#lol gonna have a bit of a gender talk in the tags here for a moment

[polaraffect]

the term boymoding changed me fr. it feels so gender. boymoding. i'm shifting into boymode.

[aliceramblez]

Dating The BroZone Brothers 🎤🎶

Tags: Gender-neutral reader, Fluff, Some Angst (mostly for Branch lol), Also Broppy isn't canon here, obviously. But I love them dearly so don't come at me!

Follow me @taruchinator for more structured content and/or feel free to leave a request here in asks. Enjoy!

John Dory

We all know this man is a bit self-centered, and that doesn't stop at your relationship.

He'll find any opportunity to show off for you— anything from singing, to dancing, to just his ‘incredible leadership skills that make him the perfect boyfriend!’

He also definitely introduced himself as a member of the old boy band BroZone, which you may or may not have heard of, which may or may not have left him flabbergasted.

Despite all his faults though, John Dory will do his best to be a good partner for you. It's what you deserve, after all!

Keeping you safe from wild creatures, making sure you're always happy because he loves your smile, and also being the overprotective boyfriend who'll square off against anyone who even dares to make you uncomfortable even if they're 10x his size.

Small detail, but he also loves the fact that Rhonda took a liking to you instantly.

“She knows how to pick the good ones,” he'd say with a wink.

Talks about his brothers CONSTANTLY, but always in a way that makes it seem like he doesn't care and that it's their fault the band broke up in the first place. He obviously really cares about them, though.

Some nights, he'll reflect and regret all the stuff he said and did to them, and wishes he could go back and make it right. You reassure him through most of it, trying to convince him that he was young and just didn't know any better.

He stares at you in awe and disbelief because how could ANYONE think that what he did was justifiable? Abandoning his younger siblings all because of his stupid ego and personal insecurities.

“I really don't deserve you...”

Give him some time he's just emotionally constipated.

Also you BET he's gonna show you off to his brothers once they're reunited, so just let him. He just wants the most important people in his life to meet.

You can also expect them to try and embarrass John Dory with stories from their childhood, so be ready to have a good laugh as your boyfriend plots for murder in the background.

Spruce/Bruce

Probably the one who's best equipped to be in a relationship out of everyone in the group.

He is a family man, after all.

Speaking of which, if you think him settling down in the movie and having kids of his own was cute, it really is! But that just indicates that he has a way with children.

If you have a child or younger sibling, expect them to get dotted and taken care of to DEATH by this man.

He may not have been the sensitive one of the group, but was definitely the most reliable of the eldest, so he's got experience handling little trouble makers that come his way.

He still opens a cantina in Vacay Island, which is where you two met for the first time, and so you help run it occasionally whenever you have the chance. And even though you don't go there 24/7, all the regulars just think that you're the co-owner since you're dating Bruce.

You're the one who finds out that he's actually ‘Spruce’, the member of old boy band BroZone. You just happened to stumble upon an old record he kept in his room, and after confronting him about it, he reluctantly confirms your suspicions.

It was hard to recognize him since he was much older now and his body had definitely... grown over the years.

Bruce doesn't like preaching about those days, since he's quite embarrassed of the ‘immature ladies man’ he used to be back then.

But he won't deprive you of them either, since he'll happily share any stories on his misadventures with his brothers, funny backstage incidents, etc.

He misses them dearly and wishes they're all doing okay.

Two words: Hopeless. Romantic.

He's ‘The Heart Throb’ for a reason.

Roses, chocolates, dances— he can do it all!

Bruce will always make time in his busy schedule to spend time with you, taking you on dates to your favorite spots around the island, getting you meaningful gifts, and just overall expressing his love for you in any way he can.

He loves singing to you because it always serenades you and it puts a smile on his face.

People always joke that he's going to propose to you out of the blue one of these days, which always leaves him a flustered mess, but he never denies either.

“What can I say? I might be waiting for the perfect opportunity...”

Clay

Poor baby doesn't know what he's doing but he's trying, okay?

The two of you meet in the abandoned Bergen Golf Course, where you and Viva welcome him with open arms, and everything pretty much plays as in the movie, except that he really likes spending time with you and ONLY you, which he doesn't quite understand?

You're the one to ask him out cause otherwise you'd be playing this back and forth forever. He says yes.

He's never had a partner before, so he's justifiably worried that he'll mess up in some way, or that you'll end up finding him too boring after a while.

This becomes much more apparent after a particular bad night, in which after mumbling incoherently because of a nightmare, you find out that he has brothers and used to be in a boy band.

He doesn't open up about it at first, so you give him some space and reassure him that you'll be there when he needs you. Just give him some time and he'll tell you eventually.

He talks about how he could never be himself, since he was always expected to be ‘The Fun One’, and now he's basically tried to become the complete opposite in hopes of gaining some control over his life.

But he also worries that others will think he's too dull, and that he just isn't interesting enough to be around. Especially you.

You immediately take his face in your hands and look him in the eyes.

“I fell in love with Clay. Not ‘The Fun Troll from BroZone’ Clay. Also, you're fun in your own way!”

He basically falls for you all over again after hearing this.

After that, he becomes slightly less uptight and allows himself to enjoy the little things. You sometimes actually catch him dancing when he thinks no one's looking and you find it's the most adorable thing in the world, even after he realizes he's not alone and wants the earth to swallow him whole.

“Don't mind me, I'mma just crawl in a hole for a while...”

“No, no- Babe, it was amazing! I loved it! Pleaseeee show me more!”

Overall, he's a pretty good boyfriend all things considered.

He's incredibly overprotective of you, and will always give you advice and tools he thinks will be helpful if you're thinking of venturing outside of the Golf Course.

He asks Viva for dating advice CONSTANTLY and she DOES NOT let him live it down. Of course she has good ideas, though.

He'll pretty much do anything for you, even if it means going out of his comfort zone.

Floyd

Another great candidate for being in a good relationship.

Need I explain myself with this man?

His entire personality revolves around being caring and understanding, so he's definitely always on the lookout for anything that makes you sad or uncomfortable and will fix it ASAP.

Floyd is the kind of person who will ask for consent with pretty much anything you do— from holding your hand, to kissing you, to giving you a hug; he will ALWAYS make sure that you're okay with it even if you've given him the green light in the past.

He's not huge on PDA due to his somewhat shy nature, but if you are, he'll try his best to keep up with you.

This doesn't mean he dislikes physical affection, in fact it's his love language. He'll go out of his way to try and sneak in as many hugs as possible throughout the day and maybe a kiss or two if you'll allow it, which of course you do.

You also try your best to get involved in his own interests, because that's only fair after everything he does for you.

It isn't until one day that he sings for you that you compliment him and he nonchalantly comments that he used to be in a band when he was a teenager.

Cue the reveal of him having four brothers and you begging him to tell you all about them.

Which he does, but you can't help but notice the melancholic expression on his face, so you immediately stop him and apologize for being pushy on the matter and that he doesn't have to share anything he doesn't want to talk about.

He only looks at you with a small smile and shakes his head.

“No, I'm glad you asked. I haven't talked about them in years, so I like remembering the good times, even if they're in the past now.”

So he'll go on and on about them, one by one, and go into excruciating detail about what kind of person they are and what he loves about them. He's especially fond of his little brother Branch, based on everything he tells you.

When he gets kidnapped by Velvet and Veneer, you immediately go to Branch for help.

Once you're reunited, you two basically run to each other and hug with tears streaming down your eyes.

“Did they hurt you?!”

“No, I'm okay! Did they hurt you?!”

“Who cares?”

“I do!”

Floyd is then incredibly happy to introduce you to his brothers, who begin to affectionately tease him about getting himself a partner and you happily step in to protect him from any unwanted bullying.

You also tell him that you like the new hairdo, which only causes him to giggle and kiss your forehead affectionately.

Honestly you guys probably have the healthiest relationship out of the whole group.

Branch

I was really debating whether to include him or not since there's many Branch Reader Inserts out there, but I don't wanna leave my baby out so here we are!

You have a classic childhood friends to lovers situation with him, since you've known him ever since he was a member of BroZone, only being about a year older than him.

You'd help him practice for his concerts and would always give him pep talks whenever he felt worried that he'd ruin the show.

You're basically his number one fan— never missing a concert even if it meant dragging your parents with you so they'd let you get in.

The moment the group disbands and Branch is left all alone, you're there for him and wait alongside him for his brothers to return, reassuring him that ‘siblings would never break a promise’.

Cue his whole childhood trauma and him losing his colors, but it's only because of you that he doesn't completely isolate himself from society. He still builds his bunker though, since he's pretty much scarred for life thanks to the Bergens.

Just like with Clay, you're the one who takes initiative and asks him out, and he's just left gaping like a fish because why would you want someone like HIM?

After reuniting with John Dory, he's also dotting you about how big you've gotten and treats you like a baby, which actually irks Branch much more than it does to him.

He makes sure to remind his brothers that you both are grown adults, thank you very much.

Once the band gets back together, you kinda become a manager of some kind and help them in organizing their performances. Branch is eternally grateful and thanks you for staying by his side all these years.

[obrother1976]

can u make like. ur top 10 books. freak books. anything. kisses your brain

sure!! these r not gonna be ranked bc god knows i could never choose between them & also im gonna be annoying and ramble a bit about every one

death in venice by thomas mann (classic. but its so rich w metaphors and symbolism. if you do read it, i'd recommend reading "the uses of myth in death in venice" by isadore traschen afterwards, bc it does a great job explaining all the freudian allegories and mythological symbolism and u'll literally be tearing ur hair out afterwards over how brilliant thomas mann was)

the carnivorous lamb by agustín gómez-arcos (idc that i've already talked about this a gajillion times on here. its literally the best book i've ever read. i'll forever be obsessed and i wish there was literally anything that could ever hit as hard as this did. if u read it, anon (if u havent already) dont go through the carnivorous lamb tag on here bc u need to experience this without any big prior knowledge. trust me)

erotism: death and sensuality by george bataille (ik im just listing the classics atp. but how could i ever leave that one out. this ones a lot and depending on how into bataille & philosophy in general u are it could be too much. but if u havent already read this one anon, just read the introduction. trust me ure gonna loose it from that alone)

gemini by michel tournier (this one... took me ages to get through it on my first read bc of the way its written, but it was so worth it. not even gonna say much about this one - its basically like if twins by bari wood was good lmao)

incest: from a "journal of love": the unexpurgated diary of anais nin, 1932-1934 (or every anais nin diary ever in general, but this one especially. there was just no one that got it quite like she did)

indecent theology: theological perversions in sex, gender and politics by marcella althaus-reid (sorry for literally recommending theory. im pretty sure u were asking for fiction lol, but this (& althaus-reid in general) is everything to me. if u've any interest whatsoever in theology u should check this one out)

the sluts by dennis cooper (slightly controversial opinion i think? not that the book itself is controversial, just that dennis cooper is very hit and miss at times. this book tho, definite hit. its so intense and convoluted and i loved every second of it. read this before death and sensuality and u're guaranteed to think of nothing else for at least a month)

querelle of brest by jean genet ("those knock-out body fluids: blood, sperm, tears!". kind of a classic since theres also the fassbinder movie but i prefer the book tbh. its been a while since i've read it but it'll forever be in my favourites)

crash by j.g. ballard (yeah ik we've all seen crash but i need more ppl to read the book. hold on actually i need to insert one of my favourite bits from it here:

Reaching through the fractured windshields and passenger windows around me, I marked my semen on the oily instrument panels and binnacles, touching these wound areas at their most deformed points.)

ada, or ardor: a family chronicle by vladimir nabokov (one of the most beautiful books i've ever read. probably not the most helpful recommendation bc im pretty sure its a classic but i cant not mention it.)

also some bonus recommendations of books that didnt make the list bc they're either not freak books or bc i havent read them yet:

christopher and his kind by christopher isherwood (not a freak book. not even remotely. but will forever have a special place in my heart.)

the sparrow by maria doria russell (read this one anon!!! this would be on the list, but im not fully finished w it yet so i cant officially put it in my top 10 yet)

exquisite corpse by poppy z. brite (havent read that one yet but its on my list!!)

autobiography of red by anne carson (not a freak book. beautifully written, a work of art really)

as meat loves salt by maria mccann (havent read that one yet. hoping its as good as everyone says)

skagboys by irvine welsh (one thing about me is that i'll always find a way to mention the trainspotting books)

[zimisnotdrifting]

Transmasc Amy Rose (AKA Asher Rose)

More info below the line thing if it adds on correctly

I'm not calling this design "Andy Rose" I'm sorry but that feels too basic.

Now why did I do this? Because I wanted to.

I said it in tags already but DO NOT TAG THIS AS A GENDERBEND. THIS IS NOT THAT. ITS A TRANSGENDER AMY BUT IN A TRANSMASC SENSE.

Right so nothing about Asher here changes from amy btw. Aside from his gender identity obviously.

He still a cute pink hedgehog who loves sonic and weilds a giant hammer and can and will destroy you at a moments notice lol

And even if this /was/ a genderbend thing, and not me being like "hehe self projecting on a character I like" , he's not gonna suddenly be all "oo hehe I'm a flirt now ooo" like I've seen.

With that said I hate how genderbends tend to do that like your gender doesn't fucking effect your personality who said it did regarding the gender bend trope I want to kick them in the balls if they have them.

Anyway yeah transmasc amy aka Asher rose. You can draw him if you want! I may post some more of him in the future, I may not. Idk. I'm unpredictable like that.

Are you still reading? Do you want design notes? I'll tell you design details. May include some hesdcanons I have about how he is

Ashers boots are the exact same as Amy's. Heel n' everything.

He wears a headband still. As you can see. It always goes only under the top quill of his bang and the top quill of his head-spines. There is the little tie thing there, and it always remains on that one side. There's not another tie on the other side of his head.

I'm not sure if it's very clear or not, but he's wearing a little bit of eyeliner. Not Silver the Hedgehog levels of eyeliner, but just a little.

He does not have the fold thingy between his eyes like sonic does. It's constructed the same as regular amy. Or if you still want an example from not amy, classic sonic. Maybe I'll make a little ref sheet thing someday that explains what I'm talking about better.

His chest is a heart shape! I've seen this design choice on amy before, and I love it so much like it fits so well

He's got trans scars too. Nothing real special about drawing those, it's the same as how I draw 'em on Sonic lol

He probably got back spines and a longer nose during his trans surgery idk I don't tend to think that deep into things on purpose

Also I hc Amy as bisexual therefore I headcanon Asher as bisexual.

Made it this far into my ramblings?? You're rewarded with the original intent for the pose before I decided to draw the leg like that

[toadstool32]

darlingpost darling post get out while u still can

this is my ososan self insert darling! not their real name they get named a la homestuck aka they need a name and so thats what we call this guy

visual arts student in their last year, no gender unless its funny, always wear comfy or flowy clothes that hide the chest (SHRODINGERS BOOBS?? ((they r flat theyre like a ken doll, )))

le ref sheet

IN MY HEAD darling was like photocopying some doujin pages they were working on (for fun) at some store bc their printer broke or wathevs and then fucked up and suddenlly all the papers are scattered everywhere!!! noooo the gay porn!!! and karamatsu is like oh hang on let me help u with those my good sir (darling is dressed like a mess here) and darling is so fucking embarrassed but still goes like ummm thank uuu??? and karamatsu is like of course! no need to thank me!! karmatsu matsuno!!!<introduces himself here and darling is like waaaa he so nice and doesnt think im a freak for LITERALLY PRINTING GAY PORN IN PUBLIC WHAT THE FUCK anyway they do small talk with like ah yes great work here get home safe dont lose those papers again yes sir yes sir!!

karamatsu goes on with his life but darling is like waaa he was so nice i wanna be friends or something but idk if i will everrr find him again siiighhh. buut like one week later darling is all dressed up on theyr way to the city museum bc they help out there for school credit (is that a thing in japan idk this is me playing with dolls) but still have some time to kill to get there and on the way they see karamatsu in the distance and darling is like oh! i can say hi!! so they go but bc they r dressed more cutesy now karamatsu immediately starts doing his bit before darling even says hi hes like: "AH YES OUR FATED MEETING WAS WRITTEN IN THE STARS!! YES IVE BEEN SEEING U IN MY DREAMS AND MAY IT BE FATE THAT HAS BROUGHT U TOGETHER¿ RIGHT NOW MY **DARLING**!!" or something like that and darling is an idiot so they go "OMG HE REMEMBERS ME FROM LAST TIME! AND HE WANTS ME TO KEEP HIM COMPANY!! OR SOMETHING IM NOT SURE WHATS HE TALKING ABOUT!" point is darling doesn't ask for his name cause they already know it and karamatsu quite literally just names them darling and then they go on a not date to the museum cause i say so

dont get me wrong i ship them but also theyre both so fail at this bc darling is an airhead and karamatsu is....karamatsu

they would be the kind of ship that starts dating without knowing which i find funny bc karamatsu would make a big deal out of asking darling out and darling would be like oh as a friend right and would miss every romance cue ever but then when darling would be like hey are we dating and karamatsuu would be like *dies from both exasperation and relief* and then darling would be too concerned about getting him to the hospital and forgets about the dating part im hjust having fun here

darling tag with silly stuff

ANYWAY darlin n karamatsu are besties darling likes hearing him talk bc its funny and they compliment him on his spakly stuff n music even tho darling knows shit abt music and karamatsu hangs around trying to cheerlead darling on stuff and darling does the same, idiot to idiot communication,

ALSO darling cant see very well n they make a very goofy lights r on nobodys home face whenever they dont wear their glasses and confuse the matsus constantly at the start probably lol,

like after hanging out a bit darling probably sees totty in the city and they go OMGG KARAMACHAN U DIDNT TELL ME U WERE GOnna be in the city we could hang out and ur dressed in pink if i wore my pink cardigan we could maaatch and then realizes, they fucked up and totty is like KARAMACCHAN WHO, but totty was like, with friends and the girls are like omg totty who is this and darling is like TOTTY WHO, and his friends rope darling into hanging out bc darling straight up glomped totty there and they r never living that down ever.

and then todomatsu confronts karamatsu like DO YOU KNOW THIS GIRL and karamatsu is like ah thats darling and totty is like DIE?? anyway they get along fine n totty calls them dari-chan i think darling also gets along with osomatsu darling draws him silly stuff on request n sometimes tries to play with jyushimatsu (dies) ichi probs thinks darling has something wrong in the head to hang out w karamatsu (they do) and choromatsu is like perpetually confused, no one uses the same set of pronouns for darling which creates confusion at the start

darling is technically a nickname (and an overly cutesy one too!) so darling gets named that way by karamatsu at the start so they go oh i guess we r besties for life now and so they go like ok so i need a cutesy nickname for him so they do that and with totty darling fucks up introducing themself to him so they end up being dari-chan to him as a way to make an even more cutesy name out of an already cute nickname i just think thats funny

uuu what else what else, picky eater of the eats meat variety, short, cant see, tummy hurts, lightweight but doesnt care, this is literally me bro, this post is already so fucking long idk what else more, im just playing with dolls man

[cloverstarsys]

A Run-Through of the Ways we Organize and Interact as a System

we're gonna pretend that title made more sense than it did ok

But basically,,, ways we organize our info and also how we interact with others and ourselves

Idk it seemed like something fun to do

It's under the cut because it's pretty long

1. Simply Plural

Here's an example of what our SP will look like (we don't have suitable templates for everyone yet):

(Credit for the beautiful template goes to @yoursimplypluralhandbook !!) (Pls let me know if you want me to untag u (aka put a slash after the @))

Our info fields are all complete as well, here's a run-through of those:

Favorite Color

-this is just for fun--its just a color field.

Birthday

-for the most part, for us, this is only applicable for our fictives. But its good info to know. We have it set up as a date field with month and day.

Favorite Things

-this one's pretty self-explanatory. It's set up as a bulleted list, with ⭑ as the bullets. You know,,, for the ✨️vibe✨️

Origin Label

-only a few of us use this, but if someone wants to specify, might as well have the option, right? same formatting as System Role.

System Role

-only a few of us actually have anything here. We don't really use role labels much. It's set up as just a text box, but starting with ✦ also for the vibe

Nickname

-quite a few of us have nicknames, actually. This one's template is a bit more complicated, so I'm just going to paste it in here.

✦anyone ⭑aaaa ✦sysmates ⭑aaaa ✦close friends ⭑aaaa

Age, sexuality, gender, species, source

-condensing these all into one because they're all pretty self-explanatory. But these are all separate text boxes, same as System Role.

Boundaries

-this one's another complicated-ish template, so again I'm just gonna paste it

✦touch ⭒aaaa ✦affection--romantic ⭒bbbb ✦affection--platonic ⭒cccc ✦venting ⭒dddd

Other

-also self-explanatory.

Here's an example of what a filled out info page looks like-Franziska's, because hers is better than mine and she's letting me

In terms of organization of members, we don't have much. We just have a folder for dormant headmates (one of few things we keep private).

2. Discord

We use PluralKit, so that's what we'll be going over here.

Our member names are set up like so:

[Emoji][name]-[pronoun]/[pronoun 2]

The 🌈💕 was our system tag back when we were the rainbow willow collective,,, we just haven't changed it bc it would be a little disorienting for people who use that to identify our members. Also, we still like it.

Our proxy tags are usually text-[name], but a few of us have nicknames as well because they're shorter. Caeluse has -cae, Cosmic has -comsic just because of typos, kokomi has -koko, and franziska has -karma and -fran and -franz and -franzy.

We don't really talk to each other much through discord. Just don't like it, really. But we talk to others in other servers a lot.

3. Tumblr

Here, the only real way we differentiate between headmates is through our tags. These used to be [emoji][name] chats and [emoji][name] reblogs, but we've changed it to just be [emoji][name] for simplicity.

4. Physical Journal

We have a journal we use for us as well. It has a lock, and we keep the keys on our headphones because they're almost always with us and they're easy to access.

In the journal, we have a few pages sectioned off for headmate intros--we put those in when we front (and remember to lol). So far we have me, Raven, Kokomi, Ace, Lumine, Franziska, Xiao and Zakai.

After that, we just kinda,,, write whatever we want. We keep the left-side page for drawings, as a lot of us like to draw ourselves. We end every entry with "-[name],[date],[time]". Every drawing is dated in the top right corner, and signed by the headmate that drew it.

5. Spotify

Quite a few of us have our own playlists. There's definitely some overlap in music taste, but it's nice to have something set up just for you. Let's see... we have... franziska, xiao, me, zakai, cosmic, mikoto, ace, komi, raven, galaco, martin, ia, yuzuki, caeluse, roxi, v, and neka. Wow, that's a lot !!

The names are formatted like so:

[emoji][name]'s Playlist[emoji]

For example:

----------

That's all I can think of. Idk why I made this but it was fun to do!

[a-whispering-echo]

Heya!! Feel free to not answer or not consent to it, but I was wondering if I could use your Heathers!Dust AU for a big ol' story I'm working on? (The Dustverse)

And if yes, may I know about your Heathers!Dust AU? ( In the form of links or just random little tidbits of info )

. . . and also Pestilence!Dust if that's all goods

Obviously feel free to say no! Hope you have a wonderful week regardless :]

of course you can use them! i'd be flattered!

My heathers au is based on the musical - Heathers, where the mtt play the heathers, and Cross is Veronica; Dust plays Heather Chandler's role here.

basically, theyre just the mucical cast but they the utmv guys

In my head, its also an actor au, but you can totally ignore that for plot purposes ;)

Heather Chandler actually dies about halfway through the musical, murdered accidentally by Veronica and JD - or Cross and Nightmare here - so if you wanted Dust to be a ghost or alive, totally up to you!

Chandler's bossy, the leader of the Heathers, manipulative and unappolagetic - mean for the sake of being mean, really

His scarf takes the place of heathers scrunchie here, and when he died, Killer (H.Duke) takes it and wears it in to ‘take control’ if you will. Dust does Not Like That (™) 

This makes Horror (H.Mcnamara) really sad 

i have a *cough* Slime tutorial here if you were interested hehe

Im gonna go through and tag all my heathers au now with 'Rues Heathers AU' so you should be able to find stuff ive done in the past from them, and stuff i will continue to make ;)

He or she pronouns are fine for Dust here, cus i couldnt really decide if i wanted to genderbend everyone to match the genders of the characters or not, so up to you really, both, one or the other, whatever lol

Pestilence is a bit more complicated; from my Four Horsemen Au - where Nightmare, Dust, Killer and Horror take the roles of the four horsemen, who are said to appear at the end of the humanity, and bring about the apocalypse and all that, from christian texts

Pestilance actually has a redesign since i made him, because hes one of my older things, so:

The first horseman, with a bow and crown, rides a white horse - Dust - Pestilence/Conquest

His crown is made of thorns and branches, jesus style, with melting candles dripping wax slowly; its said when the candles fully melt and the flames burn out, humanity is no more.

The actual 'crown' part of his crown are pitch black metal, and are shaped like arrows

The white sheet covers his face, the way you do to dead people - you do not want to end up seeing his face, because you wont see anything after it if you do ;)

he is constantly in a state of dusting - never fully committing to it,

His hands and body are covered and stained in monster dust and human blood, stains that can never be washed out

he is in a perpetual state of dusting, never really committing either way, just..constantly decaying

He constantly has this green illness liquid dripping from his eyes and mouth - its poison.

His arrows are all poison tipped as well

His bow and fletch are summonable, and attach to his belt easily - he can summon and de-summon them at will.

His horse - which i didnt draw because fuck that - is activly rotting and decaying, bones and rotting flesh making up its body. its a white horse, obviously, with voidless black eyes

both he and the horse trail dust everywhere, disease laying in the powder

the illness that he causes can be physical sickness, and it can be mental sickness, basically anything you count as ' being unwell' he can cause

hes a bit kooky really, he screams and cries and laughs a lot more than he actually talks but he is capable of it, hes just quiet and ominous really, and theres this lingering presence of illness and threat around him. like his space, which is ironic, because illness festers in crowded spaces, its where he thrives.

"i will cough on you if you do not leave me alone."

[jazzmckay]

oc tag meme!

tagged by @lyriumlullaby-ao3 to talk about an oc :>

here is one of my inquisitors from dai!

NAME: el of clan lavellan

NICKNAME: just el. el is already a shortened version of their given name because they're nonbinary and their given name has too strong of a gender vibe

GENDER: afab nonbinary

TAROT/ZODIAC: the knight of wands (upright: action, courage, energetic, rebellious, hot tempered. reversed: reckless, impatient, impulsive, volatile, domineering). and idk, aries?

HEIGHT: i never think about height idk whatevers average for elf

ORIENTATION: queer. in what way? wouldnt you like to know, weather boy

NATIONALITY/ETHNICITY: dalish elf

FAVORITE FRUIT: lemon

FAVORITE SEASON: autumn. they're more comfortable in cooler weather, but they also don't love how cold it gets in the south for winter

FAVORITE FLOWER: sorry to say el barely thinks twice about plants in general. they do NOT stop to smell the roses

FAVORITE SCENT: i may have picked the wrong character for this lol literally the one oc with the defined trait "dull sense of smell"

COFFEE, TEA, OR HOT CHOCOLATE: coffee. they like it bitter

AVERAGE HOURS OF SLEEP: at least 7, then five more minutes, and then lying about for a bit because if someone makes them move too fast they're gonna start biting

DOGS OR CATS: both are okay, but more of a dog person. they like the energy, the ability to have them as a combat companion, that sort of thing. cats tend to mind their own business though so el's cool with them

DREAM TRIP: regrettably, seheron. only place that both piques their interest and is worth exploring in their opinion, but of course. there is a war there, so

NUMBER OF BLANKETS: 2 max or they'll start to feel like theyre drowning in it

RANDOM FACT: when they're pissed off, they like to fuck or spar if they're willing to interact with other people, and if they don't want to deal with anyone, they go to the undercroft to make new weapons. harritt and dagna know to leave them alone unless they ask for something

---

tagging! @streganicha @thelaughingmagician @inscrutable-shadow and @broodwolf221 yes i know youve done it already but if youre up for round two, give us another :3

[hatchetation]

Hello I would very much like to see you expand more on the different ways Kate and Lucy give off being queer 👀

Okayyy I'm so glad you asked!! So here were the tags:

#but i do know that lucy tara comes across as suuuuuper gay to me in the way she interacts with the world#even outside of being with kate she reads as queer to me#and i will say i also think tori is a great actress and i also get a super queer vibe from kate outside of lucy#and just as a further caveat#i know that not all queer people carry themselves in the same way. in fact lucy and kate read as queer to me but in v different ways

I may have gone overboard in this response so TL;DR: It's all about the vibes and their vibes are GAY!

I'm gonna start with Lucy. Lucy Tara is too gay to function. I'm kind of joking but also to me Lucy is the sort of queer person who cannot help but be herself. I think that she's always kind of liked girls and whenever she fully had her sexual awakening, there was no hiding it from herself or anyone else. I'm not saying that she didn't /try/ to hide it or that she hasn't gone through some shit related to being queer--it honestly wouldn't surprise me if we learn that her family took time to come around to her being gay. But I think it was hard for her to be anyone but herself. Relatedly, there's the way that Lucy refused to be Kate's dirty little secret back in season 1. Hidden away, wrapped up in shame in the shadows is just not who Lucy is. It very much felt like she was going against her nature for the few eps where she agreed for them to keep their relationship on the DL.

Imo, Lucy is also the type of friend who could listen to all of your problems and you could feel so close to her but then later you'd realize that she hadn't said anything about herself. Maybe that seems contradictory but to me it all kind of hangs together for her as a queer character: she's open about who she is but perhaps a bit wary about who she really trusts and brings into her inner circle (on the show we really only see her interact with characters she trusts so...could be cool to see her with someone she doesn't trust!).

Last thing about Lucy--it's literally just the way she walks and talks and dresses like she does not give a shit what any man thinks about her. What I mean by this is less about binary gender and more about how the life she's trying to live is outside the patriarchy…It's the way she punched Jesse on the arm back in season 1 and the way she also punched ASAC Curtis on the arm a couple eps ago. Her queerness is all up in her confident stride and her competitive nature. And look, I know very well that there are straight women who probably carry themselves like that and that nothing I'm saying is, on its own, specific to a sexual orientation. But all together, and in the context of NCIS: Hawai'i, it reads as queer.

Now for Whistler! I have to call her Whistler when I'm discussing how gay she is all on her own lmaoooo. She's gay in suchhhh a different way from Lucy. Her walls are allll the way up. I honestly identify with Whistler the most because the key to Whistler's queerness is that she's amazing at compartmentalizing. I, too, am amazing at compartmentalizing and let me tell you when you're young and closeted that coping skill is life-saving...until about ten years later when you have to go to therapy to unpack how traumatizing it was lol. But basically, I think Whistler's whole HBIC, stiff, loner tendencies show up outside of her relationship with Lucy and are coping mechanisms that identify her as queer. I know some of that stuff is related to her brother's death, but it really reads to me as queer.

Whistler presents herself as put together, not a hair out of place, focused to a fault, etc. In season 2 we're seeing her open up, but she still identifies with being a loner and I think she still knows exactly what a gut punch it is to feel existentially lonely. Like, that loneliness that happens when you're gay and you feel like you'll never be brave enough to be your authentic self. That loneliness that you think you'll never escape because YOU put the walls up and how are you supposed to take them down now?? The way her character reads to me is someone who is just beginning to live the kind of life that she probably dreamed of as a kid. Again, that vibe feels incredibly queer to me.

And of course, on a more superficial note, Whistler also reads as someone who does not give a FUCK what a man thinks. She has a more feminine style at work than Lucy. I think that's the style that makes her most comfortable, and I also think it's her armor, a way for her to assert that yes she's a woman and also yes she will kick your ass. Again, I'm sure that there are many women in male-dominated work spaces who operate similarly and not all of them are gay. But within the context of the show...it reads as gay!

[artist-assassin]

ok i need to know more about ellaria STAT. and your thoughts on rosy + the rosymance !!

RRRRR OK OK but ive only played the public demo so far i havent paid for the patreon/closed demo yet, so i have very little information about the Rosymance in general. info dump and stats below

Ellaria is the humorous / cheerful kinda Button, about 5'5", and she calls her brother Nick-Nack in the game but I imagine she will call him any random number of names off the top of her head (based off of when I played Fallout 4 and I would often call Nick any random nickname like Nicki Minaj, Nickle Pickle, Nickolodeon, Nickaroni and Cheese, etc lol). She has some insecurities because she compares herself to her brother a lot, but she tries to tough it out and beat up her bad thoughts bc she's an unstoppable optimist!!! Stubborn to a fault she refuses to back down once she sets her mind to something. Is a very nice person but gets very socially awkward in large groups, and sometimes lashes out when she gets frustrated by how fragile people treat her (the first thing that made her like Instructor Kim was that he didnt beat around the bush abt her zero but didnt treat her like a kid either!! shes like damn finally some respect around here)

Loves Nick so much (i got like a 160% relationship with him in the open demo lol) looks up to him like her personal hero + mentor. Loves her dad even though it's a little bit strained, has not seen or spoken to her mother in 4 or 5 years after The Incident(tm). but she misses her mom a lot she, she's half scared of her mom hurting her and half scared she will hurt her mom.

I chose the pre-prepared name Ella when I first started playing bc I didn't know what the game was about so I wasn't prepared to like.. make an OC for it until I decided I liked it enough lol. But I compromised by just naming her Ellaria and Ella is her nickname. Here are her stats by whatever chapter is the last one in the open demo (8 i think?)

I LOVE AMBROSE KIM... i played as bisexual in my first go as Ella so i had no idea the genders for some charas changed until I checked the Ambrose Kim tag on tumblr lol. but im way more into rosy as a man than as a woman... Mr Kim u can instruct me any day,..

Like I said tho I don't know a lot about the Rosy romance because I only played the open demo, and I know the author says his romance takes the longest to flower because of the whole teacher/student aspect so he's actively trying to NOT fall for button.. well too bad bitch I'm gonna be so respectable and hot he's gonna have no choice.

anyway im gonna get the patreon this week (friday probably) so i can update u on how i feel soon jhgjhlks i also love all of the characters ngl. i would romance all of them in separate playthroughs.

and u didnt ask but ill mention Kali also, my 2nd Wiseman. shes NUTS. i made her to be the exact opposite of my first humorous, cheerful, ready-to-take-on-the-world girl Ella - so Kali is grim and not nice at all and technically still ready to take on the world but more in a "the whole world is my enemy" kind of way instead of the "i wont let anything stop me" ella way. She's VERY resentful about her zero and is one bad look from a ment away from strangling someone

sorry for the long ramble jhagdwj youre the first person who is talking to me about this game that has become my newest obsession (and u were the one who got me into it so UR responsible for this mess) and im happy to share it w someone :3c

pls feel free to tag me in any mind blind stuff u post, whether fanart or oc art or just rambles n stuff i dont care ill love it all. thank u

[tealenko]

mShenko appreciation post...

So... I usually (ejem... better said always, if I'm being honest XD) choose femShep in Mass Effect.

Long story short, I like to play characters in my own gender... Kinda helps a lot with the immersion, despite the fact that I look nothing like my main Shep. And, in the wise words of my brother: "If I'm gonna have to stare at an ass for hours of gameplay, I prefer it to be a woman's ass" (Nothing against men ass' on my part though... I mean, I'm a Kaidan stan 😳😳😳 but I'm week when it comes to females curves ehehehehehe sue me XD)

Anyways... Butt thing aside, I always play femShep. And the same femShep, Mio Shepard. Because I got the fanfic writer disease back when I was like 13 years old and I haven't found the cure yet, so... All I play, write and draw (because I didn't have enough obsessions already lol) related to the main ME trilogy is about my main shep and Kaidan.

I swear I'm about to make my point, stay with me for a little longer XD

Thing is, with the launch of MELE, I decided to see the mShenko romance for the first time (yep, first time... I imagine you can already tell, but I'm that kind of person that once she likes a game, she plays it a 1000 times but always in the exact same way and making the same choices in every single run).

So here we are, a year later, and here's the post about it 😅😅😅

As I told you before, I tend to focus on fShenko. I love the Shenko fandom as a whole, but from what I've seen and from the people I follow, fShenko is in need of more help, support and content than mShenko (I may be wrong here... but the moment your femshep likes dudes people tends to scream at you why you shouldn't be with Kaidan and my mission in life is to always be there to reply that idgaf about how many aliens they think I should bang XD)

Said all that, mShenko.

It's fucking awesome.

Period.

Like... Truly amazing.

Mesmerizing.

(sorry... I had to XD)

I may be biased here, because Kaidan's arc with his sexuality is very similar to my own, but, the whole "At the end of the day, I'd love you no matter what gender you were" is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my whole life.

I was also very surprised by the amount of differences there were between both romances... Both of them top tier. And, against all my expectations, I can comfortably say that they are equally good. So if you love Kaidan and you've only seen one side, I really recommend you to check the other (learn from my mistakes ehehehehe although I think I've enjoyed mShenko 10 times more than I would have before making a few discoveries about myself... so I'm kinda happy it took me so long. Now it feels more special to me <;3)

fShenko has all the young, pure~ish, forbidden, cute and heart-racing vibes in ME1 *chef's kiss* and then (after a bit of angst) you have the mature, long-lasting, I'd die for you romance that we all deserve.

mShenko, on the other hand, is more Kaidan focused in my opinion, which I truly like, and his realization of what is love (🎵) and what Shepard really means for him, which I find extremely cute and beautiful.

And I'll admit, I'm the first to complain about Bioware (perks of being a forever resident of the shenko vortex) but I have to congratulate them on the way they wrote mShenko in ME3.

I really thought it would be ultra cringy and forced, because that kind of evolution is not the easiest to write, but I was sooooooo wrong and I'm sooooooo glad that I was. So yay~ to Bioware on this one!

So, yup... I wanted to do a quick post and here we are now, an hour later ehehehehehe 😅😅

Anyways, and to wrap this up, just sharing an opinion (or ten) here... I was just thinking about it today and I felt like writing a post about it (there's always room for more Kaidan appreciation posts <3).

If you ever wanna talk with me about our beautiful canadian marshmallow pm me, tag me, etc. If you respectfully disagree, feel free to tell me how you feel about all of this in a comment. And if you disrespectfully disagree (I don't think that's a term that exists but I'm gonna use it anyways XD) feel free to ignore me and go on with your life, it's not that difficult.

That's all, I think...

Hope you have a lovely day/night.

Imma go to bed and read some fanfics before I fall asleep.

bye bye!!

~~tea

[rubsjuice]

hi! who and what is the guy that made you forget greek mythology exists!

Hi, thank you for asking

(first image by @gh0stbreath second I drew over a meme)

his name is

Icarus

Also I tend to write characters more on the natural/realistic side so I hope you're not disappointed he's not a wretched fantastical beast or a dude with super cool powers he's just a guy. He could be your neighbor for all we're concerned. Read more bc I can't shut up about him

He just. Looks very normal. He's a tiny gay loser car salesman from Boston with a husband and children, negative credit score, 30k in debt and in the sights of loan sharks because he's too stubborn to get through his head that his dream of being self made and successful is never gonna be realized. He also has a penchant for religion, although he stops going to church to get more time to try to make his business work. His dream is to have a successful job, a beautiful family, and being a pillar of community – he's the guy the American Dream is marketing itself to, and the kind of guy who's most let down by it

He gets tied up in some mafia business when they put him as a front for their own business in exchange of letting his debts go and leaving his family out of it, and he promptly uses it to abandon the aforementioned family, get filthy stinking rich, invest heavily in advertising and become one of the most well-known faces in New England & the East Coast in general because his face would be in almost every ad running on TV at the time. He also had a huge liking of fashion and apparel in general so he had a bunch of clothing lines, perfumes and accessories named after him. He also developed like 5 different mental illnesses from it because by the time he was famous he was also in his 40s and he experienced the most hardcore midlife crisis ever trying to keep up with the socialites and rich kids he'd surround himself with.

Then when the mafia drops him and it turns out most of his fortune was inflated by an overcomplicated money laundering scheme he sort of starts to experience the Horrors as he starts getting increasingly desperate to keep his life afloat due to all the mental illness he's accumulated, and after a particularly bad trip on LSD where he sees every version of himself from the past and future and beats the shit out of himself he decides he needs to shape up and let this life go for his own sake. So he calls his (now ex)husband and asks to go back into his life and he goes through this whole 20 year long healing arc with a lot of therapy and finds a new and exciting gender for himself (guy who is a mom)

Some other random facts about him is that he's catty, physically fragile, lowkey slutty and loves to overindulge himself. He can be very blunt and says the most insane things. As an old man (around 60) he has a tumblr blog where he ends up being like a B-celebrity. He enjoys serious and artsy media and his favorite book/movie of all time is American Psycho. He relates to Patrick Bateman because he believes him to be the sort of guy he could turn into if he let himself stay in the rich life for longer without seeking proper help, and being able to look at that guy and go "lol glad that's not me anymore" makes him feel Normal

As you can tell if you squint, his life story more or less mirrors the tale of Icarus, with the exception of the healing arc bit (he was saved from falling in the ocean!!), plus with his whole religious theme he also gets a "fallen angel" sort of motif that fits very well. There's more stuff to his life that makes his name and theming more interesting but I don't wanna keep you here all day

Here's his playlist organized chronologically also it's full of bangers

So yeah with all these themes you can tell every time someone talks about the myth of Icarus I just go "ooooo just like my blorbo" and forget that I made him close to the myth on purpose

You can also find posts I tag as him [here]

[swaggy-pregnant-elf-man]

I posted 2,985 times in 2022

That's 1,767 more posts than 2021!

23 posts created (1%)

2,962 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@elytrians

@thekidsfromyestergay

@cttrajan1206

@discardedcandywrapper

@greenbeany

I tagged 1,232 of my posts in 2022

#mcr - 290 posts

#ofmd - 79 posts

#art - 65 posts

#toh - 41 posts

#birds - 21 posts

#tiktok - 18 posts

#lol - 15 posts

#lmao - 14 posts

#fuck capitalism - 14 posts

#prev tags - 13 posts

Longest Tag: 74 characters

#🦀🦀🦀😁🦀😁😁😁😁😁😁🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀😁😁🦀🦀😩🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

HELP ITS ME SUMI

The londoner in ur birmie squad sjdhhdf

i am so sorry bro i dont think i am who u think i am 😭😭

8 notes - Posted June 11, 2022

#4

aras have you seen the Joan of Arc outfit yet

I HAVE NOW KSKDKLEODJ DKDOEOL I AM GOING RVEN MORE INSANE GOING TO WATCH THE STREAM NOW

10 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

#3

3000 posts!

ashamed 😔

16 notes - Posted July 31, 2022

#2

clownwife

19 notes - Posted August 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I love the energy and all and I don’t want to offend but as a Muslim girl i can tell you that it is literally haram to identify as anything other than your god given gender. Like I’m not trying to be rude and I’m glad that there a respectful supportive people out there but if you’re looking at the Quran and other islamic book you’ll find stories about how its considered haram. Accepting the islam religion means accepting everything and dedicating yourself to it you can’t just pick and choose.

omg my first anon hate hahaha

i know im not obligated to answer hate but im going to anyway bcuz of i have things to say (sparkle emoji) (im on pc and dont have the energy to find an emoji keyboard)

okay first of all nowhere did i say that I identify as Muslim. i get that it was ambiguous tho so its cool. to clarify,, I am personally not Muslim but I kind of have to act like one so I don't get kicked to the streets or some shit lol and maybe I'm a bit of a coward idkkk but anyways

I would be interested to know what other Islamic books ur talking about btw, but I'm pretty sure the quran doesn't mention being trans anywhere at all. in fact I'm pretty certain, I've read it multiple times with translation and commentary interpretations and anyway being trans wasn't really a 'known' thing back then? bcuz obviously patriarchy and gender roles n segregation blah blah was wayyyy more yk. shit I forgot the word. uhhh yk like prevalent?? ofc the quran does mention a shitton about gender roles,, so yk men r the breadwinners, women raise the kids and keep house and be good wives etc. and also remember the big important fact:: GENDER AND SEX R DIFFERENT THINGS!!! meaning technically u cant be 'born' a gender (omfg my keyboard hates me imagine a question mark here) ur born with certain genitals and society assigns u a gender based on that . sounds a bit fucked when u put it like that actually but anyway back when the quran was being revealed this wasn't a known thing cuz yk they didn't have studies on this stuff,, and yea ur probably gonna say 'but the quran came from allah and he knows everything' well the fact of the matter is he either forgot or smth idk I don't speak for God but trans people definitely exist that's a fact we know so yeah. oh I should come back to my point which was, even with the quran saying those things about what ur supposed to do based on whats in ur pants which is crazy outdated anyway it doesn't take gender ≠ sex into consideration either soo ye that's the most it could've said about being trans and that not very valid anymore rip and that's not even mentioning non-binary people

and anyway Islam is literally all about acceptance and respect and everything so idk it would probably be better if u didn't go around telling ppl they're 'literally haram' for being trans or gay or any typa queer bcuz its literally not our choice (insert question marks) believe me I would fucking love to be comfortable in my 'female' body but I cant no matter how much I try to force myself so I'm sorry dude. no one would choose to be stuck in a situation like this. personally, I believe Islam needs a super massive reformation. well not Islam exactly, but a lot of things said in the quran r outdated wildly now, while a lot of it will also always be relevant, eg. everyone being equal and yk give to the poor etc. i have absolutely nothing against Muslims (I have it against my family for being so forceful about religion - different thing) yall r super cool and ik being a Muslim girl isn't easy believe me, but genuinely seeing Muslim people around and yk, just existing in wider society outside of Islamic spaces makes me feel so proud of where I came from even if its not been the best experience. have u seen the show We are Lady Parts (question mark) its about an all female Muslim punk band and there's only six episodes I literally watched it all today but the message of it is what I'm trying to get to you. u don't have to be the perfect pious wife to be considered a 'good Muslim',, there are so many ways u can show faith. you don't have to be a big strong man who can handle all pain with ease while single-handedly providing for a family either.

anyways peace out that sure was a journey lol and I definitely have forgot some of the things I wanted to say but yea that's all don't forget to like and subscribe &lt;3

(colours r to make it easier to read for people with shorter attention spans,, they don't have any other significance)

36 notes - Posted February 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[mothamcity]

Hackett's Quarry Summer Camp Tag!!!

I think I've been tagged a few times but I genuinely can't tell, so here you go anyway lol.

original tag list by @lowonmelatonin

Favourite counsellor and least favourite counsellor. Why?:

Favourite counsellor: yeah, nobody is gonna be surprised by this, but it's Dylan lol. I relate to him a lot in some ways and I also just really like writing him. I think he's a great, complex character, and I also get gender envy from him lol.

Least favourite counsellor: this is really tricky bc i do love all of them, but I'm gonna go with Nick. Now, I love Nick, but I think I love fanon Nick more than canon Nick. We just didn't see much of him and I mean, what we did see from him was him catapulting Abi into the lockers at the speed of light and then turning into a hairless dog man. So, not my typical favourite, you know?

Favourite chapter and least favourite chapter. Why?:

Favourite chapter: chapter five, baby! I love love love the scene with dylan and ryan walking to the radio hut, and my favourite bit of unused dialogue is where dylan talks about quantum physics. I also love chapter nine, because the entirety of the fucking scrapyard scene lives in my head rent free.

Least favourite chapter: gotta go chapter seven on this one tbh. I love chapter seven still but it's just so much exposition and so little actual directed gameplay. Theres not that much you can do to impact the way the game plays out later, except in like 2 specific scenes.

Favourite ship (you can pick a maximum of 3)?:

Dylan/Ryan and Laura/Max.

Biggest counsellor crush:

Oh definitely Max. I think my fascination with Dylan comes mostly from me projecting onto him and like wanting to be like him, but i would want to be with Max. He's such a sweet guy and he's funny and seems pretty emotionally available. Also, I think my brain would melt out of my ears if I had a s/o who called me 'hun'.

How would you survive The Quarry?:

I just wouldn't. Lol I could sit here and try to convince you all that I'm super clever and fast on my feet, but I also have been known to be fucked over by the Universe. Genuinely, bad stuff happens to me constantly but it's at such perfect timing from an outsider perspective. I'd be a comedic timing kill. Like, everything would seem fine and I'd be like "oh boy, looks like we're safe! What a relief!" And then immediately get my ass killed by a werewolf. My fight or flight response always lands on freeze. The only thing I have going for me is that when I get spooked, I freeze up and go completely silent.

Favourite The Quarry fanfic writer and fanartist:

Fanfic writers: theres SO many. @five-rat-lore @drylan @caesurah-tblr @mythicalheartbeat @appleflax @lowonmelatonin @iamsuperbi and def many more but I'm blanking.

Fanart: oh definitely @iamsuperbi @divomria and @denkicide

Shoutout some friends you have made being involved in the fandom!

So, I've only just crawled back to Tumblr recently because of my love for the quarry, so i haven't had an opportunity to really interact with people outside of the comment sections of fics on ao3. I will list off some people who I feel fond of when I see their name on my tumblr feed or on ao3, though! @five-rat-lore @appleflax @iamsuperbi @lowonmelatonin @dylan-lenivy-appreciation-day . Pretty much anyone I mentioned already lol (My apologies for the double tag).

[writingpun]

nona da ninth spoilers just my thoughts abt it no real structure. lol

i liked a lot of nona but i truly feel like the book coulda been half the size tbh, there were so many Events and Things that i felt like were kind of trivial? i thought the schoolkids were cool and all, but they super fizzle out as soon as the main plot w blood of eden/the Houses gets going, and partly only serve as an introduction to Angel, who’s important because they add another thread to the UNRESOLVED PLOT HOOKS tapestry (the message). couldn’t be fucked to remember most of the more banal events that happen throughout the first half although maybe that’s just cuz i read the first half yesterday and the second half today.

All that said i like a lot o’ the gender fuckery (natch) and jod’s backstory imo was done very well. i think tamsyn muir has a real knack for writing narratives that take a little thinking to unwind, because there’s stuff that’s obviously missing or being skewed in the favor of the narrator. It was a big part of harrow the ninth, and it crept in during gideon, and it shows up here in a pretty big way. Even before the whole “i killed almost all of humanity oop” there was this building sense that jod’s whole heavy is the head schtick was a facade made to cover up the scared bitch underneath who would literally rather wipe the brains of everyone he loves and start again than admit he fucked up big time. I think the writing of Nona’s perspective was also pretty clever such that we the reader could glean what was going on sometimes even when Nona was completely clueless. I’m stupid and my brain is small but I appreciate being given the chance to rub my two little brain cells together while im reading something.

also when i was scrolling thru the tags i came across some paul hate. absolutely not in this house. paul rules. shoutout to palamades and camilla theyre real ones but im excited to see what their literally like steven universe dragon ball fusion is gonna do. Also, ngl, they seem to have a whole “intellectual joy and curiosity even when applied to terrible things” trait that im a little bit of a sucker for. ALSO they are nonbinary. fuck yeah .

truly do not understand what is going on with gideon at all (god bles,s). at first i was pretty sure she was a jod puppet, and then i wasn’t, and i saw some theories about her missing her “heart” which is fun but im also eh on it for purely personal taste reasons. I think it would be fun if jod was fucking with her brain somehow, or if she did the tampering herself--mirror what harrow did in harrow the ninth. i saw something about tamsyn saying harrow and gid are never getting back together in an interview buut im holding out hope that they’ll at least, like. talk. i wanna see them actually address all of the shit that’s gone down between them, indirectly, over the past two books.

also i have no idea what the fuck is going on with the bible stuff but i am sitting in the back and nodding peacefully. sure! you go you funky lesbians. shoutout to all the ex catholics in fandom going apeshit they seem to be having fun