#my only rule is no books by men bc i don't read books by men lol

[lovemyromance]

Nahhh bc why did I see yet another post doubting N&C's part in Elain's future story???

Those are her FRIENDS. It has been acknowledged by both Elain and Nesta. Rhys paying them doesn't matter? He pays them to take care of his house, not take care of Elain.

If Rhys paying bills is suddenly a reason to doubt a friendship, then Nesta & Gwyn can't be true friends either because Rhys allows Gwyn to live in the library for free. Like I'm sorry, but it's icky and stupid to use either of those as an argument against true friendship.

Then I saw another post saying "Oh N&C don't have buildup to be friends of Elain. They don't have enough main character energy to get their own book so they can't be her friends."

My brother in Christ. Not everyone and their momma is going to get a book. We're not gonna sit here and read about Bryaxis's harrowing backstory or get a detailed POV from Tarquin about Cassian's summer court adventure. Not everyone needs to be a main character because then it would be ridiculous and confusing and nobody would stand out??

Also tf you mean build up? Why do we need build up for characters that are meant to be supporting characters? Especially, outside the book there supposed to be "found family/friends" in??

This is such a ridiculous argument. That's like saying "Oh Gwyn & Emerie can't be Nesta's true found family because they don't have enough buildup". Like ahem, let me remind everyone that Emerie was only brought up in ACOFAS (and people shipped her with Cassian, so she def wasn't gonna be Nesta's bestie). Gwyn didn't even EXIST until halfway through ACOSF.

So don't sit here and tell me N&C don't have enough development to be Elain's found family. They are supporting characters. Their job... is to support Elain's journey. Which they have lowkey been doing in the background since the moment they baked bread together in ACOWAR.

The difference here is that Elriels understand the role of a supporting character. We're not out here screaming that Nuala is so important to the plot of acotar and inventing theories for her to save Dusk court because we see her for what she is - a supporting character.

That is what Gwyn & Emerie are to Nesta. Supporting characters. But nobody is ready to hear that 🙄

Y'all out here trynna turn Gwyn into the savior of Illyria and turning around and saying "well N&C aren't important enough for a story" like hello - they don't have to be?? You're the ones who think Gwyn is gonna save everyone and their dog and you're mad that Elriels don't have that same level of delusion towards N&C? Like sorry we're rational ? Sorry we recognize that Elain will get a book with likely Azriel and her found family will be N&C, but neither N&C will get a book bc they're just side characters?

At least we not out here saying Elain's gonna be besties w a man who made a GR joke about her TO her mate 🙄.

Apparently, the rules of friendship are:

1. You cannot earn a living if it in any way relates to your friend

2. You have to be an important character and save a part of Prythian yourself before you can be deemed relevant enough to be a friend

3. You can make jokes about someone being g*r*ped and still be their friend because "you were just putting on a mask" even tho literally nobody forced you to say that 🤷🏻‍♀️

Y'all are being crazy trying to make excuses for men again, and I'm not standing for it. Go to sit in a corner and think about what you've done 😒

[kingsmoot]

do you have any miscellaneous thoughts about theon and asha's storylines in winds? (big question i know sorry, you can answer short as you like)

AKH no this is a v neat question and i will confess i have actually not read any of the winds preview chapters :o back in 2013/4 when i read the series for the first time i made the decision not to read them because i didn't want just a taste of the next book i wanted to be patient and wait for the whole thing

that said i actually struggle to envision where their storylines are going tbh!!! theon's arc concluding with saving jeyne and himself and reuniting with asha makes. sense. it is a very narratively satisfying end. what he does beyond this reunion is a mystery to me although i hope he gains some weight back and gets some good dentures and some warm wool and furs and experiences 🎶that feeling of sexual healing that makes him feel so fine 🎶 courtesy of his big sister but that's just my own personal wishlist!!!!!!!!!!!!

i want him to reunite w jon at the wall and i am. genuinely kinda scared that jon will behead him NNNNNOOOOOO JON!!!! this isn't super likely bc i think killing theon after All That™️ would be... idk it would be a very strange narrative beat i think. like grrm is obviously known for killing off characters but i do NOT think he does it nonsensically and i do NOT think he does it for shock value. i think a v clear theme in theon's entire arc post-acok is that he doesn't get to die. he needs to live with who he is, what he did, and what was done to him. he doesn't get an easy out. he needs to carry the pain over onward and through. so i don't see death in the cards for theon. i do think it will be interesting for him to meet jon again, this time both of them as dead men. and i would LIKE!!!!!! for them to reunite with cat. the three undead final remnants of house stark who the old gods refuse to let go of. delicious.

but in general i am extremely bad at predicting anything in asoiaf. like the story just feels too massive to me. i feel like i understand most of it in a way that i feel confident dissecting, but i have never had a sense of "oh i see where this is going" or "i have a good sense of what will happen next". like i've just never been able to sense the shape of it in that way.

PART OF THIS I TRULY FEEL IS BC GEORGE DOESN'T OUTLINE ANYTHING. AND IT'S LIKE WELL YES KING WE CAN TELL.

generally when i get This Into a series i feel like i have a sense of it and can make predictions based on my working knowledge of canon but i've never felt this way w asoiaf. i just feel like i'm along for the ride.

i'm very curious what will happen to asha because i have a sneaking suspicion the show's route of her actually leading house greyjoy might have some semblance of truth in the books... like i don't see vic, euron, and aeron surviving long enough to rule, so i think asha and theon being the only two left (i know theon dies in the show it's fucking stupid and george wouldn't do that) is pretty likely. especially since house greyjoy is already a big worm riddled house of usher situation. and especially since ironborn independence has been a futile suicide mission for generations. so that'll be interesting to see!!! i also wonder if theon might stay on the mainland and take the black. not exactly a CHOICE to take the black but i don't see a version of events where he gets to the wall and jon tells him "no hard feelings" and they hug it out and then theon gets to go home. UNLIKELY. HE KILLED AND RAPED A WHOLE BUNCH OF PEOPLE. TWO OF THEM CHILDREN.

so this answer is a whole bunch of nothing i'm sorry!!! i generally think that theon making it to stannis' convoy to reunite w asha will be a brief respite and not a permanent one and i do not see them ending the series together (here not implying romantically just like in proximity to one another). if they do make it back to winterfell and overwhelm the occupying bolton force i hope they find a bed 😎👉👉 and that theon has a panic attack and asha is like jesus christ i should've bought a dog off craiglist instead of picking one off the kill list at the local shelter this is too much work 😒

SORRY GOT DISTRACTED AGAIN ok i see asha making her way back to the iron islands and i see theon taking the black. what will happen between those things is a bif fat question mark for me but i hope at least some of it is lewd ✌️

[p4nishers]

i don't know if you even posted about it but

which discworld books have you read already?? and maybe you have some favourites like I STRONGLY SUSPECT THAT IT'S NIGHT WATCH but what if im absolutely wrong..please share

anon i will lay my life down for you i've been waiting for this for so so long (literally since november. but whatever)

so. from the rincewind series i've only read the last continent and unseen academicals bc reasons. one of them being is that i am weirdly passionate about the ridcully/bursar ship only i care about and they're developed enough characters by those books for me to actually have something to ship. i can't think of other reasons but. they're there definitely i promise. oh yeah unseen academicals was by FAR my fav from the two but i found the ending a little eh so i dont consider that one a FAVORITE favorite. but its still insanely fucking good.

then i've read all of the witches novels except equal rites and that's only cause i was listening to the audiobook and then i forgot where i left off and i just didn't finish it. anyway the clear winner for me is and always will be carpe jugulum and it's DEFINITELY one of my top 3 discworld books. like i know you didn't ask for this to be a hundred pages long but fuck me that BOOK. i could write ESSAYS. also wyrd sisters is a fucking masterpiece and i wont hear a WORD against it. thank you.

all of the death books expect thief of time and i honestly i just dont want to end the series yet so i'm still putting it off. give me some time. favorites from that hmm well hogfather DUH but also reaper man. listen man it's about found family it's about bill door it's about death giving his TIME for a little girl it's about I NEVER WORE A CROWN YOU NEVER WANTED TO RULE it's THE FIRST FUCKING TIME WE MEET REG SHOE also the wizards are fucking GREAT in that one i just love it. not top 3 material but definitely a comfort read.

from the watch books i've read up to thud! which i'm still half way thru bc i'm not ready to move on from night watch like i had to listen to it on audiobook two days after i've first read it bc it just sucks you in man. does NOT let go. and yeah you're so so so right and true about night watch being one of my absolute favorites that book changed me as a person i'm still definitely not over it. like at all. also feet of clay and fifth elephant will always ALWAYS be my children and have my heart for obvious reasons (cheery. its cheery).

from the moist books i only have raising steam left and yes again im putting it off bc i dont wanna finish the series whatever dont look too deep into my issues

uh. shit this is so fucking long ok sorry. from tiffany novels i've read up to wintersmith and so far the wee free men is my absolute favorite i cried so much reading that book it's embarrassing.

small gods was my very first discworld novel and let me fucking tell you man absolutely HILARIOUS place to start when you dont know shit about the world building that's all im gonna say. also it's just so fucking good it's insane to me like yeah maybe it's not as funny as the others but the way terry wrote about faith and gods and devotion and the church and ugghh. (sidenote i read an brutha/om fic a few weeks ago that changed my fucking LIFE im being so so serious rn that was a masterpiece)

and i think the only one left is the truth which is in my opinion one of the best written discworld books from what i've read and definitely in my top 3. like otto chriek would be enough to convince me and THEN there's mr tulip's backstory and william confronting his dad (man that scene where william gives his father thousands of dollars to pay back for what he "cost" him over his life. anyone got reminded of that one ladybird scene? yeah.) and it's just like the best thing you've ever read.

im so sorry this got so long im insane i hope u got some kind of answer out of it

[chaotic-history]

Top 5 favourite historical figures to research? ✨

Thanks for the ask!! This is based on how fun they are to research, not necessarily how much I like them.

Voltaire. I love reading his batshit letters, and I love that a good amount of them are easy to find online. I'm getting better at finding the sources for uncited quotes in bios through reverse-engineering the translations. I don't know if that's a good thing 💀.

De Sade. I haven't done a ton of research yet, but I'm really interested in all the different ways he and his writings have been interpreted by more modern philosophy, especially since my first introduction to him was The Rebel (haven't read Must We Burn Sade? yet but it's on my list). I also need to read more of his works, since with Justine it was super fun to see how he reflects(?)/comments on Enlightenment philosophy.

Roger Williams. Everything he's ever written [that still survives today] is super easy to find online for free, including correspondance. This is what every research experience should be like. Also it's super fun to read very religious old men being petty bitches over the smallest drama. I promise you that 17thC church rules are *so* entertaining. He's not higher only because there's not a ton of modern scholarly stuff about him. There was a huge boom of interest like early 1900s-1950 and after that it kind of trickled off? Idk why.

Horace Walpole. I've only just started to research him but holy shit I am incredibly invested. He's obviously super intertwined with queer literature (which I'm maybe starting to get interested in again after losing all interest bc of that dumb project), and also Hervey keeps popping up lol.

Villette. I love finding things out about Villette. I do not love how difficult it is. Everything I've found that talks about Villette is 95% about other things. Please god let me find One (1) book that is Actually About Villette 🙏

[themarginalthinker]

OK I'm pretty sure this has already been asked, but I haven't read far enough into the book to see if it's been explained, so I hope you don't mind the ask!

Are there specific clans of vampires in VTM? Or different breeds?

*slowly spins around so you can see the absolutely MANIACAL, UNHINGED grin on my face*

OHHHHHH BABY, HERE WE FUCKIN GOOOOOOOO

So, Vampire: The Masquerade is a ttrpg system first released in the 90s about vampires, part of a larger overworld called The World of Darkness, or just commonly called the 'WoD' - this, as well as vampires, includes werewolves, changeleings (faeries), Mages (magic people), demons, as well as other creatures, all of which have their own games under this system, but the one that I play (and the only one I'm interested in playing tbh bc the it's the oldest, most popular and best developed of the games) us Vampire: The Masquerade.

-

SO Thw World of Darkness is a grittier, slightly more grim-dark version of our reality. People are a bit less kinder, the shadows are a bit darker. And in those shadows, lurk vampires.

Now, in the official canon lore of the WoD, vampires are all descended from Caine - yes, that Caine. The Bible dude. As punishment for his transgression again God, God cursed him to shun the sun and forever walk the Earth. Being lonely, Caine sired three 'childer', three vampires, who then also sired more, who became the 13 Antedeluvians ('those who survived the flood') and THOSE 13 became the founders of the 13 Clans of Vampire.

The Masquerade: The one rule almost all vampires everywhere follow. The Masquerade is the deception of vampire existence to humankind, and maintaining it is paramount to everything you do AS a vampire. Humans must never, ever, ever know.

Each Clan has their own unique powers, and like. Vibe to them. (As they are the types of vampire you can choose to play in your games.)

When you are Embraced (turned into a vampire), you become the Clan you were Embrace by, ie, a Nosferatu will make another Nosferatu, a Gangrel a Gangrel. So yes, it IS a breed of vampire.

The Clans are as follows (to the best of my description lol):

Ventrue: The powerful lords of vampires, bluebloods, they desire power and to dominate others. They're behind CEOs and polititians, controlling a lot of the vampire political landscape. Their Thing is that they can only drink specific kinds of blood, a blood restriction, say, only the blood of blue eyed men, or something. you can choose what that restriction is with your character. (also this is Berd's least favorite, and I'll go into detail why further down)

Toreador: The Clan of the Rose, ie, the pretty ones. Toreador are the cultural influencers of the vampire world, and while not exclusive to, they ARE incredibly dug into the arts. Typically associated with fashion as they want to keep up with and make the latest trends in the world. Their powers are...literally being so fucking pretty. A siren-like ability, which goes just as much for the men, too.

Brujah: The Clan of the rebels! The Brujah are a clan of rabble-rouses who hate the system and want to see the world into a utopia of humans and vampires, but getting there is gonna be a chore. The Brujah's deal is that they're punks, and that means supernatural anger to go with it. They rage. Hard.

Malkavian: The Clan of the Moon, they get literal visions and whispers of the Beyond, information from outside of what any person can pick up on the street. They're literally a clan of mad oracles, driven to their derangement by the vampiric blood. A Malk's particular way of receiving this information can range from perceiving the reporter on tv telling them so, to getting flashes of visions from reading a newspaper.

Gangrel: A Clan where you kinda wanted to play a werewolf, but also a vampire. Gangrel lean into the beastial side of vampire lore, being able to best control and even transform into animals. I don't have a lot to say about Gangrel, they're a pretty straightforward clan as far as things go.

Nosferatu: The Clan of the Hidden. As the name implies, the curse of vampirism affects them by twisting their bodies into hideous forms they cannot undo or reverse with any kind of magic. Named so bc a lot of them end up looking like Max Schreck's Count Orloc. Most Nosferatu cannot participate in the wider world because of their looks endangering vampirekind, so they form large networks below cities, occupying old sewer and tram systems, forming 'Warrens'. Their Thing is that they possess very powerful invisibility powers, and have set up large subinternet networks, making them master spies and information farmers. The Nosferatu know everything about everything...as long a you're willing to trade a secret for a secret. (This is my favorite clan, if you can't tell :>)

Tremere: Nobody likes Tremere. Ok, that's not true, bad me. But they are...standouts in the vampire world (ask me about their lore, it's...wild). Tremere are blood mages, using Thaumaturgy (blood magic) to do dark rituals and keep their magic knowledge in the clan. They're essentially your 'casting class' in the game.

Ok, so, that's not even half of them, as you can count, but this is getting long, and these are all the 'major' clans that most people tend to play. I will be passing off this post to @berd-alert to tell you about the other smaller but JUST as interesting clans, but here is also a short overview of the world the WoD vampires exist in:

The clans all belong to larger political 'factions'. (Again, ask me more about the lore if you want a more in-depth explantion). These factions are based on ideologies of how vampires should interact with the human world

The Camarilla: what's considered 'mainstream' vampire, or 'Kindred' society. Every city will have an Elysium, where the Prince (can be a person of any gender, that's just the title) will preside over their court, being whatever vampires claim allegence with the Camarilla in that particular city, or, 'domain.' The Cam rule their worlds with very firm rules about interacting with humans, or 'kine'. You're expected to follow these rules and receive protection and order....or face severe and swift consequences should you put a toe out of line and someone hears about it.

The Anarchs: pretty much what it says on the box. The Anarchs oppose the Camarilla and their deadly rules, the only one they want to follow being 'don't break the Masquerade'. Full of the young, the boisterous, the new, hot blood eager to destroy the old system and build something new.

The Sabbat: these vampires say hang the rules all together, fuck the Masquerade, humans are prey or playthings, and vampires being stronger and immortal should rule the world. pretty much, if you want to play a vampire who loves blood and destruction, ie an evil player game (bc those are always fun heheh) this is the faction for you.

WOOF, OK, I THINK THAT'S ABOUT IT. Again, if you have specific questions, just ask me or Berd bc they're just as deep into this as I am, and knows lots of cool, intricate lore. But that's about it for right now! I highly reccomed looking up some youtube videos about this, as there is a TON of supplementary and educational videos out there for it! And also a video game, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, which is from 2004 and an INCREDIBLE cult-classic, to match the Lost Boys in terms of iconic vampire media.

Love you Cherry!!!

[rosemaryandbrine]

after browing terror tumblr all day and reading fics, these are the conclusions i've come to regarding my faves, can you tell me if they're correct? (still wimping out from seeing the show bc the ones where Everyone Dies at the End make me so sad)

Edward: seems cold, standoffish, uptight, awkward - definitely is all those things because he's British™️, but an anxious softie underneath it all

Jopson: seems soft and is, but is also stubborn and proud and arrogant, very Proper, if this were Downton Abbey he'd be the youngest butler ever, the definition of repressed Yearning

Sol: pure of heart (mostly), dumb of ass, wants to do the Right Thing but often ends up doing the complete opposite due to horniness and bad vibe reading skills, he'll get there eventually, soft pet names for everyone he loves (*cough* Tommy *cough*), definitely gives the best bear hugs

Tommy: quiet, Odd vibes but is just lonely and sad, his number one wish is to be important to someone, touch-starved as anything, also wants to do the Right Thing

Irving: Scottish accent (don't ask me how I got this), quiet, reserved, a little judgemental, almost always having a full-on gay crisis, can remember whole chapters of theological books without much effort but blanks every time Sol takes his shirt off

Georgie: baby slut (affectionate), severe daddy issues and a praise kink for days, just wants to be someone's good boy

Bryant: big bear who looks like he could snap you in two, secret romantic, soft for Georgie only, in the AUs he's always going to be in law enforcement of some kind don't @ me

(the last two are purely fanon since i couldn't see much for them beyond what you wrote and the occasional artwork 😅)

I ABSOLUTELY can, this is like catnip to me!

(Under a cut because I rambled)

Gonna go point by point:

Little - I wouldn't say cold necessarily but his position as first lieutenant definitely isolates him and to me, as a person... somewhere on the autistic spectrum, I see a lot of those traits in Ned as well. He cares deeply about the men under his command but has no real way to relate to them or position himself in terms of leadership. He does mean well!! He is trying! It's just that every single day, he gets emails.

Jopson - see Jopson has ruthlessly tried to repress any emotional softness but it does show itself at times - he's a caretaker at his core, at times to his own detriment (lots of times, in fact). He clings to propriety and The Rules because they keep you safe, at least superficially. Until they don't. He's also ferociously loyal to Crozier, the ships' captain, in a way that edges towards henchman. Like it could go very badly if Crozier WASN'T a decent man. you're absolutely right that he'd be Downton Abbey's youngest butler, and he would be INSUFFERABLE about it. I love him very much.

sol - (mostly) pure of heart and dumb of ass, you get him!!! He's a good dog. He's very invested, I think, in the image of himself as a marine. It's been his identity his whole adult life, and there's a sense of resentment mingled with pride, because marines were considered very expendable in the navy, occupying a weird position as enforcers of military discipline but also being extremely low on the ships' totem pole, there to do the grunt work and mocked by the sailors for being idiot conscripts. and this leads sol to THINK he knows what he's doing when he mutinies because who else is going to look after himself and his men but him, and yeah, he cannot read a vibe to save his life, because he has blinkers shaped like masculinity and the Victorian navy on and they are. extremely hard to remove. (He definitely gives Tommy All the pet names. That's his sweetheart, his queen, his pretty petal)

Tommy Armitage light of my life sun of my days - you get him too, he's also in this weird liminal space where he's a steward but he DESPERATELY wants to be a marine (literally, "he longs for it," hickey says at one point, and when hickey's got you figured out: oof), but he's deaf so he can't but on terror they take him in anyway? But he's never quite one of them, and he knows it. And then there's Sol, who is everything he wanted to be and also everything he jist *wants.* He hero worships Tozer and I think is pretty strongly implied in the show itself to be deeply in love with him. Also, and very importantly: he's a boy who is a gun.

Irving - no but you're RIGHT because he was Scottish! and historically probably would have had a slight Scottish accent - he was posh but not posh enough to have been sent to boarding school and have it trained out of him - but Ronan Raftery plays him with an English accent on the show, (possibly because he's Irish and I think possibly doing a Scottish accent might be hard as they're similar cadences and it could easily slip??) He is deeply spiritually Scottish however even then. He is always always always in a state of gay crisis and FURIOUS about it, and clings to religion as a way through. It. Does not really help.

Georgie and Bryant get answered together because You Know - so Bryant is well, a bit of a dick. He's the same rank as Tozer, a Marine Sergeant, on the opposite ship and he wears it comfortably, with a touch of the same arrogance. He's less lazy than Sol is, and independent enough that I don't personally think he would ever have mutinied, at least not with Hickey. I think this lean towards Authority is why he gives such strong law enforcement vibes. That and the fact that he's a prick (affectionate).

He's is absolutely only soft for Georgie - in the show their one scene together is everything to me and sent me into full derangement about them and caused me to fill up half the ao3 ship tag. They're just talking on the deck but it packs in so much stuff, and it's the only scene where Bryant shows any doubt or vulnerability, and he shows it to Georgie! Who is in fact the Sweetest Angel and like you say, just wants to be good, and has a puppy crush on Bryant a mile wide. Georgie is also the ships' boy, the youngest and lowest ranked of all the sailors, and Bryant, in his own way, is kind to him when he absolutely doesn't have to be, and also teases him a little bit? It's cute. I'm so normal about these two I swear.

baby slut (affectionate), yes yes yes. As you say it's a lot of fanon because they're very much minor characters but also Georgie came to me in a dream and told me it was true.

thank you so much for this ask, it was a lot of fun to answer!! and also if you decide you would like to watch the show (completely understand re: everyone dies at the end, it's a Lot) I think there's a link to a Google drive somewhere out there that I could find 😉

[minakoaiinos]

Upset bc I haven't got to watch a Real Movie in months both from time and brainspace and I finally watched one today bc my internet wasn't working and it was downloaded and I thought it was about Girls Being Friends and it was insofar as it turned out to be a They Liked the Same Guy narrative and that could not be more uninteresting or unrelatable to me so I really should have turned it off and read a book but instead I persisted and only got more upset because it was a really specific genre of cishet lady narrative where it's all Of Course my women friends are always going to be the most important to me in a galentine's day kind of way and Of Course my relationship with this random ass no personality guy is going to compromise my friendship in any way and it always does bc they literally do choose the man in every way that matters every time and they're always just talking about men at the end of the day and there always has to be one friend that takes the friendship most seriously for real and she always has to be all no seriously go get him girl :) when she really wishes she wouldn't but the other girl chooses the guy anyway and the other girl always ends up with another guy too in a vague double date kind of way bc cishet ladies are obsessed with buffering their relationships with women through having men there too and it was also this really specific lens of remember what our lives were like in ~girlhood~ before men took over our every thought and they either talk about their attraction for men like it's this big inexplicable curse or the opposite end of the spectrum where it's this inexplicable force that they don't understand but it rules their every move and it's like actually Actually we'll be interesting forever and you'll be bored of him in five minutes I thought we all used to be saying this but maybe it was just me and Hailee Steinfeld Emily Dickinson ripping our hair out over it because all of the girls on letterboxd.com were saying omg so relatable!! While it made me feel like I came from outer space,

[babiebom]

Im a Bit curious about who your favorite characters are from the fandoms your writing for (also love your taste in kpop)

PS: k-drama recommendation

- Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

- Until we meet again (it's thai but still good)

- The sadness (Korean film)

- How may I help you

- Mouse

- Lovenest

- Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo

- Style (from 2009)

Ohoohoo~ anon you fell into my trap I love ranting about my faves also thank you(x3) for the recs Strong Woman Do Bong Soon is one of my favorite kdramas and Park Boyoung is like my third favorite actress so I already know your taste is good without having seen anything else also putting my faves below the cut because only god himself can stop me now. (I promise I will try to keep this short and sweet)

Warnings: spoilers for some series, cursing, bit of sus wording and thoughts yknow

Stardew Valley

Sebastian (Sebby/Seb/Loml)

Can you tell that I'm a sucker for grumpy bf x sunshine gf tropes????

Honestly along with the reader insert fic in gonna write(lets hope I finish it) I wanna write maybe a Seb x OC or something idkidk

Of the bachelorettes Penny is my favorite bc shes lowkey me (I sometimes teach kids and I want to have a bunch of them love housewife vibes)

In ridgeside so far Phillip is my favorite mostly bc I don't know the others that well amd im only gifting 6 people at a time and he just so happened to get picked he's so cute I love it when people are passionate about something

In Stardew Valley Extended Victor is the loml like yeah he's a rich guy but he also seems like a huge nerd and I love him

Also Claire(the joja mart girl) my tired queen plus

Also in terms of the kids Yuuma>Jas>Vincent>Trinnie>Keahi

Mystic Messenger

At first I was a Zen girl

Then I was a Yoosung girl

Then I was a Jaehee girl

Then I was a Jumin girl

And now I'm in my final form as a Saeyoung girl

I love him so much my man my man

I played this game for MONTHS like I was at school pulling my phone out to hurry through a chat room so i didn't miss anything

Was waking up in the middle of the night

The chokehold these men had on my PLS

Five Nights At Freddy's

Ok so at first i hated this game bc im a crybaby and it scared me so bad

Also bc I had an intense fear of animatronics and people in the mascot suits as a kid after going to chuck e cheese and being terrified of the things om stage and then getting stuck in a ride its a whole thing omfg

But then security breach came out and I was like oh? Why'd they make the animatronics sexy????? So like the first couple of games I dont have a favorite(except i think Chica is ugly dont hate me) bc like theyre kid souls but since the sb animatronics arent ghost kids indo have a favorite

Which is Monty

I love him he is my gator man<3333 also justice for Foxy I know he would've been cute af.

Dead By Daylight

Killerwise Ghostface is my favorite

And I know its a basic bitch answer but omfg that man could be the cause of my demise and I would say thank you

Also Oni is cool

Also trickster is cute

Womanwise for killer the Artist is my favorite shes so pretty I love her

I hate specifically wesker and the twins I feel like i needed to add this BC I hate them so much also Freddy kreuger but like thats obvious bc its included in my rules

Survivors I love are Leon(again basic bitch answer) Jake Park, Dwight, and theres more but i cant remember r n

For women its Nea(I main her), Meg, Ada, Kate, Elodie, again theres more but I cant remember and my brain is hurting

I do not like feng min or whatsherface the kpop manager lady bc of how people play them

Twilight

Team Edward or Jacob?

I am an Emmett girl

I am also a Seth girl

They have been the loves of my life since the movies came out

When I read the books I liked Carlisle the most <3

Honestly twilight making a comeback was the best tike for me bc of all the new content people were making

I love the series pls

Also again Womanwise Rosalie is the loml

Also alice

Also Esme

Also Leah

Pls the women are so amazing

Harry Potter

Also lemme preface this by saying I do not agree with jkr or anything she has been saying

But I did get into this fandom a couple years ago when i was in high school because of a friend

And I do still love the series but now I only consume fanmade things

That being said Remis Lupin has my heart

Also Fred and George

And Cedric

And if anyone wanted to know my house I am a Hufflepuff<3

The Outsiders

Through and through I am a Dallas girl

Can yall tell my type yet?

When reading the book I was also a Johnny girl and I literally wanted the best for him and was so mad When he DID NOT GET IT

Now that I'm older that entire situation is bullshit

Like as a 22 year old that still lives with her family the thought of having to take care of myself plus younger siblings with no help and also have the house where everyone hangs out stresses me out

Like I love my little sister but i am so glad my parents have raised us to have and keep jobs even if we hate it bc I know she would help me with everything

Like I know Soda helped as much as he could but GOD bad situation for everyone

Johnny did not deserve the ending he got

The Walking Dead

Okay so lemme just say that I am into dilfs this is a dilf loving safe space idc

Rick can get it and him being lowkey insane is attractive (do not be like me pls)

Love his long hair

Also had a crush on Carl when he was in the show (he is a year older than me im not a creep)

I have not gotten to later seasons so maybe there are still cute people idk i need to re watch

I also hated Lori and Shane with a passion

I still do

I cannot imagine hooking up with my husbands friend of my friends husband or whateverbskkakslal

I will rant on and on about this it genuinely makes me mad

I do however love Maggie and Peggy(is this her name? The sister?) We love country girls

I am a Michonne simp through and through

I am a simple lady

Cool woman with sword? Count me in

Once Upon A Time

Though I hate Regina I find her so attractive its not even funny

When I was younger i had a huge crush on Peter Pan

Now rewatching I am a Captain Hook Simp

Also Mad Hatter

Also Ruby

Also Graham in season 1 if anyone remembers him

Gawd these men

Ruby number 1 IDC IDC

Also Mulan

PLEASE

I have also not gotten super far in this show

Marvel

I'm gonna just list my favorites bc like I already feel super exposed and im writing all of this in one go bc I am so excited to share but my phone is broken

So number one is Steve im so mad he went back to Peggy but at the same time he deserves happiness

Number two Bucky again im a basic girl and tragic men attract me idk

Peter loml so cute also the only spiderman movies ive seen dont kill me

Wanda love her still have not seen Multiverse of madness last thing i watched is wandavison

Loved pietro

Thor my bb

I cannot think of any more

Doctor Who

I guess this one is going to be different because I have only seen new who and I do not dislike any doctor at all so i guess imma just rank them

9th(watched his season twice once when I was younger and was just getting into the show and then once a couple years ago when I committed to watching the show)

11th

10th

12th

13th(I do not hate her I am just new to her bc I am still on her first season since i procrastinate to make the series last longer)

Then i guess I'll rank the companions bc again I dont really dislike anyone

Martha(best girl i love her so much)

Donna

Amy

Clara

Bill

Yasmine

River(literally going to name a kid River bc of how much i like the name)

Graham

Rose

Jack

Ryan

Nardole

Rory

Mickey

Criminal Minds

Spencer Reid

I have had a crush on this man since 2005

Since I was FOUR YEARS OLD

The first time i saw him I fell in love

No one will compare to my love

Hotch is a close second I do love my dom daddy(I am so sorry for saying this)

Penelope is also my love but in a platonic i would kill someone for her kind of way

Also Emily

White Lotus

Okay so lemme start by saying

Season 2 >season 1

The only people i like im season 1 are Tanya and Belinda

Everyone else are kind of dislikeable

Well the rich guys wife is fine but shes not my favorite

Season 2 however i like like half of the characters

Obviously Tanya is on the list bc she is so funny

But Ethan is my favorite especially later in the season bc again guys like that are my thing

Also Harper but mainly bc of Aubrey

Then Daphne is the loml and she deserves better

And Lucia my bb

And Valentina

And Albie even if he seems like a "nice guy"

Love these characters

WE HATE GREG IN THIS HOUSE

Ouran High School Host Club

Takashi Morinozuka has my entire heart love this man

Honey is just me but male

And Haruhi loml pls shes so cute but also she tries to be the best person I love her

Also Kasanoda(and in the manga the girl he ends up with is kinda cool)

This again should also just be a ranking bc i love all the characters but im gonna limit myself

Kuroshitsuji

Again imma give a basic bitch answer and say Sebastian

I know hes a demon

I know he would hate me bc duh

But pls sir

Give me one chance

Also the undertaker

Also Agni

Also snake and joker

Grelle would be my platonic soulmate shes so funny

I also would like to protect Ciel(not the twin like not the real ciel or whatever I mean our ciel)

Like I understand that he basically siccs his demon on people and had them killed

But at the same time in my eyes he is literally just a traumatized little boy and i feel so bad for him

I know hes fictional but if i could change what happened to him i would

Finny is baby

I have typed for too long pls

Also thank you for asking this<3 feel free to ask other things and request stuff!!

[glimpsesofeuterpe]

What do you think of Mikey's Russian? A native speaker would be able to tell accents better x)

ohhh oh no i was thinking if i should be brutally honest (asif) and clown out or keep useless opinions to myself -which i did but then suddenly you ask thiss! how can i resist now? how can i not esp when it's about my native language?? :o

....

kay i am being unnecessarily dramatic should just spill it accent: - a medium level (toleratable) ...my own accent in eng is not any better, therefore no judgey is google translator is involved: - yeah 100% info

is it cringe: - yes but it's also cute and amusing what is gramatically incorrect: - this post - the "i am glad" line - other russian lines where he speaks in first person (at least those i heard in those 32 eps i have eaten read/listened to into so far) a short explanation on why it's incorrect: - (as example) they decided to spell 'я рада' instead of 'я рад'. they should have spelled 'я рад' bcs 'я рада' is female. the first person speaking has a rule and this rule says "there are only two genders in russian" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ a longer ramble on why it's it's incorrect: 'я рада' is same as 'я рад' but you can notice it ends with an -a when we speak in first person unlike english where povs / first person speaking is gender neutral, russian (and other languages that aren't english) got it on the opposite side: aka speaking in first person is "gendered" ~ don't deny mike is a babygirl for sure x) but the thing is: if he is slavic or related or learned russian or etc for some reason in canon, yada yada, that is to say if one is a weird nerd like me (very) into portaying stuff in accurate / realistic ways — that means, to say it bluntly, he is not supposed to speak female way in a casual daily life like no adult ru man (amab or not, it doesn't matter) speaks this way (especially when non moscow), even if they are nb or gay (i have seen some of them would pick other styles but not changing ways anyway; for example some ru men speak handsome "feminine-ish" / gay-ish /youknow style on purpose (anthony uly's & astarion's voices for ref) but you won't ever catch them adding -a (unless they do reading subs or books out loud or/and do the voice acting)) if it's all just aesthetics for sake of aesthetics then it's all just aestheticss i mean the most of listeners don't give a damn if it's correct or incorrect ... probably bcs they don't speak russian therefore it must be natually not mattering as long as the guy speaks it cute- ... so welp i just said my opinions as asked, so normal about this

[miidnighters]

miidnighters

independent supernatural oc multimuse | selective

activity notice as at 12 Aug

learn guidelines | muses | writer 

interact open starters  | prompts

mobile summary

mun + rules

Hi I'm Possum or Poss, she/her 30+, Australian. My rules/about pages are more detailed, but the crux of it is don't be a dick, standard RP etiquette, I'm online pretty much all the time so responses vary from being Very Fast or queued, smut only w ppl I connect with ooc.

muses

Barty FC: Aldis Hodge/Vondie Curtis-Hall

Immortal 'Time Vampire'; and can manipulate time Based in Florida Runs a sanctuary-like Cafe Been around since the dawn of time - can change his face to something older when he's Feeling It Make sure you hit him up on Insta - it's no secret he's been pictured existing for years

Bella Rose FC: Clare Bowen

372 (looks 22-25 ish) Vampire British based in New York Enjoys cosy nights in & feeding on men in clubs. Does Not look like a predator. Misses the sunrise so fills her apartment with colour

Billie García FC: Zión Moreno

135 (looks 28ish) Vampire New York Sired by Bella Rose after being injured in WW1 Native language is Spanish Writes smutty books; often has nasty smut scenes drafted in her notes app

Callisto Jones FC: Georgie Flores

24 Witch New York Runs her family's Apothecary (fifth generation), sells spells on the side. Will not get in cars. Visibly scarred. Not a morning person - get her a coffee; stat

Flynn Hunter FC: Colton Ryan

22 in human years Beached selkie Portland, Maine Can only see in darkness, otherwise blind Eyes shine in the light Studying music production

Hartley Greer FC: Margot Robbie

32 Supernatural hunter (tired - maybe it's time to retire?) Originally San Francisco, now wherever Freelance fashion writer Extra feminine as a fuck you to the father who wanted sons Here for a good time not a long time

Isaac Norman FC: Mike Vogel

35 Mutant/Gifted Human Kentucky Runs the family apple orchard Can talk to plants Southern boy/Society boy/Mama's boy

Lulu Sutton FC: Jane Levy

26 Were-shifter Australian, currently in America Shifts into a dingo at will & on full moons Environmental scientist Dresses like she stepped out of a 90's catalogue

Morgan Lewis FC: Christian Byers

32 (looks 28) Cursed human Nebraska Died once, now that's off the table Artisan glass blower Tells other immortals he's a vampire rather than explain the whole curse thing

Pls make sure to read the full bios when you can bc there's a lot more detail in there and links to verse pages etc <3

[dillydedalus]

for the book asks: 3, 4, 11, 12, 16!

3. what were your top 5 books of the year? i feel like i had a kinda solid-to-good reading year where everything is p good but few things really stand out so this list is cheating a lil

1. JJEU (james joyce extended universe): rereads so they shouldn't count BUT by far my favourite reading experience of the whole year was reading ulysses (novel of all time) along with burgess's book on joyce & frank delaney's lovely lovely lovely podcast re:joyce (& a bunch of other stuff). also i'm pivoting from portrait to ulysses but stephen is still my babygirl. i haven't finished finnegans wake yet but we don't talk about that. 2. palliser/parliamentary series, anthony trollope. technically read half of these last year. i don't think this series is as consistent as barsetshire but it's also in some ways more interesting (especially re: women). but like i'm mainly here for silly soapy victorian comfort reading about thee #1 iconic girlboss/malewife couple of all time, lady glencora & planty 'most principled & delicate of men' pal (blorbo from my books) 3. solitud, víctor català. no freedom as wide-reaching & no captivity as total as the catalonian mountains (& being a woman, but that's mainly column b). don't remember this in great detail but remember loving the landscape writing & interiority of main character mila. 4. games without rules: the often interrupted history of afghanistan, tamim ansary. just a really good, compelling history of afghanistan that i enjoyed & learned a lot from. 5. broken earth trilogy, n.k. jemisin. everyone in the SFFsphere already knows this series rocks but yeah it really really does. also it allowed me to be a [redacted] truther & be right which is always fun.

4. did you discover any new authors that you love this year? i've had jo walton on my radar for a while but she literally wrote a book (tooth&claw) that can only be described as 'trollope but everyone's a dragon' bc trollope pissed her off so much. i love trollope obviously but that's valid & it was fun, so i shall read more from her. i also had a lot of fun with t. kingfisher's nettle & bone so i will be reading more from her as well.

11. what was your favourite book that has been out for a while, that you just now read? 'out for a while' is so broad how do i even answer this. the posthumous memoirs of brás cubas by machado de assis has been out long enough to become a newly rediscovered gem several times over and it is genuinely a lot of fun (& much shorter than tristram shandy) so that's one

12. any books that disappointed you? the undercurrents by kirsty bell combines memoir and the history of berlin through one specific building next to landwehrkanal (where the author lived for a while) & there's some interesting stuff in it but also the memoir parts feature a lot of complaining about how her altbau apartment (which she owns) is too big & has bad vibes and leaking pipes bc of historical trauma or whatever & sorry but in this economy???

16. what is the most over-hyped book you read this year? cursed bunny by bora chang (tr. anton hur) is a fine if not especially memorable collection of short stories. it's fine - *single pistol shot*

[golbrocklovely]

Wait a minute when did you see his vacation post because when i read it he had about 5 or 6 comments disagreeing with him, not full on hating on him simply telling him his thought process did not apply to the general public. If you saw NONE then there is further proof he deleted them which is not cool. If you are not able to start a conversation and have people add their own experiences because you see it as a personal attack towards you, then why start the conversation to begin with. Just deactivate the comments if all you’re interested in is people blindly agreeing and praising something that does not apply to them. I was all for him starting a book club, that was his original idea for dumb & wise, but what fun is it if all he reads is self help books that apply to only him and how to get rich quick??

He looks up to Bezos, Musk, the Paul Brothers, Jeffree Starr and all because they’re extremely wealthy. And while it’s great to challenge yourself to see how far you can go, dont start preaching to regular people about how they need to have the same mindset as these toxic men who value always working and not having any time off ever and scam their workers when they all have the ability to travel anywhere, purchase anything, and do so without giving back to those who got them there. Musk literally said hes never had a day off and sleeps on friends sofas. Bezos the riches man refuses to pay workers past minimum wage, and rented out a ride in a amusement park all to himself and had no one with him nor let anyone else ride it, The Paul brothers moved to Puerto Rico to get a tax cut when hundreds of people on the island are loosing their homes and suffering, and thought they could break every rule and kill their sea turtles, and Jeffree Starr moved to the middle of nowhere Wyoming because no one in La could stand him. Thats who he wants to mirror his mindset and business approach after😕.

i haven't checked on the post since he made it. i was more commenting on when he first posted it, i didn't see anyone outright disagreeing with him until i got on here. but that doesn't mean there weren't comments disagreeing, i just didn't see them originally.

and like i just said in the previous ask, i do think to some degree he doesn't really want to hear ppl's opinions. he'd rather live in a bit of an echo-chamber. maybe i'm wrong, so don't take my word for it. that's just how it feels sometimes. bc it's not like he replies to ppl who disagree or tries to keep the conversation going. he just posts and moves on lol

he looks up to ppl who've made a shit-ton of money, and while i get that from a business stand point….. find better ppl. there are probably plenty of rich ppl who didn't abuse a fuck ton of ppl on their way to the top. granted if you're trying to look up to billionaires you aren't gonna find any good ones. that's just my personal opinion.

i think his issue is that he believes the one main way to be successful is thru wealth and business. and while that is definitely one way, it's not the only way. there are plenty of ways to be successful. but i think he hyperfocuses on business and working bc it's the one thing he can control. his emotions? absolutely not. but he can control how much effort or time he puts into something.

i've never really mentioned this before, but sometimes there is an intensity with him that concerns me a bit. especially when it comes to him talking about working or editing. he just seems… like he's ready to burst at any minute.

i truly hope that both him and colby can take a much needed time off when hell week is over.

[halflingkima]

Mid-Year Book Freakout

Books read: 65 Pages read: 20,485 Average rating: 2.91 (help) Primary Genre: Fantasy (wild)

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2024?

I have had a total of six 5-star reads this year; 3 are comics, and 2 are rereads. Anyway. A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland.

2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2024?

Speaking of the comics, I think Die, Vol 3: The Great Game technically counts. But also All the Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows.

3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to?

I don't keep up with new releases very much, content to wait for library copies and preferring to hear some others' reviews first. That being said, we are halfway through the year, and there's plenty of 2024 releases my library doesn't have yet. Some of these I'm most itching to read are Lucky Bounce by Cait Nary, Significant Others by Zoe Eisenberg, and (just this month) Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year?

Because I don't keep up with the newest of new releases, I don't usually know about titles before they come out, save for my very favorite authors. Case in point: I'm intrigued by Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. I'm also keeping my eye on The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava – a romance coming out in August featuring a Chickasaw main character. That's the tribe my family's related to, and I almost never see them mentioned, even in Indigenous-focused literature. I'm also just excited for a regular romance novel featuring Native characters.

5. Biggest disappointment?

I hate to hate on the Kingdom of Bones series bc as far as internet fiction turned book deals goes, it's a respectable effort. But both Crossbones and Dark Tides by Kimberly Vale are absolutely my biggest disappointment so far this year. The premise sounds so cool but the execution is absolutely flat. I'm heartbroken that they're not the books I wanted them to be.

6. Biggest surprise?

I have fallen off of young adult stories (predictably) as I've aged, but I wasn't ever really that into middle grade as a whole, but I quite liked The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer. I found it engaging and original without doing anything specifically gimmicky. The writing voice really carried the story, and I didn't feel condescended to at any point. (There was even a plot twist I didn't catch!) A sweet story that I plan on following with the sequels at some point.

7. Favourite new author (debut or new to you)?

Easily Foz Meadows – the Tithenai Chronicles may not be my favorite books of all time, but they are the most fun(? investment? pleasantness?) I've had with books this year. The plots maybe leave a bit to be desired but I like the characters and I'm obsessed with the worldbuilding. I will absolutely auto-read anything in this universe, but I'm also planning to look into their backlist until more is written. Honorable mention to Alexandra Rowland for similar reasons to just a bit lesser degree.

8. Newest fictional crush?

[Julia Lepetit voice] I don't- I don't... I don't.

9. Newest favourite character?

I suppose someone in A Taste of Gold and Iron or the Tithenai Chronicles... the men are too messy, but I quite like their powerful sisters (the sultan in the former and the tiern(a?) in the latter)

10. Book that made you cry?

Admitedly, All the Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows did get me at the end there. Ironically, the acknowledgements/author's notes at the end really hit me. Also, some bits at the end of Die, Vol 4: Bleed. Both happy tears lol

11. Book that made you happy?

In addition to those I've already mentioned, I finished KD Casey's Unwritten Rules series and god, I love those books. Also really loved A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandana.

12. Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received)?

I've only gotten a handful of new books this year, and only preordered three. The newly published edition of For Real by Alexis Hall wins this one this year.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

I'm a smidge behind with my 24 in 24, but most pressing is Mortal Follies and 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall. Preorders from my presumed favorite author that I haven't touched for. Over a year now. Upsetting. And they're only getting more ominous...

[scarrletmoon]

"the beauty of queer people is how often we can't be easily defined" - tag on a post ab trans men

to clarify first, i do not want to come off as confrontational, i'm just curious and idk if you have any interest in discussing this bc i dont know you but

i'm bi, a lot of my favorite people are gay or trans, and that comes off as a really weird statement? it's *the* beauty of, exclusively. what about when it's perfectly easy to define? a man saying, i exclusively like other men, for example?

why, and again i say this purely from a position of trying to get it, is being particularly undefinable an achievement? does confusing people help with something? is it more important in general for advocacy than ppl being simply gay? i'm kinda new to everything lgbtq+ online and trying to figure everything out

god sorry this is long but thanks for coming to this with an open mind

i said "often" and not "always" specifically because you're right. sometimes someone finds a label or identity that fits them, and is perfectly simple. that's fine!

i'd push back on "perfectly easy to define" though, bc that's often where i think people miss one of the most interesting parts of the queer community, which is how we challenge existing social "rules" by just existing. like, a lesbian is a woman attracted only to women, right? but feminists used to say that lesbians aren't women, bc you have to be attracted to men to be a woman. so are lesbians women? or a third gender? and who gets to define that (i'd argue, not homophobic feminists)?

you don't HAVE to know the nuances to identity as whatever makes sense for you, but what i'm talking about here is like, reading a book in high school vs specializing in a literary topic in graduate school. do you need a master's degree in Romantic Literature to understand Frankenstein? of course not. but it sure helps you dig out the nuances that weren't obvious to you until you learned more.

i also didn't say being undefinable is an achievement either, just an aspect of of queerness. any of our identities can be confusing -- me being a bi nb person who often presents femme but uses he/him pronouns confuses the shit out of some people, but not others. and who are my labels confusing to? the labels i use aren't always for other people to understand. they're how i communicate with other queer people. but they're mostly how i understand myself. cishet people don't have to understand me to respect me. my labels aren't for them. they're for me.

when i personally talk about "confusing" or "weird" labels, i'm assuming an audience of other like-minded queer people who're familiar with things like he/him lesbians and trans men who aren't men and people with neogenders. i didn't come out of the gate knowing any of this stuff. i learned about it by seeing weird stuff and thinking "i don't get it, but it's not my job to GET it and i can still respect this person even if i don't understand their identity". and eventually, it clicked. like, it took me years to understand neogenders. and once i did, it was fucking awesome! it's a way of looking at and playing with gender that made ME more free to mess around with gender and figure out how i feel

not everyone has to do this! if saying "im bi" works for you, fuckin cool! if saying "i'm a non-binary trans woman who uses cat/catself pronouns" that's awesome!

i guess what i'm trying to say is that queer identity isn't ALWAYS straightforward and i think we could learn a lot from each other by being open to weirdness. and like i said, you don't have to do any of that shit at all. most queer people aren't this deep into queer studies and they don't need to be in order to still be queer. i just think it's neat™️

[uwusillygirl]

Ok, normal people anon 1 again. Hi.

Ok firstly waking up to a new first one's free (which is so good by the way, sexy Charlie brown cartoon is iconic and it's only a small thing but the idea of Eddie just carrying Chrissy around the trailer just seems so unexpectedly sweet) and all these really interesting conversations on here is so wild, I would like to start every day like this please.

About the first convo you had with the second anon, I'm not well versed at all in BDSM (in fact I'd say first ones free is probably my most significant exposure to it) so I'm very happy to defer to you guys on Rooney's handling of it generally, but I will say that even to someone as uninitiated as me it seemed obvious that what she was doing with the Swedish guy was not right (and not in a she's not actually enjoying this She shouldn't be doing this kind of way but a this is not how this is should be done Ever, with Anybody kind of way). So to me it always seemed like Rooney was purposefully trying to portray a bad way of navigating a "BDSM" relationship. But I can get that when it's handled kind of badly elsewhere in the book it maybe doesn't actually come across that way and it might only be because of my obliviousness to the issues elsewhere that their dynamic in particular seemed so clearly terrible. It has also been a long time since I last read the book so it's possible I'm just remembering it how I want to as opposed to how it was. (I really hope I'm not coming across like I'm trying to argue, or think I know more than the two of you. As I've admitted, I definitely don't, it just surprised me that you said the Swedish guy was presented as BDSM, but then was completely missing rules, when to me it seemed like the point was the Swedish guy was BDSM Done Wrong).

And then on your saying that marianne's thing isn't really even BDSM, it's more self-destruction, I defs agree. I remember thinking that Marianne was ultimately very unhappy for a lot of the book because she didn't really want herself to be happy/didn't think she deserved it (the line she has never believed herself for to be loved by any person is one I remember so vividly even after all these years, the other anon is right that she did know how to pen an real corker every now and again) and that was a big reason of why the book resonated with me so much despite my own gripes with Rooney (mainly the things only ever happen to skinny middle class white girls thing) because when I looked at the way I was acting in my own life and felt like I was doing the same kind of thing (not necessarily in relationships the way Marianne does but mainly in academics and relationships with family). The ok I'm going to fuck everything up on purpose because I'm scared that if I actually try my best it will still go wrong and I'd rather fail because I chose to than take the risk of failing despite trying very hard urge is real and I think Marianne was one thing that made me take notice of that in myself more. And at the time, looking at my friends it felt like all the girls were really quite excellent at convincing themselves they weren't good enough to get what they wanted and even if they did they couldn't ever deserve it whilst the boys had this ability to just kind of float through life, self-assured enough to know that everything would go alright in the end. (I know this isn't true of all men and all women, and maybe want even true of that group of people but that's how it felt and it was maddening.) (Hope this isn't too personal, this anonymous thing is surprisingly freeing.)

Then just a round up of points that I have nothing to add to but really enjoyed reading: Connell's I'm such a good guy bc I could do anything to Marianne but won't is so true, thank you for summing it up so neatly; and anon's point that it's actually pretty awful that Connell doesn't trust her to know what she wants/needs and shouldn't be seen as such a positive of their relationship (in contrast, a better taste is probs my fave installment after girl talk because of that paragraph where Eddie thinks well she's articulated what she wants and why she wants it so there no reason why I shouldn't do my best to give it to her, my heart felt indescribably full after reading that); and then finally just the way anon ended with "not just by someone who "goes along" with her weirdness but truly delights in it and loves her even more for it" is just so beautifully put.

Fuck me there are so many brackets in this it's even more incomprehensible than the last I'm so so sorry. I swear I genuinely just came here to snoop on your conversations with other people but here I am on ask #3 already. Before you know it I'm going to be watching secretary (2002) just so that I can talk to you about it, and definitely agree with the third anon that I would eat up any recommendations you gave!! 💙

hi again!!! thank you omg you read so fast!!!

another fantastic comment! you didn't come across as argumentative at all (and even if you did, that's all good, i love some healthy literary and artistic debate when it's as thoughtful and respectful as yours!). i think you're probably totally right that rooney was attempting to show that it wasn't "good" bdsm at all, and i should have reiterated that better in my answer! my feeling is more that i don't know if she pulled it off/successfully detached from some stereotypes about "damaged girls" and bdsm, but i think your point totally stands and is accurate. (although the flip side of that is that it's totally fine to be "damaged" - only using this descriptor because it's marianne's word of choice, not because i feel like it's a great word for like, having lived a hard life, lmao - and into that stuff regardless).

also re: connell - just read this bit tonight and forgot that he essentially admits to taking specific dominating pleasure over like the totality of her (which is, in my opinion, way more fucked up in a lot of ways).

also, the fact that first one's free is your first real intro to bdsm is NUTS and i guess disclaimer for the group is that it's NOT ideal bdsm and poorly negotiated and organized and definitely a fantasy world situation (as is secretary, which if you do watch PLEASE let me know! it's one of my all time favorites! but another one that is super ethically sticky bdsm much like first one's free is).

it's so interesting hearing about how you felt about marianne! i totally get that. she's got such a tangible energy of like practiced, repeated self-destruction that's like this sort of quiet plodding along instead of like a sort of hot mess going up in flames all of a sudden like you'd see in fleabag or some of the other like feral white girl equivalents (and to your point about the middle class white girl thing... i know... it's so eye-rolling after a bit. there's like ten descriptors of her pale thin clavicle in this book). and that urge to fail and like refuse to even try in the face of male counterparts self-assuredness (or ability to fake it) is so real... so real... also not too personal, you're all good!

as for your first one's free notes, i always think it is SO interesting seeing what people's specific favorites are! and in regards to a better taste, i do think one of the coolest things about intimacy is that you become much more pliant and open to trying on and trying out different roles and little performances that you wouldn't have ever thought of before you were with that specific person. i like thinking that like if it doesn't make you feel adverse, and is a sort of open neutrality to the suggestion, then it's so cool to just like... try it out for the sake of giving that to someone, and trusting they know what's best for them. which can be applied to bdsm or sex but loads of other shit, too.

feel free to come by to talk about whatever! (and i'll see what i can do about whipping up some uwusillygirl approved recommendations for the group. maybe i can do a little Feral Girl collection).