#yes he’s in terrible movies but he Always serves in them like he is never the problem lmaooo

[soullessjack]

not to be a fag on main but

[cer-rata]

TW: racism

I think the way that comic book media has uncritically pushed anti-Arab racist propaganda (among other kinds) for decades upon decades is an important thing to acknowledge. Like it's not just a couple of bad apples here and there, it's always been pervasive. So many stories, so many villains, so many Arab coded fake evil countries. That kind of thing desensitizes people, dehumanizes entire groups. The politics of media designed for young men and boys (and not just them but for years that was the only audience that mattered, thanks sexism) has consequences.

Seriously, what was this:

As far as I'm aware this never even got an explicit retcon.

I was a little Muslim boy in the mid 2000s reading a Death in the Family because I wanted to know what happened to Jason Todd, and I didn't understand the depths of the propaganda that was being fed to me. I was so desensitized to hearing about terrible things happening in the middle east, and evil terrorists that I didn't question it. And my parents talked to me about what was going on and how it was wrong. But I was still a little kid and I loved Batman and I wasn't at the point where I could really look at the narrative critically, to realize that the authors have worldviews that are biased. I don't think I even grasped that different people wrote the characters. Iran electing known super-terrorist-serial killer-baby eating clown The Joker to represent them because he understood their values is yes, notably crazy, but most of this stuff isn't so loud and obvious, and we didn't leave it in the 80s. Just look at what happened to the depiction of Talia and Ra's post 911 and how they progressive became less human. So just think about the generations of kids reading this crap who had no counter messaging at all. Where does that leave their empathy?

I'm not saying that everything we're seeing is the fault of comic books, that's stupid and reductive and insulting to the complexity of the reality. But what I'm saying is that a lot of these narratives are actively complicit in the kinds of inhumanity we're seeing. Marvel thinking it's appropriate to throw Sabra into a movie in current day is a glaring transgression but it's not some kind of strange outlier. Lots of those films are actively funded by arms of the American military, just look at Captain marvel and Iron Man. And if anyone likes imposing an agenda onto the narrative, it's the military. A lot of this is baked into the fiction, and we owe it to ourselves and others to actively contend with what that means.

I dunno I'm just mad, and disappointed and maybe a little guilty that it took me this long to really realize the full state of things. I spent a lot of time blindly consuming. Like these books were created to be aspirational, to show good people trying to make a better world. But as always happens when art is completely beholden to money, they still serve the politics of the ruling class at the end of the day.

[negrowhat]

what are your top ten fav bl's of all time?

Hey Anon! I had to take some time to think about this. It's hard for me to choose things like this! You're really putting me on the spot lol. Here we go tho...I might cheat a little.

To My Star. Both 1 and 2. I love Seo Joon's and Ji Woo's story. I love their relationship dynamic. I loved how protective they were of each other. Both Ji Woo and Seo Joon are complex characters with layers that you can really bite into and analyze many ways. I know a lot of people were not fans of s2 but that was one series where I truly ate up the angst. Ji Woo is a hard character to understand unless you really take the time to watch the series and focus on his behaviors. You'll never, ever catch me talking bad about TMS.

Gameboys the Series. Both the seasons and the movie. CaiReel have such a modern and relatable love story. I think it being a series about finding relationships in the middle of a global pandemic while we were ALL sharing the same plight really stood out. I felt like I made new friends while watching that series. Also for s1 to be shot completely on an iPhone and for most of the actors to not actually be filming their scenes at the same time, I was BLOWN away by the quality AND chemistry. That series made me SOB and that is also something I consider impressive. If it can make me cry then it's certified gold.

Utsukushii Kare. Both seasons and the movie. This is another series with complex main characters. Hira deals with his general uninterest in damn near everything EXCEPT Kiyoi and photography. And Kiyoi deals with his need for attention even if he generally doesn't like people because they always disappoint him. It's interesting to see how they handle their seemingly unbalanced relationship. Hira is willing to give Kiyoi all the love he requires and not get close (which is normally what Kiyoi wants) and Kiyoi learns that with Hira he wants a real true love and relationship and that's quite a task when the man you love doesn't value himself. It's just interesting seeing the growth between them.

Color Rush S1. I love the way they tackle the soulmates trope, and explore the darker side to the obsession that could happen once you find your perfect match ESPECIALLY when that match can help you see a full picture. Yeon Woo struggles with a myriad of thoughts and fears as he does his best not to get close to Yoo Han even though Yoo Han is serving up himself on a silver platter with tantalizing promises of helping him learn the colors he craves to see. Yeon Woo becomes obsessed, but little does he know that Yoo Han is also obsessed because Yeon Woo also helps Yoo Han see a clearer picture. But maybe that obsession is really just them falling in love and not knowing what to call it.

Moonlight Chicken. Messy and relatable to a person like me who is smack dab in the middle of the age groups involved. This series really showcases how messy romances can be. It shows how hard it can be to close the door to a chapter you thought would end happily. This series shows how hard it can be to move on when a normally open door shuts in your face suddenly and forever. It shows how a chapter that starts off terrible can lead you into the most thrilling moment of your life. It shows that the last chapter you finished might have you TERRIFIED to move on to the next one. Stuck. This was a series I found difficult to dislike any of the characters even if they were being terrible. Emotions were high and reactions were warranted. This was a series where I felt like people were allowed to feel the way they were feeling.

We Best Love. Yes, both seasons. Shu Yi and Shi De had such an up and down ship. Shi De went through such a roundabout way to get close to Shu Yi and I really enjoyed watching them become friends. I enjoyed watching Shu Yi come to realize he was in love. I wanted to beat Shi De up in s2 for ghosting Shu Yi and I was enjoying watching Shu Yi get his lick back, but really he was just looking for answers so he can decide if he was stupid for wanting to forgive Shi De the moment he saw him again. It's another fun and messy series.

Lovely Writer. I LOVE Gene ok. He really made me love the series because he was such a bomb ass character. I also found Nubsib's psycho/stalkerish tendencies quite entertaining because he was so polite about it. I love that the series took stabs at all the things wrong with the BL community while simultaneously having the main character be an actor in one of the most toxic fake BLs I've ever seen. Just meta on top of meta. Satire in the form of a trendy BL within a BL.

History 3: MODC. Salt run aside, I just really loved this series. Can't believe a series about the shy kid falling in love with his bully is a fave. That sentence alone would make it problematic af...not to mention the questionable age gap between the 2nd couple. But it was beautifully constructed. Hao Ting found the best version of himself in Xi Gu and Xi Gu found a brighter side to life with Hao Ting. And they were WAYYYYY into each other and Hao Ting did put in his work to be forgiven. I do my best not to overthink Zhi Gang's age difference from Sun Bo because it's such a norm in Taiwanese BL. It's kind of interesting to see their relationship play out. Zhi Gang definitely has his hangups with the age gap and Sun Bo just doesn't care.

Blueming. Such a laid back series. Si Won is just a sweetheart dealing with self-esteem issues trying to make his presence known in life so he can get the best out of his university experience. And Da Un is just that effortlessly cool guy Si Won strives to be like. He can't even fathom the idea of such a cool guy having a crush on him that he takes the flirting as arrogance lmao. I think it's sweet that Da Un helps uplift Si Won and I think it's sweet that Si On showed Da Un the attention he never got at home.

Ingredients the Series. Just a sweet lil slice of life miniseries. It fills me with joy to watch Tops and Win pine after each other as Win works on his music and Tops works on his cooking and they live together symbiotically. There's not too much to this series. It relies heavily on food and chemistry and that's perfectly perfect for me.

[moreespressoformydepresso]

Fandom's Takes On Trauma Are Terrible And Here's Why: brought to you by terrible Coriolanus Snow and Anakin Skywalker discourse

I've been on the verge of making this post for a while now, but I kept not doing it because this might be a bit of a hot take and I don't like offending people. However, I've been growing increasingly annoyed with the perception of one specific character type so lets see how much my dumb opinions stir the pot this time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. This will be focused mainly on my current main fandom: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, as well as Star Wars. You'll see why. Now, I need to make it clear that I'm not judging anyone for their opinions on characters for any reason. In no way am I insinuating you're a bad person for having opinions different to mine or that you’re not allowed to have them. What I am saying is that fandoms have some frustrating and frankly insulting beliefs around trauma and those who survived it, and I'm gonna talk about it because I want to get this off my chest. With that said:

Y'all don't understand how trauma works and it annoys me

As stated in the title, I'm writing this because of the Coriolanus Snow discourse, specifically regarding whether he's a good or bad person. Lets rip off the bandaid straight away: He's a bad person. There's no question about it, Snow is a vile human being. And he's one of my favorite characters because of it. He's fantastically written and hands down one of the most realistic, viscerally terrifying yet utterly pathetic villains ever. And what I hate about the TBOSAS fandom more than anything (aside from how some of them treat the actors) is the way they take away all his agency in the story. But I'll put a pin in that because I have a lot to say about him and instead start at the beginning of my growing frustration with how fandom perceives trauma (feel free to skip through this post, I'll label my sections in case you don't wanna read this whole thing). There's two sides, and both are equally stigmatized and wrong. So lets start with the more obvious one through the lens of Anakin Skywalker.

The Star Wars Fandom's Weird Relationship With Traumatized Children Behaving Like Traumatized Children

So Anakin Skywalker AKA Darth Vader is pretty explicitly a Bad Dude who's done some Bad Things. Bro committed genocide, ain't no getting around that, except... It's a little more complicated. Sure, he did all those terrible things, but a lot of people take that to mean he was always a horrible monstrous big bad in the making who was destined to become the galaxy's worst nightmare. That's missing the whole point of the prequel trilogy, because those movies essentially serve to explain all the reasons for Anakin's descent into villainy, and he had surprisingly little hand in it. Growing up into slavery means he not only has a warped view of the galaxy thanks to all the horrors he's witnessed, it also means he lacks the teachings Jedi younglings get when they grow up in the temple. He was pawned off onto Obi-Wan who had only recently been knighted and was in no way ready to raise a child, and became "friends" with Palpatine who fed him all sorts of lies to manipulate him into becoming little more than an attack dog. Not exactly ideal circumstances for a child in their formative years. Did Anakin shirk the Jedi's rules? Yes. Did he do dumb stuff? Yes. But he was a traumatized teenager, of course he's acting out. When he massacres the Tusken Raiders, it's Padme Amidala who reassures him it was the right thing to do. He felt guilty about it, so this idea that he's some apathetic monster from the second he's born is dumb. It's not that Anakin was born wrong, it's that the people around him either failed to help him go down the right path or were actively trying to push him down the wrong one. Anakin never fully grasped the Jedi's ideals, because the person meant to teach him just wasn't equipped to do so. If he'd had someone to teach him how to get a hold of his emotions, distancing himself enough from them to make the best possible decision and helping him understand the importance of letting someone go when you have to, he wouldn't have fallen to the dark side the way he did.

Anakin did terrible things, but blaming it on him just having an evil heart shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how people's environments change who they are. A life in slavery, where he was not allowed to have anything and risked losing what he held dear at any second with no control over it likely caused him to be very possessive of what he held close to his heart once he did have some control over what he kept and lost. Shmi died because he wasn't there to protect her (in his head), so he clung to the people he loved so he could save them the way he couldn't save his mother. Palpatine actively groomed him, if you think that didn't have any effect on him I don't know what to tell you. Throughout the war, he constantly lost people he was close to. That control he had slowly starts to fade as Ahsoka leaves and he starts having dreams about Padme dying. He does everything to save her, only to find out she betrayed him (in his mind, a thought quite likely influenced by PTSD as well). I can tell you that believing one of the few people you trust has betrayed you can make you act very impulsively. Anakin made an impulsive decision and regretted it for the rest of his life. He wasn't born a monster, the world turned him into one.

However, that does not excuse his actions. It explains them and spreads the blame to more people, but his actions are still his actions. Anakin separated himself from his past because of all the pain it brings him, and in doing so he did a lot of bad things. And he still needed to face consequences for those actions, even if the events that led up to them aren't necessarily on him entirely. If he'd gotten therapy, he wouldn't have choked Padme to death. Possibly he wouldn't have attacked the temple. But he didn't, and he did all those things trauma or not. I have major issues with the way some Anti-Anakin parts of the Star Wars fandom insist on ignoring or writing off his trauma, but that doesn't mean I'm absolving him of all guilt.

An explanation is not an excuse, and that sentiment brings us to the reason for this little rant:

Coriolanus Snow's defenders have a habit of infantalizing trauma survivors and I wish they would stop

Oh Snow, how your amazing character completely flew over the heads of most of your loyalest fans. I'm joking, obviously, but also... It's not exactly wrong. Now, I need to make this clear: I'm not insulting Snow fans here. I'm kind of one of them (I hate his guts but I love how he was written, it's a love hate relationship). However, the way people talk about his trauma... I'll be honest, it's kind of sickening for reasons I'll talk about later after getting through the technical(?) stuff. Where the way people view Anakin disgusts me, the way people treat Snow disturbs me. Because people view The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes as if it's some typical tragic villain backstory that humanizes and in some ways justifies who he became, to show what changed him from a normal person into a monster. It's not. It actually shows that Snow has always possessed the traits that made him the monster we know from the OG series. What it does is explain why specific things were so important to him and how he grew to lose all redeeming qualities, letting the worst aspects of his personality grow and take over until it's all there's left of him.

What made Snow do stuff like poison political adversaries and constantly beat down the districts so they don't rebel? A thirst for power. A thirst he's always had, born from the feelings of entitlement he held thanks to his family's previous status. He deserves that power in his mind, so he'll do anything to get it. Power, control, and influence are his driving motivators. It's at the back of his mind throughout TBOSAS, and by the time he becomes a gamemaker it's the only motivation he has left. Those traits, the things that pushed him to do what he did, they were always there. There was just more stuff to cover it up. Stuff that fell away with time. Snow is a terrible person, but people pretend he's some poor misunderstood baby who just needed a hug because... why? Because he has trauma. And that's the root of the problem. Does he have trauma? Absolutely. He survived a war, he lost his parents, struggled through poverty while being raised by propaganda from the Capitol and was arguably groomed by Gaul. Sound familiar? It's kind of like Anakin. Horrible childhood filled with loss, less than amazing figures raising him and grooming. Except people use the opposite argument for him which is equally wrong: he's traumatized, so we cannot blame him.

Yes we can.

Trauma does not justify your actions. It might explain them, but you are still accountable for your own actions. Snow murdered people, starting with Bobbin, and every single time it was his choice to do so. It doesn't matter why he made that choice, because he still did it. He ruined countless lives and ended nearly as many, both directly and indirectly. No amount of trauma justifies that. I've seen people claim he's just an anxious young boy who's a poor victim of circumstance, and anyone who doesn't believe so is simply unable to separate the actions of an 80-something-year-old from the 18-year-old, but... No. That's one of the most braindead takes I've ever heard, I'm sorry. Snow hadn't committed the crimes of his older self yet, but the behaviors he shows in TBOSAS are the ones that led him to doing so later on and ignoring that is just stupid. I don't need to judge Snow based on his later actions to call out how fucked up he was in TBOSAS. Again, he chose to murder several people and deluded himself into believing he was justified. That's what makes him a great character. Bad people always believe, on some level, that they're doing the right thing. It's fascinating. But people take his words at face value when he says he's doing the right thing, and the whole point is that he's wrong. He's lying to himself. Because that's what people do sometimes. Snow's family was knocked off its throne, and Snow clung to the idea that the districts are beneath him and at fault to cope with that. He deluded himself into believing Gaul's dumbass theory to justify continuing the games.

It's the exact opposite of Anakin Skywalker: Trauma is relevant, it does inform your perspective on the world and your actions, but it does not mean you can do no wrong. Snow had every chance to be a good person: Knocking Bobbin out or running away instead of murdering him, joining the rebellion with Sejanus, staying in district 12 with Lucy Gray and being honest with her. But he killed Bobbin. He fucked over the rebels and got Sejanus killed. He lied to Lucy Gray and destroyed any chance he had with her. Every chance he got, he threw into the fire without hesitation. Anakin leaned into being a bad person to forget the past, Snow chose to be one because it benefitted him the most. Neither of them are excused because of their trauma, their descent into villainy is simply explained. You know why? Because both of them created new victims. Snow was complicit in the murder of hundreds of children before becoming responsible for thousands more, he killed people with his own hands and ruined several lives over the course of TBOSAS. All that pain he caused isn't erased because we can explain why it happened. Even at 18, Snow has many things he should be held accountable for. War, being an empoverished orphan, being groomed, none of that nullifies the shit he's done. People who say Snow's just an anxious, young, traumatized boy are one side of the horseshoe theory of the myth of "the perfect victim". The "Anakin's Trauma Should Be Ignored Entirely" crowd are the other side. Which brings us to...

It's all horseshoe theory

To conclude the analytical part of my post, I'll bring it back to what I briefly mentioned in the intro to all of this. Agency. That's the running thread here. Both in cases like Anakin and cases like Snow, the fandom takes away all agency a character has in the story for the sake of justifying one's feelings about them. Anakin was born a monster and he was always destined to be evil. It wasn't the trauma, it wasn't the events of the story, he's just bad. On the other hand, Snow is a good person who was made to do terrible things by his trauma. It's all the trauma and nothing else. His bad childhood caused him to be this way and it has nothing to do with his own worst personality traits. See the connection? In both these instances, the characters had no influence over who they became. With Anakin, nothing could've had any influence because he's just born wrong. With Snow, it's everything around him that shaped him into who he was. Both scenarios completely ignore the character and focus on external factors to explain everything. One demonizes trauma victims by saying those that went off the rails are just bad people and there's nothing to be done about it, the other infantilizes trauma survivors by saying they shouldn't be held accountable for their actions just because they have trauma and it's only when they're older and should know better that we can bring consequences down on them.

Victims of trauma should be held accountable, though. The only thing the presence of trauma should change is what kind of accountability. Merely locking them up won't change anything, they should receive help to work through their problems while residing in a place where they cannot hurt anyone else. Including themselves. That is what acknowledging trauma is useful for. But this? This is doing nothing but stigmatizing trauma survivors even more than they already are, and I hate it. And you wanna know why I hate it? Because I've been both sides of this horseshoe, and it nearly got me killed.

The part where I talk about my Tragic Backstory(TM) to explain why this bothers me so much

This'll be a little heavy, so while I'm not gonna go into detail I advise you to please be careful. If you're not in the headspace to handle talk about actual real life mental health issues, feel free to stop reading here. I'm putting this at the end for a reason. If you really wanna know why people's perspective on Snow disturbs me but don't wanna risk getting triggered, skip to the last bold line in this post.

Without going into detail, I've dealt with some pretty big mental health issues throughout my life. One of them is PTSD, so believe me when I say I understand that trauma can heavily influence one's actions in ways even they don't understand. But I had to learn the hard way that there's a difference between explaining and excusing. I used to believe that, because of my previous experiences, I was entirely justified in doing what I was doing. Kind of. At that point, I didn't know that what I was experiencing was PTSD, but I did feel justified in my actions the same way Snow does. I explained every bad thing I did away and wrote it off as nothing or sometimes even as a good thing. Granted, I never did anything as big as committing murder, but I don't live in a country as dark and horrible as Panem so we'll chalk it up to that. As I grew older, I started to recognize the ways in which I accidentally hurt the people around me, and eventually had the realization that my past does not in fact justify the pain I was causing people entirely uninvolved in what happened to me. They had nothing to do with that, and shoving all my pain onto them the way I did was wrong. My view of myself pivoted to the other side of the horseshoe. If I'm not justified, am I... am I bad? Am I evil? Am I just born wrong?

I don't know how to explain this to anyone who hasn't gone through this themself, but that is a horrible feeling to have. To feel like you're just bad and there's nothing you can do about it... It kills something inside of you. A hope, a will to keep going and keep trying. Why bother when you cannot be fixed? I've lost the will to live at two points in my life, and that was one of them. And now I get to see both of these mentalities be repeated by dumbasses who don't understand the first thing about trauma. It's... not fun. It's grating and aggravating in a way I can't accurately bring across with just my words. It makes me wanna scream and laugh hysterically until I cry.

Here's the thing: I relate to Snow, and the way people perceive him disturbs me on a visceral level.

As I said, I justified my own bad behavior the same way he does. I convinced myself I was a blameless poor victim who had no hand in their actions. But just like Snow, I did. Not nearly as much as I would have liked, but I did. I learned to control the defensive mechanisms my trauma gave me, and I grew from it. Seeing people defending Snow with the same arguments that kept me from ever getting over what happened to me, crying out that he's just traumatized so none of it's his fault... it disturbs me. Because they're outsiders who should be able to see the pain he caused others and realize that nothing changes the fact that he did that. But they don't. They're me, without any of the personal stakes that kept me trapped in my own delusions. It's all just fiction, and I know that, but it hits just a little too close to home for my comfort. It's a little too raw and a little too real for me to just let it go and move on again like I always do.

I'm sorry for the rant, I didn't mean to make this post this long but I guess I hope you find something of interest in here that made it worth reading? Have a nice day 💜

[lisaas2418]

So what does the great 7 think of the overblot's parents? I can wait to see the Queen of Hearts using her iconic quote to Riddle's mom, Ursula and Queen Grimhilde being proud that Azul's and Vil's have great parents, Hades being confused on how his parents are like compare to what he imagine (before their debut, the fandom assume they are neglectful and not caring given they didnt appear in the flashback) that but male sense where the shroud brothers' personality, Jafar scolding Jamil's parents for lowering his potential, Maleficent feeling bad about his dead parent(s?) (Assume if you heard the theory about it), and not sure about Leona unless replace his parents with Farena. Leona doesn't talk much how his parents affected him other than his dad being sick.

Yeah the opinion on the parents are quite different 😅

(If some segments are short, don't come at me there is just not much I can write about)

Riddle's Mum

We havent fully se her sprite ingame, but I think as soon as sje appears everyone will go off on her. Amd I'm not only talking about the fandom. So as the Queen of Hearts heard about Riddles Mum, she went as red as the red roses in her garden. She demended on seeing his mum while loudly screaming "HOW DARE SHE TREATS HIM LIKE THAT?! IT WILL BE OFF WITH HER HEAD". Everyone had to calm her down, while Riddle explained that it would be very chaotic if a historical figure like her would suddendly appear in his home and that he already tries to change his mothers mind (although it doesnt really works).

If his Mum were to ever appear in the House of Mouse though she WILL be going off on her

Leona's Parent's

There is not much info regarding both of them, but I really doubt they are bad parents. They clearly were not the factor on Leonas mental state and werent judging him or telling he should be like his brother. As you said Farena is by Leonas saying sick and thus why his older brother is king. Leona never seemed to express hatred or dislike to his parents, so its easy to assume that he is alright about them. So Scar doesnt have much of a dislike to them, he is just glad that he has atleast somewhat decent parents (who didnt named their son Take which means trash)

Azul's Parent's

As far as we heard of them, his parents seem to be really great. Not only are they NOT the reason why Azul has problems but they are present in his life and being lovely to him. So yeah Ursula likes them a lot

Jamil's Parents

Ok well they are not really terrible but they do made Jamil always stay in the shadow of Kalim (often even though he was clearly better at some things) and it may just be me but I think they even hurted him?? Again not sure if this is correct so feel free to correct me. Jafar doesnt hold them in great regard since for one he himself had to always serve someone who is not really smart amd second they are just stalling his talents which is not a good thing for parents to do.

Yes Jafar is not a good person, but even he knows about it

Vil's father

We didnt saw much of him, but he supports Vil's goal and even said to him that he is fit to play the hero role in any movie. So yeah the evil queen thinks he is a good father

Idia's parents

They are a perfect example of "thinking someones terrible, but they turn out to be good" parents. It was really weird and good finding out that Idias and Orthos parents love both of them and that they are just not always there because of their jobs (which they didnt even asked for). The way they reassured Ortho that despite him beinh a humanoid robot of the "real" Ortho, they love him the same as they did with the other and consider him family. Hades was skeptical at first (as we all were) but he ends finding them great, because yeah he can relate on having a job he didnt even asked for

Malleu's parents

Not much can be said except they really loved him as he was an egg and that his mother was willing to die to protect him, and also Lilias parential love towards him being the reason he hatched is just so sweet. Maleficent feels empathy toward his parents but she also thinks Lilia did a great job at raising him (and Silver)

[latoyalestrange]

Could you please make a part 2 to the Harry Potter Drabble you made? I just feel like there should be a part 2 where they end up together or Draco and reader end up together?

yule ball pt. 2

h. potter x f!reader

summary: part 2 to this drabble. in which you and harry have always been complicated.

words: 1.1k

warnings: angst, fluff, pining, violence, asshole!draco, anyhouse!reader, platonic!ron x reader and platonic!hermione x reader fluff, minors dni, not edited!

as per your request, babes. ps in this universe the yule ball is every year instead of every five. also this yule ball looks nothing like the movies. its warm, cozy, and romantic in this bitch. love, your humble writing servant. <3

it was all so clear to you now. harry couldn't expect you to know he liked you, after all, he'd never said it outright. but at the same time, you were sympethetic to his feelings. he was probably so nervous to say anything on the off chance that you didn't feel the same way, and come to find out you were going with his enemy instead. you had to admit, looking at it now...it was a low blow. you tried to talk to him during the entire week leading up to the ball, but he wouldn't give you the time of day. even hermione came around before he did, and he could hold a grudge like a hippogriff.

unbeknownst to draco, you'd opted to go as a group with ron and hermione after hearing harry wasn't going at all. you'd felt so terrible about the entire thing that you cried the entire time while trying to get ready. however, when hermione joined you in your dorm the exact minute she said she would and convinced you that you should try and have a nice evening despite everything. dressing up nicely did make you feel slightly better, but there was always a deep sadness behind your smile. you were entirely incapable of bantering with your friends before the majority of the students arrived, trapped in your anxious thoughts. pulling you out of your trance, ron nudged you with his elbow.

"hey." he smiled lightly at you as you stood together near the wall of the ballroom. you mirrored his expression, grateful for your two friends. "try to have a good night, yeah?" you nodded to him.

"someone's probably already spiked the pumpkin juice. that's step one." he gestured to the other corner of the room, chuckling. you and hermione joined him as you looked over at the crowd around the snack table.

"oh, alright. do you guys want one as well?"

"i'll pass," hermione rejected, holding her hand up with disgust.

"are you kidding? did you really just ask me that?" ron joked, looking offended. you rolled your eyes and ignored him, turning on your heel to start towards the bewitched punch bowl. there was a ladle floating in and out of the pumpkin juice and serving students when they brought an empty cup up to it. you filled two goblets with ice and watched excitedly as the ladle poured a generous amount of the fizzing liquor into each cup. then, just as quickly as your night had turned for the better, it came to a crashing halt as you felt unwanted hands gripping your hips from behind. you quickly spun around, your face screwed up with anger.

"get off!" draco mirrored your expression upon seeing your reaction.

"what's your problem?" you rolled your eyes again, this time with an entirely different tone.

"as if i'd actually want to go with you, draco. you knew i was upset about harry and you were trying to take advantage of me." your face was starting to get hot and you hoped you weren't turning red. harry could see from the other side of the room that your fears were true, however. he was trying to decipher the situation while out of earshot of what you were saying. he stood next to ron and hermione, doing the very same thing.

"oh come on, y/n." you scowled down at his hands as you watched them find your waist again. "you said yes to me. you know you would have such a good time with me." with the two drinks in your hands, you were unable to remove his hands, so you tried to step away, but his grip was firm. his eyes looked like a snake's, eyeing it's prey before it attacks and sinking its venom into the veins. you were sure that on the outside you looked terrified, trying to writhe away from his hands.

but before you had to chance to start screaming at him, he was on the floor and harry was standing over him, looking at his now scuffed knuckles. draco whined beneath him, holding his poor face in his hands.

"harry!" was all you could say. before you knew it, a crowd had formed around the three of you, and professor mcgonnagal was parting the sea of students to assess the situation. she took one look at you, then at harry, then at draco.

"potter, to your dorm. now. you too, y/l/n. draco, come with me." she dragged the boy to his feet and led him away, scolding him under her breath.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

back at the common room, you offered to clean harry's hand for him. he accepted hesitantly, sitting on the couch quietly as you fetched your first aid kit. when you came back a few moments later he was staring off into space, looking dejected. you sat down next to him and he shifted his gaze to your hands as you tended to his.

"you shouldn't have done that," you admitted quietly. he didn't respond. "but thank you." you added, a small smile appearing on both of your faces. you finished off the bandage with some tape and brought his hand up to your mouth, kissing the bandage. he finally allowed himself to make eye contact with you as you did this, swallowing hard. it was silent for a moment as you brought your hands down to your lap and held his there for a moment.

"i'm--"

"i'm sorry--" the two of you chuckled, feeling relieved and a little silly for being so angry before.

"i really wanted to go with you," harry admitted. you nodded.

"i did too. i shouldn't have said yes to draco. i was just--"

"you were upset, i know. i see that now." you let out a deep sigh, feeling more heard than ever from him. you were finally clicking after being on different pages for so many complicated months.

"but it was wrong. and i'm sorry." his other hand joined yours between the two of you and held on tightly.

"i should've been honest with you a long time ago. i've waisted so much of your time, our time..." you could suddenly feel how close you were to harry in that moment, your faces just inches apart, and your hands still intertwined. it was getting hard to breathe.

"i should've done this a long time ago." he freed a hand from your grasp to brush the stray hairs out of your face and palm your cheek as he closed the gap, locking your lips in a heated exchange. his hand slid back to grip your hair, deepening the kiss.

for once in your life, everything made sense. kissing him, touching him and feeling him touch you felt so right.

for once in your life, you and harry weren't complicated. both of you knew exactly how the other felt and had no problem showing it.

reblog if you made it to the end!

[httpwintersoldier]

small marvel rant?

I believe the reason why so many people disliked Black Widow's movie is because it wasn't a movie about Black Widow, it wasn't centered around anynthing important for Natasha, more than anything it served as a way to establish Yelena as a new hero/anti-hero.

And yes, we've seen movies be used to introduce other heroes, like Captain America: The Winter Soldier introducing Sam Wilson, but the difference here is that Sam wasn't overwhelming in the plot - sam was essential, yes, but not overwhelming. At no point in the movie did he become the center, the center was always steve, the winter soldier, and the both of them dealing with each other's presence. It was great character introduction because while he played a vital role, he didn't steal the attention from the main characters and from the main plot.

while in Black Widow the movie is supposed to be about Natasha but suddenly the spotlight is turned to this family that had never been mentioned before?? Like she is probably, out of all the og avengers, the one whose past you could explore the most, the one with a past interesting enough to make a great movie about - yet you take this opportunity to introduce a bunch of characters that mean jack shit and that have never been mentioned before??

Instead of focusing on Natasha and her past we get a bunch of yelena, to the point where I started asking myself if it was really a black widow movie or if they just wanted to find a way to insert this new character and just decided to use this loved and pre-established character as a scapegoat to do so (like they did with Hawkeye but I don't think anyone gives a shit that much with hawkeye)

Like they mention the institution she grew up in and there's a fight scene but that is such a small percentage compared to the rest of the film. And I know Natasha is known for some ironic one-liners here and there but given her past and her personality a more somber/darker movie (like MoM or CA:TW) would've matched so much more and would've been amazing, instead we got this Ant-Man/Guardians wannabe movie with a bunch of goofballs running around and a terrible russian (was it even russian?) accent.

[princeescaluswords]

So, because Scott is poor, Derek should buy him a new car? That seems logical to you?

Did you come here looking for a fight? Because you just found one. I believe that this ask refers to this post, where I argued that Derek's performative asceticism isn't accidental, and that the show was implying that his privilege and wealth enabled his antagonistic behavior in the first two seasons.

Nowhere did I argue in that post, where I compared the speed with which Derek repaired his car window after Chris Argent's thug smashed it to the fact that the McCall family vehicle didn't have a driver's side window all season, that Derek owed Scott a car. I have, in the past, argued that the Hales owed Scott McCall reparations for repeated assaults, property damage, disruption of academic pursuits, and for taking over their self-appointed task of protecting Beacon Hills. I wish that the show had made it explicit in A Promise to the Dead (4x11) that Derek gave Scott the money from Garrett's locker rather than leave it ambiguous.

I'm never going to suggest that Teen Wolf went all in on an analysis of class struggle -- Heavens, no! -- but it didn't ignore the consequences of the Hale's upper class identity. "Everyone can be corrupted by money!" Peter howls in Monstrous (4x10) and he is a prime example of that. Similarly, Derek's wealth and privilege enable him to dwell, unhealthily, on the traumas of his past. I know of very few people who could take three months out of their life to obsess over family tragedies with no mention of work or responsibility, and still have cars, properties, and personal care items. Derek is not well served by this behavior, isolating himself from the mundane and from the mechanics of living. He intends to achieve his goals by himself due to trust issues, but he is forced to rely on Scott McCall as the only way to accomplish these things, and man-oh-man is he bitter about it.

But as the show had it's lead protagonist argue in Weaponized (4x07) "while we're trying not to die, we still need to live." In fact, I would argue that you can trace Derek's redemption arc by his willingness to live. At the start of the show, Derek is "totally alone" and his wealth and privilege allow him to operate like that. In Seasons 3 and 4, though, he starts to remember how to live. We see him in an actual home, even though it is the Loft of Solitude. He purchases a more practical vehicle. He allows himself to think about romance. He makes friends with the Sheriff and, amazingly, Chris Argent. A key scene is when he puts his wealth and privilege to positive use by trusting Braeden, hiring her to find Kate. He's using his wealth in a positive manner. It is no longer enabling his isolation. Look at Derek in the movie. He is fully living. He has a home, a family, friends, a business. Before the nogitsune seeks its revenge, Derek's primary focus is watching his son play lacrosse and getting him to embrace his family's heritage.

Since Derek's role was always to serve as a narrative foil to Scott, the lead protagonist, this arc highlights Scott's story. Regardless of what happens to Scott, he never isolates himself, with one important exception. At all other times, he worries about his grades, he wants to get into a good school, he wants to play lacrosse, he wants to date people, he keeps his friends close, he works with Deaton, he brings his mother lunch, etc. Yes, there are terrible things happening, but he doesn't forget to live while trying to stop corrupted hunters, Alpha packs, Japanese fox demons, and multi-million dollar assassin hit-lists. Fandom tends to hold the attention he pays to everyday living against him, but Scott knows from direct experience these things are important, and he doesn't have the wealth and privilege to put them on hold for months while dealing with villains or his own trauma. The exception? Season 5A, where Theo schemes to isolate Scott. Scott is still an alpha, a True Alpha, but that privilege alone won't save anyone. There's a reason that Melissa's primary advice -- as much as I might despise it on an emotional level -- is "You'll get them back. You have to."

Teen Wolf certainly wasn't an "eat the rich" show, but it did have a definite point of view that virtue was based in everyday things, the tasks and opportunity that should be in common with all of humanity, and not in the isolation that great wealth, ancient pedigree, or exclusive privilege grants.

[jerzwriter]

Tobias and Casey, 2, 9, 11

Ethan and Eva, 13, 20, 24

Hey love! Thanks so much for the asks - I desperately need to spend some time with my blorbos so I appreciate them! ❤️

From this list

Tobias & Casey:

2... Who is your best friend?  Tell us about them!

I think both of them would absolutely say that they are each other's best friends because they are. I don't think all couples are best friends, no matter how much they claim to be. Being a best friend is a special level - you have to be able to tell each other anything without fear of being judged, but you know that they will also be willing to tell you the truth - even if you don't want to hear it. They should be the first person they want to call when something good or terrible happens. They have to enjoy each other's company and laugh together. This is NOT every couple, but it is Tobias and Casey.

But it's important to have other friends, too, and they both know that. For Tobias, his other best friends would be Kerry and Sasha (OCs - more about them here) and Ethan.

For Casey, it would be Sienna and Bryce. She becomes very close with Kerry, too, but always respects the boundary that she is Tobias's best friend. She'd never want to put her in a position to feel she has to choose between them.

9... Are you a spiritual person?  If yes, what do you practice?

The answer here may shock - Casey was not - at all, but Tobias was. He is the perfect way of showing we don't know who people are at their core by what you see on the outside. He wasn't a holy roller, by any means, but he absolutely had strong faith. He grew up attending the church where his paternal great-grandfather was a pastor and a civil rights leader. Church on Sunday was part of his life as a child, he even served on the children's choir (which is where we learned he had a great voice.) Did he live a pious life? Hell no. But did his faith steer him throughout his life? Yes. It did. I wrote a fic about this, Just a Little Faith. Casey was agnostic, leaning toward athiest, and didn't believe in much. But after her near death experience, falling in love with Tobias, and becoming pregnant with their child, she started to have a shift in her point of view. This is one of my favorite fics :)

11... What is your favorite type of media (TV, movie, books, etc)?  Name some specific favorites (which shows, movies, books, etc do you like)!

They kind of like all of them. LOL But they're both avid book readers. I would say that's where they find sustenance, followed by movies. TV is something they enjoy, but it's more for relaxation.

Books: They both love non-fiction most of all, and there are many James Baldwin and Bell Hooks titles amongst their favorites.

Some of Tobias's specific favorites (I'll stick to books since they played a big part in how they fell in love) : The Covenant of Water (Abraham Verghese), Dying: A Memoir (Cory Taylor), Lies My Teachers Told Me (James Loewen), The Return (Hisham Matar), and The Alchemist (Paolo Coelho)

And Casey's: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou), All About Love (Bell Hooks), Beloved (Toni Morrison), Atonement (Ian McEwan), and The Invisible Thread (Schroff/Tresniowski).

Ethan & Eva

Man! I really have to get back to that, don't I? lol

13... You’re given an unlimited budget to build anything you want!  What do you build and where do you build it?

Ethan would build a modest but lovely home on a secluded private beach somewhere in New England. Very traditional, think shingle style, surrounded by beautiful landscaping and pure serenity.

Eva would love to have two small homes in her genealogical homelands of Greece and Cuba. Since Cuba is not a possibility at this time, she'd probably build in Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic. In Greece, it would be on an island, but NOT Mykonos or Santorini! They'd be small, but comfortable, homey places.

20. Describe your biggest pet peeve.

Ethan - Pointless meetings - especially when he has to put up with board members and such.

Eva - Rude people.

24. What would you consider your main love language?

I would say it's quality time for both (however, I have not done the test for them, I have for E/K and T/C lol)

Thanks so much for asking! :)

[rpmemesbyarat]

In the Jurassic Park novel, Ellie and Grant are not a couple. She is his student, and engaged to a doctor in Chicago, while Grant is a widower with no romantic interest in her. In the film, this is of course changed, and the conflict of her wanting children but Grant disliking them (unlike the novel where he explicitly loves children from the start) is introduced, as is the potential love triangle between them and Malcolm (“potential” because I don’t think it ever existed anywhere but Grant’s own mind) Making the male and female lead into a couple when they weren’t before? Introducing a love triangle? Adding in a “woman wants kids, man does not” cliche on top of that? Normally, I would DESPISE this with every fiber of my being. But, it didn’t bother me. In fact, it took me a long time ever even think about it. So, why is that? Because, while I wouldn’t go so far as to say that there’s no chance that sexism and heteronormativity weren’t involved at all in these decisions, they are decisions that serve the story and characters very well and actually do make the movie better. Grant’s major character arc is learning to care for children as he gets two of them through a deadly scenario, and, in that, symbolizes him coming to terms with the progress of the future itself , and changing to dapt to how the world is changing around him. Remember, his debut scene not only shows he dislikes kids, but also computers and technology, and he says later in the film that now he’ll have to “evolve” when the kids ask what he’ll do now that studying dinosaurs is no longer an option. Which, of course, it is, dinosaurs being alive in a very specific place and way doesn’t mean there’s no longer a future for archaeology, but the question is really, how are YOU going to change because of what’s happened here? And he does indeed evolve. Adding Malcolm in gives him incentive to do that evolving. Again, I don’t think Malcolm ever actually had a shot with Ellie, but I think Grant was absolutely portrayed as worried about it. Especially because Malcolm points out he already has kids, loves kids, and wants more. In other words, here’s this cool suave man flirting with Ellie who will happily give her what she wants that Grant feels he cannot. He is faced with, in his own mind at least, the prospect or changing or failing, just like evolution in the wild. And on Ellie’s end, the fact she and Grant are in love means that her speech to Hammond about “what matters now is the people we love” carries much more weight, because it means they BOTH have people they love at stake. Yes, a student could of course still care about her professor, but it’s not really equivalent to what a grandfather feels for his grandkids, whereas a romantic love carries a lot more gravity, especially if they’re serious to the point they’re having debates about having kids. In other words, I don’t think these decisions were made just because someone said “well they’re the two leads and opposite sexes, so they should be a couple, and every movie needs a love triangle for tension, since of course a film about DINOSAURS KILLING PEOPLE lacks enough of that” I think these choices were largely made in service of the story’s messages and the character’s developments, moments, etc. And my point to all this is that basically I don’t think there’s any universally “bad” choices and “good” choices to make in stories. It’s more WHY the writer(s) made this choice and HOW they executed it. Because in a vacuum, these sorts of choices PISS ME OFF SO FUCKIN MUCH and yet in Jurassic Park, I not only am unbothered by them, I think they were a GOOD IDEA. And I’ve also read works where the writer(s) made choices that I probably would have LOVED if they were written well, that I loved the IDEA of, but in execution I absolutely DESPISED and thought were TERRIBLE. I realize, of course, this just makes writing more complicated, that there’s no true 100% checklist of things to never do and things that will always be a good decision. That’s frustrating, at least for me. But, if you think about it, I think it’s also freeing! It means you can do almost ANYTHING, you’ve just got to make it serve the story you’re trying to tell and the characters in it!

[terrible-twst-oc-ideas]

3 Terrible Three Questions (Birthday Edition)

How do you celebrate your birthday? With who, and where?

Delano (🌰): I try to spend my birthdays at home, if I can. Granny tries to always bake lots of treats for a big breakfast, so I’m usually stuffed full of sugar by noon. Then, the two of us like to walk around the woods. My birthday’s in September, so the leaves have usually started to change by then. They’re really beautiful. Granny says my mom used to love them, so… it makes me feel close to her. Then, we go inside, Granny makes a nice soup for dinner, and we cook up some hot coco and hang out together for the rest of the night.

Piper (🎶): Inside, alone. My birthday’s in the dead of winter, and during the holidays, too. So Madame Bonfamille’s would always be largely empty, save for whatever teacher stayed behind to watch any holdovers. My first year, my primary instructor, Mr. Duke, stayed behind. He made a little party for us. It was… admittedly nice. His children were born the next year, though, and he never stayed for the holidays again. So, I usually spent the day practicing, like any other. I might be at another school now, but it’ll probably be no different this year. 

Lionel (🏹): Well, obviously, we have a huge party. Only the best of the best for the best’s birthday, right? There’s a big feast, and a song in my honor, and… um… y-you know. Other– party stuff… Or, my friends buy me free snacks. Or my brother takes me out to the movies. That happens– sometimes.

What was your favorite birthday gift that you’ve ever received?

🎶: My coat. Well, technically, it was a third of the money needed to buy the coat, but that money was still a gift. And it is still my favorite coat.

🏹: After I started getting into archery, my brother decided to get me a new bow for my birthday. Well, more like three months after my birthday. He was still in college at the time, and had to save up for it. Plus he didn’t want it getting broken in the mail. Allegedly. 

🌰: When I turned ten, Granny gave me a book of pressed plants and flowers. It was a journal my mom used to keep. The last entry is a daisy, from the day I was born. It’s still one of the most important things I own.

Favorite kind of cake?

🌰: Walnut cake, especially the way my Granny makes it. She always drizzles it with this buttercream frosting that’s to die for. 🏹: Sokolatopita. It’s not any old chocolate cake: it’s chocolate cake, soaked in chocolate syrup, and served with chocolate ganache. Only the best chocolate cake for the best guy I know– that’s me, of course. 🎶: Fruit cake. Yes, that fruit cake. It’s good!

[thenonconformistcurmudgeon]

KaffeeKvetch

Five friends of a certain age gather around for their weekly coffee klatch. Sol, Mel, Murray, Nat and Bernie.   Fortunately, or unfortunately, you can listen in.

Murray: Mel, what’s with the 5 O’clock shadow?

Mel: I am on strike from shaving, a silent protest against shaving cream makers.

Nat: and what are you protesting?

Mel: Did you ever notice then when you spritz the shaving cream in your hand, you almost always get too much.  You never get the right amount, very rarely too little.  If you get too little, then when you try to add more, you end up with way too much.

Bernie: Yes, it’s terrible, happens to me all the time, very annoying.  Now, I am having trouble even lifting the can.

Sol: Why is that?

Bernie: My arthritis in my right shoulder prevents me from lifting my arm over my head and now my left elbow hurts so much, I can’t lift a thing with my left arm. The doctor says I have golfer’s elbow. Guy is a quack.  Have you ever heard of such a thing.  I never touched a golf club in my life.

Sol: Not even chip and putt?

Bernie: Not even mini-golf.  Doctor prescribed me heavy dosing of Advil which gave me an ulcer. Now I’m downing Prilosec like candy. A quack I say.

Murray: You know I have a similar problem.  I got bunions on my right foot and gout on my left. 

Nat: You did look a little wobbly walking in. Sorry to hear of it. Anyone know where I can get a new suit? I have my nudnik nephew’s wedding coming up and Gertie says I can’t wear my old suit anymore.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with it myself, still fits like a glove after 40 years, although the last time I had it altered, the tailor said he couldn’t take out the pants anymore.  It has a few stains but they are nostalgic from other times I wore it.  For instance, the kugel stain from my Uncle Sam’s funeral.

Mel: I got a million-dollar idea. You know what they need to invent is a Teflon suit.  Food slide right off, stain proof. Never have to send it to the dry cleaners, wash and wear.

Murray: From your mouth to God’s ear. 

Sol: I think it’s called a suit of armor. 

Mel: They can go to the moon but can’t invent a Teflon suit? Of course, they could.  They just want you to buy a new suit every 40 years. What you would need is one of those instafluencers on Tic Tock Toe or what have you come out and say they want a Teflon suit.  It would be made lickety split.

Sol: Here are the crullers to go with the coffee boys.

Nat: Why do you always get crullers?  Can’t you once get some eclairs, some nice Danish, a strudel, even a scone. And you never even eat the crullers yourself.

Sol: I don’t like them but I like saying the word crullers when I go in the bakery and when I serve them here. It’s a fun word to say. Crullers.

Bernie: Mel, go easy on the crullers, slow down.  Remember we had to call EMS when they got stuck in your throat.  I don’t want to call Sadie again to tell her you are on your way to the hospital. Mel, you hear me?

Mel: I hear fine, although everyone mumbles nowadays, and it is time to get my ear wax flushed at the doctors. I just couldn’t answer with half a cruller in my mouth. You would think with my saggy jowls and with fewer teeth, there would be more room in my mouth for food but it doesn’t seem to work that way.

Murray: Nat, where are you going?

Nat: To relieve myself.

Murray: Make it snappy, there is a line forming.

Sol: Murray, why did you have to say make it snappy?  You know he has poor flow with that prostate the size of a golf ball, now the pressure will be on him.

Murray: Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.  Once in my life I wanted to say make it snappy.  Never had the opportunity before.  You know, in old movies, they say make it snappy to bellhops, counter people in the diner, etc. but now someone would take offense if you said it. I’d like to go into Starbucks just once and say make it snappy.

Bernie: If you did that, you would need one of those Teflon suits for sure and maybe Teflon shoes. You know if it slid off the suit, it would likely get on your shoes.

Mel: Hey Sol, how was that new restaurant your kids took you too. 

Sol: I bit too fancy for me.  What kind of restaurant is named daffodils?  Nothing on the menu was fried and the unhoused get bigger portions at the soup kitchen.  It was too rich for me.  Went through me like a herd of stampeding buffaloes. If they could have hooked me up to a power generating station, I would have made more electricity than Niagara Falls. I’m telling you, if the military could weaponize what was going on in my bowels, no one would ever attack us again. Finally felt better after downing a few bicarbonates.

Murray: Here comes Nat.  My turn. You got a magazine Sol?

Sol: I’ll give you War and Peace. Open a window when you go in there Murray.  Remember what happened the last time. The cat snuck in the bathroom and passed out while you were in there. 

Murray: He had a seizure.

Sol: He never had a seizure before or since.  He didn’t have a seizure, just open a window.

Nat: I saw a PBS documentary once on Cat Seizures.  I’m not sure, maybe it was a History Channel documentary on famous dogs that had seizures or maybe it was famous people who had dogs that had seizures. Or maybe it was about Cat Stevens.

Sol: Myra wanted me to remind you to make sure you took your pills while you were here. She didn’t want you to forget.

Nat: I can hear fine.

Bernie: You know Sol, Murray saves it up for days before coming here just so he can use your toilet paper instead of his.

Sol: Tell me about it.  Last time, I had a full roll on and when he left there was only a few squares. Next time, I think I will put one ply in there.  That will stop him cold.  I went to a fancy NYC hotel recently, $250. a night and they were so cheap they used one ply.  Might as well used sandpaper.

Mel: You know it is so aggravating when you get to the end of a roll and you try to get the last few sheets off but it gets stuck and you end up with a few sheets of shredded paper. What is it good for?

Sol: Absolutely nothing.

Mel: Say it again.

Sol: Absolutely nothing.

Bernie: Say it, say it, say it.

All: It ain’t nothing but a heart-breaker.

         It’s got one friend, that’s The Undertaker. (Courtesy Edwin Starr)

Mel: You have to get the little paper left on the roll off to recycle the roll and you end up with more shreds.  You can’t add the shreds to sheets from a fresh roll.  Simply doesn’t work. You know I got another million-dollar idea.  Invent a roll where the paper comes cleanly off at the end. People would flock to the stores for it.  No one likes those shreds. Can call it A Clean Ending. 

Sol: That’s a pretty good one Mel, a clean ending. I’d buy it.  You know I think I heard Murray flush 5 times already. I left the snake and plunger out in plain sight just in case.

Bernie: I counted six flushes.

Murray: I feel much better. 

Sol: Murray, you look like you lost 5 pounds.  I hope I don’t have to call a plumber.

Nat: You know they should make toilet seats with built in scales so you can see what you weigh before and after. I’d like to know. You know I asked my GI man a question that he was totally baffled about. A simple question you would think they would know the answer to but got nada from him.

Mel: What did you ask?

Nat: Given 2 people of equal weight, height and exact diet, if one person goes significantly more than the other, does it mean he is processing food more efficiently or less efficiently than the other guy?

Bernie: That’s an excellent question. Telling you, these doctors know nothing. You know what is a hard decision. You know right before bed, you have somewhat of an urge to go but are not sure and you think you can make it till morning.  Your kind of tired, don’t want to make the effort, and want to hit the hay and not bother, especially if it is likely to be a low producer.  Then again, you don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night having to go and disrupt your sleep. 

Nat: Or be in bed unable to fall asleep because you are worrying if you fell asleep you would have to wake up to go.

Sol: My kids want to take me on a trip to Japan.  I told them no because I don’t want to use those fancy toilets with the bidets built in.  They don’t use toilet paper. I asked my son, why would I want to get all wet down there and then have my underwear soaked when I put them back up.  He said they have built in blow dryers.  I said you know how well those hand dryers work in bathrooms.  You always have to wipe your hands on your pants to get them dry in the end. Now if you’re in a Japanese home, you can’t just wipe your behind on one of their towels.  Certainly, would be an ugly American. Told him I’m not going halfway across the world to offend my hosts.

Nat: You know Harry asked if he could join our group.  He seems too cheery for us. Always taking about his time at the gym or pickleball success. I gave him a bit of a brush off. 

Murray:  He does have that young wife.  I don’t think she is a day over 66.

Sol: Well boys, I think it was a good group today.  No ambulance calls, no calls needed to the plumber, the cat is conscious, and we came up with some good inventions.  Let’s call it a day so we all can go take a nap.

[handicappedbuenchico]

Think about some strong opinions (about anything) that you have. Could be about RP, life, school, work, people. Where did that come from; what happened to make you feel or think that way?

I'm going to use this question to share some of my horror movie opinions here, specifically my A N.ightmare o.n E.lm S.treet franchise hot takes (mainly Freddy's Dead because WHOO BOY 😩) because I have a lot of those I feel. Also, I am fully prepared to lose my N.ightmare franchise fan card, as I know damn well that these are very unpopular opinions. All of these opinions will be under a read more because like I said I have a lot, and if you want more in depth explanations for my opinions, I'll have to make individual posts about them because Tumblr hates multiple in-depth explanations in one post apparently.

The original A N.ightmare o.n E.lm S.treet from 1984 and A N.ightmare o.n E.lm S.treet 3: D.ream W.arriors are extremely overrated - I always found them to be extremely boring. Also, Nancy's death was really underwhelming when you look at it in terms of the rest of the series.

F.reddy's D.ead is NOT a feminist movie in the traditional sense (it actually makes the female characters, specifically Maggie, look worse when you really think about it) - The only "feminist" things about it was that it was directed by a female, R.achel T.alalay, and that almost every victim in the movie is male with the exception of L.oretta K.rueger. The main female characters within the movie itself are written horribly while being given the protection of plot and main character armor even though they didn't really do much within the narrative to really earn it. No not even Tracy. The male characters that aren't Doc and Freddy himself are treated like they have no agency/autonomy in the story, and they're only there to narratively serve the female characters their purpose in the story on a silver platter until the narrative erased them from existence when they were no longer useful because why the fuck not. *cough* John Doe doing basically all the detective work about Freddy for Maggie and spoon feeding her the info that Freddy had a daughter and not a son as HE was dying *cough*

F.reddy's D.ead's portrayals of child emotional and physical abuse are disgustingly offensive because it treats those types of abuse like jokes, while they give all the seriousness and tact to the child sexual abuse survivor - Yes, I know they couldn't make a joke of child sexual abuse. Even still, Carlos and Spencer's REAL trauma and abuse should have been given the same care and attention as Tracy's. Tracy didn't have to go on a cringy exposition dump on the type of trauma she's supposed to be suffering from, nor did she feel the need to point out any physical reminders of her abuse and trauma when the movie thought the audience would forget about it. Carlos and Spencer shouldn't have had to either. Also, if you couldn't make Freddy joke about sex abuse, maybe don't have him making entire comedy routines out of physical and emotional abuse, just a thought.

Dr. M.aggie B.urnham is fucking terrible at her job and should have never gotten her license to practice - She also didn't deserve the final girl role, as she did LITERALLY NOTHING OF FUCKING SUBSTANCE the whole movie except acting like an NPC that can only say three phrases. Hell, she was LITERALLY GASLIGHTING John Doe the entire time they were in Springwood. She was a selfish, self-centered bitch who used her job as a means to her own end when John Doe was brought to the shelter. Since everyone loves to compare F.reddy's D.ead to D.ream W.arriors, Maggie is the Dr. Simms to John's Kristen and Doc's Neil AND Nancy.

Carlos, Spencer, and John's deaths in F.reddy's D.ead were literally pointless from a narrative standpoint because of Freddy essentially playing God and erasing them from existence - Spencer's death in particular creates a giant plot hole when they use Spencer's pipe bomb that he had made earlier in the film to finally kill Freddy, despite Spencer himself no longer existing.

The original shooting script of F.reddy's D.ead, along with the comic that came after the movie, is actually 10x better than the movie we actually got - Specifically with scenes like Spencer's death sequence and the beginning of Carlos's death sequence. The shooting script also gives us some more info on Carlos and Spencer than the movie did, so there's that.

The main plot of Freddy's Dead could NEVER work - Not only does it not work from a logical standpoint, as the basic math required to figure that shit out already destroyed it, but also the way the Freddy sets the plot into motion makes literally no fucking sense? Why is Freddy suddenly trapped in Springwood? If he's this damn near omnipotent dream God from killing every single child in Springwood, shouldn't he have the power to break through some bullshit barrier that's just arbitrarily placed around Springwood? Also, the main plot of Freddy's Dead is so nonsensical and pointless that almost every major streaming service spoils the weak "twist" of Maggie being Freddy's daughter.

F.reddy's R.evenge and F.reddy's D.ead are a part of the original ANoES canon, no matter how much the fandom tries its hardest to erase them - Get over it, fandom.

Kristen was selfish and dumb for passing her powers (and the inevitable headache known as F.reddy K.rueger) onto Alice. - Like, why couldn't she let the fear of Freddy die with HER? Was she not the true last E.lm S.treet kid? Wouldn't Freddy's thirst for vengeance technically end with Kristen? I mean, I know that there's always that possibility of him coming back organically, but Kristen...girl...come on honey. Why would you put your friend through that torment? She literally lost her brother and later her boyfriend-turned-baby-daddy because of you.

W.ill S.tanton and S.pencer L.ewis would have been absolutely unstoppable in their respective movies if the narratives had let them live.

All the original parents of E.lm S.treet should have been charged with murder when they lynched Freddy, and then charged with child abuse/neglect with how they treated their children years after the fact - Look, I understand why they did it and all, and I know they couldn't have possibly predicted that Freddy would return as a dream killer. However, they still broke the law, and are continuing to break more laws. The treatment of their children, including having them forcefully institutionalized/imprisoning them in their rooms and drugging them against their wills, are literal forms of child abuse. Why were we supposed to root for them again? I also have no sympathy for Freddy, by the way, he absolutely deserved to get locked up for his crimes too. However, maybe whoever was in charge of the warrant should have made sure all the proper T's were crossed and I's were dotted first before going all gung-ho.

[nattikay]

Ok, so as an oldest sibling myself, I do think that a certain amount of pressure or expectation to be the most mature etc. kinda comes with the territory, regardless of how good or bad your parents may or may not be. So sure, in that sense yes Neteyam may very well be feeling a measure of “pressure”. If folks left it at only that, I wouldn’t have nearly as many qualms with it.

However, my issue is not with the idea that Neteyam may likely deal with some of the standard pressures of being the firstborn—and I apologize if in my frustration I did not make this distinction clear—but rather when people blow this concept up to the point that his whole character revolves around the supposed tragedy of it. It’s one thing to extrapolate based on circumstances that he’s probably experiencing some pressure—it’s quite another to take that and, despite little to no evidence (as the above tags said, we never see him complain about it), decide that this pressure is utterly overwhelming, that it’s constantly eating him up inside, that he’s secretly miserable but bottles it up, that he’s been “forced” into this path and he secretly hates it and just yearns To Be Free, that this pressure is so severe that his parents are considered neglectful if not abusive for forcing him to feel it, that they’ve never ever allowed him to just “be a kid” or “act his age”, that he “deserves to call them out” or “should’ve had a chance to break free of their toxic influence before he died”, and oh don’t we feel so sorry for him? Isn’t this constant pressure he feels so tragic? Aren’t his parents so terrible for inflicting it on him?

That’s where my frustration lies, this overexaggeration and overdramatization that makes everything worse than it is and treating that interpretation like canon even though most of it is not really present in the movie.

Concerning the “perfect little soldier” line, I think it’s important to note that this is Lo'ak’s line. This is how Lo'ak sees him.

Like Neteyam dealing with the pros and cons of being the eldest, Lo'ak is dealing with the infamous “middle child syndrome”…in fact, his case is likely amplified because not only are both his parents famous war heroes, but his older brother is also a borderline prodigy. Living in the shadow of both Jake and Neteyam actually is a huge part of Lo'ak’s character, and given the circumstances that’s not really a surprising dynamic. Wanna talk about pressure and expectations that someone struggles to live up to and angsts about it? Let’s talk about Lo'ak.

I saw a comment the other day that Norm is less present in A2 because his narrative role is filled by Neteyam. At first I dismissed this, because Norm and Neteyam have totally different personalities and whatnot, but upon further reflection I realized that in a certain sense they were kinda right. Norm’s primary narrative purpose in A1 was to contrast Jake—he was the prime avatar candidate: five years of dedicated training, fluent in the language, well-versed on and passionate about Pandora and its inhabitants. Jake, meanwhile, was just some jarhead sent to replace his dead brother solely for the convenience of sharing a genome. It is through Norm that we can see just how out of his depth Jake is.

Neteyam does that same thing for Lo'ak. Narratively speaking, Neteyam’s role in A2 is not really to deal with his own struggles, whatever they may or may not be, but rather to serve as a contrast to Lo'ak—he is the embodiment of the ideal that Lo'ak just can’t reach. The “perfect little soldier”, good at everything, beloved and respected by the whole clan, always taking charge. Neteyam being secretly ~crushed under the pressure~ etc. the whole time kinda breaks that purpose imo.

friendly reminder that Neteyam is a well-adjusted kid who has a good relationship with his parents, that he tries his darnedest to be a good warrior because he genuinely looks up to his dad and wants to be like him, and that the idea that Jake and Neytiri are "forcing" him to be perfect, that they "stole his childhood" or that he's "not allowed" to be a kid, etc. are all pure fanfiction with little to no evidence in canon thanks bye

[believinghurts]

Their Daughter

Chapter 5

Author’s note: I use Grammarly to fix my mistakes, but there could still be some so sorry for that. Also, I am getting back into writing and am hoping to have a few more works out soon! Please reblog, like, or comment feedback is appreciated.

Word Count: 4,400

Warnings: None? Sirius being a d*ck? Maybe language, but I don’t think so.

Regulus wasn’t sure how much time had passed as he stroked his niece's hair. He was mad at his brother for basically throwing away the only good thing that had ever come from the Black family. Sirius was too blinded by the past to see what was right in front of him. As children, Sirius often told Regulus that he was their family's favorite and that it bothered him, but if he knew what it was like to be less loved then how can he love Harry more than Ali? He understood that Harry was Sirius's Godson, but couldn’t he love Ali and Harry equally? If Sirius made the effort maybe Ali and the other children could even be friends. His heart ached from the emotional battle that Ali was going through right now. Even if Sirius didn’t see it, he and Remus did. Ali’s light was dimmer than before and when she was lighting up again after finding out Sirius never came for her, Sirius just had to go and snuffed it out.

Carefully sliding out from under Ali and placing a pillow under her head Regulus left the room. He shut the door behind him casting a locking spell so she wouldn’t be bothered. He needed to speak with Remus first before doing anything. They needed to decide what to do about Ali. As much as Regulus wanted to spend time with her before she went back to school he didn’t want her to be this upset anymore. He walked into the study to find Remus and Nymphadora sitting near the fireplace.

“How is she?” Nymphadora blurted the question as soon as she saw her cousin. Remus had owled her after Ali had gone to her room. The older sister in her wanted to go up to Sirius and give him a piece of her mind, but she knew that it wouldn’t do any good.

“She’s asleep for now. All the fighting has exhausted her. I honestly don’t know what to do. I want her here, this is her home, but if Sirius doesn’t stop acting like the brut that he is it is going to hurt her more. Speaking of Sirius, where is he? It’s quiet.” Regulus flopped down on the chair across from Remus and Nymphadora raking a hand through his hair. His worry for Ali was causing him a headache. On one hand, he wanted to send Ali to stay at the Malfoy Manor for the remainder of summer, but on the other, he wanted to hold her close and have her stay in her home where she belonged.

“Sirius left with Harry after you went upstairs. He hasn’t been home since. The Weasleys stepped out to Diagon Alley to get the kids stuff for school.” Remus replied. He was secretly thankful that the house was mainly empty. This way at least Ali could come down if she felt like it without the chance of someone bothering her. Remus was having the same thoughts as Regulus about keeping Ali at home virus's sending her to the Manor. He just wanted his niece to be happy. The hope that he had of Sirius and Ali having the father/daughter relationship was gone. If only Remus could get Sirius to open his eyes to the pain he was causing to the girl, but Sirius was nothing if not stubborn.

“I think I am going to write to Cissa and see if she can keep Ali for the rest of summer. If that’s what it takes for her to be happy then so be it. We can see her off at the -“

“I don’t want to leave,” Ali’s voice interrupted. “I want to stay here with you. Please don’t make me leave. I can handle it, I promise.”

Ali knew that she and Regulus were going to have to talk about the fact that she called him dad, but that was a private conversation. Right now she needed to convince the adults in the room that she didn’t need to leave. She could take Sirius. Yes the words that he had said hurt her and the actions he did tonight furthered that hurt in her heart, but she was done. She didn’t owe him anything, and it was clear she knew that he didn’t want to be her father. She had meant what she said to Regulus. He was her father in all the ways that counted. He loved her unconditionally, was always there for her, and protected her.

She went and sat on the couch in between Nymphadora and Remus who wrapped an arm around her pulling her close to his chest. “It might be best if you went and stayed for the rest of the summer at the Manor, Al. This isn’t good for you mentally. We all can see how drained you are.”

“No, this is my home. I can handle it. I have you all plus the older Weasleys and Fleur. You'll protect me and if I need to get away for a little bit I’ll owl Blaise or Draco to go to Diagon Alley or something. I want to spend time with you. Times are hard right now and you never know when you are going to lose someone and I would like to have as much time with each of you just in case.”

Regulus leaned forward taking Ali’s hand in his, “Nothing, and I mean nothing is going to happen to us. I love you more than you could ever imagine and if you want to stay here you can.” Ali smiles brightly at that before Regulus cut her off, “but you have to tell me, Remus, or Severus, if anything happens. And you have to come out of your room. I am not having you locking yourself away again. Got it?”

Ali pounced on Regulus, hugging his neck tight. She was excited to spend some more time with her family. She had meant what she said about never knowing when something was going to happen. Wizards had been disappearing all over London and she was genuinely scared something was going to happen to her loved ones. She was going to make it a point to take plenty of photos and make enough memories to last a lifetime the next couple of weeks.

Regulus held his niece tight, fighting back the tears when she whispered, “Thanks, Dad,” into his ear. He had been called a lot of things in his life, but this was one title he was going to wear proudly.

Remus’s voice interrupted the moment, “wait for a second, why are you going to owl Blaise? We have an agreement, young lady, no boys till you're thirty!”

Ali’s giggle was music to those in the room with her, and for the first time that summer they all saw Ali smile at home the brightest she had since everyone arrived.

————

The rest of the day was eventful which was something that everyone was thankful for. Nymphadora left shortly after spending some time with Ali since she had something to attend to with Moody, so that left Regulus, Ali, and Remus to watch the Star Wars movies in Ali’s room. Kreacher brought them snacks while they made a fort on the floor. Ali was incredibly content laying on the mounds of pillows in between her Uncles. When she was younger they would have movie nights like this once a month until she started Hogwarts. Even then she and her friends carried on the tradition in the boy's dorm since Draco was often present at the ones hosted at home. She wished that she could have Draco over now, but knew that if she brought him here then everyone in the house would throw a fit about it, maybe it was something to bring up to Regulus later.

Molly called them all down for dinner shortly after the second film ended. Leaving the mess on the floor the trio made their way downstairs with Ali trailing behind her Uncles. She could feel her nerves spike the closer she got to the dining room. She thought about excusing herself stating she wasn’t hungry, but the loud growl in her stomach gave her hunger away. Everyone had already sat down beside Harry and Sirius when they got into the room. Regulus pulled the seat out next to him for his niece. Fleur shot her a smile when she sat down by her uncle with Charlie on her other side. At least she was sitting near someone who didn’t hate her.

Chatter and the sounds of forks on plates filled the room as everyone got their fill of Molly’s meatballs and onion sauce. Everyone broke off into separate conversations. Remus, Regulus, and Arthur talking about the Ministry, the younger Weasleys, and Hermione talking about Quidditch, Bill and Fleur about their upcoming wedding, and Charlie and Ali talking about his work in Romania. “What are you planning on doing after you leave Hogwarts?”

Ali shot a glance over at Remus who was doing a terrible job of disguising his eavesdropping on the duo. “I am thinking about becoming a professor. I like creatures obviously so I was thinking something along those lines, but I also like Herbology. So maybe that. I just know I want to teach.”

Charlie shot her a grin. “Have you thought about where? I know Hogwarts has Sprout for Herbology and Hagrid was doing Care of Magical Creatures, but you still have three more years of school so maybe they’ll need someone by the time you're done.”

Ali shrugged her shoulders. In all honesty, she wanted to leave England and travel for a bit but knew that if she brought it up now it would be a fight or something so she bit her tongue. “Maybe.”

The noise came to a halt when the door slammed open in the living room. Everyone hopped to their feet, wands at the ready. It felt like hours had passed before the intruder walked through the door. “Sirius! Harry! Merlin, you scared us all.”

“Sorry, it’s raining hard and we were in a rush to get back home.” Sirius shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. Everyone retook their seats beside Milly who served Harry and Sirius. Ali tried her hardest to keep from looking at the latest duo that entered, not wanting to cause any more trouble or to give Sirius a reason to lash out at her.

Dinner passed rather quickly, conversations flowed in their small groups. Charlie had gone with Fleur and Bill on a scouting mission shortly after eating, while Fred and George worked on new products for their shop. Ali was in her head thinking about asking to go to meet Pansy in the coming days to look at a new book shop. Pansy wasn’t much of a reader but was always looking for an excuse to get out of her house. She was startled when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up Molly was smiling softly at her while handing her a letter in a dark blue envelope. She instantly knew who the letter was from since only one person used that kind of envelope when writing her.

“This came for you, dear, when you were with your uncles. I didn't want to bother you then I almost forgot just now.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Weasley.” Ali smiled at the kind woman. Despite her feelings towards most of the Weasley children, their parents were quite nice.

Molly patted her cheek before walking off. Ali started to rip the top off when she got Regulus’s eye and he winked at her. He knew who the letter was from having met the boy a few times already. Her cheeks flushed and continued to do so while reading it.

Dear Supernova,

I hope you are surviving the dreadfulness that is upon you right now with all the people in your house. Yes, Draco told me what was going on yesterday when I finally threatened to out his crush if he didn’t explain why we hadn’t been seeing you a lot this summer. I have to say I am quite hurt that you didn’t tell me yourself. Best friends I thought. Just joking, but seriously you could have told me about him and I wouldn't have said a word to anyone.

I miss you, Supernova. We’ve only got to see each other once this summer and we both know when school starts you will have a book shoved in front of your face in the first three minutes. Could we get together sometime this week? It has been awful at home and if I have to hear Draco's voice one more time without you there to tell him off for being annoying I may throw myself off the astronomy tower.

Your uncle may not agree, but you could come to stay at mine for a night. Mother agreed to it as long as Regulus does and we have separate rooms. If you can't, maybe I can come to you? I don’t really care what the redheads have to say about me being there so don’t worry about that. We have much to catch up on; like the fact that you got Headgirl and also didn’t write and tell me. I had to find that little tidbit out from Parkinson's. Don’t worry we’ll catch up whether that's soon or on the train.

love,

Zabini

Ali felt a pang of guilt hit her square in the chest. She hadn’t meant to forget to fill Blaise in on her life but it had been so crazy recently she hadn’t got to write anyone much. In all the truth no one knew that she had gotten Headgirl. She had gotten the letter from Flitwich a few days after the Weasley’s arrived and completely forgot. Although she told her Uncles she didn’t want to go anywhere spending some time with Blaise sounded nice. Deciding to just rip the bandaid off she looked up to find Regulus and Remus looking at her with amused smiles on their faces.

“What’s you got there, Ali?” Remus asked, causing her cheeks to flame red. She wasn’t scared to say that she wanted to hang out with a boy. She did it all the time whether it was Blaise, Theo, or Draco; it was more to do with the fact that she was about to ask to spend the night at a boys' house. Even if they were going to be in separate rooms and they had fallen asleep cuddled together weeks prior at the Malfoys, something none of her Uncles knew, it was going to be a little fight to get Remus to agree as he made the ‘no dating till you’re thirty’ rule when she was five and asked for a boyfriend for Christmas.

Looking around she noticed all attention was on her even if the other adults in the room were making it seem like they weren’t listening while the children openly gawked. “Uhm,” she was cut off by Severus stepping into the room. Great, now she had to face all three Uncles. Where were Dora and Cissa when she needed them?

Severus hugged her quickly before taking a place by Regulus. “Who's the letter from Ali?” He asked her letting her know there was no getting out of it and that she was going to have to spill the beans.

“It’s from Blaise,” A look of amusement passed Regulus’s face, making her think that he knew what was in the letter already while Remus looked like he was going to snatch the letter out of her hands and read it himself if she didn’t hurry up.

“And what possibly could it say to have your cheeks looking like the inside of Gryffindor common room?” Regulus teased further.

She coughed trying to get her nerves resealed. “He was saying that we need to catch up before school starts, and invited me to come and stay with him and Mrs. Zabini for a night this week.”

Remus grunted while Regulus smiled. Ali had to hide a giggle as she noticed all the other mouths in the room had dropped to the floor. Ali knew that except for Hermione and Harry the Weasley’s never stayed or had anyone else with them.

“Can I, please? His mother said we would have separate rooms and she will be there as well as the house-elves. We only got to see one another once this summer. He said if I can’t he could come here, but honestly, I think the first option is better. Please?” She pulled out her best puppy eyes and pouty lip. She was not above begging for it but didn’t want to do so with everyone staring at her.

Regulus looked over at Remus. Ali could see the silent conversation going on between them. Regulus’s head inclined slightly toward Ali which she hoped to Merlin was a good thing. Remus looked back at his niece with a look in his eye she couldn’t read. “Rosalynn said you’ll have separate rooms?” Ali nodded her head so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. “And you’ll stay in them?” Once again she nodded, although she knew that they more than likely would be in the family room till late hours in the night. He looked back at Regulus, “you have no problems with her going?”

“No, I already knew about it. Rosalynn wrote about two days ago. If she wants to go, that's fine. You know Rosalynn will look after her as she does Blaise. And the Heavens know that boy would jump in front of the Knight Bus for Ali.” Regulus chuckled at Ali's shocked expression.

“Y-you knew? Why didn’t you say anything?” Ali struggled to get the words out.

“Rosalynn said Blaise wanted to ask you. She was just giving me a heads up, knowing how Remus is with boys and you. You know we talked quite often, Als.” Regulus winked at her.

“You may go,” Remus stated. She was shocked she didn’t have to put up more of a fight.

“WHAT?” Sirius shrieked. He knew that Regulus would let her go to the Death Eaters house, but Remus? He thought he could count on his ‘friend’ to at least say no. “You’re letting her go to the Death Eaters house? AGAIN? Who's also a boy and staying the night? Are you mad?”

Remus looked at Sirius with disdain, “No I am not. She is a good girl and Blaise has been her friend for years. Rosalynn loves her as much as we do and would never let anything happen. And for God's sake quit calling everyone a Death Eater.”

“Outrageous.”

“Sirius, you have no say in what she does. You gave that up last night. Ali is a good girl who makes good choices. Not only that but she also deserves a little something since she got Headgirl this year, don’t you think?” Regulus smirked as he saw the Granger girl's face fall.

“You got Headgirl?” Hermione whispered to Ali with disbelief lacing her voice.

“Yeah, I did. Draco got Headboy I believe, but it may be Theo. I haven’t asked yet.”

“Why do you and Draco get Head of Houses? Why not Hermione and -“ Ali cut her dear Godbrother off.

“And who? You? Ron? Why would any of you get Head of Houses with all the trouble you bring in? Sneaking out, stealing things, picking fights. We do have the highest marks in most classes as well as treat others equally unlike the likes of you.”

If looks could kill Ali would be dead three times over. In all honesty, she kinda felt bad for the younger Weasley boy seeing as all of his older brothers, bar Fred and George had been Headboy. But then she thought about the trouble he and his friends had caused her and her friends as well as others over the years. Harry preached about equality among the houses but she had witnessed many times when younger Slytherins were picked on by Gryiffndors. Hufflepuffs generally didn't have any problems with the other houses so long as everyone was being just. Ravenclaws tended to keep to themselves unless it really involved them. Whereas Slytherins preferred to stand up to those picking on other Slytherins especially the younger ones. Slytherins were always made out to be the bullies when in general if you got to know them people would notice that they are a lot more than what their parents used to be.

Ally had heard the stories of how mean James and Sirius were to those in Slytherin even if they never did anything to them. She believed in harmless fun could be had pulling pranks, but tricking someone into going to a place where a werewolf was was downright cruel. She had no doubts in her mind that James and Sirius were once good people like her Uncle Remus is now, but seeing as Sirius still acts like a child those doubts were becoming known.

“I just think that Slytherins shouldn’t be Head of House when all you will do is favor your own, and treat everyone else like dirt,” Ron stated.

“Ronald Weasley! How dare you say such a thing?!” Molly exclaimed.

“It’s alright Mrs. Weasey. I am used to hearing such things come from them and others in their house,” Ali looked Ron in the eyes, “You seem to forget that I’m a Ravenclaw, not a Slytherin. I do not favor anyone and will not when I start Head Girl duties but know this. I will give you as many detentions as you deserve if you are caught bullying, harassing, belittling, any of the other houses. You may think that Gryiffndors are the bravest of the houses and maybe you are in some ways, but you are cowardly in others. Maybe some Slytherins are as bad as you make them seem, but Harry,” she turned her head slightly to the side, “you seem to forget just which house Peter Pettigrew was in when he was the one who betrayed your parents. And Regulus was in Slytherin but seems to be more loyal to his friends and family than that rat was.”

“It seems that Alianova has given you all something to think about as you're getting ready for bed,” Molly stated looking at all the children present in the room. Her face grew red when she saw that none of them had moved a muscle. “Now.”

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, jumped from their seats and booked it to the stairs scared of Mrs. Weasley’s wrath. At some point, Charlie, Fluer, and Bill came back from scouting. Charlie ruffled Ali’s hair causing her to grin. “Good job, kid. You’ll make a great Head Girl.” Bill and Fleur nodded in agreement. “Nothing happened while we were out. We’ll give a full debrief tomorrow, but we will be heading to bed as well. Good night everyone.”

Molly walked to Ali and pulled her up out of her chair before placing both hands on Ali’s pale cheeks. “Don’t you worry, dear, I will be talking with all of them in the morning. You made a lot of valid points, and I for one am proud that you are Head Girl.”

She kissed her forehead before taking her husband to go to bed after waving her wand to get the kitchen clean once again. Arthur offered Ali a small smile before disappearing behind his wife. Sirius scoffed at the behavior which everyone heard but chose to ignore.

Ali turned to her three Uncles, waiting for the answer about going to her friends, and the scene that just played out in the kitchen.

“I am proud of you as well, Alianova. You have done excellent, and I know it is Remus and Regulus' decision about going to Blaises’, but I see no problem with it. I will stay in the guest room. Come get me if you need me. Good night, Ali.” He hugged her tightly, making Ali tear up slightly at the thought of Servus being proud of her. It also made her giddy at the thought of rubbing it in Draco’s face since Severus is his Godfather and never said such a thing to him.

Remus followed after Servus, wrapping his niece in a bear hug around her shoulders. The height difference amusing Regulus to no end seeing as Ali only came about midway in Remus’s chest. “You may go as long as it’s okay with Reg, and you stay in separate rooms. I am a little mad though that you didn’t tell me yourself about getting Head Girl, but I am still incredibly proud of you. No one deserves this more than you do, not even Harry.” The last part was whispered in her ear. He kissed her forehead, before heading to his room.

With the three Blacks being the only ones left in the room. “I don’t think you should go.” Sirius’s voice was venomous as he thought about his only child, his legacy, spending time with Death Eaters.

“It’s a good thing it doesn’t matter what you think isn’t it?” Regulus smirked at his older brother. He was not going to take this away from his child. “Ali, you may go so long as you stay in your separate rooms whenever the two of you decide to go to sleep because I know from having all your mates over it will be late.” He walked to Ali cradling her freckled face in his hands. “I am so proud to call you my daughter. Even after all that you have been through in your life you have still managed to form your own beliefs and thoughts as well as stand up for them. You deserve Head Girl over anyone else, and hopefully, you get to share it with one of your friends.”

Ali dove into her Uncle's chest. Tears welling up into her eyes at the thought that he really did think of her as his own even if she already knew it. It was nice to hear out loud. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I love you, dad.” She kissed his cheek before heading to her room to write Blaise.

Sirius felt his anger sore to new heights when he heard Ali call Regulus dad. He had enough courtesy to wait till she was out of earshot before grounding out, “We need to talk, Regulus.”

[hermannsthumb]

For the autumn fic meme can you do number 7? (maybe Newt trying to be brave and failing miserably? >:3)

7. scary movies

from autumn fic prompts here

WHEW i've had an exhausting few weeks but things are finally calming down and i can devote time back to my beloved little dudes again. i have a longer fic i'm working on for spooky season but it's also HALLOWEEN PROMPT FILL SEASON once more!! here's an old old one I never got around to filling

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"I am not," Hermann says, "as easy as you seem to think I am."

Newt's not sure what's more disconcerting here: hearing someone outside of, like, 1950 refer to themselves as easy, or Hermann apparently worrying that Newt might apply that word to him, in the lust-inspiring glory of his sweatervest, baggy wool slacks, stiff collar, daintily crossed ankles, the twelve inches he's left between them, and the full-body shudder of displeasure he gives whenever Newt makes the mistake of looking in his direction. And worrying about it so bad he had to reach over and pause the movie to make sure Newt had his full attention before making the declaration. Yeah, easy, that's sooo Hermann. He wouldn't even take off his shoes before he got on Newt's bed, because it would've been quote-unquote too intimate. What a harlot.

"I literally have no idea what you're talking about," Newt says. "Am I missing some, like, signals? Is this some sort of Gottlieb mating ritual?" The only thing Hermann has done all night is snap at Newt for burning their popcorn in the microwave (among a host of other offenses, ranging from breathing too loudly to keeping the brightness on his computer too high). Newt thinks he would've noticed if Hermann was suddenly fluttering his eyelashes or taking off his shirt or something. Actually, if Hermann considers picking fights easy behavior, then Newt suddenly has a whole lot of their relationship to reassess here. As in, all of it. Maybe arguing is part of the complex intricacies of Gottliebian mating rituals, the rest of which involve unstylish haircuts and submitting HR complaints. Newt should pay closer attention to these sorts of things.

"No," Hermann snaps. "I am referring to your invitation, which was clearly a pitiful attempt to seduce me, and my subsequent acceptance thereof, which was against my best judgement and that I began to regret almost immediately." He folds his arms across his chest and scowls at Newt. It's not as intimidating as he clearly hopes it'll be, because there's a decent amount of burnt popcorn crumbs clinging to the front of his sweater, and his glasses are crooked.

"I'm not trying to do anything but watch a movie, dude," Newt says.

"Oh, yes, for now," Hermann says. "But soon enough you'll be so terribly frightened that you'll need to turn to me for comfort, and then one thing will lead to another, and then—" He shakes his head darkly. "I can assure you now that will not be happening, despite any efforts to the contrary. Feign your fear all you wish."

That's the problem with trying to be anything but a mortal enemy to Hermann—the guy's always gotta act like Newt has some sort of dark, mysterious, ulterior motive going on. Cups of tea always have to be deliberately brewed too bitterly with too much milk (instead of just, y'know, the shop Newt went to messed up his order), invitations for excursions into the city or late night talks on the Shatterdome roof are trying too hard to make up for whatever Newt's crime against him of the week is. Hermann can never just accept kindnesses from Newt at face value. Technically, Newt supposes he did have a slight ulterior motive in inviting Hermann over for spooky movie night tonight that verged beyond selflessly giving Hermann a social life into self-serving, but he's been literally upfront about it from the start. And it has nothing to do with getting a hand under Hermann's four layers, thank you. "I want to watch this new movie," he said earlier in the lab, while Hermann eyed him suspiciously, "but it's supposed to be scary as shit, so I don't want to do it alone." If it gives him nightmares, then at least he'll have someone to commiserate with.

Newt's not sure whether he prefers Hermann to see him as a big baby or a skeezeball. Big baby is worse, maybe—at least the alternative means Hermann thinks he's, like, at least mildly suave and a mega-pro at seducing grumpy mathematicians. But it all also raises a very important question. "If you knew I was gonna try to seduce you, then why did you come over?" Hermann was being pretty quiet about everything, up to and including when Newt told him to make himself at home on his bed, until now.

Hermann coughs, and mumbles out something about not having anything better to do with his time, then something else about Newt having wily machinations. "Let's finish the damned movie," he says.

Though Newt's chosen to let Hermann believe he's speeding down the skeezeball route tonight, that doesn't actually change the fact that Newt is, at heart, kind of a big baby—but also only when it comes to sooome horror movies, because he's usually really awesome and punk about these things, and you don't cover yourself in tattoos if you don't have a high tolerance for discomfort, and Newt was watching monster movies before he had object permanence. Unfortunately Newt is not currently covering himself in tattoos or dealing with his dad's admittedly questionable age-appropriate media decisions, but rather curled up in a sweatshirt and watching an evil spooky ghost slash through teenagers like nothing on his laptop with Hermann. The reviews weren't wrong about the realistic special effects. Newt makes a small noise that's definitely not a groan and turns his face away, just a little bit. "I don't understand why you enjoy subjecting yourself to rubbish like this," Hermann says. He's wrinkling his nose. Newt thinks the fiery power of Hermann's disdain could stop the homicidal movie ghost right in its tracks, which strangely makes him feel a little better. "We could be watching an infinite number of other much better films."

"Great idea," Newt says. "K-science movie night, every Friday. You can make the popcorn and choose the flick next time, I'll order pizza." Pizza sounds great right now. He should have dragged Hermann out into the city for pizza night and drinks at the worst bar he could find and made him eat something for dinner with nutritional value for a change (well, okay, in terms of comparison to the scalding tea and toast he usually has for dinner, a pizza is like a damn salad bar), not lured him into his messy bunk for a scary movie night neither of them are actually feeling. Maybe it's not too late to change their plans. There are probably still a few 24/7 delivery stragglers out there in a city this big that haven't yet succumbed to being stomped on by kaiju. "Is that guy still getting chainsawed?"

"No," Hermann says. He looks up at Newt's laptop screen quickly—he'd been distracted, picking crumbs off his sweater—and corrects himself, only just audible over the whirring of the ghost's chainsaw. Not a very creative weapon of choice for a slasher. Chainsaws are kinda been there done that, Newt thinks. "Er. Yes. This has been a rather prolonged death scene."

"Yeah, dude, no shit," Newt says. He tucks his head in against Hermann's shoulder, because it's not like Hermann can possibly think any less of him right now, and he's relieved when Hermann acquiesces to the touch and doesn't boot him across the room. Hermann's sweater smells kinda weird, like he left it out in the rain and didn't bother washing it after it dried. It's still soothing to be this close to him. Ugh, not that Newt would ever, ever admit that out loud, how embarrassing.

"I told you your charms are not going to work on me, Newton," Hermann sniffs, even as he gives Newt's shoulder a pat, and then something, bewilderingly enough, that Newt might call a reassuring squeeze. He doesn't move his hand afterwards. "No matter how pathetic you look right now."

"Thanks? Um, I think?"

Something particularly gnarly must happen on screen, because Hermann suddenly winces and drops their popcorn bowl, sending the remainder of it (mostly vaguely salty kernels) scattering across the floor. He reaches out and angles Newt's laptop screen down, just a centimeter from being shut entirely. A slasher-chainsawing-ghost victim screams their heart out through the muffled speakers. Hermann closes the laptop the rest of the way. "I think we ought to pick something else," he says.

"Sounds great," Newt says.