#but they've also been worse so i'd say it all breaks about even 😅

[birbfeeder2artisticboogaloo]

aww daryl is so sad and greasy and soggy ;A; carol fixing his hair and giving him a forehead smooch like she's his mummy 🥺🥺🥺

[austinslounge]

It really sucks when Austin is the one who puts me in a funky mood.

I knew 100% that when Nepo K had posted that "XL" shirt pic on her insta that it was Austin, because I know him way too well. And I was disappointed that he participated in that, but at least he wanted his head cut off in the pic.

Today's airport disaster though where Austin is a walking billboard for her projects and ads is outright sickening. I feel so disappointed that Austin did that. It's such a letdown.

Everything about Nepo K disgusts me. I hope Austin knows how much he disappoints his fans when he participates in Nepo K's shenanigans.

It was not joyous to be in the Austin fandom today. Very disappointing indeed.

I'm sorry you feel that way Anon. 😕 I can understand feeling frustrated in all of this. However --- It's one thing to be upset, but I feel like sometimes, fans can take these things a bit too seriously.

Take a seat girl, because I have some things to say.

First of all, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I REALLY don't think that photo of the guy in the shirt that Kaia posted was Austin. You can go ahead and believe whatever you want, but to me, the build of that guy (the neck especially) did not look like Austin's AT ALL.

You can even compare the way Austin looks in that new YSL ad (which was shot on July 10th btw 😏) with that guy's build in Kaia's IG post, and you can quickly see that it's not Austin.

But let's say just for funsies that it is Austin -- And let's also compound that with the pictures that we saw yesterday of Austin at the airport in NYC. Do we really need to take this so seriously? 🤔

Right now, he's just in a relationship with this girl. It's not the end of the world. A lot of celebrities date each other in Hollywood. That's just how it is. And let's be honest, a lot of times, these same couples eventually break up. 👀 In fact, I'd venture to say that MOST Hollywood romances break up eventually. Even the ones that end up in marriage break up and end in divorce. 👀 The prognosis and future outlook doesn't look good for them. Especially if they're already looking miserable together off the red carpet most of the time when they're pictured with each other and they've only been dating each other for two years. 😅

While I don't like Austin with Kaia, at the same time, it's not the end of the world if he's dating her. We have to look at this thing objectively. He could be doing a whole lot worse things. And him wearing her shirt is just something he's doing as a boyfriend, and because he's a kind person. It's obvious Kaia supplied him with that shirt. If he wants to wear it, and help support her merchandise sales, then who cares? It's just a shirt folks.

Olivia Wilde used to wear Harry Styles merch all the time too while they were dating. Now look at where they are. 😏

I'm just saying, him wearing a shirt (which seemed like an obvious PR move btw) is very low on the scale in terms of effort imo.

And we all know that they will not last, so in the grand scheme of things, it's not really a "disaster" just because he wore that ugly plain shirt lol.

[theonewhoimagined]

EMPIRE OF STORMS

Warning: SPOILERS & a really, really long post full of asjdakdjalskjdk

Empire of Storms needed a separate post BECAUSE THIS FREAKING BOOK IS JUST oh gosh I can't even begin to describe it

MY GIRL, AELIN, THE BADDEST FIRE BREATHING BITCH QUEEN ALIVEEEE. I love her so much and I was in tears after that ending like GIRLLLLLLLL I CANNOT (but at the same time yaas we love the angst). She's been through so much and only, in the end, did people finally realize they've been treating her like shit when all she's been doing is selflessly thinking about ways to help them and not herself. Yes, I'm looking at you, Aedion.

My heart hurts for Aelin. She's brilliant, wickedly cunning, and above all, selfless. Can you imagine learning about your fate has been decided centuries before you and you've been played by everyone your whole life? But she rose above it and continued to fight. I just adore her brilliant mind and penchant for dramatic grand reveals. Sure, she has her flaws, but man if that happened to me, I would've been worse and left them all to ruin. 😆 I love how she's not some fragile damsel in distress chosen one, but she's a fighter with a smart mouth full of snarky comebacks and has an attitude. The way she carries herself is so authentic and just so brave. I mean give her a break. After everything she's been through, of course, she'll toughen up. Again, she’s not perfect and did bad things too, but wow the males around her like to push her around and blame her every time shit goes down. When in reality, she thinks ahead and does it alone so as not to disappoint the world that has put so much burden and pressure on her. She owed them all nothing. But no, people forget that she did not choose this life and the choices she had to made were the best at the time, despite how reckless they are. @ Chaol, Dorian, and Aedion

SHE MADE PLANS FOR EVERYONE, BUT HERSELF. IF THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU WEEP, THEN IDK ANYMORE.

Honestly, that was the best way to end a book. SO EPIC & DEVASTATING!!! Why is this not picked up by Netflix yet? This is LOTR x The Witcher combined (I wanna put GOT too, but I never watched it 😅)

ANYWAY!!!

First and foremost, the 2 most crucial parts of this book that would have ruined me after finding out, but unfortunately did not because my snooping around the internet led to my ultimate downfall which is accidentally reading spoilers about the mate thing and the iron mask.

Rowan, oh my sweet darling Rowan. I just love Aelin and Rowan's dynamics. They're so perfect for each other because not only are they each other's equals, but they keep each other in check. I don't understand the people who hate Rowan's evolution when his sweet and devoted side has always been there and just hidden beneath his darkness. And the way both of them brought each other out of the dark tunnel of grief and entered the path towards the light together? BEST COUPLE AWARD ME THINKS

If Rowan wasn't a warrior, then he could very damn well be a poet because he makes me melt every time he opens his mouth.

"If someone saw how thoroughly I plan to worship you." I MEAN?!

“I kept thinking about how you might never know that I missed you with only an ocean between us. But if it was death separating us … I would find you. I don’t care how many rules it would break. Even if I had to get all three keys myself and open a gate, I would find you again. Always.” This is from Heir of Fire, but if someone said that to me, I'd faint. ROWAN WHITETHORN, ILY TO WHATEVER END.

And after that ending, you mean to tell me I have to read 800 pages of Chaol really?! I read some pretty good reviews of Tower of Dawn, but I'm not in the mood for it now lol so I took it upon myself to skim over Kingdom of Ash because I am weak for Rowaelin and yes I accidentally read another spoiler, but no biggie pshhh

Also, I have to say Manon x Aelin is a pairing I never knew I needed. Just love how they banter and you know do QUEEN THINGS. But I'm not a fan of Manon x Dorian because it feels too forced and I think Dorian's character just lost its touch for me. I still do love Dorian, but like Chaol, I can’t believe the sense of entitlement of these Adarlanian men who like to fling insults at Aelin right where it hurts most when things don’t go their way or when they feel their male pride gets threatened by a female more powerful than them as if it wasn’t their fault that Aelin’s family got murdered and kingdom destroyed, and she was forced to live as Celaena by their own kingdom. 😤🙄 I swear that moment where Dorian had his head in his pants and was trying to force Aelin to let Manon walk freely in the ship had me seething. I mean Aelin is not a saint, but at least she doesn’t go below the belt and stoop so low to the people she considers her friends, unlike Dorian and Chaol.

I wasn't expecting to love Elide x Lorcan, but here we are! Also, Lysandra and Aedion are so cute together. Loved how the cadre became part of their group albeit unintentionally. <3

Omg this was way too long so brb I'll read The Assassin's Blade first before Tower of Dawn. My pace will be a lot slower now (as I'll take my time so the wait would be worth it lol) hahaha I practically devoured 2 books in just 5 days I think 😂

I haven't even finished this series, but the one thing I discovered is that mates! au is my weakness and mates to enemies to lovers au is the superior trope of all.

[mandelene]

Okay long time reader first time asker this isn’t a prompt per se, but I was thinking recently about your asthma/allergy-ridden portrayal of Matthew, and I was curious if in your human AU Matt has ever done immunotherapy (allergy shots).

My asthma is very mild (triggered by exercise/cold weather, both fairly mild reactions treated with albuterol) but my allergies are off the charts. I did 6 months of immunotherapy with 3 different shots every week (progressing at half doses instead of full doses because I’d had some minor systemic reactions early on.) About halfway through the treatment plan, my whole body broke out in hives and my throat began swelling, and I needed an epipen and steroids. I kept my poor allergist at the office an hour after closing so she could keep me in observation 😅. I was then forbidden from continuing immunotherapy. As it turns out, there aren’t a ton of options for severe allergy sufferers who can’t tolerate immunotherapy, except for lifelong medicating, but most allergy medications become less effective over time. My doctors are still trying to figure out the right course for me.

All that to say, as someone who also has immune problems and does such a good job at portraying medical things in your fics, I’m curious if you or your characters have ever run into the medical equivalent of “Welp. The gold standard treatment for this thing failed. ….now what??”

Hello, thank you so much for the ask and for being a longtime reader! That's so awesome! 💖

First off, I'm so sorry you had to go through that scary experience with allergy shots! I've considered writing about them before but never committed to it because I always worry that readers wouldn't find it very interesting and because I already project a lot of my problems on asthmatic Matthew as is. 😅 It's definitely something I could write about though if that's something you guys would like to see.

I've definitely had treatments fail me. If it makes you feel any better, I went through 6 years of immunotherapy and it did almost nothing for me. 😂 I started when I was 10. I had a bad reaction within the first year of treatment, so I stopped getting them from the allergist I'd been seeing. Then, when I was 13 and doing really poorly in terms of my asthma, my current pulmonologist (who is also an allergist) wanted me to try again, so then I went through 5 years of shots with him. The shots eased some of my allergies (like my allergies to cats and dogs) but most of my environmental allergies are just as bad if not worse than they've always been. My total IgE is still through the roof.

That was definitely a "this thing has failed me" moment.

As for asthma treatments, I've tried a lot of preventer medications to manage my symptoms: Advair, Flovent, QVAR, Pulmicort Flexhaler, Symbicort, Dulera, Singulair, Alvesco, and more that I can't remember anymore. Some did nothing for me. Others helped but then out of nowhere my asthma would get out of control again. Since childhood, my asthma has been very unpredictable. I'll be totally fine one day and then crash the next day. My allergies or a virus will set me off and then I get trapped in really long asthma flare-ups that can last up to three weeks and don't get better with albuterol/other standard rescue meds.

Since my doctor put me on Dupixent in the summer of 2020, I've been doing better. I thought having to give myself injections every two weeks would be hard for me and I was definitely nervous at first, but now it's easy.

I still struggle with my allergies. Even while on Dupixent (which I'm taking as an asthma med but can also help with allergies), although I don't break out into hives as often anymore, I still get nasal symptoms and I'm chronically congested. I should be using my steroid nasal spray twice a day, but I don't, so that's on me lol. As you said, antihistamines can get less effective the more you use them, so my doctor has me switch what I'm taking every few months.

Thankfully, there are always new treatments coming out, so I hope you'll eventually find something that works for you. Hang in there! 💪