#i think willow accidentally helping him out is super funny

[mrmosseater]

this is supposed to be a continuation from that one comic thing

[ratsoh-writes]

The skeles and s/o are out somewhere and it gets pretty crowded. Someone bumps into s/o and s/o accidentally ends up 'kabedon'-ing their skele. S/o is apologizing profusely. How would they react?

I’ll admit, I had no idea what that meant at first.

For anyone who doesn’t know: kabedon is when you kind of pin someone against the wall by slapping your hands on the wall with them in between your arms

Sans: poker face activate! You’ll never know that he got super flustered. He’ll accept your apology with a joke and a wink

Papyrus: he accepts your apology but he’s giggling at the same time. Papyrus thinks it’s cute you got so flustered by that

Star: he’s giving you that smug smirk and says if you wanted him in between your arms, all you had to do was ask.

Honey: he’ll squeak and blush bright orange. He doesn’t seem to want to move though. When you pull away, honey will look just a little disappointed

Red: you don’t even get to apologize. Red pulls you up against him and basically growls at the stranger who accidentally pushed you. Good job red, now everyone is giving you guys plenty of space

Edge: he’ll flush bright red and wave off your apology. Edge insists on walking with your arm in his now since everyone out here clearly insist on pushing you around

Mal: he just tsks and tells you not to worry about it. Maybe leave the flirtations for home? Even if you insist it was an accident, mal will continue to claim you did it on purpose just to mess with you

Cash: cash is the absolute worst. When you push him against the wall, he decides to let out this total porn star moan. Now you’re traumatized and he’s dying of laughter

Oak: like red, he pulls you against him. He won’t growl but he will glare at the strangers back.

Willow: ok so willow is hecking tall. Like eight feet tall. He didn’t even realize the suggestiveness of your position until you start apologizing. Now he’s laughing. He can’t help it, that was funny

[cricketnationrise]

Quarantine Reads Part 7

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6

151. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver: one of my mom’s buddy read pick. alternating pov. accidental baby acquisition. road tripping.

152. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik: HOW did I miss that Naomi Novik had a whole dragon series??? HOWMST??? these are seriously right up my alley: dragons can talk and are partners with their riders, some dragons only let LADIES ride them (!!!), alternate history. plus there’s like 9 OF THEM??? amaze.

153. A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner: book 4 in the queen’s thief series (now complete!). political intrigue, gods are real and semi-present in people’s lives, greekish adjacent.

154. Heartstopper: Volume Two by Alice Oseman: yes i had already read these panels online, but my print copy came in so obviously it was time to reread (it’s going to be a tv show!) (also its still updating!)

155. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson: meticulously researched, interwoven personal stories, the book is HEFTY but reads pretty quick

156. The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak: really cool story set in the height of the ottoman empire, follows Jahan, the elephant keeper, and how he came to be there and him growing up

157. Longbourn by Jo Baker: a retelling of pride and prejudice from the servants’ point of view, content warning: wickham preying on like a 12 year old, witnessing a whipping, descriptions of starvation, being a soldier in the napoleonic war

158. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks: a ridiculously old Hebrew manuscript thought to be lost is found in Sarajevo, a conservator goes to examine it and finds several clues to the provenance of the text, follows the clues through history and flashes back to the present as the conservator tries to follow up on the clues, based on the true story of the Sarajevo Haggadah; content warning: murder, Holocaust, giving birth, the Inquisition

159. Goalie Interference by Avon Gale: hockey m/m romance between a set of tandem goalies on a fictional professional hockey team, lots o sex

160. What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli: coming of age story set in nyc the summer before college, trying to figure out who you are, missing connections, some bad communication that gives way to good communication

161. Trade Deadline by Avon Gale: a hockey player gets traded after many seasons on the same team to his hometown team that is struggling to bring in fans, he reconnects with a childhood friend (and first kiss) who helps run the local aquarium, cuteness ensues, romance (so there’s sex)

162. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead: two slaves manage to escape Georgia on the Underground Railroad, which, in this imagining is a series of safe houses and actual trains, follows their lives after that; content warning: violence, whipping, hunting people with dogs, severe illness, murder, racism

163. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett: 13th in the discworld series, this one explores the makings of a religion and how gods that have fallen out of favor can get a resurgence, very funny, highly ridiculous

164. Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden: graphic novel, Bea is on the run, runs into Lou, they find a cat, strange and dangerous stuff starts happening to them, magical realism, towns appearing and disappearing, haunted by a group of threatening men? creatures? unclear

165. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix: a fun fantasy novel, old gods still exist, demons exist, a special family of booksellers are the main ones in london trying to stop them from wreaking havoc on the mundane population, a girl discovers her father is not what her mom told her

166. Bloom by Kevin Panetta: graphic novel, ya m/m getting together and falling in love, a boy is helping out in his parents’ bakery reluctantly when he is given permission to hang a help wanted flyer and meets the boy who becomes one of his best friends and maybe more

167. The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman: short story, follows a father and son’s relationship

168. The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore: non-fiction, follows the author of the original wonder woman comics and his life, he seems like an ass to me though

169. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson: a hacker and his network is targeted after sleeping with/romancing the fiance of the government official tasked with rooting out those people trying to avoid the regime, alif is forced to go on the run with the literal girl next door and manages to accidentally stumble into the world of the djinn; content warning: imprisonment, torture, starvation, riots, murder

170. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig: in the space between life and death, there is a library, full of every what if you can think of and many more that you didn’t, follows the protagonist as she explores her own life many times if she had made different decisions along the way

171. A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers: a crew that punches wormholes through space to make travel easier is given a huge contract that would set them up financially, but will take a massively long time to get to, and when they do, all is not as it seems, changing POV throughout the crew of a couple humans, a few differing alien species, and an AI as they go to do this job,

172. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows: epistolary novel set just after WW2, juliet ashton is a writer who receives a letter from Guernsey Island in the English Channel and they spark a friendship, after learning more about his experience during the war and his relationship with books, she starts corresponding with others from the island and eventually goes there herself. this is my actual favorite book. the love story is super sweet plus the friendships are A++++

173. Unshelved by Bill Barnes: comic strip collection set in a local library, follow the librarians as they battle loud teenagers, preteens who don’t want to read, and people who think the library is for anything but finding books to read

174. Ms. Marvel, Vol 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson: Ms. Marvel origin story, follows a teenager in Jersey City as she accidentally and suddenly acquires superpowers while trying to still make her curfew and not disappoint her parents and get good grades

175. Feast of Famine by Naomi Novik: short story set in the Temeraire series, won’t make sense unless you’re familiar with the worldbuilding

[harmonytre]

Comic Plans

Current Projects:

Prismtale (Mondays): An Undertale AU involving NPCs and multiverse travelling. Multi-chapter comic and ongoing.

Mistbreak (Tuesdays): A Steven Universe AU with about 5 pages left of the comic. Then it will become an ask/drabble/design blog.

Flicker of a Neon Soul (Wednesdays): An Undertale AU where monsters have colored soul traits and humans have white soul traits. 10+ chaptered comic with many plans and plot.

Taffy and Steven (Thursdays): A Steven Universe where Steven and his gem are split into different people and Taffy is a wholesome boyo. One page left of the comic, then will become an ask/edit blog with occasional comics.

Future Fandom Projects:

Pokemon Nuzlocke Comics: Multiple regions and an overarching plot. I need to finish playing and writing the first arc before starting the comic. (long term)

Who I Am: A Pokemon comic where James from Team Rocket is a were-pokemon. I need to rewrite it first. About 7 to 8 chapters. (medium length)

Other Undertale AUs: Certain AUs will be revealed in Prismtale and turn into side blogs, and others will be one time comics. (varies)

Future Original Projects:

(One of these I want to make extremely interactive. Like the audience makes choices for the characters.)

Phantulfurs: A comic about teens with powers to see creatures no one else can. I’ve rewritten the first chapter multiple times, but I need to really write it out before starting the comic. About ten arcs. (long term)

Skryculars: A sequel to the above story. (medium length)

The Journeyers: A multi-book series with my cousin. About ten books. Involves animals, powers, and romance. Won’t give information beyond that. (long term)

Unnamed Animated Series: Still need to design the two main characters, but they’ll travel through many worlds from my dream world. (long term youtube series)

Unnamed Wings Story: Decided many many characters for a high school story with wings. Lots of diversity and LGBTQ. Problem is I don’t like writing high school stories and have no plot. ;^; (medium? short?)

Unnamed Long Term Comic: A story about a space girl with wings, a nonbinary person that can shapeshift and communicate with animals, twins with water and plant powers, and an angsty wholesome skeleton bean. No plot yet. (long term)

Short Term (below the cut, any catch your interest?)

(keep in mind many of these I wrote the descriptions for years ago or based off of dreams.)

“Orphan Dog” and “Martha’s Pack” An orphan finds out she can talk to dogs and realizes they are the key to finding her missing parents. (Wrote when I was 8, rewrote partially when I was 13. So very cheezy. Would be even cheezier if I didn’t rewrite it, but still drew quality serious art XD.)

“The Agency” A girl named Jill has secrets. Major secrets. For one, she can turn into any animal at will including extinct, Fantasy, or hybrids. Don’t forget that she can also turn invisible and do telepathy. (Not to mention she runs an entire secret animal spy community…) When her best friend and spy ally, Izabella the opossum, goes missing, she must find what it means to be a true friend and showing that it’s what’s inside that counts. (Actually liked this one too. Even if it’s also cheezy.)

1. “Moos” A boy is adopted by cows and is granted the power to understand animals and turn into a cow.

2. “Moos: Vile Meat” Hoover is back and he must defeat the evil Haystack, a human entrapping calfs in little domes for eternity.

3. “Moos: Cold Cuts” Hoover finds a new ally, one who creates...snow?

4. “Moos: Wakey Wakey Eggs and Bakey” Haystack is back and Hoover and his friends must defeat him before he turns all pigs into stone. (Cheezy series?)

“Extraordinaries” Emma, her friend, Millie, her brother, Clark, and her dog, Charlie, have to travel to a faraway land to save Emma’s mother, who has been poisoned. Along the way Emma and the team must find how to deal with their newfound powers of Imagination. (This one was also pretty good! A story from Nanowrimo a few years ago.)

“The Hummingbird Did It” A hummingbird turns a lazy boy into a dog. The boy must venture across country to find the cure. (Was kinda boring and just me having fun with google maps lol.)

“Sunshine and Rainbows” A girl is taken to another world by rainbow dust and must find her way back to Earth. (Can’t actually remember this one.)

“Nature’s Lifeforce” A boy and girl are given the power to turn into any woodland creature and talk to trees. (Also can’t remember, but sounds cool.)

“Ravens” A girl named Hannah, a boy named Billy, a boy named Cameron, a girl named Lyla, and a boy named Clark, among other students, have their wishes come true. This creates a problem as Cameron becomes a dog, Lyla becomes a cat and Hannah and Billy become ravens. They fix the problem for everyone except Hannah and Billy, but embark on an adventure to find the scientist who can help them. (Based on a dream, I think.)

“Dragon wings” Hiccup and Toothless accidentally sit down someplace weird. They switch bodies and Toothless claims to have heard someone press a button. (ASDFGHJKL WHAT?! HTTYD short story)

“Melody Dreambubble” A weird new pony arrives in Ponyville. Twilight is curious to find that she has no Cutie Mark, was raised by wolves, and bears mysterious powers. (My Little Pony, kinda self insert, short story)

“Eyes of Gold/The Tower” A Fan Fiction based on The Ever Afters series and two stories rolled into one. Rory finds that her two best friends have been poisoned by a new dragon species/As Rory is about to enter a tower to save Chase a random girl shows up out of nowhere and has a weird habit of annoying Adelaide. (Was my first ever self insert? And based on a book series unlike the rest? Cool! Oh I even wrote ten whole pages! Neat. Featuring a girl chasing a dragon with a bedpan!)

“Roadkill” A man purposely runs over a deer on a freeway. The deer’s best friend curses the man, later to regret it because he has to undo the curse himself. (Lol, this was interesting.)

“Melissa and Steven Started a Food Fight” A completely random book that takes the characters through an adventure of explosions, unicorns, and talking squirrels. (Used a random prompt generator. Very random. And funny.)

“Before it’s Gone” A snooty teen crashes in her car and finds a surprise when she wakes up. (Oh yeah, another old story. She turned into a dog and none of the other dogs believed her.)

“The Unicorn Killer” A short story about poachers and Julia. (Yep. Short story.)

1. “Feathers of Gold” A logical young bird griffin, Gabriel, wants to find a way to stop to war between bird and lion in his land, Genetica.

2. “Scales of Emerald” A shy young dragon, Emmie, tries to keep her land, Reptilia, from destruction.

3. “Hair of Crystal” A brave young unicorn, Crystal, tries to find a way to join together the leaders of the land of Equinsta.

4. “Flames of Ruby” A vain young phoenix, Flaxter, tries to capture the eyes of girls. Taken place in the land of Flamia.

5. “Gems Unite” Gabriel, Emmie, Crystal, and Flaxter find out they are The Gems, the only ones who can save their world, Animagicia, from the beings, called Humurns, that are trying to destroy it. They must come together and find who they truly are. (Might have fun with this series. I’ve always loved mythical animals.)

“The Distance from Sam” An 8 year-old St. Bernard named Barry, a 3 year-old Golden Retriever named Mick, and a 1 year-old Sheltie named Sandy set off to return to their owner Sam, after being kidnapped and sent across country. (Kinda like Homeward Bound. Came in mind when I saw these three dogs alone by a street, no humans around.)

“The Skilled” Andy and Ashley(both fifteen) and their eight year-old siblings, twins Alex and Alexa, gain powers from the sewers. All: understand animals and fly, Andy: talk to toys, Ashley: speak to plants, Alex and Alexa: psychic powers. “I used to think my toys would come to life when I was gone. I guess I was right.”-Andy. Based on a dream. (Too many “A” names, oof. Also, toy Story much?)

“The Moon’s Eye” A teenage girl named April gets trapped under a snow drift and wakes up to be a wolf. A nearby wolf pack needs her aid and calls her The Mooneye, a changeling. (Cool. Cool.)

“Unusual Forces of Omnipotence” A woman and her horse are supposedly crushed by a U.F.O. When Tanaya wakes up she finds out she has super strong senses and can run as fast as her horse. Pluto the alien knows he’s going to be in trouble if his planet finds out he crash landed and accidentally gave a human the powers of her horse. He tries to fix it. Told from Tanaya, Sunray (the horse), and Pluto’s point of view. Based on a dream. (Sounds interesting! Title came from before I knew UFO was an acronym lol.)

“The Lawn” Unknown to humans, a yard full of statues come alive at night. There is an elk, two bears, four buffalo, a wolf, an eagle, three horses, a small boy, a moose, a bighorn sheep, and a rabbit. (Based on a real lawn I’d see on the way to school.)

“Dragon Eyes” Max has an ordinary life, until his family, him, and his three friends, Alice, Peter, and Samuel, are transported to another world. His parents are then kidnapped and they have to fight against an evil Mother Nature. Based on a dream. (Interesting. The dream was freaky.)

“Sweet Treat” Emily’s dad works at a candy factory, and one day she visits him and realizes his work is not all it seems… Based on a dream. (What? I don’t remember what was different about his work???)

“The Flight of the Supernatural” Randy thinks he is mostly a normal kid. Sure, he and his dad live inside a mountain, and sure, some flying species of human killed his mother, that doesn’t mean he can’t live normal life homeschooling and watching TV. But unfortunately, Randy’s life turns around when he finds out he can fly. Is his father telling the truth? Did his own species kill his mother? Based on a dream. (Actually REALLY loved this story.)

“Whispering Willow” A girl named Willow helps 20 wolf cubs escape a pet store and then is recruited by a zoo. Pretty soon all of the animals know her as Whisper. Based on a dream. (Cool. another animal whisperer.)

“The Invasion of Our Minds” Little black aliens invade Earth and only one person can stop them: Julia. Based on a dream. (Oh RIGHT! Yeah I remember that.)

“The Marble Island(Possibly a short story?)” Julia goes on a trip to a new marble island only to find the owner turns people into stone figurines. Based on a dream. (Links to the previous story, I think.)

“Have some candy!” Violet, an expert on strange occurrences, needs to help a group of people who mysteriously turned into animals after attempting to grab candy bars from a bin in a local store. Based on a dream. (More animal transformation.)

“The Guide to Mythical Creatures I Made Up” A guide to everything from the Mystic Melody to the Gollan. (I don’t remember either of their designs! :P )

“Trying to Get Back to Mom” Michael and Annabelle meet new friends, while they frantically try to reunite with their mother. (Don’t remember.)

“Surprise of the Future” Pearl travels to the future and has to fight her now-evil brother in his stone mansion. (Not Pearl from SU. Based on a dream.)

“All for You” A man has to overcome many obstacles, such as mermaids, yellow smoke wolves, and magic maps, to save the world and his girl. (Oh yeah, this was a cool one. Based on a song, but I can’t remember which one.)

“The Stranger at the Door” Keith and Amber have lived with their grandmother for many years, but now they live alone and nobody knows. Then a strange girl arrives at the door. She claims they will have to leave town within 2 hours or risk being stuck in a quarantine zone. There will be traffic jams and other hindrances, so it's best to leave right now without taking anything with you. Unsure about everything, including this strange girl, the teenage boy disagrees to the proposal, if all this turns out to be true, this choice will seem foolish. His younger sister does agree. But what if this strange girl can't be trusted. Or what if all this is an elaborate trap. How could an ordinary teenage girl and boy end up in a situation like this. Time to find out. (Oh, a quarantine story? How long ago was this? 2017 I think.)

“The Beginning of the Hybrid Brothers” A backstory that shines a light on how Ralph the Rat-Man and Dr. Discord came to be evil. (YES, MY TWO VILLAINS NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT BUT ARE STILL DEAR TO MY HEART HNNNNNNNG.)

“Unnamed but same as the blank” A girl named, _____, lives in a family of nine. She and her mother are the only ones who aren’t “Morhumals”, or people who can turn into one animal. After the twins mess-up and send a “Morhumals” hunter after them, it is up to ___ and her sister, ____ to rescue them.

“Song of the Siren” ____ is back after her fourteenth birthday. She finally has received her animal and must follow her family to the mythed Siren hideout.

[juliandev0rak]

From the get to know my character questionnaire, 1 for all of them (bc I know you named stella after alcohol but i wanna know about the rest lmao), and 7 and 27... also for all of them? i just love them all, hit me with the lore. —leila-of-ravens

ahh thank you for asking about all of them I have way too much fun writing character lore 💗💗💗 @leila-of-ravens

from these asks

these will inevitably get long so I’m putting the answers under the cut!

01. What does your character’s name mean? Did you pick it for the symbolism, or did you just like the way it sounded?

Beatrice

Beatrice started off as a self insert character so I gave her my name and started playing the Arcana as “Bea”, but I soon decided I wanted to make her much cooler than I am lol, so I changed a lot of her personality and named her the longer version of Bea, Beatrice. I also love the name because it reminds me of Beatrice, Dante’s muse in Dante’s Inferno. He travelled through all of the levels of hell to rescue her and it just seemed to fit with the story of the Arcana. Long story short, I sort of named her after me lol.

I chose her last name Viano from googling “Italian last names” and choosing the one I liked the sound of best lol, there’s no deep meaning for that. 

Freya

I named her Freya because I love the name, but after looking up its meaning I felt it fit her really well. It’s a name from Norse origins and means “a noble woman”, and Freya’s whole aesthetic was built off of her being very dignified and elegant. She’s the type of person you’d expect to be nobility, even if she isn’t.

Aster

I googled “space names” because I wanted her to be star inspired and found the name “Astra” which means “of the stars” in Latin. I decided to go for Aster instead because I love the way it sounds. I also like how similar it sounds to Asra, I just think it’s cute that they have similar names lol. 

I decided not to give her a last name because I couldn’t find one I liked, and because I thought it would be an interesting part of her background. She doesn’t remember her family at all, and that includes not even knowing her own last name. 

Cam

I chose the name Camellia because I had the idea of all of Cam’s siblings being named after plants because they grew up on a farm. Camellias are one of my favorite flowers, and I like the way it can be shortened to Cam. Cam is nonbinary and basically defines their gender as “whatever feels right in the moment” lol, so having a name that can be less overtly feminine, like Cam, was important to me. I think both their full name and their nickname really suit them!  

Their last name is Giardini which means “gardens” in Italian, I chose it because it goes along with the gardening / farming theme of their background.

Stella

I know I’ve explained this before but here’s the full story: It was a Friday evening in August, I poured myself a glass of Stella Rosa Black, my favorite red wine, and started playing Lucio’s route for the first time. I knew I wanted to make a new oc for his route because Beatrice would really hate Lucio, so the idea of Stella was born. I just thought it would be funny to have a character based off of alcohol, who lived at a vineyard, and I think the name Stella is very pretty. 

Willa

I debated naming her Willow for a while because I wanted her to have a nature themed name, but I decided I like the sound of Willa better. It’s a sort of delicate sounding name which fits her. I chose her last name Clary because Willa is Irish-coded (because of course, there’s no Ireland in the game lol), and I thought it sounded good with her first name!

07. Is there a catchphrase or sound that they tend to make a lot (likely without being aware of it)?

Beatrice

“Oh dear” is basically her catch phrase, she doesn’t curse much so it’s kind of her go to “oh no” phrase if something goes wrong. 

Freya

She has a very particular sigh that basically means she’s annoyed, she tries to keep her composure in front of people at all times so her annoyed sigh is the only sign she actively hates whoever she’s talking to.

Aster

She curses pretty much constantly but she throws in all sort of non-curse words, for example while fighting the Devil she turned to Asra and said “Fucking gumdrops my dude, this sucks!” which, although confusing, did make sense in the moment. She also says “oh worm” a lot ever since she heard Vlastomil say it. 

Cam

They have a very distinctive laugh which usually turns into snorts if they’re laughing super hard, which is pretty much always. 

Stella

She rolls her eyes a lot and says things like “Oh sure..” in a sarcastic tone of voice under her breath. You can’t blame her, she is dating Lucio after all which means she has to deal with him, and the courtiers, more than any one person should have to. 

Willa

Willa prides herself on being an “active listener” which means that if you’re telling her something she’ll be nodding her head and saying “Uh hu” to let you know that she’s listening. She also calls everyone “sweetie”.

27. If your character was going to get arrested, what would be the most likely reason for it?

Beatrice

“I would probably be arrested for aiding and abetting fugitives. I’ve met a lot of people at the Rowdy Raven who are supposed to be behind bars- but I’ll never tell.” 

Freya

“Tax evasion, money laundering, insider stock trading.. these are just examples of crimes not ones I’ve committed. I refuse to discuss this more without a lawyer present.” 

Aster

“It would probably be for the time I let all of the palace horses loose in the city streets.. or maybe when I accidentally set a building on fire.. or maybe from the time I helped pirates smuggle in certain illegal goods.. well let’s just say it’s a good thing Nadia granted me immunity :) ”  

Cam

“Hmmmm.. I stole a book once when I was a teenager, it was way overpriced and the merchant was super rude so I just took it when he wasn’t looking. The guilt has haunted me ever since...”

Stella

“I broke into Valerius’ house last weekend. It was for a valid reason, he stole something from my brother and I needed to get it back. Valerius called the guards but I just portalled out of there, he knows it was me but he can’t prove anything...” 

Willa

“I smuggled all of the vampire eels out of the city, they weren’t happy living in the canals! They need open water to thrive, everyone knows that!” 

[wetalkinboutbooks]

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

Summary

The Bird King is a 2019 fantasy novel set in 1491, the novel takes place in the Emirate of Granada during the territory’s final days. The story concerns the flight of Fatima and Hassan, a concubine and mapmaker, respectively, from service to the Emirate’s last sultan. (Taken from Wikipedia)

We follow Fatima and Hassan on their search for the Bird King as they avoid soldiers of the Spanish inquisition, and meet a variety of characters along the way.

Our Ratings: 

 → Geena: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 → Kae: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Overall: The Bird King is an amazing book that manages to be complex yet light-hearted. It touches on subjects like faith, love, and friendship. The characters are engaging (and absolute drama queens) and the plot is fast-paced so there’s never a dull moment. The dynamic between the characters leads to the funniest situations that will have you dying. In summary, reasons to read this book if you haven’t already:

A- ONE SUPER FUNNY BOOK PLZ READ IT

B - THE DRAMAAA OF FATIMA AND HASAAN

C - Vikram 

D - Stupid

~ Spoiler-full discussion below ~

The Good: 

→ Hassan and Fatima’s Relationship

Geena: The best thing about the bird king (aside from the horse named Stupid) was Hassan and Fatima’s friendship. IMO it was so wholesome and they were so in love (PLATONICALLY!!!!). When Hassan said seeing Fatima walking around was like seeing his heart outside his body…… a BITCH DIED!!! Also, the fact they would take shots at each other constantly? Loved it. HOW COULD I FORGET… HASSAN CONSTANTLY BEING HORNY AND FATIMA BEING LIKE “CAN U CHILL!”  

Kae: OKAY MOOD LMAOOO. So boom. Geena covered it. We love this book! Hassan and Fatima are the definition of the 💯 emoji. But these bestie-bitches are DRAMATIC af. I’ve never seen two best friends who love each other as much as they do. They’re hugging and crying one moment, then the next they’re jealous that one of them is talking to someone else. DRAMATIC. I love it. Have we talked about Gwenny and Stupid yet?  

Geena: WE HAVEN’T TALKED ABOUT THEM, the perfect accessories to the Hassan-Fatima duo. Gwen is the token white boi, there for Hassan to thirst over and Fatima to learn how to sail a ship. Stupid on the other hand…. God bless that horse all it did was drown and then LIVE!!!! The absolute legend.  BUT Kae HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE GWEN AND STUPID? HMMM

Gwen: I only love God

Also Gwen: *sleeps with Fatima on the deck of the ship while Hassan is 3 feet away* 

Kae: Well... Gwennec. Ol’ Gwenny Gwen Gwen. Gwen, the Monk who FUCKS. PAHAAHA. Gwen was a new Monk who was at first, totally against helping our favorite bestie-bitches. But Fatima was all “Don’t test me white boi I will kick ya ass.” And Gwen lowkey thought it was hot so he let them slide. He taught Fatima and Hassan how to sail while Hassan made googly eyes at him and definitely wanted to tap that. But, as previously stated, Fatima and Gwen got it ooonnn.  Hassan found out and as like “Fa, I can’t believe you slept with my husband who doesn’t know we’re married yet!”,  and that was basically that.. Then we have Stupid. The horse who was just as damn stupid as his name. The horse lived to spite the Grim Reaper just to prove it would breathe another day. We also haven’t mentioned our Jinn friend and their literal lifesaver/guardian angel, Vikram.  

Geena: VIKRAM, aka another dude/djinn/dog man that Hassan wanted to fuck but couldn’t :( Vikram was essentially the only one in the group that had a substantial amount of brain cells, and spent most of the time trying to make sure Fatima didn’t accidentally kill herself. The fact that he saw his death and it was in the arms of a “beautiful woman” should sum up his character really well. 

Kae: Geena is sooo right. Vikram was the only one with brain cells because Fatima and Hassan both shared two. Our loveable, dramatic, but also a little dimwitted faves wouldn’t have survived any of their adventure without Vikram. He lead them through a Jinn filled tunnel that Hassan made. Escorted them across the land with the Inquisition right on their asses, and fought off whoever tried to hurt them. Initially, he agreed to save them because of a debt he owed to Fatima’s Sultana. But in the end, Vikram helped them because he wanted to. He was a weirddog/man/Jinn who just wanted Fatima and Hassan to stop being dumbasses for five seconds. But they couldn’t so he was constantly annoyed and probs wanted to eat them to shut them up. BUT WE STAN THAT FURRY LEGEND BECAUSE WITHOUT HIM, OUR ESCAPEES WOULD BE DEAD-EEE. Also he was one suave, smooth talking mofo and I feel like if he walked up to you and said “You’re lovely, but you’re an idiot. It’s okay, because you’re pretty tho.” that compliment sandwich would go right over your head and you’d thank him.  

Geena: ok FIRST OFF I would be like “why do you have a tail” but god Kae you hit all the points. 

The Bad AND The Ugly

→ The Sultan and His Mom Being Pedos 

Geena: Ok so, Fatima is 17 and I’m assuming the Sultan was in his mid-thirties, because he has kids Fatima’s age 👀. So I am sure it was historically accurate, the fact that the old ass man had a 17 year old concubine, but that doesn’t make it any less gross!!!! What’s worse is that Fatima’s mom was originally a slave for the sultan, so when she was born the sultan’s mom raised her and had her instated as a concubine when she was 15!!!!!! Scuse me while I 🤮. 

Kae: Yea, Geena said it all. The Sultan was ewww. Fatima was his favorite and I guess he talked to her like she wasn’t a concubine? She was treated very well. For a concubine. Probably better than any concubine I’ve read about Like, she had rights and could talk shit without punishment. But still, DISGUSTEEENNNG. Our girl was groomed so we do NOT stan the Sultan. 

→ Luz

Kae: we also have our main villain, Luz. She arrived at their palace to play peaceful, but she had ulterior motives that involved her spreading the word of the LORDT and taking Hassan in to be tried for Witchcraft and all that magic shit. Because if we didn’t say it before, Hassan can draw anything on a map and make that place a reality. Luz has this little worm in her eye that basically makes her super weirdly strong and badass. But fuck Luz. When Fatima finds out that Hassan is to be tried for witchcraft, she goes to him so they can both escape. Fatima wants to be free and she doesn’t want to see her bestie die. So what do they do? They dip. And now our friends are on the run. 

Geena: UGH Yes, can I just say the moment that Fatima realized that Hassan would get canned she was like “fuck all these people” and peaced out with Hassan? Friendship goals… But yes LUZ!! I enjoyed reading her as a villain because she genuinely thinks she’s a good person and that her life’s mission is to “Save” people like Fatima from people like Hassan. You really end up liking her in the beginning, and then she turns around and murders a few people and you’re like…. Ah…… i see….. aND THEN it turns out she was being controlled by some brainworm that was also trying to get to the Bird King and you kind of wonder…. How much of what Luz did was her being a violent inquisitor and how much was the worm controlling her… you kno? She redeems herself by dying, so I guess she gets…. Like one (1) right. 

Kae: Damn girl! Well said!!! LITCHERALY that is a perfect summary of Luz’s character. I can’t say anything else because it’s been SAID.  Villains are always interesting when they don’t see themselves as the bad guy. They’re righteous and unforgiving because they believe they are doing the right thing. That’s what scary about them. 

Conclusion 

Kae: Okay, so in conclusion. This is an amazing book and in all honesty, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I was never bored reading it. Hassan, Fatima, and Vikram had quite the adventure and all the dramatics of made it that much more enjoyable. They left the palace in hopes of freedom. Hassan and Fatima got the idea of The Bird King from a story they liked to read, but never knew the ending. So they continued the story on their own, making it up along the way. In hopes of escaping their new fate to Luz and the Inquisition, Hassan drew up a map to the Bird King in hopes to find it. Their journey took them to meet Gwennec who sailed them to said island, where they discovered used to be inhabited long, long ago. Soon, others began to show up on the island. Hassan even got him a MANS. A DOCTOR. Whew. He’s got taste. The island is also forever changing and some of the remaining inhabitants are Jinn. 

Geena: Kae summarized the story really well!!! The journey to the end was an absolute trip, but G. Willow Wilson tied up the story neatly. We get to see Fatima become less dependent on Hassan (thanks to his doctor bf who told her to chill out) and Hassan finally find the happiness he deserves. Gwen, unfortunately, doesn’t make it to the end (press F to pay respect). Luz essentially sacrifices herself by taking the map Hassan drew, getting off the island, and ripping it up. Why does she do this? Because to make a place or passage Hassan drew disappear the map has to be ripped. And leaving the map to the island wasn’t an option because the Spanish inquisition never stops!!

Kae: And if they ripped the map on the island, the island would cease to exist! Upon arrival to the island, everyone had their ships wrecked. Luz got fucked up on the shipwreck and that worm thing got ripped out of her eyes and then it became a monster on the island that was NOT to be trifled with. Since Luz got all jacked up, she was gonna die anyway and no one wanted her to stay--

Geena: Everyone said “u cant sit with us” to luz. OKAY DISCUSSING THIS BOOK MADE ME REMEMBER HOW MUCH IT MADE ME LAUGH, GENUINELY ONE OF THE FUNNIEST BOOKS I’VE READ. 10/10 FOR ME!!

Kae: LMAOOO HONESTLY. XPECIALLY FATIMA NEVER HAVING WALKED SO FAR BEFORE AND BEING A BIG OL BABY. but she DIIIID have messed up shoes that blistered so I’ll give her that BUT YES HASSAN WAS A DRAMA QUEEN “waaah, I have red hair and im pale BUT I'M STILL HOT AND I LIKE TO F U C K” But yeah, Luz got voted off the island and voted herself off the island, ripped up the map, and then they were safe and lived happily ever after. Vikram even made his final appearance to say his goodbyes to Fatima, even though he hates goodbyes. I give this book a 10/10. It was funny, the characters were likeable and relatable, and it was just a good adventure read.

[yetanotherbuffyblog]

Tara gets some character development, yay!

Oh wait what, one of the Scoobies other than Buffy has an actual family? I didn’t expect that. But no really, we get some backstory on Tara!

Yay?

Tara’s birthday is coming up, Buffy’s moving back to the house to protect Dawn (Giles is the only one she told about what’s going on), and Giles is having trouble finding out what the heck it was that attacked Buffy, and hey Tara’s family (dad, brother and cousin Amy Adams) came into town to try to bring her back home.

A lot happened this episode, but I’m getting tired of summarizing plots when you could totally just find synopses online somewhere. So basically: Tara’s family wants Tara to come back with them, because (GASP) it’s revealed that the women in Tara’s family have a bit of demon in them, which is why they’re good with magic. Tara left so she could do her own thing, but now her family’s back and they want to take her back. They see her magic as evil.

And this is all very interesting, I guess, but at the end it’s revealed that this is all BS, there is no discernible amount of demon blood in Tara, and the family apparently just made this up to keep the women in line? There’s a sweet moment where all the Scoobies stand by Tara between her and her father, because she doesn’t want to be taken away, and the father storms off in a huff.

There’s also this bit with Spike, the Abomination/Beast sending some demons after Buffy, and Riley drinking in a bar, but we’ll talk about that more with notes.

Notes!

-While the parallels the show’s drawing between witchcraft and lesbianism is kind of right in your face with this episode, with how the family doesn’t approve and being abusive in their wish to make sure their daughter doesn’t practice that lifestyle, there isn’t really any overtly religiousness to the family? We don’t see them call on Jesus or God or the Bible or anything in their objections, which kind of surprised me. Usually there’s fundamentalist Christians all over these kinds of Message Stories.

-I also think it’s kind of important to note that, while it certainly does not justify Tara’s family’s abusive behavior (and I’m bolding that so you don’t miss that point), the Scoobies have a pretty flippant attitude about practicing magic despite how dangerous it is. In this episode, Tara doesn’t want to have her friends “see her demon side”, so she casts a spell that accidentally makes all demons undetectable to them, and so when the Abomination sends demons to go kill Buff none of the others can seem them, leading to them fighting off invisible attackers. Throughout the show, casting spells willy-nilly has led to all sorts of problems, and so I think it’s perfectly understandable for people to be against the use of magic. Though again, that does not justify Tara’s family’s abusive behavior.

-The Abomination grabs a demon who looks like a crappy clown and tells it to kill Buffy with some of his friends? They’re called ‘Lei-Ach’ demons in the show, but that doesn’t tell us much.

-Hey, the word ‘demon’ seems a bit of a misnomer, given that, as Anya said in season three, most of them aren’t even full-blooded demons, and they’re not even all evil? It seems more a catch-all term for ugly supernatural creatures than anything else.

-That intern in the hospital has been here for the last few episodes? And I don’t know why???

-Buffy and Xander are having trouble thinking of a present, given that they don’t know Tara’s interests very well other than magic. Giles points out that they’re in a magic shop, it should be easy, but, like really? You know she and Willow have a cat, get her cat stuff?

-Also does no one in the Bronze care in that final scene that Willow and Tara are floating while dancing?

-When Tara’s brother is introduced, he’s poking around the magic shop, asking about spellbooks, and makes a joking question about turning people into frogs, and Xander replies something like, “Oh yeah, we turn people into frogs, we’re making an army of frog-men,” which, like, Xander...not funny. Frog-men are serious business.

-Spike goes to help Buffy when he finds out that there are demons coming to kill her, but nobody seems to wonder why? No one asks him why he helped? Despite him claiming that he wants her dead as much as anyone else? It’s very silly of them.

-Those demons, by the way, were very bad at their jobs if it took them that long to kill people while being invisible. Grab a sharp object and just slit a throat, don’t go for grapples. It’s not hard guys!

-Riley is a bit miffed because he knows Buffy’s doing something, and that her concern with Dawn is more than she’s telling, but she won’t tell him, or any of the other Scoobies but Giles, because she doesn’t want them to act weird around her. Which I understand, but I also feel like she should at least tell him? Given everything?

-So Riley goes to that monster bar. A woman sits next to him, and he buys her a drink, but when she flirts with him more openly, he reveals he knows she’s a vampire and he’s not interested. The bartender also says that Riley comes every night, so, uh, that’s not good. Alcoholism isn’t cool, kids.

-Apparently Buffy’s dad is in Spain with a secretary, and won’t answer any calls. Which is stupid, and not unbelievable, but I always got the impression Buffy’s relationship with her dad wasn’t terrible? Not great, mind you, given he’s not there and Giles is the surrogate father figure, but not terrible.

-Buffy and Xander say that they don’t know Tara very well, which...I kind of agree? We don’t see much of her outside of her relationship with Willow. This is the first time she’s gotten a lot of really solid development. Supposedly the reason she was paired with Willow was because ‘They had such great chemistry!’ but I don’t...see it? Like she’s not a bad character, but so far she hasn’t done much, and this is the first character where she’s really endeared herself to me as a viewer.

-I understand that Buffy is now feeling super-protective of Dawn, but it’s manifesting in obvious ways, like not letting her have dinner with her friend across the street and insisting she come with them to Scoobie meetings and the like. Dawn has to know something’s up, sooner or later; Riley already figured it out, after all.

[dingoes8myrp]

40 Questions - Meme for Shippers: BtVS (2, 3, 4, 12, 26)

2. Talk about three of the most important ships throughout your life.

Trigger Warning: Unhealthy/abusive relationships. I accidentally triggered myself writing this, so it might trigger other people too.

Buffy and Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) 

As much as these two are OTPs in my opinion, watching this ship as an 11-12-year-old girl helped me to form an unhealthy gauge for relationships. Mom doesn’t approve of your boyfriend? Then she doesn’t need to know! He has a checkered past? Well, he’s different now, so it’s probably fine! He can’t go outside in the sun? That’ll never be a problem at all. No children? No problem, I’m sure I’ll never want them ever. No soul? I’m sure he’ll come around...

I gave so many wrong guys so many second chances thinking checkered pasts and iffy behavior just meant this was an “epic” romance like Buffy and Angel. The message I got was that if you really loved a person you’d accept all their flaws and love them anyway... even if those flaws were really unhealthy for you.

Willow and Oz (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

I’ve talked about why this ship is important to me before, but I’ll reiterate here. Oz was the boyfriend I wanted. He was smart, funny, and patient. And he seemed like a boyfriend who would also be a good friend. He was well liked, but not because he tried to be. There was a genuine way about him I enjoyed. He gave the little nerdling in my heart hope that even the quiet, dorky girl no one noticed could attract a nice guy. Still does.

That is until season 4. *shudder*

Haley and Nathan (One Tree Hill)

Nathan and Haley was similar to Buffy and Angel in a lot of ways. A guy and a girl who have no business being at the same party together, let alone dating, fall in love, and it’s complicated. Nathan has some issues. He has a temper, he’s a bully, among other things. However, Haley doesn’t accept or excuse his poor behavior. She calls him out, she stops speaking to him, she breaks things off with him when he’s too big of a jerk for her to want to deal with. Luckily, most of Nathan’s issues turned out to be situational and once he changed his living situation and did a bit of work on himself he became the kind of person Haley could love. Their relationship isn’t perfect. It’s hard work and compromise. The important highlight for me is that Haley doesn’t accept behavior she shouldn’t. She’s able to be strong and stick to her guns, and instead of losing the guy she ends up with the right one.

Celeste and Perry (Big Little Lies)

This is not a ship I ship, but it’s an important one. This was the first abusive relationship I saw portrayed on screen in a way that was subtle and insiduous. It helped me recognize some of my own relationship experiences that were easy to shrug off, but were still not okay. I wish I had known years ago that abuse that didn’t leave a bruise was still abuse. Instead, I was told “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me” and if I couldn’t show a scratch or a bruise it meant I hadn’t “really” been hurt. As a result it took me a lot longer to leave some relationships than it should have. Seeing something similar portrayed in the mainstream and called out as abusive and not okay sends an important message. 

Well, question 2 took a dark turn I didn’t intend. Sorry about that! The rest are lighter.

3. What’s your current OTP?

Sally-Ann and Hasil (Outsiders)

I guess it’s not “current” anymore because the show got cancelled, but they’re my most recent OTP. They meet in a very unconventional way and are from two very different worlds, but they both make compromises to be together. They overcome challenges, they stand by each other, and they grow stronger together.

4. What’s your current NOTP?

Jesse and Jane (Breaking Bad)

Okay, this isn’t really current, but it’s current for me because I’m now watching Breaking Bad on Netflix for the first time. The thing I didn’t like about this pairing was that Jane didn’t get a lot of her own character development. She was sort of just there to get Jesse to a certain point in his character development and it was obvious. Therefore I didn’t really buy the pairing and I didn’t like Jane at all as a character.

12. Have you ever been disappointed when your ship finally got together?

Yes.

Barney and Robin (How I Met Your Mother)

I was certain these two were meant to be and that they’d be the perfect couple, so when they turned into two completely different people once in a relationship I was super disappointed. It was like the writers went “We better nip this pesky chemistry in the bud!”

Sam and Ruby (Supernatural)

As soon as Ruby showed up I had a feeling these two had a spark. Personally, I thought the chemistry between Sam and Ruby 2.0 (Genevieve Padalecki) was stronger than the chemistry between Sam and Ruby 1.0 (Katie Cassidy). Now that Genevieve and Jared are married and stuff, that makes sense. When Sam and Ruby did get together, though, it was as a way for Sam to hit some kind of demon blood rock bottom and I didn’t like it. It felt out of sync with what had been set up the whole time. I think that could have been done better.

Anne and Henry (The Tudors)

Okay, this is like the epic doomed romance to end all epic doomed romances, right? It was Romeo and Juliet in real life. I was waiting for this ship to happen, much like everyone I assume. But then when it did the romance part was sort of fleeting, he was kind of a controlling jerk, and she was super paranoid and shady. I don’t know, it just felt all over the place and I didn’t always buy the chemistry.

26. Have you noticed a pattern in your shipping? Is there a romantic dynamic you’re more drawn to?

I answered this elsewhere at some point, but it’s far back now so I’ll reiterate. I love an awkward team-up when two characters who don’t know each other well end up having to work together on a common goal and romance blossoms.

[itsclydebitches]

Buffy 3.17: Enemies

Oh ho. This was an episode and I’ll freely admit that I was 100% fooled. But let me start with some of the smaller stuff first.

Nice light beginning with Buffy and Angel coming out of the fictional film “Le Banquet D’Amelia” that, as Buffy helpfully points out, isn’t reeeeally about food. In case the overt ‘we just saw a super sexual film but we can’t have sex’ message isn’t clear, there are subtle touches too, like the cuddling couple that comes out right before Angel and Buffy do—who themselves keep a healthy couple inches between them. What I appreciate less is how the whole conversation is couched in references to Angel’s sexuality: Buffy doesn’t want him “getting worked up,” or to “lose control,” and it must just “drive him crazy.” At best this can be evidence for anyone with an asexual!Buffy headcanon. At worst it reinforces that 1. Women are responsible for men’s (sexual) actions, 2. Men are animals who can “lost control” at any moment (vampire instincts aside), and 3. It buys into a long history of ignoring women’s sexual desires in film/television. It’s expected of the time, but still disappointing given that Buffy has handled these issues more sensitively in the past, like when Oz tells Willow he’s not ready to have sex.

Given the sexually charged nature of the conversation, Buffy wonders if her use of the “rub your nose in it” idiom is also referring to something erotic. Good news, Buffy! If we believe dictionary.com it harkens back to housebreaking dogs by rubbing their nose in their own feces… which is one of the least sexy things I can think of. Please don’t do that to your puppers.

Faith interrupts the stirring moment and informs Buffy that she’s back on active duty. Um, yay more inconsistent writing? The Council was all ready to lock Faith up for her accidental killing (despite Giles assuring Buffy that this is an expected consequence of Slaying), but now there’s no more trial, or jail time, or even a slap on the wrist? Did Wesley say something to the Council? Did they take care of the police?? I get that we have way larger plot issues to get into, but the Buffy world has SUCH a rich mythology that sometimes I wish they’d spend just a bit more effort ironing out the kinks.

On patrol Faith and Buffy meet a friendly, if slightly cagey, demon who offers them a set of books referencing the Mayor’s ascension if they give him five-thousand dollars. I LOVE this guy because he’s another example of how blurred the line is becoming between ‘good’ and ‘evil.’ You’re a demon, dude. I’m pretty sure you could just go and kill someone with a bunch of money. But no, he’d rather risk his life by contacting not one, but two slayers, sell them books that will help them against the Big Bad, because even though he wants to escape Sunnydale before shit gets bad maybe he’d prefer it if the town was still standing! Seems like a pretty stand-up demon to me. But just in case we haven’t gotten the split between Buffy and Faith yet, we have Buffy saying that it’s fine to let him go because he’s not a “deadly threat to humanity” while to Faith a “demon is a demon.”

Meanwhile Giles is bemoaning how demons don’t have “standards” anymore, what with the helping them and not always living in squalor. I laugh. 

While meeting with the Mayor, Faith is told that she should pull her hair back because she has such a nice face. Uh… creepy. That came off as a little more genuine than Faith’s “sugar daddy” joke a few episodes before. This episode has a lot of May/December stuff going on, like—

Wesley and Cordelia. Okay. This 100% fits with Cordelia’s characterization—she’s always been after older men like the college frat boys—and it was admittedly funny when they first meet. At 18 (and with older actresses always playing ‘teenagers,’ I think Charisma was nearly 30 in season 3), Wesley had no way of knowing she wasn’t actually the Psychology professor, and I love Giles’ drive by “student” comment. But shouldn’t that have been the end of it? Are continued comments of “jail bait” really the height of a feminist show’s humor? I’ll be interested to see if anything actually happens between them.

Then again, I kind of ship Buffy/Giles so YES I’m hypocritical trash, I admit it freely.

Faith goes after the book lover demon and we get more pointed details that she’s bad, bad, bad now. She kills him when he wasn’t a threat and he doesn’t even start sounding demon-like until after she’s got a knife in his chest, thus emphasizing how vulnerable he is. Faith also gets blood all over her hands (reminiscent of Buffy after the accidental kill of the Mayor’s assistant) which is rare for a demon. We usually just get dust or bloodless bodies to bury, so the blood is a pretty pointed comment.

Wesley and Giles are working together more, which is great because I actually really love Wesley. My fondness for British nerds aside, he’s very much the naïve Watcher that Giles once was: never had to do a lot of fighting, certainly didn’t have to deal with a Hell Mouth, hasn’t yet learned that there’s more to Slaying than procedure/tradition, is only starting to warm up to Buffy’s way of doing things… it’s hard to hate him when he’s not actually a bad guy, just a on a very steep learning curve and with a bit of a chip on his shoulder (okay, more than a chip). It makes scenes like Giles intimidating Wesley while awkwardly blowing his nose all the more amazing.

(I should have grabbed a pic of that) 

(Here, just have a random Giles instead): 

(I LOVED THIS MOMENT) 

The only thing I wish we’d seen with Wesley is a reaction to Angel. I mean yeah, we had the Scoobies react to his vampire-ness, but they got to know him first. We got new Slayers reacting, but they just tried to kill them. I really wanted by-the-books Wesley to learn that his new Slayer has a vampire boyfriend and freak out about it. Then learn that everyone is pretty much cool with it. And freak out again.

Anyway. Faith tries to play her part by tracking down the demon she’s already killed with Buffy. Kudos for continuity here because Faith is a terrible liar. She barges into the apartment (because she knows there’s no danger) and Buffy actually comments on it. Faith claims the books are gone without even looking for them, she’s super itchy to get out of there—anyone would know something was up. It makes her “I’m the best actress” comment at the end of the episode all the more sad. She honestly thinks she’s pulling the strings here.

Which is why, for the past few episodes, Faith’s easy obedience towards the Mayor didn’t quite make sense to me. Yeah, she likes getting the apartment, but ultimately Faith is someone who hates to follow rules, let alone someone else’s. She’s also far more likely to want to kill Angel than engage in some elaborate plan to get rid of his soul—a demon is a demon, right? Faith has shown time and time again that she’s usually unwilling to follow Watchers who (prior to turning ‘evil’) she actually had respect and love for, so why obey this dude, her “new boss”? Faith isn’t scared of the Mayor. Surely she’s trying to manipulate him then… but we don’t see any evidence of this. It didn’t make sense to me until we got one of her final lines of the episode, “I’ll be sitting at his right hand.” We’ve all known that Faith has wanted to be more like Buffy, despite claiming otherwise, but this is the first time we’ve heard her lay out all the good things Buffy has that have largely been denied Faith: Angel, the Scoobies, a mother. Faith desperately wants someone who relies on her and who she can rely on in turn. The sad thing is she’s reached a point where she’s looking for that in the Mayor.

From here on out (or rather, interspersed through these moments) the episode picks up speed fast. Faith comes running to Angel saying how scared she is of herself now. Is she telling the truth? Is she manipulating him? Either way she tries to get in his pants and Angel just barely keeps from kissing her. We learn that she is trying to manipulate Angel into losing his soul, Buffy spots them getting cozy, Faith comes back later and brings Angelus back, Buffy learns in an instant that she not only lost her boyfriend again but Faith as well...

It’s a lot. A WHOLE lot. Especially when you throw in Buffy’s, “I am better than you.” Yes, it’s just meant to make Faith mad, but the kicker is Buffy is better. Or at least, she’s supposed to be. She’s our hero, the one we cheer for, and seeing the differences between the two girls not only laid out on the table, but actively commented on is absolutely heartbreaking. This is a whole season’s worth of arcs slammed into one episode and I had my mouth hanging open the whole time like, “Wait! What? Slow down please??” I had things to say about pacing.

But I’m the dunce here. Well done, writers! Everything is basically rectonned by the end because it was all just an act that Giles came up with to prove Faith has betrayed them. Angel never turned. All these ‘reveals’ were things they already suspected. And yeah, it doesn’t really hang together. How did Giles know the Mayor would summon this particular demon to do his bidding? How did he even know the Mayor wanted to get rid of Angel’s soul when the audience (or at least me…) is still unclear about why that’s a part of his plan at all?? Whatever. The point is Giles is BAMF.

Even more important than that: I need that story about Giles playing matchmaker to demons. Actually, make that a whole series. 

(Seriously if you’ve got good Giles fic, send it my way :D) 

Additional things of note:

Loved Willow’s teasing and assertive “go talk to Angel!” and Buffy’s sincere “thank you” for listening. These girls need to have more moments like this where they really acknowledge and support one another.

Xander was good in this episode! Color me surprised I really like him here. He helpfully bribed Willy with his own money, presumably without being told, and only jokingly asked for a refund. That was super good of him. His response to Angelus was handled well too. Admittedly I think the show would have gone in a very different direction if Angel had actually turned, but I think this was a happy medium for him. Xander was obviously upset, justifiably smug, but that smugness didn’t get in the way for once. He got off steam with his ‘told you so’ jokes and then immediately segued into helping Buffy, the obvious priority. Well done there.

Oz’s hair is back to blond. Thank god. I didn’t like him with black hair lol.

Willow’s “They liked your plan!” comment to Oz was awww. I like it when the show acknowledges when the ‘less useful’ characters do something awesome and that was also a good way of harkening back to Oz/Willow’s mending relationship.

The Mayor’s “you kids today” and “young man” comments to Angel are great touches since Angel is obviously older. And then you learn the Mayor is over a hundred. And then you remember that Angel is still older.

It probably wasn’t intentional, but I like Faith comparing Angelus to a dog. It ties in nicely with vampire!Willow’s “puppy” obsession. Whether he’s got a soul or not, Angel/Angelus is always the ‘underdog.’

Finally, Faith kissing Buffy’s forehead before running off. Ouch. They can’t kill each other yet. They’re not on the same side. They’re somewhere in between and that kiss really encompassed that: a surprisingly sweet moment amongst all the betrayal and bloodshed. 

~<3 

[friendlyneighborhoodwhateve-blog]

The Hogwarts Revolution  // A next gen story

For @hamiltimedaadadada​, who is, like, one of the kindest people I’ve talked to on this website. You’re super cool! 

And for Marian ( @friarsshortstack​ ), who edits my chapters and forces me to write. Thank you, peaches.

word count: 1500 

Part 2/?

Part 1

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The one where it begins

People say the best things come in threes.

Like friends, dreams and memories, some would say but Luna Lovegood would say “like Scamander children”.  These things were often surprises too. After Hogwarts, Luna decided to travel the world to study magical creatures. She didn’t expect to fall in love with Rolf on a trip to Brazil, much less getting pregnant so early on her travels. Lyra, Lorcan and Lysander were born on a rainy autumn day, in New York City; all of them had inherited the trademark Scamander coppery blonde hair and the Lovegood blue eyes. For a few months, they lived with Rolf’s great grandparents, who despite their advanced age, found renewed energy in caring for the children. Their days were filled with magic and their nights with stories of their grandparents’ younger days. When the triplets were two, their parents resumed their travels, leaving the children to live in New York. Luna was always getting pictures from Queenie and sending letters telling her children all about her latest adventures. When they were three, Lyra accidentally turned her brothers’ toys purple, just so they would match her favorite plush pillow. The boys would only show signs of magic a couple of years later, when the kids would try to make a cake for Queenie’s birthday. Needless to say that they were never allowed in the kitchen by themselves again. The summer after they turned seven was the first one they went back to England. There they stayed in a house near The Burrow, which resulted in way to many children running around.  Lorcan and Lysander quickly made friends with Fred, George’s eldest son. They reminded George of himself and his late twin, always causing trouble and confusing their mother. Lyra, on the other hand, bonded fast with Victoire and James, the three did cause just as much trouble as Lorcan, Lysander and Fred, they just weren’t caught as often. On one afternoon, while Lyra was running from her brothers after being on the receiving end of a rather nasty prank, she met the strangest boy, his hair changed colors as fast as she could blink and he even helped her get revenge the next day. His name was Teddy Lupin, and he lived nearby with his grandparents.  Two years later, Teddy began his first year at Hogwarts. Lyra looked forward for summer, because she would finally be able to see her friends again, and even more for the month of July, when Teddy would come to spend the rest of the summer with them.  That was the year Victoire spent the entire summer in France, visiting her mom’s family so it was just Lyra and James for three months, in that time the boy developed what he would later recognize as a crush. However when July came around, Lyra only had eyes for Teddy; it went without saying that James was jealous. All of a sudden he had to share his friend, and he didn’t like the thought of sharing one bit. He may or may not have put itching powder in the boy’s sheets. The year the triplets received their Hogwarts letter was the year Luna and Rolf decided to end their travels and settle in England. One particular night, after the kids were supposed to be in bed, Lyra sneaked out to the backyard, she got so distracted stargazing that she failed to notice blue haired boy that laid down in the grass beside her. He knew that whatever was in the girl’s mind, prying would be useless so they just watched the sky in silence. Until he heard a small sniffle. “Teddy, do you think we still are going to be friends in Hogwarts? All of us?“  "Is that what’s bothering you?” At that he turned to face her. “Ray, I wouldn’t have had the trouble of writing letters almost daily these past two years if I was just going to ditch you once you started Hogwarts.” The girl turned her head to look at him in the eyes. “Even if I’m in Slytherin?” “Specially if you’re in Slytherin.” He gave her hand what he hoped was a reassuring squeeze and they turned back to look at the stars, every once in a while Lyra would tell the story of one constellation or Teddy would speak about something extremely funny that had happened during the school year. They stayed like that until the early hours of the morning, not even realizing that their hands were still linked.                             *** “Lyra, calm down. You’re going to rip my arm off."  "But Tori, there’s so much to see, so many things to buy. Look, ice cream!"  While Lyra got easily excited about pretty much anything, Victoire was usually the voice of reason in their friendship; though their personalities were very different, the girls could easily pass for sisters, being the only girls close in age amidst so many boys added strength to their bond.  While Victoire marveled at the many pets in a display, Lyra took James’ hand to drag him along to get their books, the boy was extremely happy with her undivided attention, Lorcan and Lysander didn’t fail to notice the way his cheeks blushed slightly upon the contact. "Come Tori, Cas, Andy. Come on, come on! Mom says if we get everything we need quick we can meet up with Teddy and his grandparents for ice cream before they leave."  The adults chuckled seeing the girl grab onto Victoire’s hand and enter the pet store. She came out with a dark blue furred cat named Blue, a few months later she would discover that the cat was actually black; Lorcan and Lysander got twin tabby cats, named Castor and Pollux respectively; Tori got a kitten named Benny and James just got an owl named Wizzy. They were all glad for the magical enlarged bags their parents had given them (it was Hermione’s idea though), it made going from shop to shop much easier.  As the group approached Olivander’s, it was James’ turn to pull Lyra along, it had been the store he was looking forward to the most, the pair was soon followed by everyone else, which in turn made the small store quite cramped. The young man behind the counter smiled upon seeing the faces of the eager children. "I’m first!” James shouted, in turn Ginny gave the boy a reprimanding look. “I’d like to be the first one please.” “Sure try this one,” The man said giving him a wand “it’s ten and a half inches, made from oak wood and it has a unicorn hair core, go on, give it a try.” The boy took the wand and waved it around, shooting a green spark that went on to start a small fire. Three broken lamps and another small fire later, it seemed James had finally found his wand.  “This one is ten inches, made of wood from the Whomping Willow and it has a core made of unicorn hair.” By now James knew the drill and waved around a bit with the wand, instantly the boxes that had been marred by the fire were repaired, the boy and his parents giving way for Luna, Rolf and the triplets. “Can we go together?” Lyra asked. “Of course, here try these.” The man gave each one a wand, they copied James’ movements but unlike him, it seemed those were right wands, a stream of golden light shot out of the tips and circled the kids before vanishing out of the window. “Oh my, this only happened once before. You must be careful, these wands are very old; their cores are made of heartstrings from the same dragon, there’s a fourth one to the set, it should find the three of you soon enough.” After paying for their wands, the group left for the ice cream parlor, Lyra racing her brothers (and winning).  “Hey guys, over here!” Teddy waved them over to where a lot of tables had been clustered to accommodate the large number of people, his hair the natural shade of brown. He had a warm smile on his face, and tried to ease the minds of his younger friends.  “So what house do you want to be in?” “GRYFFINDOR, the best one of course.” Harry and Ginny smiled upon seeing their son’s enthusiasm. “What about you, Ray?” “I don’t know, I know that I don’t want to be in Gryffindor. Sorry James, I love you but I’d never be able to handle an entire house of people like you.” James had stopped listening after I love you. “And I don’t think I’d be fit for Hufflepuff as much as I would love to be one, so it’s either Ravenclaw or Slytherin. What about you, Tori?” “Anywhere is fine by me, really, so long as I don’t have annoying roommates.” “Amem to that.” Lyra agreed. As the day turned to night, it was only a couple of days before they went to Hogwarts.