#'' .... bc the author doesn't want to remember to discuss it''

[inkskinned]

it's the levels of scrutiny too.

a movie that has a largely-female cast has to be well-written, well-shot, well-acted, well-advertised. people will spend 2 hours on youtube talking about a single plot hole; about a moment of bad pacing, about a singular background character's poor scripting. if there isn't something obvious, they will say - well there's nothing specifically bad, but it wasn't specifically good either.

they will turn out another all-male movie, and it's just a movie.

a book that has queer representation in it has to defy every convention of writing while also being true to traditional plot, structure, format, and pacing. it must have no boring chapters, no missteps, no awkward dialogue. it must be able to "prove" that any queer relationship "makes sense", their sparks must fly off the page and their love must be eternal. the writing must be clear and beautiful, the storyline original and fresh, the values traditional but with an undercurrent that is modern and saucy.

they will turn out another book without queer rep, where a man and woman just-fall-in-love, and it's just a book.

i am latinx. i am queer. i am nb & neurodivergent. my father said to me once: you will need to be exceptional to be just-as-good, and you will need to be beyond exceptional before they see you as just-a-person, and not your labels.

i am not beyond exceptional. i am a human person. i am skilled because i worked my ass off to be skilled.

i am currently reading a book that's so-bad-it's-good about a girl that falls in love with a vampire. i was 64% of the way through the book before she figures out tall-dark-fanged is not natural. i like books like these, i like letting myself relax while i just enjoy the read. but i do spend a lot of time wondering - would this have been published if it was about queer people? would this have gotten past the editors if the characters weren't white and sexy?

i want to write a movie about being a woman in a male space, and i want to start that movie with a 10 minute scene where the woman is lectured with the exact same whining that occurs in the youtube comments of even the trailers for those movies: "haven't we had enough diversity?" "we've had enough girl power movies" "sorry, this is just pandering. it's boring."

here's what's fucked up: it shouldn't matter, you're right. my identity shouldn't fold after my name like a battalion of stars: a cry of what i've gone through. what we all know i had to move past and through. i should just be a writer, plain and simple, without my work being shifted through with tweezers - i know everything i make, always, i am incredibly responsible for. beholden to. i don't like knowing that if i fuck up, i am also fucking up for every person like me. every person in a community i belong to.

once, back in undergrad, i wrote a short story about a girl who had been kicked by a horse. it was my first time writing about my experience with my ocd; i felt proud of it. the story was mostly about grief and slow recovery. the queerness of the main character was not important to the plot, my main character was just-queer. there wasn't even a romantic interest in it.

i remember one of my classmates being disappointed. "i just feel like you always write about girls who like girls, and i'm bored of it," he said. "you're a beautiful writer, but i'm like - oh, at some point, it's gonna be gay again." during the workshop, he folded his hands over my story and said, "and okay, i'm just going to say it. she's ocd, she's gay, she's depressed - it's a little much for me to believe is all happening to one person."

it is a little much to be that person (and more besides). i have therapy weekly, after all.

over and over, belonging to exception.

[johannestevans]

not gonna write a whole essay properly formatted etc about it bc i fr cannot be arsed right now but @limonenelieu said to me about reading HAL as a gay man in 2001: A Space Odyssey and i feel like it's broken my brain open, i love it so fucking much, and i wanted to share thoughts

so their initial point was that HAL's voice and manner of speech, particularly his accent and his inflection (esp his neat and clipped enunciation) reminded them of gay-coding discussions in like, disney films and in other movies with gay-coded villains

i agree, and would also add that just the whole idea of like. he is a man (he has a man's voice, they call him he, they think of him as a man) who has literally been programmed to show the Correct Emotions and portray a response explicitly to make his other crewmembers feel more comfortable and at-ease with him.

also the way he speaks and like... this thing HAL does where he asks permission several times before he speaks - lewis compared it to the initial scene in Inglorious Basterds where the n/zi officer is asking permission of the farmer to do things like light a cigarette and sit down etc, and the point is that its the farmer's territory and the officer is a guest in it, but the officer has all the power, and it lays their power dynamic very bare while destabilising the farmer a bit

asking dave if it's okay if he asks a question, then saying it's fine if dave doesn't answer, then finally asking if dave has regrets about the mission - and before dave gives his own answer, being "vulnerable" and saying he had his own anxieties at first

HAL is programmed to make the crewmembers comfortable with him, but this specific manner of making them comfortable by like, asking dave a question in such a way that's really deferential, and makes dave feel like he's leading the conversation or is "in charge" of it?

like it's so similar to me to like... when a wife in the 50s or 60s is asking her husband a question, and she has to couch it in certain ways so he doesn't perceive it as a challenge of his authority or a criticism on his actions, bc she's a woman and he's a man, she's the husband and he's the wife - except in this case like, HAL is a robot (and therefore inherently lesser) and dave is human

like obvs there's so many films where AI is presented as female-coded, and many ppl have written about the politics of techbros' attraction to robots as woman-coded and particularly like, the desire to recreate slave labour and especially forms of slave labour with not just racial tones but also sexualised and misogynistic ones (within the domestic sphere and also re: sex work), and all the anxieties that that comes with?

the techbro's fear of robots fighting back is in many ways a manifestation of their fear of the social order as they see it being overturned - on the one hand, they create robots with sexy or sultry voices, they put them in female bodies they're attracted to, they want a robot that's pretty and subservient in the right way, a robot that will take all the abuse a woman wouldn't these days because of the dreaded feminism, but also that they're allowed to abuse because she's a woman but we can both agree that she isn't human in the same way he is, a man

and obvs those thoughts are further pushed when the sexy robots are given racialised bodies - when they are Black, when they are East Asian, etc, in ways that make them more desirable but also racialise their position in gender roles, and further like, fetishistic views of them etc

(so Her is obviously "falling in love" with a robot, but a film like Ex Machina explores these anxieties far more explicitly)

in 2001, HAL is a man, and he's doing all the labour that the pretty stewardesses were doing on the space station - he's not pretty and he's not right in front of the crewmembers like the stewardesses were, but like. i remember not liking the tone frank used when he was ordering HAL to lower and raise his neckrest when he was laid back on the leather bed, and how it felt demeaning in a way? in many ways because HAL has a personality

things like HAL asking to see the sketches and the idea of this robot taking an interest in art, but also like...

so HAL is a singular eye, right? his character is mostly communicated in the form of his gaze, and his eye represents the whole of his character and his personality, and i was thinking about how for a lot of men at the same seeing 2001: a space odyssey, like

many of them would be veterans, and almost all of them would know a military or naval veteran - and fears of homosexuality in that period were often not of the fruitier, more obvious gay dudes, but like, the perceived anonymity of homosexuality, and homosexuals as a dangerous, hidden underground that seeks to predate on and "turn" or corrupt heterosexual men

the idea that although you might not know his name or his face or have any idea who he is, a homosexual (or multiple homosexuals) might be among you. he might be watching you exercise, or watching you sleep, or taking an interest in you, and you will not know. many gay men obviously fear being looked at as sexual objects, being consumed via the gaze, the way that they look at and consume women

esp bc the stewardesses are presented as similar to the flight hostesses on aeroplanes and w the 60s being such a big period for like, the luxury of this beautiful woman who waits on you hand and foot and whom you can look at and touch and harass and whatever, and she's a mother/wife away from home to comfort you while travelling

the men don't have that on the jupiter mission bc it's not luxury, it's more sparse - instead of a beautiful woman, they have HAL, and instead of a beautiful woman for them to look at, HAL is constantly looking at them

even stuff like HAL reading their lips and the close focus of the camera on their lips as they move?

the language used to discuss HAL is very reminiscent to me too of the ways in which ppl of the period discussed homosexuality - his malfunction, his needing to be corrected, the way dave and frank discuss how his nature has become corrupted and they need to neutralise him, but know tht talking about him where he will hear it will have him resist?

and ultimately what dave does to him is analagous to a lobotomy, something that many gay men of the period experienced as a way to correct what was perceived as a sexual perversion

like it's not about whether HAL was attracted to frank or dave, bc ultimately the fear of gay men is not the fear of a gay man wanting to fuck you specifically - the first and foremost fear is that he is wrong, incorrect, inverse, unnatural, in a way that's unspeakable and is not just about sex, bc it's about his fundamental existence as a man, or a robot you've decided you want to be a man, and the way he's incorrectly fulfilling that role

anyway i liked the flick

[forgottenspring]

Mild rant on Alastor bc I'm tired.

*takes deep breath*

I was going to stay out of this so rip to my inbox.

Does anybody remember the whole ace doxing list on here? The whole discussion of not shipping gay characters with the opposite gender? The rep for pan/bi representation and the steps to do it right? Does anybody remember when ppl on here discussed how aros and aces aren't a part of the queer community bc they're not 'gay enough' in a way? Bc I do. That was about a decade ago. And I remember when Alastor was first introduced in the pilot and ppl not accepting he was aroace back then.

It doesn't matter if Alastor is entirely aroace and if he's capable of dating or not.

What matters is we still have so little ace representation and acceptance, especially aroace rep, that a few years ago when a real person Jaiden Animations came out as aroace, ppl tried to destroy her, bc even with a perfect valid explanation of her just saying aroaces are their own thing and she just doesn't want to date, ppl treated it like she was lying or was trying to sneak into the queer community and was straight or all the other horrible things yall might remember "fans" did to her.

Alastor being aroace isn't about being the rep of "Aroaces can feel attraction!!!" bc be real honest.

How many aroace popular characters can ppl list that a regular person on the street is going to know? Bc I've heard all their arguments to invalidate their representation.

Jughead? Oh you mean Cole Sprouse who made out and got it on with Lili Reinhart playing Betty bc he found her sexy? Oh but in the old comics he's a gay character whose in denial. Yelena Boleva? Who? Oh that woman? She's hot she's just traumatized and needs to find the right person. Charlie Weasley? Oh he was only in the books? He was confirmed as aroace through a passive comment most ppl didn't know about from the author that never used the term? Luffy? You mean one of the most shipped characters in One Piece? No he's just an idiot/childish so he doesn't understand girls are pretty. Caduceus Clay? Sorry I didn't watch Critical Role whose that? Are you sure he's aroace? He feels gay to me.

I can list more ppl, but I'm sure most ppl couldn't.

I remember the whole discussion of the pan/bi representation argument of "Yes! We know pan/bi ppl can date the opposite gender. But straight ppl don't know about pan/bi nearly at all or don't accept it," so showing it as gay, who know the term more, until it's shown clearly the character is queer and not "confused straights" they then can have opposite gender attraction. Bc sooooo many pan/bi characters end up "straight" at the end of their show/book. Bc I remember when ppl refused to accept that Deadpool is pan bc of his wife and started freaking out when he dated a nonbinary person in the comics or helped that one genderqueer person he knew.

Representation is about showing to ppl what they're not understanding about the identity in the plainest sense of the words of the identity, then when there's enough rep to show they're not all the same, then you can have the ones that break the rules.

Alastor whether or not he wants to date doesn't matter. What matters is this whole situation blew out of proportion bc ppl refused to accept that some ppl don't feel comfy shipping him. Bc they see themselves in him and don't want that. BUT! Also ppl under the aro and ace umbrella also have no rep and wanted to see him breaking the stereotype they probs have yelled at them of "You can't have a partner you're aroace I forbid it" and wanted to see thru their own experiences how that would be done.

Here's the problem.... As someone who has read a lot of aroace headcanon fanfics as an aroace....... A lot of ppl who are allo don't realize aroace "crushes" are missing emotions... That's why they're aroace. And they'll write them like they're the same just "muted" or "needs to warm up" kinda thing. Or make the character's love "childish" to explain the lack of romance/sex. Which is messed up. And that's the problem here.

Alastor didn't need to be this blown out of proportion of a situation. The problem is ppl found him sexy and the classic "But aroace hot, they can't be aroace bc why hot?" discussion got brought back up without the gentle post format discussions and instead it was a lot of shippers on tiktok with tiny word counts arguing a complex issue.

Ppl should be allowed to ship whatever (except problematic I know yall too well), especially if they see themselves in the characters and especially if they have the same identity and want to explore that!!

The truth of the matter is this is such a huge issue that just keeps happening bc ppl are too used to fandom queer spheres where ppl already know aroace means "off the table" and so they want to play with qprs or grayromantics/sexuals not knowing what that entails bc there's sooooo lil aroace rep that actually explores being aroace and a lot of ppl don't know the basics, and even how very different aroace "off the table" is when you aren't the classic "uwu I'm just innocent and have no friends or importance to the plot so just ignore me and have me be adopted by one of the main couples as a 'kid' figure."

Not to mention that a lot of ppl still think ace means aroace. That aces can't date bc there's ppl who don't know that romantic and sexual attraction are different!

I'm just.... So tired. So very tired of having ppl shout at me what it means to be aroace and being unable to look up the lil aroace rep we have bc of this issue I've seen a million times is all.

[yourlocaldisneyvillain]

i would like to be in and foster an online environment in which discussions abt controversial topics can be handled civilly without ppl ganging up and sending an influx of anon hate. i think internet in general is a space where ppl love to be outraged and i want to challenge that. that's partially why i wrote this fic. i am tired of purity culture and of fandom/online hivemind. in a fandom where a lot of ppl clearly enjoy age gap ships, i say, what makes one better and more "morally correct" than another? what makes a sugar mommy au better than a college student x teacher fic? so many fics featuring dark themes are popular in this fandom (don't wanna name any names bc i don't wanna get anyone involved), but THIS is the one ppl are upset about?

i wanna ask a question -- is it possible to write a fic where ppl are NOT morally pure but still somehow manage to live and find happiness? why is it forbidden to explore those themes in fiction? when you look at ppl in real life and how weirdly their lives shape up, and how ppl are flawed and make mistakes and live unconventionally or sometimes immorally or unhealthily, doesn't that interest you? in a sense that you would like to read about it? explore what goes on in the minds of these ppl/characters?

ppl forget exploring a theme in fiction doesn't equate to condoning it in real life. each individual has to use their own best judgement when consuming a piece of fiction. i assume everyone reading my fic is an adult (as i write fics intended for adult audiences) and can form their own opinion.

i would like it if people could use their reading comprehension and critical thinking skills when reading my fiction, without me having to put up exact and specific 1826372929392 word disclaimers, so ppl's fragile feelings wouldn't get hurt. would it really be okay if i wrote in all caps before the story WEDNESDAY IS 22? you could have read the first paragraph and figured that out. i tagged it as teacher-student bc it's playing with the concept, even if they are not a student/teacher in the timeline of the story. i use implied underage sex as a tag bc in the 2nd chapter, and repeatedly throughout the story i reference larissa and morticia's relationship, that has occurred when they were underage. i mention that they engaged in sex. it is only mentioned, and not explicitly described. do you need me to write all of that out under the title in order not to send anon hate and clutch your pearls in disgust? or can you just read the story and decide if it's for you or not?

i implore you to read all of my works as a story, without attaching a moral judgement to characters' actions. if and when you do attach a moral judgement and form an opinion, pls remember those are fictional characters, and i am an author exploring certain themes bc i can and it interests me to do so. i want to write unconventional stories, controversial stories, romantic stories, funny stories, horror stories, i want to explore everything. everybody who reads is invited to look at them as a piece of fiction they can enjoy or not enjoy, and nothing more. i hope to take you on a journey that leaves you with something to remember, good or bad, but impactful.

from now on, i will probably write longer works and venture into darker themes (next thing i'm planning is murder mystery/thriller). there will still be fluffy pieces, but i just want to push myself out of my comfort zone. i would like to associate with fandom ppl who are open-minded and can read a piece of fiction without going ballistic. if you look at things black and white, you likely won't like my fiction -- and that's okay.

however, if for any reason you want to send me hate, you will absolutely be blocked. i am a person, and i do not deserve insults and rudeness in my inbox. it's easy to feel empowered and feel like you're fighting for A Cause (TM) and attach the Bad Guy etiquette to a single person. that can feel like you're solving something. esp when ppl accuse me of promoting actual p3dophilia -- that's a cause everyone can get behind. banish the evil p3do apologist!

i am a victim of child sexual abuse, that went on all throughout my formative years, and into my adult age, simply because i thought that's how it must be. that experience has scarred me beyond belief. i don't want to share the details. it's not smth i'm sharing for pity points, nor do i need anyone's sympathy. however, it is an experience that has shaped who i am, and perhaps for that reason, combined with other things, is why i'm drawn to certain themes in fiction. i don't owe anybody an explanation as to why i choose certain topics, but since there have been idiots in my inbox who have accused me of harming victims of minor sexual abuse, i feel compelled to say something. fuck you for using a group of suffering ppl to support your own flimsy arguments born out of puritanism and inability to cope with heavy themes in fiction.

you are absolutely welcome to CIVILLY discuss your opinions about the fic with me -- off anon, exclusively. but i know nobody will, bc this isn't about the actual contents of my fic, this is about the delicious morally righteous thrill of a witch hunt.

enjoy the fic. i will post next wednesday.

[yellowroseswrites]

i almost cried from happiness when I found you

Jonathan Byers with a reader with ADHD and anxiety

But not the crying kind

Nerves are always fried, just stressed

knee bounces

Hands are always doing something, tracing patterns, playing with rings,

Doesn't mind crowds but some people give her random anxiety

Isn't to worried about school, but is worried about Jonathan, anxiety for loved ones

I need him not trying to fix her. Trying to appreciate her for who she is

Here you go :)

"Your string of lights is still bright to me"

Jonathan Byers x Adhd!Anxious!Fem Reader [she/her pronouns used]

{TW/CW}- Talks of adhd, fidgeting, food is mentioned, reader doesn’t eat breakfast bc of executive dysfunction, but jon does have her eat, but the actual action of eating isnt discussed, sweet jonathan byers, I love him your honor, mentions him trying to ‘help’ her but it's not fixing her, reader has issues with body temperature, like she gets hot flashes bc of overthinking and stuff, jon calls reader honey once

{Authors note}- Tbh, i kinda hate this fic, but I love jon and this reader. so please, if you have any specific scenarios or prompts you want to see with them, send me an ask with it. i want to write for them more! GIF creds to the owner, title creds to taylor swift

{Word count}- 1,101. It's a short one today babes

There was no one in this world that you loved more than Jonathan Byers. He meant everything to you. He accepted you for who you were, and that mattered more to you than anything else.

You can remember clearly how it felt when he realized there was something off about you. You can remember how you were certain he would leave you. You remember telling him about your ADHD and being scared that he would think differently of you. You remember describing what it was like to live the way you live, with feeling nervous and fidgety for no apparent reason. You thought you were too much for him, you had too many things wrong with you.

And you can remember the indescribable peace you felt when he held your hands and told you he loved you. Even with your faults, though he would never see them as such. It was all you. He promised himself that he would never let you think less of yourself for things you couldn’t control. 

That’s not to say it was easy, because it wasn’t. It still isn’t. But Jonathan’s effort to help will always have you falling for him all over again. He spends his time watching and noticing, picking up on ways he can help you.

Sometimes it’s small things, one’s that you don’t even pick up on. He’ll buy you new rings and bracelets, ones with beads and charms that you can fidget with. He’ll place rubber pieces to the ends of your pencils for you to chew on to keep your pretty little nails intact. He rubs his hand along your back when bouncing your knee, keeping you calm but never making you stay still. He lets you run your fingers through his hair when you need to do something with your hands. He keeps the temperature cooler when he knows you’re coming over, afraid you’ll overthink and overheat. 

Sometimes it’s bigger things, things that make you feel like a burden. He’ll stay over at your place when you can’t fall asleep, or drive you around until your eyes flutter closed. He’ll leave with you if you get overwhelmed, anytime and anywhere. He always asks you before inviting someone else to hang out with yall, you’re always his first priority. He would shut someone up immediately if they said anything bad about you or the way you were acting.

You had only told a few of your friends. You tended to avoid the subject, you didn’t like the way people would view you differently or the way they would treat you. You didn’t want to hear about how you should ‘take a deep breath’ or ‘just sit still’. Many people just didn’t understand, but Jonathan did.

Today was a particularly bad day. You woke up and the temperature was too hot in your room. When you wake up warm, your day is wrong, that’s how it works. You don’t know why and you always try to get past it, but your bad day usually continues to persist.

You didn’t want to brush your teeth. You weren’t too tired, or too lazy, you just felt like you couldn’t. You saw the toothbrush, and you saw the toothpaste, and you couldn’t. So, you went to your kitchen to grab something for breakfast, maybe something to kickstart your day, but nothing seemed appealing.

Finally, you simply settled in your bed. You laid down and stared at your ceiling while you let your thoughts run freely. You heard the phone ring but you couldn’t get up to get it. You couldn’t do anything but stare and think and run your hands along your blankets. You weren’t aware of how much time had passed before you heard a small knock at your door.

“Come in”

The door creaked slightly and you heard a familiar set of footsteps approach you.

“Bad day sweetheart?” Jonathan asked as he sat down on your bed, weighing down the left side and causing you to roll a little bit.

You laughed as you sat up and motioned for Jonathan to lie down. He laid back against your lap, your hands soon finding their way to his hair. 

“I’m fine.”

Even with his face being upside down for you, you could tell he didn’t believe you. He hummed before he responded,

“You sure? You didn’t answer my call and you didn’t eat breakfast.”

“How do you even know that?”

“When you eat breakfast, you have a snack right after, or chew gum. You have to keep chewing.” He replied casually, as though he didn’t just call out a specific detail a normal person would never take notice of.

It scared you a bit, and yet it didn’t surprise you at all. He always noticed things that you thought people would try to ignore. He never once judged you or tried to ‘save’ you, he only asked how he could help, and sometimes he knew you better than you knew yourself.

You were quiet while you thought, though your hands were still brushing through the boy's hair. You sighed before you spoke, “Don’t you ever get tired of me?”

Jonathan sat up at that and turned to face you, “Why would you think that?” His hands found yours before you could bring your nails to your mouth.

“I just, I don’t know, I’m a very tiring person I guess. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you ever thought I was too much.” It most certainly would hurt your feelings, but you wouldn’t say that.

He took in a breath, you could see in his eyes he was a little hurt.

Of course, you thought, he is tired of me. I gave him an out and he’s going to take it.

“Oh honey,” here it is, “I could never get tired of you.”

Oh

“Nothing you do is ‘too much’. You mean everything to me, I could never think of you like that.”

It’s moments like this that make you wonder how you were so lucky as to have Jonathan in your life. You don’t say anything back, you just allow his words to fill your mind. You take a moment to believe them. Even if you don’t feel that way about yourself, you know he wouldn’t lie to you. 

Jonathan seems to know that that’s all you needed to hear. He also knows he’ll have to tell you again, and again, and again, but he doesn’t mind. He’ll tell you forever if you needed him to.

He stands up and holds out his hand, “Come on, let’s go get something to eat mkay?”

[viridousl]

me: hmm time travel Percy will time travel to when HE is eleven years old so that he has the time he needs to fix things and establish a trusting relationship with people he will need in the future.

also me, discussing with a friend about my plans for how Percy will change things: i've got nothing until his third year at least :( maybe i shouldnt have put him so far in the past.

oh well because he is eleven now

also spent an excruciating amount of time today breaking down what Percy can or cannot reasonably know about the future.

under the cut because now im breaking it down for you guys. warning for spoilers to my fic in the sense of what my goals are for Percy

First three books? He knows enough. Apparently the entire school learns about the Harry/Quirrell faceoff. Second year? as a weasley he probably knows about everything EXCEPT for how Ginny got the diary. Also he knows the diary possesses Ginny but not that its a Horcrux. third year? he knows about Peter/Scabbers and that Lupin is a werewolf and that Harry thinks Sirius is innocent. he doesnt know about the time turner or what exactly happens in the shrieking shack or that the shrieking shack is meaningful in anyway.

the fourth year? as a stand-in judge for Barty Crouch Sr. he definitely knows what the triwizard games are all about. he can reasonably know that BC Sr. has been imperioused because BC Jr. confessed to it and Dumbledore might have shared this information. Furthermore if BC Jr. had a trial in front of the Wizengamot after he was captured at the end of the 4th book (hes given the dementors kiss so hopefully he had an official trial?) then Percy could reasonably learn about this stuff if Dumbledore doesn't share this information to the public. Furthermore Percy, as a time traveller, would now know that Voldemort has returned this year. Does he know exactly tf went on involving the grave yard? no but he knows harry shouldnt participate and/or win the triwizard tournement.

fifth year. should he work at the ministry? i think so but this time he wont fall out with his family or have that argument. he could also reasonably save Sirius Black. "reasonably" i say. come here and be dazzled by my deranged thought process.

I spent a long time calculating if Percy could single-handedly take down Bellatrix Lestrange. the first, immediate answer is fucking no. the longer, two hour long conversation i had with someone about whether Percy Weasley could win in a one v one fight against Bellatrix Lestrange was also definitely no. for some reason the other person i was talking to also agreed that he couldn't win, but wanted him to fight Bellatrix anyways. and get fucking killed? girl i hope not.

Hold on I need to go back a step. Percy does show up at the end of the fifth movie as Minister Fudge's right-hand man, and he is there with the Minister to personally see Voldemort's public return. There are some Death Eaters (Dolohov cough cough remember this) who were captured here, so if they were given a trial (i mean theyre literally there with their death eater outfits on so who knows man), Percy could reasonably hear of Sirius Black's death (he didnt leave a fucking body so), or at the very least, be aware that the battle of the department of mysteries occured. it is unlikely Percy would learn of the prophecy or what brought Harry and his friends to the Ministry in the first place.

It is necessary, for learning about Horcruxes, that Percy befriends the Golden Trio. it is easy for him to befriend Ron and Hermoine, as Ron is literally his sibling and Hermoine is a studious loner with high respect for authority at the beginning of the first book. It might be harder for him to befriend Harry but I'll get there when I get there.

It stands that Percy could become more attached to members of the Order of the Phoenix this time around, both through being Harry's friend and through not leaving his family. Thus, motivation to save Sirius Black. I don't see him being able to prevent Sirius from going to the Department, because Harry is there and in danger, but Percy can be there with the rest of the Order and be on high alert for casting a Protego on Sirius or something. In the books, Bellatrix casts a jinx on Sirius, not the killing curse.

So Sirius can be saved. Arguably there are consequences for him being alive, in that Harry is not compelled to chase Bellatrix and thus face off with Voldemort in that main atrium area (so that Voldemort can be revealed as having returned to the public), but I believe that if Voldemort really wants to face off against Harry at this time (which he does) then he will find a fucking way. Percy is still 11 years old right now in my fic so im not too worried about this yet.

also worried that Percy randomly being like "take me with you to this battle!!!!" or just. already being there since he's an Ministry employee who knows what day this even happens and just lurking around the Department early. could maybe cause suspicion? Im dead just imagine Harry pulls up to the Department and Percy's there and he's been there for a full hour already and the kids are like. "Oh hey Percy. What the fuck are you doing here." And Percy is like "I work here." "...But not in this department you don't. Why are you here. We thought Voldemort was going to be here." Like what's your excuse going to be Percy. he pulls up mid-battle, casts Protego on Sirius and leaves immediately after. 😂

Dumbledore's death. This is still happening. He's already dying from the curse on the Gaunt Ring, which Percy won't know about its existence nor its status as a Horcrux, Percy cant stop Snape's Unbreakable Vow that he doesnt even know about. As it stands now, Percy only knows that Death Eaters got into Hogwarts somehow and Snape killed Dumbledore. Percy may feel like he should try and prevent Dumbledore's death, but he still does not trust or like Dumbledore, and his death is necessary is necessary for Dumbledore to pass on the Elder Wand.

Percy does not give a flying fuck about the Deathly Hallows. He is literally a character that does not believe in shit unless he's seen or heard it himself, and this is a children's tale in which i see no way for him to get the Resurrection Stone or the Cloak of Invisibility. Master of Death Percy would be funny as fuck but literally impossible and I would gladly read anyone's attempt at making this happen but it's not something I see myself even trying to write in the near or far future.

Battle of Hogwarts. Percy is literally in it to win it for this. The second he realizes he has time travelled he is cooking up plans to save Fred even though its a literal decade away. Since we've established that its not impossible for Percy to care about the fates of various OoTP members, he might be able to save Tonks and Lupin. He might? Know how they died. I don't see why not. I think he could reasonably know who killed them.

Lupin is killed by Dolohov. I briefly made a mistake here where I thought Dolohov was teaching at Hogwarts instead of the Carrow twins, and while I could change this to fit my story I find it kinda funny how in depth I'm being about this. Dolohov is at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries so we could take him out then. He was captured and then he escapes but maybe Percy could.... kill .... him...? I didn't think this through. um. Dolohov is apparently a very powerful wizard and I'm over here like "teehee. 1 v 1 bellatrix. 1v1 dolohov. 1v1 voldemort" Percy dies in all three of these theoretical battles. If you care. and this time travel is only going 'round once so this cant happen. damn fuck Lupin fr I guess.......

Tonks is killed by Bellatrix Lestrange. We've already been over Percy v Bellatrix, but this time Molly Weasley is on the battle field and this time it's just a different child in danger a bit earlier into the battle. Percy uses Special Attack: Summon Mother Who Successfully Killed Bellatrix In The First Timeline! IT'S INCREDIBLY EFFECTIVE! haha but probably. Technically Bellatrix riles Mrs. Weasley up by bringing up Fred (how does she know his name...) and also by almost killing Ginny but one could argue that hits harder BECAUSE one of her kids already died. I still believe the Molly would be pissed if Percy almost died and/or was injured by Bellatrix. Also Tonks would be right there. Alive. Three v 1 except Percy is like "haha gotta go save Fred from a fucking wall. bye" ??? dgshklfgadkhsfj

I'm kind of dancing around using both the books and the movies here because they really liked just. Putting Percy in the background sometimes in the movies.

Also, Severus Snape. Harry Potter definitely went on and on about how Snape was a spy and he respected him so much he's naming his son after Snape after the Battle of Hogwarts. How does Percy factor this in with Snape having obviously killed Dumbledore? Who knows.

It doesn't matter. There's literally no way for Percy to save Snape. Snape's memories are necessary for Harry to learn the he too, is a Horcrux, and also Voldemort is right fucking there. Like let's break this down. Snape was killed by Nagini and Voldemort was right there watching. I do not think that Percy can save Snape because, again, Voldemort is right there and Percy cannot reasonably fight and defeat Voldemort himself. This is something I have broken down both for my benefit and for Percy. (Percy, discovering he is in the past: Why am I 11 years old? All I need to do is save Fred. Why the fuck am I 11? What, am I supposed to single-handedly fight Voldemort? I can't do that.) <- thats right Percy you can't. So Snape still dies.

Other people. Percy would not care about Colin Creevey or Lavender Brown. Apparently like 50 other people died in this battle but no one cared about their names. L. Some person tried to break down the exact names of who died here and who killed them and it really feels like Dolohov and Bellatrix need their deaths on Fast Track. And apparently Yaxley. Percy is the Minister's assistant, and the minister at that time is under Imperious by Yaxley, so it is possible that they could meet.

Which brings me back to: Is Percy going to start killing people? I don't feel like it's in his character, and I especially doubt if he does kill anyone that he's going to be using an Unforgivable Curse. He is capable of breaking rules for things he's passionate about. I'm absolutely sure he can find it in himself to kill Rookwood. Because Fred. But I don't necessarily want him to be facing this dilemma. That's a problem for future me LOL!

There are, of course, consequences I need to consider. My man does not want his pet rat-actually-human chilling in his bedroom for longer than necessary, so I imagine this will be one of Percy's first BIG acts to change the timeline, which renders the third year stuff moot. It's not that hard to get a different dude to help with Voldemort in the fourth year instead of Wormtail, or Wormtail could break out. The point is he will never be Ron's pet and there will be an attempt to let Sirius be a free man, earlier in the timeline to boot. What are the consequences of saving Sirius Black's life? IDK. The necklace Kreacher has won't be stolen by Mundungus Fletcher, and they won't have to break into the Ministry. They won't free like. three muggleborns. If I follow the book they will still have Grimmauld Place as a safe house. If I follow the movies Ron wont get splinched even though that wasnt that much of a concern. Although to Percy, keeping Ron from being injured is in fact a concern so

Would Grimmauld Place be a safe house? Sirius would be there. Would Sirius want to go on the run with them? Yes. But we're not letting him. Man I really gotta think the consequences through on letting Sirius live. Literally I went into this thinking "Save Fred, fuck around, the end" but Percy is going to make (shudders) friends.

anyway. a lot for me to think about. a lot for you to think about if you ever want to try your hand at a percy weasley time travel fic.

just realized that i still have. no plans for PERCYS years at hogwarts before the books. just the peter plotline? alright...

[lemonhemlock]

Hello! Hope u are doing well.

I wanted to ask u what you think of viserys and the prophecy. The dude was king for quite a long time and in peace time as well, and he invited the northern lords to pledge allegiance to his heir. Why didn't he or his ancestors put any plans in place, like the starks with their wall to defend against the ice zombie threat? He could have even talked to the stark patriarch who was there for rhaenyra at that time and made some plans. (I guess if they show cregan in season 2 saying like "Hey Jace your grandpa talked about this with my dad...it would be interesting).

I mean the show made it seem like the triarchy is the only problem and Viserys enjoys the success from Jaehaerys' reign so if this prophecy is the most important thing to him why didn't he focus on that too and make some plans?

Also any thoughts on what was Rhaenyras big plan on this threat, coz other than increasing the number of possible promised princes and increasing confusion on who it actually be, I don't actually think she would have done anything either?

Why did aegon i not just tell everyone and let everyone prepare? I hated they made it even seem like his invasion actually had any moral basis in the show because i definitely think he just invaded because he wanted to and not for some altruistic reasons.

Is it needed for rhaenyra to be even queen for the prophecy? It seems like anyone from aegon i's line would be enough and the best course of action I think was for viserys to give a class to all his family members atleast on this "big threat".

(sorry for the long question 💚)

Hey, starstruck. 💚

I have a little bit (or more lol) of a different opinion on this topic than I've seen so far in the fandom. I think it's very likely the prophecy was one of GRRM's add-ons. Or at the very least something that he wasn't particularly bothered by, bc it... fits? I'm not very pressed by it; it doesn't really contradict the canon we have so far in any significant way? We already know Jon and/or Dany are the prime candidates for TPTWP and both of them come from Aegon's line.

I feel like GRRM is deliberately withholding information about the conquering trio for some reason. The Targaryens lived on Dragonstone for the whole Century of Blood without bothering Westeros in any particular way, content to grow their coffers on trade, even though they were the only dragonlords left in the world. Even Aegon I got himself involved with Pentos and Tyrosh against Volantis, so he seemed to have totally different preoccupations before something happened and he set his sights on Westeros. We already know some Targaryens have dragondreams so him being influenced by a prophecy doesn't strike me as outrageous. Bloodraven himself could retroactively send him those dreams to get him to move his arse over to Westeros, like a kind of medieval version of Netflix's DARK.

As far as the Conquest being morally justified because of a prophecy, IDK... does Rhaegar's abduction of Lyanna become morally justified because of the prophecies Rhaegar was studying? I'm inclined to say no, but people are still (hotly) debating that in fandom to this day. I also think sometimes fans tend to overanalyze the author's intentions and also perceive them through more of a modern (or even Americanized) lens. I know we say within fandom that Westeros was colonised (as a shorthand), but that's not exactly the definition, because what the Targaryens did in Westeros was devoid of the large-scale population movements, assimilation and deep cultural exchanges that characterised this phenomenon - as well as the nefarious elements that the colonisation of the Americas is well-remembered for, like genocide and cultural erasure or the criminal-level exploitation that the Europeans enabled in Africa.

When we are taught about the Roman Empire's expansionism and other such historical wars of conquest, it's more to press the issue of ethnogenesis and discuss diplomatic history, not to philosophically ponder whether it was "good" or "bad". "Was Roman Emperor X morally justified in annexing territory A or B?" is not really the type of question that is very prevalent when parsing through the historiography of the real world.* At some point in history, any kind of existing polity was formed as a result of some war of conquest and some bloodshed. Even each individual component kingdom of Westeros was made up by uniting several other petty kingdoms in the area. Was that morally impeachable? If not, then what should we do - go back and disintegrate that unified political structure into its component bits until we get back to tribe-level? Where does it stop? Who is to pinpoint where exactly the line in the sand is? And why are we focusing specifically on the size of this country/nation/community instead of focusing on the overall population's well-being?

This is a very rambling parenthesis, but, ultimately, I don't think the author necessarily intended for the particular act of conquest by the Targaryens to be viewed as 100% BAD or 100% GOOD. What marks the difference for me personally is the asymmetry of power between the Targaryens and the rest of Westeros, that is not borne out of any technological prowess, but out of a kind of pact-with-the-devil, selling-your-soul-to-obtain-access-to-magic type of thing. It's the Field of Fire and reigning down fire over Dorne as combat engagement. It's not something anyone else has any shot at replicating. To me, the story of the Targaryens is about gaining access to absolute power and allowing it to corrupt you, disregarding good governance and terrorizing those who oppose you in favour of keeping that power at all costs. They have these supernatural fetters around them and place themselves at the top of the hierarchical pyramid, but they have little to show for it when it comes to actually ruling the realms they wanted to conquer so much.

Perhaps their lack of planning against the ice zombie threat plays right into this dynamic and entitlement. It is notable, though, that the Starks in the main series are none-the-wiser about the ice threat as well. Nor does Ned seem to have any idea about it. Or the Night's Watch. So if information got lost along history, there is either a good in-universe explanation for it that George hasn't revealed yet or it's not the fault of one individual person who wanted to gatekeep. I get the feeling that neither Viserys, nor Rhaenyra thought that this apocalyptic threat was going to pester them specifically - more like it was more a problem for future generations than it was for them. Perhaps bolstered by the knowledge that no particularly suspicious activity had been reported north of the Wall.

As for the question - why didn't Aegon I simply dissimulate his knowledge of the prophecy and let the Westerosi decide on their own what to do about it? Well, the realistic answer is that they would have laughed and carried on. Who would entertain such a wacky notion? Who would even care about a problem that could/maybe/probably-not-though happen eons into the future, when they'd all be dead anyway? We have a hard time getting people to care about climate change right now and we have scientific evidence at our disposal, not an unprovable prophecy. My guess would be that Aegon maybe thought that, by bestowing kinghood to TPTWP, he was giving him/her the necessary tools to defeat this threat - money, resources, armies and the legal authority to make everyone else obey them, thus simplifying the process.

RE: the book endgame, coming back to the famous Robert Frost poem, my interpretation of that is that both ice and fire have the potential to be incredibly destructive and could reasonably cause the end of the world. But the idea is for them to neutralize each other out - not that fire power is the moral choice here as opposed to ice or vice-versa. IMO both of them have no place in the world and have to be snuffed out if Westeros is ever to escape this weird climate limbo it's stuck in.

Of course, the problem with meta-analyses like this is that we still have 2 full books to go until the end, so it's kind of early to be making grand, sweeping ideological commentaries like this, when we're still missing vital information. So whenever something else gets revealed, there is a real risk of us looking a little foolish in hindsight.

*not to say that you can't study history using by resorting to that paradigm, but you won't find answers that are immediate or plain, a neat little box in which to stuff this conundrum, with a neat little sticker labelled GOOD or EVIL. Similarly, I don't think the author intends to solve that moral dilemma either - making us question it is the entire point.

[anxious-burrito-babe]

an incredibly unnecessary linguistic analysis of like twenty seconds of dialogue in prey (2022)

I was really surprised to see this movie explore themes of gender, siblinghood, and power. there's a scene where Naru and Taabe are really grappling with this as she tries to convince him to help her hunt the predator:

NARU: We need to go back out. Far, beyond the ridgeline. TAABE: No. NARU: Kay well I’ll hunt alone if I have to TAABE: You can’t. NARU: Do I need your permission, war chief? TAABE: It’s not about permission. You can’t. I had to carry you back.

here, Naru is clearly mocking Taabe and the authority he apparently assumes over her. Taabe doesn't deny the "chief" comment, but instead attempts to explain that, based on the previous scene, she lacks the ability to follow through on her goals. in his eyes, she is putting herself in harm's way.

what really struck me here (because I'm a huge nerd) is the word "can't" here. for a native English speaker, permission and ability are tangled up in this word. through the economy of this exchange, the audience easily understands that Naru is not simply struggling against traditional gender roles, but a similarly frustrating underestimation of her ability. this scene is a brilliant set-up for later moments in the movie where Naru ultimately takes advantage of how she is continuously underestimated.

but my question (again, being a massive nerd) is: what happens to this scene in the Comanchee dub? how does that version engage with the question of permission and ability?

it's difficult to tell from the subs alone, which are a (in my opinion) messy gloss toward the English dialogue. to my eternal outrage, there are no subtitles in Comanche. if I wanted to find out exactly what the actors were saying, well, I'd have to transcribe as best I could as a non-native speaker and make do with online Comanche language resources. for the curious, I'm including an incredibly shitty and lazy transcript of the dialogue that I used to work out what was going on. if by any chance any Comanche see this post, I would love to hear any corrections (otherwise do not at me bc as a linguist about to start my phd kI’m already ashamed of the transcript LMAO). anyway, here's what I managed to cobble together after listening to ten second segments of dialogue fifty billion times, with the subtitles written in parentheses:

NARU: u:k pitsaku. u:nitu mirak (We need to return there, going that way) TAABE: oi (No) NARU: megu nana patakh mia (Well I’ll hunt alone) TAABE: ke aan (You can’t) NARU: na se para eala xaya kui? (Do I need your permission, Chief?) this line of dialogue was rough for me rip TAABE: ke ama kuit. ke aan. na se ama kutsahajt (It’s not about permission. You can’t. I saved you)

and here are some relevant words I pulled from an online Comanche Dictionary :

• pitsa miʔarʉ (return, go back, move away from)

• miarʉ / miarʉ̠ (go, walk)

• kee (no)

• nanihtʉbinitʉask (ask permission)

• tsahkwitsoʔai (save someone's life)

I haven't yet been able to find information about modals in Comanche to figure out how "ke aan" relates to "can." but besides making it painfully apparent that my transcript is fucked up beyond belief, comparing the vocabulary to the dialogue revealed a few things. one, Naru is talking about going by herself, and talk of hunting seems not to enter the picture. two, while the English dialogue has Taabe discussing permission, in the Comanche he apparently rejects the label of Chief. to me, this is a more humble treatment of Taabe's character. he doesn't believe he has earned that title and makes clear that he just wants to protect his little sister.

is the difference as striking as I thought? no, but that doesn't make it any less interesting (remember, huge nerd here). i wish we had true Comanche subtitles so it was eaiser to appreciate the subtext more. even better, I'm mourning the missed opportunity for full Comanche dialogue as the original script intended, with both Comanche and English subs. there are even jucier scenes I'm planning to look into more to catch other subtleties. either way, I'm delighted we got to see a powerful Comanche woman kick predator ass and hear her talk about it in Comanche too

[whynotcherries]

hi yes hello wonderful author who has written some of my favorite soc fics: I have a question. What are your thoughts on a presumed dead au where the presumed dead (Kaz) has amnesia? So far I've got the idea that like. Kaz gets shot (bonus points if he takes a bullet for Jesper) and wakes up in Belendt bc of a kind stranger who got him to a Healer in time, but the crows don't know that bc they had to leave Kaz behind (maybe the stadwatch were coming? Idk yet) so while they're all having a funeral Kaz is idk working at a bakery or a shoe store or smth. Kaz eventually gets found and kidnapped back to Ketterdam. Kaz, still with amnesia, trying to leave out the nearest window bc he doesn't want to get mixed up with "dangerous criminals" is just so funny to me lol. Anyway I'm gonna stop rambling now but I just wanted to like. ask your thoughts about it and if I should write it ig I hope I'm not annoying you tho

hello anon! you're not annoying me at all!

i feel like i've discussed something adjacent to this concept with someone else before, but that was literally years ago and i don't quite remember who was talking about writing it (and i don't think they ever actually did). nevertheless, pretty much any excuse for angst is a good one.

my biggest question is if the crows would presume someone dead and actually go through with holding a service if they don't believe they're dead enough to stop looking for them (that is, assuming that they're the ones who take him back to ketterdam?). the idea of kaz taking up baking in his amnesiac state is beautiful, LOL -- and i'd love to see him try to dip pigeon-style in the face of dangerous criminals.

if you write this, i'd love to read it!

[felinemotif]

3, 12, 23, 27 from the book ask game pls? <33

3. what’s a book you were pleasantly surprised by?

nightbitch by rachel yoder! themes of female rage and capitalism and motherhood. a middle-class woman convinced she's turning into a dog. about 200 pages, witty.

i really wasn't sure what to expect from it; it was a purchased on a whim because i liked the title. surprisingly pleasant. 3.5 stars. end wasn’t as strong**

12. have you read books in more than one language?

yes, spanish and english! just depends on which the original language was between those two because meaning can be lost in translation and if i can, i like to read in the language the author wrote it. but there are some books that i have loved so much, i'll read it in both.

do swedish language textbooks count?

23. what’s your favorite book that’s been assigned for class?

i love frankenstein. i actually got a special edition paperback of it in the mail maybe a year ago? it's very pretty.

after reading it, i did a deep dive on the author's life. mary shelley was a very fascinating woman.

27. any “unpopular” book opinions?

...i judge books by their covers. if it doesn't have an interesting cover, it doesn't grab my attention the same way and i'm less likely to want a physical copy on my shelf.

if the book sounds interesting, i'll still read it; just on library loan or as an ebook.

also, i don't think everything needs a sequel or a series. some things are better as a standalone.

hmm... i don't think authors or their team should publicly respond to book reviews. i bought piper cj's debut novel the night and the moon before it was available in stores -- i was following her journey as an up and coming self-published author pretty closely because i found her 'rapid series release' to be an interesting approach (the night and the moon was written in, if i remember correctly, less than a week), and was happy to support her novel before it hit the shelves.

piper also talked a lot about how meaningful the book was to her, as she in a way came out to her family through them, which caused her pain (she was estranged from her family).

plus, it was said to be a sapphic fantasy that touches on childhood trauma-- all things i'm interested in.

this was a little while ago; i still haven't read it because the author and a woman later revealed to be her editor responded to a very politely worded 2 star review in a manner i felt was inappropriate. the editor attacked the reviewer and piper, the author, responded by mocking the books the reviewer gave five stars in the past.

totally insane behavior esp bc one of the books was about the columbine shooting.

piper did apologize on youtube after, and said she reached out to the reviewer but her and her editor's actions was the pushing point of so much harassment towards the reviewer that they had to deactivate their social account(s).

piper's marketing of the book was that she didn't send it out to publishers (she self-published and then later re-published) because she couldn't take rejection towards a story that was so personal to her, and one that caused her to lose her family.

it bums me out tbh; i was truly looking forward to supporting her series despite knowing that it would come with many errors and that it wouldn't be the most well-written thing i could read; i just wanted to support the author herself.

but her actions, though she hasn't repeated them since, really convinced me that authors and their publishing team should never respond to reviews, good or bad.

reviews are for the readers; authors can read them, but i don't think they should publicly discuss them.

sorry for the rant jaja bookish drama is something i enjoy digging into with some snacks and wine and in this case, i was there while it all went down.

talk books with me

[trans-cuchulainn]

While I know all recorded Irish myths are copies written down by Christian monks, but is there much left detailing the indigenous Irish view of the afterlife? Roman records say the continental Celts believed in reincarnation, but is that found anywhere in Irish texts? Thank you!

ehhhhhh so. i have been holding off on answering this one (sorry for the delay) bc this is one of those things where it's really not my area of expertise due to it being too complicated for me to want to wade into unless i really really care (and i am not particularly invested in it as a question, so i steer clear). i did at one point know more about this, because i was at one point more invested, but that was a long time ago, i have memory loss, and i am in a different city from all the books that might be able to help me

so with that caveat out of the way...

the short answer is no -- as far as i am aware there is nothing that unambiguously discusses pre-christian ideas about the afterlife, because christianisation precedes literacy in ireland and therefore everything is filtered through the christian worldview and they're not super interested in writing down things they consider to be heresies, unless they can rationalise it. however sometimes they do manage to rationalise stuff within a christian framework and therefore keep it (such as their attempts to fit the túatha dé danann in by claiming they're 'half-fallen angels' (heresy) or, at other times, demons who deceived people into thinking they were gods)

but by that point it's no longer unambiguous, you see, bc it's been rationalised into a specific framework

i do not think we have any archaeological or historical evidence that we can interpret as telling us anything about how they thought of the afterlife, but this is definitely not my area. i think there is evidence that offerings were left at some of the neolithic burial mounds during the iron age -- it's aaaages since i read up on this, so this is vague, but that suggests either that they're venerating those buried there, or that they've taken on new cosmological/spiritual significance to people who wouldn't know/remember what their original purpose was. which combines with some of the literature to be like "mounds?? afterlife?? otherworld??" (see below)

but like. i recommend reading some archaeologists about that bc i am very much pulling half-remembered info out of a cupboard in the back of my brain and that is not wildly reliable lmao

then the other answer is 'yes but it's literature' so we don't know to what extent it offers any insight into genuine religious practice vs being just a literary construct. there are various stories about ... not reincarnation per se, but people living many lives in many different forms and witnessing large swathes of history as a result. some of this comes up in stories about fintan mac bóchra for example, who was meant to have lived for thousands of years and witnessed a lot of history as a result.

there's also a story about a youth who talks to colum cille, and he talks about all the various things he saw in various different periods where he was different animals. what's interesting about this one is that when colum cille's followers show up, colum cille won't tell them what the youth said, because he doesn't think it's suitable for them to hear -- suggesting it's seen as being in some way incompatible with christianity, so might be implying non-christian beliefs. again, though, this is literature, and idk enough about this text to tell you how likely it is to reflect an oral tradition or a pre-christian belief and how much is like, a later author's ideas about what earlier people might have believed (bearing in mind they had access to a lot of latin texts so might be influenced by what the romans said about celts!)

re: other takes on the afterlife, in a lot of the immrama and echtrae stories (voyage tales, otherworld adventure tales), there's a lot of overlap between the irish otherworld and the christian afterlife, particularly purgatory, and this is the case from very early on. but this sense of confusion about whether the otherworld is for the living or whether it's a world of the dead might relate to people's beliefs about the nature of síd mounds (remember, they're often burial mounds as well as being associated with the otherworld, so it's easy for some slippage to happen there, and see above on archaeological stuff on that). and this shows up right into modern folklore, the 18th and 19th century stuff -- a lot of folklore involves seeing people they thought were dead feasting in the otherworld, and not being able to bring them back to the world of the living etc. again though very unclear how old that is, the christian influences are involved from early on, it's hard to untangle those strands

this is not a particularly detailed or supported answer i'm afraid bc i generally don't focus on those kind of mythological questions. i just find them too slippery and complex and i would prefer to focus on things like "this text says X and that's interesting because Y" because i am just a literary analyst at heart lmao. i get headaches whenever i have to deal with anything too complicated, and these kinds of things usually need to be done in conjunction with, like, archaeology and stuff, and that's something i've never been trained in!

i feel like this might be something mark williams discusses in ireland's immortals, at least in passing, but i am not near my copy so i cannot check

i'm making this non-rebloggable just because i don't feel confident enough in my answer to want it to circulate too widely but if anyone has anything to add, if you tag me in a post i'll edit this to add a link to those additions

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

New pinned post bc I can't be bothered trying to find the old one! Yes, I'm that lazy. And I like a do-over sometimes.

Hi, I'm Catkin. This is my corner of the internet, and here I'll stay. I'm Christian, female, my self esteem is at an all time low, I can be extremely depressing, and I don't know why people bother following me. Anyway, the fact that life's hard sometimes doesn't mean God isn't the light that shines in the darkness.

I'm a photographer. Most or all photos you see here will be taken on my Canon EOS 850D (for all you fellow nerds) and tagged #catkin photos. What I share are typically unedited screenshots of the image (usually nature or bird photography), and are not to be reposted, though reblogs are welcomed. They're what I vaguely call my 'tier 2' photos - usually ones that I particularly like, but not my very favouritest, some of which I'm gradually gathering into a collection. I'm interested in eventually selling photos, but I don't know how that actually works. If you're interested in using my photos for anything at all, PM me and we can discuss it.

I'm a writer. Excerpts will be shared usually under the tag #excerpts, although that's not consistent. My current project is affectionately known as taira (main character's name) and thus all excerpts of that will be tagged #taira excerpts. I intermittently tag most writing-adjacent posts as #writing, but that's very iffy. I welcome feedback. Other relevant tags for other projects are #vaniah, #adira, #backburner projects, and others that will crop up from time to time. #paddy, #sheba, #spry and #minna are all associated with taira. If you want to know anything about any specific projects (or a summary of my projects at the moment!) just drop me an ask, anytime! I try and keep anon on as much as possible, though if necessary I'll close the askbox at times.

I have... an embarrassing number of hobbies. I'm also vaguely an artist (#catkin cannot draw), a cook (#disaster in the kitchen), and an absolute fangirl (#narnia, #aogg, #p&p, #north and south). (And other fandoms.) Oh, and I knit as well (#catkin knits), current obsession socks (#catkin knits socks).

If you know me by my official author's name, and you're coming either from real life or from a discord server (or other places you could know me), just drop me a line if you plan to follow me. Anyone who follows me and I recognise from another place, and they haven't talked to me about it, is fairly likely to get blocked. Just a heads-up.

Anything that I remember - and I sha'n't promise to be consistent though I'll try - that's generally triggering or just downcast and sad and me spiraling a little bit goes under #puddleglum hours. For one specific topic I've started using the tag #16% mortality rate they say. If you immediately know to what I refer, I'm so sorry and we can both get through this. For everybody's sakes, I hope you don't. I try to limit that sort of posting, but it's likely to increase especially in the next couple of months, but hopefully (HOPEFULLY) at some point after that it will reduce (I... might get help. I might not).

The only thing that will be an automatic block on all my sideblogs and my main is pro-ED content. If you have it in your account and interact with me I may squint very hard but I won't immediately block you. But if you put any kind of pro stuff in the tags or comments? (Including pro tags, trust me, I know 'em) I'm gonna just straight-up block you. And report, if I've the energy.

[pancakehouse]

heyy mads so actually i need more of your thoughts on amy/laurie and why you don’t understand people defending them…. i remember being kind of baffled by them when i read the book as a young teen so please <3 be a hater <3

hiii laura oh my god i will (gladly) be a hater it comes sooo naturally to me and we all rlly gotta be biting our tongues on here daily, don't we :-/

(pls ... if you are a passionate amy/laurie fan .. just close your eyes and keep scrolling babes i love you sooo much this post cannot hurt you i promise !!!)

OKAY. so i feel like the whole amy/laurie vs jo/laurie debate has been widely discussed (both on The Internet and in my household lol) but for me it's less that i think he should've ended up w jo and more that i think acting like a/l truly love each other and totally definitely make sense is so stupid. it's soooo stupid laura i am rolling my eyes!! can you see me!!!

and the reason i think this! is because, essentially, Alcott uses the four sisters to like ... represent the few limited life paths that were avail to non-wealthy american women in the 19th century, right?

like meg marries the man who is able (if only just) to provide her a stable home. beth pursues her music (piano? if im remembering right) and is content to live her life at home, with her family. amy wants to (and eventually does) marry a wealthy, cultured man of ~Society who can give her a life above the one she was born into.

jo is the wildcard, ofc. the one who goes off-script for the normal young woman, and ofc who alcott views as a reflection of herself. we know that alcott wanted jo to remain unmarried and was strong-armed by publishers to put her w someone, but if she knew she'd have to, then my only explanation for it to not be laurie was to spite the predictable narrative and spite the readers lol.

the guy jo does end up w is so random and just .. makes no sense. if you're making sense of it, you are having to reach so far up your ass to do so! sorry to be crass!!! (rlly leaning into my hater-moment oops)

anyway - the way this connects to amy and laurie is this:

i do not believe (and i'm sure we are not meant to believe) that meg married for love. beth (</3) did not marry ofc. and it's impossible to believe jo married for love if the author intended her to be unmarried. that storyline doesn't exist to me now.

and amy is the sister that is represented as a bit vain; a bit entitled and spoiled in the way youngest children are allowed to be. from the start, it's clear she plans to marry for wealth. even if we're taking from gerwig's adaptation instead of solely the book, then amy still isn't really represented as particularly romantic (the whole 'i'm not a poet' scene) (also tbf it's been awhile since i read the book, but imo she romanticizes her life, yes, but not love itself).

LAURIE is the romantic, the most so, out of all the characters. i genuinely feel like this is the ONLY reason ppl latch onto amy/laurie and try so hard to rationalize it .. bc they can't bear to think of laurie in a marriage that was w his next-best-option rather than True Love (sorry.. by no means a dig at amy...but cmon guys ..)

because i also feel like the only thing laurie really wanted even more than to spend his life w jo, is to be apart of the march family. it was always clear he wanted that, just as it was always clear he loved jo from day 1! and so the only conclusion i was ever able to come from all this is that he loved jo for being jo and he loved amy for being a march sister.

ah god sorry this is SO anysmally long i am SO SO sorry laura dear!! so grateful to you for this opportunity to hate on them (read: cringe & take the romance out of) them as a couple!!! but there is simply no scenario where i can imagine knowing a boy has loved my sister his entire life and then MARRY him after ?? bc she rejected him ??!!! esp knowing amy and jo's history of shared drama. esp bc the entire story is one of sisterhood!

like bro that girl (amy) has mentally been your sister-in-law for a decade ... and now we're saying we LOVE her? puke vom i hate it it makes me cringe and twitchy and yuck. its so weird ppl !!!! so weird.

[eliias-bouchard]

i know like negative 15 things about rain world but my mutual posts about it constantly. it loosk interesting please tell me abt it :bigoleyes:

OKOKOK so. first off

this post goes over the basic lore as well as my ocs (at the time anyway) and m gonna tell you about my NEW ocs

i dont remember if i entioned them in that post but THE TWINS ... stormclouds overhead and rising birds. storms was the local group senior, but he suffered a mechanical failure and a little less than 1/3 of his can collapsed. after he collapsed a clan of slugcats moved in and he was like "huh. everyone else seems to enjoy using these Beastes for work, what if i get them to function as my memory" (bcs he lost a lot of memory + processing power in his collapse) so he does!! and he gives them all names. the group is collectively called the Library of Storms and it's headed by two twigs who is aweso,e

then rising birds!! she is storms' twin (kinda? they consider themselves to be twins but they're not Actually twins, they were just built at similar times) and storms gave his seniority to hir after his collapse.

bcs of a dispute in her city over ascension methods that eventually turned into a war she was forced to subdue, birds is very security minded. she's especially worried about a situation where an iterator 'goes rogue' and starts trying to harm the others, and she spends a lot of her free time running simulations on various ways to kill an iterator, etc etc. even though she's very upbeat and positive, she is VERY strategic. if you know tma at all, she'd 1000% be a web avatar. rising birds is incredibly forgiving and nice but it is an incredibly bad idea to get on her bad side she's awesoe <3

so. in game there are beasts called Miros Birds and Miros Vultures which are biomechanical and DANGEROUS AS HELL they're fucking terrifying.

the problem is that they can't fit in small gaps. if a beast goes in a small gap it's completely safe, and birds can't have that! if she makes a beast that can go in small gaps and kill readily, she'll be able to protect any area, forever. she starts with a slugcat.

her first try yields some decent result. it's got the black colouring of a miros bird, the bright, yellow eyes, it's very powerful, although it unfortunately isn't as aggressive as she needs it to be, and it's very skittish.

one thing she doesn't notice is the unintentional chronic illness she's given it. it's prone to seizures separate from its photosensitivity due to its powerful eyes, and it can't eat certain foods. by the time she realises what happened, it's escaped her can, and she can't find a way to bring it back.

(it does come back though and its very happy to be back home with its mum)

AND THEN. 7 CROWNS OF BONE I LOVE HIM ....

7 crowns of bone is one of few iterators who genuinely loved and cared for the ancients. he adored them, and was super sad when they all ascended.

over time though he learned about the various, mainly pointless and trivial restrictions they'd put on iterators, and slowly began to feel betrayed, and then upset, and then angry.

his faux-hatred didn't come until the sinkhole though.

see, a sinkhole's opened up beneath his can. there... isn't much he can do. it's going to swallow him sooner or later.

he checks his logs. it's pointless; why the hell would there be anything useful about a freaking sinkhole in his logs?

but there is.

there is a log, authored by his administrator, about the high likelihood of a sinkhole opening beneath his can.

the discussion comes around to preventative measures. one of his citizens - a well-known one, a saint revered and in high authority - is positing that there could be horizontal supports to partially or fully support him.

"well, by the time it opens we probably won't be around to worry about it," his administrator says. the table laughs. they begin discussing trivial bullshit, about some moral code or another. he-

he doesn't hate his administrator. he can't hate his administrator. even now the taboos are stopping him from some trivial, morally neutral action. he is so, so tired.

now, luckily for bone the sinkhole doesn't tear him apart or anything but his can isn't having a great time.

earlier than this, there was a small group of slugcats. travellers. whilst most of them are not familiar with iterators, they know of their cans, and it's a point of significant pride to climb an iterator clan on your own.

this one is young when they try for the first time. they barely make it up one of the legs.

they're older, almost an adult, when they try again. it is raining, it is pouring, but they know as they climb the rain will cease. they'll break through the cloud layer and all will be well.

they do not see the part of the flux condenser coil hurtling towards them, in their climb, until it is too late. the impact discharges the electricity within, and to this slugcat, they are struck by lightning.

they manage to get down safely, but by then it's almost unbearable on the surface. in their peril trying to find a shelter they go deep, deep underground, getting lost in the twisting caves, and finally finding shelter, safety, falling asleep near instantly.

this scug is called The Fallen and theyre DOPE their body's basically healed around the coil and now they have electricity powers and also glow. eventually they find bones' can, far under the earth, and unintentionally revive him by providing charge to his can. it's cool

[tootyfruities]

answering earlier than expected bc of a random burst of energy? couldn’t be me 🤭 nah but i actually feel kinda sad™️ rn and u make me feel better so here i am 🤞but OMGKEJFJWBFHE WHERE DO I EVEN BEGINNNNN

youcore fr bc you’re so smart and cool bae ugh your mind is everything OMGMGMGMM you got me wanting to jump through the screen to gently hold shin but also gently hold you bc KDNSJDDKDN the storyline fits so well and like,,,, suits him if that makes sense???? i’m absolutely HERE for this letter writing arc and im so fuckin excited you have no idea <3 <3 <3 (might inspire to make more playlists too, just for u <3) even despite all this, I can still feel his dorky and soft self and I JUST

there’s this cute comic from @/loweater of toshi using asl w bakugou and eri and if i can find it i’ll tag you :) OH and his dad being his therapist and all the other details about his family wE LOVE TO SEE IT 🗣🗣🗣 (this moreso relates back to the blog which we’re gonna get into- but i remember you writing abt his (3?)pet cats so just a little idea there for u :>)

last thing darling!! please please please don’t feel pressured to reopen that blog or talk to me constantly. getting a little more personal in 3, 2, 1~ for the longest time when u took your hiatus, i felt so bad and guilty bc I thought I was the reason and I took so much of your time and energy and I admit and apologize for being way more emotionally dependent than I should’ve been. things have changed now and im doing a lot better! i love and care for u vv much so pls don’t beat yourself up over it ok <3

wait no sorry THIS is the last thing I swear 😭 i was actually gonna msg u a couple days ago bc i actually had a dream abt the voicemail thing- long story short,,,,, i think i called shin back the next day, we said hello and i unexpectedly (to him anyway) asked him a question abt his new pet fish…??? OK before u think i’m crazy;;; i think it was smth that he had rambled abt in the voicemail and i was asking abt it just to talk and exist freely before getting into the Other Much Needed To Be Discussed Topics.

okay i went like way overboard im sorry 💀 ily forever my darling mwah <3

I NEVER GOT THE NOTIFICATION FOR THIS IM SO SAD :(

UHM 1) i hope you're ok w me answering this publicly w the more personal info shared, if not lemme know and i will, idk delete this post? that being said! between my own terrible unmotivation and personal issues, plus yes maybe a little bit with the emotional dependence, it just felt hard to keep up with the blog. but you were never, ever ever ever, a Big Bad in my life, never. overwhelming sometimes, yeah(BUT I LOVE YOU SO MUCH FOR IT YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW, OUR FLAWS MAKE OUR RELATIONSHIP STRONGER). but when i made the decision to close the blog it was not "riri makes things hard :(" it was, "things are hard and i gotta focus on myself :(". i appreciate and abs accept your apology though you are so cool and i am so so happy knowing that you're doing better <3

a bit of an extension on that;; i'm still deciding whether i wanna reopen the blog tbh. i've got a couple wips on there that i meant to finish but never did, plus small storylines i wanted to pursue thru shin's blogs that i can't exactly emulate thru I Am An Author Writing a Thing when it should be This Is A Guy Writing Stuff On His Tumblr Blog. plus publicly posting my writing is so rewarding to me :}

2) PLEASE DO JUMP THRU THE SCREEN and gently hold me n shin - woahoah we would both love that methinks. grrrr. i love you so much riri. no amount of poetic words can convey how much i love and adore you TRULY. you are a light in my life, i am happy and ready to have room in my life for you again :) <3

3) YOU DREAMED ABT IT AJFNNE. shin getting a fish... that would def clash with his, yes, 3 kitty cats. but also a calm pet that doesn't require love and affection? holy crap i shoulda considered it, that'd be way fitting for them,,, if not for the fact that fish are Slimy and shin likes Fluffy. in an alternate world where cats hadn't already stolen their heart, i can easily imagine shin getting into fish and maybe even lizards. he's got the range~

idk if i'm exactly gonna write what was said in the voicemail cos i wanted to leave that up to your interpretation, and tbh i'm GLAD for that cos your interpretation is great. muahaha

ilyilyily going to check out the mecore link now muah <3

[hydriotaphia]

Hey, thanks for replying - yeah I've been in fandom for most of my life, but have never been that into fanfic. Bridgerton I think is the first for which I started reading. Despite my minimal experience, I'm aware of the general rules and don't believe I've ever violated them. Based on what you've said about constructive criticism though, I have perhaps been going about it differently. When an author says smthn like 'let me know what you think,' I'll give it freely. I don't do this for fics I don't like, but for the fics I do like, it feels like excluding the criticism is weirdly disrespectful. I want to show that I wasn't just reading with half a brain, and that I spent time thinking about how I felt about certain parts. I try and make sure I use 'i think/I agree' a lot, and I believe I used these phrases excessively in my first ask to communicate that everything is my humble opinion. When discussing the antwina fic I mightve neglected to do that, and as a result mightve ended up sounding harsher.

Anyway, I get your point about fanfic being fun and the distinction you draw bw it and published fiction. I wasn't thinking about it that way. Sometimes fanfic is written so well that it's hard to forget you're not reading a published piece, and that as thought provoking as it is, you're not meant to share those thoughts if the author hasn't requested it. Smthn to keep in mind ig.

No, I agree with you about the headcanon thing. There was this modern au I read some time ago that had kanthony dealing with grief. By the end of the story, we saw them both in better places in their lives after having been broken up for a while, and it was clear that both would still lead happy, healthy lives even if they didn't have each other. Ofc they got back together though, and one of the reasons why it worked the second time around was bc they knew they were stable enough individually that they wouldn't be destroyed if things bw them ended again. I found it totally believable and loved that that idea. For your fic, I don't remember all that I said, but I think one of the reasons I felt differently about anthony's ability to recover is bc it's a regency au, so no therapy and no one to really help show him the path to recovery. Ik you said heartbreak is nothing like death of parent and its aftermath, so it wouldn't really be something he'd need help for (time would be enough), and while I agree those two things aren't equivalent, for someone like Anthony whose repeatedly experienced loss (of 'two' parents, of youth, etc.) and who would lose the one other person who could understand/take care of him, everything would sort of pile up into a lifelong sadness. I think the park scene you're referring to is in the featherington gardens in ep 8 (?) I agree that at that point he wasn't hoping for anything and was resigned to a fate of losing her. But I think we disagree on what exactly his survival after that entails. It seems like you think he'll recover completely (?), whereas I think he'll survive, channel the hurt into care for his family, but nonetheless always keep that hurt buried within him. If he had married edwina, then I think she would've been too much of a trigger for him to keep it buried, and he’d lash out at her/become more erratic. I think I brought up a scenario where someone else who's gone through similar experiences can forge a similar bond to him that kate did, in which case I could see him getting over it. Either way, for me, time alone isn't enough for him to forget her.

About lesbian edwina - no you're definitely right; when I mentioned lesbwina that was me mostly joking. There's nothing in the show to suggest that. Even when I said the reason she didn't recognize the tension bw kanthony was bc she doesn't understand straight ppl, i wasnt being serious at all. Me wanting a lesbwina is entirely wistful thinking.

I don't want to clog up your blog, so it's cool if you end our back and forth upon reading this. It's been nice to engage 👍.

Hi Anon, it’s been a few days so you may not see this but work has been insane and I took a little time to step away. Thanks for taking all that on board.

I do want to engage and I am always happy to talk head-canons and meta, so feel free to message about those.

In thinking about it, though, I wasn't sure if your ask was seeking genuine connection because, while many people thoughtfully engaged with the Anthony/Edwina get married AU or ignored it because it wasn’t for them, it is by far the one thing that people seem determined to argue about as if I had concluded wrong. Almost a version of ‘This hurt me and therefore it is not true/you are wrong’ versus ‘This hurt me AAAAAAAAh’. And the former is exhausting as you can imagine and how I originally understood your ask.

It seems like you think he'll recover completely (?), whereas I think he'll survive, channel the hurt into care for his family, but nonetheless always keep that hurt buried within him. …Either way, for me, time alone isn't enough for him to forget her.

Your definition of recovery seems very similar to mine actually! You’ve described him doing productive things to cope while acknowledging he’s been hurt in the past, which is pretty much what I think too. To me therapy isn't the only way to get through it though so that's not a deal-breaker for me. I also can’t see Anthony as Miss Havisham where the past is always intruding on the present.

About lesbian edwina - no you're definitely right; when I mentioned lesbwina that was me mostly joking. There's nothing in the show to suggest that. Even when I said the reason she didn't recognize the tension bw kanthony was bc she doesn't understand straight ppl, i wasnt being serious at all. Me wanting a lesbwina is entirely wistful thinking.

Ha, I didn’t realise this was gentle teasing as it was mixed in with other things in the context of characterisations based directly on canon! Of course, pairings are whatever one’s little heart desires (meta is a bit different). But yeah, I do that too – almost none of my slash ships have ever been canonical (again I exclude Stucky from being made up because fuck you Marvel you wrote that and then denied them like COWARDS). Lesbwina is a pretty fun characterisation for sure! I’m pretty sure I have a WIP kicking around somewhere feat. Lesbwina 😊