totally i understand narratively why project hail mary ends with grace becoming a teacher again but ever since i saw the movie i haven’t been able to stop thinking about what a crazy move it is from the eridian perspective. like imagine if we had one (1) alien on earth and we liked him so much that we just let him have a class of schoolchildren to teach all the brand new alien science to, for fun. what’s the selection process for that classroom. do the adult eridian scientists wish they were in there
there was a post making the rounds a couple months back suggesting that if it came to it Steve would actually be good at keeping his relationship with Eddie a secret, whereas Eddie... would not. can't find it again, but:
If Eddie was hoping anyone would be dragging him from the school cafeteria into a supply closet today, it definitely wasn't Jeff.
"Dude," Jeff says. "You gotta stop being so obvious. Sooner or later someone else will notice."
"Notice what, man?" Eddie says. It can't be anything to do with his big secret, because Eddie has been carefully rationing his glances at the hickey on Steve Harrington's neck. The hickey Eddie left last night. Because they were necking. On Steve Harrington's bed.
Steve hasn't so much as looked his way all morning, but that's what he said he'd do. We should act like nothing's changed, he'd said, and Eddie had told him it was a good idea. They've already agreed to meet up at Skull Rock after dark.
Christ, Eddie hopes he'll show. It can't have been just a one-time thing. Can it? They barely did anything before Steve's parents came home unexpectedly and Eddie had to sneak down the hall and shimmy out a window.
What little they did was so good. Steve's an amazing kisser.
"The staring," Jeff is saying. "The guys might notice! Or, hell, Harrington might notice!"
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. "I wasn't staring at anything!" Eddie says. "And— what do you mean, Harrington might—?"
Jeff shakes his head. "It's the Jack Sewell thing all over again," he says. "You were obsessed with him, too."
"Obsessed?" Eddie says incredulously. "I had a healthy level of disdain, okay—"
"Eddie, c'mon," Jeff says. He's got his patient face on, which is not helping quell the panic clawing its way up Eddie's throat. "I have eyes, man."
"Okay, but this is different," Eddie says, and then throws up a hand with lightning speed to ward off the way Jeff's eyebrows tilt up. "Not that I am conceding the Sewell thing at all, I just mean—"
"I guess it is," Jeff says, frowning at the floor like he's puzzling something out. Which he absolutely should not be doing.
"Stop that," Eddie says. "Stop thinking whatever it is you're thinking."
"You're different around him," Jeff says. "Harrington. You look at him like—"
His eyes go wide just as Eddie's sweaty palm presses over his mouth.
"Mmph!"
"Don't!" Eddie says, frantic. "Don't you fucking dare."
Jeff gooses his side, which is unfair when he knows how ticklish Eddie is, and steps back just far enough to squeak: "You're in love with him!"
"Shut up!" Eddie hisses, blood rushing to his face. "No I'm not! Fuck you!"
Jeff looks every bit as horrified as Eddie feels. "Him, Eddie? Steve Harrington? Seriously?"
"No!" Eddie says, thinking fast. Who did he last see hanging off Steve's arm? "I'm— Brenda Carlisle! I like Brenda, okay? And she likes Harrington! I'm just— trying to figure out why so I can snag her!"
"Bullshit!" Jeff says. "That's— I've never seen you check her out. You never check out girls."
"Yes I do!" Eddie says, mouth dry. He can't be that transparent. There's no way. "I— that time at the pool last summer with those cheerleaders— and— and I'm the one who bought all those skin mags we keep in the van! I check out girls all the time!"
Jeff's clearly not buying it. "It's cool, you know," he says. "I've known you for years, man, I know you wouldn't— make a pass at me, or anything."
Eddie closes his eyes, and when that's not enough he screws up his entire face. "Jesus H.," he says, scrubbing both hands through his hair. "You know what, I'm out of here."
He turns on his heel, but Jeff darts ahead, half-blocking the door. "Hold on, wait. You're still coming to practice, right? We have that gig on Thursday—"
Eddie sighs so hard his lungs are in real danger of collapsing. Can't even make a dramatic exit in peace. "Of course I'm coming to practice," he huffs. "I'd never jeopardize the band, man."
"Okay," Jeff says, raising a hand to clap Eddie's shoulder and freezing in mid-air, hovering awkwardly before he redirects to rub at the back of his own neck instead. "That's— that's good."
Great. Jeff thinks he's contagious. "Alright, man," Eddie says, setting his jaw. "See you around."
Jeff grimaces. "Shit, no, wait," he says, and then he holds out his hand for a handshake. Like a huge fucking dork. Jesus Christ.
Eddie looks to the heavens, but he takes Jeff's hand. He's not an idiot. This is kind of a monumental thing, here.
"Friends?" Jeff says.
"You know it," Eddie says, and ignores the way his eyes threaten to get hot. "And just for the record, I'd rather die with my dick untouched than make it with any of you losers."
"Wait," Jeff says, at the same time as Eddie's brain catches up with what just came out of his mouth. Stupid fucking— "You're still a virgin?"
"I'm leaving," Eddie says, dropping Jeff's hand like it's a dead fish and powerwalking out the door. "Goodbye!"
"Bye!" Jeff calls after him. He's laughing, the bastard. "See you at practice!"
what is it about things being gender neutral having to also be ‘masculine’. like, why can you wear a suit and tie and call it gender neutral but not a dress cause that’s feminine. why can you call people dude or guy as a gender neutral term but not girl cause that’s feminine. short hair is neutral but long hair is feminine. i mean i know why this is fully a rhetorical question but let’s think about that
Ilya stops smoking, because he knows it's bad for his health and Shane hates it. But sometimes, when it gets very stressful he still needs the familiarity if it, to just calm his mind.
Enter his best friend Troy Barrett.
One day after a shitty practice, Ilya is sitting by the back exit playing with his lighter. He doesn't have a cigarette to light.
Suddenly, Troy parks himself next to him and offers him something small, plastic and cylindrical.
It's bubbles.
Troy got them from a fan a few games ago, they were just sitting in his cubby every since then and he saw people doing it online, so he felt he might as well try it.
And it works.
Now whenever one of them gets stressed they find a quiet spot and start blowing bubbles.
Of course, at some point they get photographed and it turns into a giant meme (imagine something like smoking Ben Affleck, but bubbles).
It's great for their image though and a toy company offers to partner with them.
@creekfiend was very kind in sharing some writing resources with me, and I thought I'd pass along the kindness by listing them down below.
N.K. Jemisin's article 'Describing characters of color in writing'
Mary Anne Mohanraj's article on approaching characters of colour
Renee Harleston's article How to 'Write Characters of Color Without Using Stereotypes'
Working with Colour, a resource site for writers
the book Writing the Other by by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward, which had a description that cut deep, because I've definitely fallen into this trap out of fear:
and then a video recommended by @sheprd (thank you!) about pitfalls in descriptive language
if anyone else has more resources to add, feel free to reblog with them! this is something I want to learn more about.
I was talking yesterday about how I should probably change the skin colour of a character in a not-yet-written book, because that character is a large, aggressive dragon-shifter and I was worried about her being read with unintentional and offensive subtext.
I haven't gotten my hands on Writing the Other yet (it's still in the mail!) but from reading my way through these articles and watching the Princess Weekes video, I now understand that 'white-ifying' a character you're worried about is a lazy and cowardly solution. so, if I do ever finish the book Eres loses Everything, I'll keep her as is, do my best to be thoughtful, and hire a sensitivity reader to pick out any blind spots.
thank you to everyone who passed on resources, I really appreciate it!
adding another resource to the list! the website WritingTheOther.com is a treasure trove of articles, videos and podcasts, with online classes available.
the parker/eliot branch of the ot3 is the absolute funniest. parker&hardison have their own beautiful canonical romance. hardison&eliot flirt as much as they bicker & have some deliciously tense moments of Manly Emotional Intimacy and Bone-Deep Respect and Care for the other. but parker&eliot? spend most of the time either working in terrifying tandem or behaving like grumpy uncle/little brother until that occasional moment where eliot will see a younger version of himself in parker who hasn’t quite made all of the terrible he did and can be Saved but clearly possesses a familiar, viscous capability for darkness that cuts her from the same cloth as him and he will do everything in his power to stop it even if it tears him limb from literal limb. and then she hits him with a car.
shut up im gonna puke at the idea the twin hollanders think that their papa’s name is baby and their dada’s name is actually a long whining sound of shane (shaaaaaaane) alsjdjsksksdk like they go to kindergarten and do those lil kid questionnaires that the teacher actually fills out from their verbal responses and their answers are almost identical: what’s your name? (insert whatever nickname they get called regularly and then their actual name). what is your favourite colour? red (for both twins). what is your favourite sport? hockey (obviously). what are your parents names? papa’s name is baby and dada’s name is shaaaaane. and then it comes home in their backpacks the day that yuna and david pick them up from kindie and david opens the door when he sees ilya and shane pull up after practice and says “howdy baby and shaaaaane” and they’re both like “haha what?” and then he hands them the twins questionnaires and they both go a little rosy cheeked and yuna walks down the stairs and is like “oh is that baby and shaaaaaane?” and it’s a joke for the rest of their lives. it makes its way to the cens players eventually and oh boy do they have fun with that.
This fandom is obsessed with only bringing up Shane’s race as a negative and how it’s a barrier in his life only and the struggles he’d have because of his race. I’d like to present a fun head canon instead that isn’t just misery because a lot of us are actually grateful we’re not white. I’m a South Asian American and we have big ass family friend networks. I have family friends across the US and Canada. My mom’s friends will always be down to host me, feed me, or take me out to dinner. It would be cute if Yuna had a similar network of Japense-Canadian or American friends. Shane has aunties in most major cities he travels to. They’ll try to go to games to support Yuna’s son. He’d rather ditch the bar or club with his teammates to get a nice home cooked meal. He’s also that perfect Asian cousin who you’re always compared to. Shane’s so talented, rich, disciplined, well mannered, and handsome. Their moms always go “you’ll never be as successful as Shane Hollander if you don’t practice the piano.” “Shane Hollander listens to his mom and see how rich he is.” They think they catch a break when he comes out as gay but no, “why are you dating such a loser? go find a good and successful husband like Shane Hollander did. He’s with Ilya Rozanov!”
my notifications are once again devolving into a spirited debate about the ethics of actions that could potentially make someone uncomfortable, and at risk of sounding like someone about to get a lot of irate anons I think we're frankly giving way too to much moral weight to hypothetical discomfort
the thing about discomfort is that it's an extremely nebulous category that can be triggered by virtually anything and that's far too broad a category to have any inherent moral quality to it. like. my mom was mad uncomfortable when I stopped shaving. that didn't mean I was doing violence against my mom it just meant she needed to get over herself. many such cases it must be said.
