#this was such a good ask!

[prince-simon]

Is there a reason why wille and simon had their "what do you like in bed" talk rather late in the story even though it's quite a very important thing?

i mean in the grand scheme of things it's actually not that late in the timeline of their relationship. like sure, it's like idk some 100k into the story but actually if you look at their relationship it's like pretty early on. they had the festival and then when simon came to sweden for their first date (and then when carl and edvin are born) where they'd been having sex in person and then the next time wille goes to spain, they have the talk. between the festival and the talk are only about four months. if i look at my own (long distance) relationship, they're definitely a lot earlier than when me and my partner had that talk

so yeah, i agree that it's absolutely super important, and i agree that it seems late bc of the massive word count but it really wasn't. i mean obviously maybe you still consider that late but just from my own experience, you probably don't get into the super kinky stuff right off the bat anyway and i think the talk they had also definitely wasn't the last talk they had about this bc these things do change and/or you get more comfortable with your partner and might admit that there are things you do like that you previously said you wouldn't and all that

[houseofhurricane]

I also found that the mercenary left an impression on me!! I really liked her. I obviously don’t mind strong, beautiful, feminine characters, but I do think there’s been some exaggeration regarding how much representation exists of more neutral or even masculine women. The mercenary’s description reminded me of my wife (and I’ll admit that as a lesbian I’m maybe not sjm’s target audience…) who has shorn dark hair and dark eyes and strong features. And I find my wife incredibly beautiful, personally. But she certainly doesn’t look like any of the main female characters in acotar. She also doesn’t look and dress the way she does because she’s afraid of femininity or being a woman. There’s all sorts of different ways to happily be a woman. I’d love to see more female characters like the mercenary and I’d love to get to see them go on their own interesting journeys.

First of all, I just want to say a huge thank you for sharing all of this with me! I really appreciate your sharing about yourself and your perspective.

I think one thing that you bring up so beautifully is how much representation makes readers feel seen and cared for. SJM's core story does have resonance -- and as someone who has always loved pretty dresses and also being a badass, I'm in her target demographic -- but I think there is huge value in telling stories about all kinds of women with different relationships to conventional femininity.

I'd also love to see SJM tackle nonbinary characters, which I would love to see more of in fantasy in general. The gender binary is already a human construct, so if the fae are often more advanced, it stands to reason that at least some of them would have rejected it.

That said, just because SJM hasn't written it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. You've probably heard the hype for at least one of these, but I think She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan and The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri do a good job of exploring all kinds of women, including those who operate outside of traditional femininity, and those who exploit it as a weapon. I bring these books up all the time because they're both masterpieces and I wish they got a fraction of the hype that SJM's work does.

[turtletoria]

Palestine will be free in our lifetime 🇵🇸🍉🕊️ Don't look away, and let's keep supporting Palestine in any way we can.

[hansoeii]

look at you, you're gorgeous!

[elftwink]

if you're about to get top surgery, you may hear a voice in your head telling you to make a joke about getting something off your chest even though it's overplayed. im here to let you know it's your imperative and sacred duty to not only make the joke but to tell it to every person you talk to. and that you are right it would be funny as fuck. this is not sarcastic if you tell enough people one of them will have never heard it before and also it's still funny to every person who has heard it listen to me this is a once in a life time opportunity— [i start getting dragged out by the palace guards] commit to the bit!!! if you don't you'll forever wish you had!! heed my warning or forever suffer the cons— [castle door slams shut behind us]

[camilleflyingrotten]

ABANDONED CREATURE(s)

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TODAY

[moxley]

[daikaiju-arts]

May we see some Gangle x Pomni plspls I just like them in your style 🙏🙏

I don’t necessarily ship them romantically per se, BUT I do like to think of them as being close friends 💚 I friendship them lol

Also a Bonus:

[yourangle-yuordevil]

That time in ancient Greece when Aziraphale needed a speedy horse and accidentally invented the pegasus

VS.

Whatever Crowley had going on in medieval times

[may12324]

Halsin- Archdruid of the Emerald Grove

[lxboratorii]

and they say wine is romantic

[veil-of-lament]

everything comes to an end

[neil-gaiman]

So this was the unanswered messages in my ask box a couple of days ago:

and this is the unanswered messages in my ask box today,

and I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who has said such nice things about the season, and I'm sorry to everyone who had emotions they weren't expecting, and I'm impressed that so many of you have theories and don't plan to answer, validate or really even comment on any of them, but mostly I'm just sorry because I probably won't read whatever you've sent, not because I don't want to but because if I was doing nothing but reading Tumblr asks as a full time job I still wouldn't catch up with the thousands of asks coming in.

I'm glad you care.

[hg-aneh]

shined too bright

[kaison07]

Fell and falling

[reasonsforhope]

Sorry I'm kind of dissociated and my vocab crashes during that can you explain the Biden drug thing in just. Shorter simple sentences.

Sure! You're not the only one who's mentioned being unclear on what it means either, and I'm happy to help

(Context for anyone else: US Sets Policy to Seize Patents of Government-Funded Drugs if Price Deemed Too High, via Good News Network, December 11, 2023)

From the very basics:

When drug companies create new drugs, they get a legal protection called a "patent." The patent means no one else can make or sell the same drug for whatever number of years.

Usually, this is about 10 years after the drug starts being sold to the public.

So, for those years, that one drug company is the only source of whatever medication. And since people need their medication, drug companies can charge however much money they want.

Meaning a lot of drugs that people need to live cost way too much money to buy.

So, with this, Biden told drug companies "Fuck you, if you keep making medicine too $$$ for people to afford, I'm giving your competition the right to make and sell those drugs too."

The US has never done anything like this before.

This is a huge threat to the whole (awful) drug industry in the US. It will save people thousands of dollars. If he does this, it will save lives.

--

Edit 12/17/23: Quick note, as people have said in the notes, this only applies to drugs made in part using taxpayer money. Which is! Literally all of them!