#this month has taught me just how important representation is

[lericekrispie]

Back on that Native Dakota Cole propaganda grind

Dakota Cole being Native is so important to me. This silly little headcannon brings me so much joy, to see the character do so many things that are so so Native coded and to have a story that feels inherently Native. I don't get a lot of representation in mainstream media. A lot of the time you have to search for it yourself. In this essay I will-

Native Coding Evidence in Cannon-

Dakota, the name by itself is a fairly Native name.

Alaska (Dakota's aunt) is also a very Native name.

Dakota's real name, Damascus, originally sounded very French to me. French would point to Native, because Native people often traded with French fur traders up north (of the united states) and into Canada. With the French, sometimes there was intermarriage, whether in violence or in peace. However, with some research into the name it comes from the Bible, and the direct meaning from google is "A sack full of blood, the similitude of burning."

Alaska's struggle with addiction (a common symptom of generational trauma from the Native genocide)

Playing a drum to calm down! Drums are a very Native thing.

He has that weird thing with bears? Native ways teach more by doing then showing so learning from wildlife seems to be a way his Grandma mentor would try to teach him, and Bears is a very Native associated animal.

How Dakota fits a Native Narrative-

Having a warrior spirit. Dakota Cole has very strong morals, and undoubtedly a fighting spirit. From the way he fights, from his strength, to his honor and respect for life.

He's disconnected from his family, yet makes strong connections with others. A lot of natives separated from their culture because of assimilation and genocide often yearn for families they know love them but cannot reach, for a culture they know should be there but cannot access. Being away from that but knowing something is missing is extremely painful. You yearn for a community, and a need for a strong community is in Native blood. Dakota makes strong meaningful connections, mimicking what he is missing.

Dakota Native Headcannons-

The first time he sees a powwow he cries (he's just like me fr fr)

His mentor is Native, and lives on his Rez. That's how he found him the first time around, he was on the road, and the only place he knew of that could possibly take him in was an obscure town Aunt Alaska had mentioned once or twice of growing up in. He goes there hoping to find more family, instead he finds his Teacher (Mentor).

(Teacher is from the Eagle clan if you care)

He wakes up in the morning, and sit in the sunrise, and smudges like he was taught by his Mentor.

During the ten-month break he got really close with the community on the Rez, he would often help however he could with his superpowers.

He listens to Native Rap when he works out and Native flute music to calm down.

He connects to Vyncent a lot about tribes and traditons bc that's what Vyncent had in Fauna.

During the ten-month break he learns to powwow dance.

He spouts off old Native teachings like a parrot of what his mentor has told him, sounds really mature, and Vyncent and Will are like... "that was really smart Dakota." And he's like. Idk what it means my Mentor just told me that lmao then he keeps being silly

He get's his hair cut during the ten-month break into a mowhawk :)

(when he wants to grow it out he just buzz cuts it to even it out and he looks slay af with a buzzed head)

When he gets older he's going to get almost full body Native tattoos.

He incorporates beading into his superhero fit

Dakota's Native name is Miskomin-Makoons (Raspberry- Cub)

The Damascus' are from the Bear clan.

"The Bear Clan members were the strong and steady police and legal guardians. Bear Clan members spent a lot of time patrolling the land surrounding the village, and in so doing, they learned which roots, bark, and plants could be used for medicines to treat the ailments of their people."

Dakota's Warrior title is 'Bleeding Heart Warrior'

I'm sure I'll remember more stuff later and I'll kick myself but for now this is what I have. any JRWI Natives want to add feel free to give ur headcannons :)

#dakota cole #just roll with it #jrwiblr #jrwi show #jrwi headcanon #jrwi prime defenders #prime defenders #back on that native dakota propaganda grind #hes just like me fr #jrwi dakota

[herebedragonsbooks]

Storyteller of the month: October, Alice Oseman

Every month from now on I will be publishing a post talking about a storyteller (a writer, director, musician… mostly all kind of artists) who I admire and/or whose works I deeply enjoy. This is a mere way of spreading some online positivity, give some content recommendations and show my love for the people that bring to live the worlds I adore to get lost in. For the first post of this kind, I will be talking about Alice Oseman. Hope you like it 🫶🏼

Alice Oseman is a British writer, illustrator, and screenwriter who is known for their graphic novels Heartstopper and their standalone novels Solitaire, Radio Silence, Loveless, and I was born for this, among others. Their books are an incredible accurate portrait of adolescence at the same time they talk about deep themes like bullying and mental health problems. And of course, we can’t forget that they played an important role in how the LGTBQ+ community has won more representation in YA literature and TV in recent years.

 I thought that starting with them would be a good option, since I have just finished watching Heartstopper first season and I recently read Solitaire and Radio Silence. Yeah, I am in my Osemanverse era, and I am going to make it everyone’s else problem 😅 So, without further ado, here is why I love their work so much.

I was introduced to this fandom in a completely unexpected way, through finding a cute picture drawing of Charlie and Nick hugging each other with the words “I want a relationship like theirs” edited above it on Pinterest. I didn’t think much about it, I didn’t even know anything about the books nor the series back then. I just smiled, said to myself that the art style was really cute, and keep scrolling through the app. After that, many Heartstopper related drawings appeared on my dashboard, and I finally decided to give it a try and read it online. Now, I can say without exaggerating that Oseman’s stories are some of the most heartwarming I have ever seen.

Finding myself enjoying this type of content was really strange for me at first, why for? Because until a year I whole heartily believed that I hated romance books (except classic literature ones) just because I felt they were nothing like how imagined being in love would be like for me (Sugarcoat relationships between plain main characters? Thanks but no 😓). That was my first mistake, Heartstopper is not your average romance novel. Yeah, ofc it talks about love but not only romantic love! Loving yourself (with your quirks and little imperfections) your family, your friends… They are also important topics in the Osemanverse, that I really needed to read and learn about.

Alice's books taught me that everyone deserves to be accepted and cared about. That even when anxious thoughts creep inside my mind, there will always be someone to listen and help me go through it. That I could learn to love myself if I tried. That sooner or later I will be end up finding my people. It also made me more aware of the LGTBQ+ community around me, and it was incredibly helpful to tear down some stereotypes that media or other people have made me believe about queer people.

For some personal reasons I related in some aspects to three characters since the begining, Charlie, Tori and Aled. It may sound weird, but seeing them overcoming their problems and finally being able to grow up as the wonderful people they were meant to be was so touching for me. I am really thankful to the author for telling their stories, because no one could have talked about these topics and have reached as many readers as they did. Reading these books made me realize that I was not alone and that I could do it too. So thank you from the bottom of my heart Alice Oseman, really

To finish with, I will say that I recommend their books to anyone who wants to have some new comfort characters on their list or enjoy this fluff, hurt/comfort type of literature. Give it a try, you won’t regret it!

Thanks for reading, until next month! 👋

#Storyteller of the month #author appreciation #Alice Oseman #osemanverse #heartstopper #solitaire #charlie spring #oseman tag #Osemanverse books

[lostmousemaid]

Brian Jacques’s birthday is June 15! He is no longer with us, but we can still honor his life.

June is a wonderful month in this part of the world–the final remnants of spring meld into the warmth of summer. Flowers are blooming and baby birds are making their final flights from their nests. And on June 15, 1939, Redwall author Brian Jacques was born. 

Brian passed away on a cold and rainy day in February of 2011–fitting weather for a city that had lost an icon. In February, I always remember his passing and feel such a somber reverence for the man who gave us a world of courage and peace. If he was still with us, he’d be turning 83 this year. 

In June, his memory is brighter: this is the time to remember his life. Not just his creation of Redwall, but everything about the adventure driven, family focused, and multi-talented man who made such an impact on his hometown of Liverpool–and the world. His life could arguably have been more action packed than his own stories.

For many years, @dibbunsagainstbedtime​ has hosted fundraisers in the month of June in Brian’s memory. She isn’t able to run the fundraiser this year, so I’ve taken over. I appreciate everything she’s done in his memory in the past, and I hope to do well in continuing her tradition. If Redwall taught us anything, it is how to be good and do good to the world around us, and I hope this will aid in that cause. 

I know we are all drawn to different causes, and pockets are tight coming out of a pandemic and facing a chaotic job market, inflation, and potentially worse. As such, I’m not fundraising in the traditional sense. I want to raise awareness for the causes below, all located in Liverpool. 

If you decide to donate after seeing this post, I ask that you name Brian Jacques somewhere in your dedication. If you can’t or don’t want to donate but would like to spread the word, please share! 

If you want me to share some results towards the end of this month, you can let me know if you want to be credited, who you supported, and how much you donated. Any part of that info can be anonymous if you’d like as well. 

Royal School for the Blind

Historically, @dibbunsagainstbedtime​ fundraised for the Royal School for the Blind in Liverpool. This school has a special place in Brian’s history, and specifically in the history of Redwall. Brian used to read stories to the children when making his routine stops as a truck driver, and he found he didn’t like the books he was reading. As a result, he wrote Redwall for the children there. It was discovered, published, and the rest is history. 

The Royal School for the Blind is currently only taking donations by bank transfer and check. I know that process would take more time than a standard website donation, but this is one of the best places for the Redwall fandom to donate in Brian’s memory if you’re comfortable with the options.

Everyman Playhouse

Alan Durband, who was once Brian’s teacher and later discovered Redwall and was pivotal in its publication, co-founded Merseyside’s Everyman Theatre in 1964. Brian later joined this theatre as a resident playwright. Everyman Theatre merged with another company, Playhouse, in 2000–hence the name change! Supporting this cause assists in ongoing representation of the arts that were an important part of Brian’s life. 

North Liverpool Food Bank

Food banks offer resources to individuals with food insecurities. Coming from a fandom with such an emphasis on food–and knowing Brian himself grew up with food insecurities–this is an excellent charity to contribute to. 

The Open Door Center

This charity provides mental health support to young people through music, technology, training, and volunteering. These services are for anyone aged 15-30. 

The Whitechapel Centre

The leading charity in Liverpool for the homeless and those struggling to maintain housing. We can’t open our gates to everyone, but we can help provide services to those who can.

Remember: 

If you are unable to donate to any of these causes for any reason, I want you to know that you are valid. Being good and doing good isn’t rooted in money: it’s rooted in action, and changing the world for good doesn’t have to be large, well-organized movements. Just being a warm smile, friendly shoulder, or listening ear brings some of that Redwall peace to the world and is an honor to Brian’s life.  

#Brian Jacques #redwall #charity #liverpool

[goldenkamuyhunting]

To begin with, I apologize for my English, I'm writing in a hurry at recess with the help of an interpreter and I think my heart is going to explode with emotions. First of all, I want to thank you for all the work you have done, your analyses of chapters and characters have helped me in many ways to understand and love golden kamuy. I stumbled upon your blog late enough, but immediately fell in love with it. Like never before, I was inspired to create and explore, fan creativity awoke in me and I lived all this time, supported by thoughts about this manga. Thank you again for everything, I hope to re-read the manga and your blog in the future. Secondly, I want to say that I fully share your disappointment with the ending, but I'm desperately trying to keep a pleasant aftertaste after reading the manga. It could have been different, but we have what we have. I remember jokingly telling myself that if Ogata dies senselessly at the end (although the manga tells us that each of us has a purpose/mission), then I will take it as a sign that life has no meaning. Of course, I held this opinion initially, but when Ogata shot himself in the head, something snapped in my soul. It was incredibly funny and painful at the same time, what a coincidence! But that's not what I'm talking about, sorry for straying from the topic. In many ways, your reflections help me to survive these gloomy emotions. Thirdly, I wanted to say thank you to the author of golden kamuy for all that this story has taught me. I understand that there are big mistakes and shoals in the representation of Ainu culture, in the representation of the consequences of the war, very complex political/environmental topics and moral issues are raised. And the author does not always successfully disclose the problems raised. But thanks to his work, I learned about a culture that I had never heard of before, thought about questions that had not occurred to me, over the past 4 months of reading manga and watching anime, I have irrevocably changed and strongly attached to all the characters. This story keeps me in balance and helps me keep waking up in the morning. I accept all the mistakes of the manga author, I was glad to go this way with you, I love this story. It turned out to be dangerous to get attached. Извините, это так эгоистично и глупо написано.

Thank you for writing to me even though English isn’t your mother tongue. I know first hard how difficult this can be. Don’t worry for your English, you did a great work with it.

Also thank you for having enjoyed my work, I’m really happy to know my ramblings helped you enjoy your “Golden Kamuy” experience.

I think you’re not wrong in wanting to keep enjoying the manga despite the ending. There is a huge part of this manga I also will keep on loving forever and I’ve plenty of good memories I don’t want to forget, both in regard to the story and in regard to the people I met through this ‘travel’ and I’m still thankful to Noda for all that this story gave me (which doesn’t mean he gets a pass for the ending, just that I really value what he did prior to it) and I also admire him a lot for his dedication to this story.

So yes, I fully support the fact you want to keep the good feelings alive especially if this story was important for you and helped you.

Thank you for going through “Golden Kamuy” with me and for sharing your thoughts with me. It really made me happy to know them.

#ya ustal suka blyat #ask #Other people's posts

[trylobites]

to dan, eugene, phil, and everyone who has come out this month,

thank you.

thank you for coming out and sharing your stories. every time someone finds the strength to come out, they are telling anyone who may be questioning or afraid that it is okay to be lgbtqa+; that they are not wrong, broken, or alone; and even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment, eventually they will be okay.

representation is so important, and just something as simple as saying “i’m gay” can completely change someone’s life. so thank you. thank you for speaking your truth. it probably wasn’t easy–it rarely ever is–but you are not alone and we’re all so proud of you ♥︎

#happy last day of pride everyone #dan howell #eugene lee yang #phil lester #the try guys #amazingphil #mygif #i don't know if this is coherent at all #but i had to say it #i'm so proud of everyone #and i love our community so much #this month has taught me just how important representation is #these are people i've grown up with #and to see myself represented in them #is something very special #it's also shown me how much society's changed since they were younger #and how much we still need to work on #to normalize queerness and create safe spaces for young people #to explore their identities without fear of judgement or ostracization #obviously there were a lot of other people who came out this month #but these three really affected me personally #bc they played such an important role in my junior high and high school years

[sokkastyles]

Zutara Month Day 10: Oma and Shu

I’ve seen some people point out that Zutara doesn’t necessarily fit Oma and Shu because the Oma and Shu myth is more Romeo and Juliet than enemies to lovers, and those people are not necessarily wrong. Romeo and Juliet, just like Oma and Shu, were never themselves enemies. They did nothing but love each other, but were forbidden from being together because of the feud. Zutara, in most interpretations, is less a “forbidden” romance and more a transition from enemies to friends to lovers. Most people imagine them growing to love each other after becoming friends, often after Zuko’s redemption and the end of the war. Nonetheless, the Oma and Shu story does share several parallels with Zutara that many fans have picked up on. What I want to do is examine some of these parallels from a meta angle, to look at the Oma and Shu story as it appears in the series and other similar stories that appear in ATLA, and to also compare them to similar stories in the real world, and analyze a bit the popularity of these various tales of forbidden love, why they are popular, and what their purpose is, as well as how Zutara fits into all this.

In universe, the Oma and Shu story, in addition to being a love story, is also an origin myth of sorts for the Earth Kingdom. It explains the creation of the city of Omashu, as well as telling the story of some of the first humans to learn earthbending. The message of the story, in addition to being a tale about love thriving between two unlikely people, and a cautionary tale about what happens when love is prevented from flourishing, is also a message about love being an act of creation and a force of transformation.

Love is brightest in the dark.

This sentence is a paradox, but it fits with the theme of balance that the show comes back to again and again, of breaking down barriers and deconstructing dichotomies to create something new, something more whole than the original. Something mirroring the harmony of yin and yang.

The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same. We are all one people, but we live as if divided.

The above quote by Guru Pathik is also similar to Iroh’s philosophy, which he tries to teach Zuko.

It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations will help you become whole.

Iroh also says something in “The Crossroads of Destiny” that echoes the Oma and Shu story.

Iroh: Perfection and power are overrated. I think you were very wise to choose happiness and love.

Aang: What happens if we can't save anyone and beat Azula? Without the Avatar State, what if I'm not powerful enough?

Iroh: I don't know the answer. Sometimes, life is like this dark tunnel. You can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving, [Aang earthbends the rocks away one last time. Iroh's fire blows out. He smiles.] you will come to a better place.

Iroh says that Aang is wise to choose love over power, while walking through a dark tunnel, and advises Aang to trust in the darkness to bring him to the light. Meanwhile, Zuko and Katara, two people on opposite sides of a war, share a moment of unlikely tenderness in a cave lit by glowing crystals.

Zuko in the crystal catacombs does what Iroh has been trying to teach him to do, to let go of pride and the need for power, and to instead embrace compassion and humility. Which is what he does when he apologizes to Katara. This is also part of what stories like Romeo and Juliet teach us, that pride and petty grievances are destructive, and that only by embracing love do we become whole.

I know the prompt is Oma and Shu, but thinking about that story and its place in the narrative made me think about other mythic stories that appear in the series, so let’s look at another one that has significance for zutara: Love Amongst the Dragons, Ursa’s favorite play that she took young Zuko and Azula to see every year.

The actual story of Love Amongst the Dragons, according to the ATLA wiki, is this:

The play features the Dragon Emperor, bound to mortal form by the Dark Water Spirit, and forced to adopt the alias of Noren. The humble experience results in Noren falling in love with a mortal, and through this love he is able to break free of his curse. The play concludes with Noren defeating the Dark Water Spirit and embracing his mortal girlfriend, revealed to be the Dragon Empress.

What struck me when I found this description was that this is, with some slight changes, pretty much the Chinese myth of the marriage between Dragon and Phoenix, a representation for yin and yang and harmony in marriage, and which I compared in a meta to zutara as well.

Like the Oma and Shu story, it is a story about unlikely love, and about crossing divisions. It also has a lot of similarities with various myths involving shapeshifting love-interests, often referred to as “animal bride/husband” myths (which beauty and the beast is a subset of).

The symbolism of the tale in-universe is in its connection to Ursa, and thus Zuko’s connection to his mother. Zuko’s connection to his mother is contrasted with his connection to his father, which is representative of Zuko’s destructive side. When Zuko was trying to capture the Avatar, he was searching for his father’s approval, to become someone that would earn his father’s love. Ursa, meanwhile, taught Zuko kindness and compassion, and told him that it didn’t matter that he wasn’t the most powerful or strong. That Ursa took Zuko to see this particular play is significant, a play about a godlike being, the Dragon Emperor, being humbled and learning to love.

Only with your glory hidden in false form could you recognize my devotion.

Though different, and originating in a different nation, this is another tale about love shining through the dark, about letting go of pride and choosing compassion. Animal bride/husband myths are often about seeing past what is hidden to see the truth. They are stories of transformation, and like the Oma and Shu story, are about the transformative power of love.

It’s also from this play that Zuko gets his Blue Spirit alter ego, which Zuko uses as an exploration of his own identity apart from being the Fire Nation prince. In this story the same mask is worn by the villainous Dark Water Spirit. It is very interesting that Zuko uses an identity associated with water for this purpose. Also, like the Blue Spirit, the Dark Water Spirit seems to be a bit on the morally ambiguous side. Even though the spirit is defeated at the end of the story, its motivation for transforming the Dragon Emperor seems to be to teach him humility, and this is a message the play seems to promote.

Zuko and Azula’s dialogue from the above comic pages is interesting because it expands on what we already know about both characters. Zuko complains about always having to play the villain, just as he was made a scapegoat by his father and sister, and his adapting of the Blue Spirit identity is essentially him reclaiming that identity that was forced on him while trying to figure out who he really is. Azula sees herself as the Dragon Emperor, but she misunderstands the message of the story completely, and it’s not a coincidence that she talks over the love scene in the comic above and responds angrily and pridefully to the man who tries to shush her. Similar to Ozai when he names himself the Phoenix King, ironically misinterpreting the actual myth. I also think there’s something interesting to say about gender here, as this post points out. Not only does Ozai associate himself with a female figure, but Azula associates herself with the male Dragon Emperor, while Zuko is associated with the more feminine water spirit (water being a feminine element.) However, by the end of the series, Zuko embodies the transformed Dragon Emperor, while Katara I associated before with the Phoenix/Dragon Empress, as she is associated with healing and rebirth. Also notice the red and blue color coding in the comic page above, both with the Water Spirit and Dragon Emperor and in the coloring of the two lovers.

This also brings me to another play present in the series, the play that the gaang goes to see performed by the Ember Island Players. The same players that Zuko says his mother took him to see. The play we see them put on in the series is a Fire Nation propaganda play, promoting Ozai and the war. I actually can’t imagine that Love Amongst the Dragons, a play about a Dragon Emperor learning humility, was very popular during Ozai’s reign. We hear about it being performed before Ozai became Fire Lord, but we can assume that those visits to the theatre stopped after Ursa’s disappearance. The only other time we hear about that particular play being performed is after the end of the war. This leads me to imagine that it was necessary for the Ember Island Players to find a different play to perform while Ozai was in charge. While the play is not necessarily subverting Fire Nation superiority (the villain is a water spirit, after all), it is confrontational enough that I can imagine Ozai’s brand of narcissism seeing it as a challenge to his authority. Ozai who disdained love in favor of power and control.

“The Boy in the Iceberg” contains another love story between two people from opposite sides in their depiction of Zuko and Katara in the crystal catacombs. I wrote before about how I’ve seen interpretations of this that say that the Fire Nation was trying to portray zutara as an “inferior” Water Tribe woman falling for a “superior” Fire Nation man - essentially saying that the play is in favor of zutara as a piece of Fire Nation pro-colonization propaganda - but the problem with this is that that isn’t how zutara is depicted in the play. The play mocks zutara by portraying Zuko as submissive and subservient to Aang, and Zuko is later killed, as he is currently a traitor and threat to the Fire Nation. Thus, the “romance” between Zuko and Katara is not being depicted as supporting the superior masculinity of Fire Nation men, but rather portraying Zuko, who willingly chose to dissasociate himself with the Fire Nation, as emasculated and submissive to other, “lesser” men and aggressive “foreign” women.

This is a complete mockery of the real connection that Zuko and Katara had in the catacombs, the kind of love that is inherently subversive because it requires Zuko humbling himself in front of Katara and admitting that he was wrong, and working for her forgiveness. It is the kind of love that the Fire Nation under Ozai’s rule rejects. The kind of love that is truly transformative, revelatory, and brings light to the darkness. The kind of love that creates rather than destroys, that unifies rather than divides. That is humble and not prideful. That’s the appeal of zutara.

#zutara #zuko #katara #zutara month 2021 #atla meta #the cave of two lovers #the crossroads of destiny #the ember island players #oma and shu #love amongst the dragons

[adhd-hyperfixations-n-stuff]

Entrapdak Positivity Month Day 5: Disability

I just love these two — and regardless of them being antagonists for much of the show, they’re important to me as representation.

From the beginning, Entrapta is the only person not intimidated by Hordak. He’s caught off guard by her lack of fear, and struggles to maintain control of the situation, but Entrapta isn’t easily controllable. She doesn’t react like most of the Etherians Hordak has encountered, so she’s unpredictable for him in a way he clearly isn’t used to.

Unlike in her relationships with other characters, here Entrapta’s autism isn’t something she has to “overcome.” It’s just part of her, and in fact, it actually drives the formation of their relationship. She’s able to break down the walls Hordak’s put up just by being herself.

And Hordak definitely has a lot of defenses that he never expected anyone to try breaking through, let alone succeed. He’s used to pushing everyone away by maintaining the image of someone frightening and powerful. Presumably, this is partly fear of appearing weak which is pretty justified considering how Catra takes advantage of it as soon as she finds out, and partly the shame Prime taught him to feel about his disability.

Fortunately for them both, it doesn’t work on Entrapta. Hordak doesn’t scare her, he fascinates her — and she wants to help him.

And she tells him things he really needs to hear as someone dealing with a ton of internalized ableism from abuse, and even builds him an assistive device as soon as she finds out about his chronic illness.

(god i just. love this scene)

Although Entrapta is a lot more self-assured than Hordak is, she has some significant insecurities too — and it’s not hard to see why, when pretty much everyone treats her like this:

would be cooler if the show portrayed this as a bad thing but at least it’s realistic lol

I think a lot of autistic people, myself included, know the feeling of being grudgingly kept around just because you’re useful in some way, but not really understood or liked. With the princesses, Entrapta has to accept this as the closest she can get to friendship — and she tries to.

At first, she may seem unbothered by it, but she’s all too aware that she doesn’t fit in with most people. That’s what makes it so easy for Catra to convince her that the other princesses left her behind. They might think she's unable to notice the way they act toward her, but she does notice, and it hurts.

That’s part of what makes her relationship with Hordak so important. Yes, she helps him a lot, but it’s not one-sided either. He’s the one person who consistently listens to her and respects her, even before they become close.

They both introduce each other to a kind of respect (and love) they aren’t used to receiving, and may not feel worthy of at first, due to ableism and abuse. They understand each other, they help each other, and their relationship is mutually beneficial.

-

bonus Relatable Neurodivergent Moods with Entrapta:

the “no no I swear I’m listening even though I look like I’m not” lol

and the “wait shit you’re mad?? what did I do? why didn’t you just tell me?”

Also, this scene with Hordak is so relatable for chronic illness/pain:

It’s exhausting trying to keep going when your body is falling apart and seems to be working against you at every turn, especially when you have to hide that you’re struggling and hold yourself to the same standards as a healthy person.

-

anyway, in conclusion: Entrapdak are good rep and I love them. thank u for coming to my ted talk.

#entrapdak positivity month #entrapdak #entrapta #hordak #disabled representation #autistic representation #long post #spop #she ra #chronic illness #ableism #yes im doing all of these so late i know haha #it's been a weird month for me but i do want to do something for all the prompts #for this one i offer semi coherent rambling lol

[weasleylangs]

in the summer sun - f.w

Pairing: Fred x Fem!Reader but honestly it’s just a whole Weasley family slice of life fic. Summary: The war has ended and the Weasley’s appreciate their family now more than ever. Warnings: Mention of the war, mention of Fred having a near death experience, mention of PTSD, anxiety, nightmares and injuries, opening scene involves an anxiety attack, fuck is said twice by the way. Word Count: 3.1k

A/N: This fic is inspired by this ask I received from Kai @weasleyclaw for the ‘send me a made up title game’! The warnings sound scary, but I promise this is a super fluffy slice-of-life fic with Fred and the reader, just existing after the war! Fred lives, obviously but he still had an accident and in reality, he’d be going through a lot of shit and I didn’t want to ignore that!

I am in no way romanticising mental illness and trauma, I myself struggle with a variety of mental illness and trauma and representation is super important, babey!!!!!! Proper support is important!!!!!!

I still can’t decide if I love or hate this but.... [schedules while I’m asleep]

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

Fred sat up quickly. Heavy and ragged breathing coursing through his lungs as he struggled to catch his breath. He couldn’t even remember what he was dreaming of now that he’s awake, only remembering flashes of green and a loud ‘bombarda maxima’ before being shocked awake by his anxiety and fear.

He’s been plagued by nightmares for three months, ever since he was fighting in that seventh floor corridor and the wall came crashing down on him. He knows it’s normal to be haunted by these memories, he almost died, for crying out loud, but he would really like to have one night where he sleeps through it without being jolted awake. 

He could feel the pressure in his chest get stronger as he struggled to breathe as he checked the clock on the bedside table. It reads 6:30am and when he looks out the window he realises the sun is already rising and the summer heat is making it into their bedroom. His girlfriend of five years sleeps in the bed next to him, snoring lightly having not been woken up by his oncoming anxiety attack.

Fred struggles to remember the grounding technique she taught him when he had his first attack. She’s his biggest supporter, always there when he needs her, but he wants to get better himself . He doesn't want to rely on her for the rest of his days no matter how often she reminds him it’s okay and that she wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

He’s got his legs swung over the side of the bed, his body closing in on himself when he feels the bed move and arms wrap around his middle, “Breathe, Freddie, and tell me five things you can see,” she whispers gently in his ear.

His eyes darts around the room, searching as he tries his best to breathe, “The tree outside our window, the lamp, that chair,” he struggles to speak as his breathing is laboured, “your book on my bedside table, my slippers…”

“Good job, my love. Now, four things you can touch.”

His hands grab hers, “Your hands,” he says as he turns to face her, “the duvet, my shirt and…” His hand moves, from her hand to cupping her face, “your hair.” 

This continues, Fred rattling off three things he can hear, two things he can smell and one thing he can taste before he realises his breathing has slowed down, his hands have stopped shaking and while the pressure in his chest is still there, it’s been alleviated and he knows it’ll disappear in a few moments. 

Y/N whispers soft praise in Fred’s ear as she lays him back down in their bed. She’s so proud of the progress he has made in just a short few months. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

He shakes his head, while he barely remembers, he knows it’s the same nightmare as usual. Hogwarts, duelling, wall comes crashing down and Fred almost dies. It’s more of a flashback if anything, that he’s constantly reliving the worst day of his life.

“That’s okay, we can just lay here and rest before we go to your mum and dad’s… If you still feel up to going?” Y/N knows when nights like this happen, Fred usually wants to stay in bed and recoup his energy and try again the next day. 

“No, no, we have to go,” he says and it’s not because it’s an obligation, he truly does want to. After almost dying, after spending almost a year without knowing if Ron, Harry and Hermione were okay, after Bellatrix Lestrange threatened to kill both Ginny and his own mother and with Percy reconnecting with them all, he appreciates family time like he never did before. They all deserve to have happy, carefree and relaxing days and that’s what today is meant to be for them all.

“If you’re sure, my love,” she whispers, pressing a soft kiss to his neck. Fred probably won't fall back asleep, the sun has risen and while he won’t admit it, he’s too scared to try and sleep again. But he doesn’t mind, he’s perfectly content having Y/N fall back asleep in his arms and sometimes, rarely but sometimes, her soft snores lulls Fred into a light, undisturbed sleep.

-

It’s lunch time by the time Fred and Y/N apparate to The Burrow. Fred’s still recovering physically from his injuries - having your entire body crushed by rubble does that to you, so he happily side-along apparates with Y/N instead of solo floo’ing places. 

When they walk into the house, they’re met with a chorus of hello’s and Molly dragging Fred into a hug and kisses his cheeks repeatedly, and then continues to complain that he has no meat on his bones and that he needs to be eating more while shoving a muffin into his hand. 

George is snickering by the table because someone who isn’t himself is finally being on the receiving end of his mothers affection and he has Angelina Johnson awkwardly beside him. When Y/N raises her eyebrows at him, he mouths a ‘I’ll explain later’ before winking and walking Angelina over to her. 

“Hey, Angie,” she says, pulling the girl into a hug. While they were never close at school, considering Y/N wasn’t a Gryffindor, they still got along when the time arose, “didn’t know my little Georgie here got himself a bird.” 

George groans at the fact Y/N completely ignored him and Angelina blushes as she tries to hide her face behind her hair, but Y/N can see that she’s smiling and not at all bothered by the teasing, “Hey, I’m only teasing, come here!” she says as she pulls the embarrassed girl into a tight embrace. While Y/N drops the subject of Angelina and George finally getting their lives together and dating after years of pining, George knows Y/N is going to corner him later and get the answers out of him.

Hermione and Ginny quickly run down the stairs and grab Y/N, pulling her into a hug as well. Soon enough, the entire family is trying to squeeze inside the living room - including Bill and Fleur who always turn up for the Weasley get together and even Charlie has taken extended leave from his job in Romania to stay and spend the summer with everyone. 

Because of the overcrowding, Ron whistles loudly, grabbing everyone’s attention, “Who wants to play a game of quidditch and let mum have some peace and quiet?” Immediately Harry, the twins, Angelina and Charlie are out the door, already fighting about teams and position. Y/N briefly hears Harry whine ‘I want to be on Charlie’s team but he plays seeker’ as their voices fade. Ginny stays back, wanting to catch up with Y/N for a bit and promises to join everyone later.

Fred loves nothing more than spending time with his siblings. Growing up as a twin, he’s had someone constantly by his side, but he loves his huge family more than anything. George and he spend 5 minutes fighting over who gets to be beater until they just decide they’ll just be on different teams before they realise they don’t have enough siblings for a full team anyway, meaning the beaters are out of the equation.

This causes the twins to just start jokingly fighting over who plays chaser before Ron and Harry has to break it up so they can actually play. 

Fred adores flying. His hair has been growing out and the wind through it as he flies is one of the best feelings in the world, he thinks. It makes him forget all his worries, his only focus is snatching the quaffle out of George’s slimy grip and getting it past Charlie, who’s playing both keeper and seeker for the other team to make up for the lack of players.

“Oi, Ickle Ronnikins,” he calls out from his broom, wobbling slightly as he yells to get his brother’s attention, “mind paying attention to the match and not your girlfriend? George is getting every shot in, mate,” He’s teasing of course. They can see the girls through the window and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t sneaking glances at Y/N.

Meanwhile, the three girls sit at the kitchen table chatting amongst themselves and Bill and Fleur are outside in the garden when Percy and his girlfriend turn up. There’s tension in the air, there always is when Percy turns up. It’s not that no one wants him there, but given his history of being a ‘right prat’ (Fred’s words), everyone is cautious. 

But he goes right up to Molly, pulling her into an embrace and kissing her on the cheek and then turns to his dad and gives him a hug. 

“Hey Gin, Y/N, Hermione,” he gives them a curt nod as they say hello back before pulling the girl beside him closer, “this is Audrey, my girlfriend. Do you guys mind hanging with her while I go find the boys?"

The girls, of course, nod. “How long have you and Percy been together for?” Y/N asks as the girl sits and she hopes she isn’t coming off rude. She’s been with Fred for five years and never met Audrey and Hermione’s been in the Weasley’s lives for even longer, so it’s clearly a recent development. 

“Around this time last year… With everything going on and Percy not being on speaking terms with everyone, we haven’t really had the chance to meet…” she trails off and Y/N senses the awkward tension rising, so she grabs Audrey’s hand in a reassuring matter.

“Don’t stress about that. You’re here now and you’re family,” while Y/N isn’t officially a Weasley, her and Fred have spoken about their future together on numerous occasions so she doesn’t feel like she’s speaking out of turn offering ‘Weasley Family Status’ to Audrey, “I’m Y/N, Fred’s girlfriend.” 

“And I’m Hermione, Ron’s girlfriend,” Hermione adds and before Ginny even speaks, Y/N interrupts her, “You’re obviously a Weasley, Gin,” and the girls all start giggling.

“I’m Ginny, Harry’s girlfriend!” she exclaims proudly when all the girls finally calm down and it only sets them off again.

What the girls don’t notice is that Molly’s watching them, with a smile on her face. She’s always wanted daughters - she loves Ginny and she loves every single one of her sons, but she wishes she had been able to give her a sister. But watching the scene unfold in front of her, how these girls welcome Audrey so easily into their lives, Molly’s eyes well with tears as she realises she has the most wonderful daughter and future daughter-in-laws a woman could ask for. 

“How’s Fred doing?” Ginny asks. Of course, everyone’s suffered from the war, but everyone is constantly concerned about Fred. 

“Between seeing his psychologist and his physical therapy appointments, he’s doing really good,” she says, looking out the window and she laughs as she sees Fred holding Ron in a headlock, shouting something about how rusty he is at keeper, “there’s days it’s hard, and he has really bad nightmares sometimes, and there's days where they make him not want to leave the house but he had one this morning and was determined to get here today. I’m really proud of him.” 

Molly rubs Y/N on the shoulders, almost like a thank you for being there for Fred through it all as she places muffins in front of all the girls and takes her own seat. She takes a moment to scold Arthur for trying to repair the muggle radio playing he’s stolen from work before joining in on the girls’ conversation as they eat. 

The sweet moment is interrupted by a voice that is clearly Percy’s shouting and both Y/N and Audrey’s automatic assumption is that the worst has happened. Especially when Y/N hears the familiar voice of her boyfriend shouting incoherently. 

All the girls rush out the door, expecting to break up a fight but that isn’t what’s happening. Instead, Fred has Percy on the ground, rolling around in dirt and they’re both laughing . Molly has to excuse herself, tears welling in her eyes at the sight of Percy being accepted by his brother. 

“What’s going on here?” Audrey questions. It’s clear she’s still weary, worried that at a moment's notice, Percy’s siblings will turn on him and forget his apology. Fred looks up, winking at Y/N before looking at Audrey and flashes her a cheeky smirk, “Perce said I suck at quidditch.” 

Everyone rolls their eyes at this as Y/N grabs Fred’s hand and pulls him up. She lives with him, so one would think that the time spent apart at The Burrow is no big deal, but secretly Y/N has always been super clingy, wanting to always have Fred in her sights, and it's only worsened now they live together.

“Hi Freddie,” she giggles, tucking herself close to his side despite the summer heat blasting down on them, “I miss you.” she whispers.

Fred lets out a cackle of a laugh, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and leading her to the tree they always sit under as he tells Ginny to take his spot on their makeshift quidditch team. Secretly, he was hoping to get away from the game because he needs a break and maybe an attempted nap under the tree. 

He settles down first, stretching his legs out as he leans against the trunk and then he pulls Y/N down to sit between them and to rest her back against his chest. This has always been their favourite way to cuddle.

“What’s the go with George and Angie? I knew they were going on dates but...” Fred asks, and Y/N shrugs. “He just said he’d fill me in later so I’m still waiting. But she’s at family day, so it must be getting serious.” Fred hums behind her, resting his chin on top of his head as he watches his family on the makeshift field in front of them fight over quidditch rules. George is trying to teach Percy fake rules and Ginny’s smacking him over the head as he laughs at the confused expression on Percy’s face. 

To their right, Arthur’s got the radio working and he’s charmed it to blast 80s muggle music loudly for the entire family to hear. Bill’s dragged Fleur to dance around with him and Arthur’s trying to get Molly to join them. Charlie’s sitting with Audrey and Hermione, probably droning on about dragons as usual and the girls listen intently, gasping when appropriate. 

“What are you thinking about?” Y/N asks. Fred is never this quiet, usually speaking every single thought that comes to his mind without any sort of filter. It’s gotten him in trouble a fair few times, from both his mother and Y/N. 

“I’m just happy,” he says quietly, tucking his head into her neck, and Y/N doesn’t miss the crack in his voice, “I’m so happy I’m here with everyone.” She shuffles in her spot so she can sit and face Fred and he can’t meet her eyes because his own are welling with tears.

“Don’t hide, my love, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” she coos as she cups his cheeks in her hands. He leans into her touch and smiles as he sniffles. 

“I know, it’s just…” He trails off and Y/N knows what he’s going to say. He almost wasn’t here and that thought haunts the both of them more often than they’d like to admit. “I know, but that doesn’t matter, because you’re here , and I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am you are,” she whispers, pressing a kiss to his cheeks.

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,” he says and Y/N’s heart swells. Marriage and lots of ginger babies has always been in their life plan, but hearing Fred say it, so, so vulnerably, almost brings her to tears. “Forever, Freddie, you promised,” she replies and he leans forward and presses a soft kiss on her lips. 

He’s always promised. He promised forever when they were 16 and they’d only been together for a year as they danced at the Yule Ball until 12am. At 17, when he admitted he wouldn’t be finish the school year. He promised once again at 18, before he flew out of Hogwarts with George. At 19, straight after George had his ear cursed off and he was sick with fear because the war was real and happening.

At 20, they were fighting in their school and he’d promised, ‘We're surviving this fucking thing and I’m marrying you as soon as I can.’ 

They pull apart and Y/N is smiling at him, adoration filled in her eyes as Fred feels around in his shorts, clearly trying to grab something. When he pulls it out, Y/N’s eyes catch the small, velvet black box and while she doesn’t want to get her hopes up, her heart is racing.

“I’ve been carrying this everyday, waiting for the perfect time,” he chuckles, shaking his head. You’d think Fred Weasley would have a huge and bizarre proposal, most likely with fireworks and dancing gnomes somehow, but in reality, this is perfect. He’s surrounded by his loved ones, there’s no war and he wants nothing more than to officially make Y/N a Weasley. 

“Is that now, Freddie?” she says and he nods, smiling. Y/N thinks he’s never looked happier in his life. He knows what her answer will be so he doesn’t feel the slightest bit nervous.

“I promised you, we're surviving the war and I’m fucking marrying you as soon as I can, so here I am,” he pops the box open and Y/N gasps. It’s nothing extravagant but she doesn’t mind. Small and classy, just like she’d always wanted and she doesn’t even realise she’s crying until Fred’s hand wipes her tears with his free hand, “Will you marry me?” 

She barely gives an answer, nodding her head violently as she wraps her arms around his neck and presses her lips to his. Their teeth clash and they both laugh at Fred not being prepared to be jumped before getting a verbal response. Y/N pulls away and puts out her left hand, “Of course I’ll marry you.” 

He slides the ring on her finger and it’s a perfect fit. They continue to sit in front of the tree, watching their family but Y/N constantly catches herself looking at the diamond ring sparkling in the sun and she’s decided she’s never been happier as well.

Everything is perfect, because it’s the calm after a very, very long storm and she’s never taking family for granted again.

#fred wealsey fanfiction #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley imagine #fred weasley one shot #fred weasley

[just-dreaming-marvel]

Out Of Time ~ 117

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 2,300ish

Summary: No summary...... I just hope this chapter makes sense.... it’s a lot of jumping....

“Daisy!” Y/N shouted, Coulson and the others running up behind her. “Daisy!”

“Where did she go?” Coulson asked.

“I don’t…” Black spots filled Y/N’s vision. “I don’t know… Coulson, I…” She reached out to him. “Something’s…” then she fainted.

Y/N woke up on the floor, somewhere. Blinking, long and hard, she pushed herself up and looked around. 

“What the…” she muttered. Y/N quickly realized she was in the Mirror Dimension. “What am I doing back here?” She pushed herself up to the standing position, seeing the Ancient One on the other side. “What is going on?”

“The Stones have asked that I finish your training, since I don’t have much longer,” the Ancient One responded.

“What do you mean by ‘don’t have much longer’?”

“My time is almost up. Which means the time you will be needed will soon follow.”

“I’m not ready. I just… I’m not ready.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Rogers. But you don’t have a choice.”

~~~

SIX MONTHS LATER…

May was waiting for the Zephyr’s ramp to lower, Mack and Coulson walking down it.

“How long has it been?” She asked.

“Six weeks in the air,” Coulson answered. “Only the quinjet touched down.”

“Is that a record for Zephyr One?”

“It is. It was supposed to be even longer. You know who called us in?”

“I do.” She handed them a tablet before leading them away.

“You? Okay. Now I know something’s up. Is it Y/N? Has anything changed?”

“Simmons is carefully monitoring her. We’re lucky that General Talbot’s on our side to keep her here cause the Director is itching to hand her over as a sign of good faith to the government.”

“No news though?” Mack wondered.

“We did see good signs yesterday and this morning. But we’ve seen good signs before.”

“She’s going to wake up soon,” Coulson said with such confidence. “I know it.”

~~~

SIX MONTHS AGO…

“I didn’t have time to explain the nature of the Reality Stone before you needed to use it,” the Ancient One stated. “You are able to change the reality of what people see and what’s been done.”

“Like I did with those agents,” Y/N said.

“Exactly.”

“Which Stone is next, then?”

“We’re not moving onto the next Stone until you’ve mastered the powers you have. It is important that you have mastered them so that you can be at your full strength when the time comes.”

“What if I don’t want to? What if I don’t want to fight? I want to be done fighting…. Fighting has cost me everything… the life I once had, in multiple ways.”

“You weren’t meant to live out life in the 40’s. You were meant to be here and now.”

“I don’t care… I don’t want this anymore.”

“Then I can wait. I still have enough time. And I can keep you here until you’ve decided to come to your senses.”

“You can’t be serious. You can’t keep me here!”

“Oh, but I can.” Then she disappeared, leaving Y/N alone in the Mirror Dimension.

“Oh, come on! Let me go!”

~~~

FOUR MONTHS AGO…

“Are you ready yet?” The Ancient One asked, appearing out of no where.

“You can’t just keep me in here!” Y/N shouted. “I’m not a prisoner!”

“I will keep you in here as long as it takes.”

“Ugh!! How long have I even been in here?!”

“Two months.”

“Two months?! How am I not dead?”

“Your friends, and the Stones, are keeping your body safe. You will be able to return to it, once you have completed the training.”

“I told you, I don’t want this.” Y/N shook her head. “I never wanted this. Can’t the Stones just pick someone else?”

“I’m afraid that’s not how this works.” The Ancient One watched as Y/N paced. “I would have thought that this time alone would be helpful to you.”

“Yeah? In what why?”

“To be able to grieve and morn about the loss of your friends, the life you wished you had, and your child… To be able to forgive yourself and those around you.”

“I have forgiven Steve for fighting Tony. And Tony for fighting Steve. I have forgiven Bucky for killing Howard. I have forgiven them of all their faults, because it wasn’t all theirs… it was mine… I will never be able to forgive myself. I could have tried harder to keep my family from being torn apart, to keep my baby alive! So… there’s no need to forgive everyone else. It’s already done… the only person I will never be able to forgive is myself.”

~~~

NOW…

“Hey, Y/N,” Coulson greeted, stopping by the cell Y/N was being kept in for safe keeping. She was hooked up to many monitors and tubes. “Sorry it’s been so long. The Director’s been keeping me busy.” He chuckled sadly to him as he sat down on a chair beside her bed. “I can only imagine how mad you’re going to be when you find out I stepped down… I just… Between you and Daisy. I couldn’t keep my focus…”

He sighed. “I’m headed to Los Angeles. Trying to hunt her down… she’s a ghost, Y/N. She slips through our fingers every time. I wish… Oh, how I wish things were back to the way they were before. I don’t necessarily know how far I want to go, but just before… Stark keeps contacting me, asking me if I’ve seen or heard anything. I think he knows I’m lying. But I think he understands it’s to protect you.”

“I’m sorry that I can’t spend more time with you. But I do have to go. They… the Director had a shoot to kill order placed on Daisy. I have to go help her some how.” He leaned over, placing a kiss on her forehead. “Please, wake up soon. I don’t know how much longer I can see you like this.”

~~~

TWO MONTHS AGO…

“I’m ready,” Y/N huffed. “Let’s just get this over with… I’ve seen what the Stones can do. I understand how important it is to stop them, if what I’ve seen will happen… I’ll train, I’ll master the powers they want me to. But them I’m out of here.”

“Understood,” the Ancient One responded with a nod. “First, let’s practice what you’ve learned with the Mind, Space, and Reality Stones.”

Y/N and the Ancient One worked to improve her current knowledge of the powers. Especially where it came to losing her energy. It took two weeks before the Ancient One believed she was ready to learn more.

“The Time Stone,” the Ancient One began, showing the Stone that was kept around her neck, “with it you will be able to change time. Not drastically. But up to a few minutes.”

“Like, rewind?” Y/N questioned.

“Exactly. You can focus is it on large areas or just a single object.” She took out an apple and took a few bites of it. She held it out. “Now, try it with this. Bring it back to it’s original state.”

With a deep breath, Y/N held out her hand and focused on the object. Slowly, the bites began to fill back in until the apple was whole again.

“Very good,” the Ancient One praised. “Now bring it back to where it was when I challenged you.”

Y/N nodded before focusing again on the apple. The bites that had disappeared, appeared again.

“Good,” the Ancient One said. “Again.”

The Time Stone took a week to master. It was easier for Y/N since it was with her. The next Stone was the Power Stone.

“This Stone is one of the most destructive forces in the universe,” the Ancient One explained. “If you tried hard enough, you could destroy whole planets.”

“Okay… I don’t think I like that…” Y/N shook her head slightly.

“Channeling it will also enhances your strength and durability during a fight.”

The Ancient One and Y/N fought in order to test her strength and durability. Y/N wished she had been taught to channel that Stone earlier, it would have been of great help. Y/N practiced destroying smaller things, like weapons. The power would come out of her hands in the form of purple beams. She worked on this one for weeks, until the Ancient One finally decided she was ready for the last Stone. The Soul Stone.

“The Soul Stone is the most hidden and unknown out of all the Stones,” the Ancient One stated. “Very few know it’s location, or the powers it possesses. I don’t even know it’s location, but I do know the price it requires to retrieve it.”

“And that is?”

“A soul for a soul… This Stone will allow you to conjure the spiritual representation of those who are dead.”

“What?”

“And it will be them. Not the Stone fooling you.”

“Like… I could see my parents? An-and Howard? And… and my baby?”

“Yes.”

Tears sprung in Y/N’s eyes. “How? How do I do it?”

“This is the one Stone I cannot help you learn how to use. You must learn it yourself.”

“No.” Y/N shook her head. “You must know. Please.”

“I’m sorry… your training is done. It is now time for you to go.”

“No! Please. Just tell me!”

“I have told you everything I know. It is now up to you to find the answers you seek. And the peace you long for.”

“No, wait. Please don’t—“

~~~

PRESENT DAY REALITY…

“Here’s the Mapping-Action Eyewear you requested,” Simmons said to May, carrying a tablet and a container towards her in the training room. “Should help your team in case of a blind takedown.”

“Great,” May replied, taking the container. “Thanks.”

“I need you to sign for it.” Simmons held out the tablet.

May didn’t look pleased. “I don’t get the new color-coded security-level rainbow of… What’s it called?”

“The Spectrum of Security.”

“Why do I, level red, have to go through you, level orange, to request hardware? Shouldn’t red be higher than orange?”

“Well, orange encompasses both red and yellow, so… It’s hard to explain, but the Director didn’t want to use numbers because he didn’t want any team member to feel less than.”

May looked down at the tablet, filling it out. “Well, you do have a higher clearance than me.”

“Only in most instances.”

Not impressed, May handed the tablet back over. “I feel less than.”

Simmons took the tablet as May started to walk away, she followed. “Hey, we just had a report come in. A death in a hospital in Los Angeles.” May turned around. “Suspicious circumstances. Suspect is an Asian female.”

“You think it might be Daisy.”

“I’m going to look into it. I just wondered if you’d heard anything from your law enforcement contacts?”

“I’m mostly in the dark these days. Why don’t you ask the Director? Since you’re one of the few people allowed or willing to do that.”

“May—“ Simmons was halted by an alarm going off on her phone. Looking down, her eyes widened. “It’s Y/N.”

May and Simmons ran down to the cell, where Y/N’s monitors were going crazy. As they grew closer, they noticed tears slipping down her face.

“No…” Y/N mumbled. “Please… wait… don’t go!”

“What’s happening?” May asked.

“I think she’s waking up,” Simmons said. “Y/N. Y/N, can you hear me?”

“I’m calling Coulson.” May stepped out of the room.

“I was just alerted to the situation,” a man in a suit came in. “How can I help?”

“Director,” Simmons greeted. “There’s nothing I can think of.”

“No… please…” Y/N mumbled. She suddenly shot up, eyes wide and gasping for air. 

“Y/N, Y/N,” Simmons called, trying to get her to calm. 

“Agent Rogers,” the new Director greeted. “I need you to calm down.”

Y/N met Simmons eyes before looking at the stranger in the room. “Who the hell are you?” She breathily asked.

“I’m Jeffrey Mace, the new Director of SHIELD. I’m here to help you and transition you to life with the Sokovia Accords.”

“The… the Accords? Where’s Coulson?” Y/N looked around. “How long have I been out of it?”

“Six months,” Simmons answered.

“S-six months?” Y/N looked to Simmons, who nodded. “And… and you thought that I was going to wake up and just be okay with signing the Accords?” She looked at the new Director.

“You don’t have a choice,” the Director stated. “It’s the law—“

Y/N interrupted with a chuckle. “That’s where you’re wrong… There’s always a choice. Plus… what re you going to do to stop me from leaving and not signing?”

“You should be familiar with this room, Agent Rogers. Your powers cannot be used in this room.”

“I am not an Inhuman. My powers come from other sources. This room has never been able to stop me. Did they not tell you that?”

“Y/N,” Simmons warned. “Just listen, hear him out.”

“No. If Coulson isn’t the Director anymore, then I don’t want to be a part of SHIELD… I’m sorry Jemma. Tell the others good bye for me.”

“Y/N— No!” May shouted, coming back into the room as Y/N opened a portal underneath herself and fell through it. “Damn it!”

“I thought you said this room stops powers?” The Director questioned Simmons. 

“We never said whose powers,” Simmons answered. 

“You just assumed it would work on her,” May added.

“I’ll let General Talbot know she’s gone,” the Director stated. “He’ll get the government searching for her as well.”

next chapter >

NOTES: from now on the taglist when be added by a reblog. I will reblog it using my second account, @just-dreaming-marvel-2​​. Just so that my main page doesn’t get too cluttered.

If you want to be added to the tag list, please dm me or send in an ask.

#agents of shield #Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #agents of shield x reader #aos x reader #the avengers x reader #avengers x reader #the infinity stones #Phil Coulson x Reader #the ancient one #marvel imagine #marvel imagines

[kuramirocket]

The star power of Eva Longoria should never be underestimated. A proud Mexican-American the multihyphenate powerhouse has won the hearts of television viewers since her breakout role in ABC’s Desperate Housewives. 

In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Longoria is all smiles when speaking about how her Mexican heritage. It inspires her perspective on life — from daily activities to the way she runs her businesses, which include several restaurants and a production company, UnbeliEVAble Entertainment.

“Being Mexican is who I am,” Longoria says. “For me, it exudes in everything that I do every day from how I style my hair, to putting on my lip liner, to putting on my hoops, to what I make for breakfast, how I have my café con leche. It seeps into every aspect of my life.”

A staunch activist for gender equality, she's also used her platform to shine a light on issues impacting Latino communities, specifically focusing on advocating for more Latino visibility on and off-screen — something she explains is vital in preserving the wellbeing of Hispanic communities.

“The problem is when you don't have a person of color within your community, if your neighbors aren't Latino, the only reference you have of us is the news. And that doesn't do a very good job of portraying who we are,” Longoria explains. “And so, representation in TV, in film, in music, in art, it matters because it educates the community about who we are.”

Her concern is warranted. According to UCLA’s 2021 Hollywood Diversity Report, Latinos accounted for only 5.7 percent of all film roles in 2020 — up slightly from 2019 when it was 4.6 percent. While the uptick is promising, she says it’s not enough.

She also stresses the importance of having Latinos behind the camera and in other positions of power. "That's why I became a producer and that's why I became a director. It was to make sure that our stories are told because it's important,” she says. “It educates people about who we are. It educates our community about who we are, and that is even more important. If I am a Latino watching, literally, the erasure of my culture, then I think, ‘Oh OK, I am not worthy. My stories don't matter.’ And that's way more dangerous. We need to make sure that we share our own community, our worth — and celebrate it.”

Despite her strong will to make it in business, Longoria admits she suffered from impostor syndrome when she started directing television. “I was terrified on set,” she explains. “I remember driving to the set with knots in my stomach going, ‘I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know why I said yes.’”

Longoria’s film directorial debut, Flamin’ Hot, is currently in post-production, adds to her 17 director credits, per IMDb, so she has clearly gotten the hang of it. “I learned that I was more than prepared," she says. "I learned that I had all the tools I needed. I was enough.”

Still, she warns other young Latino artists to be aware of the challenges the Hollywood industry might throw at them.

“Go into [the business] knowing there are systemic barriers,” she advises young Latinos. “There is a systemic culture that is taught not to let you in. Just know that you have to work twice as hard.”

Or, put more simply: “I did work my ass off and that is my advice: work your ass off.”

Longoria’s latest venture is one that has seldom been chartered by Latina celebrities: the tequila industry. This month, the actress and entrepreneur announced the launch of Casa del Sol, a Mexican-owned and operated tequila brand inspired by the legend of the Aztec goddess of agave, Mayahuel.

The star admits she had little knowledge about the process of making tequila before diving into the business. But that ended up being a good thing.

“I didn't know it's aged and I didn't know the tradition and the craftsmanship behind it. I didn't know it could have notes of vanilla," she admits.

Learning about the process was “eye-opening” for the star, who was quite studious early on as she began building the seeds of the brand. After all, the celebrity tequila market today is mostly dominated by white men, which makes her launch especially significant. 

"I've been approached by many brands to be the face, but every time I was approached by a tequila brand, it felt like they wanted to be celebrity forward," she explains. "Casa Del Sol was the first time where it was female-led and tequila forward. They were all about the tequila, the craftsmanship and the traditions." 

“With tequila, it has to be rooted in Mexican heritage. It just has to be," she adds, “I read so much once I got involved in Casa Del Sol about the soil and the overproduction of the agave plants, and how tequila is in so much demand that people are cutting them down sooner than they should be cut down. It takes about seven years for an agave plant to mature.”

She is making sure the brand is giving back to communities in Altos de Jalisco, the region where Casa Del Sol is produced, by developing programs that level the playing field for women.

“I love giving back in the process,” she explains. “It's important to build community initiatives for the people of Jalisco and the people who give us this high-quality tequila. For me, it’s making sure workers are guaranteed a fair living wage and taking care of the agave not only to assure the quality in our bottles, but to make sure that the growth technique is natural.”

#🇲🇽 #mexican #mexican american #tequila #support #mexico #jalisco #jalisco mexico #indigenous #aztec #eva longoria #latina #latino #hispanic #agave #plants #racism #hollywood

[girlsbtrs]

How Being a Woman in Hardcore Helped Me Learn to Love Myself

Written by Jen Moglia. Graphic by Laura Cross. 

Since this is my first piece written for Girls Behind the Rock Show, I figured that I should introduce myself; hi, my name is Jennifer, but most people call me Jen. I live on Long Island in New York, and my favorite things include my cats, the color pink, giving gifts to my Animal Crossing villagers, and watching sports. Above all else, however, I love music.

I frequently refer to music as the love of my life. It somehow plays a role in everything that I do. I got my first iPod when I was five years old, stacked with everything from Miranda Cosgrove and Avril Lavigne to Tool and Deftones. Some of my favorite memories growing up are sitting in my pink and purple bedroom singing and dancing along to Paramore’s crushcrushcrush and Fall Out Boy’s Thnks Fr Th Mmrs on the local alternative radio station. I danced for 12 years, played cello for seven, and am currently a wannabe ukulele rockstar after buying one on impulse and starting to teach myself how to play four years ago. Even on the simplest, barely noticeable levels, music has been everywhere in my life for as long as I can remember; even now, I can’t complete a basic task without a song playing in my headphones.

Music became an even bigger part of my life when I started attending live shows. I went to my first concerts at age 10, seeing my two favorite artists - Nickelodeon boy band Big Time Rush and classic progressive rock band Rush - within one month of each other. By the time I was 15, I had been to my fair share of arena/seated shows with one or both of my parents, from Fifth Harmony to Fitz and the Tantrums to Alice in Chains. My first general admission show was seeing the Foo Fighters at Citi Field with both my mom and dad when I was 12, but my first pop-punk general admission show (yes, they’re different) came a few years later. I had the typical list of favorite bands that you would expect from a young teenager getting into alternative music: Neck Deep, Knuckle Puck, Real Friends, and State Champs. 

In late 2018, I was able to see all four of these bands for the first time, and I am a firm believer that it changed the course of my life. I met, cried-during, and eventually got the setlist for Neck Deep at Stereo Garden on Long Island in September. I sang all of “Untitled” at the barricade for Knuckle Puck at SI Hall at the Fairgrounds in Syracuse in October. I had my first minor concussion scare (yay!) before Real Friends’ set at Irving Plaza in New York City in November. Finally, I crowd surfed for the first time during State Champs’ anniversary show for The Finer Things at House of Independents in Asbury Park in December. After just a few shows, I had fallen in love with this new brand of live music that I had just been introduced too. There was something so magical to me about skin covered in sweat and Sharpie marks, feet hurting from dancing in the pit all night, and meeting strangers on line outside the venue who would become your best friends and know your deepest secrets by the end of the night.

After making some friends at all of the pop-punk shows I was going to, they started to tell me that I should get into hardcore music. I was hesitant at first - the heaviest thing I had listened to at that point was nowhere near the snippets of hardcore that my friends had played for me - but, eventually, I decided to give it a chance. I was bored and home alone with nothing to do one night over the summer of 2019 when I listened to my first hardcore album, Laugh Tracks by Knocked Loose. Immediately, I got that gut feeling that you have when you know you’ve heard one of your favorite bands for the first time. I knew that this was something special that I was meant to find at this point in my life. For the rest of the summer, I worked my way through the rest of my friends’ hardcore and hardcore-adjacent recommendations, with Cost of Living by Incendiary, Stage Four by Touche Amore, You’re Not You Anymore by Counterparts, Time & Space by Turnstile, Springtime and Blind by Fiddlehead, Smile! Aren’t You Happy by Absence of Mine, Bad to my World by Backtrack, and Reality Approaches by Harms Way being some of my favorites. By the time the next school year started, I was hooked, and I already had tickets to my first few hardcore shows in the fall.

My first hardcore show was in November 2019, seeing Knocked Loose at Webster Hall in New York City - fitting, right? They were on tour supporting their new record A Different Shade of Blue, which I had become obsessed with the minute I heard it for the first time. Although I was ridiculously scared of getting stepped on and breaking all my bones (yes, that was an actual fear of mine), I had the time of my life at that show. There was something about this newer kind of live music that prompted a cathartic release, one that I hadn’t found anywhere else before. As soon as the show was over, I was counting the days until my next one.

My love for live hardcore music (and live music and hardcore music in general) has only grown since then, and that story sort of ends there. However, I want to go back to that first hardcore band that I listened to, Knocked Loose, and the album they put out that first summer that stole my heart. I was taken by storm as soon as the first notes of A Different Shade of Blue rang through my headphones, but something was different about the third track, A Serpent’s Touch, particularly the ending; I heard a voice that sounded a little bit more like my own.

This song features Emma Boster, who does vocals for one of my favorite hardcore bands right now, Dying Wish. When I heard A Serpent’s Touch for the first time, though, I had no idea who she was. I was used to the aggressive vocal delivery of frontmen in hardcore, particularly that of Knocked Loose’s Bryan Garris, but hearing it come from her changed my perspective on a lot of things. It’s not like the song was super angry and changed its tune to be lighter once the token girl came along; in her verse, Boster sings, “I watched the venom / Overcome your spirit / Jealousy holds you now / Distorting your appearance / Bleed out.” These were lyrics that held the same intensity that the lines screamed by the men held, and they sounded just as cool coming out of her mouth. As cheesy as it sounds, it had never even occurred to me that women had a place in this new world that I had discovered. The audiences in the live videos I watched (and eventually at the shows I attended) were made up of mostly men who looked bigger and older than me. When I did start going to shows, most of the non-man population consisted of my friends and I. Emma Boster, along with so many others, began to open my eyes to the fact that a place for people like me existed in this community. It didn’t matter that I had bright red hair or liked butterflies or wore pink - I was just as much a part of this magic as the men multiple feet taller than me with tattoo-covered arms, and I belonged there just as much as they did.

As time went on and I got more involved in the genre’s music and community, I discovered more bands with women in them, and it only fueled this fire of empowerment inside of me. When I felt insecure, I’d watch live sets from Krimewatch, a hardcore band from New York City, just half an hour away from my hometown. They have multiple women as members, including their energetic badass of a vocalist, Rhylli Ogiura. Year of the Knife became one of my all-time favorites, and their bassist Madison Watkins became a serious inspiration to me; the way that she can balance killing it on stage and running the cutest, most pink apparel brand I’ve ever seen (aptly titled Candy Corpse) amazes me. Even some of the bands I’ve found more recently have had an impact on me. I started listening to Initiate last year when their EP Lavender came out, and their beautifully colorful cover art caught my eye before I had heard any of their songs. Their vocalist, Crystal Pak, is also a woman, and she’s insanely talented. Discovering this kind of representation in this new universe that I had come to feel so at home in introduced me to a world of confidence and determination that I had never known before.

When people ask me why I love hardcore so much, I often give the easy answer; “the music sounds good.” If the person allows me to ramble on for a little longer, the answer becomes much more emotional and cheesy. Hardcore taught me that speaking up for what I believe in is important, and if there’s something I’m passionate about, it’s worth shouting about. I became familiar with this when listening to one of my favorite bands ever, Incendiary (the second hardcore band I ever checked out), before quickly realizing that politics are a pretty common topic within the genre - it’s what this music was practically built on. The first time I heard their vocalist Brendan Garrone singing about police brutality and injustice on songs like Force of Neglect and Sell Your Cause, I realized that there is so much more to music than just sounding good.

However, at its core, the thing I love so much about hardcore is what it taught me about being a woman. Growing up, I was the loud girl with the personality bigger than the room who always had something to say and had a never ending supply of excitement about just about everything. As I got older, I was taught that this was not okay. People didn’t like how enthusiastic I was about everything, or that I constantly had new ideas and new discoveries I wanted to talk about. As cliche as it sounds, I felt like everyone around me was trying to dull my sparkle, especially some of the men that I was encountering on a day-to-day basis. Even when I started to come to terms with my big and bright personality, in turn also coming to terms with my own femininity, I was told that this wasn’t how girls acted. I had to pick one - I could watch Disney princess movies and wear Hello Kitty hair clips, or I could be outspoken about my beliefs; but never both. The women that I mentioned earlier, along with so, so many more, helped me unlearn these toxic mindsets. Seeing someone like Emma Boster take the stage and scream ferociously for a full set helped me see that I could be a girl and still be a powerhouse. Following Madi Watkins around on social media showed me that I could love bands like Year of the Knife and also love heart-shaped purses and wear pink from head to toe. My aggression and passion didn’t make me any less of a woman, and my femininity didn’t make me any less of a force to be reckoned with. 

So, at the end of this love letter to hardcore and the women who run it, I say this; thank you for teaching me that I don’t have to shrink myself anymore. It has made a world of a difference.

#jennifer moglia

[strangertheory]

"anti-Mileven"

I know you submitted this as a message and not an Ask, but I hope you don't mind if I answer your question with a longer post because this is a topic that is important to me but is complicated. I've meant to do a post about this, but kept putting it off because it is a very layered topic for me and my thoughts about Mileven are probably not what a lot of fans want to hear.

I respect that everyone develops an attachment to their preferred couples in stories for personal reasons, and as such any criticism of the dynamic between two characters that are dating can feel like a very personal criticism. I respect everyone's head-canons and favorite ships as sacred ground: I don't want to tell anyone how they should or should not relate to a story. That's unique to each of us as fans, and we will all enjoy Stranger Things for different reasons.

However: I do have some thoughts regarding the way that the narrative has established the dynamic between Mike and El. And I personally do not find their dynamic *as it currently is* to be one that is ideal for either of them yet.

I really care about Eleven and I really care about Mike. They are two of my favorite characters in the story.

To say that I'm "anti-Mileven" is a huge oversimplification of how I feel about Mike and El's dynamic.

I am very much anti:

overlooking the fact El has been treated as a lab rat and abused and isolated from society for the majority of her existence and her ignorance of her own identity and her own desires is repeatedly reinforced canonically. ("How do I know what I like?") El has spent only a few months out in the world beyond her cell at the lab and beyond Hopper's cabin, she knows very little about the world yet, and she is being taught much of what she now knows by her boyfriend who also happens to be one of the few people she interacts with in her daily life. The power difference and social difference between them is huge currently regardless of whether Mike is a nice kid with good intentions or not, and they are both fourteen years olds.

overlooking that it is superficial and not representative of a "deep" relationship to only kiss and make out with a significant other and not do other meaningful activities that establish a real day-to-day relationship (like hanging out with friends and other loved ones as a couple.) There's a popular misconception that the act of two people kissing is inherently romantic and a sign of emotional closeness. But kissing becomes romantic psychologically when two people share a deep affection for one another that is based on shared experiences and emotional and psychological connectedness. If two characters can be shown to care about one another without ever physically touching, they have the potential for a deep connection that is based on more than the thrill of physical affection. Give me a well-developed relationship first, and then kissing will seem romantic to me. Without an established psychological and emotional connection between characters, kissing is merely a superficial representation of the idea of intimacy between characters without any actual substance underneath. Sure that's what kids do when they're figuring out how dating and feelings and physical intimacy work and it's not harmful in itself provided that they are both comfortable with it, but keep this in mind within the context of the other concerns I list here.

trivializing Mike's dishonesty and blaming Hopper for Mike's lying when the truth is Mike could have easily explained to El that Hopper didn't want them spending as much time together and having some space would be better. El is well aware of Hopper's dislike for their time spent together. This should have been a very easy conversation. As Lucas rightfully asks as Mike is ranting about the situation he got himself into: "Why lie?" Good question, Lucas. Good question. El asks Mike this again later at the mall. "Why do you lie?" Mike stares back at her with an awkward expression, and does NOT answer her. Why is this answer not an easy one? Why has Mike still not addressed things with El? I think there is more going on here than just Hopper's threats.

I am very in favor of:

El learning more about who she is and what she wants to do with her life outside of the desires and expectations of other people.

Mike figuring out how to effectively express his thoughts and feelings honestly. He is clearly struggling to do this throughout season 3, and it is uncharacteristic of the kid who defiantly said and did what he wanted frequently in seasons 1 and 2. Clearly Mike is not comfortable and is nervous, which is understandable for someone exploring new emotionally vulnerable territory like dating for the first time, but he needs to learn to be honest and tell people how he is thinking and feeling or else he is also putting himself and his feelings and needs at risk and potentially establishing an unhealthy relationship that will hurt him and hurt others even if he doesn't mean to. Mike's nervousness is STILL present in the final goodbye scene in which Mike and El talk, and El tells him she loves him and kisses him. He is still stumbling over his words and anxious, and he seems notably confused after El kisses him. These small details are not trivial, they are clearly intentional.

Recognizing that Mike is the first person her age that was kind to El when she escaped the lab, and given that she has only known pain and abuse her entire life and has never known friendship let alone romance that her psychological readiness for understanding a romantic relationship is NOT the same as an ordinary 14 year old's and this cannot be stated enough.

Recognizing that societal pressures and personal insecurities might be a huge factor in how Mike clings to El's attention and affection for him, and that there is evidence in the story that supports this interpretation. We know that Mike is bullied frequently, and that there is a layer of homophobia often involved. (Even if James and Troy were speaking rudely about Will, they were still directly confronting Mike. The implication is there.) We know that Lucas yelled at Mike "No Mike. You're blind. Blind because you like that a girl's not grossed out by you!" This reveals that Lucas knows that Mike is insecure and wants validation. Just because Mike has a desperate desire to be loved and liked by a girl does not mean that his appreciation of El's attention is based on his genuine romantic affection for her. Mike might be dating El because he enjoys the attention, he likes being liked, and he likes how having a girlfriend makes him feel more accepted and normal.

Recognizing that every moment that Mike has tried to share something that he is passionate about with El (the Yoda figurine, the dinosaurs) she has been completely disinterested. Since El has no cultural connection to the pop culture stories Mike loves and she lived in the Lab her entire life, it makes perfect sense that she will have no interest in these toys. Her lack of interest in what Mike is passionate about, however, is worth noting: not because it's a bad thing, but because it's just one of many reasons they are "not even from the same planet" and cannot bond and connect easily. El has lived an incredibly different life from Mike, has suffered through so much, and is still learning about the outside world and about herself. She is severely behind in social and personal development. She needs time to learn and to grow and to heal so she can live her best life and recover from what she has been through. (She doesn't really care about your Star Wars toys, Michael, because she just learned what a phone is and is processing a lot of other things right now.)

*I want to credit @kaypeace21 for pointing out many of these particular observations listed above: you can read her very detailed and extensive analysis in her post here: El is Not in Love with Mike.

These are just a few of many thoughts I have regarding Mike and El's dynamic together, and why I find the romanticization and idealization of their dating relationship to be more suited to fan-canon and fanfiction. For El to have a relationship with Mike that I would personally enjoy and appreciate, the story would need to convincingly allow her to establish a notably better understanding of who she is and what she wants, and have time to heal from her trauma and learn a lot more about the outside world. While I suspect that the Byers moving away will be very difficult for Will, in many ways I think it will benefit El tremendously and I hope that she is given more opportunities to learn and to grow.

I also agree with @hawkinsschoolcounselor 's hypothesis that Mike is projecting his feelings for Will onto El. It's impossible for me to see Mike's dynamic with El as entirely separate from Mike's relationship with Will because El was found in the woods when they were looking for Will in season 1, El helped everyone find Will in the Upside Down and saved his life, and El reappears at the end if season 2 and saves Will from the Mindflayer. Until season 3, El's appearance in Mike's life has been directly tied to Will's survival and safety. I do not think this is a trivial aspect of El's narrative. El's importance within the larger story being told is repeatedly tied back to what Will is dealing with. The reason that El and Will's narratives are so deeply intertwined has not been revealed in the story yet, but I suspect that there are some important aspects of El and Will's stories that haven't been fully revealed yet that will bring all of these seemingly isolated plot threads together. The creators of Stranger Things repeatedly tie El and Will together visually and narratively (re: @kaypeace21), and I believe there is a very specific reason for this.

I look forward to seeing what happens in season 4. Whether my interpretation of El and Mike's dynamic is fair or not, I trust the writers have a compelling next chapter in their story for us all to enjoy.

#anti mileven #antimileven #anti-mileven #stranger things #stranger things theory #but not actually anti mileven I am tagging it that way because I am critical #so fans can choose to not read my thoughts

[entertainment]

Entertainment Spotlight: Mina Sundwall, Lost in Space

Best known for her starring role as Penny Robinson in the critically acclaimed Netflix series Lost in Space, Mina Sundwall landed her first 'role' at age 8 months as a kidnapped baby. On the film front, she starred in Freeheld, Maggie's Plan, #Horror. Mina also had a guest turn as in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She was born and raised in New York City, but being half Swedish and half Italian, she also spent a part of her childhood in Europe. When not working or in school, Mina is an avid singer song-writer. Mina took the time to answer some of our questions about herself and her experience on Lost in Space:

Without any spoilers, what scene or episode from Lost in Space season 2 are you most excited for fans to see?

As far as Penny is concerned, people have definitely reached out letting me know that Pennjay HAS to live on through season two…. And it most definitely will. There is a scene between Ajay and I that starts happy, then gets awkward and cute, then scary, then life-or-death, and then…. I can’t tell you how it ends, but it was one of my favorite scenes of the whole season. I love doing scenes with Ajay, and it seems that fans have caught on to the hilarity of our friendship and I’m excited to see what they think of our new adventures. 

Other than that, I can’t tell you details about Episode 10, but I know that it will get a huge reaction from fans! It was so emotional to shoot, and it is even more emotional to watch. 

How do you get into the mindset to play Penny?

First and foremost, I start with a good parent-sassing. My parents have been submitted to many early-morning sessions. In the 6 months we shoot a season my eye-roll ability is polished by the day, together with my one line-comebacks.☺ 

More seriously, when it comes to shaping Penny’s character and her arc through a season, I spend time paying attention to the environment around her and the details that inform her world. I create stories in my mind for all of the bits of life that are not ‘on camera’. As Meisner said “acting is reacting,” and a lot of Penny’s behavior comes from the situation she’s in. What has she had for lunch? Or maybe she’s cranky because she didn’t have lunch. What music she likes? Music is very important for me and builds a mood. How does it feel as a teenager to constantly believe you aren’t good enough? To feel lonely, and out-of-place? I think I know some of that from personal history.  In a way I build her character from the outside-in.

On a more physical note- this season we had a bunch of stunts. Ignacio taught me to eat hearty foods before our physical work. So, part of my prep is…. chugging avocadoes!? In a sense that feels very Penny. 

Do you have any fun facts about the filming of Lost in Space season 2 that fans would be surprised to know? 

There is a long sequence in episode 1 with the all of us sailing the Jupiter through a storm, shallow waters and on rocks and it is amazing to see the coherency of the full scene because almost none of the physical spaces are real. The top of the Jupiter where we stand was built as an outdoor set on scaffolding in a winery outside of Vancouver and all around us were beautiful fields and we could see trains in the distance. The inside of the Jupiter was a set in a completely different location and many of the water splashing scenes were done indoor in studio with water cannons shooting at us. And it’s amazing how the editing, lighting and digital effects are able to smooth the differences and create this one illusion of space and time that allows us to suspend our disbelief and enjoy the full creative ride.

If a theme song played whenever you entered a room, what song would it be? 

Oh, I did a Buzzfeed quiz on this once. I got “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. I mean, I’ll take it as a complement! 

Describe a typical day on set.

Wake up - coffee – drive to the studio – coffee – hair and make-up - coffee - get dressed - coffee - block a scene - coffee.  And that’s just the first 2 hours.

My moment of Zen is always in hair and make-up. I love to sit and have my hair touched. Sometimes it comes with a little scalp massage… it’s my favorite part of the day.

When we start shooting it’s a mix of moments where we are all focused and on set, with moments where we goof around, and that repeats itself for 10-12 hours every day. While we were filming the two seasons I was also still in high school, so Max and I also had to study for a minimum of 3 hours every day, usually more, in between scenes.

The best part is lunch all together, especially in warmer days when tables are set outside on the studio lot and the cast and crew is eating and relaxing together.

When we film the show it becomes our life, every day. And I couldn’t be happier about it. This family, the crew, the stunts, the sets, the locations, the scripts, the days (long and short). I love it.

How would you explain the plot of Lost in Space to a five-year-old?

This super smart family, their friend the smuggler, and a crazy lady have a mission to get to a new world away from Earth, but they get attacked! And now they’re lost on another planet with a Robot. They are trying to find a way to get back to everyone else and they ask the Robot for help. It’s crazy. 

What’s the funniest photo that you have on your phone (either share or describe it)?

Oh I’ve got a couple of good ones. Here are some of my favourites:

If you could have a conversation with Penny, what would you ask her?

I would want to know why she never spoke up about not wanting to leave earth. Does she miss her friends, or any one in particular? Where does her passion for writing come from? Did she just discover it? And does she ever feel like cutting her hair very short (because I want to so I hope she does!!)? Would she like Game of Thrones, or is she more or a Riverdale kind of girl?

Did you do any kind of research or training to prepare for your role in Lost in Space?

I did! My biggest challenge in ‘becoming’ Penny was the fact that she often speaks in one-liners, possibly interrupting someone else’s conversation, or sharing opinions that make other uncomfortable. And those one-liners are a representation of her insecurities, her fears, her hopes so they are very loaded, and I wanted them to feel loaded, not simple sass. Penny is very deep and as a writer she has the ability to condense a lot of emotions in a few words, and I needed to show that. And less is often harder than more, so I spent a lot time studying subtle performances and actors able to condense multiple, often opposed emotions into few simple words or gestures. None of it might be visible but it was an incredible tour-de-force.

And then my dad sat me down and gave me a beginner’s Sci-Fi films education, listing every sci fi movie ever made… just because he could…and what is special about each just in case someone asked me.  I remember maybe five total, but it was there at some point. 

If you could do a crossover with any other property, which one would you pick?

Oh The Crown. I would love to see what happens when Queen Elizabeth gets lost on a planet. 

Thanks for taking the time, Mina! The second season of Lost in Space premieres on Netflix on December 24th.. 

#entertainment spotlight #mina sundwall #lost in space #netflix spotlight

[cosplayinamerica]

Powerline from A Goofy Movie : roquois // photo : gimmiecookie 

The response when I first debuted this cosplay at Katsucon was amazing! I really felt my character was obscure and that many people wouldn't remember it but I was wrong lol. So many people came up to me and we talked about A Goofy Movie and how the music was dope and it was really a great feeling. Just hearing someone say "OMG is that POWERLINE!?" and then stopping me in my tracks to sing and dance with me was sooooo amazing.

I had a tiny bluetooth speaker attached to my back and was running around the con with Eye 2 Eye on repeat and so many people asked me to do the perfect cast and I did lol. Too many people stopped to sing and dance with me so I think the entire day was memorable. I didn't think it could get any better but when I went to BlerDCon as powerline a few months later it was even more of a warm reception. The feeling of someone enjoying something you made, and that something meaning something special to you is a feeling I don't have enough words for.

I have always loved A Goofy Movie and felt Powerline was such a great character and decided to put my own spin on it as I am also a singer/songwriter. I had an idea of what I wanted my Powerline to look like. I love to dress up and be a bit over the top for my own performances so I felt I had to do the same with Powerline.

I started with a zentai suit for the base and then I purchased thigh high sparkly boots from Amazon to start things off. I love a good high heel and the boots are really what brought it all together. What was challenging was hand drawing the atom symbol and making it removable so I could wash my cosplay. I also made the neck and arm bands removable too so I can easily wash my cosplay. I added buttons on the back of my suit for securing the neck piece. I also made the ears with hair clips so I can freely style my hair. Wearing my natural hair for this cosplay was so important to me. It really brings my personality to this character.

I think for me cosplay has always been part of my life. I have always loved dressing up for halloween and really wanted to embody every character. It wasn't until I discovered Otakon when I was 18 that I realized that people dressed up outside of halloween. It was my first con experience, I hand sewed a Sailor Moon cosplay and attended the con solo. I don't think it gets any more nerve wrecking than that. It was a time when there weren't many Black cosplayers at cons and not much Black or POC representation at cons. Despite that, I still managed to meet a few new friends and enjoyed every moment of the con! I even ran into two friends from high school which was super embarrassing but I was also happy to see them lol. Overall it was a new experience for me and learning the term "cosplay" was amazing, and the feeling of being my true nerd self amongst thousands of other people who loved anime and pop culture as much as I did was an unforgettable experience.

Cosplay has taught me to love the skin I'm in and through cosplay I have learned that I am way more creative than I think I am. Creating cosplay and coming up with ideas to fit my body shape and hair type has been so fun! Putting my own spin on characters I love has taken my creativity to new heights. It doesn't matter if I look like the character or if I'm even the same gender or species of a character I like, If I like them I can cosplay them and make it work for me. Cosplay is about having fun and expressing yourself through that medium and its such a unique type of fun immersing yourself into another world, dressing up, acting out and just living. YOLO right?

( photo : jollette_merino_delvalle )

I have been making an effort to help others be fearless with things they are passionate about. Who I am now has brought so many amazing people into my life who I admire, who I draw strength from and we mutually cheer each other on. I had to go through a lot of hardships and feeling like crap to get here, but I keep reminding myself that it's ok to be unapologetically me. I have to inspire myself to be great and to not revert back to who I was and I have to motivate myself to keep pushing forward to help others push forward. I basically had to fight myself to find my best self. I'm still a work in progress but I am making the best out of this journey.

My greatest struggle is figuring out how to be both a cosplayer and a musician. Bridging the gap between the two hasn't been easy for me. I have been told by industry people to "be sexier" or do things a certain way or make certain types of music and to separate my social media, and my brands too confusing... It really isn't easy. I just want to make music, watch anime and cosplay when I want to and to share my passions with the world. Why can't I write music, sing, perform across the world and still share my cosplay from the con I went to the week before? I often think "what am I missing" or "why can't I love and do both".  I would love to get booked at a con again and get to do both! I love artists like Beyonce, Rihanna, Janelle Monae, Robyn, Megan Thee Stallion and so many others, but I also just want to be myself and make pop music without feeling like I have to fit some specific mold. They all found a way to be themselves and thrive doing what they love and I want that too.

I just want to be Roquois; Singer, Songwriter, Superhero.

http://roquois.com/

[littlemessyjessi]

And another thing! Where is the representation of my melanin queens on every day things?! I’m just really upset about alot of fanfiction right now.  Like, I don’t get it.  I’m using every fucking piece of information that I have gathered from my godmother, an indescribably beautiful melanin goddess, over the years and I’m using it in fucking fanfiction because it’s fucking important.  For example:

My godmother, Dana, is a STUNNING black woman.  She was there for me when my birth mother would straight up drop me on her doorstep and I would see her for months. 

Dana, the queen that she is, is a beacon of light and information. 

I had an interesting childhood.  

I’m a mixture of a lot ethnicities to be honest and I spent my childhood back and forth between two countries if you want to know the truth about it.   But when I was in the USA, I was supposed to spend time with her which lasted for all of about two weeks full of abuse.  Looking back, honestly being with Dana is probably what saved me. 

Anyway, personally I’m a red head but my curl pattern is somewhere between 4B and 4C.  Naturally, it has a tendency to be frizzy and is heavy on the dry side.  I have my mother’s hair. 

Dana knew this, as she grew up with my mother and actually has a very similiar hair texture. It’s just that her’s is dark. So she knew exactly how to handle me when my mother jumped ship. 

And my dad didn’t know how to do that.  He’s Serbian and white. Not to mention the fact that he worked all the time over the road trying to provide for his four children. He wasn’t around much but it wasn’t because he didn’t want to be.  It’s just that someone had to provide for us and that was him.  Side note:  All of have different mothers and they’re all crazy.   I think he has a type.  He didn’t turn them crazy.  No, no. They were like that when he met them.  I just think he’s a glutton for punishment. 

Anyway, the hair. That was a foreign language to him.  I mean, he tried but he was hopeless until Dana legit showed him. 

This fucking angel introduce me to the bonnet when I was four. Four.  To this day, I refused to go to bed without a bonnet.  

She also introduced me to protective hair styles and the concept of a damn headwrap.  Which is fucking life changing mind you.  My cuban fiance, Valentina, bonded over this when we first started talking because she video calls me one morning to talk to me while we were getting ready for our respective days. 

Of course, I answer.  Still in my pjs, bonnet on my head and slathering myself in shea butter.  Again, thank you Dana for your life changing knowledge of shea butter and cocoa butter.  I attribute my good skin to you, love. I’m in my late twenties now and honestly I don’t really look any different as to what I did when I was eighteen.  Perhaps, it’s genes.  But I think it was Dana and her knowledge. 

Anyway, we’re sitting there talking and all of a sudden Val just has the biggest smile on her face and I’m like, what?

And she was just like, “I love that you have your bonnet on.” 

And I was like, “Uh, ok? Should I not?” 

And we got into a whole discussion about it and how it’s viewed.   

Listen, if I am deep conditioning my hair I will walk straight out this house with a bonnet on and not give a single fuck.  You think I’m playing but I am not.  And that’s my point.   I don’t know why things like this are looked at differently and I’m sick of it.   

What’s even more disgusting is that I would get less looks for it than a black woman.  Why?  Because regardless of the fact that I actually came out of an extremely deeply darkly skinned woman, I pass as white. 

That god damn statement enrages me to my core.  The fact that I, someone who passes as white, can do basic things like wear a bonnet or a headwrap and while I may recieve some strange looks here and there..... it’s really nothing. 

Whereas a woman of dark complexion has a totally different experience.  And that enrages me.   I used to lose my temper over it when I was about 10 or so and Dana would take me to the movies on Sundays.  That was always deep conditioning day and so we went in our bonnets.  And these mother fucking girls would snicker and point and act like fools.  I, all 4′11′’ of me, nearly got into a fight with them b/c I have a short fuse on a big bomb.  But Dana just pulled me back and told me not to worry about it.  But I was upset.  Dana is literally one of the most beautiful people I have ever met, inside and out.  And I couldn’t understand how someone could be so nasty.   We had a talk that day about skin and why it was different.   I mean, I knew Dana and I have different colors to us but I never thought much about it to be honest.  

She was very honest with me in her experiences and she told me that we were different and even though that shouldn’t make a difference at all, for some people it did. 

Cue tiny preteen Kenny going on a fifteen minute rant until she gave me pineapple and tajin and told me to chill out, lol. 

Also, if you’re not putting tajin on your pineapple, what are you doing?  You’re missing out and I highly reccommend you see to it immediately. 

She told me the best thing to do was to ignore them and to just live my life.  And I see her point but I also don’t.  Because if you always look the other way then nothing changes b/c it just keeps getting swept under the rug.   

Dana is a lot nicer than me.  And perhaps, she’s smarter b/c she’s older and she just knows more than me.  But I will not stand for this! 

I realize how ridiculous that may sound but I don’t care.  I will call someone out on it in a heartbeat. 

I just get heated about things I feel strongly about. 

So all this to say that I was listening to this video where a girl was talking about how upset she was about the lack of representation in fanfiction and I was just consumed with anger b/c she’s right! 

And I was just so pissed. Poor Val listened to me rant forever before she just called Dana and was like, ‘Please calm down your child.” 

Because yes, as far as I’m concerned, Dana is my mother.  Not my birth mother. 

And, lol, Dana told her, “Just give that little hot cheeto some pineapple and tajin. Or make her some kool aid.  She’s just gotta rant for a minute and get it out of her system.” 

And Val said, “I tried to give her kool aid.  She spazzed out and drank half a pitcher.  Now she’s on a sugar high and she’s worse.” 

I’m assuming Dana told her to just hand over the phone and she promptly told me to calm down before she came over to deliver an ass whoopin.  

And then she asked me what was wrong and so I told her. 

And so she said, “Just write the fanfiction how you want it.   That’s what you’ve always done. So if you want to see mentions of bonnets in stories, start putting them in.   Make it a point to create scenes that specifically give you an opportunity to showcase some of that stuff.  Talk about the struggles of finding a foundation that actually matches your skin tone.  Talk about wash days and co washes.  And for the love of the all mighty, please mention to someone to put some damn lotion on their elbows and knees.  I’m tired of seeing these ashy ass people.” 

And we talked for quite some time about it and she made me feel better.  Like she always does.  I didn’t come out of her but Dana has always been my mother.  And always been there for me.  Always given me the best advice.   Always knew just what to say when my emotions wreck me. 

So I know a lot of you like my reader content and I’ll continue to do that. I promise.  I mostly just do plus size reader. But maybe we’ll include some specific POC plus size reader.  I mean, that’s not new for me.  I’ve done that before but you get my point.  The only way to get passed some of these irritations and unfairness is to normalize it to the point of common knowledge. 

And you might be seeing more and more POC OC’s from me.  This isn’t new either as I’ve got plenty of them.  But you might see an influx lol.  Because I’m upset about it and b/c it’s deserved.  You know what I mean?  

Also, for the love of god, please please please if you are writing reader insert when you are talking about someone blushing... jesus christ, Dana could be embarassed and you’d never know b/c she is literally as dark as a dark chocolate bar.   Blush doesn’t show on her skin tone and I can imagine it doesn’t show on a lot of deeper skin tones.  It doesn’t on Valentina and she’s cuban caramel candy.  

There are other ways.  Like heat creeping up the neck or whatever.  You know what I mean.  

Also, the ‘he ran his fingers through my hair’ bit?  Ugh.  First of all, with my hair.... I’d like to see them try.  Second, don’t. touch. my. hair.  

Just saying.  There are other ways.

Anyway, thanks for listening. 

And Dana, if you’re reading, cause I know you come read my stories sometimes- thank you for listening and giving me good advice.  As you always have.  I love you and I’m just really thankful you’ve always been there for me and taught me so much.  I love you, Mama D.

Love, 

Kenny

Also, ya’ll pray for me.  I have a whole pitcher of kool aid, that I made so it has way too much sugar in it.  And if I can’t calm myself down, Valentina may murder me.  And ya girl is trying to get some tonight, lol. 

P.S. If she does away with me and you never find my body, someone just tell Idris Elba, Queen Latifah, Sebastian Stan and Aaron Taylor Johnson that I love them and that I died well.  

Probably not though.  

Valentina is mean.  She’d make me die a slow and horrible death. 

Like depravation of cuddles and chocolate. 

The horror. 

Shit, I like her feisty though. 

Anyway, I’m rambling. 

I love y’all and that’s really all I had to say about the issue lol. 

#kenny rants #poc #poc reader #poc oc #poc fanfiction #melanin #melanin queens

[aro-neir-o]

Carnival of Aros - Open Questions for Aromantic Research

This month has been a little bonkers for me as I come to the end of my Master’s degree, but perhaps it’s fitting that August 2020′s prompt for the Carnival of Aros aligns with the culmination of my research.

As always, my (very many) thoughts are under Keep Reading.

The first thing I thought when I saw this prompt was: “Do I have to formulate an actual fancy official set of Research Questions??” If grad school has taught me anything, it’s that research questions are incredibly difficult to pin down, and they’re always changing as the research is undertaken. The aro community, especially, has rapidly changing terms as we try to figure out our place in the world. 

So, instead of creating Actual Research Questions (TM) - because I’m quite burnt out with my own for grad school already, hahaha - I’m going to give some general ideas.

In-Progress and Previous Surveys (a.k.a. Neir Is Trying Really Hard Not To Write A Literature Review)

It is maybe a little silly to be brainstorming future research when I haven’t finished analyses for the 2019 surveys I was a part of. Since I started aro research, I’ve been learning a lot about the community, and we’ve even managed to get a first aro census out there. That’s three in-progress in-depth surveys that include aro individuals.

I’ve run a couple of iterations on aro stigmatization + microagressions (see #arospec stigma survey tags). Things like discovering one’s aro identity and just general demographics are covered in the #a-spec identity survey and the aro census.

There is also research I’ve seen on various aro experiences, aro relationships, aro activism, amatonormativity, and mental health. Full disclosure, I help manage AUREA’s Research resource page so whenever I hear about something, chances are it’ll get posted there.

Future Exploratory Research

I think there is a tonne of exploratory research that we need to do, some of which will have to be done over as the aro community and the environment around us change. I think the most important thing with this research is to listen to what aros want. There are a lot of sub-communities and identities under the aro umbrella, and even others that are in a gray zone that might not be picked up by usual aro research.

In terms of what I would personally love to run on the exploratory side of things, I’d like to investigate:

the experiences of individuals who relate to the aro community but do not [always] see themselves as a part of it

the intersection of aromanticism with disability, neurodivergence, and other demographic factors - how these might affect aros and their wellbeing in different ways

the history of aro voices in the Discourse Era

the evolution of aro terminology

the evolution of aro communities in different countries

the relationship between the aro community and other Queer communities (i.e., comparative studies)

Of course, seeing aro representation in academic studies not specifically focused on aromanticism or orientation would be wonderful. Figuring out how to word surveys and instructions to be inclusive to aros is perhaps its own study.

Future Interventionist Research

I have also been thinking about interventionist research. As the aro community grows and connects globally, our activism grows with us. More of us are out and about, talking about aromanticism, giving speeches, presenting workshops, and interacting with people who usually aren’t anywhere near our circles.

I’d like to have researchers document how aros go about their activism, particularly in different locales, so that we can take inspiration. 

How can we leverage both online and offline activism to different ends? How can we connect the online and offline spheres? How can we connect aros internationally, through language barriers? What makes an effective awareness campaign? Where have we seen success and where have we seen failure? What can we learn for future ASAW and Pride events?

What kinds of partnerships are particularly effective for allyship? How can we team up with other marginalized individuals and work towards the same goals? Who would be best to reach out to first?

What kinds of aro-friendly programs or policies can we try out in our local communities? Do they succeed or fail? Why? What can we learn before confronting the bigger fish?

Testing things out is always better sooner rather than later. This way, we can build up momentum as a community and be ready when we find an opportunity to make a big policy push.

The great thing about a young field is its potential for new researchers. I personally can’t wait to see what the community comes up with over the years, and I look forward to meeting you all at some sort of conference someday. :)

#carnival of aros #blogging carnival #aro research #aromantic research #research #ideas