#honestly a lot of moments that others consider for shipping are just as compelling to me for nonromantic relationships

[abstractkind]

listen I've been catching up on like five seasons of the life/traffic smp series. i can be just as rabid about soulmates as any alloromantic person.

[fencecollapsed]

Just watched your video on grace chastity, really good stuff!! I never thought of her that way, but she is honestly so compelling now. Was wondering, in your video you seemed to express you didn’t like parts of npmd? I’m personally not a huge fan of parts of it either, even if I love other parts. Would you be willing to share your thoughts on this?

hi! I'm glad you enjoyed the video, thank you! <3

yeah I can share some thoughts, I have a lot haha

so my biggest problem with NPMD is that I simply do not care about the Lautski plot thread. I think it's boring! I think their relationship in this story is hollow and bland and not emotionally engaging, which is a problem when the emotional climax of the story is staked on them. and I know it works for a lot of people, Lautski became one of the biggest HF ships after NPMD's wide release. I don't wanna discredit that, but I just don't see it.

I don't care about this relationship. the two weeks they have to hang out freely without Max's interference happens offstage during a timeskip and we don't get to see them at the football game together. the only scene they have one-on-one together in act two before CAITIA Reprise is them pretending they don't like each other. the show gives me very little to root for in terms of their dynamic and chemistry other than their first banter-y interaction at the beginning, and even then I think their first interaction is better in Abstinence Camp.

I have a big bias for Abstinence Camp Lautski, I think their chemistry is significantly more believable and charming in that story. they don't spend half of it pretending they're not into each other, for one. it's cuter, and we actually see more of their dynamic. just works better imo. I think their plotline in NPMD would work better if they were written more closely to the AC appearance.

Lautski basically splits main plotline spotlight with Grace's story, and because I'm so much more invested in Grace's story it sometimes feels like a waste of time whenever we snap back to the romance. mainly near the end - I don't think it's a huge problem throughout, honestly. but CAITIA Reprise is supposed to be like, THE big emotional moment of the story, this huge climax where we think Pete will die. and it does absolutely nothing for me! I feel nothing during that scene, I never have. and I understand the intent behind it, yknow? I understand the misdirection, and if it works for you emotionally then I'm sure it's really effective and that's great. but for me, because Grace's sacrifice is the one that actually happens and we spend all that time dealing with Steph and Pete's emotions rather than hers, it just feels a teeny weeny bit disappointing. like that time could've gone into a little exploration for Grace's thought process. I can pick up on the implications that lead to her ending, it's not difficult, but it would be nice to be shown some of that stuff too, dyou know what I mean?

it's just gonna inherently affect my opinion of the show when I don't particularly care about one of the two main storylines hgjskf

I think the Grace plot thread is extremely strong though. all things considered. she carries the show for me and she carries it so well that it makes up for the weaker elements. honestly better than the strong parts of Black Friday imo - I think BF has more to work with but it fumbles the bag more because the focus is spread thinner. both higher highs and lower lows. NPMD is still a more satisfying watch to me because the Grace story is so strong, while BF never feels like it quite comes together or gets the best use out of all its characters and ideas.

neither of them are as strong or satisfying as TGWDLM though. that show has a masterful balance of all its emotional throughlines and all of the characters get their proper amount of exploration for the story. even parts I don't particularly care about never feel like they're getting too much focus that it's distracting. it works the best at what it does, I think.

anyway yeah that's my main thing. I don't think NPMD Lautski is very well-developed and I'm not invested in their part of the story. it takes away from my enjoyment of the whole a little. also I don't love the barbecue monologues segment and Just For Once, I think that whole part is too long but that's more of a preference thing. I've read the positive analysis pieces on Just For Once, I totally get the intent and I don't even think it's objectively unsuccessful. I just think whether or not you like that song has a lot to do with if it emotionally resonates with you, personally. it does not resonate for me so I don't really care for it. just doesn't hit. that's just me though!

[queerxqueen]

out of curiosity, what do you think the duffers could have done to help mitigate the homophobic fandom? do you just mean making byler canon earlier, or dropping heavier-handed hints/clues/foreshadowing that are harder to dismiss in the show? or are you thinking something they themselves could’ve done in real life, like actively going out of their way to support pride month or something like that?

i’m also thinking abt how the show presents itself, on several occasions, to be very anti-bullying and how it prides itself on celebrating those who might be considered losers, weirdos, and outcasts. but because this idea is never really explicitly stated or emphasized in the show, casual viewers tend to gloss over it, or miss it entirely. is this the duffer bro’s fault? is this an indication that they could have done more? done better? and do they have a moral responsibility to educate those who are intent on missing the point?

maybe! i don’t rly know how i feel. i love the show, i love byler, and i do agree that there are certain moves the duffers have made that i’m not 100% happy with. also the idea of a gay plot twist is kind of…. you know, fun, but not the best. however, i also try to keep in mind that these are two (presumably) cis straight men and so, i cut them some slack and i immensely appreciate what they’re trying to do (assuming ofc they are moving in a canon byler direction).

for them to establish two canon queer relationships in a mainstream show that i love that isn’t centered around queerness??? i could cry tears of joy just thinking abt it, and so i feel i’m more compelled to dismiss some of the mistakes the duffers make along the way.

anyway, sorry that the ask is ridiculously long (feel free to ignore it, or only address a small part of it if it’s too overwhelming!). i hope it makes sense, though it might just come off as incoherent rambling - whoops. i’m honestly just speaking recreationally lol, but i’d love to hear some more thoughts frm you on the subject if you’re willing!

Agh, thank you for the ask, I love hearing your thoughts!!!

[Re: this post]

To touch on the first/main question - what could the Duffers have done to mitigate the homophobia?

There's a lot they could have done.

Within the show, if they're intending to make Byler canon, which I do believe they are, I think that season 4 should have officially broken up Mileven and also have had an undeniably, overtly romantic moment for Byler that the GA can't miss. Even if the final cabin scene had a hand touch rather than the shoulder touch, that would have been enough for me. Because yes, to me, and you, and 250k other Bylers, it has been obvious; but for the GA and Milevens, they have purposefully left enough wiggle room to keep them on the hook. Again, I respect the straight-bait, but if they're prioritizing straight-baiting over protecting their queer fans, that's not a great look.

But to me, much more important is what they could do outside the show. While there are occasional posts about Byler on various Stranger Things social media, I feel like there is so much more that could be done to show support to the ship and its queer fans, especially if it is endgame.

They could have explicitly and overtly addressed Will's sexuality on all channels after the release of season 4 instead of leaving it to Noah Schnapp.

They could have explicitly stated in an interview that Will is an equally viable love interest for Mike as Eleven is going into season 5 instead of prioritizing shock value and spoiler avoidance over the wellbeing of their queer fans.

Most vitally, they could have acknowledged/addressed the presence of homophobic fans and bullying in the fandom and explicitly condemned hateful folks as misunderstanding the show's core values. Take for example how Rick Riordan responded to racist fans criticizing the casting for Annabeth & Grover:

"The negative comments she has received online are out of line. They need to stop. Now. Anyone can be a hero. If you don’t get that, if you’re still upset about the casting of this marvelous trio, then it doesn’t matter how many times you have read the books. You didn’t learn anything from them."

After season 4's confirmation that Will is gay, they should have made an outright statement along these lines, that hate is unacceptable and that those who are hateful are fundamentally opposed to the values of the show. Instead they (or at least, Netflix) is more preoccupied with maintaining the general audience for as long as possible, even at the expense of the often-more-dedicated queer fans.

Really though, I'm more happy about a queer relationship being canon in such a mainstream show than I am upset about the lack of support for queer fans, because ultimately, this queer relationship and representation is offering support in a lot of ways. But they're doing this while also spending years allowing some of their biggest fans to be gaslit into thinking they're "delusional" for interpreting what the show is saying.

I guess ultimately I just feel like, if they're going to engage with queer stories and queer characters, they also have to have some responsibility for mitigating the negative impact they can have on real queer fans and queer spaces.

[rriavian]

Shipper Tag Game

Tagged by @seiya-starsniper <3

What ship were you completely obsessed with as a teenager, but now you don't care about anymore?

I don’t think there are any actually! I’m pretty consistent and will usually circle back to a ship every couple of years 😊

Which ship would you consider your first one?

This is tough, I don’t think I actually remember. Though I think last time I answered this question I mentioned Lord of the Rings because of Aragorn/Arwen

Your first fanfic was about which couple?

My secret anon identity means I can’t answer this honestly – but the first one I’ve written without being anonymous is Corintheus

Do you remember the first couple you saw fan art of?

Long long time ago so not quite sure actually, might be a ship from Harry Potter

Have you ever gotten into ship discourse?

Nope! I try and stay away from it—though I never hide my opinions, I just don’t really engage too much in ship discourse. People are always going to have differing opinions over pairings, and I’ve seen it get very ugly in fandom spaces.

Did you use to have any NOTP or have one currently?

Oh I have a fair few, but usually they are ships I was previously neutral about. Some of them are also things I've previously shipped. My NOTPs are pretty much all results of a not so pleasant fandom experience, so I don’t really talk a lot about what they are. I’m a multishipper so the only time I actually have a NOTP is when a ship is overwhelmingly represented in a way that I just can’t get on board with.

Who were the last couple in the last fanfic you read?

Corintheus 😊 which is definitely what I’m most known for haha, so probably not a surprise

Currently, do you have any OTPs?

As I said…I am a multishipper, and I’ve never really had an OTP. It’s not a concept I really resonate with? Especially with fanfic because for me it’s all about the exploration of possibilities, and I can very much ship multiple things at once. I care more about interesting/well executed characterisation and well written relationship dynamics.

Is there any couple that, to this day, that you are extremely mad about not getting into?

Not really, because if I’m not into a ship in at least some way (or neutral/open to the possibility) then there is usually a very, very good reason.

Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they're kind of interesting?

Hmm. Maybe Desire/Unity? But it’s not that I ever really disliked them, more that there are some obvious consent issues within it that initially made me not really consider the ship too closely. The more I see others exploring it the more I’ve found them interesting 😊

Do you have any ship that, in the past, would have been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

I don’t think so actually! Though I’m probably forgetting something

What is your favourite crack ship?

Ooh I’ve read a lot of bizarre stuff. Hmm. It might have to be a certain ship that @writing-for-life introduced me to (if you know what I’m talking about it will need no further explanation haha)

What is the couple you read the most fanfics about?

I’m still anon in a lot of fandoms so I can’t actually answer this question too honestly. I haven’t actually been reading that much recently (very focused on writing at the moment)

What do most of your ships have in common?

Equality…in some fashion they are each other’s match. Which sounds like a strange thing to say for Corintheus but it doesn’t necessarily have to be in physical strength/power.

I also ship a fair few ‘enemies to lovers’ ships. Probably for the above reason! It’s the intimacy of it I think. Also the complexity, I like ships where the dynamic is compelling but not necessarily easy to pull off in a fic, because that usually means more thought is put into the execution of it. If that makes sense? And I am very much all about the execution when I read/write.

What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

Butchering characterisation just to play out a binary sex dynamic. Mostly this presents as overt feminisation of the one character who is designated to be ‘weaker’ for reasons both untrue and usually very offensive. Which sounds harsh but it’s something I utterly despise. Folded into this is also one character ‘fixing’ the other character, especially when this involves that character giving up something important/integral to who they are. I see it so much in published fiction as well and it’s just not for me at all.

I also really don’t like it when unhealthy behaviours are romanticised (usually to ‘fix’ one character) or miscommunication when it’s not something silly like accidentally buying your partner the wrong type of coffee because you were so tired you misheard a word.

[markantonys]

AMOL prologue-chapter 8 (note that i mention in this post a huge spoiler from the end of the book that i’m not supposed to know yet but do and i’ve put a warning in that bullet point, although i’m pretty sure 90% of my audience is people who’ve already read the whole series anyway jkfg)

some guy called isam is apparently in a jekyll-and-hyde situation with luc??? what is going on here on this day???? he’s in some creepy town and talking about stuff called Talentless and samma n’sei. to all of this, i say: NO! it is the last goddamn book, and i do NOT want to receive any new information unless it’s about how rand will be able to defeat the dark one and survive the last battle! and i CERTAINLY do not want to be introduced to any new characters, cultures, or lore! i am handing sanderson/rj’s notes a flowchart that reads: is this stuff vital information? if yes, you should’ve established it in an earlier book! if no, throw it in the trash and put me back into the actual important plotlines!

i do love how perrin is the most boring and useless of the main protagonists and his Archnemesis is the most boring and useless of the main antagonists (if slayer can even be considered a main antagonist, which i don’t think he can be). match made in heaven.

“my people live with a grave misconception of the world, bayle. in doing so, they create injustice.” good for egeanin, but why THE FUCK did this arc go to her and not tuon. MINDBOGGLING.

“something had to be done. and yet, in doing it, did she risk causing the entire empire to collapse?” unfortunately egeanin’s still on her “i’ll always be seanchan, must preserve the empire” bullshit for the moment but at least she’s made SOME real and good progress, unlike TUON.

“honestly, the way you lot [sleete and other warders] have been hovering over me lately makes me think of a mother bird who has lost an egg.” “lan is important to many of us, nynaeve sedai.” omg 🥺🥺 one of the books’ only glimpses at Warders As Community, i love it!

nynaeve rips egeanin a new one for letting the seanchan get the male a’dam and says she’s taking her to the amyrlin, and egeanin decides that she’s now da’covale to the amyrlin. the seanchan woman who will help egwene maybe??? i did predict it would be either egeanin or tuon since they’re the only 2 important seanchan women.

talmanes is going to die from a poisoned wound. oh no! anyway.

jkfjg i’m gonna say it.............talmanes was massively overhyped! i don’t dislike him at all, he’s fine and has had a couple fun moments, but i do not understand why people love him so much. i saw his name eeeeeeverywhere before i started the books! and then i kept going “maybe this will be the book when talmanes becomes my beloved” and it never happened. maybe THIS will finally be the book when talmanes becomes my beloved, but also my Becoming My Beloved doors closed around book 5 or 6 so i doubt it. i also don’t understand why people ship him with mat - it’s a perfectly fine ship that i have no issue with, it’s simply that every time the two of them interact i get such strong Heterosexual Bros vibes lmao in my eyes that dynamic is just so devoid of homoeroticism compared to mat and rand, for example (and rand and every male forsaken, for another example). they just remind me of the dril tweet “me n the boys eating messy sandwiches sneaking around with big binoculars looking for girls and letting every one know who runs this tj maxx”

actually maybe i do have a little issue with the ship, and it is that in some ways it takes the place of cauthor in mat’s life and does a worse/less compelling job of filling that role (as is the case with countless “brand new side character coming in after the first 5/6 books to fill a role that used to belong to main character and do a worse job” situations), and that makes me bitter.

aww aviendha’s in a sweat tent and misses wetlander baths! she is going to thrive in the avirandlayne throuple raising their six (6) babies in caemlyn endgame! even if it SHOULD only be two (2) babies since the quadruplets are cursed.

"why would the columns show a despair that cannot change? no. i refuse to believe it. rhuidean has always shown us what we needed to see. to help us, not destroy us. this vision must have a purpose as well.” bair giving me some much-needed hope!!!

“‘the car’a’carn has a...fondness for dramatic presentations,’ bair said, her tone itself fond. ‘he’s like a crockobur who has toiled all night making a nest so that he can sing of it in the morning to all who will listen.’” WHY IS THIS THE MOST WHOLESOME THING I’VE EVER READ 😭 let rand be a stay-at-home papa bird and spend his time making nests and singing about them to all who will listen 2k22! also it’s throwing me back to egwene’s TSR line about “a boy with a lamb nestled inside his coat, proud as a rooster because he had driven off the wolf that tried to take it” which gave me insane emotional damage that to this day i have not recovered from.

okay, so now aviendha is ALSO at merrilor and both rand/avi AND rand/elayne have not bothered to go say hello to each other yet! i mean i guess avi had to talk to the wise ones urgently about rhuidean, but still!! she could’ve spared 5 seconds for kissing rand (and elayne)! he could’ve burst into the sweat tent to be like “hey i just sensed that my girlfriend whom i haven’t talked to in ages is in here”!

“‘her task was not just to teach him,’ amys said. ‘what i wouldn’t give to know that he was safely under the watchful eyes of a good woman.’ she looked at aviendha, face laden with meaning.” amys really said fuck min huh jkjdfg i’m howling!!!!

amys, after an entire month+ in arad doman watching min be plastered to rand’s side and sleep in his room every night: boy i sure wish rand had a good girlfriend min: um amys: is someone speaking?

it’s honestly crazy (and hilarious) how COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT min/rand is to EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER except the two of them and cadsuane. there are SO many people who have SEEN them together and KNOW they’re dating but STILL assume that rand/avi or rand/elayne is the relationship that matters. as they should! crazy and hilarious but also frustrating, since it proves time and time again how totally narratively unnecessary romantic min/rand was. they could’ve remained platonic friends and nothing about the story would be different, except for the many things that would be better!

“‘he will be mine,’ aviendha said, firmly. but not for you, amys, or for our people. she was shocked at the strength of that sentiment within her. she was aiel. her people meant everything to her. but this choice was not their choice. this choice was hers.” ❤️❤️❤️ we LOVE the contrast with min always complaining that loving rand was the pattern’s choice rather than her own (which eventually is intended to be romantic in a “fate itself wanted us together we couldn’t have resisted if we’d tried” sort of way, but i for one have always been firmly in the “the inherent romance of love being a choice” camp).

also, it’s so bizarre how common a take “rand/elayne and rand/aviendha only happened because the pattern made them both be into rand because he needed political things from them in order to defeat the dark one, while rand/min is the genuine relationship that would’ve happened on its own anyway” when “the pattern (slash prophetic knowledge thereof) forced it and they never would have looked twice at each other otherwise” is literally genuinely EXACTLY what happened with rand/min, while elayne and avi both fell for rand naturally rather than forcing feelings Because Fate Said So as min did. and rand is very much attracted to both elayne and avi before they show interest in him, whereas min’s just kind of an “oh, and min” afterthought way waaaaaaay in the back of his mind until she’s literally sitting in his lap kissing him and making him go “huh maybe i do want to kiss her” like he never would’ve had anything more than a subconscious fleeting interest in her if she hadn’t pursued him so aggressively, and she wouldn’t have pursued him if she hadn’t had a viewing that they would fall in love someday. whereas randlayne and avirand happened 100% organically on both sides! but sure, those are the two that the pattern forced and min/rand is the organic one.

haha the audiobook said “[kymer’s] uncle han” but when i went to the print book to type up my quotes i saw it says “her sister-father han” fascinating! the book i have does appear to be the original first publication hardcover version, so maybe that was a last-minute edit after they’d already given the book over to the audiobook narrators to record.

bair advises avi to change the names of one of her kids (from the names that she learned in the vision) in hopes that that will help avert the bad future. or she could just NOT GET PREGNANT WITH THE KIDS AT ALL, BAIR like oh my god this is such an obvious solution! i’d be totally fine if they brought it up but dismissed it as infeasible/undesirable for whatever reason (maybe they point out that heartleaf tea isn’t 100% effective, or maybe aviendha really wants to have kids and isn’t willing to make that sacrifice, though given her characterization i would find that hard to believe), but it’s just so weird to not even ADDRESS this completely obvious thing that they could EASILY control in order to prevent those future visions from coming to pass. again, it would’ve been a MUCH different situation if aviendha was already pregnant when she saw the visions. but of course, that would’ve required rand to speak more than 2 words to her between LOC-AMOL which was obviously impossible to achieve 🙄 like, they could’ve fucked in arad doman and then avi finds out she’s pregnant immediately after she sees the visions and is like “oh shit that future’s already happening” that would’ve been very emotional!

also it’s wack (wack narratively speaking, that is - ofc these things do happen irl and in-world it could simply be that min’s always drinking heartleaf tea and elayne and avi didn’t) that rand knocks up elayne after 1 time having sex with her and avi after 2 times (i assume, as they fuck for the second time later in this chapter chunk), yet he’s fucking min constantly and she never gets pregnant. really does lend weight to @butterflydm’s depressing theory that rj (whether consciously or not) wanted rand’s live-in sex-providing girlfriend to ~maintain her figure~ and be super hot and unencumbered by negative pregnancy side effects and thus available for sex at all times while the 2 sidepieces he never sees are given the job of being his baby machines.

it turns out that the weird stuff going on at the black tower is channelers being forcibly turned to the shadow by that 13 channeler-and-fade combination (or whatever the combo is, it said it somewhere in androl’s section but i already forget and don’t care enough to skim through it again looking for the sentence). huh i forgot that that was a thing. back in TGH i thought that channelers being forcibly turned to the shadow was gonna be a much bigger problem than it ended up being lmao i don’t envy sanderson having to at the eleventh hour bring back and wrap up all these plot threads that rj forgot about/ignored for 10 books and annoying the reader (or THIS reader anyway) by getting into whole new sideplots on the eve of the last battle.

also forgot moghedien is still alive. she’s been horribly punished for her failures, as has lanfear, as has graendal (who was resurrected into a super ugly body). female villains getting endlessly tortured while male villains get a nice clean death is so real.

“demandred wants only one thing. al’thor.” demandred that’s gay. and also relatable.

my man demandred shows up to the meeting, hello king! maybe we’ll see you for more than 5 pages in this book.

moghedien’s all “graendal’s only weapon was her looks so now that she’s ugly she’ll be helpless” this is exactly what graendal, who is secretly the biggest brained forsaken, wanted the others to think! i’m sure a bad bitch won’t let this ugly new body stop her.

taim is made a forsaken, whoa didn’t know you could do that! so now there’s 5 left: taim, moridin, demandred, moghedien, and graendal.

if taim was gonna become a forsaken anyway, why the fuck couldn’t he have just been demandred?? what has demandred been doing this whole time that he couldn’t have been taim? we need to condense some plotlines and characters here, people! on the other hand, demandred is sexy and taim is not sexy so i wouldn’t want them to be the same person. can’t explain that any further, it’s just their respective vibes.

“‘just remember my requirement: i face al’thor on the field of battle. his blood is mine, and no one else’s.’ ...you will have competition with [taim], demandred, moghedien thought. he wants al’thor nearly as much as you do.” everyone wants rand carnally!!!! “demandred had been changing lately. once, he wouldn’t have cared who killed lews therin - so long as the man died. what made demandred insist on doing the deed himself?” he wants to fuck rand so bad it makes him look stupid. also, moghedien, you don’t have any room to judge other people’s antagonistic homoerotic obsessions jkjfg

moridin says that this is the end, so “if you have plots, bring them to completion” a nice little bit of fourth wall breaking lmao

and i have finished my last WOT prologue ever thank fuck!!

rand and perrin are in rand’s tent together catching up and laughing awww! but where the fuck is mat!!!!

rand is spying on elayne and suspects that she’s also spying on him. he hears that elayne has been wakened late at night, suspects she’s receiving urgent news, and............sends spies to find out what it is instead of just going to ask her himself??? what the fuck???? what is this absolute batshit insanity????? that is your GIRLFRIEND rand???? to whom you’re literally soulbonded???? why the fuck are you guys spying on each other rather than going to ask each other what your plans are????? i can’t. i can’t!!!!

“‘she’ll have someone [spying on us], balwer,’ rand said with a smile. ‘she all but taught me how to do this, after all.’” okay that IS cute. but it still makes no sense that they would go to all the effort of setting up spies in each other’s camps instead of just talking to each other!!!! i love a sexy machiavellian relationship of two political powerhouse partners spying on and mistrusting each other as much as the next person, but that has never been the vibe of *rand and elayne’s* relationship.

rand has finally found out about the babies............OFFSCREEN and seemingly from hearsay rather than from elayne or one of his friends, what the fuck!!! why couldn’t we see the moment of him finding out! why the hell did elayne not find him immediately at merrilor to tell him! why the everloving FUCK did rand not find HER immediately to talk to her when he heard the news through the grapevine! more absolute batshit insanity. a few pages in and the amount of suspension of disbelief being asked of me vis-a-vis randlayne’s relationship is already cracking my skull in half.

“pregnant. pregnant with his children. light! he had only just learned of it. why hadn’t she been the one to tell him?” i don’t know maybe because you DIPPED ON HER WHILE SHE WAS SLEEPING AND NEVER BOTHERED TO STAY IN CONTACT WITH HER OR TRAVEL BACK TO SEE HER DESPITE AN ABUNDANCE OF OPPORTUNITIES TO DO SO, RAND. at least he does go on to acknowledge “he hadn’t exactly made himself easy to find” so okay. but he also thinks that she wouldn’t have told him because she would’ve felt his emotions while he was in The Bad Place and “wouldn’t have wanted to confront him with a pregnancy when he’d been in such a state” which is a) absolutely not true, elayne never once had a thought along those lines and b) totally unfair to elayne, to say that while rand’s in a bad state she would consider being his partner and fellow parent of their kids Too Hard and would just opt not to tell him. avoiding rand when being his partner gets hard is a min move, not an elayne move.

“still, it was a shock. i’m going to be a father, he thought, not for the first time. yes, lews therin had had children, and rand could remember them and his love for them. it wasn’t the same. he, rand al’thor, would be a father. assuming he won the last battle.” baby boy!!!! and these are the only thoughts we get from rand on the subject for now, smh i’ve been waiting for BOOKS for him to find out about the babies, i need more reaction and emotions than this!!! i expect nothing and i’m still let down!!!

sidenote: since the show’s beefed up dad!rand (and dad!LTT judging by the fact that his first and thus far only scene showcased him as a dad rather than as a husband) i hope they’ll dwell more on the tragedy of LTT killing his own kids instead of solely ilyena, as it is in the books.

"i [perrin] have people close to elayne. people who keep watch on things for me.” “let’s go talk to them. i have a great deal to do tonight, but...yes, i can’t let this slip.” RAND??? JUST GO???? TALK TO ELAYNE DIRECTLY??????? jesus christ i’m having a fucking aneurysm over this djfgkj IT’S ABSOLUTE BATSHIT INSANITY!!!!!

when gawyn tells elayne that she needs rest: “thank you very much for the advice, which i will ignore, as i ignored birgitte when she said the same thing.” JSKDFJG GO OFF!!! absolute icon. Good For Her.jpg

now elayne is once again arguing that they should let rand break the seals, which is what she said when egwene first shared the news but then in her povs in the second half of TOM she was thinking that it was crazy and they couldn’t let rand do something so stupid. make up your mind, sanderson!

when egwene refers to “one of rand’s crackbrained schemes”: “elayne smiled fondly. light, but she was smitten.” (this is egwene pov calling her smitten not elayne calling herself smitten lmao) and then later “‘he has a fair bit of gleeman in him,’ elayne said, again fondly.” matrandlayne is the ideal throuple because they all adore crackbrained schemes and gleeman-like dramatic showmanship! and avi is the ideal fourth polycule member because she can kick some sense and dignity into them.

guybon brings news to elayne of the attack on caemlyn and when she praises him for his actions, he says “give your reward to the men of the band, your majesty. it was their work.” yeah now i AM retroactively glad that mat and the band weren’t involved in elayne claiming the throne in canon (tho i adore it in fics) because it would’ve turned into this same sort of “mat/talmanes and the band being the heroes of the day and getting all the credit” lmao

“‘here, let us link. i’ll lend you my strength.’ nynaeve looked shocked. ‘mother?’ ‘you are better at healing than i.’ egwene smiled. ‘i may be amyrlin, nynaeve, but i am still aes sedai. servant of all.’” ❤️❤️ egwene is The Best, Truest Aes Sedai, and The Best, Truest Amyrlin. she embodies everything they are supposed to be, as opposed to cadsuane who embodies everything that's wrong/broken with the system. i sure am glad that it’s egwene and not cadsuane who’s amyrlin. i SURE AM glad. sob.

perrin says that in blacksmith-ing if something shatters it’s better to start again than try to fix it, and rand uses the same thing to talk about the seals. “rand, that’s the most reasonable thing anyone has said on this topic. have you explained it that way to egwene?” “she’s not a blacksmith, my friend.” “she’s smart, rand. smarter than either of us. she’ll understand if you explain it the right way.” thank you perrin!!!!! this whole time rand’s been like “ugh why won’t egwene see REASON” it’s because you literally didn’t explain shit to her, you just showed up at the tower and said “i’m gonna break the seals, see you in a month” and left again immediately.

rand learns about caemlyn and once again, bafflingly, talks to perrin about how they can’t let elayne leave rather than going to talk to elayne herself

“rand could feel [elayne], of course, through the bond. her spike of alarm let him know that she’d received this information. should he go to her? perhaps he could send min.” ??????????????????????????? you just learned that your girlfriend’s HOME has FALLEN TO TROLLOCS and you think of sending your other girlfriend to go talk to her in your place because you’re too busy to check on her and see if she’s okay or needs anything?????? i hate to say it but Deadbeat Dad Rand IS becoming tragically real, christ

and rand now suddenly feels avi arrive at merrilor, so this must take place slightly before avi’s prologue scene. i can report that he, of course, has no thought of going to find her and say hello or anything.

“the attack might unnerve elayne, make her more eager to act. perhaps this will make her more vulnerable to agreeing with my plan. this could be a good thing.” WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK RAND!!!! why is randlayne being done so FILTHILY in this chapter!!!! at least perrin frowns at this statement and rand thinks “how quickly i’ve learned to use others” so at least he’s being narratively called out for being a shithead here, BUT STILL this is crazy. genuinely from this chapter alone, bar the lines explicitly stating that elayne is pregnant with rand’s babies, i would have no idea that he cares about her at ALL let alone that she’s his COMMITTED SOULBONDED GIRLFRIEND i hate it here!!! my sole consolation is that min has been asleep offscreen the whole chapter and rand’s had no significant thoughts about her, so at least i don’t have to have min/rand rubbed in my face while randlayne is dragged through the mud.

rand also says “i thought she had that thing guarded!” about the caemlyn waygate, so not only is he a) not bothering to see if elayne’s okay after her home was attacked and b) thinking that her being upset and vulnerable over this could be a good thing for his plans, he is now c) blaming her for the attack happening.

“of all those to turn to the shadow, demandred’s betrayal seemed the most tragic. the man could have been a hero. should have been a hero. i’m to blame for that, too, rand thought. if i’d offered a hand instead of a smirk, if i’d congratulated instead of competed. if i’d been the man then that i am now...” oh.............OH! that is some good good tragic doomed lovers to enemies shit!!! (but also, what sort of man ARE you now, rand? the kind who doesn’t bother to find his partner to say hello and talk about their babies after not having seen her in months and not having known she was pregnant until just now? the kind who doesn’t spare a single thought for how his partner must feel about tragic news from her home except to think that it would be super helpful to him if she were vulnerable about it?)

okay rand FINALLY thinks that he’s going to send to elayne and also send help to evacuate the city, fucking finally, rand! but he’s still just Sending To her rather than sending HIMSELF to her, of course.

moving on from bullying rand (for the moment). 2 chapters in and this is already my mood:

IT’S THE LAST DAMN BOOK!!! STOP WASTING MY TIME WITH RANDOS I DON’T CARE ABOUT!!!!!! you guys know very well how much i’ve always hated side character plotlines, so you can imagine how enraged i am about this kjfg like man, call me rand because the amount i DO NOT CARE about what’s happening at the black tower is ASTRONOMICAL (okay maybe i’m not done bullying rand)

thankfully, next we get avilayne reunion!!! 🥰🥰

as soon as aviendha hears about the attack on caemlyn she goes right to find elayne to talk to her about it. rand take notes.

“[elayne] looked very much in control, very strong, her red-gold hair practically glowing in the lamplight...aviendha was pleased to se the fire in her first-sister’s eyes.” proud and awestruck wife aviendha!!! convenient source of light that makes elayne’s hair glow!!! also, reminds me of the matlayne reunion when mat was describing how radiant elayne looked and how her hair glowed in the firelight. this is elayne’s harem, we’re all just living in it!

then when elayne insists to the lords upon the hard but necessary course of not trying to retake caemlyn: “her face was a mask, her voice as cold as good steel.” rand parallels!! insert my usual ranting about how we were robbed of rand and elayne dealing with the burdens of leadership etc together.

aviendha thinks that elayne always knows “the most interesting curses” aviendha is the little spiderman to elayne’s medium spiderman to mat’s big spiderman when it comes to swearing jkfjg my loves! that’s what a polycule should be all about.

as SOON as she realizes avi is there, elayne sends every single person out of the tent to leave the two of them in private. so that she can kiss her wife!

“i’ve reached the point in my pregnancy where i can channel again reliably” that seems like awfully convenient timing for the last battle lmao was it mentioned initially that channeling would be reliable again in the second trimester? i think i remember monaelle saying it would just get worse and worse as the pregnancy progressed. overall this was just a totally useless thing that didn’t end up affecting the plot in any significant way - there were many times when drama and danger could have been heightened by elayne finding herself unable to grasp the source, but they were never taken and the source was always there when she TRULY needed it.

elayne receives a LETTER from rand rather than rand just walking 10 feet into her camp to talk to her in person, christ almighty. “he insists that i return to caemlyn to see to my people...light, this is clever. he’s obviously trying to bully me into staying. there’s a touch of daes dae’mar in this.” “you seem proud. yet i gather this letter is only one step away from being insulting!” “i am proud. and angry at him. but proud because he knew to make me angry like that. light! we’ll make a king out of you yet, rand.” again, this is cute and funny on the one hand but on the other hand is the sort of Machiavellian Relationship that does not fit with randlayne’s established vibes.

“a fire still burned behind those eyes of hers. elayne was a warrior, as true a one as aviendha had ever known.” ❤️❤️

avi asks elayne for permission to fuck rand tonight since they may not get another chance. elayne gives it and asks if avi’s spent time with min, to which avi replies “not enough, and under other circumstances i would remedy that lack immediately. there is no time...i do think she feels better about me. she did me a great honor in helping me understand the last step to becoming a wise one. it may be appropriate to bend some of the customs.” ugh it’s always been so annoying how min just.......gets to be an exception to the first-sister thing. aviendha was so staunch that she couldn’t be with rand until she and elayne were first-sisters, yet min is basically a STRANGER to her, and a stranger who has demonstrably no interest in learning about or respecting aiel ways let alone participating in them, or even in sharing rand with the two of them at all, but gets to have avi going “eh it’s fine we can make an exception.” min hasn’t earned that!!! and her “great honor” of helping avi with the wise ones was a complete accident lmao all she did was embarrass avi so much by asking why she was doing pointless punishments (which she would’ve known was a shaming question if she’d had any interest in learning about aiel ways) that avi snapped at the wise ones. min had no intention of helping her and never even realized that she did help her!

for real, elayne broke her goddamn back to make this whole polycule work and gets 0 time with rand, while min didn’t put in an ounce of effort (and actively dislikes that she has to let elayne and avi take part in the relationship) and gets to be with him all by herself for over half the series.

it’s very hard to think about the concept of min being likable to me when i’ve been so deep in the trenches of book!min sucking for so long now, but if i try to think objectively then there are some very easy fixes the show can make. 1) don’t make her change her style and personality for rand (and it’s 100% guaranteed the show will indeed not do this, seeing as it’s 2022 and nobody in their right mind would think that shit is acceptable), 2) make her eventual giving in to falling in love with rand feel natural and as a result of getting to know and like him as a person rather than just a random decision she makes while miles away from him Because Fate Said So, 3) get rid of the whole “hunting rand down and seducing him into a relationship” grossness that characterized TFOH and LOC, 4) get rid of her reluctance to share him and make her equally as on board with a poly relationship as elayne and avi are, 5) make her actually spend time with elayne and especially avi and form meaningful relationships with them. and possibly 6) don’t give her such a disproportionately large amount of exclusive screentime with rand while avi and elayne get shafted, but this would not bother me AS much if fixes 4 and 5 had been made, because it COULD actually feel wholesome, like min taking care of rand on elayne and avi’s behalfs while they aren’t able to be with him (and how wonderful would it be if min and rand actually TALKED about elayne and avi during this time, and did so fondly and lovingly!), rather than like she’s trying to hog him all to herself and prove that she’s his One Real Partner.

me: it’s so easy to fix min [gives a whole list of fixes that require completely overhauling her character and relationship with rand]

anyway, elayne and avi plan to talk to min before sending avi to fuck rand, and we later find out that they did so offscreen. just like with the convo about the decision to bond him, we don’t get to actually see the 3 of them sitting down together and talking about rand and their shared feelings for and relationships with him. it’s so weird!! such a wasted opportunity!! i don’t fucking care about androl and pevara, can i please see elayne, avi, and min having a scene all together for ONCE???

once again so so so so grateful for rafe’s commitment to interpersonal relationships in the show, this shit would NEVER happen there! nor would any of the Randlayne Batshit Insanity i’ve been complaining about in this post.

i have read 13 books. i have slogged through thousands of pages and read or listened to every single word, even if i wasn’t always paying super close attention. but androl and pevara’s plotline has for the first time made me resort to skipping scenes and reading summaries instead. no regrets! congratulations, androl and pevara, you’ve finally broken me when not even perrin’s plotlines could. i’m not going to read a single one of their scenes for the rest of the book, i’ve decided. i just want to be done with this series jkdjfg not that i haven’t enjoyed reading it (during certain books and plotlines, anyway), but good god i just want to be done.

“it was still hard to get used to the idea of tam being there, just one camp over. rand had dined with him earlier. it had been awkward, but no more so than expected for a king inviting his father from a rural village to ‘dine.’ they had laughed about it, which had made him feel much better.” 🥺

but also, i see how it is, rand has the time to invite tam over for dinner and perrin over to hang out from a different camp, but not elayne or aviendha 😤 what a perfect opportunity to introduce his dad to his other two girlfriends that he’s just not taking. i bet MIN was invited to family dinner.

avi arrives to see rand thank god!! but his reaction is so baffling. “how have i taken you from [the maidens]?” he says as if he does not know full well that they got into a committed relationship in WH. “light. she was beautiful. but so was elayne...and so was min...and...he was a fool. a light-blinded fool. ‘aviendha,’ he said. ‘i love you, i truly do. but that’s a problem, burn it! i love all three of you. i don’t think i could accept this and choose-’” like literally what the FUCK is happening???? rand!!! do you not remember the ENTIRE CONVERSATION the four of you had where you said you loved all of them and felt bad about it, and they reassured you that they all loved you and were happy to share you, and then they all bonded you as their warder and avi and min gave their blessing for you to fuck elayne?? what the fuck is happening right now!!!! that WH scene truly had ZERO impact on rand and it’s so absolutely absurd. this is beyond asking me to suspend disbelief, it’s straight up trying to gaslight me into thinking that that WH scene never happened!

but the good news is that “she was beautiful, but so was elayne, and so was min, and..................” gives me room to interpret that he’s subconsciously thinking “and so is mat” jdkfjg

also, interesting that rand is fretting that sleeping with avi now would be A Decision when he’s been sleeping with min for months...............implying perhaps that min has always been just sex to him and not A Decision about which of the three he loves 👀

“‘we are first-sisters, rand al’thor, elayne and i. when we get to know her better, min will join us. we three will share in all things.’ first-sisters? he should have suspected, following that odd bonding. he raised a hand to his head. we will share you, they had said to him.” WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK THAT CONVERSATION WAS ABOUT, RAND???? JESUS CHRIST currently saying with my whole chest that every time WOT women complain about men being stupid and unobservant is 100% justified. jesus christ.

for my own sanity, i must assume that this is all a result of sanderson Just Not Getting the polycule or at least avirand specifically (since their relationship is by far the worst in terms of “suddenly experienced a total reset in TGS and acted like WH never happened”) and that it would’ve been much different if rj had written it. i don’t like to lean on “this would’ve been better if rj had written it” too much because most of the time the things i’m annoyed about are things he’d already established that sanderson had to run with and claiming that it’s a Sanderson Problem is just using him as a scapegoat for rj’s own bad storytelling decisions, but in this instance i do think it’s true. even as little as avirand and randlayne got in LOC-KOD, i do remember noticing a marked decrease in rand thinking/caring about avi and elayne in TGS which got even worse in TOM since we didn’t have any rand pov.

“is this so terrible a thing to consider, being with the three of us?” “i want it, aviendha. i should hide myself because i do. but the pain...” “you have embraced it, have you not?” “it is not my pain i fear. it is yours.” “are we so weak, then, that we cannot bear what you can?” 👏👏👏 “of course not. but how can i hope for pain in those i love?” “the pain is ours to accept.” 👏👏👏

god rand NEEDED this kind of “yes you might die, and it will hurt us, but that’s our choice to make and we’ll bear that pain” outlook from a partner SO MANY BOOKS AGO instead of min’s constant insistences that she Won’t Let Him die at tarmon gai’don. not saying it isn’t admirable to keep up that kind of optimism or that it isn’t helpful to rand for his partners to have hope for a future with him, but he really needed avi’s different perspective as well to balance it out.

“be warned; it is all three of us, or none of us. we will not let you come between us.” good on you avi but i am 100% certain that min would gladly let it come between you if rand wanted only her lmaooo

also, this seems like the kind of convo they should all 4 be having together (since it APPARENTLY didn’t stick for rand the first time they had it in WH). this brings me to my other point, that the whole “the 3 women discuss who gets to fuck rand today and send that person to him” (which we also kinda saw in WH tho at least they did all talk to him first even if the women had pre-agreed to leave elayne alone with him after) is SO AWKWARD. HUGE harem vibes. like please just have an orgy all together, for fuck’s sake.

i don’t feel strongly about min having romantic relationships with elayne and avi in the show like i do about elayne and avi having one with each other, and in fact it WOULD be kinda cool to see at least one platonic sibling-spouse dynamic, but if all 4 are all dating each other it would remove so much weirdness when it comes to sex lmao especially when you also add in the fact that the warder bonds allow them to feel each other fucking rand! maybe we could do rand dating all 3, elayne dating all 3, and avi-min sibling-spouses, because it would be easier to make min/elayne happen than min/avi since they spend a lot of time together early in the series and establish a close bond early on that could be given more screentime later by including min in more of elayne’s plotlines instead of exclusively rand’s (also, show!min gives off immense queer vibes, whereas Straight Male Gaze Serving book!min could never), and it would still preserve a sibling-spouse dynamic which IS a unique dynamic that i really love and would love much more if it didn’t feel like such a big No Homo the way it does in the books, which would be accomplished by showing that women can be each other’s wives too and aren’t strictly limited to sister-wives (overall i am so so excited for the show to give us a more explicitly queer version of aiel culture as well as brother-husbands in addition to sister-wives! they haven’t actually said they’ll do that but i’ll eat my hat if they don’t.) okay where was i. oh it would also be good because avi and min being bona fide first-sisters would give them their own unique and meaningful relationship with each other, which is sorely needed. ofc i’d prefer the show just do avirandlayne throuple and keep min/rand as platonic friends because that is so much easier and more natural and works so much better in all respects, but given the “3 beautiful women” viewing and the fact that fans would riot if their beloved Rand Girlfriend didn’t get to bang him in the show, i know that won’t happen.

and so, overall, i hate min and min/rand but i really WANT the show to make me able to like them, for my own sanity if nothing else because it was bad enough having to read so many books heavily featuring a ship i hate and i don’t want to go through that again in the show jdkjfg i’m hoping by the time min/rand begins in the show in earnest it’ll be long enough since i’ve read the books that my “flying into a rage every time i so much as hear min’s name” fight or flight instinct will no longer be so strong.

and kinda same with tuon and mat/tuon, actually. villain redemption arcs (especially when Tough Childhoods and Toxic Families are involved) and hero/villain ships are my bread and goddamn butter and i was so disappointed by the teeeeeeerrible execution in the books because i think tuon could have emerged as one of my favorite characters/character arcs and mat/tuon as one of my favorite canon ships if it had been done in a way that fulfilled the fantastic potential of all the godtier tropes that form the basis of it.

okay i’ve gotten SO off track, but all the s2 stuff from nycc has me hyped up and in show mode! back to the book.

i remember somebody reblogged a post of mine a while back and were saying that aviendha doesn’t know what consent is (i think the original post was an ask where we were discussing avi and birgitte’s terrible reactions to seeing tylin harass mat at the end of ACOS) because the first time she had sex with rand, she took advantage of him while he was half-dead from hypothermia, and the second time, she forced him to have sex with her by bringing maidens to surround the tent and kill him if he refused. that interpretation of their first time i knew straightaway was bullshit bc i’d already read TFOH (they were BOTH half-dead from hypothermia and in fact avi was in WAY worse shape than rand was, which was why he got naked to warm her up in the first place) but i was like “i’m also skeptical of the second one but will reserve judgment until i read it for myself.” i can now say that yes, it’s bullshit lmao i don’t even know how that person could POSSIBLY have come to that conclusion. the maidens arrive of their own accord and avi is kinda embarrassed that they did so, and they’re just yelling and not making ANY attempt whatsoever to threaten rand in ANY way (okay there is “several were screaming about what they’d do to certain parts of his body when they caught him” but avi explains right away that they don’t mean it and the whole thing is just a symbolic practice, and besides, they’re yelling at him for taking avi away from them, not yelling at him to try and force him to sleep with her). and rand and avi do have a little exchange wherein it appears avi is calling the shots and rand just has to do what she says, but it’s clearly just flirty banter that our subby boy rand is very much into (and he’s actually the one who first initiates physical intimacy by pulling her close). you know who DID explicitly think that she would bring the maidens in to kill rand if he tried to not have sex with her? MIN during their first time in ACOS.

“aviendha sniffed. ‘enough talk. you will bed me now.’ ‘light!’ he said. ‘a little forward, aren’t you? is that the aiel way of doing things?’ ‘no,’ she said, blushing again. ‘i just...i am not very skilled with this.’ ...he laughed and pulled her close. she was stiff, initially, but then melted against him. ‘so, do i go fight them first?’ he nodded toward the maidens.” like that’s all so cute! doesn’t read at all nonconsensual to me, it’s just how they flirt! and rand is 100% onboard!

the only thing i didn’t care for was “you three decided this, didn’t you? which of you came to me?” and “i’m never going to get to choose, am i?” to both of which aviendha shakes her head, because while i can see the gender role reversal rj was going for with the 3 women deciding everything about rand between them and he just has to go along with it, it has always annoyed me. but after the second head shake is when rand laughs and pulls avi close, so i guess HE has no problem with it, which is what matters! still, defs looking forward to the show making this not only a true polycule rather than a harem, but a polycule between 4 equal partners rather than rand never being involved in conversations or decisions about his own relationship.

moridin meets rand in a dreamshard and says “i knew that if i created this place, you would join me in it. you can’t keep away from me. the pattern won’t allow it. we are drawn together, you and i. time after time after time. two ships moored on the same beach, beating against one another with each new tide.” oh my god. FELLAS. lines that would 100% fit into a romantic relationship (if a rather toxic one) with no alterations needed! this has gotta be his gayest line to rand yet, which is saying something.

moridin says he’ll kill “you, and the golden-haired one, and the aiel woman, and the little dark-haired-” and gets cut off before specifying woman, so i can interpret that he’s referring to mat as rand’s little dark-haired partner 😌 which serves both my #PutMatInThePolycule AND my #ShortKingMat agendas.

“he was reminded, in passing, of mornings during his youth, rising before dawn to milk the cow, which would need milking twice a day. eyes closed, he remembered the sounds of tam - already up - cutting new fence posts in the barn. remembering the chilly air, stomping his feet into his boots, washing his face with water left to warm beside the stove.” 😭😭😭

“‘light, aviendha! why do you need to sneak up on me in the first place?’ ‘for this,’ she said, then jumped forward, snatching his head and kissing him, her body pressed against his. he relaxed, letting the kiss linger.” 🥺🥺🥺 early morning kisses and then rand brings back showers from the AOL and they take a shower together! weeping over this tiny snippet of domestic avirand!!!! now if only elayne was there too (and mat)

“if i am going to live in the wetlands, then i will adopt some wetlander customs.” avirandlayne throuple raising their six (6) babies in (rebuilt) caemlyn endgame is so real y’all!!!! yes!!!

rand remarks that avi no longer seems bothered by a man channeling, but i don’t think she was ever bothered by it? didn’t he say back in TSR or TFOH that the aiel didn’t seem to care about him being a male channeler and the dragon reborn because they only care about him being the car’a’carn?

rand describes the rough calluses of avi’s hands (and how much he likes them) in a passage highly reminiscent of mat describing the rough heron brand on rand’s hand in TFOH, nice.

and we get to the big meeting of all the rulers! way too much going on in this scene for me to break down thoroughly but i’ll reskim to try and remember some specific things i wanted to note.

elayne tells egwene that she spoke to avi about her night with rand but rand didn’t tell avi his intentions for the meeting. the hoops sanderson is jumping through to avoid making elayne and rand just talk to each other directly! what’s the point? why couldn’t elayne have gone to talk to rand WITH avi for a while and then left to give them privacy to fuck? why couldn’t she have and why WOULDN’T she have? it makes no sense.

the king of murandy is a dick, so egwene makes him think the white tower has been pulling strings in murandy (by saying that she’s heard his rule is consolidating nicely and then saying “you’re welcome,” smiling, and riding away). jkjfg queen shit! “‘egwene,’ gawyn said softly, trotting his horse beside hers, ‘did you really just do that?’ ‘does he look troubled?’ gawyn glanced over his shoulder. ‘very.’ ‘excellent.’ gawyn continued riding for a moment, then broke into a deep grin. ‘that was positively evil.’” DJFKGJ i love them your honor! gawyn loves watching egwene get people’s asses as much as i do, bless him! that’s his wife! that’s OUR wife! (also, ARE they literally married yet? they said they were going to but idk if they have.)

“min stood at his side, one hand on his arm.” min showing up to a serious political meeting with rulers of the whole continent and going “i MUST plaster myself to rand to make sure everyone knows i’m his girlfriend” very inappropriate time for physical intimacy, min! especially since elayne and avi are also at the meeting and are not afforded the luxury of flaunting their relationships with rand (although elayne does tell rand she loves him in front of everyone, so they must be wondering what’s going on jkfg “i see what you’re trying to do and i love you for it, but [objection]” is soooomewhat offhand as telling people you love them goes, but still!)

“elayne swept in, the sorrow on her face lightening as rand smiled warmly at her.” ❤️❤️❤️ finally a randlayne crumb!!!!

“the wool-headed woman was still impressed with rand, pleased with how he’d managed to bully everyone into coming here. elayne considered it a matter of pride when he did well.” ❤️❤️❤️ this push-and-pull tension between elayne disagreeing with rand as a fellow leader but being proud of him as a partner (and vice versa) would have been SUCH an interesting thing to explore in detail across the whole series. sigh.

“and you don’t feel a small measure of pride? egwene asked herself. rand al’thor, once a simple village boy and your near-betrothed, now the most powerful man in the world? you don’t feel proud of what he’s done? perhaps a little.” oh my god my HEART 🥺🥺

and we also finally get a bit of randlayne political conflict! but given that elayne’s just one of many rulers voicing the same opinions and she and rand don’t talk directly to each other that much (most of his argument is with egwene while the monarchs are fussing amongst themselves), and that the narrative frames it as “rand wants a peace treaty but all the monarchs including elayne are too selfish and power-hungry to agree,” overall i’m not very satisfied with it. i do think his peace treaty is a great idea and am on his side about it, but i just wish elayne hadn’t been lumped in with the other monarchs. she’s Not Like Other Monarchs, dammit! or i would’ve loved to see rand’s initial treaty be less Good And Righteous than it is, or to see part of this scene from elayne’s pov to see her actual thoughts about the treaty rather than egwene's assumptions about what she thinks, or to have seen her and rand discuss the treaty privately and workshop ways to improve it before bringing it to the full group - because elayne DOES point out some real flaws in the treaty and propose solutions for them, which i loved to see!

“i am [the seals’] watcher.” “in name only. they were only just discovered, and i possess them. it is out of respect for your traditional title that i approached you about them first.” “approached me? you didn’t make a request. you didn’t make a demand. you came, told me what you were going to do, and walked away.” get his ass egwene!! this is exactly what i was saying earlier!

“is this what it’s about? you want saidin to be tainted again. you aes sedai...you’re threatened by the idea of men who can channel, undermining your authority!” ah, now i see where the batshit take of *****MASSIVE SPOILER FOR THE END OF THE BOOK THAT I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW YET BUT DO***** “it was better for egwene to go out in a blaze of glory in the last battle because she would’ve hated living in a world where saidin is untainted and men who can channel are treated as equals and aes sedai aren’t on top of the world anymore” came from: an obviously ridiculous and paranoia-induced assumption of rand’s that Certain Readers took as inarguable fact about egwene! love that 🙄

“light, egwene. you can still do it, like the sister i never had - tie my mind in knots and have me raving at you and loving you at the same time.” 🥺

“rand looked hesitant, and for a moment, he seemed the child she’d once caught sneaking bites of mistress cauthon’s pies with mat.” cauthor crumb!

rand’s plan is to KILL THE DARK ONE okay damn. given that the whole series is about balance and how light can’t exist without shadow and vice versa, i’m 95% sure that will turn out to be a bad and/or impossible idea and that it will turn out egwene is right in this particular argument and rand will just imprison him again after all. i hope so, i want egwene to win one of their arguments lmao since moiraine comes in and basically calls her out and embarrasses her in front of all the rulers for trying to disagree with rand about the seals.

“for all his complaints about aes sedai, for all of his insistence that he wouldn’t be controlled by them, he was acting more and more like one of them himself.” exactly!!! glad to see that little bit of hypocrisy acknowledged outright by the narrative and not just by me in my own head.

moiraine returns!!!!! and for some reason we are put into perrin’s pov for this scene instead of rand’s or staying in egwene’s. although various channelers flicking the annoying murandian king with the power and perrin being able to tell who it was by them smelling smug WAS hilarious, i’ll admit.

“where had mat gotten to now? why hadn’t he come back with moiraine?” YEAH FOR REAL WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU MAT??????? literally EVERY other character is here, where are you??????? you are RUINING all my hopes and dreams of ef5 reunions!!!! which i always knew would never happen, but they COULD have if mat had gone with moiraine instead of fucking off to wherever he is currently!!! honestly what the hell!!!

“[rand] hesitantly reached out and touched her face. ‘by my mother’s grave,’ rand whispered, then fell to his knees before her. ‘how?’ moiraine smiled, resting a hand on his shoulder. ‘the wheel weaves as the wheel wills, rand. have you forgotten that?’” MOMRAINE!!!

also cracking up at rand: how are you alive? moiraine: the wheel weaves as the wheel wills mat: am i a joke to you?

“‘moiraine,’ egwene said, stepping forward. ‘the white tower welcomes you back with open arms. your service has not been forgotten.’ ‘hmmm,’ moiraine said. ‘yes, i should think that having discovered a future amyrlin would reflect well upon me.’” MOMRAINE!!!

“she passed perrin, and gave him a squeeze on the arm, eyes twinkling.” MOMRAINE!!!

“nynaeve enfolded moiraine in a powerful embrace. moiraine stood for a moment, smelling distinctly shocked, hands out to the sides. finally, she returned the embrace in a somewhat maternal way, patting nynaeve on the back.” MOMRAINE!!! LITERALLY!!!

“nynaeve released her, pulling back, then wiped a tear from her eye. ‘don’t you dare tell lan about this,’ she growled. ‘i would not dream of it,’ moiraine said... ‘insufferable woman,’ nynaeve grumbled as she wiped a tear from the other eye.” MY HEART IS SO FULL

“[elayne was] still staring daggers at rand...oddly, she smelled proud. strange woman.” i love her jkjfg i love Them!!

faile: “if rand persuades [the seanchan to sign the treaty], does that allow them to keep the countries they have now? the women who are damane? are they allowed to slap one of those collars on any woman who passes their border?” THANK you queen faile!!!!

lmao it’s hilarious how every single major character present in this scene is saying stuff and playing an important role in the negotiations.............except for min who has not said a single word and has done nothing but touch rand’s arm twice. she is soooo narratively useless!!! actually, we’re almost 200 pages in and min hasn’t had a single word of dialogue at all or even been present except for in the way background of this one scene. love that for me!

rand gives elayne total control over all the armies at the last battle!!!! that is fucking ROMANCE, baby!!!!! “elayne trakand is a leader to her core; she taught me much of what i know about leadership.” ❤️❤️

rand says he will “try” to “persuade” the seanchan to release the damane and the lands they’ve stolen and go back across the ocean, but aviendha says that they can’t fight the seanchan because they’ll lose. so rand says, “they have done horrible things, but so far, the lands they have taken have benefited from strong leadership.” HATE THIS LATE-SERIES NARRATIVE THAT DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS WHAT WE SAW IN FALME “if forced to it, i am content to allow them the lands they have, so long as they do not spread further. as for the women...what is done is done.” UGH!!!!! i cannot believe i just had to read that load of GARBAGE with my OWN TWO EYES!!!! what the FUCK rand!!!!!! at least he adds “let us worry about the world itself first, then do what we can for those held captive” so MAYBE he’ll try to do SOMETHING, but christ!!! after avi’s visions i feared that “make peace with the seanchan and let them stay, in part because things are ~So Much Better~ under their rule!” would be the “resolution” here, and lo and be fucking hold!!! i’m so mad!!!!!!! rand, go google “appeasement” and rethink your stance here!!!!!

anyway, this tarwin’s gap sequence with lan is sooooo good, i teared up!!! (also, huge spartan 300 vibes which me and my classics degree loved!)

“al chalidholara malkier. for my sweet land malkier. it was the oath a malkieri soldier took during their first posting to the border. lan had never spoken it. he did so now in his heart.” 😭😭😭

“[morgase banishing bryne] hadn’t been elayne’s fault, but she could read the breached trust in bryne’s face.” so bryne is standoffish with elayne because of what her mom did???? fuck that guy. he does later compliment her on her leadership skills and say he doesn’t hold morgase’s actions against her, but still. fuck that guy.

“you will do as you are told.” 😳😳 we may have lost Daddy Rand, but we still have Mommy Elayne!

sidenote while we’re on the subject: baffles me that most people think aviendha tops. did you all read all those scenes of her rushing to do whatever elayne asks and turning into a blushing mess when elayne compliments her?? wake up america. elayne tops always. avilayne, elayne tops. randlayne, elayne tops. matlayne, elayne tops even if mat would never admit it.

anyway. loial returns!!! 🥰 “i am married to erith, though, you see. she’s just over there. did you hear her singing? isn’t her song beautiful? being married is not so bad, perrin. why didn’t you tell me it was not so bad? i think i am rather fond of it.” awwww, warm welcome for loial into the WOT Wifeguy club! also in the club: gawyn, perrin, lan, rand, bashere

“rand needs me.” “rand needs us all.” “he needs me more.” perrin and elayne fighting over their boyfriend jkfg perrin justifies his ummm wild and rude claim that rand needs him more than elayne with min’s viewing that rand will die if perrin isn’t with him at the last battle. now, if only she’d had the same viewing about mat...........

who we learn is IN EBOU DAR????? according to perrin’s color visions. WHAT THE FUCK MAT WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE???? EVERYBODY ELSE IS OVER HERE GET YOUR ASS HERE NOW!!!! “that man is never where he needs to be.” christ elayne i KNOW!! man.

“the seanchan are the enemy. mat doesn’t seem to understand that, considering what he’s done.” GET HIS ASS ELAYNE!!!!!! TEAR THE BITCH APART!!! it’s still unclear whether she’s aware he’s married to the seanchan empress, but this line implies she might be since idk what else she might mean by What He’s Done

“apparently, rand had specifically told [bashere] to watch over [elayne, while they’re in caemlyn].” another one for the Romantic Or Condescending? debate lmao i’m going to say condescending because rand has time to tell bashere to watch over elayne but doesn’t have time to fucking talk to elayne directly STILL???? they were in the same place for 200 pages and didn’t exchange a word besides as leaders at the big meeting!

tam is part of the contingent who went to caemlyn with elayne, but i’m sure that having an interaction between the two of them will be too much to ask for

elayne notes that bashere doesn’t talk to her “the way a man should a queen” which is absolutely not something rj’s elayne would’ve ever thought, because she was only misinterpreted by others as being a Spoiled Princess but was never actually one.

pregnancy update: the babies are kicking and moving around frequently!!! 🥺🥺 i would like a timeline update because i really didn’t think elayne was far enough into her pregnancy to feel the babies moving THIS strongly and often, and the size of her belly has also lately been described as seemingly much bigger than i would’ve thought it would be (tho that i can excuse as twins making her bigger sooner than a single baby would). google says you typically start feeling movements between 16 and 24 weeks and that they become more regular between 24 and 28 weeks, which would mean elayne’s ~6 months pregnant now, and no way in hell was WH 6 months ago. that was midwinter and we’re still only in spring, i’m pretty sure.

elayne asks bashere if he thinks it’s a mistake for her to go into battle while pregnant and he says no - king shit! then he tells her that she should tell everyone she’s carrying the dragon reborn’s children because it would make them fight harder - opposite of king shit! as we all know, elayne is simply a vessel for rand’s babies and people would care more about fighting for them than for her 🙄

elayne quite rightly points out that this is neither any of bashere’s business nor any of the army’s business, but he says that the heir to the realm is the business of its subjects. yeah, and it’s only their business that that heir is the queen’s kid, the babydaddy is not their business!

“perhaps it will remind them that not everything in this world is dying.” can you believe that rand and elayne’s babies are being used to give a greater emotional impact and sense of hope to an army of randos than to rand? insanity.

“farmers burned their fields in the spring to prepare them for new life. maybe that was what andor was suffering now.” a sense of hope being given to me as well, thank you elayne!

but bashere does tell elayne that she reminds him of faile ❤️❤️ so he earns a few points back. i want to see elayne-faile friendship so bad! they HAVE had a couple fun interactions in this book and the previous one.

elayne does come around and tell birgitte to spread the word that the babies are rand’s. bashere, this is colossally stupid! he claims that she doesn’t have to worry about it making them any greater targets than they already are because she’s already important enough (as high commander of the armies of the light) to make them targets, which on the surface is Hell Yeah Elayne’s Special On Her Own, but if you actually think about it, it’s colossally stupid because rand IS more of a target than elayne. not only in the eyes of the shadow, but in the eyes of regular people and politicians etc. the dragon reborn is hated and feared in so many places, and elayne herself was worried last book about the potential of a Dragon Empire forming after rand’s death with the lands he holds. even were rand to defeat the shadow and die at the last battle, he would still have a dangerous and threatening posthumous legacy among non-shadow people - TONS of people would want to see his kids dead to make sure they couldn’t rise to inherit all the power and thrones and influence he left behind. COLOSSALLY STUPID for bashere to tell elayne she should publicize that he’s her babies’ dad! maybe it’ll make her soldiers fight harder right now, but what about after the last battle, huh? it will cause so many problems for her then! you’ve gotta be thinking long term here!

a shortish chunk of chapters, but the post is getting long and there’s a wonderful wonderful randlayne scene next chapter FINALLY that i know i will have many words about, so i better cut this one off here

[merchantarthurn]

it's funny that 2/3 of the companions i ship astarion (the 3 being halsin, wyll and karlach) with are people who are objectively just lovely, selfless people but in a way that's just... too far. both in their own ways don't acknowledge they give/have given too much away for the good of others and a big part of the healing they need is setting even a single limit on what's "too far".

(under the cut cos it got long but this is more a ramble about character dynamics than romantic stuff so please enjoy even if you don't care for the 'ship' aspect. ive also got a LOT to say about karlach but i don't here im sorry i love her so much pls--)

wyll's willing to give his immortal soul (TWICE) for the sake of a city and father that turned his back on him with barely a moment to reflect on the unfairness to himself (at least in a 'and that's why it shouldn't be expected of me' way, anyway). halsin's given a hundred years of devoted research to the shadowcursed lands and cut himself off from deeper connections in order to remain committed to lifting the curse, not the mention the way he skirts around really acknowledging his trauma from the Underdark as a trauma instead of just a Fun Halsin Fact!TM

now... like all relationships between companions this is a compelling area without any romantic undertones, this is more what's driving my interest in the ships at all, but i find the above level of self-sacrifice really interesting in contrast to astarion. similarly, setting boundaries doesn't initially come naturally to him - he's not in the practice of being able to say no, and getting through the 'disgust' is something he tries to handwave as worth it for the rewards. but when in control, he's very much got selfish goals in mind. personal safety, mostly, being considered useful enough to keep around under the protection of the artefact. and in addition his moral compass is very much not aligned with the above, but does seem to shift in that direction the more compassion he's shown. it's never all the way flipped but... still.

two things that are interesting about that - both the selfish and selfless goals are, in isolation, completely understandable? save a city? well that's a good thing! protect yourself? can't argue with that!! but "no matter the cost to my mental and physical health" ooh never mind. astarion is, out of the three, seemingly much better positioned to understand and admit that? which is what's particularly interesting about either wyll or halsin's relationship (romantic or not) with him. cos any efforts they make to help astarion out with his own boundary issues and healing creates a big ol' elephant in the room with their own deal that i think astarion would, like, push back on y'know? he's already incredulous about heroes and do-gooders for both understandable and dnd-evil reasons but once an established rapport comes into play, then you get that incredibly tasty dimension of "okay, so you spent all that energy encouraging me not to loan myself out to make us stronger but you're gonna sell your eternal soul to a demon for a bit of information? and you're going to keep neglecting any aspect of your life that isn't shadow-curse related, to the point where you rushed in to enemy territory without regard for your safety and would have died if we hadn't stepped in?"

it's just such a chewable way of a bond developing right? both sides changing each other with something they initially might have found deplorable/insufferable about the other? but it both ultimately resulting in healthier boundary setting and the valuing of their own bodies and hhrhghruguhgguh. which is the sort of thing i Need when it comes to ships. man. oog. the list of little scenes i need to write gets longer by the second i swear. we can add shadowheart to the "dynamics i need to explore with wyll" list too ahrghr oogrhg

it's also making bl**dweave conceptually more interesting as an antithesis to this although i honestly haven't stumbled on anything that actually fits this particular niche so [handwaves] but to me that's two men who are gonna make each other Worse actually (this is not inherently a bad thing for Drama but all im saying is im pretty sure if you put those two together for too long you'll end up with a god + ascended ending ok). censoring the ship name cos i see much more fluffy stuff and im not here to ruin fun with opposing headcanons in a search ahaha

[ritzcrackee]

fuck it every dimension 20 season ranked

1. a starstruck odyssey

... we all saw this coming. i don't even have anything to say that i haven't already sleep deprivedly rambled about to my friends. glittery space bitches go brrrrrr

2. the ravening war

AUOERGHHHHH the drama the violence the edge the politics the tragedy THE SHIPS!!!! truly just my favorite people (and matthew mercer i guess) playing my favorite character tropes. it's like they scanned my brain and generated a season based solely on what i would be the most autistic about.

3. misfits and magic

yippeeeee best friends and they like each other and are friends yayyyy

4. the seven

women <333 (but fr tho i just like watching teenage girls be messy and multifaceted)

5. a court of fey and flowers

look i just really like fae shit. fairy rainbow magic boys RISE UP 💪💪💪💪

6. a crown of candy

the little candy people are sad??? what the hell.... (no but this season started off SO STRONG!! would easily be my #1, but i feel like the latter half of the season dragged on and also felt rushed? idk still one of the top tier seasons)

7. fantasy high

i mean what can i say. a solid classic, bad kids live in my head RENT free, fig is my irl girlfriend, uhhhhh kissing them all forever.

8. mice and murder

love a good murder mystery <33. lars vandenchomp my BELOVED!!!

9. fantasy high sophomore year

sophomore year!!!! i feel like this season had some of the highest highs, but also a lot of the lowest lows. which is why it's in the middle of the list lol. the live format made it hard to follow a lot of the time, however, consider, i'm the crab king.

10. the unsleeping city: season 2

CODYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! between him, iga, and the spooky capitalism moment, i really liked this season. i just,,, haven't really thought about it much. did not stay in my head.

11. neverafter

love the characters, love the vibe, less spooky than i had hoped? but still, as always, a slay

12. the unsleeping city

you may be saying "why is s1 lower than s2" CODY! it's literally just him i just really like cody.

14. coffin run

VAMPIRES!!! AND IZZY AT THE TABLE!!! v good season, a little bit loud for me? but otherwise good job guys 11111/10

13. mentopolis

not much to say abt this season tbh

15. escape from the bloodkeep

i have never read [insert fantasy book here] so i didn't really get a lot of the inside jokes? idk i think i was not the target audience.

16. pirates of levithan

look the zoom format just absolutely kills this season :( i love literally everything else about it but all of the players are so BIG in a way that the format struggles to capture. honestly it was a hard watch for me but i'd love to see it revisited in the dome.

17. shriek week

look i'm all for a vibes only no plot session but a vibes only no plot season? i truly could not tell you a single thing that happened in this show. also not enough hot monsters and too many hot people who are vaguely monster adjacent. absolutely HILARIOUS tho, watch it for sure but just turn your brain off. ally fermentation jokes my beloved.

18. dungeons and drag queens

i'm homophobic ❤ (this is a joke i'm gay i just didn't find it very compelling bdjfk. i don't think i was the target audience)

19. tiny heist

i'm sorry the mcelroy brothers just don't do it for me. certainly one of the dimension 20 seasons 👍

[fuckmeyer]

My favorite thing about the Jasper/Maria ship, dynamic, or whatever is how complicated and mysterious they are, like we don’t know much about them but what we DO know speaks to something deeper going on that isn’t quite explored. Like they make each other worse but they also make each other BETTER! It’s insane to think about really. Everyone’s usually like “they make each other worse!” but you’re like the only person to point out just how much they also make each other better and your points are so solid it got me thinking!

Like it’s honestly crazy to think about how they’re both in such bad circumstances and they’ve done bad things together; but there’s also the fact that they’re so tender and forgiving towards each other, how much they’ve learned from each other (especially from Confederate!Jasper’s side considering he had a LOT to learn/unlearn), and how they made each other stronger, smarter, etc.. while being from two completely different worlds yet they met and bonded through a similar core experience: War.

They became winners together after having lost so much before and they both chose each other naturally. Jasper could have chosen to follow Lucy or Nettie at any time but he chose Maria and he knew from the moment he met them that she was the special one, the leader. “It was immediately clear that the brunette was somehow in charge of the others. If they'd been military, I would have said that she outranked them.”

Maria was able to pick apart his compelling nature and knew he would be special/useful to her too, that’s why she chose to keep him and changed him herself bc one of the others said they were more likely to kill him. She probably didn’t expect to develop feelings for him later down the line but that’s for another conversation lol. They met by chance and they chose each other. They saw something.

I think both characters know this deep down and that’s why they still have some leftover feelings for each other. To me it’s the only thing that explains their out-of-character behavior towards each other. Like come on there’s no way Jasper is just thinking and talking about Maria like that if she didn’t still have an impact on him and there’s no way Maria’s just randomly thinking of him enough to want to find and visit him if he didn’t have some sort of impact on her too.

That speaks to so much potential between them. If they were so powerful and successful and hung-up on each other in the unfortunate situations they were in, imagine how powerful and strong they’d have been if they were in better circumstances. It gives me such a “right person, wrong time” feeling with them. Idk just my thoughts. You seem like the only person I can share these with lol.

- same anon btw

ANON it's wonderful to see you in my inbox again!!! you know i'm always here for Loving María Hours 🥰

you're right, there's so much deeper shit going on between Jasper & María, it's kinda crazy that all these other characters/ships get so much more attention when Jasper/María literally have a built-in story! (no hate to those who create content on minor characters ofc — we're all out here doing the lord's work LMAO)

you really hit it on the head. like the fact that their story is so "evil" and their characters are so "bad" speaks to the gentleness and goodness that obviously came out of their relationship considering Jasper is now a vegetarian Cullen freak. & the idea that the external conflict (war) is used as a vehicle AND as a symbol for their own internal conflicts & the thematic discussion at hand?!?!?! THE STORY 👏 WRITES👏 ITSELF👏👏👏

bro ofc Jasper followed María!! bad bitches only. & at the end of it all Lucy & Nettie AINT SHIT! they betrayed their covenmate! smh. tbh it spoke volumes that she had no problem killing them YET took so long (& ultimately did not) kill Jasper. girl can sniff betrayal from a mile away & even though she let the paranoia get the best of her, in the end she didn't let it control her 😇 it's not a perfect cutesy HEA, but dammit if it's not GROWTH

only semi-related, but the fact that Jasper mentions she had a good judge of character, and the fact that she seemed to look specifically for humans who would be gifted/powerful, makes me wonder if she didn't have some sort of gift herself. i like to think that Nettie & Lucy didn't betray her bc of something she did but rather bc they simply couldn't cope with the way María always chose Jasper & her country above all. María's gift is that she sees the good & the strength & value in people. even when they don't see it in themselves. war is simply not a good medium for people to reach their full potential...& once María draws it out of them, they discover want more for themselves than what death & violence can give them. in Nettie & Lucy's case, they lash out bc they assume they will never live up to María's vision. in Jasper's case, he defects so he can live up to the person she sees in him ❤️ María's weakness is she gets so focused on her mission she gets tunnel vision, so these are all seen to her as betrayals

but i imagine María realizes this down the road & works on healing herself instead of her country. obviously the Southern Wars haven't gotten out of control, & wtf does Jasper know about the South's situation after his 150-year absence? maybe the fact that she hasn't gotten herself in trouble lets him know that she's more focused these days on looking out for herself, finding potential within instead of working in vain to fix something that can realistically never be repaired in the way she always dreamed. & that's ok :)

all he knows is she's got a softer side & that he's rooting for her on her own journey to healing, & he will always wish her well 😌

TLDR TRUE TRUE, ANON. right person, wrong time.

all hail María ❤️

[naminethewriter]

For the reverse fanfic ask game!

4. The best ship you've written for: Probably not a surprise, but I really love how you write Intruloceit (of any nature! whether it's pre-romantic, polyam, focusing on two in particular, etc.)! You've just got such a good grasp of the characters and what makes their dynamic so interesting. You are very skilled at picking up on their vulnerabilities and soft spots around each other, your stories always warm my heart <3

6. Something I remember vividly from reading one of your fics: Gosh there are so many to choose from! But okay, one that comes to mind is the moment when Remus meets Logan in How It All Began. This has definitely been the first, most bewildering meet-cute I've read with these two- I love it SO much! The ending of that first chapter had me saying 'WHAT' out loud XD It was honestly great, and I really liked how you incorporated the ordeal into the story in a way that worked so well. Oh, and one more moment I remember, has gotta be when Janus and Remus come home to find Logan when he's home alone during Christmas in You're Not Alone... My heart, that scene <3<3<3

8. What I like the most about your writing: Again, there's a lot I like about your writing. But if I had to name one thing now, I would say the character dialogue. You always manage to write conversations in a way that's so natural to them, and smooth, and descriptive and emotional and it carries your stories forward wonderfully. It makes them easy to read and compelling to keep reading. I love how you incorporate your dialogue into your worldbuilding as well. I think of it as one of your trademarks <3

This has become so long now, whoops- Just consider it high praise for your wonderful writing! I've had little time and headspace to read fic lately, but I can't wait to continue reading your stories again <3

Thank you so much for all the compliments, Lost! This makes me so happy 🥰

Intruloceit are my boys, I love them so much and even after like four years I'm still not tired of them 💛💙💚

How It All Began holds a special place in my heart and that beginning definitely is one of the reasons why 🤭 Which is why I had it written out and published as a One Shot before I committed to the broader storyline.

And I am most confident in my dialogue, so I'm happy that it comes across well! I struggle with more descriptive writing, especially since I'm not much of a visual thinker, so picturing the characters actions in a scene is hard for me... But I'm learning with every story 😉

For this ask game!

[starlight-phantom]

Since you've been really into it lately, AI for the fandom asks!

Ngl I was really hoping someone would ask for this, just so I could have an excuse to gush about these games so thank you

3 male characters I love:

Kaname Date, this man is literally the full package. I mean, he's hot, smart, dumb, goofy, a fantastic dad figure, horny as hell, lover of puns, can kick people's ass with ease, what else do you want?

Kuruto Ryuki, honestly Ryuki is one of my absolute favourites. He is the definition of a poor lil meow meow and a babygirl and my god do I love him for it. I honestly hope that, if we get a third game, Ryuki gets some more time in the spotlight and we get to learn more about him because he's such a compelling character.

Pewter, he doesn't get a whole lot of screen time but when it actually gets down to his parts in the story and you learn his reasoning for his actions, it just makes me feel so bad for him. Also he dresses like the leader of a Pokémon villain team.

3 female characters I love:

Okay, ngl, usually I tend to prefer male characters over female characters. I don't know why, it's just always been that way, I've related to them more, I guess? BUT I love the female characters so much more in this series, they're all fantastic, I adore them. That being said I definitely have some favourites.

Mizuki Date, god I fucking love Mizuki, she is my daughter who can and will kick anyone's ass. When I saw her all grown up in Nirvana Initiative, I screamed... And then I found out you played as her in Nirvana Initiative and I screamed again even louder. Honest to god though, Mizuki is one of the best written characters I've ever seen, especially for a child character, and the poor girl goes through so much... Also, Corina Boettger's performance is incredible, I don't know how they managed to genuinely sound like a twelve year old girl but they did it and they gave one of the best performances in the whole game, which is saying something but the dub as a whole is amazing.

Aiba, I love Aiba so, so, so much. I love how in the real world she acts as a straight man to Date's antics but will still trade puns with him and then in the Somnium's she gets goofy and Date acts as a straight man to her. She has so many funny moments and I adore her crazy smile when she's really enjoying something. Also, her lil jelly hamster design is so cute, I love it.

Shizue Kuranushi aka Boss, Listen... I am not immune to hot women, okay? Especially when they're voiced by Allegra Clark. This is the third time this has happened to me and my heart still can't handle it. But I mean... She's hot, she's badass, she's flirty, she's funny... She's perfect. Also, I want to avoid spoilers since you're debating whether to check out the series or not, but there is A Scene that everyone adores and with very good reasons and all I'll say is, if you weren't in love with Allegra Clark's performance already, you will be after that scene.

3 romantic ships I love:

Hitomi/Date, can't really into this one without discussing spoilers but wow, I was not expecting that and they're so, so cute... Wish they got more of a focus in Nirvana Initiative...

Date/Ryuki, Date has two hands. But honestly, it's the way Ryuki talks about Date that gets me. Plus the idea of Mizuki judging him for his taste in men is just funny to me.

Iris/Amame, I just think they'd be cute, not to mention they're always checking up on each other when stressful stuff happens and share a lot of interests so I can see plenty of chemistry. Also, pretty bubblegum colour scheme.

3 platonic dynamics I love:

Can I just say the whole of Abis and their families? Like, the whole group is essentially a huge family at this point when you consider all the stuff that goes on throughout both games.

Ota and Mayumi, god that route destroyed me emotionally, it was so bittersweet. But I love me a good family driven story, so seeing this mother and son work their way through their issues and how they tried their best to protect each other.

Ryuki and Tama, ngl Tama was so, so, so close to being one of my favourite female characters, she just needs more screen time so, y'know... Anyway, I love their dynamic both in the real world and in the Somnium and I love how Tama knows about Ryuki's issues and tries to help him as much as possible despite his honestly self destructive work mentality, like when she forces him to go to the hospital.

3 favorite moments in canon:

Ooooh... I dunno... Like I said I'm avoiding spoilers for you so that limits me a lot but also, there's so many really, really, REALLY good scenes... I'll be as vague as possible.

The final scenes of both games.... If you know, you know.

Mizuki Route Ending in the first game, I dunno just... Found family and an adorable callback to a conversation way earlier in the route, it's so sweet.

The Annihilation Route interrogation, again... If you know, you know.

3 favorite headcanons:

I like to think that Aiba and Tama sometimes do their augmented reality hologram thing just so they can join Mizuki, Iris and the other girls for their girls nights sometimes. Doesn't matter that they can't eat or interact with anything, just hanging out with them is enough.

I know that we see Ryuki drunk a couple of times and he's really mopey in both of them, but I like to think that when he's having a night out and doesn't have anything weighing on him, he's quite a giggly drunk. Not howling with laughter or anything, just finding everything amusing and almost constant smiling and giggling to himself.

Slight spoiler stuff but I like to think that after Mizuki learned about who her dad's new partner was after divorcing her mother, she makes an attempt to connect with them especially since she can understand their complicated feelings over what happened.

3 least favorite things about it:

Chikara Horadori. That bastard knows what he did.

There are a few plot points where you sit there and think "... Okay, that was kinda stupid, I'm not a fan of that..." But I mean I've seen worse from Uchikoshi *cough*ZTD*cough*

The fact that Ryuki and Tama just kinda get shoved to the side in the second half of Nirvana Initiative. Honestly that was one of my biggest complaint about it, like c'mon they're the new characters, shouldn't you give them even just a little more screen time?

[sophia-sol]

The Winternight Trilogy, by Katherine Arden

(Trilogy consists of: The Bear and the Nightingale, The Girl in the Tower, The Winter of the Witch)

I read the first book in this trilogy for the first time four years ago, and liked it a lot at the time, but wrote a VERY incomplete review of it. So I reread it before reading the sequels, so I would remember what actually happened in it! And then I read the sequels.

And now that I've read the whole trilogy I'm....hm. Evaluating the three books all together, I like it a lot less than I thought I was going to. And the thing is, I don't know WHY!!! It's doing so many different things that I generally find extremely compelling, and yet when all put together, I am left feeling cold.

It's a book set in medieval Russia, fairy tale inspired, about the tension between Christianity and the traditional beliefs, featuring a young woman with interesting complicated relationships with her family and also with the god of death. And it's well written, and the main character has a complicated morality but is dedicated to doing what she thinks is the right thing to do, and the winter vibes are powerful and delicious. You would think that this is my jam! And yet.

I mean, yes, there were some aspects of how the story was put together that did not agree with me. Like, Vasya spends most of the second book crossdressing as a boy, and she is very clearly experiencing The Genders about it, but the author is completely and utterly unaware of this fact in a very "I'm cis and have never considered what it means to be a gender" kind of way that feels like it belongs to a bygone era of crossdressing novels. And there were some aspects of how this played out that were really uncomfortable.

(and the books are also extraordinarily heterosexual........except for one brief moment where the god of chaos and the evil priest kiss. Because obviously gayness is something that only belongs to antagonists. SIGH. I would honestly be happier if I just thought the author somehow didn't know gay people exist.)

Also, although I am all about those delicious human/personification-of-death ships, this particular god of death felt so very human that it didn't really feel like that's what it was doing! And yes, there were watsonian reasons why he was more human than he ought to have been, but that doesn't actually make it satisfying to me.

But honestly these are things that would, in other books, not actually stop me from enjoying other parts of a book, if the other parts were good. So idk. *enormous shrugs* If you have read these books and have any thoughts about why it might not have spoken to me, then please talk to me about it!

Other thoughts:

I did, throughout the whole read, keep finding myself thinking "This is like spinning silver except spinning silver did it so much better. Why am I not just rereading spinning silver instead."

I kept being thrown by Konstantin not being the character type I expected him to be, because....okay. When I was a teen, I began reading the Alvin Maker books by Orson Scott Card. They are, um, extremely baffling and horrible, and although they began with some compelling worldbuilding, they went very off the rails remarkably quickly and I think I gave up like halfway through the series. But they contain a character who plays a similar role to Konstantin: a priest/minister type person who thinks he is hearing god talking to him but is actually hearing the devil, and doing what the devil wants. And that dude from the Alvin Maker books is a very different person from Konstantin! But I kept expecting Konstantin to be him! Anyway Konstantin's terrible but in a different way, and I could never quite hold it in my head what kind of way that was, lol.

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Biweekly Media Roundup

- Trigun (Anime) - Still obsessing over Trigun and Knives specifically. Can’t believe how much I like this patronizing genocidal asshole. That’s good characterization baby.

- Lackadaisy (Webseries) - I don’t have anything interesting to say about this one, just that it was a very well made and pretty intro to what I remember being a pretty compelling web series. The designs of the cats and how much personality each exudes is incredible. 

- The Super Mario Bros Movie (Movie) - The reviews of this seem pretty mixed, but personally I liked it quite a bit. No, it’s not some mind blowing cinematic masterpiece, but for what it is, a kid friendly movie introducing the basic Mario story, it’s honestly much better than I was expecting-especially considering Illuminations previous output. You can tell it’s made by people who love the series, not only with the level of references but also in just the details of how the characters move or how the backgrounds and world are rendered. It’s quite pretty, with the character models looking adorable and the backgrounds full of color. Bowser was a standout of course, both in Jack Blacks vocal performance and the way they incorporated his mannerisms into the character model. I loved the brothers relationship and how affectionate they were with each other. It also had a few pretty solid jokes. I do wish it had been longer, as the scenes went by too fast for any emotional moment to take root, but again if you think of it as a set up of what’s bound to be a franchise of Galaxy, Luigi’s Mansion, or Odessy sequels, then it’s a pretty good “first episode” so to speak. 

- Bocchi the Rock (Anime) - My first venture into binging all the yuri-esque shows I missed from last year, Bocchi was indeed pretty solid. They made the protagonist uncomfortably relatable in her brand of social awkwardness which made for some emotional moments as well as big oof jokes. The cut away gags experimenting with different animation were fun, I did quite like the music and performances, and the character dynamics were pretty good, I’ll watch a 2nd season if it gets one. I’m not sure I’d go as far as calling it anime of the year, the ending didn’t really leave off like a complete story and plot wise it didn’t really have much going on, but as a nice slice of life comedy it’s definitely worth the watch. As a character Bocchi is great, but hopefully a s2 will explore a bit more of the other band members, who weren’t generic characters by any means but didn’t really get much screentime.

- Dr, Stone (Anime) - Hey we are back! New guy seems fun, I still adore Senku as a protagonist, and I’m interested to see how they plan to balance so many characters moving forward. Hope we see more flashbacks of the fantastic dad/son relationship, it’s honestly one of my favorites from any media I’ve seen. 

- Buddy Daddies (Anime) - While the ending surprised me in it’s conclusively (I did not expect a future epilogue to be canonized) overall I’d say it was a good decision. I’d say this was a solid C+, B-, it was good at being the cute little parenting comedy it wanted to be with some fun moments and solid animation but wasn’t particularly memorable in terms of plot or characters-like, I like all the leads, but I don’t see them topping any end of the year favorite lists. I will say that I’m surprised at how platonic they kept the fathers, I hadn’t expected them to get together but I did expect a lot more ship bait than we got. They work fine as a ship but the series really did focus a lot more on the child rearing aspects which came as a surprise considering how often marketing wants to tease mlm relationships for profit. I guess I appreciate it as I prefer giving visibility to more platonic relationships and unusual family structures to queerbaiting with no delivery but also there’s so few genuinely good mlm anime that it would’ve been nice for them to just have them be a couple. I did have a fun time with this, I’d recommend it if you are into the raising children genre. 

- Campfire Cooking in Another World (Anime) - Follow some people who had suggested this as a fun, relaxing little cooking anime and yeah, that checks out so far. Just a very cute and wholesome little feel good series about a man feeding his giant God level talking dog and baby slime child-As a domestic monster appreciator this is checking my boxes pretty well.  

- The Locked Tomb Series (Books) - Almost done with Gideon the Ninth, once again I’m really enjoying these characters and their dynamics, as well as the general space necromancy mystery plotline. I’m listening to the audiobook at the moment, but I’ll likely buy the physical copies as there are a lot of excellent quotes in here that I would like easier access to revisit. Anyway, Gideon and Harrow are the toxic co-dependent love hate lesbian ship I’ve needed in my life since my catradora hyperfixation. 

- Resident Evil 4 (Video Game) - Played till around chapter 6 so far with my friends and honestly, it’s really good. They keep all the fun stuff from the original but make it high res, I love seeing Leon and Ada and Luis and the Merchant again. It’s hard to get everyone together to play but I’m excited about getting to experience it again, got some great childhood memories of hanging with the girls and laughing at all the strange zombie noises they chose to include.

As usual I’m also keeping up with The Greatest Estate Developer, Land of the Lustrous, The Vampire Dies In No Time, and The S Classes that I raised.

Listening to: Nothing is Going Right by Meiyo, Eat Your Young by Hozier, Achilles Come Down cover by Annapantsu, Stalker’s Tango by Autoheart, Ship in a Bottle by fin, I Hate Everything But You and I’ve Always Never Believed in You from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, They’re Only Human from the Death Note Musical, Counting Bodies Like Sheep by A Perfect Circle, Kickback by Kenshi Yonezu, My Kind by Hilary Duff, Hallelujah cover by Pentatonix

[ryansjane]

top 10 bl couples?

btw, your gifs are really beautiful, i love the blue tones in some of them💙

awwwww, thank you so much it means a lot 💙 so this changes a lot, not necessarily the ships themselves but more the order of them if you will. let's go:

1) seanwhite (not me)

these two just... kicked it out of the park for me. not only are they incredible & still super interesting separately, but when brought together they just WORK like frankly no other ship has ever worked in my opinion. their intimacy, emotional scenes, the way their relationships builds up carefully and has many setbacks, yet... you can’t imagine these two with anyone else. they were truly built up as soulmates & that’s what they are, absolutely lovely & I can’t get enough of them.

2) untwo (theory of love)

of COURSE, for anyone who has followed me for more than a month, y’all know these two were my number one favorite ship for almost 3 years. it’s honestly the first time I fell so hard for a secondary ship, and I loved the potential that these two had. they have a very touching story and are both deeply relatable, insecure and loving characters. they just WORKED, and for a secondary ship they really managed to steal the show for me. they’ll be forever special to me, and I will forever be the self-proclaimed untwo queen <3

3) danyok (not me)

another side ship, pretty ironic for someone who doesn’t really love most side ships usually :’))) contrarily to untwo, who were amazing DESPITE their small development, danyok are amazing BECAUSE they frankly got as much love from the writers as the main ship. and gosh are these two equally as amazing! not only is their story genuinely super interesting on its own, the chemistry was there, the compelling characters were there, the emotional scenes were there... what is there not to love?

4) khaithird (theory of love)

of course, THE ship that made me fall for offgun. these two are so flawed, and that’s what makes them great, because their love story is one that almost wasn’t. they went through so many obstacles together, so much so that their story almost feels like an odyssey of its own, and I love them for it. they’re truly a sort of ying & yang that shouldn’t work together but DOES, and these two will forever be in my heart.

5) phunnoh (love sick)

so, I often mention that love sick has grown on me over the years, and yup, it’s mostly thanks to this ship. I also often call phunnoh the healthiest bl ship ever, and I truly believe that. despite being deeply immature, closeted, and cheating with their girlfriends together, phunnoh still managed to have the most mature relationship I’ve ever witnessed, always talking through their problems, desires and insecurities. they were truly there for each other and loved each other unconditionally. and because the show is so long & we get to spend a LOT of time with them as characters, it only makes them more endearing and special in my heart.

6) saifahzon (why r u)

truly the only thing I loved in why r u, despite the fact that their storyline got cut and rushed, is saifahzon. what I love about these two is that while they have more cringey fanservice moments, firstly bc they’re such fun characters it just works, and secondly it gets balanced out by the incredible job they did in more emotional / tense scenes. by ep 8, you can SEE how much they care and trust each other, and mii2 just nailed every single moment they had in my opinion. they’re just such a soft, fun ship, and I truly love them SO MUCH.

7) tehoh-aew (I told sunset about you)

y’all know I consider itsay a perfect show, and while ipytm has knocked the tehoh-aew ship down a few notches, I still love them so much & choose to entirely ignore the sequel lol. these two are so immature, and dramatic, and they hurt each other so much... but they also feel so fucking real. every single one of their actions, even the more cruel ones, make sense, and these two are built so insanely beautifully I still can’t believe it. in terms of chemistry, acting, emotions... everything is there, and they’re such an amazing ship who is also, like seanwhite & danyok, built up like literal soulmates so... I’d say iconic!

8) morktee (my tee)

so I often say that I dislike my tee as a show but I adore morktee, and it’s really true, they’ve managed to become one of my favorite ships over the years. not only are they messy, and relatable, and fun to follow, but there is an authenticity comparable to the one phunnoh has that comes from them. they truly feel like a first high school love, and while the show’s writing is its biggest flaw, morktee as characters and as a ship are just really wonderful & will always have a piece of my heart :)

9) zihao (crossing the line)

so you might not know but crossing the line was my number one bl show for a long time, until itsay actually. it’s a show that has such a special place in my heart, and it’s definitely because of its main ship who is just... incredible. once again, I just LIVE for these “first high school love” kind of stories, they’re just too pure in my eyes, and this ship really had it all, like all of the ships present in this list, they have the softness, they have the angst, they have the pining... it’s just such an effective story bc these two characters are so different but complete each other so well, and these two simply KILLED the more emotional moments. the ending kiss scene??? literally makes me sob every goddamn time.

10) popoat (what the duck)

listen, I hesitated between these two & kurodachi bc I honestly love both ships equally, but decided to go with the one I’ve loved the longest. here we have the only ship with a sad ending alongside kido & kijima in mood indigo, another ship I love lol. but I fell in love with these two way before knowing they’d end badly, and frankly I cried for hours when the sequel ruined them lolololololol (: ANYWAYS, I love them bc they’re both this very silly, ridiculous & over the top ship, and also this very angsty ship as well. oat’s love & devotion to pop has always just fucking RIPPED my heart in two, and even though what the duck is a fucking shitty ass show & I hate literally everything else about it, these two just stole the show for me. and even now, 4 years later, after they ended badly one day before my birthday, I still fucking love them. just like phunnoh, I think that since the first season had 20 episodes & was very much slow-paced, it really allowed me to fall in love with the characters more.

honorable mentions: kurodachi (cherry magic), tangmolove (great men academy), jackzi (trapped), aepete (love by chance), phuphatian (1000 stars), kidokijima (mood indigo), sunsky (golden blood), markkit (gen y), mingkit (the original 2moons), morktawan (my ride)

xxx

[troius]

What are your favourites relationships in bleach? It’s not necessarily “what do you ship” but of course I would be glad to hear if you have any ships in bleach

I’m definitely interested in which dynamics do you find the most interesting and worth reading into?

I'm going to focus on romantic relationships here, because that's what it seemed like you were gesturing at, but I'd be happy to talk about any others in another ask! Under a cut because it’s long:

I'm actually fairly boring on this front, because the relationships that I most like...are the ones that have the most time spent on them, lmao. So you could say that I'm not actually that discriminating when comes to what I like, I just like Bleach, and I like most of the relationships there as a result.

For example, Ichigo and Orihime's dynamic is great. It's a very classic shonen manga romance (the sweet, pretty girl is in love with the protagonist? no way!) but Kubo really does a great job characterizing the two of them and developing it in a believable way. I've talked a lot about the downside of Ichigo's desire to protect, but I do think that has a certain appeal to Orihime, somebody who has very much been a victim of circumstance in her life up to this point. And while Ichigo more or less refuses to consider himself a sexual or romantic being at this point in the story, I think Orihime's effusive and unconditional affection (even when he "fails to protect people") is something that means a lot to him, even if he's not the best at showing it. I'm really interested in following it as it develops further.

Renji and Rukia's relationship was honestly one of the best parts of the Soul Society arc, and "I'm not letting go of you" might be the best moment in the whole arc. The story of how they fell apart, and Renji's long journey back to feeling worthy of Rukia, was masterfully done, and I loved every step of it, especially in how his redemption was not in fighting, but simply being there for her. But I'm sort of struggling to see where it might develop further? At this point, they might as well be together already, and if they're not it's only because they're too stupid to figure it out.

Moving on, part of the reason the Renji/Rukia stuff worked so well in Soul Society is that it heavily paralleled the Momo/Toshiro and Gin/Rangiku dynamics that were also permeating the story. And while I'm not really enamored with Gin and Rangiku's story, except to the degree it affected Rangiku's character, I find the Momo/Toshiro stuff fascinating, especially as it drags in Aizen, who I think gets underplayed here. It's a dynamic that's all kinds of messed up, because Aizen more or less grooms Momo to not just be his unthinking tool, but also as a means of screwing with Toshiro, and the damage this sort of thing does to young, developing sexualities can't be overstated! But that's sort of what makes it compelling-- you want to see if Toshiro and Momo can find their way past Aizen like Renji and Rukia did, and not collapse under his machinations like Gin and Rangiku.

And finally, I'm not sure whether this will actually go anywhere, but Ikkaku and Yumichika's dynamic is truly wild, written under so much subtext and symbolism that you could pretend it wasn't there if not for the consistency of the imagery. These dudes spend all their time with each other but suppress their powers (which as always in Bleach, are symbolic of who they are) so as to better fit in a conventionally masculine environment commanded by a man who is defined as being unable to even recognize his own inner self! These guys are absolutely in love! But also absolutely not dating, and are in fact somewhat self-loathing to a degree, and while I know a Jump manga is probably not going to have an impassioned declaration of gay love where they say screw the rules and unleash their full powers, that is the natural conclusion to everything Kubo's written up to this point, which is fascinating in its own way.

[sophistopheles]

Here’s Why Franmaya Works

As one of my favourite ships, I have to admit that Franziska and Maya as a pairing is a little bit obscure. It has plenty of shippers, but taking the games at face value, nothing jumps out at you to make you think “oh, they might be a potential couple”.

But upon closer examination, there really is some potential there! Here’s why.

1. Maya’s Canonical Admiration for Franziska

In 2-2, Maya is amazed at how Fran’s done so much while being the same age as her; this ties more into her own feelings of uselessness, but sets up a scenario where she genuinely admires Franziska.

This comes out in the anime too, where she expresses sympathy for Franziska “fighting all alone in America”.

Although Franziska does everything she can to look “perfect”, deep down she’s quite insecure about her role as von Karma’s heir. Someone who supports and cheers for her unconditionally would be really good for her!

Additionally, if you present Fran’s profile to Maya in Big Top, she says that if Franziska wasn’t so mean, she thinks they would get along quite well- and given that Fran’s been quietly undergoing that development since JfA, she and Maya could probably grow close given the opportunity.

(More under the cut!)

2. Franziska’s Canonical Soft Spot for Maya

The most obvious example of this is in 3-5, where she stays up all night at the freezing cold Inner Sanctum, trying to break the trick locks with Iris. Ostensibly Franziska shouldn’t have any further investment in the case; she doesn’t owe anything to Phoenix or Maya, and was presumably called away from her other responsibilities to help Edgeworth out, but she still puts herself through the discomfort and hassle of solving the locks for a whole day and night so that she can guarantee Maya’s safety and help put the case to rest.

Another, often overlooked moment is in the case’s denouement, where Franziska is so dismayed by Maya glaring at her that she apologises (to Larry, of all people), and agrees to model for his picture book- and it’s confirmed she went all the way through with it in SoJ!

The anime gets in on this too, with Franziska finding Pearl in Hazakura and taking her back to Maya & the gang in the courthouse. Plus, just look at how fond her expression is:

Not to mention this cute little 4koma showing Franziska getting all flustered over Maya calling her her friend (credit to pastecola on twitter):

3. Their Shared Burdens and their Narrative Parallels

Despite acting so differently, the struggles that Maya and Franziska go through are incredibly similar: both of them are the heirs to a dysfunctional and heavy legacy, Franziska feeling pressured by her father’s crimes and the drive to be perfect and Maya having to be responsible for Kurain Village when she comes of age, struggling to deal with Morgan’s jealousy and impossible expectations, as well as the village’s ruined reputation. 

They both undergo great tragedy: Franziska loses the father she deeply admired, and is confronted with the harsh reality that he was never perfect, and (although she never truly believes Miles is dead) loses her brother, in a sense; Maya loses her sister Mia and even gets accused of her murder, as well as losing her mother- twice.

The way they deal with it is very different, but they undeniably have similar life experiences, and can be considered as parallels to each other. They’re the same age; Maya even calls herself Phoenix’s “big sister” a few times in T&T, similarly to how Franziska calls Edgeworth her “little brother”. If they were to become close, they’d easily be able to empathise with and understand each other’s struggles. They’d both benefit: for Maya to be with someone like Franziska who will take her seriously and honestly admire her, helping her out of her insecurity, and for Franziska to be with someone like Maya who will encourage her to be more light-hearted and indulge in her mischievous streak from time to time, as well as being able to assure her that nobody is perfect and she deserves love anyway... It would be an ideal arrangement for the both of them.

4. Their “Opposites Attract” Dynamic

Despite having similar struggles and common life experiences, Franziska and Maya are totally different people. Franziska is serious, hardworking, intimidating and easily frustrated; Maya is light-hearted, more playful, approachable and gets depressed more often than she gets angry. Their flaws and strengths complement each other perfectly- Maya’s endless enthusiasm would encourage Franziska to let her hair down a little more, which in turn would help Maya see that nobody is flawless or untouchable and help ease her insecurities. Their personalities are complementary enough that they could easily rely on and improve each other, but not become dependent on each other.

And besides, the idea of Franziska frantically trying to appease Pearl in any way she can so that she’ll approve of Franziska is objectively hilarious. Plus they’re an excellent complement ship to Narumitsu!

It’s definitely not the most obvious pairing in the franchise, but it’s still a ship that has a lot going for it and could develop into a genuinely compelling romance with a lot more nuance and complexity than it first appears to have- it’s no wonder it’s achieved the recent popularity it has.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

[fadeintoyou1993]

What are your thoughts on the sire bond?

i kinda answered this just now but its a lot so here we go

first. i need to say that i hated the sirebond storyline in tvd, but thats bc i fucking hate d@mon and delen@ and like brett said it is a controversial and kinda tricky storyline to get around and i think that in a ship in which the man had done so much against the girl (like killing her brother in front of her bc she didnt say she loved him back), that was bound to be a shitty storyline lmfao

but second. its gonna be different for legacies for many reasons, a few of which - consent with the vampire powers is definitely something legacies drives home constantly (mg saying that he doesnt like to compel people to mess w their agency, lizzie and sebastian's fallout in s02, lizzie bringing it up in the very next scene in the last episode and hope understanding her point, etc), so i definitely trust the legacies writers to lead this storyline (i know, controversial opinion in this fandom but idc yall know how i feel about the show so suck a dick and die mad about it).

i also think that lizzie and hope's dynamic thrives in conflicts like these, their dynamic is very different from a LOT of the tvdu dynamics and i think that this is a really good depth added to them and it makes sense. sure im biased bc this is my otp and etc but i think that the fact that lizzie and hope have gone through SO MUCH together and it kinda was all leading up to this moment. i'm very excited to see how all of this plays out, genuinely, bc hope and lizzie do challenge each other a lot and lizzie is seemingly still aware of what is her own idea and what is hope's (unlike in tvd, when damon would simply tell elena something and she would do it), so thats a difference there too. remember, lizzie was possessed by the oni in 2x04 and she was still able to break her mind apart from the possession at times bc her mind works Differently. so this is something im definitely considering as well when it comes to it... like lizzie said, she's an expert at mind prisons so i dont think this is gonna be different, but we have to see

and then third its just the fact that as a hizzie stan its kinda iconic that we have that confirmation that lizzie's feelings towards hope go beyond what people think. so i'm honestly v excited about this storyline in every way, i want to see where it goes and what happens and the conflicts that this will bring to hizzie (bc as i said before they kinda thrive on conflicts and then resolving those conflicts - 1x14, 3x09 anyone???????)

so yeah i hope this answers it sfjjksfj