#(not putting this in the main tag I don't want to start a war I'm just rambling)

[arkiwii]

very sad still see the saria/silence divorce headcanon still going around

have you ever tried to consider that they never dated before lone trail because it would be unrealistic with the timeline and the events and also because it would be overshadowing the actual truth of why they couldn't get along

[elli3luvs]

falling in love at a coffee shop pt. 3 [ELLIE W]

summary: watching movies with your favorite barista was never easier

genre: fluff/angst

wc: 1.9k

a/n: thank you guys for loving this! i don't feel as if im too good at telling stories but im glad you guys enjoy it hehe sorry if i missed anyone on the tags as well!!!!

part two

Who even knew video stores were still a thing? You surely didn't think they were — you were almost certain they died out in the late 2000s with the rise of streaming services. Every store around town seemed to be shuttered up. But Ellie, being the cool girl she is, somehow knows of a still operating movie store. You have to admit, putting in a DVD somehow feels cooler than pulling it up on Netflix. There was something about the sound of the DVD player that made you a little giddy. The giddiness was totally not because of the girl standing in front of you.

Totally not.

She raises her eyebrows when the tray slides back into her DVD player, "Super cool, huh? Feels... retro." She lets out a shaky breath while rubbing the back of her neck. She makes her way over to the couch — plopping down, making your body slide closer to her. Her scent fluttered over your nose. She smelled woody and like coffee.

On brand.

You still couldn't believe you were sitting in Ellie's living room. The room smelled similar to her minus the coffee smell. The room wasn't necessarily tidy but it wasn't overly dirty. There wasn't trash everywhere but random trinkets were scattered over the surfaces. There were hoodies thrown over the backs of chairs and a couple of empty water bottles on her coffee table. Lived in is what you would describe it as. There were a couple of picture frames on a mantel above her TV but the room was too dark to make out the figures. 

"I haven't watched anything on DVD in like, I don't know, years." You let out a small laugh as the home screen pulls up. It was a movie you have never heard of, but it looked similar to Star Wars. Grand music filled the room before she turned the sound down a bit. 

Ellie nods at your words, "I love it," You turn your head to look at her. There was a giddy look in her eyes you have never seen before, "Going to the video store is, like, my number one hobby."

You laugh at the ridiculousness of that statement, "What about making coffee?" 

Ellie clicks the 'Play Movie' option and a bright light flashes over her face as the commercials play before the movie. You forgot movies used to have commercials even on the home versions. 

She rolls her eyes playfully at your question, "Making coffee is my job. Even though I love it, I definitely don't want to think of it once I'm out of there."

"I get that." 

A comfortable silence falls between the two of you. It's hard not to stare at her through your peripheral. All you wanted to do was stare at her. You feel her legs pressed against yours, her legs spread a little more than yours. You take in a deep breath so you don't freak out at the contact. 

God, is this middle school? 

You shift your eyes slowly over to her figure, just wanting to take a tiny little peek. She was too pretty not to look at. It wasn't weird to look casually, right? When your eyes connect with hers, though, you rip them away while you blink rapidly. 

Shit, she was already looking? 

A pounding feeling against your chest makes it nearly impossible to focus on the now-playing movie. A spaceship rips through outer space as the main actor barks orders at his crew on the ship. Techno music plays in the background. You had no clue what was happening as a little vermin-looking creature started speaking in a made up language. 

Was she still looking? Surely she had to be focusing on the movie she chose. She looked so excited to start it. She definitely wasn't staring at you anymore.

You slowly move your eyes across the room and slightly turn your head to look at her. Your eyes connect with her green eyes once more but instead of looking away, you keep them there. You can feel your face flush under the intense gaze she has you under.

Ellie's eyes widen once she realizes you weren't going to look away. Another flash from the TV illuminates her features. You could tell that she was blushing. Neither of you looked away even as the tension built.

She was so cute.

"I can't," She starts, voice barely more than a whisper, "I can't focus on this."

You smile at her, "I definitely have no clue what is going on," Ellie smiles at your honesty, "Turn it off. We can just talk."

Ellie seems to like your suggestion as she reaches her hand out and presses the off button on the remote. She fully turns toward you. Your knees knock against each other with how close the proximity is.

Ellie rubs her hands together while a breathy laugh escapes her lips, "I guess I'll ask the question that's been burning me the most."

A laugh bubbled out of your throat, "What is this 21 questions?" Ellie joins your laughter at the realization of what she's doing, "Go ahead, I guess. I might have an answer for you."

"What's your major? And... why did you decide to come into my coffee shop that day?"

"Woah, these are... really hard-hitting questions." You sarcastically reply. Ellie pushes your shoulder lightly with a chuckle. She mutters, Shut up' before looking back at you with expectant eyes. There was a glint in her eyes.

You loved the way she looked at you.

"I'm a literature major, boring I know, and the reason I went in is that my friend dragged me there," Ellie acts fake offended at your response, "I actually hate coffee."

Ellie gawks at the last part, "You what?"

You throw up your hands in surrender, "Don't hate me. It is just so nasty to me."

"I feel as if you have just shot me. You always order something," Ellie's hand goes over her heart in a dramatic manner, "But if I'm being honest, I don't really like it either."

You shoot up from your position. Ellie may have been faking shock but this was true for you, "What do you mean? You own the coffee shop!"

Ellie copies your surrender motion, "I know. I know. The only reason I opened the shop, well became a barista in the first place, is because my dad really loves coffee," You can feel your heart melt at the kind words, "Gave us something to bond over."

"That's really cute, Ellie." You look at her with eyes gushing with love. You hoped she couldn't tell how infatuated you were becoming with her.

"I know, I'm adorable," She leans in closer as if she's about to reveal a huge secret to you, "You do realize we have other drinks than coffee, right?"

She laughs at the way your face pales and how your eyes widen, "Oh my god!"

Her laugh was perfect.

It was becoming impossible to ignore your feelings for much longer. Each moment was another reason to fall for her. She was extremely sentimental and super observant, remembering the tiny details. Ellie was the first to notice if you parted your hair a different way or did a new thing with your makeup. It made your heart soar with happiness when she remembered another tiny detail from you.

Throughout the rest of the night, you guys talked about random things on that stupid couch situated against the wall. You talked about her love of space and how she wishes she could see the stars up close at least once. You talked about your worries and fears, things you wanted to do when you grew up, and the things that make you happiest.

You got closer to her with each passing second, knocking knees turned into your legs thrown over hers. That turned into you scooting closer (almost sitting on her lap) and your head leaning against her shoulder.

You weren't sure when you fell asleep. All you knew was it was the most comfortable you felt in a while.

--

Burning light was what woke you up. It definitely wasn't how you wanted to wake up, much preferring the smell of food cooking. Damn those stupid curtains for being pulled back. You furrow your eyebrows at the blinding light, not yet used to the morning sun. Your hand shoots out to feel around where you were. Still on the couch but no Ellie. You blink the bleariness away from your eyes while wondering where Ellie went.

There's slight muttering coming from the kitchen, it's hushed but urgent. There she is but you can't make out what or who she is talking to. You sit up from your laying position, back aching from sleeping on the tiny couch. Your ears strain to hear the conversation.

"Wasn't really expecting... come home... random girl!" That definitely wasn't Ellie's voice. It was too high-pitched and sweet.

"...Quiet... still sleeping... been broken up... had no right." There was the voice you came to know. 

Curiosity filled your mind at the quiet talking in the kitchen. She never mentioned a roommate while talking to you last night. You fully push yourself off of the couch and creep your way to the area they were in. Ellie's back was turned from you so you got a glimpse of who she was talking to.

It was a shorter girl with black hair with an angry expression painted on her features. Her eyes landed on you and she scoffed. 

Oh shit. She was furious.

"Great," Her voice cut the tense silence, "Now she's walking around as if this is her house."

Ellie whipped around with a look that made your heart stutter. It looked as if she had been caught doing something wrong.

She gave you an apologetic look, "Cat, can you for once..." She cut herself off, reaching out to you, "Hey, listen-"

You decided to cut her off this time while stepping back, "You never told me you had a girlfriend. This changes a lot, Ellie." 

Cat scoffs again at your words. Her arms cross over her chest as she mutters, 'Good god, Ellie.' Ellie gives her a pointed look before turning back to you.

"I can fully explain this." Ellie's words are punctuated by the movement of her hands. They were shaking slightly. 

'She's just stunned that she was caught,' an evil voice in your head bounced around.

You shake your head, "No need to." You turn on your heels ready to get the hell out of the tense situation. Ellie calls your name but once you are out the front door she doesn't make any moves to run after you.

"Great," You roll your eyes trying to ignore the feeling of your heart shattering, "This is fucking great."

You couldn't wait to talk to Dina.

tags: @ellieismami, @minillie, @dankpunks, @elliesgff, @muthafuckingstargirl, @deafelliewilliams, @pinkazelma, @fairybr3ad, @me-and-your-husband, @intrnetdoll, @kyleeservopoulos

[glitchadeli]

PSA: Shipping & Fandom Culture.

I've been pretty quiet for the most part but this topic has been eating at me for a long while now so I wanna speak on the matter. I'm WELL aware that being in a fandom / fandom culture is toxic and has it's issues. Basically every fandom has it's problems, which is expected because like.. there's so many kinds of people on this earth. We're all bound to have our own thoughts, feelings and opinions. Everyone has a right to want to share those kinds of things, but you know what's really unnecessary? Shitting on a ship so much, saying that you want a certain character to DIE, and overall just being a petty person about it. It's one thing to not like a ship, but going around and doing that is so not necessary. I've seen it in so many fandoms it's insane. I'm well aware GumRob is not everyone's cup of tea. I know very well that Pokeshipping is shit on because of Serena. I've seen the fights in the Paw Patrol fandom over the "Skase" ship. I've seen so many Oc x Canon artists get ridiculed for ever 'daring to put their oc with someone in the canon'. I've seen.. a lot. Been on the internet a long time. Just let people enjoy their ships. (so long as it's not a harmful one, which let me be clear, GumRob is NOT a harmful ship.) For example; I've outwardly said I don't like JulRob (not calling it the other name.) but here's the thing. When I see JulRob art, I don't start commenting how 'bad' it is or shit on the artists' art of it. None of that. I simply scroll and move on with my life. Why should I make someone feel bad for their ship if it makes them happy? Why is it so necessary for you to feel the need to shit on that when you don't need to. I don't understand. I will NEVER tell someone that I dislike/hate their ship if it makes them happy. Hell, if an artist I follow posts a ship I don't like, but the art is still good? I'll tell them their art is good. You CAN compliment something without agreeing with it. Lmao, it's not hard. And also, it's not "fake" to do that. You can be nice to someone and their art even if you don't like the ship itself. I've seen cute Penball art and complimented it, even if Penball isn't my main ship. I'm not being 'fake'. It's not hard to be nice. It's really not. If you're an adult and you go around doing that? Grow up. Hell, block the tags if you need to. Stop being so miserable that you feel the need to spread your misery elsewhere. Go look in a mirror and grow the fuck up. 'scuse my French but I just.. I don't understand. (I mean, I get it, it's the internet, it's inevitable.) Which yeah, that's another thing, I'm well aware that the internet has always been like this. Fandoms are always like this. Ship wars are so common it's not even funny. I can't think of 1 fandom that doesn't have at least 1 shipwar, if not multiple. I know that me complaining about this really isn't going to change anything, but I hope the message at least gets across. Let people be happy, how fucking hard is that? It's not, so grow up. TDLR; Stop shitting on people's ships that aren't harmful and let people be happy :) It's not that hard.

[streets-in-paradise]

Concealed Fighter - Hector x Wife!Reader/ Achilles x Captive!Reader

Troy (2004) Oneshot

Warnings: Manipulative woman twisting the power dynamics of captivity while her master tries to seduce her.

Summary: Reader is the wife of Hector ( they got married after he returns from Sparta) and she sacrifices herself to protect Briseis. As a captive of the greeks given to Achilles, then stolen by Agamemnon, she takes the only advantage of the situation she has to actively assume a role of destabilizing agent and wreck the enemy from the inside.

However, the life on the greek camp also leaves its effect on her putting the self assumed mission at risk when the persuation tactics turn against her due to the awakening of desire in his original captor. Achilles refuses to fight for the greeks because of her, but if he gets her back he will try anything in his power to convince her of willingly staying with him.

Tags: @thorssweetheart ( I wrote this one for you. It's not completely dark, but I mixed a bit of my tone with yours here.)

Glossary of homeric terms: Atreide - Means son of Atreus, a way to reference either Agamemnon or Menelaus.

Scaean Gate - Name of the main gate of Troy

When your father in law instructed you to follow Briseis for the religious rituals that morning, it was out of the pure intention of helping you adjust to the functions expected of royalty in your cultural context. Freshly made a princess through a blissfull marriage to his eldest son, you were starting to get comfortable in that role and wanted to impress him in order to make your husband proud. His cousin was the high priestess of the family, but that wasn't an excuse excempting you from the obligation of participating in particular occasions that were regarded traditional for any future queen. Desperate times required of commited attention to that sort of thing, but none of you imagined you would reach the bottom of desperation during the very same action.

The prayers were forever silenced with the arrival of the greeks, dreaded moment unleashing the war taking place at the worst possible timing as you were trapped in the middle of a carnage that was also an obscene act of profanity. Despite the quick reaction of the troops, the temple never stood a chance against the enemy. Myrmidon soldiers had slaughtered the priests, only Briseis and you remained alive as shocked observants in a temporal hidding place that you knew won't stand much longer.

You were a princess of Troy, the queen of Hector's future reign, and you had came to that temple under the purpose of acting as such in the first place. To show your subjects you would do anything to protect them, first you had to start saving your family.

Context demmanded you to act quick, so you came up with a risky plan that you explained to Briseis in whispers while cleaning her tears.

" I'll clear the way for you, run and find Hector. Don't waste time turning back, they will get you."

The pragmatical, almost cold sounding way in which you phrased the idea ruined her nerves even more. She didn't want to leave you behind, Briseis would never accept it no matter how logical you were trying to be.

She refused nodding negatively, too afraid to take the risk of speaking.

" Do it, there is no other way. If we stay together, then we are all doomed. There is hope for only one of us, and I rather it will be you." You insisted, attempting to give further reasons to your sacrifice that would make her feel less guilty. " They will pay for this, I promise you. "

You grabbed her arms like a wake up call before continuing.

" Briseis, I'm giving myself willingly because it's the only way to get one of us inside the camp. Do you see what they can do? Traditional means will not be enough to defeat them, someone has to discover how. "

Fear was starting to make your voice tremble as you thought of your city, your family ... your husband.

" Tell Hector, tell him I'm loyal and I'll return to him with the secret to destroy the greeks ... Tell him I love him and I will do whatever it takes to help our cause."

After a brief, emotive farewell she accepted to execute the plan according to your guidance. The distraction turned out successfull, since the soldiers rushed to take you while she sneaked under their noses given all the fuss you were making. The next thing you knew was being tied up alongside piles of stolen gold inside the recently settled tent of who you guessed was one of their captains.

The master didn't make you wait for long, finding you as a surprise of his men for him when he arrived to clean off the traces of the fight in his appearance. Strong first impressions were his thing, he was standing naked in front of you apparently careless for your presence. The spectacle didn't obtain any reaction, even when he asked for your name.

" You will pay for what you did. " Was your bitter reply inconected to the question." Hector will make you regret the day you were born. "

The grim warning made him chuckle.

" I think your prince is afraid of me, he sees there is no hope for Troy if i charge into battle. "

With one simple mock he had made you aware of everything.

" You must be Achilles … Lucky of mine, I'm being handed to the worst of the savages. "

" My well earned prize. " He confirmed while getting dressed, barely tying a long piece of black cloth arround his hips. " It was either me or Ajax, we were the ones winning the battle. I have obtained greater glory, so I got the ríght to keep you. "

" Shouldn't that be a privilege of the higher commander?" You taunted him, questioning in a poisonous tone. " … He is not going to like it."

The provokation hitted in the ríght spot to make him itch.

" Then he should have won the battle by himself. " Was his cocky reply, given while walking towards you. " … You are too precious to be given away. "

You could tell where the talk was leading, it was a complete twist of the provocative intentions into a territory you weren't allowing him to cross.

" The only priestess inside that temple ran away, i'm a married woman. "

The clarification didn't mean much to him.

" An eye for an eye. " He simplified, twirling your hair in his fingertips. " The trojan prince took Helen, so it's fair for me to take you. "

Achilles was dangerously close, sniffing the scent of your locks.

" She left her husband willingly. " You clarified on purpose. " Paris won her favors."

He caressed the side of your cheek while looking for cuts.

" After a while with me you won't want to leave. " He purred seductively, then proceeded to untie you. " … I like your perfume, it seems he pays for the expensive ones. "

" High nobility, my father is a general of Priam. " You bitterly clarified. " … And i'm married to a mighty warlord. "

You would have wanted to brag about that saying loud and clear that you were the wife of Hector. If it wouldn't be so dangerous, you would have seeked to humilliate him showing your love for your man.

" He failed to protect you, maybe he was not the right for you. " He mercilessly teased you, sitting ríght next to you. " What's your name? "

You had to give him an answer, but you were incapable of being honest. The greeks couldn't possibly know already of your marriage. Their access to news was blocked at the time of your wedding, they were planning the war while it happened.

Briseis escaped to tell the story, Hector had to be aware by then so you didn't need the greeks to bring him the news. Keeping your identity as a secret was safer and a good strategy. As a couple, your husband and you would get the upper hand working against them from outside and inside.

You gave him the very first name that occured to you, a female variation of the name of your father.

" Glauce. "

Achilles had his full attention on you, his eyes were roaming your features with interest.

" Well, Glauce. I'll take care of you better than him. Your safety is granted with me. "

It sounded like a promise, you could tell he didn't want you to fear him. Being perceived as a careless monster by you wasn't as satisfying as the fear he awakened in your countrymen.

The first impression played in your favor, he was Interested enough to seek winning your simpathy. There had to be some sort of limit to his brutality and it seemed to play out in his approach to women. Achilles preferred seduction to coercion, trusting in his looks and charm to do the trick. Softer on the surface, he would rather win you over than force himself on a tied up defensless woman.

At least in that, he was a safer bet than many others. Your chances to keep working on the reading of the greek commanders presented that very same day, when your initial guesses turned out to be truth and his promised was challenged.

Agamemnon felt insulted because his rebel soldier ignored him on purpose and didn't even consider him at the time to divide the profits. His heralds came to take you using the advantage of a distraction the king created by himself to keep Achilles away from you at the moment. They were very impressed to find out you were following them willingly.

Not only it was a matter of principles to never show weakness in front of the enemy, but you were also considering the greek King of Kings was a privileged source of information. There was no better tent to infiltrate if what you wanted was to figure out the patterns of the political relationships within the militar fractions of his army. For so, your entrance managed to exceede any expectations. The soldiers taking you there were disconcerted following your arrogant steps.

Behaviorally wise, you looked like a queen that was heading to negotiate instead of a living object being dragged from one place to the other. Agamemnon was slightly dissapointed, probably hoping the guards would have seen themselves forced to mistreat you in front of Achilles to enrage him even more. However, the visual did manage to surprise him. The taunting smirk didn't fade, only changed its target.

" Wonderfull reward … Even in disgrace her majestuosity remains intact. " He commented, praising you in a menacing tone. " … Woman fitting for a king. And since you aren't one, Achilles. I think you are not going to need her. "

It unleashed the killer beast.

In a matter of instants the whole place got surrounded by guards that Agamemnon called as soon as Achilles merely pulled out his sword, what to you was a measure against the feared quickness of his lethal strikes.

You were still smiling to yourself, thinking of how accidentally accurate the words of the mycenaean have been in what concerned you given Hector was the next king of Troy in the line of succession.

The myrmidon claimed so quickly and pridefully that your husband lost you because he wasn't strong enough to protect you, yet he couldn't keep you for one full day. Delightfully humilliating irony, even if the man missing you inside the city remained faceless to him. At that moment Achilles was measuring himself not only with Agamemnon's power, but also with the memory of the man you loved.

He wanted you to watch him murder greeks in cold blood for you, to prove his point of being the superior man that would cross límits no trojan would.

For as much as you would have loved to see enemies being sacrificed at your feet, you were Interested in something better.

Playing with their minds, taking advantage of the situation and subtly lead the discussion while making them feel in control the whole time.

" I've seen you are a gifted killer, they may have the numerical advantage but those men are trembling. " You stopped him, actually walking towards him with the courage the mycenaean soldiers lacked of. " Before you will unleash another carnage, let's revisit the situation. Shall we?"

Agamemnon was amused by your irreverence, mostly because it was being directed towards his polítical rival.

" I come from a militar family, so i'm not ignorant to the codes of war. " You kept talking as if you would be back in Troy discussing with Hector about the resolutions of the city's council. " Spoils of conquest shall be distributed equally among the warlords, but the commander chief has ríght to a bigger share. "

" Precisely what I'm reclaiming. " The mycenaean agreed. " I'm in command here. "

Unimpressed by the statement, you were ready to throw the web.

" … Considering Achilles has beheaded a monumental golden statue of Apollo. How can you both be so convinced i'm the biggest share of the treasure? You can buy at least fifteen women for that statue only. I have to admit it's flattering, your altercate implies i'm either worth for fifteen women or you greeks are terrible traders. "

The rational observation embarrased them. Achilles had putted down his sword and Agamemnon didn't have enough recovered honor to point it out.

" It's simbolical value. " He attempted to come up with a quick answer for what trully was nothing more than a battle of egos. " You are the first enemy woman in our power, captive of a war started by my brother's wife. "

" If she wouldn't have jumped on board, you would have instructed servants to charge spartan reliques in that ship so you could frame us and invade anyways. " Was your fearless comeback. " Maybe your provincial soldiers believe that, but trojans know you well. "

If they wouldn't know better, they would have feared the goddess of wisedown transfigurated in a slave was lecturing their behavior.

" Theorically, once you finish arguing over who is meant to own me the winner can do whatever he wants with me. The problem is what you should do in order to serve best your personal interest. Achilles is willing to slaugther your men to save me from you. Can you afford that, King of Kings? "

Agamemnon was frankly shocked, not even his royal advisors would have been so direct.

" Who are you? "

" That's not important, what matters here is that i'm aware of what you both want from me and why you won't get it." You cleverly deviated. "For instance, you want to force yourself on me to give your rebel soldier a lesson. I see it in your eyes, sense it in your voice. He made you feel powerless watching the beach battle from afar, so now you are taking me as payback. Fortunately, that's going to take you nowhere. "

Going back to the warrior like a caged beast pacing from one point to the other, you challenged him with the same ferocity.

" As it could be said of your attempts to present yourself as my savior. " You concluded for him. " Legends fail to acknowledge Achilles as a protector of helpless women and it's not hard to wonder why. You aren't acting out of the kindness of your heart, what you want is to keep me reliant on you in order to win my trust so I will eventually give in. "

At that point, despite it would have been wiser to keep silence, no one could have stopped you.

" Keep the sword down, i'm not spreading my legs for this. I despise you and that won't change simply because you are the less of two evils standing in front your pig of a king. "

The comparison had affected him as much as the self perceived unfair claims.

" He is not my king … and i'm not who you think I am. "

" Prove it. " You insisted. " Untill then, you are just the same to me. "

The provocation worked better than you could have expected, discovering there that what Achilles hated the most was being compared to Agamemnon. It carved over the fresh wound of the anger he was already feeling about the desestimation of his efforts in the war.

A fierce lion had turned into a meowing kitten when the master he reluctantly followed took away his slave, humilliation you wished you could have shared with your people as perfect payment for the destruction of the temple. From then, his efforts were focused on showing the greeks that he wouldn't accept being controlled while proving to you that he was the better man. The special weapon of the enemy had opted for inaction as a form of protest, refusing to fight untill Agamemnon would come back crawling expecting he would beg to him ... expecting to get you back.

Coldess of mind was your best weapon against them, their fates were already on your hands. Agamemnon was too haunted by the warning you made him to actively seek to fullfill the full punishment, since Achilles was being completely serious about his thirst for revenge and for having you. The little glimpses of yourself he managed to figure out from your brief talk and the interventions you have made in their fight weren't enough, his interest only had escalated since then.

Without him, greeks lost, and they lost badly. Hector deprived them of two leaders during the course of the same battle, one of them being the husband of Helen whose cause gathered everyone. They were running out of excuses, starting to point fingers at each other attributing blames where those didn't necesarily belong. On his part, Agamemnon saw the warning you have made him the day before becoming real and sensed something almost supernatural in it. Of course, he was completely unaware that the crushing lost was a result of his own stubborness and the team work of the heir couple of the trojan throne.

Even trojans themselves weren't completely aware that Hector and you could sometimes become your own separated fraction operating underneath the obstacles presented by the local politics. No matter what the council presided by his father would dictaminate, you would allways have his back to do what you knew was right. Even while being so far away from each other, the combination of your strikes was making the greeks bleed despite you haven't had any ocassion of discussing the course of action. You knew each other too well, in a fair world you would have been designing strategies with him in front of the army and not against their backs.

Hidding your adoration while overhearing the feats of your husband as you poured wine for the kings was your main challenge during that post battle night among the greeks. They were already discussing rendition, all thanks to the fear that he inspired. It was clear that you would have to handle yourself finding a scape way if that would happen, but you were amazed seeing your goal at the verge of fullfillment. Agamemnon recklessly kept you there as a symbol of the only victory they had achieved, showing you off to the commanders in an attempt to tempt them to stay exciting their greed. He presented you as a promise of future wealthness, if they would pass the hardships every chief would have one like you.

Odysseus was completely careless for that and trying to make the myceanean come to his senses was hard even for his audacious mind. At that hour of the night, only him and Nestor remained in the Atreide's tent and only one particular moment during his long callout catched your attention.

" Hector is ONE man ... Look at what he did to us today! "

You were forced to hide your flusterred smile full of pride for your man and you did through a humble gesture bowing the head.

They kept arguing for a while, two against the stubborness of one.

" Even if I could make peace with Achilles, the man won't listen to me! " Agamemnon reminded them with frustration, the wine you were serving him non stop starting to hit him. " He is as likely to SPEAR ME as to SPEAK TO ME! "

You chuckled briefly and Nestor noticed it while awaiting or Odysseus' resolution.

" ... I will talk to him. "

Once that part got resolved, the old king reminded them of you.

" He will want her back."

The mention gave you a proper space for according intromission.

" I will pack my things ... I mean, just the blue dress I was wearing when you kidnapped me. " You mordaciously commented. " Can I change back into it or your plan is to send me looking like this hoping I would have the kindness of whoring myself to save you? "

The taunting ask pointed at the uncomfortable suggestive dressing the king forced you to wear for his visits.

" I haven't touched her! " Agamemnon excused himself to his friends. " Take her back to him or I will give her to the men, the whore is cursed and I will not take the risk. "

He refused to explain further, but you did for him.

" His brother made a curious joke last night when we meet. He said that it would be his right to go first because he was the one that trojans had ofended, now he is dead ... And how about Ajax? He was the second in line who could have got me as reward, if the glory of Achilles wouldn't have outshined him. I think Apollo is using me to pick the victims of Hector, maybe desecrating the temple of a god we both worship wasn't a brilliant idea after all. "

The macabre warnings upsetted the myceanean king.

" Take her now, Odysseus. If he wants her still, she is all his. "

The king of Ithaca didn't wait any longer, instructing you to only pick up your dress and put on a cloak he handled you in order to comfortably follow him to the tents of the myrmidons.

As soon as you were out of sight the tries on guessing you began.

"These are not virgin robes. " He cassually commented about the clothes you were carrying. " It means you are not a priestess, so what were you doing that morning in the temple? "

" Pouring thracian wine to the priests. " You sarcastically mocked him. " Isn't a bit obvious I was witnessing a religious ceremony? "

" Obligation of female royals in times of war, women are commaned to pray while the men prepare to fight. " He quickly replicated. " Wives of royalty preach with the example. "

You stopped walking right away.

" What has given me away? "

" Your smile, the way your eyes shine with pride when we talk of Hector. It's true that any trojan gets excited hearing of him, but you don't look like one more of the people who worships him as the city's hero. " He began to explain you. " The eyes of Penelope shine the same way when I tell her my stories after coming back home from a long journey. "

The melancholic husband couldn't be forgiving you out of the kindness of his heart and a mere parallel with his wife.

" Why aren't you warning them? "

" Because I know Agamemnon wouldn't have agreed to return you and right now, all we need is to have Achilles back." Was his simple reason. " If you want my honest advice, girl? Your husband should have came with a ransom by now. He hasn't, and to me it feels he is letting you go because he can't stand the shame. Even if he does love you and would rather have you by his side, the city may have resolved it that way. The heir prince, the bastion of Troy ... he can't come back home with a marked woman. "

He was good, doing an excellent job at sowing doubts.

" Your stance here has stained you, people would look at you wondering how many greek generals had laid their hands on you. Even when we know that no one has touched you, they will never believe it back in Troy and Priam's dinasty is in crisis. It would be easier and politically safer for him to arrange a new marriage for Hector."

" The same king that's sending him to fight so Paris can keep his wife won't do that to me. " You snarked back, clinging to what were your certainties. " They may be religious hypocrites, but I know my people better than you. "

" Adjust to your new life, princess. " He grimly warned you. " The prince may never come to save you and the myrmidons could use a clever girl keeping their hot headed mess of a leader grounded. "

You spat on the ground, right at the side of his feet.

" He will rot in his tent and Hector will set your ships on fire to rescue me. "

A young lad gave you the welcome, warning your master of the arrival.

Achilles smiled at you, but responded to Odysseus with the same carelessness he had dedicated to Agamemnon days before.

" Whatever you have to say can wait untill the morning." He told him in a cold tone. " I want to speak with her ... alone. "

Not wanting to make a fuss that could ruin the mission, the ithacan king acceded to his demmand.

" Understandable, I will be ouside with Patroclus so the walk won't be in vain. " He mocked him. "I could use a drink now, and hear some positivity. The last time I was in Phtia I have seen your cousin is great at that. "

The young man chuckled and accompanied him outside, presumably for a chat arround the campfire of the night watchers. Before they left, Achilles ordered him dinner would be served to you and he called two other myrmidons to arrange it.

You didn't seem mistreated and that was encouraging for him, so he gesturally invited you to sit in front of him and served you by himself.

" Eat."

" Mind to tell me the reason for this? " You cutted off his attempt of soft approach. " Agamemnon didn't touch me, I think it's fair to say he is slightly afraid of me. You don't have wounds to tend, no need to fake kindness."

" I'm just trying to be a decent host." Was his vague reply. " You are my guest tonight."

" Odysseus was your guest, and you had kicked him out. I'm your prisoner. " You reminded him. " I had enough of your games, Achilles."

" Such a shame, I'm very into yours. " He teased you. " What do you think of all of this? One day has passed and they already brought you back to me. I'm feeling destiny playing a move here. "

You began to eat so you wouldn't have to reply him right away.

" Why do you care ? I'm a nobody. "

" You are not under the orders of Agamemnon, you are the onlyone besides from me with the courage to stand up against him. "

The facts were conveniently twisted and you knew of that.

" I also stood up to you. "

" And i don't forget that. " He corrected you. " ... Trust me, I had plenty of time alone to think about you."

The provocation was not going to disarm you.

" I believe it shows how desperate they are, and that you would be a fool if you stop now. The mycenaean king is not at your feet yet, he stil sends heralds to make his apologies. Make them wait some more, it will give us time to get to know each other."

He smirked and you couldn't tell which part of the answer made it.

" You are good, diligent little snake. It almost makes me want to take the advice just to see how far you can go to keep me away from your husband. "

He offered you a goblet to drink, making it reach your mouth with the movement of his hand so he could have an excuse to stare at your lips during the first sip.

" Why trying so hard? Have you considered he could be dead by now? "

" He is the kind of man you find once in a lifetime, I would remain loyal to him even after death simply because he worths it. " You explained him. " I don't expect you to understand it, your world is seducing war captives. Maybe you have never thought of that, having a wife to love for the rest of your life. Form a family, somewhere to belong in."

Your blow hitted, even when he won't admit it and opted for strike another one.

" Is he alone with the children now? "

" We didn't get time for that, he was part of the crew that travelled to Sparta and we got married once he came back." You vaguely admitted, being carefull of not giving any revealing clue. " It was the happiest moment of my life, even despite we knew what was coming. The city was cheerfull for a while right before all of this got to happen, our wedding party was the last time. "

For an instant he took the effort of imagining you on your wedding dress heading inside the temple of Hera. He had no idea of how trojan weddings were like, neither knew their fashion trends for brides, so he pictured it the greek way.

Lucky of the man that got to experience that. To remove your veil and find a smiling face at the other side, to kiss your lips ... To find you laying naked on the thalamus knowing you were waiting for him after the maidens holding torches guided you inside to be beautified for him. Asian scents flooding the air, your body of trembling virgin craving to be explored.

" I have been in Sparta, if he was a guest of Menelaus let me tell you that he cheated on you. " He interrupted you out of spite. " The hipocrite that reclaimed his cheater wife actually encourages it on the men visiting him and the dancers of his palace perform amatory wonders. "

A challenging smirk showed how little you cared for his disruptive opinion.

" My man is not like that. He would NEVER cheat on me. "

He chuckled with skepticism and you wished you could have smacked him.

" How sweet! You really are convinced he is different. "

It enerved you to the core.

" You don't know him like i do."

He was enjoying your rage, even when directed against him.

" You don't know Sparta like I do. "

You wanted to him to spite him for real.

" My husband is a hundred times the man you will never be. "

The peak of the altercate was something you wouldn't expected he would dare to say.

" Your husband will never touch you like i would."

Angry as you were, you lost control and slapped him. Fear of his reaction made you back off inmediately: it was the first moment of weakness he had ever witnessed from you.

" You are fierce, I like that. " He commented, careless for the hit. " Was he really that good? Or is it just that you can't compare? "

" You will never compare to him. " Was your quick comeback. " From no point of observation, he is simply the best. "

Even when he didn't know who the mysterious man was, he already hated him. Achilles was genuinely jealous of your love for him, he would have killed for someone like that.

To calm the hostile enviroment he decided to torture himself making you talk more.

" Really? Tell me about him … How did you meet? "

" Our parents are best friends, so we have known each other for a lifetime." You began to narrate. " I think I realized I had a crush on him when I was ten and it followed me all my life. As a young lass I used to believe I could never be the one, wasted so many years thinking he could only want me as a friend. He would never make a move, thinking that was not what I desired for the same reason and we kept each other single untill an unreasonable age. Then, a suitor with great chances of success came to the city soliciting to marry me and the situation forced us to be honest with our feelings. He came to my home with a huge treasure as dowry, told me he couldn't live without me, and kissed me in front of everyone. If you would know him, you would understand that was a huge gesture coming from him. He is a private man in terms of affection displays … "

" The term you are looking for is repressed. " Achilles mocked you. " Why making you wait for so long? "

" These are dangerous political times we are living in and you greeks aren't our only enemies. " You corrected him. " He was always fighting, life was too bussy to think of romance. "

" … And it seems like that hasn't changed. " He added before taking a long sip of his wine, then keep questioning. " How do you deal with it? How would you receive him when he just came back from battle? "

It was a strange ask,but for once you didn't mind indulging him.

" With a warm bath and all my love … Although I must clarify we haven't live wartimes as a married couple yet, since you kidnapped me at the start of one. If I was back in Troy with him, as I desire, that's what I would do. "

There was no intention of playing with him, you were telling the truth because you were starting to feel comfortable and he realized of that.

It only made him more envíous.

" Lovely, so lovely. " He whispered, talking to you but sounding as if he was talking to himself. " My tent isn't as big as Agamemnon's, so you must be aware your only option tonight is sleeping by my side. Why don't you start by taking off that ugly cloak, now that we are more relaxed ? "

If that was what he wanted, you were going to give him a taste of his own poison.

" I must warn you: the old pig dressed me to his taste. " You answered as you stood up to remove the long cloth. " What do you think? Do I look like one of those girls you claim my husband has cheated with prior to the wedding? "

Achilles watched you in silence for an instant.

" Way better. " He concluded, then gifted you a smirk.

You were ready to hear whatever lustfull comment that would occure to him, but that wasn't what he ended up delivering.

" I don't want a concubine, I want that trojan's wife. She sounds wonderfull, and looks wonderfull in her cute blue dress. "

Surprisingly sweet, it trully caught you out of guard.

" You are out of your mind, or have drank too much and it got to your head. In either case, you need to rest so the morning will bring you clarity of thought. "

His teasing became a bit childish.

" Come with me … "

You couldn't take him seriously.

" Let me interrupt your little fantasy: i still love my husband and you are keeping me prisoner. "

" Not if i make you want to stay. " He replicated ríght away. " Paris got Helen to leave hers and their kingdom for him. "

You couldn't believe your ears. Was he really that much starved for affection? The greatest warrior of the greeks was a lonely man, a living weapon.

" That's never going to happen between us. "

After you concluded the meal he gave you proper space to change your clothes in privacy, courtesy that satisfied you given what was about to come. Once he settled the furrs on the ground to make the closest thing to a bed available in the camp, he picked a blanket and invited you to get confortable first. In the meantime, he took off his footwear and upper garments in front of you. The spectacle made you turn over to the opposite side, deviating your eyes from him completely, but that simple act of resistance didn't mean much compared with what he was about to do.

Achilles grabbed you from behind, trapping you in an embrace too íntimate for your taste. His strong arm was rou nding your waist, initially ríght under your chest. You were perfectly able to feel his firm muscles in contact with your back and the hand keeping you secure in the position he wanted started tracing your curves.

You wanted to yelp, but it was pointless. What else could you do? You were his slave, and sleeping anywhere else in the camp was even riskier.

Maybe other man finding you wouldn't be as sweet as him. Peraphs you would encounter a beast forcing you to fight for your honor.

" So beautifull. " He whispered close to your ear. " Feels really good to me … How are you feeling? "

" Strange. " You confessed. " It just doesn't feel ríght. "

" It doesn't have to. " He teased you. " It just has to feel good. "

He began to kiss the side of your neck, but kept stumbling with your cold reactions. To him it was all performance, you were holding back to feel a faithful wife for a man that from then would be just a memory because you would most likely never see him again.

" You are mine now … " He reminded you in a husky tone. " Stop pretending, I know you feel good. No need to hide it. "

You weren't giving in, but he was willing to take the challenge. Distracted as he was with you, he kept the refusal to fight still on given that his pride wasn't completely avenged and that was at least hopefull result of your sacrifice. Every single night he would try to tempt you, but you remained strong deviating the seduction tactics into night talks with no sort of filter on both sides. He would ask you all kinds of innapropiate questions, but in response he would have to tell you more about him than what he could afford to tell any enemy.

The mission became harder and harder to mantain over the course of the days. You were happy to be serving your country but wondering if the cost was actually worthy. Achilles seemed determinated to keep you, he wanted to destroy your marriage and there were moments when you wondered if he haven't already done it.

Would the love of your life want you back, knowing you were forced to share the bed of the enemy? Even if your strong resistance kept things away of sexual territory, you had to stand his caressing, his kissing … and sometimes you weren't completely disgusted by it.

It was confusing, you were the one playing with a man who fooloshly believed to have power over you, but you also felt played by the situation. Staying focused was hard when everything seemed to point out Odysseus was in the ríght. There were no signs of your people, of your husband, wanting to reach you. Could have he forgot you? Have the city gave up on you?

One particularly long night you were sitting on the shore watching the sea and the fear became so strong that you began to sob uncontrollably. Achilles wasn't coming for you yet, since in his tent more embassors of Agamemnon were trying to convince him of returning to the battlefield.

Suddenly, a myrmidon in full armor sat beside you. The helmet was on, so you couldn't see his face, but you guessed he was one of the guards of the night shift.

" Beautifull night, isn't it? " He said in a familiar voice. " Perfect for a sneakout … "

You couldn't believe your ears.

" Paris? " You questioned in whispers soft enough to not be heard by anyone else, but showing clear excitement. " How did you got here? Brother, you can't fight even to save your life. Is a miracle you are still alive. "

" I may be a terrible fighter, but i'm a master in the art of sneaking into the most unbelievable places. " He explained you. " Glaucus is so desperate that he didn't present objections to the plan, your father trully adores you. "

You wanted to hug him, but that would have been too suspicious.

" You are insane! What if they discover you? "

" I have that covered. I'm trying to redeem myself at the eyes of our people, but if the worst happens i'm going to do what i know best: cry to my brother for salvation. "

A hopefull smile made your sadness fade.

" Hector, … Is he with you? "

" Of course he is! Who else would have faith in my stupid plans?" Paris mocked himself. " He loves you soo much. He has been loosing his mind since the first day without you, but presenting a ransom to the greeks was a risk. From the moment they would be aware you are his wife, it would be over. They would have refused to return you and submitted you to all kinds of humilliations. No, with them you always have to do things by force. "

He made you chuckle.

" Any idea of how are we going to escape? "

" Working on it, just act natural and follow me. "

Your heart beated fast the whole way, since you were the one guiding Paris using your greater knowledge of the camp's structure. The myrmidons were ubicated at one extreme, what made things somewhat easier, as the naturalization of your presence there did.

A man in a mycenaean armor awaited for you, his eyes were giving him away.

" Don't, not yet. " Hector warned you, since he could read your uncontrollable excitement to the sight of him. " Danger hasn't passed. Proper welcomes should be postponed untill we are safe. "

You still dared to express a bit of your lovefull gratitude.

" I knew it! I knew you would come, I never wanted to stop believing! "

" Have they tried to convince you of that? " He wondered out loud. " I knew it had to be you causing division among them since the very first time the myrmidons didn't show up and I couldn't be prouder. "

Passing through the Scaean Gate was living again, you were at home. As soon as the walls were sheltering you Hector held you in his arms and kissed you untill both of you were feeling breathless. The wonderfull moment felt to you like a renewal of your vows, he had the same surprising lack of decorum he showed the day he asked for your hand. Instead of your happyly shocked family, his brother and some trojan soldiers were the ones left to witness it.

He would never stop amazing you, the insightfull understanding of what you have gone through that your husband was showing since your first instants of rencounter made you love him even more. Hector new that you didn't want to present yourself to your parents looking and feeling like a captive, they wanted their daughter back and you wanted to be her again.

Before presenting yourself in public, you needed to feel like yourself. To get back the identity your captors tried to strip you from. It was most likely that the citizens would overwhelm you with questions, the militar council wanting to extract every single drop of information about the greek camp that you had adquired and all of that was very important, but he cared about you the most.

Putting the princess and the spy aside, he wanted to trully reunite with his wife and help her heal before the weight of the city would fall upon her. Some of the servants of your household were awakened for the ocassion and they welcomed you quietly under the prince's recommedation of not disturbing you. They helped Hector out of what was left of his disguise and he returned to his cassual wearing for home.

Once he looked like your husband again, he turned back to face you with an adorable smile.

" Welcome home, my love. For the sacrifice you have endured it is my wish to make of what's left from this night a moment to comfort you in any and every way you desire. If you don't want to talk about the horrors, I'm willing to wait. "

" I want a bath, I stink of sand and greeks. " You joked to attenuate the tone of he conversation. " Is this how you feel after fighting? "

He chuckled a bit, taking your light talk as a good sign.

" You were a concealed fighter, peraphs the most important fighter in this war. " He lovefully praised you. " It takes courage and a great speed for decision making to come up with such insane attack strategy. You cleverly realized there was no chance for two women to get away from the temple and offered yourself to save my cousin. When we found her, she repeated me the last words you told her. Your wisedown surpasses our war council, you knew from the beggining what I'm trying to make them understand. "

" Well, I knew that as a slave girl I was going to get underestimated, but it worked even better than what I guessed. Greeks are surprisingly trustfull of their war prizes or think themselves too high for vengeances to reach them " You humbly admitted. " In me they saw an object to move from one point to the other, but never suspected they could be touring a spy arround. I poured wine for the kings while they were discussing their plans, Agamemnon found no danger in that because he considered me to be merely decorative. "

" Sounds like the riskier war feat I have ever heard of. " He added, then caressed your cheeks as he inspected your face for any signs of damage. " It seems like they trully thought they were going to enjoy of my wife's beauty for long. I can tell they were carefull. "

" They were too bussy fighting each other over who was going to keep me to ask me important questions of any kind. " You revelaed him with amusement. " Only Odysseus discovered it, but he got there too late. Achilles was already eating out of my palm."

The confession surprised him.

" Meaning you have targeted him all this time? "

" He is rabidly jealous of you." You confessed, teasing him. " I discovered that the main obstacle of Agamemnon is his fail to make him act according to his goals. His attempts to manipulate him are rational, but Achilles can only be persuaded irrationaly. "

The start of your tale wasn't worrying him the way you feared.

" Nothing really happened between us. " You rushed to clarify, since he wasn't asking. " He wanted it to happen, but i made him very aware that my husband was in my mind and heart the whole time. "

Your desperation for proving yourself to him was heartwrecking, he could tell you were so full of guilt over a situation that wasn't trully in your control. Even if you played to be, the course of action was limited to the grey zones where the control of men was weaker.

" You were loyal to my vision to the last consequencies, despite you had no guarantee of safety. " He cutted you off. " Many of the men I command claim that they would die for me, but what you did goes beyond their will of sacrifice. This is the greatest proof of love to me and to Troy. "

Tears were falling down your cheeks and he instinctively held you in his arms, as if he feared you would wreck if he didn't.

" What you did to survive is not of my concern, you are here with me now. " He reassured you, making you smile. " But if someone got to hurt you, the bastard responsible for that damage won't see the sun again."

" I think i never saw you making threats like that. " You sweetly mocked him. " It's flattering, but turns out you have been protecting me against it from afar. The two greek leaders you slaughtered a few days back ? Ajax was the second in the line of possible adquisitors for me, Menelaus threatened with taking me to satisfy his hurted honor and died the next day. "

The strange coincidence amazed him.

" I'm always with you, even if this crazy world we live in takes us apart. "

[beyondplusultra]

mango hiii!! do you have any fic recs? my trust in your taste is absolute after you've obliterated me with your 2/2 comic with that war of vaslav nijinsky quote <3

Hello hello!! First of all, I'm glad you liked the comic! It was a joy to make, and an even greater joy to see how people have reacted to it :)

As for fic recs, here are a few of my all time favorites!

2/2 fics that will make you stare at the ceiling for an indeterminate amount of time as you contemplate life:

you've got me seeing through different eyes by futuresoon - this is the First Ever Shuake Fic I ever read and I immediately spiraled into the abyss from which I've never managed to crawl out. It's a very popular fic, so chances are you've read it already, but it's absolute peak 2/2 bad end content and I'm obligated to put it in every rec list

One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy by telekinetics - cries

Last Night on Earth by TzviaAriella - CRIES

Long fics that made me read long fic:

Black Star by HassouToby - This is pre-Royal, and for the longest time was what I accepted as my headcanon for what happened after vanilla's events. Not akeshu, but has some of my favorite characterizations of all the phantom thieves I've ever read, and honestly just a completely wild ride that WILL suck you in.

The Brigverse series by TzviaAriella - Akeshu pirate AU. Do I have to say anything else here. The third installment of the main series is currently ongoing as of this post's writing!

The Liminality series by MistressEast - NG+ with a twist. It's. It's so good you guys.

The Next Time Around by chashmish - No powers AU, this fic is about Akechi and Akira reuniting and rekindling a relationship during the events of Makoto and Ann's destination wedding in Italy. It's a fic I always fall back on when I want a feel-good time!

One-shots that rewired my brain chemistry:

you have to let it breathe, my love by ThirtySixSaveFiles - No powers AU, an akeshu love story that starts when the two of them meet in a wine shop.

hold my hand by relationshipcrimes - Gen fic, Akechi and Futaba bonding time, because Akira left Tokyo, and on this particular day Akechi is her only key item choice.

(don't shoot) the messenger by shouldbeworking - Ryuji is the center of a misunderstanding. This one never fails to make me laugh!

before midnight by specterthief - You guys know how during third sem, Maruki wired Sumi's parents to think she was at gymnastics boot camp or whatever? Yeah what the FUCK was up with that.

anywhere, i would have followed you by shantealeaves - MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH. I've only read this fic once. One time. Ever. It's imprinted into my brain. Mind the tags!

[league-of-blorbos]

This is gonna be a long and weird post from me, and I don't know if it'll even be comprehensible in the end, but I just wanna put my thoughts out there about my feelings for Jhinhwei and why even as everyone else has fallen in love with this ship, I'm struggling to get into the idea of it.

(And to get this out of the way, this is all just my personal interpretation of these characters, I'm not gonna shame anyone for shipping something I don't or reading a character differently than I do. I'm doing this mostly cuz I just wanna voice my thoughts on this pair and maybe hear from people who think differently than I do. Also the other ships I tagged will make sense in a moment I PROMISE!)

It's not that I don't understand the appeal, oh no, this ship feels like it was handmade to appeal to Tumblr's love of darker, tension-filled, inherently toxic, homoerotic romance. It's LoL Hannigram, it's someone who's at least somewhat moral falling obsessively in love with a psychopath, and now they're at a cross roads of if they want to try to remain a decent person but abandon their love, or embrace the darkness within them and allow themselves to be in love with this horrible person. There's so much potential for drama and complex explorations of love and obsession that this ship should absolutely grip me.

But it doesn't, even as it's gripped others who like the same other pairings that I do.

My two other favorite ships (bear with me, I think understanding why I love these two helps rationalize why I don't ship Jhinhwei), the ones that have actually worked their way into every crevasse of my brain and I think about scenarios of them while trying to fall asleep is Kayn/Rhaast (big shock I know /s) and Simon/Betty from Adventure Time. They are also two pairings that delve into obsession and where neither partner is fully good (or in Petrigrof's case, more like good people with unintentionally toxic behavior).

Let's start with Rhaayn cuz I've rambled enough about that ship on here to fill a library (hehe voicelines references). Rhaayn is more of a classic enemies to friends to lovers with the Symbrock dynamic of Rhaast being a parasite that is fighting for control over Kayn's body being thrown in there for spice. The fun with this ship is seeing how their fight forces them to have to share moments of closeness and eventually bond with the other, and how through those moments, Kayn and Rhaast both find a perfect mirror for themselves. They find someone with the same level of bloodthirst and similar war-related trauma, but also someone who balances them as they are opposites and the same in so many ways.

Petrigrof (spoilers for both Adventure Time and Fiona And Cake) is sorta the opposite of Rhaayn in that a lot of Rhaayn focuses on how they fall in love, while Petrigrof's main story starts after already being together. The other way they're different is that while I very much SHIP Rhaayn, I'm kinda lying when I say I SHIP Simon and Betty as my favorite part is that they don't stay together in the end. The Youtuber Sarcastic Chorus has already done an amazing analysis of this ship that matches a lot of my feelings on them, but to sum up, how Petrigrof ended is all due to Betty and Simon's mistakes. They loved each other so much that Betty was willing to throw so much of herself away for Simon, while he was blinded to how much she was doing for him, and even in the moments where he did recognize Betty was doing too much, he let her keep trying as he thought it would undermine their relationship if he didn't. And I love that their story is a lesson in how even well-meaning obsession can be toxic and that you need to know when to walk away and move on, even when it hurts you and the person you love.

Simon is just as madly in love as Betty is and vice versa, and they're both equally responsible for the way they ended up. While with Rhaayn, both crave each other's company because they've found someone who is just as violent and fucked up in all the same ways as they are.

But compared to those two pairs, Jhinhwei feels too unbalanced, and not just due to the power imbalance. To summarize it, my other ships feel like two people who ruin each other (or heal each other, or both!), while Jhinhwei mostly feels like Jhin trying to ruin Hwei and the main draw is Hwei choosing to accept the ruin and his internal struggle about it. The story of them, as I read it, focuses almost solely on Hwei's arc and you could theoretically have him effect Jhin just as much, but first, any attempts for Hwei to "fix" Jhin would just recreate the issue for me in the other direction, where it's now about Jhin's internal struggle with Hwei trying to heal him. Second, I have a hard time reading that as anything other than drastically changing Jhin's character to the point where you might as well make an OC.

That last point is definitely more of a personal problem as I have way more trouble getting into Jhin's headspace than I do with Hwei or Kayn or even Rhaast. But to me, Jhin is almost more of a force of madness than a character I can dive into the complex mind of, and I'm kinda ok with that. A lot of people love trying to figure out how these characters' brains work and why they are who they are, but just like how Riot never wanted to unmask Jhin (until that goddamn concept art came out!), I'm ok with leaving the mask on and letting some things about Jhin remain mysterious, even at the cost of Jhinhwei not meeting a lot of the criteria to be a ship that I really fall in love with.

[sam-glade]

Author Ask Game

Tagged by the lovely @mariahwritesstuff here, @writernopal here, and @tisiphonewolfe here, @void-botanist here - thank you all💜

Gently passing the tag to: @starlit-hopes-and-dreams @vollzz @rbbess110 @flock-from-the-void @pheita @i-can-even-burn-salad (feel free to ignore if you've done it already)

1. What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

I don't write with the aim to teach a lesson. However, after figuring out the plot, I'll look back and see what message I can focus on. Usually, it's kindness, but I also hope to inspire people to find strength within themselves.

2. What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

A lot of real world cultures and history. In the case of my main setting, the amount of research into the history and culture of Central and Eastern Europe in the 18th century (especially the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) would probably be enough to write straight up historical fiction, buuuut I like the fantasy elements, and I don't enjoy writing non-queernormative societies. So here we are.

The second instalment, The Truth Teller, is again in a fantasy version of the Eastern Bloc, and I get a lot of inspiration from talking to people who've lived there in the second half of the 20th century.

Finally, The Fulcrum is an exercise in worldbuilding. It started with a question, what would happen if evolution took a different path, and the dominant sentient species was most closely resembling birds. Other than that, I use it as an excuse to explore other periods in history - primarily late-Bronze and Iron Age.

3. What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

The goal is different every time. E.g. for Days of Dusk:

In Gifts of Fate, Lissan is the MC, and he wants to survive without hurting anyone (the demon possessing him makes it difficult). What I want to achieve with him is to inspire people to persevere.

In The Prince's Shadow Erya is trying to kill Lissan, while dealing with complicated grief. My goal is to inspire people to move on, without preaching forgiveness (the two main characters still hate each other at the end).

In Prodigal Children, Lissan, Erya, and Gullin are the three MCs who are told with absolute certainty that something terrible will happen and it will result in war. They each try to deal with it in a different way. Erya aims to minimise the damage. Gullin thinks he can't do anything about it, so he focuses on protecting his loved ones. Lissan refuses to accept that it will happen at all. My goal as the writer is to showcase that each of these responses has its merits and can't be condemned from the get go.

4. How many chapters is your story going to have?

I'm a pantser, so I can answer it only for completed drafts. Gifts of Fate currently has 49 chapters, averaging just over 2k words each - with the total being 109k.

5. Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Everything I post on this blog is original. I don't plan to post the novel-length project online - I'm hoping to publish them traditionally. Some side WIPs may end up being posted here or on AO3 (the unnamed parody thingy that still needs a title), and my Silmarillion fanfiction can be found here (more to come).

6. When and why did you start writing?

I vaguely recall writing my first fantasy heroine self-insert story at the age of 11 or so, then Tolkien fanfiction when I was 15-18, then original fiction onwards. It started as an outlet to my creativity, but now it's to get some peace and quiet in my mind. If I don't put the stories down on paper, they keep buzzing in my head, being distracting.

7. Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

Words of encouragement? Just do it. Imperfect doesn't mean bad. Don't let 'perfect' be the enemy of 'good'.

I follow a tonne of writeblrs, so here are a handful of shoutouts: @acertainmoshke @writernopal @tabswrites @toribookworm22 @winterandwords @aether-wasteland-s

Blank questions below:

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

How many chapters is your story going to have?

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

When and why did you start writing?

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

[writernopal]

Author Ask Tag

Tagged by a few peeps for this one!

@eponymoussquared here

@writeblr-of-my-own here

@gummybugg here

Thank you all so much! 💙

Tagging (gently): @sam-glade @theroseempress @squarebracket-trick @writingmaidenwarrior @writinglittlebeasts @mysticstarlightduck @elshells @tabswrites

1. What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

To be compassionate of one another. We're all different for so many reasons but we're more alike than you might think and at the end of the day we're all people doing our best and trying to get by. It's important to remember that and to know that we're all dealing with our own things along the way.

I chose it because it truly saddens me how much we as people hold each other back due to in-fighting and othering one another. I wanted a way to examine that and hopefully communicate to anyone reading AASOAF how harmful something like that is. It's no coincidence that the art and humanities have all but come to a standstill in Oepus and that's just part of it...

In short, be kind to your fellow man, dammit.

2. What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

Lizards for sure haha. But a lot of my inspiration comes from nature, human history, music, movies, and foley design! Also, I have an intense curiosity about all sorts of different things so Google deep dives are very inspiring!

3. What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

My MCs are trying to find their places in the world. They all kind of get confronted with some pretty harsh truths about their respective situations and are kind of forced to decide if they're going to keep going down their current path or if they are going to do something to change it.

As far as what I'm trying to achieve, I think I really want to drive the point that familiar =/= safe or "good". It can, but not always. I also really want to demonstrate that no matter who you are or where you come from, introspection, questioning the world around you, and deriving meaning to 'life and purpose', are something we should all engage in. I sincerely hope that it gives my readers the courage to do those things for themselves and grow into the versions of themselves I know they can be!

4. How many chapters is your story going to have?

As many as it takes.

5. Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Original! AASOAF 3 will join AASOAF 1 & 2 on Wattpad when it's all finished! I have considered moving platforms recently but I'm not sure where yet.

6. When and why did you start writing?

My writing journey kind of comes in two parts. I started writing back when I was a teenager but only did it for about a year. I can't really remember why I stopped and I definitely don't have anything from that time, mostly because I didn't think to save it. I really wish I had though.

After that, I didn't get back into writing until late 2019 at the encouragement of my therapist that I journal my feelings. So I did that, but then somewhere along the way I remembered how much I liked stories and I started writing for fun!

7. Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

Just write, bro. Seriously. I think people get bogged down in a deluge of advice, technique, the "right" way to do things, etc, etc that they quite literally lose the plot. They forget why they started writing in the first place or build it up to be this thing they're afraid to engage with or even forget that under all of that they are just trying to tell a story. SO TELL IT. Stop putting up imaginary walls for yourself dude. WRITE. THE. DAMN. THING. You're not going to nail it on the first try, THAT'S FINE (and kind of the point, hello editing!) and you will get better over time. It's like jumping into a swimming pool and getting upset when you discover that you're not an Olympic level swimmer. Give yourself some grace and write the damn thing.

As far as other writers, I follow so many lovely peeps that this post would be longer than a CVS receipt if I listed them all LOL so instead, have some of my darling moots who have made being on this little corner of Tumblr that much sweeter 💙

@outpost51

@sam-glade

@elshells

@writingmaidenwarrior

@tabswrites

@crowandmoonwriting

@acertainmoshke

@captain-kraken (not around so much anymore but you had such a positive impact on me, dear captain, that it cannot be overstated)

[sergeantnarwhalwrites]

Author Tag Game

Thanks for the tag @kingkendrick7 and @i-can-even-burn-salad! Yes I am procrastinating. Yes I have already had a breakdown on the third week of college and have had to hide the fix my problems bottle. Lets go Fucked at Five for this one.

I tag: @aether-wasteland-s @winterandwords @liv-is @outpost51 @dumbthunder @kaiusvnoir @leighvalentin @nanashi23 @the-void-writes (only if y'all want of course)

1) What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

Uhhh I don't really think I have one. Maybe in the future. (Probably not I'm more of an accidental theme person than lessons)

2) What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

Open Season (the movies)

RWBY

Gene editing (other genetics knowledge as well)

X-men

Lycanthropy (mostly werewolves but transforming animalistic creatures in general)

Really fucked history of nonconsensual human experimentation and exploitation

3) What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

My main character is just trying to live and figure shit out right now as their life has taken a full flip. I myself am using them as a vessel for myself and pushing my tough people are softies narrative.

4) How many chapters is your story going to have?

No clue. I usually never think like this. Me? Fully plan a story before I write it. Hilarious.

5) Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Original content. I guess up here on tumblr. Maybe Ao3.

6) When and why did you start writing?

I started writing in 5th or 6th grade. So 11 years old? I started writing as a way to figure shit out about life, about myself.

7) Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

Just because you're busy as hell/tired/burned out and haven't been putting words to the page. Or hate the words you've been putting to the page doesn't make you a bad writer. Life is a lot and being creative takes brain power. So so so many writeblrs XD. Just check out the taglist and even that ain't everybody. Love you writeblr homies and art homies too I see you.

[arijensineink]

Author Ask Tag Game

@axl-ul put up an open tag for this and I love these questions so I'm going to do it. Make sure to go read their answers because they were truly beautiful and inspiring <3333 Here's the linky.

And I will of course, use The Wolfena to answer these since it's my. most developed WIP.

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it? I'm not into preachy stories, but The Wolfena has a very blatant anti-slavery, pro-autonomy message woven into it. Autonomy is all. This story is about finding your autonomy even in situations where you feel trapped or have no control over the world around you. I didn't choose it at all, but I once spoke to a highly accomplished author (sadly it was so long ago and I actually disliked the conversation a lot at the time, so I don't have her name). But she basically asked me "Why doesn't your book address slavery?" And I was so annoyed, because I was working on a different book that had little to do with the subject. But that question festered in my mind, and a few years later The Wolfena were born.

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)? I've said this before, but The Hundred tv show and Ammonite by Nicola Griffith were highly formative to writing The Wolfena. I drew a huge amount of inspiration from all of the New England winters I've survived, as all of the characters grew up in a total ice-age. I really tried to capture both the wonder of spring and the barren hopelessness of winter.

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person? Naxia wants to free all of the enslaved people in her nation even if she dies trying; Lariette just wants to free herself; Jimian wants to learn to be human again. I wouldn't say I'm trying to achieve anything with them, as they were all strong muses who guided me through the story, at times with minimal effort on my part. But, I do hope they help others understand that we are full of far more strength than we could ever imagine.

How many chapters is your story going to have? This is my shame. The Wolfena has a whopping 70+ chapters.

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it? The Wolfena is a totally original story, at least I hope, hehe. My ultimate goal is to traditionally publish it, but we'll see where all the pieces fall.

When and why did you start writing? (Assuming this is in regards only to The Wolfena) I think I started writing this story somewhere around 2016? I had to write it to address that festering question about slavery, and also to work through my feelings about womanhood and gender as I became an adult.

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow? Well, I used up a lot of typing energy on these questions, so you can find engagement and encouragement over on Fighting For Writing <3

I follow mostly writers, so I'll tag to the best of my ability and leave it open as well for anyone who wants to participate! Firstly my goblins: @angelsofprey @regret-breathing @coffeewritesfiction @incorrectgoddessgang @minutiaewriter @sindellaos and @soupy8lowfish . Other people I see in my feed a lot are as follows: @quinnharperwrites @nanashi23 @readrenard @words-after-midnight and @marmeegle !!!! Of course there are many more, but I think I'm at my typing quota XD It's time for me to stretch and go drink some water!

Much love, bbys <3333 Please take care of yourselves!

[tailoroffates]

Author Ask Tag Game

I don't usually like to talk about myself, but if that's how you play then I'll play along. Thanks for the tag @doublegoblin!

I'm interested to learn about @winterandwords @toribookworm22 @turnthemasunder-if and @comicgoblinart so I'm tagging them with a non-obligatory participation offer. If anyone else would like to participate then join on in!

The Garden that Burned series is what I choose to answer with.

(1) What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

To be honest my story didn't start out with an underlying meaning. It took me a while to grow and build as an author before I realized I'd unintentionally included little "moral to the story" arcs within my plot and character arcs. Some of the points I touch on are resolving racism, accepting people for who they are not who you want them to be, learning to understand your emotions, fighting and/or coping with anxiety, learning to accept death and manage grief, war is a cycle of hatred, forgiveness despite biases, and there are likely a few other things I can't recall at this very moment.

(2) What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

Well, I really like Elder Scrolls, Tolkien's works, and Avatar the Last Airbender, so I'd have to say my magic systems are inspired by those, however, I've put my own twist on them so they fit better with the lore. The flora and fauna I've created are mostly chimeras of existing real-life plants and animals.

(3) What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

My MC was initially trying to become the leader of his village, but fate had different plans for him. Now his goal is to end the Divine war between the mortals and their gods. What am I trying to achieve? Nothing too deep. I just wanna share some stories :D If someone learns something or grows by reading my series then all the better. It would actually make me very happy.

(4) How many chapters is your story going to have?

My first book has 24 chapters, but I have no idea how many the second, third, fourth, or fifth will have. Your guess is as good as mine. I suppose I'll try to aim for that same 24 mark, but who knows.

(5) Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

The series is made up of original content and I intend to publish each book.

(6) When and why did you start writing?

I started as a wee tot but picked it up as an actual habit when it became therapeutic to me. Writing helps me work through my anxieties.

(7) Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

The best I can say is if writing is a passion of yours but you struggle putting pen to paper try setting a daily word count for yourself. It doesn't have to be a large count, but I promise you will improve by practicing every day. If you can't think of anything to write for the day, look up writing prompts and I'm sure you'll find a few that pique your interest.

As for other Writers of Tumblr I follow, I typically follow the creatives. People who show their passion by posting their works. It inspires me to see so many others writing their stories and participating in the writing community, so I aim to join in on the fun!

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Watchlist Tag Game!

Another unexpected tag game! This time from @waitmyturtles

Currently watching

A Boss and a Babe: Wasn't sure if I was going to watch this one because I'm not a huge fan of boss and subordinate as a positive romantic plot (looking at you GAP, sorry). But started watching it after seeing some of @respectthepetty's posts about Episode 4.

Bed Friend: If I were being accurate, I would have put this show down like four times in a row because I have rewatched all available episodes about four times, and honestly will probably watch the whole thing again. I love it so much, I do still think that Moonlight Chicken is my favorite show of the 2023 line up so far, but goddamn if I don't get overly attached to traumatized men.

Breaking Bad: Fun Fact! I have watched the first season of this show three times and never made it beyond that! So my friend set out to fix it and now we are trading one season of Breaking Bad for one show of my choice with a comparable number of episodes. Traded season one for Moonlight Chicken, and I'm trading season two and three for Word of Honor.

The Eclipse: Can't put my finger on why but for some reason I am obsessed with this show where the main character is a emotional repressed gay boy who has difficulty accepting himself and feels pressured to perform actions far outside what a teenager should be allowed to do because adults put pressure on him and because he doesn't want people to be disappointed in him...Anyway, with the Our Skyy 2 release date coming up how could I not rewatch this show I have already seen approximately six times?

The Eighth Sense: Have to thank @bengiyo for writing about The Eighth Sense, and everyone else that I follow that started watching this show immediately and started writing beautiful things about how queer it feels. It's my first Korean BL TV show (I did watch Wish You a few years back) and I am thoroughly enjoying my time so far!!

Unintentional Love Story: Don't have a lot to say about this show yet, I'm only two episodes in, but I think it's good so far!

Word of Honor: Rewatching this with my friend to try to get him to branch out of American television. I figured the costumes alone in this show would keep his interest, but let's be real, I was dying to see his reaction to my favorite little war criminal Wen Kexing who has done absolutely nothing wrong ever in his life, m'kay? This is my completely unbiased, objective opinion (do not look at my username).

Looking forward to watching soon

*ahem*

That is all...

...just kidding!

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Somehow, my tumblr blog accidentally turned into a primarily BL based blog, probably but actually before I was introduced to Word of Honor and then rapidly and descended into the Thai BL world from there (I know WoH is a cdrama, but I found KinnPorsche through a masterpost of queer asian media that was on the woh tag) my hyperfixation and truest love is playing Dungeons and Dragons. I've been in a campaign for 6 years now and recently started another campaign with another group! I wanted to see this movie when it came out but I had COVID and only now am freed from my self isolation! Heard it was good and fun and worth seeing in theaters so I am hoping to go soon!

Our Skyy 2: I just miss my boys, okay? I'm only human.

Only Friends: If the fact that I have watched KinnPorsche 14 times is anything to go by I love messy bitches, and this seems like a show full of messy bitches! Any show that requires a fucking flow chart to know their relationships to one another? I'm in! Also, I listened to the playlist that Jojo posted on Spotify and I was sold. This is definitely my most anticipated of 2023.

Still deciding if I���m gonna watch

Succession: I follow at least one person who has been posting a lot about Succession as the fourth and final season airs, and it sounds really good! I was actually convinced to start the first episode but I kinda fell off of it pretty quick. I think I was tired and I know like with any show the pilot is not the episode to judge something on.

Beef: Only putting this on here because I felt compelled to look it up in the tumblr tags today just to put some feelers out.

and that's it lol, I finsihed Shadow and Bone Season 2 and The Owl House so I don't really have any other shows that I am thinking about watching at the moment. If anyone who reads these block paragraphs has suggestions I'm all ears.

Well, anyone I was going to tag has been tagged by wmt so uhhhh, if you wanna do this game, take this as me officially tagging you!

[somaisbatman]

Tag ppl you wanna know betteeer

Tagged by: @zendoe . thank you for tagging me, I followed you because I inherently trust deer furries

Last song: the last album I listened through was The Hot Rock by Sleater-Kinney, so it'd be A Quarter To Three. love that one.

Favorite Color: red red red. Earlier in the year I catalogued my favorite shades of red, and found that the average of them was #B0303A.

Currently Watching: Fionna and Cake. I'm 6 episodes in, and so far it's managing the tonal balancing act that makes seasons 5-7 of Adventure Time so good. I just wrapped up the last Patlabor OVAs with my girlfriend yesterday, so we're in between shows now. Though we have been occasionally putting on episodes of Bang Dream MyGO per a friend's "dude trust me" recommendation. It is a generic high school idol anime except it's about a female manipulator picking up the pieces of a friend group that imploded and inadvertently reigniting all of their old drama in her attempt to start a band. If the show was yuribaiting a little harder I'd be obsessed, but where it stands it's a fun social mess.

Last Movie: Patlabor 2. Really challenging movie, and not for the reasons I was expecting. Oshii's criticisms of the JSDF's scope and Japan's place in the neoliberal order are delivered quite straightforwardly, it's the atmosphere that's so melancholy and complicated. I spent most of the year going through the Patlabor TV show and OVAs and falling in love with them, and this is a movie about moving on from all of that. The bubble economy is over, the cold war has ended, SV2 has scattered to the wind, the artstyle has gotten more serious, and Noa explicitly states that she no longer wants to be the mecha otaku girl she once was. It's probably a great standalone watch, but it really got to me because of its willingness as a sequel to say goodbye for the sake of looking forward, even if only uncertainty lies ahead.

Currently Reading: …the patlabor manga. A bit dry compared to the show or movies, but I'm milking this franchise for everything it's got. The last book I read was Light From Uncommon Stars, which has an extremely well-executed main narrative about trans survivor's guilt alongside a terrible B-plot that fails to mesh thematically at all. Very uneven book, but the good stuff is real potent and I'll definitely read whatever Ryka Aoki cooks up next.

Sweet/spicy/savory: Sweet

Relationship status: Partnered and living a domestic yuri 4koma

Current Obsessions: I mean, in case you couldn't tell it's been Patlabor, but I'm finally reaching the tail end of that. I've been on a mecha kick all year, and that includes little gunpla guys gradually taking over the apartment. In a broader sense I'm becoming more at peace with being a huge weeb, and that's shifted my recent media consumption very strongly in that direction, which will probably even out over time.

Last googled: Some doxxable info about trying to schedule flu shots. Before that, "sidney powell kraken" after reading a news article and trying to remember what the fuck was going on there.

Currently working on: preparing for the end of the year! My yearly creative projects are assembling a Christmas album with my old college friends and writing 10 or so pieces for my anime side blog @floatingcatacombs, which go up in mid-December. I've also been messing around with GameMaker again, a intermittent hobby for most of my life even if I have little to show for it. Maybe this time!

I'll tag my oldest mutuals who I've never talked to: @magicians-rad @bl0ndle . and also some pals who have recently joined the site @dudettastone and @bluemouseblackpad . Obviously feel free to ignore if you don't want to do it

[betweenlands]

feel free to ignore/delete this ask for any reason, but i need to ask someone because i can't tell if i'm imagining things or not, and i know you've sort of talked about things like this before, but has there been a large jump in... not always active arophobia, but in the amatonormativity in mcyt fandom spaces lately? it feels like things go untagged, there's a larger focus on romance and love, and the active aphobia that there is just goes quietly unmentioned by the majority, and all of these more than before. this isn't me trying to say shipping's bad or anything, i don't have a problem with it, just that this fandom has felt so alienating lately for some reason and i can't figure out whether it's because something's changed in the fandom itself or not

i think this is genuinely a really interesting topic to talk about so i'm giving this a kinda longer response!

(tl;dr -- it's not just you and things have changed, but it's also not what you might think; this is how most non-mcyt fandoms are)

so! to start with, more than ever i think the amatonormativity thing depends on the specific sub-fandom you're in. qsmp's a huge outlier; by virtue of having canon relationships it brings itself more in line with the average fandom in terms of how much people talk about ships (being in a non-mcyt fandom or two helps for perspective on this. i s2g half the tag for murder drones is just ship wars. nonstop ship wars. please stop i want to discuss lore).

with qsmp being such a genuinely interesting outlier (it's something the english mcyt fandom hasn't seen in a while in terms of a series with explicitly canon relationships being mainstream) i think that causes a lot of people to really want to post about these relationships, because like... people feel strongly about being able to express this aspect of their interests in a way they weren't able to before, i think? we've never personally been interested in shipping stuff (with like maybe 5 exceptions ever across all fandoms we've ever been in) but the attitude towards shipping used to be so INCREDIBLY hostile that i think people take their ability to post ship stuff very personally.

i'm not sure about other series, though -- this is where things get weird, because we're not really in mainstream mcyt fandom right now. we don't follow a lot of hermitshippers, but most of them generally tag their stuff? on reblogs it's a bit more sloppy but i also think a lot of people tend to just put "i post [server]shipping content" in their bios as like a blanket reminder and leave it at that

all that said, i don't think it's intentional amatonormativity, or even remotely malicious. i do think we're seeing a lot more ship content than usual/it's a little more difficult to find platonic stuff than it used to be in general mcyt fandom -- this VERY much varies based on series, though. we currently main dominion/adjacent and there's not shit for ship stuff there (to be fair, there's also not a lot of fandom in general, it's Mad Small), whereas with something like trafficseries there's a lot of focus placed on shipping partly because that series is Heavily About character dynamics.

am i tired of seeing ship content as like the main product of fandom? oh, absolutely, but that's nothing new -- that's been the case since before we had this blog, before we were even in mcyt fandom at all. fandoms are just Like This, which can absolutely be exhausting if you're not here for ship content, but this sort of thing is not uncommon for any more mainstream fandoms.

so, yes, it's not just you, there's more amatonormativity in mcyt fandom than there used to be -- because it's starting to act more and more like most fandoms, and therefore is reflecting the amatonormativity most fandoms have, whereas before there was such a hostile attitude towards shipping that this absolutely Could Not be the case.

it sucks in some ways, but at the same time it's very important to note: this is not a new problem. this is an old problem. this is a problem as old as fandom itself, and mcyt fandom is only just getting to a place where people have stopped tearing each other's throats out long enough to act like most other fandoms do.

anyway shoutout to jaidenanimations. aroace icon👍

[cosmicrhetoric]

tagged by the incomparable @briarhips to post nine book recs <3 sorry so many of these are classics im going thru smth

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen: This is MY Austen of choice. I'm doing a reread atm and it's very Emma in it's social commentary but this is THEE eldest daughter book of all time. Maybe I just like when characters are super repressed but if you want to see a woman (who has spent 200 pages being soooo hinged) have the most cathartic breakdown about it......

Identitti, Mithu Sanyal: For fans of Kuang's Yellowface who want a bit more of an academic lens! Our main character, a 2nd gen Indian-German woman, spends years of her life in the trenches of postcolonial study under a seemingly Indian woman who is then exposed as white. It doesn't give you any easy answers but it provides a lot of scholarly resources and leaves a lot of space to come to your own conclusions. Read it on a plane. Kinda fire.

Eros the Bittersweet, Anne Carson: We all know Carson. But I'm picking a nonfiction essay instead of Autobiography of Red or her translations mostly because this one takes you behind the curtain of a lot of her famous translations when it comes to the aspect of love. I'm not really nonfiction girl in general but this was worth it

Chain Gang All Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah: Speculative abolitionist fiction! Set in a near future where prisoners can compete in death matches to try and win their freedom. I've honestly read nothing like this...ever, like it's in a league of it's own but if you're a fan of the way footnotes were used in something like Babel you're gonna wanna check this out. Multiple povs (really interesting pov switching from a craft perspective actually) overlap to paint a stark and realistic depiction of American prisons.

The Devourers, Indrapramit Das: This was described to me as "IWTV but with werewolves and in Mughal India and actually really good" and while that's a pretty comprehensive plot summary it does not even begin to cover the shit this novel goes through. This is a book about transformation and stories and what letting a story live in you can do for you. The werewolves are kinda obviously a genderqueer allegory as well (as they often are in sff lmao) but when the interviewer himself starts talking about gender in his experiences you can see how that changes the story he's transcribing and it's just very cool. Heavy trigger warnings on this one though. Don't read if you can't handle a bit of piss (they are wolves). Writing style wise feels very similar to the magical realism of The Hungry Tide if that's ur bag

The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot: In the way that s&s is my Austen, this is MY Eliot. A classic story about women of this era who cannot fit into the boxes society lays out for them. A failed romance brands the main character an outcast in their town in a way that is. Hear me out. Fucking Utenaesque. Follow for some classic tragedy and themes of water....I would compare this more with like Dickens Bleak House than Austen though.

Villette, Charlotte Bronte: Once again. MY Bronte. Maybe it's just cause I read this before Jane Eyre but literally I do not understand why Miss Eyre gets so much more love than my girl Lucy. In broad strokes the story is about an English girl who ends up having to support herself by moving to France and becoming an English teacher at a girls boarding school. She's also plagued by a terrifying apparition of a nun, because this is Charlotte we're talking about and there's a bit of Catholic v Protestant thing going on. I read this during the very early pandemic and let me tell you some of the descriptions of isolation and loneliness are soooooo. yeah.

Monstrous Regiment, Terry Pratchett: Listen. Like, listen. It's that good. I wouldn't put a discworld novel up against fucking chain gang all stars unless it was THAT good. This is a classic 'girl dresses up as a boy and goes to war to find her brother' story. It definitely started as a commentary on folk songs/stories but it is at it's heart a novel long criticism of imperialism, nationalism, and organized religion (there's jokes though it's funny). Also not to be that guy when it comes to LGBTQ book recs but the thing came out in 2002 and it's surprisingly thoughtful when it comes to both gender and sexuality. You do not have to be a fantasy fan or a discworld fan to read this. If you gave Pratchett a try and didn't like it i STILL insist you give MR a shot. It is in a league of it's own.

Wives and Daughters, Elizabeth Gaskell: Do not be scared off by the sheer length of this one. It's fucking silly. This is one of my faaaaaaaave 1800s novels about class. We have juxtaposition between Molly's family (her father is a gentleman but a working doctor) and the landed gentry but also this divide between the uneducated Squire and his Cambridge bound sons and another one with the 'new money' gentry. There's also quite a lot of early science and anthropology documented in this (Gaskell and Darwin were besties) if that's interesting to you. WARNING: SHE DIED BEFORE SHE FINISHED THIS. ITS LIKE 99% DONE THOUGH

This was a hard list to narrow down but I have to include (at least as honorable mentions): Ling Ma's Severance/Bliss Orange, Cixin Liu's Three Body Problem and the SFF POC anthology New Suns

tagging: @weltonreject @bronskibeet @gaymersrights @orchidreign @brechtian + any and all mutuals i know ive forgotten <3

[thistleation]

Tag 9 People You Want to Get to Know Better

Tagged by @the-darkness-does-not-bargain. (and earlier in a different tag @spacesweepers) ~💖

Favorite color: Magenta. There's something very appealing about a color that doesn't actually exist. I think it's also the most vibrant color and it does sparkly things to my brain. (also rapidly becoming my favorite tint of eyeshadow)

Currently reading: @birgittesilverbae's teach me to love and associated stories (finished the main one but I keep re-reading bits), @the-darkness-does-not-bargain's dragon age au, and starting "this is how you lose the time war" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.

Last song: It's not a single song but I'm still going to say The Bifrost Incident by the Mechanisms, a recommendation from @the-darkness-does-not-bargain once again and it fucking rips. The honest answer would be "whatever was last on this touhou playlist I put on to draw/write," but I feel like that doesn't count.

Last series: Hellsing Ultimate, currently watching with @spacesweepers and having a blast. (I forgor to do your tag Yiwen, I sorry 😣)

Last movie: Terminator 2. Don't ask me why, it's just a good movie.

Sweet/savory/spicy: Ooh, tricky. I think if I have to pick one I like best, I'm probably a savory kinda gal. Spicy is fun in the moment, and sweet is a wonderful pick-me-up, but savory feels like it gives me the most enduring kind of comfort.

Currently working on: Still happily chipping away at Beyond our Space and Starlight, although currently working on an Ava drawing where I'm trying to make Cas pop a blood vessel.

Now I tag: @willowedhepatica, @frenchsoda, and @wolfofwhinter

No pressure tho!