#unfortunately I cannot let it go

[p-sherman-42]

A Cliché for Two

If I could build a bridge to close this gap, to span the length of time and space, I would. I would bottle up all the stars in the night sky for you. We'd sip

on the cosmos, get drunk off ambrosia and a cliché for two. I'd taste the dust upon your lips, shrouded in a nicotine nebula and the faintest whisper of a promise.

If I could build such a bridge to reach you, I'd craft it out of coffee stir-sticks, of ribbons and Stardust and honey-dew, of pthalo green and saffron and Tom Waits.

For you, I'd toss a lasso around the moon and rein her in for you to swallow whole. The lunar light would seep out of your pores and we would dance by silver rays of truth.

If I could build such a bridge to reach you, we'd sip the Milky Way through straws, gorge ourselves on the crumbs of planets old and new. Oh, all the things I'd do for you.

For you, I feel like a walking cliché. My stomach churns, my heart it yearns, for you-- your touch, your love. For you, I am a star, bottle and kept upon a shelf to love

you from afar. This gap, it grows, and we both know this distance will not shrink, but oh, all the things I'd do, just to have you near-- just to hear you say that you love me too.

[burningcheese-merchant]

"Who am I if I don't have what it takes?"

OG post haha

[wintertundra-art]

not sure if i should keep going with this sketch aaa

[weekdaysend]

My SentOpLita 1AM relationship chart I did not think I'd be psycho-analyzing this dynamic as much as I thought I would..

[professional-rat-eater]

I need people in the IWTV fanbase to realise that you can appreciate a character in all their complexities and enjoy their precense in a story and still wish they had a slow, painful death scene. For non-book readers, I hope to be able to clarify a few things about why a certain character is so hated.

Keep reading for more nuanced Marius de Romanus slander:

I feel like I post at least once a day something about hitting Marius with a car or something and I do it mainly because it’s funny but it’s also because there is a very valid reason he is where a lot of people draw the line, despite the scale of morality in gothic literature being utterly different from that of pretty much any other literature, and drastically different from real life.

I love him for what he brings to the story. He is fascinating and I am excited to see him in season 3. He’s a brilliant character and I want to put him under a microscope and study him like a bug. He is still absolutely vile even for Anne Rice, something she even hints at here and there in her work.

I could go on and on for days about him, but to keep it short (edit: I lied), he met Pandora when she was ten years old and he was twenty five. What makes him particularly sick is nothing to do with vampiric morality, which we’ve seen is completely different, within the world of the books and show, from human morality. We get onboard with Lestat because we get to know him as a human and then watch how he changes as he gets used to being a vampire. Lestat was not a monster when he was human. Marius was.

If you disagree with that, you can think so if you wish as I do not currently possess the ability to control other people’s thoughts (but as soon as I do, I’m coming for you!) but please do not try and make excuses for him on that topic. Most people will not be open to that sort of debate. I know I’m not. Pandora was a baby. He should not have felt anything towards her other than a desire to protect her as a parent might. Yes, yes, gothic morality. But you need to understand that that is just too much for most people.

And you know who else was a baby, especially in comparison to Marius? Armand. Armand, who grew up to do awful things because of how he was treated. He was already being taken advantage of (to put it lightly) before he met Marius. If Marius had cared selflessly for Armand, he would have taken him from that brothel and tried to help him heal from the trauma. That is what real love would have been. You should not look at broken children and think to make them your lovers. All he was was yet another grown adult taking advantage of a boy whose spirit had been utterly shattered by what he’d endured.

(I’m not suggesting that should have happened or it would have been better, but I dislike the insinuation that Marius’s love for Armand was anything other than exploitative. It can be sincere, and still exploitative. I believe he meant it. I also believe he fucked Armand up more than he already had been.)

Murder in a fictional setting can be justified and overlooked, but as soon as anything involves children, you have to accept that you will lose a lot of people, even in gothic literature. That sort of relationship may have been more normalised thousands of years ago, but there were always people who objected to the concept. Even within the narrative of Anne Rice’s books, Marius’s actions are called out here and there (usually subtly) so even there, they are questioned. Compare him to someone like Lestat (I only mention him because for whatever reason, people like to group them together as irredeemable characters???).

Lestat’s actions are deeply toxic but people still like him because we understand why his behaviour is the way it is. As dreadful as what he does is, we are endeared to him because of his suffering and follow his journey as a vampire. He is twisted, but he is behaving according to what his trauma has turned him into. Armand is another example of this. Vile behaviour that is a believable response to trauma. There comes in the gothic morality again. We love them and know they are awful at the same time.

It is not that you cannot like Marius or characters like him. I do like him very much as a character, but you have to get on board with the idea that most people never will. The lines he crosses are unlike many of the others crossed by different characters. No one looks at Madeleine and Claudia and thinks it’s weird because Claudia is not actually a child. Armand was. Pandora was.

I could honestly make a separate post about book!Louis too and why I think the changes from the book were necessary to make people actually care about him, but it is similar. Harming/exploiting children and anything to do with slavery is a hard line a lot of people draw. Marius is still a multifaceted, interesting, complex, humanised character, as all Anne Rice vampires are, but he is deeply disliked for a very good reason. People cannot switch off how they feel about what he did, even if they are invested in the story.

(But also let’s be thoughtful about this type of discourse. Do not look at anyone whose favourite character is Marius and assume they are a bad person. He is a great character, he is just not to many people’s tastes. They likely just find him deeply interesting which he is.)

Anyway, after he gets his screen time and we reach the end of the show and he has gotten his chance to chance screen time, I vote we tie him up and treat him like a piñata.

[surreal-duck]

master artist and his number one fan

guy who is being so normal about the new additions to their profiles. i think abt midoris initial infatuation with his art slowly developing into appreciating yuzuru himself as a person and idol to the point he worries about how he sees him (ex: a bit of home party and in workplace survival rules) sometimes thats a lie i think about it a lot. and yuzuru learning to enjoy art just for the sake of drawing!! seeing the lets try diy story where he doesnt even refute drawing on midoris desk and was only worried that his doodles might cover up the mascot design compared to how discouraged he usually would be in earlier ! stories. everything to me i adore their dynamic if that wasnt obvious by *gestures to basically everything*

and happy pride month 🏳‍🌈

[skitskatdacat63]

"What do I do, scale the wall and enter her window?" rhaenicent Romeo and Juliet AU when??????

[dilemmadraws]

I absolutely do not think this was anyone’s intention but as a woman living in 2025, it is fucking dark that the finale of this series hinges on the idea that the concept of a baby is more important than a woman’s autonomy and self.

In a time when abortion rights have been taken away in the US and people are starting to have a debate about abortion in the UK. Literally the week before this aired the leader of reform started gunning for abortion rights. It is such a tone deaf ending to Doctor Who. Again I don’t think that this is on purpose or something RTD even considered. But that’s kind of the issue isn’t it? Years and Years was practically a prophecy, this man has shown he can have his finger on the pulse. Not only on what’s happening now but what the future could be. But for some reason just didn’t consider bodily autonomy or reproductive rights at all when doing the reshoots. Now is not the time to do this story. I honestly will never not be mad at what they did to Belinda. But I’ll also never stop being mad that this show that can bring so much nuance to conversations like these inadvertently made a pro-life story where being a single woman working a job your great at can be thrown away because the idea of a baby is more important.

[blueflipflops]

Unrelated to my usual stuff but I'm currently losing my mind over kpop demon hunters. I left the kpop fandom YEARS ago and this movie is honestly trying GODDAM best to drag me back in. I don't even know the current kpop bands these days anymore.

And ngl i thought Abby is just visuals and well. His abs. But DAMN his vocals is FIREEEE. So much that between Jinu and Abby, I actually favor Abby's voice UNIRONICALLY and genuinely for a guy his design which is kinda meh to me compared to pretty boy Baby. So much that I'd bet my left shoe that he'd be main vocals if it weren't for Jinu's i-started-this-band priveledges. Very realistic in line distribution between the saja boys. My god i did not expect Abby to have that much lines. Give my man Mystery more than a single line pls. Wait does that mean Mystery is at least a main dancer?? Cuz his role doesn't exactly fit with visuals with how his hair covers his face (a kpop idol's money) and Romance fits that role (visual) much better. Romace is backup vocals. Guy has all the bridge lines on the songs. Mystery has so little lines boy better be dancing hard as fuck if he wants to survive this industry. I honestly thought Abby would be the main dancer type because of his body type but damn i guess that's just me stereotyping then. My bad. Baby Saja is so damned good tho. He is unironically rising up my list of favorites. Because my god this man is named "Baby", has the youngest, cute and frankly infantilizing stereotype stamped on him but HOOO BOY his voice is deep as FUCK. His voice is JUST my type. Imagine calling a grown ass man "Baby" as his NAME and he opens his mouth with THAT voice. He raps so fucking hard oh god oh shit. (Their names are kinda fucked tho. Like what the hell, Jinu? Why tf do YOU get a normal ass name and my man gets stuck with Baby Saja?? Oh my gosh i just realized Abby's name is Abby BECAUSE OF HIS ABS!! Their names are so fucked)

Your Idol was so hot. And HOLY SHIT the songs and dances on this damned movie are so fucking good. My god i cannot stop listening to their songs on repeat since I've watched it.

Another thing. I thought its kinda unrealistic how the Saja Boys didn't get immediately hated on by delusional and dangerous hateful fans on the get go with all the shit they pulled. Would pay 1 William Dollars just to witness the inevitable fanwars on the internet when they pulled that shit with the fansign event. They'd be cancelled real fast being accused of riding onto Huntrix's popularity and some would take their actions as highly disrespectful for their sunbaes. I would pay real money just to get a glimpse of what trainwreck twitter looks like in-universe. I NEED them to have a dating scandal hitting the Saja Boys so fucking hard no amount of pretty face can save. I need them to release a public statement on their actions when they're pushed by crazy fans doing an entire smear campaign on them so effective that it actively affects their plans on stealing souls. God do I want them to experience the Real drama of being a kpop idol. I NEED those boys to face the consequences of popularity. I want them to experience anti-fans, toxic fans (both theirs and huntrix's and maybe all other groups) who want to bring them down solely for "daring to challenge the queens for the crown".

Where are the haters at??? Honestly if the haters got more traction in-universe, they could've really saved the whole damned world without knowing and that idea is so fucking funny to me. Haters are the savior of Korea through sheer spite and toxicity.

[cathalbravecog]

my first daily roller (and friends!) before april first ! who knows where hr waits before april anyway?

not guaranteed daily. originally intended for my main, but i do have a toontown blog for a reason so i'll use it. training myself to be okay with shittier art that just gets the point across without the need to be perfect as well. also this is an actual sc i took going into the farlands before my minecraft fucking bricked itself by being there

[gifti3]

the goverment is definitely figuring out this alien situation asap right?? cause whats happening currently is not feasible in the long run is it not??

im sure they are trying to maybe figure it out...probably, but part of me feels like it is not being treated with the seriousness it should be by them, which ig is in character LOL

pretty much relying on one guy (who doesnt even wanna be doing this) is actually scary

and the mc still has to like 'encourage' him to do it, tho its much easier in the 'ray ending' for sure. that man just wants to live a regular life with mc (unfortunately for him that means continuing to be binary star and dealing with aliens)

and if i was a citizen and knew this id be panicking

like yea u have these other heroes helping and stuff which im sure looks comforting from an outside point of view! but like the actuality is that its ray keeping things afloat

AND ON THE TOPIC OF THE MC, i was definitely in my head like....wouldnt rays superiors (managers??) get like curious about them? like no way theyre not being nosy about it after a certain amount of time passes. it really feels like something that could be leveraged against him,,, (if there is fic about this pls send it to me lol)

honestly i feel like mc and rays relationship would have moments of high stress. like there will be good times but also the bad times will also be there and its sometimes gonna be because of outside factors they cant control

[fisheito]

My favourite fantasy lately is Kuya kidnapping Eiden and bringing him to a house in the woods to punish him for endangering himself during some adventure. Kuya keeps Eiden in bondage and constantly on edge, teasing and denying him. And Eiden just takes it without asking to be let out, allowing Kuya to vent his fear and frustration, because he's nice like that.

But, at some point, even the strongest little soldiers break, and just when Eiden is about to shatter from all the stress and Kuya's oppressive anxiety, Quincy comes for the rescue. He's the only one who managed to find that little wooden shack in the middle of nowhere (you know, because Kuya's allowed him to), and he comes in and persuades Kuya to relent.

Kuya hasn't even given Eiden any dick in all the (three? four?) days they've been at it, so serious he was about the discipline aspect!

Eiden cries when Kuya finally fucks him, and Quincy makes him spill

this just reminds me of Billowing Wildfire Kuya R2 where eiden saID sO HImself

i would not be surprised if kuya went full speed into an evil edging hostage situation because he doesn't know how to process eiden's mortality

[mossterunderthebed]

[certifiedbundleofsticks]

liking horses is difficult because show me any video and i can't enjoy it at all because

oh that's flooding. oh that horse is severely stressed. oh that tack is extremely harsh. oh that tack is used incorrectly. oh they're stressing out that horse. oh that horse is untrained. oh that is flooding. that situation is unsafe. oh that's flooding. that horse is terrified. once again flooding. more tack being used incorrectly. that horse lacks the muscle to be ridden. that bridle is fitted incorrectly. that bit is extremely harsh. that hackamore is extremely harsh. that horse is stressed. that horse is getting punished for being afraid.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: ADRIFT IN CURRENTS CLEAN AND CLEAR by Seanan McGuire.

Ah, yes, my favorite January tradition: heartbreak in tiny series installment form :)

This one is about a turtle-obsessed disabled Russian girl who gets adopted by an American family and fitted for a prosthetic she doesn't ask for, want, or need, and then she splashes through her Door.

I love Russian language and culture things (shout out to accidentally double minoring in college), so I was excited for a Russian protag and a Russian-coded Door world! Excellent enrichment in my enclosure. Neat cultural expansion on the Wayward Children universe (multiverse? cosmos?? insert appropriately scaled setting word here).

I also liked the aquatic nature of Belyyreka--terrifying giant frogs and delightful giant turtles and delightful talking foxes on the riverbanks were all lovely, and the worldbuilding about different weights of water was neat! Very mind-bendy kind of setting, I dig it.

This installment felt very slim (146 pages in my copy), and Our World Heavy--the first 46 pages were in Colorado, and the last 100 were in Belyyreka, but it felt like we did More Frequent and Larger Time Skips in Belyyreka compared to Earth? Kind of speedrun mode, sans Quests, really (this one was a lot more oriented toward Finding/Building Your Family, which was signposted pretty clearly upon our arrival in Belyyreka). Mostly a quieter installment up until the, y'know, Typical Impending Tragedy of Return at the end. (Did I almost put it down at 1AM last night with 30 pages left so everyone could Be Happy? perHAPS,)

Overall: I had a good time! But, ow, my heart (once again and forever).

[emry-stars-art]

I literally love ur royal aus!!!! Do you ever plan to post the aftg royal au as a full fic? What about West Facing?

As a matter of fact

The final aftg au remains in the works as we speak 😌 at this point it's all editing and organizing and paring down to get a publishable result lol

As for West Facing! That project is still mostly in the planning phases, I might have enough of a projected timeline to pants it but I don't plan on getting anything down for real until the aftg au is done! One thing at a time for my own sake 😅 I definitely have snippets of it and will continue to write snippets, but those will probably mainly be on patreon for the foreseeable future.

Thank you sm for enjoying them and for the ask!! 💕