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0poole · 4 years ago

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Humor in Writing

Most of the time I feel like dismissing what might seem like “faults” in writing because I haven’t actually made anything myself, and especially haven’t gotten any attention to what I make, but every once in a while something really ticks me off. Of course, I still try to take it with a grain of salt because of my lack of true experience in writing, but considering I’m hoping to actually become some degree of a writer I feel like it’s worth actually trying to explain what I think is a fault with things and why.

There always seems to be one specific thing that bothers me a lot when reading/watching stuff, and it’s the hard switching of tone from comedy to sincerity, or something similar to that, or vice versa.

Honestly, even though it sounds like the motive of a cartoon villain, I kinda think there’s too much humor in the world. It’s probably just entirely driven by opinion and preferences, but I feel like so many people are striving and looking for comedy that it hinders so many other things. I feel like, both in real life and in writing, having so much humor everywhere creates a pretty big gap between that tone and sincerity, which is pretty much always needed at some point. The big line between comedy and sincerity makes it so much harder, emotionally speaking, to feel good about the switch. I’ll try to explain…

First of all, this whole line of thought, even though I’ve been thinking it forever, was spawned by me watching Epithet Erased. Took me long enough, because I’ve seen some of the characters around and really loved their designs, but I finally watched it all, and I gotta say… It was interesting. Also, this is probably just going to be very ranty and opinionated but I will (hopefully) have something more valuable to say after. But, anyways, for one, it felt just barely too close to some of the premises for the stories I’ve thought of in various ways, but I guess that’s just bad luck on my part. Second, I feel like its humor really brought it down for me. Some episodes felt so long winded (although not necessarily “boring” I guess) because I felt like I got the joke they were trying to tell relatively quickly after they started it, but carried it so far. It didn’t help that, at least for a few of them, some of the characters felt like archetypes that I’ve seen a lot around the internet, or at least were simple enough that I understood what they were instantly, and when they are carried out through long character-focused moments it felt like nothing was happening. I feel like some of the characters are fine enough, even if I may not like them, but Giovanni and Indus were the two big ones that I thought had a little too much time given to them…

But more relevant to what I’m trying to say, sometimes the writing jumps way too far from the very comedic tone it’s trying to put out and into it trying to be sincere. The worst case of this was when Sylvie met Mera in the museum storage, and Sylvester tried to out Mera’s nightmares, only to see that her nightmare was the reality she was already in. With the scene change, and Indus becoming more serious with Molly, it felt like a good enough departure from the usual comedic tone to warrant the deeper motive of the character. But, then, of course, they had to trash the whole tone by adding the line about her also being afraid of ducks. There was absolutely no good reason to warrant that line and I will die on that hill. Not only was it just humor, but it was spontaneous “random” humor, and so on… I honestly hope people could just understand where I’m coming from there by how out of place it seems. I feel like the only defense they could use, apart from “just liking it,” would be that it’s comedic relief, but I genuinely feel like since practically the whole thing up until this point was comedy there was absolutely no need for comedic relief. The scene itself is like the opposite of comedic relief, like “Sit down and pay attention” or “Turn your brain back on” or whatever. The climactic point of the scenes before it were reached, meaning the sincere conflict there should be focused on, and apart from that one tiny little line it worked well enough. The fact that it was so tiny and insignificant is basically why I hated it so much. They literally could’ve just scratched it off of the script and only good things would have happened.

Something a bit similar happened before when Molly revealed her backstory to Giovanni. It wasn’t quite as bad, but when a scene goes from comedy to “my mom’s dead and my life sucks” you do feel the shift a little too quickly. I feel like it’s not as bad because it could just be Molly’s character, seeing the tragedy of her life as just sort of normal and not really that remarkable, meaning she’s more likely to just randomly bring it up.

But I definitely wouldn’t be going off this much about it if there wasn’t at least a little bit more. Zora was literally the reason I wanted to watch the show, because I saw a drawing of her a while back and thought she was just some random OC, but when I heard she was from this show I instantly wanted to watch it a lot more. I think the same thing happened with Molly, but I think I knew she was from the show to begin with. Anyway, Zora was the main character who I loved from the get-go and loved even more the more I learned about her. She’s such a perfect amount of diversion from being a generic cowboy in the little design details, while still being 100% cowboy material. Then, when I saw that her power was “Sundial,” or more generally just time powers, I loved it. The big thing that seems little conceptually is making her key term “sundial” instead of just “time” or whatever, because of how much it relates to her cowboy-ness, with it being associated with the “sun” people often associate with Death Valley and the Wild West and whatnot. Not to mention, it’s just a cool power.

But that’s kinda the thing, though. She’s so insanely strong. She could literally kill anyone on a whim. I don’t see how anyone could be cracking jokes in her presence. It’s kinda more general of a gripe, but when she aged up Howie it was borderline terrifying, and yet… right after, they’re cracking jokes again. It’s just so jarring. She could have literally reduced him to dust, and they’re so casual about it. I know Percy is supposed to be kinda blind to some obvious things, but I feel like even she could see the horror. That said, though, Percy is also one of my favorites. Her powers feel so natural yet interesting for what she is for some reason.

Frankly, the visual character designs alone for this show are all really good. Whether or not I’m into the writing, I can’t deny that the show kept me coming back just because it feels so good to just look at it, you know? The minimal animation, vocalized stage directions, and top-down scene view was really interesting to watch, since I’ve never seen it before, and seems like a perfect way to produce more content with less budget. It made everything feel super crisp and tidy, despite being animated so simply. Not to mention that the general lack of animation meant the few scenes where there was traditional-level animation felt really good. The voice acting was also amazing, (again not directly tied to the writing) especially when the voice actors carried their character and emotion from the scene into the stage directions, instead of just reading them out plainly. And, at the very least, the premise of the show is also really interesting (at least to me, mainly because I created 2 stories with a similar idea without even knowing anything about it. Simplified, specific superpowers are just perfect for character designing, you know?)

But I am kinda acting like the writing was bad, but it really wasn’t all things considered… I’m just not really into comedy, and when the comedy I don’t like is paired with writing and practically everything else I do like it doesn’t sit right with me. Considering this idea and some of the story beats were adopted from a DnD(-esque?) campaign, I feel like it’s much more fine. Frankly, I’m surprised I didn’t realize it sooner. Once I read about that, everything just fell into place. I’m not really into DnD either, though…

So, I feel like there are things to gain from thinking about this. While Epithet Erased is still on the mind, I feel like I’ve realized something about the juxtaposition of comedy and sincerity, that being that comedic characters can exist in sincere surroundings, and vice versa. Zora specifically could be one of these characters, because she’s so powerful that she probably sees everything around her as trivial, while the other characters have more sincere reactions to her obscene power. She could easily crack a sick joke that no one laughs at because she’s the only one who can find humor in whatever’s going on. By contrast, the thing about Mera’s fear of ducks was a product of the scene and not of the character, so it just ruined things. Nothing about it was made to be funny to the characters, it was made to be funny to the audience, even though the audience should be in sincere mode then.

Another character that I think works like this is Charlie from Hazbin Hotel, who is the sincere personality in a world of complete and total insincerity. She’s basically a more unique kind of straight man (despite being neither straight nor a man), who are always the grounding in comedic casts, like Squidward in Spongebob. I guess in sincere stories there are comedic relief characters, and in comedies there are straight men. You know, these are probably all things other people have figured out already… at least I can feel good knowing I sort of reached them on my own…

I think a good solution for stuff that’s primarily meant to be a comedy is to make it almost entirely comedic, at least with the inclusion of a straight man if needed. The big name that comes to mind is good ol Monty Python, the backbone of 14 year old boys’ humor style. At some point I realized why I like the humor of The Holy Grail, at least above other comedic movies, is that they don’t hold back at all. At no point whatsoever do they pull back the veil and put in a sincere moment. And, of course, since I can basically recite the entire movie from memory I think it did wonders. I think when it comes to comedies like this, trying to be too sincere at certain points makes it feel even less sincere than if it didn’t have the sincere moment at all. This might be a product of the 00s American family-rated live action comedies who all feel like they fall into that same boat, where the entire movie is hijinks, but then at the very end they pull that all back and have something really impactful happen, with the idea being having some shoehorned message about “family” or whatever. I can group so many movies into that category that it feels almost corporate how many there are like that, and because it’s both overdone and geared towards too generalized of an audience, trying to capture the comedy-lovers and sincere-lovers, it really just fails in both ways. Or, maybe people love them because they’re just barely bad enough to enjoy it in a so-bad-it’s-good sort of way. I dunno. If I wasn’t a little nostalgic for the time those types of movies might be my all-time least favorite.

But I’m a stick in the mud who hates comedy so I’m not really equipped to tell anyone how to do it right. Instead, I feel like there’s some seriously untapped potential in other forms of “feel-good” tones, like casual lightheartedness and just plain fun. I feel like those two things really work towards creating sincere stories that are still enjoyable, and not just one shot of sadness after another, while still having a dash of impactful emotion in them.

I feel like this is where Pixar really shines. People say “It’s not a true Pixar movie if you don’t cry at the end” because I think Pixar movies are great at making the audience lower their guard, and when the moment is right, hitting you right in your heart to make you feel the right emotions. For example, what I’d call my favorite movie of all time (for intents and purposes, if not for real), Inside Out, is all about emotional sincerity, where it’s trying to get across how it’s okay to feel sad, even though the world around you tends to say happiness is always what you want. For most of the movie, it’s a pretty casual romp around the inner workings of Riley’s mind, with some jokes thrown in (because it doesn’t have to be completely without jokes). I’m not really sure how to explain it, but the various jokes in Inside out feel like they’re sort of blended with the interesting workings of this fantasy mind-world, like the fact that earworms are just the little blobby workers in our minds sending the memory of the song back up to the control panel for the hell of it, or that our dreams are a product of a Hollywood-like place in our minds. These things definitely are there for humor, but something about them feels much more fun than just any kind of generic comedy.

Then, I feel like the most important thing about fun and lightheartedness is that they feel like they blend so much better with the sincere moments. Obviously if it’s too quick it’ll still be bad, but I think it’ll be much less bad than with comedy. Maybe you could think of it like a spectrum with pure comedy at one end and pure tragedy at the other, with fun and lightheartedness just barely crossing the midpoint towards the comedy side. Since there’s less of a gap between it and tragedy compared to pure comedy, it feels less jarring. Plus, it just feels more reasonable logically speaking, since comedy sort of puts up this insincere barrier to sort of suspend the disbelief that the events in question are supposed to be taken seriously, which makes breaking that barrier harder once it’s established. With fun and lightheartedness, there may be an expectation of it sort of maintaining itself but there isn’t as much to say there isn’t something hiding in the background. In Inside Out at least, throughout Joy and Sadness’ journey they are pretty determined to get back to the control panel to save Riley, but they’re for the most part confident they can do it (or, you know, just Joy’s confident), so they sort of interpret the world around them in a more casual light, but with that lower-level need still there. But when Joy falls into the abyss of forgotten memories and the hopelessness sets in, you feel it much more, because it was sort of already there to begin with, and it was just made perfectly clear at that moment. I think Bing Bong’s emotions during the scene also make it pretty emotional, since he’s being casual about his death while also being sincere about his sacrifice for Riley’s sake. Not to mention his inner sadness was outed while talking with Sadness.

I feel like if I were trying to write an actual essay I could probably phrase all this a lot better. I just think there’s a ton of value to lightheartedness in stories, as opposed to comedy, for the sake of “feeling good.” Pretty much all of my favorite things have that tone to them to some degree, like Wander Over Yonder, my for sure favorite TV show. It definitely feels fun in a way that can elicit laughs, but it’s not a lot like “This is a joke and you should laugh” most of the time (Disregarding the Evil Sandwich, my least favorite character in the show). I also think Steven Universe succeeds very well with that tone, creating an extremely comfy atmosphere when it comes to the less climactic episodes.

I also vastly prefer the lighthearted resolutions to the conflicts in lighthearted stories. Frankly, I am infinitely more likely to cry to a comfy and happy resolution than I am to the actual sad parts. I’m not really sure what it is about them, but I guess the characters finally being happy again after emotional turmoil warrants a happy-cry. I swear, if I think too hard about the scene where Riley finally admits her sadness to her parents and just sits in their warm embrace, I tear up. It feels so much better than hijinks-danger-hijink resolution.

But yeah, the stories I want to write the most will all inevitably have that sort of lighthearted flair to them, unless of course I choose to go more inherently serious with a story. There’s nothing wrong with that either.

With regard to the really big claim I made before about there being too much humor in the world, the themes of Inside Out, and what I said about comedy’s insincere barrier, I really think the world as a whole would benefit from valuing humor a little less. It feels like there are so many situations where people sort of want to maintain their good feelings with humor instead of more directly dealing with issues in a sincere mindset. For example, if people say something disagreeable (but not insane), It feels like too many people resort to making jokes at that person’s expense and not dealing with the issues directly. Obviously if someones saying some insane bullshit it’s fine, but when the more reasonable takes that are just barely put under the same umbrella as the insane shit are made fun of, it really deepens the trench between the people of different opinions. Of course, humor isn’t the only thing deepening that trench, but it really feels like one of them a lot of the time.

Apart from that, I feel like using humor as a way to distract from general negativity and negative emotions like what Inside Out sort of warns against can be pretty detrimental too. Obviously happiness can still be around, but putting up that kind of barrier between you and the necessary sincerity for emotion with comedy just makes the unpleasantness of the unpleasant stuff that much more unpleasant. I’m saying this one at least out of personal experience, since I have sort of developed to be too subconsciously against super sad and sincere real world scenarios. I haven’t personally felt too many of them myself, but I definitely feel myself blocking off some of my own emotional vulnerability, especially around other people. I can consciously talk against it, like I’m doing now, but I feel like it’s going to take a long time for that barrier to really break. Is humor to blame for that sort of thing? Maybe, with a dash of toxic masculinity and other buzzwords people often avoid for reasons I mentioned in the last paragraph.

Even though this one is much more unreasonably generalizable than the last two things, I feel like the popularity of self-deprecating humor across the internet also (probably?) takes a toll on some people. Obviously some people might just use it to their genuine benefit, but since it seems so common surely some people are putting on a self-deprecating face to get along, and eventually maybe even believing what they used to joke about themselves. Either way, it might be a product of an extreme departure from any kind of narcissism, making being self-confident and self-loving just that little bit harder for people.

But, while I’m not the most equipped to judge writing, I’m even less equipped to actually debate for the existence of all those things, so just know I’m kinda speaking with my heart and not my brain here. People obviously want and need different things, and I’m probably just projecting. Hell, maybe that’s me self-deprecating to not make me seem weird to everyone else. I dunno.

No matter what, all this reliance on humor really just shows who is and isn’t funny. Sometimes, people really need to get a grip. Frankly, I don’t think I’m that funny either, which is why I’ve kind of had the humor beaten out of me by one too many awkward silences after a weird joke in my elementary/middle school days. I guess that’s my cartoon villain origin story.

#rant #rambling #opinions #writing #humor #comedy #epithet erased #poole #etc

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your-turn-to-role · 5 years ago

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for the cr asks: 1, 7, 19, 29

hey, thanks!

1) How did you first discover Critical Role?

uh, friends, mostly. i was one of the later people in my friend group to get into it, though i’m definitely the one who’s gotten the most obsessed with it now 😂

i have one friend who’s been following it since the really early days, like early 2016 or something? and was very into taliesin’s characters (they have a very similar aesthetic), but stopped after molly died

another friend who’s more into dnd shows just bc she really likes dnd rather than particularly for the story has also been into it for ages, and was pestering me to watch for at least a year before i actually did

(not that i didn’t think i’d like it, it just takes me forever to get into stuff bc when i get into a fandom i get super into it and then am resistant to leave it, and there’s a limit to how many characters i can hold in my brain at once, also because starting a new thing that has literally thousands of hours of content is intimidating as fuck)

but it was also just, fanart of jester on tumblr? she didn’t even end up being my fave of the m9 (though i definitely love her), but she’s 100% my aesthetic to the core, and seeing a lot of art of her around i was like “okay i wanna know who this girl is bc she seems cool”

and then about, idk, 9-10 months ago i started cr2? and fell in love with nott within about two seconds of her speaking, which made me listen long enough to fall in love with the other characters as well, and then after i caught up (which was just before ep 73 aired, i was watching it with more or less all of my free time) i watched campaign 1 in a similar fashion and here we are

7) Do you have any official CR merch?

does explorer’s guide to wildemount count? or the vox machina origins comics? bc if so, i have those (digitally anyway)

but in terms of most actual merch, no, not yet, i’m not 100% ruling it out, but i live in new zealand so shipping is a huge pain and i haven’t come across anything yet that is both within my price range and that i care enough about to pay a shit ton for shipping

(honestly, would have bought any of the dice sets, but the only one that’s been out while i’ve been in the fandom was the whitestone opalite dice and those were suuuper expensive)

(real pretty though)

19) Who’s your favorite CR cast member (Matt, Laura, etc.)?

ohhhhhh that’s so hard to choose. every time i think of any one person at least four others show up in my head like “hey what about us!”

i think i’ll just answer this by saying my favourite things about each of them

matt - really cool person. really fun storyteller. so much more of a dork when not being a DM, it’s not a side of him we get to see often but it’s one i’d love to see more of! i’m still amazed he does this every week when he’s said a couple times he hates being on camera, like... matt, how do you do that. i am a little in awe of you

travis - i love his whole approach to rping? like the whole “you have to take risks at every possible opportunity because whether it succeeds or fails, it’s always worth the chance you’ll make something amazing”. he’s highly relatable as an adhd player. also he’s said he doesn’t want to put romance stories in his dnd characters and i get very attached to characters that could be headcanoned as aro so i really appreciate that

marisha - she’s fucking badass. i am constantly in awe of her bravery to continue to play her characters really well when she gets so much hate with them. also, she’s a really good actor? i feel like no one says it enough but she really is. love all her liveshow outfits.

liam - now, i’ve been that one theatre kid who was way too obsessed with hamlet at like age 15? so like... i feel you, liam. love the places he goes with his characters. love everything about vax. love the language he uses while rping and the small little gestures he comes up with that add so much to a character, i’ve written a couple posts on it

sam - now, on one hand, sam is the cast member i relate the least to. on the other, he did make nott who i love with all my heart. i’m also just really impressed by everything he comes up with as scanlan, especially the super long ode to vax which had to be at least partially improvised/written during that episode

laura - continually dedicated to proving you can make female characters that are super detailed and full of depth while also always being down to make stupid dick jokes. really good actor. very cute and very ridiculous. also, [harp music] ~laura bailey~

taliesin - i love his dedication to being goth, queer, and colourful all at once? bc big fucking mood. love his characters, love his weirdness, love his random pockets of obscure knowledge that occasionally come up on the show and everyone’s like “how the fuck do you even know that”

ashley - is it not enough to be gay and in love with ashley johnson? but no seriously she’s super cool and also a dork and i adore her

29) What’s the most devastating CR PC defeat/death?

i mean..... it’s gotta be molly, right?

like percy’s first death and vax in the finale were both heartwrenching as fuck, but both kinda felt like they were meant to happen? percy, while he came back and i’m glad he did (which also helps make it not the most devastating), taliesin had kinda planned for that to be the end of percy, and it did tie things up in that tragic way his character archetype often goes. had that been permanent, it would have hurt, but it would have felt fitting. and vax, god, i will never be over dalen’s closet, but he had a lot of time to come to grips with his own death and that made it, more cathartic rather than just painful

but molly was just, i mean i knew it was coming before i even started watching, i tried my best not to get attached and then got attached anyway

and i really love what it did to the plot and the characters and i wouldn’t trade away caduceus now we’ve really gotten to know him

but goddamn did that have an impact

#cr thoughts #cr1 #cr2 #ask #crit role cast #mollymauk tealeaf #percy de rolo #vax'ildan #text #kaetor

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pynkhues · 5 years ago

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Ok, so. First of all, I freaking love your writig, its *chefs kiss* delicious. Second of all I have this theory. Its that the only way they will say anything seriously nice about the other is if they are not saying it to each other. Could you write something about Beth defending Rio to someone (maybe a PTA mom or Ruby) or Rio defending Beth to someone (maybe Dean) and the other one overhears? Kinda the opposite of 'eavesdroppers never hear nice things' kinda thing. Sorry for the ramble!

Thank you so much! You’re so sweet!

So, I’ve had so many requests for fic in The Center and Circumference / domestic fic universe, I didn’t realise that that wasn’t in your request until I’d already finished this prompt, haha. I hope that’s okay! Anyway, it’s pretty long, so I hope you like it :-)

He’s halfway through a meeting with one of their newer clients – some watery-eyed, broad-faced fuck with a propensity already for overstepping – when Rio’s cell buzzes in the back pocket of his jeans, and shit, he thinks, gaze flicking to his right on the table where his work cell sits uninterrupted. It’s ain’t that.

“I can manage the extra cars,” the client says across from him, unperturbed, shifting forwards slightly in his seat, and Rio arches an eyebrow, feeling his cell quiet down, then the tell-tale buzz of a voicemail left after it. There are only a few people it could be on this line – Elizabeth, probably about dinner tonight or somethin’ (she’s careful about calling his work cell for work-related things after all), his mom, probably about dinner on Sunday night, or - - his jaw already twitching in annoyance - - Glenvale Elementary School.

“That’s a lotta product,” he tells the client, while telling himself it could be Danny’s teacher – Elizabeth had kept him home sick yesterday with what she was sure were the early signs of an ear infection, and she is usually right about those sorts of things; or Emma’s teacher, maybe – giving her another prize for highest raised hand or cleanest desk or some shit, but damn, who’s he kidding?

If it’s the school, he knows who it’s about.

“I can move it,” the client insists. “It’s only three more than my guys are already doing, and I’ve got a few new territories I’m exploring for distribution.”

It’s the way the guy says it more than anything that makes Rio train a lazy eye back on him – the tone just the wrong side of desperate. Rio knows that tone – the tone of somebody who’s promised someone more than he can offer.

Rocking forwards a little in his own seat, Rio knits his fingers together, drops them as one to the table in front of him, his brow furrowing in faux confusion as he does it, and he’s about to ask exactly why this dumbass needs three extra cars worth of pills when his cell starts buzzing again in the back pocket of his jeans.

And just - -

If it is the school - -

If one of them is sick or hurt or something, just - -

Fuck.

He lurches to his feet.

“We’ll start with one,” he tells the guy, already reaching for his cell, and when the client opens his mouth to try and haggle, Rio silences him quickly with a look. Once he’s sure the guy isn’t going to make trouble, he drags his gaze away just long enough to make eye contact with Demon, who’s standing, folded-armed, by the door.

“Demon’ll take you through the, ah –” he rolls his free hand out at the wrist, making a show out of considering this, his other hand still occupied with his buzzing cell. “Paperwork, dot the I’s, cross them t’s. You do okay with the one, we can talk about two next time, yeah?”

And at least even the mention of Demon is enough to shut the guy up for real.

What can he say? Demon’s got a rep, and what sort of boss would Rio be if he didn’t know how to use it? He smirks a little, watches as Demon moves to sit down on the edge of the table, inches away from the client, looking down at him, and when he’s sure Demon’s got it, Rio slips easily out of the room.

He’s still walking down the short hallway of the warehouse to his current office when he finally actually looks at his buzzing cell, feeling equally pissed off and vindicated at the Glenvale Elementary number blearing back up at him. And sure, maybe he’s pinching his nose as he answers the call, elbowing his way into his office – expecting what exactly, he has no fucking clue. He’s given up on guessing when it comes to Marcus and Jane. If they’ve started another fire though, he swears to god - -

“Mr Vela,” the administrator says, a little breathless, her voice cutting through his thoughts. “Thanks for taking our call. We understand you’re a very busy man.”

Rio just hums, folding down into his desk chair.

“The kids aight?”

“Um, yes, yes, the kids are all fine, we were just - - we were wondering if you wouldn’t mind coming in? Now? Or whenever soonest you could get here?”

He checks his watch, rocking his jaw in irritation. He’s not sure he can sit through another meeting with Marcus and Jane’s teacher, watch him make cow eyes at Elizabeth, blush like he’s fourteen when she laughs at some joke so lame it may as well be leavin’ his mouth with scuffed loafers and a sweater vest.

And - -

Wait - -

He purses his lips a little.

“Yeah, ain’t you got some PTA mom bake off on right now?” he asks. “My partner should be there already. In your cafeteria and whatnot.”

Despite his best efforts to get her not to be. There were better uses of her time after all, but she kept insisting it was good for the kids to see her there, for the school to see her there too, and they’d fought enough about it, because yeah, sure – Rio was down for the recitals and the games and even the family mixers (which - - ugh), but it wasn’t like the kids were even around for the PTA shit, and besides, Rio (and Elizabeth, in name at least) had donated half a library to the damn place. Enough that the school would turn a blind eye to any of the shit Rio did if he needed to (namely taking the kids out at no notice if shit went down. Or if it didn’t. Whatever. Sometimes he just wanted to take ‘em to LegoLand).

“Actually, that’s why I’m calling,” the administrator says a little nervously. “There’s been an incident with some of the parents. In fact, with your partner. If you could come in as soon as you could, we’d be grateful.”

***

And really, this shit is just hilarious.

He’d gotten a few of the details over the phone from the administrator, but honestly he doesn’t think anything will really beat walking into a first grade classroom and seeing Elizabeth on one of those tiny little plastic seats, a handful of scratches at her temple like someone’s tried to gauge out her eye and missed, some more at her chest, the neck of her pink blouse torn open and her neck and chest smeared with frosting.

Rio arches an eyebrow at her as he steps in, and Elizabeth puts her nose up and everything, a blush dusting her cheeks, all prim like they ain’t gonna be finding blood and frosting when she pulls her bra off later, but then - - he bites back a grin. That sounds kinda fun.

She’s doing better than the woman beside her anyway – some Bargain Bin Barbie, who has two cotton balls shoved up her bloody nose, the start of a killer black eye (and damn, when had Elizabeth’s right hook gotten that good?) and cake in her peroxide blonde hair. Some Ryan Seacrest-type who’s gotta be her husband sits beside her, arms folded over his chest, looking for all the world like it’s the last place he wants to be.

No imagination, Rio thinks, his jaw rocking in amusement, eyes shifting back to Elizabeth.

He can’t think of a place he’d rather be.

“Ah, wonderful, we’re all here.”

The voice sounds from behind the desk, and Rio jerks his head around to see some guy who must be a part of the faculty – tall and lanky wearing the ugliest fucking tie Rio’s ever seen. The guy gestures him out vaguely towards the back of the classroom. “Would you mind taking a seat.”

Striding forwards, Rio grabs one of the little plastic chairs from where they’re stacked in the corner, dropping it beside Elizabeth and sitting heavily down in it. As soon as he’s seated, the guy looks between them, ringing his hands a little nervously, shuffling in his own seat.

“I’ve called you in today because your wives –”

“They’re not even married,” Bargain Barbie snips, and Elizabeth’s head rotates around so quickly she’s like that little girl in The Exorcist.

“It’s 2019, Tania, marriage hasn’t been a measure of a relationship’s worth in at least twenty years. Something you’d know if you read something other than the back of your box-mix cupcakes.”

And, well, damn, Rio thinks, sucking in his lips to swallow a laugh as he looks back at Ugly Tie. Vaguely he can see Bargain Barbie (or Tania, he supposes, but whatever, he doesn’t care) make a noise of abject outrage – whether at being called out for her apparently dated ideas or the insinuation that her cupcakes aren’t made from scratch, Rio has no idea. Maybe it’s both, with the way she turns about nine different shades of red. Beside her, her husband suddenly grabs her hand, dragging it into his lap to stop her from hitting Elizabeth again.

Or, well, trying to. No matter how funny this whole thing is, Rio’s not exactly inclined to let anyone touch her.

“Your partners,” Ugly Tie corrects nervously. “Were involved in an incident in the school cafeteria ahead of this afternoon’s PTA Bake Off.”

“We weren’t involved in an incident,” the blonde hisses, flailing her free hand out in Beth’s direction. “She attacked me.”

“I did not attack you,” Elizabeth replies, and Bargain Barbie snorts while the colour drains from Ugly Tie’s face, like he thinks fists are about to fly again. He teeters nervously at the edge of his seat.

“Witnesses did say you pushed her face first into the cake display, Ms. Marks.”

Witnesses, Rio thinks with a grin. Like this is an episode of CSI. These people really are a trip.

Elizabeth looks at Ugly Tie at that and then quickly paints on that Stepford look – the one that’s all Bambi Eyes and Molly Manners – the one that, despite himself, still makes his dick twitch.

“Maybe I moved a little suddenly,” Beth allows. “But honestly, it was an accident, Ed - - can I call you Ed?”

Ed pinks a little, stuttering out a yes, and Rio has to resist the urge to snort.

“I guess I was just a little swept up in the moment of it – you really do just run the best PTA fundraising bake off – and I mean, I’d know, because I’ve participated in more than my share, being an active member of the school community - - ”

“You’re so full of shit,” Bargain Barbie snaps, arm flailing out of Seacrest’s grip, and honestly, Rio thinks, amused, she’s kind of got her there. Still, Ugly Tie holds up a hand to both of them, as if finding his train of thought again.

“The reason we’ve called your partners in, is it seems like the fight stemmed from broader tensions between your families.”

And that shuts them both up.

Rio glances curiously over at the other couple, racking his head to think of any time Elizabeth’s so much as mentioned a Tania, but he comes up blank. He knows there’s a Margot who’s trying to get the school on a raw food diet, and a Penny who always fights it when Elizabeth tries to move the school away from celebrating religious holidays (“It should be all or nothing,” Beth insists. “If the school is going to keep celebrating Christmas and Easter, why can’t they celebrate Eid and Diwali too? It’s 2019!” – apparently that’s her buzz phrase at the moment), but - - no Tania.

“Anyone?” Ugly Tie asks them all now, and Elizabeth and Bargain Barbie both sit up a little taller, pointedly maintaining their silence, and damn, they’re more tight-lipped than half Rio’s boys. He eyes them both with a vague interest as Ugly Tie sighs.

“Fine. A two week ban on all PTA activities,” he says, and Rio could almost laugh at the look of abject horror on both Elizabeth and Tania’s faces. “And you need to apologise to each other and to the other members of the PTA.”

“Mr. Hollander, the Spring Fling Dance planning committee nominations are next week,” Bargain Barbie cries, and Elizabeth opens her mouth probably to say something equally embarrassing, and Rio figures that’s probably their cue. He grabs Elizabeth by the elbow, lurching to his feet and dragging her up with him, and before she can dig her heels in in that way she does, he’s nodding at Ugly Tie in acknowledgement, saying a quick “Sounds fair,” and dragging them both out of the room.

***

Turns out her sister’s shitty car had croaked again that morning, so Elizabeth had lent her the mama van on the condition she drop her for the bake off and pick up the brood after school, which is fine, he figures, pulling out of the school carpark, Elizabeth all tightly wound beside him in the passenger seat, her cheeks red and her posture stiff.

“You gonna tell me what that was about?” he asks as he gets onto the main road. He really should go back to work, but fuck it, he thinks. There’s nothing on Demon can’t handle, and if there is, he knows how to reach him anyway.

“No,” she snips, and Rio casts a look at her out of the corner of his eye, and it takes him a minute to realise that the red of her cheeks isn’t embarrassment like he’d figured, but rather that it’s still anger. It’s enough to make him shift in his seat – it ain’t like she doesn’t get mad, just she doesn’t usually get mad about PTA stuff, at least not like this – more just tense and exasperated and sometimes frustrated in a way he can usually diffuse if he looks at her or touches her right. But this - -

He ain’t seen her like this recently.

The car slows at the traffic lights, and he uses the opportunity to reach over, push her hair out of her face, run a thumb over one of the scratches at her temple.

“Want me to call my sister? Get her to bring over a rabies shot?”

It works like he’d wanted it to. Beth exhales a laugh, her gaze drifting over to him, watching as he takes his hand back to the steering wheel of the car. They get another couple of blocks when he feels it, the slow boil of her anger again, simmering beside him in the car, and they’re not even that far from home, but fuck it, he thinks, he doesn’t like the idea of her going straight into one of her furious cleaning or cooking frenzies, so he pulls over.

If she’s surprised, she doesn’t react, not even when he turns in his seat to look at her, taking in the tight lock of her shoulders, the tighter one of her jaw.

“Elizabeth,” he starts, and she looks out the window, away from him. “Come on, ma.”

She rolls her eyes at him, like he’s the one being ridiculous, and he pointedly pulls the keys out of the ignition, watching as she turns enough to scowl at him, folding her arms across her chest. Whatever. No skin off his nose, he thinks, leaning back against the driver’s side door, his eyes not leaving her, he’s got all day, and it’s only another minute, maybe two, before she’s flailing her arms in the air, her cheeks reddening all over again.

“She called you a drug dealer,” Beth whisper-yells at him, like anyone can hear them in his car, and shit, is that all? Rio just laughs.

“And you upset about that?”

He knows she is – can see it in the heave of her (still frosting-covered) chest, in the way her lower lip quivers, her eyelashes clump. Can hear it in the tightness of her voice, and maybe he should’ve gotten her home first, gotten her on her back in their bed, breathless, legs trembling, made her forget about it the best way he knew how, but - -

“She meant it as an insult,” she says hotly, interrupting his train of thought, and Rio pops an eyebrow at her, because no shit. “And it’s not like she knows you are one. She thinks you work flipping cars with me.”

“So what?” he asks, shrugging, and Elizabeth frowns over at him, finally turning around in her seat to face him. She’s still all flushed, flustered, and she seems pissed at him now when she flails her arms out at him, and voice shrill, says:

“So what? So - - so what if she says that sort of thing in front of her sons, who go to school with your son. What if they tell all their friends about what Marcus’ daddy does for a living?”

Shaking his head, Rio can’t quite take her eyes off her, because seriously – sometimes he thinks she figures he popped out of the ground the day he showed up in her kitchen, like Marcus did that day in the park.

“Trust me, it won’t be nothin’ Marcus ain’t heard before.”

And at least that shuts her up, her mouth closing, her posture sagging a little back against the passenger side door. He just watches her, briefly considering putting the keys back in the ignition and driving them home, but then - - he knows her enough to know that that ain’t all it is bothering her. He frowns at her, drums his fingers on his leg, and then looks away, something sharp spiking in his gut.

“You worried about your kids?” he asks, voice a little tighter than he wants it to be, and when Beth shrugs, his frown deepens.

“It’s a part of the deal,” he says. “Shit, you know what I look like, ma.”

And she doesn’t reply to that either, and that sharpness in his gut peaks into something uncomfortable. He rocks forwards a little in his seat, using the momentum of it to sit back harder, to bump his back back against the door.

“This a problem?” he asks her. “You want me to talk to the kids about how their new stepdad’s gonna make ‘em whispered about on the playground?”

“I don’t care about the kids!” she yelps, and he blinks, unable to contain his surprise when she suddenly backpedals. “I mean, of course I do, that’s not - -”

She exhales, the sound harsh in the hollow of his car, and she won’t look at him when she says:

“She can’t talk about you like that. She doesn’t know anything about you.”

And that’s - - not what he was expecting. He blinks at her, that sharpness in him dulling, squinting a little at her as he takes her in.

“She can do whatever she wants, ma."

Because shit, she can. Rio wouldn’t have wasted his time talking to her anyway, but hell, if she ain’t gonna pretend to make nice with other parents, he sure as hell ain’t either.

“Fine,” Beth says finally, sniffing a little. “But actions have consequences, isn’t that what you’re always telling me?”

He could almost laugh at that, because she’s right, he is always telling her that, but he means it more in the context of handling a slippin’ employee, or her own tendency to steamroll into situations like she’s - - hell, like she’s one of their seven-year-olds.

“And what? Talkin’ shit gonna get her hit?”

“Yes,” Beth tells him firmly, nodding, sitting up a little straighter in her seat, her chin up, all defiant, and Rio snorts.

“You all about defendin’ my honour now?” he says it patronisingly, expecting her to get embarrassed in that way she does when she thinks he’s making fun of her, but that’s not what happens at all.

“Yes,” she says emphatically instead, and Rio blinks, surprised, and then before he can say anything else, she keeps talking.

“I told you. She can’t talk about you like that, and I’m not going to let her. And just for the record, I like the way you look, so.”

She stops then, looking over at him briefly, then quickly turning around in the seat, facing forwards again, all prim again like there ain’t cake in her hair, and Rio can’t quite stop his grin.

“Yeah, I knew that last one, ma,” he says, and Beth pinks, but she smiles, gaze finding him again. She bites her lip a little, looks up at him through her lashes, and Rio just - - shit. He can feel how goofy his smile is, quickly tapering it into a smirk as best he can.

“You really push her into that display?” he asks her after a minute of quiet, and Beth wrinkles her nose, blushing for real this time, but still. Something in her face, it’s a little proud.

“Punched her too.”

He arches an eyebrow, looking dutifully impressed, and she preens before she can help herself, holding up a hand at that so he can see the start of the bruises on her knuckles. He laughs, shaking his head, grabbing her hand to inspect it, and shit, if he doesn’t find them cute too – all dainty like her, little blooms of purple, like flower buds, and ugh. Even thinkin’ that, he shakes his head at himself, but presses his lips to them all the same, and he doesn’t hear it, or even see it, but some part of him feels her breath hitch, and it’s a relief really – that he can feel just how sprung she is too.

“Okay, bruiser,” he tells her, twisting back in his seat, pushing the keys back into the ignition, and he goes to drop her hand, but she threads their fingers instead, and he holds it there, against his thigh, the whole ride home.

#beth x rio #nbc good girls #the center and circumference #my fic #prompt fills #welcome to my ama

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lululawrence · 6 years ago

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lululawrence’s December 2018 Fic List

Click here for previous months’ fic lists

It’s December! As usual, it has given us many glorious fic reading opportunities, both those that are holiday focused as well as Louis birthday focused and totally not December related at all. I loved so many while I was trying not to go completely insane with the craziness that is also part of the season, despite not having gotten to nearly as many as I wanted to, but here are the ones that really helped me survive the past month.

The Lace That Saved Christmas by @alarrylarrie / Larrymama15 What a great way to kick off a fic rec, honestly. This fic was so cute and sweet and pure and lovely and all things good! Plus a bit saucy hehe Manda uses her words for good once again and blessed us with a Christmas fic this time. Defo a great fic to reread every year hehe

Just Say the Word by @louandhazaf / YesIsAWorld I am horrifically behind on all of the girl direction fics from the exchange, but this one was fantastic. The TENSION and the sexiness from a fucking kiss!!! I’m telling you, i was fanning myself reading it and it was a bloody kiss! Anyway. You have to read this if you have even considered girl direction, because it is soft and wonderful. And who doesn’t love pining idiot girls in love?

Treat Mothman With Kindness by @lesbianiconharrystyles / flowercrownfemme Okay yeah this fic was fantastic in the most crack fic way. It was crack, and yet not. It was soft and lovely and pining again and like…mothman Harry? You know you want to. hahaha The entire cast of characters is fabulous, though. Especially the lesbian cats.

The light is coming by @pocketsunshineharry / ishiplouis Okay so like. This fic has everything I love about A/B/O in it haha It’s angsty with a touch of softness and the kind of gritty animalistic undertones that can come with A/B/O fics that I kinda adore. Louis is pregnant and a bit feral as an omega and Harry is the softhearted alpha baker who just wants to take care of him. There is nesting, fighting of instincts, and all sorts of wonderful things. A fab read.

There’s really nothing better (than a beautiful boy in an ugly Christmas sweater) by @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed / we_are_the_same This is another adorable pining Christmas fic featuring a meet cute, punny Christmas sweaters, and a bet. Hehe It’s adorable and cute and I love it. A completely fluffy and soft read that is perfect for a cold night snuggled beneath blankets.

The Christmas Lift by @homosociallyyours / homosociallyyours Fake dating! Misunderstandings! Annoying but affectionate coworkers! Annoying saxophone playing neighbors! This fic has them all and it’s all done to PERFECTION. I was still thinking about this days later, which is always a good sign. Another great read.

Holiday Greetings (And Gay Happy Meetings) by @2tiedships2 / 2tiedships2 This is actually the first half of the fic! I haven’t gotten a chance to read the second half yet, so it’ll probably be part of my January list, but this first one is SO GOOD. I loved how she worked the fact that Louis and Harry had not only met before under less than stellar circumstances, but things just worked together so perfectly. It’s such a fun fic and I can’t wait to see how it all comes together for Louis’ birthday in the second part.

Empty Nights by Anonymous This is the fic that was written for me for the Tomlinshaw exchange! And unfortunately the only one I’ve been able to read from the exchange at large as of yet. Sigh. I’ll get to the others hopefully in January! Anyway, this one was FAB. It was so painful and angsty and awkward and lovely but all without being too much. So many feelings and it all comes together so so so perfectly and they are truly the answer to all the upset surrounding them and how healing and beautiful is that? Anyway. It’s a really really great read, and this person’s very first fic ever! I loved it.

Her Love On My Lips by @suddenclarityharry / FallingLikeThis SO SOFT! SO SWEET! SO PERFECT! I loved this fic and the way Tabby imbued so much emotion and feeling into the words. It’s so impactful while still being short somehow. I adored it. So, if girl direction is for you, you will LOVE this fic. If it isn’t for you, fine, but you’re missing out on a hella amazing fic here.

Winter Drabbles by @homosociallyyours / homosociallyyours These three drabbles came together to tell a longer story arch and it was so lovely. Such a sweet little taste of how they are together. I really liked them!

Drabbles by @laynefaire / Layne Faire (HisDarlin) The only other drabbles I’ve read as of yet, because I am woefully behind on pretty much all reading, but these are all amazing as well! This collection holds the drabbles Layne has written for the previous drabbles fests as well as the winter drabbles she wrote, so just hop on in and enjoy the ride, because they’re all wonderful.

Christmas With The Devil by @taggiecb / taggiecb Are you seeing a trend with my reading this month? I focused on shorter fics because I couldn’t handle anything long, and JUST LIKE ALWAYS Lacey took her Satan/Santa series and ramped it up a bit more with this one. How does she always infuse so much melancholy and fear and just…full-bodied emotions into her soft and happy fluff? She does! Just a touch of this and a pinch of that and it comes out to be this completely delectable experience of a fluffy cake. So anyway. That got out of hand, but all the same, this is a fab addition to the series and I highly recommend it.

Make my wish come true by @tommosgun / Star_Henderson Listen. Shar is one of the first writers i followed in this fandom and I’ve never looked back. This fic reminds me so much of why I fell in love with her stories to begin with. They’re so fun, there’s always an emotional bond that is so strong and so immediate and the way she writes it is like exploring something new. I can’t even explain it, but this fic is defo a Shar classic that was so fun for Christmas.

Set Your Heart A-Whirl by @becomeawendybird / QuickedWeen The first of six fics from our Secret Santa fic exchange, I’m kicking it off with this one because IT WAS WRITTEN FOR ME!!! We all wrote a fic based on the same prompt, and this one was just beautiful. It was so soft and sweet and cute and funny and ahhhhhhh! A true pleasure. You’ll love it. Go read it. hehe

Do Not Falter (There’s a Star Ahead) by @londonfoginacup / LadyLondonderry This was Emmu’s fic for Molly and NESTING OMEGA HARRY!!! Oh gosh this fic made me squeal softly into my pillow as I read it. I loved it. I’m sighing again just thinking about it now.

Twinkle Lights and Snowy Nights by @haloeverlasting / haloeverlasting This was the fic Brit wrote for Bri and SHE HURT US ALL. There is so much emotion and fear and hurt and yet love. So so so much love! And healing! Gahhhhh it’s beautiful and art and poetry and makes you just want to cuddle in some blankets. It was glorious.

You Should Be Here With Me by @dimpled-halo / dimpled_halo Jacky like… took Emmu and wrapped her up into a fic from the bubble tea to IKEA to just… ALL OF IT. Another fab A/B/O fic that is so soft and rife with miscommunications and good intentions and fixing what was messed up and just. LOVELY.

This Christmas by @suddenclarityharry / FallingLikeThis I might have commented on this fic twice and not even realized, but that’s okay because Tabby deserves all the comments on this fic. It is such a great read, featuring Exes to Lovers, and has flashbacks that fill in the back story as we go. It’s a wonderful read with just the right touch of pain and angst and just. Sigh. Wonderful.

love isn’t brains, children, it’s blood by @briannamarguerite / BriaMaria Bri went and wrote a full on Buffy fic for Tabby for the exchange!! It’s hard core and wonderful and Zayn as Spike kinda made the entire fic for me. Like, Harry as Angel and Louis as Buffy was already pretty amazing, especially when I realized Steve was Giles, but then Roman Kemp was tossed into the mix with Liam and I was just like the shock emoji the entire time I was reading. It was wonderful and such a great read!

Forget the Silent Nights by @londonfoginacup / LadyLondonderry As of writing this up, I still haven’t finished the last chapter of any of the three advent fics from this year, but it’s okay because I adored them all. This one was such fun reading from all the varied POVs and having little snippets of their history mixed in with the present story! I loved reading the insanity every day. You’ll have to go as Emmu how much of the fic is based on real life, too. The answer might surprise you. hahahaha

Santa Baby Honey by @sadaveniren / SadaVeniren Crack fic meets advent fic in the very best of ways. hahaha I died laughing so many times while reading this and went screaming to sada about it and it was just. Such fun and so insane and great and just. Do yourself a favor and read it because it’s a fucking TRIP.

hymns for restless stars by @turnyourankle / turnyourankle This fic had such feeling!!! Famous/non-famous!!! But of course, it’s complicated. Never so easy as just that. It’s wonderful and so soft and worrying and painful and lovely and made me cry just a touch. hehe This was the perfect addition to the other perhaps more lighthearted advent fics because while it was also lighthearted, this one also gave a dose of heavier emotions too.

And that’s it! I have SO MANY MORE Christmas fics to catch up on, so most of my January reading will probably be that. Get ready! hehe Happy belated Christmas for those that celebrate, Happy New Year to everyone, and ALWAYS Happy Reading! Please remember to leave kudos and comments (and reblog their fic posts, if they link them!) to show your appreciation!

#mine #december 2018 fic list #my fic rec #fic rec #28th appreciation #fic writer appreciation #fic list

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wellhalesbells · 6 years ago

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I see you reblogging some comic stuff an I was wondering if you have a favorite comic or favorite character or ship?

this ask is from so long ago but [DEEP BREATH IN] i’m finally going to answer it, nonny. finally. i kept wanting to read a little bit farther in my comics stack because.... maybe i’ll like that and will regret not having recced it, i just hafta--get--to it, see? and, honestly, i’m still there BUT, come on, i’ll never be caught up because that would mean comics would just have to stop coming out and i would be sad forever if that happened, SO

i’m not even going to pretend like i can narrow this down to one comic. (one ship? sure, that’s spideypool. one character? sure, that’s the merc with a mouth, the regenerating degenerate, wade motherfucking wilson. but one comic?!) there is just straight-up too much out there to make a definitive ‘yes, this is it, this is THE ONE ™ ’ statement. instead, uh, let’s break this shit down, yeah? (super special secret bonus round, will note all lgbt+ rep and standalone comics.) in no particular order, here the frig it goes!

HORROR

infidel, by pornsak pichetshote and aaron campbell. in case you haven’t seen this on every 2018 best list ever, here it is. and, yeah, it was good. a muslim-american main character living in a haunted apartment building where the entities feed off the xenophobia of its occupants. if that’s not a fucking modern horror story i don’t know what is.

spread, by justin jordan and kyle strahm. THIS IS ONE OF MY NEW AND ALREADY ALL-TIME FAVORITES. what an awesomely weird and epic story. the spread is an uncontrollable, unstoppable monster-making force that humanity accidentally unleashed by digging too deep. it infects everything it touches and basically all of humanity is running from quarantine to quarantine just hoping for the best. and speaking of hope.... she’s a baby, rescued by no, and the only thing that’s ever been able to stop the spread. also, no’s gay? and i just DID NOT see that coming. it seems like it’s going to be such a formulaic, bro-y story about the action hero who kisses the face off his girl (her name’s molly and she’s batshit insane and amazing) and instead, nope, it is not that at all. lgbt+ main characters.

the black monday murders, by jonathan hickman and tomm coker. hate capitalism? think all the rich and powerful are evil, soul-sucking monsters? [obnoxious, low-budget commercial sound effects] MAN, HAVE I GOT THE SERIES FOR YOU.

the beauty, by jeremy haun and jason a. hurley. i just started this recently but so far, oh my good golly gosh, i looove it. a sexually transmitted disease that makes you conventionally gorgeous.... at least before it explodies you. [wide, creepy smile] the art is gorgeous, the characters are aces and i am very, very pleased so far. lgbt+ minor characters.

the great divide, by ben fisher and adam markiewicz. this? was a COOL idea. the execution stumbled a bit but, gosh, was it neat. it’s post-apocalyptic where touching another person will literally kill.... one of you. the survivor then absorbs the memories of the person who dies, taking on a ‘rider.’ some people collect them, some people go mad, some form a bond, all have the side effect of dyslexia. like i said, neat as all get out. lgbt+ minor-ish/main-ish character. standalone.

revival, by tim seely and mike norton. a rural town in wisconsin experiences ‘miracle day,’ where the dead rise again.... except, they were kinda already mourned and buried and this is really just fucking up the status quo.

the woods, by james tynion iv and michael dialynas. a high school gets picked up and plopped down in an entirely new, and wickedly hostile universe. it’s all survival and alliances and seeing what you’re really made of when it comes down to it. lgbt+ main characters.

clean room, by gail simone and jon davis-hunt. a cult, a journalist and a clean room walk into a bar...

anya’s ghost, by vera brosgol. you think it’ll be a cute story of a girl and her ghost. HA HA THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS AT ALL, OKAY.

FANTASY

rumble, by john arcudi and james harren. SCARECROW WARRIOR GOD, SCARECROW WARRIOR GOD, SCARECROW WARRIOR GOD!!! okay, first off, the art in this? pushes every friggin’ button i’ve got, and many i did not know i had. second, this book is so fucking fun. it’s mythology that’s balls to the wall ridiculous, funny, and features a main character whose life motto is basically: ‘do i have to?’ infinitely relatable and then some.

heathen, by natasha alterici and rachel deering. UGH, ONE OF MY FAVORITES. the art is just horribly, horrendously gorgeous and it’s LESBIAN VIKING MYTHOLOGY, OKAY. OKAYYYY??? lgbt+ main characters.

the wicked + the divine, by kieron gillen and jamie mckelvie. one of my favorite ever series right here. it’s a hella cool concept (gods reincarnating as humans every twelve years, and burning up their hosts in two), whip-smart and if you’ve ever met a human being who likes a pun more than kieron gillen i defy you to produce them. lgbt+ main and minor characters.

batgirl, by gail simone and adrian sayaf and vicente cifuentes. you know how people rave about gail simone? there’s a reason people rave about gail simone. honestly, i’ve never had much interest in babs. i don’t tend to go for superheroes who don’t kill and i have even less interest in ‘the killing joke’ story line and i am convinced only gail simone could’ve done the recovery on that and she did a GLORIOUS job of it.

red hood and the outlaws, by scott lobdell and dexter soy. (ignoring recent - and annoying - developments), this is my favorite of all the rebirths dc did. scott lobdell is the only writer to have gotten the idea down of: okay, we’re starting over, i assume you don’t know anything but i also assume there are a bajillion people reading who know everything, and hit the perfect medium between those two things. so if you want to start a jason todd run, you legitimately can here, and get all the found family, badassery, batman-teasing enjoyment there is to be had.

iceman, by sina grace and robert gill (covers by kevin wada). classic super-heroing here and bobby’s first solo title. he’s figuring out coming out while fighting (and flirting) with baddies. sina really gets his humor and how truly wonder-awful it is! lgbt+ main character.

spider-man/deadpool, by joe kelly and ed mcguinness. watch those names there, those are your guys right there, period. they looked at the void of a spider-man/deadpool series and filled it with absolutely everything you could possibly want for the pair (sans a hardcore make-out sesh, though they did get a few variant covers with some puckered up lips in there!)

limbo, by dan watters and caspar wijngaard. a fusion of 80s aesthetics, voodoo elements and a noir tone. just some remarkably cool shit in this. the ending, for me, left something to be desired but it was more than worth it to see worship via mixtapes. standalone.

hawkeye: kate bishop, by kelly thompson and leonardo romero. kate bishop is, apparently???, a super impossible character for a lot of writers. kelly thompson is not one of them. kelly thompson is my favorite kate bishop writer, actually, and the fact that she is ever not writing her is a gd travesty.

the unbeatable squirrel girl, by ryan north and erica henderson. honestly, i’m so tempted to just stick this under ‘contemporary,’ because it really does just feel very... normal. doreen’s navigating college, new friendships, and y’know... the squirrely-ness. this had every opportunity to suck and instead it’s funny as heck, never takes itself too seriously, and is just pure good-hearted entertainment through and through.

wolf, by ales kot and matt taylor. a paranormal detective and the-possible-antichrist go on a road trip. people hated this comic and i don’t know how you can hate a comic that has a character called freddy chtonic who has tentacles for a mouth???

ms. marvel, by g. willow wilson and adrian alphona. hi, you read ms. marvel because the world is a garbage fire and people are terrible and your cynicism is at an all time high and then kamala khan waltzes in and reminds you people generally want to help each other and the world improves when we work together and that thing optimists feel? you’ll feel that for as long as you’ve got the pages open and that’s a magical thing. lgbt+ minor character.

monstress, by marjorie m. liu and sana takeda. psychic links with monsters, matriarchal societies, magic and witchery, half-human/half-animal (and other ratios) characters, all through a steampunk lens. what’s not to like about that??

inhuman, by charles soule. i love this series, i love the idea of being a total average joe/joanne, getting smacked in the face by a cloud of mist and suddenly having to figure out how to live basically a whole new life. also, if you don’t fall madly in love with dante pertuz, i don’t even know what to tell you, my dude.

heart in a box, by kelly thompson and meredith mcclaren. break-ups suck, but only because of that whole pesky broken heart thing, right? so emma gives hers away. problem solved, no? standalone.

i kill giants, by joe kelly and j.m. ken niimura. i didn’t cry my eyes out or anything. did not. standalone.

sex criminals, by matt fraction and chip zdarsky. having sex = stopping time, which leads suzie and jon to the only logical conclusion: let’s rob some banks!

hawkeye, by matt fraction and david aja. honestly there are a lot of other artist combos in this run but the only ones that are worthwhile are the ones that have fraction and aja’s names on them - sorry not sorry.

SCIENCE FICTION

black bolt, by saladin ahmed and christian ward. saladin revived this character one hundred million percent. there is absolutely a reason this was parading around all over ‘best’ lists when it was released. it really, really did the damn thing.

saga, by brian k. vaughan and fiona staples. this is the comic you recommend to people who don’t even like comics because it is that good. like, my dad - who hadn’t read a comic since he was a pre-teen, eagerly awaits each new trade. the world-building, the characters, the care put into every single solitary bit of all the things? unparalleled. lgbt+ minor characters.

frostbite, by joshua williamson and jason shawn alexander. a post-apocalyptic story that has humanity dying from a plague that literally freezes you from the inside out. very neat, very cold, very readable. standalone.

descender, by jeff lemire and dustin nguyen. this had a rough start, for me, with the main character of the first trade being tim-21, an android who is literally incapable of having the depth to be a lead BUT that does not last through to the next trade, thank god. lots of space and found family and world-building in this to be had! but you know how people rave about jeff lemire? there’s a reason people rave about jeff lemire.

paper girls, by brian k. vaughan and cliff chiang. the 80s and time travel and lifelong friendships. it’s brian k. vaughan, you know it’s good, okay? why do i even have to sell you here, man? lgbt+ main characters.

injection, by warren ellis and declan shalvey. this is another one on my list that started out a little rough but really appealed to me later on. there was just a lot to absorb in that first trade but, once you’ve got it, the ride gets way, way smoother. lgbt+ main and minor characters.

black science, by rick remender and matteo scalera. this was a rocky start, because the main character is such an asshole but in a way where he can’t see he’s an asshole, he’s just a tortured genius who’s superior to all of you, don’t you know? but i am so glad i persevered because if that’s the set up? the rest of the series is knocking him back down. super scientist grant mckay finds a way to access the eververse, every possible reality the universe has on offer, and that’s really what causes every single problem that follows. hard to cause the apocalypse and be an arrogant prick, ya know?

CONTEMPORARY

giant days, by john allison and lissa treiman. this series is so funny and smart and warm. these girls are so kind to each other and relatable and failing at adulting regularly and often and i love reading about them. lgbt+ main character.

lumberjanes, by noelle stevenson and grace ellis and brooke a. allen. this is funny and ridiculous and kind and cool and all other awesome adjectives and you should read it, fact. lgbt+ main characters.

my brother’s husband, by gengoroh tagame and anne ishii (translator). this is such a sweet story about acceptance and family tbh. lgbt+ main character.

fence, by c. s. pacat and johanna the mad. i mean... i need to see nicholas and seiji hook-up, i need that, stat. stat means now! lgbt+ main characters.

WEB/INDEPENDENT COMICS

long exposure, by kam heyward. so mitch and jonas are my absolute faves and i love them to death and the author is so kind in that they actually put this up in print on indyplanet so i can read it the way i, personally, love to read comics (and - bonus! - support them with the monies). lgbt+ main characters.

modern dread, by pat shand and ryan fassett (editors). i’ve been trying to find more better horror comics lately so i’ve been kind of half-heartedly stumbling through kickstarter on the hunt and this was SUCH a great find. it’s an anthology but more cleverly done than any other kickstarter anthology i’ve read, with a main story line that seamlessly strings together the would-be-disjointed ones. this was really thoughtfully put together and really well done! standalone.

heartstopper, by alice oseman. a very sweet story about two high school-aged boys becoming fast friends, playing rugby and falling in love. the two characters are mentioned as an aside in the author’s book, solitaire, and she became so invested in them that she wrote their backstory as a free webcomic. lgbt+ main characters.

the pale, by jay fabares. JUST started this (like, just a day or so ago) but i’m enjoying it so far!

hotblood!, by toril orlesky. i mean... is it a webcomic about a centaur falling in love with his boss? it just might be. did i get a bound edition through a kickstarter campaign? maybe. maybe i did that. who’s to say? lgbt+ main characters.

the bay, by bbz. life on mars through the lens of three young professionals who form an odd but lasting friendship. lgbt+ main characters.

hard drive, by artroan. is it a nsfw comic about a dude and a robot? .... it might be a nsfw comic about a dude and a robot. [coughs] lgbt+ main characters.

seen nothing yet, by tess stone. a nsfw comic about two amateur ghost hunters. can’t imagine why i might be interested in that [coughs] lgbt+ main characters.

captain imani and the cosmic chase, by lin darrow and alex assan. i mean did i want a starship captain who can’t help but lust after the smuggler he’s chasing. i mean, maybe i did. maybe. lgbt+ main characters.

taproot, by keezy young. ghost falls in love with boy, boy falls in love with ghost, AND THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. lgbt+ main characters.

always raining here, by bell and hazel. just two boys falling in lurve. lgbt+ main characters.

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doireannskycatch · 6 years ago

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So, Racheal, I've been meaning to ask. You mentioned liking Elsa's Social Bunnies once, but I've never heard of it before you brought it up. Can you explain it to me, see if it's worth my time?

okay see THIS is the kinda tumblr interaction I LIVE FOR

DOIREANN TAKE NOtes

So!! Pretending you’ve been living under a fucking rock, Elsa’s Social Bunnies was this kid’s cartoon that aired on KidZ Zone from when I was, like, eleven to when I was sixteen. (Not KidzTube, Dad always used to get that mixed up. KidzTube’s owned by SBN, KidZ Zone’s owned by Fox, okay???) And like me and Mollie and Anni would watch it all the time growing up, though Anni was four when it started so she didn’t really get it at first. Oh, and the idiot too. He said he was too old for it, but I watched it til I was older than he was, so what’s his excuse?

Okay the premise. There’s this girl called Elsa, obviously, who doesn’t have a lot of friends because she’s home-schooled and the couple she does have are home-schooled too and aren’t that great to her actually, which kind of sounds like it’s pushing an agenda now that I say it out loud but it’s really subtle about it I promise. So cus she’s lonely and not in a great place it falls to the Social Bunnies to come along and get her out of that shithole. They like teach her good social skills, help her build up new friendships and get the fuck out of the old ones, and by the end of the first season Elsa’s popular enough that the bunnies don’t really need to help her anymore but she’s friends with them too so they still get to visit her and she like scopes out other cases for them and it becomes more of a character of the day setup. So it’s kinda like Littlest Pet Shop and Fairly Odd Parents in a blender, right?

Honestly I think the show got better once it switched to that second season onwards, cus I don’t think any of us actually liked Elsa herself. It’s like, she’s the one who’s gotta be helped, they’re not gonna give her any real character. The bunnies are the real stars!! Jabber’s my favourite, she’s like a total klutz but knows how to get shit done, and you don’t really see klutziness in the action-y one like that so much so that’s cool. Also she’s voiced by Debi Derryberry, cus of course we gotta get Debi Derryberry in there somewhere. Anni likes Babble; she tended to focus on getting the old friends away from her more than making new ones, it found that pretty interesting;;; and Mollie lik... liked Gabby, cus she was like cold and super cool and I guess she related to that. So

OH YEAH there was a fourth one, right? They had to add a boy bunny in the third season to kind of balance things out, so they added Prolix, which I think means ‘super long winded’. He was super cranky worse than Gabby but very very very smart. I remember a lot of kids in Mollie’s year found him annoying at first cus god forbid girl shows have girls in them, but as we got older everyone slooowly started thinking he was the best one in the whole group? I’m still not really sure how that happened. Still don’t really like him. But I guess I’m dumb like that??

So yeah hopefully that’ll be enough to get you started, Anon? Tell me if you check it out or like it or - I just, I think it’s really cool and funny and, and cool. And maybe it’s just cus I’m remembering it wrong cus it was one of the only shows we all wanted to watch together, all three of us, but. IDK it just holds a special place in my heart.

...damn now I wanna see if I can get Moscow to stream it or something. brb

#it's racheal #Anonymous

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foxglovesound · 6 years ago

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35,40 and 41 about Cuckoochirp and Minkstar! I mean a name change is in order no? Can't wait for the next page!

a name change is in order but thats going to snowthroat im afraid :’3c! she is (well…was) the deputy underneath plumstar ((mink had a close friendship to plum + ant tho bc ant was her mentor ;3c!)) and thank u so much :D! im excited for these upcoming pages!!

(also sorry this took me a hot second to answer! i was working on a piece at the same time that i ended up scrapping bc it turned out so bad e)

35. How does your character behave around people they like?

Cuckoochirp: Cuckoochirp’s a really friendly cat honestly! It’s very difficult to get on his bad side and if you have it’s a bit of a shock to RiverClan considering he’s like, the most easy-going and hard-to-anger cat in the clan! He’s very sweet to his friends and likes to joke around with them! His interactions really depend on who he’s interacting with - he’s more docile and calm around timid/nervous cats, but more energetic and playful around cats he’s particularly close to or other energetic cats (Vervainstripe, for example!)

Minkclaw: Minkclaw, on the other hand, is much more selective with who she spends her time with. She’s naturally kind and open to other cat, and she’s a very sociable molly, but she’s frank, but polite, and almost business-like in the early stages of a friendship - which is where she tests to see how much she likes the other cat’s personality. To the cats she does like and is particularly fond of, Minkclaw enjoys engaging in teasing banter, the occasional rough-house (she and Hornetflower played around a lot as kittens), and will go out of her way to invite them to hang out with her (whether it’s on patrols, hunting missions or just lounging around the camp).

40. How does your character treat people in service jobs?- since there arent any uh. service jobs?? i guess ?? in warriors universe im gonna go rank by rank!

Cuckoochirp: Cuckoochirp isn’t a defiant cat; he may tease and flirt and goof off but he bows his head when he needs too. He listens to what the deputies and leaders say and, unless there’s something inherently wrong with what they’re ordering, he follows through on what they say. However, if there’s one rank that he respects more than leaders and deputies, it’s his fellow seers (although Redflower kinda unnerves him); he has a close bond with Appleleaf, who helped him through his training when his mentor was struggling through old age (Hazelnose was even older than plumstar and was suffering through fatigue and forgetfulness as they reached their later years, so appleleaf stepped in and helped cuckoochirp when hazelnose was having a disoriented day). Whenever he needs answers for something, the first cats he turns to are his fellow seers for advice and opinions. Cuckoochirp has no qualms with ordering around warriors, apprentices, and kits - though he doesn’t tend to boss caretakers and elders around, seeing as caretakers are particularly skilled at managing themselves and others, and elders don’t really need to do much. If a warrior tried to order Cuckoochirp around, he’d be quick to object if it’s something he didn’t personally see necessary - and apprentices make sure to follow what Cuckoochirp says. Besides that, he’s still a sweetheart, and a lot of the youngsters are fond of him and his energetic, joking personality.

Minkclaw: Minkclaw does not base her respect around the rank of someone; she is a firm believer that respect is earned, and while she’ll start off being polite and understanding, she won’t be easy to boss around, especially if you’re either someone she already doesn’t like, or someone she’s not quite familiar with. She believes that just because someone’s a leader or deputy, doesn’t necessarily mean they were the best choice or even deserved the role in the first place. She’s one to start arguments with higher ranks if she doesn’t agree with what they’re suggesting - however, Minkclaw doesn’t actively go out of her way to be mean or harsh. She’s friendly with the apprentices and kits, often engaging in some games to keep them entertained or relating to an apprentice’s misfortune or rule-breaking with a story of her own personal mischief when she was younger; she’s also tends to not mess around or argue with caretakers. Her brother is a caretaker, after all, and she thinks their job of handling kits is already hard enough.

41. Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?

Cuckoochirp: Cuckoochirp has surprisingly low self-esteem when it comes to what he wanted - being a seer. His mentorship with Hazelnose towards the end had been rocky, and although Hazelnose tried their best, Cuckoochirp still felt insecurities growing with how both he and Hazelnose struggled with their predicament; I’ve touched up on this beforehand on a small writing piece but Cuckoochirp, for a little while at least, didn’t believe he deserved this position or he wasn’t qualified for it after Hazelnose’s death. In reality he is a pretty good seer, but he gets down on himself a lot when someone’s sick with or injured in a way he can’t fix. He feels like he must earn this role and just hadn’t met the requirement for this role, but he’s in it on his own currently. I should mention that he really does want to be a seer, but he just struggles with negative feelings and thoughts when something goes wrong - and in his position, things are bound to go wrong no matter what.

Minkclaw: Minkclaw personally views that there are things everyone has a basic right to, and things that people must earn. Ranks, for example, must be earned: if you want to be the top warrior, you’ve got to work your tail off to get there, likewise for seer, deputy or leadership. She doesn’t think things such as respect and authority should just be handed out randomly or on a bias - decency should be given without question, unless the cat in question is particularly corrupt or immoral. She, personally, strives for a high rank in RiverClan, even if that’s just being a highly respected warrior, so she makes sure to take on what she views as appropriate tasks to help her Clan’s security and safety.

#minkclaw #cuckoochirp

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sweetlittlehawke · 6 years ago

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Keep Moving Forward

It’s December. Yknow what that means! Let’s reflect on the year. When I made a post like this last year, it was a hopeful thing. I was excited about the coming year, because I was excited that I’d finally met some people I could hang out with. I love Alea and Brooke to the moon and back, but only having two friends for most of my life is not the best. As much as I denied it for years, my mum’s right. I’m very social. I have social anxiety. But I am a very social person. So, if you wanna read about all that, it’s under a read more. Cause fucking hell did this get long.

So, this year started and I was single, I was in Unity, I was in school, and I was living with my parents. By May I was not single and I was not in Unity. Shortly after that- because end of the semester and stuff and things happening- I was no longer in school or living with my parents. At this point in the year, I’m still not single, nor in Unity (as I doubt I’ll ever go back. To the troupe at least, I absolutely wanna go back to taking classes), or in school. But I have plans to go back to school. I’m halfway to being able to afford a car, and then saving for an apartment, so Sammy and I can go to Cleveland. Because I wanna be close to my friends. I don’t like most of the people I live with presently, and neither does Sam. So we’re gonna move out in July when the lease is up on our place.

When I made this post last year, I talked about the only table top rpgs I’d played was a D&D 5e oneshot, a game of Roll for Shoes, and was just then stepping into a campaign. Needless to say, that changed. A lot. I’ve played West Marches to it’s end. I’ve been in Alex’s Pathfinder campaign for a year. I spent a semester in Andrew’s Pathfinder campaign (and met my girlfriend through that). I’ve spent two semesters in Jacob’s 5e campaign. I’ve started a campaign of my own at Breakout to get those people into D&D. I’ve gone so far with this, and I love it. I love every second of it. I also mentioned that I’d kinda started in Magic, but hadn’t put any money towards it. That didn’t last either. I’ve built my own custom deck, and that def required spending money. Once Andrew got me a starter deck it was downhill from there. I don’t play a ton, but Magic def did get my interest.

Last year I kinda just made lil shoutouts to Scott, Trevi, and Andrew. But this year I have so many more people to talk about, and to be thankful for. Because they’re not just new people that I’m kinda sorta friends with. They’re my family. So lemme go through this. Lemme take a bit, to talk about this gaggle of people I’ve found, that I love.

It’s primarily the Pathfinder group. The original Pathfinder group. Alex, Jacob, Andrew, Thomas, Susannah, Molly, and Will. Most of these people are also the people in West Marches, but there are some West Marches people that aren’t in Pathfinder. People like Joey and Adriana, Freddie, Michael, and of course, Trevi and Scott. Now, to go into detail about the specific people, and why I love them.

Alex is just, great. I don’t always feel like I’m super close with him, but he does pay attention to everyone in the group. We recently had a session that really hit that fact home. It was a Christmas session, because it’s December what else are we gonna do? Each of our characters had gifts, and these gifts meant something to each of us. Outside of games though, he’s just as attentive. He’s always supportive, and very understanding of when people need distance or aid. He’s encouraging, and frankly I’m not sure I’ve ever heard him say something bad against anyone. Ambiguous maybe, but never bad.

Jacob- fucking hell this guy. He’s literally the sweetest man I’ve ever met. He’s always trying to help, and encourage people. If he knows he’s done something wrong he apologizes and does whatever it takes to fix it. He knows I’m short on money, so whenever I’m around he’s always offering to buy me food- or just straight up give me his food. He even bought Sammy’s Christmas present for me, because I’m just too broke to do it. I don’t understand how someone can be that selfless?? Jacob wtf?? You’re too good??

Andrew. What an asshole. I love him though. He- quite frankly- is half the reason I’m so close with the Pathfinder group. I befriended him easier than I befriended the others. He’s the one that got me into Pathfinder. At first he seems quiet, and kinda apathetic, he’s incredibly forgetful. But he cares. I got scared one time that I’d fucked up a friendship, and in his awkward Andrew way, he gave me 3 Magic cards and a hug as comfort. It may not sound like much, but giving away Magic cards is a big deal for Andrew. This nerd is also the reason I met my girlfriend, so yknow.

Admittedly, I’m not as close with Thomas as I am some of the others. His personality clashes with mine, so I don’t typically talk to him one on one. But he’s part of the group. We all poke fun at him, but we all poke fun at everyone. This family of ours wouldn’t be the same without him. It’d be too quiet.

Susannah is a darling. I haven’t seen her as much recently, because she dropped out of the Pathfinder campaign, and I haven’t been at school. But we still talk from time to time here on tumblr, or the very rare occasion we see each other on campus we always stop to give each other a hug and say hello. Because our friend group had a hellish spaghetti mess of relationships, and we had a good relationship through that. The guy I liked liked her, and it was kinda rough, but we just helped each other. Then when that spaghetti mess was over, and I was getting with Sammy, she was one of the people I’d text like “Holy shit Sam is so cute HELP”

Molly is the best. She- like Susannah- isn’t in Pathfinder this semester, so I haven’t seen her as much. But she had a similar position in the spaghetti mess but without being so tied to me. She just was right next to Susannah and was super supportive as well. She was the other person I texted about Sam. Cause group chats. I’d text her and Susannah together. But even though we don’t see each other a ton, we’re still close. Hell we’re looking at getting an apartment together next summer.

I really never think I’m that close to Will. He’s very quiet, and he’s not very affectionate, so it’s sometimes hard to tell if he actually likes being around people or he’s just dealing with us. But, after a year of being around him, I’m pretty sure he does actually like us. I think he’s just introverted. He doesn’t want to get in people’s way, so he sits to the side and is quiet. But also, his character in Pathfinder was 110% tryna get another PC laid and Will and Susannah both were willing to let me in on that. So, yeah, pretty sure Will is cool with me. We just have different ways of showing that.

Joey and Adriana I’ll talk about together, because I swear these two are inseparable. When I first met them I thought they were dating, but no they’re just very affectionate- and I can’t blame them for that. I’m the same way with Scott and Trevi. I’ve still not gotten to talk to them a ton, but the conversations I’ve had with them have been good. They seem very light hearted on the surface, just comparing ourselves to our characters, but really that says a lot about us.

Freddie and Michael, I’ll also put together. Not because they’re together all the time, but because I have less to say about them. I don’t know either as well, but they’re both very warm people. It’s easy to become friends with these two. Freddie loves to rub my hair, cause of course half of it is shaved. Michael’s just akin to a ray of sunshine tbh.

Trevi. Where do I even start? To just say you’re my friend isn’t enough. You’re more than that. You’re fun to be around and talk to, and dance with. You’re relatable and silly and serious and helpful and supportive. You’ve given me a place to sleep when I was too tired to go home. When you graduated I was terrified of you leaving, either going back home or going out to Cali to get a doctorate, cause I knew you’d talked about it. I didn’t wanna lose you. I’d just gotten to know you. Then you stayed here, and I’m glad. Cause you’re my friend and I love you. A couple weeks ago as you were leaving you signed “I love you”. You had your back turned but there was a window in front of you, so idk if you saw, but I signed it back. Cause I really do.

Now Scott. You sir, have literally changed my life. I would not have met most of the people I’ve talked about. I’d have met Trevi, but without D&D as a common ground, idk that we’d have ended up so close. So thank you, for introducing me to D&D. Thank you for being my DM. Because honestly, no matter how many DMs I have, no matter how great they are. You will always be my DM, because you were the first. And now, you’re graduating. You’re leaving school, and you’re going to Columbia. I’m gonna miss you. As selfish as it is, I don’t want you to leave. I’m glad you’re going to keep moving forward, as we all should. But fucking hell will I miss you. You’ve led me on adventures, fighting monsters and demons, I’ve made pacts with Eldritch gods and become War itself. So you go. You go, live your adventures. Write your stories and play your parts. Keep Moving Forward. But you better get your ass back here and visit from time to time okay? Cause I’m gonna miss you. I’m gonna miss your free hugs, and the meowing, and the hair ruffles, and hugs so tight I feel like you’re bout to crack a rib, and the games, and the stories, and just everything. I’m gonna miss you, and I love you.

This past year, and every one of the people I’ve mentioned have changed me. There’s more people I could talk about. Alea, and Brooke, and Tommy, and Sammy, and Tahli, and Sebastian, and Kenna. My actual family. My cousin and my best friend, who I don’t feel the need to write about, because duh I appreciate them. Duh I love them. Tommy and Sammy who’ve both had their own impacts. Who have both changed my life in their own ways. Then Tahli, Kenna, and Sebastian. My nieces and nephew. Tahli, who wormed her way into my heart in an instant, and got me to a place where I actually cared for the other two. Because for so long I shrugged at Kenna. She lives across the country she’s not gonna know me. But then when Sebastian came along, I was so used to Tahli and her reaction any time I walk in the door. Then Sebastian got hurt, and it wrecked me. Because no, he’s tiny, he’s fragile, this shouldn’t happen to a six month old baby. I was so scared to hold him at Thanksgiving because I didn’t want to hurt him.

I just. I love my friends. I love that I can say that. Because two years ago I hardly had friends to love, and I certainly didn’t feel like they should love me back. Last year I had a few more friends, and I was feeling a bit better about myself. But this year I’ve realized. It’s not just that I have friends that I love. But that they love me just as much. During intermediate acting Abby called me a yankee candle, cause I apparently had a warm, homey, aura. I felt like that was weird, cause I’m so used to being Shadow. I’m used to being ignore, glanced over. But then suddenly, I have friends that won’t do that. Friends that pay attention and love me. I’m still not sure how to handle that, but I’m doing the best I can.

#personal #heyo its a new year #college life #except only sorta

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peace-coast-island · 3 years ago

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Diary of a Junebug

Starburst hydrangeas at the Silkmoon Park

There's something special about a moonlit night while taking a walk by the lake. With the starburst hydrangeas lighting up the park, it makes the night more magical. What a fitting way to close off the year.

Today - or should I say last night - was the second to last day of the Silkmoon Bloom Festival. Things were quiet as the festivities were winding down so we all kinda had the place to ourselves. I think it worked out for the best as we were a big group.

Several members of the infamous Clanwing family are staying at the camp for a vacation. Dello, Donna, Louise, Philly, Ollie, Tally, Molly, Rosie, Lessi, Cissy, and Rolly - they're a fun bunch to be around!

Notably absent is the patriarch himself, which is probably for the best. Honestly, it's a surprise that Dello and Donna and the kids are related to him - he's not the best role model, to put it nicely. Truth is, the twins have a sorta on and off strained relationship and recent events might change things between them for good.

Them coming here was kinda planned while being sorta last minute. As in they were planning on coming to the camp, but weren't sure exactly when until like a week ago. The festival was good timing as it gave them an excuse to be around the area - meaning being away from a certain someone. It doesn't seem like it right now, but things are actually getting serious.

The main highlight of the festival are the starburst hydrangeas, which only bloom every other year. They're said to be a symbol of prosperity and good fortune, something I think we can all use. Plus they're so pretty with their blues and purples, especially at night when it looks like they're glowing under the moonlight, giving them an extra magical touch.

We took a ferry to get to the island, getting a lovely view of the festival lights from a distance. Since it was a quieter night, we managed to get the boat to ourselves. There's something that feels nice about that - I sometimes feel overwhelmed if there's a huge crowd, which then kinda takes away from my enjoyment. When there's an event like a festival, I prefer to enjoy things at my own pace so a night like this is perfect.

At the gate, we headed to the mask stand to dress up for the festival. It's a tradition to wear decorative masks, which are adorned with lovely hand painted hydrangeas. According to the seller, the masks are made from the finest porcelain, all of them handiworks of many artists, making all of them unique. Given how popular they are, I was a little worried that there might not be enough to go around by the time we got there. Thankfully, we were all able to get one, and not only that, we were able to choose from a nice selection of them.

Before going off on our own, we stopped by one of the food stands, enjoying some grilled fish and boba. Us adults also shared some sakura wine, a local specialty in the area that goes well with the fish. Since it was getting late, the vendors offered to give us leftovers they have before closing up, so we made sure to remember that before leaving.

I later met up with Dello and Louise at one of the stands where they sell handcrafted ornaments. There, they filled me in on what's going on regarding their dear old uncle.

In short, a lot of everyone's problems tie back to him. It sounds kinda mean, but it’s the sad truth. Dello has been seeing a therapist on and off for years because of anxiety and an eating disorder, the latter which has been rearing its ugly head again. In the past few years Donna, Molly, Philly, and recently Tally have been seeking counseling too for various reasons. All of them were eventually referred to family counseling and so they brought everyone in for a session that ended badly.

Basically, the therapist called out the old man for causing his family to suffer from years of self doubt and low self esteem as well as a boatload of other issues. Dello said they kinda knew all along but because he's family and has a huge influence on them, they didn't want to admit it. As a result, Kent threw a fit, saying that the therapist was good for nothing and the family was ungrateful. He even went so far to denounce counseling as a whole, all because someone told him to get off his high horse and to think about others besides himself.

The whole incident served as a last straw for Dello, Donna, and Louise. Now they're serious about moving out of the mansion and the kids all agree. I know that Dello has been on the fence about moving out for years, having lived on his own for a short time before meeting Louise and having kids while Donna never really had a reason to move. They won't be too far from the mansion as they're still living in Cityburg, though it's a little hard to find a place where all 11 (possibly 12 if Molly decides to stay for a bit as well) of them can live that is not a cramped apartment.

Since then, no one has really seen or spoken to the old man. Dello has no interest in seeing his face for a while and Donna's not in the mood for his long ass monologues about family always sticking together. Even the boys, who have always looked up to him, have been keeping their distance. From what I've been hearing, it's probably for the best that they leave as soon as an opportunity arises.

Maybe it's an outsider's perspective, but I've always had mixed feelings about Uncle Kent. In some ways he's similar to McMann as they're rich old men with sort of an inflated ego who values family a lot. Both are seasoned adventurers who are notorious in a good and bad way, and they have a tendency to put their family under a lot of pressure due to their status. As a result their descendants have a sort of love/hate thing in a way that they idolize them in a sense while sorta having some resentment too.

I think the biggest difference between the two is how they define family. McMann sometimes has a tendency to live vicariously through Chrissie and Rocky, often putting a lot of pressure on them to live up to his reputation. Though now that Rocky's got his kids to look after and Chrissie's moved to Camellia, he's been loosening his grip on them, letting them live out their own lives while he continues with his. He does value his family, especially since they don't have much left, but he doesn't make that the center of everything, nor does he expect them to drop everything for him.

On the other hand, Kent seems to be in the opposite direction. Everything about his family revolves around him and his legacy. I'll be honest, it gets kinda annoying how he goes on about family being important when in reality it's more of a self serving thing for himself. That's why Donna and Dello and the kids relied on him so much. They all basically built their lives centered around him, which is unhealthy.

As for what happens next, things for the most part will go on as usual. Dello's been slowly phasing out the office, putting more focus on his music, something he always wanted to do. He and Donna are in a duo, Ocean Winds, and their last few songs have been gaining more traction, prompting them to post on a more regular basis as well as collab with other musicians. The success of Too Bad for You - a song about a certain someone - has led to a surge of inspiration for the two as well as talk of possibly releasing an EP. They don't plan on going viral, they just want to make music - so they're glad that people are listening and enjoying it. I'd listen to a bunch of their albums!

Overall, the biggest thing for everyone is space. Kent's not really a bad guy, but he's the kind of person who fails to accept that everyone, especially himself, has their flaws. I'd hate to see them burn their bridges with him, though I can't say it was undeserved. The best thing the others can do is get away from his influence. Sometimes in certain relationships, things just no longer work out how they used to, so there's no use in forcing it if all it does is cause more harm. He probably won't accept it, but his family, especially Dello and Donna, no longer owe him their time.

Despite how it sounds, the others have accepted the situation as is. I think they feel kinda liberated - I mean, it kinda makes sense. From what I see, they don't seem to be broken up about it, more like they're relieved to finally be able to talk about it now that they know for certain what comes next. Since the whole thing came about, they've been slowly spilling the tea on what's going on. Dello, I'm pretty sure, has been seeing something like that coming for a long while. I see it as a huge weight coming off everyone's shoulders.

As the night went on, the festivities slowly drew to a close. By the end I was pretty sure our group was the only ones left. The staff didn't mind though as most planned to stick around longer, which made us feel a bit better. I'd hate to hold them up as they've been working hard these past few days.

At one point, Dello, Donna, Ollie, Molly, and Rosie put on an impromptu performance with the band and that was a lot of fun to watch! One of the band members even asked Dello to consider joining them next year, which he says he'll think about. Now Tally wants to become his uncle's agent when he gets his big break in the music industry - Dello said he's getting too ahead of himself, to which Tally responded with his usual shrug. That's usually Tally's way of sorta saying "I believe in you" or "I put a lot of trust in you", which itself can mean a lot of different things. Though in that case, he means it in a good and encouraging way.

Aside from the flowers, the second most important thing about the festival is the food. Local island specialties are always a nice treat, especially during a celebration! Sakura wine, strawberry matcha cakes, rose vanilla boba, spicy papaya salad with grilled chicken skewers, battered fish with shrimp tempura - all the good stuff! Some of the vendors even give out written recipes for us to try at home.

It was relaxing walking around the island, especially under the moonlight. At the center is the Grand Lake, where we can see the full reflection of the moon. The image is so clear that it feels like if we step in, we'll be transported to the sky. With the starburst hydrangeas surrounding the lake, it makes the whole place look even more magical! Now that I think about it, the lake could make a nice camping spot.

Before heading off for the ferry, we did one last activity. We each get a wooden tag where we can write or draw our wishes and they'll be displayed on the Grand Silkmoon Blossom Tree until the next festival. It is said that the tree will grant good fortune, something we all can use.

I think we all shared the same idea when it came to our wishes.

#animal crossing #animal crossing pocket camp #Diary of a Junebug #headcanon ramble

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ourloveisforthelovely · 7 years ago

Text

Fix You 17

A/n: no warnings

Link to Chapter 16

Words: 1, 896

Pairings: Gabriel X OFC

_________

Lucifer looked over his shoulder making sure that Molly and JoyAnna were out of the room before turning to Gabriel

“You need to skip to my Lou my darlin and get on my side.”

Gabriel looked at Lucifer with a less than pleased expression.

“I would rather slam my hand in a drawer. Either start talking Lucifer or get lost. I have to worry about keeping my family safe.”

Lucifer looked honestly hurt.

“What am I Gabe? I'm your family too! I'm not here to raise some hell with you or make you angrier than you already appear to be. I am here because I care for you and for my kid! I want Michael to die a slow painful death as much as the next guy but that kid in there, your kid, is in some real bad danger that you can't handle on your own.”

Gabriel stood with his arms crossed glaring at Lucifer for a few moments.

“You didn't answer my question. What did Michael specifically say about JoyAnna and Molly?”

Lucifer leaned back in his seat at the kitchen island and held his hands up.

“What do you want me to say Gabriel? He said he wanted to kill them and make you watch the light leave their eyes? Is that good enough for you because it freaked me the hell out! Look Gabe, I know that we aren't pals....”

“Understatement.”

Gabriel snapped. Lucifer sighed before giving his brother an annoyed glare.

“Uh yeah! IF you will keep your snark to the minimum that would be great! I want to help you! What happened with us, Gabriel? You and I were pals. We were closer than Michael and Raphael ever were. It was you and me against the world! What about all of the times that you did some of your tricks and they went bad? I took the fall for you because it killed me to see you upset. Oh Christ look at me going over all of these feels while you just stand there!”

“Daddy?”

Both Gabriel and Lucifer froze. Gabriel looked down to see JoyAnna by his foot again. Muttering a few curse words at Lucifer in Enochian, Gabriel bent down picking Joy up.

“I told you to stay in there.”

JoyAnna gave Gabriel a disapproving expression.

“Its not nice to call someone all of those name you just called him. Daddy am I going to die?”

Gabriel's mouth dropped as he looked at his little girl's sweet face. He glanced to Lucifer who muttered “oh my dad” before standing up and turning his back. Looking back to JoyAnna, Gabriel shook his head.

“Absolutely not!”

Lucifer meanwhile, walked over and held his hands out. Joy didn't fight when Lucifer took her from Gabriel's arms. He walked across the kitchen

“Sweetheart, let me tell you about this big dummy named Michael. A long long time ago, before you were even thought of, it was Michael, your Jimmy Buffet loving Uncle Raphael, your daddy, and me in heaven. Michael was the biggest bossiest meanie head. Your daddy and I used to play tricks on him. One time your daddy even dyed his wings pink. Lets just say it wasn't his color, sweetheart. Anyway, point of this story, we are ten times more powerful than Michael. He may have some goons and morons at his disposal but its nothing we can't handle. Your daddy and those other people around here won't let anything happen to you. I won't either. Deal?”

JoyAnna glanced at Gabriel. The expression on his face still made her nervous. She knew that her dad was super wary about everything that Lucifer was saying. Turning her head back to her uncle, JoyAnna smiled.

“Deal.”

About that time the door opened and Jack walked in. He froze the moment that he spotted Lucifer holding his cousin. Right away Jack was ready to freak out. He immediately turned to Gabriel.

“What are you thinking?”

He half yelled. Lucifer meanwhile, smiled seeing Jack. He smiled genuinely.

“Jack. Its so good to see you.”

Gabriel meanwhile, looked at his nephew with exhausted eyes before walking over and pulling him out of the room by his shirt. Lucifer gave Joy a smile.

“Everyone is so friendly here.”

JoyAnna giggled.

“You must really be one something Uncle Luci.”

Meanwhile, Jack angrily pulled away from Gabriel as his uncle closed the door behind him.

“You let him in here and near Joy! Near me!”

Gabriel held a hand up.

“Cool it junior! Look, he was the one that told us about Michael. I'm keeping my eyes on him and Cas is too. If he puts a toe out of line I will gladly kill him. He knows where we stand. You need to trust me on this one. I've been around a lot longer and know what can happen, feel me? I need you to chill. I'm not asking you to go and be his pal. In fact go be an ass for all I care but don't you dare think that I would intentionally put Joy or you in any danger.”

Jack looked down before nodding.

“I'm sorry.”

Gabriel nodded, motioning to the door with his head.

“Its fine, go on.”

Jack looked at his uncle a moment longer. He realized that there was more to what was going on then what Gabriel was telling him.

“Gabriel?”

“Just go.”

He replied. Gabriel's voice was calm but there was an edge to it that Jack wasn't used to. The boy turned, leaving his uncle alone in the laundry room.

Jack didn't look at Lucifer as he walked back through the kitchen. He could only hope that Gabriel knew what he was talking about!

Later that night, after Molly put Joy to bed, she sat quietly beside Gabriel listening to everything that Lucifer had told him earlier. She put a hand on her head trying to take everything in. Lucifer looked at her sympathetically.

“I know its a lot to take in.”

Molly scoffed.

“A little...Michael is a fool to think that he can get much out of a little girl.”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

“A powerful little girl. Forgive me for saying so darlin but Michael could mold her to do whatever he wanted. If he got you and Gabriel out of the way well....his field day.”

Meanwhile upstairs...

JoyAnna lay sleeping when a soft fluttering noise caught her attention. She turned over to see a young man standing beside her bed. With a frown she reached over to turn the light but he snapped his hands stopping her.

“You must be JoyAnna. My my you really are a cutie!”

Joy rubbed her eyes.

“Who are you? Don't you think its a little rude to be materializing in people's bedroom?”

The man chuckled.

“You are sarcastic, just like your father.”

Joy didn't like the way the man mentioned anything related to Gabriel.

“Yeah, well you get what you get. Who are you anyway?”

The man smiled.

“I'm your uncle Michael. I've come to see you.”

Joy's mouth dropped and she looked around nervously.

“Uh why aren't your wings pink?”

Michael's pleasant expression went negative.

“Lovely, you heard that story.”

Joy nodded as she snapped her fingers sending the archangel flying across the room and into the wall. It took maybe two seconds for the door to slam open. Gabriel and Jack stood in the doorway. Both of their expressions went from panicked to straight pissed off. Jack quickly ran to Joy yanking her into his arms as Gabriel stepped between them looking down at Michael.

“Jeez Michael. Did a little girl knock you on your ass? Doesn't say much for your so called skills.”

Michael growled angrily before jumping up and landing a punch in Gabriel's face. Gabriel shook off the impact after a few moments. Ignoring the blood gushing down his face, he was able to land more punches on Michael. Glancing over his shoulder he could see Jack with a petrified Joy in his arms.

“Jack get her out of here!”

He yelled as Joy began screaming for him over and over again. The moment that Michael slammed a knife into his shoulder, Joy really began to cry. Gabriel looked down at the kitchen knife with a bemused expression.

“A steak knife? Really Michael? Do you think that would really hurt me? Must have lost your touch, big brother.”

Michael blinked before growling angrily.

“I'll be back.”

Michael snapped his fingers instantly disappearing.

“What the the hell is going on in here?”

Gabriel and Jack turned to see Molly and Lucifer run in. Both stopped seeing the blood oozing out of the wound in Gabriel's shoulder and nose.

“Gabe?”

Molly managed to get out as Jack quickly walked from the room trying to calm his little cousin down. Gabriel looked up at his wife's panicked expression. Lucifer looked at tad nervous himself.

“It was Michael. That fucker stabbed me with a steak knife! Can you believe that shit?”

After another moment or two the wounds had healed themselves leaving Gabriel back to the way he looked before. Molly walked over cupping his face in her hands.

“Gabriel, what were you thinking? He could have killed you.”

Gabriel smacked her hands away.

“It was me or the kid. You want me to grow up and be the dad that I am supposed to be one minute. Now you want me to be more careful! You are gonna have to pick one peach because I can't do everything!”

Molly looked down at the ground. She knew that Gabriel was hyped up on adrenaline and probably didn't mean what he said. Molly stood a moment longer before walking from the room. It was probably best that she and Gabriel be apart right now.

Lucifer looked after Molly before looking back to Gabriel who was trembling.

“Uh was that the best thing that you could come up with? I think she was worried about you?”

Gabriel growled.

“She always worries! I walk by a black cat, she worries. I walk under a ladder, I can't leave the house for a damn month. She treats me like a baby.”

Lucifer raised an eyebrow.

“Bro you are kinda acting like one. Can't believe that I am being the sane one here but she's your wife. Its in her job description.”

Gabriel looked up at his brother's face.

“I guess I can be hard on her. This crap situation is just making me nutty.”

Lucifer shrugged.

“From what little me old me gathered you two have the bad habit of running from each other when the tough gets going. Maybe its time that you two go your merry ways and you can co parent little short stuff in peace. Kid is gonna figure out whats going on soon enough if she doesn't already. Molly's a nice girl but I don't think that we as archangel's are meant to be with anyone...cute nephilim included. Well later, I'm going to watch me some reality TV...wanna watch some people whose lives are bigger train wrecks than mine.”

____________

@sumara62

@treblebeth

@tas898

@authoressskr

@li0nh34rt

@sherala007

@greenappleeyes

@everyjourneylove

#Gabriel #Gabriel x OFC #Supernatural Fan Fiction #lucifer #gabriel fanfiction #GABRIEL THE ARCHANGEL

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sophygurl · 7 years ago

Text

RotE feels spewage

Okay, so now that I’ve read everything currently written in the Realm of the Elderlings series (but boy howdy am I excited about the new short story coming out soon!), I’m gonna try and capture some of my overall thoughts and feels. This will be very long and undoubtedly spoilerific.

For the record, I started the whole series about a year ago and have just raced through it all. The first thing I read was the short story Homecoming and it so fueled me with all of the mystery and magic that I started in on the first Farseer trilogy and then banged out through all of the other short stories and novels in order.

I am happy to see there are lots of RotE fans on tumblr, but sad to see most of the posts go back months and years ago and there isn’t a lot of current discussion. Woe is the fangirl who finds a fandom later than everyone else. But I won’t let that stop me from sharing my thoughts.

Okay so I have some new all-time favorite characters from this series. Strangely enough, Fitz is not one of them. NOT that I dislike Fitz, and I sure did enjoy reading 3 sets of trilogies from his perspective, but he’s just not a fave-fave.

A lot of the people (and animals) around him became faves, but I have to admit to being somewhat in the minority from what I’ve seen, in vastly preferring the Rain Wilds/Bingtown stuff over the Six Duchies stuff. Again - not that I don’t love all of it, but just those were my fave bits and the stuff I personally related to more and want more of.

Most Fave Characters:

Paragon. Oh my dear mad ship, how I love you. How can my favorite character be a sentient ship made out of dragon cocoons who has literally gone insane? IDK, Robin Hobb that’s why. I am so pleased for Paragon that he got to finally be dragons, but oh how I’ll miss my crazy traumatized liveship. I hope we get to see more of his dragons in future works?

All of the Vestrits, but particularly the women. Especially Althea, Ronica, and Malta. Their character arcs were phenomenal and I’d love to read any and all side-stories of their lives and adventures between the Liveship Traders trilogy and the Fitz and the Fool trilogy, as well as anything in their futures.

Bee! Bee Bee Bee Bee Bee. Bee Farseer. Bee the Destroyer. Bee....loved. I love her. Every single thing about her. More Bee! MORE BEE!

Thick. He was probs my favorite part of the Tawny Man trilogy and omg the picture of him as an old man with a cat in his lap teaching Bee how to make skillsongs and being happy and comfortable and cared for is just killing me. ILU Thick!

Thymara. Best part of the Rain Wilds Chronicles imo. And the bits we gleamed of her and Tats and their kid in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy made me so happy. The way her wings grew! I bet she flies all the time! Oh please please tell me more about Thymara’s life once she settled into Kelsingra!

Nighteyes. I don’t know that I can discuss my feelings for him without sobbing, so I’ll leave it at that.

Nettle Farseer. What an amazing arc, and getting to see her from being a baby to having her own baby. MOAR Nettle!

Perseverance. Where is the Per fandom?! I adore this little due with my whole heart and soul. So brave, so kind, so patient, so loyal. I cry just thinking about him and how good he is.

The Fool/Beloved/Lord Golden/Amber/whatever all else... I think I loved his Fool persona the most, but they’re all fantastic.

Chade Fallstar. Look, I know he’s a real son of a bitch, but I love him anyway. I’m a sucker for old wizardy teacher types and prankster/trickster types and just always wanted for him to find some happiness and belonging.

Kettricken. Such a strong, sweet, fierce, stable, amazing woman. Who was so in love with Fitz and you can’t tell me otherwise!

Ophelia - my second favorite liveship and one I think might... even?? want... to stay one??? Maybe??? We’ll see. Hopefully. Please tell us.

Patience. Quirky mom/grandma figure who couldn’t have her own kids so protects the ones that need protecting forever in my heart! (Also Lacey, who I am certain in my heart of hearts was her lover as well as her friend and bodyguard.)

Spark/Ash. Another wonderful genderbender in the series. I hope they get to keep being both sides of themselves.

Motley. How can you not love a crow who calls Fitz “stupid” every chance she gets and who bonds with Heeby and loves all the same characters we love? I hope Motely finally finds a good wit-bond. She deserves it.

Every cat we ever encounter in any of the books.

Characters I love but with some reservations:

Kennit Ludluck - I mean I hate this man, but I also love him. He was a fascinating character and his relationships with other characters were interesting, and his whole ... thing ... with Paragon was so emotional and intense. And I could have forgiven every other awful thing he ever did up until he raped Althea and then it was just - nope. Sigh.

Dragons - particularly Tintaglia, Sintara, Mercor, Heeby,and Relpda. Dragons can be terrible, but they’re also a lot of fun.

Rapskal - loved loved loved him before he merged with the Elderling memories. Still kinda like him, but not quite as much. His relationship with Heeby is always sweet.

Ships (as in shipping not liveships)

First a note about Molly. I always felt like Molly’s character was strangely un-fleshed out. She was just Girl who is a Friend, Young Woman who is Attractive, Woman Fitz Loves, Woman Fitz Longs For, Woman Fitz Finally Gets to be With, Woman Fitz Loses. And then from Bee’s perspective she’s Mom. But she never felt like a fully realized character to me??

So it was hard to love her, to ship her with anyone, to really understand and empathize for Fitz’s feelings for her. She was just kind of this Figure. Which is really such a shame, because Hobb has so many other wonderfully filled out female characters who are so varied and fleshed out and amazing in such different ways from one another. And then there’s just Molly. Woman Fitz Loves. For ... some reason??

IDK - is this a thing that other fans feel? Did I miss something that everyone else gets?

I mean, I understand that the fandom mostly ships Fitz with Beloved/Fool, but did anyone ship Fitz with Molly? Or ship her with Burrich for that matter??

I personally shipped Fitz the most with Kettricken, but I obvi get the Fitz/Fool thing too. I always thought when Fitz grew up into himself more, he’d realize it was for the best that Molly and Burrich had ended up together and leave it at that, and then eventually the feelings he and Kettricken obviously had for one another would have a chance to blossom. But whatever. She gets to raise Bee now, so that’s something.

So anyway, my ships for this series:

Fitz/Ketrricken, as stated above.

Fitz/Fool, cannot be denied.

Fitz/Nighteyes - not in a romantic or sexual way but they were true soulmates.

Fitz/Burrich and Fitz/Chade and Fitz/Verity as son/father.

Fitz/Dutiful and and Fitz/Hap and Fitz/Per as father/son.

Fitz/Nettle and Fitz/Bee as father/daughter.

Fitz friendships - Fool, Riddle, Thick, Nosy, Smithy, Myblack, Fleeter, Motley.

Fool/Shrewd as friends or even a touch of father/son.

Fool friendships - Fitz, Prilkop, Verity, Kettricken, Nighteyes, as Amber: Althea, Brashen, Paragon, Jek.

Chade/Shrewd as brothers.

Verity/Chivalry as brothers.

Patience/Lacey - mirite?

Chivalry/Burrich - right?? right??!?! Come at me about it.

Althea/Brashen - perfectly coupled.

Malta/Reyn - especially once they’ve actually had some time to get to know one another better. (their courtship was kinda yikes in a lot of ways tho)

Etta/Kennit’s charm necklace lmao.

Nettle/Riddle - so sweet together. I’m glad she gets her happy ending, so to speak. Getting to be recognized for who she is at Buckkeep, having a job/calling she’s good at and loves, getting to marry the man she loves, having a child she gets to actually raise. All the stuff Fitz never got to have.

Erek and Detozi! How cute are they and how adorable was the way their relationship was shown in the books? Awwwww. (I did think for the first couple books that they were both dudes so I was slightly disappointed when I figured it out, but still sweet.)

Sedric/Carson

Alise/Leftrin

Alise/Sedric as friends.

Alise/Thymara as friends.

Sintara/Mercor - can you ship dragons? I think I do.

Fave Places:

Rain Wilds - anything to do with the Rain Wilds, Trehaug, Cassarick, Bingtown, Kelsingra, etc. Love it, want more of it.

Withywoods. I fell in love with this quiet home and the people in it, especially as seen through Bee’s eyes, and especially once she discovers the places in the walls.

The Pirate Isles - fun stuff and I liked that we got to see a little bit about how it’s developed both as far as appearances and it’s political/trading place in the world.

Stuff I especially want more of, questions I still have, mysteries I want solved, etc.:

I’ll honestly take anything in this world at any time, but here’s the stuff particularly weighing on me....

Magic: SO much more about magic and how it works and where it comes from. For instance, the Silver.

How is it in the dragons?

How did it get into the memory stone?

How is it related to the Skill?

How did the Farseers get access to this magic?

How do people not related to Farseers sometimes get it?

Is the Skill/Silver related to the Wit or are they totally separate things?

Do dragons have Skill and Wit? And also something else?

What, exactly are (were?) The Others.

AND WHY ARE THEY TERRIFIED OF CATS?

Speaking of cats - why can they talk to anyone regardless of Wit?

Are cats and dragons related somehow??!

And what about pecksies?!

What about The Whites? Where does their magic come from? Is it related to all the silver/skill/dragon stuff at all? Where did they come from and how are they related to humans, Elderlings, etc?

Also what in the freaking frak IS the skill-current and how does it woooorrrrrk?

HOW are the Vestrits all so linked to magic?!?! I keep having these theories that Ephron did something to all his kids and grandkids, maybe to protect them from the blood plague, that made them all more susceptible to things like dragon glamour and skill-healings and the like. And why did he decide to stop trading with the Rain Wilds and magical items? What did he KNOW? Am I making stuff up in my head, or is there something there? I feel like there’s something there.

History: grand-scale and smaller more personal things I’d love to see explained more either in short stories or as characters learn more in potential future trilogies and such - like as Nettle and the coteries learn more from the skill-cubes or as the new Elderlings and dragons learn more from their artifacts and buildings. Some examples:

Chade’s life. Would ADORE a short story about his life pre-Fitz, his many adventures as Lady Thyme and other identities, his life as Lord Chade and all of the secrets he never told anyone, his various spy networks and how they worked, etc.

How did the Servants get so corrupted? How did their unholy alliance with The Others get formed? What was Clerres before it was the White Prophet/Servant place? What were the bones and skulls from? Some creatures bigger and badder and older than dragons??

FITZ’s Parentage! Especially his mom! We know she was Mountain-born, we know she had an affair with Chivalry who was not one to go about having affairs like that, we know Fitz’s grandfather forced his mom to give Fitz up, but that’s literally it. How did Chivalry and his mom meet and what happened between them? Why did his mom’s family decide she couldn’t keep him? Did she have the Wit - is that how he got it?? What was little toddler Fitz’s life like?? What happened to his mom after she was forced to give him up?? Did she marry and have more kids - are their Fitz-siblings and their kids and grandkids out in the world, maybe in the Mountains?

And that time really early in the books, maybe the second one? When he encountered some people in the market from the Mountains and there was a young woman who started screaming and pointing at him and crying and was held back by the others - I mean, that was his mom yea?? Why did we never come back to that scene. I kept waiting for Fitz to remember that and link it to what little he remembered of her. Sigh.

Stories about Dragons and Elderlings of old! Maybe some about their destruction but also just ... what their lives were actually like?? How they came about?? How they made their art and architecture and stuff?? IDK. I’m so curious about this part.

Maybe something about King Wisdom and how he sought out the Elderlings for aid, or if the Elderlings were already gone by then how he discovered the putting-your-life-into-stone thing? Maybe some stories about skill coteries who traveled together up the skill road to make their own dragons? TELL ME HOW THE FARSEERS ARE LINKED TO THE ELDERLINGS!

The gods, too. Sa and the priesthood of Sa and how all that got started, how it got corrupted, etc. How Sa connects with El and Eda. Are they real? Are they representations of the Skill or the Skill current or???

Chalced’s history is one I’m very curious about. Are they connected to the Servants and Others in toppling the Dragon/Elderling civilizations, or did they just hate the Stone Pillars for other reasons? How did they get to be so ... terrible?

Future: Some of the stories I wanna see about what comes next!

BEE!!!! Bee and Kettricken and Per and Integrity and Hap and Motley and Spark riding through the Mountains together with Fitz/Fool/Nighteyes-as-stone trailing them! How all of their lives progress, and how Hope and Promise grow up together and what their lives are like and maybe check-in with Steady and Swift on occasion and yea.

Are Fitz and the Fool and Nighteyes happy now that they’re whole and in the Skill together? How long can they stay active and watch over Bee?

Gosh, I’d really like to see how the folks at Withywoods continue to heal and recover. Too bad they don’t have therapists in this world...

Will Prilkop be able to take the dozen or so Whites left and build something new? Maybe use their powers for good? Will Bee ever be prompted to find and use a Catalyst or will she continue to refuse to be a White Prophet? Will another White step in her place, and if so - will it be good or bad?!?!

Will Motley find a wit-bond? Did Fleeter ever find one?? What about Swift - we never found out if he got one did we??! More wit-bond stories!

Chassim, the Duchess of Chalced! How is she faring? Is she able to make progressive changes to her country? Do she and Selden keep in touch??

How are the Rain Wilds and Bingtown Trader’s societies being affected by all of the changes? Same for the Pirate Isles. Are they able to adapt and prosper? Would love to see some stuff about their times both between when TRWC ends and Fitz/Fool trilogy begins and also after all the dust settles as the Liveships turn into Dragons and whatnot as well.

How are Erek and Detozi doing??

Geography: I’d love to see some complete maps of the Realm. Maybe have some stories set in or around the Spice Islands since we hear so much about them but have never been there. Will we find more Elderling ruins? Where the Whites originally came from? Are the icy glacier areas in the North covering more ancient ruins? More about this world!!

So yea that’s a lot. And that’s just what’s occurring to me right now. I feel some deep re-reads are gonna be in order. This might one of those series that I just continually find myself reading and re-reading.

I’m dazed.

Come talk to me RotE fandom!! (my inbox is open)

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thathpheadcanongirl · 7 years ago

Text

Tonks didn’t pine after Remus, okay?

Pic found: https://trustahope.deviantart.com/art/i-waited-for-you-to-speak-88221062

So, I’ve been reading up on a lot of Remadora lately (one of my OTPs) for possible fanfics. And what I can’t stand is when people think that Tonks just pined after Remus like a lost puppy for months after Sirius’s death. No, my dudes, they were much more than that, and I’ll tell you how and why...

(Lots of Remadora Head Canon below)

I don’t believe Remus or any of the Marauders met Tonks when she was a baby (Andromeda and Ted were in hiding for their own safety during the first war, and they were not canonically part of the Order at that time.) Therefore, this made their first meeting pretty mundane, nothing worth mentioning. It was most likely an Order meeting where they first met, and Tonks probably thought Remus looked super bad ass with scars on his face. I see her being into “misfit” type people, so Remus’s appearance peaked her interest. Remus probably thought she was too young to be part of the Order, but was impressed with her morphing ability and how both Moody and Kingsley talk her up as this amazing Auror protégée.

Honestly, I don’t think they’d pair off without a little help from Sirius. Alone and shut up in his old home, Sirius invites people to stay after Order meetings. Remus basically lives there, so Sirius always has at least Remus. Tonks refuses the first few times he’s asked (because just a few months back, she was still hunting him down). She needed time to adjust to him actually being innocent. Eventually, she warms up to him and agrees to stay for a few drinks. This is how Sirius unintentionally brought his friend and his cousin together. Although their personalities were different, Sirius oddly saw how much they had in common. Tonks was a refreshing face to their lives. It’s what Sirius and Remus both needed.

Because Sirius was not allowed to go out on missions, Remus and Tonks would pair up, bonding even more. They’d talk and flirt pretty much the whole of their missions. At this point, she had to have known he was a werewolf. Maybe they didn’t discuss it at length, but she’s a smart cookie. And it wasn’t really a secret either; the Order made him Wolfsbane and Sirius accompanied him in one of the rooms in Grimmauld Place during his transformations. Despite this knowledge, Remus’s condition did not bother Tonks. On the contrary, she found it quite relatable to her ability. She never looked at him any differently or made him feel inferior because he wasn’t all human. In her mind, that was okay.

Remus thought that her view on his condition shouldn’t be treated like a gift. He was dangerous. He was known as werewolf first, human second, if at all. He thought it was odd that she was okay with going on missions with him, and he mentally beat himself up every day for falling for such a beautiful, whole, and talented girl.

In some ways, Sirius and Remus were both jealous of each other when it came to Tonks. When Sirius realized the connection Remus and Tonks shared in and outside their friend group, he started to worry about them leaving him. Just like James and Lily did. If he had it his way, the three of them would remain friends, drinking in his kitchen until the day he’s considered a free man. Tonks cares for Sirius’s wellbeing in that she always makes sure he feels included, even if it means talking up non-existent encounters she and Remus had on their missions or pulling pranks on the older Order members. It brightened his spirits, and made him hopeful, even if it was just for a moment.

Remus was jealous of all the attention Tonks gives Sirius, but he made it seem like he didn’t like when she fed him lies and gave into his fancies. Tonks was just doing her thing; making other feel better was her specialty! She had romantic feelings for Remus, unlike what she felt for Sirius. She didn’t know how to go about telling such a melancholy (and quite selfish) person, so she’d tell him through her actions. And he wasn’t stupid either, he knew what she was doing, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself. Who could ever love something like me? (<- Something Remus would probably say to himself every time he thought he could make a move on Tonks.)

It wasn’t until Remus brought up Sirius did Tonks finally confess her true feelings for him.

“He’s still handsome, isn’t he, even after Azkaban?”

“I suppose you’ve fallen for him then? He always got the women.”

“You’d know perfectly well who I’ve fallen for, if you weren’t too busy feeling sorry for yourself to notice!”

After that, he gave into his urges to kiss her and hold her and be with her. I like to think they were together for a big portion of OOTP, where Sirius was still quite jealous of their relationship but did everything to keep it from falling apart. He knew Remus would find a way to sabotage it with just a thought. And there wasn’t much else going on to keep Sirius occupied. What Sirius didn’t know was that Remus and Tonks were actually falling in love. The feeling was new for all involved. Remus broke it off with Tonks (by not telling her directly, of course, and choosing different missions or not showing up for meetings as consistently anymore). And when Sirius asked Tonks where Remus was, she’s always like, “I don’t know, you tell me.” Because he just… vanished for a while.

He came back eventually, and any time Tonks would get near him or try to talk to him, he’d walk away or ignore her. She honest to God it was something she did to hurt him. She wanted to apologize, but she needed to know what she did. The only thing she could think of was maybe he was still jealous of her relationship with Sirius. She tried to catch him after every Order meeting, but he kept avoiding her. She got so fed up with it that she started avoiding him and being the first to leave.

Sirius confronted Remus like a big brother protecting his sister. “Why are you doing this, you prick? She obviously wants to help!”

“I’m falling for her, Pads!” It was the first time he admitted it out loud. Sirius was just as surprised as Remus. “And I can’t help it.”

This sends Sirius back to when James confessed how much he loved Lily, and he had to watch his best mate leave him right before his eyes. (Don’t get me wrong, Sirius loved Lily… he just didn’t want to lose Remus and Tonks the way he lost James and Lily. He wanted to protect them, to make up for not protecting his friends before. And romantic love just makes things complicated, in Sirius’s opinion.) Even though he’d rather help Remus get away from these feelings, Sirius recognized Remus’s anguish and longing. His brotherly duties outweighed his personal agenda (old habits die hard). He couldn’t help but ask through gritted teeth, “Then why aren’t you with her?”

Remus shook his head. “You know I can’t. You, of all people, should be on my side. She deserves someone young and… just look at me! I’m a mess.”

“We’re all a mess in this crazy world. What’s life without a little risk?”

And Sirius pretty much made Remus talk to Tonks about this. She was honestly relieved it was nothing serious, but Remus thought the contrary. They fought about this for a while, probably all night. But they finally came to the consensus that life was too short to worry. Tonks didn’t care about Remus being a werewolf, she knew how to help, and she was a master at concealing things, so the Ministry wouldn’t catch on. I mean, they hadn’t for about a year, so forever shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Just as their relationship started to mend, the Battle of the Department of Mysteries happened. Tonks did get hurt and was knocked out cold by Bellatrix, who probably screamed something about being a traitor and mutt-lover or whatever. And Remus most likely overheard this exchange during battle and was like “Shit.” But then, Sirius went through the veil and everything stopped. Remus’s last friend in the world was gone forever. But he had to stay strong for Harry.

Remus went to St. Mungo’s to check on Tonks, but she still hasn’t woken up yet. He felt very guilty for allowing his feelings for her cloud his judgment. Being with her would never be okay because she would become an outcast, and he would never wish that upon her.

He’s not there when she comes to. She still didn’t know about Sirius’s death when she left the hospital. She had a feeling something was off when not even Remus was by her side. She went to Grimmauld Place, hoping to see the two men drinking a few Butterbeers and comparing battle scars. But she only saw Remus sitting by the fireplace with a Firewhiskey in hand and in tears. She dropped to her knees and held his hand by his side. They needed each other more than ever. They comforted each other for pretty much the entire Summer.

Then, that’s when Remus was like “I can’t do this… not again.” And Tonks pleaded for him to stay. They’ve done so much to heal; why would he just throw that away? But he does (because he’s a little shit who thinks that by steering clear from her, he’d save her from a life with him). He throws himself into recruiting werewolves from the underground, which he knows is basically a suicide mission.

Tonks did not pine. Tonks was grieving the death of her cousin and dealing with a pretty harsh breakup. The only person she felt comfortable talking about this was Molly, but she was zero help. Every time she thought Molly was giving good advice, she’d turn it around to get Tonks to start dating Bill. And Tonks is like “Um, no thanks.” (Not alternative enough, sorry Molly.)

So, this is when Harry sees Tonks all sulky and stuff, completely unaware of what’s actually going on.

Tonks was put on guard duty and she kinda hated it. It’s a lot of waiting for things to happen. And when all she read in the paper were Muggles and Wizards and Magical Creatures killing or being killed, she couldn’t help but worry for Remus’s wellbeing. She had no idea what was going on in his life, and that scared her. It also angered her knowing that the only reason he’s literally throwing himself to the wolves is so he could eventually die and she could live a life without him. She was understandably distracted, therefore did not perform as well in the Auror Department. Because of this, Kingsley gave her a small leave of absence (Maybe Kingsley and Moody thought Tonks being an Auror and going on missions for the Order was too much for her, idk). She spends that time with her family, not wanting to think about what’s happening to Remus.

No one has seen Remus in literal months at this point, but he showed up to an Order meeting right before the kids were to arrive for Christmas break. He most likely failed his mission or something, and having nowhere else to go, he resided at the Burrow. And OH MY GOD, Tonks thought Holy shit! He’s alive! It was a moment of not knowing what to expect. Did he miss her? Did he finally come to his senses and want her back? Did she even want to deal with this shit near the holidays? Just looking at him made her feel exhausted, and the feeling was definitely mutual.

LOTS of tension in the meeting, even Dumbledore felt it and dismissed them early. 11/10 they confronted each other again, and ended the same way: Remus almost letting himself be happy, but taking it away. There were many instances after that in which that happened, and frankly, Tonks was sick of it. And Fleur still wanting to marry Bill after he was attacked by Greyback was the tip of the iceberg for her, and Remus was forced to confront his own feelings for once in his life. But once he did let go, it was like a dam had broken and ALL of his feelings came out at once. It was a bit overwhelming for both of them, but Tonks was there to help him.

So yeah, there was no pining. There was just a lot of frustration, sexual tension, and time passing with no results. And it sucked for everyone involved (Yes, pretty much the whole Order had an opinion). But they made it! Tonks helped Remus mend in a way, and Remus took a while to accept that he loved her. It’s all so tragic and gross and amazing. And then they got married! But that’s a different story…

#remadora #remus lupin #nymphadora tonks #tonks #sirius black #order of the phoenix #werewolf #metamorphmagis #dumbledore #molly weasley #weasley #harry potter #hogwarts #lph hp #hp headcanon

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thelastspeecher · 7 years ago

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114, phoenix Stan.

114. “No more dogs. How hard is it to understand?”

Some background for folks: After Stan and Angie’s second egg is laid in the Phoenix Enchantment AU, Ford and Fiddleford revamp the attic, turning it into a proper aviary for the growing phoenix flock. Also, during Stan and Angie’s second mating season, they end up with two eggs; the second one was conceived after the first one was laid. A last hurrah from the infamous McGucket fertility.

Send me a number and characters and I’ll write a drabble!

Ford stared at the wreckedaviary. A stand had been knocked over,the nest was tilting dangerous, and Molly was perched in the rafters, herfeathers still puffed up in distress.

“Geez, Ford, are you gonna juststand there and do nothin’?” Stan grumbled, shoving past Ford in humanform. He fixed the nest, muttering underhis breath. “You got the eggs, Ang?”

“Yes.” Angie, also in human form, walked pastFord. She carefully placed the eggs inthe nest and kissed them both. In aflash of light, she was in phoenix form again, nestling herself on top of herunhatched children. Angie chirped atStan.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it,”Stan said, stroking Angie’s head. Helooked up at Molly. “Rooster, it’s allclear! Come snuggle your mama,okay?” There was a fluttering as Mollylanded in the nest with Angie. Angiecooed at her daughter in a reassuring manner. Stan turned his attention to Ford. “Stanford. We talked about thislast time. No more dogs. How hard is it to understand?”

“It wasn’t a dog this time,”Ford corrected. “It was awerewolf.” Stan rubbed his eyes.

“No wolves, either! Sixer, this should be common sense! That wolf went right after the nest when itgot up here. The eggs almost… your ownnieces or nephews could have been killed!” Angie let out a distressed squawk. “Yeah, it scared me, too, babe. Ford, it’s a good thing it’s a full moon. Otherwise, Angie and I couldn’t have turnedhuman and rescued ‘em.”

“If it wasn’t a full moon, therewouldn’t be a werewolf here in the first place,” Ford said.

“That’s not the point!” Stanshouted. He sighed. “Ford, I- I know that you sorta get how the eggs are yourrelatives, but- you don’t really understand. Maybe it has somethin’ to do with how long it took for you to find outwho we really were.” Stan looked back atthe nest. “But those eggs that Angie’stakin’ care of, they’re my kids. Thefirst one’s gonna hatch in a couple days, and Molly’s gonna get a youngersister or brother.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Fordsaid shortly. “Both the egg’s closehatch date and my relation to your children.”

“Yeah, but if Angie was pregnantand got hurt, you’d be a lot more upset than you are right now,” Stan finallysnapped. Ford stiffened. He abruptly turned around and walkeddownstairs. “Ford? Hey, we’re not done!” Stan said, followinghis twin. At the base of the stairs, hegrabbed Ford’s shoulder. “I mean it, Ineed to-”

“I know, Stanley!” Fordsnarled. Stan took a step back,unnerved. “I know that your childrenwere almost killed today because of me. All the tragedy that has befallen you and Angie, it all goes back tome.”

“Wha- hey, take it easy, man,”Stan said quietly. “I’m not blaming youfor everything. I mean, your shit isonly like, 1% of our problems. The restare from being chosen to be fuckin’ birds by some sorta weird enchantment.”

“And why did you come to GravityFalls in the first place, when you were transformed?”

“To visit you and Fidds.”

“Exactly. And I’m the reason Fiddleford and myselfmoved to Gravity Falls. Ergo, if itwasn’t for me, you and Angie wouldn’t go through mating season, and- and yourwife wouldn’t be stuck laying an egg every five years. You and Angie could be humans, living happilyin San Diego, with careers and welcoming children to the world in a drasticallydifferent way.”

“Ford.”

“I’m the cause of your new avianlifestyle.”

“Don’t do this. Don’t play the blame game like this,Stanford. Shit happens, y’know? It’s not your fault that Angie and I gotturned into magical birds. Sometimes youget dealt a bad hand.”

“I made things worse, though,”Ford whispered. Stan sighed. “The vet, the-”

“If we’re gonna talk about thevet, we have get drinks,” Stan said firmly. Ford didn’t respond. “Comeon.” Stan took Ford by the shoulders andguided him to the kitchen table. Fordtook a seat, his head in his hands. Stantook a seat as well. He waited patientlyfor Ford to speak.

“I should have known,” Ford saidfinally.

“Known what?”

“That it was you and Angie.”

“That was five years ago. Why the hell are you torn up about it now?”Stan asked.

“Tate’s been-” Ford stopped. He clasped his hands and took a breath. “He’s started insisting on seeing you, Angie, and Molly. And the eggs. Fiddleford and I can only do so much; Tate is going to start sneaking upthere soon, despite our instructions.”

“Start?” Stan said. He snorted. “He’s been sneakin’ up to see us for months.” Ford gaped.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Fordasked. He rubbed his forehead. “We’ll have to take disciplinary action,then. He’s normally so well-behaved.”

“Ford, he wants to see the coolbirds that live in the attic,” Stan said breezily. “It’s no big deal.”

“You might change your tune whenyou hear some of the things he’s been asking,” Ford muttered. Stan frowned. “He wants to trim talons and wings, he wants to teach tricks and- and hewants to name the next chick.”

“Oh. I get it.” Stan leaned back in his chair. “Tate’s decided we’re his pets, and it reminded you of how you treatedyour own damn twin like he was your pet bird.”

“I…” Stan raised an eyebrow at Ford. Ford sighed. “In a way, I suppose that couldbe accurate. I remember doing some ofthe things Tate wants to do. I shouldnot have done them.”

“No shit. But you apologized.”

“Not enough.”

“You pour a helluva lotta moneyinto maintaining the aviary, keeping my family fed and happy. You give us a roof over our heads. You and Fiddleford have more than made up for pullin’ that crap years ago.” Stan shrugged. “And if you still feel like it’s not enough,I mean, we kinda owe you, for sendin’ you to the hospital so many times.” Ford subconsciously rubbed the rough scar onhis left hand, a reminder of what phoenix beaks were capable of.

“Perhaps.”

“Honestly, Ford, don’t botherapologizing. It’s been so damn long, andAngie and I just wanna forget it happened.”

“I feel the same way,” Ford saidquietly.

“Good. Then drop it. You don’t owe us anything, okay? Just try to, y’know, not let wild animals into the attic any more. Who knows what Angie ‘ll do if it happensagain.”

“Fiddleford told me not to bringthe werewolf home.”

“Listen to him sometimes.”

“Should I listen to him when heinsists on keeping the truth from Tate?” Ford asked. Stan got up with a sigh.

“You know how Angie and I feelabout it. We think it’s pointless to lieto Tate. But he’s your kid, Sixer. You and Fidds have to figure it out on yourown. My daughter’s a bird most of thetime, anyways. I don’t know what to dowith human children.” There was a loudscreech from upstairs. “Geez, Angie’s stillpissed at you.”

“What did she say?”

“That you’re not allowed upthere for a couple days. Somethin’ aboutgiving you a matching scar on the other hand if you put her babies in dangeragain.” Stan shrugged. “Same old, same old.”

#this ended up so much longer than I planned whoops #it was difficult to start at first and then I couldn't stop asldkjfndf #I think it turned out halfway decent lol #Ford feeling guilty about how he treated the phoenixes years ago #Phoenix Enchantment AU #Stanley Pines #Stanford Pines #Angie McGucket #my writing #ficlet #writing meme #ask #agent-jaselin

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