#swans-chirping-in-the-distance

[everliving-everblaze]

Random question: do you ship sophitz or just like them as friends? I'm curious lol

I ship them! I love them platonically too, though. There's something so compelling to me about their story, and that includes all of the parts of it—the telepathy, the fights, the banter, the trust, the crushes, the dating, the breakup. But I absolutely also want them to kiss 🤐

[queenofapeacefuldawn]

✨🧡🌙SEND THIS TO OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING ✨🧡

THANK YOU!!!

[sleep-can-wait]

It was your birthday??? So happy (late) birthday!! 🎂🥳🎉

awww tysm! <33

[the-way-astray]

ooooh, controversial opinions! about time i dipped my toe back into the discourse. here are my opinions on the above:

agreed. i wouldn’t consider this series good anymore in almost any capacity. my last hope is that shannon at least answers all the unanswered questions, however satisfying or not she does it.

agree that keefe is toxic and manipulative, disagree that he would stop if he was told what he was doing. whenever he reads someone’s emotions against their will, they always show visible discomfort, and we know keefe is perceptive when it comes to emotions, so we know he’s aware of this. but he doesn’t stop. same thing with announcing to the room what sophie’s feeling. but that hardly matters because i don’t actually care that he’s toxic and manipulative. i care that he’s never called out or villainized for it, or that it never affects his interpersonal relationships in any lasting way. something like that should have consequences. for keefe, it does not. i can only assume from the way shannon’s writing it that she genuinely believes this is either a good thing, or just part of keefe’s prankster bad boy charm. also if you manipulate people, even unintentionally, then by definition, you are manipulative.

yeah, fitz is absolutely more developed, mostly because the narrative does hold him accountable, which allows him to face real consequences when he fucks up. maybe a bit too accountable. i would say, yeah, he's morally better than keefe. he has a temper which can hurt people but he always apologizes after the fact and tries to be better, and he supports matchmaking (which is literally eugenics) due to his upbringing, but other than that there isn't much wrong with him morally. keefe on the other hand, in my opinion, treats sophie poorly, maybe not on purpose, but he does. and it's never called out, so he never tries to fix it. maybe he doesn't mean to do it, but he still does.

here: "As for Fitz’s anger issues…they’re not anger issues. His anger can be dangerous and can cause issues, but he doesn’t have anger issues. Anger issues is a problem that a lot of people struggle with. It’s where even the slightest inconvenience can make you explode. Something like spilling water on some papers, or the clock ticking too loud. Fitz hasn’t gotten mad for such things. He’s only gotten mad at serious issues. (And before you call Matchmaking frivolous - it’s not. Being a bad-match is being totally ostracized and being treated like vermin for the rest of your life)" (quoted from a post by @sunset-telepath from a long, long time ago)

i love sophie, but literally agreed. her personality is incredibly inconsistent and shannon just kind of does whatever the plot needs with her in that given book. stellarlune sophie especially pissed me off. it wasn't development, it was a completely personality 180.

i agree that canon sokeefe absolutely sucks. keefe is not at all likable, but you can tell shannon really thinks he is (and most people would agree). disagree that they wouldn't be shipped in any other book or with another author. a good author could make me like them, as i've already talked about. they have potential for sure.

can't talk about this because i haven't seen shannon's apology. but yeah, laura's all but a confirmed homophobe.

yeah, in the actual universe, it's okay, i suppose, however we need to understand that books do not exist in a void. real people read and interact with them, and the implications of the gnomes and parallels to real historical events that have happened makes shannon seem incredibly careless.

alright, lemme list a couple things. we have: all elves following a very western culture, despite the fact that elves are canonically made up of all human races, which sort of culture-washes poc characters, the whole blue-eyes-regardless-of-race thing, and a lot of racial stereotypes (@sillyguy-supreme has done the hard work of compiling a bunch of posts that discuss kotlc's poor handling of race into a masterlist, but to give you the rundown, we have: songs being forced into being a asian monolith stereotype (which means it's impossible to tell whether they're chinese, japanese, vietnamese, or korean, even though those are four different countries with different cultures), prentice, a black father, being in jail for his son's entire childhood, the poc characters all feeling very token-y, and tiger parent songs). there's more but that should be a nice, good start.

100% agreed. i miss fintan as the main villain of the story. he was actually interesting. i do not give two shits about lady gisela as a villain, she is actually so boring.

agreed. the kotlc girl are all incredibly mid and terribly unfleshed out. i actually have a post about biana being canonically mid as a character cooking in my drafts. maybe one day i'll post it. but shannon does seem to think that all the female characters just need a single badass moment to be a good character, instead of doing the hard work to write a good character arc (see: della and edaline). fanon does a fantastic job with the female characters, though, so i can hardly be mad.

sexist comments: “‘Wow, most girls would be crying about a wound like that—most guys too. Even I’d be playing it up for sympathy and stuff.’” (Keeper, implies that girls . . . cry more???), “‘Makeovers?’ Keefe scoffed behind them. ‘You girls sure know how to have fun. Maybe you can braid each other’s hair and giggle about boys while you’re at it.’” (Keeper, implies that girls are constantly and entirely obsessed with boys all the time), “‘Eh, that’s what they all say. But deep down girls always have one guy they can’t take their eyes off—isn’t that right, Fitz?’” (Keeper, implies that all girls have silly, frivolous crushes on guys at all times), “What is it with girls?” (Keeper, stereotypes an entire gender), “Girls” (Keeper, said exasperatedly, for context, stereotypes an entire gender), “Sometimes I let boys sit with me, but I’m not a fan of girls. Girls are annoying.” (Keeper, self-explanatory, i feel), and the famous “Keefe smirked. ‘I think the moral of this conversation is, females are cruel.’” (Legacy, also self-explanatory). all the ones in keeper were removed in the graphic novel, so i'm inclined to think that shannon decided they were, in fact, sexist on second thought. but the legacy one was written in 2019. this especially pisses me off since the lost cities are supposed to be entirely gender-equal, and none of these things are ever called out by the narrative as sexist. so, uh. do with that what you will. there's also some incredibly sexist implications woven into the very fabric of the series, like when sophie thinks to herself that she needs to dress more feminine because she's growing up (implying that girls wearing more masculine/androgynous attire is a childish thing). there's also the fact that shannon writes girls being emotional by crying and boys being emotional by being angry far too many times for it to be anything other than internalized sexism.

[tumblr character count reached! list numbers are starting over from one, real number will be in parentheses]

(13) AGREED. there is not a single good example of character development in the canon series, though fitz is the closest.

(14) we absolutely do!!!

(15) agreed, but i would cut down to sophie, fitz, keefe, biana, dex, marella, stina, and wylie (i explain why here) if i rewrote the series (and flesh them all out more, obviously). but i agree that a lot of the characters lack depth to such an extent, it's actually strange. shannon . . . isn't the best at character writing.

(16) agreed. i badly want the series to end at book ten, but i get that there's too many unanswered questions and unresolved plot threads (which i actually have an upcoming post about! stay tuned for that!) for that to realistically happen. so there will likely be a book eleven, which i hate.

(17) laura's art sucks. JASON CHAN IS MY KING, HE'S ONLY FLOPPED ONE (1) TIME EVER. chrissa's art is a bit hit-or-miss for me, but i adore her fitz. i do think that no artist has been able to capture keefe's smirk properly yet, though (exempting jason chan from the blame because he's my king and also keefe isn't supposed to be smirking in any of the covers, anyway).

(18) 100000000000000% agree. absolutely unnecessary. why did that need to happen, please shannon, not every guy has to be in love with sophie and he's her literal cousin. i also hate the idea that a kiss can tell you if someone is "the one" and the idea that you should need to kiss someone to figure out if they're correct for you, or else your friendship will never be the same. shannon, i actually despise you for this. what the heck.

(19) yeah, and i think shannon realizes that. she's stopped putting wylie and linh in romantic-coded moments in recent books, thank the universe.

(20) disgusting, disgusting behavior on his part. and imagine if he did get his wish. how is that gonna go, does he think? "hey, meet my daughter, sophie! and my nephew, dex! they're married! no, that's not weird at all!"

(21) yep, that's a pretty well-known fact, and thankfully i'm pretty sure shannon is at least a tad bit aware of it. definition of eugenics: "the study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable". if we ignore the human part of the definition, that's basically what matchmaking is.

(22) this was one of my main points in this post. literally the entire point of the series is to get a different perspective on the lost cities. it was never about the neverseen, it was always about the societal issues in the lost cities. but the series is utterly focused on the neverseen, and not at all focused on sophie fixing the lost cities' issues. she even joins the fucking nobility. i cannot fathom how shannon managed to lose track of the main point of her own story so badly.

(23) disagree, i think fitz wants some peace and quiet. the bad match thing, as far as he's concerned, will last his entire life. i'm sure he thought his banishment would be impermanent, and that eventually they'd clear their names and fix everything. so fitz not wanting to be a bad match isn't out of character for me. there's also the fact that he's been brainwashed by society into thinking that's the only way to go. also, fitz is very attached to his beliefs, in my opinion. he believed the council were in the wrong, so much so that he was willing to leave the lost cities with sophie because he disagreed with them. with matchmaking, i do think he believes in the system, at least a little. that would make it difficult for him to question it.

(24) STINA AND SOPHIE COULD ABSOLUTELY FIX EACH OTHER, YES, YES, YES, YOU GET IT. i do agree that sophie is a horrible leader, but i don't think it's her fault. it's the council's, for putting a teenager in that position instead of being actually good leaders themselves.

(25) not only is it terrible, it actively takes away from the core themes of the story. at the end of the day, the council are the true villains. they are the reason all of this is happening, and even into the latest book, they just want to put a band-aid on the deeper problems by defeating the neverseen and returning to the status quo. sophie working with them defeats the point of the story.

(26) LITERALLY, BRO. see above bullet point for more explanation.

(27) yep, it's already been confirmed.

maybe i'll add an additional reblog with some of my own unpopular opinions but i think that's enough discoursing for today lmfao.

Gimme ur unpopular kotlc opinions, no hate zone (I might explain why I disagree with you but all respectful)

[woso-dreamzzz]

Friends

Niamh Charles x Child!Reader

Part of The Big Adventures Universe

Summary: You get a new friend

Niamh waves a little at you as you toddle around the changing room.

You're still new to Chelsea, to England as a whole so Niamh watches you from a distance.

It's weird having a kid at practice all the time but Magda and Pernille are still trying to sort out a nursery place for you so you're always with them.

Magda, especially, seems ecstatic that you're here. She hovers incessantly, always standing behind you on your little toddling adventures and sticking as close to you as possible.

It must be a new mother thing, Niamh supposes. Not that Magda's really a new mother but this is the first time she's had you living with her and being such a big constant in her life.

There must have been some degree of separation between you both when you and Pernille were still in Germany. There's so much Magda hasn't done with you yet so it makes sense why she's hovering.

You look like Magda, Niamh thinks, just from your general face shape but you act like Pernille, from your stance to the way that you speak. A perfect blend of your parents.

There's no question on who you belong to.

You're toddling again now and Magda is watching you with eagle eyes as she's trapped in a conversation with Millie by the door.

You're inspecting one of the benches, touching it curiously.

You drop one of your toys. The weird-looking bird one as you crawl under the bench to look at the underside of it.

Niamh reaches for your swan, picking it up and gently wiping off the dust from the floor.

It's an old toy but well loved, clearly tattered with a few fraying seams and nearly too much stuffing in one of the wings. But Niamh's never seen you without it and your elk toy, though she's heard you insist on calling that toy girl-moose even after a few weeks of calling it girl-elk.

She turns your swan over in her hand, throwing it up and catching it.

It always looks so big in your hand but it looks small in Niamh's.

"That's mine!"

Niamh looks down, feeling little hands on her legs. One hand reaches up to try and get your toy back.

You've got Magda's frown on your face but your accent is all Pernille.

"Yeah," Niamh says," It is."

"My moster Frido got her for me."

It's the most English Niamh has ever heard you say, at least to her so she crouches down next to you so she's on your level.

"Your swan is very pretty."

You look delighted that someone is talking to you about your toy and you hold up your moose.

"This is girl-moose because she is a moose and a girl." You flick her ear. "Used to be girl-elk but I like moose better so is back to being girl-moose."

"You're very smart."

Your head bobs up and down. "Momma says that! Because I speak languages well!"

"You do!"

You poke your chest. "I'm y/n but Momma and Morsa call me Princesse."

"I'm Niamh."

You let Niamh keep holding girl-swan as you grab her other hand.

Millie and Magda are by the door but separate when you come barging past, dragging Niamh with you.

"We're friends," You tell her as you toddle along out onto the training pitch," So I will introduce you to my other friend."

There's a few people out on the pitch and Niamh assumes you're going to drag her over to Pernille.

She knows Pernille's your mother but on multiple occasions you've called Pernille and Magda your best friends.

But it's not Pernille you go to now.

In fact you bypass her completely, pulling Niamh past.

"Jessie!" You chirp," My Jessie! New friend! Niamh, do you know my Jessie?"

Niamh laughs. "I do know Jessie."

"Jessie's my friend," You tell her earnestly, dropping her hand so you can hug Jessie's leg," One of my bestest friends after Morsa and Momma. You can be our friend too!"

Jessie's grinning, a hand holding onto your shoulder as you suddenly go a little shy.

"Do you want to be our friend, Niamh?" You ask, suddenly self-conscious.

Niamh grins. "I'd love to be your friend."

[periwinkle-the-11th]

Hey mutuals!! It's new years!! (or nye depending on time zone lol) What are you guys bringing to the party??

I'm bringing sparkling grape juice and chocolate chip muffins!

no pressure tags: @yeetus-feetus @cutebisexualmess @froggyinfear @5m-ay-a @wisegirl25 @quotidian-oblivion @mispeltnostalgia @chainlxnk @hershey-not-the-chocolate-maybe @moritashie @buckybarneshasmyheart @freaky-always @jay--o @icarusticrat @waywren @pinklotushere @awful-amateur @brb-on-a-quest @hayhay-bloring @multi-fandom-lunatic @lezberrycake @walkthruthewords @tristicorde @cygnusdoesthings @akyonceyar @goth1c-pinki3-pi3 @st4r-fire @undecided-shipper @spooky-lil-spider-enjoyer @my-castles-crumbling @iggydancebreak @derp-a-la-sheep @redpacheco00 @m1ka-777 @whomst-the-hell @dc-dorito @m4dm0n1 @auttumnsayshi @olivepopsicle @ohtobecat @superboytoyy @bart-allens-boyfriends @thedeadlymagicstrawberry @yourtwistedlies @iggy-gotthisaccountunderduress @roachesforthewin @elizabethhood @koala-bell @kanga-moroo @swans-chirping-in-the-distance @callas-panakes-tree @bookfreak320 @that-glasses-dog @acmunson2 @myfairkatiecat @anxiety-lemsbian @amandayetagain @jittyjames

I don't interact with most of you very often but i love you and i appreciate you and HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!

[queenpiranhadon]

Hehe new tag game, let’s do this!

Answer the questions, and if you’re tagged in the answers, you can participate!!

First moot: @labaguetteisdabest

Most recent moot: @daydreams-from-the-void

Kindest moot: @swans-chirping-in-the-distance

Funniest moot: @loife1m

Most aesthetic moot: @fish-ofishial123

Most iconic moot (for anything- you can put why if you want): @aylin-hijabi (moon girl)

Moot that needs therapy: @your-local-multi-geek

Moot that you really want to meet IRL: @someonewhogotanaccount

Moot that you know IRL: @iam1withthepeggy

Moot with great music taste: @that-multi-fandom-hijabi

Moot you talk to a lot: @fuzzysoulyt

Moot you have the most in common with:@idrather-bereading

You can put multiple for the ones that need it ;)

[cityofstarsx]

IM GONNA MAKE A TAGGING GAME CAUSE I CAN

Fun little picrew to do:

MINE^^^^^^

Tagging(np):@kale-of-the-forbidden-cities @ivyyyyyyysstuff @bebopbreakaleg @edaline--ruwen @castledmequeen @pixiedust347 @biomass07 @stop-ur-losing-me @skeelly @bookscorpion73 @depressedraven9 @mushroomcarrotstick @hijabi-desi-bookworm @bamboo1920 @iam1withthepeggy @landstedelesbian @fairytatality @nurture24 @reyna-obsessed @i-love-books-and-the-bible @midnightsmadness @halfbloodliz @mxnkeydo @amateur-air-guitarist @nerdy-girl3791 @tam-song-the-shade @sokeefe4evalove @imthatweirdratinthecorner @swans-chirping-in-the-distance @chredded-cheese @lemon-girl-in-devil-town @olivedumdum @awful-amatuer @cheezbot +anyone else!

[everliving-everblaze]

HAPPY BDAY

THANK YOU!!

[myfairkatiecat]

Hey “Top of the Class” fans!

If you’re not a fan, go read my academic rivals sokeefe au: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61746076/chapters/157849777

If you ARE you may have noticed chapter 7 includes this fun little song by Linh:

Which I have recorded for you!

So have fun with this little recording (and please don’t judge my singing voice today—I have a nasty cold). Sorry it’s a guitar and not a ukulele—my ukulele doesn’t hold tune anymore at all.

TOTC Tag List:

@bookwormgirl123 @thatrandomlemononyourcounter1 @a-lil-rats-art @imobsessed123 @jedikeeper @randomity-101 @stunning-mess @lucentstarss @justalunaticfangirl @alaydabug2 @nowjumpinthewater @swans-chirping-in-the-distance @permanently-stressed @periwinkle-the-11th @personnotofintrest @aspenaspenaspenaspenaspen @sketchy-potato @theleopardstalker @2857142 @sharksinyourswimmingpool @lostwarllock @ohmygoly @sophieswundergarten @rosenightmares @the-oracle-at-delphinitely-not @f1gure-skater @cuethesolareclipse13 @thishumanformislimiting @blooky8 @sophiefostersno1stan @keefe--sencen @doodle-do-wop @ryasunshine @winterfireice @ase-worm-on-a-fandom @milo-igidk @daggernamedhope

[unch4rtedwxters]

hey everyone!!!

@queenpiranhadon wanted me to let everyone know that she's lost access to her account!

the guess is her mom changed the password and she doesn't know the new one but it could be anything really

regardless she asked me to tell all her mutuals so ye!!

moots below the cut bc holy shit kae has so many y'all

@qylinscafvne @devil-with-three-heads @stealthetrees @kwilooo @n0t-an-en3my

@beastimus @certainchopshopcheesecake @bookish-phile @ramblings-of-lola @mushroomcarrotstick

@send-up-my-heart-to-you @rainbow-flavoured-skittles @studying--by--candlelight @sabrine-bree-the-bravery @hxart-of-thx-ocxan

@sunflxwcrs @shelfthe-reader @thx-sunsxts-addrxss @fuzzysoulyt @hijabi-desi-bookworm

@dreaming-in-daylight @cinematics06 @your-local-multi-geek @tastetherainbow290 @txna-blxckthorn

@its-moonlightt @therainatdawn @sxturn-to-mxrs @peace-love-and-french-toast @ratheread

@newyorktimesbestsellerr @swans-chirping-in-the-distance @mxnkeydo @queenofapeacefuldawn @electricguitarhasmyheart

@livelaughlovechai @yourtwistedlies @rey-diem @book-girl4evaaa @vexis-world

@justalunaticfangirl @riordanverseaddict @n0san1tyl3ft @thatrandomlemononyourcounter1 @ch1ckpeapancake

@doumadono @chaoticevilbakugo @angels-fantasy @lillibethnougatesquirethe3rd @awful-amateur

@kovu-bunnbunn @myfairkatiecat @hungergameswho @thebiggestnaturaldisaster @onlyslightlyevilgremlin

@obbsessedfan @sokeefe4evalove @therealsophieelizabethfoster @lizahamilton @someonewhogotanaccount

@aston-martin-in-the-ditch @frog-with-a-top-hat @peachsukii @raggedy-anne4013 @cantdanceflynn

@owocontroversy @collegestudent23 @expvalorant @slayfics @the-epitome-of-sunsets

@shrxe @cashmoneyyysstuff @starieq @wii-music-on-repeat @im-on-crack-send-help

@inara-tries-to-survive @4evapika @pockyyasii @azzo0 @andysdrafts

@sweetienans @tootiecakes234 @a-trans-book-nerd @sosolomon @deerskul

[swans-chirping-in-the-distance]

Things not to do regarding tagging:

Tagging the thing you're hating on

Ex.

🏧 swans-chirping-in-the-distance

I hate Santa Claus!!

#santa claus

DO NOT DO THAT!

No one wants to go on a tag looking for love and support on their character only to find dislike or hate on them!!

Instead:

🏧 swans-chirping-in-the-distance

I hate Santa Claus

#anti santa claus

Now people who don't want to see Santa hate can block the tag, and people who want to see Santa hate can see even more of it!

When people tag a bunch of stuff that's got nothing to do with the post

Ex.

🏧 swans-chirping-in-the-distance

I hate Santa Claus

#christmas #mrs claus #christmas season #tis the season #grinch

DO NOT DO THAT!

Nobody wants to go through the Mrs. Claus's tag to find a bunch of posts that aren't about her. Yes, Santa is married to her. That doesn't mean that this particular post has anything to do with her! And neither does the Grinch! I don't think he's ever met Santa!

Instead:

🏧 swans-chirping-in-the-distance

I hate Santa Claus

#anti santa claus #christmas characters

This is relevant info about the post and makes it easier to find, as well as unclogging other tags.

[mxnkeydo]

starting a new tag game because why not:

top five songs stuck in your head, GO:

1. Lover

2. Wildest Dreams

3. Style

4. cardigan

5. august

(doesn’t have to be in order)

tags: @somerandomhuman080 @swans-chirping-in-the-distance @the-princess-fangirl @loife1m

[bookwormgirl123]

new game! Go to this font generator and type in anything - it can be anything, really - a fandom you’re in, a word you like - then choose it in one of the fonts that you like, copy+paste it to here, then tag some moots!

here’s mine: ꓄ꃅꍟ ꍟꈤꂦ꒒ꍏ ꃅꂦ꒒ꂵꍟꌗ ꂵꌩꌗ꓄ꍟꋪꀤꍟꌗ

no-pressure tags: @nowjumpinthewater @friendlyneihborhoodpercussionist @justalunaticfangirl @swans-chirping-in-the-distance @myfairkatiecat

@ramblings-of-lola @keefe--sencen @kale-of-the-forbidden-cities @literally-everblaze

[ohmygoly]

I just need validation after a dumb debate with my dad.

Yes, I'm tagging people because I want this to reach people.

@doodle-do-wop @swans-chirping-in-the-distance @kale-of-the-forbidden-cities @myfairkatiecat @shadowuserannie @justmossyall @onemoreattempt @clarityroses2 @loreintheaether

[crumpetsandbiscuits]

making a kotlc moots map!

ok so this is something I just thought of, but I’m going to map out all the moots of the kotlc fandom, bc we all just kind of know each other

so reblog if you’re in the fandom with your kotlc moots! <3

@myfairkatiecat @alaydabug2 @fintan-pyren @thishumanformislimiting @lisalovesapplesauce

@aspenaspenaspenaspenaspen @thebestbookshelf @taylor-swift-fosters-it-again @unaside @thatrandomlemononyourcounter1

@imobsessed123 @iggydancebreak @nowjumpinthewater @swans-chirping-in-the-distance (ik you don’t really do these things but I want to include you 💙)