#petals to thorns

[the-l0ser-st4r]

'Cause every time the sun comes up

I start feeling worthless

It's easier said than done

I found my purpose

I should've ran away by now

But I can't escape this town

[xartwrk]

Petals to Thorns by d4vd

[aroaessidhe]

faves of 2024: aro & ace books

of 97 aspec books I read, these are some of my favourites!

Don’t Let The Forest In

Pluralities

Fallen Thorns

Compound Fracture

Dear Wendy

Party of Fools

Someone You Can Build A Nest In

The Beast of Okeme (now published as Until The Last Petal Falls)

Natural Outlaws and Fractured Sovereignty

Sailing By Gemini’s Star

Moth To A Flame

How To Sell Your Blood And Fall In Love

Flooded Secrets

Small Gods of Calamity

At The Feet Of The Sun

[constantvariations]

I cannot stop thinking about the complexities surrounding Feyre and Tamlin's relationship at the beginning of ACoMaF. I find it such a shame that it gets boiled down to "Tamlin was abusive"

I'm going to tackle that first, actually, because, despite having a lot of parallels, I don't think that's right. What Tamlin did was misguided and harmful, but it's missing too many elements of abuse for me to consider it such

Obligatory link to Lundy Bancroft's Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men

Abuse is a pattern of behavior that enforces a parasitic power imbalance. There is obvious benefit for someone to abuse their partner, namely free emotional, physical, and/or sexual labor; and the reason the victim is most often a woman is because we live in a patriarchal society that views women as commodities. These men internalize the message of their biological superiority and seek to establish a natural order of female subservience through any means necessary

That is not what Tamlin is doing. When Tamlin overrides Feyre's wishes to go to the village or follow him into dangerous territory, it's not because he wants to make her submit to his power. His reasoning is perfectly clear in every move he makes: keep Feyre safe no matter what. To do that, he has to make Prythian safe. The human lands aren't a refuge for her anymore now that she's Fae, so Prythian is her only home

Given that there are a lot of people that want her dead for breaking Amarantha's curse or could want to use her for her newfound powers, Tamlin's rejections to her desires to roam make sense. They hurt, but he's not doing it out of malice. Even Feyre understands it at times before the narrative makes her forget again

Tamlin isn't oblivious to this, either, nor to the many mistakes he makes along the way - a trait that is not shared by abusers as they will justify each and every one of their actions until the cows come home. They do not try to get better or make amends. Instead, they love bomb via gifts or sweet, romantic gestures in order to make themselves feel better about "losing control"

Abusers don't lose control, though. They may make it look like they explode out of nowhere or react badly to their partner's "provocations", but these are excuses. They know what they're doing, even if only subconsciously, which is why they need layers and layers of justifications. And they'll always snap right into their role as the grounded, loving spouse the moment someone walks into the room

In that infamous scene, Tamlin genuinely does lose control. When Feyre tells Tamlin she feels he is drowning her, Tamlin's body shuts down ("Nothing in those eyes, that face") but his magic reacts to his impending panic attack by eviscerating the study. This is different to his reaction after Rhysand took Feyre from the wedding

And then [I] noticed the study walls—the claw marks raked down them. All over them. And the table they’d been using … that was new. “You trashed the study.” “I trashed half the house," [Tamlin] said.

One was a deliberate destruction of the study, the other an uncontrollable reaction to stress. In fact, Feyre has a similar episode several chapters later where she wraps herself in darkness and melts Tamlin's mother's ring by accident. She hadn't even known if she'd hurt someone in the process or not. Magic reacts to negative emotions quite often in the series, as Rhysand also has a bad reaction to Feyre bringing up his treatment of her UtM (though, he controlled himself right as Mor showed up. Which could mean nothing)

Tamlin hadn't meant to hurt Feyre. Not once in either of the books has he physically turned his rage towards her, nor has he ever intentionally intimidated her with his superior strength and abilities. I don't think he even raised his voice at her. All of Feyre's fear of him in TaR came from their bad first impressions and his being a Fae, not him showing signs of being an abuser

In my opinion, the key ingredient of abuse is isolation. This could be a total physical isolation, such as being in a remote location with few to no neighbors, or a social isolation, where your social circle comprises entirely of those who approve of and have been approved by your abuser. Either way, having no support system is critical for an abuser to keep his victim in line

With Feyre, this gets a little tricky because she isolates herself by nature. In her human life, her only real non-familial interactions were with merchants and Isaac Hale, her fuck buddy. And, let's be real, her relationship with her family wasn't that great either. After turning Fae, Feyre isolates herself due to her depression, and her only meaningful interactions are with select few people: Tamlin, Lucien, Alis, and Ianthe

To be fair, part of that lackluster social circle is due to seemingly all of Prythian treating her more as a symbol than a person, so let's turn to Tamlin's behavior. Does he embarrass her in front of people to make her dread social interactions? Does he forbid her from talking to her family or friends without his supervision? Does he grill her about any and everything she and another person have talked about?

Aside from the post-Night Court interrogations, Tamlin does none of those things. He introduces her to people - his friends and his entire court! - and gives her the space to be with others or to return to her room as needed. Feyre may be lonely in Spring, but she is not isolated

Frankly, I think most of the confusion can be summed up by the book itself:

Feyre: I don't want to marry a High Lord. I just want to marry [Tamlin]. Lucien: One doesn't exist without the other.

Tamlin's status as a High Lord is an insurmountable power gap between the two. He was chosen by magic itself to command the Court and everyone in it. That includes Feyre, no matter what shallow garbage Rhysand spouts. Being a subject to a lord does not automatically mean inferior, and Tamlin has proven many times throughout his reign that he does not see his subjects, be they native or refugee, as inferior. He does not see Feyre as inferior. However, Feyre is his responsibility, as both lord and lover, to protect from the threats he knows are coming for her. He already lost her once, and he's willing to do whatever is necessary to protect the one he loves, even if she hates him for it

So, I fully believe that Tamlin's actions were that of a man under a fuckton of stress from every direction and unresolved trauma rather than that of an abuser

[thenotoriouscrb]

Petals on the Wind in a Nutshell

[artscheese]

Mock up poster thing for Vincent ^^

First is with sword and second it without

[nanowatzophina]

Stay.

[cann1bal-kitt3n-x]

VC Andrews was so good at portraying how trauma can pass on from generation to generation (e.g. Cathy Dollanganger fearing that she will become like her mother and ending up locking her son away in the attic)

[mewguca]

The people NEED iderator yuri!!!

What kind of iterator yuri you want

also Gathering Petals belongs to @cloverlady

sorry almost all of it is doomed

[heartfe1t]

open starter. ( @indiestarter )

muse: ashley rose prewitt, country pop star, the youngest of three siblings and the breadwinner for her mom.

    ❝    you know i pity pretty little miss wannabe    ❞    

[rainish]

reading the flowers in the attic series….. incest is a big part, but not even close to the worst horror that actually occurs in the books. It’s just a series of morally gray characters doing horrible things to each other. Only a few characters are genuinely innocent and blameless by the time they die/leave the narrative.

[dollanganger-in-the-attic]

Anyone ever think of the parallels between Flowers in the Attic and the biblical story of the Forbidden Fruit?

Like God put the forbidden fruit in the garden and warned Adam and Eve not to eat it- putting the thought in their minds in the first place. And if God is all knowing then he knew they would eat it and just wanted an excuse to punish them. So when they do eat, he punishes them so.

In Fita the grandmother puts the idea of incest in the kids heads to the point of obsessive thought. Constantly warning them against it when they probably never would have come to such an idea on their own. And the whole while, Olivia believes they eventually will commit incest but she just sits and waits for it so she can punish them.

You think this was on purpose? Lets discuss

[gremlinlotusannonhere]

(ooc: I JUST REALIZED, WHAT ABOUT BABY???)

(orange has rushed over to Lotus room, panting slightly from the rushed adrenaline to have realized someone else important going through this-)

Nettle? Are you here?

I'm here...

*their voice is quiet as they try to stop their tears and comfort Thorn*

Are you alright, Chichi?

[son1c]

(About the bad ending)

I truly think Sonic wouldn’t give up despite how hopeless the situation is, so he probably would persist in trying to being Shadow back.

I mean he’s still there right in front of him (his body at least) so he isn’t completely wrong right?

And if Sonic doesn’t give up on Shadow, then not all is lost for him

If Nine isolated completely then there wouldn’t be a lot of hope for restoring their universe tho

So still a bad end 😭😭😭

well, one thing about bad endings is: they can always get worse! sonic never gives up on shadow? that's just more opportunities for the megaflora to get him. especially since the scavengers + halcyon wouldn't keep helping him, so he'd be on his own. all it would take was one lucky jab with a neurotoxin-filled thorn, and they'd have their prize. forever

[selenestarmoon]

If Kaiser was a RWBY character:

Kaiser: What goes better with the roses that represent us than petals and thorns? We can make them believe! We'll give them a world where everything, everything is...

Ruby: Michael Kaiser?

Kaiser: And Ruby Rose, too! They'll love both of us!

Ruby: No, they'll fear both of us, and that's not what I want. Now for the last time, leave me alone.

Kaiser: Very well. You want to be left alone? Done! But first...