#when her grandmother and guardian dies.....

[deathbypufferfish]

Dimitra and Marinella had a hard time parting ways after that night (and morning 👀), but Ume was drooping the twins off soon. They also decided to keep their new romantic relationship on the down low for now. Which is probably a good thing since Ume's grandmother just died..... Haru is also attempting to try and get along better with his mom, but there is still a lot there. :/

[hoperaypegasus]

Just statistically speaking here, not all these kids can have absolutely insane parents/guardians like Gingka and Hikaru have with Ryo. 

Like, we know Madoka’s dad runs B-Pit so he’s also a mechanic, but have him also be just an average looking dude. And Yuki’s grandfather might have been an old astronomer obsessed with beyblade, but like have none of his coworkers have believed him with the legendary blader thing. Because let’s be honest here, if your really old floor supervisor said a mythical star was going to chose the next saviors of the prophecy, you would not believe them.

And also, make some of these people have nothing to do with beyblade. Like absolutely nothing. They’re are so confused at what these kids are doing, but are trying their best to be supportive. 

For example...

Kenta’s mom? She’s a waitress at a really nice restaurant downtown and sometimes brings home extra deserts for Kenta.

Kyoya’s dad? He owns his own small real estate company and still also works as an agent a lot.

Hikaru’s mom? A nurse who ended up falling sick and dying from a disease she was working to heal.

Nile’s sister? Oh, she currently works as a seamstress as she’s in law school to become a family law attorney.

Demure’s grandmother? She was teacher who worked especially with language learning.

Julian’s family? Huge tycoons in manufacturing, especially in the car and vehicular industry.

Sophie’s family? She actually comes from a line of famous fashion and costume designers, commonly featured on Broadway and Hollywood.

Wales’s family? They’re old money from the oil industry and work globally to expand their company to this day.

Chao Xin’s sisters? One is a teacher, another is a travel agent, and the third one works at a pet store not far from Beylin Temple.

Mei Mei’s family? Oh, they run a pretty popular restaurant that’s even made it onto some global food locations lists.

Tsubasa’s parents? They were also special investigators but did not use beys at all in their work, sticking to more traditional methods.

Dashan’s mom? She was an admissions officer at Beylin temple and worked outreach for new students.

Gingka’s mom? Oh, she became a horror and mystery author after she left Koma and married an editor.

Masamune’s mom? She’s a diplomat actually and works with trade relationships between the US and Japan.

King’s mom? A social worker who adopted him and his siblings after falling in love with them on the job.

Benkei’s grandmother? She was a chef and the one who taught him how to cook.

And yes, they are all very confused by Ryo as a person as well as how the hell he was able to become director of the WBBA.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not giving my grandmother's wedding veil for my(38F) lesbian sister (27F)'s wedding? 👵👰‍♀️🤵‍♀️

Grandma was … a complicated woman. She lived through horrific traumatic events and protected her children through them. She was hard to those she loved but could also be generous and caring. Think Encanto's grandmother. Not a sweet good old grandmother but not a monster either.

Gran was also homophobic, which is shitty and can't be excused.

She died when my little sis was 7. I specifically asked her and Sis has no memories of gran saying bigoted things in front of her. My sister hated gran as a kid because gran was very strict, and her an undiagnosed ADHD child. Now, she hates her because she was bigoted.

I am the executor of my grandmother's will and I am holding onto money and family heirlooms she intended her descendants to have on specific life event (wedding, first child, diploma, ���)

Everyone is aware of gran's conditions. Gran worded the wedding conditions as "the union of a man and a woman in front of God at church X". It was made specifically to exclude her potential queer children/grandchildren. (My gran was not aware of any queer descendant in the family before her death)

I think it's bullshit and told everyone they will receive their milestone inheritance no matter who they marry and who they marry as (I have a young nb cousin). I won't care if they go to gran's church either. I worked with an attorney on my own dime to make everything right.

Sis is getting married and wants my grandmother's wedding veil. It's a pretty lace piece gran crocheted herself. Every daughter of the family is allowed to borrowed the veil and wear it for their wedding if they wish. Gran specifically forbade the bride of the sons of the family to wear it. It's a daughter's thing. Before her death, 2 aunts wore it, my mom didn't. Now, that I am the veil's guardian, only 1 female cousin out of 4 decided to wear the veil, so it's not a big family tradition, but a possibility. I was close to gran for example, and didn't wore it (she raised me as a child before sis was born when my parents lived through important health problems)

My sister wants the veil, not for herself (she is more masc presenting and will wear a very nice white suit) but for her bride. Which is a first problem for me because it goes against the " no bride, only family" rule (which I think is dumb but not unheard of, nor specifically oppressive)

I asked my sister why she wanted the veil. Was it because she wants to feel close to Gran and her heritage on her big day ? I was open to consider it. I could also lend her other pieces from Gran or our common heritage.

But no… Sis wants it specifically to spite Gran. She knows Gran would not have approved of her wedding. She is ecstatic thinking Gran will be rolling in her grave if she knew for her "precious stupid ugly veil".

I put my foot down. I think her wedding is an event to celebrate her love for her partner, not an occasion to hate on a grandma she barely remember.

She says gay wedding will always be both : a celebration of love and a fuck you to homophobes. She calls me an homophobic asshole, am I ?

(I am straight and cis if it changes anything...)

[artandthebible]

Naomi and Ruth

Artist: Evelyn De Morgan (English, 1855–1919)

Date: 1887

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Naomi and Ruth

The story of Naomi appears in the Bible in the book of Ruth. Naomi lived during the time of the judges. She was the wife of a man named Elimelech, and they lived in Bethlehem with their two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. Naomi’s life illustrates the power of God to bring something good out of bitter circumstances.

When a famine hits Judea, Elimelech and Naomi and their two boys relocate to Moab (Ruth 1:1). There, Mahlon and Kilion marry two Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. After about ten years, tragedy strikes. Elimelech dies, and both of Naomi’s sons also die, leaving Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah widows (Ruth 1:3–5). Naomi, hearing that the famine in Judea was over, decides to return home (Ruth 1:6). Orpah stays in Moab, but Ruth chooses to move to the land of Israel with Naomi. The book of Ruth is the story of Naomi and Ruth returning to Bethlehem and how Ruth married a man named Boaz and bore a son, Obed, who became the grandfather of David and the ancestor of Jesus Christ.

The name Naomi means “sweet, pleasant,” which gives us an idea of Naomi’s basic character. We see her giving her blessing to Ruth and Orpah when she tells them to return to their mothers’ homes so that they might find new husbands: she kisses them and asks that the Lord deal kindly with them (Ruth 1:8–14). But her heartache in Moab was more than Naomi could bear. When she and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem, the women of the town greet Naomi by name, but she cries, “Don’t call me Naomi... Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me” (Ruth 1:20–21). The name Mara means “bitter.” The cup of affliction is a bitter cup, but Naomi understood that the affliction came from the God who is sovereign in all things. Little did she know that from this bitter sorrow great blessings would come to her, her descendants, and the world through Jesus Christ.

Ruth meets a local landowner, Boaz, who is very kind to her. Naomi again recognizes the providence of God in providing a kinsman-redeemer for Ruth. Naomi declares that the Lord “has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead" (Ruth 2:20) Seeing God’s hand in these events, Naomi encourages Ruth to go to Boaz as he slept in the threshing floor in order to request that he redeem her and her property. Naomi’s concern was for Ruth’s future, that Ruth would gain a husband and provider.

Naomi’s bitterness is turned to joy. In the end, she gains a son-in-law who would provide for both her and Ruth. She also becomes a grandmother to Ruth’s son, Obed. Then the women of Bethlehem say to Naomi, “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth” (Ruth 4:14–15). Naomi was no longer Mara. Her life again became sweet and pleasant, blessed by God.

[space-noods]

Childhood Friend Eren x Reader, modern AU

childhood friend Eren who was a rather dull and listless kid.

childhood friend Eren whose only friends are his step-sister and the neighborhood nerd.

childhood friend Eren who had little drive or ambition. While he had some strange attraction to violence when playing with toys, he would find no purpose in playing and move on.

childhood friend Eren whose attention is piqued when he sees the house next door be bought. Armin, Mikasa and him spend the day watching from the window facing the house. There they see an older lady and a very young girl.

childhood friend Eren who is not drawn to you like Armin and Mikasa are. Armin hopes you enjoy reading and the ocean. He also live with his grandparents and feels a kinship to you even before he met you. Mikasa hopes she can finally indulge in her more creative side with you. She hopes having another girl around means someone can empathize with her. Eren doesn’t really care for you. He just hopes you’re not boring.

childhood friend Eren who didn’t meet you until a week later after his mom forced him to bring your grandma a fruit basket. Mikasa was at a martial arts class, so he had to go alone.

childhood friend Eren who is surprised to see his own eyes when you open the door. Not necessarily the color, but rather the jaded apathetic expression you wore. And for the first time, Eren felt a spark.

childhood friend Eren who enters your house with a rather eclectic interior design. Trinkets and crochet projects covering the living room. Through all that, he could see volleyball trophies and awards. You lead him all the way to your backyard and invite him to eat the fruits

“You know three people died here.”

You stared owlishly at him. “Did you kill them or what?”

And a smile forms on his lips. You were just like him.

childhood friend Eren who becomes attached to you immediately. He seeks your attention all the time. Despite your rather apathetic expression, he would drag from location to location. If he wanted to play in the sand pit, he would drag you and force you to play. If he wanted to eat snacks under the slide, he would drag you there too. You two were inseparable. His hand would always gravitate to yours.

childhood friend Eren who grows up glued to your hip. He forces you to be friends with Armin and Mikasa. Though, if he felt you were too close to them, he would drag you away. He would force you into sleepovers for as long as he could. Since your guardian was your grandmother, she wouldn’t monitor you too much. So she had no qualms with you and Eren sleeping in the same bed well into his teens. When Eren’s mom found you two sleeping together, she had told him he had to stop doing that. She essentially banned him from sleeping in the same bed as you. He moved sleepovers to your house instead. Your grandma didn’t mind, and you didn’t mind, so there was no problem right?

childhood friend Eren who does his best to support you in all your games. He would bring you water and often cheer you up.

childhood friend Eren who knew that you were a volleyball prodigy. And while he admired that, it was during your games that he realized that he was missing something. He didn’t know what, but he knew that it had to do something with you.

childhood friend Eren is proven right in his middle school years. This was an important game for you, as it would qualify you for nationals. With the reputation you had, many high schools were scouting you. This could change your future entirely. The more selfish part of Eren hoped that you would fail and follow him to the local high school.

childhood friend Eren who watched as you fight to carry your team. The disparity between your skills and your teammates was obvious. You dedicated so much time and effort into honing your skill. For the other girls, this was a recreational activity. For you, this was your life. So when their lack of training caught up with them in the game, you became frustrated. It was almost painful seeing you thrown your body around trying to reach the ball. If people weren’t wincing everytime you threw yourself, they would have been impressed with how you managed to keep the game going for so long. Eventually, you couldn’t keep up anymore. The ball began to fall more often on your court. You couldn’t reach it fast enough. No one was passing it right. It was all going wrong. Inevitably, you lost. And maybe if you managed to stay calm, you would have still been scouted. If you had taken some deep breathes and smiled away the pain, you probably would have been invited for a campus tour at an elite school. IF. But you didn’t. Instead you lashed out. At the loss of your team, the other team obviously begun to cheer. Your own teammates resigned with their loss and began heading to the benches. Not you. Yo u stayed kneeling on the floor, panting. Your knees bruised and your forearms a bright red. As the cheers died down, the spectators shifted their attention to you, still on the floor. Empathic views shifted to horrified as you started on a loud and angry tirade. You began to yell, pointing each of your teammates out: their flaws, their vices, their weaknesses. It didn’t even stop at them. Littered with curse words, you even insulted your coaches. You were ushered off the court. Eren should have felt angry on your behalf. He should have been embarrassed at your behavior. He should have felt anything other than what he was really feeling. Because what he was feeling was complete. Seeing your passion and anger struck a chord in him. The urge to fight resonated with him. He found his purpose. And it came from you.

childhood friend Eren who ignored Mikasa and Armin as they went to look at you. Instead, he couldn’t take his eyes off from the spot on the floor. The overflowing joy bubbled out of him in a maniacal laughter. He was right. You were just like him

——————————————————————————

Notes:

I know Eren feels a little OOC in this, but it’s largely based on the mini chapters that took place in the modern world. If I remember correctly, Eren was actually a very boring character, almost appearing like a background character. But in one scene, Ymir (the founding) appears to him. And I could go in depth to what it all that means, but to keep it concise I interpreted it as a “Eren isn’t Eren if he doesn’t have the anger he had in the Titan Universe.” Like part of what makes him him is the desire to fight, so when he saw MC ‘fight’ for something, it clicks in him (sorry if this part is kind of confusing. These thoughts have been marinating for a while)

[epicbuddieficrecs]

Weekly Recap | January 29th-February 4th 2024

Ao3 history still fucked :/

Repeating again: if I've ever reblogged one of your WIP fics, consider this my permission to tag me in them!!

Complete

🔥 Say You Were Made to Be Mine by ElvenSorceress/ @elvensorceress (Canon Divergent - Different First Meeting, Soulmarks AU | 11K | Teen): It's Valentine's Day 2018, and Eddie saves a man from choking to death in the middle of a restaurant. It's only after the man is rushed away by paramedics that Eddie realizes his hands are green. The man he saved is his soulmate. And he doesn't even know his name let alone how to find him.

For hope I'd give my everything by dragon_rider/ @evanbdiaz (Post S1, CW: Eating Disorders | 8K | Mature): After the disaster of his first date with Abby, Buck’s relationship with food changes rather dramatically.

where would you rather die by tempestaurora/ @tempestaurora (Pacific Rim AU | 4K | Teen): “Care to explain why you’ve brought a child to a military base?” Bobby asked when they returned. The base was alight with celebration; the day had been saved, the world was safe for a little longer. “Uh.” Buck glanced back at Christopher, currently talking to Karen Wilson from the research division. “He was an unaccompanied minor?” “So we leave him with the social workers, with first responders,” Bobby said, a pointedly raised eyebrow in his direction. “His dad’s a cadet at the PPDC,” Buck replied. “And his grandmother probably died in the attack, so it just felt… I don’t know, morally right?”

i've been dying to catch you dizzy by diazbegins/ @evanbegins (Esablished Buddie, Fluff | 2K | Teen): Eddie and Buck go ice-skating. Oh, and Chris is there too!

🔥 The Aftermath of Liberation and Love Confessions by ElvenSorceress/ @elvensorceress (Post-S5E9, Getting Together | 17K | Teen): Still, Buck says, “Yeah, Eddie. Why don’t you teach us. What would you say if you were professing your love?” You mean something besides, “In the event of my untimely death, I made you legal guardian of my child”? ~ In which Eddie comes out, sexuality is complicated but coffee is not, Buck makes an excessive salad and is also roasted, everyone has a love confession, and December is the most dramatic time of year.

let the choir bells sing by foxwatson/ @eddiediazes (Madney Wedding, Getting Together | 3K | Teen): All at once, Eddie has an idea. It’s definitely the stupidest idea he’s ever had in his entire life, but he has it all the same, and there’s no time to come up with a better one. He puts his hands on Buck’s elbows, tugs him in closer, and says, “Kiss me.”

When You Broke Her Heart, I'm Watching it Burn by ElvenSorceress/ @elvensorceress (Post-S5E11, Buck/Taylor Break-Up | 4K | General): When Buck confesses he kissed someone, Taylor makes an assumption about who. Eddie deals with what all of it means for his own future while picking up the pieces for both Buck and Taylor.

🔥Plus or Minus by ElvenSorceress/ @elvensorceress (S5 | 10K | General): “Why are you cleaning out the kitchen? Why is my stuff in boxes?” Eddie slows, then stops. “Figured you’d want it back.” It’s quieter. Pained. When he says it. “I haven’t decided anything. So unless you’re kicking me out—” “Buck. Come on.” He’s not angry or snapping. It’s still quiet, and somehow that hurts even more. He’s resigned and defeated, and Buck is a scooped out, gutted, hollow shell. “I know how this ends the same way you do. You want to be loved, you want to be married. You’re going to leave. Might as well…” His voice cracks before he can finish and get it under control. “Shouldn’t drag it out.” ~ Taylor is offered a job across the country and asks Buck to go with her. Buck has to figure out if he wants to start over or if he has a reason to stay right where he is.

Color Him Father, Color Him Love by ElvenSorceress/ @elvensorceress (Post-S6E12 | 3K | General): “Connor was worried he wouldn’t feel like it’s really his kid. But I put him back in Connor’s arms, and I could see the way his face changed. The way he lit up and teared up and might have cried because that is his son. And all I could think was that I know that feeling. I know what it feels like to hold a kid and care about them and want to protect them. But it’s so different when it feels like they’re yours. It’s so much more. Even if you didn’t— Even if it’s not biological and you’re not. You’re not really the father. Because I hold Chris— I hold him and I feel like he is part of me.” ~ Buck has a revelation about what he is to Chris. And to Eddie.

turns out freedom ain’t nothing but missing you by Daffi_990_ao3/ @daffi-990 (Post-S6, Getting Together | 4K | Not rated): To protect his heart, Eddie pulls away from Buck when he starts dating Natalia. When he decides to move to B-shift, Buck finally confronts him and certain feelings finally come to light.

with blood in my nose by hammersmiths/ @henswilsons (Canon Divergent, S4E14: Survivors | 9K | Teen): The spray of blood hits him, first. And then Buck drops like a fucking stone. or, Buck is the one who gets shot instead of Eddie.

🔥 3 Men 1 Baby by Tizniz/ @tizniz (Canon Divergent, Accidental Baby Acquisition | 21K | General): It’s a good thing the groceries have made it to the table, because the eggs would certainly have cracked from Eddie dropping the bags to the floor. Because Evan Buckley was standing there holding a baby. A baby. OR: Buck, Eddie, and Chim get a baby. Here's what happens.

you can see it with the lights out (you are in love) by wikiangela/ @wikiangela (Post-S6, Love Confessions | 5K | General): Turns out, Natalia does see Buck, though maybe not in the way he expected. In which Natalia realizes Buck's in love with Eddie and help him see it, too.

we could be corny by devirnis/ @devirnis (Established Buddie | 1,6K | General): Or, Chim and Maddie have Buck and Eddie over for their first official couples’ game night.

🔥 Facets of a Diamond by countrygirlsfun/ @acountrygirlsfun (Canon S1-S2 | 35K | Teen): Southern California is where Buck has spent the most time since leaving Pennsylvania. Of all the places he’s lived and worked over the last few years, this place is where he decided to stay. It’s why he picked LAFD: to put down some roots. It’s warm, has the ocean, and it’s the opposite coast of his parents. So if he’s going to be here for a while, he thinks he’ll need to make an effort to let people in.

a little of that human touch by devirnis/ @devirnis (Established Buddie, Secret relationship | 1,5K | General): Buck closes his book and places it on the coffee table, pushing himself up a little more as Eddie trudges over to him. “Couldn’t sleep either?” Buck asks quietly. He wanders over to the far end of the couch and Buck moves his feet out of the way so Eddie can sit down. “Woke up and you were gone,” Eddie murmurs, pulling Buck’s feet into his lap.

you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever by heartbeatdiaz/ @loserdiaz (Getting Together, Valentine's Day | 2K | Teen): The LAFD throws a Valentine's Day charity event, there's a kissing booth and Eddie is definitely not going insane with jealousy.

🔥 Winter Prayer by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Road Trip, Buck&Bobby&May | 18K | General): When a work conflict prevents Athena from accompanying Bobby to Minnesota for the ten year anniversary of his family dying, Buck and May offer to go instead. Over the course of the trip, they all learn more about each other, and Bobby faces his grief.

Fractals from the Lightning Bolt by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/ @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (One Shots Collection | 47/54 | 87K | Not Rated): A collection of oneshots, some originally posted on tumblr. Each chapter is individually rated.

47. But What if They Were Secret Dating (S4, Explicit)

You Can't Surprise Evan Buckley by Daisies_and_Briars/ @cal-daisies-and-briars (Established Buddie, Fluff | 5K | Mature): Ten months into their relationship, Eddie has not been able to execute a romantic surprise for Buck. But on Buck's birthday, things are about to change. (Part 2 of Birthday Surprises & Other Shenanigans)

WIP

because we'll all arrive in heaven alive by callmenewbie/ @puppyboybuckley (Post-S6, Disaster Fic | 1/9 | 7K | Explicit): During a search and rescue, Eddie disappears without a trace, leaving Buck to grapple with the sudden possibility of a life without him.

🔥 Things We're All Too Young to Know by Daisies_and_Briar / @cal-daisies-and-briars (Canon, S1 through S6 | 111/? | 315K | Mature): This is a love story. Even if it doesn’t always look like it. Even if it doesn’t always feel like it. A look back on Eddie and Buck's lives up to now, and what led them to each other, interpreted from the current 9-1-1 canon.

🔥 A Minor Delay by rainbow_nerds/ @rainbow-nerdss (Post-S6/S7 Spec | 6/11 | 21K | Mature): Almost a year after the bridge collapse, a lot has changed. The team are scattered—Bobby and Athena on their Honeymoon, Hen on adoptive parent's leave, and Buck and Eddie... They may still work together, still have movie nights with Chris whenever they can, but things have changed. With Maddie and Chimney's wedding around the corner, Buck tries to make it perfect. And maybe, along the way, he might figure out why everything still feels... wrong.

if i need to rearrange my particles — i will for you. by dylaesthetics (Post-S6, Social Media fic | 1/16 | 4K | Teen): OR Buck joins a support app for first responders and matches with a firefighter who has PTSD and a kid who likes giraffes, apparently.

[dragonsgirl572]

the craziest thing just happened to me lol

so at my school there's a paranormal society club, which is basically some ghost hunters and mediums and people like that come in and talk about their experiences and show us their equipment.

there was a group called the east coast spirit chasers who came in, and they were telling us about them and stuff, and at the end, we asked them questions. i told them about my paranormal experiences, and the teacher, who was a part of the group, asked to take my picture to send to their friend's son, who could see ghosts.

he asked the friend if there was someone with me and if i had spiritual powers, and he said there was a woman with me and i did have spiritual abilities.

the woman was around mid to late 50s-60s, wearing 1900s clothings, and was indian. the spirit chasers said that this could be a relative of mine of something.

when i came home, i asked my mom about my great-grandmother on her side. my great-grandmother was late 60s when she died, and she was really close with my mom. she died when i was 1.

so i'm thinking that the woman is my great-grandmother and acting as a guardian for me.

that's honestly really comforting and freaky at the same time.

[impossiblesuitcase]

This is my soft Jacinter headcanon. A few years after Winter and Jacin get married, the topic of kids naturally arises. Wolflet and Kaider already have kids so people are starting to give the others pointed looks of "so when are you having kids." Cress and Thorne joke that their cats are their kids while Winter and Jacin are pretty on the fence. Winter still isn't completely mentally stable and because her mother died in childbirth, Jacin worries that Winter may have a similar weakness. They both like kids (he only began to after several babysitting sessions with Cinder and Kai's kids) but they agree that they aren't in the right place to become parents at this point.

Jacin works as a doctor who travels from sector to sector on Luna helping the small clinics there. One day he gets an emergency call for a patient. It's a young 7-year-old girl brought in by a social worker. She was taken from an abusive home and lived with her grandmother who had recently died, leaving her without a guardian. She has some health issues and doesn't eat very well so Jacin takes her on as a patient for several months while she's in the foster system. He becomes frustrated that such a young child has already suffered so much. It takes her a long time to warm up to him, and eventually she starts revealing small details about herself.

One day her social worker picks her up from school and takes her straight to the clinic. She's sobbing inconsolably and won't tell anyone why. Jacin can't get anything out of her, so he takes her to the break room where Winter has stopped by for lunch. They make her a hot chocolate and--because she's a reluctant eater--he goes to buy the biscuits that she likes. In this time, she and Winter talk and of course Winter falls in love with the girl, whose situation reminds her so much of her dear cousin Selene's childhood. The girl opens up to Winter and reveals that she is being bullied at school and feels unlovable, having been shifted from one foster home to another.

After this, Jacin starts to make some progress with her. The girl requests that Winter be at all her appointments. Even with some improvement, it's clear that this girl needs a permanent, safe home environment. So when her foster family are no longer able to accommodate her, Winter and Jacin apply to become her foster parents without hesitation. Winter's worries about her own mental health gradually recedes, as several months prove that she is component enough to care for a child.

At age 9, after a long legal process and some setbacks, she is officially adopted as a Hayle-Clay. She gets to meet her new cousins--Kai and Cinder's kids. Funnily enough, she has Asian heritage so she actually looks biologically related to them. And when she is 12, Winter and Jacin have a biological child and their daughter is thrilled to become a sister.

[hydrangeas-and-hives]

Spencer Cassadine x Trina Robinson General Hospital Lore

The following is an imperfectly formatted but comprehensive explanation of everything that happened to Spencer and/or Trina during the 2021 and 2022 storylines.

Here are the important characters and relationships to know:

Spencer Cassadine is the son of Nikolas Cassadine and his late mistress/fiancée, Courtney Matthews, who died shortly after his birth. His paternal grandmother is Laura Collins, the mayor of Port Charles and a board member at General Hospital. The Cassadine family is ultra wealthy/powerful and apparently they’re all trying to kill each other over the family inheritance. 

Spencer was conceived during an affair that his parents had while they were both married to other people, so his life has always been messy. Spencer was considered an orphan after his father was supposedly killed by another Cassadine in 2016. Nikolas was revealed to be alive 3 years later. His grandmother, Laura Collins has been his legal guardian since his father's presumed death.

He was “away at boarding school in France” until Nicholas Chavez took over the role as an adult Spencer.

His father Nikolas is married to Ava Jerome, and their marriage is and was full of drama apparently. Spencer DESPISES Ava, mostly surrounding his father’s fake death, apparently she refused to testify against his murderer. He acts like she’s the most vile woman on earth and resents everything she does.

Spencer ends up trying to blackmail his father and stepmother into divorcing, however there are complications regarding money/inheritance that makes his dad not cooperate with the schemes. Spencer makes it his mission to terrorize Ava as much as possible, sending her disturbing/threatening gifts and letters anonymously to “scare” her into divorcing Nikolas on her own, so the family fortune won’t be compromised. Upon graduating from boarding school, Spencer returns to Port Charles but keeps his distance to secretly stalk and victimize Nikolas/Ava. This is how he meets Trina Robinson.

Trina Robinson is the daughter of Dr. Portia Robinson, who is co-chief of staff at General Hospital. Her father is Lieutenant Marcus Taggert. While Taggert was away on assignment, Portia had an affair with Curtis Ashford. It has been hinted that Curtis is Trina's biological father. Taggert at one point was presumed dead but was then revealed to be alive prior to the 2021 storyline. Taggert and Dr. Robinson divorced, and eventually she reconnects with Curtis, which Trina struggles to accept. Trina is passionate about art and is an intern at the Jerome Gallery. She is very close with her boss, Ava Jerome, who treats her like a daughter.

The night of Trina’s high school graduation party, Spencer breaks into the Jerome Gallery while wearing a mask and Trina runs into him. She throws a remote at his head and sets off Spencer's trap of spraying fake blood all over the gallery using the sprinkler system.

Spencer goes to Trina's party, entering the back way and scaring her. However, she doesn’t recognize him as her “attacker” at all. They talk and flirt, with Spencer complimenting her, and claiming his name is Victor and that he's a barback at the nightclub. They continue to “run into each other” and an true flirtmance starts between the two, but Spencer tells half-truths about his backstory to keep his identity a mystery. His deceptions eventually catch up with him when he reunites with his childhood frenemies, Josslyn Jacks and Cameron Webber, who happen to be Trina’s current best friends.

Josslyn is the daughter of a wealthy hotel magnate?? but Cameron’s mom is a nurse and his family situation is apparently messier with some financial struggle, and Cameron works to support his mom/siblings and put himself through school. At one point, Trina and Cameron had a mild crush on each other, but ultimately decided they were better off as friends. By summer of 2021, Josslyn and Cameron have started dating, and Trina is supportive. All 3 of them are about to start their freshman year at Port Charles University (PCU). 

Spencer runs into them at Josslyn’s mom’s hotel pool club, and the three immediately start teasing and throwing jabs at each other, with Joss eventually pushing Spencer into the pool. Trina arrives at the club, and Joss initiates an introduction between her and their old classmate Spencer Cassadine, who emerges from the pool and locks eyes with Trina. In a very Grease-like fashion, Trina doesn’t appreciate being lied to and their flirtmance ceases. 

Spencer re-enters his family’s orbit, and they welcome him with open arms, having no idea that he’s their stalker/blackmailer. Spencer openly hates Ava though. Spencer’s girlfriend from boarding school, Esme Prince arrives in Port Charles. She immediately rubs his family the wrong way and is cold to everyone she meets. This girl REPELS charm and everyone barely tolerates her. She and Spencer apparently trauma bonded at boarding school because they both believed themselves to be orphans. Esme really butts heads with Josslyn, yet the 5 youths form a frenemy group that constantly spends time with each other. Esme is also clearly jealous of Trina and her connection with Spencer. There’s sexual/romantic tension between them, but they don’t act upon it.

Spencer’s stalking/blackmailing of his father and stepmother gets extreme, I think he does something that puts Ava’s young daughter (from another relationship) in jeopardy, and he eventually gets caught. I think Ava decides to press charges for all of the emotional distress and threats to her life. Spencer is put on trial and despite many attempts to use rich white male privilege to get off, he is sentenced to 30 days in prison as well as restitution, having to work at the Jerome Gallery for free under Trina’s supervision. I didn’t get the full context, but Trina got caught in the crossfires of all of Spencer’s legal troubles, and they aren’t on good terms generally, but Spencer really regrets hurting her. I think he tries to make amends around Christmas time. It also turns out that Esme was helping Spencer pull off the threatening pranks and blackmail attempts, but she did it because she “loved” him and wanted to be supportive. Somehow Esme is not incriminated legally for being an accomplice. 

On an attempted friends trip up to Josslyn’s family’s mountain cabin before Spencer’s prison stay, Esme literally stirs up drama by spiking Trina’s drink and initiating a game of never have I ever with the intent to drive a wedge between Trina and Josslyn. The game prompts eventually cause a clearly drugged Trina to get upset and admit that she did have some sore feelings about Joss and Cameron’s relationship, mostly how she felt left out of their friend group dynamic. Clearly unwell, Trina excuses herself from the group, and passes out in a bedroom. Josslyn and Esme get into a screaming match over the incident, and Esme convinces Spencer to leave the cabin early with her, saying they’ll come back for their belongings later. However, before she left, Esme set up a phone to record Josslyn and Cameron’s bed with the intent to capture them having sex for the first time. She recorded this using a burner phone she bought from a black market dealer. 

Spencer goes to prison for a 30 day sentence in January of 2022. On his last night before leaving, he and Trina have a moment of romantic friendliness and almost kiss before Esme interrupts them. While she’s visiting him in prison, Spencer asks Esme if she’ll return to the cabin to get some personal items for him, and it’s presumed that this errand is when Esme retrieved the burner phone. On Valentine's Day, Spencer secretly arranges for an art book of her favorite artist to be gifted to Trina. 

I could not find any clips of the show between February and May 2022, but in that timeframe the following apparently happened: 

At some point, Trina meets and develops a friendly rapport with Rory Cabrera, a local police officer. After getting out of prison, Spencer did go to work at Jerome Gallery for at least a little while, and tensions between him and Trina were high. He’s visibly jealous of the budding friendship between Trina and Rory, but his relationship with Esme is technically stronger than ever. Him and Esme are living with his father at the family estate, but his relationship with his family still needs work. 

Esme posted the intimate video of Joss/Cameron online and distributed it to the PCU student body, and somehow framed Trina for the crime, setting her up as a scorned friend who recorded/posted revenge porn. It’s convincing enough for Trina to be formally accused by the university and is put on trial under some serious felony charges that could totally destroy her life/ambitions. 

Fast forward to July 2022, Esme also apparently slept with Nikolas in a fit of passion, and is keeping a multitude of secrets from Spencer about who she is. She claims to be an orphan who’s adoptive parents ALSO died, and she was raised by a nanny before attending boarding school. However, she’s actually the daughter of a known serial killer, and is doing his bidding in secret. 

Spencer’s feelings for Esme were once apparently genuine (trauma bond) but he’s now fed up with her lies and schemes (at least the ones he knows about.) Spencer hatches a plot to help Trina in her legal case, and threatens Esme with an ultimatum and offers to tell her information about her supposed birth mother if she exonerates Trina. Esme, not wanting to incriminate herself, angrily turns down Spencer. Esme goes to her serial killer dad and tells him that Spencer found her birth mother, but he claims that Spencer is lying. During their talk, he promises Esme that they will destroy their enemies and then find her birth mother together.

At Trina’s trials, all of the friends give testimonies that seem to only incriminate Trina further, Spencer included, even though they all know she’s innocent and believe Esme is responsible. Spencer pleads with Esme to exonerate Trina, and lets her know that he doesn’t care about her anymore. Esme at one point says to him “and your precious Trina goes free,” to which he emphatically responds, “yes.” Even though Rory and Trina are embracing mere feet away, and it clearly hurts him, he says he doesn’t care if he can’t be with her, he just refuses to let her go down for something she didn’t do. It’s evident that he loves her, and this is possibly what triggers his good boy arc?? 

Nikolas admits to Ava that he slept with Esme. She does not take it well. Esme testifies at Trina’s trial, and Trina’s lawyer reads her for filth, which seems to help her case just a bit. Trina prepares to give her own testimony, but Spencer asks her lawyer for the chance to testify again as part of the defense, clearly desperate to save her. He reveals that Trina was with him the night the video was posted, incriminating HIMSELF because this happened during his prison sentence. She wasn’t visiting him in prison, he had arranged for an “off the books” day pass to leave.. Apparently the day he escaped was the anniversary of his mother’s death and he wanted to go put flowers on her grave. He apparently ran into Trina at the cemetery (as far as I can tell, this was never shown on screen.) When Trina’s lawyer asks why he’s admitting this, Spencer starts crying and looks at Trina, saying “at a certain point you have to stop doing the easy thing, and start doing the right thing.” Spencer openly accuses Esme of being responsible for the video, which clearly means a lot to Trina. The prosecuting attorney holds on to the idea that Trina could have scheduled the email, setting up an example for the jury to witness, and it appears that Spencer’s testimony might have failed to absolve Trina and only incriminate himself. 

Back at the Cassadine family home, Esme attempts to flee but gets caught by Ava, calling her a “conniving little whore.” They have a full, drawn out confrontation and Ava proves herself to be pretty ruthless, eventually threatening Esme’s life if she doesn’t come clean. 

Outside of the courtroom, Spencer admits to his father that his previous support of Esme in all of this was an act to try to get her to slip up and confess to him. He says he never believed Trina would hurt her friends that way. He gets very worked up and it’s obvi he’s spiraling. 

Trina preps to finally give her testimony as court goes back into session, and she shares some longing looks with Spencer. She tells everyone that she was at the cemetery that day to work on an art history project, and never expected/was shocked to see Spencer there, as he was supposed to be incarcerated. When asked why she kept that alibi a secret, she emotionally shares that she hoped there would be enough evidence to prove her innocence without having to jeopardize his future/harm him. Her lawyer openly suggests that this was an act of love. At this point Trina and Spencer are both visibly emotional. She asks some more clarifying questions about how Trina was feeling during that trip, and after confirming that Trina did not have romantic feelings for Cameron, Trina confesses that she DID feel that way about Spencer, which puts a smile on his face for the first time this whole episode. 

Meanwhile, Ava and Esme have gotten into a full blown physical altercation over a mysterious letter Esme was attempting to take with her. This results in Ava pushing Esme off the balcony. Nikolas arrives just afterward, and goes looking for Esme and/or her body, and she has DISAPPEARED. Ava and Nikolas scheme to make themselves look as innocent as possible. 

Trina continues her testimony, and recounts the details of how they met, claiming that nothing ever happened between them, she no longer has romantic feelings for him, and how she figured he only ever saw her as a friend. She shares that Esme knew how Trina felt and was suspicious of their friendship, and gives some details about Esme’s history of shady behavior/her involvement in the stalking/torturing of Ava Jerome. She also reiterates how much Joss/Cam’s friendship means to her and that she’d never do anything to hurt them, especially something so heinous and violating as revenge porn. The prosecutor asks about how much she had to drink, and Trina shares her experience of feeling awful after just one drink. It’s so painfull obvious that Trina was roofied idk why people aren’t coming to that conclusion. Apparently Trina did go visit Spencer in prison once while Esme happened to be there interning, and shares that her purse was out of her sight at one point and Esme possibly planted the burner phone in her bag at that time. When Trina finally leaves the stand, Spencer gives her an encouraging nod. 

After the trial is over, Rory tries to comfort Trina while Spencer lingers. Trina tries to say she owes him an apology, but he responds with “You owe me nothing, I should have spoken up from the start.” Spencer is promptly put under arrest for breaking out of prison, to which Trina tries to defend him. He tells her it’s ok and looks back at her as he’s taken away. 

Rory takes Trina to the pool club to unwind after the trial (lol) and she attempts to talk through her complicated feelings about what Spencer did. Apparently she was under the impression that he was on Esme’s side this whole time, so now she’s confused about him. She word vomits to Rory about how she’s convinced he’s not into her anymore, and Rory is very nice and tells her clearly that he’s into her and is just trying to be supportive. They share a kiss and low key establish that they want to be together.

While being questioned at the police station, Spencer recounts his motives for breaking out of prison, sharing his emotional turmoil at the thought of not being able to put flowers on his mother’s grave. When asked why he confessed now, he says “for Trina.” Nikolas arrives and the two debrief on how to proceed, and Spencer asks his father to make sure Esme doesn’t leave town. Nikolas confesses that she disappeared, but doesn’t share the details. 

Many episodes go by and we’re still waiting to hear the jury’s decision on Trina’s trial. Spencer is offered a plea deal but denies it so he won’t have to name names in who helped him escape. He’s going to opt to do 3 months in prison instead. 

Spencer shows up to Trina’s sentencing and they have a conversation about the whole situation. He basically insinuates he did all of it for her to have a chance to be free. 

Backin it up a second, Esme bought the burner phone from this guy named Oz or Ozzy that Trina and Joss tried to get info from many many episodes ago. He got spooked and confronted Esme, and she drugged HIM, making him slip into a coma. He was found by Trina’s dad and was being treated at GH, and Dr. Robinson found a way to wake him up so he could testify against Esme in court. His testimony immediately absolves Trina and the charges are dropped. Everyone takes a moment to congratulate Trina on her victory, and Spencer is the last to talk to her. The flirtmance is back for a moment, and he tells her how happy he is that she’s exonerated. She asks him to finally tell her what “changed”(bc she still didn’t believe that he was truly on her side until recently) to which he responds, “everything.” He starts to try to tell her something that seems important, saying he’s waited for this moment for so long but now he’s tongue tied. Before he can say it though, Trina’s parents interrupt them. When they get back to talking, he tells her that’s he’s going to prison for 3 months, that it’s what he deserves, and that it’s worth it because he was able to help her. Tragically, she’s still hung up on the fact that he ever appeared to be on Esme’s side, and Spencer asks him to hear his explanation, but RORY walks in and he loses his chance. She tells him she’s sorry he has to go back to prison, but she wishes he’d realized who Esme really was “sooner.” 

Cameron and Josslyn yell at Spencer for not explaining the full story to Trina and not coming forward sooner. He explains that he “needed to be the one that saved Trina because…” and hesitates. Joss pushes him to explain and assumes selfish reasons, and he responds, “no because I LOVE HER.” Spencer walks out of the court room just in time to see Trina and Rory kissing and confirming that they want to be together. Spencer sulks back into the room with Joss and Cam and they ask him how it went to which he regails what he just saw. They tell him that Trina deserves to know the truth and he responds that she “deserves to be HAPPY. For god sake, I haven’t been able to give that to her. The only thing that I’ve given her is lies and grief.” He goes on to say that he shouldn’t step on what she and Rory have and mess with her head by confessing his feelings for her, especially since he’s about to go to prison. Joss continues to push him to tell her the truth and he gets upset, saying “Why does she need to know that I’ve always believed in her and that I love her? Don’t put that on her, it doesn’t matter.” He makes them both promise not to tell her anything. 

Spencer goes to apologize to his friend Brit that he mistreated long ago to make amends before he goes to prison. He explains the whole Trina situation to her and she questions why he doesn’t want to try to get her back. He tells her “She was never mine to lose. I never had her. I never deserved her.” 

Spencer runs into Trina and Rory at the pool club and she asks for an update from the DA, expressing outrage at how harsh his sentence is for only escaping for a few hours. His only response is “I’m only sorry that I didn’t defend you sooner.” Rory offers to try to help him look into some sort of alternate assignment, and Spencer is very humble about it. He says to her “it’s good to see you happy Trina” before excusing himself. Later, he’s getting emo on the stairs when his dad finds him, and Spencer shows some emotional maturity about the situation. He feels like a failure for not doing enough for Trina sooner, but he thinks not telling her the full truth will preserve her happiness. He’s finally becoming a soft boi. 

Spencer overhears Ava calling out Nikolas for having sex with Esme, much to his horror. He literally breaks down in tears, and he has a very emotional confrontation with Nikolas. They go through the greatest hits of all their betrayals and Nicholas acts his ass off. Spencer gets schwasted and starts confronting every family member he comes across. 

Ava is hospitalized and unconscious I think due to an attempted murder by a mysterious figure. When Trina finds out, she’s upset ofc and makes her way to the hospital to show support. Coming off his own drunken stupor, Spencer finds out about Ava and is immediately worried about Trina being upset and dashes off to the hospital to make sure SHE is ok. “I’m sorry that Ava got hurt, mostly because it hurts you.” “I figured you’d be here.” “You’re here for me?” “Always.” 

Spencer vaguely opens up to Trina about his dad’s betrayal, and she CARESSES HIS ARM and tells him they can talk about it if he wants to. He grasps her hand for just a moment before forcing himself to pull away. 

When he gets home from the hospital, Spencer takes a nap and has a nightmare where Esme antagonizes him about sleeping with his father and framing Trina. Nightmare Esme also antagonizes him about how Trina will never choose him, which greatly upsets Spencer/sends him spiraling. 

The night before he goes to prison, Spencer decides to write Trina a letter telling her the truth about how he knew she was innocent, and that he has always believed in her.

Trina’s family throws her a party to celebrate the charges being dropped, and Spencer shows up to deliver his letter to her, but changes his mind. Trina notices that he’s arrived and goes to talk with him alone. He’s so clearly down bad for her, but Trina maintains they can’t be friends after everything that’s happened, but she does appreciate the sacrifice he made for her. She wants to move on from the whole experience, and that means distancing herself from Spencer. She does give him a hug and tells him to take care of himself in prison. As Spencer goes to leave the party, he drops his letter and Trina picks it up before he can snatch it back. She demands an explanation, and they start an argument that ends with a heart to heart where they clear the air a bit, and Spencer apologizes formally for all the damage/pain he caused her. 

Trina goes to visit Ava in the hospital. Ava can see that she has some complicated feelings about Spencer, and shares that Spencer confessed to her that he always believed Trina was innocent, and was only staying with Esme to try to get her to confess. She also tells her that Spencer has “carried a torch” for Trina for a long time, and in his own “boneheaded” way, was trying to protect her by keeping her at arm’s length. He was also afraid that showing her his true feelings would cause Esme to hurt Trina more. While Ava expresses that she by no means wants to advocate for Spencer, it’s clear that he genuinely loves Trina and she can’t deny that. Trina, clearly reeling from this information, remembers that Spencer is set to go to prison that day, and rushes to the police station to see him off, but by the time she gets there, it’s too late. 

Spencer is on the struggle bus in prison bc everyone is bullying him for being a privileged white man. His Uncle Victor comes to visit him and can tell he’s not doing well, and offers to get a message to Trina, which Spencer denies, adamant that letting her move on is what’s right. He has a job at the prison library and one guy attacks him bc apparently Spencer was given HIS job after he worked 12 years to get it. The guy is on the verge of crushing Spencer’s hand when an old guy comes in and gets all spiritual, and intimidates the mean guy with the power of the Lord? Idk turns out this old guy is actually Spencer’s Uncle Cyrus who tries to convince him to seek religion in exchange for his protection

Esme discreetly comes back into town and is creeping around. She confronts Nikolas about all that has gone down, and reveals to him that she is pregnant with his child. He thinks she is the mysterious serial stabber terrorizing port charles, who has coincidentally murdered/attacked people who were involved in Trina’s trial. She swears she’s not the killer, but Nikolas locks her in a storage wing of the family estate to be cautious. 

Joss and Cam go to visit Spencer in prison, and he finds out that Trina was told the truth about him believing her innocence. However, he was hurt to know that she found out the truth and didn’t come to him, but Joss explains that Trina found out the day he was transported to prison. They give him details about what she’s been up to, and though it’s obviously killing him, he expresses that he’s happy that she's living her life. The three friends end up having a heart-to-heart moment about their various life mistakes, and it’s clear that Spencer needed some emotional support.

Rory and Trina go on their first overnight trip together to a comic convention in NYC. Trina likes Rory, but she’s been hesitant to take any big steps with him, and had to convince herself that she wanted to go on this trip. When they arrive at their hotel room, they’re surprised to find that there’s only one bed when Rory booked 2 doubles. While they wait for an extra cot to be delivered, the two start making out. Things start getting a little heavy, and she suddenly hears SPENCER’S voice say “Do you want me as much as I want you?” and looks up to see him hovering over her instead of Rory. He smiles down at her and says “Tell me you feel the same way.” Trina is petrified and pushes him off, only for it to snap back to Rory looking worried that Trina has suddenly gotten so upset. Later that night as they’re falling asleep in their respective beds, Trina’s phone lights up with a call from a NY state correctional facility, and it’s SPENCER trying to call her. Even though she doesn’t pick up, Spencer still smiles as he walks away from the phone. 

Trina and Joss are having girl time, and she admits to Joss what happened during her makeout with Rory. Joss openly tells her that her thinking of Spencer while making out with someone else is a sign that she still has feelings for him. Trina gets defensive, reiterating all of the reasons Spencer isn’t right for her. Then Joss shares that she and Cam went to visit Spencer, and that all he could talk about was Trina and wanted to know how she was. Joss also shares that he was hurt that Trina hadn’t reached out now that she knows the truth. Trina is still adamant that she put her efforts into a relationship with a good guy like Rory. 

The police commissioner stops by to let the girls know that their is sufficient evidence to link the Hook Killer with Trina’s legal case, as they have been going after those involved in the trial, and apparently Josslyn is possibly next on the killer’s hit list. The girls will have to be under close supervision for the foreseeable future to keep them safe, which will include moving back home from college temporarily. 

Some days go by, and Trina finds out from Cam that Esme is back in town, much to her horror. Her and Cam also discuss Spencer’s mysterious letter and its contents. She asks him specifically what he really “confessed” in his letter and Cam tells her she’ll have to ask Spencer herself. 

Spencer gets a visit from his grandmother in prison, and it seems to lift his spirits a bit. He’s confused when he’s called back in to the visiting room, and is STUNNED to see Trina waiting for him. He IMMEDIATELY gets all bashful and starts messing with his hair and smiling like a FOOL. Neither of them say anything for a hot second, they just make googly eyes at each other. They come back to earth and start talking, and Trina says that she hopes that she’s not too late, to which he responds “for what?” looking very concerned. Things are a little bit tense, but Trina shares that she wants to find a way to salvage their friendship. “Are you offering me the chance to fix things between us?” Trina demands that he tell her what he confessed in his letter. In that moment he decides to tell her to her face that he knew she was always innocent. They start arguing about how he lied to save her, and Trina expresses frustration at people not thinking she can take care of herself, and lying to her to “protect her,” to which Spencer retorts, “I have a lot to apologize for Trina, but protecting you? I’m not going to apologize for THAT.” She tells him that she understands why he did what he did, but that she would have felt MORE protected with him by her side. “It hurt that you thought so little of me, when I thought so MUCH of you.” They keep fighting and Trina accuses him of never being clear with her about his feelings and never tried to tell her. He says how this whole conversation would’ve been much easier over the phone, and how he DID try to call her, but she didn’t pick up. Trina tells him that she was at a comic convention, to which Spencer replies, “You? Since when are you interested in X-Men?” She says “I’m not. Rory is.” and Spencer is pissed. Clearly jealous, he presses her further. “Did you and Officer Cabrera have FUN in New York?” When Trina reminds him they’re not talking about her and Rory, Spencer quickly says “we might as well, Cabrera’s a good guy, better than most. I’m glad for you, you deserve a good guy.” He gets out of his chair to leave, telling the guard they’re done, to which Trina yells, “No, we’re NOT.” As they’re made to say goodbyes, Spencer does drop the anger for a moment and tells her to be careful with Esme back in town. Trina starts crying and asks to tell him one last thing, that she’s grateful for what he did for her, and that she knows what he meant by it.” 

At the beginning of December 2022, Nikolas and Uncle Victor go to visit Spencer, who is now rockin a nice new hairdo. Nikolas expresses his sorrow for being a terrible father to Spencer, and begs to have a place in his life when he gets out of prison, to which Spencer responds “I would settle for not having to listen to another one of these disingenuous speeches.” Nikolas leaves, and Uncle Victor and Spencer get into a spat about some grand plan he’d cooked up for the family idk. He brings in Uncle Cyrus for backup. I think Uncle Cyrus is Spencer’s grandmother’s brother? And Uncle Victor at one point was involved in a murder attempt on her and their other brother. Spencer is horrified at this accusation, but doesn’t seem to believe it. He’s clearly a game piece in this duel between these two old men. 

Later, Uncle Cyrus is chatting with Spencer about repentance and redemption, and gives him an early christmas present of two turtle dove figurines, and tells him to give one to Trina as a token of his affection. Spencer grins and remarks that Trina would love these, but he can’t give it to her, because Trina has her life back “the life she deserves” and he can’t get in the way of that. When his uncle presses him he says “All I’ve brought Trina is pain and heartache, so the best gift I can give her is to stay as far away from her as possible.” Uncle Cyrus compels Spencer to take the doves anyway. Uncle Victor returns to let Spencer know he’s arranged for his EARLY release, much to his shock. Before he departs, Uncle Cyrus tells Spencer to let him know if he decides to give half of the gift to the “one who has his heart.” 

While out Christmas shopping with Ava, Trina runs into Rory and he reminds her that it’s their 3-month anniversary. This brings up some weird emotions for Trina, who confesses to Ava how she knows that Rory is a great guy, but can’t stop thinking about Spencer. 

Spencer is taken home and reveals to his father that he’s on a conditional release where he must be under supervision. Uncle Victor’s plan was to keep watch over him at the family estate, but Nikolas, who is still hiding Esme in the storage wing, tells them they can’t stay there, prompting yet another screaming match between father and son. Spencer and Victor storm out to go to dinner.

Rory and Trina are having a fancy anniversary dinner. During their lovey dovey chat session, Rory asks Trina if she’ll join him for his family’s upcoming Christmas festivities. Trina seems apprehensive about meeting Rory’s parents, and he tries to assure her it’ll be good and not too serious. She ultimately decides that she’ll go with him, much to Rory’s delight. Over dessert, Rory admits to Trina that he is in love with her, and at first she “doesn’t hear him,” making him repeat himself. She looks at him in shock, just as SPENCER walks in and looks at them in distress. Trina doesn’t know what to say to Rory’s love confession, and Rory goes into more detail about his feelings for her. Spencer overhears this and says to his uncle, “I think I’ve lost my appetite.” Rory presents Trina with a present to represent his love for her (I think a perfume???) and just as Trina looks up to thank Rory, Spencer is standing right behind him, with a smirk on his face. Trina is stunned to see Spencer, and he explains about his early release from prison, coming over to her side of the table. Ho owns up to the fact that his family connections made it possible. Spencer lets them get back to their dinner, but not before pulling out the gift box with the doves in it and contemplating it for a second. Uncle Victor makes Spencer sit down at their own table, but he cannot stop staring over at Trina, clearly distraught that he overheard Rory tell her he loves her. Rory gets a work call and has to excuse himself, to which Uncle Victor reminds Spencer that opportunities must be seized. Spencer gets up and sits down in Rory’s place and asks Trina “can we start over?” Trina, frustrated, tells him she doesn’t know if that’s possible, which Spencer admits is fair. He says that he knows her and Rory are in the middle of something special, and if he’d known she was going to be here with her boyfriend he would’ve have had his uncle take him elsewhere “especially after I heard what Rory said to you. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, he practically announced it to the entire restaurant. Not that I blame him, if I was in his place, I’d want to tell everyone too.” Trina weirdly tells him it’s not what he thinks it is (bby girl then WHAT is it??) to which Spencer responds, “When a guy takes you out to one of the best restaurants in town, and he tells you that he loves you, what else could that mean?” Rory walks back in as Trina is rattling off all of his positive attributes to Spencer, clearly a bit defensive. Spencer gets up to rejoin his uncle, telling Trina is was great to see her. 

Spencer gets home and is in a TIZZY, having flashbacks of his convo with Trina and trying to get himself drunk to forget. Also his hair is super floppy. His dad finds him raiding the liquor cabinet and tries to have a conversation, but Spencer is being his typical contrary self. He does end up opening up to his dad a bit about what happened, telling him that Trina doesn’t want to be friends and “Deputy Do-Gooder” told her he loved her. “You should have seen her, so content and at peace, adored by someone who is worthy of her.” Spencer starts recounting all the ways he’s hurt Trina, including that “my ex-girlfriend DRUGGED her and then FRAMED her for filming that video.” (he gets real upset at that one) He says he understands why Trina rejected him, “because she’s finally found someone with the courage to confess that he loves her.” Nikolas tries to suggest that it’s not too late but Spencer doesn’t believe it, thinking Trina must love Rory back. His father implores him to hold out hope.

Trina is also home from her date and reeling from Spencer’s words. Ava comes over and she asks her to stop her from “making a big mistake.” She expresses to Ava that what her heart wants could lead to more heartache, and Ava is empathetic. She tells her to follow her heart, and she’ll support her no matter what. After Ava leaves, Trina pulls out her phone and texts Spencer, “welcome home.” Spencer receives the text, smiles, and immediately puts down his drink telling his dad, “I won’t need that drink anymore.” His dad asks if there’s good news to which Spencer replies, “hold on to hope.” 

Trina and Joss are hanging out and discussing her date with Rory, and Trina ultimately confesses that his “I love you” scared her and made her realize that while she likes him a lot, she’s not in love with him, at least not yet. Joss suggests that it’s not time holding her back, but her feelings for Spencer. Trina rejects that notion, but admits that everytime she looks at Spencer, she gets this feeling she can’t describe, and a part of her “wakes up.” Trina says that while she’s drawn to Spencer, she wishes she wasn’t, and she doesn’t have that same pull with Rory that she wished she did. She starts to question if Rory’s general goodness is enough for her, and is it fair to string him along if she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings. She tells Joss “I don’t want to date Rory just because I can’t have Spencer, I don’t even WANT Spencer.” To which Joss responds, “but you do.” Trina then admits, “yes I do.” Trina ultimately decides that she has to be honest with Rory about how she’s feeling and goes to the police station looking for him. 

Rory is out investigating a lead on the Hook Killer, and gets HOOKED BY THE HOOKER. Another guy investigating finds him bleeding out. Back up arrives and they take him to General Hospital to be treated. 

Spencer went to visit Cam at work and they discuss the details of his early release from prison and his plans for the future. Spencer has it in his head that he should go back to Europe because “nothing is keeping him” in Port Charles. He gets into an altercation with this guy Dex who’s one of his uncle’s henchmen upon learning that he’d put Joss in danger.  As he’s leaving, he runs into Trina, who’s been out looking for Rory. She can tell that he’s upset/frustrated and tries to comfort him, telling him that at least his heart was in the right place this time. He tells her he’s thinking about leaving Port Charles for good, because he feels like everyone hates him here and it no longer qualifies as home. Trina yells at him that there are people here that DO care about him. Spencer has convinced himself that he is nothing but a disappointment, which Trina finds sad and untrue. It seems that Trina is about to confess her feelings to him, when Curtis shows up telling them there’s been another attack and that it was Rory. 

They all rush to GH to see if Rory’s ok, but he’s lost a lot of blood and is not doing too hot. They roll him out of surgery and Trina cries and runs over to him, distraught and apologetic. Rory removes his oxygen mask to tell her that it was too soon to tell her how he felt, but he’s not sorry that she knows. Rory then immediately flatlines. They rush him back into surgery, and Trina is hysterical, and Joss and Cam’s attempts to comfort her are failing. Dr. Robinson comes out and shares that Rory didn’t make it, and Trina is devastated. Everytime they pan to Spencer he looks like he can’t stand not being able to comfort her. Trina tells her mom she wants to be alone and goes to the hospital chapel to sob. 

Back out in the lobby Spencer confesses to Cam that he feels like an asshole for being so envious of Rory a few days ago, to which Cam tells him, “it’s not your fault that you love her too.” Some other convos happen throughout the night, but ultimately Spencer tells Cam he’s going to stay to support Trina, and he’s not going anywhere until Esme is found. 

A week or so later, Spencer comes home and his dad asks him how’s feeling, and he expresses that he feels totally useless and helpless because he wants to support Trina but knows his presence would just cause more pain right now. Nikolas confesses that he’s serving Ava divorce papers and that he slept with someone else, Cameron’s mother, Elizabeth. Spencer is disgusted with his father for taking advantage of Elizabeth’s many personal struggles. Nikolas admits that they are full on seeing each other, and Spencer tells him he didn’t think it was possible to think LESS of his father, but here we are. Spencer continues to go in on his dad, shaming him for being “A man who would use a woman’s emotional problems to try to move in on her.” He tells his dad that he has proved time and time again that they’re family bond is unsalvageable. He vows to get as far away from his father as possible as soon as his sentence is fully up. He tells Nikolas that the one good thing about this is that it’s made him determined to be a better man than him. 

Trina’s family tries to lift her spirits with Christmas festivities. Her and Joss have a heart to heart by the fireplace and Trina expresses her guilt over how responsible she feels for Rory’s death. Josslyn is very supportive but makes sure she knows that she is not to blame, and that it’s ok to live her life. While making ornaments with her mom, Trina makes one in Rory’s memory and seems ready to look forward while honoring what she lost. 

Spencer is invited to a christmas eve get together with some extended family, and he asks who I think is an aunt how he can distance himself from the Cassadine drama/toxicity. She gives him some great advice about finding his own way in the world, and seeing a healthy family dynamic seems to move him. He graciously departs, telling them he has someone he needs to go see. Trina is shown going towards her door and finds Spencer, who tells her merry christmas and smiles. 

Spencer goes full love actually vibes on Trina’s doorstep. She thought he was leaving town but he tells her, “I was going to because I thought there was nothing here for me anymore, and I was wrong. But if you want me to go, just say the words and I’ll leave you alone.” Trina doesn’t say anything for a beat, and so Spencer starts to back off when Trina simply says, “shoes off,” inviting him in. For reference, Trina very much has shoes on in her own house.

She opens up to him about how her family tried and failed to lift her spirits, and he listens very well. She shares that her actual christmas wish is for the last few days to just be a bad dream, and Spencer expands that to the last few years on his end, saying he’d change everything. Trina asks, “everything?” to which he responds, “everything except coming back to Port Charles, because then I never would have met you.” 

They start discussing the whole serial killer situation, and Spencer fully believes it’s Esme. He wants to offer himself up as bait to lore Esme out of hiding and Trina is NOT ok with that. She can’t deny that there’s potential to his idea, but she thinks it’s missing one thing, herself. Trina suggests that the two of them together would enrage Esme the most, so they should seem as if they’ve turned to each other following Rory’s death. Spencer says “absolutely not” because it would put Trina in danger, and she calls him out on that double standard of risk. Trina insists that they would be “stronger together” and asks if he’s in or not, and they shake on it. As he goes to leave, snow is falling, and Trina brushes snow from Spencer’s nose.

The day after Christmas, Spencer and Trina put their FAKE DATING scheme into motion, letting themselves be photographed by the press with his grandmother. Everyone notices that they’re suddenly cozy, and when his grandmother asks him what’s going on, Spencer tells her, “When you said that I’m a better person than I think, I vowed to live up to those words. I wanna be worthy of your faith in me.” She reminds him to be the good man she knows he is and he says, “that’s exactly what I’m doing.” Spencer and Trina make conspiratorial eyes at each other. Spencer’s grandmother also reminds him how he’s hurt Trina in the past to which he responds, “I haven’t forgotten about what I’ve done in the past. But I swear to you that I will never hurt Trina again, and neither will anyone else.” 

Trina and Ava have a meeting at Kelly’s, and Spencer walks in. Spencer pulls Ava aside and makes an honest, earnest apology to her, letting her know his reasons for acting the way he did. He also assures her that just wants to “help Trina get through this.” Ava departs, and Spencer and Trina discuss their grand plans for this fake dating scheme. They’re going to attend a friend’s new years eve party to be seen publicly together. The flirtmance is back in action for the first time in many moons.

That night at the party (which is being held on a boat) Spencer is waiting for Trina to arrive, and tells her she looks beautiful when she does. Their primary plan is to make Esme jealous enough to come out hiding, and when Trina reminds him of this he says “one look at you and mission accomplished.” and they take a selfie together. They run into Spencer’s Uncle Sonny and they express condolences to Trina for Rory’s death. Spencer openly praises Rory’s character, saying that he was a good support system for Trina when she needed it. She thanks him for those kind words and for helping her bring his killer to justice, to which he says “I’d do anything for you, you know that.” He does acknowledge that because he brought Esme to Port Charles in the first place, he feels a responsibility to get rid of her once and for all. Trina has a moment of revelation, and starts to wonder if Esme is really the one behind the killings. Seeing as it’s cold outside on the deck, Spencer puts his coat around Trina’s shoulders and arranges her hair out from underneath it very tenderly, and softly whispers “there ya go.”. She tells him he doesn’t have to do that since noone is watching and he says “can’t I be a good friend while also being a gentleman?” Trina tells Spencer that she didn’t mean when she told him they couldn’t be friends at her party, explaining that she was just upset and hurt at the time. Spencer says he’s glad to hear that they can still have a chance to be friends. 

They start to go inside and Trina wants to develop a story for why they’re together, and they go back and forth suggesting ideas. Spencer suggests that the buzz can be that they “stole some time alone together” to which Trina says people will assume she got emotional and needed some air to which Spencer says “yeah and I had to come out and check on you,” and Trina “leaned on you for comfort.” Spencer starts playing with her coat buttons and says “something about heightened emotions and twinkling lights…” “and waves and stars and the warmth of your arms as you held me…” “brought back all of those old feelings…the ones we never acted on.” 

They snap out of writing their own fanfiction to finally go in to the party, and Spencer takes her hand to lead her inside, but someone is watching them. This picks up in the following episode and the scene cut is different, with Trina saying they should go inside and Spencer asking for “just a little longer, we want people to miss us” while grasping her hand. Trina reminds him that they’re playing a dangerous game, and Spencer caresses her hand and says, “it’s not all a game.” She convinces him to go back into the party, but the Hook killer is right behind them on the deck. Right as they’re about to attack, Zenon finds them and calls to them, asking what they’re doing outside. They give their nonchalant reasons while Spencer puts one hand on Trina’s back and the other on her arm, “casually” keeping her close to him. 

Inside the party, Spencer introduces Trina to his friend Brit (who the party is for) and the exchange is very sweet and wholesome. Spencer then twirls Trina on to the dance floor like a goob. Spencer is a terrible dancer but it’s actually adorable. As the clock strikes midnight on new years, Spencer seems like he’s going in for a kiss but blows a party kazoo in Trina’s face, making her giggle. 

Back at the Cassadine estate, Esme develops a grand plan to escape from the wing Nikolas is keeping her in by setting her small Christmas tree on fire. Her plan works and before Nikolas can stop her, she jumps over the balcony YET AGAIN despite being very pregnant.

[mysticstarlightduck]

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕕𝕦𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 (𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕃𝕦𝕣𝕜𝕤 𝕀𝕟 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨) - 𝕃𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝𝕖

Another character introduction post for What Lurks In The Hollow, this time for Liam Steele.

If you like this, pls reblog! 💕

🎞️About/General Info🎞️

Liam Steele is one of the most well-known teenagers in Vinethorn Grove, infamous - and feared - for his fiery personality and tendencies to withdraw himself emotionally from the world, which makes people assume he just doesn't care. Which isn't true. With a knack for getting into trouble, especially fist fights with other teens, Liam has long since been labeled a local 'bully' or troublemaker - but that couldn't be further from the actual truth. Liam only gets into fights with the actual bullies of the town, whenever said bullies pick on him, his girlfriend or anyone else. But the sheer strenght and explosiveness with which he deals with such other kids gives outsiders the wrong impression most of the time. Tired of trying to prove himself otherwise, Liam has quietly accepted the rumors and given up in trying to 'clear his reputation', and chosen to just live in his own little world with his girlfriend (Savvy), his music, and his car, pretending not to care about what anyone else thinks of him. But deep down, a lost, but kind, part of him still wants to be accepted and still wants to make more friends - even though his anger and his difficulty blending in have made him a pariah to most, so many other teens don't even get close enough to truly get to know him. Despite all of that, he has a good heart and a loyal personality that will strongly stand beside anyone who proves themselves a true friend worthy of their time.

🎞️ More Info 🎞️

Pronouns - He/Him Age - 17 Appearance - Liam is somewhere between average height and tall, especially for a teenager, and is quite athletic and muscular while still being thin. He has long, volumous blond hair that is quite curly, and which he usually keeps loose and wild, a lot of his style reflects his love for vintage rock and roll. He has dark grey eyes and his favorite clothes include a distressed denim vest, simple jeans and band T-shirts, occasionally opting for a long-sleeve denim jacket or a comfy coat, as well as worn out red ankle converse shoes or occasionally simple boots. He always wears the DIY charm bracelet that his girlfriend, Savvy, gave him - it has both sentimental value to him and doubles a fidget toy for when he gets anxious.

Personality Types:

📸Enneagram: 8w7

📸MBTI: INFJ

Occupation: Student (currently on school break), Rock 'n Roll Enthusiast, Local Troublemaker, Paranormal Investigator (begrudgingly)

Place of Birth: Vinethorn Grove

Orientation: Straight

🎞️ Personal Life 🎞️

Family:

Nicholas Steele - Uncle, Legal Guardian

Status: Alive Age: 28-29 Occupations: Businessman/Business owner Relationship: Good, the only 'parent' figure Liam truly had ever since he was 7 (but Nicholas is far more of a lax older brother figure/best friend kind of guy than someone serious or fully prepared to raise a kid, though he does try his best and is honestly great)

Stephanie Steele - Mother

Status: Alive Age: 44 Occupations: Magazine Editor, Band Groupie Relationship: Bad (practically abandoned Liam with her brother - Nicholas - when she first had the chance, claiming she needed time to focus solely on her career while grieving her mother's death. She claimed she would come back for him, but never did, and now lives a successful life in the capital, having practically forgotten her son exists)

Debora Steele - Grandmother

Status: Deceased (died half a year before his mother ditched him) Age: 61 Cause of Death: Cancer Occupations: Former stay at home mother, widow and heiress (of the family business) Relationship: Good, but short lived

Unnamed Father

Best Friends/Allies:

Savvanah 'Savvy' Hahn:

Status: Alive Age: 17 Occupations: Student (currently on school break), Arcade Enthusiast, Local Troublemaker, Paranormal Investigator Relationship: Amazing! (She's his girlfriend and best friend - and they have been besties since childhood)

Amy Millihan:

Status: Alive Age: 16 Occupation: Student (currently on school break), Paranormal Investigator & Enthusiast Relationship: Good

Zach Taylors:

Status: Alive Age: 16 Occupation: Homeless runaway, works part time jobs at a few local businesses that don't ask too many questions Relationship: Good

Kevin “Kev” Micheal Harrison

Status: Undead Age: 17 Cause and Time of Death: Bashed to death with a baseball bat, sometime after the Harvest Fair of 1984 Occupation: Student (formerly), Bully (formerly), Haunting Apparition (currently), Vengeful Spirit (currently) Relationship: Good but mostly complicated. Kev serves as Liam's ghostly mentor from the beyond and is at times a friendly ally to the group despite being dead, but also serves as a terrifying cautionary tale of the fate Liam might face if he doesn't stop trying to do everything all alone or if he insists on pushing everyone away.

🎞️ Likes & Dislikes 🎞️

Hobbies/Interests:

Listening to retro rock 'n roll, or even new rock music - he doesn't like heavy/screamo metal though, preferring the more lyrical genres - and is obsessed with anything related to that style of music.

Playing arcade games with Savvy almost all day long

Driving around town on his 60s Ford Mustang his uncle gave him for his sixteenth' birthday, of course with rock music blasting from the speakers

Eating shepherd's pie

Chilling out on the couch with a fuzzy blanket, soft socks and his favorite pajamas while watching comedy sitcoms.

Dancing with Savvy in his living room or garage

Playing videogames in his old game console at home

Winning a street fight against a bully or against anyone who is generally a jerk

Watching nature documentaries

Enjoying a garden party in the summer and swimming on the lake or in the small rivers for hours

Making macramé bracelets and necklaces, because he loves the texture and finds it a calming hobby

Being accepted for who he is and not misguidedly judged for who people think he is

Taking polaroid pictures of himself, his bulldogs or his friends

Going to music concerts

Trying to learn how to play the guitar and figuring out how to write music

Additional Favorites: (Extra List Here)

Music: Rock 'n Roll (especially vintage/retro rock, from the 80s, but also quite a lot of more recent songs, along with 2000s rock)

Person (his 'comfort people'): Savvy, his uncle (who is the closest thing he has to a parent or sibling even though they don't always see eye to eye, he knows he can count on him)

Candy: Sour Lollipops and Licorice

Place: 1. his room, 2. the gazebo by the lake, 3. the arcade

Fictional Creature: Giant Sea Serpent, Kraken

Scent: The smell of candy stores, leather car seats, fancy cologne

General Dislikes/Hates:

Bullies and people who try to make others feel bad about themselves, people who hurt others gratuitously or those who make fun of other people.

Irresponsible adults who don't consider the consequences of their actions

People who don't like rock and roll

Anyone who annoys Savvy or any of his friends

His mother - she may have been in a 'bad place' when she left him with her brother but she did essentially abandon him when he needed her the most, and then never even looked back once after she got her 'dream life'.

Murderers and psychopaths who get off on hurting others

People who try to scratch or dent his car, reckless drivers

Gossipmongers and people who spread lies about others

Anyone who doesn't like dogs

The smell of stale water or anything that smells like a bog, he also hates the smell of mold

A very specific set of textures that make his skin crawl and which he cannot stand to touch or be around for a long time, especially certain kinds of clothes.

People who scream at each other for no reason

Overly violent horror movies

Cold coffee or any kind of coffee without sugar

Feeling sleepy for no reason or being confused after a heavy nap

Overconfident policemen and corrupt officers, as well as any arbitrary authority figure

Changing his schedule or people who purposefully get in the way of his plans for the day, those get him irked out really fast

🎞️ Playlist: 🎞️

Cherry Pie - Warrant

Break Stuff - Limp Bizkit

overwhelmed - Royal & The Serpent

Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi

Welcome To The Jungle - Guns 'n Roses

Teen Idle - Marina and The Diamonds

Boy In The Bubble - Alec Benjamin

What Lurks In The Hollow Taglist (-/+): @ray-writes-n-shit, @sarandipitywrites @smol-feralgremlin, @kaylinalexanderbooks,

@diabolical-blue @oh-no-another-idea

@cakeinthevoid, @clairelsonao3, @sleepy-night-child

@thepeculiarbird

@the-golden-comet, @urnumber1star, @ominous-feychild, @anyablackwood, @amaiguri, @finickyfelix

@lyutenw, @elshells, @thelovelymachinery,

@bookwormclover, @an-indecisive-nerd, @the-letterbox-archives

Let me know if you'd like to be added!

[goodqueenaly]

Realistically speaking, how would Brienne or anyone else react to any speculation or reveal that she is Dunk's descendant?

To be clear, I don’t think Brienne (or anyone else in the main story, for that matter) will ever find out that she is a descendant of Ser Duncan the Tall. If the Dunk-Tarth connection plays out the way I think it will (and much of my speculation in this post is going to be using that theory as a baseline), then we’re talking about a romantic/sexual relationship that happened some 80 years prior to the start of ASOIAF; even if Brienne’s ancestor was conceived at a different time from what I imagine, this ancestor certainly has to have existed by 259 AC, when Dunk died at Summerhall. We’re talking, in other words, about at least the better part of half a century, if not close to a century, of difference in time from the birth of this ancestor to the main novels - far too long, probably, for anyone with living memory of this relationship to report on what happened. Too, if Dunk conceived a child with Daella who was in turn passed off as the child of Lord (?) Tarth, then who apart from Dunk and Daella themselves would have known that this affair happened? I suppose it’s remotely possible that someone could, say, get a supernatural vision of the past including this relationship, but I don’t see how this vision would fit into the narrative without feeling awkward and unnecessary. Ultimately, I don’t think Brienne needs to discover the answer to a question neither she nor anyone else around her is asking; this is a mystery we as readers, observing all (or, at least, all of what we’ve been told) of Westerosi history at the same moment, care far more about than anyone in the current novels does. 

Anyway, putting all of that aside, it’s difficult to know what Brienne might think if she learned that she was a biological descendant of Duncan the Tall. On the one hand, if Dunk conceived a child with Daella while he was a knight of the Kingsguard (not to mention while Daella was married to (again, presumably) Lord Tarth), then Brienne might struggle with the idea that her ancestor broke his Kingsguard vows for the sake of a sexual affair (and again, with a royal princess, no less). After all, cultural memory on Tarth does not simply idealize the heroic figure of Ser Galladon of Morne- literally referred to as “the Perfect Knight” - but specifically links that perfection, in part, to the obviously chaste romance between Ser Galladon and the Maiden - the beau ideal of unconsummated chivalric devotion. Nor indeed might Brienne look kindly on her would-be great-grandfather using (so it might seem, at least) the closeness of his role as Daella’s royal guardian to pursue a sexual relationship with her. After all, Brienne had experienced severe shock and disillusionment upon learning that the knights of Renly’s camp at Highgarden who had curried her favor, and even (as Hyle Hunt did) treated her as their equal, had only done so in order to claim her as a sexual conquest in return for a monetary prize. Would Brienne sneer at Duncan the Tall, with respect to his affair with Daella, much in the way she did (at least initially) at Jaime - that he, Dunk, had “scorned and soiled” that “rare and precious gift” Dunk had (in part ostensibly) received, to be a knight and a knight of the Kingsguard? Would she consider Dunk no better than the sleazy knights who had viewed her, Brienne, as no more than a source of casual sex - that her great-grandfather had had no more respect for her great-grandmother’s virtue and his own honor as a knight than men like Ben Bushy and Will the Stork had had for her virtue and their honor?

On the other hand, it would of course be wrong to characterize Brienne as a person who has no concept of romantic attraction and love, even - and, indeed, especially - in the context of knightly service. Brienne’s desperation to serve Renly, and especially to join his Rainbown Guard, stemmed in no small part from Brienne’s very strong, though obviously unrequited, romantic love for Renly. Likewise, though this paragraph is naturally too brief to cover the complex relationship between Jaime and Brienne, her experiences with him have inextricably intertwined romance, chivalric duty, and the meaning of knighthood. (Nor, to be fair, should we ignore the fact that, according to Yandel, “[m]any of the folk of Tarth, highborn and low alike, claim descent from” Galladon of Morne, necessarily implying that Galladon had any number of romantic relationships that resulted in children.) Would Brienne compare her own desire to serve Renly as an expression of her love for him to, as it may have been, Dunk’s romantic devotion to Daella, framed and abetted by his service as a knight of the Kingsguard (when, indeed, he may have been sent specifically as her protector and sworn shield to Tarth)? Would Brienne understand where, perhaps, Dunk’s own romantic feelings toward Daella may have developed and evolved as his knightly service to her continue, when she, Brienne, had herself seen a notable change in her feelings toward Jaime as her quasi-knightly role with him progressed?

Moreover, all of the above speculation is without having a clear understanding of how the Tarths (much less anyone else in Westeros) remember Dunk (not to mention, for that matter, Daella). The presence of Dunk’s shield in the Evenfall Hall armory remains the only direct allusion to Dunk that we know of on Tarth today, a frustratingly vague reminder of his (presumed) time there. We have no idea what Brienne thinks of Dunk as a person (as opposed to simply the possessor, unidentified by her in the moment, of a shield she much admired as a child), much less as a person with a direct impact on the history of her House, and still less how the reputation of Dunk may have changed (or not) over the course of the better part of a century since he had, perhaps, lived there. Because we don’t know Brienne’s opinion of Dunk, we cannot at all say how such an opinion might be impacted by the revelation that Dunk fathered a child who would go on to (presumably) be one of Brienne’s grandparents. 

[princess-of-the-corner]

Was musing on that "Villain Marinette's mock Gabriel" thing and had a fun thought.

There's actually perfectly good in character reasons why a villainous Marinette would be more dangerous than Gabriel without making him look like a joke. I'll be using my Lady Glasswing as a basis for this:

Noroo:

Gabriel regards & treats Noroo like a blend of animal & tool; there's no respect or mutual communication, he does not engage with Noroo at all unless he as to.

Marinette's relationship with Noroo is more akin to "Oh my wonderful, life changing, power granting wish fairy who comforted me in my lowest moment & gave me a path to saving my parents, I love you!"

It'd take a long time for their relationship to sour & before that, & because Noroo as an empath gets too caught up in their handlers emotional state, the two talk and theorize and otherwise collaborate a lot. As a result she has a really intimate understanding of her powers and limits early on.

Though some of her experiments & ideas, and especially results do eventually get Noroo like:

Noroo did not know they could do that and would rather not have known thank you!

The other reasons would be fairly straight forward as well:

Lady Glasswing: I suppose its true what they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

Or in other words, Marinette's not living in a fortress manor, with someone else to take care of all her needs, able to just sit around at home all day and is vastly, vastly more limited by her youth.

This forced her to get creative right out the gate, especially as she knew she'd be going up against a fully trained Guardian.

In contrast, Gabriel's plan for 90% of Seasons 1 & 2 was basically "Eventually I'll hit on the right combo of smart, strong & special to win, why hurry?" He tried a few gambits like the tv stunt, spying on Lila, Audrey.

But overall, it wasn't until Heroes Day & then when Nathalie was dying that he really got experimental with it and we saw how quickly he started doing bonkers shit like fusing people together and & orchestrating Chloe's breakdown. He just didn't feel that pressed to do so before hand.

Nothing left to lose:

The above also ties into a big difference in their approaches. Gabriel, regardless of the nature of his care for his son, Nathalie, nominal friends or fashion empire. Is invested in them,. It could be possessive & toxic, or more nuanced, but he has things to lose.

Marientte?

Her parents are dead or comatose, her grandfather wants nothing to do with her & sucks, her grandmother dips out 90% of the time cos she can't handle grief. She can't even speak the same language as the other side of her family who are not in the same country & she feels isolated & alienated from her peers & humanity.

She's very much pinned everything on "Fix my parents through any means necessary & all will be right again" and if she dies trying? Well she doesn't really care about that does she?

So, even ignoring that this pushes her further faster, it also means she's more willing to get stuck into it. Often joining Akuma in battle or using Familiars, pulling go big or go home schemes are her standard. She really only retreated once there were too many heroes around for her presence to be anything but a detriment.

Meanwhile Gabriel even though he had tons of advantages over Ladybug & Chat Noir, especially early on avoids risking himself as much as possible, Only leaving his base when he thinks he's already won or has no choice and as a result simply has less experience or otherwise, zealous drive by comparison.

So yea, end results?

Communicating with one's Kwami is good for growth.

Limits can foster creativity while no limits can inadvertently stifle it.

A disregard for one's self and others, while especially noble, is a good teacher if you survive doing it long enough.

Notes:

Though I do still like Marinette making a jab at Gabriel-Moth.

Marinette: Limits foster creativity, I mean look at Gabriel's original work compared to the repetitive, sterile dreck he puts out now that he has nothing but time and money.

Gabriel (Seething) What a... Fascinating perspective.

GET HIS ASS

[dgrailwar]

Hello Ms Echidna! Uhm......what's going on exactly?

Round 13, Day 2 - The 'Holy Grail'

' …Right. You deserve to know as much. I plan to re-create all of my children felled by humanity in the past, and let them roam the world once more. '

"What?"

' The gods created us- monsters- and then scorned us when our lives did not align with that of humanity. We were nothing but tools.

Guardians. Concepts to keep their orders in place… and yet, again and again we were felled. The slightest twitch outside of the chains imposed by us by the gods, and we were slated for murder. And as we died, humanity sung their own praises over our corpses. My children. My beautiful children. Beheaded, disgraced, ruined for the sake of man's future. My Scylla turned into a beast for daring to love. My Chimera killed, simply due to humanity's hatred. '

' Anthropos and Therion. Man and Monster. The Fates, the Gods, even ourselves… the idea that man and beast could co-exist was nonsense. A pipe dream. Thus, was I given an answer. The 'Heroic Spirit' represented the path of man. If I could re-create my children, and have them walk the path of prosperity alongside humanity. We were all born of the same world, and thus it should not be a sin to want to share it. Rather than existing as separate entities, slowly return to the same path- as children of the World. '

"In other words, summon monsters using a Servant's Saint Graph, registering them as 'heroes' rather than 'monsters'... and then use the power of the Grail to incarnate them. Living beings, forever intertwined with 'humanity' rather than being ostracized as 'monstrosities'."

"And so comes the true purpose of this Grail War. Whichever 'Extra-Class' won would serve as the basis for the Saint Graphs of the soon-to-be-incarnated monsters. A short-form test to see which Class would be the best 'fit'. There's no winner- the only one who would get her wish granted is the goddess Echidna, we'd simply have the glory as serving as the 'basis' for her new spawn."

"However, humanity would only reject the monsters as they arrived. Even the World would. Hence, the shells needed to be grander in nature, rather than simple Heroic Spirits. So that they could defend themselves. Thus, the Extra Class. Humanity would only attempt to slaughter those children again, and thus, we must be stronger than they ever will be. A world of monsters, without humans to kill them, or gods to use them as tools. A safe path for those children."

' …Grandmother… '

"No, I mean, 'Grandma' has a point. Monsters kill humans, humans kill monsters. I mean, obviously not all monsters are evil, but conflict between 'em is just how things are. Like, there's a few good rakshasa, but most of them were just sort of devouring innocents, and so that can't just be left to stand. Even if some monsters are going to be on their best behavior, not all of them will be, and a bunch of superpowered monsters is far from ideal for humanity. It'd be like dropping a ton of raid bosses on the world all at once with no warning."

"And yet, aren't humans themselves capable of monstrous actions? What defines a 'monster' in the eyes of the world? Echidna is a goddess, her children have the same- if not more divine blood- than someone like Heracles or Theseus. Who is to say that they cannot pursue heroic paths if given the chance? If humanity can possess such evil and thrive, then monsters granted humanity's path deserve a similar chance, no?"

"Who cares whether the monsters are evil? Echidna wants to bring back her dead kids, which is far from 'evil'. The issue is that humans aren't willing to share their world. The second something bigger comes along to threaten their status as 'top dog', they'll want to destroy it. It'll be a new Age, with new self-proclaimed 'heroes' popping out the woodwork and killing the monsters. So I guess if you want to progress humanity's development through struggles, I say let 'em go loose."

"…I wish I could be optimistic about this... even the great Saint Martha tamed a loveless beast with kindness. If such feats are truly possible, then a world of monsters and humans isn't out of the question if both sides have open arms, right? But... releasing monsters unto the world, such a thing could be apocalyptic. As Heroic Spirits, such a thing can't be permitted..."

"…"

"But... she misses her kids... is it really bad if she wants them to live again? Isn't that feeling normal for a mom...?"

The massive goddess rumbled, more monsters sloughing out of her form as the chamber shook with her deep sigh.

' …Perhaps other perspectives are needed then. So, Masters... '

"Hold on. Echidna, did you not hear them earlier? From the instant those Masters laid eyes on you, you were a threat. They want us dead. How can you trust their words? They're humans- they'll trick you, and then when your guard is down, lop off your head."

' And I will ask, nonetheless. '

[niuttuc]

Arega: Story Summary up to 2024

Alright, you voted for it, so let's delve in, this will be quite a block of text, but I'll space it with cards to make it a bit less daunting.

Their story starts with a Lorwyn Changeling sparking, and ending up on Ravnica. While Changelings are self-aware and capable of speech, they're fairly simple creatures.

Ravnica was very overwhelming to them, thankfully a kind soul rescued them from the streets, and contacted a local Simic researcher to return what they assumed to be an escaped experiment of some kind, of the name of Jova.

Now, Jova was a relatively private researcher recently recruited as a potential creator for a budding Guardian Project. She's also one that had been experimenting with illegal cytoplasm, the technology passed down to her by her grandmother, who believed the blanket ban on cytoplasm was short-sighted. It is capable of great harm, but also is incredible medicine and bio-technology in the right hands.

(For anyone unaware of original Ravnica block, Cytoplasm was a blue-green goo that could be grafted to anyone and replicate the function of pretty much any body part or organ, better in some cases. It was used as replacement for missing limbs and organs, or augmentations.

Then the leader of the Simic at the time, Momir Vig, called it all back as part of a megalomaniacal plan, fusing it all back into Kraj having "learned" connected to so many people's nervous systems, in an attempt to make the perfect being, killing or injuring thousands if not millions that relied on those cytoplasms. When Zegana rebuilt the guild, cytoplasms were banned and forbidden across the board.)

After growing fond of the little changeling, and trying to understand it and where it came from better (and maybe for other reasons she was more ashamed of later), Jova eventually decided to try to "improve" the changeling's cognition with a cytoplastic augment.

This... Went wrong. While the changeling eventually somewhat stabilized, it was incapable of supporting the cytoplast by itself. Jova saved it by putting it in a Simic nourishing pod that would keep it alive (and sedated, until she figured something else out.)

Her eventual solution was to take advantage of the network of aligned cytoplasms with the one in the changeling's body. In theory, if she lined up artificial bodies with ones connected to it, and with some extra modifications, the changeling would be able to inhabit those different bodies and use them as their own, even when their original one was stuck in that pod.

And it worked! The first body she connected it to was one of her first wholly artificial Guardian designs, one intended (eventually) for reconnaissance and infiltration. It wasn't fully matured yet (and certainly not "aware" in any way. When they first opened their Guardian eyes, they had no memory of their life as a changeling or anything before then.

Jova adopted the young Guardian as a pupil and child, named them Arega, and raised them for a few years. While she kept secret their origins and original body from them, she did teach them about how they worked, cytoplasms, and how that had to stay a secret. To help with that, Jova and Arega intentionally reported inefficient or bad numbers to the Guardian Project, so that Arega's design would be considered a failure and not explored in too much detail.

Arega learned incredibly fast and well, likely partly because of their previous life. Less than four years after Jova took them in, they had most of an education and were capable of assisting Jova with bio projects. But they might not have been fully emotionally mature yet.

Jova died. A lab accident with a Krasis that escaped, nothing to do with Arega. It did bury Jova's lab under it, and with it the pod in which Arega's original body was stored. Arega panicked. Beyond the grief they felt, they'd now be put in the care of another Simic scientist, they were technically property of the guild. Ravnica's laws can be fucked up.

Their "solution" was to pretend Jova didn't die. They quickly cloned a body of Jova laced with cytoplasts for them to control, and "Jova" claimed she was just injured and disoriented in the accident. It was to only be temporary while Arega signed their own emancipation papers, but "just one more day" turned into a number of years, almost having their dead mom back.

This is where Arega was at when they were first created as a character! The starting point. I did warn it'd be a bit of a hike.

During those years, Arega matured a bit and learned even more. Appearing as a human by day did give them a different perspective on things. But the next big development would happen during the one day War of the Spark.

"Jova" died. Unbeknownst to them, Arega was a planeswalker, since the changeling sparked so long ago, and an Eternal tracked the echo of that spark into Jova's body and tried to rip it out. It didn't work, it was just a proxy, but it did destroy the body, and sent Arega in a renewed bout of grief and anger.

They take revenge on a few Eternals in a more combat-focused body, before being approached by another planeswalker. With her help, Arega follows the exposed connection to their spark to the ruins of Jova's old lab (still not cleared out, the Gruul have been keeping construction crews busy and simic labs tend to have long quarantines when they fall.)

There, they discover their original body, and with some help over the next few days, they piece together most of what happened to them. Sadly they aren't the only one to notice everything, and the rest of the Simic finally catches on to their shenanigans. And they didn't like them.

While the specifics remained a secret from most of the Combine (and Ravnica at large), the Speakers, the guild's leadership, debated on what to do with this deceitful creature. Worries about them becoming (or already being) a new Kraj were raised. Zegana championed the side of being careful in those debates, having seen the results of the last Kraj, to put Arega in stasis and remove the cytoplasm from them. Safely if possible, but the chances of that being an option seemed low.

On the other side of the debate, Vannifar was more opportunistic. Not really in defense of Arega, but they turned out to be a planeswalker. War of the Spark made their existence public on Ravnica and heightened the interests of the Guilds in other planes, both as threats and opportunities. Any planeswalker affiliated to the guild was a very precious asset, worth taking some risks for. With Vannifar as Prime Speaker, this side won out at the time. Arega would be monitored and precautions would be taken, but they'd be allowed to remain alive and active, working for the guild.

For the next few years, they'd work at studying other planes and their unique ecosystems and forms of life for the Simic, a few weeks to a few months at a time. There were a number of planes visited: Ikoria, Eldraine, Zendikar, Geonne, Ixalan and more...

Which brings to the forefront the specifics of Arega's planeswalking. While they most of the time defaulted to their Guardian body (and it's in fact the one they recognized as themselves), they didn't think they could planeswalk with it without severing the connection to their original body, essentially killing the Guardian. Their original body was the only one they could planeswalk with, along with some life-supporting technology to set up on the other world on arrival. They'd then set up a covert lab on site while they performed their work, coming back to Ravnica regularly for reports.

Which is also one of the major precautions the Combine had against Arega. While on Ravnica, their original body stayed within armed Simic guard. While in their original body, their Guardian one was kept secured and hostage in the same way.

During that time, a team was put in charge of studying how Arega's connection worked, and determined a few things. First, extracting the cytoplasm from the changeling was impossible without destroying who Arega was pretty much completely. And second, potential ways to affect them with access to an active part of the cytoplastic network, a body they'd currently be using.

Despite the situation, with them being kept partly hostage, Arega still loved the Simic, their ideals and understood the fear that motivated them against the cytoplastic creature. They were happy to help, even if the situation was worrying at times. Of course, they could have planeswalked away during their work at any time, but it would mean abandoning their "real" body. Not that they wanted to anyway. But their mission on Eldraine marked a turning point.

On Eldraine, they set up and worked in the Wilds. They first welcomed Arega, a shapeshifter, a changeling, recognizing it as kindred. But they were also a scientist. Trying to measure, quantify, define. That was antithetical to the chaotic nature of the Wilds, and Arega's experiments never produced any results, certainly not replicable ones.

To put it simply, months of work on Eldraine produced pretty much nothing of worth to report. The reprimands that came next (and a few conversations on Eldraine) did make Arega realize fully the situation they were in, though. Kept hostage, made to work, a disappointment or change of regime away from being deemed too much of a risk and killed. They may have understood why the Combine felt like it had to act like that, but that doesn't mean they thought they should, it went against most of the guild's ideals Arega believed in.

It's after this long work on Eldraine that they started seriously thinking about possibilities to get out of the situation they were in. Most of them ranged from stupid to suicidal, or would have required them leaving their body behind. They did consider leaving it behind, maybe make a new one for themself, but this was a no-go. This body of theirs represented too much for them, mainly as how Jova knew them. Made them.

In those years, that Guardian body also finally pupated into full physical maturity, and while that came with a few changes, most of them didn't help their escape plans much. The planning in general ended up less important than an opportunity that presented itself to them, and they felt like they had to seize: The Phyrexian Invasion!

In the chaos of the Invasion, Arega finalized a risky idea, but a possible one. With the guard over their original body lightened by the war effort (and Arega's general compliance over the years), they took advantage of it to sneak and sedate their way into the complex, steal themselves, and try to planeswalk at once with both their bodies through the openings of other worlds created by Realmbreaker.

It worked! Not without hitch, but they were free. And back on Eldraine, dealing with its own Invasion. They hid in the Wilds, settling and removing the various contingencies the guild had left in their bodies in case of their escape, not wanting to test their luck on whether they'd work across planes.

Hidden back in their field lab, and soon after they settled, it wasn't a Simic affliction that got them. The Wicked Slumber spread, and while it would take months to affect most of Eldraine, Arega was a stranger to the plane, one of the targets for it. Only a couple days after they arrived, they fell to the Slumber until Kellan finally lifted it, months later.

Upon understanding what happened, they were very worried. Any headstart they might have had on people the Simic would have sent after them was long gone. And they couldn't really planeswalk away anymore, so they were stuck on Eldraine for the time being. Of course, exploring and discussing, they learned about Omenpaths, both a relief and a source of concern. This meant that the Combine didn't have to hire planeswalkers to chase them, any agents would do, but it also meant Arega had ways off-plane if they wanted. They set off in search for a way for them to planeswalk more reliably, as a way to be able to evade any pursuers.

(Of course, nobody was actually on Arega's trail. While a few Simic contacts or planeswalkers may have been told to keep an eye out, after the Invasion, the Simic's resources were strained way too thin on rebuilding and gaining back trust. Arega was on another world, and another world's concern, a secondary one for the guild for the time being. And leadership had learned to know the changeling a bit better by then, and thought they were at relatively low risk in the short term. Probably. If whatever plane they ended up on could handle a phyrexian invasion, it could probably handle a rogue Arega)

Arega finally found something that could potentially help them on the plane of Geonne. A local ritual to magically fuse together two organisms, for better survival. It took them a while to study the phenomenon and build confidence, both that it could work in their case and probably wouldn't kill them. But when they finally tried it, it worked, mostly without hitch!

They combined together their Guardian body and their original body (well, with its cytoplasts), into something mostly resembling the former externally (as the changeling body wasn't able to survive on its own exposed to the world already). Their internal biology is probably somewhat closer to changeling? They do not understand it, or what they are now. They can still inhabit other bodies, but they're more interested in experimenting with this one for now. A new form of life is something to be explored and researched!

Their new body appears to slowly shapeshift to adapt to tasks and environments it is put in, which is fascinating to them. Able to planeswalk, confident they can escape capture and eager to rediscover themselves, that's roughly where they are at nowadays!

After this, they wrote a letter to both Zegana and Vannifar they got delivered onto Ravnica, apologizing and pleading them not to come after them, and that maybe someday they'd be able to rejoin the guild? But on more favorable terms? Addressing them differently. Sadly, by the time the letters were delivered, one of their recipients was unable to receive it.

[iamonlyhereforthefood]

Guardian opinion pieces can be very hit-and-miss, but this one is so good, it made me almost cry. I rarely see something so relatable in western media.

It’s December 1989 and a young woman is sitting in a Bucharest theatre, watching a sold-out performance of Hamlet. The air is laden with danger. “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” Marcellus is about to say. Nearly 35 years later that woman, my mum, still remembers how electric the atmosphere inside the theatre was.

Everyone knew exactly what the line meant, but no one uttered a peep. It was common knowledge that secret police agents were watching. Any hint of support for Marcellus’s words guaranteed arrest. On that day in early December, my mum couldn’t have imagined that within weeks, the Ceaușescu dictatorship would be over. That we’d always have enough food in the fridge, freedom of speech, freedom of choice over our bodies, agency. That support for a line of Shakespeare wouldn’t mean arrest. That we’d be free. That I’d be sitting here, writing this, to you.

It’s December 1990 and my mum, our five suitcases, my pink potty and I have arrived in Luxembourg: straight into the heart of one of the EU’s founding member states. We were part of that first wave of eastern European migrants, bursting out of communist straitjackets, full of hope for the future. Full of ambition for the future. Full of future.

I got lucky. I think about the generations of women who’ve come before me: my great-grandmother, orphaned during the first world war, whose farm was expropriated by the communists after the second world war, and who died never having tasted freedom.

My grandmother, denied university entry based on her parents being “enemies of the people”, spent her entire youth and adulthood under a totalitarian regime, and was an elderly woman by the time it fell. Her generation was forced to learn Russian. And she did, refusing to learn the meaning of the words, memorising entire military marches phonetically. In her later years, she could still recite them and we’d all sing along in gibberish-Russian. A futile, but ridiculously delightful middle finger at the past. My mum, still a young woman when it all came crashing down. And then me. A toddler.

It’s December 2008 and I’m an acting student at Drama Centre London, doing a scene from Hamlet. Neither my great gran, nor my gran nor my mum would have ever thought I’d be able to cross all of those borders – no guards, no barbed wire – to train in the UK. It wasn’t a given. During the 1944 Moscow conference, Churchill and Stalin divided up Europe, and Romania fell to the Soviets. After the second world war many Romanians, including my family, were still praying for the US army to free them from the Soviets. A pipe dream. And yet, decades later, here I was. From Bucharest to Luxembourg to London.

With the EU elections under way, I can’t help but think of rising anti-EU sentiment. I’m certainly not dismissing criticism of the EU, but something about it feels off. While all of us, here in western Europe, have the freedom to debate the EU’s validity, others are risking their lives for a chance to be part of it. They know all too well what it means to live in Russia’s so-called sphere of influence.

As Russia was packing troops on the border with Ukraine, preparing the full-scale invasion, politicians from Poland and the Baltic states were raising the alarm with their western European colleagues. Their concerns were dismissed. Luxembourgish politician Charles Goerens later candidly admitted: “We thought at the time they were paranoid, but that’s not the case at all. They’d analysed the situation accurately and I think we’ve all, collectively, failed.”

So on Sunday 9 June, as Luxembourg votes, I’ll be thinking of those fighting in Ukraine, of those protesting in Georgia, putting themselves on the line to one day have what we now often seem to take for granted. I’ll be thinking of the millions behind the iron curtain who never got to experience freedom, and all those who know its fragility so very intimately. I’ll be thinking of 1945, when eastern Europe fell to the Soviets to the resounding sound of silence from the other Allies. When the Soviets came into Romania, my great-grandma managed to fight off one of their soldiers who’d broken into her home. Others, who weren’t as lucky, faced the worst. A common crime, unpunished to this day. The Soviets were, after all, Allies. They’d come to liberate the locals. I sometimes fear we’re stuck in a loop.

The glossing over of crimes against humanity perpetrated in the eastern bloc has always been particularly vicious and, I’d argue, unhelpful in fostering true understanding between east and west. When I was 17, I went on a school trip to Berlin. I remember the utter disbelief on seeing street vendors on every corner peddling Soviet nostalgia wares. Brooches and fur hats with the hammer and sickle, flags and numerous other little trinkets for happy customers to wear or give others. Harmless relics of the past. In the late 90s, there was a fashion of CCCP-marked T-shirts, a mere brief decade after the atrocities perpetrated by that regime. Today one can buy a cookbook titled L’Archipel du Goulache, recently featured on French national radio, its title a pun on another relic of the past, Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. How ironic, considering the famines in the eastern bloc.

These days, it seems to me that we’ve forgotten the meaning of words. “Dictatorship” gets thrown around a fair bit. Have we forgotten the meaning of democracy and what was needed to get here? I wonder if we’re reaching for the top shelf, because we’ve forgotten that democracy doesn’t mean we each get our way all of the time and that the freedoms we’re currently enjoying need continuous maintenance work. On 9 June, I’ll be thinking of a Europe acquainted with its past, offering a visionary future. That’s why this European dreamer will remember the empty fridge when casting her vote, the taste of freedom and the unfathomable journey her pink potty made in December 1990. The rest will, hopefully, not be silence.

[janetbrown711]

How do you torment your favs (aka how have you traumatized some of your favourite characters)?

Well, if we're talking broadly here I mostly give them mommy issues, but lets go character by character here for the nitty gritty/true pattern examination

TW for mentions of miscarriages, abusive parents, and just a lot of trauma

Apple White-- Mommy issues, internalized homophobia that she does mostly get over but it doesn't help when a lot of the world is homophobic to her, body image issues, and a possible eating disorder

Darling Charming-- mommy issues, daddy issues, experiences a lot of homophobia and misogyny

Louie Duck-- Just. Just the worst mommy issues. Wants Della to love him so bad but feels like it's literally impossible because of their differences and his "glaring" flaws and selfishness

Yakko, Wakko, and Dot (Long Live the Queen) (idk how to write normal universe whoopsies)-- Abusive grandmother who actively tries to (and nearly accomplishes) murdering their parents making their parents have to abandon them for a year, Yakko has parentification trauma from that, Wakko gets literally starved and locked in a tower on multiple occassions, and Dot feels like it's all her fault whenever Wakko gets hurt because she's supposed to be the perfect princess. It gets fixed but it do be a lot

Lena Warner (my oc from Long Live the Queen)-- Abusive mother who literally attempted to kill her. Wants very badly to be a proper mother to her children and keep them safe, but her mother has far too much control and power over her for that to be truly possible. Had a runaway marriage in her late teens in order to avoid being married off to some old guy. Her mother's murder attempt caused a miscarriage and robbed her of a year with her children while she had to physically recover from her injuries. Ended up killing her in the end though, so that's good.

MK (dadsy of two)-- dead parents that were incredibly abusive (especially his "mother"), a burning desire for closeness to his guardian that he feels he can't access out of fear of attachment + Pigsy's own distant behavior at unpredictable moments. Desperately wants Pigsy to be his dad and nothing hurts more than when Pigsy actively denies it. Craves affection and praise more than anything in the whole wide world but doesn't know how to accept it/how to react when it happens.

Mei (dadsy of two)-- dead parents who gave her severe perfectionism but died before they could ever apologize/acknowledge/realize any damage done. Blames herself for starting the fire because she knocked over an ancestral artifact (that fire was actually fixed, the fire that killed them is unrelated but she'll never believe that). Wants to be the perfect daughter for Pigsy while also not feeling like she's actually his daughter because of the distance + complicated grief related feelings.

Pigsy (dadsy of two)-- tbh what haven't I done to him? Gave him guilt over the death of Sandy's ex fiancee due to "causing" Sandy's trauma that lead to the incident, gave him mommy and even worse daddy issues, deals with fantasy racism on such a regular basis he believes being distant with MK and Mei (ala saying he isn't their father/he's only their legal guardian) is the only way to really protect them from it (and even that backfires on more than one occasion). Internalized fatphobia. PTSD. Smoker. Severe lack of self esteem. Couldn't give less of a shit about himself and his own health (ESPECIALLY mental) while worrying endlessly about everyone else. Just. just so much trauma for one man. what the fuck.

Tang (all fanfics)-- Abusive, severely homophobic parents who cut him off when he was 19 due to finding out about his homosexuality. Could barely afford food for a year until he met Pigsy and basically relied on his charity in order to not starve to death/suffer the effects of severe malnutrition and still continue his education. Loves Pigsy endlessly and hates watching him torture himself over the littlest things (knows he does the same and feels so helpless every time it happens). Wants to be a dad to MK (and Mei) desperately but worries he's nothing compared to Pigsy. Has constantly had his passions belittled and mocked to the point it's genuinely surprising to him that MK actually likes his stories and the way he does things.

Sandy (all fanfics)-- PTSD, guilt over having missed 20+ years of his best friend's life. In Dadsy of Two he killed his fiancee after a nightmare about the war he and Pigsy had fought. Wanted to be a parent but after that accident, he can't trust himself with another human life like that. Has a hard time trying not to be "the therapist friend" and poking where he shouldn't when it comes to his friend's emotional issues (especially Pigsy's). Had just the worst toxic romance with Pigsy ever that was just the hottest of messes before it all fell apart but they tried to be friends (until his fiance's death) (the time away was very much needed for them both to heal and grow so they could actually be good friends again but it still hurts it took that long).

Pigsy (Li Na AU)-- most of the above but even more trauma around fatherhood, only made worse by the fact he had five miscarriages in the past (only three Tang knows about). Buries that pain instead of talking about it and believes that because Li Na is alive and well the pain is gone (it's not. it lives within him in every waking moment and is why he's so fucking terrified at the thought of losing her or MK).

....So yeah! Just--.... Just so much man, damn wtf someone needs to take them away from me I keep hurting them, wtf---