#sarahs being autistic about her shows again

[lesbicosmos]

i made a list of all the people i could think of that had multiple roles in the whoniverse and damn this show rly likes reusing cast members

peter capaldi

12th doctor

caecilius (4x02: the fires of pompeii)

john frobisher (torchwood: children of earth)

karen gillan

amy pond

soothsayer (4x02: the fires of pompeii)

freema agyeman

martha jones

adeola oshodi (2x12: army of ghosts)

eve myles

gwen cooper

gwyneth (1x03: the unquiet dead)

anjli mohindra

rani chandra (sja)

queen of the skithra (12x04: nikola tesla's night of terror)

julian bleach

davros

the ghostmaker (torchwood 2x10: from out of the rain)

the nightmare man (sja 4x01/02: the nightmare man)

mark gatiss

richard lazarus (3x06: the lazarus experiment)

danny boy (5x03: victory of the daleks)

gantok (6x13: the wedding of river song)

captain lethbridge-stewart (2017 special: twice upon a time)

david bradley

solomon (7x02: dinosaurs on a spaceship)

first doctor (2017 special: twice upon a time)

bradley walsh

graham o'brien

elijah spellman (sja 2x03/04: the day of the clown)

dan starkey

strax

several other sontarans

ian the elf (2014 special: last christmas)

chipo chung

chantho (3x11: utopia)

fortune teller (4x11: turn left)

miriam margolyes

beep the meep (voice) (the star beast)

leef apple glyn slitheen-blathereen (voice) (sja 3x06: the gift)

adjoa andoh

sister jatt (2x01: new earth)

francine jones

vinette robinson

abi lerner (3x07: 42)

rosa parks (11x03: rosa)

alexander armstrong

reg arwell (2011 special: the doctor, the widow and the wardrobe)

mr smith (voice) (sja)

[its-a-ducky-mess]

Speculation: Sarah's Potential Neurodivergency

Some certain viewers and fans of Sarah & Duck have posed a certain question over time. So much so, that it's even one of Google's autocomplete results and one of the suggestions when you so much as look up the show or its characters. That question being...

"Is Sarah autistic?"

While (to my knowledge, and at the time of writing this) no staff of the show have put out an official word, some fans have theorized based on evidence seen in the show that Sarah is in fact autistic/neurodivergent. One such user is @beenovel, an autistic individual, whose theorizing has gotten me to do some of my own research over time as well. I will be paraphrasing and using their evidence here, marked by "quoted italics". I do not mean to steal their evidence or their work, but using it to compile a stronger collection of evidence for this theory/headcanon. Please check out their original analysis here.

As a warning, this post is incredibly long.

Clothing

"She has comfort clothes. A lot of cartoon characters wear the same outfit over and over again but Sarah is shown to have other clothes, she just likes her outfit best. When one of her shoes gets a hole she is very upset about the prospect of replacing them. I also like to think that the reason she’s always wearing her beanie is because (like me) she finds the pressure on her head comforting."

The shoe point is from Tapping Shoes. More about this will be elaborated on later, although it is worth mentioning that Sarah tried to play off the damage to her favorite shoes in order to keep them before being convinced to look for new ones.

While it's unknown as to her exact attachment to her pink jacket, Sarah has been shown to prize it. When the zip pull breaks off of it, she becomes incredibly upset and near-unresponsive. So much so, that Duck had to push a whimpering Sarah all the way to Scarf Lady's house in Haber Dasher.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 37, Haber Dasher]

When at her door, Sarah could only muster a heart-broken "Zip..." as she presents it to Scarf Lady. When Scarf Lady's solution doesn't work, Sarah sighs in resignation and hides behind a curtain.

Sarah's beanie/cap/hat is near and dear to her, as seen in Balloon Barnacles where she is upset over the possibility of losing her very first hat made for her by Scarf Lady. She's also had the hat long enough for it to appear (potentially) years earlier in the past, during the flashback in Duck Flies. The head pressure idea actually does have some more ground to it. During Cloud Tower, which takes place on a hot day, Sarah doesn't wear her jacket, but keeps the hat. Also in Doubles, in her tennis outfit, she actually does forgo the hat, but replaces it with a headband. This give a neat amount of credence to the pressure angle.

Favorites

"Her hyperfixations are sea cows (also known as manatees) and lemons. In one episode they are going to the zoo to see the sea cows and she mentions it’s been five days since they last visited the sea cows and the narrator replies with “[the sea cow]’s probably [wondering] where we’ve been”. This implies they often visit the zoo just to see the sea cows. For me, I was obsessed with otters... there was this one aquarium I used to go to... and it was my favorite place to go, even as an older teenager. I can watch them for hours and be perfectly happy, and Sarah seems to be the same way."

This moment is at the beginning of Paisley Sea. (This episode also contributes to another theory I'll post about later!) The zoo and aquariums are a frequent setting for certain episodes. Apart from having a poster of a sea cow in her bedroom, Sarah was upset at not getting the chance to adopt a sea cow during Basking Shark, seemingly disappointed at having to settle for the titular shark. Sarah also practically explodes with happiness upon seeing a baby sea cow during Paisley Sea.

[Source: Series 2, Episode 17, Paisley Sea]

In addition, every visit to the zoo that's occurred, Sarah has sought out the sea cow and greeted it at least once, if even for a moment. One such occurrence is in Planetarium Aquarium, where she even went back to say it was "still her favorite" and giving it a thumbs up despite not visiting them for a proper amount of time.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 15, Planetarium Aquarium] This is also a very adorable screenshot.

"She also has lemon water all the time. I don’t know if that’s a common British thing, but I know that my mom and I (both autistic) prefer our water with lemon in it because it adds flavor and makes it easier to stay hydrated."

Lemons remain a very present theme/motif throughout the show even outside of the lemon water drink.

[Sources: Series 2, Episode 13, Shallot Circus (top) | Series 1, Episode 32, Puncture Pump (bottom)]

Sarah has a lemon themed telephone, bike valve covers, and had difficulty picking a singular item from the cafe's menu in Lemon Cafe (although being on a very short time limit didn't help), let alone pick a drink. In the same episode, she goes through a lot of work to make her own lemon cafe. Sarah is the sole human enjoyer of lemon water within the show, and solely during Lemon Cafe, she seems disappointed when Duck, Umbrella, and Bug dislike lemon water, and seemingly doesn't understand why exactly they don't like it like she does. I say "human enjoyer" because Flamingo during Scared of Stairs drinks and likes lemon water, much to Sarah's enjoyment.

[Source: Series 1, Episode 30, Scared of Stairs]

Learning

"She loves learning things and pretty much every time she has a question that her dad the narrator can’t answer she looks it up on the computer or goes to the library to find out more. She gets very upset if she can’t find a satisfactory answer."

While I am personally a "NarraDad" truther as well (Despite the evidence which I'll discuss along with the theory in a future post, maybe), that's not the point here.

There are many points where Sarah will look something up on the computer in the technology room for answers, such as in Slow Quest and Tortoise Snooze. Sarah is also a frequent library visitor, and a few episodes take place there or are visited for a part of them (such as Cheer Up Donkey or Lost Librarian, to name a few).

Sarah also repeats back certain words or phrases sometimes (like repeating 'shokupan' from John during Fluff Bread), which beenovel says is how autistic children learn inflection, and hypothesizes this is a vocal stim for Sarah. She often mispronounces words, new or otherwise. Such as, saying "burger" instead of burglar (Constable Quack), "elephants" instead of eloquent (Mountain Mints), and "eyes, sky, dry" instead of "eins, zwei, drei", which is "one, two, three" in German (Woolly Memories, Duck Hotel). Possibly the funniest of these examples is Sarah pronouncing "itadakimasu", a Japanese phrase said before you begin eating, as "it's a ducky mess" (which is where I get my blog's handle from!!) during Fast Slow Bungalow. Sarah also clearly pronounces "hello" and "yes" as hullo and yus. Merchandise and social media confirms that she says them with a U as opposed to their proper versions. She also combines "it's nice" into "s'nice" at times, even to the point where the Narrator says s'nice and has to correct himself (Bench Blocked). "Suppose" also gets this treatment, sometimes sounding like "s'pose"

[Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYt4c2yHWQ | https://shop.sarahandduck.com/collections/art-prints-1/products/sarah-duck-a-z-art-print-sdaz]

On the topic of "proper" things, during Extra Bounce, Sarah and friends are brought to a room within the bouncy ball machine that houses unusually bouncing balls. The Narrator remarks "This must be the room for all the balls that don't bounce properly." Sarah then looks a bit upset and replies with a corrective/offended "Bounce differently."

beenovel writes "Autistic children are often upset at the prospect of toys or animals being treated differently just because they don’t do things the “right” way or are perceived as “broken”.

Sound Sensitivity

Tapping Shoes comes back into play here. Sarah sometimes shows an aversion/discomfort with certain noises, most prevalent being sudden, unexpected noise. In Tapping Shoes, when she unknowingly wore tap-dancing shoes and walked into the tiled kitchen, she became surprised and covered her ears first thing. She tried to quiet/muffle them, trying to get them to not make any sound until she's told that they're supposed to make sound. Before entering the noisy carriage in Train Fudge, she recoils back due to the noise and again, covers her ears first thing.

To link to another few point beenovel makes, Sarah becomes frustrated when others don't follow along with her games, such as her idea for her birthday in The Mouse's Birthday. Throughout the episode, all she wants is a quiet birthday, but is constantly annoyed and upset when her friends are loud, so much so that she retreats to the closet to escape the noise. beenovel states they've done this on multiple occasions as well.

Focus, Concentrate! /ref

Sarah has sometimes displayed inattentiveness and lack of focus, even when she's "supposed" to be focused.

"This is a common little kid trait but it’s more intense in autistic kids."

A possible instance of this is in Perimeter Pals, where while waiting for Tortoise to finish crossing their biking path, Sarah and Duck elect to take a break. They then nap for much longer than anticipated and have to scramble ahead to continue their park trip.

Funny Duck

"She’s taken an interest in an “odd” animal companion, and treats him more like a sibling than a pet."

Sarah may have a hyperfixation on ducks as well, in no small part due to Duck's presence in her life. Apart from her shirt and pajamas featuring ducks on them, she has a Duck shaped window in her house, as well as having a Duck costume already made and prepared before she even had the idea to swap with Duck during The Play.

[Sources: Series 1, Episode 3, Cheer Up Donkey | Series 1, Episode 35, The Play]

She is also very emotionally attached to Duck and becomes downtrodden at the possibility of not being around him for a long period of time. She dearly misses Duck for the short time they're apart during Duck Flies, almost unable to fathom doing anything without him.

[Source: Series 2, Episode 40, Duck Flies]

This feeling of togetherness seems to go both ways, as when Duck does come back at the end of the episode, the Narrator remarks "It seems Duck missed you too."

The Bench

Sarah is strongly attached to a specific bench in the park. She treats this bench incredibly seriously. When highlighting various parts of town, she holds the bench to a higher regard than a playground (Outside Outside). Sarah doesn't like going to other nearby parks because they lack the bench (Fancy Park), and gets very upset when something prevents them from sitting there, such as a fairground obscuring it (Fairground), or a sleeping teenager (Bench Blocked). Duck, without any word from anyone, offers to bite the teenagers leg of his own volition, which Sarah gives him the okay to do. The Narrator has to interrupt Duck, and Sarah is shown with an excited look right before Duck is about to bite. When the Narrator wonders if there's other places to sit, Sarah shakes her head "no", and gives a hesitant, begrudging headshake when the Narrator pressed her if they've actually tried to look for a place.

[Source: Series 3, Episode 14, Bench Blocked]

Later in the same instance, Sarah herself tries to bite the guy but is stopped by a squirrel. Sarah and Duck sit on the bench even while the paint on it is still wet, and are so relieved that they can sit there that they don't notice the paint on them (Fancy Park). Likely the reason Sarah likes the bench so much is because she met Duck there when she was younger (Duck Flies).

Making Friends

Going back to friends, she seems a bit awkward when meeting real people. Inanimate objects or animals, not so much. She meets Rainbow, the celestial bodies, Cake, Bug, Umbrella, Leftover Wool, and more and seems nonplussed about it. In contrast, when she meets John and Flamingo during Doubles, she walks back into her yard after exchanging neutral greeting with an awkward pause, and without the Narrator prodding, likely would've not continued a conversation. In addition, she confuses John for a girl and Flamingo for a duck, likely trying to make sense out of the new people using herself and Duck as reference. John sounded like he had a higher voice when he said hello to Sarah, so maybe she just assumed John was a girl by that. Sarah also seems a bit awkward with adults she isn't familiar with/hasn't met yet, like Music Lady and Cloud Captain, though that might just be a common kid trait.

Organization and Spontaneity

"She likes having things be organized and in their place. She also likes categorizing/matching colors."

"She enjoys looking for things. Many episodes start with [Sarah] and [D]uck looking for things like crunchy leaves, green patches of grass, things that match the colors on her color wheel, fluffy clouds, etc."

Sarah has rows of identical hats in her closet, her tuba is always seen in her room when it's not being used, and she has a drawer full of her previous drawings in the living room (Picture Planes). The color wheel point references Rainbow's Niece. Cheer Up Donkey begins with Sarah and Duck counting grass in their back garden.

Sudden interest in random things is also a trait Sarah exhibits. She often declares things to be good, saying "this one is best" or similar. Octagon Club is the best example, she sees an octagon in a shapes book, and goes to find things around the area that's octagonal. She forms the titular Octagon Club and quickly invites many other friends into it.

Literal-mindedness

Sarah often takes some of the Narrator's jokes or metaphors seriously. Either that, or the jokes completely fly over her head. Kite Flight provides this exchange:

Narrator: What we need is a windbreak.

Sarah: Don't break the wind, we need it!

Mountain Mints also has this:

Sarah: The mint's at the top!

Narrator: Fine, why not… Perhaps I'll find a nice chocolate log cabin.

Sarah: [excitedly:] Ooh!

Stimming

Sarah, when excited, sometimes does this sort of shaky-fists gesture close to her face, usually accompanied by an excited 'oooh!' or other hushed surprised sounds. She does it a few more times in the series, but at this moment, other examples are escaping me.

[Sources: Series 1, Episode 1, Lots of Shallots | Series 3, Episode 11, Fluff Bread]

Smaller tidbits I couldn't really fit anywhere else

She also sometimes does things in a formulaic fashion. Whenever she steps in snow or crunchy leaves, Sarah remarks "good crunch" (Seacow Snow Trail, Mountain Mints, Boo Night, among others) and becomes upset at Duck (albeit only for a brief moment) when he crunches some leaves in the path faster than her (Boo Night). She has commented "good crunch" since early childhood, as seen in Duck Flies.

Sarah originally would've kept her hair long and grown out simply because Scarf Lady didn't give her a good hair cut the "last time" during Hair Cut. She keeps trying to avoid it by preoccupying herself, and when she does eventually go to a salon, she tries to get Duck to take her place and admits that she's scared to the stylist. All in all, she lets a bad experience get the better of her and makes her catastrophize when trying something again.

Sometimes Sarah does things only she herself would like. One example I could think of is Cheer Up Donkey. Sarah played the tuba, which Donkey didn't like, but she was so into playing the tuba that it took the shouting of the Narrator for her to stop. When asked to try something that cheers her up and what makes her happy a short time after that, she immediately grabs the tuba again and has to be preemptively stopped before playing it again.

One more attachment related point similar to previous interests. Something ends up wrong with Sarah's tuba during Music Fixer, so she goes to the Music Shop to get it checked out. Music Lady tells her that she can hear what instruments think and that her tuba was saying it was too small for her (though that was just Bug). Sarah gets upset over having to replace her favorite instrument with something else and ends up not finding something that suits her before the episode's resolution.

As a final, sort of funny thing, Sarah is friends with a rainbow, and the rainbow lemniscate is the symbol of neurodiversity.

To my current knowledge I am not on the autism spectrum, and for that I do not wish to seem like I'm speaking on behalf of the autistic community. I do have ADHD however, which I was recently diagnosed with (I recognize those two are not the same thing). Thinking back on my childhood, a lot of Sarah's behaviors struck chords with my behaviors. Especially the sound sensitivity and lack of understanding with plans, those two were very prominent growing up, and the sound portion is still somewhat of an issue for me right now. Regardless of if Sarah is "canonically" autistic/neurodivergent, fans can interpret the cast of characters however they want, and I think it's sweet for kids watching Sarah & Duck to be almost represented in a way. It's also very nice that Sarah is never treated differently nor excluded from things because of her mannerisms. She's Sarah, and Sarah is s'nice.

[edwinrocks0811]

The Evil

Lastly we have the big bad. Given what we know about them(it's an all-devouring entity that is possessing Morgan), and what we analyzed in relation to them. They're two figures that might've influenced the Evil. God and Samael... Just bear with me. Starting with God in Hebrews 12:29 God is described as a "consuming fire" which in the bible refers to focus attention(in regards to not committing sin). Furthermore in Deuteronomy 9:3 God is described as willing to destroy your enemies(the most common being sin).

The way this is utilized in the Evil is in a more literal sense, as it is not only a fiery entity but in consuming everything destroys it. Next is Samael, who is stated to either be an angel of death or the head of all devils, and the both interpretations we'll explain in relation to the Evil. As the head of demons Samael was a menace to society. He planted the forbidden tree in Eden, caused the death of someone(Sarah) by telling her Isaac was sacrificed, wrestled someone(Jacob), commands an army of demons, brought misfortunes to Judah and Israel, and overall is seen as an incarnation of evil to the point of patroning Rome.

Majorly of these traits can be seen/contextualized in the Evil. Their ability to give life to the dead/inanimate creatures is similar to an army of demons, wants to consume all of existence, and has tried many times to weaken Unicorn to the point it: altered time, used Winston to prey on Emma's weaknesses(putting him on the boat or making him a werewolf), took Emma outta the equation to by proxy remove Melinda, used June way as a red herring and deliberately betrayed her to throw Unicorn off(and also killed Otto for similar reasons) basically bringing misfortune to anyone it crosses.

Also just like in some tellings of the Forbidden Fruit story stating it was Lilith some say it was Samael that manipulated Eve, which is seen in the fight in Egypt as stated before; furthermore Samael was said to be the husband of Lilith who bore the demon Asmodeus. Which is once again seen in the Evil possessing Lilith. Also something to point out is that in episode 5 and 10 we can see that Morgan is inside the evil, yet in these forms she is not. Implying these aren't the Evil themselves rather monsters it created and controls projecting it's consciousness, like when it possesses people.

As an angel of death he was basically the reaper who prayed on man's downfall. It's also stated that one can avoid death, like Moses did when he chastised Samael by laying his staff with God's name engraved due to him(God) promising Moses he'd be the only person to claim his soul. Another thing to note was that he was stated to also be the "great prince in heaven" who ruled over angels and powers.

Once again the Evil desires to consume the world and will take any measures to ensure that, whether be killing or weakening someone. And only Unicorn overcoming the obstacles they face as a group and individuals can they pull through. Also as stated in Melinda's section the Evil resides above the clouds in the cosmic realm possibly referencing heaven.

This took longer to make than I wanted(and by longer I procrastinated and got stumped on Morgan's and Lilith's part). I hope you like reading the ramblings of an autistic person who only learned about half this stuff in trying to understand Shin Megami Tensei more. Now I'm gonna rewatch the show in full again. For the hundreth time

How Unicorn Uses Mythos: Judaism and Christinianty

So if my past likes, and post didn't make it obvious Unicorn: Warriors Eternal is my new fav hyperfixation that has consumed every part of me. And similar to my now on pause Pokemon analysis series I wanna do something similar for UWE. Now before we start I'd like to explain 2 things

This analysis is only gonna focus on Merlin, Morgan, Melinda, and the Evil and the events these characters experience and myths(or aspects) that are possibly used

Since I have a crippling fear of spreading misinfo that gets talked about as gospel and to not type: possibly, could, might be a gazillion times this entire post is ✨✨ Speculative Analysis ✨✨

Starting off with

Merlin

Now if you read the title you'll know I'll be talking about myths from Judaism and Christianity, and you may wonder. WTF does a european wizard and his family have to do with those myths. Well after some research

https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2021/11/merlin-the-magician.html

In myths of Merlin's birth it was stated that the demons of hell were sick of Jesus saving souls from hell. So they decided to create the antichrist by sending an incubus to conceive a cambion(half demon/human) with the princess Dyfed of Wales; however, before they(demons) could get their hands on evil Jesus. Dyfed found a priest to baptise Merlin, freeing him from the shackles of his fate as fucked up Jesus. Another thing from this myth is that Merlin was said to possess the ability to see into the future. In UWE Merlin has shown the ability to not only see in time, but also travel through as shown with him obtaining Copernicus, being able to tell Emma was experiencing a paradox, and seeing into the future in ep. 9. This could also explains why he had the evil to seal in Melinda in the first place.

[atalana]

alright @toshitophchan, it’s time for the angsty one, bc dear god is the nightmare man a fucking episode

like we got to see everyone’s worst fears in that one - rani’s scared that her desire for answers will get someone hurt, clyde’s scared of being useless and abandoned (which comes directly from all the stuff with his dad and he and luke honestly have a lot in common here), sarah jane’s been scared of so much throughout her life but right now it’s losing the people she loves - and then there’s luke, who’s terrified of being alone, and more importantly, that any choice he makes that prioritises his own wants over someone else’s, will end with everyone he loves turning on him. 

and like, i could link this to the luke is super autistic thing, the fear of change is definitely present in this episode, everyone’s going through it (and honestly rani is the only person in this episode who isn’t having abandonment issues), but it goes deeper than that, luke is scared of being used. 

and of course he is! because that’s what he was designed for, he was never supposed to be a person at all. as sarah jane keeps telling him, he saved the world the day he was born, but that moment in the factory wasn’t just a victory, it was the first time he came face to face with mrs wormwood since he woke up. and we know from the s2 finale that that matters. he may not want to care about her, but some part of him knows she’s responsible for his existence, he can’t just ignore that. and the first thing she does? tell sarah jane (not even luke himself, because she didn’t see him as a person) that luke is no longer needed, and tries to kill him. he’s been alive for only a few hours at this point, he’s still learning the fundamentals of how the world works, and one of the few things he knows is that he very nearly died because his creator didn’t need him anymore. 

and season one reinforces the fact that he’s around bc he’s useful, because aliens keep taking advantage of him. he doesn’t know anything about how a normal school works, so he accidentally helps the slitheen almost destroy the world. he doesn’t know what to find suspicious in a stranger, so he gets kidnapped by nuns and used as a hostage against sarah jane. the slitheen’s entire plan in the lost boy involves using luke to make money, which is sabotaged by mr smith who wants to use luke to free the xylok.

season two, he’s taken by spellman to use against sarah jane. mrs wormwood targets his friends because she wants her human servant back. even some of his victories, like being the only one who could stop truman in secrets of the stars, it’s not because he did anything special. he saved the world because he existed. and that’s good for getting him to realise being different isn’t bad, that victory definitely does help him in some ways, but it’s not doing anything to make him feel like an actual person, rather than just a useful tool. 

and his friends try to help, but they don’t always know what to do either. when mr smith is about to explode in prisoner of the judoon, clyde and rani both start arguing about the best way luke can solve that problem, and it’s just stressing him out more, trying to solve this and be everything they want him to be at the same time. most telling is the argument he has with sarah jane in mona lisa’s revenge, the first time he’s properly spoken his mind, and what does he say? “i don’t know what you want from me! you say you’re trying to give me a normal life, but when i act like a real teenager, you want me to be perfect again!”

and that gets right to the heart of it, because he doesn’t feel like a person. he feels like he’s been putting on a show of being a person, and even after two years, he still can’t get it right. “real teenager” sets a very clear line between luke and his peers, he’s not one of them, never has been. and he doesn’t know how to be what everyone wants him to be, and that scares him, because if he’s not what people want him to be, what is he? and what if they do what mrs wormwood did, and decide he’s more of a problem than a solution?

and then we get to the nightmare man. because this is the first time luke’s made a choice for himself, not to try and please other people. he’s excited about university, but he knows he’d be leaving his friends behind, that rani and clyde would be envious, and that sarah jane would be either alone, or worse, relieved he’s gone. which scares him so bad it opens the door for the nightmare man. and in his nightmares? his friends are jealous and spiteful, they don’t want him around anymore, they never needed him in the first place. sarah jane adopts a new son, who she likes much better than she ever did luke. the world moves on without him and he’s trapped in an endless void, utterly alone.

and the nightmare man guilts luke about it constantly - it’s luke’s nightmares that are letting him take physical form, soon he’ll put the whole world to sleep and it’ll be luke’s fault, with nothing he can do about it. he can’t be useful here, because he is the problem. the nightmare man also targets clyde and rani with exactly the same isolation tactics - luke’s so much better than you, he’s leaving you behind, why should you bother to help him when it won’t benefit you at all? stop looking out for him and look out for yourselves.

but luke asked for their help.

and i think this is honestly one of his biggest character moments in the whole series - he asked for their help, with nothing to give and no reason in his mind why he would deserve it. and they came back to him because they cared.

(it’s another reason why sky was such a great addition to the show, bc, sarah jane adopting another kid once he left was explicitly one of his worst fears. but no, he’s an amazing older brother to her and he loves her, and sarah jane can love them both at the same time, it doesn’t mean he’s not needed or that anyone’s forgotten about him)

(and, as mentioned in my sky post, i think having him as a brother helps her a lot too)

but i think a lot about him in the end of this episode describing himself as the boy who was made by aliens to destroy the world. like that’s a lot more explicit about that than he’s ever been before, because he’s still kinda scared of being that, of not being human, of being dangerous. it’s another thing that shows up in his nightmares this episode, not just the idea of him being a problem, but specifically being seen as an alien and a threat. he was created to destroy the world and the nightmare man almost had him believing he fulfilled that purpose. “because he’s coming for me, you see? he’s been waiting for me for years” is one of the things he says on that recording, “a whole world of nightmares for me to feed upon, i’ll grow stronger and stronger, and it’s all because of you” is something the nightmare man tells him. 

and now he gets to turn that on his head. because yeah, he was made for one thing. and he denied it, again and again. this is a great episode for personal agency on all the kids’ part, but particularly luke’s, because he realises, properly, that he gets to decide who he is. four years spent trying to live up to other people’s expectations, to try and cover for the way he was made, he doesn’t have to. because yeah, people have tried to use him over the years for many many nefarious plots, and he’s helped stop all of them. so yeah, he can admit it now, because it’s not who he is. it never was. and i think this is the first step in realising that his friends, his family? they know. and they’re always gonna care about who he is, even when he didn’t know himself

[lene-loki]

Everything Has Its Order

Summary: (Y/N) is an autistic agent at S.H.I.E.L.D and has organized her whole life according to her own system. Until someone brings chaos into her routine.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Female!Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 864

A/N: I hope you'll like the Imagine :)

And thank you all for all the positive feedback on my work and all the follows, that is really touching my heart ❤

It's not proofread so forgive me if I made any mistakes :)

With Love, Léne xx

Y/N = Your Name

Your alarm beeped at exactly five this morning. It was raining. You went to the toilet and washed your hands afterwards with two pumps of soap and the temperature regulator exactly in the middle. Not too cold and not too warm, just how you like it.

For breakfast you ate a yoghurt. The same one with banana flavor like every morning. Before you left your apartement you packed your lunch. You cut two slices of bread into perfect squares. On one side you spread jam and on the other half peanut butter. And lastly you packed a chocolate chipped Cookie - after scouring the entire karton of a Cookie with an even number of chocolate chips on top.

Now you are sitting behind the desk at S.H.I.E.L.D, fully concentrated on your work.

At lunch you get up, avoiding everyone of your coworkers since they all think that you're a weirdo because of your autism. You stride over to the fridge in the little kitchen where some of the other Agent's already are seated, eating their lunch.

When you arrive in front of the fridge, you see a man turned with his back to you. He is blocking your way but you don't want to tip on his shoulder since you don't like touching people and don't like being touched.

"You are standing in my way." You say directly at him like you usually do.

Sometimes you're saying things too directly, not realizing that you've gone too far. But you're autism somehow blocks that part in your brain that's responsible for what you're saying.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The blonde man turns around munching on a Cookie, his mouth full.

You recognize the man as Steve Rogers since he stops by sometimes. But you also recognize the white lunchbag in his hand and the Cookie he's eating. He smiles, but you frown.

"That is my lunch." You state upset but it doesn't really show.

His features falter. "Oh, sorry, I didn't know it belonged to someone." He flushes but you don't believe him.

"But it's in a bag. So that automatically means it belongs to someone."

He nods slowly.

"You are eating my Cookie." His gaze falls down onto the half eaten sweet. "I can get you another." He offers kindly.

Your eyelid starts to twitch as you realize that your lunchtime is almost over and that Steve ate your food. That means you'll be hungry and unconcentrated for the rest of the day which brings your routine to waver that you have planned on the minute.

You visibly start to shake which makes Steve raise his eyebrow.

"N-No." You stutter. "Ten chocolate chips. Exactly ten. Five on each side. The surface is even. Not a single bump."

You get stressed while your coworkers who are just finishing ther food's are laughing about you.

"It's just a Cookie." Steve says unsure, not knowing why you're so disstressed about the piece of food.

"She's autistic, Steve. Don't mind her." A colleague snickers.

She gets a dirty look from another coworker but doesn't stop talking. "What? You think she cares? She's like a robot. Look at her. How emotionless she's standing there, whimpering about her Cookie."

You swallow hard, feeling humiliated in front of Steve.

"Sarah, please."

Steve looks sympathetically at you, after realizing that you're different. You don't like that.

"Do you even have feelings?" Sarah asks.

"I have feelings." They start laughing.

You leave the kitchen and go back to your desk. You can't show your emotions like everyone else but that doesn't change the fact that you're still have them and right now you are feeling hurt.

The next day at lunch you are surprised to find Steve in the kitchen again. This time he is not eating your lunch nor blocking your way but he smiles brightly when he catches sight of you.

"Hey, you." He says and try to show him that you're glad to see him too since he wasn't making fun of you yesterday.

"I..." He says shyly "I brought you something." He hands you over a little paperbag.

You take it, opening it carefully. Inside is a chocolate chipped Cookie with exactly ten chocolate chips on top.

"I searched through dozens of packages last night until I found a Cookie like yours." He laughs and tries to hide the fact that he did all the effort just to see you smile.

You feel touched inside of your heart, showing him a sincere smile.

"Thank you." You fumble nervously with the bag in your hand.

"Would you like to go eat lunch with me somewhere?" Steve asks you still shy.

"I have lunch." You state obviously.

You eat everyday the same PB&J Sandwich for lunch. You take exactly ten minutes and always sit behind your desk while eating. It is your routine but now Steve offers you something that would create a chaos in your own organization.

You hesitate and he notices.

But he also knows that your only hesitating because he mixes up your routine , not because you don't want to go out with him.

"You can bring your lunch." He suggests with a little smile.

And you agree.

[punksarahreese]

“I care about you.” for fbi!au 👀

Care | Crosshairs

FBI!AU; Ava is distracted by something and a secret comes out

Prompt: “I care about you”

Word count: 1528

CW: hospital talk, stitches/needle mention

***

A twelve hour shift on a murder case was never fun, but a twelve hour shift with a pissed off partner was a hundred times worse in Sarah’s mind. She hadn’t expected to show up and immediately receive a cold shoulder and it seemed like everyone else felt the same. Agent Bekker had always been stern and case-focused, yet she also wasn’t one to ignore Penelope’s banter or not say good morning to Sarah.

That day Ava had been a completely different person. Her eyes were glued to her phone screen every chance she got, jumping at every notification sound even though Hotch glared at her for having her ringer on. She was restless too, pacing the bullpen whenever she had a free moment, and she didn’t bother to participate in any conversation. All of Emily’s teasing remarks fell on deaf ears, even earning the other woman an eye roll from the target of her jokes. Usually Ava met each comment with one of her own, which ended in the two women laughing together, yet nothing was ever said.

This is why her partner was worried, though she knew Ava would hate that she was distracted by fussing over her. She would have told her to stay focused on the case or go home if she was so distracted, not wanting to be coddled in the slightest. It didn’t stop Sarah from trailing after her into the locker room, silent in the empty room as she tried to figure out how to approach the situation.

“I know you’re there, Reese,” her words were monotonous and tired, as though the mere act of speaking was exhausting her. Given Ava’s insomniac track record, maybe it was just that. Either way, she waited with crossed arms until Sarah slinked out from behind the set of lockers, looking at her partner sheepishly.

“Out with it, then.”

“What’s wrong, Ava?”

“Nothing.”

Sarah looked at her incredulously, “You’ve been silent and standoffish all day. You’ve checked your phone at least twenty times every hour and you usually have it away during work hours. Also don’t think I didn’t see you and Penelope walk off earlier, she’s the only one you’ve spoken to today. So no, I don’t believe that it's nothing.”

“Don’t profile me,” Ava rolled her eyes, in the process of putting on her well ironed blazer. She didn’t speak again for a moment, instead busying herself with collecting her bag and not making eye contact. That was confirmation enough that something must be very wrong, since her partner was always confrontational as opposed to the quiet type.

“I care about you, Ava,” Sarah said softly, “That’s why I ask.”

“I-”

Sarah watched her silently, afraid she had already pushed too far. The last thing she wanted was to drive a wedge between them, especially since she was still the newbie and she wanted to be friends with her partner above all. Still, Sarah always wanted to help and she hated to see others suffer in silence. Ava wasn’t herself and it was worrying, so no one could blame her for being concerned.

“It’s… my daughter.”

“Daughter?” the confusion was clear on the brunette’s face, “I didn’t… didn’t know you had kids.”

“That was kind of the whole point.”

“Ava, why would you hide that? We’re you’re family here.”

“She’s only four,” the blonde sighed as she sat down on the bench across from her locker, “I’ve seen what having a family does to agents and the last thing I want is for her to get hurt because of me.”

“Still, no one knows?”

Ava chuckled dryly, “Mostly everyone. Penelope figured it out after about 2 months of me being here, she likes to background check us after all. Hotch probably knows because I doubt Strauss knew to keep it a secret. Everyone else is as in the dark as you were, though.”

“That’s a big secret to keep for this long…”

“I know,” she looked at Sarah seriously, “But I want it to say like that for as long as I can.”

The harsh tone made her flinch a little but she understood, Ava was a fierce protector so it was clear she would want her baby to be safe above all. She nodded, sitting down beside her partner, “You’re both safe with me.”

“Thank you, Sarah.”

“So, what’s wrong?” she added before the subject could drop, “What happened?”

“She fell at the park with her nanny today,” Ava answered, “Apparently she cut up her face pretty badly.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.”

“I couldn’t leave to meet them at the hospital because this case is so important. She’s terrified of hospitals, Reese, and I’ve been trying to keep up with what’s going on.”

Sarah nodded, now understanding the attitude change of the day. She wasn’t a maternal person but she understood how fiercely a mother cared, she had seen it in JJ and other friends in the past. It made sense that Ava had been distracted, especially if she wasn’t sure how the child would handle a doctor’s visit.

“How bad is it?”

“Ten stitches,” Ava was clearly anxious if the way she was fiddling with her ever perfect curls was any indication, “She screamed the second the needle was out.”

“Poor baby.”

“She’s… we’re pretty sure she’s on the spectrum and it’s been hard. Since I started training at Quantico when she was so young I thought she would get used to the long work hours but any change is tough on her I think. I hate missing things, Sarah, and I hate knowing she’s scared or in situations she hates when I can’t be there.”

“I’m sorry, Ava. I can’t imagine how hard that is on you both.”

“She’s so strong but I still worry…”

Sarah hesitated before she asked the burning question that had been on her mind, “Is her father still in the picture?”

Ava laughed a little, “Heavens no. She never knew him, though he does still send child support thankfully. It never would have worked out between us and he wasn’t on board with me moving to the US anyway. I worry she’ll never have the right upbringing now, with a mother so busy and in a whole other continent than the rest of her family.”

“I think she’ll be just fine,” Sarah promised without a beat, “Your daughter has you, Ava, and you are the most loyal person I’ve met here. Besides, with a mother as strong as you? She’ll turn out to be a fierce little thing, I think.”

She was a little shocked when her partner looked at her with watery eyes, exhaustion clear on her face but there was something else. The gratitude that Ava looked at her with was overwhelming, smiling through the anxiety because that was something she had been dying to hear. From the moment she left South Africa all Ava had heard was that she was picking a career over her daughter. Her parents and friends had acted like she was hurting her daughter with such a big move, especially to go work for the FBI. Learning that she might also be autistic had been a deal breaker for her family, since they somehow thought it was all Ava’s fault. No matter how hard she had tried they wouldn’t listen to her when she said this was the best choice for her and her baby. She left so much behind when she left home and she lost almost all of her connections, yet here she had found someone who actually believed in her. Sarah believed in her ability as a mother and as an agent and that was maybe the most healing thing she had ever been told.

“Thank you,” she murmured, “Really. You have no idea how much I needed to hear that.”

“I’m always here, Ava,” she replied and patted her knee gently, “You’re doing your best.”

Ava fumbled for her phone, fishing it out of her pocket and unlocking it. She was silent for a moment until she found what she was looking for. Passing the device to her partner, she smiled as she explained, “I took this picture when we visited home last year.”

It was a picture of a toddler on a beach, her blonde hair unkempt and her rainbow sweater sleeves hanging over her hands. She was half turned away from the camera but Sarah could still see the striking resemblance to her mother, though her eyes were grey she still had that stoic intelligence in her gaze. She couldn’t help but smile at the photo, or maybe she was smiling because of the amount of love on Ava’s face when she looked at it too.

“She’s adorable,” Sarah passed her phone back gently, “What’s her name?”

“Vivienne,” Ava answered fondly, “I call her Vivi.”

“That’s lovely.”

“Thank you,” the blonde bumped Sarah’s shoulder with her own, “For everything. I’m sorry for being so bitchy today.”

“It happens, you were just worried. I’m always here to talk to you, Ava.”

“I know, that’s what partners are for.”

“Of course,” Sarah laughed as she repeated something she always told her, “I do care about you, dummy.”

[this-is-a-love-story-isnt-it]

After I watched Parenthood, I never ended up posting my thoughts, as an autistic person, on Hank’s journey of realizing he’s autistic and then learning how to communicate better in his relationships through therapy. First, I really related to it bc I realized in my mid-30s that I’m autistic, and I think he was ~50 when he found out. Not as much research on autism was being done when I was a kid, so a lot of us flew under the radar and weren’t diagnosed as kids.

And just the portrayal of the whole situation- of an adult with previously undiagnosed autism- was done so realistically. Hank is an adult with a successful business. He’s been married and had a daughter. So outwardly, he had gone through “normal” life experiences like marriage and kids, except his marriage failed and his daughter couldn't relate to him. But after realizing he's autistic, and seeking out professional help, he’s able to try to work on those relationships. Suddenly things make sense to him as to why things are the way that they are and he tries to change how he deals with it.

When him and Sarah start to reconnect, and she was the first person he told when he realized he had autism, she started to be able to understand why he is the way that he is. She was a little freaked out at first because, you know, when people think of autism they think of the stereotypes. Plus, the only other person she knows with autism is Max, who’s 14 and way more “stereotypical” autistic.

So he’s still kind of fumbling through his relationships but also working on his communication skills and on trying to better understand what other people expect in a friend or partner and how to be more conscious of that.

And Sarah sees the work he’s putting into their friendship, and he finally voiced the fact that he wanted to be with her again in a relationship, and they had a conversation about it bc she was hesitant about being with someone who can’t communicate in a relationship or who might not be able to understand what she needs. But they end up getting back together.

Once she accepted the fact that he has aspergers/autism and made an effort to understand it better, and as he was working on his communication skills in therapy, she came to be so understanding and encouraging without infantilizing him. Yes there were still times that were frustrating to her, but she made sure to communicate to him when she needed him to communicate. One of my favorite examples of this is when Sarah needed to tell Hank about Ruby having stolen that lipstick from the store, but Hank was in the zone perseverating over the photoshoot he’d done that day and looking at the photos, talking at Sarah about them. After like 3 times of Sarah trying to get him to listen to her, she finally put her hand on his shoulder and softly said “Hey, do you want to talk about [the photos] later?” And then he realized that she had something she needed to say. And then because of his therapy and because of her having voiced her concerns, he made a point to look straight at her and let her say what she needed to say and then that’s when he was like “oh you look pretty,” and touched her hair as if it was the first time he'd looked at her that day. It was such a sweet moment of her understanding how his brain operates and not getting frustrated over it, and him realizing that he had to get out of his own head and focus on her- and that focusing on her also meant making eye contact, which is really hard for him normally.

There are other moments like this, too, which I really love.

And then eventually they did end up getting married.

Idk, i’m rambling now, but it was a really good depiction of an adult with autism who had somehow navigated through life without it being noticed. It shows that autistic people can be successful in business and in life, but we still have our struggles. It showed the positive quirkiness of his personality and not just that people would see him as “weird.” And I especially appreciated that Sarah would encourage him and let him know she appreciated the way he had made an effort in a certain situation in their relationship without infantilising him, as I said earlier. And then the fact that he ended up marrying Sarah, the love of his life, gives me hope for my life that I'll find someone.

I know how long this is. thanks for reading if you got this far. <3

[teenslib]

IT’S FINALLY DONE! Every year, the Rainbow Book List Committee has more books to review, because literature is slowing getting queerer, and children’s and YA lit are at the forefront of that change. This year, our committee of 13 people had to review nearly 500 eligible titles, and 130 (well, 129) were good enough and queer enough to make the list. There were so many terrific books that we got a special dispensation to create TWO Top Ten lists--the first time the committee has done so! The Top Tens are below, and please visit the link above for the full list.

I’m proud of our committee’s focus on diversity--along lines of race, ethnicity, queer identity, and even genre. At least half of the Top Ten Books for Young Readers and seven of the Top Ten for Teen Readers are about characters of color, and most of those were written by authors of color. We also tried to feature as many different letters of the alphabet soup as possible. I’ve noted the racial and LGBTQIA+ rep for the books that I’ve read.

Here are the Top Ten Books for Young Readers:

Ana on the Edge by Sass, A.J. Ages 8 to 12. Sports Fiction/Figure Skating. MC is nonbinary and Jewish-Chinese-American. Ana is a champion figure-skater. She hates her new princess-themed program, but how can she tell her mother that, when it cost so much money? And why does it bother her so much, anyway? When she finds the word ‘nonbinary,’ she realizes why the program doesn’t fit, but she still has a lot of work to do repairing relationships that have suffered in the meantime.

The Deep & Dark Blue by Smith, Niki. Ages 8 to 12. Fantasy. One of 2 MCs is a trans girl, all characters appear to be Southeast Asian. A pair of twins flee after a political coup that puts their lives at risk. They decide to disguise themselves as Hanna and Grayce, two girls living in the Communion of the Blue, an order of weaving women who spin magic like wool. What one twin doesn’t know is that, for the other, being Grayce isn’t a disguise. This is a beautiful story about self-discovery, acceptance, and affirmation.

Drawing on Walls: A Story of Keith Haring by Burgess, Matthew and Josh Cochran (Illustrator). Ages 6 to 14. Biography. MC is a white gay man. This colorful picture-book biography traces the life and art of Keith Haring.

The Every Body Book: LGBTQ+ Inclusive Guide for Kids about Sex, Gender, Bodies, and Families by Simon, Rachel E. and Noah Grigni (Illustrator). Ages 8 to 12. Nonfiction/Health. Various identities and races included. Filled with self-affirming information, The Every Body Book uses inclusive language, illustrations, and facts to cover a number of important topics for young people including consent, relationships, gender, sex, puberty, and hormones.

King and the Dragonflies by Callender, Kacen. Ages 8 to 12. Realistic Fiction. MC is a gay black boy, his best friend is a gay white boy. King’s family–especially his father–have strong opinions about what it means to be a Black man, and they don’t allow for being gay. But King admires his friend Sandy for escaping an abusive home and living his truth no matter what. If King comes out, too, can his father learn to change?

Magic Fish by Nguyen, Trung Le. Ages 12 and up. Realistic Fiction/Fantasy. MC is a gay Vietnamese-American boy. A young Vietnamese-American boy literally can’t find the words to tell his parents that he’s gay, but cross-cultural fairytales help bridge the language barrier in this beautifully-illustrated graphic novel. 

My Maddy by Pitman, Gayle E. and Violet Tobacco (Illustrator). Ages 4-8. Realistic Fiction. MC’s parent is nonbinary, MC and her parent are white. My Maddy is a heartwarming story about a young girl and her parent. Readers learn that not all parents are boys or girls; some parents are just themselves. In this young girl’s case, that parent is her Maddy, a loving, caring parent who lives outside the gender binary.

My Rainbow by Neal, DeShanna, Trinity Neal, and Art Twink (Illustrator). Ages 4-8. Realistic Fiction. MC is an autistic black trans girl. Autistic trans girl Trinity wants to have long hair, but growing it out is too itchy! None of the wigs in the store are quite right, so Mom makes Trinity a special rainbow wig.

Our Subway Baby by Mercurio, Peter and Leo Espinosa (Illustrator). Ages 4 to 8. Adoption Non-fiction. MCs are white gay men, the baby they adopt is Black. Loving illustrations help tell the story of how an infant abandoned in a NYC subway station was adopted by the man who found him and his partner.

Snapdragon by Leyh, Kat. Snapdragon. Ages 10 to 14. Fantasy. Haven’t read this one yet, so I can’t comment on its representation. Snap gets to know the town witch and discovers that she may in fact have real magic and a secret connection to Snap’s family’s past.

And here are the Top Ten Books for Teen Readers:

All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by Johnson, George M. Ages 14 to 18. Memoir. Author/MC is a gay Black man. “Memoir-manifesto” is a well-chosen label for this book, which relates stories from the author’s childhood and young adulthood and contextualizes them within a queer Black experience. Although the author’s family is loving and supportive, pervasive heteronormativity, queerphobia, and anti-Black racism threaten his mental, emotional, and physical safety.

Camp by Rosen, L.C. Ages 14 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC and his love interest are gay Jewish boys. For Randy, going away to Camp Outland is a breath of fresh air, a time to be exactly who Randy can’t always be at school. But this year will be different. This year, Randy won’t be the flamboyant theater kid, this year Randy will be exactly the type of bro Hudson would want to date. Changing a thing or too will be necessary for Randy to succeed, even if that means leaving some friends behind.

Cemetery Boys by Thomas, Aiden. Ages 13 and up. Paranormal/Romance. MC is a trans Latino, his love interest is a gay Latino. Yadriel accidentally summons the wrong ghost in an attempt to prove himself a real brujo to his family who struggle to accept his gender identity. Though he thinks he is summoning the ghost of his cousin, he actually summons the ghost of Julian Diaz, and finds himself with not one, but two, mysterious deaths to investigate.

Circus Rose by Cornwell, Betsy. Ages 12 and up. Fantasy. One MC is white and one is mixed-race, one is a lesbian and one is questioning. Ivory and Rosie are twins and half-sisters, born to a bearded woman who refused to choose between her lovers, and raised in their mother’s circus. After a long foreign tour, they come home to find themselves under attack by religious zealots. As tragedy follows tragedy, will Ivory be able to save her circus family?

Elatsoe by Little Badger, Darcie  and Rovina Cai (Illustrator). Ages 12 and up. Mystery. MC is an aro/ace Lipan Apache girl. In this OwnVoices novel, Elatsoe is on a mission to discover who killed her beloved cousin, and why. If not for her cousin, then she is doing this for her people, the Indigenous Lipan Apache tribe. Elatsoe has the ability to raise ghosts from the dead, a tradition that has been passed down through generations. On this journey it will take vulnerability, wit, and the legends of her people for Elatsoe to understand all that is hidden in the small town of Willowbee.

I’ll Be the One by Lee, Lyla. Ages 13 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC is a bi Korean-American girl, her love interest is a bi Korean boy. Skye Shin dreams of becoming the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star, and a reality TV competition may just be her chance. To win, she’ll have to deal with fatphobic beauty standards, fierce competition, and intense media scrutiny–as well as unexpected attraction to one of her competitors.

Miss Meteor by Mejia, Tehlor Kay and Anna-Marie McLemore. Ages 14 and up. Magical Realism. (I haven’t read this one, but I think both MCs are WLW Latinas.) Lita is a star – literally. After falling to earth several years ago, she’s now living life as a teenage girl. When the annual Miss Meteor pageant rolls around, Lita decides to enter – but will her ex-best friend Chicky be willing to help her? Will the pageant help her forget about the past and imagine a new future? Lita learns that winning isn’t about being perfect, it’s about showing your true self to the world – even the parts that no one else understands.

You Should See Me in a Crown by Johnson, Leah. Ages 12 and up. Realistic Fiction. MC is a black WLW (woman-loving-woman). In this affectionate rom-com, Liz Lighty finds herself an unlikely candidate for prom queen at her affluent suburban school. Shy, awkward, Black, and low-income, Liz has never felt like she belonged, and she can’t wait to leave for her dream college. But when her scholarship falls through, it seems her last resort is to win prom queen, and the scholarship money that comes with it. Liz’s plan is complicated when new girl Mack decides to run for prom queen also…and ends up running away with Liz’s heart.

War Girls by Onyebuchi, Tochi.  Ages 12 and up. Science Fiction/Afro-Futurism. Both MCs are Nigerian, one is a WLW. In a not-so-distant future, climate change and nuclear disasters have made much of the earth unlivable. In the midst of war in Nigeria, two sisters, Onyii and Ify, are torn apart and face two very different futures. As their lives progress through years of untold violence and political unrest, battles with deadly mechs and cyborg soldiers outfitted with artificial limbs and organs, they are brought together again and again and must come to terms with how the war has impacted their lives.

When We Were Magic by Gailey, Sarah. Ages 14 and up. Contemporary Fantasy. MC is a white bi/questioning girl with gay dads, her friends are racially, ethnically, and queerily diverse. This firecracker of a novel follows a group of friends who attempt to correct the accidental murder of a classmate. When We Were Magic combines magic, friendship, and awkward moments to create a captivating story. Each character brings their own uniqueness to the strong group of friends, but despite their differences, their loyalty remains. Author Sarah Gailey has written another page turning novel, with the quirky strange content to boot.

[anonil88]

We Are Who We Are Ep 1 thoughts.

Heads up I've started writing these halfway into an episode so I'm immersed pretty into it and can make a well rounded reaction.

Interesting set up and premise. But I wonder how well this will be executed.

Very open free spirit household.

Those kids are pieces of shit for inviting him and then bullying him. He is a little weird but a sweetheart.

Also HE LIKES FASHION of course he does.

He's a bit of an alcoholic it seems or just likes alcohol which can teeter the line. Oh no he had to leave his lil boyfriend 😭.

Aw his other mom picked him up.

Ooo throw up shot nice smh.

This mustn't be the first time he's been drunk or gotten in trouble.

Sigh theres always a parent who saves the day no matter straight or gay.

Ahh military parents getting caught in their ego and ignoring their partners and kids.

Oooo "Americans can only be happy in America"...."This is America." Gotta love that US based are tiny bits of America but lineal spaces.

Wait is Fraser autistic? Or does he have any mental disorders? Maybe I'm only saying that because my family would have drop kicked me if I'd slapped my mom unless (when I was younger with less coping skills) was having an outburst of sorts.

Whattt dead? Whatttt? Oh he's still drunk.

Thank goodness he still had some clothes packrf like I would have had a full panic attack if my luggage was lost oversees with my designer clothes. (I'm assuming designer because his granddad has schmoney but he also gives me cates about his looks.)

Thats a nice jacket though, I think Commes Des Garcons is the brand or at least this is an inspired piece.

Oh okay Fraser I see you have some lil crushes forming. That soldier foine tho he's probably like 18. So eee idk bout that cause he's underage. (Edit: Fraser is 17 so if the soldier is 18 its not illegal but i'd rather Fraser not get community ass or dick. No more cmbyn Luca.)

The music selection is pretty great like Klaus Nomi ??

CUDI !!! Wait Cudi is their, Caitlin's dad :0

The military regulations are pretty clean. Her voice and commands could be a bit cleaner though. But maybe that's on purpose because shes gotta be nervous af now commanding a base.

Fuck you Colonel.

This base is pretty nice btw.

Oop okay subtle flirtatious behavior and noone can kick you out of the US military for being queer now...kind of. Oh he's just a giant flirt also again can we not do the minor and grown ass adult thing.

Loving Maggie and Fraser's relationship. But I feel like Sarah and Fraser's relationship is going to be whirlwind.

Oh thank the lord his clothes have come omg all designer/custom piece .

Just let them be them jeez everyone has to find themselves regardless of if you like or agree with it or not. Ahh Caitlin/Harper is living a double life hmm exploring their identity.

Lmfao Fraser said you're like me so lets talk, but I won't out you.

So overall thoughts the editing is a bit choppy like all over the place. Which is kind of disorienting and I don't know if a lot of people are going to enjoy that. Editing can really break shows even good ones. But characters wise I'll say Cait/Harper is a mystery and it took me a second but I got that they were staring at Fraser because Fraser seems very obviously nyc and probably more understanding. But they have no idea how to approach Fraser so they were just staring and tbh queer folk yes thats what we look like its sometimes obvious that we all stare at eachother with a certain wonder, confusion, and excitement even past the baby gay stage.

I feel like Fraser is a person who goes through the world in a daze like floating from one space to another. It makes him scatter brained and different, his interests vary but this is about him learning. I like him though just don't know much about him yet. Of course if I had to relate him to any character from another popular adult show that centers teens he's a more chaotic windmill version of Jules from Euphoria. Speaking of which I think this show might have a hard time carving out its own identity because of their shared platform. This premiere was like world building and very very vague so we only have touches on each character.

I will keep watching because I would like to see where this story is going to go. Also to see the acting chops of these new young actors. I am hoping that the next episode gives us the viewers more to hold onto rather than dental floss attached to ceiling post by nails. But, I just hope we get more clarity rather than just vague things we need to piece together in the future. Which btw works super well for movies but not always TV. So adapting that style to TV is gonna be interesting.

[Also funny how most actors first big role their characters name sounds like their name lol.]

Preview: so everyone just doing everyone but, this seems like it is going to be very sad and dark which is fine with me.

Sorry this is so long.

[unicyclehippo]

As an autistic girl I loved your autistic Ellie bodyguard au, this isn’t a specific prompt because I’m really bad at writing what I mean but I’d love to see more autistic Ellie au’s if you wanna right any more!

hey im so glad u enjoyed it! here, this is for u:

//

‘hat?’ check. ‘folders?’ check. ‘head screwed on nice and tight?’ ellie pauses where she is, seated on the ground and looking through her backpack, double- and triple-checking she has everything she needs; she looks up at sarah, and the other girl grins. ‘that one’s a joke.’

‘it’s not a screw.’

‘no, i know,’

‘i got it magnetically locked. it should still be holding. the warranty is for seventy-five years.’ ellie knows that she could have stopped the joke at “magnetically locked”, but the idea of a warranty was too funny to pass up.

sarah seems to agree because she laughs in the way both miller’s do by snorting and shaking their heads, and then she slides off the kitchen counter where she has been sitting—it’s against the rules of every house ellie has been in, here as well, but sarah doesn’t seem to get in trouble for it even when her dad sees her doing it—and she wanders over, crouches down by ellie.

‘i think that’s everything,’ she says. ‘you’re ready.’

ellie tilts her head, nods. she could tell her that she’s wrong, and they had only made sure that she has all the tangible things she needs, but she likes sarah a lot and—

‘what?’ sarah asks. ‘are you missing something?’ she scrounges in her pocket for her phone, brings up the checklist again and runs through it at double time. ‘pens, 2B pencils, sharpener with the thing that catches the shavings, ruler, calculator, water bottle, water bottle holder and strap, walkman, spare batteries for the walkman, gym clothes and towel, folders, spare plastic sleeves, hole punch—are you sure you need that bulky one? i have this neat dinky little purple one—okay, you’re the boss,’ sarah shrugs when ellie nods. ‘textbooks, laptop, extra leaf paper for your folders,’

ellie listens in fascination and wonders exactly when sarah is managing to breathe.

‘i swear, you’ve got it all, ellie bom-bellie.’

‘i know.’

sarah rolls her eyes; ellie catches herself before her stomach drops right out of her body because they’ve talked about this, she’s seen it in action herself, that sarah rolling her eyes doesn’t mean she’s actually annoyed.

‘and you let me read the whole damn thing? nevermind, it’s fine. you still look like you’re missing something. what’s wrong?’

‘it’s stupid,’ ellie tells her plainly.

‘no such thing. proceed.’

‘to where?’

‘to telling me all about it.’

‘oh. okay.’ ellie reaches up to the soft collar of her ringer tee, twists it around her finger. ‘i was just thinking, sometimes there’s stuff you need for school that isn’t—‘ she waves a hand to her backpack.

‘like, money? i can get some off joel for you,’

‘no. well—yes. lunch.’

‘don’t worry about that, i’ll come find you at lunch. i’ll come to your locker and get you, we can go to the cafeteria together.’

‘what if i’m held back in class?’

‘i’ll wait.’

‘what if you’re hungry? or a fight breaks out.’

‘i always have a snack on me, or gum. i can wait fifteen minutes. and if a fight breaks out...i’ll watch it, i guess? i’ll be there at lunch.’

ellie has no real reason to doubt her so she nods. if she thought that would be distraction enough, she was wrong and sarah is still waiting patiently for her answer. ‘i’m nervous,’ she admits. ‘i—dont like going to new schools.’

it takes a second for sarah to follow her train of thought, but then she guesses, ‘you’re missing...not feeling nervous?’

‘yeah.’

‘oh. can we get that somehow?’

ellie laughs. ‘like, at a store?’

‘sure, just pop down to the seven eleven, see if they’ve got some in stock. that’s not a bad idea, actually.’

‘i dont think the convenience store sells bravery.’

‘no, but they do sell slushies, and we can get those before school. if you want.’

it’s an obscene amount of sugar to have before eight in the morning, but it’s also a terribly nice offer.

and it kind of works, too, because she walks into school next to sarah, slushie in hand, astronaut pin gleaming on the breast pocket of her jacket, and listens to her foster sister show her all of the parts of the school ellie had already been shown as part of the tour—now the places settle more concretely into her mind as sarah tells her there is where she has english class with mister rutherford, and there is where her mate adrian puked up his guts when he ate nineteen savoury poptarts in a row, and over there—and ellie finds that her nerves have actually settled a small bit.

the bell is jarringly loud and seems to send the school in motion, like a kicked ants nest. students and teachers come streaming up stairs and out of the library and across the paved courtyard and into various rooms and the air is cluttered with scuffing feet and laughter and comments thrown like paper planes through the air to their intended targets halfway across the space.

sarah takes ellie’s slushie and pulls the headphones from ellie’s jacket pocket, pops them up and over her head so ellie can slip her hands down and away from where she is, as she is abruptly now aware, shielding her ears.

O-K, sarah signs.

ellie nods.

there is a moment where ellie thinks she will insist on coming with ellie to her first class. they’d talked about it a lot, her and sarah and joel, and they’d agreed with ellie when she said that she could do it alone, but none of them seemed to agree on whether she should. there were implications to the word, apparently, that ellie hadn’t considered but when she pointed out that she just wanted to go to school and it really wasn’t a big deal and she’s been doing it for, like, eleven years now so they don’t need to worry about her, joel had leaned back in his chair and his face creased over with an expression that ellie couldn’t read and he told her do whatever she wanted to do. he said that kind of thing a lot, and it didn’t sound passive aggressive the way some people said it; he sounded like he meant it, and also sounded like he meant it when he said that whatever happened it’d be fine, because she’d be coming back home at the end of the day, and he meant the miller house and yeah, that was nice.

ellie made it to her class and the bell rang again in the halls, making her duck her head and hunch in the way that makes her look like a turtle. her teacher apparently already knew about the walkman, and her being autistic, and how she wasn’t good at talking in front of people but no, she wouldn’t mind if the form class teacher introduced her. ellie waves a little when she did from her seat, third row back, all the way to the right next to the window that looks out over the rugby field. most students look lazily over to her but don’t seem too interested, returning their attention to the front of the room when the teacher starts talking about the sports day coming up and what they would be doing.

ellie brushes her finger over the soothingly smooth metal of her astronaut pin. clicks her pen—NASA logo prominent—and notes the date of the sport carnival down into her diary.

[sweetandsavageautistic]

Who’s ready to lose more braincells thanks to Twitter? (CW: Pedophilia mention)

"I'm Alive Because of YOU!"

The Innocence of an adult with autism and his BFF Lost & Found EMMY ;)

Love You, Love You My Boo Bear  

Mommyand (aka) #SMAARTMom

Meet My son Dustin & My Inspiration for Creating the Autism Welcomed Decal Symbol

Oh, decedents of men she loved/trusted... what a great idea!

To me, there's just something about what the innocence of a child would bring to that kind of a role. Or even a high functioning teen or adult with autism...

#WritingCommunity

Lauren, as a mother of an angel with disabilities, I would like articles about parents and adults with #Autism who share success stories. What makes a positive outcome?

Son went out with his grandad today amazing how are kids adults with #autism behave like angels for there grandparents lol.

As the parent of an adult child with autism I always tell young parents to never underestimate their child Our children CAN They are true angels sent to us by God

I worked as a parapro for three years and have seen people on every part of the spectrum- the way he spoke and carried himself should NOT influence anyone’s decision on their theory of his guilt or innocence. His demeanor is very typical of someone with high-functioning autism.

One thing I know about people with Aspergers is, they dont lie, they are often shy at 1st, but once they know you, they arent the type you ask "does my butt look big in this" coz they'll tell you outright that if does with such innocence & charm.

The innocence of people with autism is truly incomparable, it's their raw emotion that's sets them apart from the rest of the world.

@realDonaldTrump

hope you can meet Ganesh. #helpganeshmeettrump

Brother godbless ur boy.His curiosity is apparent and his calmness is heartwarming to see he realizes this isn’t going to hurt us.Autism holds a special place in my heart for my niece is also Autistic and any child,I see an innocence about them that makes me smile.Good job dad

You’re not alone , we autism moms are in this together and know exactly the heartbreak you are feeling

give it time and a lot of therapy Jenny, things will get better !! Just remember that his innocence is soo pure that he’s an angel here on earth for you

Not just autism but any diagnosis/disability. My saying is "do not look at my child w/ different eyes when u see him do something that's considered out of d norm" & also "don't break away his spirit because he can still see the Innocence in life better than you" -Margarita Rubio

Same here brother. My youngest son is autistic and I cant imagine how anyone..especially a "father" could do something like this My son has random seizures and everyone of them rips my heart out Autistic children have more heart & love than anyone on earth Innocence of autism

The ABC series "Love on the Spectrum" was / is a beautiful uplifting and inspiring work. The wonderful openness, hopefulness and general innocence of the autistic folk is a lesson for everyone. Love for everyone has challenges. I hope people don't use autism to express contempt

I love being around people with Autism. They radiate pure energy and innocence.

My son has autism and he is just beautiful in his innocence, thank you very much!!! He does not have black coal for a heart and not beholden to Satan

When Quamaine helped me with the snow shoveling. He was happy to help. I adore him and his innocence. I hope he knows that. #adultwithautism #autism #adultoconaitismo #autismo #quamaine #autismaunt #snow

Mothers of children with autism know their kids intimately because they cannot leave them with anyone. They protect their kids fiercely, because they are vulnerable due to their innocence

Sarah's effective portrayal of an autistic role clearly depicted the charm, candidness, innocence and frolicsome attitude of people with autism.

Autism. A neurological condition where purity and innocence collide to form an abstract masterpiece.

THE REAL CHAMPIONS IN THIS WORLD ARE CHILDREN LIKE KAYLENE. WITH AUTISM  SPECIAL NEEDS & CHILDREN FIGHTING CANCER SO MUCH MORE LOOK AT HER SMILE SO INNOCENT

The people with autism can understand a lot of things very clearly. Autistic children tend not trust adult humans becoz for them they are constantly in movement which doesn’t allow things to sync with them. BTW they are fantastic human beings with a child like pure heart.

People with autism are the most perfect human beings on the planet to me bc they don’t bother a soul or hurt anybody an is purely innocent 💯‼️❤️

I have a soft spot for people with Autism.  We aren’t worthy of their creativity, intelligence and innocence

I love being around people with Autism. They radiate pure energy and innocence.

Thank you

God bless you too!

I believe people with autism are special gifts and their purity cannt be denied]

I’ve been the happiest in my life being around people with autism. If you don’t have a friend, brother, or neighbor like them you truly haven’t experience the purity in life.

People with down syndrome, autism, etc, arent capable of hate, malice, greed, intolerance, etc. They exhibit all the things that those of us "normal" people try to be but cant. They're not equipped to be evil. They can only show purity.

I dont know, that's my take on it.

By living with people with autism, we are be able to regain the purity

True, but at the same time these aren't necessarily different things: pedophilia, anti-pedophilia & dumb-girl-philia can stem from one & the same mental trait, i.e. the idealization of childlike Innocence; which in turn is arguably a form of autism: other people can't have minds.

#Undateables #TheUndateables I adore this show. The pure honesty love and kindness of these beautiful souls blows me away

. Their innocence and hopeful view of this world is something that could teach many. Appreciate what you have

#autism #specialneeds #learningdisability

Which film? I love the innocence of kids. Every day my kids say it as it is and their attitude keeps me so grounded. We could all learn a lot from autism x

This sickens me 2 the core.Trump started this he is to blame. We are one let us not forget this. We need 2 learn again from our young who see no difference. My son with autism never sees any difference. Such innocence. The world will not change him .He listens to me I accept all

My son who has been diagnosed with #autism loves painting.He is lifting my spirits with his joy 4 his work he has done.Some he started this week & finished. R #Hamilton #Ticat #Football colors. Love the innocence its so grounding 4 me. Blessings 4 all you are doing

Pope john paul the second said children with autism were closer to god than any other. They have a innocence about them.  We should take notice and learn from there how love and live

And now, some tweets from people who think Greta Thunberg is being exploited just because she's so passionate about stopping climate change:

If This Little Girl GRETA really has AUTISM How Terrible Easy For Adults To Manipulat Her IT IS A PARENTS JOB TO PROTECT THE INNOCENCE OF OUR CHILDREN IM SO ASHAMED AND SO SHOULD THE CLIMATE CHANGE COMMUNITY GOD FORGIVE HER PARENTS. THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THE DO

Democrats like John Kerry are using an innocent little girl with autism to feign innocence while the Democrats just voted to spend 738 billion dollars on environmental destruction. How ridiculous.

That's a good argument? Because it's what SHE *wants* to do? She is a child who does not yet fully grasp the perils of public life or climatology. She's also a child diagnosed on the autism spectrum. She deserves privacy and protection of her innocence. It will end poorly.

I've started to suspect she was selected for this job because of her autism. She can play innocence whenever someone publicly calls her out for the childish nonsense that comes out of her.

Greta is a 16-yr-old kid with autism who is being used by her parents & the crazy adults around her as a political pawn. She's not a savior. She's a kid who is having her innocence and anonymity stripped from her by a**holes pushing their stupid climate change crap.

I think she is being used. The fact that she has an Autism Spectrum Condition should be respected. She is very articulate and very focused partly because she is Greta and partly because she is autistic, but she also has the innocence of a teenager and someone with an ASD.

[lesbianmaxevans]

camille for the name thing! or like whatever letters u haven’t done lmao

omg I don’t think I’ve ever been this popular for one of these ask games  😂

C: which fandom do you know the most about? lmao I answered rnm last time I got this but it’s prob btwn that and snyder’s dceu films

A: fandom you blog about the most lol another one I already answered. it’s prob rnm. it’s definitely the fandom I’ve created the most content for.

M: your favourite writer/s oh god idk when was the last time I read a book 😬🙈 uhhhhhhhhhhhh literally the only authors I can think of for books are like.....some YA folks that I LOVED in my late teens but now I’m just like YIKES @ them........ uh if we’re talking like screenwriting and you asked me one (1) year ago I would’ve said chris terrio in a heartbeat bc bvs but he’s also responsible for tros so like lol fuck him if he can write that vile trash. uh ava duvernay, who is also one of my fave directors, writes or co-writes a bunch of her films so she’s def on the list. tarell alvin mccraney, who I haven’t actually read anything he’s written (🙈) but moonlight and david makes man are both rlly excellent and he’s responsible for both. uh for tv, chris fedak always immediately comes to mind bc he’s created/co-created three shows I love (chuck, deception, and prodigal son) and knowing his co-creator of chuck and seeing what he’s made since it’s become p clear that the aspects of the show I hate about it are (for the most part) things he’s not responsible for lol (also! ALSO! idk if it was him or someone else in the writer’s room but in ps when a sex worker got murdered, malcolm kept referring to her as a sex worker instead of using slurs and it still makes me so !!!!!!!!)

I: a book you can read over and over again idk the last time I touched a book oof. ok this would absolutely not be true today but as a kid I was obsessed w the tale of desperaux I’m p sure I would read it like 3x a year and then the film came out and ruined my fondness of the book by being a diasaster lmfaoooooooo

L: a quote from one of your fandoms which you absolutely adore afhdjgfkgh L is such a popular letter today lmaooooo ok another quote hm chuck this time. for context chuck is sitting around his house v drunk and sarah comes by his house unexpectedly lol

C: I get it, okay. I think everybody gets it, Shaw’s amazing, and you two are gonna run off together and save the world, and that’s... great news for the world. But earlier on, in my drunken haze, I realized I hadn’t asked you a question. A really important question that I’d like to ask you now, if that’s okay. Just once, for the record: Sarah, do you love me? -beat of silence- C: Wow, I’m in my underwear. I’m sitting in my underwear, holding a plastic guitar. There’s a very good chance I’m making a complete fool of myself, isn’t there? S: Yes. C: I should probably put some pants on. S: No, Chuck. Yes. Chuck, I fell for you a long, long time ago. After you fixed my phone and before you started defusing bombs with computer viruses. So, yes. Yes

here’s the scene if you care to see what made 14 year old me lose my entire mind

E: a character you think you’re the most like? already answered but it is indeed max lov that hyperempathetic autistic lesbian :)

send me letters

[newsiepedia]

Character Profile: Davey (Musical and Film Version)

Real Name: David Jacobs

Nickname and Meaning: Davey (diminutive of David), Walking Mouth (given to him by Spot for talking so much)

Age: In the film script, Davey is stated to be 15, and his brother 8. (Newsies Film script, page 6) However, in the stage musical, Les says that he is “ten, almost”, (Newsies Live script, page 11) so Davey could be as old as 17. 

Gender: Davey is always played by a man. 

Family: Esther and Mayer Jacobs (parents), Sarah (sister) and Les (brother)

Davey…:

Is book smart. Not only is he the first one to suggest a strike, he knows everything the newsies would need to make it official and successful. (Newsies Live script, pages 25, 26, 27, 32) He has an extensive vocabulary (often causing his points to go right over the newsies’ heads), (Newsies Live script, pages 27, 32) (Newsies Film script, page 46) and is an eloquent public speaker. (Newsies Live script, pages 27, 28, 53, 54, 55, 63) His solo in Seize the Day is essentially a persuasive speech, telling the newsies not to quit- and one that works very well. (Newsies Live script, pages 40, 41, 42, 43) 

Is street stupid. Davey comes to the circulation gate not knowing anything about buying papers, (Newsies Live script, page 10) and when he tries to sell, not only does he lack charisma, he seems to have never heard a newsie hawk a headline in his entire life. (Newsies Live script, page 16) He also has no idea who Warden Snyder is, despite probably being in the poorest family he knows (until he meets the newsies, of course). (Newsies Live script, page 17)

Says what he thinks. When Jack spit shakes with Les, Davey tells him flat out “that’s disgusting”, (Newsies Live script, page 12) tells Katherine she’s not a “real reporter” before he even knows her, (Newsies Live script, page 34) and says “that’s it?” when Kath starts dancing during King of New York (Newsies Live script, page 50) - certainly not the best first impression a guy could make. He isn’t mean, though- he also readily complements Jack on his art (Newsies Live script, page 19) and lets him know how much he cares about him. (Newsies Live script, page 69)

Doesn’t understand social cues very well. When Jack is having his personal moping session after Crutchie’s arrest, Davey completely misreads the room. He talks about himself, and how worried he was about Jack (Newsies Live script, page 53) and then acts like nothing is wrong, and Jack ought to be happy the strike is going so well. (Newsies Live script, page 53, 54) He even tells Jack “Lighten up, no one died”, even though Crutchie very well could. (Newsies Live script, page 55) He also continues to mention his parents around the newsies, despite seeing how uncomfortable it makes them, (Newsies Live script, pages 16, 17, 23, 53) and tries to sell papers to a couple while they were making out. (Newsies Film script, page 21)

Is very protective of his brother. He mostly shows this by keeping him in line and out of trouble, like keeping him away from people who could hurt him (Newsies Live script, page 42) (Newsies Film script, page 30) and not letting him gawk at the Bowery Beauties. (Newsies Live script, page 18) He also looks after Les’s future, reminding him that they’re going back to school as soon as their father can work again. (Newsies Live script, page 16) 

Has a strong sense of ethics, which includes:

Honesty. Davey objects strongly to Jack’s “improving the truth a little”. (Newsies Film script, page 23) His dishonestly clearly marks him as a bad seed in Davey’s book, as when he says he was put in jail for stealing food, he becomes “suspicious”. (Newsies Film script, page 26) Though he learns to trust Jack over time, he brings up the lying again when Jack scabs, saying “You lie about everything headlines, your family -- because nobody counts but you -- nobody or nothing!” (Newsies Film script, page 105) Him bringing up honesty at such an emotional time shows how much it means to him.

Justice. Davey is very enthusiastic about the strike. He talks grandly about all the good striking will do- getting the newsies more rights, teaching adults they can’t exploit kids and get away with it, and helping other poor people. (Newsies Live script, pages 27, 63) He also preaches the importance of supporting other poor people to Medda when he’s trying to get the theater for the rally. (Newsies Film script, page 71)

Nonviolence. Davey strongly objects to beating up the scabbing newsies throughout the play, (Newsies Live script, pages 28, 41) (Newsies Film script, page 43, 80, 104) and is clearly disturbed by the violence of the police to the newsies (Newsies Film script, page 92) and the trolley strikers to each other. (Newsies Film script, page 30) The only time in either show Davey resorts to physical violence is when the Delancey brothers threaten his sister. (Newsies Film script, page 111)

Loyalty. Once Davey has committed to the strike, he really commits. He sticks by the newsies when they don’t (Newsies Live script, pages 40, 41, 42, 43), even going so far as to find their leader and bring him back when he tries to quit. (Newsies Live script, page 53)

Isn’t very social. When Jack buys him papers and offers to sell with him, Davey rejects him off the bat. (Newsies Film script, page 18) Even when he accepts the deal, Davey only does it “reluctantly”, (Newsies Film script, page 19) and he’s suspicious of Denton at first. (Newsies Film script, page 48) Also, he doesn’t appear to have any friends besides his sister, as he often talks to her about Jack. (Newsies Film script, page 75) However, he becomes more comfortable with them after they prove themselves trustworthy.

Is a nervous person. His dialogue is peppered with filler words (Newsies Live script, pages 17, 26, 27) (Newsies Film script, page 52) and dashes, (Newsies Live script, pages 40, 56) (Newsies Film script, page 51, 62, 101, 105, 123) showing that he isn’t confident in his ability to speak. He also asks the newsies to “leave him out” of the strike because he thinks it’s too risky, (Newsies Live script, page 25) and refuses to go to Brooklyn without Jack to protect him, (Newsies Live script, page 33) and starts “sweating, aware that all eyes are on him” while arguing with Wiesel about his papers. (Newsies Film script, page 17) This could be caused by him being the least favorite child in his family. (Highlights of the 1991 Script)

Is brave. Despite his anxiety, Davey doesn’t hesitate to stick up for himself or others. When Wiesel tries to cheat him out of a paper, Davey calls his mistake and doesn’t back down until he gets what he wants. (Newsies Live script, page 11) During the strike, he stands up for the cause the most and doesn’t back down when things get scary. His courage inspires the other newsies to stick with it. (Newsies Live script, pages 40, 41, 42, 43) 

Could be on the autism spectrum. Davey shows a lot of autistic traits, such as not understanding social cues and having difficulty approaching strangers. His large amounts of knowledge on striking and unions could also be because they’re his special interest.

Headcanon Fuel:

Why is Davey neither of his parents’ favorite child?

Why does Davey value honesty, justice, loyalty and nonviolence so much?

Why did Davey become a newsie (rather than picking some other job)?

Why doesn’t Davey want to be friends with the newsies at first?

Actors and Physical Appearance:

David Moscow

Ben Fankhauser

Jacob Kemp

Stephen Michael Langton

Davey is tall and scrawny, with dark curly hair and a prominent nose. He dresses to impress. Davey and his family are canonically Jewish and at least half Polish, as was made clear in a previous version of the script. (Highlights of the 1991 Script)

[myfandomrambles]

She-Ra Highschool AU Headcanons:

Catra: Grew up in a group home. Experienced psychological and physical abuse by the women who raised them Sarah Weaver nicknamed shadow weaver. Catra was like a sister and were each others strength. Adora protected her at school and tired and failed to do so at home. Just as good at soccer as Adora but didn't get a scholarship like because of her behaviour history, Adora leaving hurt Catra so much. Catra never tries at almost anything anymore unless it’s out of spit. She gets into fights, smokes weed, and skips class. Smart enough to pass anything but fell behind in class due to factors of not showing up and struggling to pay attention even when she did try. Became close with Scorpia after Adora leaving her without back up.  She acts as the boss in this relationship with Scorpia and Entrapta more than a friend. Catra likes to not be alone and likes them but doesn't want them to get to close. Is working towards saving enough money to get her own place, and hopefully be emancipated before turning eighteen. Offered Scorpia to be her roommate after Adora left if she gets emancipated too.

Adora: Lives in the same foster group home as Catra. Was the favourite of the people who run the home never receiving direct physical abuse and being treated as the one who had a shot to get out. Still deals with emotional neglect having to witness abuse done to Catra and never being able to stop it even when she tried. Got a scholarship to go to a fancy private school on a program to bring in underprivileged students with skills and help them into university.  Adora is exceptionally good at both soccer and martial arts with good grades, winning her the scholarship. Unentionally becomes student body president. Quickly bonds with Glimmer and Bow when they show her real affection she hadn’t experienced before besides Catra and gets to have fun. Befriends the others through the student government and GSA. Feels very bad that she left Catra behind, but doesn't quite notice how upsetting it was to her.

Glimmer: Lives with her mother, they don't get along all the time as her mom is very strict. Glimmer always wants to do her own thing and not be how her mother wants, but fear not being good enough to run the company that was her fathers and then her mothers. Never got to know her father who died when she was an infant. A black belt in Taekwondo president of the school GSA. Has a maybe unfair ability to do what she wants in school as her mother has influence. Gets close to Adora quickly she becomes the third musketeer to Glimmer and Bow. Knows Mermista, Bow, Perfuma and Seahawk from being young having always gone to the same private schools.

Bow: Lives with his two dads, generally his most stress comes from Glimmer always wanting to do something. Vice president of the GSA and in the theatre club with Seahawk. Everyone's mom friend. Loves Adora and is constantly floored that she managed to not do X (birthday parties etc) thing.

Mermista: Capitan of both the crew and swim teams. Dad left her and she is not at all still mad about it noo, lives with her mom. Of Indian descent, rocks desi fashion all the time. Has an on again off again relationship with the co-captain of the crew team named Seahawk. Advocate for saving the oceans loves the beach bonds with Perfuma over like political causes.

Entrapta: An autistic girl who loves robots, it's been her special interest for as long as she can remember and she's really good at it. She wants friends but struggles to make them, Scorpia and Catra are the first to really show interest in her work with robots. She is so done with school wants to go do new things and not deal with stressful social things. She wants to learn what she wants, her parents try to understand and be there but they struggle to really bridge a gap that formed over time.

Scorpia: A foster kid in a different home. Is on the basketball team, the only sports team at the school that's any good. She is the biggest sweetheart even if she comes off as gruff and intimidating. She has dealt with being called homophobic slurs and not being accepted. She bonds with Catra over this and is now easily tugged into Catras plans. Even agreeing to live with Catra if they can be emancipated (her foster home sucks too)

Frosta: Skipped a bunch of grades making her the youngest freshman she’s of native Alaskan descent. Wants to be taken seriously, but ends up pushing the others away by trying to be too mature. On student council, met Perfuma, Mermista and Adora through that. Head of the party committee and a mega skilled figure skater.

Seahawk: True dumbass, co-captain of the Crew team, totally in love with Mermista. Loves musical theatre. Keeps grades just high enough to be on the sports team and do plays.

Perfuma: President of the green club and maintains the school garden. Everyone thinks she’s a stoner but Nah she’s just that chill. Lives in a co-op where they grow their own food but family has a bunch of money for her parents' green tech inventions.  Bonds with Mermista over environmental causes, and meets Frosta & Adora though student council.

Angella: Runs a huge real-estate company, and is the biggest donor to the school, also an alumnus. Strict parent after the death of her husband in a mugging for fear of losing Glimmer. Doesn’t know how to reach Glimmer when they disagree.

Netossa & Spinnerella: College students who intern with Angella’s company, daughters of business associates. The cool lesbian aunts with top-notch advice. 

(thanks to this post for the idea)

[worst--jeanist]

using sign language in facfiction

so i’ve been reading ~*fanfiction*~ again and i’ve noticed that with the popularity of d/Deaf and hard of hearing characters and headcanons, there’s also a LOT of mistakes being made. whether its from misinformation, lack of research, or simple oversight, I think it’s important to keep some things in mind.

ive got a simple list type thing below for things to consider when using sign language in fanfiction

**Big Honkin’ Disclaimer!!!*** I am not d/Deaf of hard of hearing! I’m an outsider of the community, but I’ve been taking courses in ASL and Deaf Studies for four years now, and I want to spread what I know to other people who might be interested!! Also, i’m keeping it under the cut so updates can be seen cause i’m SO cure i missed a lot!!

1.) ASL is not universal

ASL stands for American Sign Language and is primarily used by Americans, Canadians (except Quebec). Some other countries have adopted it, including many African countries, and some costal Asian countries, but it remains large exclusive to America and Canada. 

In fandom, you’re likely to come across Japanese Sign Language for Anime, British Sign Language for BBC shows, French Sign Language for some cartoons, etc. etc. Basically, what I’m saying is that if your thing takes place anywhere besides America, look up what kind of sign language they use, and I would recommend even looking up some basic signs to get yourself acquainted with it.

Note: I can’t say for certain because I absolutely do not know if it’s the case with other sign languages, but at least in American Sign Language, sentence structure is very different from it’s spoken language. In English, we might say “I went over to Clarissa’s house yesterday”, but in ASL, it would translate more directly to “Yesterday Clarissa’s house I go.” Whether or not you choose to write in this word order is up to you. Another option might be to simply sum up what they said like:

Jane asked Sarah, “What did you do yesterday?”  Sarah responded that she went to Clarissa’s house.

I, personally, find this the least jarring way to read Deaf characters in print, but that’s just me. It also could avoid a lot of missteps if you’re not familiar enough with the language, especially foreign sign languages!

2.) There are other ways to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing people.

I’ve deadass read fics where character’s S/Os will learn sign language in like. A week. And yeah some basic signs could be picked up in that time, but likely not. Instead of jumping right to “And then his husband learn sign language for him!”, maybe they started somewhere else.

Writing/texting back and forth is a SUPER COMMON AND VERY CONVENIENT way of communicating with a deaf person if you don’t like sign language. I’ve yet to stumble upon a fic where someone is writing cute notes to their S/O like c’MON THAT’S LOST POTENTIAL!!

Gestures go a long way! A lot of signs were born from common gestures, like the sign for “telephone” or “drink”. It’s entirely possible to communicate gesturally to someone without knowing a lick of sign language.

There’s... kind of a lot to say in the way of interpreters so I uuuuh. Okay, as far as fanfic is concerned, the interpreter (Note: the word is “interpreter”, not “translator”) is likely a friend or child because I don’t know who’s writing in RID certified interpreters into their slashfic. But it’s very important that the character is talking to the deaf character and not the interpreter. If that character doesn’t know that, let them learn! It’s fun to read about people knowing things!

Lip-reading and speech-reading is very very difficult and often super inaccurate!!! Especially if the character didn’t grow up deaf or hard of hearing, it’s very difficult to have a conversation with a deaf person who is lipreading. Try it for yourself, it’s SUPER difficult. Hard of hearing characters might have an easier time since residual hearing plays a big part in it but it really rustles my jimmies when deaf/hoh characters are like “haha just talk to me normally, i can read lips :)” when in reality its more like “okay so i can kinda read lips cut can you sit on the other side of me cause there’s more like and also speak slower but don’t over annunciate and also please speak up and can you talk a bit more with your hands so i can get a sense of what you’re talking about and wait im sorry what’s the context again?” followed by many many :can you repeat that?” “what was that again???” JUST BELIEVE ME it’s difficult.

Also remember that a lot of deaf people can’t speak. Also remember that some deaf people can. Also remember that some deaf people don’t “sound” deaf. That’s a whole other can of worms.

 3.) Not all sign language users are d/Deaf.

In an attempt to keep this sign language centric, I want to point out that some other people who use ASL actually might have perfectly function hearing and even speaking mouthparts! Some of these people include autistic people, especially children, people who are mute, people with speech processing disorders, and even people with audio processing disorders. And that’s only the groups of people I can come up with off the top of my head. There are all kinds of people use use sign language, gesture language, etc. in their daily lives. 

4.) Not all d/Deaf people use sign language.

A sad reality is that many many institutions don’t favor the deaf. There are adults who were born deaf and never learned sign language because they weren’t taught it in schools or because they were taught ~*oralism*~ which was heavily pioneered by Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone and husband to a deaf woman. Not entirely relevant, but interesting. Oralism is the practice of forcing speech and lip-reading onto deaf people, where classes were spent teaching deaf people to speak rather than to sign. In some oralist schools, sign language is even flat-out banned. 

A YouTuber that I really love, Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, talks about how her school would provide a BSL interpreter, but not BSL lessons while she was going deaf. And that is a sad reality. In some American school systems, deaf children simply sit through class and kind of. Hope that they get whats going on because their school won’t teach them sign language. And, just as sadly, a V A S T majority of hearing parents to deaf children simply won’t learn sign for their kids and instead enforce oralist ideals on them at home. 

5.) *blink-182 voice* All the small things

-pls stop saying you “speak” sign language. you use sign language. I know it sounds a little weird but trust me, speaking sign language sounds even more physically impossible

-hearing aids are not a cure all. Someone isn’t just suddenly hearing because they have hearing aids

-same with cochlear implants but i aint never seen that one in a fanfic. look into it tho it’s a rly interesting debate

I’m gonna be updating this as people have any questions, but i think this is some pretty basic stuff to get started with!

[aroworlds]

Aro-Spec Artist Profile: Sebastian

Our next aro-spec creator is Sebastian, better known on Tumblr as @gloriousmonsters and @mangledmouth!

Sebastian is a bisexual, autistic, aromantic trans man who is single-handedly covering many literary bases in producing original aro and queer short stories, novels and poetry. Aside from his Tumblr blogs, you can find and support more of his work at his Patreon. If you have a dollar or two you’re wanting to invest in worthy aro-spec talent on a less-regular basis, please take a look at Sebastian’s Ko-Fi!

With us Sebastian talks about identifying with the role of villainy in narrative as an aro creative, aromantic characters and grand emotional gesture, the divide between representation and self-expression, and some spectacular-sounding work-in-progress book titles! His investment in aromantic characters and characterisation shapes every word, so please let’s give him all our love, encouragement, gratitude, kudos and follows for taking the time to explore what it is to be aromantic and creative.

Can you share with us your story in being aro-spec?

It took me a while to realize I was aromantic, but it was one of the things that made me go ‘oh, that makes … a lot of sense’ when I looked back at my childhood. I was a weird, isolated kid, so I didn’t learn from bouncing off other children; I learned through stories.

One of my strongest early memories is of watching a poorly made Red Riding Hood film over and over again, belting out the lyrics to the (poorly written) villain’s song, called ‘Man Without A Heart’. Cut to a year or so later, watching the Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella (still the best Cinderella, IMO), I was utterly fascinated by the villainess singing: ‘Falling in love with love is falling for make-believe…’

I didn’t know, that early, that I didn’t feel romantic love. Not consciously. But there was something utterly, obsessively interesting about villains that sneered at love, who were called heartless, who challenged the narrative that there must always be a love story and it must come out right no matter what. I felt, on a deep level, that these people were like me somehow. The additional queercoding and common side-helping of mental illness helped - or didn’t help, depending on your perspective. I grew up knowing, deep down, what my part in life was: I was the villain.

When I hit my rebellious age, it first came out by my saying, ‘But being a villain doesn’t mean you have to be wrong or unhappy’. I began collecting villains like nobody’s business, and writing stories that more and more often centered people whose character types I’d only ever seen as villains. And from there we arrive at today!

Are there any particular ways your aro-spec experience is expressed in your art?

Recently, my brother (who is my sounding board for a lot of stories, as I am for him) looked at my books-to-write list and said, ‘Nearly every idea you have is a deconstructed romance or strong non-romantic relationship.’

I love strong relationships, so I originally thought I needed to write people as love interests to get that; these days I feel more free to focus on whatever the heck I want, and being aro shows in everything. My current WIP centers a poly relationship where two of the partners are aromantic. Two people (often, but not always, a man and a woman due to my frustration with the ‘men and women can’t be friends’ thing) who are the most important people in each others’ lives and are platonic, show up over and over again in my novel ideas; I start with relationships that look like romances and then pull them apart. Part of this, I think, is due to my autistic ‘let’s take this into component parts and see how it works’ tendencies; being autistic and being aro aren’t cause and effect, for me, but they play well together.

When I write poetry, some of it deals explicitly with being aromantic, but all of it is non-romantic. It makes me kind of anxious sometimes to think of people interpreting pieces as being romo because they’re about intense emotions; one of the biggest ways being aro is expressed in my writing is my constant attempts to show other feelings, connections and relationships than romance being worthy of big feelings and gestures. I’ll sometimes refer to myself as ‘aromantic but capital-R Romantic’ (i.e.  extremely dramatic) because of that.

What challenges do you face as an aro-spec artist?

I’m sure I’ll run into more problems as I try to take my increasingly aro and queer and ND works to professional markets, but at the moment my biggest problem is self-censoring. I sit at an awkward junction of having multiple identities I want to include in my work, and being … well, someone who grew up obsessed with villains, who later on developed a decade’s interest in slasher horror, and who still tends to write people who are perceived as, or see themselves as, villains. Awkward because I always have that voice in my head (helped along by some of the stuff I see on social media) going ‘that’s not good rep! nobody will want to read this!’

But I know from experience that not writing from the heart (and look at that, I do have one after all!) doesn’t end well, so I’m working on getting good at writing my weird dark stuff and hoping I’ll find the audience for it. And I always leave a little bit of light in it, because I have another voice in my head, still saying, ‘just because you’re a villain doesn’t mean you can’t be happy’.

It’s a weird sort of positivity, but it works for me.

How do you connect to the aro-spec and a-spec communities as an aro-spec person?

Following and submitting to this blog is part of my first attempts to actually join the aro-spec community. I tend to move slowly and be very nervous of talking to new people, but I’ve been trying to be more affirming of my aromantic identity lately, and seeking out other aros is part of that. Hopefully I’ll settle in a little more as time passes.

How can the aro-spec community best help you as a creative?

At the moment, people following and reblogging from my poetry blog @mangledmouth would be much appreciated. It’s hard to get traction with poetry (especially if you don’t write romantic poetry) and I’d love more people to see my work. I’m proud of a lot of what I’ve done, so check it out! Be warned that my love for horror and oddness turns up there as well, but there’s nothing too graphic.

And Ko-Fi donations or small Patreon subscriptions are always appreciated.

Can you share with us something about your current project?

My current WIP (titled either The Night In Wanting or And One of Us Be Happy, depending on whether I go for the one that sounds better or the one that fits best thematically) is about a third done! Praise me, because I’m really bad at finishing things, but I’m still on track to wrap this up at the end of June. It’s about a Weird Small Town and Sarah, a girl with a reputation for breaking hearts, who decides to date one of her best friends and actually try to make it work. Her attempts at being normal quickly get derailed when their town’s general weirdness turns hostile - attacks by creatures from the woods, unsettling amounts of rain, pictures changing when you’re not looking at them and a really pushy forest spirit trying to bargain with people for a heart. Her attempts at normal are further derailed when she figures out that her new boyfriend is also in love with a mutual friend, and that she might not feel love at all.

I love these characters, guys. This story is finally coming together after years and the three main characters - Sarah, Mags and Fred - have always been at the heart of it, no matter what shape it took. (Mags used to be a ghost, and the story went through a phase of being a Band AU of itself. Fred kept getting possessed, and there’s a joke about that in the text now that nobody will get but me. And now you guys!) It’s terrifying to write a YA that’s not only poly, but focuses on an aromantic main character, but I’m determined to make it work.

(This is is one of the most sweet/normal things I’ve worked on, despite the healthy dose of horror. I’ve also been writing snippets of a pet project called How The Child-Eater Became King, to give you an idea of the other end of the spectrum.)

Have you any forthcoming works we should look forward to?

I haven’t got the release date for it yet (it’ll probably be a while yet) but I recently sold a short story, Sabuyashi Flies, to Glittership. The main character, Sabuyashi, was originally aroace but turned out to be a lesbian ace during writing. (Characters often decide to come out while I’m writing, which is always fun to handle. I mean that both sarcastically and genuinely.) I’m already working on and off on the sequel story where she meets her future best friend Nathaniel, who is aro. Working title is Nat Luckless and the Girl Made of Beetles. Look for news about Sabuyashi Flies soonish and Nat Luckless whenever my slow butt manages to finish and (fingers crossed) sell it!