#the unofficial black history book

[lotus-flower-writes-history]

The Unofficial Black History Book

Huey P. Newton (1942-1989)

'The Revolution has always been in the hands of the young. The young always inherit the revolution.' - Huey Newton

This is his story.

Huey Percy Newton was born on February 17th, 1942, in Monroe, Louisiana. The youngest of seven children to Armelia Johnson and Walter Newton, he was named after former Governor of Louisiana, Huey Long.

His family relocated to Oakland, California, in search of better economic opportunities in 1945. His family struggled financially and frequently relocated, but he never went hungry or homeless.

Growing up in Oakland, Newton recalled his white teachers making him feel ashamed for being African-American, despite never being taught anything useful. In his Autobiography, ‘Revolutionary Suicide’, he wrote – “Was made to feel ashamed of being black. During those long years in Oakland Public Schools, I did not have one teacher who taught me anything relevant to my own life or experience. Not one instructor ever awoke in me a desire to learn more or to question or to explore the worlds of literature, science, and history. All they did was try to rob me of the sense of my own uniqueness and worth, and in the process nearly killed my urge to inquire.” 

He also had a troubled childhood; he was arrested several times as a teenager for gun possession and vandalism.

Huey was illiterate when he graduated from high school, but he taught himself to read and write by studying poetry before enrolling at Merritt College. 

During his time there, he supported himself by breaking into homes in Oakland and Berkeley Hills and committing other minor offenses. He also attended Oakland College and San Francisco Law School, ostensibly to improve his criminal skills.

He joined Pi Beta Sigma Fraternity while still a student at Merritt College and met Bobby Seale, a political activist and engineer. Huey also fought for curriculum diversification, the hiring of more black instructors, and involvement in local political activities in the Bay Area. 

In addition, he was exposed to a rising tide of Black Nationalism and briefly joined the Afro-American Association, where he studied Frantz Fanon, Che Guevara, Mao Zedong, E. Franklin Frazier, James Baldwin, Karl Marx, and Vladimir Lenin.

Huey had adopted a Marxist/Leninist viewpoint in which he saw the black community as an internal colony ruled by outside forces such as white businessmen, City Hall, and the police. In October 1966, he and Bobby Seale founded The Black Panther Party for self-defense, believing that the black working class needed to seize control of the institutions that most affected their community.

It was a coin toss that resulted in Newton becoming defense minister and Seale becoming chairman of the Black Panther Party. Newton’s job as the Minister of Defense and main leader of the Black Panther Party was to write in the Ten-Point Program, the founding document of the Party, and he demanded that blacks need the “Power to determine the destiny of our Black Community”. It would allow blacks to gain “Land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace.”

The Panthers took advantage of a California law allowing people to carry non-concealed weapons and established armed patrols that monitored police activity in the Black Community. 

One of the main points of focus for the Black Panther Party was the right to self-defense. Newton believed and preached that sometimes violence, or even the threat of violence, is required to achieve one's goals. 

Members of the Black Panther Party once stormed the California Legislature while fully armed in order to protest the outcome of a gun bill.

Newton also established the Free Breakfast for Children Program, martial arts training for teenagers, and educational programs for children from low-income families. 

The Black Panthers believed that in the Black struggle for justice, violence or the potential for violence may be necessary.

 The Black Panthers had chapters in several major cities and over 2,000 members. Members became involved in several shoot-outs after being harassed by police.

On October 28, 1967, the Panthers and the police exchanged gunfire in Oakland. Huey was injured in the crossfire, and while recovering in the hospital, he was charged with killing an Oakland police officer, John Frey. 

He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter the following year.

Huey was regarded as a political prisoner, and the Panthers organized a 'Free Huey' campaign led by Panther Party Minister Eldridge Cleaver. And Charles R. Geary, a well-known attorney who was in charge of Newton’s legal defense.

Newton was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in 1968 and sentenced to 2-15 years in prison. However, the California Appellate Court ordered a new trial in May 1970. The conviction was reversed on appeal, the case was dismissed by the California Supreme Court, and Huey was acquitted.

Huey renounced political violence after being released from prison. Over a six-year period, 24 Black Panther members were killed in gunfights with the police. Another member, George Jackson, was killed in August 1971 while serving time in San Quentin Prison.

The Black Panther Party, under the leadership of Newton, gained international support. This was most evident in 1970 when Newton was invited to visit China. Large crowds greeted him enthusiastically, holding copies of "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung," as well as signs supporting the Panther Party and criticizing US imperialism.

In the early 1970s, Newton's leadership of the Black Panther Party contributed to its demise. He oversaw a number of purges of Party members, the most famous of which was in 1971 when he expelled Eldridge Cleaver in what became known as the Newton-Cleaver split over the party's primary function.

Newton wanted the party to be solely focused on serving African-American communities, whereas Cleaver believed the party should be focused on developing relationships with international revolutionary movements. The schism resulted in violence between the factions and the deaths of several Black Panther members. The Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) was one of several factions that had broken away from the main party.

Then, in 1974, Newton was accused of assaulting a 17-year-old prostitute named Kathleen Smith, who later died, raising the charge to murder. Instead of facing trial, Huey fled to Cuba with his girlfriend at the time, where he remained for three years. The key witness in the trial was Crystal Gray. And three Black Panther members attempted to assassinate her before she gave her testimony.

Huey returned to the States in 1976 to stand trial but denied any involvement. The jury was deadlocked, and Newton was eventually acquitted after two mistrials.

In 1978, he enrolled in the History of Consciousness program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and earned his Doctorate in 1980.

"War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America," his dissertation, was later turned into a book.

On charges of embezzling Panther Party funds, Huey P. Newton was sentenced to 6 months in prison followed by 18 months on probation in 1982.

On August 22, 1989, Newton was assassinated by a member of the BGF, named Tyrone Robinson.

Huey was 46 years old at the time of his assassination. Robinson was convicted of Huey’s murder in 1991 and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison. 

His wife, Fredricka Newton, carried on his legacy. 'Revolutionary Suicide,' his autobiography, was first published in 1973 and then republished in 1995.

Huey Newton was not perfect, but he did fight to protect the rights of the Black Community. The rights that we're still fighting for today.

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My Sources

#huey p newton #black community #the unofficial black history book #black activism #black history #black female writers #black history matters #black history is american history #black stories #black tumblr #black culture #history #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #black power #black consciousness #black liberation #learn your roots #learn your history #black leaders #writeblr #black writblr #black writers of tumblr #black history 365 #know your history #black panther party

[corrodedcoffins-blog]

♡ requests for one-shots and all aus are open (unless said otherwise below)

♡ i'm still taking requests of aus on hiatus it will be added to my list

♡ what i will/won't write

♡ dividers by @saradika-graphics

aus!

- ♥︎ consistent uploads (loose term) ♥︎ -

Taylor Swift x Fem!NHL!Reader

Older!Rockstar!Eddie x Popstar!Reader

Quinn Hughes x NHL Player!Reader

Quinn Hughes x Royal!Reader

Jack Hughes x Commentary Youtuber!Reader

Jack Hughes x Teen Mom!Reader

Luke Hughes x Actress!Reader

- ♥︎ sporadic uploads ♥︎ -

Spencer Reid x Famous!Reader

Spencer Reid x Morgan!Reader

Rockstar!Eddie x R&B Singer!Reader

Regulus Black x Potter!Reader

one shots!

🎀 fluff 🩰 angst 🩷 smut 🌷 social media edit

♡ celebrities!

🌷🎀 Karma Is My Girlfriend | Taylor Swift (has an au)

♥︎ Taylor goes to her girlfriend's hockey game, and Y/n goes to her girlfriend's concert.

🎀 Harry Girls | Platonic!Niall Horan

♥︎ Reader and Niall reunite on The Voice, fighting over the One Direction fans

🎀 'It Couple' | Andrew Garfield

♥︎ Where Andrew and Y/n are the 'it couple' of Hollywood

♡ youtubers!

🎀 Valentine's Reunite | Johnnie Guilbert

♥︎ After reconnecting after a few years, Y/n and Johnnie tell their fans they're friends again by a Valentine's video. With old feeling resurfacing the two have some tension that doesn't go unnoticed by said fans.

🎀 New Set | Johnnie Guilbert

♥︎ Giving boyfriend!Johnnie head scratches after getting new acrylics

♡ athletes!

🎀 Unofficial Litter Sister | Platonic!Quinn Hughes

♥︎ Luke's girlfriend is sick, so Quinn comes to take care of his unofficial little sister.

🌷Eras Tour Love | Quinn Hughes

♥︎ How will fans react to Quinn dating one of Taylor Swift's dancers?

🎀 In Concert | Luke Hughes

♥︎ Luke brings Jack and a few teammates to his girlfriend's concert

🎀🩰 Moments In Time | Luke Hughes

♥︎ Moments in time during Y/n and Luke's relationship

🎀 So American | Nico Hischier

♥︎ Y/n invites her brothers and her boyfriend to one of her concerts

🩰🩷Second Chances | Trevor Zegras

♥︎ Reader giving Trevor another chance, after his already second chance and a complicated history. Right on the cusp of releasing her debut album

♡ characters!

🎀🩰 Best Friends-With-A Baby | Eddie Munson

♥︎ When a best friends-with-benefits situation becomes a best friends-with-a baby situation.

🎀 Out Of Your Comfort Zone | Spencer Reid

♥︎ During a bookstore date Y/n's taste in books gets Spencer out of his comfort zone.

🎀🩰 History Repeats Itself | Jess Mariano

♥︎ Being a teen mom is hard but without any help it's even harder, after saving up enough she can finally move to Stars Hollow to be closer to her baby's father

#liz talks <3 #anon asks #liz thirsting (again) #taylor swift x fem!nhl!reader #spencer reid x singer!reader #spencer reid x famous!reader #spencer reid x morgan!sister #spencer reid x morgan!reader #older!rockstar!eddie x popstar!reader #rockstar!eddie munson x r&b!singer!reader #regulus black x potter!reader #quinn hughes x nhl player!reader #quinn hughes x player!reader #jack hughes x youtuber!reader #jack hughes x teen mom!reader #luke hughes x actress!reader

[accio-victuuri]

(130) FAKE RUMORS FOR YOU. 💭💌

i have definitely made several posts related to fake rumors both from cql era & rumor houses so this is definitely one of my favorite things to share. these are all from cql filming timeline where the practice of fake rumors really started. this does not include the 49 initial fakes. as usual, these are not real. 🤐

i found the screenshot compilation over here. so there you go. enjoy! 🍰🍪🍭

1. the two of them are very close on the set and when female supporting role has not been deleted yet. During one scene, wyb once asked the director with a black face ( angry ) in front of xz “I can’t tell what the relationship between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji is. I can’t immerse myself in the role”

( I think it’s common knowledge that in the beginning, the production had some hetero agenda to appease censorship. As we all know, the book fans weren’t happy with that because it takes away the key essence of the story. I’m so happy we got the depiction of WWX/LWJ relationship that we did. I’m happy that XZ and WYB both voiced their bias to follow the source material. Remember XZ also said ( in an unofficial bts so let’s take it as fake too ) to cut the scenes with a female lead that seems romantic. so whoever is saying that these two were somehow tricked into starring in a bl drama needs some serious common sense lol )

2. xz watched wyb’s video of “yelling lyrics” and laughed at him for a long time

3. they looked up each others’ dark history, wyb searched xz’s old pictures, and xz searched are wyb’s videos.

( i think this is proven in an interview, they did look up each other’s previous works. HAHAHAHAHA! it’s so cuteeee cause this is like when you have a crush on someone and you stalk their socials to know more about them. but ofc theirs was all professional courtesy. or was it? )

4. next, xz said when he pulled out his blonde video he said that wyb was so cute. wyb even flipped up his hair to show him, but when another actor said it, wyb just smiled but didn't respond.

( lol omg dandan yibo! )

5. when playing Honor of Kings, wyb likes to play as topsolo and jungle, xz usually plays as midsolo, xz once complained that wyb has no team awareness and being unable to score points with him.

( there is a whole cpn about this that’s super interesting over here. )

6. likes to praise each other exaggeratedly in front of the camera and in private. even if they have NG scenes.

7. many scenes were deleted from the drama, such as the branding on the chest. There was also a scene where Lan Wangji went off the cliff to find Wei Wuxian. The scenes were not aired. I guess it’s too ambiguous.

8. wyb sometimes leaves the crew to do other work xz will often chat with him on WeChat. Once the director asked him who he was video chatting with. Then he just said “it’s Lao Wang”. The director was shocked at that time.

( we have cpn about this too, them sending each other photos and videos. chatting and video calling when they are not filming together. )

9. wyb introduced xz to motorcycles and raced with him at the scene. I feel like xz is not interested in the video but has been listening patiently.

10. The two of them often eat together after work, wyb loves to eat sour food. One time, xz staff bought two portions of “liang pi” xz thought it was a bit sour and ate a little. Wyb finished his portion and still ate xz’s leftovers.

( this is basically true as well. i mean we have video/s of them eating off of each other’s plate )

11. wyb taught xz dancing and korean on the set.

12. both of them are very childish and like to use all kinds of strange words.

13. wyb once used a forehead ribbon in the dressing room to tie xz’s hands up, xz looked at him indifferently and helplessly.

14. when filming the scene in the cave, both of them got wet. The makeup laoshi asked them to hurry up and put on their costumes outside. The two of them were still in the water. When playing inside, wyb immediately took off xz’s outermost coat.

15. two people have discussed the issue of body hair xz asked wyb: Why do you have so little leg hair? Wyb said he was born with it. xz looked at him with an interesting expression.

16. the deleted branding scene was after Lan Wangji recovered from his injury. Looking for Wei Wuxian's body on the cliff, but we only saw the battle in the Nightless City. He was so angry and sad that he burned the torture instrument with lava and burned the same wound in the same place on his chest.

17. another one that was deleted was the conversation with Wei Wuxian on a snowy night. After Lan Huan finished talking about Lan Wangji, Lan Wangji came back, and Wei Wuxian called Lan Wangji with emotion and choked up, "Why didn’t you tell me? Lan Wangji lowered his head and said nothing. I heard that the producers thought the deleted parts were too ambiguous. The explanation is unclear, and there are many small scenes that have been deleted.

18. wyb once complained that xz’s playlist is very old because wyb can’t tell what kind of children’s song xz sings about 😂😂😂

19. wyb often plays Wei Wuxian’s flute on set but xz doesn’t play much with Lan Wangji’s sword. Wyb once said that he (xz) was the best blowing the flute the group. xz beat him because of that. Lol.

20. the reason for Lan Wangji’s shape is that there are two strands of hair in front. so when waiting for the scene, he would pick up the hair at the back xz and help him. He said it many times, and also said that Wang Yibo can get married if he has long hair that reaches his waist.

21. xz said that wyb has a shape that looks like bamboo shoots and then at noon that day, he asked the assistant to order the fried pork with bamboo shoots from the small kitchen. then ate together with wyb.

22. there is a scene where Lan Wangji needs to carry Wei Wuxian on his back. He tried and was officially filmed after one take. After the filming, the director asked them why they were joking. XZ said he didn’t know how to put his feet after lying down. Lan Wangji didn’t catch it either, both of them laughed.

23. wyb doesn’t eat snacks very much on set, but he does eat director Nie and about xz’s snacks. he said that xz does not eat snacks properly. The most common meal he eats is the fruit salad that xz brought to the set.

24. wyb’s sword tool was thrown around once and fell down. When we got to our feet, xz happened to see it next to him and laughed for a long time.

25. there were several group scenes shot in the suburbs of Hengdian. both guys have lots of mosquito bites. xz told wyb I will teach you how to get better quickly, so he used his fingers to make a cross on wyb’s mosquito bite. wyb’s face was like “you must be lying to me” but he still made a cross on every bite

26. the first time they filmed outdoors, when they talked about what insects there were in the fields, wyb told xz that he was scared of insects, especially those with many tentacles, then he carefully counted every thing that he was scared of.

27. xz likes to scare him with insects, during wyb’s birthday he also scared him with insects

28. once, other actors used a horror video to scare wyb, wyb didn’t know about it and immediately jumped to the side after watching it. xz stood at the side and said “he is really scared, don’t mess with him”

29. the two of them have different make up artists to help them touch up their makeup. One time, the make up artist who helped xz was absent, so wyb’s make up artist did both of their make up. wyb was standing at the side and he said “Bi Jie, if you use the brush that you used on his face on me, my face will become really pale” then xz hit him.

30. the two will play games together in xz’s car, xz gave one side of his bluetooth earphone.

31 . the staff watched the two of them arguing and at first I thought it was really a bad relationship, but after, they saw that the two will together. so he got used to it.

32. xz watched the pd 101 girl group dance in front of wyb, it seems that it is also a dance compilation. after watching it, xz has been obsessed with it and calls wyb asian dance king.

33. in the first month of filming, the two of them competed for a few days. Speaking in Beijing dialect, I can hear it from far away: “Have you eaten?”

34. continuing from the previous one, when filming started, the director requested that the right person be called Fang Zai’s name in the drama. The two of them like to call each other all the titles in the drama that was later developed. Brother Cheng! Elder! Senior! and so on.

35. xz has many types of eye drops, wyb uses them too and will ask xz to help

36. the two of us competed when they were bored waiting for the scene. waist strength and flexibility, xz bent over and touched his toes but can't stand still, so he fell forward. wyb’s hands were quick to help him up. he wanted to laugh because xz is an old artist who cannot break his muscles and bones

37. continuing from the above entry, wyb’s hand is big and he can wrap both of xz’s with one hand. wyb is proud of it. he also said his hands are whiter than xz’s.

38. when wyb sits on the chair, his legs are spread wide. Once while, he was sitting there looking at his phone, and then across from him xz kept looking at him and laughing without saying a word. wyb was pissed off by him. xz told him that wyb was wearing shorts today and his legs were too wide and was - little exposed.

39. when filming nightless city, there was a scene where Lan Wei stood high on stage xz secretly pinched wyb's waist to make him stand up straighter.

40. two people like to play games together and they always looked at their mobile phone. some directors have said that when Wei Wuxian is there, you will be sure that 3 away from him, there will be Lan Wangji coming out 😂😂😂

41. the two actually got to know each other very well quickly. the director also praised that it melted ( break the ice, so the ice was melted in this case ) very quickly, but the staff didn’t think about it. when it comes to wyb, he is actually very childish and lively, but also very matured.

42. Watching this pair for more than 3 seconds will definitely make you laugh, and xz laughs the hardest.

43. they often sing together while waiting for the filming. wyb can also teach xz the choreography he wants to dance on the show. xz complimente wyb’s legs for being so flexible.

44. xz is a very gentle person who is sincere and has no attitude. one time, the film assistant talked to him about his stance, but he may have said it wrong, which resulted in two wrong shots. he (xz) only told the director that it was his fault and then helped him after filming. the staff apologized to him and he said it didn't matter. The set was too busy and he should have checked again, it was super warm.

45. Occasionally, the crew will open interviews together and there are fans who will sneak in. Once in the wild, someone shouted xz, mommy loves you. sister loves you. If wyb hears it, zg brother loves you.

46. the scene was filmed three or four times where lwj caught the chicken because it so crowded at first. the cages are full of chickens. Wyb didn’t catch them the first time he started. there were only two chickens left inside as props, and they were caught by xz a few times later. the chicken was obviously frightened but the director cut it. the scene was chaotic.

47. in lwj’s drunk scene, wyb refused to drink. He also said that the drunken blush that the makeup artist painted on him was "not cool at all." xz said that after that he turned into a red peony and then was beaten by wyb. 😂😂😂

48. two people often bicker and go back and forth most of the time. it ends with the meaningless repetition of very young students talking to each other.

49. when filming the scene with snow, the two of them discussed it. they made an appointment to go to the ice sculpture and ski resort in Erbin during their vacation before the Spring Festival.

( I think is the place they planned to go ⛷️ )

50. the two often work with directors and producers on scenes and when telling directions, when the director said some very straightforward words, the two of them just look at each other and smiled.

51. the two people shot a scene outdoors, the wind was very strong, xz’s hair keeps blowing in the wind. he was talking excitedly, wyb naturally removed all the bits of hair stuck to the corners of his mouth.

52. In fact, they still like to move their feet most when they are fighting. There is one time xz pretended to kick wyb, but accidentally kicked wyb's thigh on the back, because there is mud on the upper part and there are some marks left, xz immediately said I was sorry to wang laoshi and cleaned him— but he was still beaten by wyb. yibo chased him with a sword for 5 minutes.

53. they discovered various strange ways to reduce swelling. once they discussed on the set how to reduce swelling faster, wyb asked xz “zhang ge have you tried taking a hot shower in the morning?” xz seems embarrassed to say so. wyb nodded wildly with a very understanding expression.

54. Continuing from the previous entry, the two of them were doing some exercise on the set— like raising your legs or something. The funniest thing is to lose face for swelling, there is an action to pull the ear on the same side upward with one hand. With the other hand, press the side of the face that stretches the ear, and push it toward the ear. Pushing in one direction, the two people were pulling each other in the corner, screaming in pain. It's all because the other party used too much force.

55. they are very concerned about each other’s appearance in the camera. shoot After Jin Dan's cut, the two of them watched the replay on the monitor together. but xz said that Yi Bo’s face was not in the best condition and it would be better to take a rest. Wyb is applying make-up next to him and listening.

56. when preparing for wyb’s birthday, xz was the first to say yes. xz wanted to give him a racing suit, wyb explains to him that the racing suit is specially customized by the team, so it wasn’t sent as a gift. xz looked a bit disappointed.

57. continuing from the previous entry, the helmet given as a gift was not there was delivered to the crew. After cutting the cake, I gave the first piece to xz, and said “zhan ge the helmet you gave me is placed in the C position at home. It is a lucky helmet and should be kept well.” xz smiled happily.

( c position means in the center, whatever or whoever is in the c position is the most important )

58. even when we they shooting for several days at night, there were two of us. when they stay quiet and don’t fight, they quietly get together and play with their hands. they take the opportunity to show the other person something interesting from time to time.

59. wyb once felt very uncomfortable while putting on makeup and couldn't hold it anymore, so the producer rushed me to the hospital. xz was filming a solo show. He heard that and made a phone call to ask wyb about the situation.

60. wyb will recommend clothing brands to xz and gave him a vx purchasing business card.

61. there is a period of time when two people will check each other out before putting on makeup. they will check hairline and then laugh at the other person and say who will be bald before you are.

62. wyb likes to eat pasta, garlic, coriander and the like.

63. one time xz fell asleep on the chair, lying on his back and mouth is a little open, then wyb surrounded him from all angles and took at least a dozen photos. but xz later found out and took them away, he deleted them all.

64. xz had some very hard scenes, crawling on the grass and had to use a blower for more than an hour, and his hands were covered with tiny wounds. His eyes were also inflamed. When the director asked him, he said it was okay. As soon as he saw wyb the first sentence he said is "I'm so miserable, lan er gege"

65. wyb seems to like the title Yiling Patriarch very much. he thought he didn’t have a domineering nickname, so he gave myself the nickname Gusu Wu Enemy. he told xz to say it, xz rolled his eyes and never said it.

66. the behind-the-scenes team gave each of them a GoPro to film some scenes, such as meeting for dinner together or playing games or something.

( lol where are the footage from the go pro?!!! )

67. After receiving the article, wyb took a photo and handed it over. It was him. they eating chicken together in the room and listened to the editorial team for seventeen minutes. In the video, wyb said xz more than 20 times.

68. xz told wyb that if he wants to raise a dog, it is best if he it’s obedient. It must be a large dog, if you really have a dog, name it Lizi. wyb said with a disgusted face that the name was not domineering enough, xz immediately retorted, he said it was called Red Haier, and then started fighting with his teeth bared.

69. wyb is actually very cold-faced and warm-hearted. He once helped to beat the board. He noticed that the field attendant was shaking a bit and was about to fall over after being there for too long. he immediately called cut and told the director to let the staff member rest. later wyb assistant also gave him water.

70. xz touched wyb’s Adam’s apple and compared it with his own, and was shocked and surprised, then gave wyb a thumbs up.

71. in the scene where the donkey was being led, xz was sitting before filming officially started. he was singing the theme song of Journey to the West on the back of a donkey, wyb also sang the vocals with him

"You carry the burden"

"deidei"

"I'm holding the horse"

72. xz likes to eat Japanese food, there are two Japanese food restaurants in Hengdian and many people have been there. If you don’t have time to go, the most popular place to order takeout is He Feng Na.

73. continuing from the previous entry, one time wyb rushed to announce that there was someone returning to the group and brought a bag full of bread to xz. I heard it was almond croissant.

74. the motorcycle helmet xz sent to wyb still has a stamp on the top of the head. there is a hand-painted lion drawn by xz himself, based on Simba’s drawing. xz showed the manuscript to wyb on the set, and wyb was very satisfied.

75. there are many scenes that are not good-looking during the shooting. the producer told wyb privately on the set not to watch this. they said they are all confident that the effect of the finished film will be very good. wyb said he didn’t mind, but was a bit in a low mood that day. when xz found out, he kept hanging around him and making fun of him to make him happy.

76. Lan Wangji’s hair once when shooting in the farmhouse, his crown ( headpiece ) is really a bit high, higher than a haystack, and he had to wear it several times. xz complains that wyb is not tall enough to wear a headdress.

77. Once when we were filming a group scene in the inner hall of the Chang family, xz and other actors performing the lyrics, wyb was always there to pick him up.

"interesting

"not interesting"

"In terms of thick skin, I am second"

"You are number one"

"wyb shut up!"

78. It’s the same scene, there’s always something fishy about wyb. there was nothing fishy about it, and it made two people laugh again, so much so that the director asked them to pinch each other's faces and pinched each other's arms and legs.

79. Following the previous one, xz’s mantra will change in the next two days OK—there must be something fishy about this blower. I’m eating eggplant in my lunch box today. There must be something fishy, there must be something fishy about Lan Wangji, and then he starts to act again.

80. In one scene, he was injured and was recuperating in an unknown place in Yunshen. , xz did a good job of subduing it and said wyb’s first sentence was “Wow xiao laoshi is very hot today."

81. The director is from Hong Kong and is fluent in Mandarin but standard. Once he said something quickly through the microphone : "The chicken is going to lose its wire, so be careful when having sex." xz and wyb went crazy after hearing this and burst into laughter, and then made the director laugh too and explained what he said, It was actually "As long as you are wearing a wire, you must be careful in everything."

82. sometimes when the two people are photographed looking at each other, because they are one beat by beat, the emotions must be connected, xz told wyb that if you're afraid of laughing, don't stare into my eyes, look at the place between my eyebrows. When the filming started, wyb stared at it and deliberately made cross-eyes.xz burst out laughing and had to apologize to the director immediately.

83. one time they probably watched a horror movie together. The next day when they arrived at the set, they danced and imitated the other actors. Wyb looked scared, but Wyb just sat on the side and smiled helplessly.

84. wyb often says wow, yeah yes yep and the like catchphrases, later xz also started to say yeah yes.

85. wyb liked to twirl xz’s flute, but accidentally lost it. he will the make amends to XZ like the ancients did.

86. there was a scene with three people, and wzc was also there. the whole time the two were talking about random little topics and even pointed swords at each other. Wzc tried several times to join in but couldn't get it in, so he just stood there bored.

87. later, when they saw wzc stopped talking, they thought he was angry. they started teasing him together again, wzc became furious when he was teased and made a loud noise. he complained to the director and said they were childish.

88. when the two people conduct dual interviews, wyb will wait for xz’s single interview to end. and then go into the business car together.

89. xz, wyb and senior sister have a three-person scene, while waiting for the performance, the senior sister suddenly asked: Mr. Lan is here to see you.

Did Xian only bring Qin and not Bichen? Didn't wait for wyb to react?

Come on, xz and senior sister fell to the side laughing, wyb was very confused

Miao explained dryly, "Aren't you here to play the piano for Wei Wuxian?"

90. When the two of them joined the group, they realized that they both liked songs by girl groups from foreign countries. When that group released a new song, they watched the MV together on the set. xz asked wyb if he could dance after watching it a few times, wyb taught him on the spot . xz said very sincerely, Lao Wang, you are amazing.

91. When other actors are wrapping up filming, they will be given cakes, both of them are just tasting, only wyb gave his first piece to XZ who ate it completely.

( so this is more like, with others, they will just take a bite. but when wyb gave him, xz ate it all. )

92. wyb's posture was very upright when he was hanging in the wire, Wu Zhi commented that there are times when it overturns, usually with waist control. If the body is not well controlled, it will easily become distorted. Although xz laughs at him every time, he will still always praise him. He said wyb is a kid from Springfield Flower Kindergarten, a friend that needs to be praised every day.

93. When filming Yi City, the scene required smoke machines to create fog. It feels like the field manager is waving a prop stick behind wyb. wyb asked xz, do you feel it? xz said what do you feel? wyb said let me go. xz's expression is speechless.

94. When filming the Baifeng Mountain section, wyb made an action where he needs to hold xz's wrist tightly to make him concentrate, and he will be very nervous when shooting. When he entered the scene, they took a few close-up shots in order to cut the scene. Director 1 after saying ok, xz rubbed his wrist and said Lan Zhan, you hurt me, wyb said can i see?

95. the people were waiting on the roof during wyb’s birthday , xz hummes and look at the stars one, two, three and four connected in a line. later wyb also sang along in a low voice.

96. filimg the heavy rain scene on Qiongqi Road. because xz has experience he told wyb in advance how to keep warm and prevent colds, tell him first that when the time comes, ask the assistant to get a blanket to soak up the water and prepare ginger soup or hot water. etc.

97. but he still felt a little bit uncomfortable the next day after wyb finished filming. he had a nasal sound when speaking. If his assistant brings medicine, xz will wonder if this cold medicine will have some antihistamines, which will make you sleepy and... are there any details such as whether the medicine will cause allergies?

98. In fact, there was another time when the forehead ribbon was removed and the hands were tied, the costume teacher wanted to tie it up. wyb said I would try it, so he did it on purpose and tied it tightly, then raised his hand and pulled it up with xz's hand, said very childishly, "Wei Ying, look"

99. One scene was in a teahouse, and it was about hearing that Wei Ying was not well. Lan Zhan put down the water glass heavily. Wyb once mentioned to the director if he wants him to silently crush the cup to express your mood? The director and editor after discussing the drama, said they felt that the emotions have not reached that level at this time.

100. The director mentioned in the drama that 16 years later Lan Zhan saw Wei Wuxian’s smiles will change unconsciously, wyb also said deliberately “then when I see Brother Zhan’s sweet smile, I will follow him (laughing)”

101. they spent the Dragon Boat Festival together on the set, and also had sweet and salty rice dumplings. they had an argument xz said that Chongqing people basically only eats salty rice dumplings, wyb must follow him. Just tell me sweet rice dumplings are delicious. I was noisy and wyb suddenly said he will also eat salty rice dumplings, and then he will be beaten by xz and said that you insist on following me. wyb only laughed.

102. There happened to be a night show on the Dragon Boat Festival, and the producer specially bought it rice dumplings to eat together. The two of them had a meal on the set, xz had a video chat with his parents on WeChat. He especially introduced wyb to them as ttxs’s super awesome host. wyb said hello obediently, and then after xz finished the video, he slapped him with his sleeve.

103. xz once asked wyb how to make one eye flow first when crying, wyb smiled evilly and said that I have great control.

104. Taking pictures of Hantan Cave, the temperature inside the cave is very different from that outside the cave and it’s nearly ten degrees. Be white clothes are easy to see through and can be irritated by cold water it’s easy to expose your flesh and bulge. If xz finds out, he whispers to wyb for a while and then went ashore to find the staff. When we he came back — the two people had an extra layer of white coats inside.

105. wzc often rolls his eyes like Jiang Cheng when seeing the two of them fighting, xz once caught him and said it he was against him. “Jiang Cheng, you don’t help me” wzc just said that “I will not interfere with the affairs of the two of you.”

106. Let’s talk about wzc first. There was a scene where wwx was beaten up while filming wzc. During the break, he said that wwx was beaten badly enough and was beaten by xz.

107. In Xuanwu Cave wwx went to pull up the collar of Lan Zhan’s clothes, maybe he used a bit too much force to make the area under wyb's collarbone red. After the cut, wyb pulled it open and showed it to xz to accuse him. xz said he was right and said I'm sorry, but then said it's because your skin is too fair and tender. Showing it, wyb replied that it was because he was young. 😂😂😂😂

108. When two people are filming a fight scene, they will feel a little uncomfortable. they didn’t want to injure each other such as being hit by a prop or scratched. Once xz was at front door of Chang's house bumped against my knee, and it turned blue instantly, and wyb asked the assistant to bring some muscle tape from his bag and help him apply it himself.

109. Continuing from the previous entry, xz will also bring his own band-aid, the kind that is cartoon style, including Little Yellow Duck and SpongeBob SquarePants.

110. When they were in Guizhou, they made an appointment to get up in the morning and go for a run but did not persist for a few days. xz complained about wyb in the morning and when he arrived at the gym, I was still wearing the hotel slippers.

111. There was one scene where we faced an enemy together in the woods. While waiting for the set, xz started singing and their backs were to each other. wyb while listening, he scratched the ground with his sword.

112. To shoot in the hanging cliffs, xz actually has tools on the ground that is easy to pull. The director didn't have any requirements when looking at the location. The two kept holding hands, but never let go. After a while, xz has been put down to the ground, wyb stopped his hand and looked at his palm, It took five or six seconds to stand up.

113. In that scene, a close-up of Lan Wangji’s face was also shot. Yan asked xz not to leave yet and help Yibo pick up his feelings. xz is looking up at wyb, the director is using a microphone to narrate the introduction and roughly speaking

"Wei Ying broke free and was falling. He was trying to prevent him from falling.

“You fell with me"

"He has no desire to live anymore."

"He is the most important person to you. For the first time in your life, you feel panicked”

"You are desperate, you are regretful"

"There is no more Wei Ying”

114. wyb did a great job, it took only two or three shots to pass. The staff members were so empathetic to him that they choked with tears.

115. but xz just stood under that cliff background and kept looking up at him, he was obviously crying too.

116. Continuing from the previous entry, after this scene, the makeup teacher will wipe off their tear traces. There is a path between the two of them. They kept looking at each other and said nothing.

117. The sleeves of Lan Wangji’s costume have always been very wide. He once did a dance move of doing cartwheels on the spot, and it was so smooth. xz was working very hard to cheer him on and compete with him.

118. When wyb seems to have pharyngitis, xz has asked him, and wyb said it usually happens. xz for some time then replaced his green tea for medicinal tea, wyb asked why the taste was different, xz pointed at his throat “It's good for you here”.

119. Continuing from the previous entrt, when wyb takes cold medicine, xz specially tells him to drink more warm water for 2 days and stop drinking my tea.

120. We sang together in the days after we came back from participating in a variety show. they repeat this sentence, child, you are the best. then later in the one-shot scene of wyb, xz would sing wyb, you are the best.

121. strings of Lan Wangji’s qin are specially made and are better than ordinary string so it will be flexible. One time when he was bored outdoors, he was playing with strings. After a while, he became quiet and pulled XZ aside to whisper. xz after listening, immediately raised his hand to signal to the director: Director Wang Yibo played the strings and broke one! He broke the prop!!! Wyb is behind him and the man who was caught got angry and pushed xz on the shoulder.

122. One time wyb was spraying sunscreen, xz saw it and asked him to help spray. wyb held the sunscreen to xz and said "呲呲 "呲呲——" but I didn't press it on purpose, xz Look at him with an expression like "Are you sick?"

123. The scene where Lan Wangji agreed to buy the rabbit lantern, xz smiled brightly, and wyb smiled back. Then after cut he was told, "Yibo, don't smile so big."

124. xz accidentally said this in front of the behind-the-scenes camera that after he and wyb finished work, they will go to see a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner for massage because both of our waists hurt.

125. On the set, they lifted up each other’s hems to see if they were wearing basketball shorts, and they will high five and say “hey man!” they have a tacit understanding.

125. When filming the scene with Jin Ling, XZ asked him his age and learned that it’s actually a month or two older than wyb xz was so shocked that he turned his back. wyb is so young and wants to play the role of an elder, and he still acts so similar.

126. In a one-person interview with both people present, they will tease each other, when wyb teases xz he will obviously look away and smile. On the other hand, wyb will look at him openly and give him a warning look.

127. During breaks on the set, xz would often sing some songs, Korean, Mandarin and English are available. wyb is sometimes next to him and when asked to change songs, xz also cooperated with him to change songs. There is one time he was asked to cut the song after I had just sung a few words. xz was obviously confused. If you can't change the subtitles, just say wyb, have you bought a membership? Changing songs is VIP. It’s a Unique service!

128. The scene where the two people fell out holding each other in their arms started posing on the ground. The director felt that the position where XZ was leaning was too low and he should have raised his head. You can see the position of wyb's eyes, just turn on the microphone, Commander Feng said, "Wei Ying, move higher on Lan Zhan." "No need." “Stand up and move directly." "Come up a little bit, and a little bit higher, yes. "XZ's ears were red after shooting that scene.

129. When they were in the mountains of Guizhou, because it was a real wild place, tge grass and other plants are very tall. When wyb reached the top of the mountain, he asked xz, Do you think there will be snakes here? then XZ said: But Hanguang-Jun, aren't you a master of martial arts? You can just use the sword. Later, xz saw that wyb was really scared, so he used the flute and wiped a circle of grass around him and said that Brother Zhan will protect you even if there is a snake.

130. wyb once took a big bite while eating noodles. he was chewing while looking at my phone, xz “said something: Brother Bo, you are like a hamster eating, and then he changed his mind and said, more like a camel. Have you ever seen a camel eat? How about learning to eat slowly like a camel?”

wyb laughed and then didn't even bother to eat the noodles.

BONUS: wyb’s fingers are very long and have distinct bones. He told xz that his hands and the joints are old and aged. It was because of his training in dancing and some were sharpened by riding bicycles. xz was very surprise said, Lao Wang, your life experience have so many vicissitudes, and then he started a few words, "Until it feels like your wrinkles have the marks of time."

wyb had a question mark face and didn't know what song he was singing.

( I tried to look up the lyrics listed 直到感觉你的皱纹有了岁月的痕 迹 and google is giving me “atleast i still have you” by Sandy Lam. but i’m not sure. )

Note: I might go back to this and edit some bits. I’m just in a fake rumor coma and my eyes and brain are aching at this point. 🙃🙃🙃 but i hope you still had fun reading!!!!

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do #accio victuuri translation #NUMBER 17 IS MAKING ME MAD I WANNA SEE THAT SCENE AHHHHHH HOW MANY WERE DELETED (ALLEGEDLY) #some of these i mildly rephrased to better explain the message across

[blackestnight]

HANAMI HAGANE

Nicknames: 'Hana-chan,' but attempt to use at your own risk.

Nameday: 31st sun of the 2nd astral moon (March 30th). ...I forgot her nameday again. Sorry miss Hagane.

Race: Au Ra Raen

Gender: Meh. She doesn't have strong enough feelings about her own gender identity to bother putting a label to it; most people default to 'she/her' pronouns when addressing her and she's fine with that, although she does object to being addressed as 'Lady ___' or other such courtesy titles—if someone must address her by a title, she prefers 'Ser.' Demigirl, if I were to ascribe modern language.

Orientation: Meh, with an added sprinkle of Not Your Damn Business if She's Not Trying to Fuck You. Her 'dating' history, sparse as it is, mostly consists of women, as does her metaphorical (and much more prodigious) little black book. She thinks of herself as not prone to romance, and a lot of her prior entanglements have been one-night stands or FWB arrangements. Romantic interest is much rarer for her than sexual attraction, and only tends to come after a long period of mutual trust and friendship. Again, using modern terminology, demi-romantic bisexual (with a slight lean towards women—her husband makes fun of her when she sees a giant, hot lady and her brain stops working).

Profession: Adventurer, goldsmith, part-time consultant with Garlond Ironworks (occasionally as an engineer, mostly as a sentient crash test dummy), nominally still the schoolmaster of Crown Gemworks.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS

Hair: Dark reddish-brown, very fine and straight. Usually featuring some amount of pink dye, a holdover from when she was a teenager and her mother dyed her hair for her; it's an unofficial Hagane family tradition/bonding ritual. These days she usually keeps it trimmed to about the length of her chin, but for most of her adulthood she wore it down to her lower back.

Eyes: Green (although historically people have been confused on this point). (Is the confusion mostly the result of my being color blind? Yes.) Her limbal rings are a very bright, pale blue, which throws people off and gives her a delightfully creepy glow-in-the-dark look.

Skin: Warm brown. She probably has an impressive farmer's tan.

Tattoos/Scars: Her most notable scars are on her right forearm (a strangely sigil-like pattern of lines and circles stretching from wrist to elbow that appear to be raised and warped veins, the result of voidsent intervention in her final fight against Zenos in Ultima Thule); her lower torso (a diagonal line from her hip to the bottom of her ribcage, also from Zenos during the assault on Rhaglr's Reach); the back of her right thigh (from a drunken misadventure on a roof in her early twenties); and of course her left horn, which was severed (again by Zenos, or rather Elidibus in Zenos's body in the Ghimlyt Dark) and replaced by a hardsilver prosthesis. While some people assume her iconic face paint is a tattoo, she actually doesn't have any because she's scared of needles. She will not admit to being scared of needles.

FAMILY

Parents: Shomi Hagane is the matriarch of the Hagane clan, a family of samurai who have been serving the lords of Doma almost since its founding. She was raised in Monzen in her family home, and remained there until shortly before the Garlean invasion of Doma, when she begged then-king Kaien for leave to take her wife and young children to the countryside, safely out of reach of the imperial forces. Kaien thanked her for her service and allowed her to flee, thus ending over three centuries of Hagane service to the Rijin line. Maki Sunwalker (née Urabito) is the oldest child of a merchant family from northern Yanxia, though she was disowned as a teenager when she left her family to study the ways of the shinobi in Shinobi-no-Sato. She worked actively as an assassin and spy in service to Doma until the invasion; after Doma's fall she officially retired to become a farmer, though her 'errands' would occasionally take her to Garlean strongholds for days at a time and leave her knives suspiciously bloody.

Siblings: Hanami is the second of five children and the oldest surviving Hagane child; her older brother Akinaga died in the failed uprising at Monzen. Her younger brother Haruki has long been considered her partner in crime and currently splits his time between adventuring and working with the guard of the Doman Enclave. Her two youngest siblings are twins, Itomi and Naonaka; both were conscripted into the Garlean army after the uprising and sent to Ala Mhigo, where Itomi was promoted to Decurion and Naonaka worked as a healer. After their return to Doma, Naonaka moved to the fishing hamlet of Isari and Itomi left for Kugane; neither are currently on speaking terms with Hanami, though Naonaka has made overtures toward his brother and mothers.

Grandparents: None worth mentioning. Shomi's parents were killed during the first failed Garlean invasion, when she was three years old; she was raised by the collective efforts of several other noble families in Monzen, including the Daito family (as a result Gosetsu sometimes jokes that he's Hanami's honorary grandfather). Maki's family disowned her as a teenager and she hasn't had contact with them in almost fifty years.

Others: Hanami has a nephew, Munehise, who is the light of her life. Mune's biological mother isn't in the picture, and Hanami helped Haruki raise him until she left for Eorzea; since her return to Yanxia during Stormblood she's less involved in his day-to-day life, since she's adventuring, but she's still solidly in the 'favorite auntie' slot. (Mune won't say it out loud—the one time he tried is the only time he's ever seen Hanami genuinely upset—but he thinks of her as more of a mother figure than his actual mom.)

She has a bevy of cousins, including Kotone and Honoka (c/o @windupnamazu) and, semi-reluctantly, a brother-in-law (A'dewah on loan from @fistsoflightning). (She loves A'dewah because Haruki loves him. This does not necessarily mean she likes him.) Hanami's moms are also serial adopters, so as soon as Ninira (@nuclearanomaly) and Estinien got within fifty feet of the Hagane household they were trapped.

Hanami inherited the adopting addiction, and legally she's Rielle's ward (after a trial following the murder of Ystride de Caulignont). She also considers herself responsible for Ryne and Gaia, but in more of a hard-ass aunt way. She takes frequent trips to the First to continue their training as baby tanks.

She married Aymeric shortly before the start of Endwalker and has reached a tentative accord with his elderly cat, Mandragora, who recognizes a fellow grouchy predator when she sees one. Mandragora would take much more kindly to any half-elezen half-au ra kiddies, though...

SKILLS

Abilities: Master martialist, specializing in greatswords but having recently taken up polearms (specifically scythes). Practitioner of the dark arts as taught in the tradition of Ishgard's Dark Knights, and an (somewhat fumbling) initiate in voidsent summoning. Metalworking, with her most extensive training being in goldsmithing, though she takes on several other projects including quite a bit of engineering with the Ironworks. She was also raised on a farm and trained as a botanist, so her green thumb is nothing to sneeze at, though she mostly gardens for sustenance rather than for pleasure or aesthetics.

Hobbies: Hiking, sketching (mostly landscapes and technical drawing), riding her bikes, scaring the shit out of Ishgardian priests.

TRAITS

Most positive trait: Constancy. Hanami is loyal and unwavering—once she's named you an ally or chosen a course of action, that's set in stone. She says exactly what she means and does exactly what she says.

Worst negative trait: Stubbornness, perhaps as the natural flip-side of her positive trait. Her mind is near-impossible to change once it's been made up; she's reluctant to listen to arguments or accept help when she thinks she's better working on her own.

LIKES

Colours: Black, red, green, blue. Mostly jewel tones.

Smells: Campfire smoke, river water, morning mist, blooming honeysuckle, hot metal, clean cotton.

Textures: Fresh sheets, cool grass, calloused hands, polished leather.

Drinks: Tea (hot), fruit juice (cold), the occasional tiny sip of whiskey.

OTHER DETAILS

Smokes: Occasionally, although she prefers fogweed to tobacco. She's been known to pass a joint around with some of the other Scions in their downtime.

Drinks: Not anymore. She drank recreationally through her young adulthood, and developed alcoholic tendencies shortly after Operation Archon, in response to the stress of the Doman refugees arriving in Mor Dhona. She very abruptly swore herself to sobriety midway through the Crystal Tower expedition; speculation says there was some kind of incident that prompted the change, although the only people who seem to have any idea of what happened are Cid Garlond and G'raha Tia, and neither of them are talking. Thancred has been her recovery buddy ever since.

Drugs: See above if you count fantasy weed as a drug? She does not tolerate soporifics well at all and actively avoids them, although rumors in Ul'dah say she has some sort of...history with the Alacran, who are infamous for peddling somnus. She used to dabble with various hallucinogens when she was younger but had given them up by the time she left Doma.

Mount Issuance: She has an ancient issuance for a Maelstrom chocobo rotting in a drawer somewhere, but she can't stand the smell of horsebirds so she never used it. She has a burgeoning collection of motorcycles courtesy of Garlond Ironworks, including a custom one-of-a-kind combat bike, and she probably also has a horse back in Yanxia but this game won't give us normal ass horse models. If she's not able to use her bikes or ride a horse or a falcon she prefers walking.

Been Arrested: Twice. They say you can still find pieces of her sword embedded in the wall of the Tribunal. Attempt at your own risk.

tagged by @gatheredfates!

tagging @aethernoise @kukurubean @nuclearanomaly @nophicas-ward and YOU!

#oc: hanami hagane #final fantasy xiv #character meme #ty sea!!!! #long post

[presidenthades]

Once again, I am doing a series of my behind-the-scenes thoughts for The Golds while I do light edits for formatting, typos, and continuity. Here’s Chapter 1!

DO NOT read these commentaries until you have finishes reading the entirety of The Golds! These commentaries have many spoilers for future chapters.

First I’m gonna talk about why I decided to write this fic in the first place, because it wasn’t part of my original roadmap for the series. After I finished writing Daemon’s Handbook, my plan was to write an epic longfic with POVs from all the Targkids that encompassed a multi-year timespan a la the ASOIAF books…and then I realized if I did that, I had high odds of burning out halfway through 💀.

I’ve discovered that I do better at writing fic if I have an ending an mind when I start writing it, and the story needs to be something I can finish writing in several months so I don’t lose steam or get distracted/go on hiatus too long. That meant I needed to focus on a specific story with 1-2 protagonists/narrators that had its own complete story arc within the series’ larger arc.

When I finished writing the Handbook, I read a lot of books during my break. Several of those books were about fashion history, and one was the official GOT costumes book. I got really obsessed with fashion in the HOTD world, and I temporarily thought about writing a Rhaena POV fic because in my verse, she’s really into fashion and I wanted to put my newfound amateur knowledge to use 😅. But as I brainstormed what her story would look like, I realized it was super adjacent to Jace’s story because Rhaena is her lady-in-waiting, and eventually I shifted over to a Jace-centric story.

While I was brainstorming the Rhaena fic, I thought of a pregnancy subplot where Rhaena has to create Jace’s pregnancy wardrobe, and that pregnancy plot ultimately became the central story in The Golds. I was originally going to make Jace the sole narrator as she deals with the pregnancy, but I realized Aegon would have some really entertaining thoughts so I made it dual POV. This is when I started thinking about the Bridgerton approach, where each Targkid gets to be the star/costar of their own story in roughly chronological order.

The title “The Golds” is a reference to the canonical Greens and Blacks. There’s a theme throughout the story of Jace and Aegon accumulating popularity and soft power at court and among the smallfolk. This growing faction will unofficially be called the Golds because Jace and Aegon are strongly affiliated with that color, due to Sunfyre’s scales, Jace’s preference for gold, and all the symbolism that gold entails.

Most chapter titles are lyrics from the in-universe lullaby “The Song of the Seven.” Since the fic is about pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood, I thought a reference to this lullaby was appropriate. My original outline had 7 chapters for the fic so I was going to title each chapter after the first line of each stanza in the lullaby. As I wrote the fic and realized it was going to be more chapters, I had to get creative. For Chapter 1, I picked the Maiden lyrics because the Maiden is associated with innocence and young women. Aside from this chapter including the wedding night (and thus Jace’s last night as a maiden), this is also the beginning of Jace’s character and emotional journey, during which she becomes less innocent/naive and, as you know, encounters a lot of darkness in the real world.

Ok now for the actual chapter commentary lol

I started showing during the Handbook that Jace is a responsible, dutiful “eldest sibling syndrome” kind of person, and I wanted to really highlight that in this fic. In the beginning of this story, Jace is the neurotic workaholic while Aegon is hedonistic and urges her to relax. Throughout the story, Jace does learn to relax and delegate better, but Aegon also starts picking up responsibilities along the way. By the end, my goal was for them to meet in the middle, where Jace learns that she has to take care of herself if she wants to take care of others, and Aegon learns that he needs to put in some work in order to secure the things he really wants in life.

There’s also a theme of private vs. public. Jace starts as having a very public life (she’s the heir to the throne, her life is on display at court) while being very private about things like her body and personal wants. In contrast, Aegon is very public about his body (the casual nudity is canon, don’t blame me) and personal wants (“I love my wife and everyone must know it”), but he wishes he could have a private life (be his own person and do what he wants, rather than be the prince and politician his family wants). Again, they kind of grow to meet in the middle by the end. Jace learns to be more selfish about her desires and fight for them (she also becomes more comfortable with her body around Aegon, although the self-consciousness never entirely goes away). Aegon learns to put aside his hangups about “I don’t want to be a player in the game” and steps into the arena so he can ultimately achieve what he wants, which is to protect Jace and their child.

We see the beginnings of Aegon’s powers of observation this chapter. He notices the Bracken/Blackwood exchange (these are the same lovers that Daemon spies in the tunnels in Chapter 9 of the Handbook) and deduces a likely explanation. This trait was inspired by a TGC quote about how Aegon is very observant and knows people’s weaknesses. I loved this idea that Aegon observes a lot of what’s happening around him, but canonically he’s too drunk and apathetic to do much about it. Here, Aegon is not an alcoholic and he’s a lot more grounded, so he actively registers a lot more details.

I mention in Chapter 2 that Daemon is part of the reason Aegon doesn’t drink so much, but that’s definitely not the whole story. Aegon seems very driven by the pursuit of dopamine, things that give him pleasure. In canon, he achieves this through whoring and alcoholism. Here, he has Jace, who has always fulfilled many of his emotional needs and now his physical needs. His life is a lot happier, so there’s no need for him to drink himself into a stupor. He did still have a youthful period of debauchery, but it’s not an outrageous amount of debauchery for a spoiled prince—although still in an upper percentile.

Aegon remains impressively chaste during the Stepstones because he realizes his youthful debauchery was a big reason Rhaenyra disapproved of him. And by the time he leaves for the Stepstones, he’s realized (thanks in part to their forced separation, thanks in part to Jace being the prettiest girl he can ever imagine existing) that no other woman is ever going to compare to Jace, so why bother? (He definitely had a locket or something with Jace’s mini portrait and lock of hair lol)

Aegon’s attitude toward dancing (he’s good at it but he hates the formality) is similar to his overall attitude toward court life and politics. He can do it if he wants, but he just doesn’t want to—unless it makes Jace happy.

Confession: the Tyroshi subplot wasn’t supposed to happen the way it did. I’ll explain more in future chapters, but for now, I’ll just say Floris and Sara weren’t always intended to die. But they did die in the final draft, and in hindsight I’m glad I included the Baratheon scene this chapter. Originally the scene was supposed to showcase Jace’s politicking and diplomacy, as well as lead up to her eventually picking Floris as a lady-in-waiting. Now it has extra meaning because it shows how sweet Floris was, how she fit in with her sisters, and how her mother doted on her 🥺.

I actually kind of like Maris, she’s funny in a mean girl way 😂. But she canonically has a tendency to run her mouth and say nasty things. Here, I think she feels jealous that Cassandra is getting so much attention from potential suitors, and that contributes to her rudeness. Jace could have publicly shamed Maris for being so rude to a Targaryen bride at her own wedding, but she decided to be sneakier about it and not cause a scene. Jace wants to maintain a good relationship with the Baratheons while making it clear what Maris said is unacceptable, so she extends the private tea invite to the other Baratheon women while deliberately omitting Maris from the offer. Now Lady Elenda feels honored by the invite and relieved to not have disfavor, and she’ll probably give Maris a terrible scolding in private.

The bedding tradition seems awful and potentially traumatic, especially for the bride (but that’s ASOIAF for you!). I can’t remember what’s canon or fanon, but I went with the interpretation that the bride and groom are supposed to be stripped naked or close to it. I feel like the royal family ought to be exempt from it (in a privileged “nobody else is allowed to behold our naked bodies” kind of way), but I know Alysanne made a point of having the bedding ceremony so nobody could question her marriage was consummated. The ceremony also seems horribly wasteful because all that expensive material and labor that went into the wedding clothes is just trashed, but I guess it’s a status flex. Only the super-rich can afford to deliberately destroy all those resources after one use.

I wish I wrote more scenes where Jace and Aemond hang out 😭. They have a lot of similarities: dutiful, studious, responsible for their siblings. I imagine their relationship being super chill. Then again, they’re very proper so they probably have hangups about spending alone time with someone of the opposite gender for extended periods of time 🙃. Anyway, their relationship is much less antagonistic than in canon. Fem!Jace thinks bullying is wrong and tones down Aegon’s mean streak, while Aemond has a chivalrous and gentlemanly attitude toward women (contrast with book!Aemond, who seems pretty misogynistic). Since a lot of the friction from canon is removed, they get along much better, and this Aemond is more comfortable with the idea of fem!Jace being queen one day because they start from a better place, and he’s her good-brother.

You can see my newfound fashion history geekery showing itself during the scene where Jace gets ready for bed. (Also, take note of how meticulous Jace is. It highlights her general cautiousness, and it serves as a contrast for Chapter 3). I try not to get too flowery with description, but I decided it was relevant to highlight key fashion choices like her wedding dress because it is an aspect of Jace’s influence at court, and she is concerned about appearances. I incorporated a lot of design aspects from GOT, which are much less medieval than the HOTD gowns. I had this idea that the older generation (Alicent and Rhaenyra) stick more to traditional cuts and designs, while Jace and the other girls are starting a new fashion trend akin to what we see in GOT, where styles are more flattering and multicultural.

Jace’s wedding dress is strongly influenced by Margaery’s Purple Wedding dress. The backless part makes it rather daring, and it’s part of Jace and Rhaena’s goal to depict Jace as a leader among the younger ladies at court since matrons are far less likely to wear something so revealing. Also, in GOT, Daenerys’s dresses tend to be much more revealing than anyone else’s, so I deduced that the fashion culture in Essos is overall more daring than in Westeros. Rhaena grew up in Pentos, so I decided she brings that influence into Jace’s wardrobe, which then spreads through court. Jace’s jewelry (heirlooms owned by Valaena Velaryon, mother of the Conqueror and his sisters) is also a statement to highlight that she was born a Velaryon but now she’s a true Targaryen in name.

Jace’s lingerie is definitely Rhaena’s (and Baela’s) influence. Otherwise she would have zero clue what’s fashionable in Lys. 😳

Jace deciding to work on her wedding night is very in character for her. And Aegon making her stop to enjoy herself is also very in character for him. Definitely a recurring pattern for these two.

Like any scene I write, I try to make sure the smut has a purpose in the story. I don’t usually write PWP but I think smut scenes are an excellent way to demonstrate dynamics and emotional connections between characters, so that’s how I typically use them. Here, we see Aegon is devoted to Jace: makes her feel comfortable, ample foreplay, even cracks a few jokes because their relationship is familiar enough for that sort of thing. He literally “lets her hair down” so she can shed her usual inhibitions.

True to character, Jace overthinks the process. She knows the theory of how it works (Rhaenyra would ensure her daughters are informed of the mechanics, and Jace has been living with Baela for three years). She also knows Aegon enjoyed his time on the Street of Silk and she desperately wants to meet his expectations. She doesn’t realize that she could do literally anything (or nothing) and Aegon would still think she’s perfect.

Since Aegon hasn’t had sex in three years, he’s trying very hard not to finish too early 😅. It’s OK though, Jace has no idea how long a guy is supposed to last and they have the whole night to make up for it 😂.

In the Handbook, I hint at Aegon’s artistic tendencies when he doodles in his letters. Here, I expand upon that so he’s sort of a Renaissance man: he sings, he plays lute, he dances, he draws, etc etc. All the skills he enjoys are skills not conducive for a politician/king. In this verse, Jace encourages him to sing and draw, so he pursues it further than he would’ve in canon.

I like to think of the morning-after smut scene as when Cheeseball is conceived 😂. It’s when Aegon dirty talks about making heirs for the throne, and Jace thinks about how much she would like to have children with Aegon. It just makes sense lol.

GRRM makes his female characters give birth way too young. Some people argue it’s historically accurate, but it’s really not. Other than Margaret Beaufort (who gave birth at 13 and never had any other children, probably due to complications), royal and noble women generally married in their late teens and early twenties. But this is the world and culture GRRM created, so I’m trying to work with it. I still headcanon that in normal peacetime, highborns try to wait until bride and groom are at least 16 to marry because they are aware that giving birth too young is dangerous. It’s during wartime or when politics require an earlier consummation that we see things like Sansa marrying at 13 💀. So I made Jace realize, after she’s had time to stew, that being forced to wait three years was best. (Especially since she IMMEDIATELY gets pregnant.)

I had to research whether people with a broken nose (or recovering from rhinoplasty surgery, which apparently has similar side effects—the more you know!) could have sex. Apparently one of the concerns is causing blood vessels around the nose to expand/contract/whatnot, and arousal impacts blood flow so that’s why Orwyle bans any nookie 😔. No wonder Aegon bribes Alyssa to wake Daemon early lol.

A side effect of broken noses is bruising around the face and black eyes, so Jace looks like she got hit very badly. The ensuing gossip about how she got injured ties into the recurring themes of a) Jace’s concern with appearances and b) that courtiers can and will gossip about anything, and the more salacious the better.

Jace is pretty peeved that Luce was so reckless re: the tunnel incident, and probably upset that it inadvertently led to her broken nose. But as soon as Luce needs help, Jace stops caring about her injuries 😭. Another recurring part of Jace’s personality: she’ll do almost anything to help her loved ones but she’s much harder on herself. (Note Luce’s little question, “What do I do now?” which is a question she always asked Jace when she was in trouble as a kid.)

Aegon is closer to Aemond than in canon, since a) they went to the Stepstones together and b) Aegon had far fewer options for male companionship in this genderbent world so he had to lean on Aemond a lot more. The brothers aren’t the kind to have heart-to-hearts, but Aegon knows Aemond well enough to know that Aemond is really into Luce and is probably going to try to marry her.

With Larys dead, there isn’t a very good option for master of whisperers. The council keeps trying to fill it but the candidates never last for long. I like to joke that they’re holding the seat open for when Joff is old enough, but finding a good spymaster seems pretty difficult. Daemon would probably be good at it but he’s already flamed out of several council positions, and he would hate working with Otto.

A little more fashion history! A surcote is that quintessential medieval gown for women, which I decided is very traditional in Westeros. This is Jace’s first day at her new job, so she wants to dress extra conservatively. Color is a big deal in this world of Black versus Green, so she deliberately picks very neutral and inoffensive colors. She also styles her hair and wears gold jewelry from Aegon to emphasize her new marriage, which shows she’s a mature woman and is forging harmonious bonds with her husband across the Black/Green divide.

In canon, Corlys resigns his position as master of ships around Episode 2. Tyland is canonically master of ships during this time, but I made an error in the Handbook and turned him into the master of coin. So I decided to just force Lyman Beesbury into retirement, and this can serve as an in-universe explanation for the change in roles: Viserys (or somebody else) wanted Corlys to have his position back, so they reshuffled the council a bit.

Aaaaand Jace officially has a “first day at work” horror history. Vomited, fainted, and cried in quick succession. And for someone who values privacy regarding her body, this was an awfully public way for her to find out about her pregnancy (and have it announced) 🥲.

#my writing #meta #fanfic meta #hotd meta #house of the dragon meta #Aegon II Targaryen #female jacaerys velaryon #the golds

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 3 February 1964, one of the biggest protests as part of the civil rights movement took place when over 450,000 students in New York City boycotted class in protest at de facto segregation in the city's public schools. Primarily Black and Puerto Rican schoolchildren skipped class and instead took to the streets with parents and activists, holding rallies and alternative classes across the city. The action was organised by gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, and was joined by some teachers who went on unofficial strike. While the action was one of the biggest of the time, and involved twice as many people as the famous March on Washington, it is little-known and rarely mentioned in history books. Some historians believe this is because the narrative of segregation which is "acceptable" to be taught is about segregation in the "backwards" US South, not in the liberal major northern cities. There was a follow-up boycott the following month, of just over 250,000 schoolchildren, but the boycott was unsuccessful in forcing changes in NYC schools. As of 2021 New York schools were still the most segregated schools in the US. More info, sources and map in our Stories web app: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/10176/new-york-city-school-boycott https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2201587303359741/?type=3

[yourwizardofaus]

Early Elvis!

Elvis shown some time in November or December 1954 at the Mint Club in Gladewater, Texas.  Elvis wasn’t yet a star at this point.  As Jim Black sums it up in his 1988 book Elvis On The Road To Stardom, Elvis, Scotty and Bill “were, in fact, typical of thousands of such combos touring the small towns of America playing everywhere from the backs of flatbed trucks in the open air to school gymnasiums and local theatres.  Typical, that is, except for what history had in store for them.”

The actual date has never been confirmed and it has been speculated as early as November 12th and/or 22nd 1954, but more recently biographers Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen have suggested December, possibly sometime from the 14th to 17th.  The agent for the gigs, Tom Perryman, a local singer and deejay in Gladewater at radio station KSIJ, said he didn't remember exactly, "I didn't keep books," and those first few gigs were just calling and unofficially finding them a place to play.

The fate of the venue is most unfortunate.  It rots in thick roadside undergrowth on the opposite side of the highway to its original location - its part in early rock ‘n’ roll history now long forgotten.  The Mint Club was described as "a joint, a hole in the wall," with a small area which might hold fifty people toward the front of the building for dancing and a bar off to the left.  According to Jimmy Mohon and Gladewater historian Harold Wells, the Mint Club building was bought by a preacher sometime after 1995 with the intentions of converting the building into a church. He moved it almost directly across the highway from its original location (which essentially maps close to 1971 S. Tyler Road) but turned the building perpendicular to the highway.  Church services in the old building didn't last long and the building was never fully restored.  The interior was stripped of the countertops and bar and these were discarded outside the building where they now lay rotting.

The last three pictures show the roadside bare patch of The Mint Club’s original location, then a picture of it presently overcome by vegetation on the opposite side of the highway and an easterly view showing both locations at once.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.5158145,-94.9841708,3a,75y,80.26h,89.96t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQKtmSxPOQxCOxLhutMVgnQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

#Elvis #Elvis Presley #1954 #1950s #50s #fifties #Texas #candid #rock music #rockabilly #rock n roll #pop culture

[acertainmoshke]

Time Traveling Anthropologists update

In honor of having 2 people on my tag list, meaning it now meets the actual definition of a list, I thought I’d let y’all know where I am on this project.

Part 1: Actual Writing

I am deep into chapter 2. Chapter 1 covered Esther’s first day of work. We learned a bit about how the world works in the 2080’s and met her team. This book takes place almost entirely in the past, but future volumes will explore the future more. So, let’s meet the team!

Esther Dahan: 24 years old. The POV character. Esther is outgoing and a bit awkward. She can be intense and has something of a temper but cares deeply about equity. She is the team linguist, unofficial fighting/weapons expert, and generally ends up being in charge of daily life routines. She speaks 6 languages fluently but is also in charge of collecting linguistic rules for languages that no one knows today. She’s Jewish—there are no borders anymore, but her great-grandparents on her mother’s side were from Russia and her father’s family was from Israel. She’s bisexual. When not in the past, she lives with her parents because renting an apartment only to give it up every year or two would be impractical.

Tony Mourad: 24 years old. He is a bit goofier, fond of lightening the mood, but can also be genuine. Like Esther, he’s pretty loud in general and intense about things he cares about. They will become best friends over the course of this book. He is the expert on fashion, fabric, and and manufacturing history. His hobby is the history of clocks and calendars. He is Muslim and, though he grew up in LA, his family is Iraqi and his mom was born there (when it was still Iraq; the no borders thing is pretty recent). He’s gay and currently rents a small house with his brother, which his wages continue to help with when he’s gone for work.

Valentina Pérez: 25 years old. In this book she’s generally fairly grumpy, distant, and cool. There are reasons for this and they are Spoilers and she’ll be less so in the future. She mostly keeps to herself and is much less interested in the studies they’re doing than her teammates. Her job isn’t even anthropological; she’s the team scientist. This involves multiple jobs actually that they’re just lucky they have a single person qualified for all of them. Her main duties involve sending data home using the circuits in the Time Machine, doing general maintenance on it, and keeping them healthy. She is not a doctor but she has studied immunology and is in charge of vaccines, basic medical care, and the decision when a situation requires returning early for proper care. However, most of those jobs aren’t constant, so she’s always getting drawn into the work of the others and having to observe or write up things for them. She’s a lesbian, has a 2-year-old daughter, and has been married for 7 months to her wife. She’s from Cuba and learned English in college. Their office is based in New York, so their work is mostly in English, but widespread speaking of other languages is more acceptable, so around the office there are plenty of people she chats in Spanish to.

Minerva Myerson: 39 years old. Unlike the others, she isn’t new to the office but joined at its inception 6 years ago. She has been on 3 previous missions and was made a team leader when the religious studies department expanded. She’s generally good humored, charming, and has a fairly loose leadership style. She does get snappy when people break the rules that are there for good reasons, but is otherwise fairly even tempered. Yes this is a little loose and I will develop her character more soon. Her specialization is food history, including how food fits into cultural contexts and the expectations surrounding eating. She’s also formatting and compiling the ethnography, since she has previous experience. She is a black trans woman from New Orleans who lives alone with no kids so she actually does rent apartments temporarily in between time traveling. I think she’s straight, but again am still developing her character.

Chapter 2 has a time skip—16 months in their personal time and 4 months into their time traveling mission. So far we’ve explored the city of Samandar a little, markets and the walls and the way houses work. They have a fairly expositional team meeting and then, a couple days later, Esther is taken by her 3 unofficial “guides” on an expedition to meet warriors returning from the capital of Atil. Her guides are 3 12-year-old girls largely because they have the time and interest to share their lifestyle with a foreign stranger. Also because I thought it would be funny to have 9th century horse girls. So they go to the corral and discuss horse care, which I 100% made up but I think is plausible. Next the men will return and Esther will start talking to Boker largely to fact check the kids’ excited reports on the way warriors work.

Part 2: Outlining

I split the plot into 3 sections: murder, mystery, and [redacted]. I finished the outline for the first part, which actually focuses on anthropology and romance and culminates in the murder, and now I’m working on the second part. As I said before, I haven’t written a mystery before and I think some hints and evidence are going to probably be added in later drafts. I have, though, come up with the first 2 suspects and the actual guilty party. I’m just beginning to figure out who says what and what evidence they discover.

Thank you for listening if you made it to the end of this post! I just realized I haven’t talked much about it yet since I’ve been writing.

Tag list: @amielbjacobs @kingkendrick7

[lotus-flower-writes-history]

The Unofficial Black History Book

Janet Collins (1917-2003)

The history of ballet began around the 1500s in Italy. The term "ballet" stems from the Italian word "Ballare," meaning to dance. When ballet was introduced to America in the early twentieth century, it was a new form of art. Unfortunately, African Americans couldn't be part of ballet culture for many years, saying that our bodies were wrong for ballet.

Until one woman broke one of the last major color barriers in classical ballet, 

This is her story.

Janet Faye Collins became the first African American prima ballerina and one of the very few prominent black women in American classical ballet. And the first black prima ballerina to perform with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York City, New York.

She broke one of the last major color barriers in Classical Ballet.

Janet Collins was born on March 2, 1917, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her mother was a seamstress, and her father was a tailor. They moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1921, when she was four years old.

She started taking private dancing lessons at a Catholic community center, and ironically, Collin's parents urged her to study painting rather than dance. Because at that time, art seemed to offer more opportunities to gifted African Americans than classical dance.

Collins studied art on a scholarship at Los Angeles City College and later at the Los Angeles Art Center School.

But she continued her dance training and attracted the attention of Adolph Bohm, Carmelita Maracci, and Mia Slavenska. All prominent dance instructors agreed to work with her. She continued her dance training with Carmelita Maracci, who was one of the few dance teachers at the time to accept black students.

At the age of 15, Janet prepared to audition for Leonide Massine and the De Basil Ballet Russe Company. The company was performing in Los Angeles during its American tour and advertised for an aspiring young dancer to audition for the company.

When it was Janet's turn, she was one of the best to audition. She moved with such beauty and grace that all the other ballerinas applauded her.

Massine saw her talent and accepted her into the company. But only under one condition...

He told her she would have to paint her face white for performances.

Going further into my notes, she was told that she would either need "special roles" created for her or dance with a white face to disguise the fact that she was black.

Collins left the audition in tears and vowed to perfect her art so that race would not be an issue.

In an exchange quoted in U.S. News & World Report, she responded, "I thought talent mattered, not color."

Collins found a cold reception in professional ballet, despite her training. However, she didn't let that set her back, and she continued to perform.

In the 1930s, when she was still in her teenage years, she performed as an adagio dancer in vaudeville productions.

In 1940, she became the principal dancer for the Los Angeles musical productions of "Run Little Chillun" and "The Mikado in Swing". At this time, she worked with the Katherine Dunham Dance Company.

In 1943, she performed in the musical film "Stormy Weather," and in 1946, she appeared in the film, "Thrill of Brazil."

In 1949, Collins made her New York debut after performing her own choreography on a shared program at the 92nd Street NY. In the same year, and after two more performances, Dance Magazine named her "The most outstanding debutante of the season."

Collins made her debut as a prima ballerina on November 3rd, 1948, at the Las Palmas Theater in Los Angeles, and critics praised her as a one-of-a-kind performer.

Zachary Solov, the Metropolitan Opera House's ballet master, noticed her in a Broadway production of Cole Porter's "Out of this World" in 1951. Solov then invited Collins to join the Metropolitan Company when she was 34.

November 13th, 1951: Collins broke a color barrier after her performance of ‘Aida'. She was the first African American prima ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera after a year of joining the Corps de Ballet. It marked the first time a black artist had joined the permanent company.

Unfortunately, Collins faced racism on the road as the company toured southern cities, despite her success in New York. 

She was kept off stage due to Race laws, and sometimes her parts were performed by understudies who were white.

She remained at the Met until 1954. She would then go on to tour across the United States and Canada. She then began teaching ballet, which included using dance in the rehabilitation of the handicapped.

She also taught at the School of American Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet School, and the Harkness House.

Janet retired from performing and teaching in 1974. She spent the last years of her life painting religious subjects in her studio in Seattle.

Janet Collins died on May 28th, 2003, in Fort Worth, Texas, at 86 years old.

Despite all that was thrown at her, Janet Collins made a legacy for herself by becoming the first African-American Prima ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera and breaking its color line. 

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#the unofficial black history book #black history #black culture #black female writers #writing #indie writer #starving writer #black women #black activism #black writblr #black love #black ballerina #black icons #herstory #history #black history matters #black excellence #women of black history #janet collins #discrimination #black arts #preforming arts #writers on tumblr #women in history #black tumblr

[izzieg3987]

chapter 7

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Thankfully the group made it to class just in time. The Laboratory looked just like the ones Percy had seen Hex Maniacs have, with bubbling cauldrons, crystals, herbs, and colorful liquids in vials of all kinds of shapes.

Percy guessed potionology would be just like cooking, just follow the recipe, and you’d be fine. know what’s good for what, how one ingredient goes with another, and how much of it is needed, she did it all the time while making face masks, lotions, creams, and Pokemon food.

As she was thinking this the teacher walked in. He was young looking man with dark grey eyes and short white and black hair. He was wearing a fine suit and a faux fur coat over it. Fabulous, Percy thought as she saw him walking over to her.

“You must be Ms. Remmington. I’m your Potionology and homeroom teacher, Professor Divus Crewel. You may call me Master Crewel.” He introduced himself, and he had an accent too just like Percy. He then gestured to her lab coat and uniform with the pointer that was attached to a red collar, “I’m surprised that you got a uniform tailored this quickly, got to admit it fits you well. It’s a pleasure to finally have a puppy instead of these unruly mutts. If any of them get out of hand, don’t hesitate to tell me.”

“Thank you, Master Crewel, I know an amazing seamstress,” she thanked him with a kind smile while petting Mimikyu, who was currently on her lap, “And don’t worry sir, I have a vast amount of experience disciplining wild animals myself.”

“Excellent, good girl.” He praised then turned to the rest of the class and smacked his pointer against his palm, silencing the entire class. Then introduce himself again. “My name is Divus Crewel. You may call me Master Crewel. Now, take your seats. Class is about to begin. We’re going to start with the basics. And by that, I mean beating the names and distinguishing characteristics of one hundred herbs and poisons into your tiny brains. The mycelia are another matter. But eventually, I’m hopeful you’ll be able to take a walk without putting anything poisonous into your gaping maws. For now, I realize you have all the self-control of voracious hounds. But I will not abide a single student failing this class. Expect to be drilled accordingly.”

“Huh. So…” Deuce whispered to them slowly, “does anyone know what a mycelia is?”

“The vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a network of fine white filaments,” Percy answered as she took a look at the potionology book. Oh yeah, she was sure she was gonna excel at this class.

She might’ve not been an official student since she was five, but that doesn’t mean that she was stupid. Percy had a proclivity for analytical thinking and unofficially, she was academically brilliant. She is a fast learner and she was natural at subjects such as mathematics, physics, biology, science, and chemistry.  

“I’ve never been one for like,” Ace took one look at the textbook and grimaced, “Memorizing what things are, ya know?”

“All I care about is how to tell the yummy plants from the yucky ones,” Grim said with his paws on his hips.

“It’s important to know what’s poisonous and what’s not Grim, just like the Nightshade berries, just because it’s sweet doesn’t mean it can’t kill you.” Percy said without looking up from the book.

The next was History of Magic.

The old gentleman gave Percy a curt, yet polite greeting upon entering. He was a tall elderly man with small grey eyes and greying, neatly combed back hair, but the most interesting thing about him was the creature he held in his arms. It was a chubby Purugly-looking creature with long black fur, a white muzzle, and golden eyes.

“I am your History of Magic teacher, Mozus Trein.” He introduced himself then lifted the creature in his arms for all of them to see, “And this is my familiar, Lucius. You are here to learn the rich history of magic, and how it has sculpted the world that you now so easily take for granted. I grade based on classroom behavior as well as the quality of work. Don’t let me catch you sleeping. Now, let us open our books to page fifteen. This section concerns the magestones discovered in the Dwarfs’ Mine.”

Okay, that took Percy’s attention from the professor’s familiar and she quickly turned the page.

 “As knowledge and awareness of magical energy began to spread across the globe from this point, this year is considered Year One of the Magic Era.” The teacher started again putting his familiar down.

Who then slowly made its way to the blonde girl and rubbed up against her leg just like her Purugly did when she wanted attention. She put Mimikyu on her desk and leaned down to pick up the creature.

“Well hello, Lucius.” She quietly greeted him and scratched his chin just like her Purugly liked; it seemed to do the job for this feline too. Lucius purred in his arms as she listened to Professor Trein’s lecture.

Normally she wasn’t in history, but knowing the history of magic from a different reality might come in handy while she was here, so she listened closely.

But that cannot be said for the rest of her classmates, as most of them were already dosed off, including the two Heartslabyul boys beside her. Ace was yawning loudly, and while Deuce’s attempts to be interested were unsuccessful, he did at least tried.

“Fascinating… ‘Dwarfs’ Mine’…” the blue-haired boy mumbled in his sleep, “Mhm, mhm… ‘magical energy’…”

“Maaan…” Grim groaned, “When do we get to the classes where we blow stuff up with magic?”

“You can’t get to those classes without learning their basics, Grim.” Percy scolded him silently as she took notes with one hand to not bother Lucius on her lap.

The rest of the class went normally, save for one incident where Mimikyu and Lucius hissed at each other while fighting for her lap.

And up next was Physical Education which was taught by a very muscular, broad-shouldered man with a thick neck and thick chest. He had dark brown hair styled in a pompadour, small blue eyes, and a thin beard framing his face.    

“I’m Coach Vargas, and physically educating your feeble little bodies is my responsibility. Great sorcery begins with a great physique! Behold!” he exclaimed gesturing to his body, “The muscles you can build with a diet of raw eggs! A great mage needs a great physical constitution! So gimme twenty laps and a hundred push-ups!”

“Bleah.” Ace groaned as they walked to the running tracks. “The forced exercise is bad enough, but meatheads like this guy drive me nuts.”

“Finally!” Deuce boomed, “A subject I’m good at!”

“Explain to me the appeal of runnin’ around in circles! Do I look like a hamster?” Grim complained to his human counterpart.

“Let’s do our best!” Deuce yelled.

15 laps later…

Both boys and the feline monster were breathless. Even deuce who was confident in his abilities was panting.

“I feel like I’m gonna throw up.” Ace wheezed.

“Normally I like running,” Deuce agreed while running next to him, “But not for this long.”

“I can’t feel my paws!” Grim cried.

And then there was Percy, jogging to them with Mimikyu running next to her, who was cackling at the boys’ condition, without even breaking a sweat. And snickering at them

“You guys are so weak, it’s not even funny.” She taunted.

“How are you still not out of breath?” Ace asked, he didn’t have the energy to be angry.

“I have been walking the entire length of continents since I was 10, mate. This is nothing.” Percy bragged.

The boys didn’t have anything to say to that.

“See you at the finish line losers.” She said and suddenly bolted finishing her 20th lap and starting her push-ups.

“Very good, Very good, Remmington!” Coach Vargas praised her as he counted her push-ups.

“Thank you, Coach.”

“And may I ask why your uniform has a hood?” Coach asked curiously, it was warm outside and most people tend to shed their clothing as they worked out, but the blonde girl was covered head to toe.

“Because Coach,” *Push-up* “I’m allergic to sunlight,” *Push-up* “So you see,” *Push-up* “I need to wear,” *Push-up* “Covering clothes,” *Push-up* “When I’m out,” Percy answered him between push-ups.

“All right, I’ll accept it. Keep up the good work.” He said as he left.

“Let’s see, our next class is…” Deuce started but didn’t finish his sentence.

“This so-called magic Academy feels a lot like a lame, ordinary school,” Ace said while using the wall as a crutch, he stretched out the lingering tension in his legs from P.E. “It’s not what I expected, but at least this collar won’t be much of a problem after all.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Percy shrugged, she was now carrying Mimikyu in her arms like a doll, “I haven’t been to school since I was 5.”

“What?!” Deuce interceded.

“Well, some things happened when I was 5 and I couldn’t go to school anymore. That’s all I wish to say about it.” She said sternly as she hugged her Pokemon partner tightly to her chest, but then she loosened her grip on him, “Also things function differently in my reality. Kids go to school until they become eligible for a trainer’s license at 10. Then they usually go on Pokemon journeys, fighting in their region’s gym circuits, and then when they’re done, they go back for a few more years of school for jobs, unless they’re like me and they make a career in Pokemon battles.”

“Lucky.” Ace whined, “Can I go back with you to your reality? I wouldn’t mind traveling around the world with a bunch of powerful monsters, battling with other people for a living.”

“If I find a way to and back, why not? But I’m warning you, it’s not as easy as it sounds.” She warned.

“Still, it sounds so much fun,” Deuce said with admiration, “Don’t you think so Grim? Grim?”

Percy had a bad feeling about this…

They look around but the feline monster was nowhere to be seen. Mimikyu hissed, pointing toward the window with his extended black hand-like appendage to his trainer. Percy then saw a gray form running away in the courtyard.

“He’s cutting the class on the first day?!” she fumed at the insolence of the fiery feline.

“Boy, that guy is not a fast learner.” Deuce shook his head.

“Not a good look to lose your only student on your first day as Housewarden.” Ace smirked at the girl, making both her and her partner glare at him, “Want help catching him? I’ll do it if you buy me a chocolate croissant.”

“I’d do it for an iced latte at the cafeteria,” Deuce added with a smile.

“I will remember this,” Percy glared at them, then looked down the window to see how high it was, “To hell with you two!”

“Uh, Percy what are you doing?” the blue-haired boy asked as he looked at her worried when she sat on the window edge.

But Percy didn’t pay any mind to him, you see she guessed something like this could’ve happened, so she planned accordingly. Fool her once, shame on you. Fool her twice… there won’t be a second time.

She opened her parasol and jumped off the window with Mimikyu in her arms while yelling, “Mimikyu, Psychic!”

Mimikyu’s entire body started to glow light blue, then the glow spread to Percy too and he got them down slowly.

Percy then reached her belt for a Pokeball and pointed in Grim’s direction, “Fletchinder, Quick Attack!”

In a flash of light Fletchinder appeared, flew at Grim as fast as an arrow, and slammed into him. As he flew he left behind a white trail of energy with silver streaks inside it. Once Grim was on the ground Fletchinder grabbed him from behind of his collar with his talons and flew back to his trainer while the feline monster struggled to break free.

“Mrrah! I had it with these boring classes!” Grim screamed as Mimikyu grabbed him from Fletchinder by his tail from his spot on Percy’s shoulder as she dragged him back inside the building.

“Then you will never become a great mage!” she shouted back.

“UGH! When did you get all bossy?”

“I was always bossy, are you just noticing it now?”

“Wooo! Lunchtime at last!” To no one’s surprise on the way to the cafeteria Grim was on the lead, once he saw the buffet he was already drooling like a Snubbul, “Whoa! They got some good-lookin’ grub!”

“Hmm, a buffet. That’s unexpectedly fancy. Mimikyu,” As her partner handed her a tray, she checked out the choices. “Thank you, darling.”

Now, what to eat? Its lunch should keep it light, a tarragon chicken salad would do, lemon tea with a teaspoon of honey also meat buns for Mimikyu and Fletchinder. She calmly picked up her food, meanwhile…   

“Look how fluffy those omelets are!”

Her feline counterpart was drooling over everything on the buffet.

“Ooh, grilled chicken! And a bacon-and-egg tart!” Grim exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

“Shhh! Dude, inside voices!” Ace shushed him, shaking his head, “Where was this energy earlier today?”

“Percy, grab me the grilled chicken! There’s only one left! And an omelet too. and that jelly-filled bread. Just fill your whole tray with ‘em!” In his excitement, Grim bumped into another student. “Ow!”

“Hey! Watch where you’re goin’!” the boy then looked at his tray and stuttered, “M-my carbonara! You broke the yolk!”

 “Whoa, that’s messed up! Pokin’ the egg is the best part! You better make this right, pal!” his Buddy joined in.

“I’m gonna need that grilled chicken of yours as compensation.” The boy reached for the plate in the feline’s paws.

“Myah?! No way! Hands off the bird, chump!” Grim guarded his food,” I need my protein, because I am HANGRY!”

“Hey! That’s no way to speak to an upperclassman!” the Buddy shouted getting close to Grim, “Catch me outside and I’ll teach you some respect!”

“Hah, respect? Respect is for people with class. You two, however,” Percy ran to the feline’s aid, no one can bully her beasts when she was around, “not even worth the dirt to bury you in. So run along now little boys, while I’m still letting you,”

“Why, you—“

the boy tried to get in her face but Deuce got in between them. “Um, excuse me, sir, but it said in the handbook that fighting with magic was prohibited…”  

“Fighting? You got it all wrong. “ The assholes smirked, “ this is just me helpin’ an ignorant freshman know her place.”

“Now, let’s see just how many ways there are to skin a cat, heh!”

“Hmph, you two are not worth the effort,” Percy clicked her tongue, looking at them as if they were the mud on the bottom of her shoe, and turned to her partner with a sadistic glow in her eyes and a sharp grin, which reminded to those who were watching a certain Leech twin, “Mimikyu darling, can you please take out the trash?”

Que the two assholes hitting the wall behind the garbage cans.

“Thank you, love. Mangy little runts, not even fun to beat up.” She then turned and walked to an empty table.

“Pfft! I knew you were all talk! You better hope I never see you again!” Grim yelled at the knocked-out bullies and then walked toward his human.

The fight ended quickly. Like embarrassingly quick, but after seeing how easily the Disguise Pokemon kicked Cater’s ass this morning the boys weren’t that surprised. They were slowly getting used to how strong their otherworldly female friend and her familiars were.

“Can we just get some lunch already? I’m about to collapse.” The ginger boy whined and walked with the feline.

“I guess this is my life now.” Deuce sighed but followed them anyway. “I can’t believe this. Textbook bullies at an Academy that’s supposed to be famous for producing exceptional mages…”

The group was now all seated and happily eating their lunch.

“This omelet is as fluffy as a Cloud, and practically burstin’ with cheese!” Grim commented with his mouth full while munching on his food, ”So, I saw you guys’ dorm, but what are the other ones like?”

“Yes, I got to admit they pique my interest too.” Percy agreed, taking a sip of her tea.

“I’m sure you’re familiar with the statues of the Great Seven?” A familiar voice asked behind them.

They turned to see Cater approaching them with an unknown male with glasses, green hair, and a club under his left eye next to him. Mimikyu hissed at the orange-haired boy and was just about to use Shadow Claw when Percy stopped him by raising a hand, she was interested in what the boy was saying.

“Night Raven College has a dorm themed after each one.” Cater continued.

“Bwah! You’re that guy from this morning!” Ace yelped.

“You tricked us into paintin’ those dumb roses!” Grim growled with his paws on his hips.

“’Tricked’ is such an ugly word. Do you think I wanted to spend MY morning painting roses?” the orange-haired boy pouted, scratching the back of his head, “It’s dorm policy! I was just following orders.”

“Fletch Fletch Fletchinder.” The Ember Pokemon, who was now out of his Pokeball, happily pecking his meat bun, chirped. (Then maybe don’t smile like a fiend while doing it.)

Percy smiled at the comment her Pokemon made for a moment then turned to Cater with a neutral expression, “Still doesn’t change the fact that you did trick them to do your work,”

“Now, now, Percy. Outside of the dorm, I don’t care what rules you follow.” The orange-haired boy said with a cheerful tone, “Here, I’m just a friendly mentor figure!”

“I don’t recall giving you permission to call me Percy,” the blonde trainer glared at him coldly, making his smile drop, “And you better be, unless you want to taste another round of Shadow Ball from Mimikyu.”

“Ah ha ha. That’s just how Cater shows he cares.” The green-haired boy laughed, then pointed at the empty seats at their table, “May we sit?”

“Fine,” Percy said after she took a second to contemplate, “I’ll allow it.”

“And who are you?” Ace asked the stranger slowly.

“Ah, I should introduce myself. The name’s Trey. Trey Clover. I’m a junior at Heartslabyul, like Cater here.” He introduced himself after they sat, then turned to Percy, “And you must be Persephone Remmington, the new Beast Master Housewarden of Ramshackle dorm. I heard the whole story from Cater. Thanks for looking out for our boys yesterday.”

“no harm, no foul,” Percy paid him no mind and got back to her salad.

“I’m sitting right here.” Ace pouted but his words were ignored.

“Hey now, we’re all from the same dorm, right? Let’s try to get along.” Cater teased then pulled out his phone and held it out, “Here, gimme your digits.”

“I can do that!”

Percy’s Rotomphone flew out of her backpack and up to Cater’s phone to type the number with a mischievous emoji on its screen, making him recoil in surprise.

“Wow, that’s unexpected,” Trey’s eyes widened.

“Rotom! Don’t do that!” Percy yelled sternly and quickly grabbed her Rotomphone from where it floated, “You know that I don’t like you to going up in people’s faces like that and don’t you think that I forgot about your stunt from this morning, we’re going to have a talk when we get home.”

“I’m sorry but I couldn’t help myself, my queen.” The emoji on Rotomphone’s screen pouted, “I just had to show the people of this world that you’re the most wonderful Pokemon Champion of all.”

“O-M-G!” Cater exclaimed before Percy could talk, his eyes were sparkling as he looked at the purple phone in awe, “That’s the most amazing phone I’ve ever seen in my life! What brand is it? Where can I find it?”

“I don’t think you can find anything like Rotom around here,” Percy tried to end the subject and put her Rotomphone on the table screen down but the next thing she knew, Cater’s face was right in front of her, uncomfortably so.

“Aww, come on don’t be like that. You and I can make it a phone-shopping date!” Cater winked, making Percy cringle her nose in disgust.

“Cater, you’re freaking out the freshmen.” Trey pulled back his friend, staring nervously at the hissing Disguise Pokemon, “Maybe take it down a notch?”

“Ha! Sorry! I can get a little extra sometimes. What were we talking about…  The dorms, yeah?” The orange-haired boy giggled as he sat back in his seat, “Ah, what fun to mentor new students! Go ahead, A-M-A.”

“Before you get into the other dorms, I wouldn’t mind learning a bit more about ours.” Ace spoke up, crossing his arms as he glared at the collar around his neck, “Like, what’s the deal with all this ‘Queen of Hearts’ rule number whatever’ junk?”

“I’m sure you’re familiar with the legendary Queen of Hearts already?” Trey asked making the freshmen group collectively nod, “She had to rule over a kingdom of weirdos, and did it by emphasizing order and making strict rules.”

“Our dorm, Heartslabyul, is an homage to her.” Cater added, “By tradition, we wear armbands with red and black of the Queen’s dress. And we live by the rules she created.”

Percy looked at her own armband, she just chose two of her favorite colors and didn’t think too much about the symbolism. Guess that was one of the perks of making a new dorm from the ashes of its former self. Now Ramshackle dorm was whatever Percy wanted it to be.

“Not as much as you, my queen, but she is indeed an impressive monarch with a list of rules longer than the Kalos Pokedex!” her Rotomphone spoke as Percy picked it up to see that, it was showing her all 810 rules of the Queen of Hearts.

“Huh,” Percy hummed as she took a sip of her tea.

She did hear from the ghosts around the school, how strict the red-headed boy she saw at the orientation was, but she didn’t expect him to be strict enough to hold teenagers accountable on 810 rules. That was just unnecessarily cruel and an unrealistic goal, teenagers don’t even follow the easiest rules let alone the ones as strict as these.

“Pfft.” Grim scoffed with a bored expression, “Can you make me any more bored?”

“Now, the degree to which we adhere to the rules depends on the sitting Housewarden.” The orange-haired boy explained with a sheepish look, “Past wardens have been much more lax.”

“Riddle though? He doesn’t mess around.” Trey continued for his friend, “Basically, you could say that we’re honoring that tradition to the utmost extent possible.”

“Bleah. Just my luck…” Ace groaned.

“Fletch Fletchinder,” The Ember Pokemon chirped as he perched on his trainer’s shoulder, who scratched his head, now that he finished his meat bun. (That’s rough Buddy.)

 “So what are the other dorms like, then?” Grim interceded.

“As Cater mentioned earlier, the dorms of this school are themed after the Great Seven. We have our dorm, Heartslabyul, modeled after the strictness of the Queen of Hearts. To run down the rest of them for you, we have…” Trey explained in order, ” Savanaclaw, based on the persistent spirit of the King of Beasts. Octavinelle, based on the benevolent heart of the Sea Witch. Scarabia, based on the mindful personality of the Sorcerer of the Sands. Pomefiore, based on the tenacity of the Fairest Queen. Ignihyde, based on the diligence of the King of the Underworld. And finally, Diasomnia, based on the noble spirit of the Thorn Fairy.”

Percy remembered the names from yesterday, she only liked the last two, the rest she didn’t care for. But her feline counterpart on the other hand was looking quite overwhelmed.

“all those names are way too long!” Grim cried, “How’s anyone supposed to remember ‘em?”

“Ah ha ha! Well, you get the idea.” Cater laughed, “Want to or not, you’ll learn them soon enough.”

“At orientation, the Dark Mirror picks a dorm for you based on the essence of your being.” Trey continued to explain, “As a result, each dorm ends up with a distinct sort of… flavor, we’ll call it.”

“That is sooo true. I totes see it.” Cater agreed.

“’Flavor,’ huh…?” Deuce asked with a confused look.

“For example, look at that guy,” Trey said as he pointed at a tan, muscular boy with a pair of cute fluffy Lycanroc ears. “That rough-and-tumble vibe he’s got has Savanaclaw House written all over it.”

“I can’t express how much I want to pet his ears,” Percy smiled as she pushed her finished tray aside and rested her chin on her palm.

“No doubt. That dorm is full of scrappy guys who are into, like, working out and fighting.” Cater nodded in agreement and then described the dorm, “How should I describe the vibe…? Macho dudes? Gruff big brothers? Something along those lines. The black and gold armband is another giveaway.”

“Huh. All right, so what about that guy with the grey and purple cord wrapped around his arm?”

Grim pointed to the silver-haired boy with glasses Percy saw at the orientation, who was looking in their direction too. Well, more like looking at her Pokemon, which made Percy glare at him. Once he noticed her glare he turned back to chat with a pair of twins that sit across him.

“He’s gotta be from Octavinelle House.” Trey answered the feline monster and then pointed to the table Kalim and Jamil were sitting at, “And the student at the table in front of him has a red and gold armband—“

“Scarabia’s colors.” Percy answered for him.

When the cute Oshawott in human form known as Kalim noticed Percy looking his way, he smiled widely and excitedly waved at her.

“Oh? You know them?” Trey asked surprised.

“You can say that,” the blonde trainer said as she waved back to the little Oshawott.

“Those dorms are for the smart students. They’re always neck-and-neck in the academic rankings.” Cater said with a grin, “Ah, but the current Housewarden of Scarabia doesn’t seem to be all that great of a student…”

“Cater if you insult my adorable little Oshawott again, we’re going to have a problem, you and I.” Percy threatened the orange-haired boy, who immediately raised his hands in surrender.

“Okay… Let’s get back on topic.” Trey intervened before things could get heated and pointed to the table where a large group of students with the best postures Percy had seen in this school sat, “You see the flashy ones with the purple and red armband? Those are Pomefiore colors.”

“Whoa!” Grim jumped out of his seat and pointed to a student with remarkable lavender locks, “The girl with the potion books, I really like her!”

“What’s SHE doing in a boys’ school?!” Deuce yelped.

“Mimikyu,”

*SMACK*

“OUCH!” both Deuce and Grim shouted as they rubbed their cheeks where the Disguise Pokemon slapped them with his black appendages.

“Thank you, love.” Percy then turned to the two of the idiots in their group, “One, I’m right here, and two, are you two blind? That’s a boy. I’m the only girl here.”

Yes, he had a very feminine face but he was obviously a boy.

“WHAAAT?!”

Mimikyu smacked them again but they already got the attention of the lavender-haired boy.

“Speaking of girls, there’s a portrait in the west hall who’s a real beauty. Name’s Rosaria.” Cater teased the boys with a cheeky grin, “If you’d like to meet her, I’d be happy to introduce you. Maybe we can set something up?”

“A painting? Hard pass!” Ace loudly declined, “I don’t care how cute she is if she’s two-dimensional!”

  “Come on, man. Who cares how many dimensions she’s got! Anyway, they take vanity pretty seriously at Pomefiore.” Cater explained, humming delightfully, “It’s basically a dorm full of models. Their Housewarden has 5,000,000 followers on Magica, but don’t worry Housewarden Remmington, I’m sure you’ll top him in no time with how quickly you reached 1mil already.”

5 million was not bad, not bad at all. But it was nothing next to her 47.5 million followers in Pokevision.

“Hey now, they’re not all just pretty faces.” Trey cut in, “The students at Pomefiore are among the best at potions and casting curses.”

“Heh heh. True dat,” Cater laughed, “Next, we have Ignihyde… Their armbands are blue and black, but I don’t see any around here. They tend not to be the most outgoing of students. Even I don’t have a single friend from that dorm. They’re kind of the polar opposite of us sunny, fun-loving Heartslabyuls.”

“So they’re gloomy and miserable?” Grim blurted out.

“Now, now Grim,” Percy scolded as she petted Mimikyu’s head, which made him purr with affection even though it came out as creepy cackles to the boys, “There’s nothing wrong with enjoying solitude in darkness.”

“Yeah,” Trey agreed, “They just have a reputation for being quiet and serious, is all. That dorm tends to attract magical-energy engineers and students who are good with tech.”

‘Tinkatuff would love that dorm, and they would love Magearna.’ Percy thought. ‘Maybe they can replicate Pokeballs, if more wild Pokemon appeared in this reality I might need them.’

“And that just leaves… Diahonyalara, was it?” Deuce muttered the last part silently and quickly hoping no one noticed that he totally butchered the name.

“You were off to a good start, and then you rammed right into the guardrails.” Ace facepalmed, “It’s ‘Diasomnia.’”

“I know that! I just misspoke, all right?” the blue-haired boy lied while he blushed with embarrassment.

“Diasomnia House is, hm…” Cater glanced around before his eyes fell on a few students, “Ah, look over there. Those guys are in the special seating area. You can tell from the neon green and black armbands. They’re basically campus celebrities. The vibe they give off makes it really hard for regular schmucks like us to even approach them. And their Housewarden is that times a thousand.”

Percy, for the life of her, couldn’t understand what Cater was talking about. She didn’t sense an unapproachable vibe from them, to her the only thing out of ordinary was one petit boy, who looked fairly young. His blazer was draped over his shoulders, probably because he was small and his cropped black hair with magenta-pink streaks looked like he deeply offended his hairdresser. His pointy ears and blood-red eyes were another subject.

Then again she never had a normal sense of approachability, her specializing in Ghost Pokemon was proof of that.

“There’s a little kid in that group!”

And apparently, he stood out to Ace too.

“Ah, we do get some child prodigies here. But that guy there is no kid. He’s a junior like us. Name’s—“

But Trey was cut off by that very person, who was now hanging upside down in front of them. From up close, he reminded Percy of a Noibat.

“Lilia. Lilia Vanrouge.”

BWAH?!

The whole table shrieked. Except for Percy, she was around Ghost Pokemon since she was 5, Jump scares didn’t phase her anymore.

“H-he just teleported!” Grim yelped.

Lilia then gracefully jumped to the floor, no longer floating, with a very amused grin. “I understand my apparent age interests you? As this bespectacled fellow accurately noted… Despite my fresh-faced, boyish good looks, it would be inaccurate to call me a ‘child.’”

“’ Fresh-faced’ he says…” Trey muttered in disbelief.

Lilia’s magenta eyes then looked into Percy’s emerald greens as he tilted his head with interest.

His father senses were tingling, he just knew that the blonde girl was an orphan. She had that look in her eyes, the look all orphans had, the look you get when you’ve been left alone. He just couldn’t stand seeing that look in children’s eyes. “Greetings, young miss.” He reached out a hand.

On Percy’s end, she could see in his eyes that he was much, much older than he seemed. His eyes were very old and she could tell that he had seen too much, “Greetings,” she shook his hand.

“You need not gawk at us from afar. You may feel free to speak with us directly. We are schoolmates, are we not? All of us at Diasomnia House welcome you without reservation,” Lilia bowed with all the poise of someone who’d been trained in it and extended his arm towards his table.

“And yet, those guys over there aren’t exactly Rolling out the red carpet in terms of approachability…” Deuce remarked.

Lilia glanced at the silver-haired young man and a taller boy with slick mint-green hair, who was glaring at them and chuckled before turning back to the group, “Forgive me for appearing above you during your meal. I do hope we can speak again.” On his way out, he grinned at Percy in particular.

“Their table has got to be over twenty yards away from ours.” Ace whispered to Trey, “And they overheard our conversation? That’s WAY creepy!”

“Well…” Trey readjusted his glasses, “Diasomnia House does have a bit of a reputation for having lots of special students. Some of them are extremely talented at magic. Their Housewarden, Malleus Draconia, is considered one of the five best mages in the world.”

“Malleus is reeeeeal bad news. Though I suppose the same could be said of our own dear Housewarden.” Cater winked.

“No kidding! He collared me for eating one slice of tart!” Ace ranted, “All of his rule obsession is outta control!”

‘There he goes again’ Percy thought, she had listened to him whine about his Housewarden all mourning. And as fun, as it may be to watch him be miserable at the beginning, it was starting to get old. But then Percy noticed the short red-haired boy approaching them hearing Ace complain, and She had to hold herself from breaking into a fit of laughter.

“My ‘rule obsession’ is ‘outta control,’ is it?” the red-haired Housewarden drawled out, deceptively calm.

“You bet it is.” Ace kept going, not noticing he was digging his grave deeper, “Riddle’s just a petty tyrant who leans into the whole ‘rules’ schtick as a pretext to keep everyone under his puny thumb!”

“You’re an Imbecile, gingernuts,” Percy mused, watching the comical scene, while Mimikyu and Fletchinder snickered at the ginger boy’s misfortune.

“Ace! Behind you!” Deuce harshly whispered as he kept pointing behind Ace.

“Bwah!” the ginger boy cried once he finally turned around, looking as pale as a ghost, “Housewarden!”

#twisted wonderland x pokemon #twst oc #twisted wonderland #twst x pokemon #TGQTA

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Tabia Lee

Published: Mar 31, 2023

This month, I was fired from my position as faculty director for the Office of Equity, Social Justice, and Multicultural Education at De Anza Community College in Cupertino, Calif.—a position I had held for two years. This wasn’t an unexpected development. From the beginning, my colleagues and supervisors had made clear their opposition to the approach I brought to the job. Although I was able to advance some positive initiatives, I did so in the face of constant obstruction.

What made me persona non grata? On paper, I was a good fit for the job. I am a black woman with decades of experience teaching in public schools and leading workshops on diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism. At the Los Angeles Unified School District, I established a network to help minority teachers attain National Board Certification. I designed and facilitated numerous teacher trainings and developed a civic-education program that garnered accolades from the LAUSD Board of Education.

My crime at De Anza was running afoul of the tenets of critical social justice, a worldview that understands knowledge as relative and tied to unequal identity-based power dynamics that must be exposed and dismantled. This, I came to recognize, was the unofficial but strictly enforced ideological orthodoxy of De Anza—as it is at many other educational institutions. When I interviewed for the job in August 2021, there was no indication that I would be required to adhere to this particular vision of social justice. On the contrary, I was informed during the interview process that the office I would be working in had been alienating some faculty with a “too-woke” approach that involved “calling people out.” (After I was hired, this sentiment was echoed by many faculty, staff, and administrators I spoke to.) I told the hiring committee that I valued open dialogue and viewpoint diversity. Given their decision to hire me, I imagined I would find broad support for the vision I had promised to bring to my new role. I was wrong.

Even before any substantive conflicts came to a head, warning lights started flashing. Within my first two weeks on the job, a staff member in my office revealed he had also been a finalist for my position and objected to the fact that I had been chosen over someone who had been there for years “doing the work.” I would have a rough ride ahead, this person told me—and, indeed, I would. It also soon became clear that my supervising dean and her aligned colleagues were attempting to prevent me from performing my duties.

From the beginning, efforts to obstruct my work were framed in terms that might seem bizarre to those outside certain academic spaces. For instance, simply attempting to set an agenda for meetings caused my colleagues to  accuse me of “whitespeaking,” “whitesplaining,” and reinforcing “white supremacy”—accusations I had never faced before. I was initially baffled, but as I attended workshops led by my officemates and promoted by my supervising dean, I repeatedly encountered a presentation slide titled “Characteristics of White-Supremacy Culture” that denounced qualities like “sense of urgency” and “worship of the written word.” Written meeting agendas apparently checked both boxes.

You may have encountered this graphic or similar ones before. Derived from Kenneth Jones’s and Tema Okun’s 2001 book, Dismantling Racism, it has appeared in different forms on many institutional websites, sometimes provoking controversy. After all, doesn’t the statement that “objectivity” and “perfectionism” are “white” qualities seem kind of, well, racist? On these grounds, the National Museum of African American History eventually saw fit to remove a “White-Supremacy Culture” page from its site in 2020. But if you are wondering whether this document is still circulating and being cited inside publicly funded educational institutions, the unfortunate answer is yes.

As I attended more events and spoke with more people, I realized that the institutional redefinition of familiar terms wasn’t limited to “white supremacy.” Race, racism, equality, and equity, I discovered, meant different things to my coworkers and supervising dean than they did to me. One of my officemates displayed a graphic of apples dropping to the ground from a tree, with the explanation that “equity means everybody gets some of the apples”; my officemates and supervising dean praised him for this “accurate definition.” When I pointed out that this definition seemed to focus solely on equality of outcomes, without any attention to equality of opportunity or power, it was made clear this perspective wasn’t welcome. “Equity” and “equality,” for my colleagues, were separate and even opposed concepts, and as one of them told me, the aspiration to equality was “a thing of the past.”

Having recognized these differences, I attempted to use them as starting points for dialogue. In the workshops I led, I sought to make space for people to share their own definitions of various concepts and then to identify common points of reference that we could rally around, even as we acknowledged and accepted differences of perspective.

In one workshop, for instance, I presented a chart summarizing two different racial-justice outlooks. The first was what I have called the neo-reconstructionist perspective popularized by Ibram X. Kendi’s bestseller How to Be an Antiracist, which presents an individual’s destiny as determined by social identity and holds that present racial discrimination can be an appropriate remedy for past racial discrimination and that ultimate emancipation from racism isn’t possible. I juxtaposed these views with those promoted by the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, which takes a more open-ended view of oppression and privilege, wherein human destiny is determined by human choices, racial discrimination in all forms is rejected, and emancipation from racism is seen as possible and desirable. Without editorializing, I gave participants time to notice the differences between the perspectives. We then came together and shared things that these two seemingly divergent philosophies had in common. The aim was to enable a conversation between two perspectives that I already saw at play in divisions on campus about how to approach issues of race.

When I was evaluated as part of the tenure process, some of my evaluators objected to such efforts to identify points of commonality between divergent viewpoints. They also objected to such views being presented at all. One evaluator, who described herself as a “third-wave antiracist,” aligning her with Kendi’s philosophy, made clear that the way I had presented her worldview was deeply offensive. Another evaluator objected to my presentation of “dangerous ideas” drawn from the scholarship of Sheena Mason, whose theory of “racelessness” presents race as something that can be overcome. This evaluator told me that it was disrespectful of me to set Kendi’s and Mason’s views side-by-side or to treat them as at all comparable.

A dogmatic understanding of social justice shaped organizational and hiring practices. One of the faculty seated on my tenure-review committee invited me to join a socialist network she was a member of. I declined, confessing that I don’t identify with that (or any other) political label. She later observed one of my workshops and wrote up an evaluation before meeting with me to have a conversation about the workshop. I had been told that the post-observation conversation was an important part of the evaluation process. When we finally spoke, after she had already drafted her evaluation, she was dismissive and quickly terminated the conversation, stating we had nothing more to talk about. She proceeded to file her evaluation as it was written prior to our meeting.

This evaluator later gave me a “needs-improvement” rating on the rubric for the “accepts-criticism” criterion. Her aligned colleagues repeatedly assigned me the same rating. It was clear that this rating was rooted in ideological concerns, rather than any substantive objections to my performance. Anything short of lockstep adherence to critical social justice was impermissible. “Criticism” was only supposed to go in one direction. Contextualizing my colleagues’ views and comparing them to other approaches to the same issues, much less criticizing them, was “dangerous”; my supposed failure to “accept criticism” was, simply put, a refusal to accept without question the dogmas these colleagues saw as beyond criticism.

The conflicts were not limited to my tenure-review process. At every turn, I experienced strident opposition when I deviated from the accepted line. When I brought Jewish speakers to campus to address anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, some of my critics branded me a “dirty Zionist” and a “right-wing extremist.” When I formed the Heritage Month Workgroup, bringing together community members to create a multifaith holiday and heritage month calendar, the De Anza student government voted to support this effort. However, my officemates and dean explained to me that such a project was unacceptable, because it didn’t focus on “decentering whiteness.”

When I later sought the support of our academic senate for the Heritage Month project, one opponent asked me if it was “about all the Jewish-inclusion stuff you have been pushing here,” and argued that the senate shouldn’t support the Heritage Month Workgroup efforts, because I was attempting to “turn our school into a religious school.” The senate president deferred to this claim, and the workgroup was denied support.

Just hours after this senate meeting, a group of colleagues attended the Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees meeting and called for my immediate termination. (A public video of this meeting is available.) These individuals claimed to represent campus racial-affinity groups, but they hadn’t polled their group members or gotten consensus on the statements they issued. This sort of dynamic, where single individuals present themselves as speaking for entire groups, is part and parcel of the critical-social-justice approach. It allows individuals to present their ideological viewpoints as unassailable, since they supposedly represent the experience of the entire identity group to which they belong. Hence, any criticism can be framed as an attack on the group.

The majority of the people employed at De Anza College aren’t ideological extremists. During my time there, people who had previously opted not to engage with my office started to attend my workshops and told me how refreshing my approach was. When under review, I presented letters from collaborators who worked with me on each workshop I facilitated, participant evaluations, and a great deal of other material attesting to the positive impact of my work. None of these things mattered to the board of trustees, the chancellor, or the president. Only the narratives that were put forth by the ideologically biased evaluators mattered. I was fired, in other words, for delivering exactly what I had promised to in my job interview. For those who sought my termination, the same approach that appealed to faculty previously alienated by my office’s divisive callout culture was a threat to the college’s “equity progress.”

For those within the critical-social-justice-ideological complex, asking questions, encouraging other people to ask questions, and considering multiple perspectives—all of these things, which should be central to academic work, are an existential danger. The advocates of critical social justice emphasize oppression and tribalistic identity, and believe that a just society must ensure equality of outcomes; this is in contrast to a classical social-justice approach, which focuses on freedom and individuality, understands knowledge as objective and tied to agency and free will, and believes that a just society emphasizes equality of opportunity. The monoculture of critical social justice needs to suppress this alternative worldview and insulate itself from criticism so its advocates can maintain their dominant position. Protection of orthodoxy supersedes all else: collegiality, professionalism, the truth.

My case, sadly, isn’t unique. At colleges across the country, critical-social-justice adherents are inserting their ideological stances as the supreme determinants of whether candidates advance in the tenure-review process. Faculty are under pressure to profess their allegiance to this particular set of dogmas and to embed a certain way of talking and thinking about race into their course curriculum. They are being encouraged to categorize every student as a victim or an oppressor, and to devote their classes to indoctrination.

If certain ideologues have their way, compelled speech will become an even more common aspect of university life. Faculty and staff will be obligated to declare their gender pronouns and to use gender-neutral terms like “Latinx” and “Filipinx,” even as many members of the groups in question view these terms as expressions of cultural and linguistic imperialism. Soon enough, we may also be formally required to start all classes and meetings with land acknowledgments, regardless of how empty a gesture this may seem to living members of tribal nations.

All of these things are on the horizon, because faculty members are afraid to resist. They know that anyone who questions these practices will be accused of racism and other grave sins. Because critical-social-justice advocates often present themselves as representatives of their identity groups, any criticisms of them can be treated as an attack on the groups they claim to stand for. By this and other means, they ensure their worldview is unassailable. Although I knew I had colleagues who supported my approach, most had been pressured into silence.

As my experience shows, questioning the reigning orthodoxies does carry many risks. But the alternative is worse. Authoritarian ideologies advance through a reliance on intimidation and the compliance of the majority, which cowers in silence—instead of speaking up. Engaging in civil discourse and ensuring that multiple perspectives are presented are crucial, if we want to preserve the components of education that ideologues are seeking to destroy.

There is some reason to hope. Since my firing, I have been contacted by scores of people who have said that they are attempting to resist similar pressures. As bleak as things may seem, there are many who still believe in academia as a space where divergent viewpoints can and must be explored.

==

If you took this story and changed some of the nouns, it could easily be the story of an atheist at an institution dominated by religious people.

You can't just be an atheist and a moral person. Being one of the Good™ people isn't about being moral or ethical, because they define it as being a member of the religion. Every atheist has encountered this.

Matthew 12:30

He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

https://quranx.com/63.4

They are as (worthless as hollow) pieces of timber propped up, (unable to stand on their own). They think that every cry is against them. They are the enemies; so beware of them. The curse of Allah be on them! How are they deluded (away from the Truth)!

When you are a member, it doesn't even matter how you behave or what you do (unless you do anything too much like the Bad™ people), because you're one of the tribe and, by definition, one of Us™ and we are Good™.

This is exactly the same thing. It's not enough to be antiracist in a liberal way ("the content of their character") or even in a Xian way ("we are all God's children"). No, you have to be "antiracist" on their terms. It's not about shared values or ideals, or even results. It's about compliance with their dogma and yielding to their (imagined) moral authority.

#Tabia Lee #critical social justice #cancel culture #ideological capture #diversity equity and inclusion #diversity #equity #inclusion #wokeness as religion #woke #wokeism #cult of woke #wokeness #antiracism #antiracism as religion #religion is a mental illness

[darklordazalin]

Azalin Reviews: Illithid God Brain

Domain: Bluetspur Domain Formation: 581 BC Power Level:💀💀💀⚫⚫ Sources: Domains of Dread (2e), Thoughts of Darkness (2e), Book of Sacrifices (Kargatane “unofficial” source) The Illithid “God Brain” is the Darklord of the Island of Terror known as Bluetspur. It was once part of the “Core”, but uh...well, I may have caused the events that led to Bluetspur now just floating in a sea of Mist. I think that’s more suitable for a literal giant brain that floats in a vat of liquid. Don't you?

The surface of Bluetspur contains very little life, mostly small patches of dying vegetation, though it's a wonder that anything can survive the constant electric storms that plague what constitutes Bluetspur’s never ending nights. The majority of the population live beneath the surface in vast underground caverns and the population consists of Illithids serving the God Brain and the people they have enslaved. Not very diverse. Though, I know the vampire Lyssa von Zarovich traveled there and has turned many of these Illithids into vampires in hopes of using them against her grand uncle. I wish her the best of luck with her endeavors. The God Brain does not have any “official” background, but a group of researchers from the Demiplane of Earth calling themselves the Kargatane discovered a possible history for this vast brain. The God Brain was once human named Seldrid and their city was being besieged by Illithids. Admiring the Illithids, Seldrid, thought they could create a supreme race by merging human and Illithids, which is, of course, absolute nonsense. This led them to betray their people and assimilate with the the Illithid’s elder brain, which was slowly dying. Seldrid used their knowledge of the people of Thaan to destroy them and add their brains to the Illithid collective. For this act, the Dark Powers drew Seldrid and all of their Illithid followers into Bluetspur. Now Seldrid is only known as the “God Brain” and appears as a huge mass of tangled, fibrous black tissues made up of every dead Illithid merged into one being floating in a vial vat of brine. They can never leave this vat of theirs and can only experience the “outside” world by probing into the minds around them. They can reach into the mind of anyone in Bluetspur. Not very impressive, I can do that in my far larger domain AND modify memories if I wish. Though, this Brain can, on rare occasions, sense minds with psionic abilities from other worlds, which is mildly impressive. The Brain is very powerful in psionics, but rather useless in anything else unless swimming in a small vat and sending people nightmares is considered “useful”. So, we have a brain that loves collecting brains and is stuck forever in a vat of goo. I can’t believe this Darklord is destined to end one of my "children". Well, I assure you that will never happen. A Darklord that’s essentially a worse version of Krang from TMNT, has literally one skill set, and can never leave their little pool. I have never been so content about the results of the Grand Conjunction before. Reaching beyond their Domain is the only really impressive thing here and for that I will award them 3 skulls.

#the god brain #illithid god brain #illithid #bluetspur #ravenloft #darklordreviews #azalin rex #tumblrloft

[black-paraphernalia]

Victor Hugo Green, a Black postman from Harlem, NY set out to change the fate of millions of Blacks looking for safe passage to better lands. In 1936 he created The Negro Travelers’ Green Book.

The book, which was dedicated to making travel comfortable and safe for Black travelers, was a list of Black-friendly businesses which Blacks could visit without persecution or harassment from whites. The 15-page guide listed restaurants, hotels, beauty salons, drug stores, barber shops, nightclubs, and any other businesses Blacks might frequent while on the road. 

The guide also included newspaper articles and even read like a magazine, with travel essays, how-to manuals, and travel tips. The book stayed in publication until 1967, three years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, which greatly reduced the number of sundown towns in America.

But even though sundown towns are not as mainstream as they were at the start of the 19th century, they still very much exist. There may not be a sign hanging up when you enter the town that says, “This is a sundown town, Blacks beware.” But the rules still apply.

There are towns in America right now that are not safe for Black people after dark–it is a sad truth. Fortunately, there is a sundown town database and an interactive map that allows you to select a state and see a list of historic sundown towns, as well as towns that could still hold these toxic values. The site shows the sheer number of possible sundown towns in every state in the union.

DRIVING SCARED – Is your Town a Sundown Town?

I had never heard of a sundown town and did not know they existed. But, they still do. James W. Loewen, bestselling author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, exposes the chilling history of these towns that sprung up to keep out African Americans and non-whites in his book Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of White Racism. 

 “ A sundown town is a community that for decades kept non-whites from living in it and was thus ’all-white‘ on purpose. Some allowed a non-white household or two as an exception.“ The history of sundown towns is described as being “hidden in plain sight.” Many people may assume these towns are in the south, but they are all over the United States.

Despite this, most of what is known today about the topic is through the research of sociology professor James W. Loewen. The rules of a sundown town, though unofficial, are clear: “Black people were allowed to pass through during the day or go in to shop or work, but they had to be gone by nightfall. Anyone breaking the rules could risk arrest, a beating or worse.”

Restricting the movements of Black people on the basis of skin color was a public health crisis then, just as the effects of racism are today.

DRIVING SCARED – Is your Town a Sundown Town?       By Sheila Lettsome

Black Americans in the 21st century need to be aware that sundown towns are still a reality

Here are some links below to see were some of these towns are today and the full story of the except of this post along with additional reading links. *BP*

Sundown Towns:Racial Segregation Past And Present

The Green Book: The Black Travelers’ Guide to Jim Crow America

An echo of the ‘sundown towns’ that banned and threatened Black people By Peter Carlson on Washington Post

Historical Database of Sundown Towns click on the map to show the town

Black Paraphernalia Disclaimer - Please Read

#black paraphernalia #sundown towns #this is america #jim crow 2.0

[spite-and-waffles]

A meta analysis on Oliver Queen written in Feb 2008 on Livejournal.

Workshop: "Writing Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)" by Merfilly

Just a quick warning to anyone reading this looking for current canon...while I may touch it, I have a disagreement with both Green Arrow: Year One and Green Arrow/Black Canary. In many ways, the character I have seen since Winick took on the book has been touch and go with his history. It happens, and is very easily explained, considering Winick's tour is post-resurrection. Death, if anything, should have a right to change a man.

Introducing...

Car. Plane. Gadget for every gimmick, gimmick for every trap. Sidekick. Costume. Rich lifestyle, with a need to do good.

Cool your bat-jets, folks...that's really Green Arrow I'm talking about.

He made his debut in More Fun Comics, back in November 1941. He ran in the book from issue 73 to issue 107, after which the superheroes of the title moved over to Adventure Comics instead. Creators Mort Weisinger and George Papp defined him, and opened the door for years of comparison to Batman almost from day one.

Like Batman, Green Arrow is merely human. He has, since the first days, relied on the use of a bow and arrow, employing several 'trick' arrows, arrows that ranged from a boxing glove to a cryogenic arrow. All of which, it should be noted, he invented himself. He might have been following in Bruce's shadow, but he had the brains to do it with, a facet that is sometimes, sadly, lost.

It's worth noting that Green Arrow began with his sidekick, Speedy. As storytelling progressed, it was decided GA had been active before Roy came along, but we had to wait quite some time to learn their separate origins.

Historical data

Oliver's history has been victim to subtle retcons over the years, but the gist is still the same...and made it mostly intact onto Smallville. He's the millionaire heir to Queen Industries, his parents having died when he was young, and he wound up playing Robinson Crusoe on his very own castaway island without a volleyball for a best friend.

To survive, he drew on his resourcefulness, made himself a bow and some arrows to hunt. Then there is conflict (pirates, hippies, drugrunners...take your pick) and he escapes back to civilization a much changed-man who chafes at the injustice of the world. He picks up the inspiration of Robin Hood, and soon becomes the latest of the costumed crowd to run amok on the bank robbers and kidnappers.

Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths, Green Arrow was the much younger lover of Black Canary, the man she left her world, that of the JSA, for. Arrow's involvement in the League was argued as reasons to bar her from joining, by Hawkman, whose own girlfriend had been refused, but it was argued right back that Canary did not overlap her boyfriend's powers. Just goes to show the sexism there, as Ollie most certainly overlapped the other rich boy on the League.

Post-COIE, though, paints us a new story. One of a man behind the scenes at first, willing to avoid the limelight of financing the League, and taking his time showing just who he was to the five founders. The fact he already had Speedy with him in his first meeting with the League is a subtle retcon of the DC universe as a whole...between the two Crisis events, Speedy, not Robin, is the first sidekick, a factor often ignored or tossed aside on the thought that Robin was already running around in Gotham, just not worldwide. Ollie did eventually get invited to be the sixth member of the League.

According to the Black Canary mini series, we now have a new history of Ollie with the League. Both of them were 'rookies' when Batman is already established on the team...and that rings poor when every Bat-fan knows how long it took the League to convince the Bat to be on the League even unofficially, let alone a deciding member. It's also not holding up within DC continuity, as there have been other titles to suggest Oliver's place as the sixth member remains secure.

Speaking from his own book, Ollie came back to his wealth from that island, and balanced corporate heir with do-gooding, as well as raising a thirteen year old boy who was full of hero worship for him. It really wasn't enough to hold the character up in the light though.

So they stripped him of his money, his company, and eventually, his ward. They got a liberal man-for-the-people hero that Batman had never been, and that grittier image stuck hard. Long before Miller repainted our other rich-boy-with-issues, we had Oliver Queen penniless, learning what America really was in a hard hitting look at normal life, and finding out his teenage ward was a junkie.

Mike Grell took what Denny O'Neill had begun and got DC to give him the character for a Mature, No-Powers book. We got an Ollie who killed, who contemplated real-world issues, aged, and who otherwise showed every flaw and merit in close, graphic detail.

With lots of pretty, naked him and Dinah.

Those flaws started adding up too quickly. The long-time relationship with Dinah Lance (now the younger of the pair) came to an end in the face of infidelities and long absences, setting Ollie on what can only be termed a self-destructive spiral. He toured the world, looking for his place in it, trying to forget the woman who he'd driven away.

And met his son. Connor Hawke. Originally, he had no idea who the kid was. Met him in the ashram he had sought out for meditations, and they grew uneasily into friendship. Connor knew, but Ollie did not for a long time.

Then this nasty thing happened. Actually, it began around the time Dinah had left him. It was when Superman died and was reborn, because right around then, his absolute best friend forever, Hal Jordan, went bug-screwy-nuts.

Considering GA and GL had just had an adventure the issue before the one where this happened, is enough to make my fan-teeth itch. See the Hal Essay and you might know why I have issues with the handling. That Oliver Queen was not more involved in efforts to save Hal from himself is the rest of my grievance, given their canon near-inseparability since the 70s.

Eventually the bug-screwy-nuts Hal decided to remake the universe into the multiverse and undo the sacrifice of his other best friend, Barry Allen. This didn't set well with Ollie in the least, and when he had to, he fired what he believed to be a lethal arrow.

That, fellow fen, is when Oliver Queen died, in my own brain. The issues following Zero Hour were a meltdown that would eventually (not so long, as Supes still had the long hair) lead to his death in his own title, saving Metropolis from devastation with Superman right there.

Why'd he have to die, then, if Supes was on deck? Because Oliver Queen chose to die, rather than sacrifice being Green Arrow. The only way out of the plane, rigged with a dead man's switch and armed as a bomb, was to let Superman take his arm off.

Ollie let go of the switch instead.

Fast forward a little bit. Hal Jordan gets kicked in the conscience by Kyle, the baby Lantern. Comes home and saves the solar system...but does one selfish act before he does it at the cost of his life. He resurrects Oliver Queen, but with amnesia and from about 'ten years' (DC time) in the past.

Final Night was published in 1996.

Green Arrow relaunched in 2001 to explain the details of the resurrection. Five years, folks, between setting up his return and actually doing it. Why? Because Kevin Smith wanted the title, and was tied up forever. The Green Arrow title had come to an end, even with Connor Hawke as the Emerald Archer in 1998.

With the relaunch, came retcons. Minor ones, to start, and a return to old favorites. Connor and Ollie getting to know each other was written in great fashion. A new Speedy, this time a girl. Dinah/Ollie goodness. Roy and Ollie finding new ground with each other. Shifts in everything.

Personality and Interactions

Over all, Ollie's a charmer. He's a witty man, with good looks, and charisma. If you look at him in the Golden Age, he comes off as patronizing toward Roy on a lot of occasions, but no worse, normally, than Bruce toward Dick. By the Silver Age, his appearances were focused more on the League and Dinah Drake Lance, the widow from that other world, who was older and wiser than him in a lot of ways. By the modern age, he was still given to words like 'kiddo' (his most endearing poke at the fact he was the elder of post COIE Canary/Arrow), but had developed a more guarded personality. Never as closed off as the Bat became, he was less trusting in the Grell book, a facet Dixon and other writers made use of in the 25 issues that led to his death following Grell's departure.

Since Ollie's return...especially OYL, he's been presented as a man who looked in a mirror darkly and didn't really like what he saw reflecting back at him. He's more mature than he was during the 80s, less grim than he was in much of the 90s. Family, first and foremost, seems to drive him. He's still a charmer...but he's got to have a reason to charm you.

Top of my head, the people who rank high in his life are Hal Jordan, Roy Harper, Dinah Lance, Mia Dearden, and Connor Hawke. Hal's still his best friend, and Dinah...regardless of how you feel about it, is his canon wife right now. Connor is the son he never had a chance to know, and Mia is the girl he's bound and determined to do right by. As far as Roy goes...they've gotten over a lot of the pain and seem to have actually fallen into a true father/son vibe that is very far from the buddy pair they were in the golden age.

Other notables of his life have included Bonnie King, aka Miss Arrowette. According to a throwaway panel in a Young Justice Comic, and a lot of fanon, Cissie King-Jones (Arrowette) may be his illegitimate daughter. Bonnie was a Star City heroine captivated by the Archer. Eddie Fyres is a notable ally/antagonist of the Grell era, being a CIA spook who got Ollie in deep trouble. Repeatedly. And who then later looked over Connor closely.

Possibly the most complicated relationship to dwell on is Shado, the Yakuza bow-mistress who raped Oliver in the throes of a fever, and conceived his son, Robert. (Forgive me, but I fail to recall Robert's Japanese name, revealed in the Connor Hawke Miniseries.) Ollie is very torn by her, between attraction, fascination, and betrayal.

Other portrayals

Green Arrow in Justice League Unlimited, like most of the animated heroes, is a much more 'white hat' character. He gave up his company after the Bat invited him to the League and talked him into staying...or after he laid eyes on a Pretty Bird, at least. He's still got issues somewhere, as evidenced by Speedy's brusque comments his way in one episode's cameo, but he's got the real feel of a Knight in Shining Armor...no offense, Sir Justin.

Oliver Queen on Smallville came about after a long, losing battle to get Bruce Wayne allowed. And, no offense, Bat fans, I think the options available to Oliver Queen make more sense for him than they would have for Bruce. He's got murdered parents and a thirst for vengeance when we first meet him. He's robbing the rich (Lex's pals), and using the proceeds for justice...or in theory, anyhow. He's far more wiling to go to violent measures than Bruce is typically portrayed as willing to do. He's a CEO of his company, and he's slowly building this motley band of heroes who may one day be the Justice League....

He only enjoyed one appearance on SuperFriends, alas...

Questions? Recommended authors

I've tried to keep this brief. I'd be glad to handle questions in comments though.

If you really want good portrayals of Oliver Queen, I beg you to go look at gottaluvit123's fic. I tend to live in awe of her Oliver. greeneyelove also handles him quite nicely.

Brad Meltzer introduced the first of the retcons that really impacted the way Ollie is handled to date. He let it be written in that Oliver Queen had known about his son from the beginning. This seems to directly contradict everything Connor Hawke's creator intended (Chuck Dixon, folks...man seemed to hate Roy Harper, but gave us a great character in the form of Connor). And it made Ollie into a form of coward and heel he'd never really been depicted as.

Judd Winick finished the job begun in undermining Oliver's sense of noble character that had been semi-regained in his rebirth. Though Dinah had slapped a still pretty much amnesiac (soulless, actually, and lacking a decade of experience) Oliver with the events that destroyed them, the two had hit it off fairly well. Within the first arc Winick wrote, Oliver Queen cheated on the woman of his dreams, reducing him back to where he'd been in issue 75 of the prior series. He lost Dinah...a fact that would not be made clear for over a year's worth of publication.

And then comes Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis and One Year Later, and we've been force-fed a very abrupt reunion in that relationship, a mayorship that must have been bought, and a lot of other changes, including the coma and kidnapping of his son...who he quit looking for, supposedly, because he found a sidekick.

You might say I'm bitter, looking at that summary of the past few years of canon.

(Source)

#Batfans PLEASE read this #Oliver Queen #Hal Jordan #Dinah Lance #Roy Harper #Connor Hawke #arrowfamily #green arrow #black canary #arsenal #Smallville #Crisis on Infinite Earths #tw rape #comics history #dc comics #dcu #dc meta #arrow meta #barry allen #anti Judd winick #brad meltzer #kevin smith #mike grelll #denny o'neil #mia drearden #cissie king jones #arrowette #speedy #anti chuck dixon #spite waffle

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Title: Dresden Codak: The Unofficial Story: Volume 4

Author: John McCrae

Rating: 2/5 stars

I'm a person who normally buys graphic novels based on the covers -- you can trust that I'll get a book's worth of enjoyment out of a book if its cover is striking enough. With DC comics, though, even a book that "seems" promising is likely to disappoint -- the quality of the work contained in the DC universe is so poor that a cover can only distract from the disappointing contents.

So it goes with Dresden Codak: The Unofficial Story. An official graphic novel, from an official graphic novel publisher, about a team of artists and writers working in an underground, alternate universe version of their own universe. What they make are "dereptation pages," the creation of some evil scientist in the first universe who has "broken the fourth wall" -- that is, has gotten into our universe via a transporter and produced the "evil" version of their universe. The idea is that the original universe is the one we know, and it's so bad and evil that it's impossible to live in it; the evil versions of people like Batman, Superman, etc., exist as "alternate personalities" who can only exist as long as they're separated from their friends and family.

That's the "official" summary of a work that takes the form of numerous chapters, which are all part of the same comic book. (That's not to say the work is all dialogue, though -- this series, like the similarly-named "Echidna," is full of black-and-white pictures with color splashes.) I'll give you my impressions of Dresden Codak as a book first, and let you know how it compares to a more typical product in the next section.

Some background: DC comics has been producing this kind of comic book since the early 1970s. The series I'm talking about, Dresden Codak, started out as an offshoot of the Batman "Sonder Comic" published by Harvey Comics, and was originally an attempt to create new Batman characters by giving them different backgrounds and personalities from the "original" versions created by the original creators.

The DCU is an odd thing. Like many universes, it was created and has existed for hundreds of years, with many different continuities, many different versions of existing characters (for example, one recent event in Dresden Codak saw the version of the original Superman from the Silver Age destroyed by someone named "Clark Kent," which is a pretty odd thing to write). Its history is complex and I haven't even begun to get to the stuff that happened in the 1980s, so you'll just have to trust that I'm not trying to write about the history of Dresden Codak. Dresden Codak is basically a "what if our universe was an evil version of itself" concept, and it takes the form of "a 'what if' comic about a bunch of DC characters living in a world where everything is the same except some things aren't."

This is a very specific premise, and although I'm trying to be charitable I'm not sure if anyone else really wanted this book. I mean, I'm sure there are DC fans who feel the need for a "version of Batman" in which the guy is a violent sexist asshole, but those fans don't have a publisher. The version of Batman in the Sonder series was created by Jim Aparo. That's not the Batman we're used to -- even if Jim Aparo may have wanted to make a Batman who "got away with murder." Batman is a work, and it has been for decades, and its "creator" is (presumably) Jim Aparo. If there was no Jim Aparo, would there be Batman?

The thing about Dresden Codak is that it is a product of something, a whole team of people working on this book. It's a team, not a monolith. This is true of Dresden Codak and (almost) every other work in the DC universe, though not true of the works created by individuals (especially if those individuals are working in cooperation with one another), or of the works created in any specific setting other than DC or its "horror" comics. And so I don't just mean, "this was a team working on something they had to do" -- the team really is an ongoing, ongoing thing. Dresden Codak might be the culmination of some specific moment in the history of these characters -- there were a lot of them and a lot of different creators -- but that doesn't mean that it is in any way essential or inevitable. And as much as I would like a "what if Superman was really a horrible sexist asshole" comic, a "what if Superman and his friends lived in an evil world" comic does not exist.

The characters have personalities, but they're not fleshed out. Some characters have some depth -- but they're not consistent. The story is episodic, but I can't tell what it is trying to tell me. There's a story arc. There isn't. There's an implication that things are about to get worse for Superman, but I don't get the sense that there's any reason to think that, and I get the sense there will be no reason to expect that.

The characters are generic: it's hard for me to say what about Superman makes him a "hero" and what about Superman makes him Superman. The comic never quite seems to know whether Superman is supposed to have the personality of Batman, Superman's own personality, a combination of the two, or something else. There are a lot of characters. There's really no structure to the work. It's very hard to get me to care about any individual character -- "there's a character named Superboy, why didn't he get killed?" Superboy can't live up to the high standards of characters like Batman or Superman. It is possible to find one character who is interesting, in the middle of a cast of twenty.

At least, at times. The book is pretty good in the middle of a number of chapters featuring different characters. My favorite character in that book was "the Phantom" -- a generic, not particularly good character who in a world of 20-foot-tall heroes seemed to have more substance than other characters. Other characters -- especially "Superman" -- were not interesting at all. The book was great, in the middle of a cast of twenty, and it had a pretty good middle. If you were to judge the work as a whole by its first-half (or its first chapter) this would be fairly true, in the "pretty good" category:

Dresden Codak is episodic, but it has episodes -- the second episode was really good. I can't really think about Superman's characterization. The book is pretty good at times, pretty good at others. Dresden Codak is pretty much episodic comic book, not an especially well-written one, but there are episodes, in which some characters appear, and some characters are kind of interesting, and some characters might even have the potential to be "good characters," and that's something. The book feels like a "what if Superman was really

[wrxthfulguard]

Some headcanons for the TWST AU and Subverse

(Note: Both the AU and Subverse will have different versions of Don, spoilers for Twisted Wonderland)

(More headcanons will be added over time)

- While most of NRC’s students don’t interact with the staff unless it’s related to classes or other matters related to the campus (Sam being the exception due to running his Mystery Shop), it seems that most of them always end up talking to Don due to him and Grim being the only residents of Ramshackle Dorm. (Don is not a prefect in both verses, he is a security guard and Grim’s ‘handler’)

- When not watching over Grim and the first years, Don spends his free time working in the Investigation Divisions office, doing combat training, or reading up on Twisted Wonderland’s lore and history at the campus’ library.

- Crewel is the one who provides Don with a new outfit to wear after learning that his only clothes were the ones on his back (His default attire), the ceremonial robes he woke in upon arriving in Twisted Wonderland (Both Crewel and Don question why he was even given the attire since he’s too old to be a student), and the janitor’s outfit that Crowley gives him in the events of the prologue (Don will wear this sometimes on clean-up days at Ramshackle Dorm).

- His new attire in Twisted Wonderland is a black long coat (Ironically, this coat is called the ‘Rook’ coat, it is a replica of the Frye Twins’ coat from A.ssassin’s C.reed S.yndicate) with a red waistcoat. His all-black dress shirt, cargo pants, combat boots and duty belt aren’t changed in this attire.

- Don’s ‘off-duty’/sleep attire is a simple black t-shirt and sweatpants (Sam does give him a simple black hoodie with the NRC logo on the left side of the hoodie to wear in cold conditions), he wears his combat boots and duty belt when outside, just in case.

- Even though he’s a staff member, Don does have a attire for P.E or other sports activities, mostly consisting of a loose fitting sweat wicking t-shirt and black track pants, his shoes are a simple all-black pair of running shoes.

- His relationships with the students are strictly a platonic student/mentor friendship, mostly acting as a mentor/moral compass at times, but he does care for them as allies and friends.

- He doesn’t really have a favorite dorm, although he does find himself hanging out at Heartsabyul due to befriending his first allies there (Ace and Deuce), he also enjoys helping Riddle with the hedgehogs after the events of Book 1.

- Depending on his schedule and whatever tasks he has for the day, he sometimes volunteers to help out the Monstro Lounge after the events of Book 3, mostly moving heavy boxes and sometimes waiting tables.

- Due to being given the ghost camera, Don is sometimes assigned to take photos for certain events (Some of them are the ‘Groovy’ cards), he is also the unofficial interviewer for most of the birthdays of his allies.

- His budget is very limited (He blames it on Crowley giving him a limited amount, along with constantly having to purchase tuna cans for Grim), so Sam sometimes offers Don to help out at his shop when the Monstro Lounge isn’t accepting any assistance, being sure to tip and pay Don finely alongside adding in some discounts for him.

- His combat training has caught the attention of the Diasomnia dorm, as Lilia would ask if he would like to join for a sparring session with Silver and Sebek (Usually trying to spook Don with his usual jumpscares, but failing due to Don not being scared, but would draw his weapon on instinct sometimes), he also offers to spar with any of his allies if they want to, being careful to not inflict any serious injuries on them.

- Don is respectful of his fellow staff at NRC, but won’t hesitate to tear into Crowley due to his actions towards him and Grim, following up with a warning/threat that he may or may not carry out if not followed through. (Sometimes outright slapping the back of his head via Gibbs-style, he never does this to any of the students, no matter what)

- Depending on his schedule and workload, Don would sometimes visit the clubs around the campus, participating in whatever activities they have planned.

- Because of his protective nature, Don always gets injured in some way, mostly when dealing with the overblots in way that doesn’t involve killing them.

- A sad headcanon regarding Subverse! Don: Because he’s a demon from Hell, he has to remind everyone to not get too attached to him because he will find a way back to Hell at some point. He also worries that threats from both Hell and Heaven will find their way to Twisted Wonderland, thus putting all of NRC in danger if that ever happens... His main priority is returning to Charlie and the hotel (Especially when it gets close to New Years Day, in which the yearly cleanse happens.)

#fragments of life (headcanon) #au tag pending #subverse tag pending #twisted wonderland #twst #twst spoilers #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland tw #Out of duty (OOC)