#she accepts and loves ​her ridiculous american son

[oatlystrawberryicecream]

jason misses his sweet 16 but later on talia does get him his first car: a 1972 dodge demon 340 in the shade plum crazy. jason is torn between tears of joy and tears of laughter, the screamin’ demon!

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

I have a really weird hyperfixation on The Mummy, but not the Boris Karloff or the Brendan Fraser versions, those would be completely acceptable movies to enjoy (and I do so enjoy them)

but I cannot stop thinking about The Mummy 2017 starring Tom Cruise and it's a problem

I love bad movies, I love them so much, I own so many b-grade horror flicks, old classic films with terrible acting and awful special effects, I love absolutely shit tier cgi, I love Ed Wood disasters, I love cult classic bad movies, I love really weird niche bad movies

but this one is like, such a special kind of bad movie, I can't really put my finger on exactly why though?? but I am damn well going to try, in this essay I will-

they fucked up from the get go by casting Tom Cruise, like this movie is sometimes deliberately goofy, but a lot of the time it takes itself very seriously, SO seriously, and I cannot physically take Tom Cruise seriously, he turns every single scene he is in into a joke by virtue of his mere presence

but when they have actual jokes, they are so not funny they cycle back around to being really fucking funny

I am watching this movie fucking whiff every god damn beat it tries to hit and it does it so beautifully it's a god damn marvel

Russel Crowe as Jekyll and Hyde??? I actually somehow missed the part where he introduced himself as Jekyll on my first watch, so the Hyde reveal was a true surprise to me and I was very genuinely disappointed on my second watch when I realised it was not supposed to be a surprise, because that was a really fun reveal

and Russel Crowe seemed to be having an absolute fucking whale of a time as Hyde, I loved every moment he was on screen with his stupid cockney accent, I would watch his movie, I know it would be bad, that's why I want it, because there is nothing quite like a bad movie with an actor still giving 110%

and the mummy character herself? she was supposed to be pharaoh and then her dad had a son with someone else and now this baby is jumping all up in her place like, okay baby murder might not be the coolest thing in the world but like, she's got ambition, she's getting shit done, she's hustlin' like go get it girl I'm rooting for you babe

also when she sucked the life out of some dude and turned him into a shrivelled husk my roommate said 'she could do that to me and I'd thank her' so she's got that going for her, like girl's a half rotten corpse wrapped in decaying bandages and she still slays

and then we have the completely ridiculous female rivalry??? like this mummy could kill this woman SO MANY TIMES and just doesn't???? for reasons?????? like she could literally kill her in an instant at any moment but no they gotta girl fight for a bit because Tom Cruise is at stake and why wouldn't two hot women fight over Tom Cruise right?? right????

nevermind the fact that he has been practically nothing but ✨The WooOOOOooorst✨ to her the WHOLE first act of the movie, oh and uh let's not forget the 'duh huh guy bad at sex' jokes that they just could not put down for a good chunk there (but wait! uh he's good at sex actually she's just being mean because he hurt her feewings)

like, this movie hits every fucking branch of the bad trope tree, this movie is playing bad trope bingo, it is collecting bad tropes like pokemon, it has to have them all

also a really bizarre ongoing American Werewolf in London reference?? it was not unwelcome, it was some of the best comedy in the movie (that is an easy bar to jump btw), the actor had some great wry line delivery, I enjoyed it

I think the biggest issue, and the reason I can't stop chewing on this magnum opus of garbage, is that it reminds me of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in several different ways

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen also happens to be another of my favourite bad movies, but it falls into the particular genre of bad movies, a fucking cool as shit concept, and some really cool as shit visuals, and some very cool as shit characters, but an absolute swing and a miss on the delivery

The Mummy 2017 starring Tom Cruise has That Vibe to me, there is some cool shit here, we know this because the previous version utilised that cool shit very very well, but this one was the only one who made the villain a woman pursuing a man, and not just any man, the ✨worst✨ man, you did not feel very sorry for this guy, honestly watching him go through the constant torment of being stalked by a bodacious supernatural babe who put a sexy little curse kiss on him was fun, he's a sopping wet little meow meow and I wanna see him thrown at a wall, and I get to see that several times, and it is a delight every time

in the previous movie the mummy went after really likeable characters, people who were just generally nice, a roguish scamp with a heart of gold, or just really hot, seriously that cast was beyond smoking what the fu

I did not like Tom Cruise as a character, and to be fair that was the point, he was supposed to have a redemption arc, the story and his sacrifice at the end were supposed to be about him becoming a better person

but he fucking doesn't??? it's like 'oh boo hoo I have made this great sacrifice and now I am a monster and I did it to save my lady love's life even though we had zero chemistry and I was just ✨The Worst✨ to her' and then he fucks off to go and do the exact same shit he was doing at the start of the movie, fucking around in the desert looking for boy adventures

it was a great ending and I loved it because it was so dumb and also he abandoned the woman he brought back to life to go fuck around with his bro who he also brought back to life, I love that for them, go have some boy adventures you madlads you sure didn't earn it but don't let that stop you, just heterosexually ride off into the sunset together it's fine, she is literally better off without you in every way you made the Correct Decision

and then there's these moments, moments that are treated like big moments, and could be really cool moments, but just don't fucking land

there's a part where Tom Cruise starts talking to the mummy in her own language (they got a psychic bond and shit which is it's own cool little thing we'll get back to that) and everyone is watching like 😮 oooh didn't know he could do that wow there really IS magic bond between them oooh, and it's like a Big Deal and Very Cool

but Tom Cruise just sounds like he's speaking gibberish with a mouth full of novocain???? it doesn't sound cool at all??? it sounds really goofy???? I half expected him to start drooling on himself

then there is the ending, leading lady dies, he completes the ritual to invite the god of death into his body (a fucking baller move honestly), he fights it for control as the mummy attempts to sway the beast inside him to her side, but when he sees his beloved laying dead he fights her off, using his newfound powers to defeat her, and then weeps over his lady love begging for her to wake up

and then as he lets the god inside him loose, a terrible monstrous visage takes him over as he bloodcurdlingly screams in her face WAKE UP!!! and the power within him that he doesn't understand and can barely control listens

she wakes, and sees him hiding in the shadows, unable to face her now that he has become something terrifying

at least that's what I think they thought the scene would be like, it was a little more like, some crappy flashback and speed up effects as he becomes the god of death, a really pathetic and uneventful 1 minute of him fighting for control, after which he has a really pathetic and uneventful 1 minute of fighting the mummy, and then as he screams for his lady love to wake up, we get a shot of some absolutely fucking god awful cgi and the most uninspired monster face I've ever seen

I mean, half seen, it was a very dark shot, in fact most of the movie is shot in the dark, a very blatant attempt to obscure the shithouse cgi

except in one scene where it kinda fucking slapped, where the mummy sucks the life out of some guys, and then reanimates their husky corpses as thralls, the way they stand like jerky unstable puppets being dragged to their feet by unseen strings was actually pretty fuckin' dope and the dark scene obscured the details in just the right amount to make their uncannily decrepit silhouettes appear super creepy

this is the only time that trick works, every other time I just want someone to turn on a fucking torch so I can actually see what the hell's going on

okay now let's get back to that psychic bond thing

our main character was chosen not because he was a descendant, or a reincarnation, or just Looked Real Pretty (although I think she did have the hots for him a leeetle bit which is like, girl raise your standards, it's Tom Cruise, he's about as sexually appealing as a wet potato, you can do better), he had absolutely zero in common with the mummy's original choice for this ritual, in fact that guy was not significant to the story at all, I think he was just some dude who was down for some ritual shenanigans 'cause a hot lady asked him (also he was hotter than Tom Cruise so this is a significant downgrade, I feel like if she had the opportunity to shop around a little she might have picked better)

so Tom Cruise wasn't chosen for any reason other than that he's the one who released her, and she sees this as her way of saying thank you, and I love that, it's real sweet, would love if I opened a door for someone and they repaid me by summoning a god of death into my body, that really shows they care you know?

she gives him a little hallucinatory kissy kiss and then manages to follow him everywhere, while also compelling him to follow her without him really knowing it, there is a very cool part where he's trying to drive away from her, but somehow ends up driving in a circle and falling right back into her clutches, that was cool, that had the potential to even be super fucking creepy, she can manipulate him without him even realising, it doesn't matter where he goes or what he does, he will always somehow find his way back to her, that's so good, I love that

and then back to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comparisons

The Mummy 2017 starring Tom Cruise established a concept of an organisation who hunt down, collect, and research supernatural phenomena, with a leader (Jekyll) who also has ulterior motives and is actually not really the good guy, this movie was also supposed to be part of a monster movie cinematic universe, so this really could have become like, the Universal Monster Movie equivalent of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and I would have watched the hell out of that, and I am crushed that this movie bombed so bad and ruined the whole plan

like could you imagine a whole series as bad as this movie? all culminating together as the most god awful Avengers style team up? fuuuck I want to live in that universe so bad

I think my fascination comes from this ungodly mix of real pure potential, those fleeting super fucking cool moments and concepts that, if given to literally any other actor, could have really been something, and the just pure insane failure to make literally anything in this plot successfully land a hit

somehow this movie felt like the completely dead and soulless corpse of a cheap party clown, while the ghost of something incredible flickered in its eyes

[trust-and-jump]

FANON batfam things to (dis)like

To like:

Tim Drake taking photos at night - you know what I'm talking about.

Lazarus Pit's influence as some intrusive thoughts.

Jason Todd being literature nerd.

Not mentioning Cassandra Cain's second "adventure" with Lady Shiva, because I love Cass and I'm happy for all the stories it didn't happen.

Not destroying Clocktower.

White streak in Jason Todd's hair (I know, I know, it was in some comics too, but I consider it as fanon thing because— the ones who read comics would probably understand (I hope) what I mean).

Cassandra getting her name even without Barbara Gordon naming her.

Bruce accepting Tim Drake as a son almost immediately.

To dislike:

Bruce accepting Tim Drake as a son almost immediately.

Cassandra Cain having no personality outside of her weird body-reading thing/outside of her being Batfam therapist (which is— just WHY???? She's the worst option for this! I love her but she can't be perfect and she has SO. MANY. PROBLEMS. She deserves better than being that!) Guys she will beat all the criminals up if it means she doesn't have to talk about feelings and all that. Besides, knowing the person's intentions or guessing emotions doesn't mean knowing how to talk through it or how to handle these emotions or how relationships between people 'should' or 'should not' work.

Assuming that she understands everything people say before she learns how to speak.

Not mentioning her problems with reading&writing and thinking she would learn ASL immediately (and MAYBE she would, in some stories, IDK, but I saw only one fic that actually discussed why ASL would be as difficult for her as other languages)

Fucking... autopsy scar. it should not exist.

"Replacement". It's a good thing, actually, I just don't like it.

Shiny Dick. (KDJDISKSOXBXJSKOSSLSS I LAUGHED AFTER I WROTE IT I WON'T CHANGE IT)

Jason slitting Tim's throat at the Titans Tower. I know it would be kinda poetic after THE BATARANG ™ but - no. I remember Jason/Clayface thing with Hush and I accept this canon but all I see at the Titans Tower fight is beating. I'm not even sure Jason wrote the note in blood, because guys, have you ever tried to write big letters with BLOOD? I DID. It's so fcking inconvenient. and takes too much time! and oh my god, even if Jason DID write it in Tim's blood, why slitting his throat? do you have any idea how ridiculously difficult the whole thing is? I think people just kinda confuse Tim-Jason situation at the Titans Tower and Tim-Jason situation with Hush. Because. Slitting throat thing. And they often forget about that Jason/Clayface thing with Hush. I forget it too, sometimes.

Lazarus Pit Madness as a form of mind control or something that excuses everything Jason did. And turning him to a different character.

Impulsive Jason Todd who has no control at all. like with the white streak - I mark it as a Fanon thing despite it being in comics. not because previous reasons but because. because retcon. fuck off. I mean, as Robin he could be, sometimes. But all Robins were like that sometimes. And they all still were professionals. Well. Can vigilantes be professional????? I don't think so but who knows.

Shiny Dick [2]. I won't apologise. (wow I just found out that apologise and apologize are both correct, just British and American variants. Cool!!)

Duke Thomas having half-existence. - would it hurt to actually choose if Duke exists in your story or not? he's an amazing character and it's better not to write him at all if he's a ghost here, my guy.

Weird Tim who worships Jason while getting beat up by him. Did you see how Tim's all sassy while fighting? NOT a deer with big eyes at all. ROBIN. He's Robin!

Not acknowledging what Damian al Ghul or Damian Wayne has been through. I get it, you like Tim and Damian's acting hostile makes you hostile towards him but— seriously?

Woobifying any character while completely changing personality. Dick, Tim and Jason are suffering the most from it. Damian is there sometimes too.

"Jason doesn't try to kill Bruce anymore". He never tried to kill Bruce except this one time in Lost Days where he decided not to do it after all.

Not acknowledging Jason Todd being a hypocrite.

guys do you remember Jason's dead eyes in Lost Days. literally the last glimpse of life in him was when he found out that Joker was alive. It's sad.

___

okay there's a lot more than that but I just can't remember anything else right now. And I'm not going to touch all the fandom's opinions on Bruce Wayne as a parent because it's even more meaningless.

___

sorry for bad English.

[monasteryicons]

The saint who bumped into things An image of purity, courage, and prayer, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha was the first Native American woman to be canonized by the Catholic Church. Daughter of a Mohawk chief and an Algonquin Indian woman who had converted to Catholicism, she was born in in present-day New York in 1656. A smallpox epidemic in 1661-1663 left her an orphan, with a badly scarred face and impaired eyesight.

Because of her poor vision, Saint Kateri was named "Tekakwitha," which means "she who bumps into things.”

She was taken in by her uncle, who was bitterly opposed to Christianity. As a young girl, in accordance with Iroquois custom her foster family paired her with a young boy who they expected she would marry. However, Saint Kateri chose to dedicate her life to God.

When she was 18 she began instruction in the Catholic faith in secret, having come into contact with the Jesuit missionaries that frequented Mohawk villages after the French forces defeated the Mohawks. Her uncle finally relented and gave his consent for her to become a Christian, provided that she did not try to leave the Indian village. For joining the Catholic Church, the young girl was subjected to accusations of sorcery and promiscuity, and ridiculed and scorned by villagers who even threatened her life.

Taking the name Kateri (Catherine) at baptism, two years later she escaped to the Mission of St. Francis Xavier, a settlement of Christian Indians in Canada.

The village in Canada was called “the village of the praying Indians.” Here she was known for her gentleness, kindness, and good humor. On Christmas Day 1677 Saint Kateri made her First Holy Communion and on the Feast of the Annunciation in 1679 made a vow of perpetual virginity. She also offered herself to the Virgin Mary, asking Our Lady to accept her as a daughter.

Most of these early Indian converts were women, devoted to the Christian ideals of charity and asceticism. When they learned of nuns and convents, many wanted to form their own and created an an informal association of devout women. Saint Kateri taught prayers to children and worked with the elderly and sick. She would often go to Mass both at dawn and sunset and was known for her great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Cross of Christ. A Jesuit priest quoted Saint Kateri as saying: “For a long time my decision on what I will do has been made. I have consecrated myself entirely to Jesus, son of Mary. I have chosen Him for my husband and He alone will take me for wife.”

During the last years of her life, she endured great suffering from tuberculosis. She died on April 17, 1680, shortly before her 24th birthday, and was buried in Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada. Her final words were "Jesus — Mary — I love you."

The Jesuit priest Fr. Cholenec later wrote: “This face, so marked and swarthy, suddenly changed about a quarter of an hour after her death, and became in a moment so beautiful and so white that I observed it immediately.”

Before her death, Saint Kateri promised her friends that she would continue to love and pray for them in heaven. Both Native Americans and settlers immediately began praying for her heavenly intercession. Several people, including a priest who attended her during her last illness, reported that the saint had appeared to them and many healing miracles were attributed to her. She is venerated as the Protectress of Canada and the patron saint of Native Americans and ecology.

See her icon here:

[tikhanovlibrary]

Gilles, by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle

Pierre Drieu La Rochelle was a french author of more than a dozen novels and numerous essays and poetry collections. A relentless critic of the French Third Republic, he drifted in every political and artistic current of his time, going from surrealism to socialism to fascism, he refused to ever be tied down to any single movement or ideology. As a surrealist, he traveled in the same circles as Louis Aragon, Gaston Bergery, and André Breton, but eventually fell out with the group over a love dispute. As a Socialist, he briefly flirted with pacifism and was involved with early-pan Europeanist movements, that would later go on to influence the founding of the European Union, however he found the Socialism of Paris entirely too Bourgeoisie, and drifted towards more reactionary ideas, eventually publishing a synthesis of his political thought titled Socialisme fasciste. As a collaborator during the German occupation of France, he petitioned for the release of Jean-Paul Sartre (among other intellectuals) from prison, and helped Jean Paulhan escape capture by the Nazis. For La Rochelle, the turbulent politics of his time were subsumed by an aesthetic disgust with bourgeoisie life, and this theme is present in all of his works. At the end of the war, hiding at the house of his friend André Malraux, he committed suicide by swallowing poison.

Best known in the English speaking world for his book Le Feu Follet, which was adopted into an acclaimed French nouvelle-vague film, Pierre Drieu La Rochelle considered the semi-autobiographical Gilles to be his greatest work. The acclaimed literary critic Gaëtan Picon wrote that Gilles “is, without any doubt, one of the greatest novels of the century—and one of those books in which the disarming sincerity of a man rises to the grandeur usually reserved to literary transpositions.”

The novel begins during the First World War, where the hero Gilles returns from the front after being badly wounded, his regiment having been decimated. Penniless, he asks his friends, the wealthy Falkenberg brothers, for help, only to discover that both of them had died. Their sister, Myriam, falls in love with him and helps him financially; although he does not respond to her love, Gilles accepts her support. He even decides to marry her when her father's death makes her a wealthy heiress. The day after the wedding, he leaves her, joins the army again and has a love affair with a nurse, whom he in turn leaves.After the war, Gilles frequented social circles and profited from his ex-wife's money. More or less unwillingly, he is drawn into a plot against the President of the Republic, Morel, after making friends with Morel's son-in-law, Gilbert de Clérences, and meeting Caël, the leader and almost guru of a dandy political group. The ridicule of intellectuals, the grotesquerie of events, the cowardice and demagoguery of politicians—compounded by the departure of Dora, an American girl he loved—leads him to leave France and seek refuge in Algeria. There he meets a simple, wholesome young girl, Pauline, with whom he experiences a true love affair for the first time. Gilles returns to Paris, however. Still disgusted with society and politics, he starts a newspaper and, after 6 February 1934, decided to join the only ideology capable of radically changing society and regenerating France: Fascism. After the death of Pauline and the child she was expecting, Gilles chooses to be alone, and joins Franco's side in the Spanish Civil War.

Despite his immense standing in the French inter-war literary scene, and his close relations with many of the most prominent writers and intellectuals of his time, Pierre Drieu La Rochelle has, because of his politics, been largely ignored by the Anglo literary establishment. His masterpiece, Gilles, has gone untranslated for the last seventy years… until now. Tikhanov Library has released the first three chapters of Gilles on substack, and is releasing the novel in serialized. We are adding new chapters every week, for free, to the public. You can read the first chapter here:

Tikhanov Library is an independent publishing company founded in Lund, British Columbia. To read Gilles and many other books, both reprints and new releases, visit our website at www.tikhanovlibrary.com | Our catalogue includes books by Alexis de Tocqueville, Dimitri Alioshin, and F.T. Marinetti, among other authors. We are constantly updating our catalog with new books and deals.

[edensblogs]

The Comet

When all the living is dead, what is left? The fueled societal norms, structures, and hierarchies can no longer prosper without humanity extorting, exploiting, and powering their falsehoods. 

Jim Davis, a working-class African-American man, was not remarkable in society and was deemed an expandable accessory that could be forgotten. Forced to scavenge the depths of the vaults at the bank he worked at, he uncovered an old, rusted, forgotten chest harboring gold when suddenly a comet crashed onto the earth, dissipating all humankind. The author compares Jim to the gold, a man so beautiful, kind, pure, and worthy of acceptance but struck behind the iron barriers of societal racism. Jim, like the gold, was overlooked and invisible, hidden away. To reach the value of both, the barriers must collapse! 

Following the comets' descent to earth, the city of New York is bare, struck with corpses and death plaguing the City. What was once a bountiful place of happiness was forgotten. Jim describes the dead without sympathy or remorse and in a gruesome fashion. All the dead (spanning from babies to adults) are simply dead; they are not racially, culturally, or ethnically grouped—just the corpses of once-living souls. The author attempts to show that societal bias, stereotypes, and grouping are meaningless. Humans are humans. We are born, live, and then die. Why must we wait until the end to realize that we are one? 

To further emphasize this idea, the author leaves two only people in the world: an African American man and a white woman. When they encounter each other, they are free of preconceptions or prejudices that clog their minds and truths, causing deception and injustice. Jim states that although yesterday, “she would scarcely have looked at him twice. He would have been dirt beneath her silken feet.” Today, as the only person left in the world with her, he was considered “quite commonplace and usual.” Their differences were no longer an obstacle; she found comfort in knowing someone was there. 

Moreover, the author reimagined Adam and Eve through Jim and Juila. They are naked, bare, and alone; their fear begins to disengage, and they begin to accept each other. Romance disguised the “hastly glare of reality”. The two beings cried together, symbolizing purity, relief, and release. They were vulnerable and free of societal constructs that prevented them from being equal. She was a woman, and he was a man, and their love did not hinge on prejudice, biases, stereotypes, discrimination, or injustice that could change their roles on this earth. Rather than an alien, he now “seemed very human,—very near now.” Julia “saw him glorified. He was no longer a thing apart, a creature below, a strange outcast of another clime and blood, but her Brother Humanity incarnate, Son of God and great All-Father of the race to be.” 

However, this pivotal step towards harmony and equality was destroyed. Her revelation ridiculing how “foolish our human distinctions seem[ed]” were forgotten. All progression is obliterated as the white men surge onto that roof. Julia jumped into her father's arms, leaving behind her savior and returning to a world where all individuals did not have the same destiny—a world that shunned g-ds true intentions. The modern world disregarded what lifeforms arrived on this bare earth to do. When humanity was created, discrimination was absent- as it is simply a man-made ideology to generate power and wealth. It is clear that when the world was dead, Julia could push past all social structures and racism; however, when a shed of “yesterday” crawled back into “today,” all progression backfired.

I observed that in times of desperation, we are more open and willing to accept; however, with privilege and more opportunity, we become more selfish and close-minded. Julia was a privileged white woman who had never experienced difficulty or a need to change her mindset. However, once the comet has obliterated humankind, she is forced to alter her thinking and learn to see “how foolish our human distinctions seem—now.” Jim is no longer invisible to Julia, and race is irrelevant. Yet once she reunites with her father, she returns to a community that cannot accept difference. The white men begin to question Jim and his actions with Julia and refer to him as an alien, stating, “I've always liked your people.” This sudden shift explores how fragile society is. It was like one step forward and three steps back. We must continue to push reforms and fight back. 

Additionally, I noticed that In society, when one is constantly seen as second-class, unworthy, or undervalued, the indicual manifests this idea and slowly believes it, wiping his power and aspirations. They are lifeless. The world has mislabeled them, and rather than fighting away the words in gnaws into them until they cannot rid themselves of this toxic label written by idealistic and uneducated individuals. In other words, how can one succeed when society is not supportive and actively hoping for their defeat? When Jim was finally acknowledged, seen, and valued as a person, not just by the color of his skin, “he arose within the shadows, tall, straight, and stern, with power in his eyes and ghostly scepters hovering to his grasp. It was as though some mighty Pharaoh lived again, or curled Assyrian lord”. The racial oppression fueled by yesterday's society no longer haunted him today. His voice, power, and soul were relinquished. Jim was liberated and felt a part of society! 

[wyrmfedgrave]

Pics:

1 thru 4. Foreign adaptations of HPL's works.

5. Lovecraft's timeline & his greatest literary creations.

6. The Titan smackdown that America didn't know it needed!!

1914: Part 3 - "Science vs Charlatanry."

Intro: A certain astrologer (Hartmann) complained of unfair treatment by scientists, believing that astronomers didn't understand astrology & then, he accused the scientific community of being "conceited."

HPL's response was so perfect, that it could be used today - to shut up all of the Intelligent Design charlatans.

Quotes:

1. "(It's impossible) for me to (truly) comprehend how anyone of educated judgement can... give credence to... a false & ridiculous system (that was) completely (exposed) 200 years ago."

2. "It (shouldn't) be necessary to show the... absurdity... of our daily affairs (being) governed by the... motions of distant bodies... on whose arrange- ment... astrology (is) based (upon)."

3. "Astronomers & others (with) sense shouldn't... waste their time... proving (astrology) false, when there's no reason to believe any part of it."

4. "Like the... Hydra¹, (if you) chop off 1 (head), 2 more grow in its place..."

5. "I... consider astrology (to be) a dangerous (&) silly subject."

Inspiration: Lovecraft's perception, of American socio-political realities, would be further inspired by Hugh S.R. Elliot's² book "Modern Science & Materialism" (1919).

Elliot thought the universe was like a vast machine that operated under the laws of physics & chemistry.

Howard believed that, just because we don't understand something - that doesn't make that thing supernatural.

That unknown thing is just operating under processes we don't yet under- stand.

Furthermore, HPL's whole attitude was firmly rooted in the 18th century.

This was when science was mostly accomplished by rich academics.

But, it was the misapplication of science - thru technology - that Love- craft feared would lead to a "new dark age."

And, it was these feelings about science, that leaked out thru his cosmic horror writings...

Notes:

1. The Hydra (water snake) was a mythic beast that Hercules³ killed - with some help from his nephew!

This creature was described as a serpentine monster that lived in the lake of Lerna, Greece.

It had 7 or 9 heads (1 of which was immortal), poisonous breath & deadly blood!!

Hercules cut off the Hydra's heads, while Iolaus (poison arrow people!), Hercules's nephew, burned the necks to keep them from regenerating!

As the 2nd of his 12 labors, Hercules had to crush a giant swamp crab & used a golden sword (given to him by Athena⁴) to cut off the immortal head.

Hercules then hid that head - still alive!! - under a large rock by a local holy road...

2. Hugh Elliot was a popular writer on scientific & philosophical subjects.

Elliot was educated at Eton & at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Hugh served in the Coldstream Guards during the African War of 1899.

Elliot also wrote "Human Character" in 1922, "Principle of Relativity" in 1920 & "Illusions of Prof. Bergson" in 1912.

3. Hercules was a Roman hero named after the Greek Herakles (glory of Hera).

Yet, Herakles was originally named Alcides (strength's son).

He was later named Herakles to try & placate Hera's⁵ wrath.

4. Athena (mind? intelligence?) was the patron goddess of the city-state of Athens (of Athena).

She burst, full-grown & clad in armor, from Zeus's⁶ head!!

This happened because Zeus had swallowed 1 of his pregnant consorts, Metis, to hide her from Hera!!

Athena was the goddess of strategy, war, wisdom & handicrafts.

And, she helped many Greek heroes to accomplish their quests & deeds.

5. Hera (mistress? beloved?) was the Greek goddess of marriage & family.

She was also the protector of women during childbirth.

Hera was, rightfully, angry of all the women that her divine husband, Zeus slept around with!

After Herakles's death, Hera finally accepted the greatest of Greek heroes to the Olympian pantheon.

6. Zeus (sky, shiny) was King of the Greek gods & the cheating husband of Hera!

Among those women with which Zeus slept was Alcmena (strong wrath), mother of the hero Herakles.

The pregnant Alcmena was punished by Hera - being turned into a cow & suffering constant mosquito stings!

Next: Essay.

[unreachablevoice]

Wear Your Heart On Your Wrist And Together, We’ll Soar To The Sky

Here's chapter four! I honestly feel weird that this chapter has no line breaks and it makes it look short (in my opinion) ://

Anywho, hope you enjoy!

Warning: Swearing and cuss words may be present. Please read with caution, thank you!

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Chapter Four – It’s That One Percent, That One Percent That He’ll Turn Into A Chicken

Placing a hand on her stomach, dreading the ache that came along with eating that much American food, and swirling her tongue inside her mouth as she can still taste a hint of their dinner, Marinette was ready to lie down on her bed and take a nice, long nap (preferably forever) and just throw away anything and everything outside the window (well, who knows if she’ll actually take that nap; she and sleeping never really got along that well).

Shaking her head at the thought, she almost laughs at how ridiculous the idea is. Marinette and sleeping? In the same sentence? Seriously, by Chloé’s words, it is Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous!

She was just about to open the door to her room when she feels a small tap at the tip of her shoulders. Twirling around to face whoever it was that decided to give her that minimal physical contact because if you’re going to do it, then you better do it right and give her a whole damn hug because if you think a measly tap is all she’s going to accept as your payment to her love, you’ve got another thing coming.

She pouts and opens her mouth, ready to (playfully) berate the person for only giving her a tap and not a back hug, only for the words to die down on her lips as an Italian brunette comes into her view, sporting a frown as though Marinette was the one who tapped her on her shoulder, not the other way around.

Stopping the snarl that’s slowly forcing its way on her face, she folds her arms against her chest and tilts her head to the side with a raise of an eyebrow. “Can I help you?”

The brunette scowls harder and Marinette almost wanted to roll her eyes at her, almost. “Get away from Adrien,” she orders.

What? She stopped her from going into her room to rest just because of that? Didn’t they already establish that that’s not going to happen?

“Didn’t we go over this already? He’s my friend and he’s not yours, so why are you still bothering me?” The ravenette’s frown deepens impossibly so. Really, what is this girl’s problem? First, she takes away her friends (which, now that she thinks about it, doesn’t seem pretty friendly at all considering they just up and left her for some girl with pretty words) and now, she blames her when the guy she likes hates her? That’s not her fault! If anything, she should double-check if she’s even likable in the first place!

Sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose, she shakes her head and mutters a prayer under her breath to The Creator Himself for patience because if she asked for any more strength, everyone would be dead.

“You–You must’ve done something to get him to rebel against his father! I knew you were a bad influence!” the brunette shrieks like a little, hypocritical witch and turns her head to the side like some snotty, little brat. Is she for real?! Can she even hear herself?! It was Gabriel who finally listened to his son and agreed to Adrien’s wishes; he did not rebel!

Marinette tightens her fist and feels her hands shake with pure rage. This girl is unbelievable! “Why are you so hung up on me?! Don’t tell me you actually have a crush on me, that’s why you keep on bothering me?!” she all but shouts because she’s not going to yell and disturb the possibly sleeping people in their vicinity. That’s just plain rude.

She watches with mild shock and confusion as Lila’s face burn bright red. Is she blushing because of embarrassment or is her face red because she’s just mad?

“You—!” She points an accusatory finger and before she could even say a word edgewise, Alix swoops in between them and grabs her hand.

“She what?” The pink-haired girl glares and looks up? down? is that even correct when she’s smaller? at the green-eyed Italian as the rest of her friends flank her side and throw their own glares at the brunette.

Lila flails and shakes her hand off of the smaller girl’s grip and, in doing so, she stumbles a wee bit away from them. Alix’s grip must’ve been too hard for her to handle, so she pitied her and let go.

She harrumphs and glares at Marinette again. “This is not over,” she declares like she’s on some warpath (which is pretty accurate) as she stomps off to where her room must be, leaving behind a fury of negativity.

“Wow, that girl is really bad news.” Kim shakes his head from where he stood beside her and swings an arm around her shoulders. “You okay Nette?” He looks at her with a frown and worry evident on his looks.

Marinette observes the jock’s face and nods her head once. “Yeah, she was just being annoying again.” She looks back at the direction the girl ran off to and tilts her head to the side. “Looks like she still doesn’t believe that Gabriel can be a decent human being for once. I mean, I know it’s pretty unbelievable—”

“Oh, it’s unbelievable, all right,” Chloé butts in with a scoff and Marinette shakes her head with both exasperation and fondness.

“As I was saying, maybe the guy’s finally trying to not be a pathetic excuse of a father for once? Give him a chance,” she preaches (“Like a Living Saint, as usual,” “Shhh, she doesn’t know that Chloé! Don’t let her find out!” “I’m right here!”). Her mood lightens a little at the thought of Gabriel Agreste finally turning over a new leaf and stops doing things that alarm Child Protection Services. Although it is very unlikely and they only have a no higher than a two-digit number percent chance, it’s still worth the shot. If all else fails, she could always ask her parents to adopt Adrien anyway. Kwami knows they have adoption papers filled with all her friends’ names ready in their drawers just in case something happens to their parents. Not that they wish for something to, though.

“I agree with Chloé. There’s a seventy-three percent chance that he will not, in fact, change, a fifteen percent that he’ll just grow worse, and an eleven percent chance that he might be planning for some abomination,” Max throws his two cents in and pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Gosh, she could actually see the thoughts forming inside Adrien’s head of how the bespectacled boy looks like a boy genius from one particular anime and she is not liking it.

“What about the other one percent?” Alix asks with her face scrunched up in confusion but is showing signs of a smile forming, if the small tug at the corner of her lips is any indication.

“It’s the chance of him turning into a chicken one day,” the boy finishes like some scientist who was reporting about his analysis (and he even had the audacity to look proud!), causing them all to break into giggles as the Eurasian girl shakes her head fondly at her friends’ antics.

She faces her wayward Team and claps her hands to get their attention like she’s talking to children. “Go back to your rooms. We have two days of free time before our actual Trip happens so it’s best to use it to shake off any stress or jet lag we might have.” She waves her hand to shoo them away like animals and laughs as most of them grumbles about not wanting to leave her alone and it’s still so early, why do they have to sleep already?

Smiling brightly as she watches their retreating figures, she waves her hand until they’re all out of her sight. All but one.

Green eyes and soft, blond hair greet her and she tilts her head to the side in wonder. “Something wrong, Adrien?”

“I was just wondering what happened when we were getting on the bus before dinner?” He rocks his feet forward and backward as he clasps his hands behind his back. “You looked… distracted? Like you just saw something that could answer all the world’s questions and-and it was calling you. But then, I pulled you away and you—you looked so broken.” He looks at her earnestly, eyebrows pinched with worry. “What happened? What’s wrong? Was it like your Guardian Sense or something?”

Marinette bites her lip and looks down at her feet like it’s the most interesting topic in the world. Should she tell him? The only ones who knew are the Kwamis and her parents; she never disclosed her Heart to someone else before. Not since that weird dying but not actually dying incident.

She tugs at the sleeves covering her wrist and grips at the cloth. She doesn’t want him to worry. He already carried enough when she told him about the sensing when something world/life-changing/threatening is going to happen thing—or as her friends now like to call, her Guardian Sense—she doesn’t want to put more on his plate.

With Master Fu passing her his Guardianship (she didn’t even know that he was The Great Guardian!), Marinette decided to rebuild the Order through her friends—because they did reveal themselves to each other and she trusts them more than she trusts herself—teaching them what Master Fu had taught her when he still had his memories intact and showing them the basics. It was hard, not only to her but to everyone. It was hard because they were only kids when all of this started. And what’s more, is that they didn’t even have anyone to guide them on their first day. They were pushed into a world far too big for their little minds and bodies, forcing them to grow up faster than how a kid their age was supposed to.

She bites the inside of her cheek and tightens her fists, images of her friends’ tired faces and fatigued selves plaguing her mind. It was bad enough that she and Adrien were pushed into this, she just had to go and drag their other friends with them.

Her self-deprecating thoughts are immediately cut off as she feels a comforting warmth on her shoulders.

Looking up, she meets eye-to-eye with emerald green orbs laced with worry. “Marinette?” Adrien softly speaks as he searches for something in her eyes; searches for what, though, she doesn’t know.

Ah, should she just tell him? Just finally let it all out?

“…It’s nothing.”

In the end, she decides not to and just smiles softly at the taller teen. Because as much as she says that she’s finally accepted what happened to her Soulmate, she still worries about them. Still gets nightmares about being hurt and feeling that emptiness again; still doesn’t believe that what happened to her Soulmate was just a hoax and that “maybe they were only in a coma” as the doctors said.

She shakes her head and chuckles lowly. “As you said, I just got distracted. The gargoyles just looked so funny.”

But Adrien wasn’t buying it. “You sure?” he asks with a small frown marring his face and the Eurasian could only nod enthusiastically to not worry the male. His grip on her shoulders tightens just a smidge and she could only bite back a grimace as she nods her head while guilt gnaws on her stomach.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Adrien’s frown slowly changes into a placating smile, a small move that immediately eased Marinette. “You know you can tell me anything, right?” he says as his hold moves from her shoulders to her hands. “If it’s something you can’t tell our friends or your family, you can always tell me.” The ravenette feels a slight tremble in the blond’s hands and she could only squeeze it as a means of comfort while a hint of desperation seeps into his voice. “We’re in this together, remember? It’s us against the world?”

Something inside Marinette’s chest squeezes painfully and she looks down at her feet again. “I’ll tell you”—her voice so quiet that she was so thankful that they were alone and close enough to hear each other. She breathes in a shaky breath and braves herself to look back at the taller teen—“I promise I’ll tell you when I, myself, finally have all the answers.” The corner of her lips slowly tugging into a smile as she reassures the boy. “I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”

A soft smile slowly splits his face and, as though a large weight had finally been lifted off his shoulders, Adrien sighs and lets go of her hands.

“Okay.”

Waving away the blond, Marinette groans as she remembers that she is really really not looking forward to her talk with Juleka. Seriously, they just landed in Gotham a few hours ago, why are everyone so hellbent in making today “Make Marinette Miserable Day”? In her most honest and humblest opinion, it is very not amusing.

Holding her breath, she places a hand on the doorknob. She hopes—heck, she’s even praying to the Kwamis that are very much just sitting inside her purse—that Juleka is not yet there and might be in Rose’s room.

With a small push, the door opens and a breath of relief travels its way out her lungs, only to go right back in as she sees a familiar goth siting by their beds; waiting patiently for her.

Well, so much for praying and being hopeful.

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Maribat Master List

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Oof okay I know this chapter might seem like a filler but make no mistake, everything I write has a purpose. No matter how small a detail is, they could be helpful to deduce future plots :)

Anyways hope you lovely people are doing well and if not then just tell me and I'll aggressively hug and care for you while we watch movies that I had no clue existed but since you like them so much then I'm willing to watch them with you (virtually that is) :D

Also, since y'all seemed to diss Adrien on the last chapter (mostly on AO3 tho), I gave him a redemption arc here lmao

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[kerie-prince]

We're Worlds Apart (8)

Draco Malfoy x American No-Maj!reader

series m.list | general m.list | previous chp

warnings: mentions of smoking, mentions of death

summary: Draco Malfoy is a pureblood wizard. Magic runs through his veins and has been since his birth. You're a Wiccan No-Maj; a non-magical being with ordinary blood through your veins, but practices what you call magick. And this very practice upsets your neighbor.

a/n: god, i had MAJOR writers block for this chapter. i almost got lost in the direction i wanted this series to go and i'm still figuring out a way on how to not let this drag out too long. i'm debating on adding this to wattpad but i don't know how to make aesthetically pleasing cover art so if anyone could teach a bitch how, lmk ✋🏼😩

(gif cred)

Blaise has been acting differently than usual. Not that you had too many complaints considering that you hardly knew him. Better words would be that from the short time you knew him, he started acting different. What was once two nights a week turned into him staying with you almost everyday.

It was kind of annoying, actually. He was here to see Draco, not some random person he just met.

One morning, he got up early and tried to make breakfast, but he had no idea how to work any of the muggle items so rather than your alarm on your bed stand you woke up to the smoke alarm.

You woke up feeling groggy but had a pleasant soreness on your inner thighs. Before you even brushed your hair or teeth, you rushed as much as you could to see what was going on in your house. When you stepped into your kitchen, your toaster was on fire and there was smoke everywhere. Blaise was just standing by it scratching his head. It woke you right up; you ran to your small laundry room and snatched the fire hydrant.

After you put the fire out, you turned to Blaise, “What the hell happened?”

“I guess now would be a bad time to ask you to make breakfast?” He didn't really show that he was sorry. Maybe on the inside he was, but would it kill him to show it? You rubbed the temple of your nose bridge to smooth out the growing headache. Now you have to buy a new toaster and make food for this man.

The bell rang through your house in the early morning. You set the fire hydrant on the counter and walked to the front door to see who it was that was outside. Probably, no, hopefully Theo coming to pick his best friend up to take him out to go anywhere else that wasn't your house.

Fate was decidedly not on your side today. The person that stood on your porch was none other than your mother. “Ma? What are you doing here?”

“Don’t be rude, baby,” she let herself in just like she used to walk into your room when you were younger living in her house. She looked around and had a scrunched up look. “Y/N, what is burning?”

Just when the situation couldn't get any worse, Blaise walked out to the living room also assuming Theo was here to see him. It donned on you now that Blaise was shirtless and his pajama silk bottoms were sitting dangerously low on his hips. You were glad that he was wearing underwear or else your mother would see more than she needed to.

Blaise stood shockingly still and wasn't sure what to do, so he just did the first thing that came to mind. “Hello, I'm Blaise. Nice to meet you,” he held his hand out for your mother to shake.

She stood with a look of horror on her face and kept her hands to her side. As if it was natural, she gave you a disapproving look before looking back at the man in your house. Blaise retracted his hand and looked at you, “I'll just be at Draco’s then.”

You nodded and stayed with your mother as he put on his shirt in your room and left. “Y/N… what are you doing?”

“I could ask you the same thing. Isn't it a long ride from Boston?” you sassed.

“Don't give me that. I wanted to come see you and… and I wanted to say that I’m sorry.” You could tell that it was really hard for her to say the last bit. “I shouldn't have acted the way I acted on Thanksgiving.”

“What happened, ma?” you asked with your arms crossed, “I know it's not because of Stephanie also practicing Wicca. And if it is, then I really don't understand.”

“I just… why are you still doing this? All of this? I get that you wanted to be closer to your grandmother so I let you do whatever you wanted–”

“You let me? You make it sound like this is some hobby!” you yelled.

“IT IS A HOBBY,” she animated with her arms, “Y/N, you are 26 years old. When are you going to move on?”

“This is ridiculous, I need you to leave,” you began to escort your mother out of your house. “No, I’m staying. This was my house–”

“No, it was Grandma’s house and now it’s mine. Goodbye, mother,” you closed the door in her face and turned against it to lean on your back. Your face was in your hands and you wanted to scream.

You checked the time on your oven and saw you still had 45 extra minutes to do whatever you wanted before you had to get ready to open the store. Since Blaise has been over everyday and you haven't opened up to him about your practice, you wanted to spend extra time to soothe all the negative and stressful energy that was building up inside you.

The closet hadn't been opened in a few days and once you were facing all your herbs, crystals, and oils, you immediately felt better.

“It's been a while, girls,” you spoke to yourself. You grabbed some oils, a sage and crystals to get ready. And you had lots of work to do.

—

“Alright, you are good to go,” Draco released a child with their parents. Work has since died down since the huge fiasco earlier in the month. There was still the question as to who and why it all happened, but he decidedly let it go for now.

Recently, he's been getting closer with you with small chats every now and then since the day in Manhattan. Draco deemed you as now ‘okay’ in his book. Your chats were simple but not bad.

One thing that for sure was odd was Blaise suddenly staying there every night. He never got an explanation, nor has he ever asked him. Blaise was acting kind of strange, but Draco liked to think it was due to being homesick.

Thirteen hours had passed and Draco’s day would finally come to an end. Ian and Ashley asked him if he'd like to join them on a drink, but he declined. Theo called him and let him know that Blaise was home, so he was going to drink with the two of them. He had yet to introduce his work friends with his best friends and was planning to before they went back to London.

As he pulled up home, he saw you sitting alone on your porch. You had a stoic look on your face and had a cigarette in between your fingers. Draco didn't think you smoked at all. He has never seen you do it once in the months living next to you.

He figured he’d just be a good neighbor and say hello. He walked over and knocked on the wooden porch to gain your attention. You were pulled out of whatever thought you were in the middle of and looked at him. “Oh, hi,” you greeted without your usual enthusiasm.

Draco went through his coat pockets for his own pack and pulled one out. He then realized that he didn't have one of those muggle lighters and tried to figure out how to light his smoke without magic like he usually did.

To you, it seemed that he just forgot a lighter so you pulled out yours and gestured for Draco to come closer. He leaned in and accepted it, “I didn't know you smoked.”

You chuckled to yourself, “Yeah, I uh, quit a year ago.”

Draco raised an eyebrow, “You don't look like you quit.” He took a couple puffs of his cigarette and looked out on the street. You took a particularly long puff and slowly let the smoke out of your lips, “Well, when you have a mom like mine, you start up old habits again.”

“You’ve never met my father,” Draco commented under his breath, “She seemed nice when I met her.”

“She's nice to everyone but her own daughter,” you rolled your eyes. You let your cigarette out and almost started another one, but something stopped you. You leaned back into your chair and closed your eyes.

“Have you two always fought?” Draco asked. You kept at your position but opened your eyes. You gave it some thought before eventually nodding ‘yes’. “What about your father?”

The question seemed to have affected you; your eyes started getting glossy and your bottom lip quivered. Draco noticed. Should I not have asked that?

“He passed away when I was 12,” you sounded like your breath was cut short. Your hands reached up to cover your eyes and wipe away any tears before they could fall down.

As much as Draco and Lucius never saw eye to eye, he couldn't really imagine losing his father. Sure, Lucius was harsh on his son and always compared him to Potter, but Draco still cared about him. And he knew that Lucius loved him in his own way. Maybe you weren't all that different.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Draco consoled. You stood up to go inside. The weather was cold and your cashmere sweater wasn't doing you any good. “Thank you.” Draco let his cigarette out and told you ‘Good night’ before leaving.

Stepping down, he looked back and called for you, “Y/N.” You hadn't closed the door yet, so you looked back with your door held by your hand, waiting for whatever Draco had to say. “If you ever need to talk… I'm right next door.”

It surprised you to say the least. But it unexpectedly made you warm on the inside. “Thank you, Dray.” He nodded and waved before going home.

Inside, Theo sat on one of the chairs in the kitchen eating leftovers from the night before and Blaise was going through the Daily Prophet. “How was work?” the latter friend asked.

“Alright. Good to see you here for once,” Draco greeted. Blaise laughed without taking his eyes off the paper, “Can't a man be with his girlfriend before he leaves?”

“Ha, is that what you two are?” Theo teased from across the room with his mouth stuffed, “Look at Blaise; he finally settled down. Hell has officially frozen over.”

Blaise listed one hand to flip off Theo. Draco, however, felt a churn in his stomach. It was weird to hear Blaise call you his girlfriend. No one has gotten Blaise to call them that, but somehow you did it.

He wasn't really sure Blaise even knew what it meant to have a girlfriend, or even how to be a boyfriend. He never asked what they did knowing that he'd get endless teasing.

Draco grumbled to himself and went to his room. He changed into comfortable clothes and right when he was about to join Theo in the kitchen, he looked at his window for a moment. He peeked through his window and saw you through yours.

You sat on your bed with your legs up to your chest and your arms wrapped them close. Your face had no expression on it, but considering the conversation less than an hour ago, one could assume that you were sad.

“You fancy her, don't you?” Blaise surprised Draco, making the blond jump. “Merlin, Blaise, don't do that.”

“Well?” Blaise stood against the open door with arms and legs crossed. Draco rolled his eyes and walked towards the door, but Blaise didn't budge from his position. “I don't fancy anybody, now move.”

“I don't care if you do. But I do care when you lie to me. And yourself,” Blaise’s tone was threatening.

“Shouldn't you fancy her? She's your girlfriend,” Draco matched his tone. “Besides, if she was, shouldn't you be pissed if I did?”

“I do fancy her, but I'm not the one living next to her. Eventually, I'm leaving,” Blaise reminded his best friend. “So do us the favor and figure out whatever it is you want, or I'll find a reason to stay.” With that, Blaise left to his shared room and slammed the door.

What in Salazar is his deal? Draco thought. He walked up to his fridge and rummaged through all the containers of leftover food. I really need to learn how to cook.

Theo was still eating when he started talking, “Blaise has been pissy all day. What you reckon is his deal?”

“‘M gonna guess there's trouble in paradise and she's sick of him,” Draco jokes. His eyes land on the Chinese food from a couple nights ago and warms it up with his wand.

“Hm, as if,” Theo commented. He cleaned his mess up when he finished and turned to Draco. “Night, mate. Fingers crossed he doesn't yell at me and I have to sleep on the couch.”

“Night,” Draco replied and sat down on one of the high chairs. He thought a lot about you telling him about your father. He sat and wondered if you told Blaise. Maybe you even opened up to him about your… craft? Draco didn't know what to call it yet.

But he figured that if you did, Draco would be the first person Blaise would tell. And seeing as even Theo, the biggest mouth between the three, hasn't said anything, then that meant that you probably hadn't told Blaise.

And for a quick second, passing just as quickly as it came, he wondered if you would tell him first.

—

It was currently December 18th. Your dad's birthday. Usually you'd ride with your mother to his stone in Boston, but seeing as your latest argument was bothering you, staring at photos of him was going to be enough today.

You hardly remembered much about him since you were young, but you remember the good moments and some of the bad. The bad being the last of his days. His cancer was strong as it was caught too late by doctors.

The store was closed today per usual. You never had it opened on his birthday. Blaise was also at Draco's house. You'd ask him to have the day to yourself and when he asked why, you didn't explain.

Your door bell rang and you groaned, hoping it wasn't your mother again.

"Hey," your brother greeted you. "Y/B/N, hey. Come in, you're probably freezing." Inside, he took his jacket off and hung it on your coat rack. He sat on the couch and your cat ran to sit on his lap. "Sometimes, I think she likes you more than me," you chuckled as your brother gave her head strokes and she purred loudly.

"How come you're by yourself? We missed you today," your brother asked. You sat beside him and closed the photo book. "I didn't feel like fighting with mom again today."

"Y/N/N, I know she's hard to handle, but she needed you today," he reached out for your hand and squeezed it. "I needed you, too."

"Well, she has a funny way of showing it," you stared into nothing. You rested your head on his shoulder and wrapped your throw blanket over your shoulders. "Sometimes, I almost forget what he's like. His laugh, how he made Ma smile. How he smelled," you started.

Your brother was 8 when your dad died, so his memory was limited. But he still remembers how much he loved him. You both sat in silence, hands locked and the only sound being your cats purring.

"Mom told me you have a boyfriend. That true?" he asked.

"I don't know. Maybe? He hasn't said anything, and he leaves after New Years, so maybe not," you half-explained. What was Blaise to you? Did he feel anything when you were together? Was it just physical? You didn't know, and you never asked.

"Well, if he breaks your heart, I don't care where he lives. I'm beating his ass," your brother commented. You hit his shoulder and he laughed. "How's Steph? I haven't been able to call her," you asked.

"Oh. Um, we're taking a break." Your brother sounded sad. You sat up and looked at your baby brother. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I think Mom just spooked her. But I'll get her back," he sounded only partly sure of himself. You nodded and rested back on his shoulder. He stayed for a few hours; watched a movie and had dinner before he left back for Boston to see your mom once more.

When he left, you sat in your room and lit up some incense to calm your nerves. Out your window, Draco's curtains were closed as usual. Something inside you wanted to talk to someone that wasn't your brother, Blaise, or even Miranda and Bianca.

It wasn't that Draco wasn't the best of friends, but you had an indescribable pull towards him, and you wondered if it was the same for him.

—

next chp

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[iamtheblondestblonde]

The Clark Kent Effect

Part Two

AN: Here’s part two!! Since the cat is out of the bag now, please go listen to my ex’s best friend by MGK, which was my first inspiration for this story and is the song I always have in mind when working on it. I loved hearing everyone’s opinion on the first part so please keep it up, it really motivates me a lot to see that people actually appreciate my writing. I hope this is living up to everyone’s expectations.. I’m sure everyone has already figured out that there will be angst in this one. 

Word Count: 3.6k

Warnings: none (a first for me)

Part One

My other writing can be found here

When Tito had made you promise to stay in touch you’d thought nothing of it. It was something lots of people said every day without having any real intentions of ever keeping their promise. A trait especially prominent among Americans as you’d come to realize. How many times had some of your colleagues mentioned that you definitely had to make dinner plans together sometime only for that sometime to never come? And while Tito wasn’t an American by all means, living among them tended to force a fast adaptation.

So to say you were surprised when he reached out to you a couple of days later would be a big fat understatement. You’d thought of him from time to time since Halloween, reminiscing what once was but also thinking about what could’ve been with a certain dark haired friend of his if it weren’t for the connection between the two of them.

You’d checked your phone during a trip to the bathroom, waiting on an update on the current office drama from Emily – as the personal assistant she had the inside scoop on one of the chief editors who had apparently managed to knock up one of the models – when you saw the Instagram notification.

@titobeauvi91 wants to send you a message

For a second you were wondering why he was sending you a message on Instagram instead of a text before you realized that neither of you probably still had the same phone number from when you were 18. You’d definitely switched to an American phone number in time with your move and he’d be stupid if he hadn’t done the same thing, especially considering how much longer he’d lived here than you.

For him to go out of his way to dig up your Instagram profile only so he could send you a message really spoke volumes for his character. Your grandma had been right when she’d said that he was going to make someone very happy some day but although she’d had you by his side in mind at that point, you liked to think that it was still going to be true with someone else.

You accepted the request without thinking twice about it and then had to read his messages multiple times to make sure you were seeing correctly.

@titobeauvi91: Would it be totally weird to meet up for coffee together sometime?

In your wildest dreams you never would’ve imagined your ex willingly asking you to spend time with him. But perhaps it didn’t surprise you as much as it should. 

Yes, breaking up with him had hurt a lot, but it had also been a long time ago and it wasn’t like either of you were at fault for your time together coming to an end back then. You couldn’t blame him for his dream coming true after all. The fact that he’d always planned on leaving was no secret, it had only been a matter of time. So when those feeling had shifted from friendship to something more you’d known how things would end but still fell for him. And you’d had an amazing time with him because of it. And then some not so amazing time without him afterwards.

Some of your girlfriends in college had gone through break ups at the same time but you could never really relate to them sobbing in the living room with ice cream and alcohol to help soothe the pain. Your sadness had been more subtle. It was things like wanting to call him whenever something newsworthy happened in your life, missing his comforting hugs and wanting to hear his laugh again that made you feel like a part of your life was missing.

But you’d always been a fan of clean cuts so you’d never allowed yourself to reach out to him, tempting as it was. You had instead focused on building yourself a new life, one without him and without even realizing it your daydreams of conversations with him came to an end. At last you had reached the stage of acceptance. Now, as you stared at your screen you realized that the cut had been made and the edges had already healed, the possibility of something new, or rather something old, but very much something different hanging up in the air above the gap now.

What would you do?

You didn’t respond right away, waiting until your lunch break finally arrived so you could ask Emily for advice. That meant that you would have to fill her in on some things she had no idea of and she definitely wouldn’t be happy about having been left in the dark, but you really had no other choice.

The two of you met up at your usual salad bar around the corner from the office building, a not only convenient but also very delicious place. She’d shown it to you back in the days of your internship and when you’d reconnected after you finally got the job after graduating it had somehow become your regular spot for a shared lunch.

She was the first to make it today, which was rather unusual since her boss liked to give her some last minute errands to run, but you weren’t going to complain about the steaming mug of coffee already waiting for you on the table at your arrival.

“Alright, start talking girl”, she said in lieu of a greeting while you settled into your seat, referencing the text you’d sent earlier about needing some advice. So you did, telling her everything about your relationship with Tito back in 2015 and how the two of you had mutually broken it off after he got drafted. How weird it had been to not only lose your boyfriend, but also best friend at the same time. By the time you reached the more recent part of your story, the one involving Mat in the club, your lunch had arrived and you had to take a quick break so you could actually get some eating done instead of talking.

“Shit I’m so sorry for interrupting your moment back then, I didn’t even realize you were talking to someone. But I also can’t believe I’m only now hearing of all this drama!”

You waved her off, already knowing full well that she hadn’t intended to do so. “That’s because there wasn’t any drama up until a week ago, but now I don’t know what to do. Would it be weird for me to grab a coffee with my ex?”

“Well.. if you say it like that…”, she trailed off jokingly, jabbing her fork in your direction before continuing, “I’m just kidding. You guys were friends before all of that happened so no, I don’t think it’d be weird. But it’s ultimately your decision, do you want him back in your life?”

“I think so, yeah.”

-

Meeting up for coffee had somehow turned into meeting for lunch and slowly but surely Tito managed to secure himself a spot in your favorite contacts again. Seeing him in daylight for the first time after all these years had been weird and it had been obvious that the two of you were very nervous about rekindling again but it didn’t take long until you fell back into your old routine.

Pre-relationship, of course.

He’d make flirty comments from time to time and complimented you often, but you knew not to dwell on it for too long because he’d always been that way. You knew his mother well enough to know that she would be pissed if it were otherwise, you’d heard her chide her son in French for his bad manners more times than you could count when the two of you were younger.

Since you’d mostly seen him one-on-one you didn’t have to deal with any of the complications that stemmed from him being a part of your life again but it seemed like your reprieve was coming to an end. You knew that Tito was just trying to be nice when he’d invited you and your friends to meet up with some of the team at a bar after their game, hopefully celebrating a win but definitely celebrating having the day off afterwards before having to leave for a short trip, but you were having mixed feelings about the entire thing.

It wasn’t like you didn’t want to go, in fact you could use a good night out and some fun, but you knew full well that Mat would be there as well and you had no idea how you were supposed to interact with him. You’d anticipated having to face him again of course, but if it were up to you you’d do it rather later than sooner, especially now since you were close with his best friend again. Tito was no help of course, you couldn’t exactly tell him that you were having unholy thoughts about one of his close friends.

Because that was the truth, Mat Barzal had been on your mind ever since that one faithful night which was now weeks ago. It was ridiculous really, how one guy had managed to infiltrate your thoughts from such a short interaction. He’d only really spoken one sentence to you before your plans and hopes for the night had been crushed and yet you kept seeing him in every guy with glasses that passed by you. Kept hearing him in every booming laugh. 

You should be ashamed of yourself, really, for how easily he’d managed to put you under his spell. Still your thoughts kept wandering back to that little bubble you had shared with him on that dance floor, still remembering how nothing else had mattered in that moment. It wasn’t just lust that had attracted you to him that faithful night, though it certainly played a part in it, but you could tell that there was something more, or at least a possibility of something more.

But you couldn’t have him, a fact that had become blatantly obvious during your time spent with Tito. You were sure that he was interested in you like that at all anymore, but you were also convinced that he still wouldn’t be a fan of you going after his friends. You didn’t want to drive a wedge between the two of them, especially having learnt how important Mat was to Tito since getting reacquainted, something that would be inevitable once the ‘Bro Code’ was violated.

You had to keep your mind, and your hands, away from Mat.

Which proved to be harder than one might think.

You’d donned your favorite overknee-boots for the night out, loving the height boost they gave you, and paired them with a plaid skirt and a cute top, adding a warm pea coat so you wouldn’t freeze too much in the cold winter air. You’d long mastered dancing the line between sexy and sophisticated and if you were being honest, you were quite proud of tonight’s look.

It hadn’t been hard to convince your closest friends to come out along with you, all of them excited for a night out with New York’s finest. Since the guys had a game to play however, the lot of you met up at your place beforehand so you could pre-game a little and save some money in turn. You’d put on the game for background noise and by the time the final buzzer sounded you were definitely also buzzed thanks to Emily and her dangerous ability of funneling alcohol down your throat. The uber ride was short thankfully, the car was pretty packed with the four of you after all and yet you had somehow managed to arrive at the bar Tito had texted you before the team.

“They probably got held up in interviews and stuff, should we get some drinks while we wait?” Your suggestion was apparently a very welcome one so Dana and you made your way over to the bar while the other two set on finding a booth where you could sit down. By the time you had everyone’s drinks they’d managed to secure a place towards the back and you were more than happy to slide in next to Emily.

You were the first one to spot Tito, getting up and excitedly waving him over. They all sported big happy grins, most likely due to the victory over the Leafs earlier. Letting your eyes wander over your group you noticed that Mat wasn’t with them but you didn’t dwell on it too much, instead focusing on congratulating Tito on his two goals. Introductions were quick and in your state of mind you’d forgotten half of the names already but that didn’t stop you from having a good time. 

The group of guys that had sat in the booth next to yours had recognized the hockey players and willingly cleared the table for them after congratulating on a great game and taking some pictures, which was a pretty nice bonus. Mat had apparently forgotten to bring a change of clothes and had to make a detour to his apartment so he wouldn’t have to come to a bar in his game day suit.

All this liquid had taken it’s toll on your bladder though so it didn’t take long until you got up to make a trip to the restroom, telling Emily to stay put when she made a move to come along with you. There would probably be no long line in a bar like this so you could do without company and you also didn’t want to interrupt her conversation with Tito, whom she was asking all kinds of questions about teenage you. Maybe you would regret that later on, Tito was more than willing to give her ammo to roast you for the next few years but right now you didn’t care, just happy that everyone got along so well.

Walking without swaying proved to be more difficult than anticipated, you’d somehow consumed more alcohol than you’d thought and you made a mental note to grab some water afterwards as you pushed through the doors. Once they were shut behind you the music wasn’t as loud anymore and for the first time tonight you could actually hear yourself think, not distracted by noises. Of course your thoughts wandered to Mat, and the reason for his absence tonight.

Were they telling the truth earlier or was he avoiding you?

Unfortunately, this was a question you couldn’t find an answer to and even if you did, there was nothing you could do about it. What you could do however, was get back outside to your friends and have a great time tonight. Without Mat. You checked your notifications on your phone while quietly singing along to the song blasting over the speakers as you made your way out of the restroom, not looking up as you walked.

And then collided with something solid.

With a gasp you quickly grasped on to whatever you could reach so you wouldn’t tumble over and the only reason you knew you hadn’t managed to run into a wall was because strong arms immediately wrapped around you to steady you. Walls didn’t have arms, that much you knew, even in your intoxicated state.

“We really have to stop meeting this way”, a familiar voice sounded above you and your eyes involuntarily snapped up to meet his. Just like last time everything else stopped mattering as soon as you looked up to him, wrapped safely in his arms with your hands splayed on his chest, your phone still clutched tightly in your left one. His gaze made your brain short-circuit so you really couldn’t be held accountable for your next actions.

“I don’t know, I kind of like it”, you hummed while brushing your free hand across his chest and up to his shoulder. You could feel the firmness of his muscles underneath the fabric of his shirt and how his heart picked up its pace at your actions. He pulled you in even tighter and readjusted the position of his hands on your back, one of them now caressing the thin sliver of exposed skin between your top and the skirt, the movement burning itself into your memory.

Your bubble burst when there was an uproar near the bar, a group of guys yelling at a re-run of some football game on the TV responsible for the intrusion. As soon as you realized what you were doing you awkwardly cleared your throat and stepped out of his embrace, his arms dropping from your body immediately. The spot where his hands had rested only seconds ago was now cold as ice in their absence, shivers running up your spine. All of a sudden you wished you had your coat with you so you could wrap yourself up in it, maybe even hide a little from the intense look in his eyes and the rest of the world as well.

Mat seemed to snap out of his spell as well, quickly looking around to check if anyone had seen the two of you with a panicked expression on his face but you were well hidden from your friends, who were sat around a corner. You couldn’t help but feel like a dirty little secret then, something that hurt more than you liked to admit, despite his actions probably being the right thing. If anyone had seen you right now you’d definitely have some explaining to do. So instead you focused on feeling anything but hurt to mask your true feelings.

“Ashamed of being seen with me, Barzal?”, you asked in a flat tone, deliberately choosing to address him with his last name so he knew that you weren’t exactly pleased with him right now. Your words caused the intended effect and he looked like you’d slapped him across the face.

“Don’t be like this, please. You have to know where I’m coming from”, he sighs with a desperate expression, taking a moment to himself to gather his thoughts before continuing, “I have a moment with this girl in a club, a girl that somehow manages to put me under her spell in less than five seconds, and then I have to find out she’s the infamous Y/N, the first love of my best friend.”

His admission left you speechless, unable to form any kind of response as you stared up at him, watching him run his hand through his hair. Oh how you wished you could do the same.

“I know all about you, you broke his heart back then”, he continued and you flinched, not having expected this of all things.

“That’s not fair and you know it. He was the one who left!”, you hadn’t even noticed you’d raised your voice until the group of people in the booth closest to you turned towards you so you took a deep breath before continuing, “I was the one who had to stay back and listen to everyone talking about him.”

“He talked about you as well, you know. When we met at World’s he told me one night how he knew that your relationship would be over soon and how much he missed you already. He knew you’d walk out of his life without looking back. And then you did exactly that.” You closed your eyes at his words, never having heard of the situation from Tito’s standpoint. It didn’t exactly help that it was coming from Mat as well.

“You have no idea how excited he was to finally see you again. I had to listen to him talk about asking you out to lunch for days.” He reached out to brush a strand of hair behind your ear that had fallen into your eyes but you hadn’t even noticed until now, too busy staring at the beautiful specimen of a man in front of you.

“It’s not like that. We’re just friends now.”

“I know, but you weren’t back then”, and with that he dropped his hand again. He smiled softly at you but it was obvious that it didn’t reach his eyes, his sad expression overpowering everything else.

Perhaps this was the universe’s way of saying that you couldn’t have two great guys in your life, that you’d missed out on your chance already. You couldn’t think of any other way to explain this cruel twist of faith otherwise. You wished you could go back to the club, but you didn’t know if you wanted to relive those few blissful moments before everything came crashing down or prevent yourself from stumbling into him altogether. The second option would certainly make everything easier.

But since time traveling wasn’t an option yet you were forced to stand in front of him, thoughts of what could have been running through your mind. Right now he was so close to you but there could’ve been kilometers between the two of you and it still wouldn’t have made a difference.

You knew that and you could tell that Mat did as well, the defeat clearly written on his face and telling you everything you needed to know. At least you weren’t the only one who suffered.

With one last look he moved past you and towards the restrooms, probably his destination all along until he’d run into you. Or more like until you’d run into him, literally. In a split second you decided that you didn’t want your interaction to end quite like this.

“Hey, Barzal?” You didn’t like calling him by his last name one bit and it definitely felt wrong, but perhaps it would allow you to keep the distance you desperately needed.

“Yeah?” You could’ve sworn that a glimmer of hope crossed his face as he turned back towards you but perhaps it was just the shitty light in the bar playing tricks on your mind. Or wishful thinking.

“Good game earlier. Two points is very impressive and I’m sure you made lots of people very proud tonight.”

“Thank you.” 

This time his smile was genuine.

Tagging: @itrocksmysocks​ @nazdaddy @teenagekook

[adenei]

Can you please write a fic where Rose and Albus finds an old newspaper in which Rita skeeter pairs Harry and Hermione and they show this to their siblings and everyone together ask the trio and Ginny about it..?? If possible, please include some golden trio or Rarry moments also..!!

Hi @lumos-solemn ! Thanks for the ask! I’m going to apologize for the random HIMYM reference, and the irony at the very end. It just fit too well to not incorporate.

****************************

Next Gen: Of Trials and Tribulations

Rose and Albus were in the library, studying for their upcoming Defense against the Dark Arts exam. They were in their third year, and they were trying to find newspaper articles that would give them extra insight to compare tactics used during the time of Grindelwald and Voldemort.

“Al, look at this!” said Rose. “You’ll never guess what I fo-, Merlin’s pants no way.”

“What?” Albus walked over to her.

“It’s an article from when our parents were in fourth year. When Uncle Harry was competing in the tournament. Look at the picture of Mum and him!” Rose was stunned.

“And the headline of the article. There’s no way they actually dated in Hogwarts!” Albus was not convinced.

“But Al, read it! Dad’s nowhere to be found.” Rose was frantically reading the article.

“No way…”

“Do you think we should say something?”

“Maybe, but I don’t want to tell anyone else about it. We’ll have to make sure we catch them all alone.”  Al said. He never liked to stir the pot if he could avoid it.

Rose, ever the one for the spotlight, argued, “No, they’d want to know. We need to tell them.”

“It’s a shame Teddy isn’t here. Maybe I could owl him and ask..”

“No, you can’t! Teddy will just go talk to Uncle Harry and they’ll probably figure out some rubbish story to tell us that isn’t the truth. We need to surprise them with this.”

“Well, Easter hols are two weeks away..” Al said.

“Perfect, we’ll do it then,” Rose decided.

****************

With Albus being in Slytherin, he unfortunately was unable to stop Rose from telling Hugo, Lily and James, much to his chagrin. 

“I still can’t believe you told them!” Al said to Rose. The five of them were in Rose’s bedroom. Their parents were downstairs, having just picked them up from the train and brought them back to Ron and Hermione’s to catch up.

“We need to get back down there, they’re going to know something’s up,” Lily insisted.

“Okay, fine, but you all remember the plan?” Rose asked. They all nodded and Rose said, “Great, let’s go.”

So the five kids made their way down the stairs with purpose, entering the living room where they’re parents were seated and talking amongst themselves. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione looked up to see the five of them looking at them, and gave each other a look.

“Oh boy, what’d you lot find of ours at Hogwarts now?” Ron asked as he laughed at the sight before them. This wasn’t the first time they’d come across something with one of their names on it.

“Why didn’t you tell us that you dated!” Rose blurted out, clearly going against her own plan. Albus gave her a look, while the other kids looked at their parents.

The trio and Ginny all looked oddly at each other. “Er, who are you talking about sweetheart?” Hermione asked Rose. “Because I figured you knew that your father and I dated, though not at Hogwarts, and Harry and Ginny did, too..” The four of them looked at each other again, clearly engaging in silent communication.

“Will you stop that?” Rose said. “With the looks that clearly show you guys are saying something. We’re not stupid!”

“Rose,” Hermione warned.

“She’s talking about Dad and Aunt Hermione,” Albus finally jutted in. “We found an article from 1994 that had a picture of them hugging quite, er, nope I can’t say it. And the article was titled something about young love for the youngest Tri-Wizard Champion.”

Harry and Hermione both groaned, as Ron said, “And you two always wondered why I thought there was something there.”

“Was it a Rita Skeeter article?” Ginny asked. “You know not to believe anything that comes from her quill!” 

“Now that you mention it,” Albus rounded on Rose. “I told you it was ridiculous.”

“But they haven’t denied it!” said Rose impatiently.

“Rose, Harry and I never dated. That was honestly Rita just drumming up drama. Harry was just about to steal an egg from a dragon. He very well could have died! And your father here still wasn’t speaking to his best friend, so I was trying to make up for it.”

“Dad, you and Uncle Harry fought?” Hugo chimed in with surprise.

“Not one of my finest moments, son,” Ron admitted.

“Even the best of friends get into rows sometimes. We went back to normal after that task. Only took Ron realizing that dragon could have done me in to come to his senses.” Harry said as they all laughed.

“So you two never..?” Lilly asked, still a little worried.

“No, Lily, it’s always been your Mum for me,” Harry told her, sharing a loving look with Ginny.

Ron made a weird coughing sound that sounded a bit like ‘Cho’ as Hermione nudged him. “Now, why don’t you lot go back upstairs for a bit? We’ll catch up over dinner soon,” he said after his fake coughing fit.

The kids all scampered off as the four of them sat there looking at each other in disbelief. “Will it never end?” asked Hermione.

“I think you three know the answer to that,” Ginny said as she rolled her eyes.

“We’re going to have to tell them everything eventually. The longer they’re there, the more they’re going to discover. We’ve gotten off this long because James’ never been bothered with knowing anything about it,” Harry reasoned.

“Oh, what if we took a line out of that one show on the telly, where the bloke sits his kids down and tells him the story of how he met their mother. American sitcoms are something else, aren’t they?” Ron said, as they all laughed.

“Wouldn’t that be a sight. I suppose this summer we’ll have to start telling them what happened,” Harry said.

“We should probably sit down and decide what’s necessary and what should be left out,” Ginny suggested, clearly thinking about the whole Chamber of Secrets debacle.

“It’s really a shame there aren’t any books fit for kids to tell the story for us…” Hermione said. They all laughed at the absurdity of it, finally accepting the fact that they knew this day would come eventually. Their kids were about to find out why their parents were legendary.

[monasteryicons]

The Saint Who Bumped Into Things

An image of purity, courage, and prayer, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha was the first Native American woman to be canonized by the Catholic Church. Daughter of a Mohawk chief and an Algonquin Indian woman who had converted to Catholicism, she was born in in present-day New York in 1656. A smallpox epidemic in 1661-1663 left her an orphan, with a badly scarred face and impaired eyesight.

Because of her poor vision, Saint Kateri was named "Tekakwitha," which means "she who bumps into things.”

She was taken in by her uncle, who was bitterly opposed to Christianity. As a young girl, in accordance with Iroquois custom her foster family paired her with a young boy who they expected she would marry. However, Saint Kateri chose to dedicate her life to God.

When she was 18 she began instruction in the Catholic faith in secret, having come into contact with the Jesuit missionaries that frequented Mohawk villages after the French forces defeated the Mohawks. Her uncle finally relented and gave his consent for her to become a Christian, provided that she did not try to leave the Indian village. For joining the Catholic Church, the young girl was subjected to accusations of sorcery and promiscuity, and ridiculed and scorned by villagers who even threatened her life.

Taking the name Kateri (Catherine) at baptism, two years later she escaped to the Mission of St. Francis Xavier, a settlement of Christian Indians in Canada.

The village in Canada was called “the village of the praying Indians.” Here she was known for her gentleness, kindness, and good humor. On Christmas Day 1677 Saint Kateri made her First Holy Communion and on the Feast of the Annunciation in 1679 made a vow of perpetual virginity. She also offered herself to the Virgin Mary, asking Our Lady to accept her as a daughter.

Most of these early Indian converts were women, devoted to the Christian ideals of charity and asceticism. When they learned of nuns and convents, many wanted to form their own and created an an informal association of devout women. Saint Kateri taught prayers to children and worked with the elderly and sick. She would often go to Mass both at dawn and sunset and was known for her great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to the Cross of Christ. A Jesuit priest quoted Saint Kateri as saying: “For a long time my decision on what I will do has been made. I have consecrated myself entirely to Jesus, son of Mary. I have chosen Him for my husband and He alone will take me for wife.”

During the last years of her life, she endured great suffering from tuberculosis. She died on April 17, 1680, shortly before her 24th birthday, and was buried in Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada. Her final words were "Jesus — Mary — I love you."

The Jesuit priest Fr. Cholenec later wrote: “This face, so marked and swarthy, suddenly changed about a quarter of an hour after her death, and became in a moment so beautiful and so white that I observed it immediately.”

Before her death, Saint Kateri promised her friends that she would continue to love and pray for them in heaven. Both Native Americans and settlers immediately began praying for her heavenly intercession. Several people, including a priest who attended her during her last illness, reported that the saint had appeared to them and many healing miracles were attributed to her. She is venerated as the Protectress of Canada and the patron saint of Native Americans and ecology.

The Monastery Icons icon of Saint Kateri is here: https://www.monasteryicons.com/product/saint-kateri-tekakwitha-icon-479/

[k-xxiv]

This was the first time she had been alone with him in weeks. Not since that awful scene on the roof when he had intimated that he thought her little better than a prostitute, and a barren one at that. They had never mentioned the moment to each other again. They had gone on as if everything were normal, polite to each other in company, never alone together. Somehow, when they were with other people, she was able to push it to the back of her mind, forget it. But faced with Will, just Will—beautiful as always, the collar of his shirt open to show the black Marks twining his collarbone and rising up the white skin of his throat, the flickering taper light glancing off the elegant planes and angles of his face—the memory of her shame and anger rose up in her throat, choking off her words.

He glanced down at his hand, still holding the little green leather-bound volume. “Are you going to take Coleridge back from me, or shall I just stand here forever in this rather foolish position?”

Silently Tessa reached out and took the book from him. “If you wish to use the library,” she said, preparing to depart, “you most certainly may. I found what I was looking for, and as it grows late—”

“Tessa,” he said, holding out a hand to stop her.

She looked at him, wishing she could ask him to go back to calling her Miss Gray. Just the way he said her name undid her, loosened something tight and knotted underneath her rib cage, making her breathless. She wished he wouldn’t use her Christian name, but knew how ridiculous it would sound if she made the request. It would certainly spoil all her work training herself to be indifferent to him.

“Yes?” she asked.”

There was a little wistfulness in his expression as he looked at her. It was all she could do not to stare. Will, wistful? He had to be playacting. “Nothing. I—” He shook his head; a lock of dark hair fell over his forehead, and he pushed it out of his eyes impatiently. “Nothing,” he said again. “The first time I showed you the library, you told me your favorite book was The Wide, Wide World. I thought you might want to know that I . . . read it.” His head was down, his blue eyes looking up at her through those thick dark lashes; she wondered how many times he’d gotten whatever he wanted just by doing that.

She made her voice polite and distant. “And did you find it to your liking?”

“Not at all,” said Will. “Drivelly and sentimental, I thought.”

“Well, there’s no accounting for taste,” Tessa said sweetly, knowing he was trying to goad her, and refusing to take the bait. “What is one person’s pleasure is another’s poison, don’t you find?”

Was it her imagination, or did he look disappointed? “Have you any other American recommendations for me?”

“Why would you want one, when you scorn my taste? I think you may have to accept that we are quite far apart on the matter of reading material, as we are on so many things, and find your recommendations elsewhere, Mr. Herondale.” She bit her tongue almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth. That had been too much, she knew.

And indeed Will was on it, like a spider leaping onto a particularly tasty fly. “Mr. Herondale?” he demanded. “Tessa, I thought . . . ?”

“You thought what?” Her tone was glacial.

“That we could at least talk about books.”

“We did,” she said. “You insulted my taste. And you should know, The Wide, Wide World is not my favorite book. It is simply a story I enjoyed, like The Hidden Hand, or—You know, perhaps you should suggest something to me, so I can judge your taste. It’s hardly fair otherwise.”

Will hopped up onto the nearest table and sat, swinging his legs, obviously giving the question some thought. “The Castle of Otranto—”

“Isn’t that the book in which the hero’s son is crushed to death by a gigantic helmet that falls from the sky? And you said A Tale of Two Cities was silly!” said Tessa, who would have died rather than admit she had read Otranto and loved it.

“A Tale of Two Cities,” echoed Will. “I read it again, you know, because we had talked about it. You were right. It isn’t silly at all.”

“No?”

“No,” he said. “There is too much of despair in it.”

She met his gaze. His eyes were as blue as lakes; she felt as if she were falling into them. “Despair?”

Steadily he said, “There is no future for Sydney, is there, with or without love? He knows he cannot save himself without Lucie, but to let her near him would be to degrade her.”

She shook her head. “That is not how I recall it. His sacrifice is noble—”

“It is what is left to him,” said Will. “Do you not recall what he says to Lucie? ‘If it had been possible . . . that you could have returned the love of the man you see before yourself—flung away, wasted, drunken, poor creature of misuse as you know him to be—he would have been conscious this day and hour, in spite of his happiness, that he would bring you to misery, bring you to sorrow and repentance, blight you, disgrace you, pull you down with him—’”

A log fell in the fireplace, sending up a shower of sparks and startling them both and silencing Will; Tessa’s heart leaped, and she tore her eyes away from Will. Stupid, she told herself angrily. So stupid. She remembered how he had treated her, the things he had said, and now she was letting her knees turn to jelly at the drop of a line from Dickens.

“Well,” she said. “You have certainly memorized a great deal of it. That was impressive.”

Will pulled aside the neck of his shirt, revealing the graceful curve of his collarbone. It took her a moment to realize he was showing her a Mark a few inches above his heart. “Mnemosyne,” he said. “The Memory rune. It’s permanent.”

Tessa looked away quickly. “It is late. I must retire—I am exhausted.” She stepped past him, and moved toward the door. She wondered if he looked hurt, then pushed the thought from her mind. This was Will; however mercurial and passing his moods, however charming he was when he was in a good one, he was poison for her, for anyone.

“Vathek,” he said, sliding off the table.

She paused in the doorway, realizing she was still clutching the Coleridge book, but then decided she might as well take it. It would be a pleasant diversion from the Codex. “What was that?”

“Vathek,” he said again. “By William Beckford. If you found Otranto to your liking”—though, she thought, she had not admitted she did—“I think you will enjoy it.”

“Oh,” she said. “Well. Thank you. I will remember that.”

He did not answer; he was still standing where she had left him, near the table. He was looking at the ground, his dark hair hiding his face. A little bit of her heart softened, and before she could stop herself, she said, “And good night, Will.”

He looked up. “Good night, Tessa.” He sounded wistful again, but not as bleak as he had before. He reached out to stroke Church, who had slept through their entire conversation and the sound of the falling log in the fireplace, and was still stretched out on the book stand, paws in the air.

“Will—,” Tessa began, but it was too late. Church made a yowling noise at being woken, and lashed out with his claws. Will began to swear. Tessa left, unable to hide the slightest of smiles as she went.”

[romillys]

hi everyone! so glad this is back!

romilly ‘mila’ van der woodsen was spotted in the fashion district adorning the jimmy choo thyra 100 jewel-embellished suede heeled sandals , with some airpod pros on . they’re most likely listening to blinding lights - acoustic by victoria voss . you may know them as romillys or as that casimere jollette lookalike . their twenty fourth birthday just passed . while living in  the upper east side , they’ve gained a bit of a reputation . they’re known to be defensive but on the other hand hard-working . wonder if they’ll be the next person to hit the headlines . ( cis woman / she/her + elle / 23 / she/her )

* character questionaire .

01. if you have three words to describe yourself , what are they ?

focused, daring, confident.

02 . what is your favourite alcoholic drink ?

it’s definitely wine. i used to only drink white but i’ve become really fond of red. my grandpa gave me a bottle of  1982 latour for my twenty first birthday and that was easily the most impressed i’ve ever been with wine. i’m not going to be basic and say dom perignon.

03 . what is your favourite season and why ?

i’ve always loved winter because of the associations of ballet and the performances of the nutcracker. it’s always help a special place in my heart and i continue to feel the same after all these years. plus, i love the parties and dressing up, feel like i can go more glam with more diamonds and sparkles than in the summer.

04 . what’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done ?

it would have to be when i drunkenly booked a vacation to dubai for myself and a few friends after a wine and movie night. i spent a ridiculous amount but the trip was fun and i can safely say my friends and i still talk about it.

* character biography .

the only grand daughter of olivier van der woodsen, romilly would grow up surrounded by luxury olivier was the founder and controlling shareholder of woodsen enterprises, a company has investments in various industries including auto parts, energy, metals, rail cars, casinos, food packaging, real estate, and home fashion. it was more than enough for him to provide for his son and daughter-in-law and now his grand-daughter. like her parents before her, romilly was born into privileged and lived comfortably in an upper east side penthouse where she was waited on by endless nannies and housekeepers. her father was involved in the family business, hoping to be handed olivier’s shares one day but the other showed no sign of willingly stepping down any time soon; her mother a self-absorbed socialite that had her own ideas of how to dominate society meant that childcare did not land with either of them.

her parents were difficult to communicate with and this lead to many nannies leaving just when romilly had started to become attached. they were the closest thing to love that she had received but as they left constantly she would grow up with a great sense of inadequacy. they weren’t in love and it seemed the both of them only valued their own sucesses, not each others. as she grew up, she would become her grandfather’s favourite and it would leave both her parents with green eyes...

romilly always liked dancing and had a special connection with music. every time she heard it she wanted to move. she was too young to understand it but she had natural musicality. when they realised that it was harder for the help to stay, they pushed her onto olivier with the hope that she’d be a distraction to pressure him into taking a step back. The man, although one of the most powerful people in New York City, did have a soft spot for his granddaughter. he was the one that saw potential in her dancing as a child. he was quick to enroll her when she was six and everything else followed.

from that moment on, she would only look forward to dance and seeing her grandfather. he was the only one who understood her passion and was the one encouraging her at every stage. however, her parents were quick to criticise performances or her facial expressions when performing. no matter how hrd she tried, it wasn’t enough to impress them. she started distancing from them after that, only talking to her grandpa and looking to him when she needed emotional sport.

being accepted into the summer intensive programme for the school of american ballet was a game changer for her. she made good friends and loved breathing dance and being surrounded by people who had the same passion. she attended the same intensive two years running and her place there just felt right. the next year, she was enrolled as a full time student at the school of american ballet and moved into halls. it was a freedom she never had before and felt like it was her very first chance to have a real sense of community and support.

romilly worked extremely hard and was definitely one who focused on her success; that had seeped its way through from her parents. she was one of the lucky ones to become an apprentice at new york city ballet and the staff definitely took note. her skill level had almost been at prodigy level and she always maintained a ‘can-do’ attitute. she wouldn’t simply bend into the background.

this year, she became one of the youngest principal dancers in the company and it was the best day of her life. she had become a successful professional ballerina. she has also assisted with some choreography as her creativity has blossomed over the years. now her parents wanted to be proud of her and they did make an effort to see her, although it felt really strained from their side. they had ulterior motives but she wasn’t sure what.

romilly was hit hardest after the announcement of the death of olivier van der woodsen, her grandpa who she had loved so much. after the loss and added pressure, her personality has somewhat shifted. she’s out a lot more in clubs now, making out with people and deciding to lessen her control over herself. besides, she’s now a billionaire in her own right but can even comprehend how much money she actually has. she is more defensive and snaps at her co-workers a lot more. she’s secretive and does keep most things to herself. she’s embarrassed that she’s involved in family disputes over money that she never asked for and now worried that stories are leaking on the internet about her and have the ability to tarnish her image in the ballet world. she feels like if she doesn’t fix it soon, she’ll be on her way out of the company. still, she doesn’t help herself and continues to party and drink a lot more than she should do which leads to easily avoidable drunken stumbles that hurt her...

* extras .

profile:

Full Name: romilly annabeth van der woodsen

Nickname(s): mila, tiny dancer, ro

Age: twenty four

Date of Birth: december 19, 1996

Hometown: new york city, new york

Current Location:  new york city, new york  

Ethnicity: white

Nationality: american

Gender: cis woman

Pronouns: she/her

Orientation: bi romantic & bi sexual

Religion: none

Political Affiliation: none

Occupation: principal ballerina at new york city ballet

Living Arrangements: upper east side penthouse previously owned by olivier van der woodsen

Language(s) Spoken: english, french, chinese

Hair Colour: blonde

Eye Colour: blue

Height: 5′4″

Build: slender

Tattoos: none

Piercings: ears

aesthetics

a fully stocked wine cabinet, diamante earrings, chanel pumps, silk crop tops, crystal embellished stilettos, a pile of pointe shoes discarded in the corner of the main room, marble flooring, roof to floor windows, bobby pins gathering at the bottom of her purse, quickly applying glitter eyeshadow with her fingers, a collection of nude palettes and diamante earrings, deleting emails without reading them, golden chandeliers, rejected calls from parents, tops with puffed sleeves, berets, nineties colored purses, twenty hour days and booking trips aborad while under the influence.

[theonethatwatchesalotofshows]

Ranking every Teen Drama I have ever watched

(Updated)

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

+ young Shailene Woodley and Molly Ringwald I guess

- everything else. Even Shailene Woodley's and Molly Ringwald's performances weren't that great because the writing is just oh so bad. The background music is bland and repetative and it sounds like out of some teenager's YouTube chanel. The plotlines are ridiculous and convoluted, which isn't neccessarily such a bad thing, because it is a teen drama show after all, the problem is the show seems to take itself too seriously. Other entries on this list also have ridiculously convoluted plotlines, but I'm ranking them highed because they don't take themselves too seriously and don't claim to be realistic like this show does. Seriously, from the title it suggests like this was going to be a real, uncensored look into high school but it's the furthest thing from it. Not to mention how problematic it is- God forbid someone suggests that a 14-year-old pregnant girl gets an abortion or gives the baby up for adoption without being seen as a terrible and despicable person.

Otp: Marc Molina x a job somewhere far, far away from these kids

Notps: every single pairing on this show

Best moment: literally none

Weirdest moment: "I'm such a whore!" "Well, you're my whore." What were the writers thinking??? Was this supposed to be romantic??

We Children From Zoo Station

+the aesthetic, the casting of Christiane, Detlef and Axel

-this was such a letdown. Honestly I was so hyped for it after seeing the trailer since I've read the book and didn't particularly like the movie- I feel like it's hard to fit all of Christiane's story into 90 minutes. That's why I was so excited about this show. Christiane's story covers so much, so it's easier to make it into a TV show when you don't want to ommit anything and butcher the story. But they somehow managed to do it anyway. They changed so much for no reason and completely erased Christiane's childhood trauma, which was important in the book. Now, I know you can say that it's just a loose adaptation, so it doesn't have to follow the book word for word. But I feel like if you already decided to tell her- a real person's story- you should at least do it authentically. Imo they shouldn't have tried to make the setting vague. It worked with Sex Education because the story of Sex Education is timeless. However, Christiane's story is not timeless. It's a true story set in the 1970s. If they were making a new show from scratch, I would have liked it. But this is an already existing story and they’re supposed to be just retelling it. My last issue is a nit pick but I wish the actresses playing Stella and Babsi were reversed. It just would've fit better.

Otps: all those kids x sobriety

Notp: Christiane x Detlef

Best moment: Christiane's first time in Sound was pretty true to the book

Weirdest moment: when Detlef became a gigolo because he needed money for his dog. Who tf thought of that?

Pretty Little Liars

+ makeup, style, the theme song, the drama and mystery that always kept me guessing, the cliffhangers at the end of each episode that made it so addictive, Emily's coming out story, Hanna and Spencer had some good lines

- the mishandling of some serious issues (namely eating disorders), romantization of student-teacher relationship, the timeline not making much sense, these writers seem to put more thought into the characters' outfits than the storylines

Otps: Emily x Maya, Hanna x Caleb

Notp: Ezria

Best moment: Hanna and Caleb in the shower (the sexual tension was cuttable with a knife)

Weirdest moments: Aria asking Ezra out in the middle of a make-up test (it was supposed to be cute but it was just cringy), Spencer trying to block A's text messages on a laptop, in the middle of a park (what? Spencer, you were supposed to be the smart one!)

One Tree Hill

+ Brooke, the theme song, Chad Michael Murray

- the casual drinking and driving (I mean seriously these kids play a drinking game at a party and then casually hop into a car and drive home??), too much basketball and cheerleading (that's not a bad thing per se but I just don't really care about neither of these things), it just seems too stereotypical and kinda bland?? I couldn't really get into it

Otp: Naley

Notp: Peyton x Nathan

Best moment: Naley by the dock

Weirdest moment: "I guess I'm just a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside a bitch." It's not really a bad moment but a cringy line. I guess the writers though they were being clever but it just sounded bad.

Dawson's Creek

+ the clothes, the 90s aesthetic, the 90s soundtrack, many movie references, Pacey is a sweetheart, Jen is a feminist icon, dealing with mental health issues through Andie (it's rare to see in shows as old as this)

- the slutshaming of Jen really hasn't aged well, the storyline of Pacey being statury raped by his much older teacher was mishandled (it was either treated as scandalous, cool or in Andie’s case somehow shameful), same goes for Jen’s backstory- it was mentioned she was raped at 12 by an older man and then never brought up again, Dawson is the most unlikable protagonist ever and his friendship/relationship with Joey is codependent and possessive, the dialogue is sometimes pretentious and unrealistic, the timeline doesn't really add up- I can never tell what time of the year it's supposed to be, because it looks like it's always fall for some reason. And how did they sophomore year have two homecomings?

Otps: Pacey x Andie, Pacey x Joey (yes, both at the same time)

Notp: Dawson x Joey

Best moments: Jen helping Joey when that jerk was spreading rumours about her and then Jen and Joey locking Abby in the closet together (I love it when they stick together instead of tearing each other down), Pacey and Joey bickering

Weirdest moments: when Joey was upset because Dawson didn’t want to tell her how often he “walks his dog”, when Jen was about to have a treesome at a party and Dawson walked into the room and carried her out despite her kicking and screaming

Glee

+ funny, Sue Sylvester's iconic, great covers and a way to find new songs, the performances are aesthetically pleasing, lgbtq+ representation, tackling of serious issues, coming out story, a father who’s accepting of his son’s sexuality right away despite not really understanding it (it’s so rare to see, that’s why it’s so refreshing), the plotlines are ridiculous but at least the show doesn't take itself too seriously

-as I already said the 1st season was great but after that it just seemed like the writers made up a checklist of hard issues they should tackle and tried to tackle every single one of them while covering every single song and it just fell flat. Prime example- Quinn ending up in a wheelchair getting into a car crash to warn us from drinking and driving, singing I’m Still Standing and then suddenly being able to walk normally after. a few episodes Rachel and Finn got almost all songs, while other characters were criminally underrated and underused (Tina, Quinn, Mercedes). The teachers are questionable to put it mildly. Cringy moments- Finn singing You're Having My Baby to Quinn in front of her parents when it wasn't even his baby! Also no one except of Kurt looks like they could be in high school. And why are these cheerleaders wearing their uniforms 24/7??

Otps: Brittana, Sam x Quinn, Tina x Artie (unpopular opinion, I know), Mr Schue x unemployment

Notp: Quinn x Finn

Best moments: Quinn giving birth to Bohemian Rhapsody

Weirdest moment: Rachel's gross and painfully awkward crush on Mr Schue, Mr Schue joining the Glee club on the stage for a performance of Toxic and girls in the audience cat calling him (Ewww)

Euphoria

+ Zendaya's and Jacob Elordi's performances, tackling of serious issues such as drug addiction and overdose, anxiety and depression, abusive relationships and abortion in a better manner than most (if not all) teen dramas, the aesthetics, makeup and wardrobe, the musical number in the finale, the special episodes giving us insight into the characters' psychology, toxic relationships not being romanticized (which is sadly rare), teenagers sounding like actual real life teens (no "I reject reality" crap)

- lack of comic relief (why so serious all the time), sexualization of teen characters (I know this is something many teen dramas are guilty of but it's the most evident here), too much nudity (I know some of you are going to come at me with: "But it's realistic!" So what? It is realitic that teenagers get naked when they go into shower but does it mean we have to see it?? It seems to me like this show is trying too hard to be "boundary pushing" at times and ends up being scandalous just for the sake of being scandalous), these characters just aren't believable as high school juniors to me (they sound like high schoolers but they certainly don’t act, look or dress that way). There's no reason this show couldn't have been set in college.

Otps: Rue x sobriety, Nate x prison

Notps: Nate x Maddy, Cassie x McKay

Best moments: "You did this to me!" and the musical number in the season 1 finale

Weirdest moment: the fact that Maddy lost her virginity at 14 to a 40-year-old man being mentioned so casually because apparently she was "totally in control". Excuse me what??

Skins

+ style and makeup- each character has a signature trademark (Sid and his beanie, Effy's eyeliner, Cassie's soft eyeshadow), their British accents, I'm pretty sure this is the only teen drama that follows multiple classes, teenage characters being played by actual teen actors, the characters looking like average people you meet in high school and not as if they just walked off the runway, dealing with serious issues such as drug abuse, eating disorder, parental abandonment etc (yes, some people claim the show romanticized it, but I disagree. It's not the show that romanticized it- it's the fans. The show tried to portray the dangers of drugs as well as possible. Think about it- every time characters used drugs it ended in a disaster. In the pilot they thought that Cassie overdosed and ended up crashing a car while rushing into the hospital. In later season Effy hit her friend in the head with a rock because she was having a bad trip. That's not romanticizing drugs.), Effy is iconic and honestly the first episode was enough to get me hooked

- every single teacher being a creep and having a thing for a student at some point, the show can get too dark and unncessarily dramatic at times. Did that many people have to die? Did Chris's death really have to be this graphic? Timeline doesn't really add up- are 8 episodes supposed to cover the whole year? It would've made more sense if there were more episodes in a season.

Otps: Chris x Jal, Emily x Naomi

Notps: Sid x Michelle

Best moment: ooh baby it's a wild world

Weirdest moment: Chris's graphic death

The OC

+ more grounded in reality than many others on this list, the theme song, the love stories, Seth and Summer are funny, the friendships are believable and the whole group has great chemistry

- too many unneccessary fights, Luke is the worst, everyone is way too casual about drunk driving, these parents are WAAAY too chill (I know this can be said about many teen dramas but it's the most obvious here. How did the Roberts and the Coopers let two 16-year-old girls go to Mexico alone?? With no supervision?? What?)

Otps: Seth x Summer, Ryan x Marissa

Notp: Luke x Marissa

Best moments: the “oh no, there’s only one bed” in the Mexico episode, Seth and Summer's first kiss and that kiss at the yacht, Ryan and Marissa's first date by the pool

Weirdest moment: these parents letting their teenage kids go to Mexico alone. It's irresponsible when they're 16 but apparently they let them go there and party every year. What?

Gossip Girl

+ every episode having a clever title, the style, the makeup, the 00s soundtrack, the glamour of it all (it feels like reading a very gossipy magazine!), all the scandals, this show never pretends to portray the realitic teenage experience so it can pretty much be as far-fetched as it wants to and you can’t question it, it gives you a chance to live the fantasy of being super rich, living with a penthouse, riding a limo to school and going to parties in New York City every night

- the final reveal doesn't make any sense, just like with PLL these writers seemed to have put more thought into the outfits and makeup than into the plotlines, romantization of a toxic relationship, having every two straight characters date or hook up at some point, which just felt forced, mishandling of serious issues (Blair's eating disorder, Eric's suicide attempt and Serena and Jenny's sexual assault from the pilot being brought up when it's convenient but not really dealt with and brushed off at other times), sexualization of teen characters

Otps: Dan x Blair, Serena x Nate

Notps: Chuck x Blair

Best moments: the Thanksgiving flashbacks, Blair and Serena running around New York and taking selfies in stolen dresses, Nate and Serena’s first time (although it was better in the books) and then their kiss at the white party, the sheer scandal of "I killed someone", Dan giving Blair a plastic tiara to make her feel like a princess

Weirdest moments: Chuck's father returning from the death and then dying again, by yeeting himself off the roof

Freaks and Geeks

+ probably the most realistic teen drama there is, the characters dress the way I can see actual teens dressing, funny, but also heatbreaking at times, probably the only teen show that included an intersex character, the characters being a little stereotypical but self-aware at least, young James Franco and Jason Segel

- the bullying being a bit too much at times and it's a bit unrealistic that the teachers would do literally nothing about it, too short- I will never understand why this got cancelled

Otps: Daniel x Kim, Lindsay x Nick, Amy x Ken

Notps: Sam x Cindy

Best moments: Sam breaking down at the end of Garage Door, Daniel and Kim getting back together in the rain

Weirdest moment: Cindy doing a 180 and becoming super mean when she started dating Sam.

Gilmore Girls

+ so many movie, literary and music references, the quotable lines (what a great way to learn about new movies, books and bands! It’s so unique for a TV show to make you smarter), the witty banter, the comfort of the first few seasons (it really feels like wrapping a warm blanket around yourself while holding a hot cup of coffee, I can’t explain why, but it’s such a comfort show), the quirky small town with many unique festivals, many entertaining and snappy fights where everyone has a point, characters dealing with real world problems (seriously, how often do you see a storyline about termites? Or a teenager with zit cream on a teen drama show?), this is also one of the few shows where teenagers are shown to have rules and restrictions and curfews (finally some kids growing up with strict parents representation) and doing homework and studying and not just partying and drinking and having sex all the time and that’s so refreshing

- but while it is refreshing to see teenagers waiting to have sex and not doing it behind every corner, the show is kind of sex negative. Every single time a (female) character loses her virginity it ends in a disaster. Even when she loses it after she’s married! It doesn’t make any sense, unless the writers just really hated women. Also slutshaming (”I got the good kid!”) ewww. The money and budget doesn’t make much sense on the show either and the girls seem immune to calories. I know some people might come at me for this with: “But it’s just a show!” but I think it’s harmful to show beautiful, thin women eat nothing but tons of junkfood all the time and never excersize and then fatshame people who do excersize but aren’t fortunate enough to be blessed with amazing Gilmore genes, and then throw around tactless references to eating disorders.

Otps: Lane x Dave, Jess x Rory

Notps: Lane x Zach, Rory x Dean, Lorelai x Christopher

Best moments: Then She Appeared, Rory’s valedictorian speech, Lorelai’s graduation

Weirdest moment: Lorelai and Christopher getting married in Paris at 4am. That’s not how it works in Europe. Do Americans think every single Europian country works like Las Vegas, where you can just get married whenever you decide??

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Reflecting Light - Chapter Twenty Four.

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Previous chapters - One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty Twenty One Twenty Two Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Four

“Mom, can we sit down and talk?” Sy asked, finding her alone in the kitchen, covering up the remainder of the pie in saran wrap. Turning to view her eldest son, she could tell he wasn’t impressed. ‘That fucking girl, eavesdropping on my conversations and then running to him to spill!’ she thought, not impressed that he obviously knew what she’d said.

“Naz overheard you. You really, really upset her. Me too, to be honest. Coming from a woman who has never, not once in her damn life shown any kind of racist tendencies, what you said was abhorrent. I mean come on, mom. My first girlfriend had a black father, you remember Tia. You adored her,” he spoke after they’d sat down.

“Tia was American,” she replied, folding her arms. “That girl you’ve married, she isn’t one of us!”

“She’s an American citizen, mom,” Sy reminded her, running a hand over his head and trying to keep his temper. He might have been furious with her, but she was still his mama. He’d never blow up at her as furiously as perhaps he could, or maybe as she deserved.

“You know very well what I mean. We were at war with those people,” she protested, Sy rolling his eyes.

“She was living in Turkey by the time the Iraqi war began! Come on, admit it. This ain’t got anything to do with Naz’s ethnicity, or at least I really hope it hasn’t. This is about Heather,” he put to her, Judy beginning to nod rapidly.

“She’s my daughter in law!”

“No, mom. She ceased being your daughter in law four years ago next month, when our divorce was finalised. Your daughter in law is the girl who you offended by making it about her race. I mean, do you honestly think that? When Naz and I have kids – because believe me, in a few years that’s very much on the cards – are you seriously going to reject your grandbabies because they’ll be mixed race?” he asked her, needing a straight answer out of her.

“Look, she just isn’t what I expected, this whole thing, it isn’t what I wanted for you. And no, I guess I couldn’t. I’m sorry I said that. It was wrong of me,” she began, Sy cutting in.

“I know, you wanted Heather and I to stay together. It didn’t work, I’ve moved on and remarried, so you need to accept that or don’t. Either way, rejecting Naz because she’s Iraqi, or because she isn’t Heather, whichever it is, is ridiculous. You’re not that person. You have to let go of Heather at some point.” Immediately, Judy looked aghast by such a request.

“I can’t just cut her out of my life, James. We’re close, I love her to death and I refuse to just throw her aside. She wants you back, you know. She’s been thinking about adoption, she told me as much,” she revealed, Sy shaking his head, completely emotionally unstirred by such news.

“It’s four years too late for that. I’ve moved on, I’m married to someone else and she’ll just have to accept that too,” he stated firmly.

“Can you honestly tell me, if you hadn’t met that Nazadine girl,” she began.

“Nazanin,” he corrected, pissed off that she couldn’t even get her name right.

“Whatever her damn name is. If you hadn’t met her that you wouldn’t be open to a reconciliation with Heather? You two, you were so happy together.” He felt his temper rising at hearing this, how his mother was so willing to live in the past and attempt to drag him right back there with her. He wouldn’t have it.

“Happy until we weren’t, mom. Until every day was a goddamn battle with her. I fight wars for a job, I don’t need it in my home life too. Heather and I are history and you really do need to stop fighting it and accept that. Naz is my wife, at least try and get to know her,” he explained, hoping to get through to her.

“I don’t want to.” Judy got up and left the kitchen at that point, no longer caring to hear anything else her son might’ve added. He knew how close she and his ex were, but he had no idea that the relationship still stood just as firmly now they were divorced, or that they still saw one another.

He also knew his mother was no racist, but he couldn’t discount her words. Hearing that she was averse to the eventual arrival of mixed-race children – his children – was heartbreaking to hear.

It didn’t matter that she’d apologised, it didn’t matter the true root of her instant dislike of Naz was the fact she wasn’t Heather opposed to where she was born, she’d still said it. Sy couldn’t help but think on some small level that maybe she did mean it.

“Give her time, big guy. Sorry I overheard, but you and mom are loud when you argue. You’re right, though. It isn’t about Naz or where she originally comes from. She just doesn’t wanna let go of Heather,” Stephanie told him, coming in from the other room where she’d been hovering, ready to jump in if the heated discussion escalated. She was very much the peacemaker of the family.

“After what she said, she can have all the damn time she likes. I’m seriously fucking unimpressed with her, Steph,” he said angrily, his sister giving him a hug.

“Well, if it counts for anything, I think Naz is great.” He smiled at that, feeling his temper deflate at Steph’s words and kind smile, heading outside again to go and find his beloved.

He grabbed a beer, heading back down to the stables while swigging it and attempting to calm down, the sight he saw when he got there working in helping his bad mood evaporate almost instantly.

“Sy, look! Oh my god, this is so cool!” Naz called to him, sitting atop Blaze, one of Mitch’s mares while he led her around the exercise arena, her first time ever sitting on a horse. The old mare happily walked around, Naz’s legs prickled on her soft fur since Mitch had forgone using a saddle, moving away and standing to observe while Naz panicked a little bit.

“That’s it, just keep circling her around me. Don’t panic, she’s twenty-seven now, so ole’ Blaze doesn’t move fast any longer. Yep, just squeeze your left rein and press your heels into her sides,” he told her, laughing when her flip flops fell off before going to retrieve them.

“We’re the same age, Blaze!” Naz told her, scratching her black fur with her nails, wobbling a little before sitting up and sticking her heels down, as Mitch had instructed her.

“So, did you talk with your mom?” he asked Sy, coming to stand at the rail with him.

“I did. We were right, it’s because of Heather. She apologised for the mixed-race grandchildren comment, but I can’t discount it, dad. She said it, after all. There must be a little part of her that believes it and for that, I’m really not happy with her at all,” he sighed, picking the label on his beer bottle as he winked at Naz when she rode past him.

“I think it’s a comment she’ll very much live to regret eventually. Look, I make no apologies for her, but she’s just stunned by it, you know how she is. You and me, we’re the type who go with the flow, but then you likely knew that I’d handle the news of you marrying the woman you’ve only been with for five months a hell of a lot better than she was ever going to,” Mitch said, Sy nodding. He and his dad were cut from the same cloth.

“I know it was quick, but it’s right, though. She’s right. She’s absolutely perfect for me. I didn’t get the chance to tell you either, with everything that went down. I could be in for a career change. The CIA are interested in me,” he revealed, Mitch wide eyed with pride.

“Son!” he began, opening his arms and giving him a big hug, slapping his back in the way that almost always made Sy feel a bit winded. “This is huge news! Tell me about it, then!”

He did, explaining everything that had happened and how he had more or less been offered the position pending a meet at the headquarters. His leaving the military would be an expedited process, given the circumstances, although he admitted to the fact that the thought still left him a little nervous.

“I love it, even though I realise working within the CIA would be the better option for me, it still leaves me with a slight sense of dread, walking away from the last sixteen years of my life,” he confided in his dad.

“Of course it will, it’s practically all you’ve known, joining up fresh from college. You just need to settle into the idea a little more and you’ll be fine. What did we just discuss, after all, about how we males of the Syverson family are infinitely better at going with the flow?” Mitch reminded him, Sy smiling and swigging his beer.

It was awkward, but also maybe for the best that Judy hid herself away for the remainder of their visit, Naz getting the chance to get to know her new family without the woman who had upset her so much being right there. Sy did hope she might emerge by the time they left with something resembling a proper apology towards his wife, but it was sadly wishful thinking.

They arrived back home at just gone midnight, Naz sighing as she sat down on the couch before suddenly bursting into tears.

“I don’t want to drive a wedge between you and your mom and that’s exactly what I’ve done. I feel so bad,” she cried, Sy sitting down next to her and pulling her into his arms. He’d been waiting for this, since Naz did have a terrible fear of upsetting people and could often shoulder blame in a situation that wasn’t her fault.

“That wedge exists because of how she’s set her mind, baby. It isn’t because of you. All we can do is give her time, let her cool off and then hope she’ll be forthcoming with a proper apology after making such hurtful remarks towards you.

“She just needs to get used to the idea and realise she has to back off from her relationship with Heather too. That’s something I didn’t reveal at the time, that she told me earlier. Heather is still in her life, so I’ve learned.

“She must’ve moved back to Eastland after the divorce. Apparently, she told mom she wants me back and has reconsidered her stance on adoption. I don’t know who the fuck is more deluded out of the pair of ‘em!” he spoke, holding Naz tighter. “There’s only one woman I want babies with and that’s this stunning looking one right here who I’m damned lucky to be married to.”

Drying her eyes, Naz smiled and kissed him, glad it was just the two of them once more. After the day she’d had, her husband’s arms were the only place she wanted to be in.