#The Half Life of Valery K

[spittinwatches]

hello chat. i am back with another banger.

mlp art collab with @vanillaflowerstuff

[flowercrowngods]

is there anything as joyous as finishing a book and finding there’s 24 works on ao3 providing missing scenes, character studies and a pov switched rewrite?

[kaphkas]

It was well conceived in theory

But it doesn't work in life

Comrade has to wonder

Is it ever worth the effort?

[starl1tsky]

the thing about natasha pulley is that she can write well but like. every book of hers, the plot is Man Complicit in Atrocities/Pathological Liar Lies To His Amnesiac/Deeply Confused Love Interest

[msunitedstatesjames]

Every Natasha Pulley book ever:

Bulky Man is unintentionally bulky, he's just sort of stronger than everyone because that's the nature of his life. Everyone assumes Bulky Man is violent because of his girth, but he actually hates violence and is really just the nicest little dude inside.

Fragile Dude is little and/or easily breakable. Fragile Dude is brilliant and/or powerful. He too is pretty nice, but he's probably had to use his intellect and/or power to commit some kind of atrocity in the past that he will be attempting to keep secret over the course of the story. This will be revealed 3/4 of the way through the book, but the circumstances surrounding the atrocity will be so horrible that everyone will agree it was probably justified.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude are both dissatisfied with their lives to some extent.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude meet through a series of unlikely and often unfortunate events.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude are forced to work together in some capacity.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude are both a little bit afraid of the other, but there's also some quality that they really like or respect in the other nonetheless.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude continue to work together, but now they're starting to reluctantly take a liking to the other. Neither of them realize that the other actually likes them though.

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude have had to help each other out of some sticky situations by now. They're clearly head over heels in love these days, but circumstance and/or society is keeping them from acknowledging it. People have started to hint to Bulky Man that Fragile Dude is actually super shady, so you better watch your back. Bulky Man doesn't really care that much at this point, but he's like, I guess I better look into these accusations.

(Some kind of cute but unusually intelligent animal is usually involved with the plot and/or their relationship by this point. Also, there's at least one loveable child character that usually helps the characters bond.)

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude have a nice, cheerful break from all of the traumatic events they've been experiencing, which inevitably ends in a romantic encounter.

Because of communication issues or societal issues, both chraracters still don't actually believe the other character loves them, and they both act like it was just a one off thing and an accident and that everything is totally fine.

Things are awkward between Bulky Man and Fragile Dude, but the traumatic events have really fired up again so they still have to work together. Plus, they're both just that desperate to be together, even though they think the other character hates them now.

Bulky Man finds out Fragile Dude's secret, but usually he doesn't get it quite right or he's missing some essential information. Bulky Man is temporarily horrified of Fragile Dude. Bulky Man chides himself for being so desperate for affection that he fell in love with some kind of psycho.

At this point, either Bulky Man makes a stupid mistake while being horrified or circumstances just happen to suddenly get a lot worse or both. Bulky Man and Fragile Dude are physically separated, often by force and some kind of authority. At some point in here, Bulky Man realizes he was wrong about Fragile Dude.

A slapdash plot is hatched to save the stolen love interest. Usually Bulky Man has to save Fragile Dude, but occassionally the script is flipped.

Ultimately, the stolen love interest is rescued, though it was a real close thing at some point. The Day is saved, usually through murder/s, caused by a combination of Bulky Man reluctantly bashing some heads in and Fragile Dude using his wits and/or power to get the right people killed. Often, our protagonists are then forced to straight up run away from the Bad Times, leaving their lives and families behind. (The loveable child from earlier will either be tragically left behind or adopted by the now happy couple.)

Bulky Man and Fragile Dude are a little bit sad at the things they've lost along the way, but mostly they're going to live happily ever after.

[wordsgood]

it's like part of me knows that the watchmaker books are the better pulleyverse books and i adore them, they're amazing gateway drugs, pepperharrow wrecked me, and bedlam stacks is like, THEE pulleyverse book in a lot of ways, but valery k is just. no pun intended but that shit lives in my BONES. that little glass-boned questionably gendered freak is MY guy. i haven't even seen chernobyl i just think valery kholkanov and konstantin shenkov should be injected into my veins 24/7. personally speaking.

[welcome-to-the-end-of-eras]

Pulleyverse characters sending their children off to college

Mori: he's the type of dad to pretend to not care whatsoever about his kid going off to college but secretly be devastated and not want it to happen at all. He'd hold it together until the moment he got in the car to go home after move in and just burst into tears. I can very clearly picture him telling Six not to expect to come home every weekend, and then proceed to ask her if she wants to come home every weekend.

Thaniel: he's sending Six off with a full arsenal of self defense tools and techniques. At least two knives, a whistle, brass knuckles, tasers, the works, and he'd drag her to boxing practices at least once a week leading up to her moving in. He's 100% the "'your kid got in a fight' 'did she win?'" type of parent.

Merrick: the BIGGEST school merch dad you've ever seen. He is raiding the fucking bookstore for hours trying to find the cute little "[school] dad" t-shirts and bumper stickers, and be coming out with at least 90% of their inventory. He orders the other 10% of it online the same night. He's got mugs, coasters, lanyards, anything you can put a logo on. (Plot twist, his kid transfers school the next year)

Raphael: I think he would be the most worried about his kid at parties and teach them as many tips and tricks to stay safe specifically at college parties. That and he would want to make/bring them food every day of the week bc he wouldn't trust a school cafeteria at all. And take them grocery shopping. And bring them home once a week. And-

Joe: he'd be the parent who's actually chill about sending his kids to school. Especially where he has two of them going off to school at the same time, he would get too wrapped up in the chaos of moving them both in at the same time to actually worry about them as much. At the end of the day tho I think he would trust his kids to be smart and reach out if they need help so he wouldn't mind as much if they were farther away.

Missouri: he'd definitely go wandering around the entire campus just to see what it's like. They'd all be looking for him to bring stuff up to the dorm and he'd be on the other side of campus checking out a cool pond he found on the very edge of the school property. Almost gets kicked out for wandering into private areas every year.

Valery: he'd have an absolute BALL trying to help his stepkids pick their classes for the year and just stack their schedule to help them graduate exactly on track, or even earlier if they wanted.

Shenkov: blubbers like a fuckin baby every time and doesn't care who notices. He makes move in a big family thing so everyone has to go and help move the others into school, then hugs the kids goodbye for as long as humanly possible while absolutely sobbing. (Plot twist, the school is only an hour away)

January: tbh I think he would be advocating strongly for gap years/career paths that don't require degrees. He seems like the type of person who wants everyone to get a chance to enjoy their early twenties before they go off to college. Once his kid does get into school tho he'd ask them all about what they're studying (and absolutely love it when they get all excited about it like Gale does).

Gale: Also really wants to know about what their kids are studying, but they go the extra mile and find copies of their assigned reading/textbooks to read and talk more in-depth with their kid about it. How they got copies of some of them, no one is sure, but they have them.

[vanillaflowerstuff]

more drawings of pulley characters as ponies from my and @spittinwatches ' collab 🐴

[oaxleaf]

been on a natasha pulley kick recently, and i’ve been thinking about that moment when shenkov essentially asks valery for permission to put milk in his coffee. i think it says a lot about his general position in the concept of rebellion. because shenkov himself does not seem to find milk in his coffee effeminate, and even if he did he doesn’t show any particular signs distaste for it or even much of any general internalized homophobia, only a healthy caution of being caught. 

and yet he has never drunk his coffee with milk in it.

he’s not the type to rebel against authourity, the only way he knows how to challenge it is by bending around it. he doesn’t believe that the institution is ‘inherently good with a few flaws or bad apples’ but the only way he can imagine changing it is by joining it. or how, whilst we never get a super clear view on his sexuality or whether there ever was actual romance between him and anna, he does settle into seeming heterosexuality and a nuclear family.

this is in contrast with valery, who spends the entire novel questioning authority far more than what is probably smart. valery, whilst not an outright rebel or activist, doesn’t make this conscious  choice to settle into patterns and expectations. to some extent, shenkov clearly views him as someone who challenges the powers that be, even if he does just about stay within the limits so that shenkov doesn’t have to take action against it. shenkov’s whole arc is going from this passive ‘smelt in and attempt to make change from the inside’ attitude to rejecting the system as a whole, and he does so by following valery’s lead. that’s why he asks him for permission to put milk in his coffee and as such challenges the oldest authority he’s ever known: his own father.

[spittinwatches]

who suffered the most

@so-much-purple

bonus:

[tubercloset]

since there’s a new pulley book out now…

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

[jane-reading-books]

Natasha pulley be like so there's this little ginger guy with a scar–

[flowercrowngods]

hi!

just read your fic of valery and shenkov (posted on thenatashapulleyuniverse) - the writing! the characterization! you capture the essence of them both in the most luscious way, a truest delight to read

thank you so much for writing it, lots of love <33333

aaah oh my god thank you!! 🥹🥰 this ask is so sweet, what a wonderful thing to wake up to 🥹 i’m so happy you liked it!!

and technically what i sent to them was only the beginning of what in my head is a slightly bigger thing (right up in my kostya feels), but i have a lot of things on my plate and thus need to be patient with myself and write only in increments unfortunately 😔

but anyway, since you’re here now— 👀🤍

[preceding snippet the ask is about]

There is no response to his words, and Valery wonders not for the first time if this house swallows noise just like the lab will swallow time. Maybe the impossibility of their situation has created the tiniest of black holes right here, swallowing the gentlest wishes of a good morning or a good night, and forcing them to repeat the words and fight to make them true.

Valery sets his coffee mug — half empty already because there are no boundaries between the two of them — beside Kostya’s, frowning when he still doesn’t move, doesn’t look up or reach over to acknowledge Valery’s presence. On other Sunday mornings, Kostya would lean back in his chair, the back of his head bumping into Valery’s chest with a happy little sigh, and he’d get a kiss to his forehead for his troubles. Then Valery would ask him what the newspaper said, what his least favourite word of the day is, and why the Brits are madmen for inventing it.

But Kostya is immovable, and Valery wonders if the tiny black hole that swallowed his voice has come and swallowed Kostya’s mind, too.

“Kostya,” he speaks instead, daring the world confined to their living room to challenge their impossibility and steal his voice once more. His hands come up — slowly and gently — to rest on Konstantin’s shoulders, which seem tense even buried beneath his navy blue sweater.

Time seems suspended between gentle touch and careful consideration, but then Valery feels tense muscles becoming rock solid for just a fraction of a second before Konstantin flinches and all but wrenches himself out of Valery’s touch with a choked breath.

Something inside him breaks at the sound of it, at the vision of Konstantin curled forward, as far out of Valery’s reach as he can be with the table in front of him. Valery takes a step back, feeling the black hole grow in size and viciousness, and stumbling as its mass bends gravity around it, sucking him in and away from Konstantin.

He grips the kitchen counter to stabilise himself and keep his mind from running away, running in circles trying to solve a problem he doesn’t yet know the origins of. All he does know is that touching Konstantin seems like a bad idea right now — no matter how his hands twitch, his mind conjuring up images of the two of them curled together, Valery draped over his back as Konstantin attempts to understand the Brits’ obsession with one thing or another, murmuring Russian insults between them like they’re a secret love language.

“I’m sorry,” comes Konstantin’s voice, too carefully crafted into something presentable that Valery can easily make out its shakiness. It hangs in the air, brittle, just waiting to break apart and reveal what it truly means.

So Valery waits. He watches as Konstantin clenches and unclenches his hand, reaching for Valery’s coffee mug to wrap his hands around it. It’s a silent message, one he might not be all that aware of but Valery is good at waiting, he’s good at observing and finding patterns. Kostya will find something of Valery’s when he could have easily used his own, and attempt to ground himself with it. Even when they’re fighting.

It leaves him grateful beneath his confusion, that he left it there.

“I’m sorry,” Konstantin says again, but still he doesn’t move. Frozen again — or still.

“It’s alright,” Valery says, his own shaky voice a thousand times more stable than Konstantin’s. “I promise, it’s alright. We’re safe.”

Konstantin huffs, and the black hole is not kind enough to swallow it this time, leaving Valery to frown, the weight of worry becoming nearly unbearable now. Does he not believe it? Does he not know?

“Talk to me, Kostya,” he pleas, his voice a whisper still, his hands clenching around the counter to keep himself from reaching out to the man he loves and challenging their impossibilities one time too many.