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fanfoolishness · 3 years

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Liveblog time!

Live-blogging for The Mandalorian 2x05, The Jedi, beginning now!

Almost forgot! This was my first piece of Mandalorian fanart, I think!

Calodan on Corvus is possibly my favorite planet after Sorgan. I love the misty color palette so much.

Also heeeey I’ve now seen nearly 3 seasons of The Clone Wars so Ahsoka will not be nearly so much a stranger this time around!

Calodan gives me such an Avatar-city under siege from the Fire Nation vibe, except Ahsoka’s the whole-ass Fire Nation and she’s here to save the day.

Why does the Magistrate have the beskar spear, anyway? And I wonder if it has any electronics in it the way everything else beskar we’ve seen has. I would guess not, but it would be kind of cool if it did, maybe something that actively keeps the spear well-balanced.

Look, evil lady, killing people doesn’t put the blame on Ahsoka. It just ain’t how it works. But bad guys always think that’s somehow an argument?

I wonder if the men of Star Wars are sad. Their hair is never very exciting but the women go all out.

So Din’s slightly testy with Grogu about getting back in his seat. Because... he’s fully expecting to go down to that planet and come back up again without the kid. I’d be testy too. ;_;

Oh God Grogu is even cuter than I remembered somehow. Like weeks and weeks of nothing but Mandalorian and every time I watch him he’s still just marvelous.

Love that shot of him focusing on the control knob with the pretty lights behind it. It really makes it seem magical, which to Grogu’s mind, it is

Love these weird giant creatures in the back, apparently just massacring these trees. CRONCH

I wonder how far they walked into town. I just love finding every little scrap of time between cuts that you could stuff a fic into.

I bet Grogu loves the smells of the marketplace, but can pick up on the tense atmosphere and doesn’t like it. He likes the kids, though.

I really enjoy the lighting of this episode because 1) we get to see those little lights on Din’s gauntlet easily and 2) it drives home the fact that not every world is going to have the same spectrum of light as our yellow sun. Reminds me of when I got to see the total solar eclipse in 2017. The sky seemed like daylight, but wasn’t. It was utterly unlike our world and I still get chills EVERY. TIME. I think about it.

I like her stupid guard droid. Cool color scheme.

God I wish I had a little water garden all my own.

Love the sound beskar on beskar makes.

Grogu: “Dad, this guy sucks. I can tell.”

UGH love those misty hills!!!!! So fucking pretty!

I love these trees so much. They remind me of buckberry.

Ahsoka: BABY???

Ugh the misty background is so gorgeous at night too!

Poor Din. He is so worried. Look at all this pacing when this is normally such a man of stillness and restraint.

Din: *pacing around anxiously* *kicks a cool rock* “I wonder if the kid would like this rock? MAYBE I SHOULD GO INTERRUPT THEM AND ASK oh never mind.” *back to pacing*

That smile that Ahsoka gives Grogu after she looks at Din — it’s so clear how many nice things he’s telling her about Din <3

Din is so worried. What’s she going to say? Is he doing this right? He doesn’t want to mess things up for the kid —

Can you just imagine everything in Din’s head right now? Relief at knowing the kid HAS a name, that Ahsoka can talk to him? Guilt at not somehow knowing the name before this? His heart going out to the kid, thinking of his home being taken away from him, thinking of him being in danger many times before Din could meet him or help him? Thinking this is time to say goodbye...

Awww thinking of Grogu curled up in Din’s cloak on the mossy ground while they sleep

Din is so worried Grogu won’t pass his test ;_;

Din is worried *he* won’t pass the test XD

So cute how Din kneels down to his level to encourage him to take the ball :)

Din is SO EXCITED

I love how when *Grogu* calls the ball to his hand, the musical cue plays *Din’s* motif with the recorder — a sign of their connection <3 <3 <3

Mando music is playing in the background. Grogu is NOT going to grow up to be a Jedi! I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again, the title of the show might refer to Grogu :)

Ahsoka: giggling at “laser swords”

Aww man, these trees aren’t this way because of the giant animals? The Magistrate did this? Goddammit. I was hoping it was just like, a life cycle of the planet.

I like that even though Ahsoka is grownup and serious you can still see all those little smirks <3 Love that Snips!

CAN’T BELIEVE DIN TRUSTED HER WITH THE MUDHORN PAULDRON

Hey! Din learned how to drop-kick someone with the Rising Phoenix!!! Good job Din! Learning from Koska, I see. (Not as graceful as her, though.)

Huh, he still has durasteel or something on his shoulder, from under the beskar. I don’t know WHY THEY WON’T PUT OUT AN OFFICIAL DRAWING OF HOW ALL THE ARMOR FITS TOGETHER.

Look dude, don’t even mess with Din Djarin, all right? And none of this “we’re a lot alike” bullshit. But I did appreciate this guy’s attempt to “I don’t even care, bro” as foolish at it was.

WHERE IS THRAWN AWWWWWW FUCKING YEAAAAAH I still only know him from the Zahn trilogy but I’m so excited they repurposed such an awesome character.

“Wait here, I’ll... go get him.”

Din rocking him gently in the hammock back and forth ;___;

... how... long did they stay there just... cuddling... I fucking CAN’T

Ahsoka: “...it’s been like four hours. I’d better go look for them. Either Mando’s not giving the kid up or the kid doesn’t want to go. Shoulda seen that coming...”

I totally got this wrong in one of my fics. I wrote Din flying the Razor Crest back to the town. I’d forgotten HE SITS THERE SO LONG WITH THE KID AHSOKA HAS TO GO AND FIND THEM when Din was the one who claimed “I’ll go get him, wait here.” OMG DIN. JUST ADMIT YOU WANT TO PARENT THIS CHILD FOREVER.

The concept art of Din and Grogu striding off into the sunset together? My HEART

Man. I’m enjoying the Clone Wars, but I’m just so sad at all the badness that’s going to happen to everybody in them ;_; And thinking of how many things Ahsoka has gone through by this point is just... the Star Wars galaxy just hates people not being traumatized, doesn’t it?

Do I have the strength to get through The Tragedy tonight??? I mean, there’s Boba Fett and Fennec Shand being badass, and the best opening of any media, ever, but then there is PAIN and CRUELTY and it ISN’T FAIR.

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian liveblog #din djarin #grogu #ahsoka tano #the Jedi #Star Wars #my mando meta

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cristinablackthornkingson · 4 years

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What Might’ve Been, Part 2.

Read Part 1 Here.

“What do you mean my son, what do you mean our son?” Tyger asks Rand in a disbelieving tone of confusion, pushing himself up so that he’s sitting back against the pillows, trying to comprehend what she’s just told him.

Rand sighs and looks down at the baby- Alex- in her arms, running a hand over his mop of dark brown hair. She bites her lip before looking back at Tyger and quietly saying

“It’s a very long story, and you’re probably going to hate me by the end of it.” Tyger’s heart starts to raise with anxiety.

“I can decide that for myself, just tell me what happened and why I’ve just woken up in some weird revival center with no memories of how I got here, with a Scythe by my bed with a kid you’re claiming is not only yours, but mine too.” Tyger tells her, his tone raising in anger and confusion. He just wants some answers.

Over the course of the next few minutes, Rand explains everything to Tyger, from how she trained him as a Scythe in body alone, allowing him to believe he was going to be an ordained Scythe at the end of it all, to how she gleaned him and repurposed his body to revive Goddard, who then became High Blade which is why Alex was conceived in the first place. She tells him how she, in the end, chose her son over Goddard and killed Goddard to keep her son safe, and in turn revived and restored Tyger.

“I know what I did to you was and is totally and completely unforgivable and I do not blame you one bit if you detest me. I can’t say I regret it because had I not done it, chances are I wouldn’t have Alex, and he is the single best and most important thing in this world.

Alex has made me a better person, made me want to continue to be a better person, so I’ve gone off grid. That’s why I cut my hair and why I’m not wearing my robes, so The Scythedom can’t track me down.

It’s also the reason I’m going by my birth name now, so you can call me Olivia, instead of Ayn or Rand.”

Once she has finished her explanation, Olivia/Rand looks at Tyger for a few seconds, before once again looking back down at Alex, smiling at the sight of his sweet little face.

The room is silent for a few minutes, the silence only ever interrupted by Alex’s snuffles and baby noises or the sound of him suckling on his pacifier.

“You should leave now.” Tyger’s tense voice finally breaks the awkward silence a few minutes later.

Olivia/Rand had been prepared for this response, knew it was the most likely response Tyger would give, yet she still finds herself feeling a little bit upset and disappointed. However she simply nods, picks up the bag she brought with her, containing cleans clothes, diapers, etc. for Alex and stands up.

“I left my phone number and address on a piece of paper in your bedside locker, so you can contact me or come visit Alex whenever you want.

I’m going to let you know here and now that I am not willing to split custody with you, not even 50/50, I will not be without my son for half the week especially when he’s hardly a month old. You are, however, more than welcome to come visit all the time and be heavily involved with him, but just know that if you try to mess with us in anyway you’ll hate me for a totally different reason than you do now.”

With that Olivia/Rand strides from the room with her head held high and Alex expertly cradled against her chest, leaving Tyger to try and process everything that happened.

_______________________________________________________________

Olivia/Rand now lives in a 2 bedroom 2 story house just 10 minutes from the off-grid revival center, where she had Tyger revived, so it takes her hardly anytime at all to get home.

Once there she easily settles Alex in his bassinet in the living room, for his afternoon nap. She feels so lucky to have such an easy and laid-back baby who doesn’t fuss much and just loves his sleep, he’s very like Tyger in that way.

As Alex sleeps soundly where Olivia/Rand can see him from any place in the downstairs part of the house, she goes into the storage closet where she has stored away her robes, the ones she was wearing the day Alex was born, they still have bloodstains on them, both from when she gleaned Goddard and moments later when she went into labor.

Despite what some may think, Olivia does not keep her robes for sentimentality or because she has intentions to one day return to being Scythe Ayn Rand, but because if she were to throw them away they would instantly be recognizable and could lead the Scythedom straight to her.

Olivia walks up to her robes and plunges her hand into one of it’s many pockets. She still has a few weapons in here too, but the most important thing is what she pulls out a few seconds later. Her ring.

She’s kept her ring because she’s not sure what to do with it, the Scythedom can’t use it to trace her unless she gleans someone while wearing it, or uses it to grant someone immunity, which she has no intention of doing, Alex automatically has immunity, as her family member so she doesn’t need to have him kiss the ring or anything.

She steps out of the storage space and leans back against the wall, spending a few minutes studying the ring and getting lost in her thoughts. She remembers the day she was ordained, very clearly, it was only 8 years ago after all. What made her happiest about that day was the attention and praise she received from Goddard, at the time she was his only Junior Scythe (Chomsky would join them the following year and Volta wouldn’t even be ordained for several more years.)

All day he told her how very proud he was of her and how she would rise to the very top of the ranks in no time. She adored the attention he lavished on her, she was crushing on him hard, felt like she was totally and utterly in love with him and couldn’t think of anything better than getting to live with him and see him and spend time with him every single day for the foreseeable future.

If someone had told 17 year old Olivia that she would actually end up having Goddard’s baby one day, she would have lost her damn mind, little did she know what a terrible and evil person he was.

She then starts to think about what she should do with the ring, she already knows she’s never going to be a Scythe again, never glean anyone again.(Unless someone tries to hurt Alex in anyway, then she will go full protective mama bear mode.)

When she took Alex to the hospital last week so the doctors could make sure his nanites were working correctly and he was growing properly, she heard people talking about how Scythe Curie had been appointed High Blade in the wake of Goddard’s death. Olivia briefly thinks of approaching Scythe Curie and asking for her help in completely erasing herself from the Scythedom and keeping Alex’s identity as legally Goddard’s son, a secret. However she is far too stubborn and proud to accept help and quickly dismisses the idea.

Instead, Olivia steps into the kitchen and drops her ring down the trash compacter before switching it on and ridding herself of Scythe Ayn Rand, forever.

_______________________________________________________________

That night, at around 3:00 A.M, Olivia is pulled from her peaceful sleep by the familiar sounds of Alex’s high-pitched cry, the cry which she has come to decipher as his ‘I’m hungry’ cry.

Olivia rubs at her eyes before pushing herself up in bed, pushing her hair back from her face.

“Okay buddy I hear you, I got you it’s okay, mama’s got you.” She softly and quietly says, reaching over to the bassinet by her bedside and gently lifting Alex out and into her arms.

As she sits there in the dark, only illuminated by the streetlights outside, nursing her son, Olivia takes the moment to think of how much she really loves her son, and how beyond grateful she is to have him.

“I love you so much Alex, I know I tell you every single day but I want you to know just how loved you are. My parents never told me they loved me, or showed it, it’s probably one of the reasons I became the person I was before I had you.

You changed me Alex, the minute the midwife placed you on my chest I knew I could never go back to the person I was before I got pregnant, before I loved you. You deserve a much better upbringing than I had, or than the one Goddard wanted to give you. I’m not the most maternal person in the world but I’ll do anything for you Alex and I promise I’m going to be the best mom you could ask for.

Before you, I thought myself in love with Goddard, I thought I needed him. When I was younger and slept around a lot it was only ever to make him jealous, I thought if he saw me with other men- and women- he would realize he actually had feelings for me and wanted to be with me, but obviously that never happened. And you know what buddy? Turns out I didn’t need Goddard, what I needed was not just somebody to love me, but somebody for me to love and be responsible for and take care of, and now I have that person, I have you.”

By the time Olivia has poured her heart out, Alex is sound asleep again. She smiles and adjusts her top before kissing her son’s forehead.

“I love you Alexander.”

The next morning, at just a few minutes past 9:00 A.M., just after Alex finishes his first morning feed and Olivia is just about to prepare her own breakfast, there is a knock on the front door.

Olivia freezes when she hears the knock. She hasn’t had any visitors in the month since she moved here and hardly anyone knows she’s here. It could of course easily be a neighbor being friendly, there’s a small chance it could be Tyger wanting to see Alex, but it’s only been a day since his revival, he probably needs a lot more time to think. Or worst of all, it could be a Scythe, either come to glean Olivia or come to confront her for abandoning her position as a Scythe and just disappearing.

Knowing there’s no point in just ignoring the door, Olivia picks Alex up and holds him firmly and tightly against her, in case it is someone from the Scythedom and she has to run. She also slips a sharp knife from the kitchen, up her sleeve, experienced enough with weapons not to cut herself or Alex.

Taking a deep breath, Olivia makes her way over to the door and slowly opens it, her heart racing. However she needn’t have worried at all, as almost right away she can see that it’s Tyger standing there. She lets her shoulders sag with relief, both pleased and surprised to see Tyger standing there.

“Hello Tyger, I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.” She calmly says, discretely slipping the knife onto the side table just behind her.

Tyger shrugs.

“I mean... it is what is I guess. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive you for what you did to me, but... I don’t wanna be a deadbeat like my dad was, I wanna be involved with my kid, be there for him and let him know I love him and care about him, the opposite of what my dad did for me. So... I’m willing to be civil with you for my kid’s sake... our kid’s sake.” He tells her, doing his best not to let his voice convey his feelings of hurt over how his dad treated him.

“Like I said yesterday, you’re welcome to be in Alex’s life. Do you want to come in?” Olivia quietly asks, stepping back and holding the door open further. Tyger nods and steps into the small house.

“Can I hold him? The baby.... Alex?” Tyger hopefully asks, once settled on the sofa in the living room where Olivia had been sitting just moments ago.

“Sure.” Olivia says, forcing herself to push past her instinct to pull Alex even closer and not let anyone else near him. Tyger is his father, he has every right to hold and get to know Alex, it was the main reason she revived Tyger, so Alex could have his dad in his life, his real dad.

Olivia carefully lowers Alex into Tyger’s arms and almost immediately Alex makes strange, starting to fuss and squirm, letting out a few squawks and cries of protest, making Tyger grow wide-eyed and look up at Olivia, his eyes full of alarm and panic.

“Sorry.” Olivia apologizes, giving Alex his pacifier which always soothes him. “He’s not use to other people being around or being held by someone else, it’s just been the two of us since he was born last month.”

Within a few seconds though, Alex settles down and lets his eyes flutter closed, and he soon dozes back off to sleep, clearly feeling pretty safe and secure with his dad.

Tyger looks down at the baby in his arms in total disbelief, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that this baby is his, his son, his son that had been conceived while he himself was dead and a crazy dictator took over his body and used it to create the baby in his arms right now, who he was going to raise to be another crazy dictator, like some of those downright evil rulers from mortal times, Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump come to mind.

Tyger brushes a hand over Alex’s hair, smiling at how peaceful and happy he looks.

“I can’t believe I’m a dad.” Tyger quietly says.

“I felt like that at first too, even after almost 9 months of pregnancy and a whole month before that knowing that I was going to be pregnant in the near future, I still couldn’t believe I’m a a mom, it took a few days to wrap my head around it but now it feels like he’s always been here.” Olivia replies, hardly able to believe there was indeed a time in her life without Alex.

“He looks just like you.” Tyger says with a small smile, really noticing the likeness between Olivia (or Rand as he still thinks of her) and Alex.

“He has your hair though, the color anyway, hopefully the poor little guy won’t end up with hair so thick the brush gets caught in it, like me.” Olivia responds with a light laugh.

Tyger spends the rest of the day with Olivia and Alex, getting to know his son and letting Olivia fill him in on the details of her pregnancy and birth, and the first month of Alex’s life. He learns to change a diaper, how to wind Alex and calm him down when he cries, he gets to spend an hour just holding his son and bonding with him, while Olivia takes a much needed nap. It’s one of the best days of his life.

Tyger continues to show up at Olivia’s everyday to see Alex, and often spends the night in the guest bedroom, taking Alex during the night when he’s anything but hungry, letting Olivia rest.

He buys Alex any and everything a child could want, and soon falls totally head over heels in love with his son, feeling a love for him stronger than he has ever felt any other emotion, ever. It took a while for them to form that bond, but after lots of quality time together, they’re soon the best of pals.

When Alex says his first word (mama) at 9 months old, Olivia and Tyger are the two proudest parents in the world, Olivia never feeling more happy and secure in her position as a mom, there’s something special about hearing your baby call you ‘mama’ for the first time, it made her fall in love with Alex all over again.

Over the next year the three of them become the solid little family that Olivia had wanted so badly with Goddard. (Though she and Tyger are not together, they’re friends but nothing more, though neither of them know that the other is actually harboring feelings for them.)

They take Alex on all sorts of trips and outings. One of Alex’s favorite things to do is splash his parents in the pool or during bath time, he also likes to run, not walk and loves music of any kind, put on anything with a beat and Alex will enjoy it and find a way to dance to it.

On Alex’s first birthday the two of them decide to just have a small celebration at Olivia’s home with just the 3 of them, Tyger buys Alex a cake with cartoon characters from a mortal age children’s t.v. program, that Alex loves. It’s very extravagant and over the top for a one year old, but Tyger insists on nothing but the best for Alex, even if ti means going over the top, his little boy is more than worth it.

Tyger had wanted to light the candles and have Alex blow them out first thing that morning, when he arrived with the cake and Alex’s present, but Olivia insisted they wait until exactly 3:04 P.M., which is the time that Alex was born.

They spend the morning and most of the afternoon playing with Alex, letting him open his presents and looking back at pictures of him from when he was much smaller.

When 3:04 finally rolls around, after Olivia has given Alex about a million kisses and told him she loves him so much about a million thousand times, Tyger lights the candles on the cake and takes Alex into his arms to help him blow the candles out, while Olivia watches from beside him.

Being a typical toddler Alex almost gives his parents about a million heart attacks when he continuously tries to grab the flames on the candles. In the end, Tyger blows the candles out for him, and is rewarded by the biggest smile he has ever seen Alex give, and the sound of Alex’s infectious giggle. It warms his heart to hear and see his son so happy, and in this moment he doesn’t think he himself could be happier either.

Tyger kisses Alex on the cheek, before turning to smile brightly at Olivia, unbelievably feeling grateful that she of all people, is the mother of his child.

“You okay?” Olivia asks, after Tyger has been staring to her for a few seconds, smiling like an idiot. At this he smiles even wider and lets out a laugh of pure delight.

“I love you.” And then he leans in and kisses her.

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professional-anti · 6 years

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Chapter Nine: The Circle and the Brotherhood

Okay, we start out a little stressful bc Jace says they’re gonna take the subway back to the Institute and Simon jokes around like “you guys take the subway but you’re demon hunters haha” and this happens:

Jace was scary-calm. His face was expressionless, but something burned at the backs of his eyes.

Um, are we not supposed to be worried about this? Jace should be working on this problem!! Why is he so mad at Simon? Oh, that’s right, he thinks that Simon is competition for Clary. And that’s enough for him to get this angry at Simon. I’m sure everyone can tell why this is unhealthy.

Simon proves to be an actual idiot when they get to the Institute. The Institute is housed in an old church, and for some reason Simon can’t comprehend that old buildings can be used for something else.

“It’s the Institute,” Clary said . . . “I thought it ws a church.” “It’s inside a church.” “Because that’s not confusing.”

This is New York City!! The home of remodeling!!! My aunt’s apartment used to be a house! My brother’s camp used to be an apartment! Things can be other things!! Oh my god!!!

They meet Isabelle in the kitchen, where she’s stress cooking. Oh, I remember this! She sucks at cooking but does it when she’s stressed. It’s actually really cute. I stress cook too! Once I made soup from scratch at 3 AM. (My psychiatrist said, verbatin, “That’s worrisome.”)

But then of course we get the typical annoying thing, where Simon stares at Isabelle “rapt and openmouthed”. I think I speak for most people when I say that someone staring at you with their mouth open is creepy. And weird. When was the last time you looked at someone like that? Hopefully never! Blergh, it’s like the way creepy men stare at you on the street. And then Clary gets jealous of Isabelle. So, that’s fun. Love that girl-on-girl hate. I’ve never felt the urge in my life to hurt a girl bc she was prettier than I am. I can’t imagine feeling that way. Sometimes I’ll say jokingly “she’s so pretty, I’m mad”, but I’ve been trying to cut back on that bc I don’t mean it, it’s something that’s been programmed into me to say. But Clary literally wants to throw the soup over Isabelle’s head. Okay.

There’s a tiny bit of worldbuilding that’s also kind of cute, which is that Isabelle “got the recipe from a water sprite at the Chelsea Market.” Well, most people would just say “Chelsea Market” without that article in front of it, but I still like it. Idk, maybe I’m just a sucker for magical New York. Vampires on the Upper East Side? Give me. Werewolves taking advantage of Central Park? Hell yes! Magicians in Greenwich Village? Duh, sign me up. So, little mentions like this make me happy. The worldbuilding is still shit, but this is some nice stuff.

Jace snarks at Clary for eating all the sandwiches at Dorothea’s, and it’s maddening. Those sandwhiches were the first thing she ate for a whole day! Let women eat their fill without judging them!! Arggghhhh!!!!

For some reason, Jace isn’t sure if they should tell Hodge that the men with Luke were the ones that killed his father. I guess bc he thinks that Hodge won’t let them go out and investigate? Idk. Like, we all know that Hodge is Evil Giles, but Jace doesn’t know that. He tells Isabelle that they’re going to Hodge, but they might not tell him about the men being his father’s killers, and this exchange happens:

[Isabelle] shrugged. “All right. Are you going to come back? Do you want any soup?” “No,” said Jace. “Do you think Hodge will want any soup?” “No one wants any soup.” “I want some soup,” Simon said. “No, you don’t,” said Jace. “You just want to sleep with Isabelle.” Simon was appalled. “That is not true.” “How flattering,” Isabelle murmured into the soup, but she was smirking. “Oh, yes it is,” said Jace. “Go ahead and ask her—then she can turn you down and the rest of us can get on with our lives while you fester in miserable humiliation.” He snapped his fingers. “Hurry up, mundie boy, we’ve got work to do.”

So much. So much. I’m short-circuiting. First of all, it’s so incredibly disrespectful to Isabelle for Jace to talk this way. If I were her, I’d be so uncomfortable. And I know that Jace knows her and her comfort limits, but it’s still disrespectful. Secondly, Jace is so mean. And Clary does call him out for it, but who even knows what she sees in him. He’s so fucking mean. And mean characters are fine. They’re great. But I’m just confused why everybody is falling the fuck in love with Jace. It makes zero sense to me. Jace is set up as this paradigm of a romantic partner and it’s like,,, what??? This Jace???

Clary calls Jace an asshat. An asshat. In our year of the Lord (checks copyright date) 2007. Actually, makes sense. Fandom was Like That. Everyone being vaguely British. I wasn’t technically on the fandom scene for anything back then, but in my fanfiction phase, I did some serious digging into the past. And all this fandom dialect makes sense when you remember that CoB is repurposed HP fanfiction.

Jace claims that he was trying to save Simon from heartbreak bc “Isabelle will cut out his heart and walk all over ti in high-heeled boots. That’s what she does to boys like that.”

Clary APOLOGIZES to Jace for snapping at him. Like, the Jace who was so brutally mean to Simon just now? The Jace who is constantly rude to her? The Jace who talks down to her and is so freaking patronizing? Is she apologizing to that Jace? Mmmmmkay.

Ugh, apparently Maryse, Isabelle’s mom, is usually the cook. So it’s the women who like cooking in this book. Got it. Usually 7 people live here, right? Isabelle, Alec, their brother, their parents, Hodge, and Jace. Two women. Five men. And the only people who cook? The women. Cool, cool, cool. Okay. Got it. Thanks.

Wait, this is weird. Apparently Maryse never taught Isabelle how to cook because, according to Jace:

“Isabelle never wanted to learn. She’s always been first and foremost interested in being a fighter. She comes from a long line of women warriors,” he said, and there was a tinge of pride in his voice. “She’s one of the best Shadowhunters I’ve ever known.”

So, huh. A lot to unpack. Isabelle likes to cook, right? So why wouldn’t she want to learn? And why are cooking and fighting mutually exclusive? There’s so much weird stuff going on here. Clare writes the women as the only ones who cook. I don’t like that because she’s basically saying, “Cooking is something that women do, not men.” And now, because it’s a traditionally feminine thing (which it doesn’t have to be anymore now that most men aren’t out hunting all day), Isabelle doesn’t want to do it. And the narrative accepts that as normal, that women should want to divorce themselves from traditionally feminine things, which in my opinion is still sexism. Except that Isabelle likes to cook. So why wouldn’t she let her mom teach her? Does any of this make sense, you guys?

I AM CONFUSION

For some reason, Clary desperately wants to know if Alec is a better Shadowhunter than Isabelle. Not sure why. Jace replies that Alec has never killed a demon. Interesting. Not sure how that’s possible, but okay. They meet Hodge in the greenhouse, and the prose is truly awful:

Clary exhaled. “It smells like . . .” Springtime, she thought, before the heat comes and crushes the leaves into pulp and withers the petals off the flowers.

Slow down there, Emily Dickinson. Anyhow, Jace tells Hodge about their adventures, except for the fact that the warlocks were the ones who killed his dad. Still not sure why, still don’t really care.

“And [the warlock’s] names were . . .” “Pangborn,” said Jace. “And Blackwell.” Hodge had gone very pale. Against his gray skin the scar along his cheek stood out like a twist of red wire. “It is as I feared,” he said, half to himself. “The Circle is rising again.”

There are so many other quotes like that from HP, but I’m not about to reread all 7 books to find them.

Neither Jace nor Clary knows what the circle is, and Hodge ominously leads them to the library. There’s some annoying, edgy description about the libary. Then Hodge pulls out the Death Eaters’, I mean the Circle’s, manifesto. He reads some creepy stuff from it about swearing his life to the Circle “in order to preserve the purity of the bloodlines of [Elba]”. So, you know, creepy. He explains that he used to be part of a group of Shadowhunters that followed Valentine. They wanted to kill all muggles, ahem, Downworlders when the Downworlders arrived in Elba to sign the Accords. For some worldbuilding reason, they have to be signed every fifteen years.

I’m going to cry. I just can’t. A group of magical supremacists who follow a leader whose name starts with the letter V. Please, someone set me free from this hell. Jace recognizes this story; apparently, this was the Uprising. Somehow the Clave managed to wipe out every mention of the Circle, though. Not sure how. Sounds a little bit like a scary place to live, if the government can just wipe out information like that. A healthy government would say, “This was something terrible that our country did. Nobody forget. We must do better.” But apparently Elba is some sort of fascist hothouse. Also, I’m confused what the point of erasing the Circle was if everyone still remembers the Uprising. Whatever.

Hodge finally admits that he used to be part of the Death Eaters, and even helped write the manifesto. Double bombshell, Clary’s mom used to be in it to.

“My mother would never have belonged to something like that. Some kind of—some kind of hate group.” “It wasn’t—,” Jace began, but Hodge cut him off.”

Okay, tell me what it wasn’t, Jace? It wasn’t a hate group? They wanted to kill all the Downworlders bc they were just so full of love? No, tell me. I’m interested.

Anyway, Hodge triple-bombshells Clary by telling her that Jocie wouldn’t have much choice in the matter bc she was Valentine’s wife. Let’s just ignore the fact that Jocie still is on the hook for being part of a suprmacist organization and end part one. That’s right, guys! Part one is finished, finito, finis. See you on the flip side.

#anti cassandra clare #anti the mortal instruments #book snark #CoB: Chapter 9 #CoB snark

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fyeahsmokinhot · 3 years

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I just finished watching Little Fires Everywhere.....Not gonna lie it was really traumatic for me to watch and I do feel like shit... So, trigger warning guys, a shitload of triggers, not for the faint of heart...

So, for the good:

My loves Keri & Reese killed it! The acting was fantastic.

I really like the art, the repurposing was super cool, I used to love doing stuff like that <3

Protect Pearl! Even though, I didn’t understand much the romance, I felt it was a nice window into the apple pie life for her, so I guess, ok.

The abortion plot was just too fucking personal.

The female characters, the girls....finally giving me characters that don’t fit the 2 types of mould seen on tv/movies. I love complex women, I love layered stories, I love lives that aren’t right or wrong, I love people doing their best or worst in a given situation. What is disturbing me is the online hate for them based on this one did this and therefore they are evil, or that one did that and therefore they are evil (Like, yes, Elena is HORRIBLE to Izzy, but Mia did not take her with, either, they both betray her in the end). CAN WE STOP BASHING WOMEN! I don’t know why I have to say this, women are people, we make decisions be it right or wrong, it is not for others to judge! I am so FUCKING TIRED of having to defend myself and my decisions constantly, listening to ,advice, on what I should do. So, I guess trigger warning - count 1- here.

And now for the bad:

I feel like the characters are never really held accountable for their actions. Mia starts little fires everywhere, but never really stays to see the devastation or put it out ( such as, with the family she offered to be the surrogate for, with Bebe or with Izzy). Elena, yes her house burns down, but we never actually see her addressing any of her little fires (her disappointment of not having her dream career, taking it out on her children, her blowing up Pearls paternity secret). I feel like both women should have faced some consequences for their actions, to show growth or regression. Instead we got Elena, basically in the same place as at the beginning.....yes, we might hope this would be a wake up call, but, hey, I don’t think so. Mia, she seems to have been treated a tad better by the end with taking Pearl to see her other family. But she is still convinced of her own righteousness and innocence, not being able to see the hurt of others around her, and that bugs me so much.

And here we come to trigger warning - count 2- the handling of the idea of a family. I very much so feel like this show was telling me that any other relation, but by blood is somehow lesser. I don’t know if this topic just hits too close to home, I don’t know if I am too influenced by having to defend adoptive families since I was a child, but I do know I hated the way they tried and failed to put the same amount of emphasis on non-blood relations.

For example we see Mia struggle with her decision about keeping Pearl (which I am not questioning, I think absolutely a mother has the right to raise their child), we see the decisions she makes on how to raise her (be they right or wrong)....my point is we see a full picture of happiness/struggle/mistakes/joy. We, however, don’t see the family that were expecting the baby to arrive to them. We don’t see their life, how they were affected, relegating them to something less important, something Mia doesn’t have to deal with, as long as it is not in front of her, therefore in front of us. I also don’t think this is feasible, as a character Mia is very aware of politics/issues in society, and I don’t think she would be able to just ignore these consequences. Even if it’s a coping mechanism, it’s weird it wouldn’t be addressed for 16 years.

We see Linda and Bebe’s story more. However, it feels very much the series is telling me how to feel about both women. Bebe is portrayed as someone who is weak, often seen crying, asking Mia for help ( at some point Mia just overtakes her story and I keep thinking who is this really about). On screen Bebe is seen to be suffering and we feel sorry for her. In contrast Linda is seen to be throwing insensitive parties, being combative to others in front of the baby, being hysterical when in court. I don’t like this biased production work one bit. You already set up the conflict, it’s not an easy one, can’t I make my own opinions??? And here we go, with trigger warning - count 3- because you are basically screaming at me, that adoptive families are evil, they just want to buy a baby, and they will never be as good as blood relations.

And through this, not once someone asks what would be the best for the child? Really? We see Pearl, who has been told all her life what to do, how to live, where to go and we see this situation where once again the child is relegated to be the object of a fight?! I mean, fucking trigger warning - count 3- at this point I’m throwing up.

God, I feel just so much anxiety and negativity after watching this, so I’m screaming into this void! I am so tired of adoption not being discussed in our society, and if it is, it’s something to be brushed over or swiped under the rug with a few , Oh, right! ‘-s. And when I see it on TV it’s binary, like stepparents are evil/birthparents are amazing or the other way. Can we as a society finally discuss this too? Oh, I guess not...

Anyway, if anyone reads this just know this is the end. I feel like shit, but I’m gonna go cry and sleep, and I’ll be fine tomorrow. Can anyone tell me if the book is this triggering too? Because I’m thinking of reading it, but I really don’t know...

#little fires everywhere #bookblr #trigger warning #little fires everywhere hulu #books #best seller books #adoption #my shit

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