#she started as a desperate kid but she absolutely could have grown to be as cunning as him. esp if she got his education on law

[dottyistired]

i can't personally sympathize with calls for kristoph to appear again. not until iris and/or dahlia do also. if kristoph were to be in more games than them i would start maiming

[spidercomics]

wc: 1.096k

contents: jake sully x f!avatar/na'vi!reader, established relationship, pregnant!reader, creampie, breeding kink, unprotected sex, riding, m/f ejaculation, (use of she/her prounons once or twice!).

a/n: seen jake with a deserved breeding kink but not much smut with an actual pregnant mate and it couldn't leave my head, it was so much fluffier than i intended to make it, might have to make an alternate version with more dirty shit 😭 i kinda like this one tho!

jake was in love with you, everyone knew this. but right now? he felt as if he just saw you for the first time again. you had him smitten, flustered, feral — everything that came with being absolutely enraptured by someone.

you looked peaceful, sitting beneath the tree of souls, queue connected with the bioluminescent tendrils that link you directly with eywa. he heard your prayers of gratitude, how you thanked eywa for the healthy, precious child growing within you.

his child, your child.

he was forever in debt to the deity for blessing him with a second chance of life. jake believed his life was over, taken from him so young when he was shot. he survived, but to what cost? he lost everything on earth, leaving for pandora was a way out of the miserable life back home. he thought he was to die on the new planet, hearing the most vicious stories. turns out, it was more military propaganda. he got a new home, all those dreams of flying came true.

he never believed he would find a woman to spend his life with, have kids with. and here he was, a man who'd lost his legs, still running towards his most sacred place. you.

his hands running over your waist, arms wrapping around the skin and bones that protected his firstborn. mo'at thought they were having a son, and jake had the most perfect visual of how a mini-you would look. precious.

he hadn't startled you, his presence was always in the back of your head, you had felt him searching you down.

his hands were enveloping your body, holding you pressed against him for absolutely intimacy. the hormones during your pregnancy had been horrible at the start, anger and sadness was hard to deal with so often. but now? it was pure lust, and even if jake found your pregnant stomach, something he helped cause, incredibly attractive — he was terrified of hurting you. even if your body was stronger than ever right now, he still looked at you as if you've never been more fragile.

his hands traveled around your body, the warmth of his palms lighting a fire in your body, desperate for his attention. desperate to be put out.

and he had caved in, a man could only do so much when his wife was pregnant, round with a product of his love, and begging for him to do something about the heat between her thighs.

his fingers were stroking your spine, your hands perched on his strong chest as you sat on top of him, going up and down on his dick so slow, he thought he was going to explode. the position allowed him to go so deep, reaching places inside of you that had you squirming.

the urge to grab your hips and hold you still, eagerly fucking up into you was too much for jake, but he had to be patient. he was too focused on your tits, that had grown bigger, his fingers tenderly flicking your overly sensitive nipples, body shuddering. your stomach had grown significantly over the past weeks, hands running over the skin, fingers tracing the stretch marks on the sides. your hips, that had grown wider, sat so perfectly on top of his own, so easy to handle you around with.

he loved your body, always.

his hands helped you move, moving between your hips, ass and thighs, front and back — up and down. it was so slow, so deep, that he almost let out a hiss when you bounced up, his dick almost slipping out, tip right in your slit when you clenched around him. the night air was making everything so real, every drop of sweat felt cold. the warmth of your skin, your cunt, the only source of heat.

he was addicted, how did he think he could go months without this?

even as you layed down on him, chest against his own, hips dragging front and back, his dick pushing in and out, he was teased everytime you let him slip out to rub against you instead, catching your clit in the process. he pushed inside again, slowly hitting the spot that made you whimper and quiver.

his dick bottomed out, filling you to the brim, just like that fateful night where you'd ended up pregnant with his child. he'd fill you up again, breeding you as much as he had to to keep having you like this. raw, bare and open to him. it wasn't like anything else he'd ever experience.

"so good sweet girl," he would hold you so close, kisses peppering your forehead that was covered in a sheen of sweat, "so good, gonna fill you up again, keep you round and full for me forever, hmm?"

"please, jake, wanna feel you," he knew what you meant now, grabbing your braid, watching the protected tendrils connect with each other. you were so close, he could feel it now, the pressure building inside so tight. he felt every beat of your heart, of his heart, of his sons heart.

he felt your pain, the soreness of carrying a life around. he felt the pain of the pending orgasm, teetering on the edge, dancing around the sighs of relief that would come if the coil snapped.

"you're so good baby," his fingers traced over your spine again, "want me to take over?" he received a small hum, taking your hips into his big hands, he did what he wanted all this time, holding you still, his hips fucking up into your own, the familiar sounds of skin slapping against skin filling the area surrounded by trees. he felt himself so deep, he felt the hits of his dick tapping against your cervix, the pleasure you felt when he hit the spongy spot, making your vision blurry, ears blocking out all noise around you.

weeks without a release, you'd never been more happy when euphoria hit you, head in jake's neck, the scent of him bringing more pleasure than it should. jake felt your tight walls around him, sucking him in further as his own release came shortly after, small groans of ecstasy leaving his lips. this was so much better than getting off on his own, feeling his beautiful wife instead of imagining you. it could never compare.

he'd fill you up everyday if he'd have you forever, showing everybody you're his. he was so grateful for you, for his child, for his home. this was merely a dream a year ago.

now it was his reality.

© 2023, spidercomics - all rights reserved.

[alexa-fika]

hey I'm so so sorry but can you make nifty reader a female? I'm so so sorry I didn't clarify 😭 you don't have to at all I'm so so sorry

🍡

Menace Ahoy (Whitebeard pirates x f!child!reader)

A/N Absolutely no problem! Thank you for asking!

Talking about this post with male!reader

Reader here is replaced by Dokucha as a placeholder which means Reader in japanese

Dividers by @/saradika

“You lost her?!”

“The hell do you mean me?! You were also supposed to keep an eye on her!”

“That’s enough the both of you! Right now, we need to focus on finding her before she sneaks into the kitchen or the training areas.” The first-man yelled, scolding his crewmates

“I swear I had her by my side a few seconds ago. I just I blinked, and just like that, gone! It’s like she just up and vanished!” Ace said desperately, looking around

“That’s why you can’t take your eyes off her; she is quick like that,” mutters Vista, thinking of where the little menace could have run off to now

“She wouldn’t get off the ship, would she?” He questions

“Unlikely, she will only get down once she sees one of us has deboarded, and despite looking for trouble, she won’t leave our side unless we tell her she can,” Izou pipes in

Their discussion is quickly cut short as two voices join their conversation

“What have I told you about sneaking into the kitchen?” Thatch grumbles, holding a girl by the scruff of her shirt walking closer to the men

“But it was a mess! I needed to clean the mess up!” She fusses, looking up at the chef

“No, uh, Kitchen is a big No, No, don’t trust you not to steal one of my knives again.”

“It was dirty; I need to go back and clean it; I need to make sure it’s clean, so much mess, I need to clean it,” she rambled on as she began to spiral on the thought of the kitchen and all the tools and areas that needed to be cleaned up

“Hey, Hey, I get you want to clean, but you can’t just barge in and start cleaning; you could get badly hurt if you touched one of the hot surfaces. Please don’t go back in there without one of us,” He said, lowering the child to the ground

“Just don’t sneak in there again, got it?”

“Sorrey”

“It’s okay; I'm not mad at you. I'm just worried you could get badly hurt. How about you come to ask me first, and I‘ll let you know if I help clean?”

She grins, nodding excitedly

“Okay!”

“Hey, Dokucha, are you coming with us?” Called Vista; Marco and Izou already waiting for the pair at the port

“Yeah!” She exclaimed, running her way but skidding to a stop and looking at the two behind him

“Are you not coming?” She asked, looking at Thatch and Ace

“I’ll stay here; I have some things to attend to in the kitchen,” Thatch replies; he takes a moment to sigh and rub his head

“Someone has to keep this idiot some company,” quips Ace with a grin, only to groan as his comment was received with a hit on the back of the head

“What the hell, Thatch?!”

She snickers at her brothers' antics and resumes running her way to Vista, joining her as they go down the gangway

“Where are we going?”

Marco looks back at the two

“I need to refill some of the medical supplies; after that, we need to stack up on drinks,” Marco answered, looking down at the list he held in his hands

She jumps her way to Marco, hanging from his shoulder to take a look at the note

“What’s gunpowder? And what the hell is whetstone?” the girl asked, squinting at the words in the note

“Language,” muttered Marco, giving a side eye to the kid on his shoulder

“Whetstones are used to sharpen swords, Dokucha; I need it to sharpen my swords; the one we have has grown dull,” Vista answered

“Hehehehe, Can I have the swords when you sharpen them?”

“Certainly not.”

“Just for a little bit, just want to test them; how do you know if they go through the skin if you don’t try it?” She grinned, a maniacal look growing in her eyes

“Who are you trying this on?!”

“I can find people to stab real quick; you won’t miss them.”

“No”

“I can use the blood of our enemies.”

“Still no.”

“Bah, what about gunpowder?”

“It’s used for firing weapons like my pistols,” Izou replied, showing the kid his pistols as he said that

“No.”

“Din’t even ask!”

“Don’t need to; you wouldn’t be allowed.”

“Ugh, party poopers,” she whined, sticking her tongue at the two

They roll their eyes at her antics, a chuckle escaping Vista as he shakes his head

“You’re quite something, Dokucha,” Marco stated, putting the note away and beginning to make his way into town

“I wouldn’t trust you with a wea- Agh!” His words were cut off as one of the locals knocked into him, causing him to stumble slightly in surprise

“Watch where you’re walking, dumbass,” they growl, continuing their way deeper into town

“…”

“Stab, Stab?” She said, not taking her eyes off the person as they walked away, an ominous-looking smile growing on her face

“Leave them,” Marco groaned, brushing himself off

“But they deserve it to have their blood splattered!”

“They are not worth it,” Vista sighed, shaking his head

“It’s fine. Let them have their rude ways; they hardly deserve any of your attention,” Izou added

“Don’t let people like that bother you, Dokucha; people like that enjoy pushing people around. It’s best not to waste your time with them,” Vista finished

“They were rude; come on, just one stab! I’ll make the prettiest painting with their blood.”

“No”

“No one will mis-

“Absolutely not”

Everyone would be hap-

“Just drop it.”

“Come o-

The three stated their answers firmly, all three sharing a similar tone that told him there was no room for discussion

“Party poopers”

Again thank you for asking nicely, I have no problem publishing a piece again with the pronouns changed for you guys as long as you guys asked nicely! So don’t be afraid to ask, it’s an easy fix!

Taglist:

@imaginarydreams

@amethystviolin

@h0n3y-l3m0n05

[fortheloveofexy]

Can we have some aaron hc 🥺🥺

Absolutely you can!! :D

Aaron Minyard Headcanons

He has an eidetic memory just like Andrew does - it's the only reason he's still able to pass his pre-med classes while being a student athlete, partying every weekend and dealing with mafia bullshit/murder charges (Neil just never notices because he has Andrew Minyard Tunnel Vision)

Half of his anger at Andrew over killing Tilda is because Andrew robbed him of the chance to finally stand up to his mother on his own terms. (The other half is that Aaron still craved her affection and approval, no matter how much she'd hurt him).

He didn't meet Nicky until Tilda relocated them to South Carolina, and only briefly, since Nicky left for Germany shortly after and was disowned by Luther and Maria upon his return.

After he left to study abroad Germany, Aaron didn't get to see Nicky again until after Tilda's funeral. After Nicky was disowned, Aaron was subjugated to endless rants from his mother and uncle about how Nicky had "strayed from God" and had "chosen a sinful lifestyle". Maria never joined in on the rants; she simply acted as if her only son was dead.

Desperate for his mother's approval and love, Aaron agreed without ever really questioning what it was Nicky had done that was so bad.

A large part of his sour attitude towards Nicky's sexuality stems from the fact that by choosing Erik, Nicky had inadvertently left Aaron to fend for himself. At the time, Aaron was too young to understand that Nicky was also drowning - all he could see was that Nicky had left him for some stranger. By the time Nicky came back for the twins, the resentment had already long since grown

He's grey ace, which he didn't realize until he overheard Neil explaining his experiences with attraction to Matt. Neil put into words what Aaron had long felt but could never quite articulate. It drives him crazy that he has this in common with Neil and he refuses to ever mention it to him.

He and Kevin had a drunken make out session one (1) time. They never speak of it - largely because Aaron is too embarrassed and Kevin just doesn't remember.

He's also mildly sex repulsed. Discussions of sex in general make him deeply uncomfortable, and it takes him a long time before he feels okay with going past kissing with Katelyn. Even then, there are days where sex holds zero appeal for him (Katelyn doesn't mind, she's content just to cuddle and talk).

Most of his friends are from outside the Foxes - mainly cheerleaders or people he met in study groups - and he acts very differently around them than he does with his family and team.

To his non-Fox friends, Aaron is relaxed, intelligent and has a wicked dry sense of humor.

His friend group grows even bigger once Andrew agrees to end the deal. Of all the Foxes, his social circle is probably the biggest.

He gets along quite well with Matt. They play games and hang out together, especially once they start sharing a room.

After Randy hugs him and tells him she's proud of him, his friendship with Matt only deepens.

Katelyn's friends didn't approve of him at first, but once she started bringing him around and he started to come out of his shell more, they warmed up to him quickly. It helped that Aaron practically worships the ground Kate walks on.

Katelyn's dad doesn't approve of him at all. He holds a grudge against Aaron for the murder charges and is praying on his downfall, right up until Aaron and Kate get engaged and Katelyn finally puts her foot down.

Her little sister loves Aaron though. She especially loves to pester him. Aaron doesn't quite know what to make of it at first, but Katelyn tells him it's a good thing so he just accepts it and pesters her right back.

He and Katelyn have twin girls. They stick to the tradition of giving both girls "A" names.

Becoming a father terrifies Aaron, right up until the girls are born. Luckily for him, Matt gives great parenting advice (he and Dan were the first to have kids).

[brucewaynehater101]

DC Santa is a troll so when he knows he's going to die and he sends his powers to the young heroes he knows he's about to traumatize, he tweaks things just a little, he's got the time after all, he goes all over the world in a night, the comet is in slow motion to him, not that he'd move, and these little chaotic gremlins have been so good despite everything life has thrown at him and he really owes them quite a backlog of gifts

While Santa may go to apocalypse every year, he goes nowhere near Gotham

To Tim, Tim knows everyone's deepest desire with a look, this ability is especially effective in December. Tim becomes the master of picking out the best holiday and birthday presents

Cassie can speak and understand ALL the languages she comes across

People now automatically have some level of trust towards Greta, know that she's a nice person who would protect them to the best of her ability, had she stayed in the superhero community, she would have attained dick grayson levels of trust among the other capes

Kon has a sense of who's on the naughty list and who's on the nice list, makes it easier to steer away from creepers now who would take advantage of him since it's not like he has a grown up to help him figure that out

Bart is even faster and yet his metabolism is evened out a bit, he's less desperately hungry all the time, can get away with just snacks instead of eating an entire all you can eat buffet, though he's still capable of that, and he has even more of a sweet tooth than before

Slobo is capable of lifting even more than Lobo, the sort of strength and balance one would need to carry a sack filled with presents for the world, or the universe

Anita gets a knack for Christmas magic, the little illusions that bring a little extra joy to a person's life and when she and Tim collaborate they find they can put into motion butterfly effects, tiny actions that cause huge, joyous results, and Anita's gingerbread houses never rot

Cissie gets the anonymity, there are so many Santas but no one could ever tell you which one is real, in the future she never has to worry about someone connection her heroic past to her civilian present, except for her friends of course

I love this AU/hc so much, and how you included more than just the core four for it.

For Tim, I know he's absolutely using that power of his for no good. He uses it to make villains (and some Bats) cry when he mentions or even gets them their deepest desire. I am curious if the deepest desire is only for physical stuff or for the unattainable too (like I bet Dick would love to do a Flying Graysons routine with his parents one more time).

I love Cassie's cause she probably freaks the JL out when she starts speaking thr same dialect of an alien species no one has even heard of before.

Greta's is perfect. I hope she finds lots of use for it in her retirement. I would love a spin off of her just utilizing that power when she goes to college, gets a job, etc.

Kon's makes me want to cry. It's amazing for him, but the reasoning is so sad. I hope YJ is able to help him and that he's better able to take care of himself with this.

I like to imagine Anita's parents/kids looking up to her in amazement as her gingerbread house still stays standing after 5 months.

I'm glad Bart has more choice in his need to eat. Tim probably helps him by buying lots of food, but it's nice that Bart, in this AU, doesn't have to constantly be eating as much.

I don't know as much about Slobo (which is a damn right shame), but it seems DC did him dirty (something about him slowly dying and then sacrificing himself???). Anyways, I hope his strength helps him feel more reassured with himself and confident. I hope he can use it to uplift those he cares about.

Cissie's sounds great. There's tons of stories about the price of fame being a lack of privacy. With this, maybe she'll be able to have a normal life as well

[taesanluv3r]

flower shop confessions.

kim woonhak x reader

another woonhak love confession story 😭 im sorry im just really obsessed w the idea of woonhak telling his crush he likes her and it cld go so many ways and i feel like i HAVE to put all my ideas out there TT ALSO this is rlly ass cause im still on my trip and didnt bring my laptop so pls pls excuse the spelling mistakes / grammatical errors 💔 i just REALLY needed to write this 😭😭 okay lowercase intended, pls enjoy <3

wc: 1,531

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖

listen to 1980s horror film by wallows while reading...!

he didn't know what it was. maybe it was the way she said his name, the way each syllable ran smoothly out of her mouth. perhaps it was the concern on her face when his clumsy self tripped over his own shoelaces, and the constant nagging and scolding she'd give him afterwards. it could be just…her in general. the way her hair fell down below her shoulders, how she wore her clothes in such a way so she wouldn't look as short as she really was. whatever it was, kim woonhak was completely and utterly, ridiculously in love with her...with yn ln.

yet he was absolutely oblivious.

sure he knew he felt something, why else would his heart beat faster when she was nearby? why on earth would his ears perk up upon hearing her name? even worse when he hears her voice. but the idiot was nothing more than a child, an immature little prick who couldn’t quite grasp the concept of being in love. these feelings confused him, there was no way he could understand them himself, he needed some help.

“what’s up, kid?”

myung jaehyun. arguably the best person to ask for advice from, and historically the worst! but hey, you live and you learn; not with jaehyun though, there is not a single thought in his head. “hyung i need your help, i was gonna ask taesan hyung but i figured he’d make fun of me…” he spoke naturally, not an ion of nervousness in his voice, but this was before he started to think about her again. “it’s yn, yn ln” he began, heart beating faster already. jae nodded his head slightly, allowing the younger boy to continue.

“i don’t know how i feel about her. i don’t think i like her like that, but whenever she’s around i just get so nervous and my whole body gets on this fight or flight mode. she makes me so…breathless? yeah, it’s like she physically stabbed me in the gut and stole all of my organs. i don’t get it, i used to be able to talk to her so easily but nowadays i just…can’t? not without panicking inside and stuttering. she’s ruining my cool guy persona!!! what do i do!?”

the senior boy let out a chuckle, finding the junior’s rant and obvious infatuation for the girl a little bit hysterical. woonhak was even more lost now, lifting an eyebrow up in utter confusion when his friend finally calmed himself down. “look kid, it’s obvious you have feelings for her. and it’s okay to not know what that feeling is. just go with your gut on this, and if you’re still unsure…give it a couple days and when you’re really desperate, tell her. tell her all the things you told me. i can’t guarantee you any great outcome, but maybe it’ll help” the younger boy nodded, bidding the myung guy goodbye before leaving the highschool’s library and deciding to get some fresh air on his walk home.

about halfway through his walk he felt a wave of goosebumps wash over his skin; it was odd considering the fact that the weather was exceptionally warmer today, not to mention the boy wore his school’s varsity jacket. what in the world could have caused this? and that’s when she saw her.

he sighed, the yellow-ish tint of the pretty fairy lights that combed the roof of the flower shop on the street illuminated against her skin. her hair had seemingly grown a little longer overnight, he’d know, for he remembered rather clearly that it hadn’t reached her collarbones the way it did today the day before. it was nearly six pm, but the girl still wore the star academy uniform, a white button-up with the red and blue skirt with her black sweater layered on top. she worked at the rose-scented shop after her lessons right after school three times a week, and today just so happened to be one of those days…

she was pretty, he has always thought so. ever since they bumped into each other at school one day, and coincidentally she moved into the same neighbourhood as him the next week. he had talked to her before, in fact, they were rather close. it was only recently he had been feeling different, just the mere sight of her sent grumbly butterflies to overflow his stomach. even when she did the most mundane things, like tie up her hair or take pictures of the pretty sunset, or like right now; helping some old lady pick the perfect flowers for a large bouquet…yn ln made kim woonhak’s heart melt into pieces.

he didn’t know how he got there, he must’ve been too deep in his thoughts to notice that his feet had taken him into the flower shop. the ding of the bell atop the door shook him out of his trance, and alerted the female worker. his friend, but as of right now he wanted her to be something more. “woonhak! just got back from dance practice? i hear the team has a competition at the end of the month” yn was cheerful as she rearranged some of the lavender that was left on her counter from her last customer. “mhmm, practice is going really good, heard you’re doing the decoration and costume for us?” his sentence came out breathier than usual, it was the unconscious worry that he’d say something wrong. she nodded before she began to silently sing along to the songs that shuffled from her playlist.

~ she was only seventeen, oh why are girls in songs always seventeen? ~

“is there anything i could help you with?” she asked, 1980s horror film by wallows blasting out of the vintage speaker she bought at a thrift store the other day. “yeah um, i thought, while i’m here, i should be a good child and get my mom some flowers. but if i’m honest, i don’t know what to get” he chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head while she mirrored his movement; except she actually had an itch on her neck. “hmm, well your mom seems like a young soul who’s got a big heart. so i’d go with the poppies, lilies and ranunculus. they symbolise youth, innocence, grace and…what was it? oh! and joy”

she looked so passionate when she spoke, and after he had agreed with her choices, kim began to stare. not in a creepy way, of course. rather, he was enchanted by her focus; her tongue stuck out as she arranged the flowers, and he noticed her little huffs in annoyance when the loose strands of hair fell against her face. she looked so…in her element and all the boy could think was…’shit, she’s perfect’

~ she was from a movie scene, and now she plays in my head all day ~

“alright, here you go!” yn smiled brightly, handing the boy the bouquet and the pennies of change. “ah, thank you so much!” he mimicked her grin, heart-eyes all too obvious as he retrieved the flowers from her grasp. “anything else i could help you with?” she asked finally, tilting her head slightly as she did so. now was his chance, he’d have to play it smooth…it was now or never, kim woonhak had to confess.

he thought about his next move as if he were playing a game of chess. the advice he had gotten from jaehyun earlier retrograded in his mind. then he remembered where he stood, and i don’t mean that as in mentally, i mean physically; in a flower shop. just perfect.

“yeah, so basically i’m in love with this girl, and i wanted to know if there was a flower to say…eternal love? or you know, something of that sense” smooth one woonhak, smooth. there was a slight frown that casted upon the girl’s face, but before he could ask her what was wrong, she had straightened herself out and began helping him out. “yes! um- red roses, they’re a classic for this…here, i just un-thorned this one” her voice came out quieter, juxtaposing the way she usually was. instead of worrying him, her reaction gave him a slight bit of hope. he grabbed the single rose from her, thanking her before he pretended to leave. once he was at the foot of the door he turned on his heels,

"oh!"

he exclaimed, walking back towards her counter when she lifted an eyebrow at him in confusion. “this is for you, actually…so um, call me?” and he handed her back the rose, shooting her a crooked smile and quick wink before pacing out of the store to save himself from further embarrassment, just in the case that she didn’t feel the same.

later that evening, when kim woonhak laid on his comfy bed, the one with the tayo the little bus bed sheets he's had for ages, he felt a sickening feeling of nerves racking throughout his body. she still hasn’t called or texted. but all that worry was to be washed away when his phone chimed a familiar sound.

yn (pls love me 💔):

i love you too, woonhak <3 see you at school tomorrow? and thank u for the rose 🌹

...

SCORE!

the end.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖

LMAOAOAO this was so random idk 😭 again sorry if this sucks balls im still away n dont have my laptop </3 love u guys tysm for reading. feedback n reblogs r greatly appreciated!! love, kona.

[wheneverfeasible]

wc: 2.3k || rating: T || cw: none || summary: Jim Hopper and Will Byers have a bonding moment post-S4. pre-Byler || now on ao3

Jim wouldn’t say that it wasn’t an adjustment. Of course it was.

It had been easier with Eleven because, though it had been years, he’d once been a dad to a little girl before too. Not that El was anything like Sarah had been, and Jim had made absolute fucking certain El knew that she was not in any way a replacement for Sarah, but she was still a little girl. Or had been, at least.

Still was in a lot of ways, but she was growing up. Still needed her dad though, that much had become certain from the moment they reunited. He was just happy that Joyce had been there for her, had all but already been her mom even before he and Joyce finally became a thing.

And they did become a Thing. It took some doing with having to come back from the dead, with the Byers moving back to Hawkins, and with figuring themselves all out as they settled into this new normal. El had become a part of the Byers family, and sure Jim had his and El’s cabin, but it wasn’t really fit for so many people. So, with a little assistance from the US Government who owed them for an entire lifetime of pain and terror, they bought a new house.

Jim remembered when he used to live in a trailer by the lake, and here he was now living in a sprawling goddamn near-mansion in Loch Nora, not too far down from the Harrington residence actually. It was a gorgeous two-story, five bedroom, three and a half bathroom house with its own pool, and plenty of space for all the kids when they inevitably came to visit. It was…a lot, sometimes. More than Jim was used to, but he never regretted what it meant to be with Joyce.

Even if it was an adjustment.

Jim had, quite quickly, gone from being a single parent with one daughter to a stepfather of sorts to two boys, one of them already grown. He could tell that it was an adjustment to the boys as well, whose last experience with a male figure was Bob Newby who hadn’t been more than just their mom’s boyfriend.

And sure, it wasn’t like he and Joyce were married or anything. They were still getting used to the idea of simply being together themselves, but there was years of history between them, even before all this shit with the Upside Down. What’s more, Jim couldn’t take El away from the family she made with the Byers, so it only made sense to move in together. Make up for lost time.

He could tell it was awkward for the boys as much as it was for him, though Jonathan and him had reached some kind of understanding and bonding due to the boy’s age and the fact that they’d sneak off away from Joyce to smoke pot together occasionally. It was different with Will, however.

Jim could tell he was…maybe wary wasn’t quite the right word, but it was close enough. Jim knew he wasn’t the kind of softness that Bob had been, knew that Russia had changed him further, sharpening bits of himself and hardening others. He was learning to move past that though, surprisingly enough with Steve Harrington of all people and that Robin Buckley girl. They’d talked about it, finally having someone else who understood, and it…it helped.

Living so close to the Harringtons, Steve started coming around a lot more often, helping Joyce out with the kids, or shooting the shit with Hopper. Sometimes Robin joined him, sometimes not. He made certain the girl knew she was always welcome, however, with or without Steve, after she had confessed that she felt like she didn’t deserve to be part of the discussion because the Russians never hit her. He made damn certain she knew that there was more than just one type of torture.

So yeah, Jim was doing better, settling back into his normal (or as normal as it got) life, taking up work as a private investigator, though Cal had offered him his job as chief back. Jim didn’t want it anymore, however, and with the tidy sum of money the government gave to the Hopper-Byers family, he wasn’t in desperate need of money as he worked out his new occupation. He had agreed to help out, unofficially, when needed, however.

It left him time to get used to his new family dynamic, however. To be there for El, Joyce, and the boys, though Jonathan seemed to finally start relaxing again now that the Vecna creep was well and truly gone.

But still Will was hesitant with him, not quite timid but watchful. Especially when Mike was over. Jim always had to suppress a sigh at that. He had thought that he was in the clear once El and the twerp broke up, but no such luck apparently.

And Jim knew. He recalled Joyce’s words, knew what that asshole Lonnie had called the boy, and before it might have been explained away from the kid just being a gentle soul when he was younger, but there was no denying the way that Will looked at Mike. Worse, the way Mike looked at Will. He wanted to grumble, put off by the disrespect shown towards El even though she had been the one to break things off, but El had assured him that she was fine.

Jim knew how he looked. He was large, and while he was no longer portly, he was solid. He kept up with his exercise, even took to jogging in the morning with Steve and Lucas, and made good use of his new pool when it was warm enough to do so. Sometimes even when it wasn’t. He knew he was intimidating. He knew that to a young gay kid whose own father had spouted hate, it had to be scary.

He also didn’t want to out the poor kid, however. Right now it was technically only conjecture. Just an idea. He wasn’t trying to be the kid’s dad. He knew he couldn’t force himself into that position. The kid was grown enough to not need him to, after all.

But…he wanted Jonathan and Will both to know that he was there for them, whenever and whatever they needed. Jim had no problem with alternative lifestyles. As long as his kids were safe and happy, that was all that mattered.

So Jim tried to soften himself some, joked and teased Will like he did with El, made it obvious that he was in it until the end, that whether or not he and Joyce ever got married, they were his in whatever capacity they let him have them. And slowly, ever so slowly, Will began opening up to him.

It started with his artwork. He’d painted a portrait of the family, all five of them, as a Mother’s Day present for Joyce. He showed Jim first, asking his opinion and obviously nervous about it, but Jim could only praise the work with genuine compliments. He even joking said he might just have to pay Will to do a portrait for his office like those fancy muckity mucks.

Will then surprised him, on Father’s Day, with a portrait of his own. Jim was not ashamed to say that it brought tears to his eyes, and he promptly hung it up in a place of honor.

From then on, things got a little more comfortable, and Will even joined him and the others on their morning jogs sometimes, or some of the other exercises Jim partook in. Slowly Will even started filling out, and he could tell it helped the boy’s confidence some, though he also noticed it made Mike stare more too.

Jim wasn’t stupid. Though there had been a period of time where he didn’t give a shit, where he drank his life away through heartbreak and barely existed, he had still been a cop. And a damn good one once he got a scent. He could piece together clues and figure things out and see what others didn’t want you to see.

It was why, one summer afternoon while Will was sprawled on chair beside him by the pool, watching fucking Mike bellyflop after a failed jump that may or may not have been caused by El, with the puppiest of lovesick eyes that Jim had finally had enough. He sighed heavily, causing Will to glance at him, and he shook his head at the lost cause.

“Really, kid? Wheeler?” he lightly complained. He didn’t look at Will, but he could see him freeze in his peripheral vision, could feel the fear wafting off of him. Jim didn’t react to it, just took a sip of his beer before letting out another sigh. “I guess I am destined to have Wheeler as a fu—freaking in-law. But truly, kid,” he said, and finally looked at Will and ignored his wide eyes to lightly clap a hand on his knee. “You could do so much better.”

Will flinched, ever so slightly, at Jim’s hand moving towards him, and he seemed to be holding his breath, but Jim didn’t let it hurt him. Too much. It was understandable why he’d think someone like Jim, a former cop, might have some hidden prejudices. So he just squeezed Will’s knee before releasing it and settling back into his chair.

But Will just continued staring at him, blinking slowly, before his face slowly went from deathly pale to flushed pink. “I—” he started to squeak out, before clearing his throat and beginning to fidget with his own can of pop. He looked down, hunching his shoulders, before glancing back over at Jim. “I’m…he doesn’t…it’s not…”

“Will,” Jim said, fixing the boy with a look that caused him to snap his jaw shut. “What part of our family is normal?” His raised his brows and spread out a hand to indicate the pool and yard full of their massive found family, something even Jim hadn’t thought possible. “Your sister can literally kill people with her mind,” he dryly pointed out.

That caused Will to snort, a hesitant smile curling his lips. “That’s…fair,” he allowed carefully.

“Your paramour’s sister is probably a better shot than I am,” Jim continued without any ill will towards that. It was mostly the truth. “I’m somewhat friends with a Russian former prison guard. And there’s…” His eyes closed as though it was painful to admit. “Murray.”

Will let out a real laugh at that, before he looked away with an embarrassed look. “He’s not my…paramour,” he said, rolling his eyes at the last word.

“But you want him to be.” It wasn’t a question. Will looked up at Jim again, and though there was still that sense of wariness, Jim could see a small spark of hope in his eyes.

“That doesn’t…gross you out?”

“Oh it definitely grosses me out,” Jim said easily, but continued on before Will could become upset. “But just because it’s Mike. It grossed me out when El liked him too.” Will covered his mouth when a startled laugh left him, causing Jim to grin.

He glanced over at Joyce when he felt her eyes on him, and he gave her a small wink and nod. Her eyes moved towards Will, seeing his shocked and cautiously happy expression, and understanding dawned on her own face. She smiled at him, and even from here he could see her eyes shine with unshed tears before she turned back to her conversation with Robin and Steve.

Turning back to Will, Jim tried to offer an easy, open smile. By the way Will’s shoulders untensed, he thought he had to have succeeded at least a little bit. “You know more than just about anyone how short and precarious life can be. Why waste it judging someone for who they love, the way they were born? Just as pointless as judging them for the color of their skin.”

Jim indicated across the way with his beer can where Erica was sassing Lucas and Dustin about something. “You don’t judge the Sinclairs, do you?”

“Of course not,” Will rushed to say with a small frown. “They’re some of my best friends.”

“And you’re my…” Jim hesitated. He didn’t want to overstep, but…there was no denying he loved Joyce. For him, she was it, and that meant her kids were too. Just as his was hers. Whether or not he and Joyce ever got married, these were his kids now.

Jim looked at Will, who was looking back at him with that wary hopefulness again. He forced himself to expose some vulnerability, letting out a soft sigh as he moved to ruffle the boy’s hair who was probably a little too old to have his hair ruffled.

“And you’re my kid,” he finished, his voice a little gruff, though he’d deny it was from emotion. Or that said emotion bubbled up inside him again at the wide smile Will gave him. He cleared his throat, turning his gaze towards Mike and swallowing down another grimace. Christ.

“You like who you like. Anyone who causes you grief about that can come talk to me.” He let his gaze sweep over the party, taking in Joyce, Jonathan, Steve, El, even Mike, and all the others too. “And trust me. There’s gonna be a whole line behind me.”

Will flushed a little, chewing his bottom lip as he followed Jim’s line of sight. He hesitated, seemed to be bracing himself, and drew in a deep breath. “I’m gay,” he softly said, and the words sounded heavy on his tongue for how light he suddenly seemed after staring those two words that were anything but small or simple in a town like Hawkins.

“I know, son,” Jim murmured, and he leaned back in his chair as Will did the same, a relieved smile lighting the young man’s face as he relaxed fully and completely next to Jim for the first time. “I know.”

-

tagged: @derythcorvinus

[hanasnx]

Omg what is starlet reader was ewans daughter and Hayden used to babysit her when she was a kid

MINORS DNI 18+ NOTES: i rly liked this concept :) feel free to ask me about it more! i think this was a good broad start to it WARNINGS: dead dove do not eat | age gap | dark content proceed with caution | there is absolutely no predatory acts mentioned, but because the situation is inherently predatory i'm tagging it | sexual content at the end | implied smut | no y/n

! ── "Yeah, no problem. We'll stay on site at my trailer, order a pizza. How hard could it be?" HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN assures Ewan, who frowns at him in response, clearly amused. "Alright, I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." he pats Hayden on the back as he exits, and when he gestures to you, he tells you a simple "Be good." Your complexion flushes when Hayden lays eyes on you. "You ready?"

! ── "I don't need a babysitter." you tell him as he picks up a slice of pizza from the box, the strings of cheese stretching thin until they break. You have a raging, hormonal and proximity induced crush on your dad's co-star. Not to mention he's a total babe, and so kind. Desperately, you want him to see you as independent, as cooler than you are. You think he's so grown up even though he's barely older than a legal adult. "Sure you don't. We're hanging out." he replies so easily that you almost believe him, even though he's only saying it to make you feel better.

! ── You've always been so standoffish with him. You found any excuse to be around him, but you'd jade yourself out of fear he'd find out your embarrassing feels for him. Often you'd fantasize about him confessing his love to you— but had no idea how problematic that'd be if he did. Now, you're inside his trailer, alone with him, and he's coaxing you out of your shell by making you play one of his video games. It smells like a boy's room in here. "Ugh! I'm no good at this!" you cry, throwing your hands down into your lap. Frustrated over your lack of progress, you've been going around in circles in this mission for what felt like hours. It exacerbated your already heightened stress levels around him. Would he think less of you for not doing well? "Wait a second, hold on," His voice is surprisingly soothing, muffled by the pizza crust stuck in between his molars like a cigar. You don't realize it's because he's resisting the urge to leave you here when he steps outside to smoke. He promised he'd keep an eye on you, so that's what he's doing. Besides, he doesn't wanna be a bad influence on you. He reaches over, and you relinquish the controller to him, his hand grazing yours in the process. "Let's see here..." Instead of paying attention to the screen, you stare at where the point of contact was. "There, see? You had it." he tells you, handing you back the controller after he'd gotten you past your obstacle.

! ── It would be several years before you'd see Hayden again, but you didn't forget him or his extraordinary kindness. He had a way with words, a way of making you feel heard and important. That doesn't change at all— he hasn't changed at all. Besides the way he looks at you now that you're all grown up, established in the world as your own person. Ewan thinks to reintroduce you to Hayden, but he didn't forget your name. Exclaiming it even as he pulls you into a polite embrace, relaying to you he hardly recognized you, that you look great, etc. Just like that, your raging crush is back. Like it never left.

! ── It picks at you until you act on it, until you confess to Hayden you've always had a thing for him. You're both older now, which means you're not so ashamed of yourself, but can look back on it as normal childhood feelings. You're thankful your fantasies were never answered until now. "A crush? On me?" he asks in entertained disbelief, gesturing to himself. "Yes! Obviously," you insist, "You were always so nice to me. Watching out for me when my dad was working later than he thought. How could I not? C'mon," "I'm not judging you," he assures, and he shrugs, "I just... didn't know is all." It's apparent he doesn't know what to do with this information. "Does that make you uncomfortable?" "Yes and no." "Why?" He meets your eyes. There's a tentativeness to his countenance, a debate behind his gaze over whether or not he should say his next words, if they're appropriate, if they'll be received well. "Because I've got a crush on you now."

! ── Going through your normal stages of adolescence, experiencing the journey of discovering your sexuality, exploring it as an adult with your own autonomy— there was always that inkling in the back of your mind reminding you of your lingering childhood crush on Hayden Christensen. How you've never felt anything for anyone as intensely as you did for him. Those buried feelings manifest when you finally allow them to roam, sweeping you up and away. He'd invited you to his trailer to catch up, and you end up on top of him.

[gliphyartfan]

Gliphy, I love how you're feeding us good lately. That being said... *Desperately hold out a measuring cup* Sugar please?

How does the Chain feel about marriage? Do they all agree to share (Y/N) (if she even agrees to it at all) or have they accepted that maybe seeing her walk down the aisle is off the table? How would starting a family work for them?

Oooh, toughie….

(For answering purposes, Wind is grown up here!)

Another long one…meh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I mean most of the heroes would reluctantly agree to share her, putting aside rivalries to ensure she’s as happy as possible.

Time and Warriors would definitely insist on ground rules to avoid competition between them getting out of hand.

They’d ultimately want to present a united front and show that they can prioritize her happiness over their own possessive feelings.

Buuut despite this agreement, let’s face it, some rivalry would still linger, particularly between Wild and Sky, who both have strong feelings and aren’t afraid to subtly (or not-so-subtly) try to win her favor.

For a proposal? They’d likely collaborate on a massive, unforgettable proposal, each hero bringing something unique to make it special. Time might carve a ring, Wild would prepare a feast, and Sky might craft a small wooden carving symbolizing their love. They’d all want to contribute to the memory of that moment

The wedding itself would be an elaborate event, something reflective of both (y/n)’s world and Hylian traditions.

Or a small one if that’s what she prefers.

They’d want to make sure that she feels truly cherished and would honor any customs from her world if they know they’re meaningful to her.

They’d each insist on making vows. (Because of course)

Some, like Twilight and Four, might craft sentimental promises, while Wild and Twilight’s might be more heartfelt and grounded in their experiences with you.

Now…

If she DIDN’T accept.

Some of them, like Wild, Wind and Four, would come to terms with it more easily, respecting her wishes while promising that they’d stand by her forever, even without a formal commitment.

Time, Warriors, Twilight, Legend, and Sky might feel more disappointed, struggling with the idea of never fully ‘claiming’ her. (The possessive gremlins)

Of course They’d still show her through actions how deeply they care, subtly hinting that their offer is always open.

For Hyrule, this would be especially difficult, as he sees (y/n) as the closest thing to a fairytale come true. He’d likely feel some hurt but would ultimately accept that simply being near her is (has to be) enough.

They’d still be devoted and protective, willing to fight for her and protect her just as much as if she HAD married them. To them, marriage or not, she’s theirs in spirit, and they’d make sure she knows that.

And with no marriage to bind them, rivalries could be harder to suppress. (Cause they never know if she may change her mind and THEY want to be the apple of her eye)

Time and Warriors would likely take the role of mediators, ensuring that any competitiveness remains good natured and doesn’t cross any lines

Legend might throw a few jabs or sarcastic remarks at the others, particularly Wild or Sky, but as I said, he’d ultimately respect her decision. Twilight would be slightly more possessive but would keep his feelings in check, out of respect for her boundaries.

For kids?

If they got married, having children would be a more interesting issue.

Some, like Wild, Sky, Hyrule and Twilight, would be excited to start a family, (some absolutely more than the others, which is saying something).

while others, like Legend and Warriors, might need more convincing, uncertain about raising children in their unique situation. (If they settled down already though, they’d be over the moon)

If they didn’t get married and she still wanted children in the future…well…

She doesn’t have to look far to find willing participants~

….ALSO TWILIGHT WEAVES HER BABY CRADLES.

He learns from Uli and I will NOT accept any other headcanon for that!

[hushhushplzzz]

An Underrated Rina Moment II

(and an exploration on Terri’s shifting perspective on Gina and Ricky and Gina&Ricky and how that is largely due to the Ricky Effect)

(aaaand a slight defence of Terri Porter; don’t kill me lol)

Ricky’s super power is 100% the ability to charm the pants off the most prickly, scary, take no ish, rough around the edges, I-wear-the-pants divas and it’s hilarious. All three of the girlboss characters in the show, Gina, Lily, and Dani, became romantically interested in him, and it’s because he exudes trophy boyfriend, malewife, earnest puppy dog vibes and their instinct tells them he’s their compatible opposite.

Ricky has a habit of melting the hearts of the most prickly of women, and Terri Porter is no exception. She was definitely charmed by his care for her daughter, both when he sassed her and when he professed his love in front of the press conference.

But joking aside, Ricky managed to change Terri’s mind about him in only half a day, 1.5 conversations, and a declaration of love. And that’s because, much like he did for Gina, Ricky was the connecting point—a bridge, a catalyst—that allowed Terri Porter to finally reconcile the old Gina she knew with the current Gina who’d grown and become a stronger version of her former self.

And this is why this moment hits so juicy to me:

Will come back to this in a bit!

Incredibly long post ahoy :3

I’ve watched s4 about 8 times now, and I’ve come to the conclusion I actually kind of like Terri Porter as a character.

(Yes, controversial, I know. Please put down the pitchforks 😅).

Don’t get me wrong, she could definitely learn a thing or twenty from Michelle Greene (who wins Best Mom Award™, no contest), but Terri is a well-written archetype of the Overbearing Mother. And having grown up with a similar type of mom, it was pretty refreshing to see a storyline of someone navigating that type of relationship with their own mother and how it affected their upbringing. And above that, it was even more refreshing to see Terri’s mentality start to transform.

With Terri, undoubtedly, her motivations and her love for daughter inspire her actions, however questionable those actions may be. But she clearly wants nothing more than her daughter to be successful and become a star as she was always meant to be. As Michelle and Lynne stated during the HSM 3 performance, kids don’t know how much their parents worry about them. And Terri, no matter how misguided, I truly believe that is how she translates her uncontested love and worry for Gina, through pushing her to be the best and extremely successful. Terri just has a homogenous view of what constitutes success and primarily attributes success to the amount of tangible ambitions and subsequent accomplishments fulfilled.

Is this the best way to approach raising children? No; too much and this is how kids develop anxiety and imposter syndrome, among other issues.

Should Terri let Gina make decisions about what’s best for her in her own time? Absolutely.

But do I understand where Terri is coming from by pushing about New Zealand? Very much, yes.

Terri Porter has tunnel vision and singleminded focus on the future. A mentality of eyes on the prize and a focus on securing future goals. She views each action taken in life as yet another step up the stairwell leading one to their ultimate goal/success. It’s an admirable quality to have—the ability to plan so substantially every step you take to reach the top of your goals—but that tunnel vision often prevents one from living in the moment, or in Terri’s case, from seeing the importance of Gina’s journey to growth and balance and not just the final destination.

She raised Gina with this mentality and this is the root of where overly ambitious Gina 1.0 comes from: the desperate pursuit for lead through sabotage and manipulation, only for her to realise it wasn’t what she’d been looking for at the time. (Now confirmed to have been purpose and acceptance that she was actually seeking.)

But don’t get me wrong about Gina: she wanted a stable community and people who saw her and understood her, but she herself is also a naturally ambitious, driven girl who has the chops and desire to go after her dreams with no hesitation. She gets straight As, has no problem stepping into the spotlight, and is an insanely talented triple threat. Could you argue that this is potentially nurture over nature because Gina has been conditioned by her mom to be as ambitious as possible through her upbringing? Perhaps, but s2 and s3 we saw a Gina not under the influence of her mother’s overbearing nature, and we were explicitly shown how much her confidence was negatively affected by not pursuing the lead in s2 versus how well-balanced and satisfied she was in s3.

Gina is meant to be a star, and she loves the limelight and pampering of stardom. Her mother is also overbearing and pushes her to be in the limelight. They are not mutually exclusive, but undoubtedly, Gina’s motivations are still her own in a large capacity. Of all of Miss Jenn’s students, Gina is the one who acclimates to the changes with the film and navigates this new world with ease while also managing her growing fame and school with relative ease. We see Kourtney struggle with college apps and the filming, even almost dropping out of HSM 3; Carlos quits being Miss Jenn’s assistant; Ricky is trying hard to accommodate change, but it makes him uncomfortable.

(And Ashlyn is just a hot mess overall because of Maddox 😂).

Gina is on top of everything, though, and is in her element and doing amazing to boot, but the caveat to that is she’s found balance and has a loving and supportive community courtesy of her golden retriever boyfriend and the theatre crew family with which she’s strengthened bonds.

But Terri was not there for that journey in s2 and s3, a roughly 7 to 8 month interval of time during which Gina pushed aside her drive and was at her lowest in confidence only to figure it all out and bounce back stronger than ever. And she was not there for the fall and stronger rise again of Gina’s relationship with Ricky. So from Terri’s perspective, the last time she lived with her daughter, Gina was 1.0 and had no desires for anything but her ambitions to be the best.

I give Terri some grace, because though it really is up to her to try to learn and understand her daughter and who she is and who she is becoming—something Terri failed to do more than once—to be fair, Gina kept all these things from her. And I give Gina a lot of grace for not being able to express her truth in all this time because it can be very hard to stand up to overbearing moms who are inflexibly focused on one plan. But for someone who isn’t very observant about what is happening in the now, there was no way Terri would have ever known about all these changes and balance Gina found. And the biggest problem is that this season, Terri refused to open her eyes to see the growth Gina has exhibited to become 2.0 and therefore failed to understand her daughter.

Therefore, I can only imagine Terri’s sheer confusion and discomfort when Gina finally revealed the truth about the journey she’s been on and what has been the most influential in making her this happy every day. There’s no way it didn’t feel like it was coming out of left field for Terri—and she doesn’t get it at first—and for an overbearing, relatively inflexible mother, this type of confession would definitely inspire pushback.

Which we end up seeing.

The way I see it, Terri emphasises no boys in her lecture because she doesn’t want Gina’s success derailed by a relationship. She’s an adult who’s had two kids; I’m sure Terri knows what being in love is like, how unhinged it can make you, and the types of choices you make and types of distractions you have when you’re in love. And in one evening, her daughter, who had likely been telling her everything in the past and has always been under her thumb, tells her she’s been lying to her for months, is in a secret relationship with another boy, has been sneaking him into her room at night, and then rushes out of the house in the middle of dinner with a guest to make out with said boy in the rain.

But above that, the biggest thing is this secret boyfriend is the one person responsible for making Gina the happiest Terri has ever seen, something monumental, and Terri has never even conversed with him, let alone had a substantial, proper first introduction.

She knows nothing about him besides what Gina has likely told her—which is not a tangible thing Terri can confirm—but in her view he probably doesn’t seem driven, doesn’t seem particularly ambitious the way Gina is, hasn’t particularly made a mark on the world, and if we are to go by the implication of her “Gina has been waiting for you to step up for a long time” line, then she also has knowledge of how much pain Ricky inadvertently caused Gina in s2.

We all have seen Gina’s journey throughout the show and know this is the true Gina, but Terri was not there for those events. So from Terri’s perspective, everything she’s learned in one dinner has to have made her think these are all bad choices and decisions she incorrectly believes to be out of character for Gina. All she sees is a Gina who is hesitating and slow to sign a contract for a leading role in a big-budget movie in a way the daughter she remembers never would have. And I have no doubt that she believes that if Gina can make bad decisions like this about a boy without much thought, then she could just as easily make rash decisions that could negatively affect her future.

Like, for example: giving up a once-in-a-lifetime leading role as a brand new actress for a boy who can easily sway her to lie to her mother and sneak around behind her back.

I can only imagine the disapproving panic that started setting in because—beyond the potential implications of sneaking a boyfriend into your room at night—the optics do look pretty bad.

And that’s why I think she told Ricky about New Zealand. I really don’t think she has anything against him personally as she said. Her issues stem from his presence in her life and what that means for Gina’s future compared to Mack, which I’ll get back to a little later.

Again: Terri has tunnel vision and believes Gina has to pick either the movie or SLC. The only right choice in her mind is the movie, and she doesn’t want Ricky to be in the way of that decision because in her eyes, he will impede Gina’s success. But I still didn’t sense strong malicious intent so much as I sensed an inflexible mother trying her hardest to grasp onto the last vestiges of control over her daughter’s life however means necessary. Gina gave her heart to Ricky, and her clear love for him is enough to make Gina hesitate about the direction her career is taking her. Terri overheard Ricky preparing to tell Gina he loves her, and in my opinion was close to “panicking” over the fact that Ricky confessing could very well have been the final nail in the coffin in Gina giving up the acting gig to stay in SLC instead. This is the same mom who encouraged Gina to stay in SLC in s2 and not make any big decisions because she doesn’t know what the universe has in store for her. In Terri’s view, Gina was never attached to SLC, and now she’s having trouble leaving it because of Ricky, so the Ricky panic and pushing Gina to sign the contract faster kind of checks out.

I do believe mentioning Mack was a bit of a malicious dig though, but in the sense that she was trying to tell Ricky that he’s not on the same level as Mack and Gina in drive, ambition, and success. But I interpret her overall behaviour in that scene as a last ditch Hail Mary to try to make Ricky recognise what’s at stake for Gina and how influential his decisions could be in impacting how Gina makes her choice. Ricky, to her, is an obstacle and the biggest barrier at the moment to Gina jumping right into doing the movie so instead of approaching Gina, she opts to target Ricky to reconsider his attachment to Gina.

I truly believed her when she said she doesn’t have anything against Ricky, because it really isn’t about Ricky. It’s always about Gina—and who Terri thinks would best match Gina—and she just doesn’t get Ricky’s impact in Gina’s life because she probably never asked.

Terri, though overbearing, clearly does want what’s best for Gina’s success, but she doesn’t know what is best for Gina because she hasn’t been there enough to recognise Gina’s needs in the first place. And she tends to bulldoze over Gina, sometimes not even listening to what she has to say.

That’s why the confrontation with Ricky in Gina’s room is so, so important, because it’s the first pivotal moment where Terri is confronted for the first time on how important the theatre community is to Gina, no matter how small and non-famous. The moment she first realises why this idiot boy has such a strong impact on her daughter in the first place. The first moment she starts to see how Gina started to and had a safe, comfortable space to change. And the first moment she is met with the very real threat that Gina is no longer as tethered to Terri’s idea of success and stardom because Gina has people in her corner who she has placed at a higher ranking in importance than her mark-making goals.

Even when Ricky was being denigrated for not stepping up, his mind was still razor focused on Gina and being her biggest supporter and cheerleader. His response is very much a “you can say whatever you want about me, but I won’t tolerate you hurting Gina again” kind of thing. And however small, he did get through to Terri in some capacity. In some ways, I think he also gained a little bit of her respect with his Caucasity audacity.

This is the face she makes when he calls her out on her hypocrisy:

That’s a face of guilt with bits of shame. Maybe a bit of understanding that she deserves that one.

And these are the faces she makes when he asks her to turn around while he tries to get out:

Terri Porter is not a warm woman. She is driven, she is ambitious, and she pushes her daughter so hard because, to some extent, she likely views Gina’s success as her own too. And she wants nothing to get in that way, come hell or high water.

And yet, nothing about those expressions indicate a dislike of Ricky. If anything, I’d say she kind of looks fond, amused, or even impressed during a lot of that interaction. And there is no way Terri did not recognise at least a bit of the aspects of Ricky we viewers have watched him develop. His admirable complete devotion and protection of Gina. His drive to grow and improve so he can be a better partner to Gina. His desire to fully support her ambitions so she can become the star he knows she was always meant to be.

There’s no way that at that moment, Terri didn’t see an inkling of exactly why Gina has been so happy. There’s no way she didn’t recognise that Ricky is not just some random dude her daughter is dating for fun. This is not a similar relationship like the one she had with EJ over the summer. Ricky is the real deal. And he has potential to really damage the choices Gina can make about her life. She’s wrong, of course. Ricky is no longer the type to try to make everything else go away so he can have control and stability over his own life and relationship. But I think from that brief moment in Gina’s room, she at the very least now has the tangible evidence to back up what makes Ricky so important to Gina. And that informs her subsequent “panic” and the New Zealand reveal.

But again, she doesn’t know him. Just sees that her daughter is in love with a boy who doesn’t fit her own idea of strong future ambitions for success and thinks him unworthy and a possible deterrent to Gina becoming a star.

The thing is though, as I mentioned earlier, it’s not Ricky personally who she has a problem with: it’s what Ricky represents versus what Mack does.

Ricky is the theatre community—dinky, small school club, nondescript, can’t acquire fame through it—while Mack is the world of Hollywood—big-budget movie and fame, potential for successful stardom, glitz and glam and glory.

Until the end, she doesn’t care for the theatre community, because like most of her approach regarding success, a small school club is unlikely to match Gina’s drive and allow her to reach her fullest potential in a more public sphere.

(I’m gonna get over-analysy and philosophical for just a second).

The show, whether intentional or not, makes it a point to reflect this idea of the theatre community versus Mack/Hollywood as it pertains to Gina’s home and life. All moments with the theatre group and anyone having to do with it were relegated to scenes in Gina’s attic bedroom only. The cast reveal is in the attic, and they only got in because Emmy stole the garage code and they snuck in while no one was home. The Halloween party is not in the house proper, but confined to Gina’s attic, and Terri’s interaction with them is to remind them to keep it down. Ricky sneaks into the windows at night to see Gina and all his visits are also confined to the attic.

Compared to that, we have Mack, the representation of fame and stardom, gets full-blown concierge service of a dinner and is treated like royalty in the main part of the house. His presence is not only invited, it’s also encouraged and unhidden.

(Quick aside: after Ricky takes off during the Halloween party, we see Gina melancholic and at war with herself on the stairs, a middle ground/point between the main house and the attic. One foot in each world and a reflection of the start of the conflict she has to resolve in the second half of the season).

Following this metaphor, it reflects the view Terri has of Gina’s communities. How she disregards the theatre group and kind of ignores them, pushes them to the side in her mind. How much importance she places on Gina’s Hollywood gig, even going as far as not attending any stage performances but showing up to the movie set. I don’t think she even would have tried to watch most of the HSM 3 production had Ricky not called her out.

Terri prioritises success in a larger scheme of the world, choosing to ignore how much Gina’s community means to her and how much Gina means to the community too until the press conference. Until the moment when Gina talks about SLC being her support network and home. When Gina spontaneously changes the film location to stay in SLC so she can have both her found family and her future fame. When Ricky shows up and with no hesitation boldly declares his love for Gina. When her friends and castmates and found family (the bridesmaids and groomsmen 😜) come to the front to share in this moment and protect their moment and their moment alone from the prying eyes of the press.

It's not hard to see Gina’s sheer joy and bliss at all her dream's realised with Ricky and her community through her smile and tears, and the room is quite literally brightened up.

And Terri gets it: what Ricky was sassing her about, that Ricky wants nothing more than Gina’s happiness, and that Gina’s happiness is not just success in her ambitions but more so the people who have been there for her when Terri wasn’t there. She finally reconciles the words Gina likely told her at dinner and what Ricky alluded to with Terri’s absence from the opening nights with what she sees as tangible evidence right in front of her eyes.

So this is why this:

Is such an underrated moment for me, not just because her personal invitation is a seal of approval for their relationship and her acknowledgement that Ricky is worthy of her daughter. It’s also because Ricky is the reason why Gina found and joined this theatre community in the first place, and in many ways, represents exactly what this community means to Gina: finally being seen, known, understand, and accepted for who she is.

Terri telling Ricky he’s welcome in her home without having to sneak anymore represents to me that understanding and approval of this community to Gina, and in turn, a desire for Gina to continue to have this group present in her life. It’s Terri finally making an effort to listen to what Gina needs and wants and making the effort to accept Gina’s decisions and what makes Gina happiest with open arms.

Gina showed her that beautiful balance Gina 2.0 achieved without her mother’s influence by figuring out a way to have her cake with the movie and eating it too in SLC with her family. Something Terri would never have thought of as an option, given her tunnel vision. And this was definitely a strong factor in Terri recognising the influence and importance and benefit of Gina’s theatre community. And now that she is taking active steps to get to know Ricky and the community, I can only imagine her relationship with Gina, her relationship with Ricky, and her understanding of Gina’s relationship with Ricky will improve.

Within 12 hours, only two short prior conversations, one of which was Terri talking at Ricky, and Ricky publicly declaring his love for—and proposing to 🤭🤭🤭—her daughter, she’d changed her mind about him. Which is pretty insane to think about considering the type of mother Terri is: a bit controlling and not very flexible. And I attribute Terri’s change of heart mostly to Ricky, who put into action the words she’d heard from Gina and Ricky and showed her so easily that he has every quality she values and rewards:

Single minded focus and pursuit of a task when it counts.

Guts and gumption.

Ambition and drive to go after what he wants.

Never gives up.

Her machinations (twice!) did not deter him from expressing his utterly romantic, swoonworthy love song for Gina, and she definitely respects that. And it helped her see that Ricky’s drive is to make sure Gina is always happy and that Gina knows she’s loved and cared for.

Despite the fact that he is not a traditional “successful” by her definition, Terri still thinks and understands he’s worth the wait Gina went through since Thanksgiving s1 to finally be with the love of her life.

All this to say a woman like Terri Porter does not change her mind for any old reason—it has to be significant—and Ricky gaining her approval was such an excellent way to emphasise just how truly perfect Rina is for each other. How worthy Ricky is of Gina, not based on some arbitrary definition of success, but because of how significant he is in Gina’s journey of growth and happiness. I could go on and on about Rina being perfect soulmates, haha, but I digress. I foresee a great friendship between Ricky and Terri in the future because above all else, the both of them are driven by a staunch desire to see Gina successful and happy.

I originally was going to name this post “Ricky’s Effect on the Porter Women” because he truly does play a significant role in changing both of their perspectives. He was the first to allow Gina to find a home, a place where she can finally be known, something which kicked off her growth which ultimately gave her the strength and courage to make her choice at the end of the season. And he was the first to transform Terri’s mentality on success and the ultimate reason she finally saw the real Gina and the importance of this whole community that has impacted her life the most.

Ricky is an instrumental catalyst in both of their lives. He’s the reason why Gina stood up to her mother and stood her ground on her own desires and what is important to her. He’s the reason why Terri Porter will likely continue to learn who her daughter is from now on, step back, and trust Gina to make her own choices knowing she is safe with the friends she loves. He’s the reason Gina and Terri will be able to have a more equal, open and honest relationship where Gina’s desires are understood, listened to, and met because he won’t ever let anyone hurt Gina again. He’s the reason that Terri is starting to understand and reconcile who her daughter has been and who her daughter is now.

Terri is a complex character, but I feel it is doing her a disservice dismissing her choices as her being a terrible person. Her priorities are far more intense than current Gina necessarily needs, and she is a flawed human being who has definitely made mistakes in motherhood, but she’s also been an amazing mom in other ways:

She understood how much pain Gina would be in when they had to move on Thanksgiving and tried pre-emptively to keep it from happening. She gives her a bear every Valentine’s day. She let her 16 year old daughter stay in SLC by herself upon request because it was the first time in 5 schools in 7 years that Gina wanted to stay somewhere. She encouraged Gina to stay in SLC in s2 and keep making new experiences when Gina was about to give up. She moved her whole life back to SLC and decided to stick there for her daughter so Gina could have a stable home this school year. Even if too strong a push at times, she is an unwavering supporter of Gina’s talent and rise to fame and does not hide from her daughter how incredibly talented she views her. And though an incorrect assumption on Gina’s happiness, she immediately waived her no boys rule in case Gina wanted to pursue Mack. And once she accepted Ricky, she did the same again, allowing their relationship and telling him he’s welcome in their home and welcome in her and Gina’s life.

She’s a bit of a messy mom, kind of clueless, misguided in the direction she was taking parenting Gina, and has a lot to learn about a more hands-off and trusting parenting style, but she is very much there for her daughter.

And when Ricky and Gina get married in ten years, I can guarantee you Terri Porter will be right in the front, proud as hell that her daughter is marrying the perfect person for her, who cares for her beyond himself and makes her the happiest she’s ever been.

[isleofdarkness]

"So," Evie, ever the diplomat, started. Mal was glaring daggers at Riah and Riah looked confused beyond belief. If conversation didn't start soon, she was genuinely worried Mal would lunge at him. "A lot happened last night that I think we need to discuss. Does anyone want to start?"

"I'll start." Evie barely hid a wince as Mal spoke. She sounded like she was itching for a fight. "I caught fire and there's only one villain on the Isle who has a habit of doing that, a villain whose adopted kid is sitting right there and who never told me that I'm probably related to the god of the fucking dead."

"He's your dad," Riah responded, confusion only getting worse. "Why are you so upset?"

"Why am I upset?" Oh gods, Mal sounded ready to murder him. "Because I found out that my father, who fucked off when I was a baby, apparently had enough room in his heart to adopt a kid and have two more but never even bothered to say hi, sorry I abandoned you with your mother, and that apparently that adopted kid knew the answer to my life's biggest mystery and kept that shit to himself for no fucking reason! Why wouldn't I be-"

"Hold up," Riah held up a hand, cutting her off, "You think- Mal, what makes you think... gods above and below, there's so much wrong with that statement that I don't even know where to start."

"Well, you'd better start somewhere because you've got a lot of explaining to do, you son of a bitch."

"Number one, don't you dare talk about Hades or Persephone like that," Riah snapped, getting to his feet to meet Mal's glare with one of his own. "Number two, exactly what makes you think Dad didn't want you? Dad misses you so much no one in our house even mentions you unless he starts that conversation, because it depresses him that he can't have a relationship with you like he desperately wants to have with all of his kids. He's got your name tattooed same as the rest of us, and he's got your name on the list he keeps in his pocket, right over his heart, same as he's got mine, Hara's, Cora's, Selah's, Nico's, and all the other ones. He misses you just like he misses your sisters and half-sisters, even though he won't say it. You wanna know why Dad isn't in your life even though he'd give up his title as a god for even a chance at it? Your mom wouldn't let him!

"Fuck if I know all the details because Dad doesn't dump his problems on us, but your mom hates him even though he's the best dad in the world. She's put every effort into keeping him away from you because she knows he loves you, and she doesn't want him to turn you soft. And before you go and suggest he should've done something suicidal like try to be in your life anyway, no, absolutely not. She keeps doing something to him, summons him out of the caverns every few months and... I don't know, tortures him or some shit, just to reinforce that she'll make his life hell if he tries to be in your life! The one time, the one time, he tried to get you away from her, that was three days before my eleventh birthday. You wanna know how she retaliated?" He pulled up the leg of his pyjamas, showing the scarred skin and deformation of his left calf, scars and injury she knew had nothing on his thigh. "Yeah, she summoned him away and then sent six of her grown men to go to my house, lock my mom and brother in a room, and torture me for hours before trying to fucking beat me to death while Hara, Mom, and Claudine could hear everything! She threatened to do the same thing to you in front of him if he ever tried that shit again, and this time you wouldn't be as lucky as I was. She would torture you to death to keep you from having a relationship with him.

"As for why Dad went and adopted a kid rather than raise you, that, like everything else, is also your mom's fault. He found me three months premature, nearly dead in a cardboard box on the street like garbage, while he was still with her. He was the one who nursed me back to health, helped me survive those first months. Then your mom gave him an ultimatum, that if he wanted to stay with her he had to dump me back on the streets and leave me to die. And he wasn't heartless, he wasn't going to kill me, so he dumped her abusive ass and took me AND you into the caverns to try and raise us! But then your mother found out where he was and threatened to torture me to death and punish you if he didn't give you back to her, and what the fuck else was he supposed to do? He didn't have any options there, it was either give you back and know you'd live or lose me completely and run a MASSIVE risk of losing you, too, because he knew your mother was the type who would. So he gave you back, and he was forbidden from having a relationship with you or else I would die like Cora, or you would die like Ire and Malice-"

"Don't you fucking dare say their names!" Mal snarled. No one was allowed to say the names of her dead sisters, not even her crew. "You don't get-"

"WHY NOT?!" Riah was shouting, "They're my sisters, too! I love them just like you do, I love them just like I love Hara, Cora, and Selah, and I love them just like I love you! Because the three of you are my sisters, because Dad loves you just like he loves me and Hara, and because we're supposed to be a family!" He paused, forcing himself to take a deep breath as he shook, whether from grief or anger no one, not even him, could tell. After an eternity of silence, with Mal still speechless, he continued. "We're supposed to be a family, Mal. It's supposed to me Dad, Mom, Cora, you, Ire, Malice, me, Hara, and Selah. But your mom destroyed that. Four of us are dead, I'm crippled, Hara's traumatized, Dad's lost everything, and Mom comes back every autumn genuinely terrified she's going to get the news that one of us kids- and that means me, Hara, or you- is dead or dying... We were supposed to be a family.

"Dad talked about you once, you know," the switch of topics seemed to throw everyone in the room through a loop. Vaguely, Evie realized that the rest of them probably should have left a while ago to let the two of them work through this in privacy, but it was too late now. "It was when we were thirteen. He was in the market, getting some clothes to fix up for me and Hara, when something happened. He didn't get the context of the situation, but he heard an adult call Jay a... a really mean word, and he saw that adult reach for Jay and Jay was just frozen, but you stopped her. It was like you'd appeared out of thin air. Suddenly, you were just there, right between that woman and Jay, grabbing her arm and twisting it. You told her never to call Jay that ever again, and never to even look in his general direction ever again, and then you beat the fuck out of her like it was easy. When you were done, you turned to Jay and made sure he was okay, then challenged the entire bazaar, telling them that if anyone else had any thought about touching what was yours without his consent, she would do far worse. He was your second, and you weren't going to allow anyone to touch him without his permission. He told us all how incredible you did it. That you looked so powerful, almost regal. You protected Jay no questions asked, protected him against someone so much older and bigger than you like it was easy. And then you stuck up for your second and challenged the entire bazaar, made it clear that you stood with him and that his consent mattered to you, so you would hurt anyone who violated it. Jay had seemed so comfortable with you even with what happened. Like he knew he was safe with you without a doubt. Dad went on and on about how safe Jay seemed to feel with you near, how well you protected him and how much you seemed to love him. He was so damn proud of you, Mal. That's our girl, he kept saying to Mom. That's our little girl!"

Mal stepped back, dumbstruck. All of her life she'd assumed her father hadn't cared about her, but he... fuck.

"I couldn't wait to meet you, Mal. I always asked Uma and Diego about you, I wanted to know you so bad. I've always wanted a sister, and I know Hara wishes he could have one who he doesn't need to die to meet. We all want you, Mal. Me, Hara, Mom, Dad, we all want you in our family. We have all always wanted you." He sighed. " I know it doesn't fix anything, but-"

Riah gasped in surprise as Mal slammed into him, hugging him hard. Even with his arms pinned to his sides he tried to hug her back.

It took a long time for Mal to pull away. If any of them noticed the way her eyes were glittering, thay weren't going to mention it. She punched Riah on the shoulder- not enough to hurt or even throw him off-balance, just enough to prove a point. "Fuck you for making me cry."

Riah smiled, risking a hand to her horns to reach out and mess up her hair. "Love you too, sis."

[polarpace]

i return to you all with some more of my legend of spyro AU, TLoFaI! (@thelegendoffireandice) this time, i have a fan character i made for the AU!

obviously the AU is still in progress, so i'm still trying to decide which characters i want to fill what roles. i keep going back and forth on if this kid should be a major character or a background one. i'm leaning more towards her being relevant though, because i've grown very attached XD

anyways, onto their bio!

Name: Voltz

Species: Dragon

Age: 12

Pronouns: they/she

Element: Electricity

Home: Arctic Stronghold (canon: Dante's Freezer)

Alignment: Good

Relatives: Shalen (mother), Rumblr (mother, status unknown)

Backstory:

As conflicts between the peaceful creatures of the world and the villainous Wraiths seemed to die down, a pair of dragons - an Electric dragon named Rumblr and a Shadow dragon named Shalen - decided to start a family together. The two were very loving and protective of their egg from the start, determined to give them the best life possible in Frostfall Forest. However, this joy and peace could not last, and the night before their egg was set to hatch, a massive raid was launched by the Wraiths. Shalen managed to make off with their egg, but amidst the chaos, she lost sight of Rumblr.

A small group of creatures displaced by the attack had formed a village deep within the forests surrounding what was now known as Arctic Stronghold, and this is where Shalen was forced to raise her and Rumblr’s child. It wasn’t ideal, but at least she wouldn’t be alone, surrounded by many friends who were more than happy to help… at first.

Shalen absolutely doted on her child, but Voltz was a handful from the start. Rambunctious, energetic, and scrappy, they could not seem to stay out of trouble. Even worse was that their element was Electricity, and without her Electric-wielding mother present, she was forced to teach herself. After years of practice, they can certainly hold their own in a fight. However, their electricity is quite strong, and since they've never been trained on restraint, it very easily falls out of their control, getting them into even more trouble.

She’s gained a reputation for being a destructive force of nature - something certainly not helped by the nearby Wraiths using Electricity to destroy every remnant of the village’s old home. Though she isn’t against being complimented on her strength, it does get under her skin how others seem to see her as violent. It’s unfair for her to be judged for her element! They’re determined to prove that they can get a hold of their element and keep their village safe.

Trivia:

Although dark sclera is typically only seen in Shadow creatures, Voltz inherited it from their Shadow mother despite their own element being Electricity

They love to play in the snow, and are typically unbothered by the cold

Voltz patrols around the village when she first wakes up, desperate to defeat some sort of threat and prove her worth

She dreams about finding her other mother while out exploring

[thebluemoonjune]

The Elegance of Resilience Chapter 1: Lost of Time

Chapter 1: Lost of Time

Summary:

Life is cruel. This is what Rick believed after the year-long infidelity of his wife with his best friend, and finding out that his daughter may not even be his, but then he met the person who would become his soulmate. However, life seems to have a personal beef with him. It's okay though he will stand his ground and fight for what he wants. This is a morally grey Richonne story about Hurt, Growth, Parent-Children relationships and Healing.

It was a little after 5 p.m. when Rick pulled up to Michonne's villa. Rick didn't get out of his Ford F-150 immediately but instead sat in silence for a while after breathing out a lengthy sigh and driving his hand through his curly, dark brown hair. The sun was beginning to go down, and the sunsets where she and their boys lived were always beautiful. He took it all in as he gathered his words, not wanting to start another fight.

Three weeks. It had been almost three weeks since he saw the three of them, and it wasn't something he was happy or comfortable with, but he knew that his time away from them was best, for her sake. He knew that Michonne was doing what she thought was best for everyone and that he was at fault for most of the mess they were in, and he wanted to fix it.

Chonne, however, never blamed him; in fact, she was always so understanding, so patient, and so calm that he didn't know how to deal with it. When you're the problem and the person you're affecting is that much of a saint, it's a hard fucking pill to swallow.

'It's funny how life works. Lori used to start fights just to get a rise out of me, and I never let her get that reaction that she had so desperately craved and begged for except for one single time. She had finally broken me with her betrayal. It hurt and shook me to my core. Lori and I were already in a bad place for a long time before that, but, it didn't matter. I had no intention of quitting my marriage for the sake of our two children, and when I found out she had broken our vows, I wanted to kill her, but, again for the sake of the children, I still played the part of a doting husband and loving father. But two years after that, I found out that our daughter may not even be mine.

She had lied to my face about how long the affair had been and that she had been sleeping with my best friend, Shane. At that point, I just felt empty. I soon informed our management at the sheriff's office, who happened to be an old friend of my father, so they could transfer either Shane or myself. He was the one chosen, and since then I have done my absolute best to never see Shane. I told Lori that if our daughter Judith was mine, I would try to make it work for the kids, even though I could barely look her in the face. Very few people knew what was going on with my family, as I had only told my parents, my older brother Jeff, my maternal uncle Herschel, and my other best friend Daryl.

Usually, he could talk to either Herschel or Daryl, but he just felt so lost, so hollow. It was during that awful time he met his Chonne.

A one-time thing—that's all that was supposed to be. That's all he wanted it to be. He remembered the both of them standing at the pier, her starting the conversation, her big bright smile that caught him off guard, and her big, bright, dark brown eyes that pierced through him and made his heart flutter like some school girl. Rick didn't like it. He didn't like it, not one bit. He had always been in control of his emotions, and here stood some young woman, what? Twenty-four!? Twenty-five!? Making him a grown 32-year-old man, feel this way. He didn't like it, and yet she had this aura that just put you at ease. When he opened his mouth to speak to her, he remembered that his voice was so gentle, it scared him. He didn't realise then, but he was already gone. In all actuality, they shouldn't have been able to work. He and Michonne were worlds apart.

He was a country boy who grew up on a farm in the small town of King County, Georgia. She was a city girl who was a debutante and went to boarding school. Hell, even now, Rick was just a sergeant in a sheriff's office while she was a young, beautiful, and very capable attorney. Her father is a high court judge, while her mother is an heiress. My father was the former sheriff, and my mother was a teacher. He respected both his parents and their jobs, and in all honesty, his father was the reason he chose law enforcement in the first place, but he would be a fool if he didn't understand the gap between them. It also didn't help that her father hated him, and he had every right. Rick was a mess. Before he and Michonne met, Rick was trying to make his marriage work, and though he was emotionally checked out after he met Michonne, he still stayed with Lori again for his kids.

He tried to get the DNA test done, but Lori would push it back and delay it over and over again. Only eight months into his relationship with the woman he knew was his soulmate did his Chonne get pregnant. He didn't know how to tell his other two children about the situation without them seeing their parents' flaws, and he wanted to shield them as much as possible. He also didn't tell Lori. The less she knew, the better. Rick, however, knew that his marriage could not continue, but first he wanted to know the truth about his daughter. Life was nonetheless unpredictable and cruel. Three months later, Rick would get shot twice in the line of duty and spend almost six months in a coma, missing the birth of his twin boys, André and Rj. It was throughout this difficult chapter that Lori found out about his Chonne and all hell broke loose.

...

It was starting to get dark when Rick finally stopped reminiscing. He got out of the car and once more breathed out a lengthy sigh and drove his hand through his curly dark brown hair, and for the first time that evening, he spoke "I miss them. I wanna see 'em.".

He typed in the code and put in his fingerprint before entering the door after passing the gorgeous flower garden filled with Michonne's favourite, white camellias, at the front.

As he walked towards the living room, he saw her, she was on the phone, probably talking to her cousin Sasha, while looking at the twins playing with their toys on the floor.

Michonne whispered into the phone, then brought it to her chest and turned to look at him with her blinding smile. "Why did you take so long to come in?" her head slanting to the side, asking him playfully with her big, brown eyes flashing at him.

"Hey"

"Hey"

"I missed you guys," he said ever so gently, making his way over to his boys.

"We miss you too. You haven't answered my question yet, Grimes."

Rick sat on the floor behind the twins. "Just gathering my thoughts." Having finally answered her inquiry, he met her gaze.

Michonne spoke into her phone one last time before hanging up for good. All the while, her eyes never dared to leave him. The couple kept their sight glued to the other. The boys were in their own little world before his eldest son, Andre, eventually felt his father's presence. The toddler turned around to see it was his father, and a cheerful look climbed quickly to his face.

The jolly child mustered all the strength in his little legs and dashed into Rick's arms.

"Daddy!" His yelling not hiding his excitement, and André rubbed his face into his father's neck.

RJ finally raised his head and soon followed.

...

Michonne got up to finish her call with Sasha, leaving her three favourite people in the living room full of laughter. After half an hour on the phone with her cousin, she went to the kitchen to prepare something for Rick. She knew that after tiring the boys out, he would give them a bath and put them to bed. By then, he would have worked up an appetite. In record time, he entered, cuddling her from behind, laying down sweet little kisses on her neck as she giggled. She should have been used to this by now.

She placed his Chicken Alfredo on the dining table before he sat down and dug in. He always said her food went her ass, but she didn't know where his food went. Is it that smart mouth full of Southern charm, maybe? She enjoyed watching him eat, and she wanted to make sure he was full before inexplicably ruining his night with what she was going to tell him.

It did not matter how much she and Rick loved each other, the fact that they had children, or even if he hated Lori. The ugly and undeniable truth was that she was technically a mistress, even if he hated to hear it. Even if he'd never seen her that way. When he was fighting for his life in the hospital and later stuck in that coma, it hit her square in the face that she was not his wife.

It was Lori, plain and simple. Lori had already suspected Rick, and when I showed up at the hospital crying and almost six months pregnant, it was obvious. She did her best to make sure I couldn't see him, and if not for his parents, I wouldn't have. She harassed and berated me almost during my entire remaining pregnancy. Regardless of what was wrong with her and Rick, I was indeed the third party, so I couldn't blame her, but I wasn't gonna put up with the stress either, so I put my practice on hold and stayed with my parents in New York away from the drama. I gave birth there, and his mom even came to see the boys for a few days. Rick woke up a little under two months later. And though it was a happy thing, he still had a lot of work to do to get back to normal, divorce and paternity woes aside.

Michonne was in no way a victim in this situation, even if her beloved saw it so. Not her, not Rick, and not Lori. They slept together the night they met, and he told her everything after. She chose to love and be with him regardless. The actual victims were Rick's son Carl, his daughter in question, and my two boys. They were the ones getting the short end of the stick.

Now that he is in a better place physically and mentally, Rick started from where he left off. But. The divorce was nothing short of tumultuous. Both sides took offence, leaving the battlefield bloody. She didn't want her boys involved with this shitshow as much as possible, and her old man even more so.

Her father, Reynard Augustus Hawthorne, was a prideful, upright, and powerful man. He was the one who shaped her mind, whether it was how hard she worked or how she carried herself; he was her teacher, the person she looked up to the most. Her mother doted on her and tried to spoil her every chance she got. At the same time, her old man always said that he and her mother were rich, but she wasn't. Just like him, she had to work twice as hard as he did to reach where he was in life. People respected his name not because of who he married, what he looked like, or whatever preconceived notions they may have. When they heard his name, it meant something. It had all he did behind it. It didn't matter if they hated him; his name meant something.

Unlike my mother, my father didn't grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth. He got where he was on his merit. So for a man like that, imagine his disappointment. He blamed me for being naive, for putting myself in this arduous predicament. He still loves me despite his tough love, though. I understood that better than anyone else ever could, even my mother, and pushing aside his feelings for Rick, he adored his grandchildren. Which is why he'd started pushing for me and my boys to move permanently to New York with him and my mom.

This was the last form of contention between the man she loved and the father she respected. Rick tried his best to respect her father, but when her dad actively wanted to separate the two, he just was not having it. He had lost time with them during and after he got shot, and he was actively trying to get everything to fall into place. She tried to reassure him that she was still with him, but she could see him unravelling, which broke her heart. Dad, on the other hand, did not care. He knew the ins and outs of the situation since, other than Rick, she told her mommy everything, and her mommy always told her dad. He may have shown his tough love, but he was also very protective of her, his only daughter, his little girl.

"Penny for your thoughts?" the low southern voice asked.

Michonne broke out of her mind to see those hauntingly beautiful blue eyes staring at her with a confused look on his face, searching hers for answers. His plate and glass lay clean.

"What's wrong?" His head perked up. "Did something happen?"

She kept her face pleasantly neutral and calmed her voice, as she usually did when attempting to deal with a difficult or awkward situation.

"Lori called me today."

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Radium Girls

Based on the Phic Phight prompt: Uh oh! Star has a crush…on Paulina. She doesn't want to talk to any of her friends about it, but she desperately needs to get some advice, so she decides to talk to the only person at Casper who doesn't seem to care what anyone thinks of them: Sam Manson. (from @bleedingectoplasm)

AO3 Link

[Warnings for mentions of radium poisoning and minor swearing]

A lot of students at Casper High thought that being one of the A-listers meant they'd have it made. After all, the popular kids had it easy. None of them had problems, or fears, or complex inner turmoil. They all knew exactly who they were. They were confident, comfortable. That was what made them popular in the first place.

Of course, that wasn't true in the slightest, and Star knew that better than anyone. Dash had troubles at home, judgemental parents whose expectations he could never meet. Paulina, flawless Paulina, only put up a façade of confidence to hide her how deeply self-conscious she was. She spent an hour staring in the mirror every day, looking for gray hairs and pimples, terrified of her looks fading because she thought her looks were all she had.

Kwan was always so cheerful and happy around his friends, but Star had heard his parents yelling at him about how he'd never amount to anything if he only focused on sports and not classes. Kwan worked very hard in his classes, and had a 'B' average, but that wasn't good enough, apparently. And Star? Star had her own share of problems. Namely, a burgeoning crush that cut into her heart like a jagged knife, because she knew she could never pursue it.

Star sighed softly for the hundredth time that day as she stared across the classroom at Paulina, sitting in the front row. Perfect, lovely Paulina, so mean to others, yet so nice to Star.

She probably didn't really belong in this level of math, honestly, but Star always helped her with her math homework in the evenings to keep her grade up and help her pass. Star was happy to do it, because as long as she did, Paulina could stay in the same math class as her, and she could spend fifth period staring longingly from her seat in the back row. She used to sit next to Paulina until the teacher separated them for talking too much.

When they first started, Star's feelings had been manageable. Unfortunately, they'd only grown stronger as time passed. She'd never been that great at hiding her emotions. Now, after months, she felt like she might burst if she couldn't tell anyone.

But she couldn't tell anyone.

Her friends would probably laugh at her, or tell Paulina behind her back, and they all had their own problems to deal with. If she talked to anyone else, it would be all over the school by tomorrow. She had to keep it in. Her social status was more precarious than her classmates seemed to think, and being outed would absolutely ruin her.

"Star, Sam, you'll be working together," their history teacher announced, and both girls groaned. Star was usually better at paying attention, but history was the last class of the day, and once school was out, she had cheer practice with Paulina, so she'd been a bit lost in her thoughts. That happened more often than she cared to admit lately.

Sam approached her after class and slammed a piece of paper on her desk while Star slipped her things into her bag. "My phone number," she said.

"You're not my type," Star shot back with a derisive look.

"Shut up." Sam rolled her eyes. "I know you have cheer practice or whatever, so text me when you're done so we can meet up and work on the project."

"I can just do it myself," Star told her.

"Not a chance," Sam refused. "If you don't text me I'm going to your house at five. No offense or anything—who am I kidding, I don't give a crap if you're offended—I'm don't trust you. Even if you do make something we get a good grade on, it'll probably be about, I dunno, historical jewelry, or the origin of cheerleading or something dumb like that."

"And let me guess, you want to do the Salem Witch Trials, or something equally mainstream history? Right? It is less work that way, but it's kind of stereotypical, don't you think?" Star scoffed, but she stuffed the number into a pocket in her bag. "Fine, I'll text you when cheer practice ends at four-thirty. But we're meeting at you're place. I don't want my parents thinking I associate with your kind of people."

"Whatever, fuck you very much. I'll see you later," Sam said. She slung her silly little spider backpack over her shoulder and left the classroom.

—

"Something wrong, Star?" Paulina asked, because for all her mean girl behaviors, she was surprisingly perceptive when it came to her friends.

"I got paired up with Sam Manson for a history project," Star moaned immediately. "I have to go to her house, which is probably haunted, and I bet she's gonna make us do the project on some dumb witch trials or something, and I wanted to do it on all the petty drama between Tesla and Edison!" 

"Oh my God, Star, I can't believe you have to do that!" Paulina said sympathetically, and wrapped her best friend up in a comforting hug. Star's heart beat so fast she thought it might actually explode when Paulina finally let go of her. "Whatever you do, don't let her get any goth on you, alright?"

"God no!" Star said, genuinely alarmed at the thought of herself in goth clothes, and thankful for something to think about besides how soft Paulina's skin was, and how warm her arms had been around her. "Black so doesn't suit me."

"I wasn't gonna say it, but it makes your skin look totally washed out," Paulina agreed. "Red is much more your color, brings out your pretty, rosy cheeks." Star nodded in complete agreement and carefully did not blush at the compliment, nor gasp when Paulina took her by the hand and dragged her onto the field for practice.

When cheer practice was over, Star dug the phone number out of her backpack and sent a text.

[practice over whats ur address -star]

She waited, toweling the sweat off her neck and drinking water until Sam texted back the street and number.

[thx eta 15]

Star cleaned up, changed and said goodbye to the rest of the girls. She climbed onto her teal blue Vespa and headed to Sam's place to get their stupid history project over with. The sooner they worked on it, the sooner they'd be done.

The Manson house was nothing like Star expected. Logically, she should've guessed that Sam's parents weren't as goth as she was, and it was their home, so maybe assuming there would be black bricks and gargoyles had been a bit over the top. It was big, and very fancy, but it looked, aesthetically speaking, much the same as all the other homes on the street.

Star parked her scooter and walked up to ring the doorbell. Sam herself answered the door and immediately let Star in, leading her up to her room. Sam's room was much closer to what Star had been expecting, with black and purple curtains, gothic wallpaper, a shelf full of creepy-looking dolls, and a trunk at then foot of the bed shaped like a coffin.

"I'm just making it known now that I don't want to do this project on witch trials," Star said. "It would be nice if we could pick a topic we're both interested in, or at least one neither of us hates."

"I suppose I can't argue with that," Sam reluctantly agreed. "So what kinds of historical stuff are you interested in?"

"Math and science are more my areas," Star admitted. "I initially was hoping to do this project on Tesla and Edison's famous rivalry, but I imagine you don't want to research two old, white guys who hated each other."

"Yeah, pass," Sam scoffed. "I'd suggest topics, but I can't really think of any sciencey ones. All I'm coming up with are more occult-leaning."

"What about the radium girls?" Star suggested after a moment of thought. "It's got activism, fighting against greedy capitalists, dangerous chemicals, horrifying deaths, the works."

"Oh, I think I've heard of that," Sam nodded thoughtfully. "They had to paint watch dials to make them glow, and the radium they were painting with made them sick, right?"

"Radium does a lot more than just make people sick, but that's the gist of it. So, do we have a topic?"

"Yeah, I'm down for that." 

With their topic chosen, they got to work researching. The two of them actually worked fairly well together, dividing up the work and getting it done efficiently.

"I gotta say," Sam spoke up after a little while, "I know you said you could do this project by yourself before, but I honestly thought I'd end up doing most of the work. I was forced to do a lab project with Paulina once, and she barely lifted a finger."

"She's... more suited to supervising and management," Star said, and Sam responded with a derisive snort.

"That's a nice way of saying she does fuck all."

"She doesn't like getting her hands dirty, but I do mean it when I say she's a good manager," Star argued. "If you'd ever see her manage a cheer practice, you'd get it. She's actually super organized and really good at taking charge and getting people to where they're needed. Everyone's got their strengths, you know?"

"Uh, barf." Sam faked a gag for effect. "Put away those heart eyes, would ya?"

"What?" Star's eyes widened in alarm.

"It was a joke, chill."

Silence fell, and Sam looked back to her computer but Star only bit her bottom lip in thought. She'd been all but bursting to talk to someone about her feelings for Paulina, and maybe now was the time. She couldn't talk to any of her friends about it, but... well, Sam was the one person at school who never cared what anyone thought of her. Maybe it would be okay.

"What if it's not a joke?" Star asked.

"What?"

"What if I do have 'heart eyes' for Paulina?" she reiterated. "What then?"

"I dunno, what're you asking me for?"

"Sam... you're so cool. Do you know that?" Star told her.

"I'm not cool, I'm a loser."

"But you are cool! We may rag on you about your clothes and how you act, but it never gets to you. You just don't care, no matter what we say. You never get rattled, or self-conscious.... I've always admired that about you."

"You admire me?" Sam asked, confused and unconvinced.

Star hesitated before nodding. I was weird to admit it out loud, but it was completely true. Even if she was weird, and goth, and Star did not care for her aesthetic at all, Sam was undeniably cool.

"How do you do it?" Star asked. "How can you be so unbothered. I'm constantly worried, overthinking, trying not to mess up, or let anyone figure me out. I mean, I can't even talk to my own friends about my crush because I'm absolutely terrified of what they would think, but you.... Do you remember back in middle school when you asked out Miranda and she called you a slur and you broke two of her toes stomping on her foot and she moved away? I could never have the confidence to do that in a million years, but it was awesome."

"Uh... thanks?" Sam said. She stared at the blonde for a moment, thoughtfully. "Do you really have a crush on Paulina?" Star nodded. "Well... good luck and condolences, I guess."

Condolences? Star's shoulders slumped at that. It meant that Sam didn't think it could work out. That Star would inevitably be disappointed.

"If it makes you feel any better, I get having a crush on a friend and not wanting to tell them because you're afraid of ruining your friendship," Sam assured her. "I have a crush on Danny, and I'm mostly waiting for it to go away, because I already know he likes preppy girls, and probably wouldn't be interested in me."

"At least you know he likes girls," Star groaned miserably. "Honestly, what is wrong with me? I could have basically any guy at school, and here I am with 'heart eyes' for my straight best friend? It's a waste of my good looks!"

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with you," Sam scowled. "I mean, you have questionable taste, but liking girls isn't anything bad. Girls are hot, even Paulina, although her negative qualities pretty much cancel out her looks if you ask me."

"The mean girl thing is an act," Star said. "I mean, not completely. You hates you guys, but with the rest of the A-listers, Paulina isn't nearly that bad. She's actually really attentive toward her friends, and she memorizes all out schedules so she can organize days to hang out as a group, and she color-codes her day planner, and she bought this really nice jasmine and vanilla perfume for me because I mentioned that it smelled nice."

"Wow, you've really got it bad for her, huh?"

"My point is, she's not as bad as she wants people to think."

"Why would anyone want people to think they're a bitch?" Sam asked.

"She wants to feel superior over people because she's self-conscious and unsure of her place in the world," Star said. "It's a common teenage conundrum. You do basically the same thing, but in a different way. You think you're better than everyone else because you're strong willed and anti-conformist, but really you're just as uncertain as the rest of us, aren't you?"

"Wow, just flay me alive, why don't you?"

"Sorry," Star apologized. "My mom's a therapist, so I just sort of... notice things. I should've kept my mouth shut."

"Nah, it's fine," Sam said. "We're fourteen. None of us know our place in the world. It'd be more weird if we did know exactly what we wanted to do in life, and who we wanted to be."

"Yeah."

"You know, you don't have to jump into the deep end," Sam said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, well, the way you're talking, it sounds like you think you're only options are to tell Paulina how you feel and destroy your friendship, or to keep all of your feelings bottled up forever. You can work your way up to the hard stuff."

"How so?" Star asked, scrunching up her eyebrows.

"I dunno, casually compliment her looks," Sam suggested with a shrug. "Comment occasionally that you think a girl is pretty. Hold her hand in a friendly way. That sort of thing. Drop hints. Build up to coming out and maybe, if you want to, even telling her how you feel. I hate this saying, but you know about the boiling frog analogy, right?"

"If you put a frog in boiling water it'll jump out, but if you put it in cold water and slowly turn up the heat it'll boil to death?" Star recalled. "That's not true, by the way. If you put a frog in boiling water it'll die almost instantly and if you put it in cold water and turn up the heat, it'll jump out when it starts to get uncomfortable." 

"I know, but that's not the point," Sam said. "The radium girls are a good example too, actually. They were exposed to small doses of poison and didn't realize how much it was affecting them until their bones were gone, but if they'd been exposed to a much higher dose that killed them much faster, they probably would've noticed something was up before their jaws fell off." Star cringed.

"Okay, kind of a gross analogy, sorry," Sam apologized. "The point is, instead of dropping a bomb on her, if you slowly get Paulina used to the idea of other girls being attractive, of casually touching you, of you liking girls, she's more likely to take it well and at least let you down gently, even if she doesn't accept your feelings. Get it now? You don't have to jump in the deep end."

"Yeah... yeah, I think I understand now," Star said. "Thanks, Sam. I'm really glad i decided to talk to you."

"Yeah... glad I could help." Sam grumbled, though Star could see the tiny traces of pride in her expression. "Can we get back to work now?"

"Right! Sorry for derailing our study session." With that, they got back to researching, and writing their report.

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

Hiiiiii Dearest Jalebi, I love your Amazing Blog I have come across your blog few times on Google but thought the name was pretty weird havin no idea it was this gooood!!!! Anyways After a random ipk question search I finally landed here and it has been my fav place Since then and well later I found other blogs but yeah your my all tym Fav! So Yeah I have this thing and I wanna get it out of my chest , Ipk has been my fav as a kid but as a grown up whenever I re-watch ipk I kinda feel so crappy Because I now get How little knowledge lot of women and Khushi has about getting abused. Because in many indian households it's told that you have to endure whatever your husband and in laws does and never to point it OUT and then Only title of Achi Sanskari Bahu? Throughout the show they never pointed the toxicity of Arnav, What a Ahole he have been all while and I get it A&K have had great chemistry and sexual tension and all the abuse is been romatisised and then him redeeming himself I get it. But it feels so wrong at 1000's of levels as a grownup I can finally understand how little knowledge khushi had about her body and sex, How Arnav played two girls lives just because he's confused? And finally me realising that It's ok to walk out of such Toxic masculine, Irresistibly gorgeous man with head high rather than take crap and look for a ray of hope So one day he could love back , I'm not putting myself in khushi's shoes but lot of women in our society highly relates to lot of things that happened to khushi So I just wish my fav character was shown to grow in the show apart from just dreaming of getting married to a prince who comes on a gode, Sorry if my question offends you but it's just that as IPK was the first television show to experiment on anti hero, live in and much more they had much more potentiality and could have tried makin her finnally takin stand for herself rather than letting people walk all over her. She Was/Felt mature ,grownup and highly intelligent at starting but latter part of the show felt more as desperate wife,cringe, dumb and top notching it all with Mrs India plot. So yeah that's my ask and I want to know your opinion as I feel you would do more justification to my question than anyone.

Good night, tomorrow is the last working day of the week so have a good weekend later.

Hello Anon,

I think it's important to understand that the best way to enjoy media is to realize it isn't the guideline to everything.

Arnav and Khushi's romance is set in a very very fictional world. And I absolutely agree that media is fundamental for getting an image about romance and sex and more and our Indian media, often, fails at giving us a good picture and we're left with crappy representations.

Especially with IPK it always breaks my heart how the makers and other producers didn't move forward on the nuances that made this show work, but rather the problematics parts and have gone ahead to make successful shows which put people into the weird loop of (a) women should be virginal, sanskaari bahus (b) abusive men will turn into sappy lovers.

It's a crap idea. IPK holds a special place for me because it is actually very well nuanced. Khushi isn't Arnav's medicine. She doesn't heal his PTSD magically. They actually have a pretty crappy marriage until he starts putting the work in - which happens after the kidnapping track. Khushi's first attraction to Arnav is purely sexual and she's really uncomfortable with it because she doesn't know love separate from lust and love is not what she feels for him at first sight. And their actual consummation is very emotional and consensual.

So the more I've grown up, the more I've held an objective eye to IPK. It's tough to love something that's problematic but I understand the separation between what I want in my life versus what I love watching.

Like when I watch Miley Jab Hum Tum - I actually want a life partner like Samrat because he is the gold standard. When I see Tu Hai Mera Sunday I love Arjun from a point of view of him being a genuinely good guy.

When I come to IPK I write fix-it fanfics, edit the show in my head for what worked, and understand that nobody is perfect. Arnav wasn't, Khushi wasn't, the writers weren't and I open the space for critical discussions of the show while acknowledging it's pretty much the darn best in its category of shows.

I've yet to see an anti-hero better executed than Arnav Singh Raizada on paper. And this is different person to person. Some people love the show wholly for it but that is impossible for me - certain lines are drawn for me so I enjoy the show from my version of events.

That is - Lavanya wasn't forced to be desi, Khushi didn't harp on marriage nor spy on Lavanya on the wedding getup, Arnav didn't pull the faking illness thing on Khushi, there is an imaginary redemption track in my head, and sheetal and mrs india don't just exist - lol.

And to each their own :)

I hope this helped :)

Love,

JWB

[nokalatte]

To my fellow merms, with love

'But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more.' 

With these somewhat somber words begins the live-action film The Little Mermaid. A much more tragic tone set for a film that originally swam colorfully and vibrantly into our hearts 34 years ago.  Within the first few minutes of the film opening -- it was clear this new take on the forbidden love story between man and mermaid would not disappoint.

I was born the year the original Disney animated film came out and I suppose that’s why so many grown women my age are convinced we are mermaids ourselves. The film is a part of the fabric of my life and as my partner says, it’s basically my religion. For that reason, I went into the theatre cautiously optimistic and I believe that’s why I left absolutely elated. 

I’ve always loved that the film begins above the water, before diving deep down to the ocean floor. While some criticize the film for it’s lack of lighting under the sea, I found it simply to be true of real life. A big reason humans like myself are called to the sea is the desire to be a part of what lurks beneath the surface; where fish have supernatural neon lights to navigate the darkness. Like Prince Eric, I am curious to discover the unknown, just as Ariel desires to go where she is forbidden. 

Ever since the first trailer came out, most of us knew Halle Bailey’s performance would move us. But her angelic voice and wide eyes filled with longing from scene to scene captured me in a way I didn’t expect. As she finished Part of Your World, I found tears streaming down my cheeks. I turned to my cousin (a fellow ‘89 baby) to find that she too was crying. We then immediately started laughing at ourselves. How could we be so emotional at a song we’ve heard thousands of times? Was it overwhelming nostalgia? The realization we could see ourselves in this character? The magic of Disney?? Call it what you want -- the fact remains we were overwhelmed with emotion. And I fully agreed with my cousin when she declared, “the rest of the movie could be crap and I wouldn’t care.  Because that was beautiful”. 

I’m pleased to say the rest of the film was NOT crap. Far from it. Though it’s about an hour longer than the original, nearly every new scene and piece of dialogue seemed to move the story forward and deepen the connection between our two main characters. 

While I could have done without Prince Eric’s solo ballad, to me, Jonah Hauer-King embodied the role perfectly. It’s as if Disney knew they were making this film as much for the adult women as they were for the young kids. The handsome, strong sailor who wants to do away with the boundaries between royalty and deck hands instantly had me hooked.  Through added dialogue between Eric and Grimsby, I could easily see what Ariel saw in him. 

The new song Ariel sings in her head as she’s suddenly among humans was a perfect addition to the story. It describes all the emotions running through her body; all the anxious excitement someone would feel when they finally make it where they longed to be. 

By far though, the best addition to the film is the discovery of Prince Eric’s whoseits and whatsits galore. The parallel between Ariel’s cave of collections from humans and Eric’s trove of treasures from under the sea was exactly what the animated version lacks: a deep soul connection between the two lovers. Ursula never stood a chance ;) 

Speaking of -- Melissa McCarthy does a fantastic job as our villain... but the actress playing human Ursula aka Vanessa -- Jessica Alexander knocks it OUT OF THE PARK! She’s only in the film for such a short time but she makes quite the splash. As the spell begins to unravel, her desperation and anger fully takes hold and I was actually a little scared!!

Though we don’t get the big wedding boat rainbow and sendoff in this version, we do get a much more independent Ariel. She’s the one who figures out how to teach the prince her name. She’s the one who ultimately takes down the villain and just like in the original, she’s the one who convinces her father that not all humans are bad. Breaking barriers for sea creatures and humans just as Halle has broken a barrier by being our first Ariel of color. 

I thought I would be much more upset by changes and the omission of lyrics in the classic songs like Kiss the Girl and Poor Unfortunate Souls; but to be honest, I barely even noticed them. I’m almost embarrassed to have questioned decisions made by the one and only Alan Menken. I can honestly say In Alan, I trust! 

And also -- in Grimsby I trust!! I’ll leave you with this new quote from Eric’s confidant that truly struck a chord in me. A motto I will likely continue to recall when I find myself struggling with a decision in matters of the heart:

“Don’t be held back by what you think should be. Think of only what is”