#i don't mind criticism

[bread-wizards]

I actually think Dorian and Orym should fight more.

Remember when their slowly building tension over and entire episode (full of passive aggressive remarks and blame throwing) led to threats? And how after, Orym thanked Dorian for handing over the crown sadly because he knew Dorian would be mad at him? And Dorian couldn't even look at him because he was legitimately hurt, thinking Orym was disappointed in him for doing what he thought was right? That was peak.

The fact they went from that to their current closeness and trust is the best part of their entire dynamic. Their relationship was hard fought and still will be. They will fight for it because they respect and care for one another deeply, and their disagreements don't change that, only improve it.

[ingoodjesst]

have you put the pieces together yet, detective

[ladykeyleth]

[Keyleth's] stoicism cracks as much as she tries to hold it together.

[danikatze]

I meant for this to be a doodle and then I started putting too much work into it lol.

[ID in alt text]

[dazednstoned]

Absolutely absurd that people give Arthur and John the benefit of the doubt by labeling them complex characters (which they are), but won't extend that grace to INCREDIBLY complex characters like Abigail, Molly, and Mary.

Abigail is strictly a nag, Molly is a rat, and Mary is a selfish woman who used Arthur. Meanwhile, John is seen as a deadbeat who grew from that into a family man. Arthur is a murderer, but he's also kind and generous.

Stop only extending grace to your male favs when the red dead women are just as complex as them.

[strolling-through-emon]

[unclewaynemunson]

Water was wet. Nights were dark. And Steve Harrington was straight. Those were all facts. Sure, Steve could see what made a man attractive, but that merely meant he wasn't blind, not that he wasn't straight. He loved girls. He loved holding delicate hands, he loved feeling soft curves underneath his fingers, he loved the taste of lipgloss on his lips, legs sticking out of skirts, the sound of high-pitched giggling, elegant feet in high heels...

So yeah, even if he saw what made a man attractive, he was still straight. Even if he could, hypothetically, see himself being attracted to some abstract man in some abstract scenario, he was still straight. He loved girls, so who cared if every now and then, he would turn his head to stare at a strong pair of male arms or a particularly well-shaped male bum? Who cared if, by high exception, he could lose himself in some fantasies of doing certain things with a guy instead of a girl? He loved girls. He would fall in love with a girl, and she with him, and they would get married and have kids, and he would be perfectly happy with that. So he was straight. It was a fact.

Or, well, it was a fact until it wasn't. Until the most mundane afternoon possible happened. Until he was sitting on the steps in front of the Munsons' trailer, with Eddie beside him and a sixpack placed between the two of them. It was one of those early spring days, when birds chirped louder and the sun made all the colors pop out just a little bit more and life was good.

Their beer wasn't cooled properly. Their snacks were very mediocre. They weren't talking about anything remarkable. And yet, they were only one moment away from Steve's whole sense of identity changing irrevocably. They were headed right towards a moment he would remember for the rest of his life.

Maybe deep down, he knew that he had been falling for a while, but he was an expert at ignoring inconvenient things. He had been able to call it friendship, or fascination, or even annoyance when he needed to get creative. So later, whenever someone would ask him when he fell in love with Eddie, he would always go back to this particular moment.

Eddie laughed about some lame joke Steve made and took another sip of his beer. And Steve's senses zeroed in on him like he had just unlocked some higher plane of existence. He noticed everything like he had never done before. The movement of his adam's apple when he swallowed, the curve of his neck, the way his curls cascaded over his shoulders looking as soft as sheep's wool... And, when he tilted his head back and looked at Steve again, the color of his eyes when the sun hit them just right: brown as rosewood and dark chocolate and acorns. As a small piece of autumn undefeated by this early spring day.

He felt an overwhelming urge to clash his lips against Eddie's right there, to feel stubble instead of lipgloss and wrap his arms around someone who was made of sharp edges instead of soft curves, to hold a big hand adorned with rings that were anything but delicate, to hear deep laughter instead of high-pitched giggles, maybe even a low moan against his ear...

It was in that moment that he understood what it really meant to be straight – and that it wasn't what he was.

He understood that it didn't matter how much he loved girls. It didn't exempt him from loving boys, and he couldn't choose who he'd fall in love with like he thought he could. He loved this boy right in front of him, the one who was currently talking a mile a minute and didn't notice a thing about the current drastic renovation of Steve's entire brain chemistry. And if he allowed himself to keep falling, he might just end up loving boys just as much as he loved girls.

---

(idc how overdone the eddie-being-steve's-bi-revelation trope is, you can pry it from my cold dead hands. Here's yet another version of it and yes i will project my own experience on steve, no one can stop me)

[genericpuff]

I feel spoiled by games like Hades that give us really good designs for the Greek gods and then I look at lore Olympus and it gives nothing. It’s so far removed from Greek culture.

fr we deserve to be spoiled at this point after all that, Hades 2 picked the perfect time to start rolling out early access because it means we can fully indulge in it without worrying about the LO boogeyman hiding in the closet LOL

[blueskittlesart]

deeply refreshing to see someone critical of Swift who also like, genuinely likes her. Like i'm neutral to positive on her, but the online discourse has been absolutely rancid. flipping between "Taylor Swift has never done anything wrong ever and she's a fucking genius" and "Taylor Swift is the worst lyricist of all time and also a bad person" is exhausting, so thank you for like. nuance or something lmao

not to make it serious for a sec but i genuinely think that being able to like things that are bad is really important. like I think that it's an important skill to be able to look at something and see what you personally enjoy about it and then take a step back and acknowledge that objectively it's flawed. and to also be able to acknowledge that liking something isn't necessarily an identity or a moral stance. and i think that fandom space in general could really benefit from more people taking the time to learn how to do that. it's okay to like things that are bad

[somewhatsentientspellbook]

"Smiley day" on their jacket???

[teainthesnow]

i shouldn't need to spell it out and yet

friendly reminder that unwanted 'constructive' criticism and useless comments (e.g. i don't like this. i'm confused.) are just rude. and this is true for fics, comics, and anything people are posting online

don't be that person

and if for some reason you decide to say something anyway, be nice about it. It costs nothing to be nice (:

(also note - even nice feedback and comments are hard to get these days. if negativity is all or the majority a person gets, well that's just hell to deal with... and also not a reflection of the author/artist/ect abilities)

image 1 - desc

TEAS GUIDE TO ONLINE ETIQUETTE (aka, how to not be an ass)

So, you're confused reading someone else's story?

no -> Hell yeah! tell them that you enjoy it!

yes -> do you feel the need to inform the author?

no -> nice

yes -> did they ask for your opinion?

yes -> then let them know (nicely)

no -> leave them alone -> but it's bugging you? -> will rereading help?

no -> then tough. leave the author alone

yes - go do that -> but it's still updating -> then of course it won't make sense yet, you wallnut

-> still confused -> have you tried looking for a thing called subtext

still confused

-> THEN TOUGH. LEAVE THE AUTHOR ALONE.

- ---- -

image 2 - desc

should you tell someone they made a spelling and/or grammar mistake? -> Did they ask to be told?

yes - then go tell them NICELY

no - then leave them alone

- ---- -

image 3 - desc

You want to tell someone that you don't understand their work? -> Did they ask for your opinion?

yes -> then tell them (NICELY)

no -> Then leave them alone. No buts. Don't be an ass.

[crithaus]

i am struggling very hard with this here guy but i've not given up yet and thats about all i can say, BUT, i was thinking about how absolutely soft their first wedding was.....

This is a WIP btw

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Can you talk about your thoughts on hinny? I have no problem with people shipping it but to me personally it just doesn't work. It feels like Rowling tried too hard or maybe just wasn't good at writing romance and messed it up. Maybe it was too rushed? The ship doesn't work for me but I'd love to hear your views.

Okay, sorry it took a while to answer this, I actually have a lot of thoughts and I have posts on some of them that I hope to get out soon-ish. I also wanted to go back to the books to make sure I'm not talking out of my ass. But I don't like Hinny, never did. And my reasons are kinda divided into three categories.

Disclaimer: I don't have anything against anyone who ships hinny, it's just really not my thing and I don't see it working with the way I see their characters.

And that's like the core of it. I just don't see Harry and Ginny as compatible on a character level. That and their relationship never really read as believable to me in the books.

The 3 categories I mentioned are:

Harry's character

Firstly, I think Harry is gay. Not bi, but gay. I think he was never actually attracted to a woman and I have a whole post to prove it. So, because that's how I read his character, I just can't really see him with any girl.

(Now, I don't think JKR intended for Harry to come off as gay, but he did)

Secondly, he never thought about Ginny, like, up until book 6, and even during large portions of book 6, he just isn't thinking about Ginny as a potential romantic interest. And when he does think about Ginny in the final two books it never reads like he really likes her. It reads like they decided they are dating, but I don't think Harry knows why he supposedly likes her. He just decided he does, but doesn't know why. It was kind of the same with Cho, where he said he had a crush on her and was nervous around her, but if you asked Harry what he likes about her, his answer would be: "Ehh...."

Like, Harry doesn't really seem to know why he's dating Ginny, and neither do I. It's just how it's written.

2. Ginny's character

So, this is again my opinion, but I don't like Ginny. I just don't like her character. I wish her off the page whenever she talks.

And, when it comes to shipping, for me, I need to find both the characters involved interesting and fun for me to explore to ship them together and care about the pairing. As I don't like Ginny and don't really care for her, I can't really ship her with anyone, not really. It's not even like I hate her (not the way I hate Dumbledore), I just find a lot of her actions and behavior iffy and she annoys me more often than not.

I'm not going to list everything I don't like about Ginny (some of it appears in the rest of this post). But her treatment of Fluer, for example, really soured her character to me. Like, sure, Ginny's young, but, she's 15, and by that point, I think she should take responsibility for being awful to Fluer who was nothing but nice to all of them. Envy is not a good look for Ginny.

3. How they are portrayed together

Like I mentioned in the Harry section, their romance just never really felt there to me. The descriptions were off and left me feeling annoyed at their scenes together more than anything else.

Again, I'm writing a more comprehensive post about it, but the gist of it is that Harry's thoughts about Ginny in books 6 and 7 are weirdly detached for a supposed crush at best or outright uncomfortable for me to read at worst.

Now, we know Harry can describe characters he finds attractive in greater detail. There is none of that detail with Ginny. He only mentioned her hair color and that her hair is long and smells nice. Like, he doesn't talk about her eye color, her facial structure, eye shape (like he does sometimes with characters he does find attractive) — nothing. He doesn't even call her pretty once! At least he referred to Cho Chang as pretty twice in the series.

In the books there is never a scene (not even one) that convinces me they should be together. Like, they have no chemistry. They kinda remind me of Ron and Lavender tbh. They make out and are present in the same space often, but they never talk. Not really. I don't think Ginny actually knows Harry all that well because he never honestly talks to her about anything real. They don't really have chemistry or a relationship, they're just together. At least, that's how I always saw them.

And yes, Harry has his jealousy moments (that are portrayed so weirdly I always narrow my eyes at them to make sure they were actually there, but that's a whole other post about Harry's chest monster of jealousy), but he still doesn't really explain what he finds in Ginny. He doesn't mention she's attractive or pretty at any point, nor does he mention anything he particularly likes about her personality (except that she doesn't weep like Cho and is good at Quidditch. Neither of which are particularly good basis for a relationship).

Like, Ginny mentions why she likes Harry and that she does multiple times. Harry by contrast, just feels so incredibly uninvolved in his own relationship, to me.

Also, personally, I just find the setup of their relationship iffy. Like Ginny outright says she never gave up on Hary and always knew they'd end up together. It means, that since she was 11 (or earlier), she was crushing on Harry, never gave up on her crush, and considered them ending up together fate. She dated other guys to make Harry jealous and pay attention to her, and that's just really gross. I don't like her long obsessive crush on Harry or her treatment of the other guys she dated on her way to get Harry.

Proof of that, for those wondering:

“I never really gave up on you,” she [Ginny] said. “Not really. I always hoped. . . . Hermione told me to get on with life, maybe go out with some other people, relax a bit around you, because I never used to be able to talk if you were in the room, remember? And she thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more — myself.”

(Half-Blood Prince, page 647)

She literally said she dated other guys so Harry would take notice of her. That just grosses me out.

So, no, I don't like Hinny (or Ginny).

[socallmedaisy]

Laudna starts to lean into her side at the table as the shadows lengthen and the Spire by Fire empties of customers for the night. 

It’s happened hundreds of times before, when Laudna has been tired, but Imogen is hyper aware, now, of the way Laudna’s pinky finger is pressed against Imogen’s thigh where she has her hand on the bench between them, how occasionally Laudna catches her eye and the corner of her mouth quirks up into a secret smile just for her, how they’d told Zhudanna they’d come back to her house for the night.

Ashton and Letters have started up again, about faith and the gods and a million other things Imogen can’t think about right now, because her brain got stuck, hours ago, on the feel of Laudna’s lips against her own.

She lifts a hand to press her fingers against her lips, remembering. Orym catches her eye and she pretends she's stifling a yawn instead. “Maybe we could pick this up in the morning,” he says, cutting across FCG. “The existential questions won’t go away. We should get some rest.”

Laudna nods and Imogen feels Laudna’s hair against her shoulder before Laudna stands up, and then turns to offer her hand to Imogen. It makes something ache inside Imogen as she takes it at once.  

Out of the corner of her eye, Imogen thinks she sees Orym watching them before he looks away quickly.

“I hope we won’t wake Zhudanna,” Laudna says, once their fingers are safely tangled together.

Fearne pauses where she’s climbing out of her seat, and Imogen thinks she sees a frown crease her forehead. “We’re not splitting up again.” 

It’s final, the way Fearne says it, and Imogen gets it, she does, but.

Laudna just sways on her feet for a second, blinking sleepily. Imogen wonders what she’s thinking; if she wants to be alone with Imogen, if she was counting on it, too. She considers linking her mind with Laudna’s, and whispering a secret message just for her, but she’d promised herself she’d use her words if she ever found Laudna again, so she swallows instead.

“We’ll be safe there—” Imogen tries, but Ashton is looking at them too, now, unreadable expression on their face.

“We’ve got separate rooms,” Ashton says, voice pitched a little low, like they don’t want the others to hear. “I assumed you two would take one.”

Laudna’s hand tightens in hers for a second.

“All right,” Imogen says, heartbeat fluttering in her chest, and follows everyone else up the stairs.

//

Before they go inside the door Ashton points out to them, Imogen watches Ashton catch Laudna's eye. There's a question in their eyes and Laudna nods, just a tiny lift of her chin before she drops it again, and Imogen sees Ashton smile before they duck inside their room. 

She presses her fingers against her temple out of habit, searching for thoughts that aren't there, before she drops her hand down to her side. 

//

Laudna crosses the room to the bed once they're inside, and sits down on the edge of it to start to kick her boots off, but Imogen just hovers by the door, unsure all of a sudden, what exactly she’s supposed to do.

Laudna toes out of one boot and then the other like she has a million times before, apparently unconcerned. She shrugs out of the birdhouse backpack she’s made, and puts it down carefully on the chest of drawers in the corner so the entryway where Pate comes and goes is facing away from the bed. 

Something about that makes Imogen want to blush furiously, and she hopes it doesn’t show on her face.

Laudna turns around, and then frowns, like she’s realised Imogen isn’t going about her usual bed-time routine.

“Are you all right, darling?” Laudna asks, softly, and Imogen does feel her cheeks flush then.

“I—I’m sorry,” she says at once. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to share the— I’m not expecting anything, Laudna. We can go as slow or as fast as you want. B-but if you’ve changed your mind, or don’t want me here, I can— I could share with someone else…” She trails off, and twists her fingers together helplessly. 

There’s a part of her that still doesn’t believe this is real, and she sees Laudna’s shoulders slump a little, her brow furrowing as she looks at her. “Imogen,” she says, voice low, and Imogen can’t meet her eyes.

She thinks about how she’d felt, all those days with Fearne and Chet and FCG, watching them with Deanna and FRIDA and feeling so alone, not knowing if Laudna was okay. She swallows, wondering how she’ll ever be able to tell Laudna exactly what it was like for her when Laudna had it so much worse.

Laudna’s hands still, and she just looks at Imogen for a long moment, her eyes dark and soft in the low light of the room. 

The silence stretches between them, so different to what Imogen has been used to her whole life. 

"What are you thinking?" Imogen forces herself to ask, the words tumbling out of her mouth. 

“I think—” Laudna hesitates, and Imogen is sure, for one horrible second, that Laudna really is going to tell her she made a mistake and that Imogen should go, that it would be easier if things went back to the way they were, but then Laudna sucks in a shaky breath, “—we can figure all of,” Laudna’s eyes slip over to Pate’s birdhouse and back, “that out, together.” She holds out a hand, inviting. “But for now, please come here.” 

It’s all she needed, and something that had been clenched tight inside her releases all at once. Imogen crosses the room and takes Laudna’s hand. After a second, Laudna tugs, and Imogen sinks down onto the bed next to her. 

Laudna’s fingers are always cold, and Imogen wraps her hands around them, as if she could warm them up. 

“I slept terribly without you,” Laudna says, softly, almost a confession. “I didn’t realise I would until you weren’t there.” 

“Me too.” Imogen strokes her thumb against the back of Laudna’s hand. Both times, she thinks quickly, when Otohan— and when they got separated. 

Laudna smiles, and nods, almost like she’s made a decision. “I’m going to kiss you now,” she says, and something flips over low in Imogen’s belly. “And then we’re going to get some sleep.”

“All right,” Imogen breathes, but Laudna is already coming closer, her eyes closing as the distance shrinks between them.

Laudna has to dip her head a bit—even when they’re sitting she’s taller—and her hand comes up to the hinge of Imogen’s jaw as Imogen leans up to meet her. Laudna’s mouth is cool against hers, but warmth floods through Imogen anyway. 

Their kisses at the market were fairly chaste, but this one feels a little different; Laudna’s mouth open against hers, Laudna’s forehead and nose pressed against her like she doesn’t want there to be any distance between them. It’s still soft and sweet, gentle, like Laudna is being careful, and Imogen wonders at that, that Laudna thinks she’s something to be careful with. 

Laudna makes a soft noise in the back of her throat and Imogen sighs into the next kiss, feeling Laudna smiling against her mouth, before they break apart.

Somehow it's even better than all the times she imagined it. 

When she opens her eyes, there’s a faint pink flush on Laudna’s usually pale cheeks. She looks even more beautiful than she usually does, and Imogen can’t stop herself from grinning.

After a second, Laudna’s lips quirk up into a smile too. “I know,” she says conspiratorially, as if they’re still listening to each other’s thoughts, and Imogen laughs.

//

They settle down on their backs side by side in the bed, elbows bumping together. 

After a second, Laudna's foot nudges against hers, and Imogen turns her head to find Laudna looking at her. 

"I am sorry about being angry this morning," Laudna says, slowly. "It just felt like… like we had very different experiences and after what happened with Bor'dor I just—it was hard."

"I know," she says at once, "I get it. You had every right to be angry. I'm so sorry for what happened to you." She means it, and hopes Laudna can hear the sincerity in her voice. "Whenever you want to talk about it, I'm here."

Laudna nods and reaches for Imogen's hand. She plays with Imogen's fingertips for a moment, then, "Will you tell me what happened to you? I wasn't ready to hear it this morning."

"All right." Imogen swallows, and rolls over onto her side so she can face Laudna, but doesn't let go of her hand. For a second, she wonders where to start before she settles on the most important truth. "I missed you every second of every day, and all I wanted was to get back to you. I was so scared something bad had happened to you." Laudna's fingers tighten in hers. "I kept trying to send to you, but it wouldn't work, it just kept hurting my head, and we couldn't teleport back and… it was awful. Everyone else might have had moments of happiness but I didn't. Not without you."

Laudna just looks at her, her expression softening. Imogen shrugs, helplessly, not sure what else she can say. 

"We're back together now," Laudna says, using a finger to tilt Imogen's chin up and meet her eyes. "Let's not get separated again." It hitches up at the end, almost like a question and it makes Imogen want to laugh, because if it was up to her they would never be further apart than this for the rest of their lives. 

"No," she agrees quickly. She can feel the ring she'd given to Laudna months ago against her skin where their hands meet, "never again."

[sapphic-agent]

Part of me is glad that Mirio became the #1 instead of Bakugou. But the other part is wondering what the fuck was the point of claiming everyone would be the #1 then putting one person who wasn't even part of that group at the top

[revvethasmythh]

Widobrave poll....2!