I am playing a game called "how much Outlast fanart can I sneak into my portfolio and can i get accepted into college with it".

Current works include:

- a painting inspired by the Morphogenic Engine

-Mount massive itself as a landscape

-a few Eddie inspired figure sketches

-Richard and Jeremy just chilling in a night club

-a lot of stuff inspired by the style of the Outlast comics

-personal favorite, a closeup painting of pre-engine Trager's ass for which my teacher told me to make it "perkier"

Review: Down With Love (2010)

I felt a little nostalgic this week and decided to rewatch Down With Love, a romcom out of Taiwan featuring Ella Chen (from Hana Kimi) and Jerry Yan (Meteor Garden).

This is more of a brain dump as opposed to a real review. More below the cut.

Let me just start with the fact I love dramas with tomboys, gender benders, and gender non-conforming women and girls in general. I'm a 40 yr old gnc bi-woman, so some of these storylines really resonate with me - despite the trend of making those female characters glaringly stupid and pitiable.

Tags: Nanny, Love Square, Tomboy, Male Chases Female First, Sismance, Rich Man/Poor Woman, Pretends To Be Gay, Single Parent, Sisterhood, Boss/Employee Relationship

Our girl Ella Chen plays tomboy Yang Guo. Yang Guo works, has friends, and a shitty boyfriend of 5 years. She acts naïve, but she actually has a lot of life experience due to a *tragic backstory*. After her mother died, her father ruined the family business. Their family plunged from riches to rags and their father abandoned them. Yang Guo is 6 when this happens and it falls on her older sister Yang Duo to raise them both while homeless, starving, and navigating the homeless camps in the parks of Taipei.

Yang Duo (Kelly Huang) has raised her little sister by herself, beginning from poverty and homelessness to having a house and making a life for themselves. They bicker good-naturedly, but Yang Duo is very protective and supportive of her sister. She's managed to earn a job at a prestigious law firm as an admin assistant with strong accounting skills. She is seen as frugal, clever, and competent. Several characters make comments throughout the series about how it was a shame that she didn't go into certain careers because she's so accomplished despite not having a formal education. It's obvious that Yang Duo has put her own dreams and happiness on hold to make sure that she and Guo have financial security. Yang Duo is my favorite character btw. She is a supporting character that is multi-faceted and has her own character arc. I really like seeing her growth in this drama, and she gets some cute side couple action later in the series. Skip the last episode.

Due to growing up in poverty and scrabbling to lower-middle-class, the two girls work nonstop. After Guo is fired from her job waiting tables, Duo gets Guo a job as a nanny for her boss Xiang Yu Ping by lying and saying Guo is a lesbian.

Xiang Yu Ping (Jerry Yan) owns his own law firm and is seen as cold and overbearing. He is raising his dead brother's kids and none of the nannies he's hired have lasted either due to being chased off by the kids (a la the Sound of Music) or by trying to seduce him because he's a rich handsome lawyer. Relieved to have found a nanny who definitely wouldn't seduce him (because he thinks she's a lesbian), he just pays an unreasonably huge salary to keep her there with the kids despite their abuse.

Supporting characters: Amanda Chu as the best friend Yan Ling with the messy dating life is also delightful, but I've enjoyed all her roles. I may rewatch Lion Pride for her, now that I'm walking down memory lane. The office of 'just some lawyer dudes being dudes' are funny. I love when they gather around to watch drama and place bets on what's happening. They're also slackers. I would love/hate to work with them.

So that's the setup.

Honestly, I hate the 'pretends to be gay' plots. It's typically really offensive and this was no exception in a lot of places. (It's not at the same level as Personal Taste, but it's bad.) One of the cases Yu Ping takes on is unlawful termination and blackmail of a gay teacher and he asks for Yang Guo's advice to help the man. Taiwan was trying in 2010, but it wasn't exactly good representation to have a fake lesbian help an actual gay man faced with employment discrimination and blackmail over his orientation. When I compare this with Love is Science (2021 twdrama) that has two out lgbt characters employed in their office with significant roles, I'm just so happy that lgbtq media representation is still progressing.

I don't care about Yu Ping's best friend Qi Ke Zhong or Yu Ping's ex-girlfriend Ding Hui Fan because they're both terrible people that don't deserve forgiveness and their only purpose was to drag out our leads getting together. Since this was a rewatch, I knew how much I hated their scenes and skipped them as much as I could. You're not missing anything. Someone on YT needs to just make a Yang Duo/Xiang Yu Ping cut, tbh. Also? Go ahead and skip the deadbeat father.

The nanny bit only lasts three episodes (the kids are adorable), but it's long enough for Yu Ping to catch feelings and think his lesbian nanny is cute. He actually is not cold and overbearing as episode 1 makes him out to be. Yu Ping is supportive and tries to be a good friend to Guo. When he thinks her 'girlfriend' is cheating on her, he absolutely flips out because he feels she deserves to be respected and loved in her relationship. He learns about her family. He learns about her friends. He knows where to look for her when she's upset. He knows how to cheer her up and later, he knows how to make the perfect date. When he finds out she lied about being a lesbian, he's not even mad. He admits it was his fault for making certain demands in the employment contract. He's just upset that he's lost chances to flirt and court her.

Listen. It's a dumb premise in this drama and the misunderstandings suck. But it's so refreshing to see male leads be decent to women that are romantically and sexually unavailable to them. The bar is so low, in RL and in dramas, that Yu Ping belongs in the top tier of male drama leads. This dude was just going to continue in a supportive friendship for an undetermined time, both when he thought she was a lesbian and later when his shitty weasel of a best friend dated her under false pretenses. He didn't burden her with a confession until her relationship was over. And whenever she asked for space, he gave it to her. And when she confronted him on instances of jealously, he apologized and gave her space.

Yu Ping never tries to change Guo. He doesn't give her a makeover. She has a makeover scene that is instigated by another character and all he does is try to make her comfortable when she's so obviously uncomfortable. Then he cheers inwardly when he sees her overcome her awkwardness and have confidence. But by the end of the drama, she is still dressing and acting the same as in act 1. It honestly reminded me a little of Coffee Prince in that the fancy male lead is still just as enamored with his gnc woman by the end and the way she presents herself doesn't have an effect on their romantic relationship. Again, this is content catered to me as a bi & gnc woman in a relationship with a cis-het man. I often am mistaken for a man when I go out with my spouse and he's still super into me so let's normalize gnc people with gc people already it's 2021.

Anyway, if you watch romances for kisses, there's really only a couple of pecks and one nice passionate kiss and they're all in basically the last 3 eps of the series.

The last episode sucks. Stop at episode 15. Seriously. Don't watch episode 16. Why oh why do you let terrible people back in your life? Qi Ke Zhong and Ding Hui Fan are toxic and should but cut out of their lives. The end of ep 15 had a happy ending with a family-style breakfast for our two sisters with their boyfriends. Ep 16 threw in some more misunderstanding, jealousy, and separations followed by a time skip for no reason and brought back my two least favorite characters.

Anyway, I will live in my little world with Yang Duo and her sweet lawyer boyfriend Liang Zhi Hao (Ian Yim/Cyran Yan/Yan Yi En yeah, this actor has three stage names) that supports her interests and self-determination while they save money on mass transit by using his motorbike. And they build her dream home that she designs. Perhaps they put aside funds for her to pursue a degree in what she's passionate about.

would it be ok to ask for hcs of the main 6 + vaderwood and how they would react to their normally energetic and funny mc being a little off and making some self-deprecating jokes (like a little too dark to be funny) as a way of coping and hiding their anxiety/depression? if not thats ok im just in a similar mood today.

self-deprecating jokes are my thing too, tbh. hope you’re feeling better! Also, I couldn’t picture Vandy for this particular hc, I’m sorry :c

Yoosung

This boy honestly loves how fun you are. He will always laugh with you and you don’t tease him that much (Saeyoung does that for you)

One day, when he comes home from his job at the vet, he finds you calling for pizza. He lets you finish the call and then you look up.

“Hey, welcome back! I accidentally left the stove on for too long and messed up dinner” you casually said, with a small giggle. “So I called Pizza Hut, hope it’s okay”.

“It’s okay!” he says. “I love pizza”

“I know, me too” you smile. You stand up and stretch your arms. “Okay, so I’ll take a shower before it gets here. How the fuck did I forget the stove on, I don’t know” you laugh. “I swear to God I would totally leave me at this point”.

Yoosung says nothing, shocked. He watches you walk to the bathroom and turn on the shower. He knows you like to joke around, but that joke had been pretty specific. Leave you? Why would he leave you? Over some burnt food?!

He waits until you come out, wrapped in a towel and hands you a cup of your favourite tea. You smile weakly.

“An award for my awful cooking?” you tease him.

“Hey! It’s just food! And you solved it. I don’t really care, MC, please let it go”. He sees your lips tremble a little bit. “Are you okay?”

You had a really rough day at work. You tell him all about it while sipping on the tea and he silently listens to you, nodding at the right times. The pizza finally arrives and he puts on your favourite show so you both can watch it. When you go to bed, he makes sure to give you extra cuddles, so you never have to feel any more pressure on yourself.

Zen

Honestly, he’s not the best at comedy. But he really likes how much you can make yourself laugh with your own jokes.

He comes home and hands you his tablet. You arch an eyebrow and look at him from the couch. He sits beside you and asks you to press play. You nod and comply his request.

It’s a video from rehearsal. He’s singing at he’s actually hitting all the notes just right. You smile softly, watching the video in silence. When it’s over, you turn and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

“You’re amazing, babe. You did the song soooo good! How can you be so talented?”

“Thank you, babe. And I don’t know, can’t help it. I’m just talented.” he shrugs, with a confident smile.

“Well, someone has to be” you responded quickly. His smiled faltered and he looked at you, confused.

“What are you talking about? You are talented too. I’ve seen your drawings, those building projects you have been working on. They’re masterpieces, MC, I love them and–”

“I didn’t get the job, Zen” you quickly answer, not looking at him. “They didn’t like those ‘masterpieces’” you added, making the colons signs with his fingers.

Oh. So they had already sent you the email.

Zen would put the tablet aside and hold you on the couch. Whisper over and over again how talented you truly are and how they were in the wrong for not noticing it.

“If they can’t see how brilliant you are, why would you want to work for them?” he asked. “I’ve been rejected more times that I can count. I know how you feel. And you know what makes me feel better?”

You look at him and shake your head.

Ten minutes later, you’re both riding on his motorcycle, feeling the air against your face. you hug him tighter and smile.

Jaehee

Jaehee’s not one for jokes. But she does enjoy the occasional laugh she has with you. You make tons of jokes, but, unlike Saeyoung, you know when to stop

“Babyyyyyyyy, I’m a mess!” you complained, stretching on your bed. Both of you were working on your laptops, when suddenly you put yours aside.

“C’mon. Help me, Excel Goddess! Can’t seem to make this thing to work and I need to show it to my boss tomorrow” you asked. Jaehee smiled softly, put her laptop aside and grabbed yours. She started typing formulas, fixing your work.

“You’re so good to me, baby. Thank youuuu. That’s why you’re the smart one here”. Jaehee just smiled, continuing her work.

“They should have taught me Excel in school instead of sports. Did anyone of my class turn out to be an athlete? No one. Are we struggling to get a job because we don’t know shit about Excel? We are”.

“Maybe that’s why I’m failing. Maybe that’s why I had to settle with this shitty job, because I can’t comprehend the monster that in Microsoft Excel. Maybe that’s also why my Computer Science teacher hated me at school” you said dramatically. Jaehee chuckled softly.

“Maybe that’s why my whole life is a mess right now. Maybe that’s why I can’t find joy in the things I do anymore, maybe that’s why my father left us. Because I’m a shitty person who can’t do Excel and can’t get a decent job”.

She stopped typing and looked over at you.

“MC. What are you saying?”

“I’m sorry. I’m just… I’m tired. Don’t think about it too much”

“I-… Do you want me to talk to Mr. Han? Maybe there’s a position and… I know C&R takes most of my time but an entry level job may be good– at least for your resumé and–”

“I’m fine. Don’t think about it, baby” you dismissed, but Jaehee grabbed your hand.

“Can’t you really find joy anymore?” she asked. You sighed.

“Happens to me when the cold weather beggins. Will go away in a couple of weeks” you shrugged. Jaehee squeezed your hand.

“Let me know if I can do anything to help you… well, find joy again”.

“You do help!” you assured her. “I can find bits of joy here” you smiled and gave her a small kiss. She smiled and kissed you back.

Jumin

Jumin doesn’t understand most of your jokes. Most of the times, you have to explain them to him. He doesn’t mind, but it’s only because he really enjoys watching you laugh at your own jokes. The sight of you giggling it’s enough to light up any day.

That day, you decided to visit him during lunch. Which wasn’t a rare occurrence, you tried to visit him at least once a week, making sure with Jaehee you wouldn’t be interrupting.

“Good afternoon, my love. Didn’t expect you here” he greeted you, giving your cheek a tender kiss when you approached him. You gave him the bento you had prepared and sat in front of him, on the other side of his desk.

“I know. I just thought your darling, loving wife might make an appearence. I do have to keep those heiresses away from you” you laughed. He smiled softly and opened his bento. “Don’t want them making you change your mind about marrying some poor girl who couldn’t even afford university by herself”.

Jumin arched his eyebrow while eating his lunch. “Is there a problem with your classes? I thought you were excited about finally attending university, even if most of the classes are online for security reasons. Are the professors not competent enough? Are they not grading you fairly?”

You laughed. “No, Jumin, classes are fine. I just… Don’t really fit with your social class, you know. I mean, I knew I wouldn’t fit, but someday’s it really… just… I don’t know. You can put a working class girl in a Channel, but you can’t really change who she really is inside, right?” you smiled weakly.

Jumin furrowed his eyebrows, visibly upset. “What are you talking about?”

Your facade disappear and you sighed. You reached out for his hand and held it tighly.

“Please, don’t misunderstand me. I love you, I really do. Nothing can change that. But I can’t– I can’t pretend I don’t hear the whispers when I come here to have lunch with you. How I listen to them mocking these nice clothes you bought for me” you said, pointing at your light blue dress he had given you. “I don’t… I didn’t grow up with these things. I must look really dumb pretending to be part of a class I’m not”.

“Who made that comment?” he asks, angrily.

You try to cover it up, but after some pushing, you tell him it’s the secretary that works two offices away. She has a desk beside Jaehee’s. Jumin stands up, not stopping when you ask him to. He takes one step outside his office and spots the secretary you must be talking about.

“You’re fired. Assistant Kang, take care of that paperwork”.

Jumin returned to his office and locked the door. You can’t believe what just happened. He walks over to you and lifts up your chin with his hand, gently.

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you you don’t belong here. Or that you don’t deserve elegant clothes or anything I want to give to you. I know you didn’t grow up the same as me, but that’s why I love you. Because you didn’t look at me and saw my money or C&R, you looked at me. At who I was. Who I could be. I want to be the best man I can be, just for you. And I want to please you, giving you anything I can so you can enjoy life at its fullest. Also, look at you” he said, taking a look at your whole outfit. “You look breathtaking. You look classy, and it’s not just the dress” he smirked, kissing your cheek and making his way to your neck, leaving you a mess of giggles.

Saeyoung

Ok, so we all agree he’s the king of dark humour and self-deprecating jokes.

And he’s used to be like that around you and sometimes you make the same jokes and you both just laugh it out.

So that day, he doesn’t notice something’s off from the start.

He’s fixing the robot cat, since it had been malfunctioning. You’re reading a magazine  on the couch while he’s sitting on the floor, both of you talking on and off.

“One day you should teach me who to do that. You know, fixing stuff and such”

“I wil! But you’ll need to call me sensei during our lessons.”

“Sensei? Isn’t that japanese?”

“It is! I’ll be your sensei if you wish. But what do you want to learn to fix?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t want to be the dumb one of the relationship”

“Awww. But we make such a good pair~”

“Just because you haven’t got tired of me yet” you chuckle.

“How could I get tired of your cooking? Never!~ I swear my mouth waters just thinking about your waffles.”

You laugh. “That’s all I am? My cooking?”

“Well, also how clean you keep this, Ms. Vanderwood hasn’t been complaining as much as before” he teases you.

“Well, you know I have to keep this apartment clean and your stomach full. That’s why I’m here, right? Until you get tired of my stupidness” you chuckle.

Saeyoung looks back at you, stopping on his fixing of robo-cat. He’s not longer smiling.

“… You really think that? That I think you’re stupid?”

“Well… I’m no genius. I’m just one more secretary, I’m… c’mon. You’d have more fun with someone who’s just as smart as you. I’m just here… until my time’s done. I’ve accepted it long ago.”

Suddenly he’s over you, making you lay on the couch, pinning both your arms over your head.

“Stop! What? Stop, just stop, what are you even saying?! You are kind, compassionate, generous and the most beautiful soul I’ve ever seen. You stayed by my side when I was at my worst. You saw all parts of me and still loved me. I’m the one who isn’t worthy of someone as loving and forgiving as you. I– I could never. I could have never rescued Saeran without you. I could have never been happy or even think about real happiness if it weren’t for you. So honestly, what if you don’t know anything about computers or hacking? That doesn’t matter to me. It’s you and your heart. It’s always been about your loving heart, MC. Please, please don’t be so hard on yourself. I’ve loved you my whole life. Even before I met you. I just didn’t realize it.”

Your eyes water

damn, saeyoung i almost cried as well, you fucker

You both stay on the couch, holding each other until you fall asleep. He keeps whispering soft and warm words to your ear every now and then, making sure you never doubt yourself again.

Saeran

“i want to die” “same”

It’s so usual for you both to make dark jokes, he doesn’t really notice when it stops being a joke to you.

You’re both laying on the couch. You’re on top of him, resting your head on his chest. You can’t remember how it started, but you start joking around.

“Your girlfriend’s a mess, you know”

“She is. Have you seen her hair?” he teased.

“What the hell does she think she’s doing? Have you seen the way she dresses?”

“Total mishap. It’s like a match made in hell”

“And her voice? More like a screech” you laugh, making fun of your own voice.

“Will she ever shut up?” he sighed dramatically, smirking softly.

“Why does she think she actually make someone happy?” you chuckle. His smile disappears.

Saeran stays silent for a minute. “You’re not happy?”

are you not happy with him? has he already bored you out of your mind? are you having second thoughts about your relationship? because he’s been trying, he’s been seeing a psychologist and even though there still isn’t a big change, he— is it because there hasn’t been a big change?

“Well, you’re not” you replied in a small voice. “And I can’t– And I don’t how– Maybe it’s me?”

So, Saeran decides to try something he’s been talking about with his psychologist. Better now than ever, he thought.

“I love you”

You raise your head, looking at him in disbelief. He’s never said that before. When you started dating, he had kissed you and you had understood how it was hard for him to express feelings due to the severe trauma he had gone through, so you hadn’t pushed him but… Saeran was still looking at you, a tense expression on his face. You suddenly realized you hadn’t said anything back.

“I love you too”. You had said it before. You had told him that a million times, but it was the first time you said it back.

“I know it seems I’m not making progress– But I think I am? I mean, I just told you that, right?” he said, scratching his head, a little nervous. “He said we were going to work on expressing feelings, and it was easier to express the most intense ones.”

“Your most intense feeling– one of your most intense feelings is loving me?” you asked, still surprised.

“Shut up” he said, making you laugh for real this time.

Finding Kurt Hummel: The Rise and Fall of Sue Sylvester

Masterpost

6x10: The Rise and Fall of Sue Sylvester

And here we are at the infamous Sue episode panned by fans everywhere.  Is it really that bad?  Well I did have it as my least favorite episode of the series, (though after careful inspection, that title truly goes to the hot mess that is I Kissed a Girl).  However, believe it or not, I don’t think this is the /worst/ Glee ever put out. I do, though, think the context is what makes it so frustrating.  

Child Star and Other Missed Opportunities

Here’s the thing - when you write out season 6 on paper, I think the structure of what the writers were going for makes a lot more sense.  The main story that they were telling was getting the Glee club back in order, to be, in a way, an echo of what season 1 was.  And for the most part, I do think that structure works.  You have Rachel in the ‘Will’ spot as teacher, trying to get her life together while trying to inspire these young kids to be awesome, and like the end of the Front 13 - the ending there is Sectionals.  

All the other plot lines are secondary, including Rachel’s triumphant return to New York, which is the b-story of the entire season.  Kurt (and Blaine)’s reunion arc might be, eh, a distant 3rd? Maybe 4th after Will’s.  But that’s what makes these final three episodes (before the final two that make up, essentially, the series finale) so jarring.   We’ve been used to strong focus on Kurt and Blaine as secondary characters, and the kids have been the main focus since season 3.  Shifting everything back so that Will and Sue are the main characters, with Rachel as a secondary lead feels... off.  

The thing is -- I see what they were trying to do here.  After wrapping up the Klaine (and Brittana) arc - the last arcs that the ‘kid’ characters get (besides Rachel) we essentially have three extra episodes left.  One will be the competition episode.  One was the episode about the New Newbies which I don’t think was a bad thing - even if I think introducing a new character five episodes before the end was a dumb move.  But like the original kids, I think these new kids rightfully deserved an episode of their own.  And thus leaves one episode where they needed to do, well, something.  

And hence - we get Sue.  

Yeah - It would have been nice if they had spent an episode exploring Kurt and Blaine’s now married life, or what the hell are Mercedes, Artie, Tina, Brittany, Santana, Mike, etc, etc, etc, etc, doing with their lives.  But - in the minds of the glee writers... they already did that in various capacities over the previous episodes.  

But even more than that - for reasons I’ll never fully understand, unless it’s about how much they love Jane Lynch, they decided to focus an episode on Sue.  And while the episode isn’t the utter worst thing Glee ever did (honestly, go back and watch IKAG again...), trying to make emotional sense of a character you’ve reduced to a cartoon character, who breaks the fourth wall just... doesn’t work.  And on top of that, they don’t resolve anything, nor is it that interesting to watch.  Sue remains, well, Sue and nothing remotely happens.  

So yeah, this ‘filler’ episode was a way to stall time before the obligatory ending Sectionals episode - and they filled it up with a lot of what no one wanted, especially the precious few who were still watching.  And thus, we have the most frustrating and least satisfying episode of the entire series.  Thankfully, Kurt is barely in it. 

Burn the House Down

So, we open with the New New New Directions in typical Glee fashion, doing the hot single of the moment - idk even know the name of the song, though - Rather Be? Idk.  Anyway, Kurt and Blaine come sombering in, cause, plot dictates they be there for exposition. 

And we find out that Dalton has burned to the ground.  

So.  

Here’s the thing - there could have been an interesting story here for Blaine -- matching Rachel’s story about having to grow up and move on.  I mean, it’s kind of subtly and subtextually there. It is (another) reason Blaine is forced to move on and grow up.  

But.  Do you know why they burned Dalton to the ground (other than doing it probably out of spite)? Not for some kind of deeper level of symbolism.  Nope.  They did it so New Directions can meet their quota of having 12 members.  That stupid, fucking rule.  I realize that it’s now become a joke (as mentioned earlier in the Hurt Locker episodes).  But c’mon Glee.  It’s like you’re not even trying now.  

But also, like after most big Klaine events - do Kurt and Blaine get a moment to reflect on their newly marriage life? Nope.  Other than talking about a piano exploding in the next episode, Kurt and Blaine won’t share dialogue again until the series finale.  On top of that -- instead of getting to be happy newlyweds, they have Blaine upset because his surrogate home has burned down.  Thanks writers.  Thanks. 

However - there are two things I do like about this little moment.  A) the fact that Kurt is being a very comforting husband.  B) the fact that they are wearing their proposal colors.  Nice touch costume dept.  You get the gold star.  

In the next scene - we get the indoctrination of the Warblers into the New Directions.  And Kurt just nods his head along in all the appropriate places.  Not a whole lot to talk about -- other than now that we’ve got Will back in charge, Rachel and Kurt have faded into the background.  Is Kurt even teaching anything any more? No, not really - despite all the ‘conversations’ Kurt, Rachel, Will, and Blaine have off screen.  

Anyway - you know another reason Dalton was burned to ground? To service the Sue plot.  Yup.  God.  Luckily, though, I don’t really have to go into it. 

The Way Too Long Geraldo Segment

So, long story short, Sue’s hurt locker was found out and then she’s exposed on Geraldo, which does go on way, way to long.  Look, there are some funny moments and callbacks, like the finding of Sue’s Penthouse magazine and the quick return of Joe.  But it just becomes stale as it continues after the commercial break.  Also, though, Sue’s not going to actually face ramifications. I mean, she should really be in jail just on the hurt locker alone.  But this is Glee, where Will, Sue, and Rachel never have to really deal with the actions they make.  

So - Kurt’s bit is about the elevator.  Which is... fine.  It kind of feels hollow since they’re going to thank her in the finale, and she just sent them on a week long honeymoon.  But yeah - don’t kidnap people, guys.  Bad.  The best part of this is the look on Blaine’s face.  

  Unity

This scene was almost impossible to get a good still.  Oh well.  Anyway, a good twenty minutes of the episode later...

So, I should mention in the previous scene, the gang is all trying to help Rachel through her issues and trying to get her back to New York (or whatever).   It’s a little weird that Kurt is not here since he’s spent so much of his screen time playing emotional prop to Rachel Berry. but I guess I’m not complaining even if I think it’s weird? But we do get Sam calling NYADA a scam school, and info that Blaine was kicked out by Carmen herself - to which I say, why does anyone care about this school??  Whatever.  It is a funny little scene though. 

Anyway, back to this scene -- where the Warblers and the New Directions are arguing over costumes.  And the only real thing I get out of it (Kurt-wise) is that Kurt really hated wearing that uniform when he went there, lol.  (He did, though, it’s in season 2.)  

And I know there was some grumbling of this scene - why is Kurt taking New Directions’s side? Why is he not supporting Blaine and the Warblers - to which I say... the writers didn’t give a shit about that.  Seriously.  This scene is a) about comedy and b) presenting this argument that will be compromised in about ten minutes anyway.  It’s not at all any kind of reflection on Kurt or Blaine or their relationship.  And actually, I’m of half mind that the writers completely forgot that Kurt even went to Dalton himself.  

In the large scheme of Kurt related things - this scene barely registers, tbh.  **shrugs**

Hey, but costumes wins again - Kurt and Blaine are wearing each other’s colors!

Final Countdown

So, Sue and Will duke it out through music - like it’s always done, and we get confirmation -- all those fantasy performances? Were just that -- fantasies.  I kinda do like when the kids come in and are like - wtf??!?  Kurt tells Rachel that he hopes that the’ll never become that.  Oh y’all won’t, promise ;) Anyway - I love that the show comments that Will and Sue have lost it - like we haven’t known that since the end of season 1.  

So, uh, the next day? Will apologizes for being an idiot.  Okay, fine.  And then Rachel says that now -- if the glee club doesn’t win, all fine arts will be cut.  Because that makes a load of sense, c’mon writers, c’mon....  

Anyway - the one redeeming thing for this otherwise ridiculous little scene, is that Kurt’s a ball of optimism -- he inwardly reflects on all the crap that’s happened in his life and he turns it around saying that they’ll never give up on anything (to which Blaine looks at him adoringly).  And, I mean, it’s a subtle thing -- but I kinda love this.  Because here’s a kid who has been through hell and back and a lot of shitty things (even recently) and you know what? He’s fine.  He’s in a good place, he’s happy, he’s loved, he’s got a great support system, and a good attitude about life.  And, he’s got a great motto to go along with it -- It’s Got Bette Midler.  (lol)  

But I mean, let’s take a second and think about the fact that Kurt started his journey being that kid who gets thrown in dumpsters for being weird and gay and now, you know what? He’s fine.  He’s really, really, really fine.  :) 

Rise

So - here at the end, we see Blaine solving the absolute crisis of the episode and somehow he’s managed to make, like, twenty unity blazers overnight, combining the Dalton tradition with the McKinley colors.  And did it without Kurt knowing what he was up to because Kurt was totally surprised.  But it’s in a good way, Kurt’s incredibly proud that Blaine managed to solve this epic dilemma.  (I joke, but really, it’s sweet that Kurt’s, again, proud of his new husband).  

Meanwhile, we get the song Rise, written by Darren Criss -- and I’m kind of impressed with this song -- it manages to reference birds, Dalton burning down, the kids rising to the top, and the fall of Sue Sylvester all in one go.  Color me impressed, too.   (Btw, this is such a Darren-esque song, I can hear this in his voice even if I’ve never heard him actually sing it.) 

I’ll leave you with the some lyrics, which I’m sure you can work out their meaning on your own ;) 

Have you ever felt like you woke up (On the wrong side of your heart) Has it ever felt like it's broken (Like the world tore it apart) Have you felt so weak, You could hardly stand Like if you ever fell You could never tell If you'd ever get back up again I know it's hard to do, But I think you can make it, Cause I know we can take it Baby we will... Rise We are young we are the dreamers we will fly When the world will not believe us, We will rise above the ashes Before this whole life passes us by You and I, we will rise

One of my favourite not anime shows growing up and tbh still is, is Class of the Titans.

It aired on Teletoon and was a Canadian made show so idk if it ever got aired in the states.

I think a handful of episodes might have been released on dvd but certainly not all. You can find it online to watch may not be like 1080/720p hd quality but it’s not like shitty it’s watchable.

You can watch it here on Youtube - The quality is really good (I believe you can or at least could find it on Amazon or iTunes) 

Anyway.

So the premise is you have this group of kids who are like all descendants of Greek Heroes and basically come together because of a prophecy saying that they’ll defeat Cronus (yes as in the titan)

You have Jay the leader and descendant of Jason (no surprise) and is probably the most Greek out of the group as he mentions his mother being Greek. And basically is our Greek Myth buff/nerd of the group

Theresa who’s descendant of Theseus. Also she’s a third degree black belt. Also as a descendant of Theseus makes her related to Poseidon too. She lives with her Dad (mom doesn’t seem to be in the picture) and is like really rich.

Fun fact in the English dub of Inuyash her and Jay’s voice actors play Miroku and Sango (Also Theresa’s has voiced Barbie in most if not all the Barbie movies. - Jay was also the Nutcracker in Barbie and the Nutcracker)

Atlanta bad ass Canadian girl was originally supposed to be a descendant of the Greek Hero by the same name but was changed to Artemis- can only assume they did it simply cause more people would know who Artemis is over Atlanta *shrug* Don’t really know anything about her home life.

Harry descendant of Hercules- the only family we see of his is his grandmother and I love her. Does not at all seem phased by this gods n monsters shit.

Odie descendant of Odysseus - also our more tech savy kinda nerdy one of the group. Probably about the only person who knows almost as much about Greek myth as Jason.

Archie descendant of Achilles and much like Achillies he too has a problem with his heel. He wears a brace on it. They never elaborate outside of a comment he makes about ‘I have a wonky heel.’ Dude still a great fighter, though he can’t swim and is terrified of water.

and lastly Neil. a descendant of Narcissus of all people. but like they make it work. Dude is a supermodel. While mostly played for comic relief and a bit of a coward he’s actually not totally useless nor did I ever really find him annoying. Aside from just being like a walking good luck charm, he can kind of fight and on more then one occasion it’s shown despite how self absorbed he can be he does care about his friends and isn’t entirely selfish.

Also his friends more then once have called him out on his shit.

-

Then of course we got the gods. The main one is Hera. We do see Zeus but we actually aren’t (officially) introduced to him till a few episodes in. He mostly hangs in the background and also sorta moonlights as the school’s janitor that they go to- the school is like somewhere in BC I think or it’s supposed to be. No the gods aren’t all secretly their teachers (that would be funny).

Nah they just kinda are in this separate dimension that connects to the school- but can only be accessed via these special pendants the protags have.

I think my favourite has to be Persephone and Hades. We only see Hades in a few episodes but like this is the first time I’ve seen him not shown as being super gloomy. He’s honestly downright cheerful, and he loves his Cerberus and Persephone.

- It’s also nice to see the Underworld depicted as just a place - not evil or bad, only bad in it is Tartorus. Sure there are dangers/threats to the characters if they happen to go there but that’s more to do with the fact of they’re are living people going about in a world meant only for the dead. Even Death/Thanatos is just treated as someone just doing his job- he’s not made out as wicked or evil for what he does. 

Hermes, Ares, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis are some of he more main ones we see. 

And each episode they usually end up dealing with something from Greek myth. Whether it’s Cronus sending a creature after them or looking for an object and then they try to stop him.

There is actually a Valentine’s episode but honestly I love it. It’s fun. We get to meet Eros who hates being called Cupid- only his wife Psyche gets to call him that. Cronus decides to abduct them both and then basically uses Eros to spread hate instead of love to cause chaos.

At no point did things ever start feeling too predictable (to the point of being boring) and my favourite thing has to be the way they ended the series.

Favourite episode has to be Mother Knows Best (I believe that’s what it is called) It’s basically a Mother’s day episode and we get to meet Gaia and nothing overly plot relevant happens but it’s fun. 

I think the great thing about it is- If you like Greek myth it’s fun seeing the different depictions of gods and the references to different myths even tackling ones that aren’t talked about much (like there’s an episode involving Orion), if you don’t know greek myth it’s just a great action show with some fantasy elements fun characters and may even get someone interested in it but I think even those with out any interest in it what so ever can still enjoy it too.

Animation wise I’d say it’s decent- not the worst out there and the animation does get better in season 2

My Trashy Pro Opinions

Some anon’s asked for this and I am prepared to be dragged to hell and back for it. Remember these are only from Season 19 on. Also, didn’t count Anna, Edyta or Louis. Cause I don’t really care about them. 

Keo- I love Keo as a DANCER. I am not a huge fan of him as a TEACHER. I think he handles the crazy better each season though and has learned to just roll with the punches at this point so that is a point for him. He is sexy as hell though, and so funny and sweet.

Sharna- OBVIOUSLY my favorite. I love her. She can be extra sometimes but I think that is what makes me love her. Her partnerships are some of my absolute favorites. She is that person that your eyes are drawn to at any given point. She doesn’t take a lot of shit, she speaks her mind. She is obviously my favorite at everything.  She is a fantastic choreographer. She knows her strengths and weaknesses in teaching. She can teach, through her incredible partnerships, a double amputee. She can highlight her partners strengths, teach her partners the movement in the right ways to highlight their strengths. Her dancing is show stopping. My eyes are drawn to her every time she dances. The partnerships are part of the teaching.

Karina- I have never cared much for her just because she was gone early both seasons I have watched her on. I don’t really have many thoughts about her TBH

Tony- I love Tony. Tony is a doll and so funny. When I watched him he had the older females compared to the older seasons when he had potential. So i liked seeing him just kinda doing what he does without too much pressure because he knew the likelihood of him winning was slim to none. I loved his dances with Marla the most. 

Alison- Okay I have a love hate relationship with Allison. I loved loved loved her and Riker. I loved their dances and their partnership. But her other 3 were just meh for me. Her choreography was just never appropriate for beginners, in my opinion. She tried to do too much for them. It worked for Riker because he was trained. But someone like Andy Grammer and Babyface, they aren’t trained. And she just gave them more than they can handle. She’s an amazing Contemp dancer, just not my favorite ballroom.

Cheryl- The OG. I love Cheryl. She is no shits taken, hard ass TEACHER. She is funny and sweet and I love her. I thought her and Ryan were adorable and she was SO GOOD for him. She really tries to push her celeb and she is good. Her dancing is gorgeous too. 

Emma- Sweet sweet Emma. I love that girl! I love that now that she has won, she is not putting pressure on her celeb. She is still just enjoying her time on the show. She really showed her patience and versatility with her oldies then when she got someone like Rashad she still just enjoyed it and put her best foot forward. She is a joy to watch. I have never seen her get angry or have a fight. I just adore her.

Artem- my velvet! I love me some Artem of course. I fell in love with him during his switch up with Janel in Season 19. That had nothing to do with his choreography and everything to do with holy mother of god he is gorgeous. I loved him and Lea. She was absolutely amazing and his dances with her really were good. And Ms. Patti oh man she was incredible and he seemed overjoyed to be with her. He had a little rough patch and then him and Nancy were great. I just love his quiet bad boy nature I think. Love him. My man.

Peta- okay. This is where the dragging starts. Peta is GORGEOUS and an incredible dancer and super funny. I just never find myself rooting for her partners. I did love Tommy and Nyle, but I wanted Paige to win. I loved her more. I have always just been middle of the road in relation to her. 

Derek- Derek is an amazing choreographer and an amazing teacher, but really just a conceited prick of a man. He did good with Bethany, I liked that partnership overall (probably because I liked Sadie and Bethany’s friendship more). Liked him and Bindi, just thought he focused more on her dad’s passing and getting that sympathy shit than I appreciated. Then he pissed me off with the Nastia thing. Wasn’t going to come back because he had too many other things going on but OH Nastia is doing it so he came back, they had atrocious shitty schedules that I think  played a part in her downfall. It just pissed me off. bleh. 

Val- oh man. val val val. I think Val is the hottest of hot, right behind artem in my opinion. I think he is cocky as shit (though I think this season he is a whole different person). I don’t like some of his styles. I don’t like when he talks back to the judges. He was coasting by for a couple years there, but he seems to be refreshed and I will say his partnerships are tied with Sharna’s for my faves. He is an incredible partner I will give him that. 

Mark- My personal favorite choreographer. His creativity and his style and his swag I just adore. Minus ALexa (even though she had one of my favorite mark dances), I love his partnerships. I think he is a great teacher, I have always liked what he creates and I have always like his goofy and quirky nature. He is incredible.

Witney- Okay, the reason I am even making this is because anons assumed she was my least favorite. Which is not at all the case. My problem with Wit is she got Alfonso and kicked ass. Even with outside help, she kicked ass. Then she didn’t get so lucky on her partners. And she just checked out. She lost the fire to create and like she just didn’t really give two shits anymore. Her only partner with some oomph was Carlos and he got his best score and had his best dance when LINDS taught him during switch up week. It is very nice to see her get the sparkle back though I will say that.

Kym- Love her. She is a doll. Her and Robert are just the freaking dream. But otherwise? No real thoughts about her

Sasha- Sasha as a pro, sasha as a pro. Okay I loved Sasha and Kim, Sasha and Terra. when he put no pressure on himself, he was a great pro. I think with simone, while I love their friendship, he got caught up in the ringer aspect and kinda lost it there. I like his dancing overall, would love it if he would just stop flipping all the time. He is like a hyper little squirrel I want to feed some ritalin to. He just needs to come down about 4 notches in everything he does. But God he is funny and his pranks are the best.

Jenna- Jenna as a pro, Jenna as a pro. I don’t think it’s fair to really comment on it much but I am going to anyway. She needed to learn how to be a pro to untrained celebs more. She gave him harder choreography than he could handle, she was very consoling after their shitty scores on week one so that is good. I think she just got caught up in the idea of being a pro more than understanding how to actual train beginners. 

Maks- *prepares to be dragged* I.HATE.MAKS. okay there is is. I cannot stand him. I don’t like him. He is preachy, cocky, talks over people, has to be the center of things. I just can’t with him. Granted yes he is a little calmer since the cutest baby was born. BUt still. Can’t. can’t handle him. But he has a KILLER ass so there is that. 

Gleb- I like him this season. Haven’t before but really like him this season so far. Every single dance had to be sex and I am glad he is not doing that this season. I didn’t like him and Jana at all, overrated as hell and she annoyed me. Erika’s dances were a bit too much for the 8 PM hour, though her VW was pretty. I am just glad to see him do things a little differently

Alan- MY BABY ALAN! He did so good on his first time out as a pro. He was caring, attentive, only gave Debbie what she could handle. I thought he was amazing and I love him to pieces and yeah LOL

Lindsey- my second favorite. I adore her. She is an amazing choreographer and partner, she has some of the greatest little partnerships. I think she is just phenomenal. She is caring and attentive and honest. I just love her. I have always rooted for her too.

Me Update™

Selena here, bringing you news live from my home in Something Or Other, Florida. After a (very) long hiatus on Tumblr and a four month hiatus from art in general (breaks are good. I lied. They're awful don't take them) I'm back in action! I'm currently dealing with some minor (major) art style regression but that shouldn't take me very long to recover from. In school news, the new fall semester starts on Thursday! I only have five classes at my high school this year as I am taking two college classes at my local college (because AP sucks, tbh) I'm straying from my norm this year and not taking an art class, which I honestly never thought I'd do. Personally I had a few issues with the teacher, clashing personalities and her distrust of my friend base to boot. I'm still in my schools design academy, but I'm not entirely sure how much longer I'll be staying considering the massive changes they seem to have planned. I'm not a big fan of change, especially if it involves changing the whole dynamic of something that I loved and essentially shoving it into a tight corset of school regulated conformity. High school sucks. In other art related news, my tablet pen charger got eaten by my good-for-nothing shitty ass roomba so my digital art, and commissions consequently, are temporarily out-of-commission. (See what I did there? Ya I'm trash) Good things did, however, come out of my fourth month long art hiatus. I picked back up an old hobby of mine: Figure Skating Sounds funny, right? Shady little artist, hands all fidgety and overworked, stressing about her knife shoes. In reality, I've rediscovered an old love of mine and with it, as preposterous as it sounds, happiness. In the past four months I have progressed further than I had in my childhood (screw you @ 7 year old me for quitting) I can now do scratch spins, forward and backward, toe loops, and of course the ever annoying Waltz Jump™. (Not to mention the basic things like forward and backwards crossovers, lunges, spirals, swizzles, and numerous stopping techniques) To make this more impressive, I've been doing it in a miss-sized pair of Riedell Opals, a boot and factory grade set meant for going forwards in a straight line and nothing more. Soon, hopefully, I will be getting new boots n blades that are for a higher level, but until then I'll enjoy my last few days with my Opals. Speaking of skating, I ended up finally watching Yuri On Ice after my close friend locked me in her room and asked for my Crunchyroll password. And honestly 10/10 Yuri On Ice is fricking AMAZING and PURE and HOLY That kinda brings me to another issue. Yuri On Ice inspiring people to skate. I know for a fact that this is controversial in not only the Figure Skating community itself but in the YOI fandom as well. So, here's my take. If you want to try skating because of YOI go for it. Go for it with all of your might and fight in your body because, hell, you might end up really finding an affinity for it. I've personally watched kid after kid come into my home rink fall and fall and fail. Some get up, dust themselves off, and keep going, while some just give up. (Some even come back! One little girl that I taught swizzles came back a week later with a pair of skates! She's taking lessons now and I am So Proud) You won't know if you're good at something if you give up, so don't let anyone stop you if they say you "aren't good enough" or are doing it "just because of an anime" This, like anything, has conditions of course. If you watched YOI and want to become a skater: •DO NOT go to a rink and act disrespectful to the staff, the ice, the facilities, or, heaven forbid, the figure skaters themselves. I've seen this before, and it's pretty grim. •DO NOT go into a rink, or a rink program/academy, expecting to be able to 'rise above the rest' or to 'be naturally talented on the ice'. We all start from somewhere, kids, and in this case, your place is on the bottom (or on your bottom. Falling is natural. Trust me I fell on my ass two days ago, and I'm decently experienced!) Your skating will improve drastically once you realize that legit no one on the ice in front of you is perfect in any way. We all forget things. •DO NOT try to critique a higher-level skater. Please. dear god please. I've experienced this one personally and it makes me want to CATCH ON FIRE. If you're a public skater, don't go up to a figure skater and tell them that they did something wrong. Chances are, they probably know already, and, chances are, all you'll do is severely piss them off. If you NEED to comment on something say it politely. "Maybe if you lifted your leg a little higher...." Or "You seemed a little off balance" might work, depending on the skater, but in all honesty, we don't want your opinion. (Chances are what we want is to complete an actual scratch spin without almost slicing open a random child's head. yes this happens) •DO NOT get in a figure skaters way. Y'know what, just don't get in anyone's way. "They'll move for me" isn't an excuse and neither is "they can move faster than we can". I had a friend the other day who had to stop her routine and fling herself face first into the ice all because a child skated into her blind spot and got in the way (my friend dislocated her pinky finger in the process) Please watch out for us. We try to watch for you but if we're in the middle of a spin or are going backwards, please for the love of god shuffle out of our way. All of these things aside, please do feel free to talk to figure skaters during their free time. We like to help people and, chances are, we like YOI too! I don't have one skater friend who hates YOI, and I'm friends with almost every skater in my home rink! I can tell you from personal experience that all positive commentary is appreciated greatly. Small talk too. Chances are, you'll be talking to a skater that felt like they didn't quite make the cut that day or who felt like they weren't going to place well in a competition. A quick "wow! You look so good on the ice! How long have you been skating?" Can really brighten someone's day. (Even for those of us who hate conversations ((me)) a little encouragement can go a long way) Wow! I'm Really Bad At Keeping On-Task!!!! Anyway, this is Selena signing out of your random Me Update™! Until next time!

A gay author, a letter, and a rainbow ribbon

Okay so the last two days have kind of been a wild ride tbh. We had this guest speaker come in yesterday and today for literature week and give us a talk and omg he was actually amazing, we all learnt so much and he was so so funny and just yeah he was great. Anyways, during his talk to us yesterday he told us that he couldn’t talk about one of his books to us as he was banned to talk about it in schools. When we asked why, he just told us to google it and read about it. So after the session we all stood around and googled him and read about him and turns out he’s gay and the reason he couldn’t speak about his book was due to him being gay and the gay themes the book contains. We were all so pissed. How could someone not let him speak bc of who he is? What the hell? We literally all stood around for ages talking about how shitty It was and how bad we felt for him and how we just wanted to give him a hug. Anyways, that night I went home and wrote a letter to him telling him how his story inspired me and touched me and how just meeting him was kinda amazing bc I haven’t met someone who is gay and not in their teens. I put the letter in an envelope and along with it a piece of rainbow ribbon and gave him the letter in person today. Latter that day he emailed me back about the letter, thanking me for it and the ribbon and telling me how it was a “magical experience” and how he wanted to post what I said to him on his freaking website! I don’t know it was just kind of a magical experience. I don’t really know how to explain it but yeah. Below is the letter I wrote him, along with his reply. 

“ˆTo Will Kostakis,

I’ll start off with saying that I, and everyone else for that matter, thought the session with you today was absolutely amazing and incredibly beneficial. We all agreed that we learnt more about creative writing from you in that one hour than we have from any of our teachers in our whole schooling lives so far. We also all agreed that if our teachers spoke to us more like that we would probably be more likely to stay awake in class, and might actually enjoy school. Anyways, that wasn’t the main reason I’m writing this letter. A couple of the girls googled you after the session, and found out about you being gay and about why that book was banned. We read about the e-mail that school sent you saying that they didn’t think it would be appropriate to discuss such things due to conservative parents and all that. I just wanted to let you know that we all thought that was absolutely horrible what that school did, and we all spent ages ranting about how ignorant and hateful some people are, and how there is no way in hell you deserved to be treated like that. We read some more stuff about you like your blog and your response to that e-mail, and there were tears in basically all of our eyes. We all felt so so bad and just wanted to do something to help. Write a letter to someone, speak to someone, anything. The way this world treats LGBT+ people is horrible and it needs to change. 

Also…I was really inspired about how you stood up to them about the e-mail and made the comment “Professionally, it would probably be wise to still present in June, your students were a lovely audience, but I have to stick up for my 16 year old self, and say this is personal…The First Third was acceptable, but now I have a blog post saying I like men, The Sidekicks is not. And that is not something I will accept for the promise of a pay cheque.”

Honestly, that comment made me cry. 

No one at this school knows this about me, but I like girls. As well as boys. I think I like girls slightly more, but i’m not too sure yet. It kind of depends on the day. I don’t really know what I would say my sexuality is, I think maybe pansexual? But what I do know is that I like girls and boys, and that I am defiantly not heterosexual. At my old school I was out to all my close friends, but I moved here at the beginning of this year and haven’t told anyone since. I’m terrified. And i’m not sure if it’s my own fears or my parent’s talking. Before I came here my mum told me not tell anyone, that I shouldn't create drama or make any problems for myself. My dad hasn’t mentioned my sexuality to me since he found out I was going on a date with a girl last year before banning me from seeing her. 

So today, reading about what happened with you and reading your response just…I don’t know it made me feel something that you could probably explain but I suck at writing so i’m kind of just vomiting these words on paper hoping they might make sense to you. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we need people like you. We need people who are willing to put their belief’s and morals and quite honestly, their humanity, before their money. We need someone who is willing to stand up for themselves and their community and not be complacent.

 I want to live in a world where I don’t have to watch what pronouns I use when describing my crush. I want to live in a world where I don’t have to worry about the rainbow ribbon I have on my bag and whether people will figure it out and say something. I want to live in a world where i’m not constantly having to worry about coming out when I meet someone new or I move somewhere new. I just want to live in a world where I feel normal, and where I can be my whole self, unapologetically, without fear. 

I remember the first time I saw a gay couple in my life. It was only last year, when I was at Knox Grammar School competing in the da Vinci de Cathalon competition there. My friend Grace and I were trying to weave our way through the crowd, when I saw these two boys who looked to be about 17 or 18 holding hands, walking through the middle of the crowd without even flinching. Their fingers were intertwined together, they were laughing and smiling and all I could do was stand there and try to remember how to breathe. When I saw them I remember i just stopped in my tracks and watched them as they came towards me, watched them as they walked past, watched them as they kept walking away from me. My friend and I stood there in shock. We both had never seen anything like it. She’s straight, but she knew I wasn’t and she’s incredibly supportive of our rights. I remember we both just looked at each other and the biggest grins filled our faces before she hugged me. I always regretted not saying something to those two boys. Maybe it sounds stupid or weird, but I just wanted to say something. I was intrigued and hopeful and I wanted to know more. They were so open and brave and it made me feel something I don’t know how to describe. Maybe part of it was pride? I was proud of them. I’m not really sure. It just made me feel something really special and I don’t think i’ll ever forget that moment. 

When we were all standing around today after your session and the other’s were horrified at the awful scenario you went through, going on about how they feel really bad for you and want to help you etc. for a minute I felt like maybe there was some hope and maybe I don’t need to be afraid to tell them. They were willing to stand up for you, so they would be willing to do the same for me, right? They would accept me, right? I guess no one can really answer my questions but them. I have a feeling I probably won’t find out the answers anytime soon though. 

Anyways, this was kind of a mess of a letter, that i’m trying to write as quickly as possible so the other girls don’t walk in and see what i’m doing (I board here). I’m really sorry for how shitty and confusing this is. I don't know…I just wanted to tell you how your story really touched me and helped me at a time that I really needed it. So for that, i’m forever grateful and I hope that things are getting better for you. I kind of need to believe that it gets better with time

.Anyways, thank you so much for everything. As a 16 year old girl struggling to accept her sexuality after being thrust back into the closet, I’m very thankful for this brief encounter. Before today, I had never met someone gay before. It helps; in a way only people like us can understand. Or maybe i’m just weird. Anyways, thank you. Thank you so damn much.

From your friend, Fiona Campbell.”

His response 

“Thanks so much for that letter, and the ribbon. It was absolutely magical.

 Is it okay if I quote a little on my website? (I won't identify you as the writer, and I'll say it happened weeks ago to hide where I got it if you like). That story about Knox was so beautiful.

And ugh. Da Vinci Dear Cathalon, giving me PTSD from when i did it.”