#russian romance

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Pavel Aleksandrovich Svedomsky (Russian, 1848-1904) A kiss, n.d.

[wiltkingart]

I'm queer Russian diaspora and if you have any queer Russian lit recs that would be so awesome!

the only one ive read personally is Spring in Siberia by artem mozgovoy! it came out last year and the author himself is a gay russian man who escaped russia several years ago. i wrote my thoughts about it here and strongly recommend it. it definitely fucked me up big time but im so glad it exists, and was able to exist in this world.

i can also mention The Half Life of Valery K because i found it fun (and fucked up) too, but the author isnt russian and i had some issues with the ending, and the way some things came across. but. i still really liked it overall if you want a nuclear soviet gay romance

[little--skull]

Top 10 men i would kiss in the mouth, no. 1: Simon Petrikov

[songthursh]

Poor man, reading philosophy never goes right

Also credits for @stupidlynx for finding damn amazing memes the best ones AAAA

[jerseymuppet]

We moved on from frank getting a vlad the impaler tattoo on his ass way too quickly. Like, why’d you get that little man, hmm? Are you getting impaled? Are you getting impaled by men? In the ass? Whore.

[eff-plays]

So my problem with AA stans claiming to be "dark romance enjoyers" is that it's uuh. Incorrect.

I'm a fantasy romance writer and I have been in the same circles as dark romance enjoyers and writers. Like full on omegaverse non-con type shit. I don't like it myself and think it's wack, but the reasoning of the people who enjoy it is that they have lingering shame around wanting sex, around purity culture, potentially homophobia with men who enjoy omegaverse stuff, so a bigstrong alpha man who forces them to enjoy something they secretly want is a sexual fantasy to them. They can hold onto that "purity" and "innocence" and not have any shame around wanting sex, because technically someone else is forcing it on them. They can explore that safely within fiction, and don't necessarily want that to happen to them IRL, unless it's within kink scenes etc. And yeah I don't get it, but it is something people do and own doing, and I can't stop them so as long as they're doing it over there, it's none of my business.

But AA fans claim to love the "dark romance" of it, but then turn around and say that no!! He's NOT abusive!! He's NOT going to assault or mind-control Tav, it's NOT an unhealthy relationship, they're EQUALS and he ADORES them and won't disrespect them!! Just look at the backlash to the "kneel" kiss, people who got so mad that Tav looks distraught.

But look at what BW said in the infamous Discord screenshot: it's fine to enjoy the fantasy, but it's not healthy in-universe. The game itself says "maybe you enjoy degrading yourself."

But AA stans looked at that and went "UM NO!!! IT IS HEALTHY!! I'M BEING SHAMED!!! >:(" and "OH POOR BABY THINKS HE'S BELOW US AND THAT'S WHY HE THINKS WE'RE DEGRADING OUTSELVES!!"

And that's where my problem stems from.

An actual dark romance enjoyer would be like "ough yes Daddy Astarion brainwash me and make me your brainless little fuckdolll sex slave and make me take your cummies every day." Not "YAAS BABE YOU AND ME ARE EQUALS AND PARTNERS IN CRIME UWU UWU UWU (ignores all the red flags and pretends they don't exist)!!!"

So like. You claim you enjoy dark romance, but you're constantly, desperately trying to erase the actual, in-game, canon darkness of it. Any hint of it you try to excuse away, or blame on the writers, or say is OOC and wrong.

You whine and complain about "fixers" and "moralizers" and "fandom police," but you yourself are policing the very romance you claim to enjoy by sanitizing it and making it into something more palatable instead of accepting how dark it actually is.

I've yet to see any AA stan have a Tav who's like a brainwashed sex slave, or in an abusive relationship with AA. All of them are just girlbosses who are co-rulers, which leads me to believe you don't enjoy "dark romance," but privilege. That's the thing that gets you off, privilege and power, particularly a priveleged and powerful man putting you on a pedestal and giving you whatever you want, taking care of you, letting you get away with bad things because he has the power to make all your issues go away. (Is this why so many AA stans are also Russian ... who said that)

And that's FINE. But just admit that? Admit that Astarion's story isn't what draws you to him, that you just enjoy the idea of a beautiful man who has power sharing it with you, and AA just happens to have those surface-level traits if you don't engage with or misinterpret the source material. Hell, I'm a villainmancer myself, who's writing a villain origin story for shits and giggles where a girl becomes a war criminal with the loving help of her edgelord goblin king.

But y'all don't do that. And that's the problemo, lads. You made up a story in your head that isn't in the game, you idolize that story, and get mad when people go "Wait, that's not in the game???"

[animezinglife]

“She bent forward to breathe into his ear: 'Never give me orders.' 'Command me, then,' he whispered back."

- The Winter of the Witch, Katherine Arden

[oatbugs]

my research partner and i are huddled in a blanket in paddington waiting for a too-late train i already miss you and you and you

[lovelybrotherslovely]

Moldovans, Troitskoye village of Bakhumt uyezd of Yekaterinoslav Gouvernate

[pagesofjasmine]

‘You’re all I’ve got now,’ he added. ‘Let’s be off…I’ve come to you. We’re cursed together, so let’s take the road together!

| Crime and Punishment

[krewetkaandlombardn]

“I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Pavel Aleksandrovich Svedomsky (Russian, 1848-1904) Julia, daughter of Augustus, in exile in Ventotene, n.d.

[classicliteratureprincess]

"That's enough for me," said Sonya, flushing crimson.

"No; but I have been in love a thousand times, and I shall fall in love again, though such a feeling of affection, confidence and love I have for no one as for you. Then I am young…”- Nikolay

"Don't speak to me of it. I want nothing. I love you as a brother, and shall always love you, and I want nothing more." - Sonya

"You are an angel; I'm not worthy of you, but I am only afraid of deceiving you” - Nikolay

War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy

[escapismsworld]

Anna Karenina (2012)

Director: Joe Wright

[persephonediary]

I am a dreamer. I know so little of real life that I just can't help re-living such moments as these in my dreams, for such moments are something I have very rarely experienced.

—Fyodor Dostoevsky, White Nights

[yourfav222]

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