#even when it's hard

[factsilike]

Really tired of constantly seeing posts declaring that everyone in MXTX novels is complicated and 'morally grey' and that's what makes her works wonderfully written, and that everyone else who doesn't see that is stupid, or is 'demonising' characters and bashing them for rightfully criticising their shitty, very much unjustified actions.

And ironically it seems so simplistic to just declare that, because yes her stories are wonderfully written and complex, but not for that reason. You're clearly not reading her works and only spouting what you think her stories say. There are many morally grey characters in morally complex stories out there, but MDZS IS NOT ONE OF THEM.

NONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS (i.e protagonists and their male leads except for LBH maybe) ARE MORALLY GREY OR MORALLY COMPLEX.

THEY ARE ALL MORALLY RIGHTEOUS.

Just take a closer look at their actions compared to the actions of literally everyone else around them, it's not that hard to see.

Not to mention that MXTX herself literally says that WWX and LWJ are both morally ideal and that ahe hopes her readers can be like them, but people seem to have no respect for the word of authors in the name of their self projection onto the characters being contradicted nowadays 😒

(also saw someone dismissively say that HC may think that the world revolves around XL or whatever, but others don't and they're right??

First of all, did you even read the novel? HC made his judgement based on how others treated him versus how XL did when he was a CHILD. And how XL continues to treat others to this day. He is well within his rights to think the world of XL, especially since XL suffered more than every other person and still doesn't succumb to evil, despite having every right to do so, miles more than others. He all but regards XL as his moral compass, because he's proof that truly good people do exist in this world, and not ONE other person in the novel is shown to be as good as him.)

One of the reasons why I really don't like the Xianle Trio is this; neither FX nor MQ seem to regard XL as his own person with his own agency, who is capable of making his own decisions initially as HC does, and only near the end of the novel do they let up a bit when their asses had to be saved by XL multiple times. (especially considering what fools they made of themselves in that spiderweb cave lmao)

Both of them try to enforce XL ALL THE TIME ("Your Highness don't do this or don't do that or don't say this or don't go there or don't talk to him"), as if XL has not survived perfectly well on his own without them FOR 800 YEARS.

The difference between them and HC is clearly spelled out when FC asks HC about why he is not stopping XL, and HC replies that while he may not agree with some of XL's decisions, he would never force him to do what he thinks is correct, something both MQ and FX are CONSTANTLY shown to try to do.

Like please. Xianle Trio who? More like suffering XL and his pair of nuisances who think themselves to be his babysitters. And most of the time he's the one babysitting them.

Another thing that irks me is that their frequent arguments are often played off for laughs, but XL is truly a saint, because if my friends were constantly bickering over petty things all throughout our dangerous journey and giving me nothing but headaches, especially in survival situations, I'd given them the boot a long time ago.

[ashes-as-ashes]

hey. you're beautiful even when you're sad, okay? you're worthwhile at your worst, exactly the same as when you're at your best. feeling bad doesn't make you bad.

[cels-not-so-secret-love-affair]

hit me! (moonkiller, wolfstar)

a/n: touching on a rarepair with a tiiiny bit of moonkiller. this one was prompted by a friend, who sent a headcanon that i thought was pretty fun and ended up writing. unforch we cannot figure out which blog it came from because it was reposted sans credit, so if you think you know where it comes from please do lmk. wolfstar at the end, but you kind of have to imagine your own resolution.

Remus cannot say with complete honesty that he didn’t mean to punch Barty Crouch Jr. But maybe not quite so hard.

It’s all a bit of a blur, really. One minute Barty is stood in front of Remus, laughing loudly in that rather unattractive manner of his and spewing the typical heinous shit about blood purity, and the next he’s notably absent from the space in which he once was, in a turn of events that it seems is bafflingly not unrelated to the fact that Remus’ knuckles are now smarting with an unfamiliar pain. Remus blinks. He then makes the horrible mistake of looking down.

‘Jesus fuck,’ he remarks. Barty, now sprawled out on the floor with a bloody nose and seeming equally unsure as to how he got himself into this situation, blinks back up at him. It takes a good few moments of stunned silence before Remus jolts his brain back into being able to speak again. He reckons his eyebrows must have flown clean off his face.

‘Fucking- I’m… sorry, mate, I, er- well, I really didn’t know I could do that. Are you alright? I mean of course you’re not, you’re… there, but erm. Do you want…a hand?’ He sticks out an arm somewhat awkwardly. Looking very dazed and a little bit overcome, Barty accepts it and hauls himself to his feet. They stare at each other, still grasping each others forearms. A voice interrupts them.

‘Bloody hell, Moony. How’d you manage that then?’, says James. Barty promptly drops Remus’ hand as if it has spontaneously combusted, and takes several panicked steps backwards seeming suddenly cognisant of the existence of other people. Remus turns to answer his friend.

‘I don’t have a clue,’ he says plainly. He’s telling the truth. He then swivels back round to his unwitting victim, who’s glaring past him at the other three Marauders with his hackles raised.

‘Erm. You need to go to the hospital wing. You need to go and see Madam Pomfrey.’ Barty juts out his chin in defiance.

‘I’m not a fucking pansy, Lupin.’

‘I’m sure that’s true. But you’re, uh, you’re bleeding. Quite profusely.’ Remus steps forward to swipe Barty’s lip with his thumb. When he withdraws it, it’s slick with red, and he wiggles it matter-of-factly in Barty’s face to prove his point. Barty looks positively dizzy at this, and Remus wonders with some concern and disbelief if there’s a possibility he might be concussed.

Mercifully, it’s at that moment that Regulus manages to push his way through the small crowd that’s begun to form around the boys. He scowls fiercely in the general direction of… well, everyone really, steadfastly ignores his brother, and roughly seizes the arm of his reeling best mate with a disapproving tsk.

‘What in Merlin’s name just happened?’, he hisses through gritted teeth.

‘I just got socked in the face by Remus fucking Lupin,’ Barty grins dopily, a strange sort of giddiness overtaking him as he’s frogmarched ungraciously off in the general direction of the hospital wing. ‘I think he might have broken my nose.’

Remus does not, it turns out, get himself in any trouble whatsoever for assaulting a fellow pupil. The last he hears of it is that Crouch - for whatever curious and unknowable reason - is stubbornly refusing to dob him in. He’s certainly not about to confess his crime himself and make an even bigger scene out of what’s already happened, so Remus simply keeps his head down, does his homework, and refuses to mention the incident ever again with a religious commitment. He hypothesises privately that the strength of the punch might have been something to do with his furry little problem (due to it happening in the run up to a full moon), but largely it’s forgotten, in part due to the ever-ending marching forward of school life and in part due to the fact that despite all the Marauders witnessing it, no one can quite get it to compute in their heads that Remus Lupin would shatter someone’s nose. It does change things though. Just a bit. Barty, whilst not someone who could ever really be called gentlemanly, becomes disturbingly less dickish (at least, in Remus’ case - he doesn’t appear to make the exception for anyone else). Hexes suddenly start missing by a hair’s width, and if there’s one thing Barty Crouch Jr is in life it’s a damn good shot, so the only possible explanation is that it’s deliberate. Else, Remus is beginning to enjoy an exceptionally unusual lucky streak. James jokes to him in the common room one night that maybe Barty’s sweet on him. It’s just an offhand crack, and Peter laughs uproariously at it, almost knocking over his chess board. Sirius however only scowls, and sinks lower into his chair.

The whole affair really doesn’t come up again after that though. At least, not until the party. It’s in the Ravenclaw tower, which is technically neutral ground, and means that Gryffindors and Slytherins alike must reluctantly agree to tolerate each other for a couple of hours if they fancy getting drunk. Which, being teenagers, they often tend to. Remus doesn’t want to go initially. But he doesn’t want to be left out either, and James is going, so Sirius is going, so Peter is going, and not going would make him more of a loser than he already is - and a lonely loser at that - so he goes. He goes and gets shitfaced. Which isn’t his intention, at least not initially. But shitfaced he ends up, and he’s having a grand old time - provided he puts his creaky old bones and unfinished Transfiguration essay out of his mind for the time being. Someone’s chucked on some music and turned it up to eleven, and the corners of everything are too warm and fuzzy as Remus makes his way through the heat and the crowd. He flops down haphazardly onto a royal blue sofa nearer the back of the common room. A sofa which, apparently, already has an occupant.

‘Enjoying the party, Lupin?’ Barty Crouch Jr is leant back attractively in the seat beside him and is regarding him with intrigue. Remus wonders faintly how he managed to miss a whole entire human on first glance, and blinks. Barty just grins at him. He looks slightly crazed, and very drunk, and for a moment Remus feels his muscles tense under his gaze, but he seems harmless enough and so he lets him look.

‘S’alright,’ he replies, a tad unsure.

‘You been abandoned?’

‘Not particularly. Just felt like some time spent away, y’know?’

‘Oh, sure. So you came to spend it with me instead, then?’ A wild, delighted flash passes through Barty’s eyes.

‘I, erm. I didn’t actually know you were sitting here.’

‘I’m wounded. Here I was thinking I might have a chance.’ Barty is sort of slurring his words, but its clear that underneath that slight trouble with his pronunciation he’s trying to sound charming, somehow. It kind of works, but then again, Remus’ judgement is impaired. He’s conscious that he’s sweating.

‘You want a chance with me, huh?’

‘Wouldn’t mind one. I’ve a thing for you, Lupin. Ever since you punched my face in.’ He gives an overexaggerated wink. Remus huffs an uncharacteristic laugh.

‘Of course that’s what you find fucking attractive.’

‘Watch it. That’s foul language you’re using there.’

‘Yeah? What’re you going to do about it?’

‘Er, probably snog you, if I’m thinking about it. Yeah. Definitely think I’d snog you.’

‘Go on, then.’

The kiss is hard and messy. Remus wraps his hand around the neck of Barty’s poorly knotted tie to yank him in closer, until they just sort of crash into each other, clumsy and reckless and intense. Remus forgets his surroundings pretty much instantaneously. Its hard to focus properly on the party when hands are tangled in his hair and thrusting up his shirt. Barty is exceptionally greedy with his touches, running his long, wicked fingers across Remus’ abs and pressing their bodies closer together with a less then graceful rush. Remus’ head is spinning. He reckons he might just fall off the couch at this point, but he’s past caring. It feels good, in a new, thrilling, terrifying sort of way. He’d never have planned it, especially not with Barty, but the fact that its happening is gorgeously overwhelming. These are the kisses he hasn’t been getting. Sloppy, maybe, but born out of want and of listening to it.

They don’t get much time together, however. Sooner or later Barty’s being forcibly dragged (or pushed - he can’t tell) off of him and they have to break it off. Then Remus’ arm is practically being wrenched out of its socket, and he’s tugged unceremoniously into the world of those standing up, where he sways dubiously. He turns around to see Sirius seething at him.

‘We’re getting the fuck out of here. Now.’ Remus tries to protest, but its too late, and he’s stumbling out of the open door to the hallway after Sirius before he can so much as blink.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’, Sirius snaps once they’re properly alone, almost biting out his words as they tumble vicious and enraged from his mouth.

‘What I want to,’ says Remus, looking indignant.

‘Making out with fucking Barty Crouch? That’s what you want to do, is it? Fucking hell, Moony, I don’t know how you didn’t vomit. And in front of everyone too? Flaunting it? Are you literally clinically insane?’

‘No one was paying attention to us. He said he was into me - I decided to act on it. What’s it got to do with you, anyway? Shouldn’t you be snogging some girl of your own?’

‘Don’t you dare try to deflect this back onto me, you evil fucking git. You knew what you were doing. I can’t get over- Barty? Barty fucking Crouch?’ Sirius doesn’t seem far off from grabbing Remus by the shoulders and shaking him.

‘Well, who else am I supposed to get off with? You’re too much of a fucking coward to kiss me, least of all like that. If you’re not going to admit how you feel then I might as well move on, and since you don’t own me, I can do it with anyone I goddamn please.’

‘Is that a dare?’ His voice is suddenly very quiet.

‘What do you- mmph!’, is all Remus can manage, before he’s being kissed for the second time that night, with equal or maybe even increased intensity compared to the last. This one is even briefer, angrier, and entirely more world-shaking.

‘There! I admit it, okay? I’m in love with you. That what you wanted?’ Remus can only stand stunned and shaky before his friend. Nothing comes out of his open mouth.

‘Ugh. Go to fucking hell, Moons!’, Sirius spits, before turning around and storming off.

[16ozicedcoffee]

les mis fic writers who write really really great stories about the amis where political organizing is one of/the main plot (especially stories that feature such realistic organizing experiences) i want to give you all a kiss!!!!! many kisses!!!!!!

[something-wrong-with-us]

They are my happy place

[tightjeansjavi]

I’m gonna try and write a little bit after work. The vibes are not there but I will continue to create bc my sanity depends on it 🙃

[howtomakeyousee]

For better, for worse;

For richer, for poorer;

In sickness and in health;

In love and to cherish;

Till death do us part ♥️

[d-e-w-p]

A hard thing to wrestle with is letting someone love you.

It won't be perfect.

They Will fuck up.

So will you.

They may even hurt you.

So you to them.

Letting someone love you is hard, accepting it even harder.

But isn't it worse to feel, to know.

That no one loves you at all?

[malakaiijames]

Every day life as someone with autism-related ARFID;

Mom: We have tortellini and alfredo?

Me: Egg noodles

Mom: Or...there's apples, do you like apples?

Me: Egg noodles

Mom: Or-

Me: E g g n o o d l e

Mom: 😐

Me: 😃

Mom: 🙄😒 ....I'll make you egg noodles

[onatraingoingnowhere]

Sure it’s fun to be a hater but I’m literally so full of love. So much love that I’ve got acid reflux bcs I literally can’t keep it all in. There is not enough room.

[celestialheal]

𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇 𝐒𝐘𝐌𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐂 𝐅𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐓 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 ?

clementine

in chinese culture, clementines, known for their bright orange, waxy exterior, were symbolic of gold, and by extension, wealth, good fortune and abundance. trees that bear clementines ( or mandarins, as they're also known as ) are often used to decorate the thresholds of chinese households as a sign of good luck and prosperity. as lucky as clementines may be, so are you and those around you. with a sunny disposition, and a knack for seeing the best in everyone, and the good in the world around you, you're someone who believes that the glass is always half full. things can always be worse, and they will always get better, one way or another ! like the vibrant clementines you're known for bringing light to those who need it, and always bringing laughter to your friend group. however, such a bright exterior can sometimes hide a deep and lingering sadness. remember : even the light sometimes has to dim, and even the sun has to set. don't worry ; it'll always come back.

tagged by : my beloved @scarbound tagging : i'm late to the party, so any of you who wants to do it but hasn't, tell people i tagged you, i wanna see your results!

[authorjessowen]

This is really, really important everyone. Do not outsource your thinking.

DO NOT

OUTSOURCE

YOUR THINKING

Honestly, y'all, I'm begging you. Take the time to think and learn for yourself. Even if it's just something casual like knitting or cooking. Exercise your brain. It's important.

[hinamie]

blue light overexposure dot png

[heartmindandsnow]

In the English language Love is defined in both a noun and verb form. But it's the verb form that puts anything in to action. The noun form places the experience squarely in a feeling that is strictly internalized. Where we as humans generally get it wrong, because they are so similar - we mix up the "baking instructions" of how love is formed.

Feelings, because of their internal nature, require some sort of progenitor, a precursor action. In this case, those internalized feelings have a biological progenitor: oxytocin. Everything gets tied to physics (chemistry is merely the physics of electrons for the things that are really small).

This is what you feel. Your brain will not release this chemical until something stimulates it to do so. So just exactly when will your brain release it then?

Choice. The problem is choice.

We have to choose to do so. So many of us get this backwards... we expect that love just somehow happens to us, as if we have no say in it. Love is a choice, simply because we choose to do so, a will to action. Only then will the brain release oxytocin and we will begin to feel the effects of that decision to choose to love.

All of us in relationships have felt this effect of choice, when we are first introduced to someone we have a baseline level of attraction to that person - be it physical, or emotional in reading their facial and body language, or spiritual in the energy they give, or mental in verbally sharing their core values. If that relationship progresses to a point where we spend enough time with them, and want to form a stronger union with them, we verbally express that as, I love you - now... not too long after, we can look at that person again and feel even more attracted to them, we find them even more beautiful than we originally did. That is being, in love, with someone - the affect of that choice.

There may be still choices to be made in the future... because I choose to, that's why, improbable as they might seem in the present moment.

[nerdyagere]

People hating on age regressors are funny like sorry you hate my childlike wonder I'm gonna keep shaking this toy because it makes a funny noise and take a sippy from my super cool mega awesome dino cup

[sweetbriar15]

Love it when I’m on a long solo car drive, the right song just happens to come up on shuffle, and for the next hour I can script an entire series of conversations and scene snippets in my head. Because then I can replay that magical song on repeat.

In other news, I finished writing something instead of sticking a snippet in my files! This only happens during winter and summer breaks. All my energies turn toward teaching at every other season of the year.