#not to mention the married his 14 year old to a 37 year old man situation

[iphyslitterator]

The crucial thing about groomzilla Tommy to me is, like. He spent so long in the closet. And even now that he's out, he's circumspect about it. So he'd do a courthouse or a backyard if Buck really wanted to, but what he wants is a big rom-com SPECTACLE, because what better opportunity is he going to have to shout his love for a MAN from the rooftops?

And yes, the wedding is about Evan specifically and wanting to be married to him, but on another level it isn't. It's for 37-year-old Tommy whose heart was pounding when he casually mentioned Grindr to his new co-workers. It's for 26-year-old Tommy hiding from Gerrard, and 20-year-old Tommy hiding from his CO, and 14-year-old Tommy hiding from his dad. It's for 6-year-old Tommy who didn't get to dream about walking down the aisle. It's for 44-year-old Tommy who even then felt an occasional twinge of panic talking about his boyfriend but talked about him constantly anyway because he thinks, just maybe, he's falling in love with the guy.

It's just so so special to me to think about Tommy having a huge fuck-off wedding with doves and a six-tier cake and a filthy kiss with tongue, because he's GAY dammit, and today, this ONE day. He's going to make sure everyone knows it.

[gegengestalt]

131 useless or often forgotten facts in The Brothers Karamazov!

This 27 of April is the second anniversary of the day I finished this book for the first time. To do something special, I reread it over the last 20 days and as I did it, I compiled little things that are easy to forget in these 1000 pages filled with food for thought. Let's go!

1. Mitya fought in a duel, though it's most likely that nobody died in it.

2. Ivan's journalist pseudonym is "Eyewitness".

3. Alyosha, in his own words, came back to Skotoprigonyevsk to visit his mother's grave.

4. Fyodor Pavlovich owns several taverns in the district.

5. Grigory was the one who gave Sofia Ivanovna a proper gravestone.

6. Alyosha is one deduction away from becoming a communist.

7. The Brothers Karamazov begins in late August.

8. Kalganov is supposedly Alyosha's friend. This is never mentioned ever again.

9. Kalganov gave one coin to some beggars and told them to divide it among themselves.

10. There is a rumour that the previous elder beat people with sticks. This is false.

11. Alyosha is the only person in the monastery who knows that Rakitin is an atheist, and keeps his secret.

12. Four years ago, Pyotr Miusov divulged a fake story about a saint making out with his own decapitated head. Fyodor never forgot.

13. Madame Khokhlakov is only 33 years old. She has been a widow for 5 years, meaning Lise lost her father at age 9.

14. Zosima's serenity in front of the woman who confesses to a murder may foreshadow his later recollection of having a murder confessed to before.

15. Zosima likes to make jokes.

16. Lise and Alyosha last saw each other two years before.

17. Reminder that Grushenka met Mitya because Fyodor wanted her help to throw Mitya into a debtors' prison.

18. Kuzma Samsonov is the mayor of Skotoprigonyevsk.

19. Ivan rambled to Dmitri and Katerina about how he thinks Rakitin will be a failed journalist turned landlord.

20. Fyodor Pavlovich's house is filled with rats.

21. The Miusov family had their own private theatre.

22. Lizaveta Smerdyashchaya was a bit over 142cm/4'7 tall.

23. In 1842 there was a runaway convict called Karp commiting crimes in Skotoprigonyevsk.

24. Marya Kondratievna's mother is missing a leg.

25. Mitya ghosted a girl in real life.

26. Katerina's mother died when she was young.

27. Mitya had a fever for two weeks once because of a spider bite.

28.Mitya thought Grushenka was "nothing striking" the first time he saw her.

29. Mitya was squatting in his neighbour's rented room.

30. Fyodor Pavlovich has a portrait of the former provincial governor in his house.

31. Fyodor Pavlovich goes to sleep at 3- 4AM, like Dostoyevsky himself.

32. Sofia Ivanovna was being courted by a rich man called Beliavsky while she was married.

33. Who was the woman coming from the alley that Mitya mistook for Grushenka? I still wonder.

34. A cheap glass jar was destroyed during Mitya's frenzied break- in.

35. Katerina sends two detailed reports a week to her surrogate mother figure who lives in Moscow.

36. Katerina has an aquarium.

37. Alyosha sleeps using his monk habit as a blanket.

38. Father Ferapont survives eating nothing more than 1,6kg of bread a week.

39. Ivan had told his father about his feelings for Katerina, for some reason.

40. When Alyosha kissed his father, he had the impression that Alyosha was thinking that it was their last conversation.

41. Madame Khokhlakova owns three houses as property.

42. Madame Khokhlakova and Katerina Ivanovna are supposedly great friends.

43. Ivan reads Schiller when nobody is looking.

44. One of Snegiryov's daughters, Varvara, is invested in feminism.

45. Captain Snegiryov's childhood friend is a lawyer.

46. Mitya spilled cognac over the table of the summerhouse.

47. Smerdyakov sings in falsetto.

48. Marya Kondratievna is the only one who ever calls Smerdyakov 'Pavel Fyodorovich'.

49. Ivan uses Smerdyakov as a messenger.

50. Dmitri and Katerina had been engaged for around six months.

51. Ivan's right shoulder looks lower than the left one when he walks.

52. Smerdyakov often moves the tip of his right foot from side to side when he stands (adorable).

53. Dmitri's favourite death threats are "pounding in a mortar" and "breaking legs".

54. Grigory suffers from paralysis three times a year.

55. The real name of 'Lyagavy' is Gorstkin.

56. Zosima's real name is "Zinovy".

57. There was actually another old German doctor before Herzenstube and he was named Eisenschmidt.

58. Zosima has known Brother Anfim for forty years.

59. The Bible is thrown once.

60. Madame Khokhlakova asked Rakitin to go to the funeral as her eye.

61. Alyosha was hiding behind the grave of starets Iov, who lived 105 years.

62. Zosima was harshly criticized for telling a monk hallucinating to take his meds if praying doesn't work.

63. Both Grushenka and Rakitin are children of deacons.

64. Samsonov is the only person that Grushenka seems to be completely and clearly sincere with.

65. Likewise, Samsonov only trusts her when it comes to counting money.

66. Samsonov has the entire first floor of his house for himself.

67. Mitya tells many of his secrets to his landlords, who are fond of him.

68. Alongside eggs and bread, Mitya grabbed and ate a piece of sausage that he "found".

69. Mitya and Perkhotin first met at the Metropolis tavern.

70. Mitya's dueling pistols are his "most prized possessions".

71. Madame Khokhlakova apparently borrows money from Miusov.

72. The brass pestle was 17 centimetres long.

73. Mitya spent exactly 300 rubles in food and alcohol in Mokroye, and it would have been 400 if Perkhotin didn't help.

74. Mitya gave a glass of champagne to a kid.

75. The owner of Plotnikov's shop is called Varvara Alexeievna.

76. Two thousand villagers live in Mokroye.

77. Trifon Borissovich makes his younger daughters clean up the messes of every guest of the inn.

78. Pan Wroblewski is 190cm / 6'2 tall.

79. Madame Khokhlakova gets a migraine whenever she has to talk to Mitya.

80. The ispravnik's elder granddaughter is called Olga, and the night of the murder was her birthday.

81. The prosecutor's wife seems very interested in sending for Mitya often, for reasons he doesn't know.

82. Mitya does not know that the epidermis is the outer layer of the skin.

83. Nikolay Parfenovich is the only person in the world who trusts Ippolit Kirillovich.

84. Mitya often dreams that a person that he fears is chasing him and searching for him.

85. Nikolay Parfenovich wears a smoky topaz ring on his middle finger.

86. Pan Wroblewski is a dentist without a license.

87. Kalganov had visited Grushenka once before, but she seemed to dislike him for some reason.

88. Kolya's father died when he was a little baby.

89. There was a plot going on in the background about the doctor's maid having a child out of wedlock.

90. Rakitin often talks with Kolya. Seems like the only person who takes his ideas seriously is a literal child.

91. Smerdyakov and Ilyusha met and talked to each other.

92. Alyosha rarely gets colds.

93. Katerina befriended Snegiryov's sick wife.

94. Kolya was taken to a judge for teaching a guy how to efficiently crack the neck of a goose.

95. Kolya is against women's rights.

96. Mitya and Grushenka spent five weeks secluded and away from each other after the arrest.

97. Grushenka went to see Grigory to try to convince him that the door wasn't open.

98. Rakitin made up in an article that Madame Khokhlakova offered Mitya 3k rubles to run away with her.

99. Madame Khokhlakova doesn't remember Rakitin's patronymic, and calls him "Ivanovich" instead of "Osipovich".

100. Madame Khokhlakova didn't know of the judicial system reform until two days before the trial.

101. Lise sent chocolates to Mitya in jail, even though there's no reference to them ever interacting before.

102. Alyosha has had the same dream about the devils that Lise has.

103. Alyosha is friends with the jail inspector, who often discusses the gospels with him.

104. Mitya spent two entire nights awake since he discovered ethics.

105. Ivan cleans his own room.

106. Smerdyakov shared a hospital room with an agonizing dropsy patient.

107. Mitya's letter had the bill on the other side.

108. Smerdyakov uses garters with his stockings.

109. There is an apple tree in Fyodor's garden.

110. One of Ivan's "most stupid" thoughts is being the fat wife of a merchant.

111. Ivan had a friend named Korovkin when he was 17, the one he told the story of the quadrillion kilometres to.

112. Ivan has another poem named Geological Cataclysm.

113. Alyosha was the first person the distraught Marya Kondratievna ran to.

114. Ivan is mistaken for "the eldest son" twice in the trial.

115. Grigory did not remember he was in 1866.

116. Rakitin knows "every detail" of the biography of Fyodor Pavlovich and all the Karamazovs.

117. Grushenka's surname, Svetlova, means "light".

118. Mitya once dropped 100 rubles while he was drunk.

119. Ivan saw not just the Devil, but people who had died while he walked in the street.

120. Ippolit Kirillovich died nine months after the trial, the first and last day he received applauses.

121. Marfa is dismissed as a suspect simply because they can't imagine her killing.

122. There is a partition wall in Mitya's lodgings.

123. Mitya mostly stopped staring at the floor during the prosecutor's speech whenever Grushenka was mentioned.

124. Fetyukovich bends forward in an unnerving manner when he speaks.

125. An 18 year old street vendor committed axe murder earlier that year.

126. The verdict was given past 1AM, making the trial last almost 16 hours.

127. Katerina kept the sick Ivan in her house knowing it could possibly be harmful to her reputation.

128. Rakitin tried to sneak in to see Mitya in the hospital twice.

129. Lise sent the flowers that adorn Ilyusha's coffin, and Katerina paid for the grave.

130. Snegiryov cries seeing his late son's little boots the same way one of the women at the monastery in the beginning of the book did.

131. At the end, Alyosha mentions "leaving the city for a long time" soon. Where to? We don't know.

If you read this far down, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing all of these down.

[lovedreamer11]

Westeros couples with large age gaps

Okay, today I want to write about the age gap among Westeros couples. This will be a long post. I got this idea after seeing a post calling Daemon a pedophile for the hundredth time. I would understand if this was written by people who are concerned about Rhaenyra’s well-being, but no. The authors of such statements are most often green fans who don’t care about Rhaenyra and are looking for another reason to write nasty things about Daemon.

The sexual relationship between Daemon and Rhaenyra began when the princess was 15 and the prince 31. From a modern point of view, this is terrible, I admit. If I had a daughter, I would never have allowed her to have a relationship with such a big age difference when she was 15. But at that time, others were more embarrassed by the fact of an extramarital affair than by the fact of an extramarital affair. age difference. Rhaenyra was lucky in a way. I mean, before the war, Daemon was good to her. They spent a lot of time together, expensive gifts, compliments. Maesters love to discuss Daemon and Rhaenyra's relationship during the war, but before the war there was not a single mention of adultery in the ten years of marriage. Moreover, shortly before the war, Daemon and Rhaenyra conceived another child, and the entire time the princess was carrying Visenya, her husband was always nearby. And even at 49 years old, Daemon was still an attractive man.

Let's look at other couples.

Rhaenys and Corlys. The age difference between them is 21 years. Corlys is older than Rhaenys's father, Prince Aemon. But this did not bother anyone. The princess's grandfather himself, King Jaehaerys, approved of this marriage and stated that Rhaenys could not have chosen a better man. And Rhaenys was only 16 years old, while Corlys was 37 years old. She was his wife almost all her life. 39 years of marriage.

What do you think of the age difference between Corlys and the mother of his illegitimate sons? 44 years old. My grandfather was 44 when I was born. And it wasn’t even a one-night stand, since there were two children. The boys lived with their mother in the village, while Corlys did nothing for the boys' well-being over the years, as he was too afraid of his wife's reaction.

Next up are Princess Daella Targaryen and Lord Rodrik Arryn, who are 21 years apart in age. I admit, I don't feel any animosity towards this couple. After all, thanks to them, Aemma Arryn was born, and after Rhaenyra Targaryen. But there are some points that confuse me. First, the reasons why Daella chose Lord Arryn is that he reminds her of her father. The second thing is that, according to Alysanne, Rodrik loved the princess for many years and did not hide it. I'm sorry, many years? Daella was 16 when the wedding took place. How old was Daella when a thirty-year-old man and father of four children liked her? There's an even better question. If Alysanne knew that the councilman was in love with her daughter, who was younger than his own eldest daughter, then why didn't she do anything?

What will people say about Lady Baela Targaryen and Thaddeus Rowan, who was 40 years older than the girl? Here is his description.

"Lord Rowan is forty years my senior, bald as a stone, with a belly that weighs more than I do."

Every girl's dream, isn't it? Fortunately, Baela was able to avoid such a marriage, but Floris Baratheon was not so lucky. Thaddeus was 42 years older than the girl, and Floris herself got married at 14. To make matters worse, a few years later the poor girl died during childbirth.

What about between the engagement between Princess Viserra Targaryen and Lord Theomore Manderly, who was 30-40 years older than the bride? To make matters worse, he outlived four of his wives and had several heirs. Viserra would be doomed to spend the rest of her life in a foreign land, with an old and ugly husband, and her children, if they were born, would not receive any inheritance. I just can’t believe that such a marriage was arranged for a girl by her own mother.

Princess Daenerys Targaryen (daughter of Aegon the Unworthy) at the age of 15 married Prince Maron Martell, who was 14-25 years older than her. The marriage was an arranged one and, according to GRRM, Daenerys herself was in love with her illegitimate brother Daemon Blackfire. But at least it seems that Maron was kind to his wife, and Daenerys herself became the wife of the Prince of Dorne. I would like to believe that Daenerys was able to find happiness in this marriage.

Lysa Tully was born between 266 and 268. Her first husband, Jon Arryn, was born between 218 and 220. The age difference between them is almost fifty years. Jon was old enough to be a father to Hoster Tully, Lysa's father. I have never felt love for Lysa Arryn, but I feel sorry for her. She was unhappy almost all her life, and due to her past abortion, she was unable to become a mother for a long time. Jon was kind to wife and their marriage gave Lysa power over the Valley, but still the power did not make Lysa happy.

Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo. Their age difference is somewhere between 15-20 years. GOT tried to romanticize this couple, but I don’t see romance. I apologize to the fans of this couple. But Dany is a real victim of Stockholm syndrome. I really feel sorry for fourteen-year-old Daenerys, who convinced herself that there was great love between her and Drogo.

Lord Walder Frey and his eighth wife Lady Joyeuse Erenford. Attention, the age difference between them is 74 years! Walder is an old and rude old man who has more than ten heirs. The poor girl will just waste her youth on her husband and be unhappy all her life.

Larra Rogare and Prince Viserys Targaryen. Their age difference is only seven years. Not as much as previous couples. Everything would not be so bad if Viserys was 16 years old and Larra 23, but no. When the couple got married, the prince was only 12 years old, and at 13 he became a father. This is normal?!

The next couple will surprise everyone. This is Maegor Targaryen and Ceryse Hightower, who was 10 years older than her husband. Then again, if Maegor was 16 and Ceryse was 26, everything would be fine. But Maegor was only thirteen. At that time, he had not yet become a murderer of relatives and a usurper, he was a child. Problematic, but still a child. I blame Aegon and Visenya for allowing their son to marry so early rather than wait at least two or three more years.

The point is that in Westeros marriages with large age differences constantly occurred. This is truly terrible. Some were able to find happiness in their marriage, some avoided it, some remained unhappy for the rest of their lives. This post may seem chaotic to some, but don't judge me. I got sick a little bit.

[imkazz]

things i will PAY for to have in tsats

1. nico to make a bones joke

2. will to wear cargo pants to tartarus

3. apollo to give them a ride somewhere

4. them to say goodbye to some people

5. wear the ‘tartarus club’ shirt

6. will to critisize the river phleglon (river of fire)

7. nicos big sacrifice to be some super rare mythomagic card he brought

8. them to stop next to elysium to say goodbye to some dead people (jason) edit yk what that would alert hades who expressed that nico dont go back to tartarus

9. bob. please, bob be real.

10. solangelo to meet akhyles (goddess of misery)

11. will to use his glow in tartarus

12. them to hug as they fall down

13. please show meg somewhere i love nico and megs dynamic

14. will to be completely shook that nobody ever brings med kits on quests

15. meet with cupid/eros and will goes completely ballistic

16. apollo cabin to solely refer to nico as ‘brother in law’

17. yk i dont think plauge powers really would fit canon will but its a cool idea to think about @iwnut 

18. the brochure from when percabeth talked to nyx. yes @mistresscitrusslice . let them give their brochure to solangelo. “ok so in about 15 minutes and past the empousi cave, hellhound pack, and plauge spirit home should be the hermes temple” “oh thank the gods”

19. mr d to say goodbye to his favourite demigod and his boyfriend and hand will a rifle/ak47 and go “youre shit with any other weapon. the bullets are already in the bag.”

20. hunters of artemis. just. nico acting uncomfortable and will knowing part of the story so he shields nico away from most of them

21. shelper shelper shelper

22. this ones a bit far but please get married? and will to make a joke about ‘secret jedi wedding’ and for piper to officiate it and leo as the witness because he also made the rings and theyre trying not to rope that many people in

23. will to just say ‘there is a disturbance in the force’ in tartarus

24. nico to still hate pomogranites

25. please let us see nicos zombie chauffur jules-albert somewhere. 

26. mr d to force nico and will to watch something that looks like the orientation film but when they play it its percy and annabeth telling the dos and donts of a quest and percy is such a bad actor that theres so many cuts of percy saying ‘line?’  or ‘whats next’

27. and at the end percy goes ‘well what did you learn about going on your quest?’ dora the explorer style ‘great!’

28. trogs to go ‘ah its the son of hades and his bioluminecient boyfriend’ and will to just give a small sigh

29. mr d to talk to will in private and just: ‘wheel’ ‘thats still not my name’ ‘thats how nico says your name’ ‘well its just his accent’

30. please let there be an oath to styx. just not one as stupid as apollo because nico and will are smarter than that but yk what swearing to an immortal river who will get revenge on you if you break that promise doesnt sound that smart

31. solangelo to run into lukes shoes. we were robbed of this from percy and annabeth. imagine how funny itd be if they just ran into some winged shoes.

32. yk i want nico and thalia to meditate together and when asked what they were doing thalia to just respond ‘photosynthesizing’

33. orpheus and eurydice reference (this actually can become canon because on the cover it shows them holding hands with nico slightly more forward than will and pointing to the doors so nicorpheus and willdice)

34. will backstory will backstory will backstory will backstory will backstory will backstory will backstory will backstory will backstory will backstory will backstory will backst-

35. some memories of nicos for jason to show how much he misses his friend

36. just a fleeting mention of bianca from either of them

37. if theres a will pov make him hate percy. mans was partially responsible for both his older brothers deaths. he did shit to his boyfriend which include strangling him at godsdamned twelve years old. will shouldnt exactly adore percy is more what i mean.

38. solangelo smooch.

39. nico is the new percy of chb. think of it, big 3 kid, very powerful, hero, lives at chb, close to percy, knows a lot of people. nico is just the go-to now that percy is at college and nico is a permanent resident. 

40. nico fan club. made of new younger campers, reyna, will, percy, annabeth, meg, apollo, hades, and a whole bunch of long-time campers.

41. just to have some new campers act like ttc!nico and follow nico around like he did with percy just asking questions and instead of finding them annoying like percy did nico would answer their questions truthfully like how apollo actually did for nico

these arent in order. id die to see the ‘tartarus club’ shirt to be worn by percy annabeth or nico though or at the end of the book for will to be gifted one though and more to be added

[om-is-ok]

01: Do you have a good relationship with your parents?

02: Who did you last say “I love you” to?

03: Do you regret anything?

04: Are you insecure?

05: What is your relationship status?

06: How do you want to die?

07: What did you last eat?

08: Played any sports?

09: Do you bite your nails?

10: When was your last physical fight?

11: Do you like someone?

12: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours?

13: Do you hate anyone at the moment?

14: Do you miss someone?

15: Have any pets?

16: How exactly are you feeling at the moment?

17: Ever made out in the bathroom?

18: Are you scared of spiders?

19: Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?

20: Where was the last place you snogged someone?

21: What are your plans for this weekend?

22: Do you want to have kids? How many?

23: Do you have piercings? How many?

24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)?

25: Do you miss anyone from your past?

26: What are you craving right now?

27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart?

28: Have you ever been cheated on?

29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry?

30: What’s irritating you right now?

31: Does somebody love you?

32: What is your favourite color?

33: Do you have trust issues?

34: Who/what was your last dream about?

35: Who was the last person you cried in front of?

36: Do you give out second chances too easily?

37: Is it easier to forgive or forget?

38: Is this year the best year of your life?

39: How old were you when you had your first kiss?

40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked?

51: Favourite food?

52: Do you believe everything happens for a reason?

53: What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night?

54: Is cheating ever okay?

55: Are you mean?

56: How many people have you fist fought?

57: Do you believe in true love?

58: Favourite weather?

59: Do you like the snow?

60: Do you wanna get married?

61: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby?

62: What makes you happy?

63: Would you change your name?

64: Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed?

65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?

66: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can act your complete self around?

67: Who was the last person of the opposite sex you talked to?

68: Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

69: Do you believe in soulmates?

70: Is there anyone you would die for?

1. Yes

2. @alhad-si-simran to her.

3. Umm there are many things to regret about in life but still regret karke kya hi fayda so no

4. I used to about my face and voice but not anymore.

5. @alhad-si-simran in relationship with her. ❤️

6. Maybe in sleep aur any other way but just peacefully.

7. Cream doughnut.

8. Used to be football player till last year.

9. Chhi bilkul nhi

10. Everyday with my younger brother.

11. @alhad-si-simran yeah her.

12. Yes I have, 3 4 times till now.

13. Currently i hate phantom team E4E for their gaandu harkat.

14. No. (But sometimes I miss my cat.)

15. Currently no but I used to have a cat.

16. Happiness tapakti rehti hai aaj kal kisi ki wajah se.

17. Nope meri bandi mili nhi kabhi (mile to jarur try karna chaunga)

18. No bro, I'm a fan of spider-man lol.

19. Ofc yesss kon nhi jana chahega bc

20. Kabhi nhi kiya yaar.

21. Now that you mention it, I was planning to meet my friends but didn't got out of the bed. :)

22. Only 2.

23. Well in my childhood, I used to have in both of my ears.

24. Science, english, engineering me quantum mechanics.

25. Nope, koi hai hi nhi miss karne layak.

26. Chole bhature

27. Ha shayad un ladkiyo ke jinko mujhpe crush tha ya hai college me :)

28. Nope

29. Yeah I did but it was before our relationship but now that I know I made her cry I regret it. But this won't happen ever again. I want to be reason of her smile not tears <3

30. Kuch log dhoka deke aage badh rhe ye bat irritate kar rhi, Also ye garmi bhi bc bohot hai

31. Idk about others but I'm sure, @alhad-si-simran she does.

32. Not specifically one but i like colour combos Like black and white, Black and orange blue and red etc etc.

33. Ab to ho rhe hai bc.

34. My last dream was about my girlfriend @alhad-si-simran <3

35. @alhad-si-simran her <3

36. Depends.

37. It's easier to forgive than forget

38. Yes best year ever.

39. Meri bandi mil jaye fir batauga

40. Bhai tumhare mohalle me karte hai kya aisa Ya tu jata hai roj aise? Sorry agar ladki anon hai to. But no yaar ye kesa question hai me PK thodi hu.

51. Biryaniiiii

52. Sometimes yes.

53. Said I love you to her as always @alhad-si-simran <3

54. Depends on the situation... like pta chale samne wala bhi kar rha ho to badla lend ke liye kari jaye

55. I don't think so. I'm friendly yaar.

56. Yaad nhi bc

57. Yeah I do.

58. Sunny breezy and rainy.

59. Ya fir thandi bhi but only in other countries, snow fall ka maza lena hai

60. Yes @alhad-si-simran with her :)

61. No, Only meri girlfriend ko mujhe baby bulane ka haqq hai and yeah it's cute when she does it.

62. Talking with my simmu, sharing my thoughts with her just loving her every day more and more, just spending time with her, she always makes me happy @alhad-si-simran

63. No.

64. Double it and give it to the next person. (Kyu jale par namak chhidk rhe ho?)

65. @alhad-si-simran I love her too. (Only female bestie I have.)

66. @alhad-si-simran Ofc my bestie and bandi, Uske sath jo chahe wo karu wo appreciate karti hai, hasti hai khush ho jati hai mujhe khush dekh ke, she knows me perfectly so I can be myself around her.

67. @alhad-si-simran on call.

68. @alhad-si-simran with her.

69. @alhad-si-simran I do believe in soulmates now.

70. Zindagi ek bar milti hai wo bhi kisi aur ke liye kyu maru bc me (I believe in k!lling not dying for someone else.)

[sweetestpopcorn]

Daemyra haters like to use the reason that Daemon was a grown man when he was “seducing” Rhaenyra but they don’t voice out that Harwin String was also a grown man when he was screwing Rhaenyra. Sorry but Harwin isn’t some innocent character. Sure he was a supportive of Rhaenyra but he actually was quite useless. He couldn’t do anything to support her in court and frankly him fathering her velaryon boys just made things worse for Rhaenyra imo. Sure, Rhaenyra isn’t innocent in having children with him but I’m more understanding to her because she was put in a precarious position by her idiotic father.

Hi there!

This is a problem that I think comes with the fact that most people dislike history, so they never actually bothered much with it and they don't realise our rules and standards did not apply let's say 100 years ago, so much less would they apply in an alternative world modelled after Medieval Europe (for the most part).

In Westeros most girls were wed at 15-16 years of age, some younger. In Fire and Blood alone we have Aemma and Helaena being bedded at 13. While Helaena and Aegon II barely had 2 years between them which makes it less bad and we can brush it off as they were two teenagers, Viserys was 18 when he took 13 year old Aemma to bed. The maesters said she was a bit young yes, but they acknowledge this because sh:t got complicated for her in the child bearing department. For Helaena it didn't, so no one mentioned anything regarding her very young age. They don't really care, this is the bottom line. If we were to analyse the situation with Viserys and Aemma by our world's standards I don't think most people would be ok with an 18 year old banging a 13 year old. Does the fandom complain here? No, of course not. They don't give half a f_ck about either of them.

We have another great example not only of someone not legal in our world but being courted and wed to a man MUCH OLDER than she was in Rhaenys Targaryen. Rhaenys was 16 when she married Corlys who was 37. Need some help here? Those are twenty one - I repeat TWENTY ONE - years between them. This was a marriage that left everyone delighted. Was Aemon horrified and disgusted that Corlys courted his 16 year old daughter? No. Was anyone? No. Yet I always hear absolute radio silence when it comes to this couple and huge age differences and a woman not being of legal age (in our world).

Let's now get to Rhaenyra and Daemon. Rhaenyra was 14 when Daemon returned in 111 AC, soon to be 15 since Septon Eustace claims she "rode Daemon's dragon" and became a "dragonrider" 😏 sometime before her 16th birthday. Daemon was around 31. While us in the modern world would describe - and well - Daemon's actions as gr🐻🐻ming and ab_s€ and say and well that Rhaenyra could not consent, guess what? The same would be true for Rhaenys and Corlys, it would also be considered gr🐻🐻ming + ab_s€ + ch:ld marriage. But Westeros is not our world is it? In Westeros, Rhaenyra was seduced by Daemon. His actions towards her - gifts, poems, wining and dining, going out to hunt, sail, hawk, etc - would be seen as any man would court an available woman. This is how you would "date" someone. And indeed both of them seemed to have this idea in mind when they entered their relationship. According to both Eustace and Mushroom, Daemon wanted to marry Rhaenyra, so this wasn't simply to debauch her, he had marriage in mind. This was very much seduction + courtship. Also apologies in advance to the RuMoUrS and LiEs crowd, but all the time the two spent together alone during the course of six months and Daemon's gifts are presented as facts/court documented things not as this person said X the other one Y. When it comes to Rhaenyra, Septon Eustace says she asked Viserys for leave to marry Daemon. Mushroom says otherwise -> that she wanted Criston and he rejected her, not that he gave in and felt very guilty afterwards in case anyone is wondering; no one says this. No one. However, given what we know happened later, and how Rhaenyra felt about Daemon, which of the two is the most likely?

I will let people decide.

So between Rhaenyra and Daemon, again this is courting. C-O-U-R-T-I-N-G.

Now back to Harwin. We don't know Harwin's age. We do know his sisters - Harwina and Harwinette - were close in age to Rhaenyra, but they did not have the same mother, and neither did he and Larys had the same mother. We do have estimates of how old he was because he was already a knight in 105 AC, so he couldn't have been younger than 15 at this time. Bear minimum, Harwin was 7 years older than Rhaenyra though the age difference could be higher. I don't think it was that much more than 7-10 years and I will tell you all why. Because Harwin was still unmarried by 120 AC. Someone like him was a major catch. He was the son of the second most powerful man in the Seven Kingdoms since 110 AC - since the time Rhaenyra was 13 - and was heir to Harrenhal. He would absolutely be someone many fathers would want to marry their daughters to, and in fact, we know he courted Rhaenyra and was a potential candidate for her hand. If he was Daemon's age it was absolutely not likely he would be still single and not a widow at the very least.

I can see the appeal of Harwin because he was much closer to Rhaenyra's age than someone like Daemon - 16 years; who she loved, had an affair that got to 3rd of 4th base and later married - or Criston - 15 years; who she took a childish fancy to and later rejected his advances or got rejected twice. Regardless, at the very least Harwin was 23 when he took 17 year old Rhaenyra to b🛏d and got her pregnant. This is more of a grey line in our world than any of the other situations I have introduced, so I can see why this is a situation that leaves people less uncomfortable and they can deal with it better. Still, Rhaenyra was still 17 and he was from a seggsual standpoint still much more experienced than she was (we know he wh0red like almost every man in Westeros) since in both versions Rhaenyra was someone who's entire seggsual experience was clouded in ab_s€ according to our standards, and that by both accounts had only been with one man who again was much more powerful than she was. So the dynamic is still not the best. Furthermore, according to Mushroom it was actually Harwin who took Rhaenyra for her first "ride" after he came back from a night of drinking and maybe more... so it's not exactly a very romantic setting. I personally have no issues these are characters not real people and this is a different universe, besides, Rhaenyra clearly liked what he was packing 😏 I personally still believe Eustace on this one as I cannot envision Daemon not going all the way with her, but my 1% of doubt does rest in the fact that she didn't get pregnant.

Bottom line is, it's impossible to pretend Harwin and Rhaenyra were not problematic from our standards. Less problematic than her and Daemon definitely, but there are still significant issues. I can understand people preffering them and having less problems but don't come to me and pretend they were the perfect couple if you are using our standards to judge them because no they were not.

Also small note, Harwin did potentially have the capacity to be quite useful to Rhaenyra. As I have noted, he was the son of the King's Hand. His own brother Larys was Master of Whisperers. But he seemed more busy doing push-ups and crushing bones XD which is why since the longest time he has been baptised as Ser Beefcakes and referred to as Rhaenyra's himbo. Which is one of the best things this fandom has ever said XD and a general agreement.

Harwin's routine be like:

And I need to refer people to this amazing f:cking art of Rhaenyra and Harwin by @riotatttherite which remains my favourite of them of ALL TIME. IT'S. SO. GOOD!!!!!!

NOW THIS is what got Ser Incel into a blind fury XD and made him break the arm (ok it was elbow) that touched Rhaenyra and collarbone next to which Rhaenyra laid her head. And also kill Joffrey because... f_ck him I guess.

Joffrey Lonmouth:

Harwin:

Criston:

Also Criston: Ser Harwin and his... brutish ways!

Criston: And Rhaenyra and her...

Us:

Criston: WaNtOn WaYs

Us:

And on this note, nowadays I don't search the tags, both because of redacted 🤢🤮 and because even before redacted some things written were already vomit inducing. The funny thing to me always was that the same people who got SO ANGRY (takes deep breaths) that DAEMON HAD SEDUCED RHAENYRA AND WAS A P🐻 AND A POS AND A MONSTER AND

Was the same crowd who then shipped him with Laena and painted Corlys and Rhaenys as the perfect wholesome couple.

Like yes please, tell us more about how monstrous you find Daemon, so much you then ship him with Laena. Tell us more of how age differences make you uncomfortable especially when the woman was a teenager.

Like... just own your sh:t. Everyone ships what they want. But don't hide between your fake wall of morality because according to your own words you are shipping Laena with a p🐻

Note: All the things said in this post only apply to the soiaf canon and have little to no validity in the context of g*t canon. Thank you.

[nocandnc]

I posted 346 times in 2022

That's 63 more posts than 2021!

298 posts created (86%)

48 posts reblogged (14%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@nocandnc

@artistefish

@amu-azu

@museeanime

@pinkbowsandprettyprose

I tagged 342 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#random babbling - 144 posts

#mao manga - 70 posts

#mao - 67 posts

#onmyouji mao - 65 posts

#anime screencaps - 46 posts

#thanks for asking! - 37 posts

#kiba nanoka - 36 posts

#the vampire dies in no time - 33 posts

#kyuuketsuki sugu shinu - 33 posts

#official art - 32 posts

Longest Tag: 105 characters

#is your translation team allergic to japanese specific terms with cultural and religious significance????

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

They got the old VAs for Lum and Ataru to voice their parents guys 🥹

229 notes - Posted October 5, 2022

#4

I was rewatching episodes again (as you do) and noticed something during The Hormone-Iums which I haven’t really seen anyone mention specifically?

So we all know the dream in which Tina is attending the red carpet where Jimmy Jr and Zeke fight over the chance to marry her, much to her delight. But on this rewatch, the first interesting thing I noticed is-

At the start of the dream, the first dialogue we hear clearly is Zeke calling out to Tina, trying to catch her attention. Asking her to look his way. I found this interesting because normally in a Tina fantasy it might be JJr who first speaks to her, maybe by dashingly offering her a hand out of the car - but this isn’t one of Tina’s normal daytime fantasies. She’s dreaming, and therefore more susceptible to the thoughts and will of her subconscious. Here, she is acutely aware of Zeke’s focus on her and more willing to tune into his voice.

See the full post

292 notes - Posted January 3, 2022

#3

IT’S YA BOY KONGMING!!

literally this is what happened though

338 notes - Posted April 3, 2022

#2

Oh, how did that phrase go…

There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.

819 notes - Posted October 28, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I’m Not Sorry for what I’m going to become over the next few months.

1,956 notes - Posted July 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[alliluyevas]

decided to do another Mormon polygamist offspring chart for Heber Kimball, who was an apostle in the early Mormon church and a close friend of both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young (also Joseph Smith’s father-in-law because he married Heber’s 14 year old daughter Helen :/) 

Heber had 66 children, which I think is the largest number I’ve seen yet. Chronological list is under the cut. The children’s mothers’ names are in the parentheses.

1823 

Judith (Vilate Murray)

1825

William (Vilate Murray)

1828

Helen (Vilate Murray) 

1831

Roswell (Vilate Murray)

1835

Heber (Vilate Murray)

1839 

David (Vilate Murray)

[In 1842, Heber marries his first plural wife, Sarah Peak.]

1842 

Adelbert (Sarah Peak) 

1843 

Charles (Vilate Murray)

1844

Henry (Sarah Peak)

1845 

Brigham (Vilate Murray) 

Sarah (Sarah Peak) 

Unnamed son, died at birth (Martha McBride) 

1846 

Margaret (Frances Swan)

Abraham (Clarissa Cutler) 

Rachel (Lucy Walker) 

David (Sarah Whitney)

Isaac (Emily Trask)

1847 

Solomon (Vilate Murray)

1848

Samuel (Aagaat Ysteinsdatter)

David (Sarah Whitney)

1849 

Heber (Sarah Peak) 

Prescinda (Prescinda Huntington) 

1850 

Murray (Vilate Murray) 

Joseph & Augusta (Aagaat Ysteinsdatter)

John (Lucy Walker) 

David (Sarah Whitney)

Cornelia (Christine Golden) 

1851

Samuel (Ann Gheen)

William (Amanda Gheen) 

Susannah (Ruth Reese) 

Joseph (Prescinda Huntington) 

1852

Newel (Sarah Whitney)

Harriet (Helga Bakka)

1853

Rosalia (Aagaat Ysteinsdatter)

Willard (Lucy Walker) 

Horace (Sarah Whitney)

Jacob (Ruth Reese) 

Jonathan (Christine Golden) 

1854 

Albert (Amanda Gheen) 

1855

Peter (Mary Ellen Harris) 

Jedediah (Aagaat Ysteinsdatter)

Lydia (Lucy Walker) 

Hyrum (Helga Bakka) 

Enoch (Ruth Reese) 

1856

Daniel (Ann Gheen) 

1857 

Ann (Lucy Walker)

Sarah (Sarah Whitney)

Jeremiah (Amanda Gheen)

1858

Andrew & Alice (Ann Gheen)

Mary (Mary Smithies) 

1859

Eliza (Lucy Walker)

1860

James (Mary Smithies) 

1861

Sarah (Ann Gheen)

Washington (Lucy Walker) 

Joshua (Sarah Whitney)

Moroni (Amanda Gheen) 

Mary (Christine Golden) 

1862

Joshua (Lucy Walker)

1863 

Eugene (Helga Bakka)

Wilford (Mary Smithies) 

1864

Franklin (Lucy Walker)

1866

Lorenzo (Mary Smithies)

1868

Abbie (Mary Smithies)

[Note: Heber Kimball died in 1868, about six months after the birth of his youngest child, Abbie).

Reflections:

Heber Kimball’s oldest and youngest children were born 45 years apart (:/)

Two of Heber’s sons were also named Heber. While I did not include middle names in this chart, a further eighteen sons had Heber as their middle name.

In terms of other repeat names: 2 children named Mary, 2 named Joshua, 2 William, 2 Joseph (both with the full name Joseph Smith Kimball), 2 Samuel, 3 Sarah, and 4 named David (although I will point out that three out of the 4 Davids were born to the same wife and the first two died in infancy)

There are two sets of twins, Joseph & Augusta and Andrew & Alice.

In terms of birth chronology, you see a kind of similar pattern to Brigham Young, with a consistent rate pre-polygamy, a midlife population explosion, and then tapering off a bit as the father ages. However, Brigham Young had children at a pretty consistent rate throughout his 40s and 50s, while Heber Kimball has several years with four or five kids being born interspersed with years where only one child or none was born. I know he did a lot of mission work while Brigham Young was consistently Salt Lake City based so I’m assuming those years were after he had been absent on a mission.

1846-47 was the period of the Mormon exodus from Illinois to Utah, which means that a total of 6 Kimball children were born on the wagon train traveling to Utah. 3 of those children did not survive infancy--infant loss seems to have been a particularly prominent scourge of Mormon mothers on the trail, which is understandable. I would not want to give birth in a wagon either.

For some of the less common names: Newel was a boy, sharing a name with his maternal grandfather Newel Whitney, who was an early convert and Mormon bishop. Moroni is from the Book of Mormon/the angel Moroni.

[im-pretending-imthere-already]

Should we re-evaluate the price of honour in the Middle East?

Trigger warning what I am about to discuss mentions themes of violence, suicide and self-harm, sexual, child and domestic abuse and murder. If in need of aid here are some helplines where you can receive it.

Close your eyes with me for a moment, feel the air the surrounds your skin wrapping every crevice and curve of your body, feel the energy that you hold as women, the energy you create, feel the complexion that surrounds this room, now imagine the walls that surround you growing closer and closer, the air becoming dense instilling chills electrifying the atmosphere with tension, the mood shifting with the room closer and closer, the air tighter wrapping its chains around you, the walls pushing onto your organs, your breathing heavier, the walls growing encapsulating you prisoner shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame, shame

With approximately 12 “honour killings'' per year in the UK according to the Honour Based Violence Awareness Network (HBVAN) the issue of preserving honour at any cost is highlighted, with this matter being greatly exemplified in the Middle East with at least 37% of women in Arab countries having experienced some level of domestic violence as seen by a recent report by UN Women. The Middle East has grown to develop an interconnected concept of honour that is ingrained in all levels of society which is supported and enhanced by the implementation of patriarchal norms. The preservation of honour excels beyond marriage and today is projected onto every aspect of a Middle Eastern woman's life with many regions having something as simple as a bike ride bring shame and dishonour onto the women’s family. The consequences of honour can be perceived through the outlook on abuse, the prevalence of “honour” killings and the support of these harmful patriarchal standards by the laws that value power over life.

The prevalence of abuse in the Arab world can be demonstrated in every aspect of a Middle Eastern woman's life, even before marriage is in the picture. Female genital mutilation (FGM) a common practice in Africa, the Middle East and Asia is a blatant portrayal of the recurring violation of women's autonomy. FGM is the partial or complete cutting of the female genitalia which leaves women physically and psychologically scarred for life to enforce conservative values and leave women “pure”. In Kurdistan, women don't even get the privilege of entering libraries, with them being considered a mainly male environment, even though “many young girls are “desperate for books” as explained by a member of the Sofia Society, an organisation working for gender equality in the region. This is due to a fear from families that they will rebel against patriarchal norms, raising the question of how women can truly be free if their basic rights are seen as radical? According to psychologist Dr Sarah Rasmi, domestic abuse takes on one aspect above all others- between partners. Dr Rasmi further explains that many factors can trigger domestic violence, mainly to maintain power within a relationship which is enhanced by patriarchal societies which support these attitudes. Women who go against these norms and stand up against this imbalance of power are often discarded and invalidated, left to fend for themselves with nothing as a result of the society that leads to their downfall and many end up dead, all in the name of maintaining so-called “honour”. The existence of toxic masculinity and patriarchal norms affects Middle Eastern women on every level, with honour being held in her control, the existence of this cultural code in the 21st century is frankly disgusting, there is no honour in being an abuser.

Honour killing; killing in the name of preserving honour. In September 2019 the Arab world was shaken with the news of the violent murder of 19-year-old Israa Ghayreb, who was beaten to death as her screams echoed through the dull hospital walls, a reminder of how deeply rooted and normalised women's murders is in the name of maintaining honour all for posing a Snapchat with her soon to be finance and “disrespecting the honour” of her family. While honour killings are thought to take place in only closed conservative societies, far far away from our comfort zones, the case of Banaz Mahmoud a 20-year-old Kurd eerily reflects the cases that plague the Middle East, raped and strangled to death by two of her cousins and another man on the agreement of her father and uncle. Her crime, leaving an abusive marriage and entering another relationship. Her body was found buried in a suitcase in the home garden, and her new grave was left without a headstone reflecting the unmarked cemeteries of Kurdistan full of betrayed women, just. Like. Banaz. A 2019 survey undertaken by the Arab Barometer research network portrayed the acceptance of honour killings in the Middle East with 27 per cent of Algerians, 25 per cent of Moroccans, 14 per cent of Sudanese, 21 per cent of Jordanians, and 8 per cent of Lebanese finding honour killings justifiable, a further portrayal of the invalidation of victim's experiences.

Laws within the Middle East are riddled with patriarchy that limits women from being able to reach their full potential or get justice when violated. For example, Article 153 from Kuwait’s penal code allows men to get away with the murder of a sister, wife or even mother if caught in a sexual act (Zina) outside of marriage with a maximum jail sentence of 3 years or a fine of simple 225 dinars (US $735), Jordans article 308 which allowed rapists to be protected by marrying their victims and Lebanon's article 252 which allows for the mitigation of sentences from crimes against women. The Islamic Republic of Iran is possibly the best illustration of how rampant and destructive the protection of perpetrators by law is in the Middle East. Women in Iran suffer against a system built on discrimination and inequality portrayed in the country's constitution and penal code. For example, women get 50% less of what their male counterparts inherit, are legally required to satisfy all their husband's sexual needs, and lose all child custody in domestic cases immediately as it is given to the man. Women are often left without justice for example in the case of 14-year-old Romina Ashrafi who was groomed by a 29 year-old-man then got beheaded by her father for it and the execution of Reyhaneh Jabbari for defending herself from a sexual assault which resulted in the death of her attacker, defending her dignity with her life. How do we expect women to progress and call out perpetrators if both taking action or not eventually leads to the same destination?

The plague of toxic masculinity and the heightened importance put on the maintenance of honour through the control and oppression of women which eventually leads to the abuse and deaths of all these victims is the unmistakable and blatantly obvious reason why the value of honour should be redefined. Silencing women, controlling women, killing women are not honourable acts, it is about time we shift our attitudes and speak up for all the victims that are gone and the ones to come.

- hi this was my English oral assignment :)

- btw I am from the middle east

- all feedback and criticism is appreciated

[dudeandduchess]

Sanemi x F!S/O: Slow Burn (Modern AU, SFW Scenario)

Summary: Sanemi wants to get married immediately for personal reasons, and it just so happened that a feisty woman at a restaurant caught his eye. Little did he know that she was going to be his future boss— and even knowing that didn’t stop him from wanting to pursue her. Cue (Y/n), whose siblings are all meddlesome and bratty; enough to tell their father that she had a boyfriend, just for laughs. Not wanting to disappoint him with the thought of her living the rest of her life by herself, she sets out to find the perfect fake boyfriend. Note: This was written waaaay back in 2017, but it never saw the light of day. But I rewrote it for Sanemi, and here it is now. This is only the first part, since i initially planned it to be a three-part fic. But, enjoy, bbys. Hopefully I get to writing part 2 soon. It really depends on your feedback. Haha. Words: 6,252

Warnings: This is more OC-insert than reader-insert. Weird kitchen terms will fly. Which is why I want to scrap the idea altogether, but not without sharing it first.

***

Being away from home was always hard; not only did the person that was away miss the people closest to them, but also felt like they were wedging a gap between themselves and all of their loved ones as time went by. The longer someone was away from home, the bigger the gap grew, and the clearer it was to them that life moved on without them in the picture.

It hurt— of course it did— because it felt like everyone that that person left behind had forgotten about them, like they had become insignificant. But life did go on, even for those who had been the ones to leave— still, that didn’t erase their longing for days long past when their world seemed a much smaller, and marginally simpler place.

Almost nine years had passed since (L/n) (Y/n) moved away from her home to pursue her dreams. She wasn’t going to sugar-coat her story and tell people that she struggled financially while studying at Les Roche International in Switzerland for her Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality Management, nor was she going to lie and say that she got into the New York campus of the Culinary Institute of America after so many setbacks.

She had been, however, downplaying her lifestyle after getting her associate degree for culinary arts at CIA. It was like she was leading a double life that the friends she made, while flitting from kitchen to kitchen, didn’t know about.

At 25, she had moved to Tokyo by herself to work at the city with the most Michelin Stars in the world; and now that she was at the cusp of turning 27, she was still in the same city, and the same restaurant, with the same one Michelin Star award— but she was a chef de partie now, which just meant more work for her.

Her one-year experience spent working in America after culinary school was a walk in the park compared to working for her current restaurant— well, three restaurants, if one were to be technical about things. Back at her old kitchen in the west, there was a full staff— and a very low employee turnover rate; in fact, it was rare to have people quit back there.

But her current place was— most possibly— worse than what everyone imagined when they heard the term ‘hell on Earth’. It was so bad that it was a regular sight to see people on the line quit on the spot, once they were so deep in the shits during service. She could have always left along with the others before her, but she found a perverse sense of joy from surviving in such a toxic workplace.

Not to mention the fact that she got to rub elbows with some of the best chefs from all over the world, when they came in as guests for one of the three restaurants.

The breakdown of the restaurants was the fine dining restaurant (where the Michelin Star was awarded), a gastropub, and a sub-kitchen for the events that they catered— as well as for those guest chefs that came in once a month for an entire week. The restaurant was huge— spanning 14,500 square feet, as well as a having a basement level where all the nitty gritty parts of the kitchen were.

When she first started there, she felt so exposed in the expansive open kitchen, that allowed the guests in the gastropub to see the hot line in the kitchen; while the pastry and garde manger stations were tucked away behind the wall, that separated the kitchen from the fine dining restaurant.

She couldn’t find a perfect way to describe the layout because it was just that big but, basically, the fine dining restaurant was tucked away from all the commotion— and people had to pass through a tunnel of sorts to get there.

While the gastropub housed both an open bar and the open kitchen, the event spaces as well as the sub-kitchen were hidden away at a loft-type space. It was so confusing to get around at first, but she eventually got used to it.

And now here she was, enjoying the last five minutes of peace of her supposed lunch break standing at the sauté station— her new station— and staring at the 22-quart Cambro filled with freshly-made Mornay, that she had almost shouted at one of the sous chefs about.

She was just lucky that she came in three (unpaid) hours early for work, because she wanted to get ahead on her prep; so she had enough time to squeeze in making the mornay with the other hundred things she had to do.

With such a big kitchen and a lack of people, everyone ended up stealing each other’s prep— whether it was for a VIP, or a party, or basically whatever that needed to be made. As long as it was in the walk-in fridge, it was fair game.

She was just happy to finally have been taken out of garde manger because— even if the station was meant for two people since it was prep-heavy (four if you count the two other people needed to take care of the parties)— she had been stuck working it by herself for the past five months.

“(Y/n), did you go on break yet?” The executive sous chef yelled from the pass— which was basically the area where their executive chef stood and expedited food during service; and just behind the pass was the stairs leading down to the basement floor. They also had an elevator, which was extremely helpful… when it wasn’t out of service.

“I am on break, chef,” the (h/c) haired girl answered with a laugh— when she just wanted to punch the guy square in the face, since he was the one who had used up the 14 quarts of Mornay that she had in the upstairs walk-in fridge yesterday.

“You know you shouldn’t be working, right?” The man asked her with a sardonic tilt of his head, that made (Y/n) want to scream. Just because he was higher up in the ranks than her made him think that he was the shit when, in fact, he was just shit— shit at his job, and shit as a person.

I love my job. I love my job. I love my job. She repeated her age-old mantra in her head, and then answered, “I know, chef. I’m-” the apology was about to slip from her lips when she caught it. “It won’t happen again, chef.”

“Make sure it doesn’t.” One of the banes of her existence called out before going down the stairs.

“Oui, chef!” (Y/n) cried, gritting her teeth afterwards, so she could hold back the snarky comeback that was threatening to spill from her lips. Really, she loved her job, but it was pricks like that who stressed her out.

And so, she took a deep breath and exhaled it in one strong gust— refocusing her mind so that she would be ready for the five parties up in the lofts, as well as the 250 covers that they had in the fine dining restaurant.

*** 

“Fire trio!” The executive chef, a 37-year old man from Florida (that used to be fit when he first arrived at the restaurant a year ago), called out from the pass— marking the ticket in his hand and tucking it into the slider bar mounted to the steel shelf that was mounted to the ceiling.

Everyone called out a loud chorus of ‘Oui’ in response.

Trios were there appetizer, and those got sent to the table before anything else, so it was synonymous with ‘another table just sat down’.

(Y/n) kept on making the orders that she had on her board, often moving from her stove to the Josper oven to put sauté pans with food inside. She was running out of burners on the stove, and it was starting to piss her off.

From behind her, the ticket machine whirred to life and started printing out an extremely long ticket. She internally groaned, before picking up one of the sauté pans on her stove and giving the mushrooms in it a little toss.

And all of that was happening while she had another ticket in her hand— memorizing all of her items on it.

“Order in! Four soup, two kale salads on the fly!” Whoever was serving the table on this ticket must have hated her, because she was already in the shits without any orders of their version of vichyssoise. But they just had to recommend the fucking thing now.

“Oui, chef! Four soup on the fly! Give me three minutes, chef!” (Y/n) yelled in a gruff voice— letting her frustration out in a non-hostile manner as she practically threw the pan of mushrooms in her hand, into the Josper behind her to cook them further.

Her brain was buzzing with so many things that she had to remember— the mushrooms in the Josper, the pan of broccolini she put in before the mushrooms, the truffle gnocchi that she still had to make in the next five minutes, and all of the other dishes from her station that needed to be up for the next table.

Sometimes even she amazed herself when she managed to finish a busy night, without getting yelled at even once.

“171 up at 15,” the executive chef yelled once more, and (Y/n) clicked her tongue as she hurriedly heated up the soup, while simultaneously plating her orders on that ticket— since it was already 7:14, so she had only a minute to get that done.

“Where’s my soup!? How long here, chef?”

“One minute, chef!” Her head was pounding with so much stress, but she pushed through it by taking all the food she had for table 171, and parked them beneath the heat lamps at the pass— calling out ‘hot, behind’ frantically at almost the top of her lungs.

“Fuck my life.” (Y/n) grumbled under her breath, as she plated up the dry components for the soup. She then grabbed her quenelle spoon from its secluded bain to make rochers of whipped crème fraîche. And once those were done, she poured the soup into four tiny, ceramic pitchers, before putting everything up at the pass. “Soup at the window, chef!”

No answer came, which was normal, so the (h/c) haired girl kept on cooking whatever was printed out on the new tickets that came in. It wasn’t until she picked up one of the pans on her stove that she froze.

She wanted to scream and let go of the pan because she had forgotten that she had just taken it out from the Josper, yet she couldn’t let it go, because it was filled with the truffle gnocchi. So, she slammed it down on the steel countertop beside her before she waved her right hand around.

There was a nice, clear burn mark where the piping hot steel handle had touched her skin, and she clicked her tongue as she resumed working; trying to ignore the pain as she put up ticket after ticket.

***

Shinazugawa Sanemi had been watching her all night from his table, that was a mere few feet away from where she was working.

The moment that he sat down and turned to watch the show inside the kitchen, his gaze instantly gravitated towards her. She didn’t stick out because she was a woman, no, he was used to seeing women not being forced into gender roles now— but she stuck out because of the way that she moved in there. She held herself with so much poise and grace, that it looked like she was gliding across the floor at times, all while yelling in a brusque tone.

He took a sip of his beer and licked his lips— eyes never leaving her. It was so obvious that she was getting overwhelmed with the influx of orders bombarding her every second, but he was impressed with the way she handled all of that pressure with a mere furrow of her brows here and there; until she burned her hand.

Sanemi expected her to stop the show to ask for help, and he chuckled in mild disbelief when she merely shook her right hand, before picking up where she had left off.  It was as if nothing had happened.

That woman was really something, and his curiosity was piqued.

Sanemi had to admit that he had been lacking female company as of late, because of four things; namely:

He had gotten tired of sleeping with his flings, because they always expected more than one night.

No woman had a personality that kept him interested for longer than a week, as every single one of them had a heart like a marshmallow— too soft and sweet.

No one could put up with his abrasive personality, and most importantly…

He wanted to get married. The sooner, the better.

Part of his desire to get married was because his younger brother, Genya, was already engaged and getting married next year— so he wanted to get another thing over his brother. He had been taught better than to think of a life commitment as a means for a competition, but he simply didn’t care: he wanted to have what his brother always said was unparalleled happiness.

But the more pressing issue was that… he was starting to feel lonely. He didn’t make a habit of getting jealous, but he found himself going green with envy whenever his married staff— both from his previous company and the new one— mentioned even the simplest night with their respective wives. He wanted that for himself as well.

Hell, he was prepared to pay any amount to any woman that could keep up with him, just so she would marry him. But maybe he was doomed to stay single forever— he didn’t know.

So, there he was— out drinking beer by his lonesome self on a Thursday night, because he didn’t want to be alone in his apartment.

He had thought that it was too small for his taste at first but, as time went by, he realized that it felt cold and empty without someone to share it with. After the party was done and all the bottles of alcohol were picked up, he was always left with a cold feeling of emptiness weighing him down.

“Would you like another pint, sir?” One of the waiters asked Sanemi as they were passing by. He didn’t even realize that he’d finished the whole glass.

The silver-haired man shook his head even though he wanted nothing more than to get plastered, so he could just amble home and instantly fall asleep on his bed. “No, thanks. But… could you get me a menu?”

It didn’t take long for the waiter to get back to him with a menu booklet in hand. He briefly thanked the man and browsed through the pages; lifting his eyes up to the (h/c) haired woman every once in a while. Based on what he had observed, the dishes that she was making wasn’t on this menu, so he flagged down another waiter.

“Are you ready to order, sir?”

“I was wondering if I could order some soup to start?” Sanemi asked in a no-nonsense manner, that he hoped would let him order something that clearly wasn’t on the menu for that part of the restaurant.

The waiter cast a glance over at the kitchen, and seemed to hesitate before nodding. “Of course, sir. Our soup is our chef’s version of a vichyssoise-” The young man drowned his voice out then, only half listening as is gaze flitted back to the woman. “Do you have any allergies or specifications?”

“No, no allergies.”

“Would you like anything else to go with your soup? A steak, perhaps? Or our truffle gnocchi; it’s one of our best sellers.”

He vaguely remembered her using truffles, so he found himself nodding in agreement. It didn’t even matter to him that he had no clue what gnocchi was. “Sure. And I’d like to send a glass of red wine to one of the chefs— the finest you have.”

Again, he didn’t know a lick about wines or any of the fancy food that they served. And since he was more of a beer and anything-with-rice kind of guy, who was trying to get her attention, he had to play it up. He did have the money for it, so why not?

“Very well, sir. To which of the chefs would you like me to give your present to?” The waiter asked graciously, and Sanemi pointed over to where the woman was still working.

“To her.”

“Oh, I… uh…” the guy stuttered uncomfortably, hesitating a bit as Sanemi raised his eyebrows at him. “Yes, sir. I’ll give it to (Y/n); may I tell her who it’s from?”

“No. Just tell her that it’s from a new admirer— and that she should get that hand checked.”

***

“Chef, I have tomorrow and the next two days off, okay?” (Y/n) chirped as she popped her head into the chefs’ office, only to see the higher ups filing last minute orders and double-checking inventories for the night. It was always like that every night after service; everyone on the line would clean up in the kitchen— consolidating their mise and storing them in the upstairs walk-in chiller— before scrubbing everything down and doing their own little tasks for their stations.

“Why?” The executive chef asked, turning his chair so that he was facing her. “When did you ask me to give you that off?”

“Two weeks ago, chef. Remember?” She rolled her eyes with a sigh, which she never would have gotten away with during service. But after she was off the clock was a very different story. “I even wrote it down on a blue sticky note— right there!”

The man laughed. “I’m just messing with you. Have fun doing whatever it is that you’re going to do.”

“I wish I could, but I know that it’s going to be boring as fuck.”

“You can always work.” He offered with a grin.

(Y/n) laughed and shook her head. “Nice try, chef. But no. My attendance is a must at this family thing.”

“You’re going home to Osaka?” The sous-chef asked, turning his chair as well, so that he could look at the (h/c) haired girl standing in the doorway.

“No. If only Chef Jason would let me have a week off, right, chef?” She turned to the executive chef— Jason— with an innocent grin. “But alas, he’s going to miss me too much.”

“Your station’s going to crash and burn without you,” Jason griped with a huff.

“You’ll manage, chef. It’s only three days. But please don’t burn through all of my prep. I already stocked up on the things I could stock up on, and the rest of the gnocchi is in the freezer. I also finished doing my prep list. So, I’ll be going now! Bye, chefs!” With a wave, (Y/n) hightailed it out of there before they could tell her to get a jacket on and help them with party prep for tomorrow.

Like hell she was going to let that happen again. Fool her once, shame on her; but fool her twice… then she was dumb as fuck.

Once she made it out of the restaurant, she slowly made her way up the street— thinking about whether she should call an Uber to drive her to her condominium building. It was only three blocks away, but her feet were already killing her.

In the end, she took out her phone and sat down at the nearest bus stop to wait for her ride.

She looked down at her hands under the dim light above her, sighing heavily as she took note of how her cuts and burns stood out starkly against her skin. What once used to be unmarred and flawless— the envy of her friends back in high school— were so different now. Ugly as fuck for everyone else, but for her… “It gives me more character.”

A quiet laugh escaped her lips at that, and she heaved another sigh when she was reminded of what she had to face tomorrow at Nanafumi’s 50th anniversary party. Had it been any of the other companies in the long string of companies under her family’s ownership, she wouldn’t have even bothered to show her face, but since it was her family’s flagship company in Japan, attendance was a must.

Nanafumi was the crowning glory of her father’s empire— and it was the closest to his heart, because it had always been his late wife’s dream to become a big player in the Japanese market. Fifty years later, and the company that she had helped build was still one of the biggest players in the business world.

Along with the news of how the upcoming anniversary was going to be extremely fancy, there were so many talks going around that (Y/n) was the one who was going to be taking over the company. Since it was a food manufacturing company, many people thought that it made sense for her to take over.

But she didn’t want to take over the company; not because she was being rebellious, but because she wasn’t born with her father’s business acumen or her mother’s sharp business mind. Her sharp tongue, yes, but her mind… not so much.

Hell, there were six other siblings of hers to choose from, and all of them were just as qualified as she was to run Nanafumi. She could run it, but she would be running it into the ground.

(Y/n) was shaken from her reverie when a car pulled up in front of her. She checked the plates, and once she confirmed that it was her Uber, she hopped in for the quick trip to her building.

Suffice to say, her living quarters were… more than adequate for one person to live in. It used to be where she and her family lived when they spent month-long vacations in Tokyo, and her dad had given it to her as a present… along with the building itself.

She didn’t want to accept it at first, but she was a reasonable person. Not only was the unit already fully-paid for (which meant no rent to think of), but she also used the profits from the building itself (from the commercial spaces on the first three floors, to the monthly rent that some residential tenants paid) to pay for her own expenses.

She was basically set for life, but she didn’t want to just sit back and be a bum for the rest of her existence. Her mother had raised her better than that.

Even though both of her parents came from old money, they were pretty decent people. They didn’t look down on others, and made her and her siblings know the value of working hard for something you were passionate about. She liked to believe that all seven of them turned out to be well-rounded individuals.

And they were. If only her four older brothers and two younger sisters weren’t batshit crazy.

If she were to be honest, her family was like a pack of wild animals when all of them managed to get together. Everyone was so rowdy (sometimes even herself), but all of that was due to their closeness with each other; not because they fought or anything like that.

Yes, they did fight, but that was only when a good number of them were drunk as fuck.

She was just about ready to collapse when she managed to enter her place, swinging the door shut behind her, as she kicked her kitchen clogs off in the foyer. With a sigh, she walked towards her phone and pressed the button to hear all of her messages.

In this day and age, only her family would still use landline phones, and leave messages on answering machines.

“(Y/n), don’t forget the party tomorrow. It’s at seven.” Her father’s deep voice rang in the cavernous living area, making her smile as he spoke in their native Kansai dialect. “And bring your boyfriend with you— Miko told me that you got one over there? Is he husband material? (Y/n), you’re already 27, it’s time you got married and had kids.”

A loud groan escaped (Y/n)’s lips, as she pressed stop on the machine. She was going to kill Miko— her youngest sister— tomorrow. But tonight, it was time to eat something for her first meal of the day, get showered to get rid of the horrendous kitchen smell, and then get some much-needed sleep.

There was a stigma about people who worked in a kitchen: that they always had time to eat because they had access to so much food, but that was a laughable rumor.

They didn’t even have time to breathe, because they were always so busy doing their prep for the day. The most that she could eat on busy days was a French fry, or maybe a piece of raw tuna, but that was it.

And there was that time, about two weeks ago, that she got a glass of wine in the middle of service. The waiter didn’t say who it was from exactly, only that it was from an admirer— someone that knew about her burning her hand.

It was weird, not to mention creepy, but she took the glass with fervor and raised it up to the dining room— thanking whomever had sent her the alcohol, before downing it.

It certainly wasn’t her most refined moment, but she needed alcohol in her system at that time— and that more than did the trick for her. She had a slight buzz going, which emptied her mind and made her work more efficiently, so whomever it was that sent her that glass of wine had saved her from losing her sanity that day.

The wine kept coming every other day or so for a whole week, until it just stopped. She was bummed at first— because hey, it was free alcohol— until she had almost completely forgotten about it; until that moment.

She grabbed a pack of instant ramen from her cupboard stash, and promptly set out to make it.

Another misconception about chefs was that they always ate the best kinds of food— even at home, but that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Most chefs— especially those who worked full time in a restaurant— ate junk when they got home. The quicker it cooked, the better.

So all those last-minute aglio olio dreams, that some people imagined that chefs ate at home were just those: dreams.

The irony wasn’t lost on (Y/n), though. She spent her days making some of the best and most expensive food for people, but she always ate like a broke college student at home. Hell, broke college students even had time to order pizza— and she could have done that, if she didn’t get out of work at 11 or 12 at night.

Still, she loved what she did. After all, she also had a little of the crazy gene in her.

 ***

Dresses weren’t really high up on (Y/n)’s list of things that she liked to wear. Not anymore, anyway.

When she was in university, she loved dressing up and putting so much effort into her make up, but when she entered culinary school (where everything that wasn’t an ingredient was a food safety hazard) she let go of all the make-up, and the dresses, as well as the high heels that went with them.

There was one thing that culinary school helped her with, though: her confidence. When before, she had a hard time talking to people and had to force herself to be sociable at parties; after culinary school, she was so used to being the center of attention, because some of her mentors had a knack for yelling at their students in front of the entire class.

Hell, in the restaurant industry, people tended to treat everyone like shit— so she had basically been through a few mortifying situations that toughened her up enough to be somewhat shameless.

A downside to being toughened up by the kitchen was the potty mouth that came with the territory, though. And so, it took quite some effort for (Y/n) to keep herself from slipping a few casual ‘fuck’s, ‘damn’s, ‘shit’s, and a few other choice words into regular conversation, like she was adding salt to a bland dish.

“(Y/n)!” Her second-oldest brothers— twins— chorused as she entered the expansive events hall.

“Hello, motherfuckers,” (Y/n) greeted with a grin, which made a few heads turn to look at her, because of her language. Frankly, she couldn’t care less. She then hugged her brothers tightly and kissed their cheeks. “I haven’t seen you two in forever. How’s life in sunny Australia?”

“Really hot,” Yoshio, the older one of the twins, answered— fanning himself with his hand to emphasize his point.

“Lots of kangaroos,” Ren, the younger one of the two, piped up with a laugh. “Some even find their way on campus.”

“And you didn’t bring one for me? What kind of brothers are you?” (Y/n) asked with a chortle, before making eye contact with Yoshio. He hadn’t been trying to be discreet with his perusal of the faint scars that littered the backs of her hands.

With a brief shake of his head at his twin, Ren vocalized his thoughts, “It’s part of her job, bro. And haven’t you gotten used to seeing them on her already?”

Yoshio didn’t even have time to answer, because he was suddenly tackled in a hug from behind. The same happened to Ren, and (Y/n) just about laughed, only to be cut off when a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her in a bear hug.

“Akio-nii!” (Y/n) managed to breathe past her lips, and her older brother set her down once more. She whirled around to face him, and was about to hit his chest with the back of her hand, when he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pressed an affectionate kiss to the crown of her head.

Out of all her siblings, she had to admit that she had always been the closest to Akio. They were the closest in age, but that played very little with their closeness. When their mother died a few years after Miko was born, Akio was the one who had doted on her. It was as if herself and her siblings had become self-sufficient once the matriarch of the house was gone.

The twins took care of Miko and Chiasa— which explained why the girls were clinging on to each of their brothers tightly. And while Akio took care of her, their eldest sibling— Masaru— served as their father figure, as their actual father was almost always away on business.

In line of birth order, it was Masaru, Akio, Yoshio and Ren, then her, which was followed by Chiasa, and last came Miko.

People were starting to stare at their sizeable group, but they paid the prying gazes no mind as they all caught up with each other’s lives.

“Where’s your boyfriend, (Y/n)-nee?” Chiasa asked aloud. Her curiosity wasn’t even veiled with any sort of pleasantry. It was plain as day that her younger sister wanted to meet this nonexistent boyfriend that Miko had been talking about.

“Boyfriend? There’s no such person?” (Y/n) answered with a glare at Miko. Her sister frantically shook her head and raised her hands up in mock surrender.

“It wasn’t me. It was Ren-nii that told me about it.” Miko replied in her defense.

All five pairs of eyes swiveled over to the man in question, who only balked before shaking his head. “It was otō-san. He told me you had a boyfriend.”

“But he left a message telling me that it was Miko who told him.” (Y/n) quirked her eyebrows at her sister, and then added, “Miko, tell the truth.”

“It really wasn’t me. I swear!” The youngest (L/n) pleaded earnestly, which made (Y/n) sigh and shake her head in mild irritation.

“(Y/n), there you are.” Masaru’s familiar voice rang out over the din of voices inside the ballroom. And all six of his siblings turned to look at him, as he crossed the room with an envelope in his hand. “Dad wants you to deliver the speech. Just read this. Come on, the program’s already starting.”

Her eldest brother didn’t give her much of a choice after that, as he took her by the wrist and dragged her over to where a stage was set up. She couldn’t even look over her shoulder to see their other siblings’ expressions, since she was too busy trying not to do a face plant on the floor.

It didn’t take long for her and Masaru to reach the side of the stage, where a lady in a pantsuit was waiting rather impatiently. She looked a bit frazzled already, so she didn’t want to add anymore to her stress. She knew what being under so much stress felt like, and she wasn’t going to be the reason why someone had a breakdown.

“I just need to read this, right?” (Y/n) snatched the envelope out of her brother’s hand.

“Yeah,” Masaru answered with a slight smile. He then wrapped his arms around his sister and pressed a kiss to the top of her head; which was an easy feat considering how tall he was. “Dad would do it, but he’s running a bit late. He said that he wants you to do it.”

That just sounded off to (Y/n), but she remained quiet. Now wasn’t the time for protests about taking over the company, or anything like that. If that wasn’t heavy implication coming from her father, then she didn’t know what was.

And with that, the lady with them explained her cues, before practically pushing her up the side stairs of the stage. She listened attentively to the host as he went on about useless drivel concerning the party, and then some of her background information, before finally introducing her to the crowd.

Gingerly, she made her way to the podium that was set up to the right side of the stage, and smiled at the crowd. She couldn’t exactly pick out who to smile at, since the spotlight practically blinded her, but she didn’t dwell on that fact as she opened the envelope and read through the speech that was written inside.

“What the fuck is this?” She whispered to herself, as she quickly skimmed through the contents of the speech. It sounded so impersonal and generic, even to her.

So, with a suppressed sigh of irritation, she folded the speech up and set it down on the podium. She reckoned that anything that came from her mouth would sound more sincere and personal than the drivel that was written in that letter.

“Good evening, everyone. It’s nice to see all of you celebrating with my family and I tonight,” (Y/n) began hesitantly, but eventually gathered up the courage to push through with her sudden change of plans. She just had to remember not to curse, and she would be good. “As all of you may know, Nanafumi was my parents’ dream fifty years ago. It used to be called Mochifumi, as my mother loved mochi very much. But it was changed around nineteen years ago, after my youngest sister was born. That made seven of us, hence Nana in the name, and Fumi— as in Fumiko, our mother.”

From the corner of her eye, (Y/n) saw her father enter through a side entrance by the stage. He even had the gall to grin and offer her two thumbs up, which made her chuckle and shake her head. Her old man had always been a sly one.

He had planned this; down to the shitty, pre-written speech.

***

To say that that speech had taken a lot out of (Y/n) would be the understatement of the century. She felt as if most of her energy was sapped the moment she got off that goddamned stage. And one measly glass of champagne wasn’t going to cut it; which was why she was already on her third one when he came up to her.

“That speech was quite something,” Sanemi hadn’t meant for his words to come out as mocking, but they had, and he already wanted to slap himself. Initially, he was surprised to find out that the lady that he had been so hard-up for at that restaurant was his boss’ boss’ boss’ daughter; but he had gotten over that initial shock and had carefully crafted a plan to get her to go home with him.

Or maybe even make out with him in a supply closet somewhere. Anything to get her to think about him enough to make her interested.

“Thank you, but… do I know you?”

Sanemi had to admit that the comment stung, but he wasn’t going to let that deter him from getting the (h/c) haired woman where he wanted her; preferably in his bed.

[papermoonloveslucy]

IS SHE A NATIONAL HABIT? and OTHER PRESS

December 19, 1965

On Sunday, December 19, 1965, the TV Tab supplement to the Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle, published an article by UPI’s Vernon Scott about the staying power of Lucille Ball. 

The article is reprinted verbatim below, with direct quotes from Lucille Ball in bold and italics. 

By VERNON SCOTT, HOLLYWOOD (UPI) 

"Institution" is an unflattering term for beautiful redhead, but it fits Lucille Ball who, after 14 years in television, is still among the top 10 in the ratings. 

Mention "Lucy" in the civilized world, and people everywhere know who you're talking about.

Lucy's unprecedented longevity as a television comedienne is all the more remarkable in that she began as a starlet in "Roman Scandals" with Eddie Cantor back in 1933. 

Remarkable because she alone among her contemporaries is still a major star. The life span of starlets is usually five years. If a girl can act, she may survive for 15 years. But once a starlet's measurements have been exploited and her youthful beauty fades she dissolves into the scenery on the back lot. 

But Lucy? She's been going strong for 32 years. 

Her figure is terrific. Better than most of this season's sex kittens. On screen she appears a youthful 35. In person her features are animated, her blue eyes brimming with mischief and intelligence. 

What's more, Lucy has survived on the strength of her own comic genius. When she and Desi parted it was predicted Lucy couldn't carry on alone. Wrong. The same was said when Vivian Vance departed last season. Wrong. 

"The Lucy Show" title says it all. She stands alone. 

Asked how she managed to go on and on, Lucy said: "My personal life may have something to do with it. I've almost always enjoyed good health. I take care of myself. I don't drink. I'm happily married, and I don't let work interfere with being a good wife and mother.” 

Is she, indeed, an institution? "I never thought it unflattering to be an institution. The idea appeals to me. I credit the steadfastness of my viewers for my longevity on television. I've become a national habit.” 

"And children love my show, too. I think people began tuning in to the old 'I Love Lucy' show because Desi and I were married on-screen and off. It was different. We had strong audience identification with other married couples.” 

"Later when Vivian and I carried on as a couple of women trying to raise kids without a man around, we still had a great deal of identification with a large segment of the population.” 

"We also knew what not to do. We kept away from vulgarity, distasteful subjects and unwholesomeness." 

Lucy still failed to touch on the element that makes her such a popular favorite. She doesn't really know. Perhaps no one does. 

I think it is that she is the only comedienne who combines humor sometimes outlandish clowning with beauty, sex appeal and, most Importantly, femininity. Even with her hair frowzed, her face dirty and clothes in tatters she looks like a female should look. 

The TV Tab also provided listings, including one for a Monday, December 20, 1965 repeat of “The Lucy Show” episode “Lucy in the Music World” (TLS S4;E3) first aired on September 27, 1965. 

Meanwhile, in Iowa’s The Courier on December 19, 1965, TV critic Ken Murphy wrote about Milton Berle and Lucille Ball, the king and queen of TV comedy. 

Murphy is talking about “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (TLS S4;E13) first aired on December 6, 1965. 

In Long Beach (CA) the Evening News and Independent-Press-Telegram Tele Vues took a look at Lucy’s partner in crime, Gale Gordon with this article from Bert Resnik’s column Bert’s Eye View: 

IF SANTA CAN FIND it in his heart to forgive the on-screen, blowhard shouting of Gale Gordon, television's meanest man could have the following in his Christmas stocking: A drill-press, a shaper-planer and a band-saw. 

Gale, who currently is flipping his lid as blustering banker Theodore J. Mooney on CBS-TV's Monday "The Lucy Show," is a do-it -yourselfer magna cum laude. 

He does it himself on a 100-acre ranch in the San Ysidro Mountains near Borrego Springs. 

It is doing that utilizes a 37-horsepower, 4-wheel, lightweight tractor that Santa, in the guise of his wife of 28 years, Virginia, gave to him a previous Christmas. 

It is more than just a tractor to Gale. 

"It is therapy for me," he said. 

In addition to the therapeutic tractor, the hoped-for drill press, planer and handsaw, Gale has a cement-mixer (an anniversary present) and numerous tools. 

"I can work all day long mixing cement and to me this is the same as going to the opera for some people. It's completely relaxing."

THERE IS NO therapy for Gale in bombastically blowing his top onscreen. He's not knocking it, mind you. Just don't get the idea that it's the best way to prevent ulcers - not that Gale has one. 

He enjoys the flip-wigging for two reasons: It gets laughs and it brings money.

Both have been coming quite persistently since, as Mayor La Trivia in the "Fibber McGee and Molly" era, he hollered his first roof down. 

On television he's blustered as the meany school principal in "Our Miss Brooks," was Uncle Paul in the "Pete and Gladys" series and served a stint as Mr. Wilson for "Dennis the Menace." 

It is blustering, incidentally, that highly challenges Gale's acting abilities. 

For off-screen, he's the opposite kind of man. 

"People who exhibit temper are very disagreeable," he said. "I don't like to be disagreeable.” 

"By nature, I'm a very placid person. Very little disturbs me." 

In his 43-year-career, Gale learned by observing more temperamental show-business personalities that: "Temper is such a waste of time." 

It is a career that has been marked by an appearance in the 1928 silent movie, "Temptress," with Greta Garbo.” 

"She's the most ethereal and beautiful creature I've ever seen in my life," he said. "Her ability is in the tremendous appeal she has for the audience." 

It is a career that included a radio role as, leading man in "The Mary Pickford Show” in the 1930s. "She was very charming, very considerate." 

Eve Arden, the title star of "Our Miss Brooks," has "no equal" in her style of sophisticated comedy. Miss Arden, Gale and other members of that television series' cast "were a family." 

It is Lucille Ball, however, with whom Gale finds it most stimulating to work. "I admire her above all women her ability, her knowledge of theater and for a very keen sense -- an instinct, actually -- of what will p!ay funny to an audience.” 

"I'd rather be a supporting player for Lucy than be a starring player myself under any of the most favorable conditions.”

The Honolulu (HI) Star-Bulletin printed this brief mention on December 19, 1965, regarding children of celebrities going into show business. 

While across the Pacific, in The San Francisco (CA) Examiner, columnist John J. Miller reported on Lucille Ball’s day in tax court. 

[catalinaroleplay]

Gender & Pronouns: Cis man, he/him

Date of Birth: March 17th, 1983 (37)

Place of Birth: San Francisco, California

Neighborhood: Ventura

Length of Residency: Native — Returned December 2020

Occupation: CEO of Meadows Real Estate

Face Claim: Jesse Lee Soffer

BIOGRAPHY

TRIGGERS: Parental Abandonment, Death Mention, Infidelity.

If you would've told anyone 16 years ago that Sebastian Prescott would one day be considered the outcast of his family… they would've laughed right into your face. There was a time when he embraced the name and everything that came with it. Sebastian became a member of that kind of world by proxy through his father's networking and connections. The Prescott children all lived the fast life, the one where money can buy you anything and everything to the fullest. As one of the middle children, there was a certain kind of freedom where nothing was set in stone, and he was allowed the liberty of choosing his life. Well, until his father Hugh disowned him.

Hugh Prescott grew up one of five children in a lower-middle-class home in Nottingham, a city in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. Gabriel, his father, operated a small wholesale produce store while his mother Frieda stayed home, bringing up the children and washing the neighbors' laundry. Money was always scarce. Frieda kept the kids full with bread and vegetables, and when Sunday rolled around, the seven of them would share whatever meat had been cheapest at the store. Given how smart Hugh was, he attended Oxford University after graduation from school in 1955, juggling several jobs to cover expenses. Hugh ended up playing soccer professionally before quitting after a year because of his teammates' frivolous behavior. He then started working for a commercial real estate firm near London and left Nottingham behind. Ten years later, luck struck, and Hugh met Perry Richards, an ambitious man with money who was looking for a business partner with a brain. Wife and kids in tow, Hugh left the UK for what would become the Silicon Valley in the United States. 

Their business was to become Richards & Prescott. From years of working in real estate, Hugh had developed a good sense of what land to buy, and Perry handled negotiations with suppliers and tenants. Now a developer in California, he juggled the hard work, first wife Frances, and their now two children. In the following years, the former farmland turned into a considerable profit. It took time, of course, and time wasn't always easy on Hugh. After 14 years in the States, Hugh had to bury his first wife and take care of four children in total while working hard to turn his business into an empire. In 1980, he met Genevieve, a beautiful, smart woman fifteen years younger, and in 1981 he married her. Slowly but surely, the Santa Clara Valley was establishing itself as America's tech hub. As a family, Genevieve and Hugh added four more children to the mix in 1983, 1986, and then twins in 1991. 

Sebastian Prescott was born in San Francisco, and two years later, his family settled on Catalina Island, enjoying a private life where no one really knew the business of any of the Prescotts, aside from the fact that they owned a huge house that housed nine people. Given the vast age-gap between the siblings, Hugh's oldest was already attending Stanford University when Sebastian was only two. While the oldest Prescott was making headlines in San Francisco and the Californian mainland, people rarely associated that Prescott with those living on the Island. Not unless they were seen together. It took a couple of years, but things started becoming different once the other two entered young-adulthood. It wasn't hard for gossip to spread in such a small town, and with now more familiar faces being featured in tabloids, people quickly made the connection. They were seen for their money, and life as Sebastian knew it, laidback and normal, was over. The loss of privacy wore Hugh down and turned him into a different person over the years. Something the younger Prescott children always had a hard time dealing with. Genevieve remained the same on the outside but was always worried about her husband on the inside. The three oldest's actions had consequences for the younger: The once laissez-faire lifestyle was over, and rules and obligations followed everywhere. 

But rules are meant to be broken. Sebastian grew up in the lap of luxury. Everything he ever wanted was handed to him, regardless of the changes in the upbringing and education. When Bash was younger, he was always easy to get along with. He liked seeing people happy with the choices he made and the actions he took. He was bright and, frankly, the epitome of innocence: Looking to please people at whatever cost, wanting to do and be good. Sebastian felt like he was really getting somewhere with his father, who was so distant from him as he grew from boy to man. But the man Hugh turned into liked to see faults wherever he looked, always displeased and never satisfied. Sebastian could come home with an A, and Hugh would ask what happened to the plus. So, the boy gave up trying and searched for a different source to pour all of his energy into: Friends, girls, and parties. When the last two years of high school rolled around, his mother's role as principal ensured everything worked out perfectly for him regardless. Classes were jostled around to ensure her son would take all the right courses with the right teachers -- anything to make his grades look good for Stanford. 

He noticed something was missing by the time he turned eighteen. Once you tasted every kind of expensive liquor, went to California's best clubs, and hijacked a private plane to go to France... there was little else to live for. His life started feeling incredibly empty being surrounded by fake friends and people who only liked him for the money, and where once was the need to break the rules, now laid an inexplicable void that no amount of alcohol or sex could fill. The lack of real friends and a good relationship with his parents became apparent when school ended, and Sebastian was left with practically no one once he distanced himself.  

Sebastian's redemption arch would take place over the span of years. Entering college, it took a while until he settled into his 'new' self. By the time parent weekend had come, he'd managed to make one friend and managed to piss off three other people. Things really weren't working out well for him -- especially when he met the one girl that would change his entire life (or, well, a big part of it): Georgina Livingston. Upon meeting her, he used his usual tricks, and when they didn't work on her, he turned to the only other thing he knew to do: annoy the hell out of her. Honestly, she couldn't have been more disinterested. Up until the faithful moment, he'd accidentally tripped her, causing her to spill iced coffee all over her on parent weekend their freshman year. It could've gone better, but soon after the incident, they laughed about it together. Sebastian Prescott had never been in love before, but god, it was a wonderful feeling. 

Their relationship wasn't perfect by any means, but Sebastian was willing to work for it. It was honestly the first thing he wanted to keep in his life, wanted to see last forever. But given their ages and sometimes different opinions, their fights tended to escalate more than a couple of times. Of course, they never turned physical, but both knew where to hit to hurt the other person. During one of those altercations, they tossed the word 'break' around, and when Sebastian left that night, he made the mistake of taking it too seriously. All it took was a bar, a girl, and enough liquor to let him wake up next to a random girl the next morning, leaving Sebastian utterly distraught. It could've broken them, it could've driven Geo away, but Bash fought hard to get Georgina Livingston back. Sebastian Prescott bought a ring soon after getting her back, waiting for the perfect moment. But that moment… it never came. At least not until his one-night-stand called him up, informing him that he had an almost-two-year-old daughter and that she couldn't do it anymore. Torn and confused, Sebastian left his home almost immediately, leaving a confused Geo behind. 

The news of a kid didn't sit well for his family. In fact, his parents almost went above and beyond to keep him from getting to his daughter. Hugh Prescott was many things, but Sebastian never thought his father would keep him away from owning up to something he considered beautiful. The circumstances were, of course, anything but perfect, but Sebastian knew he had to own up to his mistake and take care of his kid. It was the right thing to do. When he returned home to Catalina, two-year-old Gianna in tow, his father practically closed the door in his face. Disowned; for doing the right thing. So he left Catalina Island and moved to San Francisco, got himself a job, and went to figure himself out as a father of a toddler. Once he felt secure enough, Sebastian returned to Catalina again on a mission to get the love of his life back, to fix what he had broken for a second time. But he came too late; someone else had already picked up the mess he made and fixed his girl. Geo looked so happy, and he couldn't get in the way of her happiness.

It was hard to juggle a job, toddler and dad duties, but Sebastian felt needed. Something he desperately searched for all his life. His daughter Gianna really was the turning point for him. A couple of years into living in San Fran, he reconnected with Gianna's mom Antonia on their daughter's eighth birthday. On a hunt for some happiness of his own, they began dating, first casually, and then it eventually became the real deal. Things looked actually good. Things felt good. At least for a while. They were a real family for about four years before Antonia confessed to being unfaithful. The mom role wasn't for her, at least not for Gianna, who was a full-blown child already. She wanted to do the whole being a mommy thing from the start and actually see her kid growing up without feeling ashamed of having abandoned it early into its life. So, she packed up and left. Leaving Gianna with Sebastian again. It felt like a blow to the face for a while, and while Bash would've loved just to let his disappointment in people take over his life, he couldn't let himself wallow in self-pity forever. Instead, he began to pour his energy into building a business. 

Just like his father did all those years ago, Sebastian began working on his business plan. Hugh Prescott always made sure to educate his children about the world they grew up in, which also meant taking them along to Richards & Prescott to show them the ropes. If it were up to Hugh, his children would take some position in his business, just like a couple of them already had. Given that Sebastian disowned, though, he used his knowledge elsewhere. Meadows Real Estate was born on a whim and after a couple of drinks with his friend-turned-business partner.

As Meadow is Gianna's middle name, they chose the name for her, who was the biggest inspiration in his life. His business focused on finding the best houses, apartments, and places for his clients, buying cheap homes and properties, and, most importantly, flipping them into something grand and beautiful. That was the part Sebastian enjoyed most about it. He also prided himself in actually doing the work (or, well, part of it) himself. Gianna's independence was a huge help. When Sebastian was asked about how he did it all while being a single parent, his answer was always easy. Gianna felt more like an adult than a child. She was the one making sure he didn't forget his lunch, did laundry on some days, and was always on top of her school activities. Sebastian got absolutely lucky. Meadows Real Estate turned out to be something outstanding. It didn't take long for it to be successful in the San Francisco area, so an expansion was next. 

Sebastian always wanted to return to Catalina Island, just not without having something up his sleeve. Returning home without showing his father he could do well on his own had always been out of the question. Expanding the business to the Los Angeles area, with extra office space on the Island, seemed like a great idea -- especially considering the properties and land the Island had to offer. It also opened the option to work on a couple Bed and Breakfast and vacation home ideas. The permanent move, however, was postponed until everything was sorted out. Gianna needed a place in school, they needed a place to live, and Sebastian needed to work out the client base's nature first. Honestly, so much of his thinking now is thanks to his daughter. While his parents may think stepping up to take care of an unwanted child had been the wrong decision, in reality, it was the best thing that could've happened to him. Gianna changed him for the better, made him a better man.

PERSONALITY

Positive: Outgoing | Responsible | Kindhearted

Negative: Stubborn | Competitive | Impulsive

Sebastian Prescott is portrayed by Nessa.

[qiankunfics]

KunCas / CasKun Masterlist

AO3

1.   Sea to Sky by HaloHalo

Summary:  Lucas is so close to finishing his last year of university. All he has to do is focus and study and not screw anything up. Rating: Explicit  Status: Completed 

2.  I can make you feel alive

Summary: as a parting gift before lucas goes home for the holidays, kun decided it was best for them to say their farewells in a special way. Rating: Explicit  Status: One-Shot

3. Gimme That Nectar by besthonestliar

Summary: Lucas is tired out from promotions, but not tired enough to refuse whatever the heck Kun appears to be propositioning. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

4. The Care and Feeding Of by nu-exo (Nekohime)

Summary: Even heroes need a little tender loving care every now and then. Rating: Explicit  Status: One-Shot

5. fear is the heart of love by Empathy_Supremacist

Summary: "Soon you will be my groom," Rating: Mature Status: On-Going Trigger: Dark themes

6. i wanna be with you (i think i'm in too deep) by kunmillion

Summary: Quarantined boyfriends Kun and Xuxi go on a Minecraft date together. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

7. Fatigue by jengae_malice

Summary:  Kun was tired. Not physically but mentally. Rating: Teen Status: Completed 

8.  it's not what u think! (it isn't) by disobedientheart

Summary: Lucas has a special someone, apparently. Kun is really happy for him, except for the fact he isn't, and it's all downhill from there. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

9.  you are... by justK

Summary: you're the moon. inspiring people, even when you're far from full. Rating: Mature  Status: One-Shot

10.  Love, Your Secret Santa by gaysadandtired

Summary: Secret Santa is all fun and games until you have to gift the man you've been secretly pining for for years. Just because fate loves to play games, that's exactly what happens to Kun. Rating: General  Status: One-Shot

11.  feather light, tethered tight by side_stickie_note (lost_stickie_note)

Summary: Yukhei is an angel, and Kun's only human. Rating: Explicit  Status: One-Shot

12. it must have been the mistletoe by m_writes

Summary: Haechan challenges Yangyang to get everyone in WayV to kiss Kun (platonically, of course) under the mistletoe. Which is fine, really - except for the fact that there is one person in particular who Kun has been in love with for years, and who he would really like to kiss non-platonically. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

13. Just Say Yes by gaysadandtired

Summary: Four years into their relationship, Kun decides to take the next step. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

14.  be a good pup by opalhyuck

Summary: lucas misbehaved. kun punishes him. Rating: Explicit  Status: One-Shot

15. She's the Queen by RinAngel

Summary:  Xuxi takes a one-night glimpse into Kun's charmed world of glitter and gloss, and wonders if he might like to apply for a tourist's visa after all. Rating: Mature Status: One-Shot

16.  Fuck Buddies by bottomsonly

Summary: Lucas and Kun are fuck buddies with toxic feelings but it's time for it to come to an end. Kun's ready for a relationship but not with Lucas. Lucas has a fuck boy appeal but he doesn't want to lose Kun. So this is their last fuck together. Rating: Explicit Status: On-going

17. Follow the Stars by easycomeeasygo

Summary: When their professor dismisses them, Kun puts his head in his arms, face down onto the table and whines loudly at Sicheng to get his attention. Rating: Teen Status: On-Going

18.  Keep you safe by Kuns_Kloud

Summary: In which Kun has to return back to his family before they starve to death but a stubborn human isn’t willing to let him go, claiming that he could “keep him safe from danger”. Rating: General  Status: On-Going

19.  My Roommate's Sexy Brother by gaysadandtired

Summary: Wherein Lucas falls in love way too quickly, Kun is way too hot and Yangyang ends up scarred. Rating: Explicit  Status: One-Shot

20. dazed and kunfused by peach_june

Summary: Yukhei is drunk, he's high, he's with his friends and having a great time. Then he puts his puppy-dog face to work against Kun and gets way more than he bargained for. Rating: Explicit  Status: One-Shot

21. when the sun rises, it will be a whole new day by RinAngel

Summary: An unlucky game of rock, paper, scissors lands Kun with the responsibility of one very drunk Xuxi... and the responsibility of managing all the undiscussed feelings between them. Rating: Teen Status: Completed

22. five star pain(killer)

Summary: "Please don't kill me," he repeats, voice shaky. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

23. you touch my tra la la by starlace

Summary: Kun may or may not have a size kink, Yukhei is adorable and everything is Ten's fault. Rating: Explicit  Status: One-Shot

24. Crush Me by MagneticRain

Summary:  "Yukhei, come sit in my lap," Rating: Explicit  Status: One-Shot

25. How many Wrongs, to make a Right? by Disoryented

Summary: Qian Kun has never had it easy. It seems like life has always been out to get him. Insert Huang Xuxi. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

26. ❝i don't know how to love❞ by orphan_account

Summary: Kun started to receive lovely gifts from someone who left the scent of oranges linger in his bedroom. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

27. Ripe by BlossomingDia

Summary: The season has come for Yukhei to find someone Ripe and multiply. Rating: Explicit  Status: One-Shot

28. Ylang Ylang by kunstaeilation

Summary: Nothing's ever suggested this before. No signs, no hints, no clues. Yet, that large hand is entwining with his own and Kun doesn’t know what to do anymore. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

29. selfish by gashinas

Summary: Sometimes, Yukhei just wants Kun all to himself. Rating: Explicit  Status: One-Shot

30.  let's take time by umiwomitai

Summary: Kun doesn't know if what annoys him about having a clumsy soulmate is being covered in bruises or having Kunhang, his cousin, make up crazy theories about who is could be and how they manage to hurt themselves so much while still being alive. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

31.  he is precious by junxiao

Summary: lucas hurt his ankle and is laid up with a cast and crutches. kun is sitting next to him, doodling little hearts on it to cheer him up. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

32. take me away by taeku

Summary: “You have no idea how much I want to fuck you right there, on this table” Kun says, voice low, sending shivers down Yukhei’s back. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

33. The Consequences of Everything by bluemadridista

Summary: When the WayV members get a little drunk, Kun confides in Lucas. The next morning, he wakes up to the consequences of his actions: a banging headache and a very affectionate Lucas. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

34. LOST IN TRANSLATION by motgonbk

Summary: Kun is married to the most wonderful woman he (or his parents) can ask for. And he has always thought he can live like that for the rest of his life. Until a certain Yukhei comes through. Rating: Teen Status: Completed Trigger: Cheating 

35. bad puppy by gashinas

Summary: “Bad puppies don’t get to come in their boyfriend’s mouth,” Kun answers nonchalantly, eyes traveling down Yukhei’s body with well-practiced disinterest and even a hint of contempt. Rating: Explicit  Status: One-Shot

36. Altschmerz (WayV) by weishenbwi

Summary: Lucas is a psychopath. Kun is... suffering. Experimenting on weaker patients is a form of entertainment. Rating: Mature Status: One-Shot Trigger: Dark themes, mental abuse. 

37. Reordered Priorities by slimequeen

Summary:  Yukhei is the dictionary definition of a bad roommate. Not only does he have no idea how to contribute when it comes to housework, doesn't know how to cook or how to work a vacuum cleaner, but he seems to think it’s his job to make up for all this by jerking off on Kun’s bed. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

38.  does the ocean sing to you, too? by penctagon

Summary: under kun’s touch, the ocean was no longer a troublesome force, but a gentle creature nipping at their ankles and yearning for appraisal. the ocean became a tame animal, and kun the beholder of the oceanic mysteries that laid beneath the surface of the shallow waters of the shore. Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

39. pillow fort by kangchanhee

Summary: kun has had a tiresome day. yukhei makes a pillow fort for them to rest in. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

40. The Usual, Please. by adiosnoninos

Summary: "Welcome to Avenue 116. May I take you sir?" Rating: General Status: One-Shot

41. It Was His Last Thought Before He Fell by makbaes (gentlemindedlostgirl)

Summary: What happens next is a sad story of hubris and love. Rating: Mature  Status: One-Shot

42. euphoria by RedamancyEffect

Summary: kun is always taking care of yukhei, anytime, anywhere. the younger realizes that his feelings are way past a crush now. Rating: General  Status: One-Shot

43.  You've Got the Peaches by Ceranovis (KiiKitsune)

Summary: Kun is a 22 year old man with no children. He's not a mom, and he's certainly not a MILF. No matter what he agrees to wear for his boyfriend. Rating: Explicit Status: One-Shot

44.  No matter how long it takes, I'm waiting. by motgonbk

Summary:  Yukhei is always late for Kun's love. (Mention of JohnKun but end-game KunCas) Rating: Teen Status: One-Shot

45.  Photograph by hunniehyuckie

Summary:  After what felt like hours, Yukhei's eyes began to trail down towards the shelves- which were covered in photographs and dust. Yukhei peered closely at one photograph in particular- one with Kun and him. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

46. Hospital Waiting Rooms at Midnight by glofaerie

Summary: Kun takes care of Lucas better than anyone else. Rating: General Status: One-Shot

47.

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48.

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[docholligay]

The Time Traveler’s Bullshit

@katrani comissioned me to write out my full review of The Time Traverler’s Wife, my most hated book of the year thus far, and I feel like it won’t be dethroned. nearly 3,000 words and I skipped a whole section I was going to write about, ENJOY

Three dollars and ninety nine cents will buy you a Big Mac. It will buy you four hours of downtown parking in my city. Three dollars and ninety-nine cents will buy you a latte made with burnt coffee at Starbucks. For Three dollars and ninety-nine cents, I can get a can of terrible beer and have a dollar left over for tip. All of which would have been a better choice than what I ultimately spent that three dollars and ninety-nine cents on, which was this book. 

I am careful to read hyped books out of their time, so that I’m not influenced by something that has been so lauded no book could ever hope to reach those heights. So when this first came around, and I saw many women talking about how much they had loved it, I figured I would just read it later. I buy books used, so this is generally what I do even outside of worrying about being affected. 

I finally picked this book up after a reader of mine told me it reminded them of my writing. 

After reading it, several years after all the hype, I have one question: Are women who fuck men okay? 

(“Why not just straight women, Doc?” you may rightly ask me, and I, unfortunately, am forced to answer that I know a number of bisexual women who also enjoyed this book, leading me to believe that the trouble is far worse than previously imagined.)

I found this book to be borderline insulting, and if I didn’t know any better, I would have claimed this book was written by a man. The entire way through I felt the constant assault of the idea that this reminded someone of ME. What have I been doing wrong all my life, I asked? I should probably give up writing. 

Let’s go into the book itself!

The core of the novel hinges around the idea that Henry goes through time without wanting to and with no consious conrol, and so in a sense lives his life out of order. This is a fascinating idea but for the fact that book’s main hinge is the relationship between Clare and Henry. 

Who Henry meets, as an adult out of time, when she is six. 

And proceeds to groom her to be his wife someday. 

Oh, it isn’t put that way, of course, it’s simply that they end up married and so, I suppose the author might say, it’s only natural that Henry interact with her when he comes the “the Meadow” nearby where she lives. But this sort of “things are already decided” that the author is extremely fond of does not remove this intensely squicky framework from their relationship. Henry begins with Clare when she is six years old, and it comes on VERY fast that they are supposed to get married. She is at a sleepover, still as a literal child, ELEVEN YEARS OLD, when the Ouija board spells out his name as the boy who likes her. 

The book takes pains to describe how he won;t have sex with her until she’s 18, but how difficult it is for a thirties to forties man not to have sex with her when she’s 15, 16, 17. I want to say there might be a part where he describes it when she’s 14, but I can’t find it in the book right now, so we’ll pretend it’s not there. “But they’re married in the furute!” one might say, listen if my wife had to resist having sex with sixteen year old me, and didn’t see me as a fucking child, I would think she was gross. It’s gross for a thirty-something to forty -something dde to struggle not to fuck a teenager, period, end of story. 

All of this is wrapped in the book’s idea that this is romantic, instead of the idea that Clare’s “date with destiny” is tragic. She doesn’t ever have a boyfriend, because she is “waiting for Henry”. She sleeps with one of Henry’s friends before he and Clare ever officially “meet” and bursts into tears because she feels as if she has been unfaithful. Meanwhile, Henry is out having girlfriends like no one’s business, and “Well Doc he doesn’t know” why is Clare the one who has to bear this arranged marriage? 

Clare herself even alludes to the way she’s being groomed to be the woman he wants in a way that I DO NOT THINK the author intended, as the author is desperately wrapped up in the idea that this is sexy and romantic and not deeply fucking unsettling. 

Pretentious-ass Henry is dropping German into a casual conversation with a thirteen year old so that you know he is learned and cool, and explain that it’s from Rilke, one of their (note: Not your, but OUR) favorite poets. 

Clare responds: “You’re doing it again!” 

“What?” 

“Telling me what I like.” Clare burrows into my lap with her feet. Without thinking I put my feet on her shoulders, but then that seems too sexual, somehow, and I quickly take Clare’s feet in my hands again and hold them together with one hand in the air as she lies on her back, innocent and angelic with her hair spread nimbus-like around her on the blanket. (Sidebar: I can only fucking imagine that the sort of people that are into this are the sort of people who think nothing at the idea of some Victorian gentleman marrying his attractive young ward, as apparently there’s no problem with having seen someone as a child and then having them marry you! It’s not deeply fucked up at all!)  …..

“Henry?” 

“Yes?”

“You are making me different.” 

“I know.” 

These brief asides are meant to make us feel that Henry has done enough to assuage his guilt, that we are meant to forget that what he is doing is wrong. The book goes so far as to have sixteen year old Clare be the aggressor with a 37 or so year old Henry, as a way of trying to tell us, “Oh look none of this can be Henry’s fault” and an absolutely cringeworthy section where Henry goes and beats up a kid who took Clare on a date and proceeded to assault her. (She dates him to prove she’s not a dyke wow what a great book and thank you for reminding us that Clare never wants to see anyone else for her own sake even as a teenager, very healthy)

All of which would make me a hell of a lot more mad if I managed to like Clare even a little bit. But it’s not at all surprising that I don't--Clare is hardly a character in this story so much as she’s a cardboard cutout that exists for Henry. 

Each of her desires and thoughts revolves around him, from the time she’s a child, save for minor pouting incidents when Henry either won’t tell her something, or disagrees with her. But she always caves, but for the exception of having a child, another horrible thing we’re meant to feel sorry for them in, but I, at least, never really do, as they know the problem, they know how horribly Henry’s life has been affected, and yet they persevere. I find myself asking why in the fuck they don’t use donor sperm, but I suppose that would not fulfill Clare’s real use as being Henry’s vessel. It might have been very touching to write about their experience of infertility if they were likeable at all, or the chapters were anything but flat and emotionless despite dealing with really high-emotion topics. It’s essentially Clare saying “I want a baby inside me” and having a series of miscarriages. I’ve read more compelling narratives on online message boards. 

Not to mention when Henry suggests adopting and Clare says “That would be pretending” bitch fuck ALL THE WAY OFF. I repeat: WE ARE MEANT TO LIKE THIS CHARACTER. NOTHING ABOUT HER IS SHOWN AS A NEGATIVE. 

A fair amount of time in the book is spent describing how hot Clare is, and it’s a bit cringey to read about a super hot redhead with great tits and also rich, who’s a visual artist, and then flip to the back and see a redheaded visual artist as the author. It’s not that I don’t believe that authors are ever allowed to find themselves in a character, quite the contrary, but one hopes that there would be a level of detachment or at least plausible deniability. But no, Clare is nothing but wish fulfillment for the author, but unfortunately cannot fulfill any of ours. I get the sense that these characters are far more complex and layered in Niffenegger’s head, but they fall completely flat on the page, sketches of annoying human beings. 

Clare seems to have been raised in an Austen novel, where the home is noted for its architecture and we ‘dress for dinner’ which could be intensely compelling if they ever went anywhere with it. But we don’t. Because of course Clare’s raising in a straightlaced, extremely wealthy family has no affect on her and she is a very cool girl who is laid back and likes the right music and poetry. (Sidebar: The name dropping in this novel is SO TIRESOME. Every band, artist, poet, etc has to be named and identified so your are aware of how absolutely well-read and smart and cool Niffenegger is) 

The we’re meant to feel for Henry when her family finds out that he is half-Jewish which I suppose is meant to be shocking when he doesn’t practice or isn’t different in any marked way from her family? The character has no Jewishness in him but as a side note and dare I say for shock value. Her family isn’t even written as believably against the union, as no one can resist super cool hipster protag Henry DeTamble (Even his name sounds INSUFFERABLE) 

The problem, of course, is that the very wealthy can buy their way out of many problems, meaning that an author has to have a particular deftness of hand in order to make you feel something for them. This is not that author. Any sympathy one might have for Clare goes immediately out the window when she’s complaining about having only a small room for a studio in which to create, while she’s living off the INTEREST from her trust fund, and hiring a cleaning service because neither of them is willing to vacuum. Not her trust fund. The INTEREST from her trust fund, which means there must be so much fucking money in there we all want to scream. 

Of course, Henry goes into the future and wins the lottery so they can give her a new studio, I shit you not this is a thing that happens in a novel where we are supposedly meant to identify with the characters and feel for them. They buy a nice house with a separate studio in the backyard, not even in the house, just a large brick edifice where Clare can do whatever she wants because these people don’t have consequences until Henry’s death, and by the time he dies, we’re all thanking God that at least there’s one thing they can’t weasel out of. The book has the audacity to have them, later, describe having a private box as one of their “little indulgences” friends a private box is the realm of $1,800 dollars for ONE showing of an opera, and while I am a believer in the good of occasionally saving up to do something that is an experience, there is no way I would describe that as an ‘indulgence” but these people have such wealth that they never need worry about anything at all, except the central point, which is that Henry drifts in and out of time and we would like to sentence a child to that. 

Henry himself is a collection of traits rather than a person--it is so important to the author that we know he is a real punk with great musical taste, that he knows German and poetry and Chicago--it’s all rather a laundry list of the long-haired, tall, punkish but very classically learned boyfriend Niffenegger would like to have rather than someone who has a heart or a mind.  But the luck of it all is that she clearly cares about henry far more than she does Clare, and so he gets a bit of fleshing out with a tragic anime backstory and all that, and from time to time we see bursts of real humanity in his character. 

Their love, even if it were not burdened by the exceptional trouble of CLARE BEING GROOMED AS A CHILD, has the weight of air. Henry is a womanizer with a drug problem, but then he meets Clare, hot rich redhead who proves she’s known him her whole life, and suddenly the magic swelling violins are in the background, love has found its day, and no more is ever said about it.The book refuses to get anywhere deep into how they feel about things and why, it is only glancing blows that seem to suggest an emotion rather than allowing ourselves to get into their minds.  

The bulk of the description of their love is sex. Sex sex sex. I get it, they are hot for each other, I am trying very hard to get over the fact that they are married when Clare is 22 and Henry is thirty, but you’re giving me nothing to pin their relationship on but the fact that they enjoy railing each other and Henry has been around since Clare was a child. I don’t understand the why of their relationship even once, it all seems so accidental, and I wanted there to be a lesson, or something to be said about humanity and relationships, but I found nothing save for maybe the idea that women are fully engrossed in their relationships and men basically luck into them and then drop out from time to time? But even that is far far deeper than I think the novel deserves credit for. 

The side characters are somehow worse, mainly racist stereotypes or one note characters who ALSO exist to have their lives enhanced by the protagonists. Even their friends only exist so that Gomez can have the hots for Clare for years, because Everyone Wants To Bone Clare. 

The writing itself is terrible too, written in the style of a script, almost, rapidly shifting between first person narratives in a matter of one or two paragraphs, often, helpfully telling who is talking by, I shit you not, putting “CLARE:” or “HENRY:” before the paragraphs, so we can enjoy who it is that is navel gazing and picking over the conversation without saying anything really, save for how badly Henry wants to fuck his super hot wife, who may or may not currently be a teenager, and how desperately Clare loves him, and has loved him since she was a child, for reasons that remain unclear. 

It’s padded out and ridiculous and reads like some of the drafts when I am being a complete garbage pile, and thank you to the person online who had already typed this out so I didn’t have to:

Henry:

Clare is wearing a wine-colored velvet dress and pearls. She looks like a Botticelli by way of John Graham: huge gray eyes, long nose, tiny delicate mouth like a geisha. She has long red hair that covers her shoulders and falls to the middle of her back. Clare is so pale she looks like a waxwork in the candlelight. I thrust the roses at her. "For you."

Please try to read that with a straight face and get back to me, i could not manage it, and it was early on the book, and this sort of thing goes on for pages, if you don’t like hearing about how pale Clare is, and that she has red hair, her two most dominating character traits, you are in for a very, very rough time. 

The narrative voice of the characters is identical. I mean, I suppose I should thank whatever god is responsible for this clusterfuck for the CLARE and HENRY bits because otherwise I would have no clue who was talking from moment to moment. Does NIffenegger think all people think alike? That their internal monologues are the same? It seems to me she must because I can’t figure any other way that one could write two characters and have them, even when their opinions differ, sound like the exact same person. 

I did enjoy the letter at the end of this story--and this is where I saw where my reader connected me to this book--it almost seems as if it was written for a different novel, a novel about a doomed love between two people that truly loved each other and had rich inner lives. It’s beautiful, or it would be totally removed from this novel. 

This review has, in itself, gotten to be as rambling and listing as the novel, and so I will let it rest here. I read incredibly fast. This took me something like five or six hours to read. It was a waste of every single one of those hours and I wish I had gotten a Big Mac instead. Save yourself, save six hours, save three dollars and ninety-nine cents, and read literally anything else. 

[aegor-bamfsteel]

Why do people say that Aegor raped Calla when she was a child? Daemon betrothing his oldest daughter to Aegor does not mean the marriage was consummated when she was a child. Sadly, Daemon himself was betrothed as a child. His grandmother Daenaera was married when she was 6 and his grandfather Viserys II was 12 when he wed and 13 when he had his first child, only a year younger than Daemon when he had his. Usually, it is custom to wait to consummate if the bride is a child.

Furthermore, the people who hate the Blackfyres try to frame it as Daemon selling his daughter to be raped, but I doubt that is why he betrothed her to Aegor since he already has Aegor’s unconditional support. Calla and Aegor never had children, per GRRM, so Aegor championed his nephews and nieces, essentially dedicating his life to his brother and his family. Daemon didn’t need to sell his daughter to Aegor for support, so that was not the reason for the betrothal. (2/3)

My point is that GRRM is wildly inconsistent with his child brides (and grooms). He uses Unwin Peake’s nameless daughter dying in childbirth at the age of 12 as a reason for why he is so despicable (and that is despicable). But then has Aemma Arryn consummate her marriage at age 13 and paints her father, grandparents, uncle, and husband as decent people. Daenaera is then married at age 6 but doesn’t consummate until age 15 or 16. It’s due to Aegon’s depression instead of custom. (3/3)

Thank you for the very thorough ask, tiger. I hope that I have successfully responded to all of your questions. Calla, as with all Blackfyres (and many non-Targaryen women), has certainly gotten a raw deal when it comes to page time/character depth; her only mention is in twoiaf: “Whatever the case may be (for Aegor’s anger at the Targaryens and Bl00draven), Aegor Rivers soon began to press Daemon Blackfyre to proclaim for the throne, and all the more so after Daemon agreed to wed his eldest daughter, Calla, to Aegor.” As Yandel doesn’t make any further comments, I assume the people who believe Calla was raped as a child exist in fandom rather than on page. Rape is a very sensitive subject, and I’m trying to keep the fanwank a bit quieter, so my response will be under the cut.

Why do people say Aegor raped Calla as a child? This actually involves several leaps in logic I don’t find convincing, so I’ll try to break it down:

We are first introduced to Aegor in the Dunk and Egg novellas via mention by some Blackfyre supporters, who are the natural antagonists of the Targaryens; the protagonist, Dunk, is best friends with the Targaryen prince Egg. Many of the Blackfyre supporters are minor antagonists to Dunk, especially in The Mystery Knight when they attempt to kill him (Alyn Cockshaw) or kidnap Egg (Tommard Heddle). Meanwhile, Bittersteel is a legendary hero to Blackfyre admirers (such as Osgrey), at least an important hoped-for ally to the Whitewalls conspirators (Gormon Peake needed some quick victories so Aegor would have faith in his and Daemon II’s rebellion), and a threat Bl00draven takes as seriously as the Blackfyre sons themselves. As an important member of a faction which has members that tried to harm the protagonist Dunk, people see Aegor as a villain. 

The problem with seeing him as a villain (as opposed to simply an antagonist, which he undoubtedly is if you consider the Targaryens protagonists of the story) is that, due to lack of page-time and because he’s not that bad, he never actually does anything too villainous. Urging someone to rebel is at the end of the day just words. He took Bl00draven eye out in battle, but that appears to be an accident and doesn’t seem to have slowed him down. Leading the Golden Company to sack Qohor for failing to honor a contract is severe, but its only mention is in a non-canonical app that few people read. When his chief rival Bl00draven is a canonical child-murderer, child-crippler, kinslayer, deserter, head of a secret police organization, tyrannical overlord, etc...Aegor’s “evil deeds” don’t appear to add up to much. He might even seem more sympathetic than Bl00draven! But that cannot be, so fandom has to headcanon villainous behavior for him, because he must be a villain antagonist.

But what sort of villainous behavior should he do? In order to root for Bl00draven against him, it must be something terrible. GRRM often uses rape to signal how terrible a male character is (and how awful Westeros can be). The most evil villains in the main series are serial rapists: Gregor Clegane, Ramsay Bolton, Euron Greyjoy, Craster; even Tywin Lannister, Roose Bolton, and Petyr Baelish have raped or enabled the rape of young women and girls. When the age of the victim is specified, she is often a preteen/young teenager to make her rape even more evil. The lone exception is Joffrey Baratheon, and that is only because he is 12 (he still molests Sansa repeatedly). Fandom rightly criticizes GRRM using sexualized violence against women as shorthand for “irredeemably evil” or window dressing for a dark fantasy. Yet when Aegor, a character who shows no sign of being a sexual predator (look at Shiera’s SSM, the Dunk and Egg books, and Yandel’s commentary on Aegor’s anger at Bl00draven: one-sided Aegor/Shiera has even less evidence of being real than Daemon/Daenerys), needs to commit villainous actions, some in fandom fall into the same trap as GRRM and imagine him raping women.

Then Yandel tells us that Daemon “agreed to wed his eldest daughter Calla” to Aegor shortly before the Rebellion. As Calla was not a triplet of his eldest sons Aegon and Aemon, the oldest she could possibly be was 11, still a child even by later GRRM standards. The phrase “agreed to wed” is at most a promise; it’s not an official betrothal, it’s certainly not an actual wedding, and it’s absolutely not a consummation. If it had been a consummation, that certainly would have been mentioned, as Yandel has repeatedly recorded rumors just for the purpose of making Daemon look bad (the 14 year old newly acknowledged landless natural son petitioned the king for a polygamous marriage with a princess and an Essosi noblewoman? sure...) Considering Daemon died at the end of the Rebellion and Aegor was now a landless, penniless rebel dependent on his goodsister Rohanne’s mercy, and how the Blackfyres needed to find more allies, I think any talks of marrying Calla was silenced. She married someone else, whereas he remained a bachelor for life and championed the cause of Haegon and his son Daemon III (not necessarily the others, as seen with Daemon II and Aenys, and he did not crown any of Daemon III’s brothers). 

Whatever I headcanon, 2018 GRRM’s comment that he doesn’t think Aegor had any offspring pretty much puts the nail in the coffin of Aegor having consummated any wedded relationship, let alone with Calla. If a male character is promiscuous, GRRM raises the possibility of them having sired natural children; with Aerion Brightflame in Lys, and Brandon Stark in the North, and even Tywin Lannister, he says, “I suppose they could’ve sired bastards” (or in Tywin’s case, gives a non-answer). That he gave a straightforward NO regarding Aegor’s potential children indicates that he feels it would be out of character for Aegor to have a sexual relationship, whether in marriage or outside of it. I hope that when people headcanon Aegor as a serial rapist, they take GRRM’s comments and fandom criticism of sexual violence to heart.

My point is that GRRM is wildly inconsistent with the ages of his child brides (and grooms): I would disagree to the point that in his earlier works, underaged girls forced to wed old men was universally portrayed as terrible and a feature of a corrupt character. Hoster regretted his actions toward Lysa on his deathbed, but it led to their estrangement and her susceptibility to Littlefinger’s manipulation; Sansa Stark’s marriage to Tyrion showed the breakdown of societal norms under Lannister rule; Jeyne’s forced marriage and immediate consummation to Ramsay moves Theon to try to rescue her. Although the marriage wasn’t consummated, GRRM found it difficult to write the Tyrion/Sansa scene because of her horrific abuse. But then The World of Ice and Fire and Fire and Blood are published and older man/younger woman marriages and relationships are outright romanticized by the authors themselves (Elio Garcia said 37 year old Daemon Targaryen’s relationship with the 16 year old Nettles was a true romance; GRRM said that 56-year-old Alyn Velaryon was the great love of 21-year-old Elaena Targaryen’s life) Perhaps the lack of PoV in these works distanced the male writers from the female characters’ emotions and allowed them to envision Rhaenys (16)/Corlys (37), Corlys (61)/Marilda (17), Thaddeus (56)/Floris (14), and Aemma (11-13)/Viserys (16-18) as mutually romantic couples with sympathetic men; but then in the same works the authors use forced relationships with young girls to villainize other men Unwin Peake (daughter died in childbirth at age 12) and Aegon II (was receiving a blowjob from a 12 year old when his father died). The double standard seems to imply that a teenage girl can consent to a relationship with a man old enough to be her father/grandfather if she is genuinely in love with him, which is disturbingly close to real-life defenses of statutory rape. I hate the way that the supplemental material has suddenly decided to defend these couples with “the girls wanted it”, and I can only hope this doesn’t start appearing in the main series that people actually care about.

One type of underaged pairing seems to have a consistent portrayal: child grooms don’t seem to be granted the same mutually happy relationship as child brides. Both Viserys (12) and Larra’s (19) and Androw (17) and Rhaena’s (25) marriages ended in tragedy (and death, in the case of the latter). This makes me...unsettled when thinking about how the authors will write Daemon (14)/Rohanne (older). But to stay within the bounds of your question, I don’t think they will depict an Aegor/Calla marriage due to it making little political or characterization-based sense; so fortunately it will neither villainize nor romanticize Aegor. Although an antagonist to the Targaryens, he has consistently took the higher road over Bl00draven and has the potential to be a tragic and multifaceted character.

[jess-rewatches-prodigalson]

Episode 3: Fear Response

You know the drill. Thoughts with time stamps coming your way.

SPOILERS AHEAD

0:55 - Is Martin really that delusional? He killed people and he thinks his wife isn’t going to divorce him?!? 

1:23 - “A woman overlooks things.” No. I’m sorry. But Jessica’s mother sounds kind of awful. No one should have to overlook “things” in a marriage. Communicate people. Don’t settle. Compromise. Love. Forgive. Don’t overlook red flags.

1:47 - Lay down the law Jessica. That’s my girl. This is the moment I fell in love with Jessica. 

3:19 - Malcolm leaves his phone in another room when he sleeps? Good for him. My technology addicted ass could never do that. Plus it’s my alarm clock so you know - there’s that. 

3:30 - Jessica owns the building Malcolm lives in. This raises a lot of questions for me about Malcolm’s finances. He was clearly getting paid by the FBI. I assume the NYPD is also paying him. Does he have access to the family money? Is he paying rent for his loft? Or does he live rent free because it’s the “family building”?!? The finances of people who grew up rich is such a mystery to me. How does it work when your rich parents are still alive? 

3:49 - He flung himself out a window. He was having a nightmare and it caused him to fling himself out a window while he was still asleep. This. Boy. Needs. A. Hug. Also real sleep. And peace. 

4:48 - “I just watched you throw yourself out a window.” Did you see Malcolm’s facial expression after she said that. It was a look that says “I know I’m broken. I don’t like it. I’m sorry. I’m doing my best. I’m ashamed.”

5:10 -  He knows. He knows his mental health is a mess but he lies to his mother anyways. He wants to be brave for her. He doesn’t want her to worry about him. She’s suffered enough. She’s worried enough. He doesn’t want to be a burden. My heart breaks for Malcolm in this scene.

5:35 - Look I have personal issues with shrinks but I’m really happy Malcolm has someone to talk to. Also she’s such a cool therapist. She’s kind and respectful without being demeaning and coddling. 

7:00 - I LOVE that Malcolm is sitting with his legs folded. It’s super cute. Also it reinforces the idea that he’s in a vulnerable state.

7:22 - Does Malcolm have social anxiety? The way he approaches this crime scene it almost looks like he’s rehearsing what he’s going to do/say when he arrives. It’s a very common social anxiety habit. 

7:38 - He took enough lollipops to share. That might be the sweetest thing in the world. Gil looks so happy. Dani and JT look so confused. I wonder if Malcolm is sharing lollipops to subtly tell Gil that he’s seeing his therapist and he’s getting help. 

8:11 - Another awkward Edrisa and Bright interaction. I’m cringing. 

8:50 - Do you ever wonder what Mr.David’s job description is? I do. I mean does he just stand there watching Martin all day. Is he supposed to talk to Martin? Is he supposed to prevent Martin from hurting himself? I mean I love Mr.David but if Martin is alone in his room why does Mr.David need to be there? Martin is chained to the wall. 

10:10 - Oh hell no. That’s nasty. Also Malcolm looks way too excited about the brain removal. 

10:34 - Ok. So I don’t ship Maldrisa. BUT that little smile that Malcolm just gave Edrisa is warming my cold, dead heart. 

11:05 - The victim was scared to death. Malcolm is currently suffering from increased mental distress caused by his father and extreme night terrors. And now the victim has been scared to death. Irony? Foreshadowing?

12:03 - hahaha Gil’s face. He’s like “I can’t explain that boy’s behaviour.”.

12:07 - STOP. Right now. Does Malcolm really have his own desk?!? So he’s like officially employed right? This isn’t some irregular consultation gig that Gil has arranged. Our boy has a desk. Our boy is permanent. I am so happy. 

12:30 - Mr.David doesn’t deserve to have to bend to Martin’s will.  “Could you mute that please”. That man better be getting a pretty penny from this job. 

12:40 - How does Martin get this case info?!? I don’t see the newspapers/newscasts mentioning the incision on the side of the victim’s skull. 

13:30 - Oh and whose fault is that Martin? Ugh. I wish Martin just wouldn’t talk to Malcolm anymore. He really aggravates Malcolm’s anxiety.

14:33 - I am both touched and slightly creeped out that Gil has been staring at Malcolm through a window while he was on the phone. 

15:07 - Fanboy alert. It’s honestly so freaking sweet to see Malcolm this excited....but it’s really not the time. 

16:10 - What exactly does Jessica do all day? Does she just watch the news and keep tabs on her children? That’s kind of sad. For Jessica. I wish she were able to have more of a social life despite what Martin did.

17:12 - Ainsley, sweetheart, I love you. I see where you’re coming from. But your Mother did the right thing for you. You shouldn’t have to remember a monster. 

18:40 - Dang. Dani looks beautiful in that shade of blue. 

19:30 - Do you ever wonder why Malcolm doesn’t carry a gun with the NYPD? He’s qualified to carry a gun since he used to work for the FBI. Do you think he’s not allowed to carry one since he’s technically not a police officer with the NYPD? I prefer to believe that he refuses to carry a gun with the NYPD because he’s terrified of what he might do with a gun. To a suspect. To himself (presuming he stores it at home when he’s not working).

20:12 - Again. Malcolm is not a killer. Look at his concern for Dr. Brown in this scene.

21:21 - JT’s writing the report. Do they all have to make a report for every case or do they take turns writing a single report (like a group project) for every case? I’m very curious. 

21:23 - oooooohhhh Dad is angry. And concerned. 

21:50 - Do you ever wonder what classes Bright took in university? I do. He has a degree in psychology but he seems to know a lot about specific medications, medical conditions, and medicine in general. Is that because of Martin? Maybe? But a lot of his knowledge seems way beyond what a 10 year old could understand and retain. 

24:10 - I love this scene. It suggests that there was a point in time when Gil and Jessica talked frequently. Maybe they were even friends. It suggests that they bonded over how much they love Malcolm. Makes me wonder what kind of a relationship Gil has/had with Ainsley.

27:48 - This. This is how much Jessica loves Malcolm. Yes she oversteps boundaries and she can come across as cold and distant. BUT she is willing to see a man that terrifies her. Who caused her so much pain. A man that she hates. Simply because she wants to keep her son healthy and safe. That right there is a good mother. 

28:28 - This is my favourite running gag of the series. I genuinely want to know what JT stands for. If it’s not something ridiculous like “James Tiberius” or “Justin Timberlake” because JT’s parents were big nerds I will be so disappointed. 

29:00 - This conversation about trust and respect between JT and Malcolm is everything. It really solidifies their friendship. You can tell that from this point onward JT is much warmer toward Malcolm. I love this. So much. 

29:15 - What branch of the military was JT a part of? Marine? Air Force? Army? Navy?

30:08 - Malcolm’s list of diagnoses. Yikes. :( My heart is shattered.  

30:21 - The look in Malcolm’s eyes here. Just. No. Ouch. That hurts. This boy needs a hug. 

32:30 - I kind of don’t feel bad for this woman. She kind of sucks.

32:50 - I like to believe that JT is texting his wife in this scene. I like to believe he’s telling her about how he got stuck babysitting the weirdo who keeps guessing what his name stands for. 

32:52 - I’m sorry. What? What did JT see that caused him to get out of the car. Malcolm hasn’t called him yet and that house looks normal on the outside. 

34:14 - The fact that Malcolm can empathize with killers is beautiful and terrible. It’s a wonderful quality but it’s probably not great for his mental health.

34:55 - That’s a concussion.

36:15 - I get the feeling that half the time when Malcolm’s talking down a killer he’s really talking to himself. That breaks my heart.

36:38 - Malcolm’s manic guesses of JT name is very concerning. I’m worried for this boy. I really hope someone got him checked out for a concussion.

37:12 - Ugh. Don’t look at her like she’s a piece of meat. 

37:33 - The way Jessica and Martin interact really makes me question what their married relationship was like. Did they argue a lot? Did they show a lot of PDA? I have questions.

38:30 - The way Jessica insults Martin is my favourite thing. It’s freaking hilarious.

39:10 - If Martin is a psychopath he legitimately can’t feel pride for his children. Right? So he’s lying here?

40:40 - What was the whole story? What did Jessica do? Was it the alcoholism? Is that what he’s referring to?

42:00 - DUDE. Please don’t drug yourself. You are so desperate for answers that you’ve become self-destructive. I want you to be safe. 

I love this show. Ugh. If you read through any of this - thanks for hanging out. I hope to post my thoughts on the next episode soon.