#I do not agree with her viewpoints at all

[astridthevalkyrie]

Tbh my slight with Eloise is mostly that yeah not wanting to get married is understandable and I can see how it’s incredibly boring and isolating being the only one in the ton that feels that way so openly. But I just think that Eloise is privileged because she doesn’t have to get married, but the others livelihood solely depend on getting married. I’m definitely not debating I’m just curious because where I see Eloise hate, it’s mainly pointing out how she makes quips about others who don’t have the ability to voice their distaste for marriage. And also the fact that she wasn’t a great friend in the first place to Penelope, as she could never listen to her for more than 2 seconds. Which is why she never noticed pen was LW in the first place. I hope this doesn’t come off as picking a fight or anything like that haha I just really like these discussions and I’m curious to see your view on that.

hey! this isn't coming off picking a fight at all, thank you for the thoughts!

long analysis about bridgerton and specifically eloise below, please note i have rewatched it recently but i haven't watched it an insane amount of times or anything so if i say something that's not true, kindly let me know.

so i agree with you for the most part. eloise is privileged. she's richer than most and she can afford to become a spinster while everyone else can't. i would like to point out that it's not like she'll live easily and comfortably if she does that. as kate tells her, she won't have a good time. she's going to be outcast. she's going to be looked down on. she's going to risk shaming her younger sisters. she will not be homeless, but she will not be loved. eloise says in season 2 that reading LW is a reminder of how trapped she is, which means she doesn't actually see becoming a spinster a viable option. as far as she's concerned, she's going to get married whether she likes it or not.

in season 1, most of her slights are with daphne, who's in the same family as her, and yes, while being the eldest daughter does come with a hefty burden, daphne is not more or less privileged financially. she wants love and marriage, she's not getting married to survive. both their viewpoints are understandable, i think. eloise finds daphne's pursuits fruitless and daphne is frustrated with eloise for not seeing things from her point of view. the problem i have with that, though, is:

who ever sees things from eloise's point of view? why is she expected to work to understand her older sister when daphne can't do the same for her? daphne has understanding from her mother and every other woman who's out in society. eloise has penelope and that's it. her family snarks at her whenever she voices her opinions. her mother actively tries to change her. eloise thanks daphne for being perfect, eloise concedes in their argument and asks her to name her song, and eloise sits with her on the couch so that daphne doesn't have to sit with berbrooke (or at least tries to before violet makes her go). the only other person besides penelope who's there for eloise is maybe benedict, and he often only talks to her when he's going through something already. when all of society disagrees with you and says you should just shut up and conform, you're not exactly going to be eager to be empathetic and listen.

now, aside from her family and penelope, eloise barely interacts with other people, especially the other debutantes. so while she rants about her viewpoints, she's normally not doing it to working class women or women who will end up on the streets if they don't marry. and when she does rant, yes, there's sometimes rude statements about how other women only care about marriage or feminine things which can come off as patronizing (and she definitely has a superiority complex no doubt), but for the most part, eloise talks about how the system is unfair. she's not wholly disparaging women for wanting to marry to survive, she's disparaging society for having a system that requires them to do so. eloise is also the only character so far who's shown to actively try and learn more about the working class. of course she's not an intersectional feminist yet, she's barely had the resources to become a basic feminist. but she was willing to learn. she wanted to speak to theo more, to read more radical books.

and honestly, for eloise (with my own bias because i know what it feels like to feel like your accomplishments amount to nothing because marriage is somehow more important), i don't think it's just boring or isolating. it genuinely seems to make her panic. it seems like it makes her ill, the thought of conforming. her bit when she tells violet that she's not rebelling for attention, and that she knows she's a disappointment....that poor girl. and like i said, i've had that anxiety. i've had that terrifying moment where i'm like. holy shit. what if i wake up and i've lived half my life and i'm not me because all i am is someone else's. jesus christ that fear can do things to you.

which is what makes her transformation this season so depressing. she's given in. she's playing the part because she's tired of fighting. even though the thought of being submissive and docile and silent and married is still obviously paralyzing for her. and so far i actually don't think it's poor writing, or out of character, but i do think that they might just be toning her down now so that it doesn't seem too ooc when she settles with phillip or someone else. that, i think, will be character assasination. unless she ends up with theo (or penelope or cressida or marina 🙏🏽), her love match with some type of feminist tamer character will be really heartbreaking to watch and i sincerely hope they don't go down that route.

anyway, she's also apparently the only character who's not allowed to have problems because of her privilege. anthony in the beginning of season 2 pissed me off so much. even simon in the first season at times. oh these women can't string together a thought! oh they're so desperate! oh their mamas are so stupid and annoying for *checks notes* wanting them to marry well and live happily! it's so heartless. it's so cruel. mister capital r rake does not care for any of his annoying sister's feminist ramblings, but he himself would like an educated, motherly, soft, clever, beautiful woman. kate absolutely clocked him when she asked how he was sure such a perfect woman would want him. but the fandom doesn't completely pile on anthony for his stupid ass takes. if they get on him for anything, it's for how he handles the sharma sisters (which is completely valid, just not the only dumb shit he's done). but he's sad about his dad dying so it's okay! benedict wants to paint sooooooo bad 🥺 and colin........must discover himself for the third time in a row. these men treat their own problems so seriously and the fandom doesn't give them half the shit for it that eloise gets for talking about a very real problem that terrifies her and affects her life deeply.

i've watched s3 only once, so i don't remember every interaction she has with cressida. but as far as i do remember, she tries to help cressida with debling. she tells her that she can stay away if that's what her father wants. i also don't think she knows that cressida's facing financial abuse, because even cressida doesn't know that until her mom tells her. eloise should probably have a hint that cressida isn't in the mood for making jokes, yeah. she should work on that. i can forgive her because frankly i'm seeing that she's barely interacted with other debutantes before this and is socially awkward. not everyone can forgive her for that, that's cool. i just think fandoms (especially tiktok fandoms, ugh) have this way of seeing a female character, and especially a female character that comes off as feminist or annoying, and will absolutely refuse to understand her at all. think any female character tiktok hates. ginny from ginny and georgia. mary from young sheldon. hell, even marina. these characters are flawed. eloise is flawed. but while other characters can be understood or even excused, being an annoying woman is the absolute worst thing to be. a crime. you deserve no kind of deeper understanding at all.

now, onto her friendship with pen.

i've felt like penelope in so many of my friendships. actually, i don't think i can think of any friendship i've had where i didn't feel like i was playing supporting role to the main character. so i'll absolutely agree, eloise could stand to be a better friend to penelope. she talks over her and ignores her sometimes, she doesn't seem to truly know penelope at all, and she tends to talk about herself far more than she asks about pen.

but i truly, truly don't think any of it is malicious. eloise wants to find LW originally because she wants to get justice for the featheringtons. she embraces pen immediately when she comes crying even though they were in a fight. she compliments pen on being such a good friend twice in season 2. also in season 2, eloise loudly tells cressida she would rather die than join her instead of pen. eloise is not some popular girl who uses pen to make herself look better. eloise thinks the world of her.

and eloise! is! keeping! her! secret! i feel like not enough people are understanding how absolutely insane that is. she's so ridiculously mature about it. she doesn't tell anyone. she endures the fallout of the (false) things penelope wrote about her. penelope writes and attacks el's brother and yet she doesn't say anything. she doesn't even go to her and tell pen to stop writing about her family! she feels bad that she accidentally let slip what colin and pen were doing. she apologizes for it. she feels upset that pen had to write about herself which is far more understanding than most would show in that situation (awww, you "had" to write about yourself in the gossip sheet where you regularly insult other people, woe is you). she stops cressida from bullying pen.

whereas in the very very first episode, lady whistledown's first article talks about how she doesn't like that the bridgertons are named alphabetically. does she help daphne by publishing the stuff about berbrooke? sure, after violet spreads the gossip, but more importantly, after she calls daphne ineligible for marriage which made berbooke her only viable option in the first place before simon stepped in. what has daphne done to her? nothing at all. also, this isn't just printing out gossip that everyone else is saying anyway (which still wouldn't be okay btw). this was penelope making a statement that was LW's personal opinion, which already carried a lot of weight. this was penelope nearly sabotaging daphne's chances of marriage.

and all of this isn't meant to be anti penelope. i understand her and why she does what she does (i do, however, think marina and eloise both clocked her, she is immature and she does write as LW because she's too nervous to be herself and is jilted by society). my overall point is that while eloise thinks the world of penelope, penelope harbors a bitterness towards el and her family. it's not an unnatural bitterness, mind you! you have a friend who goes on and on and doesn't ask you about you and her family is oh so perfect while your family is the laughing stock of the ton and her mother is so loving and your mother is anything but. anyone would be bitter. i think pen loves eloise too. she changes what she writes in LW to please her. she clearly cares that eloise approves of what she writes. she misses her and feels guilty about their fight. but pen isn't honest with eloise. pen isn't trying to discreetly reveal she's LW, or that she has a crush on colin. the only person to know before s3 is marina. eloise isn't a bad friend for not picking up on things that penelope is actively hiding. penelope also lets herself fall into the role of sidekick, she doesn't try to insert herself more into the conversation.

i might be forgetting a scene, but i think pen talks the most during the episode where they run off and lay in the field of flowers together (closet's invisible btw) and eloise listens to her and then says "you don't have to pretend anymore, you like this, pen" with the softest most adoring smile on her face while pen giggles. i promise i'm not trying to write peneloise fanfiction that's just how the scene goes. when penelope truly wants to talk, el does listen.

but that's where i'd give eloise the least grace, because i truly do think she could stand to listen more and listen better and ask about pen from time to time instead of just jumping in to what she wants to talk about. she shouldn't be surprised when pen wants to get married because pen said she did in s1 (my only in canon explanation of that could be that eloise simply thought she was speaking in anger and wasn't serious). i also don't know for sure, but i heard in the books they agreed to be spinsters together. that's not in the show, so it's not canon, but eloise certainly seems to think her and pen are on the same page.

i think there will be a mutual apology. i think that's fine. they both have stuff to apologize for and i won't get into penelope's character right now. if they continue to keep her quiet and docile and she ends up settling for a man who teaches her yadda yadda you can have feminism and love, i'm gonna sink into my chair. eloise bridgerton you deserve better 2k24.

[hjartasalt]

Are people off tikok aware of the lady who is dying of cancer and signed off all her rights to her latest single to her 7 year old son in the hopes that she'll have some amount of money to leave behind for him and initially her song was taking off and getting a lot of streams until someone pointed out that she follows the IDF on instagram so now people are debating over whether or not it's morally correct to stream her song even though the money exclusively goes to her son what stage of capitalism is this

[erytherion]

Reading the webtoon and…

Does this imply that Kim Dokja also tried to write a questionnaire for her to fill in since she wouldn’t speak to him, that either he 1) never gave her in the end (especially if he couldn’t find her after she was released) or 2) gave it to her and she STILL refused to answer?

Because that is so so so so awful. It was already bad but if he tried so many ways to get her to speak and she still gave him no response, regardless of her reasoning… isn’t that still directly choosing to cut herself fully out of his life? Why in the hell did she lie for his sake and allow him to visit her if she wanted to never speak to him again?

I know everyone claims Kim Dokja is just like her in sacrificing himself for loved ones, but at least he tries his best to stay with them and to keep them in his life. He still chooses sacrifice, but it’s not because he intends to never return. He always returns (even if much later than planned).

The only time this differs is with 51%, when he STILL tried his best to stay with them - at least as much as he could.

I sometimes like Lee Sookyung, but I am mostly still SO mad at her for completely ignoring her child since he was 8 years old. Especially when he must have looked like shit any number of times from being mistreated and bullied by family, friends, army, employers.

But maybe that’s just the fragment in me being eternally pissed with her. She DOES love him, but like he says in the webtoon in this chapter - maybe such truths are painful enough to be false anyways, because they’re just SUCH bullshit. That’s not how affection should work, if you actually care about someone and want them to be happy.

[niccoughlan]

at this point it almost feels like joe alwyn was the one kept locked away for 6 years because the man couldn't fill up his car or get a haircut without getting stalked. the photos coming out now are at events where he has an opportunity to know it's coming, select his clothing and styling, wear a pin representing a cause that's important to him. he has control of his appearances now instead of gritting his teeth during pap walks for backgrid.

we know how ts feels when she feels the narrative is being pulled out of her control ("gaslit by an entire system"). a sense of control over one's own life seems essential for sanity and i don't think it's fair for people to gloss over the part where she agreed to the level of privacy he needed and publicly endorsed it during some of her media statements made during the relationship (which i applaud for being unusually restrained and mature at the time). extreme extroverts and extreme introverts can try to make it work but neither is wrong if it doesn't work (if the breakdown is specifically about that difference between them) and it's kinda crappy to couch it in terms of "being locked away" now. especially since some of the locking away was due to a global pandemic.

joe alwyn wasn't on my radar for most of the 6 years except 1) i felt her music entered a new era of relationship contentment and grown up sensuality that reflected late 20s/early 30s womanhood and then transitioned into a more literary set of albums (folkmore) that had a broader focus thematically and 2) i heard little about him and there was effectively zero romantic drama for 5 full years. what a break for her (and us!).

now i'm more impressed by him than ever. he's quiet in the wake of it all, focuses on his industry commitments and the work he's doing, and absolutely glows with newfound relaxed joy. i absolutely do not think women shouldn't be entitled to have strong, deep emotions and write about those experiences. her work is perhaps the strongest ever in terms of conveying a feminine quixotic, idealized romantic viewpoint and then the flipside of idealizing (it's giving BPD!!!) which is devaluation/disillusionment/disenchantment, resentment, feelings of being deceived or let down ("maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up" being the early and best example).

the way joe has handled this, though, has made his status in my mind go from "just some guy" to an example of stability and fortitude that interests me. I personally believe that not publicly suffering is not necessarily a sign of callous lack of empathy - sometimes it means maturity and perspective. sw*fties harassing her exes want/ed to see a public mea culpa/punishment/expression of suffering that they feel equals their idols' - it's giving fatal attraction from those fans. maybe we don't need our past partners to suffer. maybe processing feelings involves personal reflection and doesn't require another party.

i'll leave off with this to support idealization/devaluation (the classic bpd trend):

Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes

'Cause I can't help it if you look like an angel

Say you're sorry, that face of an angel

And I damn sure would've never danced with the devil

Dear reader, when you aim at the devil

He looks up, grinning like a devil

[beautifulfuckup99]

A Yoongi smut where he is very cold and rude but head over heels for her

Im getting addicted to your stories btw🥹

OMG, thank you so much! Love ya!

Title: Only for you

Warning(s): Classic "Black cat/Golden Retriever" Energy, Curs!ng, D!rty Talk, Bathroom S!x, Creamp!e, Oral, and Fluff

Author's Note: "Hates everyone but you" trope is my absolute FAV! Hope you enjoy, and also this is a "Non-Idol!AU"!

************************************

"No."

"Yoongi-"

"No. No!"

"Baby, please! It's just-"

"No, no, no! Nope! Nah! No!"

You sigh deeply and move to straddle your boyfriend's lap as he shakes his head continuously. "Y/N. Don't." He warns and you smirk at him, knowing you'd get your way eventually. It was cute how he always tried to 'put his foot down' though.

"Baby... Focus on the set." You say calmly as you place his hands on your new lingerie set you'd gone out to buy just today. You knew you'd need the big guns for tonight. Black silk barely covered your body that was freshly washed, shaved, and lathered in vanilla lotion.

"Y/N, that's not fair!" He argues as he grips the fabric of your boy shorts in his hands.

"It's a night out, to a nice lounge, to celebrate my co-worker's birthday." You justify. Yoongi had no real desire to always go out and party. If he was forced into it, he'd have to get drunk. That's how he became more sociable and friendly. But other than that, he didn't have the patience for a night out. Or a day out. Or... Well, if it involved other people, let's just say Yoongi wasn't interested.

You knew getting him out would be hard. Especially right now. He couldn't drink thanks to his pain medication the doctors just put him on due to the cold air hurting his prier shoulder injury. You knew tonight, he'd have no real vice to hold on to. Besides you, that is.

"Can't we just... Wish her happy birthday over the phone? I mean, YOU don't even like her!" Yoongi mutters and you snort, moving to kiss along your boyfriend's neck.

"Y/N... I'm serious..." He grumbles as you lay him back, smiling at him innocently. "Don't 'sex brain' me. I'm not going." He says flatly and you hum as you kiss down his body slowly.

"Sex brain?! I'd do..." *kiss* "No..." *kiss* "Such..." *kiss* "Thing..." You mutter between kisses as you get to the waistband of his sweats.

"It's all cold out there, and the snow is mushy, and the lounge is gonna be packed, and I don't even li... Like... Oh..." Yoongi breathes out as you start to softly kiss the outline of his dick through his sweatpants.

"Go ahead, baby. You can complain..." You whisper patiently before rubbing the slowly swelling outline.

"Fuck..." He breathes out and groans. "Y/N, that's not... Fair." He huffs as you slowly pull out his cock and kiss the tip sweetly, as if greeting the thick member. It was your best friend after all...

"We'll give it a few hours, and then we'll say our goodbyes and head out." You say gently as you stroke your hand slowly up and down his shaft.

"I hate your coworkers..." He groans and you smirk at that. Yoongi wasn't judgmental by any means. But your fellow coworkers... They really didn't like his style, or his job, or his opinions and viewpoints... Actually, they didn't like Yoongi in general. You two really were from different worlds and you knew the world you came from was full of stuck-up rich people who only ever saw Yoongi for where he came from.

"Just think about it like this..." You begin before softly licking up his cock, watching the tip twitch. "You get to see that new red dress on me tonight, if you just agree to come." You mumble before swirling your tongue along the tip as he moans.

"Fuck, Y/N..." He moans as his hips buck up slightly, trying to feel your mouth more. It makes you moan around his tip, which in turn, makes him gasp happily. "O-Ok, ok. Just... Suck my cock, baby..." He pants, needing this. You smile and move your hand upwards along his cock, doing a twisting motion.

"And you'll try and be nice...?" You taunt, watching in amusement as he nods fast.

"Ye... Yes!" He pants hotly, hand moving to grip your hair. You smirk and get right to work...

*****************************************

"You said you'd be nice." You hiss in Yoongi's ear. He grumbles a bit in response, and you snort at the sound. "I agreed to try." He corrects in your ear, and you snicker before going back to the conversation the table was having about this week and the bad weather.

"What are you two whispering about over there?" A male coworker jokingly asks.

"Oh, you know Y/N is Yoongi's little mouthpiece." Another jokes and Yoongi stares them down till they stop their laughing. You facepalm slightly. He always had this dark, icy glare. Like a shark...

"So, uh... Yoongi," Another coworker speaks up, eyeing his leather jacket with a fake smile on her face as if she wasn't judging his outfit right now. "How's your little... Business going?" She asks with a soft laugh. Yoongi scrunches his nose at the question, eyeing her in an annoyed fashion.

"Oh, things are going great! Just had a deal close the other day, he's doing great things." You say fast in order to clear up the tension before Yoongi really comes out of his mouth with an attitude. You were actually surprised he hasn't already.

"God, do you ever talk?" Another coworker tries joking and Yoongi finally speaks up.

"Do you ever shut up? You should try it sometime, maybe it'll help lessen my headache." He says bluntly and then fake laughs. You cover your mouth as to not laugh at the shocked look on your coworker's face.

"Please, excuse us!" You say fast and get up, grabbing Yoongi and dragging him off with you. You lead him towards the bathroom and playfully hit his arm.

"I said be nice!" You say and he hums as he eyes you.

"You said try." He defends and you rub your face tiredly before you feel your boyfriend pull you into his arms. You playfully grumble and let him kiss the side of your face and down your neck lightly.

"You're such a pain..." You mutter and pull back to eye your boyfriend. He looked absolutely delicious tonight. "How the hell can I get you to behave?" You whisper and he eyes you with a smirk playing on his lips.

"I can make a suggestion..." He says and you hum.

"Reading your mind as we speak..." You tease and pull at his arm, dragging him off to the ladies bathroom.

The second you realize the coast is clear, Yoongi's already grabbing you and pulling you to the sinks. You laugh at his eagerness. "No way you're still horny..." You mutter against his lips as he kisses you hungrily.

"Blame it on this fucking dress." He grumbles and you snicker proudly, wrapping your legs around his waist.

"We're gonna have to hurry. Can't keep 'em waiting forever." You whisper.

"Fuck them..." Yoongi mutters with a snort before focusing on your neck. You shut your eyes and hum in enjoyment till you feel him bite your neck.

"Yoongi! No hickeys!" You pant.

"What? Don't want them knowing what we snuck off to do? Hm? Too bad. I want all those stuck-up assholes to know their fancy titles and big watches mean shit. Because you'd still rather fuck me." He smirks and his proud smirk makes you laugh.

"Oh? Makes you feel like you won the big dick having contest?" You joke and he presses against you.

"I don't know. You tell me..." He whispers cockily and you playfully mush his face.

"Don't talk my ear off. Hurry up." You giggle and grab the back of his neck to pull his lips to yours, kissing him deeply and passionately. He kisses back with the same heat. His hands reach under your dress for your underwear, and you shiver at the coldness of his hands.

"Wanna warm them up?" He whispers against your lips before sliding his fingers along your inner thighs.

"Fuck..." You gasp softly and your head goes back against the mirror as he slides two fingers between your folds. "Mm... Yoongi..." You gasp and he bites your collarbone as he strokes your clit.

"Please. I need it..." You pant out as if suffocated by your own desire. He pulls his fingers away and sucks them clean, much to your bashful delight. You're quick to undo his belt and the second his cock is free; your legs are spreading.

"Ha. I've trained you well..." He jokes and kisses you deeply as your legs tug him by the hips so he can slide into you already. "Fucking eager..." He taunts and slides into you. "Fuck. You were made for me..." He groans happily and you lean back to look at him with soft eyes.

"How romantic..." You tease as he bottoms out inside of you. You moan as your head rolls back.

"So fucking pretty." He whispers as he watches you closely. You grab his face.

"You can be romantic with me after you finish fucking me." You pant as you grab him in need. You core felt on fire.

"Yes, ma'am..." He whispers and gives in to you. He fucks you a bit faster as you yank off his leather jacket to feel more of him. His hands grip your hips tight to hold you in place and your hands grip the sides of the sink so you can hold your legs open. His hands go to the back of your knees to hold your legs up and wide apart.

"Yes! Oh fuck!" You moan out as your head presses against the mirror more.

"Why so loud? Because no one can hear you." He taunts in your ear, and you shiver at the thought.

"Give me more. Please..." You pant. You never knew what you were begging for exactly, but Yoongi somehow gave you what you needed every time. He angels his hips to find your spot as his thumb goes to your clit. "Baby!" You cry out as you grip his arms, always careful of holding him and he was always grateful of that...

He kisses you sloppily and pumps in and out of you, enjoying your own private world for a moment until there's a knock on the bathroom door. You're quick to cover Yoongi's mouth.

"Y-Yes?" You call as calmly as you can.

"Y/N? That you?" One of your male co-workers, Timothy, asks, and Yoongi laughs from behind your hand. You give him a look to stay quiet.

"Y-Yup. Yeah, it's me." You shakily call out cause Yoongi has decided now is a great time to slowly bottom out inside of you, so you feel every inch of him...

Your eyes roll back slightly at the pressure and the feel of his tip pressed firmly against your sweet spot.

"Are you okay in there? Did your little boy toy leave? We're sorry if we made you two fight." Tim says in an innocent tone that you and Yoongi knew wasn't so innocent. You knew Tim had a little workplace crush on you, but you were sure that always talking and showing off Yoongi would one day snap him out of whatever he thought was gonna happen between you two. But there was no realization coming from him anytime soon.

"Oh, no, we're-" You're stopped from your sentence by Yoongi sliding out and the hitting your sweet spot with the right amount of force.

"Perfect!" You call out in pure pleasure before swatting at his arm.

"Are you sure you're okay in there, Y/N?" Tim asks as Yoongi moves to your ear while fucking you hard and fast.

"Yeah, are you okay in here, Y/N?" He whispers in your ear, and you can barely focus on anything other than the bundle of heat in your stomach about to burst.

"Y-Ye... Yes..." You hiss out as you look Yoongi in the eyes with a 'I'm gonna kill you after this' look. It makes him smirk happily.

"Y/N?" Tim asks from the locked bathroom door as Yoongi kisses you hotly.

"Don't stop..." You whine quietly against his lips as he starts rubbing your clit.

"Cum, baby. Cum on my cock..." He nods fast and you tune out Tim effortlessly as you feel it coming.

"Yes!" You gasp and move closer to Yoongi, biting down on the cork of his neck as you cum.

"Fuck..." Yoongi moans quietly and holds you down on your cock so you're milking him. "That's a good girl..." He praises as you moan happily when you feel him fill you up. You grab him and kiss you as Tim starts knocking on the bathroom door relentlessly.

"Ugh. Stay here. I'll get rid of him and then you walk out." You whisper and Yoongi nods, pulling out of you. You wait for the shakiness to pass and, when you can feel your legs again, you get up and fix yourself before walking over to the door. You open it and poke your head out.

"Oh! You're okay. Thank god, cause I was so worried-" Tim is cut off by Yoongi walking over behind you, which makes you facepalm.

"Tim?" Yoongi asks as he makes it obvious that he's now fixing his belt on his pants.

"Uh... Yeah, man?" Tim asks, eyeing you both now wirily.

"You wanna fuck off?" Yoongi asks bluntly with the same casual expression on his face. You keep your face covered, not even wanting to look up at Tim.

"Uh... Yeah, yup, let me... Go back to the table." Tim mutters, a bitter look on his face before he storms off. You snort and turn to Yoongi, swatting at his chest.

"Would it kill you to be nice?" You ask and he pauses as if thinking.

"Mm... It just might. And then what would you do without me?" He plays along with the same smile that's only meant for you. You blush and nudge him lightly.

"Let's go. Before you fight someone else." You chuckle and grab his hand, pulling him off towards the table to get your stuff and run off back home.

[dwyntwo]

Okay, so... as a collective fandom, we can agree that bullying Kaz is fun, yeah? There's just something about seeing the guy down at his lowest and then prodding him with a stick and going "Come on, do something."

But I'm going to stand in his corner for a bit in this post.

Something that never really sat right with me is the collective implication that Kaz isn't good enough for Inej (and never will be).

I'm totally with you: he didn't deserve Inej in the first book and maybe not even yet in the second because he didn't give her anything to work with. He didn't even visit her after she was stabbed, or show her how relieved he was when she recovered. And this is just the thing: he didn't deserve her because of his BEHAVIOUR, not because he's inherently less important or less valuable or less of a person than her.

However I've read so many post-CK fanfictions where Kaz has been working on himself, is openly communicating with her, basically kisses the ground she walks on, treats her as his equal and goes above and beyond to make her as comfortable as possible, and still everyone INCLUDING Inej (and Kaz) goes "I/she deserve/s so much better than me/him". And THAT implicates that the reason Kaz wasn't good enough for her was not his behaviour towards her, but the fact that he as a whole human being is just "not enough" and "less valuable" than her, and that viewpoint has always made me super uncomfortable, especially considering his trauma.

Now I know what you're going to say, and I absolutely agree: trauma never excuses abhorrent behaviour. But there's just something icky to me about looking at a traumatized person who has not only been making an EXTREME effort to overcome their issues, but also shown amazing results, and going "They don't deserve X", "They're less than X" etc. just because they haven't fully healed yet or might never fully heal. It gives "Traumatized people are damaged goods"-vibes, which is especially weird considering my next point: INEJ IS TRAUMATIZED TOO AND HER TRAUMA GETS IN THE WAY OF A GOOD AND LOVING RELATIONSHIP JUST AS MUCH AS HIS.

She literally admits to herself that she wears as much armor as Kaz does and was being kind of hypocritical when she told him to remove his. Inej is a flawed character (which somehow seems to be a controversial take in the fandom), and to put her on a pedestal because of how virtuous and "better" she is than Kaz takes all the nuance out of her. There are definitely some parts in the books where I felt like she was in the wrong or toeing the line, but the others never really call out her behaviour the way they do with Kaz, not even in their internal monologue, so we're left with this image of an Inej who can do no wrong and a Kaz who simply got lucky.

The fact that in aforementioned fanfictions (that I still absolutely adore btw) Inej too thinks he isn't good enough for her despite everything he does for her and for himself, and despite how far he's come also turns her acknowledgment of her own self worth into something ugly and vain in my eyes. She loves herself, but she also loves Kaz, so I don't think she, or any good partner, would look at her boyfriend who clearly already thinks very little of himself and go "Yep, this fucker isn't good enough".

So often people will look at a healthy happy couple and go "He/she could do so much better than her/him". Like that's a whole person you're putting in a competition of "Who's more worthy?" as if they were some object that is of better or worse quality.

I don't think I articulated this too well and there's a lot more to be said about this, but I hope you understand the gist of it. Post CK-Kaz who works on himself and openly communicates ABSOLUTELY deserves Inej, and I will ROT on this hill.

Now I've been nice to him for long enough I think *whacks him with a crow bar*

[kittyball23]

Could you make a fanfiction of when Poppy surprised Branch that she was expecting to have a baby? And they tell all their friends and family the news? How would Branch react? And how would their family and friends react to the news too? I always imagine that they're excited to become parents, and so do their loved ones!? Could you do that? I also love the idea that their little girl had blue eyes, like her father's, Branch, indigo hair, and I imagined she looked like her mother, Poppy.

Hi! I wanted to break this up into 2 parts, this first one will be the siblings’ reaction to the news - I think Branch’s deserves a separate oneshot (I can’t say when I’ll have it ready for, as I do have a couple other requests from my Inbox to fill, but I hope you enjoy!)

Taking the News (a Trolls fanfic)

“AAAIIIIIIIYYYYYYYAIIIII!!!!”

Viva’s excited scream burst through the air, the Putt Putt Queen leaping a good couple feet up in an uncontained joy. The energy only doubled once she landed, waving her hands wildly about and gushing while she paced about and spoke a mile a minute. “OMIGOSH, OMIGOSH, OMIGOSH, I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!” She zipped over to Poppy and gently patted at her belly.

“Hello in there! It’s your Auntie Viva! Oh, I just know you’re gonna be so itty, and bitty, and cutie-wootie just like your Mommy was! AND I’M SO EXCITED TO MEET YOU!”

The Pop Queen giggled at her sister. “Veevs, I’m only a couple months. I’m not even sure if they can hear you yet!”

Branch on the other hand differed on this viewpoint. “After that scream? Yeah, they probably did.” Viva grinned sheepishly when she noticed the blue Troll rub his ears.

“Oh! I’m so sorry, Branch! It’s just that this is so, SO fantast-amazing!! Actually, it’s better than fantast-amazing! It’s fantast-AMAWESOME!” She squealed and bounced off to the side, expending her energy in one of the best ways she knew how - braiding! By the time her feet were back on the ground, it was Clay who was donning a brand-new French-braided hairstyle, topped off with little bows and glitter of all sorts of colors.

Clay groaned at how silly it looked. “Viva! Why me?” he whined.

Viva sprang to his side and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. “Because you need to stop being a serious-boy grumpy-poo and get loose! My sis is gonna be a mom!! And your brother’s gonna be a dad!!” She celebrated by grabbing Clay in a tight hug and twirling him around.

When he was released, the lime-green-Troll found himself taking her advice, forgetting all about his hair and grinning broadly at Branch.

“Congrats, bro! I’m real proud of ya!” He fist-bumped the bashful blue Troll. Branch readied himself to reply, when he suddenly heard a sniffle. It came as no surprise that the Troll who had burst into tears was none other than Floyd.

“Oh, Branch, this is such a special thing! I’m honored to be an uncle, and I’m so happy for you…” He trailed off, a sob taking place where words failed him. He easily wept into Branch’s shoulder when his younger bro pulled him in for a hug.

“Thanks. I’m pretty psyched, too,” Branch agreed, smiling as he pictured their child. What would they look like? Perhaps they’d have his dark, indigo hair and sparkling blue eyes. Or they could be all Poppy, in gorgeous appearance and stunning personality. Or maybe their kid would inherit King Peppy’s orange skin tone, or Grandma Rosiepuff’s teal button nose. Branch’s head spun with all of the possibilities, each and every one perfect and plausible, until the reality of the situation weighed down on him. Being a father was a big responsibility. A flicker of doubt seemed to flash across his face right at that moment, which did not go unnoticed by Bruce.

The purple-haired Troll approached him and patted a hand on his back. “Hey, man, I know it can seem kinda scary at first - I know I was a little nervous for my first kid - but trust me, it becomes a breeze. And when it’s not, just call me for help! I got your back, bro.” He winked at Branch, making him feel a lot better. Bruce, after all, was an experienced dad, having fathered 13 kids of his own - all of who would become cousins to the new bundle of joy entering into his life.

John Dory suddenly swept in alongside them. “And me, too!”

Branch and Bruce gave him a curious look. “Wait… John, you’re a dad?”

JD’s jaw dropped. “Uh, yeah! You forgot? Man!” He strolled over to his caterbus, Rhonda, and patted her side lovingly. “It’s okay, girly,” he cooed, “they didn’t mean to forget about you, darling. Who’s the cutest caterbussy in the whole wide world? Huh? You are!”

Rhonda trilled in appreciation at John Dory’s sappy words, while Branch exchanged a look with his other brothers. While he wanted to point out that taking care of a caterbus was not all the same as it was taking care of a little Trolling, Branch couldn’t help but feel his own bout of appreciativeness towards his bro’s offer to help. Feeling playful, he grabbed JD with one arm and noogied him with the other, the pair of them laughing by the end of it.

Poppy and Viva in the meantime were having their own share of sisterly love, hugging and shrieking, and jumping up and down over the elation of it all.

“Ohhh, I can’t wait to tell everyone!” Poppy cried. “I’m gonna tell Bridget, and Biggie, and Mr. Dinkles, and Guy Diamond, and Satin and Chenille, and - “

“And Dad!” Viva cut in with a grin.

Poppy squealed. “Oh, my gosh!”

She and Viva shouted at the same time at the top of their lungs: “DAD’S GONNA FREAK!” Both girls burst into a fit of giggles just picturing the look on the elderly king’s face once the news hit him full force.

Viva bounced up and down once again and wrangled Poppy and the boys together.

“Aw, come here, guys! Group hug!” Arms enveloped Poppy and Branch from all sides in a flurry of limbs, letting the two happy parents know that they - along with their new kiddo - were indeed loved very dearly.

**********************************************************

A/N: Happy Thanksgiving!!

[thethiefandtheairbender]

I think the biggest difference for me between projects (like to be clear I think NATLA is not good as an adaptation or a show, and I think the PJO tv show works as an adaptation and a show) is something that feels so basic, but shocked me when it clicked, which is that

NATLA has no actual visual storytelling going on

Which sounds ridiculous, but let me explain what I mean. "Visual storytelling" is how you communicate aspects of character or relationship through visual framing, parallels, that kind of thing, usually to indicate progression or a character's viewpoint. Many people have noticed that NATLA's cinematography leaves much to be desired, there are some shots that are good particularly in episode 6 (the Zuko transition shots between past and present, and one of the ending shots between him and Aang) but that's by and large the exception.

What I mean when I say "visual storytelling" is that NATLA doesn't have visual motifs. It doesn't really have parallels happening that much in the text or in the visuals. And this is something that ATLA did really, really well, all the time, particularly with Zuko's scar. Just take this framing of Zuko and Aang, in particular, from The Storm and The Blue Spirit.

They even have consistent colour tones of Aang having a warmer, lighter yellow (Air Nomad) and Zuko having a darker, deeper red (Fire Nation).

And this is something I think Percy Jackson does pretty well. They have consistent motifs / descriptions if it were, particularly when it comes to Percy and Annabeth's relationship and her character.

Percy: [Choosing Annabeth] And if the mission required someone to push me down a flight of stairs for it to succeed, you want someone who won't hesitate when they do it.

Percy: [literally pushes her down the stairs but to save her life]

Ares: You're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work. [...] Olympians fight. We betray. We backstab. We will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead. Annabeth: This isn't the Arch, Seaweed Brain. You're not pushing me into the stairwell aagain. Percy: Yes I am! [...] It's why you're here. When I was choosing my team, I told Chiron I needed someone who wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice me if the quest required it. He agreed. That was you. [...] You're better at this than me. You just are.

Annabeth: [Refusing to get back in Athena's good graces] It isn't how it should be! It isn't. Eat or be eaten [referencing the Kronos story Ares said earlier]. Power and glory and nothing else matters. Ares is that way. Zeus is that way. My mother is that way. He isn't that way. He's better than that. Maybe I was that way once. But I don't wanna be that way anymore. I won't be like all of you. I just won't.

But we also see this visually.

And to be clear I think it's well done, I'm not saying this kind of thing is a Masterpiece™ but what I am saying is that if you do these things, it's a great way to convey information to your audience visually and a sense of progress both in individual characterization and relationship development. And it just makes sense to lean on things visually if you're a visual medium, because prose can't do framing like this to the same degree.

And NATLA just... never does it. There's almost no real parallels, there's very little framing happening, and the even more intense overload of exposition does not help matters in this way either. The original series had a lot of parallels steadily built up (i.e. Aang's presence in the SWT and Sokka's plotline in Jet -- hell, even some of the lines he gets at Roku's Fire Sage temple -- were to show how Sokka was moving away from a more xenophobic worldview even if it was still a work in progress). There were also more overt ones, such as Sokka dressing himself for battle versus Zuko having guards/servants do it for him, but both ultimately tether the two together into having to put on a performance of confidence, manhood, and war more so than being the children they actually are.

And NATLA just has... no real visual parallels. The closest we get is the parallels between Sokka-Yue, Tui and La, and Kataang in the finale, but that's about it.

There's not a lot of scenes where a character is presented the chance to make a similar choice only to then make a different one. Even Aang wanting to go to the NWT to make a difference is muted because he never actually ran away in the first place; when you rip away character flaws or mistakes, you also gut their room for growth. When you strip away visual storytelling, it means that what you see on screen is a 1:1 of exactly what you're getting, and that is just a lot more Boring to watch as well as gutting your chances to show more character exposition. And it's just - it's just not good

[ashisgreedy]

Garreth Weasley x F!MC

"Fulfilling A Fantasy"

Tags: Smut 18+🔞 MDNI | Established relationship | 1st f!anal | Anal prep w fingers/toys/mouth | Anal Penetration | Spanking | Praise | Garreth is a bit obsessed with this fantasy~ | Aged up 21+ | A|N at the end.

WC: 2,745

MC was laying naked on her stomach atop the bed. She had a pillow under her hips that made her ass stick up in the air. 

Garreth was pulling out several toys he’d collected for this very occasion along with a sizeable bottle of lubricant. He lined them up next to her legs and kept rubbing his hand over her backside and thighs. 

MC looks back at her boyfriend. “That’s a lot of plugs…” 

Her nervousness was made clear well before all of this started. Garreth promised to stop anytime for any reason, no questions asked if she wanted him to. 

“Well, I may have gone a bit overboard. Some of them are just for pleasure and not really prepping…” He picked two up and compared them. “This one,” He lifted a tapered egg-shaped plug. “It's more for stretching and… well it is also pleasurable.” He smiled. His cheeks were already pink from his flustered state. “This one,” He lifted the other. It was tapered and longer with three bulges. “This is a bit more for pleasure. I probably won't use all of them.” He raked his hand in his hair, visibly excited. 

He relaxed on one arm next to her legs. He was also already fully naked. 

“Well…” She wiggled her hips a little. Garreth’s gaze shot to her ass region in an instant. She smiled at the effect this was already having on him. “I’m ready when you are.” She finished. 

“We will take it slow.” He reassured her, “We go at your pace, little witch.” 

His lubed finger slid over her slit up to her ass. He rubs in a circular motion. It felt a bit chilly on her skin but warmed very quickly.

“Mm… No one has ever touched me there so.” She lets out a soft laugh. “It’s a bit… interesting.”

“I really like touching you there…” Garreth spoke in a low voice.

He’d brought this up to her more times than she could count during the course of their relationship. It wasn’t that she didn’t want it, it just felt a bit too taboo to her and made her nervous to try something out of the box. But she trusted her boyfriend. Plus, the way his face lit up when she agreed to it made her more happy than she dared to admit. 

He was already obsessed with grabbing her ass and keeping his hand on it when he could get away with it. She knew he was a bit obsessed with her body at this point and very much loved the effect it had on him. 

His finger gently pressed inside her.

“Whew…” she breathed. The lube made it easy for his finger to intrude. 

She jerked her hips when he moved his digit in and out. 

“You’re doing so well, just relax.” He rubbed her thigh comfortingly. “You will get used to the sensation after a bit.” He reassured her. 

She blushes when he starts to play more. He moves his finger all the way in, twisting and pulling out. He dripped more lube onto her ass as he did this, getting her insides nice and coated. 

Garreth was between her legs while her ass was propped up in the air like some kind of art piece on a pedestal. Her legs were spread to accommodate his width and he could see everything from his viewpoint. 

“It’s a bit… humiliating.” She tries to joke but her breath hitches when a second finger presses against her hole. 

“It’s just us. No need to feel embarrassed.” He kissed her inner thigh and slowly adds the second finger. 

His free hand moves up her waist and down to her knee. He caresses her skin, making her feel more comfortable and reassured. 

“Do you have to watch like that?” She laughs breathlessly. 

“Yep.” He sent her a smirk when she looked back at him.  

The intrusion didn’t feel normal for a while. It was nice, just strange. She could feel how relaxed her hole was getting and whimpered when he removed his fingers. 

“Shh, shh,” He was grinning. “I’m just getting a toy now, okay? I’ll put something inside you again, don’t worry.” He pats her thigh reassuringly, teasing her. His delight was obvious that she was enjoying herself too.

She buried her face in the pillow to hide her blush. Was she really starting to crave the sensation? 

A blunt object pressed against her asshole and she tensed. It was covered in lube, feeling a bit cold. 

“Relax, little witch.” He soothed. 

She relaxed and squeaked when he pressed harder. 

Garreth sighed, squeezing her ass cheek with his free hand. “I’ll take it slow. Let me know if you need to stop.”

It took a few minutes of him slowly pushing, but soon she was shuddering as the plug fit snugly all the way in. 

“Gods…” Garreth let go of the toy and let it sit inside her. He grabbed her cheeks and squeezed, spreading them wider, pushing them up, and kneading them. “How does it feel?” 

She looked back and noticed just how hard his cock was slowly getting. 

“Feels fine, it's good. I’m comfortable.” 

He nodded, working hard to fix a smile on his lust-filled face. “I’m going to move it a bit now.” 

She nodded and felt him start to pull on the plug. He pulled just enough to take it out halfway before pushing it back in.

“Woah…” She gasped.

“Good, bad? Need a break?” He stood still. 

“Good! It's fine. It just feels so… interesting. I’m kind of liking it…” She sends him a small smile. 

Garreth’s face lights up as he starts to tug on the plug again. He doesn’t remove it all the way and keeps pulling and pushing it back into her. 

She felt quite stretched at this point and told him so. “I think I'm ready for the next size up..” 

“I was about to say, I think you’re ready for a bigger one.” He agrees and slips the plug out. He sets it off in another pile away from the unused ones and looks at his pile. 

He seems to be thinking for a long moment and MC pipes up. “Everything okay?

Garreth gave her a small smile. “Yeah! I was just thinking. It’s just… you’re doing so well. I was thinking of skipping the medium and going up to a larger one. Would you want to try?” 

“I will try. I feel very ready…” 

Garreth swallows thickly at her words. This was most definitely his biggest fantasy come to life. 

He gets the larger plug, saturates it in extra lube then presses it to her ass.

“We’re going slow, okay? Tell me the second anything hurts and I’ll stop.” He reassures her, touching her leg lovingly. 

“Understood.” She agrees. 

She takes the plug slowly. It stretches her deliciously and she clenches her eyes shut. Okay, now it was starting to feel good.

Garreth is breathless as her hole accepts the larger plug so readily. 

She notices him give his cock a few pumps while her hole stretches much farther than it ever has before. 

She whimpers as the plug gets to the largest part, breathing through the stretching with her hands digging into the bedsheets. 

Garreth bites her thigh, kissing along the skin up to her cheek. He bites her ass cheek and groans when her hole finally sucks in the last bit of the plug.

“Ah… Woah…” 

She feels a light smack to her ass, then another one as Garreth spanks her. He squeezes the flesh and leans in, kissing around the plug. 

She moans at all the sensations, rubbing her chest into the bed. 

His tongue runs all along the rim eagerly. He pulls at the plug and keeps licking and stretching her. 

“Garreth!” She moans breathlessly. Little tremors of pleasure skittling through her body from the epicenter of her backside. 

His tongue slides all around, his saliva lubing the plug even more. 

He pulls the plug out and pushes it back in, over and over while MC mewls and twitches below. 

When she easily takes the toy with no resistance, Garreth removes it and tosses it in the ‘used’ pile.

He spanks her again and grips her cheeks. 

“The next size up is my cock,” He breathes heavily. “Do you want that? Do you want me?” He spanks her ass again and groans. 

“Yes… I want you… Please,” She begs, looking back at him as he adds lube to his cock. 

He strokes himself and lines himself up. He then folds himself over her body, pressing his chest to her back, arms on either side of her face, caging her in. 

“I’m going to stay still, and I want you to push back into me at your own pace, okay? Can you do that for me?” He moves her hair to one side and plants sweet kisses along her shoulder. 

She nods eagerly and pushes her hips back. He adjusts himself so he’s perfectly angled at her asshole then cages her in again. “Slow, little witch.” He teases. 

She goes slow, moving back against the blunt tip of his cock. She feels it stretch her as she presses harder. 

“Mm, that's it. Take your time.” He encourages her.

She does, pressing slowly as moments pass. Finally, the thick head of his cock pops passed the tight ring of her ass and they both gasp. 

“Yes!” She takes a breather. “Oh… The stretch feels so good.” She whimpers. 

“Fuck…” He pants. “Yes… That's my girl.” He praises her, nipping at her shoulder with gentle bites.

Neither of them expected to get this far tonight. The training was supposed to be a build-up over the course of the weekend, but he’d made her feel so relaxed and took his time, her body acclimated very quickly. 

Garreth panted as MC started pressing back again, taking more of him. 

“Take my cock in your ass,” Garreth moaned, losing himself in the moment. He always got chatty when things heated up. “I’ll make you feel so good,” His lips trailed over her shoulder along the back of her neck. 

She trembles as she dares to take in more of him. Her knees quake as she slowly presses back for more. 

She moans louder and Garreth starts breathing heavier. His fists shake as he holds his body weight up so as to not crush her. 

“Take more, take more of me. Go slower if you need to. I won’t move.” He promised, breathing harshly into the back of her hair. 

The sensation of his cock sliding into her felt never-ending. 

“Oh… it feels so deep.” She catches her breath for a moment. 

“I’m not even halfway,” He kisses her neck and ear. “All the toys were short… just to help prepare you for penetration… Is this okay?” 

“Yes, Garreth! Gods….” She allows her body to acclimate for a moment more before pressing back again to take more of his cock inside her. 

His chest presses down on her back and she can see just how much he's stopping himself from thrusting all the way to the hilt.

They both groan the farther he’s in. Finally, fucking, finally his hips press directly against her skin. He was all the way buried inside her. 

“I need a minute,” Garreth drops his head into the crook of her shoulder, breathing deeply. 

“It feels… feels a bit violating.”  She lets out a small breathy laugh. 

Garreth inhales deeply “In a good way?” 

“Oh, yes.” She reassures him with a smile on her lips. 

“I’ve been wanting to “violate” you for a while now.” He lets out a breathy chuckle and so does she. 

She pushes back a bit, trying to encourage him to move.

“Ah, fuck…” He groans. 

“You’re so deep,” She moans, gripping the sheets. “I feel so full.” She adds quietly.

“Say that again, MC. Tell me again,” Garreth pleads, forehead pressing into the back of her head. 

“I feel so full, Garreth. You’re so big…” 

Garreth lets out a burst of air, tickling the skin on her neck. 

“Mm, and I’m going to keep filling you up, nice and deep, over and over again, little witch.” His voice is sinfully low. “Do you want that? Hm? Tell me,” 

“Yes! I want you to keep filling me up,” 

“Oh, gods…” He groans and adjusts his position minutely. “Ready for me to move?” He scrapes his teeth over a sensitive spot on her neck. 

“Yes… start moving a little bit,” She braces herself for the foreign feeling. 

“Let’s see how well you take me,” He whispers in her ear and kisses it before he gently moves. 

“Oh, gods!” She yanks on the blanket. 

He rocks his hips slowly, filling her to the brink before pulling out again. 

“You’re doing so well,” He rocks a bit faster when she doesn’t protest. 

She moans and sucks in breaths. “I’m going to fall apart, fuck…” 

“I’m just getting started,” He uncurls himself from her and sits on his knees between her legs. He lets out a moan at the sight of his cock in her ass and starts thrusting. 

The absence of his body heat makes the air in the room feel cold on her back. She shivers as she whimpers little cries of pleasure. “So full…” 

“Yes,” Garreth drives his cock home, again and again. “Your ass takes my cock so well,” A quiet ‘fuck’ falls from his lips. “I’m going to fill you up even more with my cum, my little witch. Do you want that? Want me to cum deep inside you?” 

“Yes! Oh, Garreth…” She pants as he goes faster, fucking her at his normal stride. 

Garreth’s hands grip her ass. He sits back and spreads her cheeks, watching himself fuck into her. “Ah… MC…” 

“That angle! Yes!” She desperately pleads.

“I never want this to stop,” He huffs as he fucks her at the angle she requested. “You like this angle? Is it pressing against all the right spots?” 

She found her center of gravity again and started pushing back into each of his thrusts. The angle he was hitting her made her feel all kinds of good things inside. 

“It is, Yes! Oh, don’t stop,” They find a matching rhythm and speed up together. 

He spanked one of her ass cheeks and squeezed the other one, gripping and pulling her with each thrust.

“This is better than my fantasy,” He let out a breathless chuckle. 

Her neglected pussy was slick with desire. Garreth reached around and rubbed her little clit. 

She was yelling out ‘yes’ and ‘more’ as he touched her intimately. 

He used his other hand to smack her ass again and then she was falling, flying, shaking under him. Her orgasm hit her like a bus. 

“Gods, that feels good,” Garreth commented on how her walls squeezed his cock as she came. 

As her orgasm ended, she started to squirm and whimper. He removed his finger and went back to chasing his own release. 

His hands dug into her ass, thrusting faster and faster. His knees dug into the bed and each thrust sent her body jolting forward. The pillow below her hips gets pushed and pulled, almost becoming useless. 

“AH!” Garreth moans louder the closer he gets. “I’m close,” He alerts her. 

“I want it!” She mewls into the bed. “Cum inside me, please” She begs him. 

“Fuck…” His hips studders. “Tell me again!” He demands as he huffs air. 

“I want your cum! Please, fill me up!” 

Garreth thrusts into her deep one last time and his cock throbs hard as his eyes clench shut. 

He curls back down on top of her against her back, keeping their bodies locked. His moans fill her ears as his body pulses with pleasure. 

His chest is much warmer now against her back, sticky from sweat, but oh so comforting. His familiar musk fills her nose and her whole body relaxes in his embrace.

“Just gonna…” Garreth kisses her neck lazily. “...stay inside you until I get hard again.” 

She laughed and Garreth cracked a smile. 

“I have a feeling you’re going to want to do this more often.” She spoke quietly between them, resting her cheek on the bed and looking up at him. 

“Oh, you bet,” He chuckled. “If you’re up for it.” 

They relaxed like that, catching their breath and having some pillow talk before Garreth’s body inevitably reset. 

.

.

.

Thanks for reading! ❤️-Ash

AN: I wasn’t sure what to call this. A fic? A HC? A drabble? A babble!? Regular fic writing has been making me feel too intimidated lately to do. I decided to write it like this. The story flowed easily and I really enjoyed it! Not sure if this will be a regular format going forward but I’m just happy I was finally able to write without feeling impending doom. lol

Masterlist in bio

ᵀʰᵉ ᵒⁿˡʸ ᵗʰᶦⁿᵍ ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉᵐᵉ ᶠᵒʳ "ᴴᵒᵗ" ᵂᵉᵃˢˡᵉʸ ᵂᵉᵈⁿᵉˢᵈᵃʸ ʷᵃˢ ʰᵒʷ ʰᵒᵗ ᵗʰᶦˢ ᶠᶦᶜ ᵐᵃᵈᵉ ᵐᵉ

[tangent101]

Have we gotten Rachel wrong this whole time?

There are plenty of theories about Rachel Amber in the LiS community. Some folks like to think of her as a manipulator who only was out for herself. We have others who think she was deep in love with Chloe and would never cheat on her and everything she did was to get her and Chloe out of Arcadia Bay. It seems like everyone looks at Rachel and sees something new. But… what if we were all wrong? What if Rachel was something else… someone who tried avoiding conflict by talking to people and agreeing with them… and thus everyone saw her as they wanted to see her?

There is actually some evidence toward this in the game. First, Chloe herself points this out, though in a way that is perhaps less than flattering: "She blended like a chameleon. Clearly more than I knew… or wanted to know…." People take this as to Rachel was able to see what makes a person tick and just become the person that someone else wanted… but we can see several people who had a rather negative view of Rachel. So what is it about those people that had a negative viewpoint of Rachel?

First, we have David Madsen, who detested Rachel and saw her as a bad influence and a criminal. He was investigating Rachel and had photographs he felt were of her being a drug mule. Next, we had a truck driver who talked about Rachel really wanting to get out of town. And of course there is Mark Jefferson who also had a… twisted view of Rachel, though it also seems Rachel was so enthralled by Jefferson that she may have been sleeping with him (and both Stella and Victoria seem to be interested in what's going on in Jefferson's pants as well, though I'm not sure why, he's not that charming).

The truth is that Rachel was something other than a manipulative gold-digger or the like. She were a teenage girl who disliked conflict and was adept at listening to people and when talking to them would agree with them? I mean, consider her two breakup letters, one to Frank and one to Chloe? Rachel so wanted to avoid conflict that she left a letter to Frank because he scared her. She did not want a fight. She wanted out. So she left… with a note basically giving her reasons and essentially ending things. (Frank thankfully accepted that.)

Chloe also got a letter. Honestly… given it was all crumpled up, I half-wonder if Chloe had read it while high one time and crumpled it up and forgot about it afterward. But we have a very important line here: I don't want you to hate me. I don't want you to hate me. That's a very interesting thing to say. There is no deliberate malice, this is someone who has found someone else who just rings all those bells but wants to keep the friend aspect. She still wants the laughter, the moments of sharing a glance and both having the same thought, the things she envisions friends do… but to walk away from the sensual intimacy.

Remember what Victoria Chase said to Max in the Dark Room, that she was just a teenage girl? That's Rachel. Rachel Amber was not a seductress or a narcissist or a monster. She was a teenage girl who was avoiding conflict in her life, but in doing so ended up in a shallow grave in a junkyard. Because quiet girls don't make history… they end up used, abused, and discarded. They end up on the rooftops willing to throw themselves to their deaths because no one would listen to them. They end up abandoned because they were not good enough, because they ultimately were not willing to stand up to those who would use them.

Max, before Chloe reentered her life, was one of those quiet girls who ends up used and discarded. The reason folks keep seeing Rachel in Max is because Rachel stayed quiet and let people make up their own minds about her. And they saw in her what they wanted.

Or at least, it's one way to interpret Rachel Amber.

[qqueenofhades]

While I generally agree with your writings, I find myself confused by the term "Online Leftist". As a 75-year-old who has had a Social Democratic bent (and because of that has seen more of his votes lose than he ever wished in these United States), I have voted in every county-through-federal level election in my life since age 21. I also use social media sparingly, but I feel I certainly could be considered to be a leftist who is online, but I don't share the viewpoint of those you call "Online Leftist". Please clarify the meaning of that phrase in your writings.

I have to add that I've voted third party only once. I voted for John Anderson in 1980 and instantly regretted that action when Ronald Reagan won. (At that time, Jimmy Carter wasn't perceived as the great humanitarian and climate visionary he truly was, and the economy and the hostage crisis ruled the election arguments.) It was a lesson that was hard-earned. Thus in 2016, even though I supported Bernie Sanders's ideas and philosophy, I voted for Hillary because 1) she had unimpeachable (no pun intended) qualifications, and 2) not to vote for her would ensure that a really nasty and incompetent clown would be leading our country.

Thank you for all of your Tumblr postings. I find myself reblogging them hoping to reach the idealistic voter who tends to want to vote "purist" rather than "pragmatist."

The term "Online Leftists," as myself and others use it, refers to the specific group of often-young, often-white, often-western terminally online social media users, usually on Twitter, who post frothing manifestos about how corrupt the world is (specifically, how corrupt and fascist the Democratic Party of America is) and how the only way to fix it is to have some mythical leftist Revolution that will destroy late-stage capitalism and the current world order and somehow have no bad effects whatever and then a magical "progressive" utopia will spring into existence and everything will be fixed. Even the ones who don't go that far are heavily influenced by the ideology that the establishment/country is corrupt beyond repair, voting (especially voting for Democrats) is morally evil and indefensible, that there is no difference between the political parties of America, and that America/the West is the cause of all evil in the world. It has become especially visible with the Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Hamas wars, when they enthusiastically or at least tacitly support Russia and Hamas simply because those states/groups are "anti-western."

It also has to do with the whopping western leftist levels of virulent antisemitism and eagerness to call Israel a "white western colonialist settler state," as discussed in previous posts. Even while they decry Israel's genocide of Gaza, they will twist themselves into knots to excuse Russia's genocide of Ukraine or any legitimacy to a Jewish state or need for Israel to defend its own civilians, because you see, those genocides are committed by people they like in support of something something, Advancing the Great Revolution Cause. This is partly influenced by the belief that modern far-right fascist Russia is somehow a standard-bearer for old-school USSR socialism (which itself was horrifying enough) and should be defended and cheerled as a principled enemy of the West. This is the same group of people who unironically spend all their time posting fulminations that Biden is a genocidal fascist and America is a dictatorship, because they know that literally nothing will happen to them and they will face no real-world consequences, because none of those things are actually true. But as long as they can claim it for the rhetorical martyrdom, that does not matter.

By political beliefs and presence on Tumblr, I too am definable as a leftist who is online, but the Online Leftists (used together and with capital letters) are a distinct group whose ideology is marked by righteous nihilism, rejection of voting, support for a mythical "Revolution" in place of ever trying to work within the flawed political system, support for violent genocidal states or groups as long as they are "anti-western" or "anti-Israeli" (witness how they flocked to quiveringly defend the Houthis) while simultaneously yelling at everyone else for supporting genocide, making no attempt to incorporate actual politics, history, or reality into their all-consuming ideology, and shaming everyone else who doesn't agree with them. As you say, they are focused on some "pure" level of political engagement, which is of course impossible and therefore means the only thing they do is spend their time on Twitter rampantly spreading misinformation as long as it fits their beliefs. Pragmatism, harm reduction, nuance, or making a flawed choice that puts any kind of "moral burden" on them does not exist to them and is a dirty word, because it might conflict with bringing about La Revolution. So yeah.

[bluemoonhoon]

secret proposals

lee heeseung x fem reader smau series

previous - masterlist - next

ELEVEN knowing you (wc: 1.9k)

-37.5519° N, 126.9918° E-

lee heeseung grew up half of his life not knowing how teamwork actually worked. ever since he was a child people encouraged a "fair competition" between him and his older brother; from a young age he understood a lot of the basis of an adult capitalistic society: he learned how far greed and jealousy could take someone.

he acknowledged how human relationships worked when most people would only see you by your last name and your current or future job position. it took him a long time to understand not every single person in the world would like to use him for something and even if that was the case he was wary. he did not trust most people. and most importantly he still did not trust you.

how was it possible for someone who claimed didn't like him to accept a proposal that forced them to spend time with him and most importantly not hope for any compensation? lee heeseung did not understand kang yn, the director of a company that does not care for growing said establishment by associating herself with his name. if she had tried to get on his good side since the beginning (or with any other important people) karin corporate would be twice as big as it is now. but she didn't; she acted all know-it-all in front of people who didn't know her yet and it was only her name and her best friend son jiwoo behind her, not even her boyfriend at the time that took her to her first event and introduced her could help her make the best first impression to uptight people who praised themself in knowledge and status.

lee heeseung was a smart person. but he could not understand kang yn; while she made herself friends with his close people at his office and tried being friendly with him they were not there yet. her job as his pretend girlfriend was time-consuming and not profitable, yet she accepted it and tried to work with him even though they never had any kind of relationship.

they have met five times after their initial secret meeting, and maybe neither of them cared enough but he could not remember a single thing they had in common other than the things they created. but after a conversation with jake (who seemed more invested than himself) where he affirmed the importance of them spending time with each other before his father found a way to get them to sit together in front of him and explain their relationship and convince him of the personal importance of said relationship, he found himself outside yns place all dressed up ready to fake his biggest smile and join her in the fundraiser she organized.

what heeseung did not expect when he knocked on your door was to meet, with someone who wasn't you. he thought you said you lived alone, did he knock on the wrong house? however, before he panicked the lady in front of him talked first "hi! can I help you?" she asked kindly, and before he answered he heard your voice interrupting this unasked meeting "mum who was knocking? you know there is a camera system right?-" and when both of you made eye contact heeseung could see you internally panicking while you rushed to them.

"what are you doing here?" you asked him with a fake smile and holding his forearm and went to look at your mother "can you join dad? I´ll be right there," you said while taking him out of your mothers' viewpoint letting him just smile and wave nicely. "jake told me to pick you up" he explained almost in a whisper "did he not tell you?" he asked.

"he told me someone was picking me up at 6" you answered. it was 4 pm, heeseung had come two hours earlier and he could not understand if jake made a mistake or if he was playing mastermind. "should I leave? I can come back later" he offered while still speaking in a quieter voice but before you had the chance to agree with him your father said from your living room, "are you staying in the entrance the whole visit?". well, out went the plan to get heeseung out of here.

"Just act like we are friends" you murmured before raising your voice "coming!" and with that, you took him to meet your parents. "so…this is my friend heeseung, heeseung this are my parents" and while heeseung was trying to be nice in front of the founders of the company he has heard countless things about he could not help to feel out of place, he was not supposed to be there, he could not blame your parents if they ended up treating him like a stranger because, at the end of the that, he was just that. however he did not expect your parents to act so kindly to someone they had never seen before, heeseung felt like he was having a fever dream, this feeling was so strong he could not remember what they were talking about or even if he was involved in the conversation. that was until you had to answer a call from your assistant that you left them alone with heeseungs face showing a small amount of panic. great, now he had to pretend to be close enough to you for him to be visiting you unannounced while not knowing a single thing about you; at this time, heeseung finally understood why Jake took so much importance in both of you spending time together.

"so, you are the guy that's been in all that news with our daughter right?" her dad asked him while heeseung was probably spacing out thinking of the fastest way to get out of there. "yes, it was a mess, you probably got a lot of people up in your business because of me," he said while straightening himself.

"It's okay things happen and from what I know your team did a great job dealing with it," he said "I've heard good things about you heeseung, so I'm not surprised" he continued the praises "you have?" heeseung asked curiously "oh totally, not only has yn said nice things about your work ethic, but a lot of the friends I have here have said really good things about how you manage your division in your company, I'm actually surprised because you are the same age as yn but I suppose that having a job being chosen for you since you were a child makes you capable, I hope I'm not overstepping with that comment," he said. "not at all, I'm flattered you think so highly of me"

"so how did you two meet? she has not said a lot about you to us" your mum joined the conversation. "oh, we´ve met recently through a friend" heeseung answered simply without a lot of details; he didn't know how much they knew, and that wasn't exactly a lie. "I see, and are you getting along well? sometimes yn is a lot," she said jokingly "I think so, it has not been long since we acquainted each other" heeseung answered trying not to sound so monotonous. "I'm glad our yn is having more friends, please take care of her," she said kindly while he nodded.

"are you driving with us to the fundraiser?" heeseung asked softly trying to avoid awkwardness "Oh no, we will join you there. we are going to see some people before," your father said "its ynie first fundraiser event so we are picking up some stuff for her" your mother whispered softly to him. "have you done a lot of them? she doesn't look stressed for it" heeseung questioned "we do a lot of them back home but this is the first one in Seoul, we hope it works nicely, that way we can cover a lot of scholarships. but she loves organizing these things, so she is in her element" your mum answered him growing heeseungs curiosity, he didn´t know a lot of you company.

"how long have you been doing them?" he asked them "back when we just started we did one in our second year, but now we do them twice a year before semesters applications at universities start." your dad said "thats pretty much why we started it. when yn was a kid she always loved painting but one day when she was 12 she stopped because a teacher told her that artists don't make enough money to make a living unless they were geniuses. she was so sad and resigned and that made us really upset, you know as parents we want the best for our kids and we were doing great financially, so we invested all our money to create the company and to preserve art pieces. we weren't really into art at the time but she was and we started learning a lot of it. that pushed yn to keep painting, so we think we did a great job with the company that will be hers in the future." he continued "sorry, he loves telling that story" your mum finished laughing lightly, making heeseung join with the laugh while pushing their apology aside "don't apologize, I was curious, so thanks for telling me" he added. and just on time you finished your call and came back to them "sorry there is a lot going on" you said to all. "don't worry we are getting to know each other" your father said while heeseung nodded "and we are actually about to leave" your mother said after looking at her phone.

"really?" you said "we have something scheduled but don't worry, we will see you later and we are staying the whole week" "bye heeseung it was nice meeting you," your parents said while getting up "likewise, I´ll see you later" heeseung added while standing up and waving at them.

"so, did my parents bother you a lot?" you asked him after seeing your parents out the door. "not at all, they are quite nice. but there is something I don't really get" he said while looking at you, "shoot your question," you said while picking up the cups on the coffee table. "do they know about our real relationship? your dad said he saw the news but didn't question me on that and you introduced me as your friend" he asked while helping you organize the living room. "not really, I mean it when I said I told them we were friends" you said simply. "so are we also pretending for them?" he kept asking.

"heeseung. my parents don't care about who I'm friends with or who I date, sure they worry as parents but it’s not that deep, don't worry about it," you said before telling him you were going to get changed so both of you could leave earlier.

now that he was on your living room couch by himself he had time to organize his thoughts and finally heeseung understood the saying apples don't fall far from a tree, he took pride in the fact that he didn't take after his parents. but maybe not all parents were assholes, and maybe when they were present in a child's life they could learn great things and not grow up with constant self-doubt and craving unexisting validation, without keeping secrets and actually trusting other people. and maybe, just maybe, lee heeseung was starting to understand kang yn.

taglist: (@enhaslxt , @ddazed-lhs, @nctislifue , @ariadores, @ineedsomezzz , @webjeje , @enhaz1 , @strayy-kidz , @firstclassjaylee , @cupidity99, @heeoao, @trinxt , @lilacnini , @heeswif3y , @woninluv , @erehkinnie30 , @inlovewithasa, @mrmld , @sumzysworld , @eleanorheartschishiya , @simjyunnie, @yizhuotv

[pathfinderyderss]

Heads up! The user barbex is a proshipper (supports romanticizing abuse in fiction).

Hi! So, I apologize for my delay in responding to your message - I have had a lot of thoughts and wanted to make sure l was expressing them in the best way possible.

I want to be honest, when I first read your message, I didn’t know what pro-shipping was, but I do know @barbex --I've been following her for the better part of a decade and she is an excellent author and l enjoy her views on the Dragon Age lore (and her views on Anders). I've also done more than a few of the prompt months that she's put together.

With all of that said, I wanted to better understand your viewpoint and see what it is that is defined as part of your block list. So, I hopped on your blog! I found your blocklist and the items you've listed as egregious enough to report users and as a former Literature Major, it saddened me to see such Puritanical and Orwellian views being broadcast with such vitriol.

The first thing I want to address is that in my fifteen plus years in fandom I have always subscribed to the “Don’t Like, Don’t Read" mentality. I am unafraid to block people on this website for a single take I don't agree with, and with that I am a FIRM supporter of accurate community labels as there are many things that I myself do not enjoy or want to read - so my blocked tags are plentiful and the blogs I block are many and that curated experience is why I do not get involved in any sort of fandom drama. 

I implore you to do the same. Fandom can be such a wonderful, constructive experience when you surround yourself with like-minded individuals. A dear friend of mine reminded me of the phrase, ”No Good Fandom, Only Good Friends” and nothing could be more accurate. Your tiny corner of the Fandom is an amazing way to flourish socially and mentally; however when your energy instead is spent on searching for others with ideological differences the experience instead becomes a witch hunt full of dog piling and negativity.

Now, on your blog, I noticed that you bemoan that you are unable to have a conversation about Fandom/Purity Culture/Fanfiction and I feel like this is an important topic to discuss so l am going to indulge in this against my better judgement, and at the end if you don't like what I've said, l implore you to block me as well.

My primary issue with your block list is that it derives from anti-intellectualism and a puritanical view of fandom. Which, if that is how you want to experience fandom, that's fine, but publicizing it is beyond ridiculous and leads back to my earlier point about witch hunts and dog piling.

Based on your list, your primary concerns in your block list stem from the following topics: rape, incest, pedophilia- including predatory age gaps and abuse. And I wonder; do you devalue fiction in the same way?

The first thing on your list that caught my attention was your adamant disapproval of the Thanatos/Zagreus ship in Hades. Is this just a general distaste for all Greek/Roman mythology as all of it could meet your block list above? Does Disney's Hercules get a pass due to the inaccuracies in the retelling — does the Hera/Zeus relationship get a pass because it isn't explicitly mentioned? And does it matter that it is a more inaccurate retelling of the myth?

In that same vein; are stories like Jane Eyre (which contains both a predatory age gap and a horrific example of a mentally ill character) or Wuthering Heights (which contains incest and abuse) not worth telling to a modern audience because they show these things? Are we forgoing media literacy and critical thinking now because these things glorify the worst parts of humanity?

And regardless of if it is a piece of classic literature or a piece of modern fanfiction making the decision for others that they cannot read these things due to them being "bad” or "wrong" or "shameful" is no different than banning books. And you devalue the readership of these pieces of literature by saying that they are unable to critically think for themselves and find the value of an individual piece of fiction.

I emphasize again, YOU as an individual do not have to view or interact with this material if it makes you uncomfortable, but I beg you not to police others in an Orwellian fashion over the media they choose to produce or view. Use the block button and blacklist tags you don't like or make you uncomfortable - that is what they are there for. Instead, talk to people who share your views but do not turn this into a witch hunt or an NC-17 purge that we've seen so damaging to our communities in the past.

All of this is to say; find joy Fandom — whatever that may mean for you and let others do the same. 

I hope this was informative.

- Ryder

[iamthedukeofurl]

Thinking back on Ward and Worm, I feel like Wildbow’s talent as a writer lies in making really good use of the first person perspective. He’s really good at getting into the heads of his viewpoint characters such that you fully understand their perspectives and why they think what they’re doing is correct. Like, thinking back to the Taylor surrenders herself arc, she shows up saying “Hey, don’t just pardon my friends, give them free license to Be Supervillains”, which is an insane thing for any state actors to agree with, but while reading the story it seems like she’s the reasonable one and the PRT are the obstinate assholes too proud to take the obvious mutually beneficial solution. It’s not like she’s saying “Pardon them so long as they don’t do any more crimes”, because that offer would have required talking to her friends ahead of time to get them onboard, and she didn’t want to do that. But in the moment, you perfectly understand Taylor’s perspective. She won’t abandon her friends, but now that she’s exposed her only options are to give herself up, or escalate into a war against the PRT, and she doesn’t want to do the latter. From her perspective, this is the solution that lets her opt out of a war against the PRT without abandoning her friends. You fully understand why this is the Best Option from her perspective, and why she feels that the PRT are being stupid not accepting it. Victoria does the same thing, everything Victoria does, you understand why she thinks it’s the right thing to do. Her narrative is written with the deep confidence of somebody  fully convinced of their own rightness, even as it’s pretty deeply contradictory and frequently absurd. The difference is, Worm does a lot of work to separate Taylor’s perspective from the narrative. We spend so much of the story behind her eyes that it isn’t really thrown in our faces, but stepping back you can see that Taylor isn’t supposed to be Correct about everything, she changes as the story goes on. She acts perfectly rationally only from her perspective, and there are many points where her perspective and the reality of the world differ, and the story acknowledges that, albeit subtly enough that “Taylor Herbert, Most Correct Person” is a valid reading. The trick is that Taylor grows and changes over the story, putting all of her actions in the context of “This was informed by who she was at the time” rather than a hyper-rationalist “This was the correct action to take”. Ward, by contrast, doesn’t really have Victoria go through much of a journey, and the setting is divorced enough from real world context that it can be hard to tell if Victoria is supposed to be the most correct person ever, or absolutely insane. When ordinary prisons are not enough, she devises a system where people are exiled to an uninhibited world with bare minimum support and told to fend for themselves, except for the guy who gets a bunch of extra goodies by doing a favor for Victoria’s best friend. In the places were it would make perfect sense for Victoria to be super irrational (amy) the narrative goes out of it’s way to justify Victoria’s opinions, and so elsewhere it’s not clear if Victoria’s actions are supposed to be so obviously wrong that you understand she’s incorrect without a big ‘ol “THIS IS A BAD THING TO DO” label, or if you’re supposed to be nodding along with how clever and smart she is.

[emilystheories]

ACOTAR if the books were written from Tamlin's perspective

Exploring the nuance that the fandom often overlooks.

The ACOTAR series is told in first-person perspective. Although this allows us insight into the inner workings of certain character's minds, it also means that these accounts can be biased, or lacking nuance. To this day, Tamlin's perspective has not been shared, and I want to attempt to do that.

Please note that although the books were predominately told from Feyre's viewpoint, it doesn't mean that her thoughts and feelings are invalid. I am also not condoning Tamlin's actions (explaining ≠ excusing). These are fictional books; breaking them down and considering different angles is of great merit - even if you don't personally agree.

The story of Tamlin; how it all started.

Tamlin grew up in an extremely violent and abusive household - the extent of which largely remains unknown to the readers. We do know that his parents did not love each other, and that his father and two older brothers were canonically worse than Lucien's (and we know how bad they are).

Tamlin's father was even friends with the King of Hybern and Amarantha; two of the most insidious individuals in Prythian. In fact, Tamlin's father would regularly drag him along to visit them. It was during these visits that Amarantha grew to desire Tamlin, presumably when he was still rather young.

Amarantha then continued to sexually harass Tamlin for centuries. As readers, we do not know exactly what Amarantha did to Tamlin during that time; he is yet to open up about it.

An unlikely ruler.

Tamlin never wanted to rule the Spring Court. He stated that if he did, his brothers would have killed him "before he could reach adolescence." As a result, his only choice was to join the brutality of the army.

Instead, what Tamlin actually wanted was to become a travelling musician, spending his days playing the fiddle.

However, when Tamlin's entire family was (justifiably) murdered by Rhys and his father, he was forced into the role of High Lord of the Spring Court. Unlike Rhys, Tamlin had no friends or Inner Circle to help him, or to offer him support.

Although Tamlin rightfully shares the blame in what happened to Rhys's family, we still never received his version of events. Many have theorised that Tamlin was tortured by his brothers and father for the information about Rhys's family (as at this point, Tamlin and Rhys were best friends); I believe this to be likely.

Whatever the circumstances, one thing was now clear - Tamlin was entirely alone.

A reign ravaged by Amarantha.

Despite the circumstances, Tamlin does his best to rule the Spring Court. Although he is still largely inexperienced, he is vigilant about not following in the footsteps of his abusive father and brothers.

However, his efforts are halted when Amarantha, the woman who has relentlessly sexually and romantically pursued him for years, curses his entire court, and turns his heart to stone. Tamlin is forced to watch all of his companions and court advisors either die, or suffer tremendously, as a result of the curse.

Despite this, Tamlin does what he can for his people - even those outside of his court; offering shelter and employment to countless refugees.

In fact, when one of Tamlin's civilians was killed by Amarantha, he carried the faerie in his arms and into the gardens. He then buried the faerie with his own hands; "a High Lord, digging a grave for a stranger."

Meeting Feyre; the beginning of the end.

By chance or fate, Tamlin met Feyre Archeron. She was the first person he had ever loved in 500 years - the only one to make him feel "less alone."

Tamlin brought Feyre's family out of poverty and healed her father's leg. He rebuilt the art gallery for her. He was the first person to recognise the sacrifices she had made for her family. Most of all, Tamlin fell in love with Feyre in her human form - exactly as she was, with no mating bond to biologically pull her to him.

Prior to the events of Under the Mountain, Tamlin tells Feyre that he is "not her jailor." He tells her that she doesn't need a "keeper," as he kneels before her, and dedicates a song on his fiddle to her.

So, what changed?

Under the Mountain.

Amarantha happened.

Tamlin was forced to witness the woman he loved be brutalised and tortured. Knowing Amarantha was in love with him, Tamlin is powerless to help Feyre; to make his feelings known, means instant death for her. It is why Tamlin gets on his knees and begs Rhys to keep Feyre's identity a secret.

However, Feyre is ultimately killed. She was only brought into this situation because of Tamlin; he is riddled with guilt and despair.

Yet, by some miracle, Feyre is resurrected. Tamlin now has the chance to protect Feyre, to save her, in all the ways he was unable to before.

However, he goes overboard. He becomes possessive and controlling. Despite promising Feyre that he was not her "jailor," he locks her in the manor. He shuts Feyre out. The trauma only festers - for both of them.

Tamlin's behaviour was abusive. Feyre had every right to leave, and she was far better off for it.

Readers react (but, is it fair?)

It is for the above reason that Tamlin is one of the most hated ACOTAR characters. That hatred is justified.

But, where is that same hatred for all other SJM characters who behaved just as badly as Tamlin? Or, those who behaved even worse?

Rhys is still the character who:

Drugged Feyre and made her dance provocatively Under the Mountain (until she threw up). Rhys later admits he did this in part to make Tamlin jealous.

Twisted Feyre's broken arm to enforce consent.

Kept a 24/7 shield around her (the same sort of action Tamlin is criticised for...).

Refused to tell Feyre that her pregnancy would likely be fatal (despite their 'no secrets' promise); stripping her of the autonomy to make decisions over her own body.

Then, threatened to kill Nesta when she revealed this information.

And I hear you - "Rhys was just trying to protect Feyre!" Yet, wasn't that Tamlin's motive too?

This double standard exists for most other SJM characters:

[TOG Spoilers] Rowan, one of the most powerful fae warriors to ever exist, punches Aelin, a 19 year old who is newly discovering her fae abilities, so hard in the face that she hits a wall and bleeds. He then tells her that she should have "died long ago". Tamlin never directly laid his hands on Feyre. Yet, Rowan does, and his behaviour is always excused (and even romanticised). What's more, is that his relationship with Aelin is one of the most highly regarded.

[TOG Spoilers] We then have Manon who committed literal mass genocide for centuries (and delighted in it), even killing her own sister in the process.

There's Azriel who has a twisted affinity for torturing people.

Nesta who was verbally and emotionally abusive towards Feyre throughout their childhood.

Don't get me wrong, I love all of these characters. They are nuanced, morally grey individuals; this complexity is what makes SJM books so great.

Yet, why does this same nuance rarely exist for Tamlin?

Considering the events from Tamlin's perspective.

Readers criticise Tamlin for collaborating with Hybern to 'get Feyre back.' However, from Tamlin's perspective, Rhys was the person who willingly served Amarantha for the past 50 years. Tamlin also believed Rhys's facade that he was the insidious dictator of the infamously cruel Night Court. What's more, Tamlin is also aware of Rhys's mind control powers. So, when he receives a vague letter from Feyre (who as far as he knows, couldn't read and write), of course he is suspicious.

Tamlin truly believes that Rhys has kidnapped Feyre, and that she is in danger. In order to rescue her, Tamlin pretends to work with Hybern. He jeopardises the safety of his civilians, puts his entire court at risk - all to save the woman he loves.

If Rhys sacrificed the Night Court to save Feyre, we would deem it an act of true love. So, why do we condemn Tamlin?

What's more, both readers and characters blame Tamlin for the King of Hybern's actions; that Elain and Nesta went into the Cauldron because of him.

However, as soon as Tamlin realised Hybern's true plans, he blew his cover in an attempt to stop the King. He was the ONLY character who lunged for Hybern in an attempt to save Elain (whilst everyone else stood there in shock).

Shortly after, Tamlin realises that Feyre left him willingly. That she is with Rhys, and they are mates. Then, Lucien, Tamlin's only friend, leaves for the Night Court too.

To top it all off, in an act of revenge, Feyre orchestrates for the downfall of the Spring Court - an action that risks the lives of countless innocent civilians. As a result, Tamlin now has no one. No court.

Tamlin has nothing left.

Tamlin's choice.

If we are all being honest with ourselves, most people in Tamlin's position would feel immense resentment. Many would resort to revenge, just as Feyre did. However, Tamlin never takes this path - he never gives in to the hatred and bitterness that could so easily consume him. He chooses otherwise.

Not only did he turn the tide in the war, saving Feyre and Elain's life;

Not only did he resurrect Rhys - the man who took so much from him;

But above all else, he wished for Feyre to "be happy."

Yet, despite all of this, although most other characters got their happily ever after, Tamlin now roams around the decimated Spring Court. He stays in his beast form, as if he doesn't even feel worthy of being fae - of his humanity. Tamlin is depressed, and very alone. He has always been alone.

To me, his character can be summarised by this quote;

"I sat with my anger long enough, until he told me his real name was grief."

Tamlin's redemption.

Some believe that Tamlin deserves no redemption. That instead, he is better off dead. However, I think that sends a rather grim message to the myriad of people who suffer in the same way that Tamlin does.

To those who externalise their pain, rather than internalise it. To those who were never shown love as a child, and therefore struggle to display it as an adult. To those who were hurt by the people they trusted most, so they hurt others in return. To those who still hold onto guilt over their past. To those who try to be a better person, but still feel like a failure deep down.

That doesn't mean that Tamlin's past actions should be excused, or even forgiven, But, just like every other character, it does mean he should have the chance to heal.

In her most recent interview, SJM says it herself; that no character is doomed to be an "asshole" forever, and that any day you could choose to wake up and be a better person - to live a better life.

A fairytale ending.

Ultimately, ACOTAR was inspired by Beauty and the Beast, and Tamlin is the perfect personification of the Beast. Not just for his shapeshifting form, as we came to believe in the first book. But rather, just as the Beast in the fairytale was a man haunted by his past mistakes, so too is Tamlin.

Yet, as the tale goes, the Beast's once hardened exterior begins to melt away, and he is able to look towards the world with kindness. To love again. To love himself. When this happened, the enchanted rose came back to life.

I believe this foreshadows what will occur with Tamlin in future books. As he begins to heal, to find his place in the world, he will blossom.

And, so too will the Spring Court gardens around him - vibrant again, once more.

[orkbutch]

So I've been seeing A Viewpoint within the bg3 fandom occuring. And I gotta be honest. I disagree that the characters being bisexual in Baldur's Gate 3 means you cannot headcanon them as other sexualities for your own fandom content purposes. I think that's not reflective of how queer people and their sexual identities actually work, and its just antithetical to how fandom has always functioned, which is an exercise of imagination. I wanna clarify up front: I agree that someone saying that a character Can't or Shouldn't or Was Not Meant To Be bisexual because of whatever reason IS biphobic sentiment. The characters in Baldur's Gate 3 are canonically bi/pan, thats made pretty damn clear when you look through all their content. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about headcanons, au's; the kind of imaginitve play that is very much what fandom creativity is about. If you set a standard in fandom that depicting a character as a certain sexuality is Not Allowed, 1. you're kinda flattening sexuality in a weird way, like personally my sexuality is complicated as fuck and has changed over time, and 2. you're limiting creativity. And I think creativity in fandom is extremely important. It's the whole fun of fandom. Creativity is worth protecting and its worth establishing the nuance between Depicting A Version of Character who is X and Insisting That Character Should Be X in canon. Because like... we meddle with character's identities in fandom all the time. That's what headcanons ARE, they change appearance, social position, career, faith, species, traumatic experience, moral and political alignment, and SO much more. I think limiting what people can headcanon within fandom... is less fun! It's just less fun. Imaginative scope lets you do more, weird fun stuff. It lets you depict more complex interesting characters. Example: my Bad Nun AU. In that, Shadowheart identifies as a lesbian. Why is that? Because I wanted Shadowheart's experience within Bad Nun to specifically explore the history and context of lesbians within nunneries, especially how that manifested post Vatican II. These were also eras when 'lesbian' was more ubiquitos, had a different context and more flexibility; a lot of women that would probably consider themselves 'bisexual' now were identifying as lesbians, were in lesbian communities and events and spaces.

On that note: Flattening sexuality. You're gonna say people CANNOT depict these characters as ANYTHING but bisexual? That is not how most queer people's sexualities work. It simply isn't. I've identified as tons of different shit in my sexuality. I'm still not sure about it. For me half the time my "sexual identity" is just the words I use to communicate what I'm looking for, and that changes depends on What I Want at that time, what I'm looking to explore, my social context, ect. ect. like what. This isn't how sexuality works for real people. How are artists meant to be Creative and imaginatively depict real, complex, queer sexuality if they are restricted to depicting only what is within canon?? This is not how any other part of fandom works. Fandom art should work how all art works. If someone makes shit art, it gets dunked on and ignored for being bad or lazy or lame. If someone did Heterosexual Karlach fanfic, I would be like "what the fuck why" because they made Karlach less fucking cool. Het Karlach would be boring and thats More Egregious because they DECIDED to make her heterosexual DESPITE canon. But even then, EVEN THEN, I don't think that should be looked at as off limits shit, because I don't believe art should have many things off limits. Any limits must be very nuanced, because art and creativity is nuanced. Obviously my brain would go "het karlach? you deserve jail time and thats queerphobic", but I honestly believe creative license is more important than those feelings. I WOULD happily comment on their thing, "heterosexual karlach is boring, thats a shit idea" because I'm right

If you want good art and good writing, you need to protext creative license.