#kate goes on another rant

[chaoticjjcakes]

Ok, so I’m gonna go on a little rant on here.

I’m a marvel comics fan, my favorite comics were the young avengers comics and absolutely loved the dynamics between the characters. I particularly loved Tommy Shepherd, also known as Speed. Out of the entire lineup of Young Avengers, I somehow saw a piece of myself within his character. But his treatment in Marvel Comics definitely leaves something to be desired. Especially with the whole thinkfast breakup which is is my last straw.

First of all, the writers reasoning for breaking breaking Tommy and David up is ABSOLUTE HORSESHIT! Tommy has no connections to the x-men, no connections to Krakoa, ITS NOT EVEN CONFIRMED IF HE AND BILLY ARE MUTANTS OR NOT! (Which is a whole other ballgame I don’t wanna get into) Their reasoning is flimsy at best and bullshit at worst because of this, and it gets even worse when you introduce a new love interest so soon after they break up OFF PANEL with a seemingly insulting dig at Tommy within the comic.

Second of all, I’m worried how this will affect Tommy’s appearances in comics. The last time we saw him was the scarlet witch and quicksilver miniseries. He barely, if ever gets any appearances anymore and the ones he does show up in, he was with David (Which is probably why the writer thought Tommy was an X-men connection). Tommy is frequently left out of major story arcs and team-ups, leading to me feeling that he is somehow forgotten by the writers and creators at Marvel. While Tommy has been a part of the Young Avengers, he is often overshadowed by other more prominent characters like Kate Bishop, America Chavez, Cassie Lang who’s with Antman, Noh-Varr whos with the guardians of the galaxy, his mother, his uncle, even his own twin brother! He’s often underutilized as well and when he is there, he’s just the goofier version of quicksilver.

Third, we barely get any sense of actual character from him and in moments we do it’s just immediately dropped. First example: scarlet witch and quicksilver #3, where he actively mentioned Davids supposed death (cuz he definitely didn’t know that David was actually alive? I’m kinda confused about this?) and he seemed to be kinda disassociated from with stating he wasn’t there until Pietro snapped him out of it. This isn’t the first time someone has died and Tommy wasn’t there. He finds his mom’s dead body before Trial of Magneto and later in issue 1, seems disassociated when talking with Kevin. In the infinity comics, he states that people always forget about him. I see that he probably often finds himself overlooked and underutilized within the vast universe of superheroes.

Just to headcanon with fact: It’s somewhat implied he may have been neglected. I mean we barely know anything about his life before except that his parents were divorced and he was in and out of juvie until he was a teenager. Considering that they didn’t give a shit about him, leaving their child alone to the court system, and then not contacting him. (Though I doubt he would want that.) He so desperately wants a family, and he sees that in the young avengers, in the magnet family (even if they’re a little fucked up, they’re infinitely better). The team breaks him out, and a kid who looks exactly like him says they’re brothers and this powerful witch is their mother. He doesn’t want to believe it. He can’t believe it because that means he has another family that actually cares about him. Then they find out about everything Wanda went through and he takes in the connection even further. The team goes on a few missions and find out they could save his mom, and then they go through trauma via teammates dying and and the avengers/x-men fighting over his spirit mom. The team decides to breakup, he doesn’t want this to happen, the only thing he has being taken from him, he doesn’t want this to end. But it does, and it hurts, especially because his brother is willing to let go of it so easily. And it’s even harder because he’s living with him, his boyfriend, and other family who’s too nice and so he leaves and no one apparently cares. He goes on with heroics alone, working jobs, meets David and recruits him for a stakeout, then gets kidnapped by an entity. He then comes back almost a year later and has to take it in stride. He goes through so much traumatic and sad shit and either no one cares or they’re too busy. He doesn’t have much support. David seemed to be the only support he had and they’re broken up now. Wanda has her own shit, Pietro has his own shit, Billy has his own shit. HIS OTHER TEAMMATES HAVE THEIR OWN SHIT!

I’d imagine he’d have some type of resentment towards everyone, especially Billy. He has the perfect husband, perfect family, has a great relationship with their spiritual mother, and has unimaginable power. In the infinity comics master pandemonium seemingly implied Tommy has some kind of powerful potential, but we haven’t seen that yet. They haven’t even made any foreshadowing towards that. But I’d imagine after the whole break up with David, he’d have a mental breakdown from all the shit he went through. His boyfriend dying twice while he wasn’t there, after the second time David breaks up with him then gets a new boyfriend almost immediately (I don’t know the timeframe, I’m sorry), I’d crack too.

Considering all of this I introduce the following options:

1.) Put him in a new team. Have him be apart of a new team of youngish heroes, or better yet make him a mentor. He’s great with kids. I can’t think of any actual teams he could be on, but just let him be a part of a team. Please?!

2.) Have him interact with more characters. Have him interact with his family more. Wanda, Pietro, Lorna, Billy, fucking Magneto and Luna, give him more interactions with them. Have him mention talking to Kate Bishop. OR ELI BRADLEY ANOTHER CHARCTER YOU’VE SEEMINGLY FORGOT MARVEL!

3.) Give him his own miniseries. Or a fucking arc. I wanna see my baby do something cool, not play second fiddle to Billy for once. Billy gets several different comics to appear in and has so much power. Give Tommy a power upgrade like in the fanfics. Develop his powers more, like those headcanons where he could manipulate time and space. If the writers on ao3 can do that, you can do it too. Or better yet, have him be an antihero, that would absolutely fit him better. Didn’t he literally kill people when he first appeared? Have him be a bit more violent when dealing with bad guys. Not completely sociopathic, just a bit chaotic.

Anyway, please stop sleeping on Tommy Shepherd Marvel, he has so much more potential, you don’t even know.

Thank you for listening to my Ted-Talk!

Edit: Another thing I’d like to add to this is the fact that in other universes, Tommy is the magic twin…

Or Billy and him have unimaginable power…

So I know that Marvel can explore this. No excuse to just throw Tommy to the wayside like this while Billy gets all the glory.

[chaoticpallascat]

Since it is a truth universally acknowledged that Donna Noble will miss every alien related event ever and since 14’s Tardis probably doesn’t have a Sutekh on it I propose this idea for the next Red Nose Day:

Susan starts breaking down during her speech

Cut to Donna being pissed about her coffee machine not working

Ruby goes into the Time window again

Cut to Donna sneaking into the Tardis to use her coffee machine

Sutekh’s agent announces the gift of death

Cut to Donna trying to convince a very reluctant Tardis to make coffee

Kate dies. Everyone dies. Dust everywhere. 15 shouting in despair.

Cut to the 14 being woken up by Donna’s ranting and convincing his Tardis to give her a second chance.

Mel dies. Ruby and 15 meet Sutekh again.

Cut to Tardis producing a cup of coffee.

15 and Ruby drag Sutekh across the vortex.

Cut to Donna VERY CAREFULLY removing the coffee and walking out with 14 looking on VERY NERVOUSLY.

Death to death brings life. Everyone is back. Kate and gang walk towards a bright new morn. People hugging each other and celebrating.

Cut to Donna successfully exiting the Tardis (14 was holding the door) but then getting startled by all the cheers and instantly spilling the coffee and 14 laughing his arse off.

The world died and lived again. It was just another normal day for Donna Noble.

[reccyls]

Hello I'm on my knees for spoilers, your favorite moments, and thoughts on Victor's route🙏 Did it meet your expectations?👀

Hello! Sure, I'd be happy to give my thoughts! But please keep in mind that this is my personal opinion and first impressions, based solely on the Blind Love ending, and I may have some different thoughts after some time to think and finishing the Mad Love too.

Big spoiler alert!

To be very blunt, I was quite disappointed with Victor's route. Part of it may be that I had set my expectations rather high, but I do think that the pacing and storytelling of the route itself felt subpar. Some parts felt shoehorned and didn't flow together very well as a cohesive story. There were definitely parts that I liked, though! Just, as an entire package it doesn't work for me and I'm very sad about that.

For things that I liked:

I think early on in the route, there were some good moments between Victor and Kate. There is that initial line-drawing and hesitation between Kate and Victor that comes across in their pre-route event stories that I do like.

Kate is shown to have PTSD (or at least a similar trauma response) to the explosions that occurred at the church in the past, as shown in the LINE campaign episode 0. I think that's a pretty neat touch.

Nice angst in chapter 14 when the first kiss occurs. Kate has already come to her feelings realization in chapter 10 and was about to confess to Victor, but Victor cuts her off with a kiss. After that, he pulls back and asks her quite coldly, "Is that enough to satisfy you?" Then he reminds her that there's only a week left before her 1 month period as the Fairytale Keeper is up, and she will go back to her normal life then. It's a rather harsh moment of Victor drawing another line between them and I did like the angst and the drama of it, haha.

William!!! William is such a gem. He is merciless towards Victor's patheticness and it is so funny. There's one conversation ("conversation") at one point that goes something like this:

Victor, brooding because he is pining and miserable about the consequences of his own actions upsetting Kate: ............. William, sitting next to him, drinking wine and having the time of his life: So you messed up, huh.

As for what I felt was lacking...

Vogel has essentially no role whatsoever in the story. Ring, Nica, and Darius each get 1 scene where they maybe have like 10 boxes of dialogue max, and then they never show up again. It's chapter 10 for Ring and Nica, and chapter 13 for Darius. They didn't do anything before this. They don't do anything after.

The emotional conflict/relationship development between Victor and Kate felt really repetitive for a while. Kate gets closer to Victor > Kate discovers one of Victor's secrets > Kate gets uncertain as she sorts out her thoughts and Victor pulls away > Kate makes up her mind and confronts Victor and tells him that she wants to stick with him > Kate gets closer to Victor > Kate discovers one of Victor's secrets > Kate gets uncertain as she sorts out her thoughts and Victor pulls away... I think this happens like 2 or 3 times. It just felt so dragged out.

BEN BROWN. OH MY GOD BEN BROWN. So one of the antagonists/masterminds in the Blind Love route is Ben Brown, a secret cousin of Victor's that is never referred to anywhere else in the story and ONLY appears in chapter 24, where he is introduced, goes on his evil motivation rant, we get his tragic backstory infodumped on us, and then he dies. All in one chapter. Like, what is that pacing???

The part where William explains Victor's past to Kate feels like it was cut and paste from a different draft. Although everything is William telling Kate what happened, it's narrated in first person. So it goes like "I was born in the royal family" even though this is William speaking. William does say something like "this is how he told the story to me" but idk, that still felt weird and disjointed to me.

Victor comes off as quite unsympathetic in some parts of his backstory to me, specifically in the part where he discovers and confirms his curse. So the royal family was having a succession crisis, and Victor thought he wouldn't have anything to do with it because he was so far down the line. However, all his relatives began dying one after another. After some research, Victor discovers that he has manifested a curse, and all the deaths seem to have been because of him as all the family members who died did so after Victor had spoken with them. To confirm this, Victor arranges to meet with his uncle, whom he later describes as being like a brother figure to him, and confirms that he can use his curse to make his uncle commit suicide. The nursemaid who helped Victor research the curse seems to have gone insane because of it and started basically worshipping Victor's powers letting him become the king, so Victor used his abilities to kill her too so that no one would know that he killed his uncle. I totally get that Victor would have been very traumatized by realizing that he killed everyone in his family and not in his right mind (he had attempted to kill himself after first theorizing this too) but this was just. Not a good look.

I'm really sorry, I don't mean to be so negative. I was really happy with Azel's route in Ikepri so I think I set my expectations quite high for Victor, as I do like the relationship development he and Kate have in their events. But what we got (and what I experienced so far) was just disappointing to me. I really do hope his Mad Love route is better.

[ktaerssoi]

can you do a paige fic where paige is down bad like reaaaly down bad only has eyes for reader but reader is so oblivious and paige gets all sad and reader doesn’t know so then paige is like i fucking love you??

its always been you

relationship: paige bueckers x fem!reader based on this request! tysm for answering my post 😭 summary: paige has only ever had eyes for you. notes: omg this was actually sm fun to write tysm and also i would love to hear more of those requests you speak of. anyway ty again!! - kate not proof read!

"i mean really, she thinks she's the shit and just needs to shut up." you were going on yet another rant as you walked through your front door, paige not far behind with your leftovers from lunch.

"mhm, well maybe you need to express to her what she's doing wrong." paige sighs as she opens the fridge to put the food away, grabbing and water for you and herself.

"thanks," you grab the water bottle from her, leaning against the counter. "i guess, but anyway, how have you been." you nudge her playfully with your shoulder, giggling. "any girlsss?"

you watch as her face flushes and she rolls her eyes. you see the smirk on her face as she turns away, letting you know that there was most definitely a girl.

"oooo, who?" you watch as she turns back to you shrugging, taking another sip of water. "i plead the fifth." its your turn to roll your eyes as she keeps her mouth shut.

"oh come on, p! were adults! you can tell me who you think is cute, i wont judge." you cross your arms as you move to stand in front of her, blocking her in slightly. she shakes her head and smiles at you, and the look she gives you is different from the normal ones. she looks at you like you're the only person she ever wants to know.

"i don't know, i don't think you want to know. you guys are sort of close and i wouldnt want to make it awkward, y'know?" she makes direct eye contact with you, you guys standing at the same height due to her leaning on the counter.

"uh yeah, i mean i guess so but i wouldn't tell her." your shoulders drop a little, you didn't want to push her but you were also sort of hurt that your own best friend didn't want to tell you about a girl she liked.

"you seriously don't have any thoughts at who it could be? she's not on the basketball team." paige stands up straighter, now towering over you slightly.

not on the basketball team? paige's life is basketball, i'm like the only friend she has that doesn't live basketball 24/7

needless to say, you were confused. (and dense as hell my gosh)

"is it that one chick that you had to do that group assignment with? the really pretty girl with the braids?" you were thinking to everyone you had seen apige interact with that wasn't on the team, other than yourself you were lost.

"no, you guys are close remember?" paige is looking at you like this is the most obvious thing ever, and you just stare up at her utterly confused.

"you're horrible at this whole hint thing." you mumble, shaking your head as you walk toward the living room to continue your thinking.

paige follows behind sort of deflated, plopping down on the couch next to you, slouching down so her head could rest on your shoulder. "no i mean really, who could it be?" she shakes her head as she goes to grab the remote.

you watch as she channel surfs for the next ten minutes, not finding anything good and eventually turning off the t.v.. "take one more guess and then i'll tell you who it is." paige looks up at you from her spot on your chest.

"okay um, is it that one media girl that were friends with? the one who always comes to dinners with us??" paige's eyebrows furrow, and she giggles to herself a litte, shaking her head.

"nope, but listen, if- if i tell you, you have to swear to me that things won't change. okay?" you nod at her words, never have you seen her this strict.

"are you sure it's not the media girl?" you narrow your eyes as she sits up, sitting across from you now.

"no y/n, its you. i like you. no, fuck it, i love you. i mean, you're amazing and you're the sweetest, funniest person i know and i'm not even totally sure if you're into girls like that but i can help but like you."

she bites her nails as you nod, you're quiet for a moment before you smile. "you think i'm funny?" paige rolls her eyes at you and stands up from the couch, scared that you're trying to let her down easy.

"so if that's a rejection i'm just going to go-" paige gets cut off by you springing up and grabbing her hand to stop her. "definitely not a rejection. i like you too p, like a love type of like. just to clarify." you shrug as you drop her hand, struggling to express that you really do feel the same.

"seriously? you're not just saying that because you're my best friend and you feel bad?" she's looking down at you, studying your face for your honest answer. once you nod you feel her hand on your waist and feel yourself be pulled forward.

your body is flush against hers, you've been in this exact position countless times before, but right now everything was in a whole new light.

your eyes flash down to paige's lips, and then back to her eyes, and to her lips again. "you're really pretty." you mumble, not even thinking about what you were saying anymore.

you watch as her cheeks get pinker, smiling at your effect on her. "shut up," she looks down at your lips, "can i kiss you?" you have never nodded so fast in your life.

her lips come crashing onto yours and it feels so right. you taste her strawberry chapstick against your lips and the smell of her shampoo consumes your senses.

pulling away after a few seconds you look up at her in awe, a stupid smile on your face.

"you really think i'm funny?"

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Happy Friday RTA!

I have some thoughts on the whole “Why is William not travelling more” thing. Mind you, I do sometimes feels it is very tinhatty, but it is what I think.

See, I believe the root of all our issues is Charles. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am neither here nor there with him. Meaning I have no issue with him to the point of blaming him for everything under the sun or defending him even when he is in the wrong. Charles has spent so much time, like a looooot of time, being the PoW, living under his mother’s shadow, his mother The Queen, one of the most recognizable and relevant figures in the political and social world of the last 50 years (giving myself some creative liberties here). Charles was still a Prince when all the other heirs his age were becoming Kings and Queens. Then, the children of those peers of him were taking over, and he was now bowing to people he never had to bow to. Charles is a man of arrogance, and anyone can tell that. Probably a unique combination of aristocratic and Royal arrogance, could be that. He had his place on the spotlight for a very long time… until Diana. Then, everything was about her. His achievements were put second to her just showing up. He was just PoW, Elizabeth’s son, Diana’s husband. And then, William’s father. William the loved and adored one. Sure, C has his fans and follower and what not, but he isn´t William, just as he isn’t Elizabeth II.

Now, he is King. The King. He is the most important one everywhere. Unless William or Catherine are there. Because he goes to Commonwealth day, and Catherine gets the covers. Because he gets a royal wedding for his wife, and everyone is looking at the now Wales. He gets cancer, and people are worried about Catherine.

All the things he wanted to do, the tours, the state visits, being received as The King by those he had to bow to before, are on pause. Because his time is even shorter than he thought, because he is mortal and old and still living under someone else’s shadow: the new Prince and Princess of wales (another Princess of Wales stealing his spotlight).

Williams does and the press covers it. The same with Catherine. The kids show up and people go feral. His Queen does not get the same recognition as Catherine, not even close.

Do I believe W&C put the kids first and that is why we don’t see them as often? Sure. Do I think KP says something and BP/CH twist it and make it not happen/wrong/you chose? Yes. Williamscould do better? Yes. Will he? Sure, when he is King. Not now, not when Charles’ ego is hanging by a thread, his place in history being a fickle of what he wanted. He was a great PoW, hardworking, trendsetter, people oriented. That is his legacy, one his son is respecting but will never do just like C did, because W is not C. Charles the King? Charles III is temporary, short term. Elizabeth was diamond. William will be gold, maybe. George is a whole new future we can’t even begin to imagine. Charles is a passing monarch, warming up the seat for the next one. It took too long for him to get his crown, and he will not enjoy it too long.

He knows this, so he will act accordingly. King Charles III comes first no matter what.

This does not mean William is off the hook: he needs to sit down, strategize a lot more and do even more than what he does now. Talk less, do more.

Rant done, back to work.

P/S: when the BRF realizes they need to hire you to run them (yes, tell them what to do) please let me know. I’ll carry your purse around and get you coffee.

Have a great weekend!

Thanks for sharing!

You may be on to something. At the end of the day, everything must go through BP so if BP doesn't want KP to do something, well, then KP's hands are often tied. I do think the way William...not retaliates but maybe...defends himself? (I'm really at a loss for words here) is by refusing to do certain things that BP wants.

Like we know the Foreign Office wants William and Kate to travel more because they're the ones who bring the most favorable press coverage and they do their jobs uncontroversially, but William and Kate don't travel (or they aren't traveling), and I don't think it's because BP is blocking all the shots. I think it's because BP is blocking enough shots that when the opportunity does arise, KP isn't interested; too little too late.

But you are right, William (and Kate) do need to be thinking about strategy, if they aren't already, for the monarchy's future. They, more than Charles, are in a position where they'll be able to set the terms for what a 21st century monarchy looks like, very much the same way that George V and Queen Mary set the standard for a 20th century monarchy. (Right? They were the ones who turned the BRF to philanthropy and charity work?)

[wcbblife]

pls literally anything kate martin it’s so dry out here 🙏🙏 maybe like kate x influncer reader or something idk

Sure can! We'll get through this drought together ✊ (Did I write too much? Yes. Do I regret it? No.)

Kate Martin x influencer/soccer player reader

How you two met: You play for the soccer team at Iowa university. So naturally, after the season ended you usually spend some of your afternoons playing pickup soccer at the local parks nearby to satisfy the itch to always be playing your sport. Another hobby you also like to do a lot is to record your journey. You vlog about your flights, your training, practices, your tips on how to have a balanced life between sports and studies, and some behind the scenes with your team members. You have a fairly large following of 500k subscribers due to your personality and engaging content. On one particular afternoon, your fiery competitive spirit and impressive skills are able to catch the attention of one particular person amidst the small crowd that always gathered to watch the simple matches. It was none other than Kate Martin. Once the match ended you had seen one of your teammates walk over towards you and Kate followed right behind her (since Kate seems so friendly i def think she hangs out with other athletes outside of basketball). As you packed your things, you felt a pair of pretty eyes staring at your every move. You decide to start the convo up by saying that you watch all her games because you love the way she plays. You watch as her cheeks get a little rosy and she goes on a cute little rant about how she watches your vlogs and videos and that, whenever she could, she would drop by to see your team play. You joke that you guys should hang up so she could teach you to play basketball before your teammate says that she and her girlfriend (who was someone you play with and against constantly in these simple matches) had to go. She leaves you alone with Kate and you bring up that you guys should definitely hang out and she brings out the idea of going to recovery together cuz why not since she will undoubtedly be busy with her own season starting. You agree and that’s the beginning of how you two started talking.

How you got close: So as mentioned above, you guys definitely see each other around the athletic and rehab center in the university. Since you practice off season, you prefer to be safe than sorry and attend your recovery session religiously. Thanks to this, you guys are able to strike up conversations here and there but they're never too long. Not until you need to get into the dreaded ice bath for one session after being inexplicably sore for days on end. You decide that it's the perfect time to get your camera out and record your funny reaction to it to later post it. While walking over to your doom, you come face to face with Kate. You shamelessly note that she was wearing really revealing clothes. She smiles and asks where you’re headed and you explain and she immediately asks if she could join you cuz she was going over there too. Once you get there you turn on your camera and explain to the viewers what was going to happen. While you did that, you felt Kate looming behind you. You stop the camera and ask what’s wrong and she gets a little embarrassed asking you cute questions about how the camera worked. You laugh and give her a little class while you two sit side by side while you show her the basics. She jokes that she would love to be your camerawoman and you don’t have it in you to say no. Not with the way she stares at you with her eyes. (Anyway before I get carried away) You set the camera up so that it catches you both while you get into the big tub of ice. She laughs as she watches you shuffle awkwardly towards the cold pit of despair and pokes at you with jokes about how you look rn. You shoot her a look and grab a handful of water to throw her way. She shrieks and grabs your wrist to stop you, letting her hold lingering a little longer than normal (you also note just how strong Kate is). Snapping out of whatever was between you all of the sudden with her touch, you look at the camera and think screw it, getting in hastily without double thinking about it. You regret it immediately, screaming and Kate doubles down with laughter. What she doesn’t expect is for you to yank her inside out of spite. In an attempt to stop herself from falling into the cold water, she holds a hand out towards the edge, but you’ve tugged her down enough for her to have no choice but to step over the edge and fall into the tub. This, however, leads to you being placed in another unfortunate position. She holds the edges of the tub, trying to adjust to the coldness, while single handedly pinning you to the edge of the metal tub. It takes a few seconds to register, especially with you looking up at her while she lets out short puffs of air, while her muscles on her toned stomach contract. Kate seems to notice this and moves back to the other side. You clear your throat and turn to the camera with a funny face while you ignore the rosy blush that has settled on Kate’s face. After this it was just a mixture of flirting and flattery between you too.

She went to see you often when you played and brought you snacks or just went to simply support you. It’s obvious you started to show up more recently to her games to watch her play in person instead of from your home. It’s hard to say if that was the reason, but whenever you went to her games she always showed off. Whether it was double-doubles or even one triple-double. When the games would end she would act all cocky and say that it was normal but you would see the blinding smile on her lips when you would tell her good job. What you liked was how the adrenaline crash would hit her (not in a bad way) after a hard and long game and win. She would be super soft and slow and be all cute. You once insisted on driving her towards her dorms because she was too tired and she insisted on putting on music. You let her ofc and what follows is her singing her heart out while lazily looking over towards you every now and then. She reaches over and uses your hand as a mic and you can’t help but laugh. After a few songs you notice how the playlist switches to flowers songs and Kate never lets go of the hold of your hand.

No question she loves being in your vids. She has also definitely made you do a challenge video about hot sauces (ik it’s random but she def would). Other than that, you both do a bunch of silly challenges together. She also gave you the idea of starting this new “series” of her just basically teaching you the basics for basketball and vice versa. This becomes a huge hit online. What goes on behind the scenes is different tho. On video, you guys seem strictly platonic and playful with you cracking jokes and making fun when you mess up really bad on one certain move. However, once the cameras are off Kate is more free and less tense. She is more touchy, especially when showing you how to shoot the basketball properly (Like you can’t tell me this woman wouldn’t wrap her arms around your shoulders to position your hands on the ball. Don’t even get me started with defense and the way yall would be so close). You (I) also find it lowkey hot whenever you guys are done with your little secession and she’s panting and sweaty. You lowkey like it even more when she gets out of the locker room showers all clean and fresh.

How she asks you out: After basically a few weeks of her popping up in your vids both of your fans suddenly notice you two getting closer and closer. One day you’re recording while walking to get a massage. You turn a corner and come face to face with what seems like a wall. You jump back when you realize you just ran into Kate. You turn the camera off and smile up at her. You ask her where she’s headed but something’s off. You watch as she doesn’t look at you and avoids any type of eye contact as she fumbles over her words. A laugh comes from you as you go up to turn your camera back on but she shocks you by snatching the camera away. You ask her what was wrong and she mumbles something you can’t catch so you ask her to speak up and even get on your tiptoes to lean into her space to hear her better. She tries again and you can faintly hear her asking you out on a date. To say you were shocked was an understatement but you would be lying if you said you didn’t feel something forming between you too after these weeks spent together. Ofc you said yes.

You guys go out to a cliche aquarium date (bc i love aquariums what about it). Once you guys get there it seems like something has lifted off her shoulder and she’s acting like a totally different person. She’s more touchy and a real charmer (shamelessly putting an arm around your shoulder and uses her height over you to her advantage. When someone gets too close she definitely stands next to you and the person to create distance and def had a sweet interaction with a kid I mean c'mon). She’s taking sneaky pics of you and trust she would kiss you under those tunnels with the blue lights and fishes, making her look so good after you both tiptoe around it all day.

How it is to date her: (keeping it on the DL is so sexy idc what anyone says) Although Kate isn’t a huge name like Caitlin, you both reach an agreement to keep it on the dl. That and the addition of your evergrowing vlog page. This being said, Kate would appear more in your videos and it’s not really a secret. She shows up in your study videos in the background, helps out with your workout videos, does Q&As with you, and when you're off season she definitely travels with you.

She’s a very caring person and def loves to cuddle after a long day. She also kisses the ground you walk on (You can’t tell me she doesn’t have photo albums of you and her). (Can I also say that she’s a tremendous kisser? TRUST that she will make out with you in a secret room in the stadium because she just can’t wait until you get home after a game). Kate is your personal cheerleader in games and would treat you like a princess after your games (she’s drawing a bath and brushing your hair and basically doing all the work for you while praising you on how well you did).

After a hard loss however it’s a whole different story. You can’t lie tho…It’s your favorite side of Kate. You can see it in her as soon as the buzzer sounds (especially after she scores a lot and still loses oml). Kate basically disappears into the crowd and into the locker room before you can catch her. After a bit of time and unanswered calls and text messages, you decide to walk towards the locker rooms and are surprised when you're tugged into a small storage room. Kate immediately gets to work and smashes her lips with yours and lets her hands wander around you. You just love the way her rosy cheeks look and how sinful her eyes were as she let them shamelessly look you over. Kate isn’t up for any talking tho. Her moves are sloppy and desperate, like she couldn't care less if someone busted you two right then and there. Whenever you try to talk and try to get her to calm down she just goes back and kick starts another makeout sesh.

[shewhotellsstories]

I am so glad to have found another black person who hates the way the fandom wants us, adults who know how to think properly, to treat Penelope like she’s the Messiah all because she is not the “typical beauty standard“ and if you are not a fan of hers, you are fatphobic.

Penelope is a terrible person, she’s bitter (how she treated and later exposed Marina, just because Colin loved her and wanted to marry her, even after finding out).

She makes herself small and when people treat her like that, she’s surprised so she writes nasty things about people in order to make them feel small as well.

She has privilege. Her family just downsized a little bit but not enough where people would ostracise them.

However, she goes around comparing Kate to a mongrel and I’m expected to root for her? I’m glad Collins ass didn’t want her. I just wish they kept that for this coming season. 

I’m so sorry for the rant she’s just been pissing me off this whole time, even her digs during Queen Charlotte, the day of Queen Charlotte‘s granddaughters funeral 

Super belated, but yeah. Penelope isn't just a petty gossip writer, she's mean. She's cruel. She is legitimately a nasty person. On my death bed I shall say she learned to be mean the honest way from Mommy Dearest, but Jesus. Who uses a funeral to get in a few cheap shots?

[sea-owl]

@browneyesandhair unearthed a bunch of my spouses friend group posts and now it has given me an idea. Set in the spouses friend group au but also throw in some omegaverse au too.

Simon was getting twitchy lately. His eye would randomly flinched, his hands would shake, and when seated he found himself more often than naught bouncing his leg. It was becoming irritating. Damn these pack instincts! This is what he gets for making friends, they trick him into becoming a pack leader and then he gains pack instincts. Those same damn instincts makes him twitchy when he goes too long without seeing all the members of his pack or smelling their scent. Anything to know they are ok!

Everyone has been away on different trips for the past two weeks as well. Kate is visiting a client’s farm since she’s one of the few vets that know how to treat peafowl in the nearby area. Sophie was traveling for a tattoo convention that she’s been excited about. The trio has traveled to Crete, Penelope for work, Phillip to go see the oldest olive tree, and Michael just refused to be left behind. Gareth and Lucy went on a college trip for an archeology class Gareth convinced Lucy to take with him. So yeah Simon really hasn't even had at least one of them around to settle himself.

Aunt Agatha is no help either, she just laughs at him whenever he goes off on rants about how his little pack, that he didn't even ask for nor does he know how he ended up as pack leader, is driving him up a wall.

But it will be ok, they are all due to come home soon. Then Simon can relax and have some help eating the dozens of cookies he's stressed baked the past week and a half. It helps that he's managed to herd them all living together in this stupidly enormous house he inherited.

Simon pulled out his phone.

*In the group chat*

Simon: All of you come straight home after you get back. No side stops.

Michael: Uh, oh, alpha daddy is daddying

Kate: Michael, Penelope, Gareth, have any of you been stressing out Simon again?

Gareth: US?!?!?

Penelope: Michael and I have been in Crete. . .WITH PHILLIP. You think he's gonna let us ruin his chances at seeing the oldest olive tree?

Phillip: I would have buried you two.

Sophie: And then dig them right back up. You three would not survive without one another.

Gareth: And I've been at a dig site with Lucy. How are we gonna stress Simon out at a dig site? 💀

Lucy: TBH I thought he saw that picture of us eating that ancient jar of honey.

Simon: YOU ATE WHAT?!?!

"YOU ATE WHAT?"

Simon felt his shoulders relax when seven distinct smells hit him, followed by seven different voices. The loudest being Kate's as she's questioning Gareth and Lucy. The phone slipped from his hand and lightly landed on the countertop.

His pack was home.

Now, he had to join Kate on scolding some naughty pups. Them being in University is irrelevant.

[wildwren]

i am also a michaela stirling truther— the more i think about it, the more i want it. i’ll definitely be a little disappointed if the rumors turn out to be false. don’t get me wrong, masali baduza is stunning and as a bisexual i already feel like a winner either way… but my god, she and Francesca would make such a gorgeous couple 😭

and i know people keep saying that gender bending Michael would erase important plot points but honestly i can think of several ways off the top of my head that they could maintain the integrity of the story even with Michaela as the lead instead of Michael.

and honestly, not that i have any reason to believe they’re actually going to genderbend Sophie, but they could easily rework Benedict’s story in a similar way— it irritates me that people are insisting there is no way they could make it work.

the book purists insisting xyz could not possibly happen because “that’s not how the story goes!” are making little sense to me. the show has already made many changes to the stories, large and small, and i don’t think “but the book story won’t work that way!” is a valid argument at this point. the writers have shown themselves very willing and even eager to uproot expectations and tell the story in a new way.

TOTALLY. i was previously on the "we should not expect queer rep from bridgerton they are clearly not very invested in it" train until jess brownell explicitly confirmed that a queer romance is coming and now im being a full ass clown about it. yea....when i think about masali baduza as michaela i actually need to lie down, it would end me. but also send an angel to protect her if that's actually true because some of the fandom....uh.....absolutely cannot handle that even remotely, and they WILL make it her problem.

but yes, i agree, there are many ways in which michael feels like a prime option for gender-bending. obviously when he was wicked has fans, but i think in general they're a little less rabid than some of the kanthony, polin, benophie, and philoise fans who would be specifically up in arms about major character changes to "their" ship. when he was wicked is later in the series, more disconnected, francesca's less present in the general narrative, etc.

also, because francesca has a widowhood storyline, it feels....how do i say this....deeply boring for bridgerton the show to introduce a man like john stirling, only to kill him off to make room for another random man. it would be exceedingly more interesting to have a queer element to the story, not least of all because it would add more tension to the "we cant be together because you're my dead husband's cousin" vibes.

also, women in the 19th century could inherit property. sometimes the property itself was not entailed and therefore not necessarily inherited by the male title holder. if francesca is living in the house....and michaela inherits the house....well, that's a pretty great set-up for a queer happy ending, which is, according to julia quinn, apparently impossible in a world where gay marriage isn't legal.

also, ALSOOOOO....a lesbian rake. i rest my case.

either way, im interested to see how they interpret when he was wicked's relationship to colonialism (if they do so), given that the show has now shown the Stirlings, or at least john stirling, to be Black. Kate's home and backstory in India has had some relevance to her characterization, and I'm curious to see if they take a similar tack with the stirlings (and how well they manage to execute it).

okay i think those are all of my michaela thoughts thank you so much for giving me an excuse to rant about them. truthers gotta stick together (until our hearts are inevitably dashed by cold hard reality)

[nkatr84]

Kate and Leopold thoughts…

So like most red blooded women who’ve been falling back in love with Hugh Jackman for…reasons…

Ah hem…

I’ve been wanting to rewatch one of my favorite rom coms that i haven’t seen in a while actually. But I remember it very well. And upon remembering it I realized there’s a small problem with this movie. The ending.

See two thirds of the movie is the ultimate female fantasy. A handsome, kind, intelligent well mannered hunk comes from the past and romances a modern cynical woman who has been jaded by her love life and her job. But while younger me found the ending romantic where Kate goes back in time to be with Leopold, it’s problematic because then it becomes a male centric fantasy. A smart, independent woman gives up her family, her career her friends and even her right to vote for fifty years for a man. And yes while I’m sure Kate probably became a women’s and civil rights advocate, in 1876 society still expected Kate to depend on Leopold financially. And he has little to no money to begin with. That’s why he came to America. To marry an heiress. And yes in this fictional universe Leopold invents the elevator, so money won’t be an issue for long. But the fact that a modern love story sold to us this idea of a woman sacrificing her identity for this more traditional arrangement is concerning.

And it’s an unnecessary to the story if you ask me. Leopold only had to return to the past because he invented the elevator. Which in reality the elevator wasn’t invented by the 3rd Duke of Albany that named it after his loyal butler Otis. Elijah Otis invented the safety elevator. In 1853. The company was up and running for twenty years by the start of the movie. Kate and Leopold going back to the past only makes more sense in the Director’s Cut. Which includes the plot point of Stuart, the time traveling scientist and Kate’s ex actually being her great great great grandson. And if neither of them went back in time, Stuart wouldn’t have been born and thus Leopold would never have time travelled to begin with since he was following Stuart. Causing a paradox. Now this was cut from the theatrical cut because…ew…incest. But in doing so, it just makes it seem like Kate is giving up her autonomy and independence, the reason Leopold fell in love with her to begin with. Plus this movie goes out of its way to make it seem like Kate needs to do this because they make her seem so pushy, cynical and abrasive who can only be softened by Leopold’s love for her. If they painted Kate more as a hopeless romantic who wanted a man to sweep her off her feet than it would feel more equal when they fall in love. Instead it kind of reads like that Ballerina Farms couple? Where a man takes a goal oriented woman with dreams of her own and wears her down into submission? Submission isn’t a bad thing if the woman doesn’t deny her calling or herself to do so. A better ending would have Leopold choosing to stay in the future to be with Kate. He was painted as a man ahead of his time. Clearly he would have thrived in the future. You can even have the climax of Kate running to Brooklyn Bridge to stop him from going back only to find he chose to stay. All you need to lose is the elevator inventor subplot. Emphasis that Kate wants a guy to choose her and not their job or another woman. And then Leopold can make her dream come true. And thus staying in the future can make his dreams come true. Okay. End of rant. Back to my delusional fantasies…

💕💕💕💕💕sigh…💕💕💕💕💕

[buckybarnesss]

on fire: a teen wolf novel chapters 17-19 and final thoughts previous chapter

it is done. the final installment of on fire is here and i am finally free.

thank you @dear-massacre for listening to me rant about this book and encouraging me to finish it.

and a thank you to @give-emhalekid for inspiring this re-read of on fire to begin with. i can finally answer your asks appropriately!

in addition to my notes and final thoughts on this novel i did make contact with the author nancy holder and have been sitting on that email for over a month now. so i'll be talking about that too.

anyway.

We start this chapter in Kate’s narration in yet another flashback to six years prior. This is when she gets information out of Mr. Harris. 

The bar is called Randy Andy’s by the way. Which, and it may just be me, makes me fully believe this bar is playing Brooks and Dunn's 1991 hit Boot Scootin' Boogie on repeat.

She mentions that Harris hadn’t seen her around the school but she had pinpointed him quickly as someone weak and that she could use. This tracks.

She gets what she wants out of Harris and as she leaves the bar (which is handily across from her apartment) she sees Derek leaving with his school bag. She freaks out worried he’s onto her or found something in her apartment. 

She follows him home just to be sure she’s in the clear. Like a freak.

When she returns she finds a note Derek left her explaining what happened. 

However, feeling as though she could’ve been exposed, Kate decides to up the timetable of setting the fire. 

Because we cannot have nice things.

We then get a small scene where she’s filling the gas cans and apparently Alt Version of Mr. McCall is the gas station attendant but he’s on the phone arguing with Melissa over money and blaming her for things. He's actually worse than canon Mr. McCall which I didn't think was possible.

Kate goes on to have her inner celebration and reminisce over her seduction of Derek. You know, just girlie things.

Once again the timeline is throwing me off. Holder places the Hale fire near Wolf Moon which makes the show starting around the same time a nice call forward but she also has homecoming around the same time. Derek muses about Kate being a chaperone for the dance and Laura is at school that morning to attend a committee meeting for the dance. For me, Homecoming was always during the Football season in September. Not that I ever went but this in January if it’s the Wolf Moon. Football season is over. This doesn't make any sense to me.

We finally return to both the present day and to Derek and Stiles. It’s been 84 years. I've aged lifetimes.

Derek tells Stiles that you can’t trust human women and leaves him once more as Derek has caught the Alpha’s scent. This is Bizzaro Derek.

Holder has given us two different wolf references mere pages from each other. She has Derek listen to Wolfgang Gartner and Stiles apparently playing Wolfenstein on his phone (this may be Wolfenstien RPG which apparently came out on mobile in 2008).

I looked up Wolfgang Gartner -- because this is what I do -- and according to Wikipedia the earliest single he released under this particular name was in 2007 which would be after the fire. He does however have a single called Hot for Teacher. I am going to fight the author.

We’re back in Scott’s narration now. He’s not having a good time. There’s smoke making everything hazy and he senses the werewolf that bit him. He calls it his “waking, walking nightmare.” and the wolf side of him is conflicted by the threat but also by the sense of pack. 

Through the haze Scott does see the Alpha and they make eye contact. Once again Scott refuses to kill like in Pack Mentality. He references the incident by name. 

A burning tree falls down because of course it does. Some of the sparks get on Scott so he has to remove his jacket and shirt. This is Teen Wolf after all.

Scott fights the shift trying to figure out how to save himself and Allison from the blaze.

Allison begins to become overwhelmed by the smoke and goes into a coughing fit.’ Which, heh, kinda fits with Scott having asthma previously before the bite.

Next chapter opens back on Jackson who is still having a very bad time. His vision is doubled and tripled as he passes out.

Scott remembers that Allison once did gymnastics and suggests that she use those skills to get out so he lifts her up and she somersaults out I suppose. Like a goddamned Power Ranger.

I swear Stiles is the author’s least favorite. Stiles hears a howl and begins looking for Scott and or Derek. He’s yelling for them both as he attempts to track Scott’s phone. Derek shows up with a “Yeah.” 

Though I’ll admit this exchange made me laugh:

“Yeah,” Derek said, bursting from the trees. He was wolfed out, and Stiles let fly with a high-pitched, girly scream. “Was that you?” Stiles yelled. “No, that was you,” Derek said in disgust. “I mean the howl.”

Derek tries to assure Stiles the Alpha needs Scott but Stiles reminds him that he doesn’t need Allison. Derek says he also doesn’t need Allison which is a sentiment that Stiles disagrees with. Canon Derek would never. 

They talk about mountain ash because Derek recognizes it from the pictures Scott was able to send. The explanation holds up fairly well to what we’re told in the show.

They find Scott and Stiles tries to instruct him but he’s in a state of panic. Derek points out that he cannot make sense of what Stiles is trying to tell him due to the panic. 

E x c u s e M e. What the fuck did I just read?

Stiles wants to call 911 so a fire truck can gain access but Derek warns against it due to Scott being shifted. Derek then takes a swing at Stiles, Stiles shoves him and Derek falls off the cliff. 

I am so tired. 

This is a Stiles accurate line at least: “So many times, Stiles had wished for Derek to up and die. But he hadn’t meant for him to really die. Except that maybe had meant for him to really die. Just maybe not in pain, and not in front of Stiles.”

Scott pounces on Derek and they tussle. Stiles is conflicted on who he’s cheering for. 

Scott doesn’t have a shirt on.

And a moment later --

“A wind washed through the tops of the bushes and showered Derek with fiery debris, setting his jacket on fire.”

Derek rips off his jacket (RIP jacket) and his shirt now leaving him also shirtless. 

I see you Teen Wolf. The Weather Girls It's Raining Men is the unofficial anthem.

Stiles calls 911 because he clearly is the one holding the brain cell.

We’re back to Allison. She’s running through the woods calling for help when she spots what could only be the Alpha as she calls it an evil animal. It stalks closer to her but it moves away and she sees the wolf that she and Scott had seen earlier. 

The “good” wolf’s presence seems to scare off the Alpha. It then guides Allison to safety. This wolf is never explained but it gives me Expecto Patronum vibes.

Except her safety is Kate. 

Allison is now lying her ass off about why she was at the Preserve rather than with Lydia and Kate’s questioning her hard.

I had forgotten about Jackson. The van exploded by the way as the police came into the parking lot. He feels momentarily guilty about Cassie then he promptly passes out, which honestly I don’t blame him for. He’s had a shitty day.

Meanwhile back at Werewolf Rumble Derek is able to bring Scott back to himself and just as they begin to try to escape they accidentally do the memory ritual via Derek’s claws accidentally slicing Scott’s wrist and you know what? I don’t care anymore. 

We get one last flashback to Derek and Laura post fire. They’re at their burned home and insane with grief. In the remains Derek finds that stupid ring he gave Kate because she’s so evil and terrible. Like. Fucking hell. 

We cut to Jackson being taken to the hospital and Lydia ignoring the paramedics to ride with him. He feels guilty about Cassie’s death and tries to convince himself there was nothing he could do. In truth, there probably wasn’t. He ends up wondering if Bailey had really known about his biological father.

Allison at this point does in fact find it sus that Kate just happened to be out driving to the fire but she doesn’t examine anything too closely yet as she finds Scott and Stiles. She’s relieved that Scott's okay. 

The book ends with Derek watching the scene from afar. Kate catches his eye and taunts him one last time because of course Kate does. Derek doesn’t respond. 

The final line is kind of baller though. “There are more of us, bent on payback. And domination. And death. And we are coming.”

Some parting thoughts:

I remember mostly enjoying this book back when I first read it upon it's release in 2012. I think it's because I was so thirsty for more backstory on the characters and more adventures in the world.

There's a post somewhere on my blog about the book somewhere but re-reading ten years later I was definitely more critical of it and found it to be a frustrating endeavor. Maybe it's because I'm older or maybe it's because the show is over.

Largely I think it's because the book itself had no real resolution. It couldn't but I'll explain that later.

Even if there's reason for the open-ended nature of the novel it's still genuinely frustrating especially because this is a stand alone novel with no follow up.

I thought there were too many flashbacks and not enough time spent on the actual plot. Jackson is the entire plot yet we spend very little time with him in the book and he never actually interacts with the main cast except with Lydia through a text. Fucking wild. Some of Jackson's best character stuff is when he's bouncing off the other characters so it was a real shame he didn't interact with them.

The biggest issue I have though is with Derek's characterization. It just doesn't even seem like Derek to me even early season 1 Derek. The whole human slander isn't ever a thing with him.

I loathed how Laura was handled. The information we have on Laura doesn't even fill a thimble but I'd rather not know a damn thing than this version where she said the word "mateable" and isn't all that bothered by her sixteen year old brother being involved with not only an older woman but a teacher that has authority over him. Her reaction shuts Derek down so he no longer expresses his misgivings. I couldn't tell if this was on purpose or not.

I also didn't like how Stiles felt like the unfavorite here. Holder, I think had a decent grasp of his voice, but not how others reacted to him.

I also have mixed feelings about the world building Holder did via the werewolves. There were aspects I did like but overall I found it too heavy handed and too patriarchal. I think the direction the show took it was better. Talia Hale is a much better and more interesting choice.

I still do not understand why this book was commissioned at all. It isn't canon and it doesn't even follow the plot of season 1. Basically this was a promotional tool that fell short in my opinion. A waste of Holder's talent and the reader's interest.

However, there are reasons for some of this though like I said.

Back in November when I was in the middle of the book I did some research because I was insanely curious as to why this book was written the way it was. I found Nancy Holder's website which had a contact form.

I screwed up my courage and sent her a brief message asking about why the novel only referred to the first 5 episodes while largely being it's own plot. It's very unusual for a tie in novel

She answered really quickly and while her explanation didn't surprise me it still sort of did.

Essentially she was given a lot of freedom in developing her own plot as she was instructed to not give away any spoilers for the second half of the season. Which is why there's hardly anything to do with the Alpha plot line and Peter is largely left alone.

According to Holder, she is the one who asked Jeff if she would be able to fill in Derek and Kate's backstory so that whole plot is her own creation and he told to "go for it".

I think a lot of fanon seems to possibly originate with her due to this freedom which is interesting.

She's a huge fan of Teen Wolf and I found it super endearing even if I didn't like all her writing choices.

In conclusion:

[grey-eyed-gemini]

The Library Project

I love books, and i love reading. I absolutely have used and abused library cards my whole life, and I have owned lots of books. But something I've noticed recently, is. The books i own? Quite a few i haven't read recently. And we're really getting to capacity for my shelves. So at the start of the year I decided that, throughout the year, im going to read every book on my shelves, and really think about whether I want to keep it, or if I'm ready to let it go.

Why every book? Because, let's be honest, some books are on my shelves as nostalgia. I loved them then, so obviously I'd still love them now, right? But. That's not necessarily true. And my tastes have definitely changed. Plus, growing up poor, theres a definite "but it's *mine*!" Mentality that I'm trying to work on, since I don't want to end up a hoarder. (Having helped deal with FOUR fucking hoarder estates now, im definitely motivated to not end up buried in *stuff*.)

So, basically, everything has to be evaluated, everything has to hit the chopping block, at least a little bit. Therefore, a major rule was i had to finish a shelf before I could go on to the next one- no skipping series just because "Well obviously id keep those". No. Not how this work. And I came up with basic questions to really force myself to make the hard choices, no wishy washy maybes, it either stays, or goes.

Did I finish the book? Obvious, but opens to door to what to do with DNFs. In my case, if I DNFed a book, the entire series is now forfeit.

Did I enjoy the book? Again, obvious, but i have convinced myself to keep books before for various reasons, even if I didn't like it. So this deals with that.

Would I read the book again in a years time? Ah, longevity. As i said before, I'm a big proponent of libraries, so it's not worth it to me to keep a book i read once and enjoyed, but wouldn't pick up again and again. Space is a premium here.

Would I haul it across the world? This is for those really hard books, where for one reason or another I feel guilty getting rid of them. But this question really forces me to step back and consider- are they worth hauling to Germany or Australia or Antarctica? Is the time and effort of packing them worth it? Or could I get them out of a library when I reach the other side? Strange as it may seem, I have gotten to this question multiple times so far.

So, now with the admin for this project out of the way, time to share my first two shelves of progress! Spoiler warning for basically every book I discuss.

What a difference, ey? As I said, I went by shelf, so I'm gonna go over everything in order:

Chanters of Tremaris by Kate Constable: KEEP

Rose shades ON. This is a nostalgia series for me, and while the reread revealed its weaknesses in pacing and writing, i love so much of the world building and the messages and ideas that Constanble was trying to share, and many I feel are still relevant now. Again, I know it has issues, and it is really a 3 star series at max, but if she ever rewrote them and expanded on what she has here? First in line to get them. They are also hard af to find copies of, so getting rid of them would really shoot myself in the foot.

Taste of Lightning by Kate Constable: TOSS

Rose shades OFF this sequel sucks so much ass and I had to slog to finish it. I could literally write a rant post about everything I hated (and I still might) and I still would feel fiery rage in my heart 0/5 should've DNFed

Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce: REPLACE

So i love Pierce. I love her so much. And Alannas story is really where Tortall begins. She's not my absolute fav, but gotta respect the starting point. However. I dislike or outright hate so many of the covers for her books it's not even funny. But! Illumicrate did a fabulous set which i pre-ordered and is due sometime in the next three weeks, at which point, alannas story will be back on my shelves.

The Immortals by Tamora Pierce: KEEP

Alanna is where Tortall starts, but Daine is where it really steps away from the rest of the high fantasy pack. Wild magic? Spidrens? Mother fucking STORMWINGS? Iconic, all around. The romance isn't to my taste but most aren't so I dont hold that against them.

Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce: KEEP

MY GIRL. MY ICON. MY ABSOLUTE BELOVED. KELADRY OF MINDELAN. My first Pierce book was Squire, and gods has nothing else really compared. The world building, the characters, the plot. Chefs kiss 5 stars all around literally perfect my only quible is the deus ex machina in Lady Knight but I can overlook it.

Trickster's Duology by Tamora Pierce: TOSS

Andddd then we come back down with an absolute crash. Alys story has always been bottom of the heap for me, and I thought it was just because I liked the others more. But on reread, it became clear- alys story is, well. Boring. The only stand out moment in the first book is the climax with the prince, and even then, you spotted it coming a mile away. And while book two definitely is better, it comes at the cost of being dependent on book one for all our character intros. I literally had to go back and double check who was who multiple times. The only parts I enjoyed were Alys 'letters from home' visions- which is a problem! The set is also the Pierce books which feel the most classically YA, especially with the romance. Nawat is nice, but it felt like such a kiddie romance after all the other series. So, didn't like it, won't miss it, sorry to all those who I know are die hard fans.

Provost's Dog by Tamora Pierce: KEEP/REPLACE

AND THEN WE ARE SO BACK. Beka is my second favorite after Kel, and I love the very different take on tortall her books have. We see much more of the normal, not noble or noble adjacent people that populate this world, and beka deals with some very serious stuff. It's odd that, after the very YA Trickster books, we get perhaps the most adult story with Provost, but I'm not complaining. I also like how bekas various relationships are handled, and that unlike other Pierce protags, she doesn't end up with the man she meets in book 1. And, of course, there's the cult. And the knowledge that, this is what causes so much damage in the series that followed chronologically. I love books where, you as a reader can see the tragedy coming, even tho the characters can't. Goosebumps, every time.

The Circle of Magic/The Circle Opens by Tamora Pierce: KEEP

While the Emelan books don't hold my heart like Tortall, I still find them to be fun reads. I really enjoy seeing the four grow up and find their footing in a world that really doesn't want to acknowledge children as adults. Which. Feels quite relevant.

Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce: TOSS

While this and the next two are technically a set, I don't consider them as such due to them not being interconnected. Rather, I see them as standalones that expand the world of Emelan. Anyways, I DNFed this one. Originally it was written as an audio exclusive that then was made into a book and. I could tell. It did not flow as I wanted it to. Plus I saw all the twists coming, which made me rather bored. I like Evvy and Rosethorn, but they aren't exactly who I came to see, you know?

Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce: TOSS

Gods this one had such cool concepts. I just wish it wasn't so slow to get rolling. I was over halfway and the war still hadn't started, and I was worried about how an entire war would be crammed into less then half a book. That, and the cat deaths, meant I didn't want to read it again. I know, that's probably silly, because books are supposed to make you feel things, good and bad, but having lost pets, evvys cats being murdered just. Was something I could not handle.

Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce: REPLACE

Personally, the only true follow up to the Circle and the Circle Opens. Our favorite foursome are back together, but uh oh! They have returned changed! And must now have siblings drama while dealing with a foreign court that wants to swallow them whole! Empress really is the culmination of the Emelan books, and i highly enjoy it, even if the anti-sandry nonsense from tris, daja, and Briar is rough. Like gods damn, children, her having money and not going traveling is no reason to treat her like scum. She murdered people for fucks sake! On a side note, I like how we get hints of what the four will be doing going forward- it's a nice way to tie things up while still leaving the possibilities open.

The Old Kingdom by Garth Nix: KEEP/REPLACE

Sabriel is an icon, Lirael is an icon, Touchstone is an icon- i could go on but i won't. I love the Old Kingdom as a whole- like Tortall, it is so well built and fleshed out as a world, that you could see it and it's problems being real. However, the books not matching. Really grinds my fucking gears. Like, I know the Dillons couldn't do all the covers but come on! At least try to make them match! So I've tossed all the non-Dillon covers, got a hardbound copy of the 25th anniversary edition (which i celebrated arriving th eother day), and am going to work on getting the UK paperbacks of the books so I can have a matching sets. Is it silly? Yes. Do I care that it's silly? No.

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix: KEEP

One of the series i was able to finally fit onto the shelves! Hurray! They were languishing on the living room table for wayyyy too long. Where the old kingdom is dark and serious, LHBSL is dark and fun. I love our punk protag, I love the romance between her and merlin (shocking, since most YA romance i cannot stand), and most of all, I love how much this series is a love letter to England and it's mythos. Plus her dad's a rock god! (badum tsch)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus/the Kane Chronicles/Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard by Rick Riordan: TOSS

Now. For the rather giant elephant in the room. So, I would consider myself a longtime fan of Riordan. I first read The Lightning Thief for battle of the books in middle school, and had read literally every one of the books on my shelf. However, on reread. It was hard not to notice how PJATO is definitely a middle grade book. And while I enjoyed it, I didn't love it. And then right after was HOO, which i DNFed in the first book because I began to remember how little I liked the later books. And then I read Red Pyramid and when I finished I sat there and was just. Not motivated to pick up book two. Are Riordan books bad? No, definitely not, but i think that at this point I've simply. outgrown them. And while I'd pick up PJATO again, it wouldn't be within the next year. And its cemented itself as a modern classic so thoroughly that I know i could find it in most library systems, including my current one. So. With all that in mind. I've let them go.

And on that note, that finishes shelf 1 and 2! It was a bit more of a rollercoaster ride then I expected, but i don't regret any of my choices. I'm now working on shelves 3 and 4, which are a bit rougher because it's more authors with lots of short series or standalones, so don't know how long it'll take me, but I'm really glad to be making visible progress.

If you read all this inane rambling, thanks for your time, hope you enjoyed, and hopefully no one kills me for smalling a book they loved. We can only hope.

[time-is-restored]

oh shit i forgot here's another one, this time its an old neal caffrey analysis rant (this one fueled by insomnia, and written much earlier into my first watch of white collar - i think early season 3??):

im gonna be weird about white collar but the thing is so many people are weird about white collar in the wrong direction

like woobifying neal to hell and back or inventing whole new personalities for el or . i don’t even know how to describe what they do to peter

like the thing about neal is he Is a magpie he’s just a surprisingly loyal one, he flits from shiny thing to person to ideal, sure, but certain classes of ppl can fully hold his attention

peter holds his attention bc he is good as in skilled (it’s borderline canon that no one else can catch him, or even really come close), and extremely principled w a cunning streak which neal basically approaches as like. a puzzle box, bc like none of their principles line up so he’s curious how the apparent closed system rube goldberg machine of his morals work LOL

then it becomes a dedication through loyalty, in that peter sticks his neck out multiple times due to faith in neal, and neal is EXTREMELY weak to loyalty/consistency (gestures at the mess of his childhood)

and due to generally low self image (morals wise, he kind of thinks he sucks? like he’s competent and cool and charming and everything, but he also tends to consider himself a nuisance, w how he’s disruptive to ‘normal’ / ‘good’ people) that dedication can become disproportionate

we see through kate (and later, adler) that the easiest way to con neal/get him acting against his own self interest IS to cultivate that loyalty

there’s an easy archetype to it, even, in that u present him with a competent, smart individual (bonus points if they’re a conventionally attractive woman), but have her off limits in some way (uninterested, taken, stand off ish, whatever), activate his thief urge to ‘take’ what he wants, then when they are friends/partners whatever, his inadvertent guilt over like. corrupting/endangering this person/tricking them about who he ‘really’ is will loop around into VERY strong loyalty, and a commitment to being whatever they want him to be x2, bc he Cannot handle being left behind LMAO

peter simultaneously feeds into + challenges this framework, bc he clearly has the least biased opinion about who neal is, even though he’s still wrong about a lot of things. and beyond that, he REALLY likes neal, thinks he’s interesting and funny, but at the start of the show can’t deal with even 0.01% of his chaotic neutral methods

WHICH IN TURN!! actually breaks through some of Neal’s shit bc:

peter picked him out of prison before neal had changed at all

he essentially sees his role, from as early as ep 1, as tactically breaking the law where peter can’t/won’t, in ways that help them close the case faster

after peter (more or less) gives a thumbs up the first time he does this, neals puzzle box brain goes ‘oh?? morally grey bestie??? CRIME BESTIE????’ and now he’s trying to ‘solve’ peter’s moral code

this is actually almost in complete opposition to elizabeth, who is compete open and clear about her affection and friendship w him basically since they meet, and apparently has no prerequisites for it. which, again, pointing to the low self esteem, triggers the ‘oh god what have i done to deserve this i haven’t even CONNED her yet’ so he’s low key more invested in + comitted to elizabeth in a specific. 'i want to be on good terms w this person' targeted way than he initially was w peter (since their mutual obsession manifests so fucking frequently as 'what, you're gonna hit me? you're gonna hit me with that big bat? better make it hurt. better kill me in one shot!' style antagonism)

HENCE the constant check ins w their relationship, reminding peter about anniversaries and dinner times etc, though that’s also due to a general fascination he has w stability + permanence

we learn in s2 he was seriously considering proposing to kate, and that he genuinely wanted to take the ‘true love’ way out of the conman life, even though he wasn’t quite sure whether it would stick, hence we see a lot in s2 his fascination w peter + els marriage, along with june (crime aunty <3)‘s relationship w her passed husband

a lot of his dedication to peter circa s2 is, by my reckoning, explicitly because peter is so determined to stick with Neal, and doesn’t give up on him/their deal even when it would be entirely reasonable (neal admits to crimes, gets put back in prison, constantly breaks rules and goes looking for kate) which is like. neal HATES being trapped, but he also REALLY values consistency + competency

hence the complexes, y'know?

[bohemian-nights]

I read your “Lady Danbury” fanfic (which I loved) so I figured that means you’ve watched Bridgerton, so I’ve got to ask what are your opinions on Edwina?

Glad you like it(I'm going to try updating soon). Yes, I've watched Bridgerton and despite how much I talk about HOTD, it's my absolute favorite show on air right now 😊

As far as Edwina Sharma goes, bless her. I know she gets hate from a lot of the fandom(which I try to stay away from because I don’t need to be in two crazy fandoms 🤣 ) including from some Kate stans because of how she “acted” upon finding out Anthony and Kate had feelings for each other, but I genuinely don’t understand why.

Edwina reacts how any sane person would react and it’s not like she doesn’t forgive Kate, but that’s her sister (and Kate’s the older sister who speaking as an older sister 🫠). To have your sister fall in love with your fiancé/the man who is courting you is a truly mortifying experience.

Now I’m not going to blame Kate too much because again they are sisters, Kate isn’t a bad sister, and as much as I love Anthony Bridgerton he’s the one that puts them in an awkward situation.

Kate never really egged him on in that way, but as embarrassing as it would be, she should’ve told Edwina what was going on. Even if Edwina chose not to believe her at least she warned her about the situation 🤷🏽‍♀️

Of course, you have people who say that Edwina herself should’ve known what was happening, but she’s only 18, and who in their right mind is going to guess that their sister and their fiancé have feelings for each other 🤷🏽‍♀️

Before I go ranting on endlessly, season 2 was very messy. They did spend too much time dragging out the Edwina doesn't know drama, which is resolved pretty quickly in the book from what I've heard.

I can kinda understand why Kathony fans would be upset with everything being dragged out since it seemingly limited the spicy time(which is another reason why Queen Charlotte was so spicy), but Edwina herself is a sweet character who deserves nothing but the best.

If she popped up married to the prince or if they ever had Bridgerton The Movie and gave her a little romance arc, that would be perfect👍🏽

[thetimelordbatgirl]

POKE :) take my Doctor Who suffering:

2, 4, 9, 11, 13, 17, 18

2. Which outfit of the doctor would you were yourself? Honestly, a-lot of the Doctor's outfits really aren't my style, lol, but if I had to pick, it'd be between thirteenth's main outfit and the outfit of fifteenth in 73 Yards:

4. Who is your favorite companion? Now this is being mean, making me pick a favorite when I have so many, lol- but I guess if I had too, its a tie between Sarah Jane, Ace, Rose, Martha, Donna and Bill...I did say its mean to make me pick, because I just can't!

9. What is your favorite console room design? Another tie, this time between eleventh's second console room design and fifteenth's current console room design, because both just look so good to me, with eleventh's having the Gallifrey symbols that are said to represent his companions up till that point while fifteenth's one being able to change colors is just such a good idea:

11. Which character do you like the least? I won't be obvious and say Kate, because I've ranted about UNIT enough...but do know she's up there at least...but I will be obvious with my next choice: every single Finetime resident, I hope Lindy and co died as soon as they went into those woods, either via more slugs or just because they too stupid to survive for more then a day.

13. What scene scared you the most? Every single scene of the weeping angels in Blink. Sure I may be fine with the episode nowadays, but that shit had me hiding behind the sofa as a child at least, especially the ending of the episode where Doctor Who casually installs a fear of every statue in existence into you with the implication they all weeping angels.

17. What is your least favorite episode, and why? I do have a list of least favorite episodes so gonna have to pick here...I won't be obvious and pick Thirteenth Era ones because those have been ranted about enough online, so...let's go with 73 Yards, because I just can't with the episode still, even with the understanding they couldn't do much with fifteenth because Ncuti was busy with Sex Education filming at the time, because even with the doctor, they still managed to make a confusing as fuck episode that felt more like a torture fest for Ruby if anything and a poor man's attempt at Turn Left/Curse of Clyde Langer that failed to understand we had Donna/Clyde for a bit by the time of those episodes and therefore we felt bad for the two versus Ruby who we didn't have for long by 73 Yards time, so uh, I don't feel as bad as I did for Donna/Clyde. Also the unneeded Kate/UNIT scene just makes the episode go to the top of the list of worst episodes even more because it really felt like they couldn't think of any other way to shoe-horn them in...plus confirming UNIT basically stalks the companions if they return to Earth to have a normal life and we supposed to be fine with the military group doing that???

18. Do you think the doctor can cook? Oh hell no, 101% would set the TARDIS kitchen whether it is, on fire within seconds of trying, and that goes for all versions of the Doctor here, they all shit cooks.

Doctor Who Themed Ask Game

[aesthetictarlos]

Okay I have to rant about this because I caught up with Station 19 finale yesterday and I can't stop thinking about it. There's too much to unpack in the next season and I'm curious but also kind of scared.

First of all, Jack HAS to be okay because I can't handle another d*ath and definitely not Jack's. Plus, I'd love to see his relationship with his foster sister now that they've found each other again.

Then there's the Sully/Tash storyline (which I kind of hated lol) but apparently they're going to be together so okay, let's see how that goes.

Maya and Carina stand on solid ground but I don't think they're going to adopt the baby, they're not there yet, plus they agreed on trying with IVF first.

Captain Herrera, we love to see it!! She was such a badass during the finale, doing firefighting stuff with a dress and heels GRL PWR!!

Theo Ruiz: I need him to be transferred somewhere else because I can't stand the guy anymore, he's kind of a d*ck. I loved him and Vic at first, but now I don't want her to be with him anymore, she deserves better. They "broke up" and a minute later he was making out with Kate, DISGUSTING. And he was also trying to ask Jack not to tell Vic. It won't be Jack's first thought, but I hope eventually he's gonna tell Vic what he saw. (I also want to see Travis' reaction to this.)

Here we are, Travis my beloved. I didn't see Dixon's plot twist coming and I felt bad for him. I mean he was an assh*le but it was sad anyway, and I teared up when Travis told him about Emmett. Listen, I've been rooting for Travis and Eli since the beginning, and I like them a lot but now that Emmett might be back I'm conflicted as hell. They ruined what they had, and things between them have always been complicated so I don't know what I want. Seriously, I just want Travis to be happy, he's my favorite since day one and I'm T I R E D to see the authors messing up with him and his love life, just let him be happy.