#rory is a fuckup

[expectiations]

The Husbands of River Song is not and has never been about the Eleventh Doctor being a deadbeat, distant husband (gross mischaracterization by the way) and the Twelfth Doctor being the "better, more mature, affectionate" husband.

It was about River Song. It was about River and how the events in Manhattan took such a toll on her. It was about letting us see River dealing with grief the way The Snowmen showed us how the Doctor coped after losing believing he had used up all his time with River.

Looking at THORS now with The Ruby's Curse in mind, I get the instinct (for lack of a word that I cannot remember) that the Manhattan incident Blue Roach read from River's diary was not the Manhattan episode that we saw in series 7.

On that note, I'd also like to bring up the fact that the Doctor grounds River and River grounds the Doctor. As Tree talked about in one of her tags, River's empathy is more cognitive than emotional and after musing on it for a bit – considering that the Doctor can no longer go to Manhattan (which may have changed in later series but I wouldn't know at the moment because I have yet to overcome series 7b) and that River does spend time with her parents in Manhattan post-TATM, would the latest Manhattan incident in River's diary be the funeral for Amy? Amy's death? Perhaps even Anthony's? I mean, we already know Rory died five years earlier than Amy. So, knowing how deep River's love for her mother is, it's not too farfetched to say that River spent that time with them. River was by their bedsides as they drew their last breath.

Then Rory's gone, Amy's gone, Anthony's gone. Where does that leave River? Where is the Doctor? (sulking on a cloud on top of Victorian London? trying to figure out the mystery of his newest companion? all while constantly mentioning a certain Professor Song who actually turns out to be his dearly sort of departed absolutely beloved wife?)

Without her parents (and her husband) to ground her, she goes on this maddened, grieving space Robin Hood spree. She seeks fun to fill in the void and takes up marriage as a hobby/side quest. Does she look for the Doctor? Perhaps. Yes, actually. Considering she crashed her latest sort-of-husband's ship onto a planet where she purported the TARDIS to be.

But... she's stealing the TARDIS. She could have just called the Doctor, yeah? So, she doesn't want the Doctor to know then. Well... yeah, considering she has two sort-of-husbands in hand.

So, River would just have gone on from one space Robin Hood spree to the next had the TARDIS not sort-of-stranded herself on Mendorax Dellora to make sure her Water stopped being stubborn and reconcile(?) with her Thief?

Also taking note of how River has read stories about them and knows that Darillium is purported to be their last night together (I could also bring up the fact that this is why I find it easy to digest the "River meeting regenerations of the Doctor younger than the Tenth Doctor makes sense and doesn't break cannon nor ruin SITL/FOTD" but that would take a whole other post). Does this River believe her time with the Eleventh Doctor has ended? The same way series 7b Eleven believed his time with older versions of River has ended? Is this all part of some grand fuckup in communication all thanks to their tangled timelines?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But has River not just been running from her family's death? Has River been running from her supposed last night with the Doctor?

"But River doesn't run." Oh yes. Yes, she does. She knows when to stand her ground. She knows when to charge. And she knows when to run.

"That's out of character for her." No, it's not. She's not invincible. She's this well trained assassin, yes. But invincible? No.

Invincible from the tendency to be blinded by their emotions? Obviously not.

River lies. And River runs.

She is not afraid of her death. She is afraid of the day when her husband, her Doctor, looks into her eyes and looks right through her. And it shouldn't kill her but it does. It did.

So she ran and ran until her bigger-on-the-inside Mum gently reached out and put her back together with the only person left who could ground her. Who she didn't recognize at first but still fell in love with (and would have loved even if he hadn't been revealed to be her actual, long missing husband). Who finally found out their last night wasn't just any night – it was a twenty-four year long last night. Who finally gave her a breather from all the running she'd been doing.

And oh what a night that was (it was the talk of the universe).

[threadsun]

It totally makes sense! You just keep doing you boo and I’m sure that someday soon those people who belittle the credibility of sex work will see the truth. I’m sure teacher Jack would teach those people a similar lesson about respect, probably not as sexy fun times though lol. Dude, I’m so down to clown that I’m pretty sure any kind of punishment or lesson Jack would deal out wouldn’t work because I’d like it too much 😂 The ONLY one I can think of is based off that breeding kink you posted about before where he threatens not to finish inside, but that’s literally it. She’s a freaky gal! Exactly with Joesph! It’s like almost an inner war with himself where he loves the more positive attention he’s receiving for playing the role of Sunny Day Jack, but he doesn’t want to get noticed too much since he’s so afraid of getting kicked off the show. The kind of guy who tries to play it cool on the outside, but is actually an extremely emotional person who wear his heart on his sleeve (in a literal sense too with the flaming heart tattoo on his arm) and has trouble hiding the emotions on his face. It helps a lot with his acting, but it makes him more vulnerable to those who might use him for less savory means. I see him as a very charming and charismatic person so he naturally eludes a cool guy persona, but his insecurities really might make him feel like he’s not really this great guy. It’s a really weird mix where if you didn’t know him as well, he’d seem like the popular tough guy with a heart of gold, but getting close enough, you’d see just how torn up and insecure he feels inside. I was thinking about how nice it would be for his next life if he was given a better life to make up for his last, but then I realized he probably already feels that way with his sunshine. If only he felt like Joesph was worthy of experiencing such love and happiness. OOOOO! I’d FREEZE if he used his teacher voice on me. I could imagine the smirk he’s holding back on his face too. Jack seeing how much power he has over his sunshine that just his voice could be enough to stop them from continuing whatever bratty behavior they’re trying to do. It probably feels good too, no longer being the one ordered to do this and do that to gain favor from others or earn an extra tip. This is fun! I forgot how much I love writing random scenarios lol. I usually get so lost in making sure everything is smooth and grammatically correct that I don’t enjoy just placing everything down like I’m doing here and just sending it off! I’m sure if I did, all these little headcanons would probably sound a lot more cohesive, but I’ve just been enjoying bouncing off ideas with you that I haven’t focused on if things sound alright grammatically lol.

-🎃

Thanks!! 🥰 thankfully, most of my clients have been super sweet and chill, it's just the handful who aren't that ruin it for everyone.

Oh yes, Jack's #1 threat is absolutely pulling out instead of breeding you~ it simply makes his Sunshine so needy and willing to be good for him!! After all, only good subs get bred~

Yes!!!! Exactly!!!! When I finally get around to writing that fic about Joseph and Jean being trapped in the tape together and how they become Jack and Rory I'll be exploring this sort of thing a lot more. But like, idk the fact that Joseph felt the need to become Jack, and considers Jack a better person than he was... like, it just doesn't track with the idea of him being selfish and cocky and having high confidence and self-esteem? It's the actions of a man who sees himself as a no-good fuckup and wants to change. The actions of a man who wants desperately to be good, but doesn't think he can. Doesn't think he knows how. And someone who feels that way about themself usually isn't actually an asshole or a bad person, they're just a person with self-esteem issues who tries to be a good person and just holds themself to too high of a standard. And based on how he seems to have been treated his whole life (like we see in that detention slip), it makes sense he'd have that view of himself! Idk I just think he's a sweet, soft, goofy guy who is constantly judged for how he looks and tries to be better than what is expected of him. And who has serious self-esteem issues and anxiety about losing the few good things in his life, like his role as Jack.

Yes, exactly!! I feel like that's probably why Jack is so heavily a dom, he's used to submitting to other people as Joseph (and I still headcanon Joseph as being more sub-leaning). So being dominant puts even more distance between who he is now and who he used to be, and also lets him take control in a way he didn't used to be able to! And also because he loves seeing how desperate his Sunshine is for him. Making them be the needy, begging one giving up power for once!

I'm glad you're having fun too!!! I love bouncing ideas around with people tbh, I find that when I actually get around to sitting down and writing things out, it makes the polished stuff better!!

[delicatetaysversion]

i kinda feel baad for dean but like rory is exactly what i would do too avoidant but i DON'T LIKE WHAT SHE'S DOING BUT I SEE WHY BUT DEAN'S SAD PUPPY FACE BRO😭😭

lmao this is exactly how i felt watching it but this but that but this it's so conflicting confusing ig it's okay they're such fuckups cause even we don't know what's right from wrong anymore

[bisluthq]

I am dying for some gilmore girls opinions nat

hmmmm ok controversial one: I think Lorelai’s parenting was the reason Rory is such a fuckup. I don’t think your mum should be your best friend. I know she tried very hard and did establish rules but I think the whole besties thing is why Rory sucks so much as an adult and I find it logical and realistic and hate people saying the show jumped the shark or killed Rory’s character development. Rory was told she’s as smart as an adult from when she was a kid (and sometimes she was) and got every opportunity she wanted so like 🤷🏻‍♀️ yeah ofc she turned out like that.

[jarpadsnackles-blog]

I’m really sorry

Hey guys. I’m sorry that I completely disappeared off this blog. After my account got deleted, and I did all that work to rebuild, my heart just wasn’t in it. I stopped logging on here, I stopped watching the show, and I feel awful about all the people I lost contact with. I didn’t mean to ghost you guys. I still love y’all. <3

[that-homoerotic-blouse]

Another thing that really annoys me is how some episodes have zero consistency??? Like okay, I get that Moffat likes doing continuous episodes, but some of them end up in a massive cliffhanger 100% drama, and the next one begins with something completely different, on a WHOLLY DIFFERENT TONE, and the resolution of the cliffhanger is just marginally explained at the end in two lines of dialogue???

[ecofriendlylovepod]

Mick got to punch out his abuser. 

Sometimes this show is fucking ridiculous, but sometimes it does things so right. 

[jewishgarygreen]

legends screwups tally eps 1-2

nate IIII I

ray II

jax I 

mick I

[backatitagainathamburger]

personally i could not get through gilmore girls after watching rory cheat on dean, especially the scene at the window when she apologizes to him for cheating on him, and saying he was a good boyfriend, and she really did love him, and that it was all her fault, and how she hopes he eventually won’t hate her anymore because this was the exact rhetoric that my abuser said to me time and time again every time I tried to break up with him, “for good this time.” And I would always come back because of these guilt trippy lines.

And personally, I really fucking felt for dean when he’d start yelling at her about how she was being shady and clearly fucking around with other guys while they were still dating. Because it felt like he had the audacity that I didn’t. That I wish I’d had. I wish I was able to stand up to him sooner. I wish I’d been able to break up with him publicly, exposing him for the piece of shit he really was. So it always pissed me off to see people call Dean’s behavior abusive. It always feels so victim blamey to me. What victim doesn’t have a revenge fantasy like that? I’m not gonna say these accusations are completely unwarranted, he does yell a lot and as the child of a father who yelled at me a lot growing up!! Not fun!! But imo he was COMPLETELY justified for the way he broke up with her publicly.

My opinions about rory herself as a character have changed a lot over time, I’m not completely anti-rory anymore, having watched different video essays about her character. I think the idea that she is a mirror of her mother who will fix herself later in life after having her kid like her mother did makes a lot of sense and I don’t think she’s completely unfixable. She was a dumb teenager and it was her first relationship.

But people are willing to give so much slack to Rory and none to Dean whatsoever. She was only his second relationship and his first was off screen and he clearly had no lingering feelings for her which leads me to believe it wasn’t that serious. “If you could tell she was drifting away, just break up with her.” If you can tell you’re not into him anymore, just break up with him? I’m not saying either is more responsible for breaking up with the other, just that yall should be reasonable and acknowledge that they were teenagers and basically in their first relationship. Rory is not a saint and Dean is not the devil and vice versa. Obv I am biased towards dean tho

I’m not gonna excuse his behavior with Lindsay tho. That shit was egregious lmfao I wish the writers had never done that. Straight up a character assassination. Like Rory’s a fuckup but I think she could come back from the stuff she’s done but Dean? Dean having a wife and children and being in a loving family in the epilogue series made no sense to me whatsoever.

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

I thought Kirsty got along with Emily? Like in the gifs it looks like she gets along better with her grandparents than with her mom?

She does!  It’s sort of complicated but one of the big themes of her story is that you can love someone and still hurt them, and that really applies to Kirsty’s relationships with both Lorelai and Emily.  They both love her and genuinely think that they’re doing what’s best for her, but they both cross a lot of lines into emotional abuse territory. 

So the thing about Kirsty and Emily is that Kirsty really loves Emily, and Emily is often a really great grandmother.  Like when Kirsty gets cast in the nutcracker in New York and Lorelai can’t take time off from the inn to take her, Emily goes with her every year until she starts high school, and Kirsty has amazing memories from that time.  She brags about Kirsty to all of her friends and has their lawyer look over any contract Kirsty gets for ballet, she bought Kirsty leotards and dance shoes when she didn’t want to ask Lorelai because she knew they couldn’t afford it, all sorts of things.  But she was also relentlessly critical, and a big part of why Kirsty has an anxiety disorder — in Emily’s mind, Kirsty is pursuing a career that comes with a lot of spotlight and harsh criticism, and she wants Kirsty to be prepared so she can be extremely harsh trying to make her ‘perfect’, she has no problem with guilt tripping and manipulating Kirsty into doing what she wants (but in her mind she’s just trying to guide her to make the best choices), and she definitely makes Kirsty feel like she’s in the wrong (or just going crazy) if she tries to address the fact that Emily can really hurt her.

There’s also a lot of the same thing that we see with her and Rory in season 6, of really seeing/treating Kirsty like a second chance to have the perfect daughter, so if god forbid she ever messes up, Emily is completely brutal in tearing her down and making her feel awful (but again, in Emily’s mind she’s just trying to help her not repeat her mother’s mistakes)

And Kirsty... Kirsty who’s a child who’s always felt like her mother would be happier without her, whose mother has decided that she’s going to be the family fuckup, with abandonment issues a mile wide, she assumes that she’s the problem.  She has all of these amazing memories with her grandma and Emily has done so much for her and obviously loves her so much, so when she crosses those lines and treats Kirsty like shit, Kirsty assumes that it’s her fault for just not being good enough and that Emily really is just looking out for her and she just needs to do/be better all the time

And then Chilton happens, and Friday Night Dinners start, and suddenly Rory is around.  And Rory is perfect to them.  Much like with Lorelai, Rory is the perfect angel and Kirsty is always just a bit too wild, a bit too independent.  Where Rory has literally never spent a night away from Lorelai, Kirsty regularly goes to sleepovers with the older girls from her dance team, where Rory’s idea of a good Friday night is reading or watching movies and eating junk food with Lorelai, Kirsty would rather be hanging out with her friends, that sort of thing.  And while Rory gets the occasional guilt trip or verbal lashing, it’s nothing compared to what Kirsty has been getting for her entire life.  And that really fucks her up because even though she was never Lorelai’s favourite, she was always her grandparents’ favourite, right up until Rory showed up, and all of a sudden her inferiority complex is kicked into higher gear because no one ever loves her as much as they love Rory.  And suddenly nothing she does is ever enough anymore because she’s never as good as Rory, she’s always compared to Rory, and anytime she’s anything less than perfect, it’s not just Emily’s vicious criticisms that she faces but a constant stream of “why can’t you be more like Rory”

And it takes a long time for Kirsty to realize how fucked up it is, and that she shouldn’t have to earn their love, and that the way that Emily talks to her is completely not okay.  And it’s difficult for her to reconcile that with all of the amazing memories that she has of Emily because how can Emily love her and do so much for her and also treat her like garbage the moment she isn’t perfect.  Like, Emily (and Richard) bought her this ridiculously expensive but absolutely amazing apartment and just gave it to her, so how can she call any of Emily’s behaviour abusive, right?  and it takes her a long time to process the fact that just because Emily loves her and just because she thinks she’s doing what’s best for Kirsty doesn’t mean that Kirsty isn’t allowed to be angry and hurt and to really start establishing and enforcing boundaries where she’s concerned.

She does love Emily, and Emily loves her, and they definitely start off a lot closer than Kirsty & Lorelai, but sometimes the people who love you can still really hurt you, and that’s something that I wanted to focus on with Kirsty because I almost never see it in any media or fanfiction — it’s always either the horrible abusive monster or the perfect flawless angel, and life just isn’t like that and my salt at how Lorelai is treated like a perfect mother despite fucking up a lot led to, well, Kirsty’s entire existence tbh

[pomegranate-belle]

For the TV/movies meme: 2, 3, 14 and 17!

2. Top 5 overrated TV shows

- Game of Thrones. There, I said it, I’m sorry world.

- The Bachelor and all its permutations; they’re not popular in fandom-type community but given the fact that it’s STILL GOING AFTER GOD KNOWS HOW MANY SEASONS, well, I think it applies.

- The Walking Dead. I watched like three episodes of it and got bored. Like. I got bored of a show about the zombie apocalypse. How??

- BBC Sherlock just... Isn’t that good guys. Sorry.

- I’m running out of stuff. Uhhhhh... I saw a couple episodes of Vampire Diaries once and wasn’t very impressed, idk?

3. Top 5 underrated TV shows

- Black Lightning is pretty cool, I really like the premise of it and I don’t think I’ve ever really heard anyone mention it. It’s fun to see a superhero that’s really a Grown Ass Adult with like, kids and a job, who kind of already knows what they’re doing when the show opens.

- The Sentinel. Ok, ok, don’t shoot me, I know it’s got some Uncomfy Racist Mysticism, for sure be aware of that, it was made in the 90s, but like... It is genuinely a pretty fun show. The characters are just all so interesting, and Jim and Blair just have the most entertaining dynamic. And hey if you ever wondered where that Sentinel-Guide fanfic trope came from...

- I know it’s a Canadian kids’ show from like a decade ago but Storm Hawks is good ok?? It’s really cute with interesting worldbuilding and a sense of humor I think would resonate with a lot of people right now.

- ABC’s Forever; this damn show only got one season but my brother and I have rewatched that one season probably fifteen times, it’s just so good!! Immortality, crime-solving, hilarious side characters, a son who looks older than his dad, tragic flashbacks?? How could you pass this up?

- Pushing Daisies, for sure. I mean. Guys. Come on. The tongue-in-cheek narration, the wild backstories, the fact that it’s literally about a socially-anxious be romance romance who uses his powers to bake pies?!?! How are people not all over this show like white on rice??

14. Top 5 badass characters

- Rose Tyler broke the laws of time and space, turned herself into a fourth-dimensional goddess, vaporized a fleet of Daleks, and brought a man back to life forever. How do you even top that?? She will end you.

- Ok I was trying to not choose two people from the same franchise but also holy fuck, Rory Williams. I literally shouted “Jesus Christ, Rory!!” at the screen the first time I saw That One Scene in The Wedding of River Song.

- Peggy Carter is a stone cold badass, this woman will brain you with a fucking stapler and be back home in time for tea with her girlfriend. God bless her. This is why she’s the Captain America in Miles’s universe—

- Luke Cage. Look, we all love Matt’s sick-ass hallway fights but you gotta admit that just walking straight down the hallway with bullets bouncing off of you is on a completely new level of badass. I love this man.

- OUAT Rumplestiltskin; dude burned down a castle, killed a man, and became an all-powerful demon creature to protect his kid. Then when that went horribly wrong and he lost his son, he spent 300 years becoming the most knowledgeable and accomplished sorcerer in the world and creating one of the most powerful curses in history to try and get him back. And remember, this guy started out as a hobbled peasant who couldn’t read.

17. Top 5 “deserved better” characters

- Neal Cassidy/Baelfire; my son deserved his fucking happy ending, and even if I ship Swanfire I wouldn’t even care if they didn’t get back together as long as he got to be back with his family, there was literally no reason to kill him off.

- Benny Lafitte; I don’t even. Fucking. Watch SPN anymore but good god. He was nothing but supportive and good and selfless and what does he get for it?? Dumped back into Purgatory and written off the show. I literally created an OC and wrote a wish-fulfillment fix-it fic for this shit.

- Donna. Noble. What the fuck was that ending?? Seriously?? She had all that character growth and gained all those feelings of self-worth and then you slam dunk her with magic amnesia and leave her right back where she started??? No!!

- Can’t believe I’m saying this about a Boardwalk Empire character because they’re all terrible people but you know what?? Angela Darmody deserved better!! She deserved to be able to take her son and run away from her fuckup husband and his pedophilic mom with a beautiful woman!! I stand by that!!

- You know what, I’ll say it, the IF writers should not have done that to Davos, absolutely fucking nobody goes from “*puppy dog eyes* I’ll stay with you, Danny..!!” to “Lol so we should definitely assassinate Danny Rand amirite??” after just one fight. Nobody! They did him so dirty omfg, and no I don’t care that his character is a villain in the comics.

[maryfuckingwhitney]

ironically the complete random shittiness of this Luke has a kid thing highlights how well done rorys fuckups were written and foreshadowed from literally the first episode

[rorykillmore]

remember when rory went to see jess all those years later and it was like... deliberately to try to cheat on logan. to get back at him for cheating. because she was upset and didn’t know how to deal with it

that’s one of my big “oh boy rory you fuckup” moments

[loveisofthebody-blog]

Review: Looking for Group by Rory Harrison

I picked up this ARC at @lgbtqreads’s suggestion a while back; she’d been asking for a trans person’s perspective on the book. I’ll just state up front that I’m not sure how I feel about the book from a trans person’s perspective and honestly would want to read what some trans women have to say about it. I went into an internet wormhole of trying to figure out if this was an #ownstories title - specifically, if Harrison is a trans woman. That search left me feeling pretty gross and invasive, and I do not have an answer to that question anyway. It feels like a question that matters, though, and I need to spend some time thinking about why.

I’m posting this a bit ahead of the April 25 release date, mostly because I want to open up the floor to other opinions or questions.

Anyway, here goes, welcome back to the inside of my brain:

Find Rory Harrison’s Looking for Group here.

What’s it about?

Dylan is in remission from what should have been terminal cancer. He’s failing to adjust to a life he didn’t think he’d be living much longer, saddled with a terrible family that isn’t doing anything to welcome him back into the world of the living, and an addiction to the opioids he was receiving as a part of his palliative care. Instead of enrolling in school he takes off to meet his gaming friend Arden, a trans girl he’s never met in person but whom he considers his best friend. They impulsively decide to chase a silly MacGuffin across the country in a series of shady vehicles and romantic tension ensues.

How is it?

It took me a while to get used to Dylan’s voice. It rambles and omits things; he’s bitter and angry and occasionally a space cadet. But over the course of the novel I really came to like him and believe in him. For a coming of age road trip novel, it’s rather stylistically challenging, and doesn’t have the tidy ending I expected to find. I’m surprising myself by being rather fond of it.

There’s a lot of good work here on class differences and neglectful families, as well as the more general questions of mortality swirling around in Dylan’s brain.

How’s the queer representation?

Here’s the thing. I don’t know. I think it’s probably quite good. Extremely accurate and humane and true to the messy realities of identity and teenage brains. But there are red flags everywhere and I’m wary of recommending this to queer and/or trans readers because this novel is resting on a very mature, nuanced understanding of gender and sexuality. I think.

Basically, Dylan is gay. He’s open about this, both with himself and everyone else. Arden is a bi- or pansexual girl (she uses both terms in a lovely and exploratory way). Who is, as she puts it, “six feet tall and built like a rugby player.” And Dylan falls in love with her. I knew this was going to happen, going into the book, and I’ll be honest, I just didn’t want to read it. I knew that there was a solid chance that this was going to include some extremely gross erasure of Arden’s gender.

That doesn’t happen. Dylan’s attraction to Arden is inclusive of her womanhood from the very beginning. We are so deep inside Dylan’s head throughout that we hear him questioning himself: is he attracted to her because some part of him doesn’t believe she’s a woman? The answer to that is a firm no, over and over. Described through Dylan’s smitten eyes, she’s funny and smart and beautiful and absolutely positively female. He instead finds himself revising his ideas about his own sexuality, though he doesn’t settle on a firm label for himself. Though it’s nowhere in the text, my own reading of the book is that Dylan is demisexual: he’s not a very sexually-driven character, and his physical attraction to Arden seems to grow out of their intimate friendship. 

More red flags appear: Dylan, on two occasions, deliberately misgenders Arden to strangers. He later tells her that this was out of concern for her safety: she isn’t read as a girl, and they’re traveling in places where he felt she’d be safer being identified as a boy. This is both stupid and not something he communicated to her before doing. The first time it happens it’s not addressed. The second time, though, Arden confronts him about it, and he seems to recognize his mistake and be genuinely remorseful. It’s a realistic depiction of fucking it up and taking ownership of said fuckup. Arden forgives Dylan for this, but I’m not sure trans readers will so easily.

Dylan also convinces Arden to return to her emotionally absent father who misgenders and deadnames her throughout the book. He does this by insisting that her father loves her, citing the evidence that he once, while begging her to return, used her real name. This is terrible advice and I wish it had been treated as such. I work with a lot of trans teens who come from unsupportive families. Many of them will come to develop better relationships with their parents over time, and that’s a good thing. Those reconciliations, if they are to be healthy, need to come with some real assurances of parental love and support and apology. I would never coerce a kid into moving back in with an unsupportive parent before they felt ready to do so. This is the one point in the book that I can’t feel okay about, and it’s pretty major.

There’s a scene in the book that I planned to write about, which seems pretty offensive to Deaf people. But according to Harrison’s twitter, it’s since been revised and won’t be in the final printing, so I will reserve judgment there.

So, idk. I enjoyed it, and think it’s a legitimately good book that does a lot of things very well. I also think it has the potential to be upsetting or othering to transfemme readers, and would be cautious about recommending it to teens for that reason. I’d definitely give them some spoilers first at the very least. What did other people think? Any trans women want to take a stab at it, having been warned in advance?

[blog-rycbar123]

Alternative titles for 2x15:

1. Fellowship of Major Fuckups

2. Fellowship of People who don't trust Mick Rory

3. Fellowship of People who don’t deserve Mick Rory

4. Fellowship of The Only Redeeming Quality Of This Episode Was Tolkien Himself

[inclusive365]

day 88

Bike America by Mike Lew

Synopsis:Self-proclaimed fuckup Penny decides last-minute to join a cross-country bike trip for cancer. She joins a motley group of more prepared bikers: group leader Ryan, lesbian couple Rorie and Annabel (who are getting married in every state it’s legal), and wholesome Tim Billy. However, Penny cannot find a home for herself in any of the cities they visit or within…