#Bonnie you are gay for her you are not subtle

[haystarlight]

"Marceline?"

"How do you know The Star's true name? Are you her spy?!"

My sister in Ooo, how do YOU know The Star's true name?

#my brother in christ #what were you doing at the devil's sacrament #Bonnie you are gay for her you are not subtle #bubbline #bonnibel bubblegum #marceline the vampire queen #adventure time spoilers #fionna and cake spoilers

[novocaineheart]

Taste Test

Rating: Explicit

Fandom: Five Nights At Freddy's Security Breach

Pairing: Glamrock Freddy/Glamrock Bonnie

Warnings: Gay sexy times

Universe: Furry, humanoid anthro AU (imagine they look like SigmaX's artwork)

This is just a small part of a bigger porn with plot Security Breach AU story I hope to write.

______________________________________________________________

“So, I know we’ve been talking about it…” Bonnie traced circles on Freddy’s chest. “I’ve always been ready and you haven’t. But if you are, I’d really love to give you a blowjob.”

His fingers trailed down Freddy’s abs, slipping under his waistband to grab his half hard member in a firm grip. With slow strokes he freed it from its confines, pulling his hand back up to rub soft circles on the head.

“I think-” Freddy hissed a sharp intake of breath when Bonnie pressed and rubbed his thumb on his tip. “I think I am. I think I’ve been ready for longer than I realized.”

“So I can?”

“Yes.”

He always loved the way Bonnie’s face lit up to him agreeing to do something, long before they got together, long before he realized he loved him.

“Just, don’t think you need to give me one back in return. You’ve never been with a guy before or given a blowjob so I don’t expect you to know what to do. That and you just gave me a killer handjob and my reset time is longer than yours.” Bonnie huffed amusedly. 

They kissed, Bonnie moving the kisses along Freddy’s cheek, down under his jaw to his neck then trailing them down his chest and middle line of his abs. Freddy watched him with a slack jaw and nervous yet excited breaths. He gasped when Bonnie kissed his tip, lifting his hips to help him pull off his boxer briefs before trailing his tongue up the length of his large shaft.

“I’m really curious how much of you I can actually fit in my mouth-” Bonnie cut himself off wrapping his lips around the head, making Freddy suck in a huge gulp of air.

He didn’t expect it to feel so different compared to his ex. He’d been her first and her his, learning sex together, but Bonnie had gotten around a lot in that time, he’d know a few tricks.

Releasing his lips Bonnie twirled his tongue around the head then sucked lightly on the tip while looking up at Freddy who looked like he was about to come undone at just that. Bonnie smirked, pulling his cock back into his mouth to suck just past his head. Freddy let out a strangled moan making Bonnie stop, he didn’t want this to end too soon, instead running his tongue back up and down, alternating with that and sucking along the sides. He kept a firm grip on the base the whole time. Confident he’d got enough saliva over Freddy’s member Bonnie took him back in his mouth as far as he could until it was up against the back of his throat. He wanted more, he wanted all of him, but he was just too big. Using his right hand to pump what he couldn’t throat he gently fondled Freddy’s balls in his left.

“Ah, god… B-Bonnie?”

He released him with a pop.

“Yeah?”

“Are you going to, um…”

“Swallow?”

“Y-yes.”

“Yeah.” Bonnie licked the side of his head.

“Oh god. Y-you don’t have too-“

“I want to. I know how good your cock tastes, I wanna know what your cum tastes like…”

Freddy almost came to Bonnie’s words alone.

Bonnie went back to his work, starting slow, drawing out his sucking and gaging Freddy’s reactions to see what he liked. Freddy never took his half lidded gaze off him, releasing a breathy moan now and then. After a while he sped up, pumping faster, his concentration making his ears flatten back. Freddy’s hand crept up to grab Bonnie’s bicep. That and the subtle twitch of his legs told Bonnie he was close. He went faster; head bobbing wildly and loud slurping mixing with Freddy’s panting quiet moans. Freddy’s hold suddenly tightened on his arm.

“B-Bonnie, I’m gonna! Agh!”

Bonnie throated as much as he could just in time as Freddy’s hips lightly pushed up into him. Warmth bloomed in his mouth and he swallowed what he could, savoring the sensation for as long has his held breath would let him. Slowly pulling his mouth off he continued sucking to collect anything left behind. With barely a sound he released Freddy’s cock to let it flop on his belly. Bonnie hung his head, breathing heavily through his nose.

As his own breathing evened out Freddy called Bonnie’s name seeing him looking down, worried. Bonnie looked up to him with a smirk and slightly puffed out cheeks. He titled his back and opened his mouth, reveling in the shocked look on Freddy’s face at seeing his own cum pooled in Bonnie’s mouth. Grabbing Freddy’s hand he gently placed his fingers at the start of his throat and tilted his head back further with his mouth partially open. Bonnie swallowed, pulling Freddy’s hand down his neck and chest so his fingers could follow his own cum as it traveled down Bonnie’s esophagus to his stomach where Freddy’s hand then rested. Freddy’s eyes met Bonnie’s again and he moved forward to kiss him. The soft kisses had them falling back onto the sectional with Bonnie lying on top of him. He pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa and arranged it over them when a sudden question popped into his mind.

“So, how did I taste?”

Bonnie couldn’t hide his giggle, nuzzling into Freddy’s neck.

“You taste amazing.”

#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #five nights at freddy's security breach #glamrock freddy #glamrock bonnie #glamrock fronnie #fronnie #gay #furry au

[ausetkmt]

An exodus of Black women in academia hurts the workforce

The burden that Black people, particularly women, in academia carry is rarely recognized by the outside world.

But just weeks into 2024, it’s made national news. First, it was the resignation of former Harvard President Claudine Gay after a prolonged public campaign of harassment that culminated with plagiarism allegations. Now it’s the suicide of Lincoln University’s vice president of student affairs, Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey, who alleged she was “intentionally harassed and bullied” by Lincoln University President John B. Moseley after disclosing her mental health struggles.

To be sure, Gay created some of her own problems with her legalistic congressional testimony on antisemitism, which was roundly critiqued. The plagiarism allegations, which she’s addressed, also hurt her. But we would be remiss if we discounted the extent to which racist and sexist undertones, rooted in antagonism of what her appointment represented, played a role.

The public experiences of Gay and Candia-Bailey have compelled other Black Americans in higher education to share their own stories. Take a scroll through social media, and you’ll see Ph.D. candidates and graduates sharing stories of feeling depressed, being passed up for tenure, and leaving programs because they were mistreated.

It’s no wonder why only about 6% of all faculty in colleges and universities are Black (it gets lower as you go up the ladder). And it’s no wonder the number hasn’t moved much since the early 1980s, when it was 4.2%. Black faculty navigate the typical academic hurdles and many invisible yet consequential ones, such as managing implicit and explicit messages about their belonging and bearing a disproportionate responsibility for supporting students of color. Add unprecedented levels of public scrutiny to the already high invisible costs of leadership, and as Zaire Z. Dinzey-Flores notes, “This is how Black women leaders do not survive.”

As businesses reconsider their commitment to diversity and look to colleges and universities as partners to develop and recruit diverse talent, these troubling trends jeopardize their aims.

Not only does seeing Black leaders on campuses affirm that Black students belong and are a source of inspiration for what they can aspire to. But for White and non-Black students of color, it helps counter the default belief that leadership can only be synonymous with whiteness. This is a subtle impression, of course, but an important one. College plays an outsize role in educating and mentoring the next generations of the workforce and shapes their workplace expectations.

And since many US students have never had a Black teacher — much less a principal — throughout elementary and high school, encountering them as leaders in higher education is an opportunity to challenge unconscious biases with exposure. Yet our paucity of Black leaders at present inhibits this aim, and we risk a new generation of leaders witnessing this moment and sitting leadership out.

We must figure out how to attract and keep Black leaders in academia. A good place to start is acknowledging that the adage, Black people work twice as hard to be recognized half as much, is not from a bygone era. Sexism, for Black women, and racism have kept that expectation alive and, unfortunately, well. If you need proof, I’d start by considering how many reports you’ve seen in recent years that still include “the first Black woman to…”

But recognizing the uneven playing field without actively working to level it is, to borrow loosely from biblical scripture, faith without works. After organizations shed a race- and gender-blind approach to a gender- and race-specific reality, they must be prepared to offer support and guidance to ensure the success of the candidates they recruit.

When it comes to bringing Black women into predominantly and traditionally White male spaces, this means anticipating challenges that may stem from the change and not treating biased attacks as an opportunity for them to demonstrate that they can do their job.

If not, in addition to Gay and Candia-Bailey, we’ll have more stories like Lesley Lokko, who called her decision to step down as dean of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at City College of New York “a profound act of self-preservation.”

In a public resignation letter, Lokko, who came from teaching in South Africa, wrote, “The lack of respect and empathy for Black people, especially Black women, caught me off guard, although it’s by no means unique to Spitzer.”

She left after only 10 months in 2020. Candia-Bailey’s passing was eight months into her role. Gay stepped down as Harvard’s president after six months — the shortest tenure in the university’s history.

But simply focusing on those who did not thrive in their roles would miss another crisis surrounding Black women’s leadership. Last year, JoAnne A. Epps of Temple University and Orinthia T. Montague of Volunteer State Community College died while in their roles. While their devastating deaths weren’t officially linked to the stress of their jobs, the untimeliness of their passing sparked conversations about the high cost of success.

If we want to turn the tide, we can no longer stand by and watch Black women suffer in silence — at the cost of their own well-being. We must acknowledge the load they bear and provide meaningful support to manage it. If we do not, an exodus of Black leaders is coming, and that will shape the lives of students — and, by default, our future workforce.

#An exodus of Black women in academia hurts the workforce #Blacks in Education #Black Education Matters #Academia and Racism #Claudine Gay #white lies #white hate #white supremacy #DEI

[opinated-user]

Is it just me or is it kinda ....um ? How open lily is about thirsting for guardevoir ? Aside from the comic having several arcs about how the only reason why Lily and G don't date is about the legality, or the....the mating bond (lily we all know what that was an allegory for.) If you go to mikailas blog / the fan art Blog they reblogged a comic about Bonnie teasing G, saying that due to humans and pokemon marrying each other being illegal lily says stuff like "be gay do crime"....so....so she's not even ...hiding it....at all....no flimsy allegory just yes I would fuck a pokemon. ....but has several times in the past angrily yelled at ppl for "sexualizing the banshee" um. Girl that's you.

https://mikaila-orchard.tumblr.com/post/700137959459110912/always-be-prepared-for-your-child-to-say-something it's fascinating to me that LO constantly insist that a relationship between them would be a bad idea, but she also, with just as much frequency, makes "jokes" about them being together, reuses the same drama plot point of them being in love with each other over and over and calls "cursed" to a version of them that is together while failing to actually convince anyone of why they're cursed on the first place. LO might insist on what was the narrative she was going for all she wants, but her audience (and to some degree MO) pick on the fact that what she claims is different from what she actually did. the fact that comic was made by a fan who clearly picked on the "subtext"(there's nothing subtle about it) and then shared by her own wife tells me something about how people don't actually believe her either. or maybe they thought it was a funny joke.

#lily orchard

[daysofourlivesrecaps]

The players

In the interest of providing some context for this incredibly ill-informed venture, here are the 50+ main characters currently appearing on this show:

Abe Carver  

Abe has been on the show since the early 80s and he's managed to keep more of his Billy Dee Williams looks and charm than Billy Actual Dee Williams Hisownself has. Currently mayor of Salem and married to Paulina "It's All The Time With Her" Price.

Abigail DiMera

Deceased wife of Chad, sister of Gwen and easily this show's greatest "you love to hate them" character until the performer decided she wanted to go off and do movies. Last seen as the actual angel atop her family's Christmas tree, she briefly came to life to tell Dead Wife Chad to fucking move on with his life already.

Alex Kiriakis

Extremely handsome and surprisingly enlightened member of the Kiriakis clan. Alex showed up a week after Ben Weston stopped appearing on the show, which is fortunate since they're played by the same actor but not in the fun "wigs and fake teeth" way that Kristen and Susan Banks are. Alex seems at first glance to be a douche-bro but has always been extremely respectful of women, conscious of the importance of consent and is now actually going to therapy.

André DiMera

Allegedly dead twin of Tony (last seen briefly resurrected by Satan in the DiMera family crypt). Included here because I read a spoiler that he might be coming back really soon. (Turns out that spoiler was wrong, actually. But I'm leaving him on the list, if nothing else, for the phrase "resurrected by Satan," which absolutely did happen.)

Andrew Donovan

Secret agent with the totally-real ISA. Related to a bunch of these people in ways I don't feel like looking up right now. Currently half of the only gay couple on the show (along with Paul Narita). For this reason alone, we're really hoping he moves to Salem with Paul because they just shipped the last gay couple off to New Zealand & we need some boys kissing on this show.

Anna DiMera

Wife of Tony & in a show filled with interloping, entitled Karens, easily the most interloping entitled Karen in all of Salem.

Ava Vitali

The other half of "Kara Squad" (see: Gwen Rizczech). Ava was a former mob boss who tried to go legit but she recently lost her damn mind and did a bunch of crazy shit that culminated in her driving a car off a cliff & possibly killing Susan Banks (our cat's namesake). She (Ava, not our cat) is currently in an off-camera mental institution & is regularly visited by her son, Tripp.

Belle Black

Daughter of Marlena & John, wife of Sad Eyes Shawn and one of the only three lawyers in town.

Ben Weston

A former serial killer who is now supposed to be sympathetic somehow. Is in love with Ciara, whom he refers to as "babe" about every fifteen seconds. And this is the entirety of his character. Ben left the show in favor of Alex (played by the same guy) and things improved substantially when this happened. They're threatening to bring Ben back again and I really wish they wouldn't because he sucks.

Bo Brady

With Hope, one of the great "supercouples" of the show's history. Died quite some time ago. A recent miniseries actually focused on him in heaven, watching the events on earth as though they were a soap opera (GET IT?!) Bo has recently been brought back to life by Megan Hathaway, but escaped her custody and ran off, only to be shot by his son Shawn. Is currently in a coma.

Bonnie Lockhart

Tacky, outspoken southern wife of Justin (once referred to by Victor as a "dime store Dolly Parton.")

Brady Black

Son of John, ex-husband of Kristen. Brady and Kristen have a daughter together. Her name is Rachel, and thanks to Kristen's not-so-subtle maneuvering, Brady was recently forced to break up with his girlfriend Chloe because Rachel openly despises her.

Chad DiMera

also known (by me) as Dead Wife Chad. Chad was married to Abigail, until she was murdered in the first complete plot line I saw when I started watching the show (ie, everyone else has long forgotten about it, but it will loom large for me indefinitely). Chad spent most of last year drunkenly threatening people, assuming they were the ones who MURDERED HIS WIFE!!! He eventually calmed down a little and is now dating Stephanie.

Chanel Dupree

Daughter of Paulina Price and owner of Sweet Bits, a popular bakery that recently served poisoned biscuits to a bunch of people in Salem. Chanel was great for the first couple of months she was on the show, but then they abruptly switched performers and now she's like a ten year old who looks 25.

Chloe Lane

Apparently a pretty interesting goth girl when she was introduced on the show as a teenager in the late 90s, the most interesting thing about Chloe now is that her arch-nemesis is an 8 year old girl.

Clyde Weston

Living embodiment of the word sleazy. Imagine a dollar store version of Twin Peaks' Bob and he's from, like, Alabama or something.

Colin Petersen

Brand-new (as of last week) character and immediately a detestable piece of shit. Brother of Sloane, currently manipulating his girlfriend, Talia, to seduce Chanel (Talia isn't even into girls and it's all really gross) so she can then break her heart. British. But not in a hot way.

Doug Williams

The guy who plays Doug is literally 98 years old and we often joke that he only has enough mental capacity left to say I'M DOUG! every now and then. But honestly, he recently played the devil and he kinda fucking nailed it.

Duke

A bear.

EJ DiMera

British (in a hot way) co-CEO of DiMera Enterprises. Everyone talks about EJ like he's a villain but in almost two full years of storylines (since this performer took over in the role) we haven't seen him do anything remotely evil apart from very occasionally retaliating when someone wrongs him first.

Eric Brady

Son of Roman. Former priest. Currently dating Sloane. Eric was orignally played by Jensen Ackles, which is why we were able to locate copies of every episode he originally appeared in from 1999-2001.

Gabi Hernandez    Sister of Rafe, currently dating Stefan. I do not wish to overly objectify anyone on this show, but EJ once referred to Gabi's "platonic ideal of an ass" and he was 100% correct.

Gwen Rizczech

Gwen is my precious cinnamon roll and she can do no wrong. The first week I started watching this show, she was in prison. Her sister, Abigail, came to visit, saw the horrible coffee mug that Gwen had made for their dad, and smashed it on the ground. Gwen didn't deserve that. Or anything else bad. She's British, and she's one of two characters who looks a lot like my friend Kara (who voice acts for my projects and plays, among others, Naomi on Endeavor).

Harris Michaels

Former Navy SEAL who was brainwashed to do Megan Hathaway's bidding. Harris has since recovered and dated Hope for about 30 seconds until she discovered Bo was still alive.

Hope Williams Brady

With Bo, the other half of one of the show's great "supercouples." Hope has been working for the definitely-real ISA, but is currently stuck in a hospital waiting for her recently-resurrected lover to come out of his coma.

Jack Deveraux

Father of Gwen and Abigail. Has apparently left town after Gwen (along with Xander and Leo) extorted control of the town newspaper away from him.

Jada Hunter

Detective serving under Rafe, and also apparently romantically interested in him (gross). Jada's sister Talia recently moved to town and Jada strongly suspects that Talia is behind the poisoned biscuits served at Sweet Bits bakery.

Jan Spears

The extremely delusional woman obsessed with living happily ever after with Sad Eyes Shawn. Has been in four different comas. Last seen attempting to escape apprehension in the harbor, but they never found her body. Come on guys, I've read comics. She's still out there somewhere. Jan is Amanda's favorite character.

Joey Johnson

Tripp's extremely lame brother with an extremely lame little mustache. Joey lives in Seattle, and if I ever ran into him, I would point right at him and laugh at how bad his mustache is.

John Black

John is played by Drake Hogestyn, who has apparently only ever had one acting job: this one. And... what an eccentric performance it is. John is ostensibly a private eye (with Steve) and is married to Marlena. (They are another of the show's "supercouples.") He's not very bright but kind of lovable despite this, like if Mister Peanutbutter was played by a knockoff of Clint Eastwood.

Johnny DiMera

The worst character on the show by far. Johnny claims to be a filmmaker, but the only film he attempted to make (a fictionalization of his grandmother Marlena's satanic possession) failed spectacularly and he hasn't done a goddamn thing since. Mostly spends his time judging the sex lives of the people he's close to (particularly his father) and whining.

Julie Olson Williams

Wife of Doug (and the performers are actually married in real life too, which is pretty cute). Julie's job, as far as I can tell, is to invite herself into people's homes and ask extremely personal questions when she doesn't think the plot is moving along fast enough.

Justin Kiriakis

Dad of Alex and Sonny. Justin is a lawyer. I don't know a whole lot else about him, actually. I guess I'd hire him if Sloan or Belle weren't available.

Kate Roberts

Tough old broad who is currently being held captive at sea for some reason. I have a big coffee table book about this show that divides the characters up into families (Brady, DiMera, etc.) and there's a whole section called Kate's Brood, because she has apparently been married to half the significant male characters in this show and I think did at least hand stuff with the other half. Is ostensibly the partner of Roman, but despite them being extremely well-established legacy characters, I do not buy their supercouple status at ALL.

Kayla Brady Johnson

Chief surgeon at the hospital, wife to Steve (now THERE'S a fucking supercouple) and Dr. Marlena Evans' actual best friend.  Was recently dead, but returned to her job at the hospital last week.

Kristen DiMera

My initial read on Kristen was that she was a glamorous, scheming supervillain-type... and she still has the potential to be. But she used up all her energy trying to (and succeeding at) breaking up Brady and Chloe. Has tried to kidnap her own daugter seven or eight times since I started watching.

Leo Stark

A character so gay that they might as well have gotten Charles Nelson Reilly to play him. Leo has actually grown on me as I spend more time with him, and he currently writes a gossip column under the name Lady Whistleblower. This has proven to be an outstanding narrative excuse for characters to know each other's business.

Li Shin

Li was formerly Gabi's husband, formerly a top executive at DiMera Enterprises and was never a good actor. Seriously, he just stares forward like David Puddy and reads all his lines really fast with no inflection. The only time he ever played a believable emotion was at Thanksgiving when he thought there would be pie but then there was no pie.

Lucas Horton

Lucas is a real piece of work (shit). He kidnapped Sami, the love of his life, but then (by his own admission) had no idea what to do next so just kind of... held on to her for awhile. Then he pretended to rescue her and almost married her. He's currently in jail. I hope they let him out soon because he's one of those characters that you love to watch fail over and over again.

Maggie Horton Kiriakis

Matriarch of the Kiriakis AND Horton families and current CEO of Titan. Married to Victor, who is definitely still alive oh hey that's him on the phone right now sorry I need to take this hi Victor I'm so happy you're definitely alive

Marlena Evans

The obvious hero of this entire 65 year spectacle. Marlena has been possessed by the actual devil; she died and went to heaven; she woke up from being dead and discovered that she was in a cryo tube in a lab someplace; and she's the only psychiatrist in Salem, who regularly hypnotizes hard-to-access plot points from people's memories. All of this has happened since I started watching the show about a year ago. She and John are a supercouple and despite the fact that John is... like that, it kind of works because Marlena is fucking amazing.

Megan Hathaway

This character died IN NINETEEN EIGHTY FIVE and they recently brought her back to life. NINETEEN. EIGHTY. FIVE. Almost forty years ago. Apparently a DiMera child, and every bit the supervillain Kristen should have been. Megan used her considerable resources to resurrect Bo, a guy she dated in high school LIKE FIFTY YEARS AGO. I cannot get over this. She's currently in jail but there's no chance she'll be there for long.

Melinda Trask

Hard-assed district attorney of Salem and the recent victim of the infamous poisoned biscuits. Melinda was only a plot device for a long time, but I guess the producers got the letters I forgot to write because now she's getting actual storylines complete with love interests and she's every bit as great as I expected her to be.

Nicole Walker

Nicole is currently dating EJ, but she never stays with anyone for very long. Mostly she keeps hooking up with Eric, who should fucking know better by now.

Orpheus

Yes, Orpheus. An actual evil genius who recently poisoned (and killed!) Marlena, Kate and Kayla. Best voice on the show, by far.

Paul Narita

Son of John. Currently dating Andrew. This is all I know about Paul, but I'm hoping he moves to Salem so I can get to know him better. He was involved in one of the show's greatest moments, in which his extremely doting father came to visit him and celebrate Pride. (see picture below.)

Paulina Price

Wife of Abe, mother of Chanel. Paulina is played by Jackeé, who was best known for sitcoms and quite honestly really works best on this show when she's playing comedy.

Rafe Hernandez

Brother of Gabi. Commissioner of Salem PD. Side note: this is a fictional world where it's best to pretend cops aren't horrible. That said, Rafe hasn't been particularly great for most of my time with him... but he's finally starting to grow on me a little bit.

Roman Brady

Owner of the Brady Pub and apparently maker of decent clam chowder. They keep trying to convince me that this nobody is the love of Kate's life but I remain unconvinced. The performer who plays Roman kinda sounds like he had a stroke.  I really don't feel comfortable making fun of that but I also find him very hard to understand, which just makes me uncomfortable any time he's on screen. (This is definitely more my problem than it is his.)

Sami Brady

Daughter of John, sister of Belle, apparently the love of both EJ and Lucas' lives. Sami is a fucking mess —one of those delightful messes that we wish was on the show more. But she also has better things to do than be on this show, so she only shows up about once a year for a couple of weeks.

Sarah Horton

Love of Xander's life who recently departed the show. But she was pregnant when she did, so she's absolutely coming back with that baby at some point.

Shawn-Douglas Brady

aka Sad Eyes Shawn. Most recently, Shawn learned that his father, Bo, was back from the dead and thought it would be a good idea to shoot him (?!) Now Bo is in a coma. If nothing else, Shawn has finally earned those sad eyes.

Sloan Petersen

A cutthroat lawyer obsessed with getting revenge on Chanel and Paulina for some drama involving her dead parents. Is dating Eric and, for some reason, has the name of Ferris Bueller's girlfriend (not the first time this show has cribbed character names from John Hughes, either).

Stefan DiMera

Boyfriend of Gabi and brother of EJ, with whom he is currently involved in a bitter rivalry over who controls DiMera Enterprises. (They currently share CEO status.) Was brought back from the dead like... 6 months ago, but only recently shook off a bunch of brainwashing that convinced him that he didn't love Gabi but actually loved Chloe (which should have been his first clue that something was amiss because... really? Her?)

Stefano DiMera    

Long-dead patriarch of the DiMera family. Stefano looms large over the show and his children, and his portrait hangs in their living room, where they monologue to it regularly. (A replica of said portrait is also hanging in our living room.)

Stephanie Johnson

Son of Steve and Kayla, currently dating Dead Wife Chad. Stephanie runs her own PR firm, and inexplicably has as many work-related storylines as her mother, WHO IS A SURGEON.

Steve Johnson

The show's requisite Handsome Eyepatch Guy. Longtime love of Kayla. Private eye. Good dad. Good dude. I like Steve. It's hard not to like Steve.

Susan Banks

A full-on southern fruitcake and actual psychic. When Dr. Marlena Evans (whom Susan refers to as her "best friend," though Marlena doesn't seem to agree with this assessment) was possessed by the devil, she turned Susan into "a li'l kittycat," which is why we named our li'l kittycat after her. Susan is (was?) played by the same performer who plays Kristen, and this is often mlked for (pretty effective) laughs. Susan plummetted to her apparent death in some stock footage swiped from an old "Toonces" sketch.

Talia Hunter

Sister of Jada, apparently romantically involved with Colin (gross). Talia used to be a doctor, but quit so she could bake. And then it turned out this was all a cover for the sinister plots that Colin is putting her up to. She clearly knows better though. And she's going to stop doing what that creep tells her to do any day now. Right?

Tony DiMera

Brother of EJ, Stefan and Chad; husband of Anna. The consigliere to EJ's mob boss. Tony's like if Richard Dawson were still alive but not quite as handsome or charming.

Tripp Johnson

Son of Steve and Ava. Handsome, charming, a good dude. TLo has a little song she sings when Tripp shows up. It goes TRIPP! TRIPP TRIPP TRIPP TRIPP! It's pretty adorable.

Victor Kiriakis

Patriarch of the Kiriakis family. Victor was an absolute delight to watch, as he was openly hostile to every character on the show except for Maggie, whom he obviously cared for a great deal. Victor was played by John Aniston (Jennifer's dad), who died last fall. The show persists in informing us that Victor is "just over there, off-camera," despite this.

Wei Shen

Owner or board member or something of DiMera Enterprises. We've never been able to determine what DiMera actually does, so Wei Shin's role there is also a bit of a mystery. Father to Li and Wendy, and usually pretty disappointed in both of them.

Wendy Shin

Daughter of Wei, sister of Li. Wendy works in IT at DiMera and keeps threatening to date Johnny, which makes absolutely no sense. She is now dating Tripp, which makes a lot more sense because seriously, Johnny's the worst.

Wilhelm Rolf

Actual mad scientist who once worked for Stefano DiMera. Has brought so many people back from the dead that people actually refer to it as "being Rolfed." Recently seen trying to undo Stefan's brainwashing with ad hoc equipment built out of a crock pot, and eggbeater and other assorted kitchen props. Even more amazing than I'm making him sound.

Xander Kiriakis

British (Scottish actually, but sounds British) himbo who keeps ending up with amazing women (Sarah, Gwen) and then completely fucking it up. Xander is currently part-owner of the town newspaper for some reason, and is currently getting an apartment with Chloe for seriously what the fuck I have absolutely no idea.

#Days of Our Lives #DOOL #soap opera #Peacock

[good-and-bad-queer-rep]

Sigh... *cracks knuckles*

Okay, here we go.

Like probably most of the LGBTQ+ community, J.K. Rowling was my idol, so yes, I have a lot of feelings.

Harry Potter is problematic. No arguments about that. The fandom itself, its creator, everything just has that small bit of xenophobia, homophobia, racism, etc... And sure, you can blame the time period it was written, but this woman is horrible in 2022 and if being kicked out of the HP Reunion on New Years Eve 2022 didn’t convince you how bad she is, I don’t know what will.

Obviously, the only openly gay character within the Harry Potter series is Albus Dumbledore who, spoiler alert, dies. He was also extremely problematic in how he treated and “raised” Harry. Fans tend to use the term “like a pig for slaughter” which sums it up pretty well.

And when I say “openly gay”, I mean Rowling was asked in an interview at Carnegie Hall in 2007 about Dumbledore’s sexuality, to which she responded she “always thought of Dumbledore as gay”. This was only after the release of her final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which many fans have seen as just an afterthought, basically pandering towards reaching a wider audience, as if she needed more attention.

In the last few years, she has really been pushing that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had a romantic relationship which is considered canon, but doesn’t make it feel any less forced.

Not only this, but Rowling has been shown in most recent years as being extremely transphobic.

One example of many from her twitter:

“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.” Source

Many of the actors from the HP movies since these tweets have showed their support for the trans community and have spoken out against Rowling. Some of these actors include Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), and Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) among many others.

A quote from Radcliffe:

“Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.” -Daniel Radcliffe, The Trevor Project

There have also been claims of Rowling villainizing the transgender community within the Harry Potter universe itself, specifically with the character Rita Skeeter. The character is described as having a “heavily jawed face” and “mannish hands”, as well as fake nails, hair, and teeth. The fact that she is portrayed this way, is an enemy to Harry (a smaller one but still an enemy), and that she spies on young children further proves this subtle hint towards Rowling’s beliefs on the transgender community.

And don’t try to argue the fact that “but she made Ron transgender”. That’s bs and you know it. She never intended that, she was just pandering again, just like how she did with Dumbledore. Source

#jk rowling #harry potter #transphobia #jk rowling is a terf #terf #lgbtq+ #transgender #trans #daniel radcliffe

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and Dating Nancy Downs

(Not my gif)(Requested by anonymous)

(I was so torn between what to do for the meeting hcs so if you want Nancy having a crush on the new girl hcs or whatever else, I’d be glad to provide)

- First things first, Nancy doesn’t like you. She doesn’t even have a valid reason as to why, she just doesn’t.

- It’s obvious that she has some sort of vendetta against you but you can’t for the life of you figure out what you ever could have done to make her hate you so much. After a while, you just stop taking it personally because; even though she seems particularly bothered by you, Nancy hates everyone.

- It isn’t until you have a rather nasty rumor spread around the school about you that she decides to change her tune.

- Deep down, Nancy is a softie and one that has a surprising amount of empathy hidden inside her. She just so happens to hear what people are saying about you while walking to class and against her own will, her mind drifts painfully back to the time when she was the one they were talking about.

- The two of you share a class at the end of the day which is where she’s able to stare at you, taking note of your deflated form and the subtle red rings around your eyes. It’s in that moment that Nancy stops hating you.

- Suddenly, She’s ready to burn the world down for you but she settles for doing something nice for once instead.

- She stalks after you at the end of the period, catching up with you outside of the school as you begin to walk home. For a moment you think she’s going to mock you like everyone else; it would’ve been the perfect chance for her to do so, but to your surprise, she invites you to go get a coffee with her.

- Even though you really don’t feel like hanging out with anyone, you agree and let her lead the way. The two of you talk for a while, awkwardly at first but soon enough you begin to warm up to her. You confess to her about all that’s happened and what’s going on, partly out of desperation and partly out of not being able to hold it in any longer. She gives you some advice; in typical Nancy fashion, and it for some reason actually makes you feel better. 

- By the end of the day, you’ve lost all of your old friends yet gained a new, much more unusual one.

- Over time, the two of you grow closer and closer, hanging out more and more until you’re near inseparable. She introduces you to Rochelle and Bonny, and suddenly you have a whole new friend group with people you genuinely feel accept you. Your life is better than ever, and all it took was a little public humiliation!

- You’ll definitely have to be strange, alternative or weird in some regard for her to really fall for you. She just doesn’t really connect with people who aren’t and she certainly doesn’t fall in love with them.

- To be honest, Nancy was always a little attracted to you but she never had actual feelings for you, not until the two of you became friends. It’s then that she realizes how much she actually likes you and how perfectly the two of you fit together. After that, it isn’t long before she realizes she likes you a lot more than a normal friend should. 

- Now, Nancy has no shame but this is the 90s and she likes having you in her life so she has to play her cards right. It’s gonna take a little while for her to actually confess but the two of you wind up acting like you’re dating; or at least she treats you like you’re her girlfriend, long before you actually begin to date.

- She confesses her feelings to you a few months into your friendship. It’s a bit late in the afternoon, the suns begun to set and you’re sitting with her in the little clearing that the girls do rituals in. You’re busy sleepily basking in the warmth of the sun while she’s busy watching the yellow glow of it light up your face. 

“Hey y/n/n?” She calls out softly and you respond just as soft, your eyes still shut. 

“Yeah?” 

“I love you.” 

“I love you too Nancy.”

“No, no, I mean I love you.” She emphasizes the word and you roll over onto your stomach, looking over at her with a small smile.

“I know Nancy, …and I love you too.” Her face doesn’t change for a long moment but then a pleased smile spreads across it and she breaks your gaze to look out at the sunset like a weights been lifted off her shoulders. 

- The two of you shared your first kiss the same day she confessed her feelings to you. She was sleeping over at your house, the two of you sharing your bed like normal, the blankets pulled over both of you as your heads rested against your pillows. 

- You were both facing each other and talking a bit before going to bed when she slid closer to you and connected your lips. You stayed locked in a gentle kiss before you both pulled away, her lips moving to your forehead where she pecked your skin and whispered goodnight. 

- You woke up the next morning with a smile on your face and a weirdo girlfriend snuggled against you. 

- Pda? All the time. Her hands? On you. Her pride? Through the roof.

- People probably don’t realize you’re dating but suspect she’s a lesbian and gay for you. You’ve most likely been warned that she has “a weird thing” for you. 

- You’re like the only person she lets touch her. Whoever else tries to is on the receiving end of a grimace, glare or verbal beat down; unless it’s Bonnie or Rochelle. Occasionally, you’ll sneak up on her and she’ll turn on you with the fiercest glare before quickly dropping it once she realizes who you are. 

- Getting stolen gifts. You’re always a bit scared that she’ll get caught but you don’t have the heart to not accept them. 

- Walking with her arm wrapped around your shoulder. She pushes your heads together cutely before merrily dragging you along with her. 

- “I like a woman in uniform” ~ a direct quote from when she came to visit you at your lame fast food restaurant job. 

- Nicknames are used all the time. Sweetheart, hun, darling, baby love, doll face; you name it, she’s called you it.

- Beach dates. The two of you have probably gone skinny dipping in the ocean together.

- Bonfires. You may or may not share scary stories with each other like you’re on a camping trip.

- You need to get a leather jacket. No, no wait; she’ll get you one herself.

- Constant compliments but not the kind of compliments you’re probably thinking of. She doesn’t say normal shit like “you look beautiful” or “I like your hair”, instead, she’ll say something like “well look at you.” or just “hot.”.

- She’s probably pierced your ears or given you a stick and poke at some point; that’s just the kind of person she is.

- She would absolutely love cutting or dying your hair with you. Sitting in your bathroom and fucking yourselves up? Amazing. Life changing. Revolutionary.

- Letting her rant to you. Whether she needs to tell you about her craft not working or her home life, you always lend her an open ear. She returns the favor whenever she can. 

- She crashes at your place a lot; she never really wants to go home. The two of you are constantly having sleepovers with each other.

- Sneaking out to see each other. 

- Late night drives.

- Surprisingly gentle kisses. 

- Long makeout sessions. 

- Sitting outside with her while she smokes. 

- Coffee dates. She probably drinks exclusively strong black coffee and doesn't even wince at the taste, sipping it like it’s water. You’re slightly unnerved by the display.

-  Sharing sips from a stolen bottle of wine.

- Painting each others nails and doing each others makeup. 

- How you cuddle really just depends on the day. Sometimes you’ll be completely wrapped around each other, other times you’ll just be lying side by side and holding hands. 

- Thrifting together. What’s better than cheap, second hand alternative fashion?  

- She’ll call you a dork for doing something stereotypically girlfriendy and sweet but she’ll smile and accept whatever you’re doing while she says it. 

- She says “gross” jokingly whenever you compliment or do something affectionate with her. She’ll wipe her cheek like you have cooties after you’ve kissed it.

- Stifling a laugh whenever she makes a smartass remark.

- Making faces at each other. She sticks her tongue out at you or smiles exaggeratedly big a lot.

- Hickeys, love bites, and red lipstick smears. 

- She’s usually the more dominant one in your relationship but whew boy does she love sitting in your lap. She just plops herself right down on you whenever she feels like it without a single care in the world.

- Helping her relax when things aren't going her way. She has a tendency to keep quiet when somethings bothering her, letting her frustration build until she can hardly take it anymore.

- She’s always quick to stand up for you. She doesn’t let anyone belittle you and always interjects when she can see you’re trying to say something but no one’s listening to you. 

- The amount of times she gets in trouble for trying to talk to you in class is impressive. 

- Cutting class together. You’re almost sure that she’s determined to get you in trouble.

- She cannot stand being ignored so you’ll have to be fairly good at multitasking. If you’re hanging out and she has nothing to do then it won’t work out. She’ll artfully bother you until you give up and pay attention to her. Don't worry though, it doesn’t take much to satiate her. 

- That being said, when you both have something to busy yourselves with, you can just exist in the same room together for hours, barely saying a word to each other. Sometimes she’ll just sit and think about something while you do whatever you have to and that keeps her occupied enough. 

- She doesn't like when you act like whatever she did for you was amazing or something special. She gets mildly uncomfortable and tries to brush off your words of gratitude, telling you not to worry about it and that “it was nothing”. 

- You know how like midway into the movie she had a candy necklace or at least something that looked like a candy necklace? You were most likely the one to give it to her which explains why it’s pretty much the only colorful thing in her wardrobe. 

- Being a witch is objectively sort of Sapphic so being gay kinda just comes with the territory. The two of you most likely cast spells and do rituals together all the time.

- Nervously letting her perform rituals on you. Does she need to make a joke about sacrificing a virgin? No. Will she? Yes. 

- She’s pleasantly bothered by your younger siblings and/or pets; if you have any. They definitely exasperate her since they usually interrupt and harass you two, but deep down she’s fond of them. She likes to tease them and pretend to not like them while they giggle and smile at her. 

- One of the most jealous girls you’ll ever meet. She’ll either completely walk away from you and whoever is “flirting” with you or rudely interrupt whenever she pleases. Sometimes she’ll even “secretly” will something to happen to the person, causing them to leave you alone. She always gives you an “innocent” look once you turn to scold her.

- She’s definitely overprotective when it comes to you, almost ridiculously so. If something were to ever happen to you, she’d be out for blood and you’d undoubtedly have to wrestle her from exacting revenge in your honor.

- She’s fairly blunt and invasive yet tactful at the same time. She may ask you about an obviously sensitive topic but knows when to change the subject and shut up. 

- You’ve either gotten into a lot of fights during your relationship or little to none; there is no in-between. If you’re stubborn and stand your ground then you’ll butt heads and fight a lot. If you’re more of a submissive person who tries to appease people rather than argue, then you’ll most likely never go beyond her snapping at you for a minute. 

- She really doesn't know how to apologize so oftentimes you’ll just have to take her slightly shy “wanna go do x” after a fight as an apology. It’s easy to tell when you’re forgiven or when she feels guilty for her actions. 

- You may not expect her to say “I love you” all that much but she surprisingly says it a lot. It may sound more joking than sincere some of the time but she’ll still say the words just about every day. 

- There’s certainly a dark future ahead of her …but maybe you can change that?

#I love her so much #Nancy downs headcanon #the craft imagine #the craft headcanons #the craft headcanon #90s movie headcanon #90s movie headcanons #90s movie imagine #90s movie imagines #Nancy downs imagine #Nancy downs headcanons

[tuiyla]

A Definitive History of Bubbline

With “Obsidian” coming out in two days, it really is time for a definitive history of Marceline and Bubblegum’s relationship. And by that I mean the tumultuous road that led us to “Obsidian” from a production and fandom point of view. For a list of Bubbline episodes, check out my Bubbline Guide (and part two) - which I need to update, I know I know. For this post, I wanted to highlight how far this pairing has come and what Bubbline means to queer representation in children’s cartoons.

This is less of an analysis and more of an overview with links to more information on specific incidents to keep it (relatively) brief. I say it’s a definitive history but it isn’t an exhaustive one, so do check out the links included to learn more about how we got here. I realize not everyone cares about these kinds of things but I think it’s important to know how hard Adventure Time’s creators had to fight. Bubbline is a pioneer ship in many ways but it doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves.

Initial Concepts

As is the case with much of Adventure Time, the initial concept of who the characters of Bonnibel and Marceline were going to be is very different than what we ended up getting. @gunterfan1992 explores this and other production tidbits in depth in his book so I do recommend checking that out. The short version is that these two were created to be opposites and with a Betty and Veronica type dynamic in mind where they would both be love interest to the protagonist, Finn.

This didn’t quite end up being the case but remnants of this concept are seen in “Go With Me” (March, 2011), the episode with the first on-screen Bubbline interaction. As Marcy helps - and sabotages - Finn in asking Bonnie out, she also becomes a potential love interest for him but she shuts him down immediately. So while Finn’s crush on PB continues, the notion that Marceline would be part of a love triangle is dismissed. Instead, this first Bonnie and Marcy interaction established that the two already know each other and there’s some bitterness in that past.

“What Was Missing” and the Mathematical Controversy

A potential preexisting relationship between the two was further explored in “What Was Missing” (September 2011) just a season later. The episode was written and storyboarded by Rebecca Sugar and eventual showrunner Adam Muto. Sugar was responsible for much of the character depth added to Marceline and later even played, quite aptly, her mother in the Stakes miniseries. It was Sugar who wrote the now beyond iconic “I’m Just Your Problem” based on personal experiences and suggested that Marcy and Bonnie be queer characters with a complicated romantic past.

“What Was Missing” was hugely important in how it hinted at a complex relationship through character interactions, Marceline’s song, and the last scene twist with PB’s shirt. The AT crew were supportive of the idea and sneaked in plenty of queer subtext, but this is where I have to point out that 2011 was a very different time and it’s thanks, in part, to Bubbline that things have changed. Autostraddle’s article from back when covers what is now known as the Mathematical controversy. Audiences picked up on the subtext and Cartoon Network was not having it. The popularity of the ship soared but the execs were not taking to queer implications kindly.

Great Bubbline Drought

So, the ship has sailed but controversy looms over it. “What Was Missing” s subtle by today’s standards but it was enough to keep Marceline and Bubblegum apart for two years on-screen. Each character went through wonderful development in the meantime, as did the show itself, but there’s a certain sense of bitterness to what came to be known as the Great Bubbline Drought. CN got so afraid of the potential backlash that they waited two years to have a new episode featuring the pair, “Sky Witch” (July 2013), by which point Sugar had left AT to work on her own show, Steven Universe. I’m happy that Sugar got to create her own show and push for even more queer representation, but it’s also sad that she never got to write more for the ship she pioneered.

“Sky Witch” still happened, though, and featured even more subtext, from PB’s side this time around. The shirt returned and there was hope as Marcy and Bonnie were seen hanging out together more often (”Red Starved” and “Princess Day”). Another controversy threatened to emerge in August 2014 when Olivia Olson, Marceline’s voice actress said that creator Pendleton Ward had confirmed a pre-show Bubbline romance. It was a messy ordeal with deleted tweets and questions about whether the two could get together again in the series. Fortunately, though, things changed in the three years between 2011 to 2014 and another Bubbline drought didn’t follow.

The Season That Changed Everything

It took another two years after “Sky Witch” but the ball was finally, inevitably, relentlessly rolling. “Varmints” premiered in November 2015 and three episodes later, the Stakes miniseries kicked off. What season 7 meant wasn’t just breadcrumbs and (not so) subtle songs anymore: suddenly, there were too many Bubbline moments to count. “Varmints” served as a follow-up to “What Was Missing” and a final reconciliation, and though Stakes was primarily about Marcy, it also developed her relationship with Bonnie. Afterwards, it became clear that Bubbline was heading somewhere.

It’s worth noting that the cultural context also changed between when “Sky Witch” and “Varmints” aired. In December 2014, The Legend of Korra ended with Korra and Asami beginning their romantic relationship, and Rebecca Sugar was making Steven Universe more and more explicitly queer by the day. Adventure Time started the ball rolling but now it wasn’t alone as a popular Western cable cartoon with queer characters. However, Bubbline was still very much subtext at this point, just with significantly more hope of becoming more.

Late Series Entanglement

But at what point does subtext become plain text? Bubbline fans sure did have fun with that question between Stakes and the finale. Bonnie and Marcy became near inseparable, with most of their major appearances involving one another from this point on. These included the meet the adoptive dad date “Broke His Crown” (March 2016), the Elements miniseries (April 2017) and the nigh on obnoxiously on the nose “Marcy & Hunson” (December 2017). In fact, all but two of Marceline’s major appearances from season 7 on included Bonnie - the exceptions being “Everything Stays” as part of Stakes, and “Ketchup”, which really wasn’t any less gay.

Bubbline moments really did become too many to count, with the vast majority of them having romantic implications. And with queer representation becoming more and more prominent in Western animation, canon Bubbline romance seemed like a question of when rather than if. I’d like to point out here how this was often frustrating, though. After the very rocky start, this relationship was thriving and was really basically confirmed, but that last little push to make it undeniably a part of queer history was still needed.

“Come on!” - The End and Beyond

The almost three years that passed between Stakes and “Come Along With Me” (September 2018) were much more tolerable than the Drought; after all, there was plenty of Bubbline content in the later seasons. The big question as the finale came was whether Adventure Time would fizzle out on its early pioneer of a wlw ship or follow through, once and for all. Almost four years after LoK ended and just before season 1 of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power dropped, Marcy and Bonnie had an emotional moment, kissed on screen, and ended the series together.

The intricacies of why a kiss was needed as a signifier of romance is a discussion for another day. But wouldn’t it have been strange after almost a decade of build-up for them not to seal the deal with a kiss? And to think it almost didn’t happen, as by that point it was so obvious they were together. Again, I direct your attention towards Paul Thomas’s book, he explains how it was storyboard artist Hanna K. Nyström’s call to add this final detail. Because, come on! Sometimes, you need to be as clear as possible, and that’s the case with queer representation in animation.

Since the finale, the comics have been continuing the Bubbline train - which are not technically canon but one can have fun regardless. In any case, the existence of Marcy and Bonnie’s relationship, of their queer identities, is not something that can reasonably be denied. It was a long road, and, make no mistake, an arduous one, but this is the story of a win. A win for storytelling and a win for wlw relationships.

We’ll Build Our Own Forever

So, there you have it, a Bubbline timeline of sorts. In March of 2011 we had the first on-screen interaction and now, in November of 2020, we’re getting a 45-minute-long special with the two of them as the central characters. They’re canonically in love, with King Princess covers of Bubbline songs and more. I tried to contain myself, for once, and not write too much. I think it’s important that people have a general idea of just how monumental all of this is and how, even just 9 years ago, “Obsidian” would have been totally inconceivable.

Some of this might have come as a surprise to you. It’s certainly not been easy to get to where we are now with Bubbline and it’s yet to be seen how open “Obsidian” will be about the relationship. I’ve been talking about Bubbline for years and attempted to chronicle their relationship many times so I’m happy I’ve finally done it from this perspective as well.

Adventure Time: Distant Lands “Obsidian” is streaming on Nov 19 on HBO Max. If you can, stream it so we can show that there’s popular demand for stories like that of an angry vampire and a despotic piece of gum.

#Adventure Time #bubbline #obsidian #marceline abadeer #adventure time distant lands #at #pb #my thoughts #definitive history of bubbline #there you have it folks #princess bubblegum

[jacespunkdad]

so i’m rereading hunger games as i’ve mentioned before and here’s a compiled list of little details that i think should be included if they remake it into a series or something

honestly the movies were really great and naturally there’s stuff that needs to be cut for it to fit in a 2 hour window but...if there was more time...here’s what i want 

- first of all it needs to be rated higher (r or ma). the punch of these books have did not hit as hard in the movies because the violence had to be toned down. and to be fair i wouldn’t have been allowed to see them if they were rated r in 2012 HOWEVER. i think it’s necessary

- casting should actually fit the ages of the characters i know there’s laws for working with actors underage but having the leads be in their 20s literally defeated the whole point lmao

- also katniss and gale aren’t white and neither is haymitch i don’t think actually so can we fix that. love the original actors to death they did a great job but i think actors with olive skin and gray eyes will do just as good a job

- we need madge. she is an icon and deserves respect

- we need avoxes!! they technically were in the movies but they were mentioned once and then they were always just vibing in the background. we need to have the redheaded avox and there should be a flashback scene where you see katniss and gale witnessing her get caught in the woods (i forget her name atm)

- katniss’s mom’s battle with depression, let’s talk about it! barely mentioned in the movies

- also katniss’s dad! they literally showed a picture of him once in the first movie and never talked about him ever again which is not fair because he seemed like a very lovely man. i want to see clips of him singing and teaching young katniss how to hunt! justice for mr everdeen rip king

- katniss thinks about her and gale’s adventures in the woods (TM) during the games and i wanna see some of them on screen. mainly the one where they buy lady i love that one

- on the subject of parents more of peeta’s dad! idgaf about his abusive mom i know she’s technically more important to the immediate story but if she gets a scene he deserves one too. peeta definitely gets all his good genes from him

- cinna is clearly a gay icon and he needs to have a boyfriend. give him a bf

- portia has the EXACT SAME ENERGY. give her a gf. also can portia have lines please in the movies she was just. there

- more of katniss’s prep team!!! would honestly die for them. they should’ve had more than 3 scenes they provide perfect comedy relief

- katniss and peeta constantly having matching outfits during the prep for the first games another great comedic moment

- peeta’s prosthetic leg! representation matters

- also district 4 tributes should’ve been hanging out with cato and co. everyone forgets district 4 is a career district (and that finnick was a career) all the time and it makes me upset

- and prim was just? at school. while her sister is fighting to death. i want a scene where they flash to her sitting in a god damn cafeteria watching the games like WHAT 

- gale’s family!! 

- the movie did a good job showing the ptsd but they can do more showing peeta and haymitch’s struggles with it besides just katniss

- district 8 was always starting shit and i think that needs to be addressed HAHA

- bonnie and twill! i genuinely thought i made them up or that they were from a different series until i finally got to their part

- also we just need more district 12 stuff all the district 12 action in catching fire was cut out basically

- for instance the detail that the head peacekeeper would take advantage of starving girls by essentially whoring them out to him for money or food? let’s talk about that because holy shit

- there’s so many scenes of katniss and peeta doing domestic things together without even realizing it and it makes me so happy i love them. the cheese buns! peeta drawing pictures for katniss’s family book! taking walks around town! his art! 

- and i specifically want the scene where katniss comes home to the peacekeepers waiting for her and haymitch and peeta are just casually sitting in the den playing chess and effortlessly roasting her in their efforts to cover for her and also stealing her candy. love that scene so much 

- also right before that katniss legit jumped out of a 25 FOOT TREE???? HELLO???? idk how they’d film that honestly but i wanna see it 

- district 12 gets so ugly and bad after thread shows up and they didn’t really show it at all i wish they had it’s so horrific to read about

- darius!! he should’ve been in the movies. the scene where he shows up as an avox fucked me up SO BAD when i was a kid

- the whole plot line about the capitol using a green screen every time they report on district 13 was so interesting and such a twist and i remember going :O when i read the first time i wish it had been included

- haymitch’s games!!! genuinely one of my favorite backstories i’ve ever read in any series ever. they need to show it especially considering that he was against 47 competitors instead of the normal 23 like that’s nuts

- katniss, peeta, and haymitch “training” for the quarter quell. i want a montage

- just cinna’s line “portia and i spent a lot of hours looking at fires.” there’s so many moments of subtle humor in the books that got taken away and i think they help balance out the story so well

i’m about halfway through catching fire so i will update with more thoughts. thank u for coming to my ted talk

#the hunger games trilogy #thg #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #everlark #gale hawthorne #haymitch abernathy #cinna #portia #prim everdeen #suzanne collins #nat says stuff

[freedom-in-the-dark]

James Flint Is Gay: A Meta Post

[slides into the Black Sails fandom late with Starbucks]

Hey! What’s up! Here’s a post no one asked for but I wrote mostly for me. Before we get into it, I’ve got some big notices to put on the top here.

DISCLAIMER: If you interpret James as bi, and you prefer that, I am not trying to say you can’t do that or to convince you otherwise! 

You do you! If you’re not cool with seeing him as gay, please do us both a favor and keep scrolling past this post! I’m mildly aware that this fandom has a history of rough discourse surrounding this topic, but I cannot emphasize enough that I am new here, and this post is not an attack. Please do me the courtesy of not attacking me or blocking me or whatnot because I’m not trying to start drama lol. And for what it’s worth, I myself am bi (well, bi ace), so I’d like to think I’m being objective.

This post exists simply because I like to write meta out with my arguments / evidence lined up in a row; it gets things out of my head and onto a screen, and I find it satisfying. And if I’m doing it anyway, I might as well share.

So if you see James as gay, or have an open mind to that interpretation… please allow me to take you on this adventure under the cut. I’m sure it’s obvious, but this contains spoilers? Lol.

Here we go!

Compulsory Heterosexuality vs “Bi Erasure”

Firstly… to address some stuff I’ve seen in my limited Black Sails fandom travels right out of the gate: I’ve seen people imply that interpreting James as gay is “bi erasure,” or they ask “Why are you erasing that James was attracted to Miranda and had an affair with her?”

But to that I say: it’s far more complicated than that.

Gay people can have sexual relationships with people of the opposite sex, especially until / or before they identify as gay. This is how so many gay people can be married to the opposite sex and have biological kids, and then later realize their truth and come out to themselves and their families. Having those experiences or even some variation of actionable attraction to people of other sexes in the past doesn’t negate their ability to later identify as gay, once they stop burying those parts of themselves and/or experience something that “brings that part of them into the light.”

This is why the phrase compulsory heterosexuality exists. The phrase was originally coined by Adrienne Rich in a 1980 essay titled “Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Lesbian Experience.” So yes, let me make this clear: this term originated in reference to lesbians and feminist theory, and then the idea was later expanded upon to include discussions of gay men by other academics in the early 2000s. I’m not gonna dive too deeply into it here, but in essence–as the name implies–this is the idea that patriarchal and heteronormative societies are viewed as the default, so individuals are assumed (by themselves and otherwise) to be heterosexual until “proven” otherwise. Through these standards that are seen as “normal,” people are also taught from a young age–whether explicitly or subconsciously through society–that anything that deviates from those ~straight norms~ leads to negative consequences. And so, society encourages people to avoid sexual exploration, because having experiences with someone of the same sex is what can often bring their gay identity into focus.

In the case of Black Sails, this is all very much emphasized at the forefront because it’s a historical drama. Aside from racism/slavery, patriarchy and heteronormativity are what the characters are actively going to war against.

So, the point in me defining all of this? No one—or at least, not me—is saying that James didn’t have a sexual relationship with Miranda. That’s not in question. But that doesn’t necessarily make him bi, and it doesn’t mean the narrative isn’t structured in various ways that indicate otherwise.

Just keep this in the back of your brain, because I’m going to circle back around to it.

Anne, Flint, & Gay Rage

In the wise words of an old pirate captain: “Fruit, fruit. Tits, tits.” This show thrives on parallels, and gives us lines / scenes that apply to more than one character; it’s partially why the themes are so consistent, and if you ignore that, you can miss a lot of the nuance. Our resident angry gay gingers are one of the paralleled sets of characters.

This is not a meta about Anne… but talking about parts of Anne’s story can help to highlight some things about James’ story.

I tweeted this once: “Flint and Anne’s sexualities paralleled to show struggles with compulsive heterosexuality, fighting for the sake of fighting, bringing parts of themselves into the light, wrestling with being told they’re monsters and their distorted senses of self, etc.” and really, now I’m just here to elaborate.

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The word “monster” is a recurring theme in this show. It’s tied mostly to Flint and how he is told he is monstrous for loving a man, fears being “the villain” or “monster” in everyone’s stories, and eventually embraces that monstrous portrayal in service of his goals–even as the violence is slowly devastating to him. But the other character the word “monster” is used in reference to? Anne.

A quote by Max:

“Idelle, how would you feel if the one man you thought would never betray you did? If he purchased for himself a future through that betrayal? If you were told by a world full of men that that betrayal confirmed for them that they were right to see you as a monster to be shunned? She's not mad. She is adrift.”

In some ways, this quote is also the story of what has happened to James in his life, over and over. (Not to say this is what Jack intended to do to Anne, but the parallels inherent in Max’s line itself cannot be denied.) 

James is repeatedly betrayed by those he trusts: Admiral Hennessey; Peter Ashe; Hal Gates. All of them try to get him to conform to heteronormative society–including Gates, because even if he didn’t know it, that’s what he was doing by trying to get James to take a pardon. That’s why James reacts with such instinctual panic and kills him; the idea of being forced to apologize to and assimilate back into heteronormative society puts him at a breaking point. (It can even be argued that Miranda “betrays” James in this way too by trying to get him to take a pardon and go to Boston–which is where his “and they called me a monster” speech comes in–and that also contributed to how James later panics and kills Gates for trying to force him to do the same. Miranda tried in a well-meaning way to get James to move on, because she isn’t fully understanding what James wrestles with; but I’ll go back to that.)

Again, these parallels are deliberate. Anne and Flint are the two main gay characters who wrestle with their supposed “monstrosity” in the eyes of everyone else, because they don’t fit in. They are “othered.” It’s not simply about their violence; for these characters, it’s about what their violence is in service of achieving, which is tied to their sexuality.

Anne is seen as a “monster” for slaughtering the men who abused Max, who is not only a fellow woman but also a fellow lesbian, in a way that Anne is undeniably drawn to even before she lets herself acknowledge the feeling. We as viewers are meant to see this and understand this, and we do. Anne is ostracized for violence that was motivated by her sexuality, which is partially why Max tells her that she understands her violence and will protect her–because Max is not only also a woman in a patriarchal society, but she is gay too.

Flint is seen as a “monster” first and foremost by England, for his sexuality… and then, later, by everyone else for the actions he takes because of his sexuality. Again: the violence he commits cannot be divorced from his sexuality because it is the reason for it. It’s what informs it.

I tweeted about this once too, but in many ways Anne and Flint’s kindred displays of brutality and anger and “fighting for the sake of fighting” (a quote by Miranda which applies to them both) are informed by their desire/need for gay tenderness. The world has too often denied them that tenderness and their expressions of their sexualities, or demonized them for wanting it, and their violence is the result. 

Here’s a quote from Deborah Tolman with regards to how compulsory heterosexuality affects men, which she calls “hegemonic masculinity”:

"These norms demand that men deny most emotions, save for anger; be hard at all times and in all ways; engage in objectification of women and sex itself; and participate in the continuum of violence against women."

The anger and hardness is a huge part of the personas both Flint and Anne have to put on for survival. I include Anne in this because she uniquely lives her life in a “male” role to survive the male-dominated world of piracy, and she’s clearly not immune from these unspoken masculine guidelines: she refers to Max as “the whore” half the time as a defense mechanism. Flint and Anne lash out, they’re hard and angry and violent for the sake of their personas, and it’s all because... inside, they just want to be soft and gay with who they love.

Anne, Flint, & Compulsory Heterosexuality (Not Bi Erasure)

In Black Sails, we are shown the story of a gay person who has a consistent sexual relationship with someone of the opposite sex, but is running from internal truths about themselves in some ways in the process. That person is Anne.

Struggling with compulsory heterosexuality is explicitly Anne Bonny’s prime storyline in the show and that is not up for debate (and I’ve rarely seen people disagree); but I argue that it is also part of James’ storyline, and he is paralleled significantly with Anne to make that clear. It’s just overall more subtle because it’s not the prime focus of James’ story the way it is for Anne, because James’ realizations happened largely in the past and we’re seeing the aftermath of it. The parallels are there, and I’ll be breaking some of them down.

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From episode one, we are told that Anne has a sexual relationship with Jack…. But later on, she tells Jack that she “can’t be [his] wife,” even though they’ll be partners forever. Why? What changed? The answer is that she’s been with Max and realized that she’s gay. It doesn’t mean Anne didn’t have sex with a man in the past and even enjoy it on some level, but it does mean that she knows now that she was using that sex partially to distract from things about herself that she was doing her best to ignore.

Multiple lines by Max (to Anne) tell us this:

3x03: “When you and I began you did not choose me. Something that lives inside you beyond choice made it so.”

2x01: “But perhaps there is something else underlying it. Something hiding in a place not even you can see. Perhaps… we would do well to bring it into the light.”

Before I continue, let me remind you of something: when writers decide to show viewers something on screen, that is done with intent, especially in a show like Black Sails where not a single moment is wasted. Remember this. What they show us, and what they don’t show us, are both deliberate choices.

So what are we shown about Anne’s sexual relationship with Jack? We get exactly one scene of her having sex with him. We are shown Anne riding Jack in a way where neither party was particularly enthused. Does this mean they definitely never had sex in the past that they both enjoyed on some level? No. But they showed us this one scene on purpose: to emphasize the stark difference when Anne has enjoyable sex with Max, an experience that forever changes her.

So what are we shown about James’ sexual relationship with Miranda? We get exactly one scene of him having sex with her. It is the most depressing sex scene of all time, James is just lying there to try to be helpful for her to chase her own pleasure, and he doesn’t even touch her. Does this mean they never had sex in the past that they both enjoyed, especially back during their affair in London? No. But we are never shown any of that. We never see them have sex in London before James’ relationship with Thomas; we never see them having good sex with each other after it all goes to hell. And that is a deliberate choice.

Why? Because all of the above info about Anne and her compulsory heterosexuality journey also applies to James McGraw, and his relationships with Miranda and Thomas.

“They paint the world full of shadows... and then tell their children to stay close to the light. Their light. Their reasons, their judgments. Because in the darkness, there be dragons. But it isn't true. We can prove that it isn't true. In the dark, there is discovery, there is possibility, there is freedom in the dark once someone has illuminated it.”

The realizations James came to about his sexuality (just like Anne did) inform much of his tangled story with the Hamiltons, and much of the tragedy of Miranda and James’ situation after the loss of Thomas. We are shown the way James and Miranda are no longer perfectly aligned after that loss, and grief is undeniably a part of it… but it goes beyond that. It’s more complicated than that. 

That sad sex scene is not solely about grief; remember, that scene takes place ten years after they lose Thomas. It takes place during a time where Miranda is already thinking about and will soon actively try to tell James that they need to move on, without understanding why the loss of Thomas affects him in a profoundly different way than it affects her. I am not minimizing her loss or her grief whatsoever; but it is undeniably more complicated for James, and it’s why he can’t move on.

In episode 1x07:

James: “Have you no memory of how we got here? What they took from us?”

Miranda: “What does it matter now? What does it matter? What does it matter what happened then if we have no life now?”

James is, of course, appalled by this. I’ll talk about why momentarily.

The next time James is in Nassau (2x03), he goes to see Miranda and tries to apologize that night, but she’s otherwise engaged. So he stands outside of her window looking in, surrounded by darkness, while she’s playing the clavichord with children in the light. It is symbolically the domestic version of a heterosexual ideal. He is “othered” by the camera angles / framing, and the dark / light aspects. James is relegated to being an outsider literally because as Flint he’s a pirate, but metaphorically because he’s gay; the reason we as viewers are given that scene is to underscore that he feels he has no place in that display.

Ultimately, James is misaligned with Miranda after the loss of Thomas (shown in both the sad sex scene and arguments) in a way that goes beyond grief. The implication is that things cannot ever be the same for him again since the loss of “his truest love” and the truths he learned about himself.

If James and Miranda were simply at odds with one another because of grief, it would be far less of a “tragedy” in some ways. But James cannot heal the way Miranda slowly finds the way to over ten years, because Thomas signifies things for James that Miranda cannot relate to. In London, when Thomas is taken from them, Miranda even yells to James, “He is my husband!” Her grief and rage are shown as equal to James at the start and have extreme validity; the two of them are partners in the plan to kill Alfred Hamilton for revenge; but then she is able to somewhat move on, whereas James is not.

Why? Because, for James, Thomas was not just his (truest) love; Thomas was the awakening of his fullest self as a gay man.

In the same way that Anne can’t be Jack’s “wife” after she’s been with Max and realizes she’s gay, James cannot content himself with fulfilling the role of Miranda’s “husband” after he’s been with Thomas and realizes he’s gay. Neither of these facts minimize Anne’s love and devotion to Jack, or James’ love and devotion to Miranda; they are undeniably two sets of partners. But Anne and James are forever altered by their experiences with same sex lovers, and the truths about themselves that were brought into the light as a result.

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Another part of the tragedy of James and Miranda is what happens right when we see Miranda grasp the significance of all of the above. Whether or not she grasped it before in the past, we are shown it only once on screen, and that’s in Charlestown. 

Peter Ashe says this in 2x09:

“You will tell them about the affair with Thomas. You will tell them how it ended. You will explain to them what it drove you to do. You will reveal everything. And when you do, Captain Flint will be unmasked, the monster slain. And in his place will stand before all the world a flawed man, a man that England can relate to and offer its forgiveness.”

This is James’ worst nightmare; we know as such from what he told Miranda back in 1x07, and from when he killed Gates. And yet, here and now in 2x09, he is exhausted from pushing back against heteronormative society, all he wants is to retire the mantle of Flint born of gay rage, and he actually contemplates playing by their rules and giving into their judgements of his sexuality... until Miranda comes to his defense.

In season 1, Miranda didn’t seem to fully understand James’ thoughts on this, but here–in combination with her realizations about Peter Ashe’s betrayals–she finally does. And she’s not having it.

“What forgiveness are you entitled to while you stand back in the shadows pushing James out in front of the world to be laid bear for the sake of the truth? Tell me, sir, when does the truth about your sins come to light?”

And the moment she is yelling in rage on behalf of James, and their combined loss, and how Peter would dare to force James to experience shame about his sexuality again–she is instantly shot for it. A woman who’s yelling on behalf of a gay man? In a patriarchal heteronormative society? It has no place. England makes that clear.

It all further underlines James’ sense of “otherness”... and now he decides to embrace it, even at his own emotional detriment. He will no longer try to fit in or reason with them; he will no longer accept their halfway measures of pardons. He can’t, because in the eyes of England, all that he is as a gay man is abhorrent.

2x10: “Everyone is a monster to someone. Since you are so convinced that I am yours, I will be it.”

3x05, to the Maroon Queen: “...England takes whatever, whenever, however it wants. Lives. Loves. Labor. Spirits. Homes. It has taken them from me. I imagine that it has taken it from you.”

The Way James Views Miranda

And here is where I simply give you more food for thought–or further “evidence” of James being gay, if you will.

All of Flint’s lines about how he views Miranda are worded very, very deliberately.

Here’s a minor one, from 1x05:

“So you can probably guess it isn't as much fun to tell stories about how your captain makes a home with a nice Puritan woman who shares his love of books.”

There is nothing overtly romantic or sexual about this. It’s said in a one-on-one conversation with Billy, where Flint neither has to make the relationship sound like something it isn’t nor refuse to give any info whatsoever. So he goes with what is the seemingly-mild truth.

But 3x01, convincing the men to forego pardons:

“But what price surrender? To beg forgiveness from a thing that took my woman from me? My friend?”

“My woman” is what Flint says for the benefit of the men… these men who are part of the heteronormative world they all live in, and still value sexual relationships with women above all else. It’s about hegemonic masculinity, remember? (“Objectification of women and sex itself.”) He’s doing his best to speak their language. 

But “my friend” is a secondary line that was not needed for the purposes of this speech, but James could not keep himself from adding it in a quieter tone–because that’s who Miranda was to him. His friend. Not his woman, which drips sexism and sexual undertones. Not his wife. Not even his “love,” which he could’ve used if he wanted to be ambiguous and sneak a Thomas reference in; he said “my woman” to appeal to the men, and then he added “my friend” because in the face of her memory he couldn’t help it.

And lastly, in 3x03, we begin to hear from “ghost Miranda.” 

But what is ghost Miranda? She’s a voice from James’ traumatized mind. Everything she says to him is about truths he already knows and/or things he is hiding from himself. So what “she” says here is a voice from James’ mind; it’s about how James sees her, and subtly elaborates on his sexuality in the process.

“When I first met you, you were so... Unformed. And then I spoke and bade you cast aside your shame, and Captain Flint was born into the world... the part of you that always existed yet never were you willing to allow into the light of day. I was mistress to you when you needed love. I was wife to you when you needed understanding. But first and before all... I was mother. I have known you like no other. So I love you like no other. I will guide you through it, but at its end is where you must leave me. At its end is where you will find the peace that eludes you, and at its end lies the answer you refuse to see.”

This does not diminish Miranda’s importance to James in the least! In fact, it emphasizes it, and it is all part of why he is so ruined over her! But it is also, in the oddest way, an elaboration upon how he isn’t bi: Miranda was his partner in many things, including shared grief and revenge and some semblance of life for ten long years; and she was also was instrumental to his formation of himself as a person (“mother”), and his acceptance of himself as a gay man (“love” and “understanding”). This is how he sees her. Mistress and wife were roles she filled in his life, but above all, she contributed to the birth of Captain Flint–the personification of James’ gay rage.

Of course, the “answer” that ghost Miranda (the depths of James’ brain) alludes to here as well as her later words of “you are not alone” are all about James needing to recognize that Silver is a newfound partner and love for him… but that’s a whole other meta entirely.

Closing Thoughts

Look, did I consult a couple of specific scenes and look up transcripts to put quotes in this? Yes. But have I still only seen the show in its entirety once? Also yes. My point in mentioning this is that, if I did a full rewatch, there might even be more evidence I haven’t mentioned here. This isn’t meant to be comprehensive, but I do feel that it... certainly conveys the gist of the mood.

You may still agree to disagree if you prefer to see James Flint as bi; I’m not here to fight you on it and what queer characters mean to you personally. 

But for me, when surveying all available evidence, the narrative screams that he’s gay. In that sense, my thoughts on this matter are similar to my thoughts on the ending; sure, you can interpret it one way if you look at certain details, but if you take in all the evidence and the big picture as a whole… there’s a specific conclusion to be drawn.

Last thing I’ll say is this: Steinberg himself has said that Flint is gay, which I found out way after watching the show and forming this interpretation. And like... not that if I wanted to hardcore argue he was bi I wouldn’t disregard Steinberg’s words, because in my experience the narrative speaking for itself is always more important than than creators’ words, but... in this instance (as in all Black Sails instances I’ve come across), his words just underscore what the well-crafted narrative is already telling us, because the creators wrote this show with intent. They knew what they were doing.

And thus, I will quote him (from these GIFs) below.

“When we were trying to build the story, we wanted whatever this thing was that made [Flint] feel alienated to be so deeply tied into who he was that there was no way he was every going to dismiss this thing that happened to him. We wanted to make sure we understood what the reality was in England in terms of how homosexuality was perceived. In some ways it was more tolerated, in some ways it was significantly less tolerated. I think in terms of Flint being gay, it’s about the fact that it is a tool that is used politically when convenient to make somebody be a monster… and it isn’t even really about the relationship.”

(If you buy the series on iTunes, you get an “inside” look at every episode, including this one from 2x05.)

EDIT: I had no idea Toby Stephens basically confirmed my thoughts that James' relationship with Thomas was his actualization as a gay man, so excuse me as I lose my mind for a moment:

“I think his relationship to Thomas Hamilton, the initial friendship and then becoming lovers is sort of like the realization of himself. I think he became himself with Thomas Hamilton. His potential was unleashed with Hamilton.”

And just for fun, since I’m here anyway, here’s a piece of a Steinberg quote about Anne from the Fathoms Deep podcast.

“In terms of Rackham and Bonny, I think that was another thing that I assumed for a long time could never go away. That they were essentially, you know, that they were married. You know not legally, but they were functionally married. And then this story happened in Season 2 with Bonny, that I think with like with a gun to my head of things that I’m proud of with the show, probably at the top is this story of this woman coming out and understanding that she’s gay. . . And so when we got to a point where it was like, I think she’s gay? Like I don’t think this is something we want to be wishy-washy about. It required getting over that hump with Rackham of, ‘Well like what am I going to do with this relationship? I don’t want to split them up?’ And I think it became something way more interesting.”

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. I love James Flint and his gay rage, I love you if you read all of this, and I love my friend @sunbardy who dealt with me yelling about this in DMs and then proofread the doc.

Hit me up on Twitter @gaypiracy if you want, where I do most of my Black Sails related yelling. And shitposting. Because I contain multitudes.

Know No Shame, my friends.

#black sails #james flint #know no shame #flinthamilton #captain flint #anne bonny #meta #black sails meta #miranda hamilton #jackanne #maxanne #legit have no idea what else to tag #my meta

[startwithbrooklyn]

THE GREAT ND REWATCH OF 2021 / SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2019 // the bonny scot

posting this a day later than normal because this is one of the rare episodes that shows a passage of time from one day to the next yayy love that for them

-wonder what filming these beginning sexy scenes is like for them in real life

-sooooo can lucy see nancys sexy dream? is she judging? does this mean she likes nancy with owen or nick more? or is she trying to tell nancy that her sex dreams are irrelevant to the mystery at hand and she needs to focus?

-seeing people in the ✨prison chair✨: gomber, carson, karen (voting for josh s3 just saying)

-completely ignores carson's question about herself typical nance

-"or maybe i did stumble across a knife" its like hes trying to make the case against him look plausible while attempting to maintain innocence. this is a slippery slope for carson to try and encourage her to keep her pacified + hide the truth while also trying to keep her from getting involved bc hudsons

-"genetics gets you in the door" aaaaand then she walks in to everetts office to meet him and crashes their family dinner

-ok who tf is dawn and why is she in charge here

-this guidance counselor of nicks is my favorite person

-"i admire your allergy to pleasantries" bess and nancy both have reveals to big families but nancy does not have the graceful, accepting reveal to her rich family like bess does at this lunch. nancys reveal is messy, cold, bloodstained and sticky-fingered, not nice in any way whatsoever. and this little chat with everett (bit of a parallel to lucy's) just highlights how nancy is always bad at bargaining with her grandparents*- always trying to fight on their level but giving up her equal hand bc she doesnt know how to hide it when they bring up something she doesnt know. like confronting celia at the masque: she was so confident with her theory and what she knew, but then we got a "what does that mean?" like. the instant you say that, you lose. and she walked right into the "yes i do have someone, hes in jail" 🤦🏼‍♀️ even in the car with ryan at the end of s1, he literally just fucking leaves her there. like 🤷🏼‍♀️ what did u think was gonna happen sis?? for all she can predict how past things lead to present circumstances shes fucking awful at seeing the direct future *(grandparents except for patrice bc her dementia makes her inaccessable)

-lmaooooo this awko ass portrait...i get the empty space is for nance but who on earth thought this was a good pic??

-LISBETH 🥺💙

-"will u help the claw for me?" george struggles financially to keep her livelihood while nancy is somehow shown as being taken care of even when her parent is incarcerated; both nancy and george live in single parent homes now with mention of both medical debt and george being breadwinner yet nancy has no struggles while george does. (i wonder if ryan had been able to help george here how the story would have changed)

-"when it comes to following people around without their knowledge or consent i am somewhat of a repeat offender" 😂😂😂

-"he wasnt endgame after all" BESS lmaoooo

-"...okay." lmaoooo i fuckin love owen

-i was hoping the girls' faces would be more shocked like with a glance to owen but they just....werent

-"we're the good guys" <---- this statement is soooo interesting in terms of how they structure the show and how the characters see themselves (its an interesting contrast with the more definitive good vs evil with things that are both clearly good and clearly evil but theres also a lot of moral grey area here, the show is kinda swamped in it. are nancy and crew the good guys? are they the bad guys in someone else's story? concerns.)

-"i'd call it more than just stuff" like why did u concede that??? and then the shit about oof that didnt sound like a compliment lmaoooooo why does she suck at arguing?? she and owen wouldnt work long term bc theyre so similar (as mentioned later on)

-i LOVE george slowly falling in love with nick here- hence how upset she gets when nick bails on her for nancy later (which is totally justified!!!)

-i am LIVING for the little nod this driver guy gives bess when she turns back around all nervous 😂

-"i do like buying things" i would so say that too tbh

-"you'd have plenty to talk about" LMFAOOOOOOO SHE KNOWS "marvins dont marry drivers" so diana is totally fine with the gay its just the poor she has a problem with 😂💙fuckin love that

-love how nancy just casually ruins everything for nick/george lmaooo

-"i have seen you at your best, nancy, and there is nothing like it." 🥴😳 i love this still-in-love look nancy gives him thats so strong he had to change the subject

-so is haunting time 11 pm? from that clock of bashiir's?

-how do NO neighbors notice this fucking water and shit

-these are TOTALLY AWFUL fake screams from the bonny scot crew 😭

-"i know well enough not to get involved when he's in play" both carson and ryan avoid engaging with everett even though nancy is willing to do so armed with less info and more balls/ but "could i trust him" and ryan says yes lmaooooo NO honey + that makes ryan 0/2 for helping the girls when they ask this ep

-"find a project of your own" and he does, with his youth center 🙏🏻💙 what s2 foreshadowing!

-"god i wish i still drank" 😂😂😂

-"she is darling." 💙👌🏻

-okay wtf is mirror bay??

-i really wonder about the extent of celia x sebastians relationship here. did she truly care about him or was it just secret and exciting sex? also would love more hints of diana vs celia moments like these. celia doesnt even look upset. i mean shes had time to deal but like wtf. and who exactly is sebastian to diana? not her husband? like damn what if he was. somehow i doubt she'd talk about him diddling celia if diana was disrespected also

-i wonder if celia being so invested in dna testing nancy was bc everrett dna tested ryan to make sure he was his bc of sebastian / other men (which would be totally valid on his part!! but wouldnt it be funny as fuck if ryan wasnt his 😂)

-what a neat hiding place in this frame lmaooo who put that in for them tho? like how do u go about ordering that

-"you certainly are your fathers daughter" this quote is doubly ironic and foreshadowy bc theyre referencing carson here as being a useful hudson attaché but nancy is playing everett just like ryan played celia about putting his house up (but TRIPLY ironic bc carson pulls off the long con of hiding nancy from the hudsons right under their noses this whole time!) the one time nancy is successful against them

-that bess/lisbeth look while lisbeth does something badass (+diana reassessing now that lisbeth has been revealed to be useful)

-"almost as fun as a real fight" why do i believe him? lmaoooo a bit weird that he would enjoy a fight w a partner, but i also think this is an acknowledgement of nancy being an "opponent" who exists at his level. but i also love the "let me take you out" as a direct mirror of her relationship with nick, where she avoids the public acknowledgment/"going out" but prefers the more subtle/hidden arrangements of staying in. but as shown with later eps, owen is way more capable of meeting nancy where shes at, which is so important to her + the only way of getting close to nancy. (the only foil is ace who somehow is able to do both)

-"not always about a guy" <---- this could have been such a powerful statement if the show had thought having nancy end up alone/choose herself instead of pitting her between love interests (nick, owen, gil, even potentially ace, in only 2 seasons) was a more worthy stance to take ; as an aro/ace person i cant tell you how much i would kill to see just one female protag choose herself over a man. and its more realistic to end up alone than have a happy ending anyway, for all that these shows try to be as "real" and gritty grimdark as possible

-"is that what you want?" this is an interesting question to his mother- like maybe he senses her unhappiness? combined with his issues with his father- still trying to look out for his mom? either way it's sweet. (it could also potentially work as foreshadowing of something happening to her, but i think that was played with but then diverted when it was revealed who really killed her) "i think its time i steer this ship" still kind of patriarchal tho. i get that its him coming into his own as a dad technically but still. i also like how he calls her "mother" and not mom

-love that old white people thumbs up at george asking about his clams 👍🏻

-okay fuck dawn tho lmfaoooo

-"stressful dinner huh?" 😂 i fucking love lisbeth so much why didnt they bring her back (wouldnt it be Fucking Hilarious if they brought lisbeth back to bounce bess on her expired visa since the marvins kicked her out and didnt fix it lmaoooooo)

-BESS IS A TOP lmaooooooo i fuckin knew it

-nick says "you can pay me back" wonder if thats gonna come back in s3 considering their "marital problems" (also, those bonds are sosus lmfaoooo if any single person cashing those was looked at sideways they'd confess in 2 seconds that some random guy is handing out bearer bonds they dont even make anymore with absolutely zero proof as to how he got them)

-"you wanna finish what you started?" 👀 (dont mind if i do)

-"i need my dad back" parallels s2 when she asks him to come home

-parent politics: "you are taking your life in your hands / no, i'm putting it in yours" vs "i know well enough not to get involved when hes in play" both carson and ryan try to dissuade nancy from pursuing her pulling this con on everett but go about it different ways: carson is wildly concerned with nancys physical wellbeing but ryan appears to be leaning more towards weighing the odds for her/ like a "you cant win so cut your losses/dont try" scenario which interestingly might have more weight with nancy; its easy for her to brush aside carson's worrying like second nature but nancy has been established to be a determined winner, and ryan speaks to her here like shes a beginners luck prodigy at a blackjack table by encouraging her to keep her record clean by not dealing in this next round. of course she herself admits shes incapable of not dealing in ie "you know me better than that" but i have lots more thoughts on how effective ryans approaches to nancy can be sometimes (saving for the reveal ep 🙏🏻)

-wonder what all carson knows about the hudsons? + that look on his face when he hangs up... wonder if he was just lying to her about knowing anything or just ashamed at having to admit bad things hes done for them

-love nick & bashiir waiting together 🙏🏻💙+ nicks very strong and pointed "good night" as a means of ending his convo w nancy on his terms (gotta reinforce those boundaries man!)

and lastly

-celia + that gossip girl moment when she just throws the whole phone away 😂(wonder if she was just talking to "gus" or whoever that guy was. keep forgetting the bobbseys' dad is in prison too, wonder if he'll feature in s3)

#brooklyn's ND primer #nancy drew cw #the Great Rewatch of 2021 #you best start believing in ghost stories miss drew - you're in one

[ordinaryschmuck]

Top 20 BEST Animated Series of the 2010s-1st Place!

And now. 

For real this time.

What is hands down.

The Best.

Animated series.

In the 2010s.

Is…

(Pause for dramatic affect)

#1-Adventure Time (2010-2018)

I mean...what else?

The Plot: The magical land of Ooo has many things: A kingdom made of candy, a sociopathic Ice King, and even a self-proclaimed Vampire Queen. Amongst all this chaos are two adventures: A human boy named Finn, the Human, and his magical dog/best friend/adopted brother (yes, really) named Jake, the Dog. These two then go on adventure after adventure, facing against the many oddities that the Land of Ooo offers. What type of dangers? Well...you’re just going to have to watch the show to find out.

Before I start praising the crap out of this show, there’s one thing I want to get off my chest. You see, I hate Top X lists that always end with “the one that started it all.” It comes across as lazy because there is no way the first story tops every other one after it. Case in point: when looking at the best episodes of your favorite shows, how often do you see the first episode making the top ten, hell, even the top five? Not often, I bet. And sure, you can make the argument that “Without X, there wouldn’t have been Y,” but is that even a fair comparison? Sure, Disney wouldn’t have been as big as it is now without Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs being a success, but does that make it right to ignore great movies like Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994)? Sure, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is the reason why fans love to hate Star Wars in the first place, but how often do you hear people saying Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is the best of the franchise. And sure, the Marvel Cinematic Universe wouldn’t have existed without Iron Man being a box office hit, but with movies like Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, can you really say Iron Man is the best in the franchise anymore? To me personally, if you’re going to pick “the one that started it all,” then it better be something that can outshine “it all.” This is why I chose Adventure Time as the best-animated series of the 2010s. Not because it’s a show that practically sparked the existence of almost every show on this list, but because it really is that good of a series. Unfortunately, with a series that really is that good, there will be people who try to pick it apart. This is why I’m going to do my best to defend against some criticism that Adventure Time seems to face. 

The first criticism I want to talk about is one that hasn’t even occurred to me until I watched JelloApocalypse's video called, “So This is Basically Adventure Time.” In that video, I realized that Adventure Time doesn’t really have a proper storytelling structure. Hell, most episodes don’t even have a conclusion. They just stop almost randomly. But there’s a remedy to this problem, and it's one that I discovered somewhat effortlessly during my rewatch of the show. And that solution is to stop looking at Adventure Time as a series of episodes and more of a series of experiences. What do I mean by that? Well, while watching, you can either have a good experience or a bad experience. A fun experience, or a depressing experience. A philosophically brilliant experience or a randomly stupid experience. All of which can happen separately or conjoined in every episode. Personally, I like this style of storytelling because I’m more likely to remember the experience of watching something rather than the basics of what is being viewed. However, as JelloApocalypse has proven, not everyone is going to be ok with this style. This is fine, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Just remember that if it doesn’t work for you, that doesn’t mean it won't work at all. Case in point: there’s a reason that this show got ten seasons.

However, with those ten seasons come the inevitable seasonal rot. Which, in this case, can easily be explained. Halfway through season five of Adventure Time, series creator Pendelton Ward left and made Adam Muto the head showrunner. And where Ward’s style relied on being random and hilarious, Muto took the series in a more philosophical direction. Several fans were turned away from this aspect, but I like to argue that this isn’t seasonal rot and more of a series’ development. Tons of shows on this list went through their own transitions, some subtle and some drastic. Whether or not you’ll be ok with those decisions is entirely dependent on who you are. And personally, I actually enjoyed the direction that Adventure Time took. While I was entertained by how hilarious the original seasons were in Ward’s run, Muto caused me to think more intensely than any other show I have seen in my life. This is why, once again, I would like to point out that just because it didn’t work for you doesn’t mean that it won’t work at all.

But one thing that didn’t work for me, and one criticism that I’m inclined to agree with, were how some characters got treated in later seasons. Now to be fair, most of the characters actually become more interesting as the series goes on (Ice King, Marceline, BMO, Susan Strong, etc.) There are just two characters that got a little iffier compared to others: Finn and Princess Bubblegum. The main reason why Finn’s character seemed to fail is that the writers focused more on Finn's love life (or lack thereof). I genuinely believe that Adventure Time has some fantastic romantic relationships, but that aspect of Finn’s character is easily the most uninteresting. It’s even worse when an episode focuses on his armorous hangups through past...mistakes. I even heard that this decision ruined Finn as a character for some people, which I can totally see why. Luckily the show course-corrected itself, and by season six, it started focussing on an aspect of Finn’s character that is actually interesting: His family. Not to give away any spoilers, but let’s just say that Finn gets significantly more fascinating through this decision. Unfortunately, one decision that never got better was how the show treated the one and only Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum. This character started off as a gentle/playful ruler who was as sweet as her kingdom. Only to evolve into a sociopathic control freak who is obsessed with science. What went wrong is that the show goes so far as to say that she’s always been that way, even since she was a kid. I guess she just was good at hiding it in early seasons. Once again, the writers try their best to course-correct Bubblegum, but all they did was make her bearable than despicable.

But while Bonnie doesn't work for me, do you want to know what does? Literally everything else about this show. One of the reasons why Adventure Time is the best series on this list is because it has elements of every other show that has already been mentioned before it. You see, Adventure Time can have: Hilarious comedy, intense action, superb animation, creative ideas, compelling drama, catchy music, thought-provoking stories, good romantic subplots, gay romantic subplots, great lore and backstory, intriguing mysteries, and, most important of all, bacon pancakes. All of which can be handled in ten to eleven minutes, where most shows struggle within twenty-two.

But one element that stands out among the rest is Adventure Time’s serialized storytelling. You see, there are two different types of storytelling: Plotting and pantsing. Plotting is how it sounds: You come up with ideas beforehand and work your way into making them come to life. Pantsing is where the goal is to basically make things up as you go along and try to make everything connected afterward. The ladder is the route Adventure Time takes. Every single amount of lore, character development, and even surprise twists were thought up almost on the spot. And one might think that this makes things more complicated, but when I rewatched the series in 2019, a solid 99.9% of what’s written lines up. Sure, there are small things that get confusing or downright forgotten. But that’s the keyword: small. It’s the big things that the writers try their best at explaining away, which can be much appreciated. And while I can love a show for creating a well-crafted story, I got to give Adventure Time respect for doing the same thing just by improvising. But do you want to know the real reason why I stuck with this show? And why do all the elements mentioned before manage to work so well? The same reason why any show can work so well: The characters.

And yes, I know I just complained about how certain characters were nearly ruined in this series, but that doesn’t change how good they are. Almost every character that the show focuses on has a level of intrigue to them, and characters that don’t still manage to be incredibly entertaining, to the point where a worm’s butt can carry an episode by itself (Yes. Really). But nothing beats the central duo, and I’m being honest when I say they make the series enjoyable. Finn and Jake not only have such an entertaining brotherly dynamic, but the two of them are just so much fun that I can’t help but smile whenever they’re on screen. They’re easily the best thing about the show, as well as the most entertaining characters in it. This is saying something because Adventure Time has a LOT of characters. One might say too many. In fact, one could argue that Adventure Time suffers from the too-many-characters syndrome, which I can absolutely see. However, every character is so unique and creative that to this day, I still remember the Tree Witch in the episode “To Cut a Woman’s Hair.” From her voice to her design to even Tree Witch's creative and hilarious way to convince Finn to get her some princess's hair.

This brings me to another great thing about the show: Its endless amount of creativity. Everything that Adventure Time does is something you will never see anywhere else. From all the unique ways the show has Jake use his stretchy powers, to also having a vampire drink the color red instead of blood, Adventure Time is always a show that leaves me scratching my head wondering, “Why hasn’t someone else done this before?” And the best part is, no other show can do the ideas that Adventure Time has had. Because there is no way of doing it without coming across as a carbon copy. Which I can appreciate. Believe it or not, I would rather see an idea done once and never again, rather than repeated to the point where it becomes stale. Letting Adventure Time keep its creativity helps the show stand out among the rest and prevents it from being forgotten through time.

Thus, we come to the real reason why Adventure Time is the best-animated series on this list: Memorability. When doing a rewatch of the series, I was surprised by how many episodes I somehow remember. In fact, out of over two hundred episodes, I only manage to forget one (which coincidentally managed to be an episode I hate). I honestly don’t know why so many episodes managed to stick with me. Maybe because the show is so creative that it’s hard to forget. It's probably because the characters are instant icons that their impact just won’t leave me. Hell, perhaps it’s because the show is so gosh dang weird that my brain refuses to forget a second of it. No matter what the reason is, it all still stuck. And I’m not going to lie, I feel as though there are going to be a lot of shows I'll forget over the years. But ten years from now, something tells me I’m never going to forget Adventure Time.

Now that I think about it, there really have been many great cartoons over the previous decade. And we owe it all to Adventure Time. The act of being unique and creative with one’s ideas came from Adventure Time. The idea of being more mature and deciding what should and shouldn’t be for kids came from Adventure Time. The fact that a show needs well-written characters to tell a great story came from Adventure Time. Even certain shows were made because creators worked on Adventure Time (looking at you, Steven Universe). Is the show perfect? No. Far from it, even. But when looking back at the many great series we’ve gotten in the 2010s and the many great shows we’ll get in years to come, I realize that the fun will never end WITH Adventure Time.

(Especially since we’re still getting it with four hour long specials on HBOmax)

#top 20 of 2010s #adventure time #what i thought about

[artificialqueens]

Tree House Kisses, Chapter 24 (Adorney) - Scorpio and Veronica

A/N: Click here for previous chapters. xoxo!

Chapter Summary: Adore faces some unexpected challenges on the opening night of Grease, and it causes her to think hard about who she can trust.

TW: homophobia

Chapter 24: Freddy My Love

On the day of the agonizingly slow tech rehearsal, by the time they got to the prom scene, everyone was a little exhausted, but they kept pushing through.

Courtney kept one eye on Adore and Raja as she and Willam marked their swing dance choreography. She rolled her eyes as Adore tucked a stray curl back into Raja’s hair, giggling as the senior slung an arm around her shoulders.

Courtney sighed and looked over at Roy dancing with Shangela, who was playing Cha Cha. She grinned, remembering his recent confession to her. When Mrs. Maguire paused the actors to work on a lighting cue, she sidled over to them, whispering, “Shangie, those were some killer moves!”

“Thanks! I try…” Shangela laughed, feigning modesty.

“And you look so cute in that dress. I love the way you look in red. Roy, doesn’t Shangie look soooo cute?” She smiled at them, fluttering her lashes.

“Uh, yeah, you look cute,” Roy echoed.

“Thanks guys…” Shangie gave them a slightly puzzled look and walked a few steps away to grab a drink from her water bottle.

Roy grabbed Courtney’s arm, hissing, “Stop that right now!”

Courtney widened her eyes, a mischievous grin on her face. “Stop what?” she asked innocently.

Glaring down at her, Roy insisted, “You know what. Seriously, knock it off.”

Courtney pressed her body against his, giggling. “You’re so uptight, babe…” She wrapped her arms around him, glancing over his shoulder at Adore and Raja again.

“Courtney…” he said warningly.

“Alright, alright, I’ll be good,” she promised, kissing him gently.

-

It was finally opening night of Grease and everyone was bursting with excitement and nerves. Thorgy ran around making sure everything was going smoothly as the cast members got into costume.

It hadn’t taken any time at all for Courtney to pull her hair into a curled ponytail, a pretty pink ribbon wrapped around it. She loved how cute she looked in the 50s get-up, and pranced around backstage swishing her hips, humming the songs and joking with the others.

Courtney propped herself on top of the vanity Roy was using, legs swinging as she watched Adore and Raja on the other side, helping each other get ready. Adore was finishing up her makeup, while Raja pinned Adore’s hair up for her wig.

“Ow,” Adore hissed, jerking away from the bobby pin Raja poked her with.

“Sorry, babe,” Raja kissed Adore’s shoulder.

“It’s fine,” Adore said, a sunny smile gracing her face as she stole a kiss from Raja.

“You guys are so fucking cute, it’s almost gross,” Jinkx said, leaning against the vanity to line her lips.

Courtney tore her eyes away, slightly annoyed. She watched Roy try to get his hair in a perfect Danny pompadour for a second before hopping down.

“Let me help, babe,” Courtney said, giving Roy a kiss, taking the comb from him and climbing into his lap. She combed Roy’s hair back on the sides, the gel in his hair a bit sticky under her fingers.

Courtney’s eyes kept wandering over Roy’s shoulder to Adore and Raja. Raja stood between Adore’s legs, Adore’s arms wrapped around the girl’s waist as Raja tucked stray hairs under Adore’s wig cap, making sure nothing would peek out. Courtney found herself trying to read Adore’s lips as she whispered something to Raja, the older girl only biting her lip and shaking her head in response.

“Oh, okay. That was my ear. Twice!” Roy grabbed at his ear, taking the comb from Courtney, a deep wrinkle between his brows.  

“I’m sooo sorry,” Courtney cooed loudly, wrapping her arms around Roy’s neck. “I didn’t mean to-- I wasn’t paying attention.”

Roy sighed, putting the comb down and leaning forward to kiss her cheek.

“What’s on your mind? You’ve been distracted all day,” Roy noted.

“Nothing.” Courtney shook her head, forcing a smile across her face.

“Really?”

Courtney nodded. “I’m just excited for the show. Excited for you to get on stage and kill it,” she said, giving him peck on the lips.

When she pulled back, she saw Adore gazing lovingly at Raja, laughing at the playful tiff going on between her girlfriend and Jinkx. She looked back to Roy trying to not let Adore’s infatuation with Raja annoy her.

“You look so good as a greaser,” Courtney giggled, completely oblivious to the fact that Roy had just admitted to being a bit nervous, hands rubbing up and down Roy’s chest. “Where’s your jacket?” Courtney started to move to get up.  

“It’s over there. Were you listening at all?” Roy frowned at Courtney who’d hopped off his lap to grab the jacket.

Courtney paused, jacket gripped in hand. “You said... That I look amazing in this outfit and you still wish I could have been Sandy.” Courtney batted her lashes playfully. She glanced over to Adore and Raja, their laughter a distraction.

Roy sighed to himself, deciding to let Courtney slide tonight, but made a mental note to try to get her to talk later, “You’re right, you in this poodle skirt is driving me a bit crazy,” Roy tugged her closer and Courtney might have squealed a little louder than necessary.

-

After Mrs. Maguire agreed to Adore’s unconventional character choices, it took shockingly few changes to the script to bring the “Marty is gay” subplot come to light. In fact, the changes were so subtle that it was probably possible for people to miss them in the early scenes. Her big solo in the sleepover scene was the first time she openly expressed attraction to girls, starting out signing to her fellow Pink Ladies (maybe focusing on Raja in particular).

As the music began and the lights dimmed, the spotlight came up on Adore. A “Woo!” sounded from the audience, that Adore knew to be her uncle. She took a deep breath and began to croon the song that by now was second nature to her.

“Freddy my love, I miss you more than words can say Freddy my love, please keep in touch while you're away Hearing from you can make the day so much better Getting a souvenir or maybe a letter I really flipped over the grey cashmere sweater, Freddy my love…”

After one last eyelash flutter in Raja’s direction, Adore made her way down into the audience, winking and shimming in front of cute girls. She spotted Fame, Trinity and Violet in the audience and blew them a kiss. Fame, of course, goofily caught it while Violet rolled her eyes.

“Freddy my love, Freddy my love, Freddy my lo-ove Freddy you know, your absence makes me feel so blue That's okay though, your presents make me think of you”

In their seats, mothers and grandparents scrunched their noses and pursed their lips in confusion and distaste as Adore went around flirting with girls. A few audience members shared glances and whispers as Adore continued to sing.

“My ma will have a heart attack when she catches-”

Adore sung to a cute strawberry blonde who giggled shyly.

“Those pedal pushers with the black leather patches…”

She leaned forward, hands on the girl’s shoulders, one knee on the arm of the seat, batting her eyes in what she and Mrs. Maguire had decided would be their chaste version of a lap dance.

“Oh how I wish I had a jacket that matches, Freddy my love”

The girl laughed as Adore winked and took her leg down.

“What kind of establishment is this-- allowing this homosexual filth in a high school play,” a middle-aged woman sneered loudly, grabbing her purse and moving to leave.

“Fr-freddy my love, Freddy my love, Freddy my love…”

When Adore heard the woman, she stuttered, but she didn’t stop singing. Until two more women got out of their seats, mumbles of sin and disgust on their lips. A bearded man followed, taking a small child with him.

Adore’s singing faded off; she stopped in her tracks, a confused look on her face as she watched several other men and women leave. People turned in their seats watching them and whispers waved through the crowd. Adore’s heart thumped against her chest, blood rushed through her ears as she watched those people leave with their families in tow.

Mrs. Maguire grew anxious when she saw that Adore had completely stopped.

“It’s okay, honey, keep going. Keep going. Don’t stop!” she hissed, hands motioning for Adore to continue singing. Adore’s wide eyes connected with Mrs. Maguire’s.

She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat, but when her mouth opened, no words came out. The crowd grew antsy, shifting in their seats. The air filled with tension and the pounding of her heart was all she could hear. Her stomach turned as she watched the last mother flee with her child.

Bonnie shifted to the edge of her seat, fingers tense around the armrest, ready to get up if Adore needed her to. Adalia, Bonnie’s mother, put a hand on her shoulder.

Trinity grabbed Violet’s thigh, looking at Violet with confused and terrified eyes, only receiving a shrug of annoyance because how the hell was Violet supposed to know what was going on. Trinity’s other hand squeezed Fame’s, the blonde's face scrunched up in embarrassment for her friend.

The other cast members scurried backstage trying to peek from behind the curtains. Courtney gripped Roy’s arm, her other hand over her heart, scared it would stop.

Finally, Adore came back to the moment. Hyper-aware that she was standing in costume in the aisles, her cue repeating-- waiting for her to pick up. She nodded to herself knowing she needed to finish. The play must go on.

“Don't keep your letters from me, I thrill to every line Your spelling's kinda crummy, but honey so is mine I treasure every gifty, the ring is really nifty You say it cost you fifty, so you're thrifty, I don't mind…”

As Adore hopped up to sit at the edge of the stage for the last verse, she made brief eye contact with Raja, then quickly looked away, knowing that right now she just needed to get through the song. She didn’t have any time for sympathy, or she’d fall apart, and she was so close.

“Freddy you see, you'll hold me in your arms someday And I will be wearing your lacy lingerie Thinking about it, my heart's pounding already Knowing when you come home, we're bound to go steady And throw your service pay around like confetti, Freddy my love Freddy my love, Freddy my love, Freddy my lo-ove Freddy my love, Freddy my love, Freddy my lo-ove…”

As Adore made her way back to the stage, a breath of relief had Bonnie falling back into her chair, blinking watery eyes, relieved that her baby was okay, angry at those disrespectful parents, and a sadness sitting in her chest.

Her mother and brother tried to assure her that Adore would be fine, but she wasn’t so sure.

-

As the lights and music faded, all Adore wanted to do was get the hell offstage and find Raja, but unfortunately, her girlfriend had exited off stage left, so she stumbled blindly into the wings, breathing hard, heading for the dressing rooms. Her heart was still pounding and her knees felt wobbly. Worst of all, she knew she still had the whole rest of the show to get through.

Courtney was the first one to run up to her, throwing her arms around her friend from behind, holding her close. Adore took a shaky breath, leaning back against her, tears burning in her eyes.

“I’m so proud of you, Dory,” Courtney murmured against her neck. “You were so good, even after all of that bullshit. I mean, you sounded amazing from backstage-”

Adore whirled around, cutting Courtney off.

“This is not about my fucking singing, Courtney!”

“No, I know, that’s not what I-” the blonde shook her head, taken aback, reaching for Adore’s hand.

“You just don’t get it!” she continued, tears now streaming down her cheeks. “Do you know what it’s like for someone to look at you and think that who you are is so offensive that they can’t even be in the same room? That they can’t even have their kids look you? No, of course you don’t!” Adore’s voice broke. Courtney would never understand. How could she? She was perfect. No mother would ever pull their daughter away from looking at her. Any mother on the planet would kill for a daughter like Courtney. A beautiful little blonde angel, with a perfect face and a perfect body and a perfect boyfriend.

Courtney looked back at her, that dumbstruck, wide-eyed expression, compounding Adore’s rage with guilt. “Adore, I-”

“Forget it! Cause you’ll never know what that’s like. So...it’s fine. You know, I just…”

“Hey…” Raja stepped over to them, putting an arm around Adore’s shoulders. Adore turned around and buried her face against the older girl’s chest.

Courtney swallowed. She wanted to protest, to tell Adore that she did understand, that she misunderstood, that nobody cared more than her, that her heart was breaking, that her words had come out all wrong, but she couldn’t say any of that. None of this was about her. So she took a step back, whispering, “I’m sorry…”

Raja continued to rub Adore’s back. Courtney backed off even more, watching as Pearl and Jinkx approached, were granted access to the circle, offering words of encouragement, making Adore laugh.

Mrs. Maguire came rushing up to the group. “Adore,” she began, clearly ready to give one of her famous inspirational speeches.

But Adore sighed tiredly, wiping her eyes. “Mrs. Maguire, with all due respect, let’s just move on. I can’t really handle a pep talk right now.”

The teacher put a hand on her shoulder. “Okay, honey. But are you okay to finish the show? Because if not-”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Attagirl,” Mrs Maguire said, giving her a hug. “Let’s show these bastards some musical fucking theatre.”

-

Having Raja on her side saved Adore from losing it completely. Without explaining why, she immediately understood that her girlfriend wouldn’t want to talk to anyone during intermission, even her well-meaning friends and castmates. She guarded Adore’s privacy fiercely from anyone who approached, giving her the space to retreat into herself and process what had happened.

The anger and disgust had been awful—awful to see, awful to experience. But what kept Adore going was the auditorium full of people who had stayed. Knowing that her mother, her grandmother, her aunts and uncles, her cousins and friends, were all sitting out there, made her feel calm. When she felt like breaking down, like running away, she thought about them all out there. She could get through this performance, this terrible night. She could do it.

She was onstage for a lot of the second act, which helped keep her mind occupied. By the time the show ended, she was so emotionally exhausted that she didn’t even register the applause. Raja walked her outside to where her mother waited outside of the dressing rooms, holding a big bouquet of pink roses, pulling her into the tightest and most protective embrace she’d felt in a long time.  

“I’m alright ma. I’m fine,” Adore tried to assure her mother, trying to keep her tears at bay.

“You sure?” Bonnie pulled back, looking into big hazel eyes, “because I swear-”

“I'm fine. I'm fine, promise,” Adore insisted, moving to hug her grandmother, who exclaimed over how good she was, then accepted high fives and fist bumps from her cousins and uncle. She was grateful that none of them mentioned what had happened, none of them pushed her to talk about it.

At least, not until everyone was piling into the cars a few minutes later, when Bonnie put a hand on Adore’s shoulder and pulled her to the side.

“Dory, I just want to make sure you're okay. Really, baby. Because if not, I can-”

“Ma, it's whatever, it happened. Whatever…” Adore shrugged her shoulders, avoiding her mother's gaze.

“Baby, it's not ‘whatever.’ I know you,” Bonnie grabbed both her shoulders, making Adore look at her. “This world is filled with a bunch of ugly, nasty-”

“I just like really don't feel like talking about this right now. Maybe another time. I want to eat and spend time with my family. Okay?” Adore pulled away from her mother.

“Okay. Just never let people like that make you feel unworthy, because you…are perfect.” Bonnie wrapped Adore into another tight hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

-

Roy pulled into Courtney’s driveway, glancing over at her. She’d been uncharacteristically silent the entire drive home. Normally she’d be chattering away, musing about random topics or telling him stories about people they knew, emptying the entire contents of her racing mind, but tonight she was like a statue.

“Are you okay?” he asked gently.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

He put the car in park and turned to face her. “You don’t seem fine.”

“Well, I have no right to be complaining tonight, so…I guess I’m fine.”

Roy frowned, searching for the right words. “I didn’t ask how you’re supposed to feel.”

Courtney stared straight ahead, blinking back tears. “Why are people so awful?” she finally choked out.

“Umm...I don’t...I don’t know.” He reached over and touched her hand, where her fingers were rubbing the charms of her bracelet.

A tear slipped down her cheek. “We worked so hard. She worked so hard. And they ruined everything. And why?”

“I...I don’t know, babe. But hey, it’s gonna be okay. Because she has us. You know? She has you. So-”

“You should have seen the way she looked at me. Like I was...like I was one of them.” Courtney let out a sob, breath hitching.

Roy swallowed, looking at her. “Court, you know...she’s not actually mad at you.”

Courtney turned her head towards him, nodding slightly. She crawled over the armrest and into his lap, burying her face into his neck. He held her close, stroking her back.

“It feels really shitty to make this about our friendship, with what she went through. But I feel...like something broke...and it hurts so much...and I don’t know how to fix it…” Courtney wept into Roy’s shoulder, tears soaking his t-shirt.

“I think she was just upset, and you were a safe person to take it out on,” Roy said. “Because she knows deep down that you’re gonna love her no matter what. I’m sure it’ll be okay tomorrow.”

Courtney pulled back, tear-stained cheeks shining under the streetlights. “You really think so?”

He cupped her face, gently brushing her tears away. “I really do.”

She leaned forward, kissing him. “You’re the best boyfriend ever.”

“I know,” Roy replied, flashing her a grin.

-

Adore shoved a few books in her locker, cringing when she heard her name. She’d intentionally come late to school, hoping to avoid whispers and stares, wanting everyone to forget about last night, move onto the next drama.

“Delano, I’m talking to you,” Violet repeated.

“Hey Vies,” Adore said tiredly, shutting her locker and sagging against the cold metal doors.

Violet crossed her arms. “What a bunch of bullshit that was last night, huh?”

“I don’t really want to-” Adore began, but she was cut off by Violet continuing, her words bitter.

“Just so you know, this is why I fucking hate straight people.”

“Violet, not all straight people are-”

“ALL OF THEM!” Violet spat.

“Even your parents?” Adore asked, raising her eyebrow.

Violet looked at her like she was an alien who’d just arrived on the planet. “Um, hi, are you new? I fucking hate my parents.”

Adore laughed. “Right. What about Trinity?”

Violet slammed her hand against a locker. “Shut up! Why aren’t you more pissed?! I fucking want to kill those bitches! How dare they?!

“Vies…”

“What?!”

Adore bit her lip, eyes filled with tears. “Of course I’m pissed. And...scared. And confused. But mostly I’m just…”

Violet put her hands on the sides of Adore’s face as the tears spilled down her cheeks. “Adore…”

“I’m sorry, I’m just, I dunno. They don’t even know me. How can they hate me so much?”

“That’s right, they don’t. And you know, we don’t know them too well, but we do know one thing…” Violet held her face gently, looked directly into her eyes. “You are better than they will ever, ever be. Don’t forget that.”

Adore sniffled as Violet gently wiped her tears away.

“Fuck them. They are nothing. Okay? Just...we just have to keep being better. That’s how we win.”

“Okay.” Adore let Violet pull her into a hug, the fierce, rib-crushing kind that only she could give, so tight it nearly took her breath away, both comforting and painful. They stayed like that for a few moments, until Adore was gasping for air and had to break away, giggling slightly. “Alright, alright, I’m good. You don’t have to suffocate me.”

Violet smiled. “Damn it, you’ve foiled my plan.”

There was a pause, “So, I guess this means you're talking to me again?”

Violet snorted. “I think you learned your lesson.”

“Hey Vies?”

“What?”

“I love you.”

Violet rolled her eyes, clearly uncomfortable now that their conversation had taken a sentimental turn. “Yeah, yeah, yeah...get your ass to class, you tardy bitch.”

“Copy that, ma’am.” Adore saluted, walking away.

“Oh, and Adore?”

“Yeah?” Adore asked.

“Me too, man.”

Adore smiled, blowing her a kiss, before taking a deep breath and heading to class.

-

Later that day, Adore sat nervously at Mrs. Maguire’s desk, fingers playing with the edges of her sleeves, trying to swallow down the uneasiness that rose up in her throat. She’d heard rumors that even more parents had come into school today to complain to the principal. Bob told her that one of them was Mrs. Lake, Darienne’s mom. She’d always known that Mrs. Lake was conservative, but she’d also known her since she was in second grade. The thought made her sick.

Mrs. Maguire sat down, soft blue eyes filled with compassion as she asked softly, “How are you doing today, honey?”

“Um...okay. Fine.” Adore bit her lip.

Nodding, Mrs. Maguire leaned forward on the desk, propping a chin up. “Yeah.” She heaved a sigh and then continued. “I know you said you didn’t want a pep talk last night, so I’m going to try giving you one right now. Is that alright with you?”

Adore nodded.

“It might not be one of my better ones, because...well, I’m pretty fucking pissed.”

Adore couldn’t help cracking a smile. It was always funny when a teacher swore.

“For the record, I’ve spoken to Principal Greene and agreed to give a more detailed disclaimer, but NOTHING in the show is changing. So there’s that. Everyone agrees that the show is perfectly acceptable. Your song, your whole arc, is one of the least offensive parts of this play. For god’s sake, Roy tries to date rape Alyssa, and then she gets back together with him, and punches another girl out for simply flirting with him. It’s like, a super problematic show that at no time tries to preach about morality, so this whole thing is incredibly stupid. But next year he wants a ‘family-friendly’ show, so I told him we’ll do something real sweet like The Sound of Music. Those PTA whores probably love singing nazis. Or a show about orphan abuse, that really gets them off.”

Adore laughed. “I’m digging this Riot Grrrl vibe, Mrs. Maguire.”

“You have no idea,” her teacher smiled, then said, “I’m so sorry you went through what you did, Adore. Truly. But I have to tell you, that the way you handled yourself - it was one of the bravest things I have ever seen in my life. You must have been terrified. And...I wish I could tell you that this is the last time you’ll ever face that kind of ignorant, pointless bigotry. But...it’s not. And, sometimes it will get easier to stand up to. Sometimes...not. But what you need to know, is no matter how many people are there looking at you with that dumb fucking hateful look on their faces...there are so, so many more who love and support you. Who have your back.”

A tear rolled down Adore’s cheek. She couldn’t help thinking about Courtney, how she’d pushed her away. That sick feeling in her stomach clawed it’s way back up into her throat.

“What you did on that stage was incredible. Because you told all of those people that they couldn’t break you. But Adore, if you hadn’t been able to keep going with that song, that would have been okay too. Because sometimes, we have limits. And that’s why we have friends, and classmates, and communities, to back us up. You follow me?”

Adore nodded again, not trusting herself to speak.

“Don’t ever be afraid to ask for help, honey. Sometimes the strongest thing to do is to admit when you need a hand. Okay?”

“Okay.” Adore managed to whisper.

-

Mrs. Maguire had called the whole cast and crew in early for Friday’s performance, and as they filed into the auditorium for the meeting, Courtney felt dread gnawing at her insides. She had managed to avoid Adore all day at school, trying to give her some space, and the thought that she was still mad - or even worse, still in pain, weighed heavily on her.

But when Adore’s eyes met hers, they lit up with happiness, and she ran over, throwing her arms around her. Relief flooded through Courtney’s entire body as she hugged her back.

“Um…” Adore cleared her throat. “Sorry for being such a basket case crybaby last night. I didn’t mean-”

“No, you don’t have to...come here…” Courtney blinked back tears of joy, pulling her in for another hug. “It’s okay…”

“Thanks,” Adore said simply, laying a head on her shoulder.

“They’re not making you change it, are they?” Courtney asked. “Because if so, we should protest! We can make signs, and march over to the district office, and-”

“Okay, chillax, dude. No, we’re not changing it. But Mrs. Marguire did say that Greene wants a family-friendly show next year, so we’re probably gonna have to do Sound of Music or some lame shit like that.”

Courtney’s eyes lit up and she clapped her hands, then off Adore’s scowl, covered her face, a little embarrassed. “Sorry...I like The Sound of Music…”

Adore shook her head. “You fucking nerd. Come sit with me…”

Courtney grasped Adore’s hands, skipping after her happily to sit down for the meeting.

#rpdr fanfiction #scorpio #veronica #adorney #adore delano #courtney act #bitney #rajadore #viadore #bianca del rio #raja gemini #shangela laquifa wadley #violet chachki #lesbian au #high school au #angst #fluff #tw homophobia

[truthisgoldenau]

IT'S PRIDE MONTH

for a moment there I accidentally had Pierce's photo under Marian's name oop

Time to officially confirm some AU canon LGBT stuff! Each character is their own pride flag but I'll add in other stuff that's canon in universe plus some bonus stuff at the bottom.

First up is Freddy Fazbear Jr! Gay all the way.

He's definitely the "move I'm gay" type

Was honestly super freaked out to tell his dad but went with the bold approach of bringing home his first boyfriend and blatantly announcing their relationship as such as a challenge and was honestly surprised his dad wasn't bothered by it

He was around 13 at the time and so the twins and Fred were still in touch with Maddie's parents and brother. All three were incredibly supportive (and still would be)

He absolutely had a crush on Bonnie Burnette even though he had never talked to him. Since the twins and Bonnie went to the same high school he knew of Bonnie, thought he was a dreamboat, but because Bonnie was somehow in with the popular kids (it was the money 100%) Freddy didn't even bother

Frankie Fazbear! My ace son! (The ears are wrong blame the app lol)

Honestly doesn't even know he's ace until much later

He's had crushes before but he's never been in a relationship (part of it is the attempt to communicate since he's mute sort of stops him)

He wasn't even sure it was worth mentioning to his dad so Fred never knew

This boy can hold so much love in his heart but he's not a very physical person that's all

Fred Fazbear Sr! YES. HE'S BI.

Only Maddie even knew he was bi. That he knew of. Some people probably figured it out with his over the top always on personality.

Fred was constantly sure that Pierce picked up on it particularly after the Christmas mistletoe fiasco but if Pierce gave a shit he never said anything.

Frankly it was amazing that more people didn't pick up on it. He was over the top about everything until a point.

While he didn't overreact to his son very blatantly announcing he had a boyfriend, he was very proud of him. It was a very Fazbear family way to come out. Even though he got so distant, he was always proud of his boys.

Bonnie Burnette! Also bi!

Being constantly surrounded by the popular crowd and always being the sort of stand out with purple hair and stupid purple bunny ears didn't do much to make Bonnie feel like he could even tell anyone he was bi.

Really the only reason he was even in the popular crowd was he was rich.

It made him less of a target for bullies at least cause the jocks wouldn't stand for anyone messing with him.

Knew Frankie from math class and honestly wished he could have talked to the quiet kid with bear ears as an alternative to the entirety of the popular group

Sort of in the background of the AU story very quietly develops a crush on Freddy and then thinks "oh God I like the troublemaker NO"

Chandler Cicily! Lesbian!

Would absolutely describe her sexuality as "girls"

She's starting to discover it during the AU (even if it's not a topic that comes up but that's why there's this post about stuff lmao).

She's the baby of the group since she's 16 when the story starts and relationships aren't important to her yet

But the crew still support her when later she's like "maybe I just wanna bake things for a cute girl and let her put flowers in my hair is that too much to ask" (Marian always chimes in with "mood")

Marian Mengele! An absolute bi icon!

Listen, her one goal in life may be to find her lost childhood friend, but that doesn't mean she's solely interested in this one Irish redhead

That said she's definitely only dated redheads

She's not afraid to be open about her orientation. It doesn't bother her. She's seen as weird already what can it hurt.

That said she falls for Finn so goddamn fast when she finds him that she questions herself and then is like "no wait I'm definitely not straight"

She's very upfront with Finn about it. There's no reason to hide this from him (or anyone) and if they're a thing she wants him to know.

Finn being the wonderful human being still loves her and it doesn't bother him. Why should it? He's just happy to be with someone who loves him.

Chetana might be Chandler's fake big sister but Marian is like fake mama when it comes to Chandler finally coming out.

God bless Finn for being the kind of person to sit and let Marian braid his hair with flowers because that's one of Marian's favorite things to do when her partner has longer hair and Finn's never really bothered with keeping his hair short THESE TWO ARE ICONIC I love them

Pierce Graves! A shitty pansexual icon

First off he absolutely knew that Fred wasn't 100% straight he had no idea how it wasn't immediately obvious to everyone

That said Pierce literally did not give a shit who knew about his sexuality

As shitty as his whole personality was he could turn on the charm easily

His parents definitely knew but he was already a punk ass rebellious teen at the time so they have him the "be careful, don't get anyone pregnant" talk and worried from afar. If it bothered them, Pierce never knew because they made sure that he could still count on them (even though at the time Pierce didn't really talk to them much about anything)

Fred absolutely knew though I mean they were good friends

He's not a romantic. He's never really had a meaningful relationship because he's not that type of person. To be honest, there's a piece of him that saw relationships that worked and wondered how that would feel but he knew that wasn't for him. He figured that out way early on when he asked his granddad why he didn't have a grandma and Mortimer Graves didn't sugarcoat the answer. "She wasn't happy with me. I gave her the choice. She could stay and be miserable with my lack of a decent personality even though I was already struggling to not be such an ass or she could go and find someone who actually made her happy. She chose happiness, and while it sucks that she drifted out of my life and your dad's, she's better off."

Pierce could frankly always tell that he was more like his granddad and as much as he sometimes wanted to know if he could even out up with a meaningful relationship, he avoided it. Better to not hurt anyone and wonder than to become the catalyst for someone else to overcome, right?

Fritz Smith! Gay!

The shy bumbling mechanic of the early 90s Freddy's ? Gay? It's more likely than you think

He was still far in the closet in the 90s He was young, living at home still because he had just gotten out of school, and while his parents weren't super conservative, he also didn't know how they'd take it

Found a friend in the day guard Mike Schmidt early on. Mike was looking for a roommate since his last one had moved out and Fritz jumped at the chance

They are like totally boyfriends by the time they cameo in the story though

Mike Schmidt! Another gay icon!

Mostly invited Fritz to live at his apartment because he felt bad that this poor shy mechanic was getting constantly harangued about the animatronics having problems

Was glad to let Fritz complain about it and even cry it was very stressful but Fritz needed the money

Mike liked him. It would be hard not to really. Fritz was a sweetheart.

Mike didn't ask him out till much later though he wasn't quite sure that Fritz was gay and didn't want to ruin their friendship.

Luckily it didn't and as it turns out they worked well in a relationship.

Fritz's parents had to take some time to get used to it when finally Fritz got the nerve to tell them but as soon as they did there was no end of support from them

Mike's parents were the opposite which was mainly why he already lived by himself but oh well he got a cute boyfriend and cool parents-in-law later it was kind of a win

Daniel Hartford-Dunn! Gay!

Presenting Maddie's older brother!

outside universe fact, he's loosely based in my actual cousin who lives in California with his husband.

He's 7 years older than Maddie was. Despite that, they were still close. Maddie's parents wanted more kids but struggled to get the two they had.

He's an accountant for a corporation and his boyfriend (and later his husband) is a pilot.

Last time he saw his nephews in person was at Maddie's funeral. He misses them terribly but over the years less and less contact came from his brother in law

Sometime in 2006 though he ends up getting a call from his nephews and there's this great reunion.

He's just. This chill older guy. Who loves his family. And doesn't care what people think.

Since I can't put anymore photos, here's the bonus content!

-as mentioned last night Dr. Phillip Guy is on the ace spectrum. I don't have anymore details about that at the moment unfortunately.

-Charlie Emily is a lesbian. The Emily twins were born in 1980. They haven't appeared in the AU yet even as cameos but they exist. Considering in AU canon the Emily family is alive and well in Hurricane, Utah without an Afton to be found, Charlie's dating her childhood friend Jessica at around the time the AU events are happening.

-Sammy Emily is trans and bi. Both Henry and his wife (who I know I at one point named but don't remember what it is anymore) love their two daughters to pieces.

That said I'll make a post at a later point introducing the Emily family because so far I've only officially given the design for Henry and not the rest.

In line with canon, Spring Bonnie/Springtrap can be counted as gay.

While Fred kept the shows at the diner pretty simple and straightforward, there was definitely this subtle underlying idea that Spring Bonnie and Fredbear were a content gay couple although if asked it was easy to present them as friends. At least, that was during '81-'82

However!

Fred also had Henry help him program in a special one time only song called Springtime for his and Maddie's anniversary in 1983, which was of course a love song. Fred always thought of that as being mostly for his wife, and partially as a turning point thematically for the two characters.

Henry was on board with this. They still kept it subtle, but there were clear moments where it was pretty much certain that the only way to interpret Spring Bonnie and Fredbear was as a couple. It was either so subtle that no one was bothered or Spring Bonnie's chosen voice was so ambiguously non-binary that no one thought it was odd.

Fred had plans for it to become more "canon" but never got to implement them since Spring Bonnie got damaged before he could.

Springtrap, being sentient and able to later interpret his emotions, is very confused about how he as a machine was meant to feel about this character he knew but the more sentient he becomes the more aware he is that he misses Fredbear and that he loved him. It's the cause of a lot of internal conflict for him. But he can be counted in the category of LGBT characters in the AU.

Happy pride month ya'll! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[shelledbee]

The organization "1 Million Moms" says that Disney including small scene in Toy Story 4 of a lesbian couple dropping off their child for kindergarten is "dangerous."

"WARNING! Toy Story 4 has just hit cinemas, but one thing we did not expect to see was LGBTQ characters. No matter how insignificant to the overall story they were, Disney still felt it was necessary to include them.

At the start of the movie, when Woody’s new owner Bonnie goes for her first day of kindergarten, in the background there is a quick scene where one child is dropped off by two moms. Later, the moms return to pick up their child who gives them a hug. The scene is subtle in order to to desensitize children. But it is obvious that the child has two mothers, and they are parenting together.

The Gay Times praised the film, claiming the scene as a small but important moment as far as inclusion. 1MM agrees it was a noticeably small scene with the sole purpose of attempting to normalize this lifestyle. Some in the gay blogging community have agreed that the moment “was not groundbreaking by any standard” but continued to praise it as a “small moment of normalization,” which is exactly why 1MM finds this to be so dangerous. It has not been mentioned much in mainstream media, which could appear as acceptance when really it was because it happened so fast. But the scene was included and intentionally not announced prior to the movie release in hopes it would be kept quiet to expose as many children as possible.

So many families probably plan on seeing this movie if they haven’t already and will be blindsided by this subtle but obvious promotion of the LGBTQ lifestyle. Not to mention there was a brief comment made about not hiding in a closet also in the movie. Some children may not catch this reference, but it was extremely unnecessary as with the lesbian couple. Both were brief and didn’t need to be included since it didn’t add to the story plot at all. These “blink and you will miss” moments were included strictly to push an agenda.

Toy Story 4 is the last place parents would expect their children to be confronted with content regarding sexual orientation. Issues of this nature are being introduced too early and too soon. It is extremely common yet unnecessary.

Disney has decided once again to be politically correct versus providing family-friendly entertainment. Disney should stick to entertaining instead of pushing an agenda and exposing children to controversial topics."

They have also created a petition, saying, "I do not appreciate Disney including LGBTQ content in the children’s movie Toy Story 4. There has been a deliberate lack of mentioning this content. Therefore, families are blindsided intentionally by your company. Actions such as this make me continue to distrust Disney."

At the time of writing this post, over 11,000 people have signed it.

I was going to go off about how mad this entire thing makes me, but I'm just. Tired. So goddamn tired.

Tired of fighting for even a second of representation.

Tired of people trying their hardest to ruin things I love.

Tired of thousands upon thousands of people hating me just for existing.

If your entire world revolves around constantly shitting on other people, and acting like they're hurting you for just being themselves, you need to change. Grow up.

Change can be scary, that's true. But if that change helps others and doesn't even affect you in the slightest bit, welcome it. Or at least, don't try and stop it.

#1MM #toy story #lgbt rights #toy story 4 #lgbt

[creativitytoexplore]

Candy by Dave Wakely https://ift.tt/306W3OW Dave Wakely's character has to look after his estranged fifteen-year-old daughter for a few days.

"God, you're so useless!" She stands before me, two skimpy candy-pink tops dangling from their hangers like the discarded skins of lurid reptiles, her ferocious glare expecting me to choose. Decisions, decisions... Luminous Lycra or acrylic machined-lace the colour of bubblegum. I scratch my chin while her right foot counts out the seconds on the rough concrete floor. Tap tap tap. This is her second day with me after half-an-hour's notice, after what passes for an explanation from her mother. Just a text, neither predictive nor predictable. Hasn't her daughter told her? Abbreviations are sooo last year.

Moved in new house but hv chickenpox + R on business in Singapore. B not had it. Don't kno neighbours so cant ask. Yr office sed u r on study leave, so sending her over w driver. Shd be ok in 2 wks. Will xfer £s to yr a/c. Spk later. J.

Since she arrived, we might still be in my town but we're in her world now. Mine never smelt of fast food and unisex perfumes. The lighting was kinder, and it was quieter there. How's a man to think? More to the point, what would the man she now calls Daddy do? Would he even allow her in a place like this? The tapping stops, and then comes the outburst. "You're supposed to be GOOD at this!" Her tantrum is, I understand, designed to drag me back into the moment. I've been lucky to escape so long. She lives for now, not for later, even if that's when most of her life is going to actually happen. At fifteen, hormones trump strategic thinking. Frankly, it's still a tussle at thirty-eight. For twenty minutes now, I've lurked in the shop's darkest corner while Bonnie has ransacked the rails, the gum-chewing sales assistant eyeing me like I'm an old paedo lurking behind a playground fence. Above my head, a speaker booms like the daytime disco Bonnie probably wishes she was in. Eddie would cope with this so much better than me. He usually says I'm trying to be kind when I tell him I envy his deafness, but right now... Still, it's her mother's money I'm spending, I remind myself, not mine. B nds new summer tops: put xtra £150 in yr a/c, this morning's text said. No sign-off - not even a J, let alone an x - but Jess has an encyclopaedia of reasons to hate me. My uselessness isn't news, just an echo sounding down the years. Whether I dress her daughter as a teenage hooker or a day-glo Edwardian vamp, it will be just another erratum slip tucked inside the bulging catalogue of my failures. I wonder if she ever reads them to Bonnie, bedtime stories with a pinch of deadly nightshade. Bonnie was twenty-three months old when Jess finally realised the main reason I'd spent the afternoon on the balcony, our baby girl cradled in my arms. Not to revel in the sunshine and the miracle of my daughter's existence, but for the view of the man next door and the shadows flickering across his sunburnt-pink back as his muscles danced the lawnmower to and fro. My life started then, or at least the life I lead now. I'd seen the pain in Jess's eyes when she gave birth, heard her screams, but I gave birth to myself - to the honest version - in the spare-room, on my own. No gas, no comforting hand, no drugs beyond the illicit. If Jess heard me cry, she didn't say. Tap tap tap... Bonnie's left foot jerks me back into the day once more. "Hold them up against you," I tell her, buying time I've no urge to spend. At least not here, not now. She holds first one hanger and then the other against her, arms signalling a bad-tempered semaphore. I admire her energy, but with every flourish of her elbows I get the message: I am rubbish, a desperate case. Eventually she pauses, the skimpier blouse's lacy material as transparent as her mood. "The other one?" I ask. "Just for a few seconds?" I watch her dial her loathing up another notch, glowering as she slams the second hanger against her collar-bones, letting the first fall to the floor. I expected Till Girl to complain, but she just scrolls her head from left to right like a security camera, purple hair swishing as she scans first Bonnie and then me. Her lip-stud winks with every grind of her jaw, a twenty-first century beauty spot. Maybe, behind her carefully applied overlay of tedium, she's as baffled as me. It's not just the fashions that I'm out of touch with: it's the girl. For twenty-four hours we've skirted each other, any moments in the same room an uneasy truce. I'm like a wary gardener, too daunted by the thorns to venture a nostril nearer to the rose. I've seen Bonnie grow, but in giant leaps rather than baby steps. Standing on the porch, face caught between smiling and blankness as I drove away in a borrowed car after six months of sleeping on an old sofa, stemming the draughts under the garage door with the boiler-suit I'd worn to half-finish painting her bedroom. Outside the divorce court three years later, beaming and waving as she held Roger's hand. "Daddy," she called out, till she was shushed into silence. "I'm right here, darling," I heard him say. Then at nine-and-a-half, when Jess's mum died and her father invited me to the funeral, still preferring me to Roger. Close enough to see her tug Jess's sleeve while she pointed at me, for Eddie to lip-read her mother calling me 'Uncle Desmond'. Since then, mostly snatches of conversation at weddings or old friends' parties before Jess or Roger could steer her away. Perfunctory paragraphs in Christmas cards, letters send via lawyers' offices. As I wait for her scowl to turn vocal again, I remind myself that I am the adult here, even if I'm not the precise adult either of us might have chosen. She knows me as little as I know her, and taking a gay man shopping hadn't turned out as fabulously - and that would be the word, wouldn't it? - as she'd hoped. I turn to Till Girl, her face dead-pan. "I need your help here," I tell her, shouting over the music. "This is Bonnie. She's fifteen years old..." "I'm nearly sixteen," Bonnie interrupts with a shrill squeak of outrage. "She was fifteen four months ago," I continue, hearing my voice coarsen into a bark. "Her mother's ill, so I'm looking after her. She needs a new top." I can feel my emotions bubbling like a percolator, finer manners sinking like silt. "One that doesn't make her look a total slut." As the words leave my mouth, I hear the shame under the rage, feel the realisation that it isn't really Bonnie I'm angry with. Till Girl flicks her tongue across her lip, a snake tasting the air. Contempt, or contemplation? One hand drops below the counter and the music abruptly dies. Bonnie is silent now too. The girl steps round from behind the counter, nods once at me and strides to a rail by the changing-room. "What size, please?" she asks, her crystal vowels a surprise. I motion Bonnie to reply. "Six," she mutters, absorbed in staring at her feet. Till Girl's fingers fly through a mass of hangers, pulling out a blue velvety creation with an asymmetric hem and sparkling embroidery. "This suits your colouring more," she tells Bonnie firmly, "and the cut will make you look taller. Slimmer." There's a subtle emphasis on the second adjective. "And I think you're more like an eight." She pushes open a changing room door and waits as Bonnie half-drags, half-stomps her way across the shop. As the door swings shut behind her, the girl raises one artfully-pencilled eyebrow at me and struts back to her counter. A seemingly eternal silence later, Bonnie re-appears, tugging down the shorter side of her new hem. Till Girl knows her stuff: she looks taller and more graceful, almost adult. Differently dressed, she has the beginnings of a figure, shaded and outlined without anything being underlined or underwired. "Well?" she says, more tremulous than truculent. Till Girl beats me to it. "Quite sophisticated, actually. Yes, I like that," she says. There's an undertone of surprise. "What does your father think?" "I think you look great," I say, before Bonnie can speak. Before she might deny my existence, or I might do the same. Even here where it would never matter, where it's already assumed, it seems an acknowledgement too far. "Not that my opinion matters, I suspect. I'm just the wallet carrier. Is there a younger man she might impress?" Till Girl almost smiles, and turns her head towards the back of the store. "Jamie!" Her shout would stir a catacomb. A boy of eighteen or nineteen shuffles out of the stock-room, all ear-tunnels, piercings and ink-black tattoos, halfway between Meccano and a badly-photocopied medieval map. He moves inside his baggy clothes like a man wrestling inside a duvet cover, the waistband of his unbelted jeans sitting below under-developed buttocks. There's a flash of gaudy yellow underpant, bright as cupcake icing, the only hint of sweetness he's allowed himself. "Trade Descriptions Act," Eddie always says when he sees a boy dressed like that. "If it's not for sale, don't put it in the window." Till Girl does her security-camera head-swivel thing at Bonnie, and then back to the boy. "Cool," he says, his voice as flat as Lincolnshire. "Wicked." Whether from shyness or lust, he rubs his palms on his thighs, a blush spreading through the few patches of bare skin left on his neck. Is this how straight teenagers flirt nowadays? It's like watching a wildlife documentary. Bonnie's face is as pink as the clothes she would have chosen, but she's clearly persuaded.

Twenty minutes later - after she's convinced us both that her new look requires black metallic leggings and, two stores down, petrol-blue patent leather stilettos that of course she insists on wearing - we walk the mall's marble walkways, a stable-hand leading a prize filly into the dressage ring. Each time I hear a pause in her erratic clip-clopping, I take her hand for a second before she teeters, sparing her more the embarrassment of toppling than the pain of a twisted ankle. I watch the eyes of teenage boys as we pass, scanning her like bar-code readers assessing some new exotic fruit. Whenever a woman Jess's age comes close, I try to read her expression as if I might read Jess's mind by proxy. As if I ever could. Bonnie's eyes dart from window to window, feverish with the shopping bug. Each time we stop, it's not the display I dissect but our reflection. The young woman, dumped on an almost-stranger but bursting to be happy. The gangly man in the biker jacket and faded 501s, sullen as a teenager and anxious to be somewhere else. And the way they avoid each other's eyes, stranded in a no-man's-land between anger and apology. We pause on the benches by the fountains in the open courtyard, faces splashed with spray, pretending that an icy slab of damp marble under our buttocks comes as some kind of respite. I take her picture on her phone so she can send it to Jess. My new look, her message says. Like it? B x. There's no reply. As we drift back into silence, I watch her attention scampering from one boy to another, so blatantly she triggers more blushes than smiles. Maybe this is the kind of moment Jess and Roger would never allow her, a chance to make mistakes. Perhaps she's even enjoying being here, with me, just a little. I police my own gaze more carefully. Here and there, middle-aged fathers sit with teenaged daughters, carrier bags at their feet and shoulders turned a fraction against each other, seeing the world at different angles. Maybe this is what teenage girls think fathers are for: for presents and treats, but not for company or conversation. "I'm sorry I made you lose your temper," Bonnie says, looking down at her feet as she breaks our silence. She's shaken off one of her new shoes and there's the start of a blister on her heel, already rising a livid red. "I'll buy you some plasters," I tell her. "Unless you want to put your trainers back on?" I pat the growing pile of carrier bags beside me. "Thanks," she mumbles, shaking her head, "but I can afford Elastoplast, at least." She takes my proffered tissue and folds it over, wrapping it round her heel before she slips the shoe back on, trying not to wince. "And I know me being here isn't your fault. Just 'cos Mum's using you doesn't mean I should. It's not like you're responsible for me or anything." I want to protest, though it would do no good. Jess didn't get herself pregnant: if I'm not responsible for her, who on earth is? Without me, Bonnie wouldn't be anywhere - wouldn't even be. But it's not what she means, and complaining won't help. Roger's her father now: I abdicated and I can't expect loyalty. "It's ok, I'm sorry too. I know I'm kind of the last resort," I tell her. "Like being promised a trip to the zoo to see the tigers and winding up in the reptile house with some cold-blooded thing staring at you through the glass." She looks as embarrassed as I feel. The fountains spray our faces with cold water as the silence grows again. "How about I treat you to something?" she asks me, suddenly a child again. A fifteen-year-old girl wanting to impress. "Have you ever had bubble tea?"

The concession stall is a cartoon-coloured laboratory of bubbling liquids in luminous columns. Their high-buttoned uniforms as white as surgeons', Asian boys barely older than Bonnie strain alien concoctions into transparent beakers, inscrutable stewards in a Martian cocktail bar. I scan the menu, pretending to understand. "Extra bottom, 50p," it declares. With Eddie, I could have pointed and laughed, but not now. I turn to Bonnie. "Help me out here?" "OK," she says, "are you more milky? Or more fruity?" "I guess I'm more the fruity type," I say, stifling a snigger I can't quite prevent. "Apple, if that's possible?" "How are you with things that burst in your mouth?" she asks, all wide-eyed curiosity, and I wonder if she's trying to provoke me, testing my boundaries, or if being fifteen is still as innocent as I dimly remember. The students I teach are older: nineteen, twenty... women, not girls, though their counterparts are still more boys than men. "I'll try anything once," I say. Her face stays straight. My offer to pay refused, I perch on a ridiculously tall barstool while she places our order, passing over her little sequinned purse from her backpack when she remembers her new outfit has no pockets. I watch how she keeps it hidden below the counter-line, too girly now for her chic ensemble, for the suddenly mature Bonnie. Young enough to blush and giggle, but old enough to play the scene to suit the audience. She passes me a see-through cup filled with something bile green. There are viscous black lumps clumped at its base and a thick purple straw sticking out like a drainpipe. Hers is a shade of lilac only chemicals could conjure, but she slurps at it happily. We swivel on our seats, our feet dangling in mid-air, two satellite dishes scanning the ether for different channels. "Go on," she teases. "Try it." I lower my head and suck. The glowing gunge fills my mouth, cold and thickly chewy. I give silent thanks that I've mastered my gag reflex, and swallow with what little elegance I can muster. "So, how does it taste?" she asks, apparently blind to my discomfort. Preoccupied with not throwing up, my manners go AWOL. "Like it looks," I mutter, scrambling for tissues to wipe stray globules from my chin. "Dragon sperm." I watch her roll her beaker across her cheek, either hiding a blush or cooling one, and wonder if I've gone too far. There's a pause before she replies, but no coyness in the question. "You recognise the flavour?" Her eyes signal a smile that's yet to reach her lips. "I've had... similar." It's taken twenty-four hours, but finally I've made her laugh. "You're much more fun than Roger," she tells me. "Or Mum. And it's ok - leave it if you don't want it."

The concrete park bench feels warmer than the mall's marble, although the landscaping's manicured scrubland is no more sincere. In the dogwoods behind us, I can hear the underground pump that sends the curiously tidy stream trickling down through the artificial hills. She wants me to choose a place for lunch, but where would she enjoy? I can hardly take her to The Taverners and spend an hour explaining the difference between bears and otters, cubs and twinks. That menu would mean as much to her as the bubble tea bar did to me. What have we got in common? She has my nose, my eyes, but it's only genetics. What do we share beyond a woman neither of us seem to love anymore and a weakness for letting our eyes wander over the bodies of men we don't know? Bubble tea might be thicker than water, but blood? I ask a question that I probably shouldn't. "So, what kind of boys do you like?" She looks a little flustered. I'm probably creeping her out more than earning her interest, but my mouth keeps moving. "I mean, what kind of boy do you dream of being with, one day?" I wonder if I'm blushing now. "Intelligent," she tells me. "Clever. Someone that reads. Proper books, not comics." Hardly the answer I expected, but heart-warming: maybe Eddie might like her after all. I won't tell him she asked me yesterday why I 'went for' a deaf guy, like he was something sub-standard I'd settled for. As if I'd told myself that was what I deserved. She didn't say it quite like that - although he did, once. "Just checking," he said afterwards. "Making sure." I wonder what she'd make of him, proof-reading in his brother's spare room to escape a girl he's pre-judged as shrill and vacant, if she got to know him. Maybe she'd see what I love, if she took the time to look. "Someone who cares about more than money and deals and profits and all that," she says. "Not like Roger." I feel an eyebrow rise and I struggle to keep it level. "Or like Mum. Thinking a turtleneck jumper or a squirt of scent covers everything. Even when it gives her away." My eyebrow drifts aloft like a balloon slipping from a child's hand. "Last time she farmed me out, she said she had a migraine..." Bonnie pauses, her face wondering if she should tell me. "When I got home, I sat on the sofa with her. The cushions smelt of cologne. I recognised it." She's looking down at her hands, her fingers knotting and unknotting. "It wasn't Roger's." She unclasps her hands and they lie in her lap, palms upturned. "Not that he's any better. Coming home late reeking of breath mints, a plaster over a love bite and some crap about cutting himself shaving." She looks almost like she's going to cry. I slip my arm round her shoulder and she nestles her head into my chest. I can't think of a thing to say. "So I'd like a proper man. Classy. Faithful." She's almost mumbling now. "Not like someone you'd find in a shopping mall then," I say. Her smile is half-embarrassment and all charm.

The canal-side bookshop café's an oasis after the mall, tables far enough apart for your conversation to be your own. Away from the neon and the noise, Bonnie's quieter too. We take a balcony table with a view out over the water, a gaggle of Uni students messing about in punts. She chooses mushroom risotto - no meat, Jess's texts had reminded me, she's veggie now, apparently - although she seems to live on Haribo and Diet Coke. She has a sweet tooth and the world is her candy store, eyes still darting from one man to another with the indiscretion of youth. Mine too, pretending to soak in the view but drawn more honestly to the rowers. One of them wears only cut-off jeans, torso already lobster-pink and shiny with sweat. He must have been in the water, thick hairs flattened against his legs, droplets catching the sunlight in his dense black beard. He could be a satyr from an old Greek vase: all he needs is a horn to blow. I barely register when Bonnie asks if I'd mind if she reads the paper, although I notice it's a broadsheet she brings back from the rack, unfolded to the crossword and pen in hand. "The waiter guy said it was ok," she says. "Although he doesn't think I'll manage it." I look occasionally as she starts to fill it in, resting the paper on the table's edge as she either writes in an answer or stares into space, temples lined in concentration as she grasps for solutions. My cheesecake devoured, my attention drifts back to the other temptations. I don't even notice when she gets up to go to the loo. It takes a second or two before I realise the insistent throb in my pocket is my mobile - another command from Jess, no doubt. But I'm wrong: it's a message on Grindr. "Well, this is kind of sweet ☺" There's no profile photo, just a name - Huxley92. Checking Bonnie's not back yet, I send a simple "?" "Her watching me watching you watching him." I'm scanning the room, trying to work out whose eyes are on me, whose fingers are tapping away. "Behind the counter. Goatee. Glasses. Reading Brave New World. Or pretending to ;-) As I turn my head, he smiles casually, paperback propped against a serviette dispenser. I recognise him now. Graham, a former colleague of Eddie's. Cheeky, Eddie says, and flirty with it, although it's only ever just words. We met at some Department evening, me joking with Eddie that every time I turned round I caught Graham pretending not to be looking at me. "Oh, you're his type," Eddie told me, laughing. "Scruffy." Then a pause that could have been shorter. "And gorgeous with it." He planted a theatrical kiss on my cheek, making sure Graham saw him pinch my arse. "She's my daughter," I type back. "It's complicated." "Sure is! Still, she has taste. You too, dude. Eddie's always said so." "Thx. I think." "She's coming back now, btw - you want coffees?" I nod, grinning sheepishly, before I'm distracted by a noise outside. The rower has capsized his boat and he's spluttering in the water, spitting out the rancid taste of city centre canal. As Bonnie sits back down, Graham's right behind her, bringing two large lattes. We each get a shot glass full of Smarties. "Enjoy," he says, as he glances over Bonnie's shoulder. Her crossword puzzle is complete, her handwriting all the more girlish for the pink pen she's been using. "Oooh, cryptic," Graham tells her. "I'm impressed. Where did you learn that?" He's looking at me as he speaks, and I could swear there was a wink. "This hip dude here?" Yep, definitely a wink. "It must just be genetic," she says, cool and coy. As I sip my coffee, I realise my phone is still on the table and Bonnie's been reading it out of the corner of her eye. I play it deadpan, face as inscrutable as an exam invigilator till she looks up at me. I nudge my glass of Smarties across the table. "You have these. My eyes are bigger than my appetite." She nudges them aside and smiles back. "Well drink up, then. We've got more window-shopping to do." She giggles as she reaches across the table to take my hand. Her mother's laugh, perhaps, but her father's sense of humour.

#FICTION on the WEB short stories