#no I’m not ok thanks for asking

[my-heart-of-heart]

Literally no one asked but just for the record no I am still not over how Jon’s fatal flaw was that he never knew when to concede and stop asking questions and then his last words in tma were “no [im not sure] but I love you” letting love take precedent over knowledge and logic and giving in bc he loves Martin

Still not over Martin’s entire arc being about his self hatred and isolation and then his last words in tma being “I love you too” not just a statement of love but a statement of reciprocated love

They both fundamentally changed for the better and that mattered—it may not have been perfect and it may not have been enough to save them from the narrative but it still mattered. I am utterly feral. I am so normal.

[big-barn-bed]

[landosmclaren]

seeing joel genuinely happy and giggling to himself at ellie’s jokes

thinking that’s probably the first time he’s felt like that since sarah

[polin-erospsyche]

This post was inspired by a comment from an anon in my ask box. They mentioned that if the Queen hadn’t interrupted Polin's wedding, they could have had a beautiful wedding night (if you’re the anon and you’re reading this, hi! And also, I know this isn't everything, but I'll touch on the rest. Small disclaimer: this got long and I’m sorry).

I agree, that could have happened. But honestly, I'm really glad it didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to see it, but I don’t think it would have been good for them. The intimate scenes we did get tell an overarching story and serve a purpose in the narrative. We’ve been told that these intimate moments are a way for them to communicate, so let’s unpack that.

The first intimate scene is about them discovering each other in a new, intimate way, moving from friendship (which had already started to happen in the carriage) to a lover relationship. This moment is crucial for Penelope's story and character development. From this, she grows in confidence and self-awareness. She expresses this to Colin multiple times, such as when she says, “with the confidence you’ve helped me find this year,” and later, “You’ve taught me to hold my own. You have shown me I’m capable of pleasure beyond imagination.”

From that intimate scene onward, Penelope starts to come into her own power and that includes her sexual power. Colin shows her a level of love and care beyond what she ever thought possible, breaking down the belief system she built around herself. She was ready to sacrifice her dreams of being loved and held for financial stability, a mindset ingrained by Portia. Colin helps her see that this doesn’t have to be the case, chipping away at her long-held beliefs.

Let’s now move to the scene in the alleyway, which links back to anon’s comment. Anon suggests that this is the moment they start repairing their relationship post LW reveal. That following this scene they were in a good enough place to enjoy their wedding night if the Queen hadn’t crashed the party. Yes. And no. 

And oh my god how I’ve longed to discuss this scene but I never quite knew how to approach it. At this point in the show, the narrative is like a tightly wound ball of yarn with so many threads to pull at. So, let’s attempt to pull at them. 

First of all, they’ve entered a whole new playing field. And they’ve entered this playing field while being “the oldest of friends really” so they have ammunition against each other. Pen has hurt Colin by lying (hiding the truth from him time and time again) about her identity. She has let him go on and on about his despise of Lady Whistledown. About his dreams of being an author. These were things he told her in intimacy. Those were things he told his best friend and the person he fell in love with. Not the woman who hides behind her column and has done so much wrong to his family and loved ones. 

There is a separation between the two. For Colin, in that alleyway, there is still just Pen his best friend, Penelope the woman he loves and on the other side of that there is Lady Whistledown, the woman he vowed to destroy. He expresses that when he says “so then you do not need Lady Whistledown anymore”. What he fails to realise at this point, and he cannot be blamed for that, is that Lady Whistledown is an integral part of who Penelope Featherington is as a person. That her alter ego is not just a mask she wears but a crucial aspect of her identity, giving her a sense of power and agency in a world that often limits her as a woman. Something that Pen has slowly come to terms with when she says that she no longer needs to hide behind this alter ego but that does not mean there is no value in it, something that she also explains to him after the Queen has crashed their wedding breakfast. 

Now I say that he cannot be blamed for his refusal of recognizing that they are one and the same because he is still holding onto his misbelief, which is that to be loved and to have a value he must protect what he loves and be useful. Part of that is saving and avenging the people he loves from Whistledown. He has given his word to Eloise, to Marina indirectly, to himself and I’m thinking to Pen silently after what she’s written about herself. He finds himself, due to his misbelief, between a rock and a hard place: “the person he vowed to destroy is, in fact, the person he vowed to protect, and there is no separation between the two” (not me directly quoting myself lol). To this you add all the shame over his writing and his envy of her success and you have a recipe for disaster. 

So essentially, in that alleyway you have Pen who is already well along her character arc and Colin who is still gripping onto his original, unchanged self. This represents a power imbalance. What I love throughout this season, and I might write something about this one day, is that Pen and Colin are never quite on the same level both literally and figuratively. There is always one ahead of the other. This, in the long run, is another recipe for disaster because they are never quite equal. That is UNTIL that butterfly ball when they’ve gone through their character arc respectively. That is the moment they fully come together. They become a unit. They are no longer fighting against each other but with each other and for each other. 

But to arrive to this moment they need to do it separately. They need to be able to work on themselves before they can fully be able to work on their marriage. Genevieve says it well “there is no such thing as true love without first embracing your true self”. For Penelope that is becoming Penelope Bridgerton, an amalgam of the best parts of Whistledown and Penelope Featherington. For Colin that is deconstructing his hero complex and fully believing that he is enough just by being exactly who he is. And that has not happened in that alleyway. Truthfully the surface has barely been scraped in that scene because she essentially shuts down his demons for an instant by saying that she loves him. However, the issues remain. 

So yes, we can speculate all we want. If the Queen had not interrupted their wedding, they might have had a wedding night and they might have had a talk about everything afterward. However, the lack of acceptance of their true selves would have driven them up a wall at the next problem, which was how to handle Cressida.

And I think that is why Polin season is actually so beautiful. It is not just about Polin. It is about marriage and how hard it can get, and how you have to work on yourself to fit around the person you love without sacrificing yourself in the process. It is about choosing each other every day, through the ugly as well as the beautiful, through the hard parts as well as the easy ones. It’s choosing to have faith that you’ll work and figure it out without an assurance that it actually will, but if the love is there, then it just might. That is the story they chose to tell through Penelope and Colin.

First gif made by my bestie @polinsated 💕

[canon-gabriel-quotes]

you made it onto a gianni stream did you know this.

INEEDTOLEAVE IGOTTAGETOUTTAHERE

[crushedsweets]

Could you do more doodles of Toby before the crash? LOL idk why I love that concept sm (Also I love ur art, I eat that shit up everytime U post 🙌🏻)

can u just imagine what things could’ve been like for them.

[zeearts]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[auxilioooo]

the fact that she has this in her space ship

[pistachi0art]

Had a dream that I met ur selkie gordon on a public bus at like 2am except he was full seal mode he was just chilling. Josh was there but he looked normal he was just chaperoning his dad

they paid the bus fare like everyone else no need to stare-

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

childhood friend!sugu vs childhood friend!toru

YOU’VE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE .

thank you for saying this anon i’ve been thinking of it a lot actually. i’m morally and legally binded to choose childhood friend!sugu no matter what because he’s literally……. my favorite Ever. and i think the inherent devotion of the childhood friend trope blends soooo well with his natural devotion. his protective urges. etcetc. i have wayyyy too many thoughts about childhood friend!sugu 😭 but it mostly boils down to him wanting to be by your side forever. he wants to make you happy and he wants to protect you and he knows you so well that he doesn’t trust anyone else to love you like he can. he’s selfish and he wants you to lean on him more than he wants anything for himself.

childhood friend!toru though….. i feel like he would be your estranged childhood friend. that makes most sense to me :3 like, you met when you were really really young, and ended up playing together in an empty park. he was a brat, kind of quiet, and you were just sweet, y’know? you were the closest thing to a friend he had as a child. then you ended up moving away, he never got to say goodbye… and you meet again as adults. you don’t remember him — it was just so, so long ago — but he remembers you. he remembers you a little too well.

so now you just kinda have to deal with this tall, handsome, cheery man who keeps talking to you like you’re best friends even though you literally don’t remember him…. he’s sweet though. a little annoying, but sweet. he has a soft spot for you. i think having anything remotely close to a childhood friend makes him feel human in a way he can’t help but crave.

sooooo. overall!!! both are good :3 i will always be a childhood friend!sugu truther before anything else but childhood friend!toru has sm potential..

[bobbydabob]

hello. i love your art greatly. so much. huge inspiration. the shapes. everything about it. i hope you have a great day.

also. i saw your requests are open. feel free to ignore this but. how about some rikai and fumiya interactions. i think theyre so funny ..

either way. Have a beautiful day your art is so awesome thank you for sharing. i found your blog because of charisma house and i love just seeing whatever you draw of anything..

Sure thang, they are my favorite duo too. Sorry this took like 1 million years I didn’t feel like drawing cartoons and also I got a big post and it made me nervous.

[sin-sidejob]

Pls tell Delaney I’m free whenever if she needs a wife

Maybe in another life~

art credit and many thanks to @olexxx who immediately jumped at the opportunity to draw this after hearing me talk about this specific ask, which btw anon, thank you

[meongppangz]

everybody loves yang jeongin ↳ jeongsung edition

[stagefoureddiediaz]

I’m still not over the fact Eddie called his mom and told her he was coming home to see them at the weekend after he had his heart broken.

I will never be over it. He wanted a hug from his mom (and his Abuela) 🥺🥺🥺🥺

[mydotguy]

Apparently Herbert has a dead wife called Barbara. https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxC6p1urD3p6bXJXefYGKpu2f7Ynp3FJ1h?si=PUruuOa9dTp0ObeZ

Ok well uhhhhh I guess his wife died by slipping on a banana peel and falling down the stairs….???

At least he doesn’t seem tortured by it

[christian-culture-is]

Christian culture is being one of the kindest people on earth. Christian culture is being one of the few people to stand behind us after October 7th. Christian culture is being the only friends who will not let me fight antisemitism alone. Christian culture is being so happy when our people are brought home . Christian culture is standing up for us against people who want us dead for just existing. —sincerely a very thankful Jew

in this house we love our Jewish brothers AM YISRAEL CHAI