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raeofgayshine · 1 year

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tell me about blaine fam <3

*holds up Blaine* He’s my baby boy.

His full name is Blaine Sebastian Garcia, and he’s the main character my first book in the Beauty and the Mermaid series (He’s the Mermaid), tentatively called Crescendo. Because well, he is a music kid, but the real idea behind the name is that the story is about Blaine finding his voice and confidence again. That’s the crescendo of the story. His healing.

But! I’m getting ahead of myself, so let’s go back to the beginning.

Blaine’s parents actually divorced before he was ever born. His father, an absolute dick by the way, didn’t want a second child. He didn’t even really want the first one, B’s older brother Roman, who was born when his mom was still college which led her to dropping out to raise him. (Their dad says that Roman was born to trap him in a marriage. Their mom, obviously, does not agree with this story). Needless to say, Daddy Garcia was never particularly fond of Roman, he hardly paid him any attention (and what attention he did give was largely negative), and when he found out there was going to be a second kid, he split. No goodbyes, just left for work one day and didn’t come back. Weeks later, divorce papers arrived in the mail. (Roman never forgives his father for how he left, or how he treated him, which leads to a lot of fighting between the two later down the line.)

So Blaine was raised by a single mother, but really if you ask B he would say he was raised mostly by Roman. Because like, physically there mom was always around and she did take care of them in the sense of she kept a roof over there head and gave them food, but for the first 5 years of Blaine’s life, she was extremely emotionally distant. And with everything going on, she was just so exhausted and completely depleted and,,, you know she was depressed and it was all she could do to get up and go to work so they didn’t lose the house. She did her best, but as the years went on it was getting harder and harder for her.

For a short time, when Blaine was 5 and Roman is 9 I believe (the ages still confuse me, I’m so bad with time math), the pair wind up in foster care after a teacher becomes concerned about their home life (which Roman had been trying to hide for a long time because he still loved his mom, he knew she was trying her best and didn’t want her to get into trouble), while their mother gets some help getting back on her feet and back to feeling a lot more like herself.

And once she is in a place to care for her kids again, they go home. The next few years are when she teaches Blaine to play piano (something that becomes his favorite escape as he grows up), she teaches both of her boys how to speak Tagalog (Her first language), as well as does her best to teach them about Philippine culture.

Blaine still always goes to Roman first for comfort, for advice. He loves his brother so much, and believes there’s no person better in the world then his kuya (older brother).

And maybe it’s better that way, because when Blaine is 10 their mom is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She only lives another 6 months after the diagnosis, and when she dies Blaine and Roman after left with no choice but to be shipped off to the father.

And that’s not a fun few years for either of them, Blaine does his best to stay out of sight out of mind. Meanwhile Roman is enrolled by his father at a boarding school, Ravenwood, that’s a couple hours away from the city they now live in. Mostly because their dad didn’t want to live with an angry Roman who would now fight back every time he said something rude or negative. (Roman is so angry about this decision because he just wants to be there for Blaine, he starts so many fights trying to get kicked out until finally his soon to be best friend Evan helps him realize that the best way to help Blaine in this situation was to create a space at Ravenwood waiting for him to arrive).

Blaine has a tough few years in middle school. Especially when people start spreading rumors about him being gay, he gets bullied a bit but he has his music to escape to and he knows, knows that Roman will always love and support him no matter what.

And in 8th grade, Blaine falls in love the first time. Turns out he’s not the only queer kid, and though they keep their relationship very private (they don’t even hang out as friends in school), it’s actually a semi-decent relationship as far as middle school goes. They get close enough that Blaine feels comfortable telling him the one thing only Roman knew at this point. That he was trans.

(Blaine realized he was trans when he was about 5. It didn’t click all at once, but you know he could tell something was wrong about being called a girl and it progressed from there. He eventually chose his new name with the help of Roman (and his favorite movie for a middle name), and their mom went through the process of getting it legally changed and so that was just that. Their dad didn’t even know because he left before Blaine was born.)

At first, his boyfriend reacts quite shocked and angry, hangs up the phone and doesn’t respond to Blaine for days. But B thinks he just needs time to process and he’ll come around, and he seems to because he eventually brings Blaine flowers and asks him to the end of year dance.

And this, this is where things really go wrong for Blaine. He doesn’t remember the details of what happened for months, all he knows is one minute he was stepping out for some air with his date, and the next he was waking up days later in the hospital after being gay bashed on the football field and nearly dying.

Which, as you would expect, leaves a lot of scars on Blaine. The head trauma he received obviously caused him a bit of amnesia, it also caused him so trouble with focusing and stringing together words, though that heals over time but it’s an issue for the first few months. The damage also left Blaine far sighted and in need of glasses (which he absolutely hates wearing because for Blaine they are a sign of the trauma he’s been though and the fact he will never be who he was before this. He will take a headache or blurry vision over wearing them by choice, especially outside of his house/dorm room.) The entire attack also left Blaine with ptsd, a massive spike in his anxiety, and struggling with selective mutism (which he comes to despise the quickest because he just wants his voice back!! But this is part of how he earns his mermaid nickname, because like Ariel he has lost his voice and it can only be regained by destroying the sea witch).

Because of the attack, and because it’s now come out that Blaine is both trans and gay, their dad kicks him out of the house. And of course Roman is going to follow, so with the help of Evan (mentioned above, Ro’s best friend), he collects their things and moves into an apartment in a small town less then 30 minutes from Ravenwood.

And that, that’s kind of Blaine’s story. Because of the fact he finds himself struggling to create words in the wake of the attack, Blaine uses a lot of sign language to communicate (Him and Roman learned it together when they moved in with their dad, so that they could talk without fear of him snooping or getting angry). He supplements this also with a lot of gestures and facial expressions, as well as some texting/writing (which makes him such a fun character to write because I have to communicate so much with body language). Blaine also uses music to communicate, sometimes he will just play a lyric to stand in for a sentence, or he’ll present an entire song as how he’s feeling and it’s up to whoever he’s talking to to put together the pieces (He uses a lot of music in therapy, especially when he’s trying to piece back together his memories. He gets feelings first and those feelings are tied to songs).

Blaine winds up singing for most of his friends before he is ever able to speak because music is just easier for him. And it makes sense when you see him on stage, deep in the performance of a song like it’s the one place he belongs.

What else is there to say about my boy?

Oh, my favorite fun fact about Blaine is that he knows a handful of languages enough to be fluent in them (he likes to learn languages for fun, and he’s really good at it. Something in his brain just clicks with languages). But! He knows how to cuss in an even larger number of languages. Blaine refuses to curse in English, but if he ever says anything to you in another language the chances are high it’s something that should not be repeated.

Besides piano, Blaine can also play guitar. Roman taught him, starting right around the time their mom got cancer. He doesn’t love it as much as piano, but he is really good at it.

Blaine’s favorite movie is the Little Mermaid. This is both why is middle name is Sebastian (It couldn’t be Eric because “It would be weird if I had the same name as my husband, Roman.”), and the second reason he is the Mermaid. (The third being that the twins, two of his closest friends, call him Ariel). Also he has a stuffed dog named Eric who is his favorite comfort item.

Blaine has bad night terrors. Bad like he can be a danger to himself and sometimes other people, and you can’t wake him up but there are ways to help calm him down and get him back to sleep. Blaine never remember these though, and he only knows they happen because he gets told. The night terrors are the reason his friend group implements Blaine Duty, where they take turns sleeping in Blaine’s room with him so someone will be right there if he needs it (Blaine has a room to himself thanks to Roman pulling some strings, and because of the night terrors, so his friends keep him company). The night terrors become less frequent as time passes, but Blaine Duty never stops.

Blaine has a pair of heelys. Gifted to him by his best friend Connor, B wears them all of the time and you will see him heelying most places. (There was once an attempt to attach rockets to them that failed, however he did get rockets attached to a pair of skates instead. It is a wonder he’s still alive.)

Speaking of Connor, Blaine’s relationship with him can only be described as ambiguously queer. They flirt a lot, call each Babe and Love, Blaine definitely thinks Connor is a pretty boy and wants to kiss him, but they are not dating. At all. Blaine gets a boyfriend book 2 and things get more gay because Connor flirts with both of them now and honestly I don’t even know what’s going on there, but I love it so much. Like, they are that one post about how you should be a little in love with your friends.

One of my favorite running jokes in the series that revolves around Blaine is that he frequently says “I’m kissable” or something of the same vibe. This boy just likes to kiss people. Not even romantically/sexually, he just thinks it’s fun. He has kissed most of his friends, but routinely refuses to kiss Connor (because he finds it funny and also again, there’s something gay between them and Connor is “so pretty” according to B).

There’s a group chat called “Blaine’s Music Therapy”, where Blaine shares songs he believes matches the vibes of his friends, or just reminds him of them. Sometimes he’s very sweet in doing this, and sometimes he is a menace and uses his music powers for evil. He will read your every flaw in song if you give him the chance (affectionately, he never shares songs out of malice, he’s too nice for that. But he will call you out about self sabotaging).

Oh! One of my other favorite Blaine fun facts is that he always has perfect eyeliner. It doesn’t matter what he is doing, like he could be sobbing his eyes out and his eyeliner will never run, it doesn’t smudge, it always comes out looking exactly how he wants it to. No there’s no explanation for why this is the case. I just think it’s funny.

I think that’s a pretty good overview of my lovely little Blaine.

This kid has been through so fucking much in his life, but the one thing that really gets me about Blaine is that he has never given up. It would be easier for him to shut down and shut out the world after all it’s put him through. He could refuse to make friends, close off his heart so it couldn’t be hurt again but he doesn’t do that.

Despite everything, Blaine genuinely believes there is so much good in the world. And he has to fight his anxiety and his trauma a lot, especially in the early days, to let him try again with trusting a new group of people. It’s exhausting for him, and obviously not a linear street and sometimes it feels like a constant battle against himself, but Blaine is determined to get better. He is determined to make friends and be happy and to not let his past control his life.

And it just, it means a lot to me. To be able to write him fighting so hard against himself to be the person he wants to be. Leaning on music to help him through, help him process what he’s feeling or why he’s feeling that way, and using it as a language to communicate with other people.

I love all of the Misfits (Blaine’s friend group), I really do. But Blaine is the one I put the most of myself into, and the reason he’s the main character is because he’s the one I need to write.

#ravenpuff writes #beauty and the mermaid #blaine Garcia #ravenpuff answers #so this was a very long response #whoops #but when you ask me about one of my kids I just have to go off #this was very nice for me also like #I’ve been struggling a lot to write properly because of exhaustion and not being able to find the words I want #but i miss my characters and thinking about them and sharing them so this is a really nice way to do it #maybe i should do more things like this #go through the lads one at a time #starting next with Roman because it only seems fair #and them Connor because his story makes me laugh so much #(local kid raised in crime family has no idea his experiences are not universal)

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masterhallmark · 1 month

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Rant incoming

I feel like the problem with a lot of Disney's live action remakes (and arguably Wish) is they're trying to appeal to a crowd that no longer exists, namely the people who used to claim that the Disney Princesses were sexist.

All the interviews tend to include, "Well she's not chasing a MAN anymore" which...almost no one sees the princesses like that, anymore. Virtually NO ONE still believes the princesses are man-chasing sexist caricatures of women.

Cinderella is now hailed as an abuse victim who stayed strong long enough to get help to get out of her situation. Anyone who says she should have saved herself is basically regarded as a victim blamer. And it's very clear in the film she wasn't looking to marry the prince, she just wanted a night off. She was the only one who wasn't in line to meet him. She didn't find out she met the prince until he went looking for her!

Snow White is now hailed for her negotiation skills, ability to calm down after extreme stress (she had a moment of panic and had to cry for a bit, but who wouldn't after finding out The Queen hired someone to kill you?), and ability to take charge of a house of adult men. And again, she was an abuse victim, this time trying to escape ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS. While she dreamed of her prince, it was secondary to her main goal of SURVIVAL. There are also entire video essays about how Snow White gave hope to people during The Great Depression.

Everyone acknowledges that Ariel wanted to be human BEFORE meeting Eric. We all know she was a nerd hyperfixating on humans, and also standing up to her prejudiced father.

We understand Sleeping Beauty wasn't the main character, the Three Good Fairies were, AND PHILLIP WOULD NEVER HAVE BEATEN MALEFICENT WITHOUT THEM! He literally depended on them! WOMEN SAVED THE DAY! But even then, is it really such a sin for a girl to fantasize about romance and fall for someone with corny pickup lines?

We all understand Jasmine just wanted someone to treat her LIKE A PERSON. She rejected every Prince before Aladdin because they treated her like a prize. So why did they need her to want to be Sultan? How did that make her more feminist when she already wanted to be treated like an equal and have a say in her future? Is it only empowering if you want a career in politics?

We admire that Belle, despite living in a judgemental village, was kind to everyone (even though she found the village life dull), and her story teaches girls that the guy everyone else loves isn't always a good guy. What's sexist about teaching girls about red flags? And she didn't start being nice to The Beast until he started treating her with respect and kindness.

Do I really NEED to defend Mulan or Tiana? I think they speak for themselves.

Rapunzel was yet another abuse victim who just needed a little help to get out of her bad situation. In this case, she also needed to learn that she was an abuse victim, and that what Mother Gothel did WASN'T normal, much like many victims of gaslighting.

And don't get me started on the non-princess animals.

Perdita had a healthy relationship with Pongo to the point she was open to express her pregnancy fears to him, and was ready to TEAR APART Cruella's goons for daring to touch her puppies as well as adopting the other puppies. Like, she was so ferocious the goons mistook her for a hyena! She's basically that "I AM THAT GIRL'S MOTHER!" scene from SpyXFamily if Yor were a dog. She and her husband were a TEAM.....but they made a Cruella live action to turn her into a girlboss?! The literal animal abuser!? THAT'S the woman you wanted to put on a pedestal when Perdita was RIGHT THERE!?

Duchess kept her kittens calm after they had been catnapped and was classy as heck. Nice to everyone regardless of social class during a time period where that was uncommon.

Lady stood up to Tramp when she believed he had abandoned her and didn't really care about her. She found out he was a heartbreaker and was like, "Nuh uh. No. You are not doing that to me! You put me through enough."

Miss Bianca from The Rescuers was IN CHARGE the whole movie, and was willing to risk life and limb to save an innocent child. THAT TINY MOUSE TOOK ON ALLIGATORS! And she picked Bernard to accompany her because he was the only one who wasn't ogling her. And then in the sequel SHE DID IT ALL AGAIN! I wish I were as brave as her.

Like, the public haven't accused these ladies of being sexist caricatures since 2014 (Actresses and actors don't count, they're out of touch like the rest of Hollywood) yet Disney is operating under the assumption that the public still thinks that way, hence all the "sHe'S nOt AfTeR a MaN iN ThIs VeRsIOn" talk.

The live action remakes are trying to attract an audience that doesn't really exist much, anymore, and back when it did exist, was comprised mainly of people who didn't actually watch the films. The Disney princesses are no longer seen as sexist, and feminine qualities are no longer seen as weak or undesirable.

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