#But really I don't like the trope either way so I won't dwell on it further.

[kyouka-supremacy]

It's actually quite curious that I've never found a sskk fic where Atsushi was jealous of the attentions Akutagwa gives Dazai

IMHO, I think it’s bc jealousy like that would mean Atsushi wanted Akutagawa to feel about him the way Akutagawa feels about Dazai, and I don’t think that’s the kind of connection Atsushi would envy anyone having with anyone

That's... A very good point

[sgiandubh]

What do you think of the theme “we’re all adults here” starz is using

Dear Theme Anon,

That is a beautiful question and I think this is your lucky day: with a tropical night ahead (35C/ 95F - nope, that is not a bra size 😱🤣), we simply live at night, like Superman. So, while I am slowly cooking my famed (but tedious) Circassian chicken recipe for tomorrow night's semiformal dinner, it is with great pleasure that I am answering it.

Please excuse the length. I know what I am able to do when I really like a question and yours got me immediately interested. Thank you for that.

Funnily enough, I was just having a very enriching conversation this afternoon, with a very, very good friend, who is way more intelligent than I, so she has no desire to write any blogs on Tumblr. On the very same topic you raised, Anon. With her permission, I am going to sum up the gist of it (et merci encore à toi 😘😘).

Let's look at that pic again:

The Craigh Na Dun Fateful Dance of Love and Death is one of the most moving pivotal moments of the entire series. Tens of thousands of women have shamelessly cried all around the world, while watching this (haven't you? I know I have and did it with no grace whatsoever, but pinky promise: don't tell anyone else, please). And then watched and rewatched and rewatched to oblivion, with or without that Kleenex box and that Ben and Jerry icecream at the ready.

You know, it's exactly like Shakespeare writes in Romeo and Juliet's Prologue ( I hope I still remember it...): ' A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life'. Love and Death blended together is one of the most powerful narrative tropes that ever existed. So much so, that a guy named Denis de Rougemont even famously noticed that in French, a single letter separates l'Amour (Love) and la Mort (Death), with seminal implications for our Western World mentality, ever since the Middle Ages. For some mysterious reason, we seem to always be caught completely unguarded when exposed to such ultimate injustice.

Tragic magic. This is exactly what also made OL a cult series, irrespective of its (many) unjustified lengths, its (many) moments of uneven acting and its (many, way too many) bullshit pills thrown at an increasingly jaded and bitterly divided fandom. Life imitating Art was just an unexpected blessing and a curse, that much we shippers know, and I am not planning to dwell on it.

But how long can you continue to sell this product almost exclusively to women, all around the world, especially when you are faced with the prospect of a dragging/delayed merger & acquisition (never a good sign) and an increasingly dwindling number of subscribers (never a good sign, either)? I'd think not for too long, really, even if OL still is one of ***'s biggest success stories ever. How long can you pretend to sell a high-end content to 'premium women viewers', when you know very well that you chose to discard that famed 'female gaze', which turned the series' first season into an instant media phenomenon?

Riddle me that: how to sell this product for a profit and expand that fan base while, at the same time, trying not to lose your loyal hardcore viewership?

This is ***'s first answer - I bet this will be followed by some more things, but let's see what it might mean.

On that poster, the focus is still on The Mythical Couple. Selling that good old famed, surreal chemistry - remind those old fans of that moment they felt all those feels (awww....). At the same time, try and create a need out of thin air - 'you need more'. More of what? Sex? Violence? Sexual Violence? Intrigue? Politics? Political intrigue? Ethics? Dilemmas? Ethical dilemmas? All of the above? None of the above? Stupid poster won't tell, but hey: buy me and I'll speak. Buy. Subscribe. We'll think of a way to keep you hooked - at least for the next season and a half. After all, Season Eight is a study in freestyle. After all, we conveniently leaked the info that 'Erself wrote the finale's script (why risk GoT's epic #shitshow?), so all is fine and dandy.

On par with our Mythical Couple, we have that sword. Oversized. Symmetrically featured. Action, with an intelligent twist - that is a finely wrought blade, after all. Uh-oh: that spells a new, more inclusive target. Male audience. 25 to 75, to be more exact , because the only promise the poster makes is a sobering one: 'more than fairy tales'- color me surprised.

After all, 'we're all adults, here'. Key operating words: 'all' (more inclusivity) and 'adults' (not like in X-rated, but more like in 'serious shite').

Well, then. That would require narrative chutzpah and bold choices. That would require a faster paced script, less of those never-ending side stories and borderline neurodiverse focus on irrelevant details (I am still not done with that Fiery Cross and not even ashamed of it, at this point in time) that do plague The Books. And throw rotten tomatoes at me if you wish (I don't care), that would require the end of that horribly robotic directing - we all know what the hell that means.

Will they be able to keep that high-maintenance standard? One thing I am sure of: when you treat your fandom like shite and drag along endless spells of Droughtlander without as little as a bone thrown in for diversion for months in a row, you'd better hone that blade, darlings and go for a kill. Bring it on. Bring that addictive spice back, stat.

It is my humble understanding *** wishes to create an OL universe. Wanna bet the farm that somewhere in their cartons they do entertain the possibility of (at least) a second season of BOMB? S and C cameos could be a breeze to arrange, after all ( we consider this in theory - I happen to think it could be more complicated than that). The story could be duplicated to oblivion - is it way too outlandish to imagine a season devoted to Mandy and Jem's story through several timelines?

[hollowed-theory-hall]

The Horcrux connection is double-edged

Alternate title: the fanfic trope of Voldemort seeing into Harry's mind the way Harry sees into his is canon

Alternate alternate title: more notes from my Deathly Hallows reread

So I reached my favorite scene in the books when it comes to analyzing Voldemort and his personality — the moment in Godric's Hollow that Harry sees the night his parents died from Voldy's eyes. But, here I specifically wanna mention this part from immediately after Harry sees his parents murder:

“No,” he moaned. The snake rustled on the filthy, cluttered floor, and he had killed the boy, and yet he was the boy. . . “No. . . ”

(DH, 345)

The part I highlighted shows Harry seeing into Voldemort’s mind in the same time Voldemort is seeing into his like some crazy loop until (probably) Voldemort breaks it.

This is a moment is essentially Harry seeing Voldemort's memory of his own death, while Voldemort is witnessing his own memory and also his memory through Harry and also the actual room they are in, seen from both of them, at the same time, in Voldemort's mind that Harry is seeing into. This feedback loop could probably get crazy if Voldy let it.

So, Voldemort can canonically see into Harry's thoughts on occasion, at least when he isn't blocking it. Now I have to wonder what sort of things did he see? How didn't he know where Harry was throughout book 7? We know Harry wasn't using Occlumency...

(Maybe he chose not to go into Harry's mind, maybe, he was there, saw that Harry was camping in the woods, starving and being so boring that he didn't bother checking up on him because he had better things to do...)

But seriously, I think Voldemort could know where Harry was if he really wanted to track him down. Sure, they warded their encampment, but, I don't believe for a second Voldemort couldn't break through their wards if he really wanted to (well, maybe not Harry's, but, that's a maybe). So, I think Voldemort wasn't really putting all his effort into locating Harry before he had the Elder Wand so he could kill him like he wanted to. Sure, if Harry appeared where he posted Nagini to wait for him, yeah, he'd go to kill him, but he won't pursue actively before he knows for sure he could deal the killing blow and amend his one failure, the one moment he became nothing, in his own words:

And then he broke; He was nothing, nothing but pain and terror, and he must hide himself, not here in the rubble of the ruined house, where the child was trapped and screaming, but far away. . . far away. . .

(DH, 345)

Another quite from this section I'd like to dwell on that has nothing to do with the above is this one:

She had no wand either. . . . How stupid they were, and how trusting, thinking that their safety lay in friends, that weapons could be discarded even for moments. . . .

(DH, 344)

I think Voldy here is telling us exactly what he thinks about friendship. Yes, he calls his followers "friends," but friends to him are something very different than they are to most people. They are not to be trusted, not to be counted upon. They are meant for company and obedience to him. Damn. Tom really needs to learn the power of friendship.

[surrealsunday]

Hey :) I saw that you didn’t really like Bad Buddy and I was wondering if you could expand on it? I personally loved the serie but I’m aware that it definitely had its flaws so I would be curious to see your pov. Of course you do not have to, I would totally understand if you didn’t want to dwell on negativity or attract angry fans, like I said I’m just curious :)

Also I’m reading 10 things I tattoo on you and it is amazing !!!

No prob at all! I just won't tag it and anyone who doesn't want to read a less positive opinion of Bad Buddy - SKIP!

So my main issue wasn't so much with the main couple. I just didn't love them or their development enough to overlook the things I didn't like (which I have done in other BL's). The actors had great chemistry. I didn't love Pran but I didn't dislike him either. And I loved Pat. But literally every other character on the show (aside from Pa and Ink but they were barely there)? I LOATHED. Like I remember watching it and thinking I had never watched a show where all the side characters were so incredibly unlikable and no one was talking about it. All of their friends? Literally nails on a chalkboard to me. The friendships were horrible (again... aside from Ink). I didn't understand for one minute why they were around any of these people. So that right there made it a challenge for me to watch from the very beginning.

Then came the central conflict - the parents and the rivalry between faculties - and I hated both. It's not that either of those issues are unrealistic, but the way they were presented on the show struck me as so totally absurd that I couldn't take it seriously it all (which of course took a lot away from the main angst potential). I remember saying out loud, 'This is so fucking stupid' multiple times which is a reflection of how much the conflict was annoying me. And I am an angst whore. Like, give me conflict, give me angst - I'm there. But because those conflicts were populated by horrible characters and presented in a way I found completely ridiculous, the impact wasn't there for me at all.

So because I wasn't enjoying the actual narrative and main conflict, the usual BL over-acting, ridiculous cheese just stood out to me more. I definitely can have a tolerance for that kind of thing as a lot of that cheese is present in most BLs, but because everything else was annoying me, I couldn't overlook it (as I normally would if I love a main pairing). I should say, however, that I watched Bad Buddy right after watching Kinnporsche. And I think it likely lost out hugely in my eyes due to that comparison (not intentional but natural when watching one show after another). If I had watched Bad Buddy after watching a more typical cheese-fest BL, I might have been a bit more game. I'm honestly not sure. And I do understand why people laud Bad Buddy as a fave, especially in the ways it set itself apart from the more harmful and/or hated BL tropes, but because I came to watching it from Kinnporsche (versus as a general fan or watcher of BLs in general) I was not in a position to immediately appreciate it in those same ways.

That got long but I hope it makes my thoughts a little more clear! It's definitely a me thing, and not a reflection of Bad Buddy being a bad BL or anything like that. It's all in the context of how you come to the show and what you're expecting out of it, I think. I'd heard so many good things about Bad Buddy. I don't think any BL had been as hyped as far as I had seen, so I came to it with high expectations and judged it accordingly. In the way, it just didn't work for me.

P.S. So glad you're enjoying 10 Things!!! ❤️️❤️️❤️️

[cappymightwrite]

Hi! I loved your blue rose meta. I wanted to ask you that Sansa had sexually assaulted in books and threatened with rape many times. How do you think it gonna be acknowledge in last two books? Will Sansa gonna be safe from rape just like she was in last books?

Thank you! (Meta in question) Sorry for the very late response 😅

This topic isn't generally one I like to speculate on much. I cannot stress how much the s5 storyline upset me, so much so that I really can't read any fics that reference it, or count it as canon, no matter how sensitively written. Likewise, I don't really like to dwell on Jeyne's assaults too much either, though I'm strongly Justice For Jeyne. I just don't like to be in that headspace.

But anyway. I can talk about it a bit for the purposes of this ask.

Obviously, the threat of assault is certainly always there throughout Sansa's narrative, as mentioned by @butterflies-dragons, notably in the use of songs. But as butterflies-dragons concludes, and as stated by @agentrouka-blog, I tend to agree that "I do not think that Sansa is going to suffer any assault worse than she already has." Because what purpose does it serve at this point? It wouldn't be subversive in any way to have the most romantically inclined girl r*ped at this point in the narrative, in fact it would be pretty redundant thematically because Sansa has already had the rug pulled out from under her in terms of her disillusionment arc. She's already been assaulted, several times in fact, and is currently being assaulted and groomed by Littlefinger. Furthermore, the reader has also had the point hammered home through the horrific Jeyne Poole storyline. It's unnecessary, quite frankly. It would be a waste of a word count to emphasise a point — that no one, particularly young, naive girls, are safe from violence, including sexual violence — that has already been very firmly asserted from multiple perspectives and POVs.

So, while I think TWOW will certainly take us to darker places than ever before, I think it would be a grave and gratuitous misstep if GRRM chose to include an escalation of the kind of assaults Sansa has already suffered. Look, I'm sure TWOW (and ADOS) won't be entirely devoid of sexual assault, but at least for both Stark girls (I did worry a bit after reading Arya's Winds chapter), I don't think it needs to be escalated. And that's not just me projecting my own wants for their respective arcs, objectively speaking, I don't think it's needed. I don't think it adds anything that we don't already know.

But back to Sansa specifically. Do I think those previous moments of abuse will be addressed/referred to? I think in order for Sansa to heal... yes. I think they will certainly be addressed in the sense that, when they inevitably reunite, Jon and his behaviour (in general and towards Sansa) will be presented to us (and Sansa) as a clear contrast. Being presented with contrasting, non-abusive behaviour will be key to having that reflection on past events expressed, I think.

This fits in to Jon and Sansa being the true subversion of the beauty and the beast trope. And subversion is the key word, because a note for note copy of that trope is not healthy, it's not without abuse. The difference with Jon as the beast, compared with pretty much all other iterations of the trope, compared with the Hound as well, is that Jon hasn't had, and will not have, this problematic character development from cruel and violent to supposedly tamed by love into something more "gentle." Thanks to Jon's pov, we know exactly who he is, and while I do expect post-warg/resurrection Jon to go through some angsty cosmic alienation and to become fully steeped in Byronic traits... he's not going to be cruel to Sansa only to be gentled by her virginal influence, because like I said, contrasts are going to be key. Jon needs to be presented as a contrast to all the awful men prior to him in Sansa's arc in order for us and her to have the tools for some solid reflection/realisation, not as contrast to his earlier untamed behaviour, if that makes sense?

So really, this is why Jonsa is so crucial to Sansa's arc, her healing process, and her reclaimation of self. And vice versa. We know that Sansa suppressed and romanticises her trauma in order to cope, and I think it will be painful for her to have to confront the reality of certain traumatic moments, e.g. that the Hound really did intend to r*pe her that night on the Blackwater, that Tyrion wasn't just "as frightened as [she was]" on their wedding night, he was the adult in that situation and he wanted to r*pe her too and did also assault her. Those are going to be painful truths to face, a headspace and recollections she will understandably not want to be in or have, as evidenced through her avoidance of the reality of these events thus far in the series. But they are necessary to address and crucially she won't be without support. Because Jon as a contrast to these men isn't a passive, inactive thing, he isn't a contrast to their behaviour soley through what he doesn't do, but also through what he does.

In ADWD, Davos IV, Wyman Manderly comments that "not every man has it in him to be Prince Aemon the Dragonknight or Symeon Star-Eyes, and not every woman can be as brave as my Wylla and her sister Wynafryd," which is true, but that doesn't exclude the possibility of a person like that appearing all together, does it 😉😏

"Sweet one," her father said gently, "listen to me. When you're old enough, I will make you a match with a high lord who's worthy of you, someone brave and gentle and strong. This match with Joffrey was a terrible mistake. That boy is no Prince Aemon, you must believe me." – AGOT, Sansa III

Thanks for the ask! Again, apologies for the delay 😅

[august-writing]

Have we got a deal? - draft

Welcome back to August writing scenes in the middle of the story.

The door opened from the inside and Aithus was led through the doorway, two guards behind him, one with a hold on his shoulder. The door was closed behind them and the guards fell to either side of the doorway, waiting respectfully. 

Aithus rubbed his shoulder as he glanced behind himself, and then he casted gaze onto the rest of the room. 

It was a relatively small room, but cozy; not cramped. It was a study of some sort, with bookshelves lining the walls. A large fireplace sat to the left, its flames crackling and lighting the room in autumn hues. A wide ornate desk lay in front of him a few strides away. There--reclined in his seat, with legs crossed--waited a gentleman with all the airs of importance and power. Elbow on his knee and fingers propping his chin up to look before him, his head tilted forward; face wearing a perfect mask of calm above the scheming mind that only his eyes betrayed. 

With his free hand he gestured to the stuffed chair in front of the desk. "Would you care to take a seat?"

Aithus frowned and crossed the room, his muddy boots leaving prints behind on the carpets spread atop the marble floor. He stopped behind the chair and leaned one arm on the top of it as he looked the man over. 

"What do you want." His tone was flat with anger waiting at the edge. 

"Oh don't worry, I won't keep you long from your farmland, peasant." Reassuringly the gentleman waved his hand as he leaned further back, "I just have a proposition for you." 

Aithus arched an eyebrow. "A proposition? You should know well by now that I'm not going to work with you or any of your stuffed puppets." 

A smile slid onto the gentleman's mask. "I have a deal for you, Aithus of Glishirn. I know you aren't inclined to be agreeable with us, but maybe you're sense will find its way to the surface this time."

"No, I'm not doin-" Aithus bristled as the gentleman silenced him with a raised hand. 

"You want your people free, is that right? I suppose that's the reasoning behind your acts of gallant stupidity; but we won't dwell there." His smile reeked for a few seconds as he squinted at Aithus, and then turned to the papers on his desk. "We want you gone--I'm sure you know. So I propose a deal to you. Turn yourself in and we'll leave the Glirio people alone to their affairs." 

"Never." Aithus's face was set and firm, chin pointed up in defiance.

"If you surrender then we promise to pull all tropes out of the free lands of Glishirn. Is that not what you're fighting for?" 

"I will never surrender to the filthy likes of you." His eyebrows drew down tense as he glared at the man before him. "Never to you, your mindless brutes, or any of your so-called divine rulers. I am a free man, or dead." 

The gentleman's brow drew in for an instant, and then a smile smoothed over any emotion replacing it with the empty calm. "How about we raise the price?" He flicked his wrist to gesture behind Aithus.

He set his resolve firm, fully prepared to see torture look him in face. But something in the back of his mind warned him things were wrong and he spun around to see two more guards in the room. They held tightly to a young girl who squirmed about, arms twisted behind her and gagged. Pain lit her expression and she sagged before her gaze flitted to Aithus's face. 

Kloe

Panic rushed into his mind as the calm tone of the gentleman continued on.

"...but I suppose even this won't bend your iron will of heroism. It's a shame really, so young. She'd go and the fighting would continue. I wonder how many more like her will go before this ends." 

Aithus eyes darted about the room, from Kloe to the guards, and to the gentleman waiting in his chair. Fear filled his mind and all his thoughts bent on Kloe and what they might do to her.

Kloe locked her eyes firm on Aithus and shook her head before a guard put his knee to her chest and bent forward.

"So I suppose that's your answer; such pride. Very well." 

He gave the signal and one of the guards stepped forward, drawing his sword. Kloe raised her head at the sound of steel and fear lit her eyes as they flicked to Aithus for a moment pleading. Another guard roughly got her upright once more as she set herself firm for the painful death approaching.

"Wait!"

Aithus' panicked voice interjected and he spun to face the gentleman. "Stop them, I'll surrender!" All defiance gone from his face and tone replaced with fear and practically begging. 

That smile spread across the mask of his face as the gentleman signaled and the guard stepped down. He laced his hands together and titled his head towards the boy before him. "Oh, so do we have an agreement?"

"We do. I'll take the deal."