#only to find it was a story of insane parental abuse
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fictionadventurer · 6 months ago
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Expectation: This short DVD feature about the artist who designed the backgrounds for Disney's Sleeping Beauty will be a nice, sweet little story about an artist obsessed with detail.
Reality: "Eyvind Earle's physically-abusive father essentially kidnapped him and took him around the world for three years while forcing him to paint a picture every single day until he managed to escape."
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zoe-oneesama · 4 months ago
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I wonder what change would've you make Gabriel if he was an actual effective sympathetic villain the show seem to think instead of the pathetic display of canon. On the other note, what would've you make to actually have Emilie be this saint like character the show keep saying she is
To start, there'd have to be lines that Gabriel just *wouldn't* cross. No akumas that target his son, for starters, no "Chat Blanc" scenario where he finds out Chat's identity and then beats the shit out of him, and no making ridiculous decisions for Adrien like deciding his girlfriend.
Season 5 Gabriel cannot exist, it was actually inSANE of the writer's to put the worst version of him on display...and then play him off as the hero. Like, wut? WHAT?!
I fully admit that in the earlier seasons, I didn't consider Gabriel an abuser. I considered him a dick, but abuser felt too...top shelf of a word to use, though I also contend that his behavior felt like the starting signs. Mostly I just considered him pathetic and like Kids Tv Exaggerated Version of a Strict Parent.
But Season 5??? Uh, yeah, no discussion, this guy is an abusive dickbag and can burn in hell.
Just make it so the reason Hawkmoth fails as often as he does is because sometimes he holds back. Sometimes he gets close to the line and remembers his wife and just can't make himself do something SO heinous that his wife would be disappointed.
As for ACTUALLY selling the Emilie is a Saint Mom, it's super easy. Just have flashbacks. Where she's interacting with her husband and child and sorta not girlfriend? Like, they revealed these video recordings of Emilie in SEASON 5! It took FIVE SEASONS for us to hear Emilie's voice from Emilie herself! (Amelie doesn't count)
And, uh, maybe as a writer think about what you're implying with the things you include in your story. Like, maybe EITHER have Adrien not ever have a birthday party OR have his mom missing for only a year, so it doesn't seem like Emilie *also* didn't care about his birthday. Just, you know. Little things like that that don't accidentally inform us of her character.
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balkanradfem · 3 months ago
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So I've been looking to read some books about living in nature, written by women, to get an idea of how it goes in practice, and the first book I found was 'The Great Alone' by Hannah Kirstin. It was about a family who decided to move to Alaska and live self-sufficiently, and it was written from the point of view of the daughter, Leni. I did not realize right away that this was a piece of fiction! However I do want to tell you about this book because something very specific happened in it that made me have.. ideas.
Right on the first page, it was spelled out to me clearly that this is a story about domestic violence. The father was drinking, had ptsd from war, sometimes 'blew up', and I was like, oh, I know what that is. Okay, let's see what happens then.
The father decided to move them all to Alaska because a buddy who died in the war left him a cabin there, and he wasn't earning money to pay rent, so Alaska it is. He talked his wife into it, promising that he will 'be better over there', and I'm like yeah sure you will.
I have to say, at the beginning this book was just heavily enabling me. They went over to Alaska and everyone was saying 'you need to prepare for winter immediately', even though it was spring, and they were bewildered. People were coming to help them to build a garden and homesteading infrastructure. And I'm looking at that like hell yeah I'm already 100% introduced to this, I am prepairing my garden from January, as soon as spring hits I am looking for food to can, dry, cure, I'm filling my stash from the moment cherries arrive. I'm certified to live in nature. (I'm not, I'm just entertaining myself with this fiction).
Alaskan winter is long and dangerous, and somehow these folks were already at the end of their food stash by the end of January, which is so early. They were in trouble, had no money, it was cold, Alaskan winter also brings 18 hours of darkness a day, so everyone was bummed and anxious. As you can imagine, the father found himself some alt-right conspiracy theorists to hang out there and drink with, every day they were talking about the government or minorities 'coming for their land' and prepairing to shoot people at the moment's notice, so it's no wonder he became more violent, aggressive and dangerous to his wife and child. He would end up beating his wife, and she would forgive him, and the daughter watching all this felt insane and desperate to save her mother. But there was no help, no police, nobody could even reach them in the deep winter, they had no food, they relied on him to catch something in the forest.
This is where the story got interesting. 
He breaks her nose, and the daughter decides that's enough, takes her mother into the car, and they escape. They crash. Daughter seeks help. They end up in a hospital. Father finds them and cries and promises to never do it again. Mother forgives him, seemingly out of fear that he's going to start killing people if she leaves him. Alaskan folk now know that she is being abused, because of her bruises and broken nose. And something unexpected happens.
One of the first Alaskan characters introduced in the story is Large Marge, a big woman owning a shop where she trades food and other survival goods. She is strong, resourceful, down to earth, incredible, helpful in every possible way. She is our star. Because once the word is out about the abuse, and the domestic violence family is back in the cabin, she comes over. She tells them all to sit the hell down, like she's a parent sorting out her unruly children. She then tells this story:
'I used to be a lawyer. Big city prosecutor. High heels and designer suits. I loved it. And I loved my sister, who married the man of her dreams. Only he turned out to have a few problems. A few quirks. Turned out he drank too much and liked to use my baby sis as a punching bag. I tried everything to get her to leave him, but she refused. Maybe she was scared, maybe she loved him, maybe she was as sick and broken as he was. I know that when I called the police it was worse for her and she begged me not to do it again. I backed off. Biggest mistake of my life. He went after her with a hammer. We had to have a closet-casket funeral. He claimed he'd taken the hammer from her to protect himself. The law isn't kind to battered women. He's still out there. Free. I came up here to get away from all that.“ She looked at the abuser. ''And here you are.''
The tension was insane. Everyone tried to get a word in, but she shut then down, and then she looked at the abuser again. ''We've talked about your situation here, we have a few solutions, but really, our favourite one is where we take you out and kill you.''
And I am reading this like oh my god. That's the freaking solution. It doesn't need to be that complicated. We just need someone who is 100% done with this shit who takes him out and shoots him. Problem solved. You hit your wife? Out and shot. Bye loser. Nobody losing sleep over you anymore.
I would love to tell you that she did take him out and shoot him, of how would I love to tell you that. I prayed it would happen as soon as the option was presented to me. However she told him he is either being taken out and shot, or he is leaving, getting a job and then providing money for his wife and daughter, and not returning until the spring comes again, which, he agreed to, since the alternative was to be taken out and shot. But I was still saying we should shoot him. She then decided to stay with the mother and daughter to keep them safe and fed during the winter. Like the hero she fucking is.
So, I haven't read this entire book yet, this is the middle of it, I have to go back and read the other half in order to know what happened next, but, I love this, I love the author, I love the representation of domestic violence and cycle of abuse, and how it is to be a female child in this situation, I love Large Marge, I love the resolution she provides, we need her, someone please, put her in reality. I want to be her, I want to barge into people's home and make death threats to abusers. To randomly stumble on a book like this is incredible to me. Thank you women for writing books. I love you all.
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im-not-buying-it-ether · 8 months ago
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It’s insane how absolutely messed up Billys life is in the old comics
For one very noteworthy example: The explanation of Mary
Aka; Billy had a twin sister who was switched shortly after birth with another couples dead child and neither of them knew until the nurse who did the switching confessed to Billy on her deathbed
From what I understand, old Billy back then was orphaned as an infant, just 6 months old, and then raised by his neglectful and abusive Uncle Ebenezer until a distant relative left him money in their will so Ebenezer stole it and ran off with it leaving Billy to almost die of exposure in the winter cold. Mary was raised by a consistently loving and understanding couple and only learned she had a long lost brother when she was a teenager after Billy had already made a name and life for himself as Billy Batson and Captain Marvel.
I don’t think that set up was ever really touched on (outside Power of Shazam that changed things some) and that shocks me because that is the unspoken story of a couple who thinks they lost one of their children, probably mourned and buried that incredibly small coffin, then died themselves as their supposedly dead child lives a loving life of luxury and the other is mistreated and almost left to die.
Then the twins do find eachother and the fact that Mary isn’t her parents child and never had the opportunity to meet her biological parents by a decade, and the Bromfields back then never know
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elliesspacewalker · 8 months ago
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i looovvee the song daddy issues by the neighborhood (definitely does not say anything abt me) do you think you could make headcannons inspired by the song?
where reader has never been taken care of but ellie come along and like heals her ig? 😏
Hell yeah
warnings: 18+, these are going to get dark, mentions of childhood trauma, abusive parents, panic attacks, mentions of murder, trans! Ellie.
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- Ellie met you in her shared dorm with you and Dina, after you had a panic attack crying on the ground after you accidentally broke Dina's favourite cup.
"hey, hey, are you okay?" Ellie kneels down next to you, and caresses your hair gently as you sob and rant on about how you broke Dina's favourite cup, "it's okay- I promise, she doesn't care"
"are you sure?" sobs continue to leave your mouth as Ellie sits next to you leaning against the wall "I promise"
- Ellie who asked you about what you were thinking about, while you were both studying together.
"what are you thinking about, hon?" she questions, you shrug, trying to brush it off, "if I told you what I was thinking about you'd think I was insane" Ellie laughs "you couldn't say a single thing to me that would make me think you're insane"
"I killed someone" you joke and a choked out "what" leaves Ellie's lips "I'm fucking joking!" you say as soon as you realise she didn't think you were joking.
"I think I like you" and just like that, you and Ellie began dating—not only this, but this is when all your past trauma started taking effect on your relationship.
- Ellie who comforted you whenever you thought you did something wrong. she knew there was something deeper that you weren't telling her but never pushed you to say anything if you weren't ready-
- Ellie who sat and listened to you whenever you needed to rant, and in fact. it was the first time you ever opened up to Ellie.
"this is how my story begins and I don't ever wanna tell the story again" you cry as tears drip down your face "it's okay, you can cry- I'm here for you" you immediately find comfort in Ellie's lap.
"and my dad? fuck he was crazy, he was never present- he cheated on mom so many fucking times and i- he used to yell at me for leaving a light on, that's fucking insane am I right?" ranting on and on, Ellie didn't once turn her attention to something else. it was on you and only you.
- Ellie who pushed you out of your comfort zone to make more friends and learn that not all people are bad, she knew you had social anxiety due to growing up with your parents who never taught you how to communicate properly.
"I'd do whatever I can do to protect you, you know that right?" Ellie says as she places her hand on your thigh, as she drives to Jesse's place. you smile and nod, leaning on her shoulder as she drives.
- Ellie who watched you have a panic attack over eating the last brownie, that was in fact her brownie. "I don't care, it's not the end of the world babe, it's just a brownie" she chuckles, this doesn't calm you down once—ellie realises this and hugs you tight "it's okay"
"my dad left money in mom's hands but I always felt bad for eating the last food because maybe Mom doesn't have enough money and i-" Ellie pats your head in a comforting way, suddenly you realise there wasn't any reason to react to that.
- Ellie who was so happy to see you finally come out of your shell and actually enjoy life the way people should—she pushed you to finally get therapy, which helped a lot. she noticed you going out a lot more, not crying over every small inconvenience.
- Ellie who cuddled you so much that you actually wanted to push her off you sometimes "Ellie, I'm boiling" she grumbles, and you chuckle at her half asleep body, pulling a hair strain behind her ear as she snuggles into you more.
- Ellie who teared up when you told her that she saved your life, "are you crying?"
"what? me, ew get away!" she sniffles and hugs you, telling you how much she loves you.
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beetlecakes · 4 months ago
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Humanized Lightning McQueen headcanons: angst edition
Going insane chat idk
Secretly still feels like an outsider in radiator springs
It took him MONTHS before he finally became comfortable
He’s really good at hiding his emotions
Especially since Harv had him put on a cocky persona for the camera
Doesn’t feel like he deserves the love from the town
Still doesn’t handle loss well
Everyone will reassure him that they’re not disappointed with him if he loses but he struggles to believe them
Parents are divorced (his mom left when he was really young and his dad was abusive)
Racing was his only escape
Harv hired him when he was only 17
Has panic attacks but never knew what they were until Doc found him one day and explained after talking him through it
Doc recommended medication
It helped Lightning but he is embarrassed to talk about it
When he became friends with Cal, he opened up after Cal casually mentioned he takes them too
He will downplay injuries so he can still race
During his first few months in Radiator Springs, he ended up twisting his ankle and hid it from Doc
His recovery time was longer, which led him to spiral when he should’ve been resting
He can’t stand missing out on practice
He’s been putting on a cocky persona for so long that sometimes his cocky attitude will slip out and he will have to apologize immediately
Everyone reassures him that they never take it to heart (sometimes they get a good laugh out of it) but Lightning can’t help but feel guilty
It’s 4am and I have cars brain rot again !!
Also, I do have an ao3 with a few stories about Lightning with these headcanons.
You can find them here
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arandomferretsthoughts · 8 months ago
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This popped into my brain and wouldnt leave so I wanted to share it with yall
A young boy and his parents are attacked on the street, only the boy makes it out.
It's a rare occurrence, an event like this, the police find the man and arrest him and everyone else is safe.
Bruce Wayne goes home to a mansion that feels larger and lonelier than ever, with only his butler to take care of him.
And yet the young boy finds himself too afraid to leave for more than necessities.
The young boy grows into a young man, he inherits his parents business and starts to leave his house a little more, unwilling to lose this connection to his lost parents but still he finds himself afraid, afraid to be around people, to be seen.
Until one day at a gala he must attend for the sake of the shareholders, he sees a man, a reporter, who holds himself in an odd way, clearly a tall and strong man who could be intimidating if he tried but the man held himself as if to appear smaller and unassuming, Bruce's brain flitters across the idea that the man is hiding something, or more hiding himself.
His brain that has soaked up comics and movies for years so as to not grow bored in his home.
And when he learns of all the good this reporter has been trying to do, he thinks the man would make a good superhero.
When he goes home the thought wont leave him alone, he thinks of a world with a hero, a world that needs a hero, one where his parents murder would have just been one of many, but this hero wouldn't have been there to help, he was too bright, a hero for the daytime, not for the shadows of night.
He thinks maybe he could have been a hero in this world, one that saves other kids from suffering a fate like his own.
One who is afraid and fights anyway.
The next time he leaves his home there's an event at a museum, with some special objects that are in town for a few days. There he sees a woman who knows so much about ancient relics and is so beautiful that he doesn't believe she could be just a normal human.
He thinks she would share her knowledge and kindness with the world given the chance.
While he remains mostly alone, other than his Parental figure/Butler, he also keeps in contact with two friends from when he was in school.
One is now a psychiatrist, with an interest in learning about fear and how it can change people, and the other a psychologist, both working at the city's asylum. 
Harleen is who Bruce considers his best friend, a goofy but kind girl who cares alot about others, she tells him about a patient, without going into much detail, who she claims would be cute if he wasn't so insane. Smiling and laughing while he talks about harming others. 
She got a boyfriend somewhere along the way, a man Bruce is sure abuses her but she can't seem to leave.
The three get in a fight one day, and lose contact, and Bruce supposes you can't have heroes without villains, though he can't bring himself to think of Harley as a villain by her own choice.
On the news Bruce learns of a man working to better science as they know it, a man who always seems to be a few minutes too late, he follows the story until the day something goes wrong and the man is there on time to shield workers from flying chemicals, killing him but saving others, Bruce thinks the man a hero in death, and could have been one in life, one who always made it to where he was needed just on time.
As time went on Bruce tried to get out more in normal ways, one night he went to the circus, he enjoyed it, reminding him of the day when he was little and his parents brought him to one just like it.
It was a few days later that he learned at the next show there was an accident, and a little boy lost his parents, he remembered being small and feeling alone when he had lost his, thankful for the man who cared for him he wished he could do the same for this little boy, but knew he didn't have the skills needed.
He could, however, make sure the boy got somewhere safe, and other kids like him too.
So he held a fundraiser and donated a lot of money into the foster system, doing what he could to make it safe.
And he thought of a world where he could have taken the little circus boy into his home, making it brighter and less lonely.
As he ventured out more and more Bruce travelled through different parts of the city, he saw a group of little children cowering behind one bigger who had just chased off a grown man, Bruce smiled as the kids cheered for the little hero.
It was the news that later told him the boy was dead, a homeless kid who stopped being seen, the little hero was gone.
Bruce held another fundraiser, this one for the homeless shelters and kitchens.
It was the news that told him the boy was not dead, found by the police, with other stolen children. 
Children that returned to a better place.
The day he lost his last parent is the day where he began to feel truly alone, the only person there for him gone, but Alfred would live forever in his memory's as the man who loved and cared for him.
He reached out to Harly again not wanting to be all alone, and they made up, he learned she had gotten free of her abusive boyfriend and had fallen for a woman who's love of nature was refreshing and new.
He knew little about his neighbours, but he tried to get to know them better, he struggled but eventually learned that the woman that lived there was very sick and that the man was not home much, when he learned of the child who spent so much of his time alone, he thought the kid was brave and told him if he ever needed anything to just ask.
The kid needed someone the day when his mother didn't wake up and his father wasn't home. Bruce did what he could, he was no father but he cared for the kid the best he could until his was able to return.
Bruce knew it was expected of him to have a family, someone to give his things and his business when he passed. He tried dating, but nothing ever seemed to work out.
However one day he learned of a child, a son, one the mother hadn't told him about, he tried to gain any sort of parental rights but couldn't get any custody, only visitation, he met the boy, a quiet but fiercely determined child, And he loved his son even without seeing him much.
When the quiet, hermit, billionaire Bruce Wayne, best known for appearing, donating large amounts of money to random causes and then disappearing again, passed away his belongings and company were to be split between two people, Timothy Drake, and Damian al Ghul, when the two met up to split his things, they found writings the man had never told anyone of.
Writings of a world where regular people became heroes, where aliens walked amongst humans, and where magic made lives exciting.
They agreed to publish the story's for the world to see.
To most people, the writings were just an entertaining fiction story that a billionaire wrote with his unlimited free time.
But to the retired reporter who knew his height frightened others, who now rested and found the stories learned that someone had seen how he stood, and what he had done and thought of him as a hero,
To the artefact collector and preserver who learned this man believed she was so knowledgeable about what she had strived to learn everything about, as well as beautiful, that he thought her to be blessed by the gods,
To the old psychologist who mourns her friend, a man who thought that no matter what she went through she'd always make the right choice in the end, 
To the family of a man who lost his life saving others, who this guy they had never met thought so highly of,
To the man that lost his only family to an accident at their circus, he was a man who wanted him get a good home, where'd he'd get anything he ever wanted, 
To a man that went through so much, believed dead for so long to learn this man who he had only seen once, saw him not as a poor homeless kid but as a fighter and protector,
To the boy that new the man for a short time, as a temporary guardian and protector, who made him feel safe and not alone when he needed it most, 
And To the boy who wished he could have known his father, but was kept away by his mother,
The storys showed to them all that this man, who some thought of as cold and egotistical, as he locked himself away and refused to be around others, was actually an anxious, lonely man, who saw what others didn't and cared about everyone in his own odd way.
I just thought it was a cool idea I wanted to share with yall, so I hope you guys like it
This is my first post on here, so please be nice,
Also, ignore any spelling or grammar mistakes Dyslexia goes brrr
If you want to know what I think he based the other heroes and character off of, just ask, and I'll figure it out!
Thanks for reading, and have a good day!
Edit:
Thanks for all the nice comments and reblogs :)
I genuinely didn't realize how sad this was, lol. Sorry, not sorry, guys
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anguesinherbalatentes · 8 days ago
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I wud like to hear more on gary going to happy volts
Damn I have a lot to say abt that. Warning it gets heavy and serious but I gave most bully characters heavy stuff in their backstories bc I’m insane. This also isn’t a way to justify the little beast but to explain his behavior in horrid ways. (Warning for suicide ment, general abuse, forced drugging, etc)
Well to answer that we should go far back. Maybe when he was still a little boy. Ahhh the year was 1997
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Gary used to be a rather normal kid. A pair of loving parents and a few good friends. Sure he was kinda kooky (would talk to himself, not stand still, write and draw in class, make a mess of plants flowers art supplies and insects all the time, would be very loud and emotional) but that mostly was waxed up to him being an imaginative child. Plus he was rather ok in school. His mom was named Tonya Borisov and his dad’s Gareth Smith. Tonya was an English teacher and Gareth a lawyer who was attempting to freelance his way out of the Smith’s family’s business because he wanted to be independent from their law firm. Quiet suburban life. He met his best friend ever in the world at the age of 5 because they lived on the same block. Aka Petey Kowalski. They’ve been getting up to no good since forever, but him and Gary’s whole thing was running away from playground bullies together and make up stories about their own little world.
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Their respective families got along too. Long story short everything seemed peachy. Tonya loved Gary beyond words and tried to accommodate his quirks because they reminded her of her own. A little reckless she was but nothing out of the ordinary. Gareth didn’t understand his son very well and was frequently frustrated with his behavior but he tried because god that’s his only child. Plus Tonya helped him out since he was clearly clueless about parenting. So was she. But there was no one to watch her back, so she had to make do.reasonably this doesn’t last long.
You see. Gary’s psychological issues are inherited from his mother. She already suffered from depression and it only worsened after pregnancy, even if she tried to bottle it up to the best of her abilities because god forbid she asked for help or couldn’t keep up the facade she’d carved for herself. Gareth didn’t help matters. He likes to think he did, but he’s always been too work oriented and weaponized incompetence has always been his best friend. Their relationship strained as Tonya’s mental health deteriorated and little Gary was caught in the middle. He watched his mom grow more and more uneasy (and her patience towards him drained bit by bit) n his dad kept getting snappier and he thought he had something to do with it all.
Around the year 2000, Tonya killed herself. It was unexpected to those with not enough care to see through the cracks. It was one hell of a blow for the little man who suddenly found himself with no actual guidance, and even that had been uncomfortably fluctuating for the past few months.
Gareth was absolutely lost. It’s not that he didn’t have good intentions, it’s just that he didn’t even have the willpower to try and find out how to act without somebody telling him what to do step by step. Still, he tried. But him being kind of an unsuccessful lawyer , now widowed and with a “difficult” kid, surely did wonders for his psyche. And consequently for his patience and relationship with Gary.
Mr Smith, yes the town npc, he’s Gareth’s father. Lets just say he’s not very approving of his son’s fumbling, notably because his siblings successfully integrated in the business and he’s the only one out of place. He constantly berates him and tries to take him back into his home and under his control, and for the longest time he’s unsuccessful. Until the rest of the family begins talking badly of Gareth and his son, and Gareth’s financial situation goes even more down south. In the meantime Gary’s mental health as an unchecked 10 year old boy left to his wits kept deteriorating. He fell behind in class, stopped talking to most of his peers, answered rudely to teachers (even if he didn’t mean to), the whole shabang that frames you as a freak for the rest of your life in little towns. His father did nothing to help. He only began yelling at him more frequently because his tolerance for his hijinks was running thin.
Gary learnt from a very young age that adults couldn’t, and wouldn’t watch his back. That most of the time he was a nuisance and nothing more, no matter how hard he tried to behave he just messed it up in some way.
A turning point to him and his father’s relationship was a party held at his grandfather’s estate. All eyes were on the both of them, especially Mr.Smith’s, and Gary, bored out of his mind and irked at the incessant bickering, answered rudely to the wrong relatives who tried to persuade him into talking about his home life and made a fool of himself gobbling down too many canape’s and retching at a glass of champagne he wasn’t even supposed to have. The whispers were a bit too much to bear for Gareth, and on the way home he snapped at his son like he never did before. Both in the car and in the house.
Gareth’s outburst is however less about Gary’s behavior and more about everything Gareth has been holding inside. It’s not just Gary’s tongue or almost involuntary defiance that sets him off. it’s the mounting pressure from his family, the echoes of his own failures, and the crushing weight of trying to hold it all together in an environment like that. But he still fucks it up.
In the past he’d made it clear he was proud of him, and that his presence was cherished. His only son, his only boy, etc. but he started blaming him for Everything going wrong in his life. In a tone that can only be compared to pure and utter Despair. That he didn’t know what was Wrong with him. That he tried to help him but he just kept acting like an animal one way or another. That his mom dying was the kid’s fault as much as it was his own ( right after comparing him to her in the negative: “You’re just like her, you know? Your mother. Always making a mess of things, always dragging everyone down with you.”) That she began feeling ‘sick’ ever since he’d been around. And that he kept tearing his life apart by being a complete nuisance. That he didn’t know what to do anymore. That maybe Tonya was right back then (they got married because Tonya was pregnant, even if she wanted to abort before. This is a low blow). Overall he slurries the foulest shit under the guise of being Tired. However, Gareth’s intent doesn’t erase the impact of his words. Even if he regrets saying all of that later (which he likely does), the damage is done. And because Gareth is too emotionally stunted to apologize, Gary is left to carry the baggage. This disarms the kid ( who’s 12 at the time) in a specific way and feeds into his eventual decline even more.
Around eight grade everything is too much for the little dude. He can’t get a hold of himself, cannot keep friends for the life of him due to his instability, he’s been separated from Pete due to middle school and the kid moving lanes , and his father’s growing emotional distance and neglect aren’t exactly the most formidable recipe to mental clarity.
He tried to kill himself like his mom did, via locking himself in the janitor’s closet and chugging down drain cleaner. They found him before it could kill him. A week’s stay in the hospital later, he was mandatorily sent to happy volts. You can imagine his father’s reaction.
Even if in my personal canon happy volts isn’t designed like a literal prison, but is more so adjacent to the institution described in Girl Interrupted, with the proper accommodations and architecture and all, that’s where the Gary smith we all know and seethe over fully formed. Where his convictions on the world and people really cemented. All because of one man in particular : Dr Bambillo.
He’s head doctor of the department Gary was in, for a good while. Prided himself of being the “friendly” and “approachable” professional. Lets just say it’s the farthest thing from the truth. Things happened there that are a little too heavy to elaborate on. But atop of those, after breaking Gary’s trust (who already was wary of trusting him in the first place, but desperate enough to cave into validation, for crying out loud he was 13) he also had him heavily medicated, and because he’d resist he was put a little too often in solitary confinement. Things got so bad he tried to get out of the place via throwing himself out a window and gouging his eye out with a sharpened piece of a plastic food tray to get to the nearest hospital. It did not work. It only extended his stay. That’s where his eye scar comes from btw. If someone asks he changes the story every time.
The meds he’s given are a source of great discomfort for Gary because they dampen his conscience and act as tranquilizers more than anything else. He was never prescribed the right ones. I took this from his voice lines lmao.
Days and weeks blur in and out, and the only reason he’s let out is because he’s fully blanked out. Or at least that’s what they think.
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The place made him realize and internalize no amount of honesty would’ve kept him safe, and that the adults were nothing short of useless. So he had to lie his way through being set free, tongue his pills, remain alert and vigilant because no one was to be trusted. And it got him far. But after his release, he moved onto Mr Smith’s estate with his father, and was immediately sent to Bullworth to be Straightened out.
His lying only got finer and more extensive, and his budding loathing for everything around him began turning him into what he became in sophomore/junior year. He made friends and found Pete again but he fucked that up severely due to his delusions of grandeur and his conviction that life was a simulation at That point lol. But that’s the topic of another post. Aka my personal headcanons on Bully prequel and the rest of the shitass backstories I gave others.
Hope that wasn’t boring lol
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botgal · 6 days ago
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A heads up to anyone living in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Senator Dusty Deevers is set to introduce a law to the Oklahoma State Senate, SB 593, which will not only increase punishment for possession of CSAM (Child Sexual Exploitation Material), but outlaw and criminalize ALL forms of pornography and it's creation, distribution, and possession. Whether it be written, auditory, or visual.
This bill is not only a massive breach of First Amendment rights of adults to access things, but also a danger to any adults who wish to access these problems. As Senator Deevers has especially cited that any educators or librarians who look at such should be classified as sex offenders.
This comes with a slew of other bills which Senator Deevers claims are to help "restore moral sanity in Oklahoma".
SB 456: The Abolition of Abortion Act - Outlaws the use of self administered abortion medication and effectively “declares that life begins at conception and ensures that no person may lawfully terminate the life of a child in the womb."
SB 550: Classifies Drag Queen Story Hour as a cabaret performance to effectively ban the nonsexual presentation of drag queens near children.
SB 228: The Covenant Marriage Act - Offers a $2,500 tax credit to Oklahoma couples who consent to a "covenant marriage" in which they waive any right to divorce except under "cases of abuse, adultery, or abandonment".
SB 829: Ends Oklahoma no fault divorce by removing "incompatability" as a reason for divorce. If signed into law it would only allow divorces in the event of "abandonment, gross neglect, extreme cruelty, habitual drunkenness, insanity for a period of five years, adultery, unknown pregnancy and fraudulent contract."
SB 329: The Promote Child Thriving Act - Creates a $500 child tax credit contingent upon it being filed for by a mother and father filing jointly (exclusion of single parents and gay couples). And increases that to $1000 for children born after the marriage of the parents, which can exclude those in non traditional familial groups and children born from wedlock.
All of these bills echo heavily the Project 2025 playbook and should be fought against swiftly and firmly. As if they show they can be passed here, these ideas could spread to other states as well.
Call your reps, spread the word. And do not let the ideals of a christo-authoritarian take control over the state of Oklahoma without a fight.
You can find your Oklahoma State Reps using this site here
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aceof-stars · 7 months ago
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Manfred von Karma!
Thank you for the ask <3 (to every else who sent me a character ask, I'm working on it :)
First impression
I actually never hated him or had strong feelings about him. I was introduced to AA through narumitsu fanfic but I knew I wanted to play the games so I avoided everything with spoilers, including everything Manfred. I guess I just thought of him vaguely as a villain and Miles' mentor/father figure.
Impression now
He's one of my favorite Ace Attorney characters. I have him at 4th but honestly, maybe he's 3rd now?? I have developed an attachment to this ridiculous evil man. I love him so much. I wish there was more canon content of him, but I think he's an interesting character with a lot of room for nuance.
Favorite moment
He doesn't really have many canon moments (and I haven't played AAI). But probably when he gloated Phoenix into cross-examining Polly the parrot and it's implied that he witness-coached a parrot. Manfred, you are an insane person.
Idea for a story
I just want to see a story where Manfred is force-fed a redemption arc. Like for example a no DL-6 AU where Gregory manages to get a Manfred properly investigated for forging evidence. But to ensure he doesn't get another penalty, Manfred tries to frame another prosecutor to throw Gregory off his trail.
Only, Manfred finds out that the person he is framing is actually guilty of forging evidence. Manfred has to follow through with his plan and gets dragged into working with Gregory. Gregory is surprised but grateful that Manfred has been so helpful in weeding out corruption in the prosecutor's office, and wants to befriend/ally with Manfred. Manfred is seething with hatred. (Oh and eventual Shingou :)
Unpopular opinion
Manfred as a character deserves a lot more nuance. There's... a lot to talk about but these are the three main things I have a strong opinion on:
1) He was a flawed parent and I think it's more interesting to explore those flaws than to just label him abusive for the sake of villainizing him.
2) It does not makes sense for Manfred to be sexist/homophobic/etc. Simply because I don't think he cares enough to hate a group of people like that. He is very rational, efficient, and his perfectionism is focused on his prosecuting career. If anything, he discriminates against defense attorneys (lmao).
3) Manfred didn't brainwash or force Miles into becoming a prosecutor. I'm sure Manfred was influential but Miles had his own reason to be a prosecutor that stemmed from DL-6. Miles was also always a perfectionist (the paper cranes thing) and the von Karma family brand of perfectionism just amplified it.
Favorite relationship
Shingou!! <3 (Gregory Edgeworth/Manfred von Karma)
Defense attorney/prosecutor ship, toxic enemies to lovers, doomed romance, or super slowburn (if no DL-6 AU), bitter courtroom rivals turned bickering old married couple (who still duke it out in court), co-parenting Miles and Franziska (before officially getting together).
Favorite headcanon
Manfred did love Franziska and Miles (in his own way). Regarding Miles, Manfred saw him as a symbol of his failures (the penalty Gregory gave him and the shot in his shoulder). So Manfred struggled a lot when he began to actually care about Miles. When Miles's perfect record was broken, Manfred saw it as a threat to his own perfection. (I hope that makes sense. I do need to think about this more to solidify the headcanon. I just love complicated von Karma family dynamics)
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pinkexpertnerdghost · 8 months ago
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An analysis on Pavia from Reverse1999 (Alternative Title: Me yapping about Pavia's backstory and making headcanons/personal interpretation based on the crumbs of lore we get 😭)
I recently thought about this. I've been grinding in this game cause it's so pretty and the voice acting is delicious. That's my own opinion though. And I want to write this down because It will consume me of I don't.
So all you Pavia stans and fans, this one is for y'all since there is only a handful of stuff about him online.😭🥹
So if any players main/use Pavia a lot and build up Bond with him we get his backstory and more voiclines. And spoiler, in Pavia's second character story, it mentions how he was literally abused/neglected from his legal guardian (bitch-ass aunt) because according to her, he looked closely resembling her mother(aunt's sis).
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Also that, the aunts sister (Pavia's mum) is apparently dead??? But present Pavia states She's in "an asylum in Rome in probably her middle ages" and "he's never visited her".
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So...does he believe she's still alive? Or did the aunt tell him that his mother was just 'insane' and 'unwell' that she was sent to an asylum and was the reason he was under her care? Never informing her own nephew about the passing of his mother?? Cause man.....that's kind of messed up if so. 🫠😶
I'll assume that Pavia's mom, being a single parent since the dad was 'missing', felt overwhelmed or inadequate to be a mom and left him with her sister (the aunt). Since the aunt described her sister as 'sorrowful' 'who abandoned her' and that she 'left behind her troublesome kid'.
I want to believe that Pavia's mom did love him. To some extent. She sang rhymes for him when he was probably a toddler (mentioned in one of his voice lines). She probably sang them so often to him that a grown Pavia can vaguely recall her lullabies. She probably thought that she really wasn't cut out to be a mom; he already had a 'missing' father, what can she do? Keep in mind that this is probably set in the late 70's or early 80's. And based on the societal steriotypes/stigmas, this reasoning seems plausible. And maybe thought that the best decision was to leave him in the care of her sister.
Or perhaps she was in a dangerous situation because she did apparently 'died a few years later' after "going into the city."
Was she in a tight situation? Was this perhaps linked to why Pavia's father was missing? Maybe the family was involved with a crime group or dangerous people? I find it suspect that his father was said to be missing, and that the mom died a few years later after dropping off her son with the aunt.
Going by the later assumption, could this have been a decision to protect her son? If so....it just makes Pavia's backstory and with the way his aunt treated him makes his story that much more tragic and unfair.
But back to the aunt.
The sister...now being tasked to look after a nephew who resembled her sad, irresponsible and 'selfish' sister, she confines him to a basement 24/7 to not look at him because of her personal issues/resentment towards his mother.
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Pavia as a child calls out to her, fucking apologies for something he had no control over (his looks, his mom's decision), and is angry at this treatment. (Which honestly, fuck the aunt bro. Fuck Pavia's aunt bro, me and the homies hate Pavia's aunt. The kid did nothing wrong. Just because you resent his parents doesn't excuse the poor treatment you push onto the child. Your biological sister left him in your care and then later on died, the least you can do is provide for probably the only living relative you have left.)
Maybe this is linked to why Pavia has such a flamboyant and artistic style in appearance. Dyed white hair, but his natural dark roots are showing. Tinted glasses, to obscure his silver blue eyes and deep shades under his eyes. Random jewelry on his hands he doesn't really care for. The varies ink on him that make his skin a canvas. The cool ass piercings.
And while this could be a tactic to keep his identity a secret or untraceable for the authorities due to his job as an independent merc, just maybe..... he didn't want to be reminded of who he looked like whenever he looks at himself.
Maybe he didn't want to resemble his mother. It was because of his appearance that his aunt confined him to solitude. Something he had no control over, but as he got older....he gained control over how he looked and dressed. He never visits her in the asylum, she was the second person who abandoned him and the cause of his aunts hatred towards him. So....he probably has either a neutral or negative towards his mother.
In the basement, he develops a very unhealthy lifestyle; having no real concept of time, little sunlight, the sound of dripping water and pests constantly providing an uneasy atmosphere, but he develops his arcanum.
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His imaginary friends, who watch over him and keep him warm. Since the humans who were supposed to do that, failed him so horribly.
His imaginary friends who bloomed from the darkest shadows of the basement due to his budding arcanum. Quiet literally.... byproducts of his own loneliness, perhaps yearning to be a part of a family, and strong arcanum.
He couldn't and wouldn't rely on any human, he had to fend for himself.
And because of this, he became an "independent mercenary" with a fatal flaw of " lacking in collaborative skills". He is good at what he does...but his employers "can't stand his work ethic of ignoring his coworkers". He comes across as having an unlikable personality and rudeness. He has a hard time getting along with other people. And honestly? Who can blame him. With the way he was raised...no wonder he doesn't like people in general.
But why should he? Why should he rely on people? His own biological family left him alone in that basement, he never developed any real friends as a child, he didn't get the chance to grow up like a normal child.
He had no one but he made it work. So why should he start to rely on people? For them to abandon him or betray him?
His former boss had planned to betray him, to kill him. So Pavia struck first, keeping only his tie clip as memorabilia.
Pavia is a lone wolf....as corny as that sounds. But he grew up alone, in a dark den. So close yet so far from human society, he made friends from the shadows that kept him company. That once lonely confinement didn't seem so lonely after a while, he grew to find comfort in his predicament.
Adapting and pushing ahead, finding a twisted sort of 'fun' 'excitment' and 'joy' in the most tragic and unfortunate circumstances; his job as a merc and the 'unsavory' nature of his job.
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Pavia has become one of my favorite characters in media, despite the media he originates from having limited personal information about their playable characters.
But I think this is also a reason why he's so interesting to me. It leaves little crumbs and pieces of background that is mostly left to be assumed by the player's/reader's interpretation. It's fun to assume and make these little narratives and head cannons about them.
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And the fact some parts of his story hit a wee bit close to home. Just a little though. I mean... it is unfair and so infuriating for a child to be antagonized or disliked by family just because they look more like one parent than the other.
But ye....this is just my own personal interpretation of this characters background. Mostly just me yapping and connecting the dots on silly head canons. I should write a one shot or series about this guy. He's such a goob.
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bitterrobin · 9 months ago
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regarding Chris and Damian as foils... I'm always peeved when some people minimize what could be interesting about their relationship to "a child who only values his biological family and hates his adoptive family vs a child who renounces his bio family and embraces an adoptive family." This brief summary/discussion always tends to boil down to Damian is an evil child who must learn to appreciate his adoptive siblings from Chris, who's a perfect boy who loves his adoptive parents and hates his abusive bio parents. When really, that screws both of their characters.
Damian has a complicated relationship to say the least with Bruce and Talia, but neither of them taught him that blood is everything. When written well, Bruce should be stressed and neglectful but deeply loving and Talia shouldn't be an abuser but a sorrowful mother who wasn't able to give him a free life that she wanted for herself.
I should stress that the "blood son" rhetoric that pops up around Damian existed only in his first appearance and the animated movies. In pretty much all of the comics afterwards, Damian was disparaging of Dick, Tim and Cassandra, but he didn't point out his "biological superiority" unless it was specifically in service to Tim's own storylines. His character evolved from an annoying brat that exists to challenge Bruce and Tim for a couple issues to a full child character whose insecurity within a family leads to him lashing out at everyone he deems closer to Bruce than he could ever be. Moving on to Chris Kent, his entire first storyline revolves around building a relationship with Clark and Lois and finding the resolve to fight back against Zod and Ursa. In the end he makes the sacrifice to return to the Phantom Zone in order to ensure that his bio parents can't return to Earth. But in the end, he's just a kid. He struggled with fitting in on Earth. Unlike Clark, he didn't understand why he had to hide his powers. Had he not been sent back to the Phantom Zone to wrap up the story arc, I would've really liked to see Chris struggle with pretending to be a human kid after so long being taught the opposite by his bio parents. Later on when Chris reappears aged-up (deja vu) he's still pretty much the same character but notably more cocky and impulsive to contrast against Thara Ak-Var.
Damian and Chris's potential interactions should be preceded on how similar they are - not on how superior Chris is because he's a loving kid, and Damian is too traumatized to express the same kind of trust and affection that people expect from child characters. Besides, they have entirely different situations. Damian is a child suddenly being dropped into a large and well established family with complicated inner dynamics and rituals, while Chris is a child being brought into a small and simple family structure consisting of Clark/Lois, Kara and Clark's parents. (Pointing out here that Jon didn't exist and Kon-El was killed in Infinite Crisis months prior to Chris's appearance). Chris's bio parents are cut and dry neglectful and abusive, and Damian's parents are a complicated jumble of neglect, ooc abuse, angst, and love. Damian had to contend with the frankly insane plots and history of all the Bat-characters while Chris was confined to one plot line in a fairly consistent Superman run. I don't think I have to spell out how mentally unstable and grief-stricken a lot of the Bats were when Damian became Robin versus the relatively normal lives of Ma, Pa, Clark and Lois when Chris showed up. When exploring what their interaction could've been, I think Damian would one-sidedly hate Chris, who would try to avoid him. Damian would resent Chris for being everything he isn't: a child whose flaws are accepted and embraced, a child with a complete loving family and support, and a child that allowed to be a child. Chris probably wouldn't like Damian at first for being Robin when he got used to Tim being Robin, and he'd be discouraged at how snappy and anti-social Damian is. He's a kind child, but he's not a saint. Chris would have the usual child hang-ups about interacting with mean kids and socializing outside his family. They'd accept each other the way that they are, but I don't think they'd become friends until Damian matures and Chris acclimates to human society as his own individual. Maybe eventually they grow to trust/confide in each other like Bruce and Clark - but until then it'd probably a lot of Damian making rude comments and Chris going :/
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alpaca-clouds · 7 months ago
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I still very much like the idea of redeeming Gortash. For one, yes, because I am projecting onto this man too much (on the basis of being autistic and having abusive parents - and no, you will never convince me that Gortash isn't autistic). But also, as I wrote about before: Narratively it is just so much more interesting to redeem him than to kill him.
I wrote a longer blog about that before, which I cannot find because tumblr search is still useless. But tl;dr: Right now the only thing Karlach gets to do in Act 3 for her companion quest is basically to kill Gortash, which you still gotta do no matter whether you have Karlach as a companion or not. You get two more scenes if you have Karlach along, sure, but it does not do anything - nor does it give her story anything interesting. Which kinda overlooks one big thing about Karlach and her Engine: Gortash should know how to fix it. Because he made those Infernal Engines work in the Steel Watch. So, to give Karlach that important story decision that literally any other character has: Make her decide whether she cares more about her revenge - or about wanting to live. Let Gortash live if he fixes her engine.
It would have been so much more satisfying for her story. (I just hate how they dropped the ball on Karlach in Act 3. I hate it so much. My girl deserved so much better!)
However, yes. I also simply am a massive sucker for good redemption stories. Especially as those are rare. (Mostly, because media tends to go with "character does one big good thing, now everyone forgives them and they are redeemed" all the time.) And I... yeah, I am just kinda obsessed with the idea of redeeming Gortash.
Now, I am already writing Kindness Begets Kindness, which is basically just Astarion gay-bitching at Gortash until Gortash realizes that maybe he actually wants to redeem himself. But it ends with that. With Gortash getting to the point that maybe he wants forgiveness.
And it got me thinking about how Gortash could even go about it. Because, you know. Killing hundreds, if not thousands, and enslaving at least hundreds as well... It is hard to come back from, right?
So, here I was talking to a friend of mine.
Me: "Really, the thing that Gortash needs is an autistic nerd as a friend, you know?"
Him: "Well, then write one up."
Me: "Or Barcus."
Him: "Who?"
Me: "Or, he is this gnome, who to me reads also as super autistic."
Him: "Well, there you have your answer."
Me: "... Or I could ship them."
So, I guess I have officially come up with the most insane crack ship for Gortash yet. This is even more crack than my Aurelia/Araj ship, I guess.
But...
I am kinda tempted to write it. Darn it.
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brokenheartedtheologian · 2 months ago
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Reviews of all 8 Bridgerton Books (contains spoilers)
The TV show has more dramatic subplots and diversity, but the books have more emotional realism.
The Duke and I (Daphne's Story): In the TV series, Simon's choice to deny Daphne children (even to the point of being willing to die in a duel to avoid having kids) seems arbitrary, pointless, and dickish. In the book series, where you can get more inside the main character's heads, it all makes sense. His real fear is repeating the cycle of trauma and abusing his children the way his father abused him. Daphne convinces him he will be kind and loving to a stuttering child should he ever have one, and that's how the business gets resolved. This is the most touching scene of the book, and it's a crime they left it out of the TV series.
The Viscount Who Loved Me (Anthony's Story): Surprisingly, the TV series dealt with Anthony's dead dad trauma more meaningfully than the book did! The book mostly dwells on Anthony's illogical conviction that he will die before he grows older than his father. Whereas the TV show vividly depicts how traumatized he was by his mother's grief and how he was thrust into the role of parenting his siblings and his mother. In the TV show, Anthony's fear of love makes way more sense, as he associates true love with the insane grief and depression his mother experienced. In the book, that is just much less clear. However, I give the book points for keeping the relationship between Kate and her sister completely loving and drama-free, with no rivalry over Anthony (I'm not a big fan of altar-dumping scenes or pitting women against each other).
An Offer from a Gentleman (Benedict's Story): This was my least favorite book in the series by far, it's a retelling of Cinderella (never my favorite fairytale) with Benedict as Prince Charming. But Benedict pressures Sophie/Cinderella to become his mistress in some rather rape-y ways before they get to the happy ending. It makes Benedict utterly unlikeable. This is the only book in the series to deal with themes of class, since Sophie is a bastard who works as a housemaid due to her evil stepmother (which is why Benedict thinks she is mistress rather than wife material). The the way the book deals with class themes in profoundly unsatisfying, since they never critique the actual injustice of the class system, and in the end Sophie is only able to marry Benedict due to the big reveal of her having aristocratic blood from the wrong side of the sheets. This book is trash. I would burn it, and I just hope the TV series find a way to redeem this horrible story by replacing classist rapist Benedict with the fun bisexual polyamorous Benedict we've seen earlier in the TV series.
Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (Colin's Story): The TV series created reasons for Colin to have legitimate beef against Lady Whistledown, which are simply not part of the book series. So when Colin discovers Lady Whistledown's identity in the books, the only thing he has to navigate is the jealousy he has about her being a better writer than him. This jealousy he overcomes relatively quickly, and he makes a grand announcement as a supportive gesture which is even more romantic than his behavior in the TV series. Their character development arcs seem more natural without the extra drama the TV show inserts for the sake of suspense. I love Colin x Penelope so much, I like their story slightly more in the books, but the sexy actors of course add a lot to the story with their acting skills, so it's maybe a tie?
To Sir Phillip, With Love (Eloise's Story): I had a love-hate relationship with this book. Love: their courtship starting with letters. Hate: The letters seem to just cover trivial things so it's unclear where the attraction is coming from. Love: Eloise running off to meet him in person after exchanging letters a year (olden-times online dating). Hate: Sir Phillip making occasional misogynist comments and Eloise (bewilderingly) not caring. Love: Sir Phillip recovering from the trauma of having his wife be severely depressed for years and then commit suicide. Hate: Eloise rushing into a relationship hastily with a severely traumatized man with red flags, just because he is sexy. Love: The relationship between Eloise and Sir Phillip's children. Hate: Her brothers forcing her to marry him because she was seeing him without a chaperone. (In God's name, why? Why was this a necessary element of the book?! The romance would have felt much better without adding this gratuitous non-consensual element). A+ for second marriage and stepmother themes and D- for Eloise inexplicably losing her feminism and pride (which, to be fair, was more a characteristic of her TV self than her book self). I have no fucking idea how they will adapt it to make it more consistent with Eloise's TV character. But it's cool the TV series did an early intro of Sir Phillip Crane.
When He Was Wicked (Francesca's Story): Francesca's husband dies and four years later she falls in love with her best friend / husband's cousin. They both feel very guilty about the relationship because it feels like cheating (even though it is not cheating because original spouse is dead). Overall, this book feels like a way for us to have sex scenes that indulge our cheating fetish without the emotional strain of actually disapproving of the characters for cheating. The discussion of grief is more shallow than I would have wished. I can't help but wonder if the TV adaptation will remove the death and have the guilt/angst be around polyamorous bisexual relationships. Michaela will be better than Michael I think (Michael verbally abuses his valet, who is clearly terrified of him, every time his love life goes poorly). I personally think if a man abuses his valet, he'll abuse his wife, and find Michael by far the least plausible of the happy endings as a result. I hope the TV series having a female version of him ends up taking away some of the jerkitude.
It's In His Kiss (Hyacinth's Story): Okay, this may be my favorite of the series, though perhaps it is tied with Colin's story because Whistledown reveal. But Hyacinth is definitely my favorite of the siblings, and I love the big deal they make about her being a miniature Lady Danbury. I also adore the mother-daughter relationship stuff in here, how much Violet support's Hyacinth's independence but also encourages her to be vulnerable and take emotional risks. The "you're afraid to flirt with gentlemen you might actually like because that opens you to rejection" speech was chef's kiss!!! I also like the return of the "being free from abusive father" theme we get with the male lead. Abusive fathers was handled even better than it was in Simon/Daphne's story.
On the Way to the Wedding (Gregory's Story): It seems the author is a bit worried we might be getting bored with the regular rounds of sex, kissing, and falling in love, so she throws in some treason and gun fights to spice it up. It feels like a different genre from the other books because of the action drama elements. Still, I'm a fan of the wholesome female friendship and the (finally) satiring the "love at first sight," trope (though she plenty utilized the "love at first sight" trope in Benedict's story, wtf!) It's also fun to see Kate be a matron.
How many grandchildren does Violet Bridgerton end up with? Like a hundred?
Overall Ratings
Colin, Hyacinth: A+ for interpersonal chemistry and helping each other grow as people:
Anthony: A- but would totally be A+ if Anthony was not an unlikeable dick who did not deserve happiness
Daphne, Gregory: B+ for good-hearted Bridgertons helping love interest overcome family/abuse/neglect and personal issues.
Eloise, Francesca: C+ the sex scenes were well written but why would they settle for misogynists. I am not willing to give a pass just because this is period literature
Benedict: F because classism and not bothering with consent is really not sexy and how could you spoil wonderful TV Benedict for me.
Let's hope the TV series removed the problematic bullshit as well as adding the queer and interracial romance! The books do have more emotional realism since they've removed the need for unnecessary drama, but overall, the TV series is winning. What a surprise! I usually like books better than TV.
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gabessquishytum · 10 months ago
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CW: past child abuse, past parricide
Special inspector Hob Gadling hates his job. Well, it's actually not true - he loves his job, but today specifically, he hates it. First, he was hoping for a bonus, and now he got assigned to a years-old cold case 'just to ensure that no new details emerged, and the investigation needs not to be reopened.' Second, he'll have to deal with some filthy rich weirdos.
Destiny Endless is a top-tier consulting risk manager, his services costing more than Hob's yearly paycheck. Death is the founder of a successful chain of funeral homes - after all, people always die, and rumor has it that Death is the best in her line of work. Dream is a famous writer who's able to write it all: whatever genre he sets his eyes - and pen - on, the book becomes a bestseller. Desire Endless is a porn star; the only mention of their name makes armies of fans go hard, wet, and horny. Despair founded a pharmaceutical corporation and revolutionized the world by introducing new, highly effective antidepressants. Destruction seems like the only normal person in that fucked-up family of masterminds: he had made a career in the military and then fucked off to travel the world. Last but not least, there is Delirium, an artist. Personally, Hob thinks that one needs to be constantly high to come up with such colors and forms, but hey, it's not him who's paid six figures to install some mind fuckery in amusement parks, so he doesn't get to judge.
Hob wouldn't come close to any of these freaks, but he has to verify that nothing was missed during the investigation, and so, here he goes. Mama and Papa of the Endless disappeared almost twenty years ago with no trace. Their bodies were never found, and there was no evidence of foul play. They just vanished into thin air, voilà. It was presumed that they had got bored, bought themselves new personalities, and left to live someplace else. To Hob, this seems strange yet plausible: looking at their kids, it's obvious that insanity runs in the family.
Still, Hob shows up to do his job, examine old records, and talk once again with all the Endless heirs. All goes very smoothly - there's nothing suspicious, all the kids' testimonies match. Hob would gladly close the check, but there is one tiny problem: he fell head over heels in love with Dream. Now in his thirties, he's unconventionally beautiful, insanely talented, and he's got Hob wrapped around his slender finger. Dream keeps his distance at first, but eventually, they begin dating. Hob finally closes the check for good - it's as clear as day that Endless parents must be chilling on some private island - and plunges into the relationship with Dream, learning him from the other side, as someone vulnerable, insecure, and kind-hearted. There's only one strange thing: Dream is inexperienced in bed for his age, and he's always somewhat tense during sex. Hob tries to talk to him, but Dream shuts the conversation down. Hob guiltily googles his bf and finds out that despite his high profile, there are no mentions of his exes in the media. At all.
Hob is puzzled, but it all falls into place when, one night, his lover has a nightmare. Hob wakes up from his screams and, with horror, realizes that this is more than a nightmare - it's a memory. He wakes Dream up and holds him while he cries. On the periphery of his mind, Dream's screams and pleas create a terrifying story of the siblings being abused by their parents for years.
'You killed them together, didn't you? Each of you thought you were the only one who suffered and thus kept the others safe. But once you all learned the truth…' Hob whispers into Dream's hair and holds him tighter. 'It's alright, my sweetling. I'd have killed them myself for you if they had been still alive.'
They stay like that through the night. In the morning, Hob makes Dream breakfast like nothing happened and goes to work. He's got no reason to worry about the case ever being reopened: there's no evidence, and he's determined to be the only one who sleeps by Dream's side till the end and holds him through his dreams and nightmares.
I love this so much. Poor, poor Dream. And the rest of the siblings too!
Hob doesn't want to draw further attention to the case of course, but he does all he can at work to make sure that files are carelessly "lost" or at least buried so deep in the archive no one will find it for a century. It even occurs him to frame someone else for the crime to make sure that the siblings are thoroughly safe, but... its better left forgotten. God knows Hob will spend the rest of his career making sure that no one ever goes sniffing around the Endless siblings ever again.
What's more he'll spend the rest of his life helping Dream in his recovery. He makes sure that he has private, confidential access to resources that a survivor should have - none of the siblings ever told anyone about the abuse or went to therapy because they're terrified to look like they had a "motive" to get rid of their parents. Hob changes that. He persuades as many of the siblings as he can to visit trusted therapists. Not all of them go for it, but at least someone is finally advocating for them and offering a little bit of support.
Hob loves Dream most of all of course, but he considers all the siblings as his family. He hates what happened to them. He can't fix it. But he can protect and love them as they deserve. Maybe all of them can finally breathe a little easier, with a friend on their side.
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realbeefman · 3 months ago
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list of every hyperspecific Thing i find supremely awesome and compelling in fiction that is present in Like Minds (2006) (for fellow freaks to reference) (also because i LOVE LISTS)
- UNRELIABLE NARRATOR!!!!! <3 <3 <3
- psychologist diagnosing patient blurs professional and personal boundaries
- Logical and talented female protag experiences workplace situationship with absolute loser of a man
- weird religious lore from the middle ages becomes a fixation/obsession
- cutting up bodies surgical style
- incest but not really but kind of but maybe but its unclear and probablyy not. but in a way.
- necrophilia!! but maybe not? but maybe?
- vaguely problematic framing of Clearly queercoded antagonist as predatory
- MURDER INVESTIGATIONNNN <3 UNWINDING THE TALE AS THE STORY GOESSSS
- absolutely absurd and outrageous levels of lying deceit betrayal and hypocrisy
- trains. and their best friend the TRACKS
- TAXIDERMY <3
- catholic school. BOARDING school nonetheless
- crawling around in the house’s guts to uncover the secrets
- “bible”
- crying in the rain
- guy who has the vibe of a crow that became a person
- bitchy spoiled rich kids behave like bitchy spoiled rich kids
- insane unfulfilled unstated homoerotic tension. obviously
- friendsless antisocial freaks cant live without each other
- abusive cop who is crazy and immoral was right BUT only detected the Evil due to the fundamental Evil that lives within him too
- killing your parent who you have a complicated relationship with instead of just. idk perhaps having a talk.
- fire reflecting on character’s face during deeply emotionally charged convo
- Oh no! We’ve been forced to participate in the School Play!
- casually blowing shit up for fun #boredom
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