged her vocal chords to the point where she can no longer talk without a severe stutter, so she usually chooses not to

despite this, she’s still a punk ass bitch, will probably try to fight you while signing that ur a lame ass bitch

[two-of-swords-621]

Dream Things

This is my @trc-exchange gift for @quietrook for the prompt “other Gangsey members spending time with Opal”. I hope you like it! it was fun to write. Enjoy!

AO3

Today was the day: the start of the #GreatAmericanRoadTrip extravaganza. It was warm and sunny and the day felt endless. Except the day wasn’t really endless and it was already well after noon and they hadn’t left yet. They were way behind schedule and Blue Sargent couldn’t deal. Henry was surprised she was the one who was worked up about it and not Gansey, but Gansey had been different since, well, you know. He just couldn’t be bothered to let most things bother him anymore.

They were gathered at the curb in front of 300 Fox Way, loading their bags into the Green Pig. “Ganseeeeyyyy,” Blue whined, digging through a massive duffle that she could have easily fit inside. “Where are my blah blah blah…” Henry couldn’t make out the rest of what she said, since she had now climbed into the trunk in pursuit of the missing object. He looked at Gansey, who shrugged.

“Jane, I can’t understand you when you’re half buried in the trunk like that,” Gansey said.

Blue jumped out and glared at him. “My purple leggings. I can’t find them.”

Gansey laughed, which only infuriated Blue more.

“Jesus, Sargent, there are like fifty pairs of leggings in here. How do you even know a pair is missing?” Ronan asked, leaning over the trunk to poke through the bag.

Blue smacked his hand. Hard, too, by the sound of it. “Trust me. I know.”

“Ow,” Ronan whimpered. He held his wounded hand out to Adam, who rolled his eyes playfully, before grabbing it and kissing it gently.

Henry was unaffected by the public display of affection, but Blue teased, “God, you two are disgusting.”

“Disgustingly beautiful,” Gansey gushed.

“I can’t wait for you to leave,” Ronan retorted.

“Oh shut up, Lynch. You know you’re going to be blowing kisses at us as we drive off into the sunset.”

“SUNSET?!?!” Blue cried, as Ronan said, “That was one fucking time, man.”

“Well, there was another…” Adam started to say, but Ronan quickly covered his mouth with his hand, which Adam promptly licked.

“Stop trying to ruin my reputation, Parrish,” Ronan said, wiping his hand off on Adam’s sleeve.

“Too late for that, Lynch,” Henry added.

Blue grabbed Gansey’s arm and twisted it so she could look at his watch. “Oh my God, we were supposed to be long gone by now,” she said, exasperated, pulling at some of the shorter tufts of her hair, making them stand on end. Henry thought she looked adorable when she was stressed.

She ticked off her mental to-do list on her fingers. “I still need to pack the snacks in the kitchen, and then Jimi wants to smudge the car before we go and I have to find my leggings. Urgh.”

“Smudge the car?” Henry asked.

“You know, clear the bad energy.”

“Hey! That car has great energy,” Ronan protested. They all looked at him funny.  “Whatever,” he waved them off.

“Jane, relax. We have all the time in the world,” Gansey said, attempting to gather her in his arms.

She pushed him away. “Not if we want to make it to the Smoky Mountains and set up camp before it gets dark.”

“Ok, let’s figure this out then. You go look for your leggings,” Gansey told Blue. “I’ll go get Jimi. Adam can help her clear the car’s energy. Henry can pack the snacks. You,” he gestured to Ronan, “should probably go find Opal. I haven’t seen her in awhile.”

“Shit,” Ronan said, taking off for the backyard.

Henry was glad to see Gansey take the lead. It felt natural and right. He thought Gansey looked adorable when he was telling people what to do.

Henry headed towards the house, expecting the others to follow, but when he looked back, Adam was directing Blue and Gansey on how to rearrange the bags in the overstuffed trunk. Knowing Adam, it was probably so the bad energy could escape more easily during the smudging, or something.

And Henry did know Adam now. Just like he knew Gansey and Blue and Ronan. They were his friends. No, they were more than that now. They were his family. He smiled at them and then turned back to the house.

Inside, he found Maura and Calla in the reading room, bent over a spread of tarot cards.

“What’s the good word?” He asked, stopping in the doorway.

They both looked up at him. Maura frowned. Calla smirked. “I just can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t go,” Maura sighed.

“Told you,” Calla said.

“That should make you happy, right?” Henry asked Maura. “And yet, you are sad.”

“She’ll get over it,” Calla answered for Maura. “The chick’s gotta leave the nest at some point.”

“I think Blue would take offense to being called a chick,” Henry pointed out.

“Blue takes offense to everything these days,” Calla said.

This made Henry laugh for longer than it should have. Finally, he asked, “I’m supposed to pack the snacks?”

“Oh, I set everything out on the table in the kitchen. It’s all ready to go,” Maura instructed, still shifting around some cards.

“Thanks,” Henry said. “I’ll bring them out to the car then.” He followed the hallway the rest of the way to the kitchen, dodging a cat that tried to weave between his legs. He spotted the reusable tote bags and small cooler on the kitchen table and was about to grab them when he heard a rustling sound coming from under the table. He peered below and saw Lynch’s dream child struggling to open a bag of Tootsie Pops.

“Hey, Opal,” Henry said, crouching down. “Ronan is looking for you.”

She didn’t say anything, but she dropped the Tootsie Pops and held out her finger for Henry to inspect. He could see that she had a thin cut on the grubby pad of her index finger.

“What did you do? Get a paper cut?”

She mumbled something in Latin, maybe, while still holding her finger out to Henry.

“No, I’m not one of your dads. I can’t understand you. Can you say it in English?”

Opal shrugged and kissed her own wound lightly before picking up the bag of candy again.

Understanding dawned on Henry. This was something Ronan and Adam must do for her when she gets hurt. Which means it was likely something Ronan’s mother used to do for him. Which explains why Ronan held out his own hand to Adam earlier. It was the world’s most precious inside joke. Henry thought he might die from too much cute. Ronan Lynch thought he was such a badass punk. I’ve got your number, Henry thought with a smile.

“You want one of those?” Henry asked, pointing to the Tootsie Pops. Opal nodded and handed him the bag. Her refusal to use words to communicate in that moment was all too familiar to Henry. He had struggled with words too when he was younger. Was she young though? Henry wasn’t sure. She looked like a child, but that didn’t necessarily mean that she had a child’s brain. Did she even have a brain? Henry shook off the thoughts. There were too many possibilities to consider and he didn’t think even Ronan fully understood what she truly was. Right now, she was a kid who had a craving for sugar. That was easy enough to understand.

Henry tore open the bag and handed Opal a Tootsie Pop without thinking. She shoved the whole thing in her mouth, stick, wrapper and all, crunching loudly until it was gone a couple of seconds later. All he could do was gawk at her stupidly. She held out her hand for another. Henry unwrapped this one for her and told her not to eat the stick, but she did it anyway. It was only after the third one, that he thought this might be a bad idea. Would she get high off the sugar and then crash dramatically like his little sister used to? Lynch would have to deal with it later and Henry would be miles away by then. He grinned evilly and gave her a couple more suckers.

Henry stood up and put the remaining candy in one of the tote bags with the other food.  Through the open window, he could hear Ronan outside calling for Opal. He looked back down at her under the table and she stared back at him with her big, black eyes. Henry had a thought. If a dream object had helped him communicate, maybe something similar could help her as well. He held out his hand to her and she let him pull her up from beneath the table. Her hooves slipped clumsily on the slick floor of the Fox Way kitchen at first, but she got her bearings and steadied herself.

“I want to show you something, Opal,” Henry said. He reached into his pocket and clutched RoboBee in his hand. He sat down on one of the mismatched chairs so he could be at her level and opened his palm. He briefly worried that she might try to eat RoboBee too, but she just stared at it in wonder. Maybe dream things recognized other dream things - like they had a special kind of kinship with each other. Then he had the absurd thought that Opal was RoboBee’s niece if that was true. Now he was just making it weird.

“What is it?” Opal asked.

“I speak multiple languages too, just like you. Sometimes my brain has a hard time translating my thoughts into words. RoboBee helps me communicate by turning my thoughts into actions,” Henry explained. Opal watched in amazement as RoboBee stirred to life, wings whirring, and lifted off Henry’s palm, hovering between them. She tentatively reached out with her paper cut finger and RoboBee landed gently on it. She squealed with delight, which turned into hysterical laughter. There’s the sugar, Henry thought, but her laughter was so pure that he couldn’t help but laugh along with her. If it weren’t for the hooves and magic, he would record a video of it and post it on YouTube. It would go viral for sure.

“What languages do you speak?” Opal asked when she finally settled down.

“Korean, Cantonese and English,” Henry said. He hadn’t taken Latin at Aglionby like the nerds outside. He considered himself lucky though since Aglionby only seemed to hire murderers to teach Latin.

“I don’t speak any of those, except for English sometimes,” Opal explained.

“I know,” Henry said. RoboBee lifted off her finger and rose high into the air. She looked up with longing, but didn’t ask to keep RoboBee or throw a tantrum like a normal child might.

“Maybe Ronan can make one for you, like his dad made this one for me.”

Her face scrunched up like she was thinking hard about it. “I don’t think it would work for me.”

“Why not?”

“You’re the only one,” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight.

Henry choked up a little. He couldn’t help it. It was overwhelming at times to feel so known, so accepted, by all of them. Even by Opal. He composed himself quickly and stood up. “We should go outside. I have to take these bags to the car.”

“I will help you,” Opal insisted. He gave her the lightest bag and it was still too big for her, but she was stubborn, so he let her struggle with it. She reminded him a bit of Blue in that moment. They made their way outside into the bright summer sunshine with RoboBee trailing behind them.

“Don’t tell Ronan how much candy I let you have, ok?” Henry said, as an afterthought when they reached the car. Adam watched as Jimi finished up the smudging, but the others were missing in action.

“Okay,” Opal agreed, handing her bag to Adam.

“What did you do?” Adam asked, warily.

“Nothing,” Opal and Henry said in unison. Henry gave her a thumbs up.

She beamed at him, but then the look on her face quickly turned to one of horror as she pointed and shrieked, “Kerah!”

Jimi screamed and clutched her chest. “Heavens, child,” she said, fanning herself.

Adam had just enough time to snatch RoboBee out of the air before Chainsaw dove for it, beak and talons bared. She wheeled in mid air before regaining her balance and landing gracefully on Adam’s shoulder. She hobbled down Adam’s arm and pecked at his hand, knowing that he held what she wanted in his closed fist.

“Holy shit,” Henry said, breathing a sigh of relief as they carefully exchanged the endangered cargo between their hands, so Chainsaw couldn’t see. So much for that idea about kinship among dream things. “Nice reflexes, Parrish. I forgot about the other niece.”

“The other niece?” Adam asked, confused.

“Oh, nothing, forget it,” Henry said, waving him off as he stowed RoboBee safely away in his pocket.

Adam laughed. “You should have known better than to let it loose like that around her.” Chainsaw glared at Henry from her perch on Adam’s shoulder.

“Devil bird,” Henry said, glaring right back.

“There you are, brats,” Ronan called, as he walked across the front lawn. “What was she shrieking about?”

“Chainsaw almost ate RoboBee,” Adam explained.

“What a tragedy,” Ronan said. “The world could have used one less creepy spy bot observing our every move.”

“Hey, don’t reduce my very specific magical ability to one of your anti-government conspiracy theories, Lynch,” Henry retorted. Adam snorted with laughter.

“I’m going to miss you, Cheng,” Ronan said, an evil grin spreading across his face, as Opal ran circles around him. “Jesus Christ, what has gotten into you?” he asked her.

Payback, Henry thought. “She may have had some of the candy we packed. I tried to stop her.”

“Liar!” Opal cried.

“I’m sure you tried really hard.”

“That’s the beauty of being the uncle. I let her do what she wants then I give her back to you to deal with the consequences,” Henry said.

“Speaking of consequences, there are going to be severe ones if we don’t get on the road now,” Blue demanded, strolling up to the car from the house, clutching a pair of purple leggings in her hand. Gansey was close behind, along with the rest of the Fox Way contingent.

The remaining bags were loaded into the car and group pictures were taken for Henry’s Instagram account. Fists were bumped and hugs dispersed. Henry settled in the back seat for the first leg of their journey, while Blue curled up in the front and Gansey slid behind the wheel. He started the Camaro and the loud rumbling of the non-existent engine fueled their growing excitement. As Gansey pulled away from the curb, Henry turned to look out the rear window just in time to see Ronan blowing them a kiss. Gansey and Blue must have seen it in the mirrors too, because they turned and looked at each other and laughed. They rolled down their windows and stuck their arms out into the warm summer air, waving and whooping with glee, while Henry pounded on the ceiling. It was finally starting. This was going to be a great trip.