#they literally cannot exist without each other!!

[bigmoon-is-bigwife]

It's sad how TR!Ros has no sense of self and no confidence in her actions. Lately anytime she does something and Aimsey teases her about how maybe that was silly and irrational Ros almost always immediately backs down and often times apologizes and promises to change. Aimsey never tells Ros that they wanted her to change, just pointing out how what Ros did doesn't makes sense to them. All they wanted was an explanation but Ros immediately defaults to assuming she's in the wrong and is being scolded. It happened today when Aimsey asked Ros about her conversation with Water and Ros said they agreed to be civil after Ros had already killed Water. When Aimsey asked what drove Ros to kill Water, Ros explained that she wanted to stand up for herself and Aimsey but at the same time is immediately apologizing and saying that she knows she keeps doing the wrong thing and she's trying. Aimsey has told Ros repeatedly that they love her for who she is and that they want to know the parts of her that she keeps trying hide but Ros is still trying to mold herself into what she thinks Aimsey wants her to be.

Ros is a person who revolves around others. She places all her worth into what she can do for people so she shapes herself into being what she thinks they want or need. This has always been apparent from the start but she used to have more people to revolve around that balanced her out. She was the architect for the kingdom, she was Clown's apprentice and she was Aimsey's friend. Those were her three defining identities. Now the kingdom is gone and she is only Aimsey's friend. Her entire existence revolves around being Aimsey's friend. She has thrown out all of her wants and feelings because none of them matter to her. All that matters to Ros is what Aimsey thinks and wants. Aimsey suggests to Ros that they think she should make a new castle for Yellow so Ros does because it was Aimsey who said so. Ros completely misses the point that Aimsey suggested Ros do that for herself because Ros will do anything she assumes Aimsey wants. If Aimsey mentions wanting or needing anything, Ros drops everything to do it for them because she feels that is her only purpose. Ros doesn't seem to think she's allowed to do things just for herself anymore so when she kills Water for insulting her she convinces herself it was somehow for Aimsey too. Aimsey called Ros out on that and says they wish people would stop projecting their feelings onto them and acting out on their behalf. Aimsey does not like that Ros is doing any of this. They want Ros to be her own person and do things because she wants to.

Ros idolizes Aimsey as this paragon of good no matter how many times Aimsey states that they're not and that they are haunted by the blood on their hands. Ros does not trust her own thoughts or feelings and if any of them ever contradict with Aimsey's, she tends to assume that she is just bad and wrong. The only times she doesn't is when Aimsey tries to tell Ros that they have done bad things but Ros refuses to acknowledge that Aimsey is capable of any fault. In Ros's mind, Aimsey literally cannot do anything wrong and that actually everything is probably Ros's fault. Aimsey actively tries to discourage this thought process but has yet to get very far because Ros has this deep rooted belief that Aimsey is Pure Good and if they are not, then by comparison Ros must by way worse anyway.

Ros has convinced herself that she needs Aimsey and she cannot stand up for herself without them. Aimsey seems to have realized how bad this has gotten and seems to be trying to break that and show Ros that it isn't true. Last week Aimsey had to essentially trick Ros into speaking alone with Pangi about their problems with each other. Ros felt betrayed that Aimsey wasn't there to back her up and that she needs them to express herself but Aimsey told her that it simply isn't true and that Ros actually vocalizes her feelings better without them there. Ros has convinced herself that she is dependent on Aimsey and I think Aimsey is uncomfortable with that.

It's been such a gradual descent of Ros throwing away her entire sense of self to fulfill this role of Aimsey's friend because she is terrified of losing them and has no one else. No one wants this, least of all Aimsey. Any confidence Ros had in herself is gone. She doesn't trust herself to do anything good but she does trust Aimsey so she'll just be Aimsey's Friend and nothing else. She never does anything for herself. Every single thing she does is for Aimsey. That's not good, it's just sad.

[lagooneah]

I love Carmeo but in the shared i love yous, Romeo trying to cheer Carlo up by making him laugh, Carlo leaning against his shoulder to cry on it, both of them willingly (and literally) jumping into each other's arms for a hug every time they see each other, them each knowing exactly what the other likes, them having duets with their instruments as if their souls are entwined into the music they make, in the way that one cannot exist long without the other, the bickering like siblings, but having each others backs just as much, kind of way...

In the way that they're literally soulmates because they tried finding each other as puppets. In the way that labeling the relationship is downright impossible because all that can be said in truth is that they loved each other more than anything, that they couldnt live without each other, that they now can both be laid to rest. Together again.

[alexanderlightweight]

Normally in almost every dark malec fic i read magnus is written as cruel towards alec,he hates alec (either it's based on the books or tv show i guess cause alec made mistakes in both that caused their break up)

And magnus literally tortures alec but is friendly towards alec's family members which i find odd

And this isn't a shade to those fics while i don't like what's happening in some of those stories i read them like and addict or just stop reading it if it bacomes too much for me

İ love that while you write dark and gore you still make magnus in love with alec

so i feel like it might be because i write dark malec to highlight their love? like the whole appeal of malec for me is you have these two people who really have no reason to be interested or so deeply affected by each other but they are.

there's something instinctive and primal and so intense it immediately cracks through years (decades in Magnus' case) of protective walls for the both of them.

i feel like a some people in fandom tend to forget or ignore that this is alec's first romantic/sexual relationship and that its not like he has a lot of friends either. magnus is also his first confidant out of his family.

and then others or the same people also either forget or ignore that while magnus has had a lot of relationships, opening up his heart to others has rarely gone well. like he has centuries of scars and wounds on his heart and soul. it's been one raw and reopened scar never fully healing and yet magnus decided to take the risk of that wound refestering.

so you have someone who has never opened up their heart (but its been wounded and sore all the same) but wants to because this person is worth it to them. and you have another person who has repeatedly opened up their heart (to sometimes catastrophic results) but they think maybe this person is worth the risk.

so both sides are taking risks. just in different ways. which makes it intense and take effort and also hard.

also since the appeal for me (yes as an aro/ace i too think this is hilarious) is their interest and adoration of each other, it doesn't really make sense to me to write it otherwise? like the whole thing of canon is they are mutually awestruck by each other. that's what really hits me. also the intensity of both of them orbiting around each other. i can't write them disliking each other. even when they're on opposite ends of the battlefield they have mutual or at the very least begrudging respect for each other even before they meet. and after they meet its pretty much alec is like 'how to end war? how to flirt with handsome magic man? how to stop bigotry so i can date a warlock? patricide unacceptable answer apparently' and magnus is all 'how to obliterate the clave' 'how to force peace and also change laws' 'how to woo angel blood without being stabbed' 'how to kidnap someone politely? 'how to heal if you're stabbed with adamas while acquiring future spouse?'

and for the type of fics you're talking about i have seen them and kinda know what you're talking about. i'm not gonna say anything about them tho because i have no actual relevant opinion. i don't read them because they'll trigger me (hence why my opinion would be adversely influenced, meaning i have a pre-existing bias which needs to be considered) and everyone is free to write what they want. there's no shame in that.

i just learned a long time ago that i could accidentally self-harm by reading fics that triggered me and my health cannot take more stress, so i just block authors (doesn't hurt them and protects me). same with how i hope people block or at least ignore me if my fics aren't safe or healthy for them to interact with.

so focusing just on me (which wow does that sounds kinda silly as it type i out) i guess it's because even when magnus is cruel in my fics there is a purpose to his cruelty? he's not cruel for the sake and enjoyment of it like say, Camille, Lilith, Asmodeus etc.

Magnus has been shown to always be harshest on himself as well. Like even in a world where he follows incredibly skewed ethics, i feel like just pure cruelty is too boring for him. Like he would expect better of himself, not necessarily on a moral standpoint but in a 'really, you think i humble myself to the same level as my father?' kind of way?

also there is also a whole section that can be talked about where certain forms of cruelty and kindness are actually two sides of the same coin. so there is some nuance there as well about how i handle cruelty because sometimes magnus is cruel in order to be kind but that's typically still, out of his love for alec even if it's skewed. or he does something out of his own sense of kindness that is technically cruel. magnus' goal is never to fully diminish alec in any fic i write, even the fics where magnus (because alec is also a manipulative little shit in fics) is manipulating alec or purposefully pushing buttons he knows are cruel, he's doing it to help (in his opinion) free alec from ties/the clave/things that 'don't deserve/are hurting/could hurt him/might keep alec from him' etc.

the goal is never to hurt alec. it's to save him and sometimes in order to heal, you need to experience pain. which is how magnus and alec both justify their cruelty to themselves and each other often. especially because again, the goal is ultimately the benefit of the other person.

i think the main thing is that there's never any doubt - or at least i try to make sure there isn't - in my fics that they both want each other and the best for each other. maybe it comes about in a darker or less ethical way in some of my fics, but the main purpose of the plot is never to hurt each other or to inflict damage that will linger and wound.

also malec in generally is an unreliable narrator in my fics. the reason i tag 3DNE even in the lower levels of dark range, is because i i write and promote extremely unhealthy levels of codependency, dom/sub dynamics and obsession that cannot safely exist in the same levels in the real world. i also write about intense topics but i generally do it in... not a sanitized way? but a softer way? so i think some of it gets a little smoothed out by the humor/affection/etc which also like, this kinda of behavior shouldn't be normalized or seen as safe. i'm not promoting actual cannibalism or kidnapping someone to be your spouse lol

and again (because i get similar comments on ao3) is that when I write malec my goal is for them to be happy and healthy even if the world they live in isn't and by normal standards their relationship isn't. i want them delighting in each other and even if it's depraved, doing whatever they can to give each other the best of the world and help them be the strongest version of the person.

i just have very specific preferences and tbh i repeat tropes and cliches and my little happy niche a lot because i know what i'm comfortable with and enjoy. also i have the personal preference of two predators maybe not always equally matches but both incredibly dangerous in their own way, meeting and then creating an ecosystem that works for the two of them. i also like gifted/earned submission rather than purely forced?

and it's shown in the show that Magnus mostly helped everyone because 1) to get them to stop stalking him and endangering his people 2) to keep appraised of the situation and 3) Alec. which might actually have been the main one. and Magnus' heart got cracked open from Alec and he started to make friends with those around Alec trying to get closer (the jokes and present to Izzy).

I feel like Magnus wouldn't really care orhave anything to do with them or be very interested or so generous with them other than information reasons. and without alec, i don't think his heart would have thawed enough. in a way, alec makes magnus more vulnerable than either realize and it's not alec's fault.

but it is a result of Magnus meeting and loving alec and because alec doesn't realize this, he often can't step in and help magnus set boundaries magnus stopped making in his journey to woo alec. so in fics where magnus already has a relationship with alec or doesn't need to 'woo the family' so to speak, he generally doesn't open up to them or try to connect with them the same way.

in some ways, this is Magnus distancing himself because he will want to be able to join alec when (because i only write immortal husbands) he mourns them, but also he's not going to be overwhelmed with grief himself.

i got way off track there.

so if you know about the Addams' Family media, which this eldritch delight is based off the vibes of that, i feels like that's what true dark romance is. however it did get a bit sanitized and played up for comedy, so actually just a lot of my malec is inspired by that intensity but without the sanitizing and so much comedy.

i mean. these two are so intense about each other.

Alec summoned a greater demon. Magnus tried to erase his own memories.

They are not well, okay? they are two dumb men in love. they both are super high intl and high wis until it comes to each other and then their wisdom drops to 'i'm going to destroy everything to make this one thing right!' and typically its for the other person, so the only being who could stop them now can't.

i hope this makes sense? i feel like i rambled a bit much and now i'm not even sure i properly answered the ask but i enjoyed the ask?

like... i just really can't imagine magnus being more than like, bitingly petty and sassy and sarcastic to alec and like threateningly yes?

but like even if alec was on the other side in a more intense universe and magnus was the one interrogating him. magnus would just pause in the middle of threatening alec and be like 'it's a pity you're so pretty. i can think of so many things i'd rather hear from you than your screams of pain.'

and alec is just like: please go back to threatening me. if you compliment me i'll break and that's just not fair. this is both the worst and best time of my life right now.

magnus picking up on that and coming back in his most dangerous flirty outfit and sitting on the table in front of alec, legs spread to accommodate the chair alec's sitting on and alec is just like: can you bring out the potions again? or the fireball? i really miss the snake that breathed fire omg please don't get so close i will never live it down if i break because a magical man kissed me

magnus: but imagine what i could give you if you were good for me? wouldn't you rather be a good boy for me, alexander?

alec - fuck the clave they dont even like me, i definitely don't have a weakness for this man and a praise kink that just activated - lightwood: ... okay yeah. lets get this over with please. i want to collect on that promise.

*shrugs?*

i hope this makes sense and you enjoyed

<3 lumine

tldr: the whole reason i love malec is because they adore each other and i'm incapable of writing them otherwise plus rambling.

[detectivehdbholmes]

Can you hear me say your name, forever? Can you see me longing for you, forever, forever? Would you let me touch your soul, forever? Can you feel me longing for you, forever, forever? Forever (forever), forever (forever), forever

Life Eternal, Ghost

[lesbian-robots]

Megatron and Optimus Prime, Transformers One (2024)

Richard Silken, Litany in Which Things Are Crossed Out // Alicia Ostriker, In the Twenty-Fifth Year of Marriage, it Goes On // The Mountain Goats, Oceanographer's Choice // Maggie Stiefvater, Blue Lily, Lily Blue // The Mountain Goats, Alpha Rats Nest

[astralazuli]

So there's that D&D class quiz going around, & I took it & was so deeply offended I got Paladin.

& so I have had conversations with both Bestie & Birdfriend about this grave insult & they both were like, "Well... They have a point?" & informed me that my desire to absorb hits meant for others & deep drive to help whenever I actually can & strong convictions make me a bit Paladin-coded.

& I am just so... Idk. It's just interesting to get glimpses of yourself from other people's POVs. To be told that my defining characteristics are protecting & healing others & being incredibly fighty about the things I care about... Especially as someone whose brain specifically fixates on whether I care enough, do enough, give enough... Yeah. It's just kinda wild.

Anyway, I'm now adjusting my self-perception to include the fact that if I were a D&D character, I would be an Oath of the Ancients Paladin & not a wizard & that actually that's okay.

[valeriehalla]

I am so utterly fascinated by “Saki”, the 18-year-running mahjong manga in which you, the reader, become gradually, frog-boilingly aware (over the course of nearly two decades’ worth of mahjong tournaments) that none of these girls are wearing underwear and most of their boobs are slowly expanding.

I need you to understand that I have, like, an anthropological level fascination with this comic. From the perspective of someone who is also a comic artist and writer, two things delight me about it:

the fact that I understand completely how an artist gets from “the fans can have a little hint of skirted asscheek” to “the pussy is completely out on center page” over the course of 18 years; and

the way in which the pussy being out is treated by the characters and diegesis as being utterly unremarkable.

Okay. Point 1. The frog-boiling.

Let me put this in perspective for you. There was already a meme about how the characters in “Saki” don’t wear underwear when I was in middle school. I am thirty now. Okay? And it’s still going.

In the time since, this has stopped being a joke. It is now indisputable canon. This is not because anyone outright says it at any point. It’s because the underwear ran out of places to hide. I’m obsessed with this thought: somewhere in the over 20 volumes of “Saki”, there is a panel in which underwear was objectively deconfirmed. And it would be so hard to figure out where that panel actually is. Maybe the artist didn’t even realize it when she drew it! The frog? Boiling!!

And of course there is also the breast expansion. I don’t know how to put a spin on this. They are just expanding. Like, this happens a lot with artists: you define a character as being, in your mind, “the one with the big boobs”, and over the years you emphasize that trait further and further so that the signal doesn’t get lost in the noise. It’s just that normally—in like a wildly popular manga series about mahjong published by literally Square Enix, for example—normally there would be a point at which the boobs stopped getting bigger. Like, an editor would step in or something. Or you would get to the point where you cannot draw the character in the same panel as her mahjong tiles without her breasts spilling over the tiles, and you’d go, “Well, this is now untenable.”

That did not happen. There is no ceiling. The frog is soup.

Point 2. The complete and utter mundanity of all of this.

It’s like this, okay: there’s no shortage of trashy ecchi manga out there. There’s a million other comics doing wildly bawdier things with wildly more improbable bishoujos.

The vibe with “Saki” is different.

It’s hard to explain this, but it feels like the world of the comic is fundamentally uninterested in the fanservice happening on the page. I cannot describe it as “leering”, because I cannot conceive of a person in the story from whose point of view one would leer. I think the artist is probably into it—I can’t imagine anyone is making her do this—but “Saki” the comic has no opinion on the matter.

There are essentially no male characters in “Saki”. Like, there was one guy? Kind of? At the very beginning? But he is gone now. They put him back in the toybox. He does not exist. It appears to be some level of canonical that in the world of “Saki”, almost all humans are women. Those women are sometimes romantically into each other. According to comments the artist has made on Twitter (which I cannot source), they have lesbian baby technology, so it’s no problem. It’s so much not a problem that the story is about mahjong, instead of any of that.

So, like, the fiction here appears to be this: this is the, like, meta-narrative of the fanservice of “Saki”, right: it’s just normal that they don’t wear underwear and their boobs are arbitrarily big. It’s been normal. It was normal before the story of the manga began. It’s just how things are. Nobody bats an eye about it, and if they do, it’s in sort of a lesbian kind of way so like what’s the problem, we love lesbians here. This is literally normal for girls.

The fanservice simply diffuses into this all-encompassing aura of disembodied, ambient sluttiness. The framing of the panels demands you acknowledge it, and the story demands you already be over it, because it’s mahjong time now, and we’re playing mahjong.

Do you get??? why I’m so fascinated??? Are you not a little enraptured???

Anyway, I have no idea how to end this weird post. I guess the conclusion is that women stay winning????

[anoddopal]

Those morbid moments when Bun curls up in D.oc Q’s coat and traumadumps to him. ❤️‍🩹

[oncelerfucker]

There's a lot of radical feminist thought brewing in trans circles on this forsaken website and none of you are inoculated against it because radfems have been infiltrating queer spaces here for over the last decade and now you don't know how to recognize radfem thought without overt transphobia.

You think feminism is when women create a feedback loop to justify acting within their fear and trauma responses (which is literally the line of thought that founded radical feminism btw) instead of viewing it as a political movement with several different schools of thought and several connections to and solidarity with other liberation movements.

Take 10 minutes to read There Is No Hierarchy Of Oppression by Audre Lorde [ here ] and truly think about what solidarity in action actually looks like. I'm begging you.

"I simply do not believe that one aspect of myself can possibly profit from the oppression of any other part of my identity. I know that my people cannot possibly profit from the oppression of any other group which seeks the right to peaceful existence. Rather, we diminish ourselves by denying to others what we have shed blood to obtain for our children. And those children need to learn that they do not have to become like each other in order to work together for a future they will all share." - Audre Lorde

[aroaceleovaldez]

holds your face very gently. listen. listen to me: Grover and Percy are soulmates. Their lives are very literally tied together and they cannot exist without the other. Canonically, if one of them dies, they both die. They literally share a telepathic link that they can use to communicate from literally anywhere and they can feel each other's feelings. They are best friends and their lives are physically bound to one another. This is so important to me.

[chaaistained]

loa is your best friend, not your crush

tldr: stop seeking loa’s validation, trust in your friendship and the love you share

so we’re gonna need a bit of backstory for everyone as to how i reached this epiphany which i could only articulate this well thanks to @faeriemarie letting me ramble on discord thnx bby

anyway, backstory :

i have a wonderful best friend from high school and she is someone that i’ve scripted into many realities (she’s one of the members in my kpop girl group dr, i love her sm). but in my cr, as can be expected, life hasn’t been easy and we hadn’t talked for quite a while.

sometimes i’d remember her with so much warmth and fondness and reminisce in the times we’d shared, the love that was so real and so precious to me, the way i’d literally see her five days out of the week and still never feel tired of her presence because at a time where i was struggling (high school) she got me like no one else did

and afterwards, after losing so much time to life and university and careers and new friendships, most of which could never even hope to reach her level, i was pleasantly surprised when she reached out to me.

two text messages later and we’d slipped back into the same energy that we’d always shared, like nothing had changed, because nothing had changed

we very quickly organised a lunch, no fuss no rescheduling, nothing blocking our paths back to each other and right now, as i type this, i’m cuddled under a blanket after a lovely meal with her and a warmth in my soul.

because she single-handedly changed the way i view loa

something about me and her — in my eyes she was always perfection and me being the anxious fool that i am, sometimes i’d spiral and convince myself that i’m not worthy of being her friend

today, at lunch, sitting right across from me, she burned those burdens and alleviated each and every facet of fear i had about it, about us.

she said “you mean so much to me, i value us and our friendship so much. i know that we go a long time without speaking and i really miss you but at the same time, i just know that i can reach out whenever, for anything, and you’ll be there for me. because you’re so genuine and so authentic. this kind of friendship is something i’ll always cherish”.

aside from the fact that i’m getting teary eyed as i remember her words, i have a point with all of this rambling and exposition — as soon as she said this and helped me rid myself of all that stress, it felt like i’d just slipped into my better cr

a reality where i’ve always scripted this kind of energy, this kind of vibe, with her

at that moment, shifting wasn’t on my mind bcs i felt like i’d achieved it ?? i felt like i was there, in my better cr, getting lunch with one of my most cherished friends, just like those scenarios i’ve scripted

and her and i have even planned another meet up pretty soon with our extended group and i cannot explain how refreshing it is to feel zero social anxiety about this plan

usually i’d have inklings of fear and doubt but right now? nothing !! absolutely nothing

i am so at peace and i haven’t felt this way about a friendship in so long ???

having lunch with her and speaking with her affirmed to me that my fears of losing our friendship were unfounded, because how can you lose something so genuine and so real?

i’ve finally learned to trust in our friendship and the love we share and dismiss my irrational fears that are baseless and are a result of my own overthinking

i don’t think you guys understand how incredible this is for me because i am without a doubt one of the most anxious people in existence it is disgustingly debilitating

but i’ve won this battle and there are gonna be more battles that i’m gonna win (anxiety-wise ahdhdhsh)

and i know i’m gonna win those because meeting up with her affirmed me of my own capabilities and my own manifestations

i’ve learned to dismiss unfounded fear and trust in my friendship with this person

why don’t we think the same way about loa???

we need to trust in your friendship with loa, one of the most genuine friendships you can ever have

the universe can throw as much at you as it wants but loa always has your back

we need to stop thinking of loa as this unresponsive crush, always seeking its validation, in need of constant attention and interaction and hoping to “run into them” to “share a moment”

stop. stand up.

loa is not your crush, for fuck’s sake, loa is your life long soulmate friendship

a friend like loa? you don’t need to talk to them 24/7 to know they love you and value you and care about you and will provide for you

that’s what loa should be, a true genuine friend who you can hit up for whatever you want (manifestation) and they’ll follow through (materialisation)

[thereweredragonshere]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Gobber must be so fucking fed up with Hiccup and Stoick at all times. Like he grew up with Stoick being a stubborn ass and then Stoick had a child who grew up and is also a stubborn ass.

I cannot imagine having to deal with one Haddock let alone two. Especially httyd1 era where they could barely even be in the same room as each other without there being audible cricket noises oh my fucking god. He would have been a permanent mediator between the two. Constantly listening to them complain about eachother (Which we do actually see in httyd1 funnily enough).

Them two actually beginning to fix their relationship after the red death must have been so great for him. Because yes his best friend and his sort of adoptive son thing are now actually engaging in healthy father son activities with one another but he also no longer has to deal with being sandwiched between two fucking donkeys that can't properly communicate.

But hahaha Gobber your torment doesn't end there. No no no you then have to deal with two of the most dramatic people in the archipelago (why does no one mention how dramatic Stoick is???) constantly wittering in your ear about different plans or inventions or wars and dragons and blah blah blah. You can never escape the incessant rambling of the two idiots you got cast to hell with. You will be forced to listen to a father and son that don't see any reasonable value in agreeing about things like 34% of the time and you will have to either pick a side or attempt to deescalate the awkward glances and frustrated sighs when they are forced to be around each other after a particularly bad episode of being unable to affectively have a conversation about their thoughts and feelings because they're both emotionally repressed and could both use some therapy.

Gobber has seen every single side of the relationship between Hiccup and Stoick and the whiplash from witnessing a heated argument about the meaning of existence itself in the morning and then watching as they joke and laugh about some random crap literally no one understands in the evening will probably end up breaking Gobber's psyche at some point.

That man's life was pain and suffering incarnate and it was purely the fault of the Haddock family.

[sha-brytols]

someone: do you think anders is a good person

the part of my brain that engages in genuine critical media analysis: i think it's disingenuous to label him through the lens of a binary good/evil paradigm because what makes him such an interesting and engaging character is his status inbetween a human with complex emotions and desires and flaws that will never fully align with each other, and the singleminded focus and purpose of a supernatural entity that is literally justice incarnate and has no capacity for nuance and whose very nature is fundamentally incompatible with humanity but the two of them are so deeply connected that they make up a single identity that's constantly at odds with itself and this struggle causes him to act in ways that aren't always clean and often land him and those around him in impossible positions. i think he was morally justified in doing what he did to the chantry but i also believe he understood the magnitude of what he was doing which is why i inherently disagree with the notion that characters like varric or sebastian were wrong in their reactions because that's the very nature of violent revolution—people get caught in the crossfire and are harmed despite their innocence and regardless of the righteousness of the action at large. if someone killed your mom to protect a hundred orphans you probably wouldn't come out of the experience full of love and admiration for the person who killed your mother because regardless of the outcome they still fucking killed your mother. anders destroyed people's homes and lives and there's a conversation to be had about how he gaslit and exploited hawke, his own potential lover, into being an unwitting accomplice even though we know through meta knowledge that he was perfectly capable of doing it on his own and very likely only wanted hawke's involvement because he needed a powerful figure to become the rallying symbol for his cause. the reality is his very nature would have never allowed him to choose hawke and his friends over his goal because to do so would have been fundamentally selfish and antithetical to his newfound identity as one who champions the needs of the many at the expense of the individual. it's a beautifully tragic story about the lengths a person would have to go to in order to enact any sort of meaningful change while constrained in a system that benefits from their powerlessness, and how that process cannot exist without suffering and pain on both the individual and collective level. i also feel like if anders was written by a person with a degree of compassion and awareness for not only the character they were writing but just what living as a vulnerable and targeted minority is like then the narrative and message would have been vastly different than what ended up on screen because, ultimately, the game wants you to look at the stark injustice of a child being ripped away from their family to spend a life locked away in cold isolation where they're at constant risk of exploitation, abuse, death, and even a complete removal of their personhood, and think that there's room for compromise. it's a narrative that perpetuates the myth that passivity and tolerance in the face of oppression is more virtuous than burdening the masses with the discomfort of seeing their own culpability in sustaining it. a better game would have challenged varric and sebastian while also affirming their anger instead of just the latter. a better game would have explored hawke's reaction in a deeper manner that examined their relationship with the system, their own internal biases, and how anders affected their worldview.

the part of my brain that was on tumblr in 2014 and is still extremely petty and spiteful: he should have blown up the conclave while he was at it

[ruinix]

on the flip side of Quinn with glasses…do you have any thoughts on Quinn with a partner who wears glasses???

Pardon me, I just woke up from a long nap right after I got home. As a person who wears glasses and sees the world (literally anything outside two-three feet) in extreme soft focus without them, of course, I do, lovely...🤓🫣

18+. Thoughts progressively turns whorish. Reader with glasses. Oral sex (m receiving). Unprotected sex. ⬇️

Quinn adores how you look with glasses. The way you pushes it up with your fingers when it slides down the bridge of your nose always makes him smile.

He loves it when you push it up your head because, though rarely, you forget about it and would end up overturning everything. It's funny and cute even if you are getting red as you flip over pillows, your favorite blanket, and even pieces of paper. Then you will scold him for not helping you. At that point, Quinn will step and gently pull the glasses from your head, handing it to you or putting it on you. Then you're going to blush so hard, getting coy and lying that you know it was there all along. Adorable.

He likes it when you attentively watch your glasses being cleaned after you drag him to its store for maintenance. It's like you weren't trusting staff to get the frames straightened or tightened or whatever you need. But he can see how you appreciate them whenever they hand them to you. You smile so brightly as you thank them. You are so kind.

He loves it when you use your shirt—yes, it has to be your shirt, not the microfiber cloth—to wipe the smudges on it. Because you're lifting your shirt in the process and it fucking exposes your middle, your belly button and if your pants are sitting low, the curve of your hips. It's a view. You're a view. Your existence sends shivers down his spine, heat streaking to his cock. It's not like he's being horny too—well, it is—but you will always notice his attention and will pull your shirt up, exposing your lace or cotton bra or none at all. You are so evil for that. Every time.

He loves it when you are on your knees and sucking his cock with your glasses on.

One, because you makes him feel good for every suck, lick, and gag around his cock.

Two, because if you're wearing them, he's sure you can see every effect you have on him. He needs to be seen by you as he unfolds, getting harder and harder in your throat. The number of times he pushes your glasses up so you wouldn't stop fucking him your beautiful lips. The fucking whimpers escaping him until he cannot help but grab your hair and control every glide.

Three, when he comes, he will spill down your throat, pulling out midway so he can make a mess on your face. He makes sure his cum hits your lips, your cheeks, your glasses. With it on, he won't worry about his cum in your eye which had hurt you so much before that he refused coming on your face. That is until you start blowing him with your fucking glasses and that's game changer. Now it's one of his favorite things.

Four, he loves your fucked out expression while you look up at him with his cum dripping, your lips parted as you pant. Your nails digs into his thighs. Reality would be suspended for a few minutes. Just you two gazing at each other in content. Then you would crawl up him slowly so Quinn has time to hold his already-hard-again dick to your pussy. Your cunt drips on his drool-covered cock before you sink down his length. Inch. By. Fucking Inch.

All while your face is still stained by him. All while your glasses are foggy fron both of your heat and messy from his cum. Quinn cannot hold himself back from licking the mess his done on your face, shuddering from his taste, groaning and moaning with you, as you fuck one another. He would lick and nip and kiss until it's only your glasses that are dirty.

I bet Quinn will buy his partner's spare glasses plus specialized sunglasses with their eye-grade. Anything for his girl. I am swooning.

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[northboreas]

I cannot understate how clever and beautiful Penelope's response to wyfilwma is. In the original myth, Penelope literally isn't sure if the man before her is truly her husband, so she asks him to move a bed that is impossible to move. A fact about their relationship that only he could know. When he gets absolutely flabbergasted over this request, it's proof that it IS him.

In Epic there is only one change. Instead of Penelope being unsure, Odysseus is unsure of himself and feels like he would be unrecognizable to his wife. He keeps telling her over and over again, I am not the man you knew, and it's almost as though he's trying to convince himself, too. Like since he crossed every line he's killed all the gentleness in him, and he has to force himself to accept it. Penelope knows better, Penelope knows him. Instead of using their wedding bed as a way to prove it to herself, she proves it to him instead.

"See that wedding bed? Could you carry it over?

Lift it high on your shoulders and take it far away from here"

Shes talking about their bed but she is also talking about their love, their history, everything that makes up their marriage. Its like shes asking him, if you truly are someone else- here's everything that we used to be, everything that we built together, throw it out. You're not the same, right? Then surely you can detach yourself from it all.

But he cant. he cant he cant he cant and she knows that. The shock and the outrage and the pain of being asked to do such a thing hits him with a full force and he talks of how he made the bed, what its meant to them, why he couldnt possibly move it away.

"Do you realize what you have asked me?

The only way to move it is to cut it from its roots"

To cut it from the roots would be to sever their love entirely, it cant exist without what came before and what came before was the two of them. He fears thats what she wants, a completely uproot of their life together. But the fact that he fears it, truly deeply cares like a sentimental bastard, the fact that he could never not be the man who loves her is what she's been trying to show him all along.

"Only my husband knew that

So I guess that makes him you"

like my GOD. THIS LINE. He cannot be anything but her love because he is the only man who knows what they are to each other. She says it and that is final. Moving it is impossible because seperating the man he used to be from the man he is is impossible too. They are one in the same.

"I will fall in love with you over and over again

I don't care how, where, or when

No matter how long it's been, you're mine

Don't tell me you're not the same person

You're always my husband and I've been waiting, waiting"

She is not loving him by ignoring the trail of bodies in his wake and her love does not change the carnage-- in fact she is the reason for it, she knows this and she doesnt care. This is her husband now and always. And as long as bloodied hands will still hold her weaving ones he is the same exact man she's been waiting for.

It is such a beautiful message to leave your audience with. It is so perfect for Penelope as a character and the emotional weight this song has elevated my understanding of the odyssey and their relationship. Twenty years is so long, everything has changed, we have done unforgivable things to get home to each other-- because our home is each other. You are sharp and cruel and I am cunning and so so angry and we are both so tired but guess fucking what, I love you. No matter how long its been, youre mine.

[jonnywaistcoat]

What’s your opinion on the contrast between “silly” and “serious” spaces? Do you think people can have very serious interpretations about a genuine piece of media and also be goofy about it? I’m asking this particularly because I’ve seen people in the Magnus podcast fandoms fight about people “misinterpreting” characters you, Alex, and the many other authors have written. Are you okay with the blorbofication or do you really wish the media you’ve written would be “taken seriously” 100% of the time?

And follow up question, what do you think about the whole “it’s up to the reader (or in some cases, listener) to make their own conclusions and interpretations and that does not make them wrong”, versus the “it was written this way because the author intended it this way, and we should respect that” argument?

This is a question I've given a lot of thought over the years, to the point where I don't know how much I can respond without it becoming a literal essay. But I'll try.

My main principle for this stuff boils roughly down to: "The only incorrect way to respond to art is to try and police the responses of others." Art is an intensely subjective, personal thing, and I think a lot of online spaces that engage with media are somewhat antithetical to what is, to me, a key part of it, which is sitting alone with your response to a story, a character, a scene or an image and allowing yourself to explore it's effect on you. To feel your feelings and think about them in relation to the text.

Now, this is not to say that jokes and goofiness about a piece of art aren't fucking great. I love to watch The Thing and drink in the vibes or arctic desolation and paranoia, or think about the picture it paints of masculinity as a sublimely lonely thing where the most terrible threat is that of an imposed, alien intimacy. And that actually makes me laugh even more the jokey shitpost "Do you think the guys in The Thing ever explored each other's bodies? Yeah but watch out". Silly and serious don't have to be in opposition, and I often find the best jokes about a piece of media come from those who have really engaged with it.

And in terms of interpreting characters? Interpreting and responding to fictional characters is one of the key functions of stories. They're not real people, there is no objective truth to who they are or what they do or why they do it. They are artificial constructs and the life they are given is given by you, the reader/listener/viewer, etc. Your interpetation of them can't be wrong, because your interpretation of them is all that there is, they have no existence outside of that.

And obviously your interpretation will be different to other people's, because your brain, your life, your associations - the building blocks from which the voices you hear on a podcast become realised people in your mind - are entirely your own. Thus you cannot say anyone else's is wrong. You can say "That's not how it came across to me" or "I have a very different reading of that character", but that's it. I suppose if someone is fundamentally missing something (like saying "x character would never use violence" when x character strangles a man to death in chapter 4) you could say "I think that's a significant misreading of the text", but that's only to be reserved for if you have the evidence to back it up and are feeling really savage.

I think this is one of the things that saddens me a bit about some aspects of fandom culture - it has a tendency to police or standardise responses or interpretations, turning them from personal experiences to be explored into public takes to be argued over. It also has the occasional moralistic strain, and if there's one thing I wish I could carve in stone on every fan space it's that Your Responses to a Piece of Art Carry No Intrinsic Moral Weight.

As for authorial intention, that's a simpler one: who gives a shit? Even the author doesn't know their own intentions half the time. There is intentionality there, of course, but often it's a chaotic and shifting mix of theme and story and character which rarely sticks in the mind in the exact form it had during writing. If you ask me what my intention was in a scene from five years ago, I'll give you an answer, but it will be my own current interpretation of a half-remembered thing, altered and warped by my own changing relationship to the work and five years of consideration and change within myself. Or I might not remember at all and just have a guess. And I'm a best case scenario because I'm still alive. Thinking about a writers possible or stated intentions is interesting and can often lead to some compelling discussion or examination, but to try and hold it up as any sort of "truth" is, to my mind, deeply misguided.

Authorial statements can provide interesting context to a work, or suggest possible readings, but they have no actual transformative effect on the text. If an author says of a book that they always imagined y character being black, despite it never being mentioned in the text, that's interesting - what happens if we read that character as black? How does it change our responses to the that character actions and position? How does it affect the wider themes and story? It doesn't, however, actually make y character black because in the text itself their race remains nonspecific. The author lost the ability to make that change the moment it was published. It's not solely theirs anymore.

So yeah, that was a fuckin essay. In conclusion, serious and silly are both good, but serious does not mean yelling at other people about "misinterpretations", it means sitting with your personal explorations of a piece of art. All interpretations are valid unless they've legitimately missed a major part of the text (and even then they're still valid interpretations of whatever incomplete or odd version of the text exists inside that person's brain). Authorial intent is interesting to think about but ultimately unknowable, untrustworthy and certainly not a source of truth. Phew.

Oh, and blorbofication is fine, though it does to my mind sometimes pair with a certain shallowness to one's exploration of the work in question.