#(‘women be writing mr darcy in space’)

[rowanthestrange]

The thing is, you could’ve made Rogue entering to “I’m The Bad Guy, Duh.” easily make sense if you’d wanted to. You’d have just written that he thinks he’s a bad guy all cool and nefarious - Rogue neither refers to himself negatively, and the Doctor says he’s cool not him (admittedly you’d still have to explain him pre-approaching the string quartet to play it, or it be magic but whatever).

You have Rogue think he’s A Bad Boy, but the Doctor be all ‘no you’re not there’s a heart of gold there’. He wouldn’t have freed himself with an I Am A Time Lord speech giving himself authority over Rogue, it would be appealing to Rogue’s good side that he doesn’t actually want to incinerate him etc. Rogue would choose to do the ‘good guy’ decisions himself, not have them imposed. He’d convince Rogue killing the birds is wrong, not just take his stuff and modify it - he’d get Rogue to reveal his better nature. The Doctor would convince him to leave his gun on the ship.

This is what would bite them later, where they’d both know, maybe with just a look, that if Rogue could have just shot the birds stuck to the glue trap, they wouldn’t have been in this mess. With Rogue then acting correctly ‘sometimes you need someone to be the bad guy’ by taking the controller when the Doctor was busy snogging him and dispatching Ruby himself.

Leading into a finale where Ruby is in a different dimension and relying on her battle-earpiece skills to fend off 5 murderous birds as long as possible, giving us an opportunity to engage with whatever her reality warping powers are but it ‘could’ just be dimensional weirdness, and if the TARDIS was still the one who programmed the teleport she knows where Ruby is, and luckily for her if unluckily for the universe, the dimensions are now all bleeding at the edges and seeping out and Doctor Who is a TV show, yada yada yada.

[midnightmayhem13]

You belong with me

it's me, hi (hi) i've been dying to write darcy so i came up with this fic🩶 if y'all have any requests don't b shy i'm bored as hell

darcy lewis x asguardian!reader; pretty fluffy no warnings enjoy🩶, in my head R is some sort of goddess w powers but it isn't specifically stated so yea👍

since you were one of thors closest friends you always got wrapped up in his shenanigans. you were also pretty close to the odinson family because you knew them since you thor and loki were little.

mr and mrs odinson never admitted it but they kinda hoped you'd end up with one of their boys.

though, you didn't float that way. and thor and loki saw you as family.

when thor got sent to earth, odin asked if you would keep an 'eye' on him. you cared about thor and honestly were scared to say no to odin so you obliged.

when you got to earth you definitely got a better landing than your dear friend. seeing as he was laying on the floor and unconscious.

there was mortals surrounding him though, with some sort of vehicle. you studied them. no danger, easy targets. you weren't gonna attack them. if they provoked you, you wouldn't let them slide.

there was a man, well in his age. a women, possibly the 'leader' of the group. but the last girl, she was absolutely beautiful. easily the most gorgeous women in all the ten realms.

"big guy brought his friend" the man stated alarmed

"i'm so sorry maam i don't know where you two came from and i swear i didnt mean to hit him with my car and she didn't mean to tase him im sure." the women, who you later found out was jane, rambled.

you only smirked. guess the angel of a women took down the god of thunder.

"don't worry miss, we don't mean harm" you said, voice thick with your asguardian accent.

"that's probably the hottest alien i've ever seen."

you turned to face the source of the angelic sound. you couldn't help but step closer to her.

"may i get a name, darling?" you asked looking down at her. noticing she had raised her weapon. cheeks still a rosy color.

"darcy, darcy lewis. it's an honor to meet you space person" she said charismatically.

"it's an honor to met you darcy. i'm y/n y/l/n." you grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. having learned from thor on how to make women swoon.

darcy's jaw dropped. this hot ass alien just fell from the sky and is now centimeters away from her lips.

"can you help us carry your friend into the van?" the man stated, ruining your moment

"don't worry sir i got it from here." you said shooting darcy a flirtatious glance and walking towards your dear friend.

darcy looked at jane who looked at her simultaneously, shooting her two thumbs up.

you picked up your friend as if he weighed nothing, propping him over your shoulder. your biceps flexed deliciously against your traditional asguardian clothing. darcy nearly drooled at the sight.

you laid him in the vehicle and you all got in. you made sure to sit next to darcy.

you told everyone what was going on, jane nearly crashing when she found out there was two gods in her car that had fallen from another realm.

the next day thor had woken up and you explained everything. you made sure he wouldn't be reckless and hurt somebody, especially her.

during breakfast you scolded thor like a child and asked him to behave. having to slowly explain he wasn't a prince here.

during your stay with darcy you watched her like a hawk. she was so gorgeous. she was intelligent, humorous, did you already mention gorgeous?

you told her many times about it too.

"you have to be the most beautiful women in all the ten realms my dear" or " are you sure you were born here? and not heven?"

she was equally as flirty. well she tried, she was constantly flustered by your gaze or remarks.

you two fell in love. from the very start there was just some sort of connection between you two. but this wouldn't be any ordinary long distance relationship.

you wanted to love darcy. you dreamed of falling in love since you were a little girl. but, she was a mortal. you were the goddess of (your choice).

you didn't let it distract you tho. thor fell in love with jane so you'd follow in his footsteps.

your glad thor didn't like darcy like that. you were sure she wouldn't like you if he was the other option. but darcy wished the same. she was glad that you liked her and not jane. she'd want her friend to be happy of course. but with you? she'd be a little jealous.

you accompanied thor with his hammer troubles because well it was your job. but darcy saw your capabilities while you fought alongside thor during the battle where all of your friends came down to help.

"well that was certainly something" darcy said as you and her walked away after thor and jane went to go do their, thing.

you looked at darcy, slight battered up. nothing your godly healy couldn't handle.

"you think?"

you let out a breathy laugh. you stared at darcy's beauty once again.

"you're gonna have to ask me out on a date if you keep staring at me like that ms y/n." you laughed once again swooning over darcy's humor.

"i'd love to take you out, my love. i'm just not aware of thors plans. i hope i can see you again.

darcy sighs realizing you actually were from another realm.

it broke your heart. you met the girl who you were sure was the love of your life, but she had to be from another realm.

"don't go falling for any other gods up there alright?" she giggles trying to make the best of the situation.

"after meeting you my love, i never want to look at anyone else." you said planting a kiss on her forehead. giving her a big hug.

saying goodbye was the hardest thing. but you left her with a promise to come back. and there was no way you were ever gonna break it.

a/n hi

idk if u guys would want a part two lmao also i got distracted and wrote my whole fantasy w my whole oc in mind but hoped you enjoyed. it's lowkey highkey bad but oh well. i love darcy nd i'm tryna fill up her tag.🩶 send requests PLEASE

[walkingshcdow]

I’ve been thinking about lately how ill-equipped Percy Blakeney is for a life beyond the French Revolution and how, despite later conflicts under the rise of Napoleon, the French Revolution (certainly The Reign of Terror) is an incredibly short period. The way Orczy writes about the French Revolution through her serial novels, which followed the success of “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” implies a more drawn-out conflict and, therefore, a longer, more drawn-out period of vigilante heroism on Percy’s part. However, historically speaking, that’s not true. When France reverts to a kind of monarchy, what does Percy do? 

I once posited to a friend of mine that the real spirit of The Scarlet Pimpernel is not about aristocracy but instead protecting refugees. I argued that the work of The Scarlet Pimpernel points out the hypocrisy of claiming “liberty, fraternity, and equality” for all men while persecuting some men (and women and children) and that, if alive and operating today, The Scarlet Pimpernel would operate in places where similar atrocities occurred. I remember this conversation as one of the last with that friend, in no small part because she claimed she did not want to politicize literature. I think Leslie Howard, who directed and starred in “Pimpernel Smith” and who played Sir Percy in the 1934 film, would readily agree with me. He reimagined Sir Percy as Horatio Smith, a man who freed inmates from concentration camps, in a film released in 1941. If it is so easy to see where The Scarlet Pimpernel might work his will in the 20th century, the question becomes where would he go as the 18th century faded into the early 19th century? 

I once read the “biography” of Percy Blakeney. I remember that he and Marguerite have two children, and I know little else of what Orczy imagined Percy Blakeney doing after the conclusion of the French Revolution. Knowing that she continued to publish novels until 1940 always makes me think that she understood the melodrama of her work and the popularity of her characters but it also makes me wonder why (and how) she limited herself predominantly to writing about the French Revolution. I know “The First Sir Percy” exists, but he’s not who I’m interested in. I am fascinated as to why Percy Blakeney’s original author never explored the ennui he must have felt when the Revolution ended and how that must have conflicted with his humanitarian nature, which would have been glad to see the war was over. I wonder why she didn’t explore other conflicts for him to take up arms in or why we never learn what his children must have thought of their father’s stories (if he ever told them stories). With the Revolution behind them, could Percy be a devoted husband in the mundane ways life demands a spouse to be, or did he only ever know how to show love through large acts of devotion? I suppose not many people looking at adventure novels want to read about domesticity but would Percy want to be domestic? If he was dissatisfied with it, what would an active character like Percy do to change his lot in life? What about Marguerite? Would she want to be included in the next round of adventures, or would she be happy maintaining the Blakeneys’ home and reputation? 

I once read a charming fanfiction wherein an older Sir Percy and Lady Blakeney meet the newly married Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy in an inn. It’s the only time I’ve been content with something that depicts Percy Blakeney as retired. Whenever I’ve set out to write him, I’ve wanted to explore the restlessness of retirement or else give him a new task. It’s why my Fae verse for Percy began in the first place: reimagining him and the League as Fae vigilantes allowed me to traverse time and space with the same, wild characters I fell in love with, with some added pizazz. 

Returning to writing Percy Blakeney this week has made me remember the questions I asked, which led me to create my original character: Percy Brightstar. Like his namesake and predecessor, Percy Brightstar is an adventurer; unlike Percy Blakeney, however, he is tied to the world not only for adventure’s sake nor only to make large-scale changes. He is a brother and father and friend and lover. He is more practical with a similar set of skills. He is so divorced from Percy Blakeney that I thought I could not return to the latter. I was happily proven wrong. Still, the questions remain: who is Percy Blakeney without the French Revolution?

I don’t know yet. I’ll be delighted to see what comes next in this writing journey. 

[bookworm-corner]

Sense & Sensibility

I’m assuming that we have all heard about and have had to read Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen at least once in our lives. The complicated love story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, “the most disagreeable man in the world”, and a “tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me” woman, “you have bewitched me body and soul. And I love… I love…” blah blah blah. Some of us had the chance to get invested and end enamored of this story, wanting to read it over and over again. Others, simply wish never to hear the name of Jane Austen again. Hoping you are part of the group of people who were invested and enjoyed the complicated and messy enemies to lover's tale that was Pride and Prejudice, I bring to you yet another riveting story by Austen, which I personally read in one sitting, named Sense and Sensibility.

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen’s first published novel,” It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy; -it is disposition alone.” Is book that tells the story of 2 sisters whose family suffers the death of their father, leaving them emotionally and economically broke, as at the time, women could not inherit estate or money from a deceased family member. With no option but to move a long way from their no longer existing home, to their cousin’s estate, the Dashwood sisters embark into what is to become their new life; complicated and unimaginable situations involving each sister’s romantic relationships, that challenges them, along with the responsibilities they both face as they are coming of age and the promise of broken hearts.

Marianne Dashwood, the younger sister, enamored by the idea of love she reads in books and novels, and who thinks books shouldn’t be read but felt, who I 100% agree with, falls for John Willoughby, a man whom she thinks will be the love of her life, and who goes from loving her unconditionally day to day, to writing her letters when he is away, and leaving her for a woman with economic stability… “filthy rich”. Broken, sad, and alone with no one to love her, except the amazing Colonel Brandon, a man who once he had laid eyes on Marianne, knew she would be his future and fought for her regardless of her “temporary fling” with Willoughby. This leaves Marianne crushed and heartbroken to be taken care of by her sister, who isn’t going through any better. Elinor Dashwood, the older sister, head of the family, felt responsible for her sisters and mother. When she finds out the man she is in love with, Edward Ferrars, has been engaged for 5 years, she finds herself internally declining. However, as the eldest, she feels as though she has no space to feel or show vulnerability as by any means, she must stay strong. So, she takes care of her heartbroken sister, with her also broken heart. Very big sister f Elinor if you ask me

Although this story is mainly about Marianne’s and Elinor’s romantic pursues, which had us incredibly invested and constantly closing the book for deep breath breaks, it is not what the book is mainly about. Austen meant to use their love affairs to give an insight of their personality and how each sister represented the book tittle sense and sensibility. Ironically, using what both sisters were lacking. Marianne was too I love with the idea of love, she lacked sense. Elinor, felt like her emotions would make her seem weak, and she wanted to be strong and reliable for her family, she lacked sensibility. Each sister Of course, figures this as they fight with one another, and they each refuse to talk about what it is they lack.This puts their relationship at risk, and without their lovers, all they had was each other. In the end it all works out, Marianne finds sense in her situation, as she learns that love in books is overly exaggerated and finds real love in Colonel Brandon and Elinor finds sensibility as she finds out Edward Ferrars was not planning on marrying after he met her and confesses to her that his heart belongs and always will to her, and she breaks down letting all emotion out, and allowing herself to be vulnerable.

It is obvious that Austen was a romantic novelist, however, it is fascinating to see how her stories use love as the storyline to something bigger. Two sisters, both lacking something the other has plenty of. It’s almost as if they mirrored each other. I believe that Austen was a genius. Choosing to mainly write on the life of those in higher social and economic classes, she wrote romantic novels which also provided moral instruction. So, have you read Sense and Sensibility? And more importantly, which sister did you resonate with the most?

[dystopiandramaqueen]

Do you mind writing a 19th century fic on osblaine ? Like when max said people look at him as Mr Darcy in an interview

I thought it would be interesting since it was such a patriarchal era with so many restrictions on women like Gilead

Absolutely.

Several writers were talking about that awhile back.

It's just so far down the list. If I had two years alone to myself in a hotel somewhere with just speed, energy drinks and weed and everyone would leave me the fuck alone, I could write... so much.

So 100% yes, and unfortunately not any time soon I have too many irons in the fire to take on a new project rn.

But tell me more anon. And other anons who agree. Do we just do Nick x June pride and prejudice? it overlaps perfectly from what i know of it, ive never read it.

Or just regency era? i can't remember who was... spearheading that one, or if they ever made anything of it. I feel like it was... someone who might see this. If Regency Osblaine was your idea- please see above- there is hunger for Mr. Blaine Darcy in the fandom. I can see it clearly in my head. Like Bridgerton Nick Blaine. Only he's the stable hand. Like- he comes from noble blood but he was born out of wedlock, an affair of passion- so he's a bastard- and can't claim his fortune i think this is literally the plot of Bridgerton?

The cravats and public dances where you can only touch fingertips, the EYE FUCKING FROM ACROSS CROWDED SPACES. Osblaine is a victorian courting drama. 100%.

and its on my list. if i get about 20 other things done first. :D

[fic-history]

Fanfic 101: What on Earth am I Reading?

If you’re reading this post, you’re probably wondering what this “fan fiction” business is, and I don’t blame you for not knowing! Fanfiction, which will henceforth be referred to as fanfic or fic for sake of brevity, is not a traditionally public-facing practice. As defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, fanfiction is “fiction that uses characters or a fictional universe originally created by a professional author or for a television show, movie, etc”. Essentially, it’s when a fan of a certain piece of media writes a story using the world and characters from said media. 

Now that you’ve read that, you might be thinking “That’s a really broad definition, KP,” and you’d be absolutely right. Any TV show, movie, or book you can think of probably has a fan following (also known as a fandom), and as such probably has some fanfiction written about it. As much fanfiction as there is, online archives like FF.net and Archive of Our Own (AO3) use tagging systems that make it easy to find a specific kind of story from nearly any fandom, from BBC Sherlock smut to Jane and Mr. Darcy working in a coffee shop in 1993.

In his 1992 book Textual Poachers, Henry Jenkins classifies the 10 ways that an author may write fanfiction of a TV show or other piece of media:

Recontextualization: Fans often write short vignettes (“missing scenes”) which fill in the gaps in the broadcast [or other kind of] material and provide additional explanations for the character’s conduct; these stories focus on off-screen actions and discussions that motivate perplexing on-screen behavior.

Expanding the Series Timeline: Primary texts often provide hints or suggestions about the characters’ backgrounds not fully explored within the episodes. Fan writers take such tantalizing tidbits as openings for their own stories, writing about events preceding the series’ opening [or after the series has ended].

Refocalization: While much of fan fiction still centers on the series protagonists, some writers shift attention away from the programs’ central figures and onto secondary characters, often women and minorities, who receive limited screen time.

Moral Realignment: Some fan stories invert or question the moral universe of the primary text, taking the villains and transforming them into the protagonists of their own narratives.

Genre Shifting: Fans often choose to read the series within alternative generic traditions.

Cross Overs: [These] stories blur the boundaries between different texts.

Character Dislocation: [In these stories,] characters are removed from their original situations and given alternate names and identities.

Personalization: Fan writers also work to efface the gap that separates the realm of their own experience and the fictional space of their favorite programs. "Mary Sue" stories, which fit idealized images of the writers as young, pretty, intelligent recruits aboard the Enterprise, the TARDIS, or the Liberator, constitute one of the most disputed subgenres of fan fiction.

Emotional Intensification: Because fan reading practices place such an importance on issues of character motivation and psychology, fans often emphasize moments of narrative crisis. Fans relish episodes where relationships are examined, especially those where characters respond in a caring fashion to the psychological problems, professional turning points, personality conflicts, and physical hurts of other major characters. 

Eroticization: Fan writers, freed of the restraints of network censors, often want to explore the erotic dimensions of characters’ lives. Their stories transform the relatively chaste, though often suggestive, world of popular television into an erogenous zone of sexual experimentation.

Funny GIFs aside, not only does fanfiction cover almost every fandom you can think of, but almost every scenario too! Please let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s anything you think I forgot to add!

Happy reading,

-KP

[pink-lemonadefairy]

Hi i forgot to put the 🐙 emoji in my last anon LOL but it’s 🐙!!! (Not sure if u do emoji anons on this acct :p) my favourite classics are honestly ANYTHING by kafka. I am a kafka girl. I love kafka. And then jane austen!! Pride and prejudice 💋💋mr. darcy is the only man ever actually i love when they’re QUIET (emphasis)

I’m pretty open to honestly most classic literature, i’ve been wanting to get some recommendations that aren’t the same authors. Sylvia plath unfortunately doesn’t really do it for me because I’m probably not her target audience but some of her poems/proses are good! I’m currently reading dracula/frankenstein (at the same time lol) and have been loving it so far. The only con about frankenstein is that i bought a tinier version so the words are huddled together and although my ass CAN read it i’d rather the words to be spaced out :-( not sure if it’s a me thing… i’ll just finish the book and see if i would get another version of frankenstein hehe

i also have a little life on hand rn, that is the book I’m especially putting on hold because from what i’ve seen people were Not okay when reading it. Idk about me tho personally i’m not an outwardly emotional person but i’m not heartless so i’ll read it when i can…

I have SOOO many books on my TBR list but i’ve been putting them on hold because i still have a number of books at home that i need to finish…! I wish i could show u a photo because it’s on my notes app lol. This might be a very unpopular opinion but i enjoyed reading murakami’s killing commendatore even though his descriptions of women r nasty. I read his books in a more factual (?) way? If that makes sense. If you have any book/author recommendations do tell me!! Especially female authors 🐙🤍

hi my love 💛 i’m so sorry for the late response :(

omg kafka!! 🥺 i haven’t read any of his works in full yet but i’ve read snippets on pinterest and they’re so so beautiful :( i love the way he writes. do you have any favourite works of his? :O oooh yes pride & prejudice!! the most classic of the classics i feel like lol. YES EXACTLY LOL, men when they’re quiet and don’t talk > 😌

i haven’t read any sylvia plath and tbh i’m not sure if i’d ever pick any of her works up because i’ve lots of bad things about them :( i’m glad you’re enjoying those books though!! :D frankenstein is really great!! >< i think they’re making a live action of it (?) which i’m super excited for !! and ik this isn’t dracula lol but i’m soooooo losing my mind over the new nosferatu movie coming out rahhhh!! it looks amazing :P I TOTALLY GET YOU!! the frankenstein i read in hs was similar and it was seriously a pain to get thru 😭 like why are the letters and words so close together 💔

oh god yeah a little life … ive heard it’s so heartbreaking :( i dont think i’ll be reading it anytime soon lol life is sad enough!! 😞 but people say it’s v well written ! good luck if you ever do get around to reading it 😭💗

ME TOO HELP ☹️ i love buying books but then my tbr just grows and grows and then i don’t even wanna read anymore rip. i definitely know what you mean dw! >< i think something a lot of people tend to forget is that we can (and are supposed to) be critical of authors works, esp those from back in the day! i think the problem is when it’s marketed as something it’s not & people say a work is flawless and perfect when it’s like…not, and even hurts groups of people, etc etc. idk if that makes sense lol but yeah! 😭

hmmm off the top of my head, since you like classics i’m thinking of virginia woolf, toni morrison, and maya angelou! for woolf, i read mrs dalloway (which i LOVED) and a room of ones own for a school assignment. i def recommend those! and for morrison, i read song of solomon which i also really, really loved. beloved by her is also on my list! for maya angelou id definitely recommend and still i rise and letter to my daughter <3 her poems are beautiful too!

i mostly read fiction / fantasy at the moment 😭 if you’re interested in those genres i can give you recs as well ><

[dwellordream]

“...None of the conduct-book conservatives thought to forbid a woman writer to say anything about nature—that is, to paint nature with her pen and her imagination, if she should have the audacity to write for publication in the first place. She ought not to gush over nature, as Marianne Dashwood does, and as Austen does not. But Austen knew that when a young woman lavishes affection over nature, however discreetly, as Fanny Price lavishes affection over the great panoply of the stars, and does so in Edmund Bertram's presence, she may continue to do so, as long as this topic meets with the man's approval, since to praise nature discreetly is to indicate to a lover that a woman understands her utterly subordinate place in it. For a woman to praise nature is thus a very discreet form of courtship. 

Gardens symbolized women in multiple conflicting ways. The neat rows of obedient vegetation represented women as the compliant creature over whom the man had total authority, in whom he planted his seed, yet who paradoxically planted seeds in his gardens, in patient and modest prelapsarian fashion. Yet the orthodox writers emphasized her nourishment of these seeds, not the planting of them, just as she nourished him and his heirs indoors. But most symbolically to the thoroughly orthodox man, she represented a Ceres figure—a creature whose mind and body, like the minds and bodies of all similar animal or vegetable kinds, moved at slow, predictable rates, depending largely upon the husband's tillage or his pastoral care of her; and eventually, in the fullness of time, his child in her womb—usually described as a son—emerged. 

We have difficulty understanding Mrs. Bennet's muffled anguish, which she displays only as inchoate feminine hysteria, unless we realize the crime she has committed. With Mr. Bennet's tillage, they had both intended her to produce a son. Her very crop—five daughters—was imperfect, and her peevish temper symbolizes how worthless she feels. The extended pastoral implications here are both sardonic and tragic. The garden thus represented orthodox ideas of women's four functions: to be an incubator for the heir; to be ornamental and beautiful, as flowers are; and to make herself so without knowing she was making herself so, in case nature had not performed that nourishing function for her; to be as passive and receptive as flowers are; and to be as domestically useful as vegetables are. 

…Austen treats gardens both mockingly and seriously, and the pastoral world as places both of feminine privacy and of crises in the young woman's life: women could sometimes command privacy in gardens, as they could not usually do indoors, and they sometimes found males there, either predators or well-wishers, and therefore they came to know themselves in the male world in ways that were not always possible indoors. For Austen, gardens also symbolized an androgynous space, halfway between the man's absolute freedom to travel all over England at will, and the woman's small, restricted, domestic boundaries. But first Austen had to disabuse herself and her readers of the bizarre sexual equations between the noun gardens and the nouns female, sin, temptation, dependency, debilitation, idiocy, and stain or dirt, for if gardens symbolized the original place of sin, woman was sin itself. 

…To suggest that Austen's Darcy, as the "preserver" of Pemberley, is a genuine green-world lover, may seem at first to compound the difficulties inherent in the implausibly double-natured character of Darcy, the haughty masculine snob, and Darcy, the benevolent feudal squire, stereotypically redeemed by a good woman's love. Darcy is a product of the female imagination as it responds to its predicament in the easiest subconscious way it knows how—through wish-fulfillment. He anticipates not only Charlotte Bronte's Rochester, no matter how vehemently Bronte would have denied that fact, but also the heroes of the Harlequin Romances, which sell in the millions yearly. This tall, rich, handsome aristocrat is also what every man envies; he stalks through the land, legally beholden to nobody—he is an orphan and he has therefore already stepped into "Dead men's Shoes" (Letters, 18), as Pemberley's Henry V.

Abroad, he acknowledges no social superiors and he submits to no constraints of courtesy or charity. His intellectual and social judgments are fallible, because he is too consumed with himself to judge reliably about others or for others, even assuming that he has the right to judge for others in the first place. Darcy appeals to women because the fantasy of taming the male beast who is brutal or indifferent to woman's dignity is as old a fantasy as it is in vulnerable, dependent children, whose dreams and fantasies of psychic wounds miraculously healed, parents reconciled, and paradise otherwise regained, are now acknowledged archetypes. How, then, does Austen make this impossible man palatable, and even aesthetically, or symbolically at least, believable to those who struggle along with the unredeemable Darcys every day of their lives? 

The answer is that he is really more comfortable outdoors, with horse and hounds, with rod and gun through brightest Pemberley, and with taxes and tenants, and in his free moments from administering the estate, he is much happier in his library than he is in the confines of female provinces, such as ballrooms and the drawing rooms, with their predictable shallow mothers and daughters on the prowl to ensnare him into a disastrous marriage. On his own estate he is legally and socially lord of all he surveys, and these series of reassuring patriarchal surroundings all allow him to function there as a sensible, responsible, serious, benevolent despot of the Hobbsian kind, who will engage Elizabeth's affectionate humor, as well as her ardent respect. 

The Pemberley scenes, which have transfixed generations of critics, accomplish Austen's aesthetic and ethical miracles, even though they perilously skirt stereotypes, and they do so triumphantly. Austen's alchemy is primarily mythical and symbolic. First, she invokes the spacious beauties of Pemberley, both the internal and external, which are to be her heroine's vastly extended spatial and mental provinces in the future, and then she deftly connects them not only with the present owner's inherited and authoritative male role, but she also invokes his pastoral forbearance, in both senses of the reverberative adjective pastoral. He is the proverbial biblical "good steward," a good father, or a good shepherd or secular pastor to his inheritance under his care. And as his housekeeper implies, he is as good a secular shepherd to his tenants, his servants, and his surrogate-daughter, who is really his sister, the terrified young woman "en Penitence," Georgiana Darcy. 

He is even singularly generous where Georgiana Darcy is concerned, for he knows that his treatment of her has been heavy-handed, especially since their father left him as her guardian. He welcomes the partnership of Elizabeth, who will be to Georgiana, indoors and out, a careful mentor of Georgiana's fullest possible autonomous development. Austen's secondary magical techniques are rhetorical, even grammatical, as well as symbolical and mythical. For as Elizabeth moves about Pemberley, looking at the fine scenes and vistas from the spacious interior as well as from the almost limitless plantations, and as she acknowledges with longing what she now supposes she has lost, Austen's indirectly authorial voice—half hers and half Elizabeth's, which extols Pemberley's domestic beauties and its woods, fields, hills, valleys, pastures, and trout streams—moves from the mere positive grammatical degree, in which beautiful scenes and their accompanying fine ethical values appear merely very beautiful indeed, and then later to the comparative degree, where they appear even more beautiful yet. 

But about the owner of this earthly paradise, only the superlative degree will do: he is the finest landlord imaginable. First, every disposition of the ground was good; and she looked on the whole scene, the river, the trees scattered on its bands, and the winding of the valley as far as she could trace it, with delight. As they passed into the other rooms, these objects were taking different positions; but from every window there were beauties to be seen. The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of their proprietor; but Elizabeth saw, with the admiration of his taste, that it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine; with less of splendor, and more of real elegance, than the furniture of Rösings. Darcy's housekeeper speaks of him in the superlative; "He is the best landlord, and the best master... that ever lived. Not like the wild young men now-a-days, who think of nothing but themselves." 

Readers' minds will inevitably contrast this patriarchal paragon with John Dashwood, the reckless hacker of his father's fine timber, or Tom Bertram, the prodigal son, wasting his father's substance on England's racecourses, or Sir Walter Elliot, who thinks only of the social prestige that his estate bestows upon him, and not what he owes to it and to its dependent female residents. When Elizabeth has had her fill of all these domestic and pastoral beauties, "they walked across the lawn towards the river," and she "turned back to look again; her uncle and aunt stopped also, and while the former was conjecturing as to the date of the building, the owner of it himself suddenly came forward from the road, which led behind it to the stables" (PP, 246, 249, 251). 

This abrupt arrival of "the owner himself" might well suggest something of the providential about it. In any case, there is something profoundly moving in the fact that Elizabeth has courageously allowed herself to spend time mourning what she supposed herself to have lost; she does so now without any sycophantic gratitude to Darcy, merely a frank and honest acknowledgment of the serious and important role she could have played as Pemberley's mistress. Elizabeth's mourning is fully as much ethical as economic and aesthetic. Expanded ethical and functional opportunities would indeed, she assumes, have been hers. Instead of having to pander to a contemptuous father and a neurotic mother, she would have been offered an administrative post worthy of her conscience and her talents. 

But because she is willing to go through a painful process, which in modern psychology is beginning to be known as "the work of mourning," and to endure the final pain of her last look at her lost paradise, she gains it. The owner returns, and paradise may yet be hers. After Darcy has spoken most courteously to her and to her beloved aunt and uncle, despite his embarrassment, and after he has engaged them for visits the next day, Elizabeth and the Gardiners tactfully leave "the present owner" to his magnificent estate. But now it is not merely beautiful in every way to Elizabeth; it is even more beautiful than she had previously thought, since shock has quickened her perceptions: "They had now entered a beautiful walk by the side of the water, and every step was bringing forward a nobler fall of ground, or finer reach of the woods to which they were approaching; but it was some time before Elizabeth was sensible of any of it" (PP, 253; emphasis mine). 

Elizabeth's mind is only intermittently upon these beauties so glowingly described in this monologue, half hers and half authorial. The other half of Elizabeth's mind yearns to know exactly what spot inside Pemberley its owner now graces. This scene represents one of those rare moments in Austen's fiction when a woman is actually observed standing outside, in her exile, debarred now from entering a privileged house of beauty and plenty, and condemned, she supposes, to return to a house of resentful parents and three shallow, bad-tempered sisters. Austen's scenic recognition of women's double jeopardy, incarceration or exile, is more likely to occur in scenes where women watch the men from garden plots or from windows, while these emancipated creatures come and go on foot or on horseback, upon their own freely chosen pursuits.

 Austen's subtle grammatical distinctions between the positive degree—"large, handsome stone building" flanked by the "natural beauty of the setting"—and the superlative degree, with it sensation of a crescendo at its height, as the housekeeper describes the master of all these beauties in the superlative degree—"the best landlord, the finest master"—and then the falling sense of tumescence, in the mere comparative degree of exterior beauties, as in "a nobler fall of ground or a finer reach of woods," all suggest the symbolic postcoital tristesse that Elizabeth is now enduring. Austen's skillful management of grammatical forms symbolizing emotions that she was not allowed to express or even to know about as an unmarried woman, should have prevented all critical stereotypes about the sexless Miss Austen. There is another fine pastoral scene, or rather two of them, when Elizabeth and Darcy achieve the reconciliation of lovers that is comparable to no other. 

Darcy, now free of all his false pride and prejudices, and Elizabeth now quickly freeing herself of the prickly defensiveness into which his insults have driven her, wander together over and beyond the boundaries of Longbourn plantation, having no idea how far they have gone or how long they have been out together. During both these scenes, Darcy does penance in a manner customarily thought necessary only for the female sex: As a child I was taught what was right, but left to follow right conduct in pride and conceit. Unfortunately an only son, (for many years an only child), I was spoilt by my parents, who though good in themselves … allowed, encouraged, even taught me to be selfish and overbearing, to care for none beyond my own family circle, to think meanly of all the rest of the world, to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared to my own. (PP, 369) 

Darcy's monologue to Elizabeth, which goes on for one whole page, contains many phrases by which feminists had earlier made their charges against the male sex: "spoilt," "selfish," "overbearing," "taught to think meanly of [women's] sense and worth compared to [their] own" are accusations that could be found in almost any radical or moderate feminist tract. Elizabeth then comforts Darcy by reminding him that the "conduct of neither, if strictly examined, will be irreproachable," as indeed, hers has not been according either to contemporary or to modern orthodoxies about proper conduct in women. She is now too tactful to remind him that he had earlier provided her with endless "provocations" and that she had "some excuse for incivility if [she] was uncivil" (PP, 191). 

Now she acknowledges her mistake about Wickham, but she will not grovel even before the man she has won, and even as she earlier had groveled in private, according to orthodox dictates about the immense and life-long gratitude that a woman in love owed to the man who had stooped to make her his wife. Now the lovers' reconciliation is complete; and Elizabeth can lighten Darcy's profound sense of guilt with gentle wit—but not at his expense. They now wander on together, discussing the best ways to smooth over the relations between their adversarial families. As Austen said in another connection with another pair of reconciling lovers, most of us know where we are and what time it is during the passing hours, "yet with lovers it is different. Between them no subject is finished, no communication is even made, till it had been made at least twenty times over" (SS, 364).”

- Alison G. Sulloway, “Reconciliation in the Province of the Garden.” in Jane Austen and the Province of Womanhood

[hiddenlife-manager]

𝓟𝓲𝓬𝓴 𝓶𝓮, 𝓟𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮!

Prompt: Y/n fell in love in with the one and only Rintaro Suna the middle blocker at her High School the problem was is that she lived in the Shadow of everyone else. Yet she was the main shadow of her best friend who as well gained a crush on the Middle Blocker. 

IMPORTANT: HIYA, I want to address this here. For Aran Ojiro there is this line that said he is 'darker than average ' totally did not mean to come out like that and I changed it by removing it because the entire line was a bit insulting because it seriously comes out wrong. I addressed it on a post and should say this is not edited and if something else comes out wrong please tell me I want to make a safe space. I myself am Dominican and I consider myself a black Hispanic so I don't want any wrong sayings to offend any one. Love to all!!

Extra: Female pronouns. I want to add that it was my first ever tumblr fanfic that I wrote on tumblr. I wanted to rush so the end isn't what I planned. At the end you'll be getting the song that I listened the most when writing this. Hope you liked it. As well as there isn't much romance but angst for the character so uh sorry I might do head cannon's for Inarizaki.

" You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. " - Mr. Darcy

“ Y/n! " A loud voice could be heard from behind. Raising my head up I turn to look behind me to see the one and only girl. " Y/n-chan! " The loud voice echoed through the area. A sudden shush could be heard towards us. The both of us turn our head to the shush to see the librarian looking at us both. " Sorry Mrs. Ayako! " The bubbly voice yelled out bowing her head. Yet with her yelling she was shushed once again. " Sorry again Mrs. Ayako. " She whispers. The librarian hums and turns her head. She quickly grabs a chair and sits down next to me. " Hello Y/n-chan. What book are you reading? " She whispers.

" Hello, Maeko. I am reading the English book called Little Women. " I answered her as she looks over my shoulder to see what page I was on.

" Why are you so good at reading in English I have a 53% in English literature. " She complains as she quickly leans back in her seat. " Anyway I have a really exciting story to tell you so uh where do I start? " She mutters as she taps her chin. She hums as she grabs my book out of my hands shutting it as she pushes it across the very table were sitting at. " I want all of your attention. Please! We are friends. " She begs giving me a pouting face.

" All right. Go ahead and tell me what happened to make the story so exciting. " I spoke out turning my chair to face her. She smiles.

" I was in Geometry and I saw him. " I tilt my head wanting her to specify who him is. " Well you know, Picture. " I nod knowing what the word Picture meant. " I was working on the Pythagorean theorem because teach wanted us to review it. " I raise a hand up after taking in the first words she said to start the story.

" Wait back track a but you were in Geometry isn't that your third class. He should have been in your class from the beginning of the day. Did you not notice him at all? " I asked as she shakes her head rapidly.

" Well uh he skipped our first two class and entered in Geometry. " She responded while I him nodding my head. " Well anyway there I was working on the review when he walked in. He was on his phone doing something the moment he entered he stood at the door as the teacher looked at him annoyed he puts his phone in his pocket and says ' Sorry Professor I woke up late so I'll be heading to my- ' He pauses as he saw that his seat was taken by the school bully. I could see it all because I have the window seat in the far back. So he walked up to the school bully and the bully told him ' Aw am I in your seat Volleyball boy well you got to fight me for it. ' Can you believe it him fighting such a loser. Anyway Picture rolled his eyes and can you guess what happened next? " She asked as blush started to go up to her cheeks.

" Huh I have no clue I mean you know him more than me I only go to the practice matches for you nothing more. " I answered. She nods and opens her mouth to sigh. She raises her hand up placing the back of her hand on her forehead.

" He walks over to the empty seat in front of me. IN FRONT OF ME! " She screams the last part and the librarian looks at the both of us shushing us. I mutter a sorry and faced her to see that her face was completely red. " I just can't believe it. I forgot to mention when he rolled his eyes it was so hot that I practically almost passed out. But what made closer to blacking out was him pulling a chair from the desk right in front of me. He places his bag on his chair and sits down. The professor walks up to him and tells him what page we were working on before he interrupted the class. Like how rude is our Professor he hums and gets to work. " She shines me a smile that lit up the dark library.

" I guess this was an exciting story worth my time. Well Maeko I enjoy our time together but I have to head home early. " I said getting up from my chair as I grabbed the bag hanging on the chair and placed it on the table. A little half a heart charm shone seeing the red heart brightly look at me.

" Aw I would walk with you if it wasn't for the fact that I have soccer practice. " She pouts and gets up from her seat.

" Oh it's fine I can handle the walk home. You probably should head to soccer practice now. Be an early bird. " She hums and grabs her bag she reaches the book she slid and slid it back to me I got it placing it in my bag.

" Y/n I was wondering if you could let me copy your English Literature notes. I know you are taking college classes but I bet you have good notes to help me for my next test. " She compliments me as she leans towards me her long brown hair falling in front of her eyes covering her beautiful hazel eyes that shines in the sun.

" Uh yeah here. " I dug my hand into the bag my eyes looked inside. My hands pushed notebooks aside while I looked for my English Literature notes, once my eyes caught the dull navy blue notebook I pulled it out. I looked at the words in the front to see English Literature. " I need this back by tomorrow morning so keep it safe. " I specified for her to understand.

" It's like you don't trust me I'll keep it safe no matter what I promise. You are such a great Friend. " I nod smiling back to her bright self. " Well I'm heading out thanks again. " I him as she swings her bag over her shoulder while she jogs gently out of the Library, the moment my eyes couldn't see her with a low sigh I swing my bag over my shoulder pushing in the two chairs in. I start to head towards the librarian. Pulling my phone out of my pocket I start to look for my music app, lowering my phone down to face the one person who seemed to understand me I smile towards the old lady. " Bye Mrs. Ayako sorry about Maeko being a bit loud. " I spoke out while I leaned on her check out desk.

" Oh it's nothing just tell her to be a bit more quieter next time. " She calmly said while she picked up a pen and started to write on a piece of paper. I wave as I turn around raising my phone up. " Y/n wait. " I turn around to see her turning around as she heads to her private office. I walked towards her desk once more looking through the glass of her office I could see she was shuffling around in her office. " Here it is! " She yelled out walking back to the desk walking back she held a large packet of paper and slid it on the table. " I did promise to edit your story. I don't read scripts at all unless I edit it but this script idea is quite amazing. The love story between them made me tear up a bit maybe one day you will be able to direct a movie or show for once. Their romance made me feel young again. Besides that I know I said I will try to get it done when I am free I got it down in three days. Whatever inspired you to write such a story, a script continue following it. " I smile bowing.

" Thank you so much. I will read your notes and things you want me to do and change and will bring you back the final product of it. " I grabbed the packet placing it in my bag and bowing once more. She waves me a good bye as I head out of the library. Walking out I reached in to my bags front pockets grabbing a pair of earbuds so I could listen to music. I headed towards my cubby that held my outside shoes. While walking I thought of the plot of my script.

" A girl who lives in the shadow unknown by everyone else except for her best friend who grew up with her. Together they were considered the Yin Yang. The main girl Yin the darkness. Her best friend Yang the heavens. Though the Yang is mainly thought of as manly. The two helped each other the more they grew up her best friend or should I say Yang gained looks, money, more friends, and known by all while the main girl or Yin got deeper into the shadows the shadows of being forgotten. Though Yang was well known Yang never forgot who her real best friend was, Yin. Yet they never seemed to drift apart ever even if they both were put in different situation. Until Yin one day saw a boy a boy who grabbed her attention because for once he wasn't like all the others who cares about Yang, he cared about himself at most. Wanting to announce her findings to her best friend she rushed Yang to announce it but for her luck Yang was looking for her too. "

I paused as I made it to my cubby quickly unlocking it with my key I looked inside to see my skateboard and my shoes slipping my school shoes off I quickly placed them inside pulling my outside shoes out of the cubby. I slip them on and fix the back of the shoes once they were firmly on I reached out for my skateboard holding it in my arms. I start heading towards the volleyball gym as it is my way to head home behind the gym is a trail and the trail is the only way to enter the forest where our neighborhood lays. While heading the gym I go back to the script wanting to finish the simple recap.

" The Yin of the friendship ran to the Yang of the friendship. The moment Yang saw Yin she yelled our wanting to tell Yin her big news. Once the both stood in front of each other Yang announced first that she had something huge. With Yang's announcement Yin put aside her's for her friend. Yin will forever think about the moment. Yang announced that she had a crush bringing Yin's interest even more Yin thought that if they both had a crush the both of them could work hard to ask them out but when Yin asked who her answer shocked Yin. Yang announced that she gained a crush on the boy who Yin saw. Yin smiled brightly towards her best friend but inside Yin's heart cracked yet stayed together with just band aids. Yin knew what she had to do, to give up on the one thing that made her feel different. Yang meant so much for her that Yin knew what she had to do. "

I glance up to see the gym I quickly wanted to walk past it as Picture was there. But inside I wanted to see if they all were doing anything really interesting. I looked at the time on my phone to see that I had spare time to at least check if they were doing anything. They wouldn't notice me at all because well I live in the shadows behind Maeko. With a deep breath in I quickly jog towards the gym door. With a quick skip over the outside shoes I slid towards the door peaking my head out to see what is happening in the gym.

As my eyes examined the area I saw what they were doing. The team seemed to be setting up the net. The most popular one in the team Atsumu was holding onto one end of the one volleyball pole, on the other end was his twin the second most popular one Osamu they both were twins and we'll I always thought that maybe Maeko would have a crush on one of them because they seemed to be in the same level of popularity as the both but you can never judge a book by its cover. I never talked to the twins even if they were the same year as me. Osamu is in my class but we never held a conversation. Atsumu and I have not once been put in a situation to talk to each other.

With a shake of my head I glance towards Ojiro many found him quite interesting as a player. Ojiro-san was running across the gym back and forth with a broom to sweep up whatever was left by classes throughout the day. Ojiro-san a third year he tends to not want to stick out do he disappears through the day. Free time which isn't so common he disappears to be only found when classes begin. Only once did I ever accidently talk to him I was heading home when he was taking a jog down the trail. Long story short I was riding my skateboard and a rock was in front I flung forward while my board was flung behind me hitting Ojiro who was running behind me. I apologized but I have a feeling he still hates me for it.

With glance around once more I saw Kita-san handing water bottles out to the entire team. Kita a year above me seemed to interest me in a way but not in a crush way more of a mentor. I barely knew anything about him except for the fact that we both tend to volunteer to water the flowers in our school garden. Kita barely ever talks and if he does it is only to pass things between us. He cares about flowers and is the reason why I have my own garden in front of my window. But there was nothing between us the only thing that seemed important was that we both volunteer when lunch comes to water the garden.

With another glance I noticed some weren't there at all. Including Picture who I thought would be there. But with his habit of being a bit late to events I guess you couldn't ever blame him. After all he was such a good Middle blocker he makes up for being a bit unenergized to do anything. He wasn't anywhere in the gym and even the Libero was a bit late. I sigh feeling like I wasted my time being here if Picture wasn't here. Inside maybe I wanted him to be there so I could see him play without having to act as if I wasn't interested around Maeko. So I could admire and take in the unique sport. Sure on the outside it seemed as if I didn't want him there but in reality I wanted him there.

" If you are here to confess to Atsumu just leave he'll reject you. " I jump screaming out loud in fear as I walk back after my feet hit the ground. I recognized the voice the voice of Picture, I turn around to see him standing there with his hands in his pocket he looked so uninterested. Someone runs up from behind him noticing that it was the Libero of the team.

" Woah aren't you Maeko's friend. Uh what's your name uh Mina, Mana, Mio, Mini Misaki something with a M. Or is it something else? Whatever but you are one of her friends right? " He asked and I stood there blinking as I took in what he said. Maeko's Friend.

" Y/n's my name. " I muttered noticing that I got quiet.

" Can I just call you Maeko's friend it is just so much easier? " The Libero asked. I shrug use to the nickname Maeko's Friend it was something that I grew up.

" Is it the Maeko in my class right? " Suna asked the Libero nods and he hums. " She is good looking I guess. Pretty smart as well if I remember correctly I sat in front of her in class today. " Suna spoke out. The Libero looks at Suna and gasps.

" Cool wish I was you! " He spoke out turning to look at me " Maeko's friend on a scale of 1 to 10 how close are you to her? " He asked. We are best friends but no one knows it because they think Kikyo is her best friend because they hang out a whole bunch in public.

" A 9 we are best friends. " I mutter the Libero laughs out loud and places a hand on my shoulder.

" You are so funny it is obvious anyone who take a 9 and 10 is Kikyo. I mean Maeko and Kikyo are both popular they are obviously closer. We would have known you if you were her best friend. Suna do you recognize this girl? " He asks.

" Not at all. What hear are you in even? " He asked and I froze he didn't even know the year I am in the same year he is in. I- I- I- sat next to him in the beginning of the year in the auditorium. Maeko sat next to me. " Now that I think about it Maeko was sitting next to me in the beginning of the year in the auditorium. " My heart that was held with Band-Aids felt as if it had a part crash on the ground. He sat directly next to me and he didn't even noticed me but the bright Maeko next to me the one a seat away he noticed her.

" You are so lucky she is in your year and class I'm a third year she'll probably only go for guys I'm her year. Anyway Maeko's friend you can believe what you want we won't stop you. But Suna's is right if you are here to ask Atsumu you will be rejected and placed on the wall of rejection. Suna takes photos of the girls who are rejected by Atsumu. " I shake my head and grip my skateboard.

" I just came to see if I left anything in Gym nothing more nothing less. " I turn around and jog away wanting to leave that whole situation. The last words yelled towards me made me want to cry bringing reality to me.

" HEY MAEKO'S FRIEND! " I ran away seeing the trail I quickly turned and dropped my skateboard onto the ground as I hopped onto it riding it down the trail while my thoughts swirled. I kept mumbling the same two words over and over.

" Maeko's Friend

Maeko's Friend

Maeko's Friend

Maeko's Friend

Maeko's Friend! "

" I'm only Maeko's Friend. I am nothing more all I am is in her shadow. Because that is the best I can do Maeko has perfect grades and all I have is 100% in all of my classes while Maeko succeeds with almost 109% in all of her classes except for English Literature. She helps teachers so much she gets extra credit. " I could feel tears going down my cheek as I stood on my board that moved down the trail.

" If I was Maeko maybe Suna would accept my confession. " I muttered. I shake my head knowing I could never be her because I am me. I am a shadow I am Maeko's shadow. " Nothing more. I could be less at least I am a shadow. " I muttered wiping the tears off of my cheek as I kick off the ground to be pushed more forward and a bit faster. Maeko is an amazing person I have nothing against her we are best friends. Right? " Are we really. "

" We are friends. "

" You are such a great Friend. " I muttered remembering her saying that. Not once did I ever hear her call me best friend since the beginning of High School. I'll just ask her tonight.

I take a deep breath in as I place my earbuds in while I stood on my skateboard. All I wanted to escape this world in some way if music was the safest it was the only way to distract myself from the world and what Rintaro said about me back there. As the jazz music started to play I let my body relay a bit placing my phone in my bags pocket I stared forward occasionally pushing the ground to move forward faster. The trail even if it now isn’t a trail and is a sidewalk next to a road was smooth letting me not worry about tripping on any stones like last year that caused that whole Ojiro incident. 

I bopped my head back and forth enjoying the music played through my earbuds. It was calm nothing so electric like Maeko’s pop music she listens to. The wind blew on my face I felt it feeling refreshing the wind made me feel free for once. I felt as if I was flying away from my problems. In school I felt as if I was a shadow I am a shadow but when writing scripts to movies or shows I want to direct helps me move on. 

After a bit of skating I was able to make it home the moment I saw my home I quickly hit the back of skateboard as I flew up I grabbed my board in my arms. I head to my house by foot. Noticing my mother’s car I knew that she finished work early. Walking up to the door I lean over taking my shoes off of my feet. I quickly opened the door walking in as the smell of sweets hit you right in the face. Placing my shoes on our little rack for shoes I walk into the living room to see my dog laying on the couch. I walk over to her petting her head lightly as I head over to the kitchen to see my mother in her apron as she starts to take cake layers out of the oven. Hearing me placing my board on the side she turned. 

" Ah you are home I thought you were kidnapped I was hoping for the kidnapping. " I chuckle lightly knowing that I couldn’t tell my mom about Maeko. Sure she knew about the situation with her crush being my crush but me overthinking our relationship would concern her. Pulling my earbuds out as I pause my music and placing the very phone in a pocket with the earbuds I lightly said.

" Maybe I should get kidnapped so I won’t have to help B/n with his homework. Anyway I am just cleaning my hands so I can work on editing the script. " I explained wanting to quickly get into my room and work. She hums and lets me pass to the sink. I clean my hand in the sink. 

" So your teacher finished editing amazing if you want you can always use the home computer and printer to print a new script. After all your father did get it from America so we want to use it as much as we can. " She spoke out and I hum. 

" I will use it after I edit it on paper but for today I won’t be using it. Got to go love. " I kiss her cheek and head out of the kitchen. Grabbing my skateboard. I rush towards my bed room. seeing my door I grab the door sliding to the side and shutting it behind me. I looked around my room to see it clean with posters of art pieces. Books laid around everywhere on my bed the only part that isn’t neat. My study table and pillow on the floor with a pencil holder in the middle of the table. Far in the corner a collection of skateboards. 

" Home sweet home for once. " I spoke out walking over to where my skateboards are placing it down in it’s place. I grab my phone from the pocket in the bag. I stop for a second seeing the charm that made me believe. Shaking my head, I walked over to my bed full of books for my enjoyment to study books. I fall back hitting a couple of books as my phone laid on my chest. 

~~~

" Hey Maeko. " I muttered as I held the phone up to my ear.

" Yeah? " She asked while I heard shuffling in her room.

" I know this is weird and all but who is your best friend? " I asked and she giggles.

" Don't be silly it's obvious who my best friend is I hang out with her all the time. " I smiled knowing she would say me. " Kikyo. " The smile dropped and for once felt it. My heart shattering into millions of pieces. " We okay soccer together, she and I go shopping. It's almost like we knew each other for years. I never felt that with anyone else. She even is planning to help me ask Rintaro out this Friday under the Sakura tree. " She spoke out.

" Wow Kikyo is amazing just like you. Makes sense why you two are best friends. " I spoke out putting a fake smile on my face even if she couldn't see it.

" Y/n don't worry sure we known each other for years but we were always more like friends than best friends. I found Kikyo who is so similar to me I can't believe it. Anyway thanks for the notes I am writing them down right at this moment. " She said and I hum. " I have to go Kikyo is calling it's about the plan on asking Rintaro to meet me at the Sakura tree. " I hum one last time not even letting it finish as she hung up. I didn't know what I felt the moment she hung up. I just sat there tears down my cheek, heart shattered completely, and no one to call.

" The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly. " - F. Scout Fitzgerald

With a scratch on my door I get up wiping the tears off of my cheeks I slid the door a bot to see a furry head I sigh letting the dog into the room she quickly runs up onto my leg wanting to be picked up. I sigh picking her up and walked towards the bed laying back down on the bed as my puppy lay there next to me.

" How can you be so cute. Suna would probably accept your confession but mine he doesn’t know who I am at all the only person he does is my best I mean just friend Maeko. Here I was delusional thinking I was her best friend. Of course I should have known I am always picked last! I should change everything about me so I can just get his attention. " I spoke out as I pet my puppy who had an American name. " Marley can you explain why I am never the first choice? " I asked as she yawns. 

" Maeko never cared about you and just used you so just tell her you want to end the friendship.  " I jump hearing a voice. I look down at my puppy to see if it was her who spoke but the door slid open to see my mother who held dumplings in her hand. " Sorry I was listening in it’s just I don’t like how you are so passive. I want to help. " I sigh as she places a plate down on my study table. Walking over to my bed she sits down and Marley ends up running to my mother's licking her hand and going back to me.

" Mom how much did you hear? " I asked. She sighed getting up and walking towards the dumplings she set down. She picks them up turning around to face me. Gently she gives them to me. I held them and looked at her as she sat back down grabbing the puppy so that the puppy wouldn't eat my food.

" Eat up. " I sigh grabbing the chopsticks on the plate. " How do I explain this. Do you remember the last time Maeko's mother and I were in the same room? " She asked and I shrug not remembering the last time. " Well it has been a year we got in an argument when Maeko's mother said that you were nothing compared to Maeko's. As your mother I didn't take it lightly so I gave her a cake full of vegetables for revenge. After that argument I guess I'm the background I noticed how Maeko and you weren't as close the both of you were. I assumed it was just that the both of you were getting older and I didn't want to feel as if it was my revenge that caused it. " She muttered while I ate the dumplings.

" So you practically gave Maeko's mother a cake full of vegetables as revenge. You shouldn't have done that because she's right all I am is... Was Maeko's shadow now I'm just a shadow. " I muttered she glares at me and sighs even more.

" No you aren't sure it might have been my fault but Maeko's mother had no right to say that to the child I gave birth too. Even if it was a pain raising you. Anyway that whole situation with that boy uh Suna if I am right made me think about how I was in that situation as well. " She explained and I stuffed another dumpling in my mouth. " You know how I never mentioned how I met your sister's father. " I nod. " Well one we never got married two he was my highschool crush trust me I love your father but in High School he charmed me just by existing. I was like you I never talked ever, I did things that would let me disappear in school everything about me being quiet was the reason I had trouble getting in contact with him. But I was bullied by these two girls because of being quiet I let it happened. Until one day I snapped and decided to change how I looked and acted. " She sighs.

" You changed because you wanted to grab his attention or was it because you wanted the bullying to stop? " I asked while I chewed on part of a dumpling.

" Both I wanted it to stop make them understand I am better than them in all ways. I also wanted to show off and get his attention. How dumb of me. I grabbed his attention and we started dating. But he never really knew the real me because he wanted to go to parties. Got pregnant when I was 20 and had your daughter I left him that same year because all he cared about was being the center of attention. Long story short I knew he never really cared about the real me when your older sister was 7 I met your father got pregnant when she 9 and married your father. But the thing is is that when I met your father he recognized me for being me. The reason I'm telling you this is that if he doesn't like the real you then what is the point is he really worth your time? " She asked and I look at her as I set the chopsticks down on the plate.

" He didn't even know who I was. I sat next to him in the beginning of the year and yet he only remembered Maeko. Maeko and I aren't best friends anymore all I ever did was help her out this year and listen to her she never listened to my problems. " I muttered as I looked down at the plate feeling tears going down as everything hit me.

" In reality is he worth your time? Is she worth staying friends with? " She asked.

" We are best friends! " The bubbly voice of Maeko as I looked up to her who was building a sand castle out of the sand. " We built this together forever we will rule this land together. " She called out handing me her hand to rule together the castle.

" I can't wait to win the soccer game you will watch me right? We are best friends. " Her voice boomed across the field as I held her board that had her name across of it. I nod as she hugs me.

" Okay everyone Maeko and Akio are team captains Maeko choose first. " The teacher spoke out as Maeko walks up and looks around.

" I PICK MY BEST FRIEND Y/N ! " She yelled out and everyone looked at me. I walked up to stand next to her as she hugged me.

" We are going to Inarizaki right? " She asked out as her hair bounced while we jogged down the trail, nodding to her answer she smiles. " I can't be there without my best friend. " She said while we jumped over a log.

" Ready to enter together. " She raised her hand up as I grabbed her hand holding each other's hand. " I know you are quiet but together we will be the most popular. " I nod and she smiles. " No matter what nothing will stop us from being Best Friends? " I shake my head as she smiles. " 1, 2, 3, 4, 5! " She jogged towards the school.

" It's time to let go for the both of you. " My mother places her hand on my back rubbing my back to comfort me.

" No boy would ruin our friendship. " Maeko spoke out as we roasted marshmallows over our campfire. " Promise. " I turned to look at her and smiled. Opening my mouth I responded.

" I promise. "

" We promised so much back then. " I muttered while tears collected on the plate creating a puddle of tears. " I kept to the promise wanting a boy to never come over our friendship. I kept quiet I was always picked by her. No one ever wanted me. But for once she picked people over me. " I mumbled as I gulped and raised a hand up to my cheek.

" Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. " – Albert Einstein

Sitting there for the first time ever at the table in which Maeko and her group of friends with her best friend normally would have lunch at. I could tell people's eyes were on me because for once I revealed myself out in the public. I never sat with her at this table because I couldn't fit in like the rest. I ate with the librarian and or I didn't eat and watered the garden in the school. Whispers could be heard as I sat there looking down at the one thing that we shared when we were kids.

" Hey Y/n here is my friendship charm. I made it you can hand it up on anything on your bag or we can make it into a clip like mine. What will you do? " She asked as she handed me a charm that was half of a heart basic but I could tell she meant a lot by it. " I saved up money to buy both I hope you like it? " She looked down and I smiled.

" I love it Maeko see here it is I am clipping it on my bag. The way you put it in a clip is so creative just like you. " I complemented as she ran up to me and hugged me.

I had it hooked on all of my bags that I took to school but it was back in Year one of High School that she stopped wearing the charm. She told me it was childish and I understood but still kept it on my bag because no one would notice it. I wasn't the center of attention like she was so I understood. But maybe that was the first ever clue that we weren't best friends anymore. Or maybe it was her having to put me in a schedule and not with her other friends.

" Y/n what are you doing her at our table you never sit here? " A voice asked I raised my head to see Maeko surrounded by her other friends. I sighed standing up from the seat. " Oh wait I'm sorry I couldn't walk with you to school here is your English Literature notes they helped a lot. " She said I nod. " Is something wrong? " She asked. I take a deep breath in as I look up to her to see her holding my notes.

" I just want to say something if that is fine with you? " I asked and she looks at her friends.

" Yeah definitely make it quick please because we want to eat. " She asked and I sigh.

"Change you for once make time for me to tell you something. " I spurted out and gasp as I covered my mouth everyone's eyes were on us.

" What do you mean Y/n. I make time for you. " She said.

" Do you really? You don't you have to push me to the side now the only time we ever talk is if you want to tell me something and that is through my schedule. You have to go through your own schedule to see if we can plan something but for me when you need someone to talk to you just go up to me like I have nothing to do. " I yelled out. She looked at me shocked.

" I do make time for you. Church we talk when we go to church. " She said.

" You only go to church when you are required normally you skip out. The last time you went to church was a month ago. The most we ever talked about this entire month was about your crush. But when I have to say something you suddenly have to leave. At this point you probably only talk to me because you pity me. BUT WHEN YOU DO TALK TO ME IT IS ABOUT YOUR BOY CRUSH ON SUNA! " I screamed out in anger. " WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I EVER TOLD YOU ABOUT MY CRUSH A YEAR AGO MAYBE IT WAS TWO YEARS AGO! " I yelled out as I felt tears about to fall.

" I- I- I- LET OUR FRIENDSHIP FADE! It's my fault because your are perfect. Everything about you is perfect I was always in your shadow. I never minded it because we were Best Friends. But you picked someone over me. WE GREW UP TOGETHER! YOU GAVE ME THIS CHARM BECAUSE WE WERE BEST FRIENDS! " I held the charm up by it's clip as she stared at it. I saw how she looked down. " You knew I was always picked last so when you could you would pick me. But I'm High School that all ended the moment you gained popularity. You now were someone who would pick me last. " I spoke out as I could heard people whispering.

" YOU WERE MY BEST FRIEND REMEMBER WHEN WE WALKED INTO THIS VERY SCHOOL HANDS TOGETHER PROMISING NOTHING WOULD STOP US FROM BEING BEST FRIENDS! " I yelled out as tears started to fa down my cheek. " I KEPT WITH OUR PROMISES FOR TWO YEARS. TWO YEARS!! I kept our promise of not letting a boy get over us. I kept my crush on Suna down for my best friend. I wanted to see you happy. " I mumbled wiping tears off of my cheek.

" I KEPT IT DOWN FOR YOU. I KEPT SO MUCH DOWN FOR YOU. I ACTED LIKE THE NICKNAME MAEKO'S FRIEND DIDN'T BOTHER ME BUT IT DID INSIDE IT WOULD HURT. I KEPT SO MUCH DOWN FOR YOU BECAUSE I THOUGHT WE WERE BEST FRIEND'S. FOR ONCE I WANTED TO IGNORE REALITY! I wanted to ignore reality, I wanted to ignore my crush for you, I wanted ignore so much because it would help you that was what a best friend should do. But inside the moment you said Kikyo is your Best Friend everything I ignored hit me in the face. " I said as all that I could see was nothing but blurry.

" Y- Y- Y/n " I heard her whisper.

" Maeko let me talk please. All I want to say is that I enjoyed our moments as friends. You noticed my cry for help my cry to be picked for once. "

" PICK ME, PLEASE! "

" I just wish you luck when you ask Suna out. For one last time I'll hold back for an ex friend. Give this to Kikyo your best friend. " I walked over to her and grabbed her hand placing the very charm in her hand. I shut it and looked out into the cafeteria as everyone was shock. I sigh grabbing my hair as I tried covering my face. I grabbed my bag and ran out of the cafeteria.

" When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. " -Paulo Coelho

I sighed holding my knees to my chest as I sat there behind the very gym I fell in love with Suna. I placed my head down on my knees and held my breath letting the tears fall down onto my skirt.

" Pretty brave for the quiet girl. " I heard someone say and I sigh wanting to be alone.

" Can I please be alone whoever you are. " I muttered just wanting privacy.

" I would if it wasn't for the fact you are in my sleeping area. " The person spoke out. I heard shuffling and someone sitting down next to me as they leaned there head on the outside wall of the gym. " Inside there you finally became free. How did it feel? " The person asked.

" The worst ever feeling. I had to end a friendship I thought that would last forever. But there was so much leading me to this moment. I just wish for one thing to work for her for her crush to accept her confession. " I whispered resting my head down on my knees as tears continued to pour down.

" Even after all she did to you, you still wish for that to happen. Hell Suna probably would avoid this whole situation. " The person said chuckling.

" She and I grew up together she always would pick me for things she made me feel wanted. No matter what has happened I still thank her for making me feel wanted for once. Maybe I did ruin her chance with Suna and I wish I didn't cause such a commotion so he would accept her. If he doesn't I probably would hate myself even more than now. " I gulped having my eyes shut.

" Pick me, Please. You say that and yet you let her have your crush. " He chuckled, sighing I shrug.

" He knows who she is. He didn't even know who I was he didn't even remember me sitting next to him in the auditorium the beginning of the year. He noticed her she was sitting next to me, they were a seat apart and he noticed her. So of course she and him probably would be for the best. " I spoke out while trying to hold back anymore tears.

" I guess maybe he wasn't looking for you at the moment in his memory. Suna barely ever wants to put energy into anything the only time he does is if he plays volleyball and there isn't a huge point difference. " The person said sighing.

" It's like you talk for him. I just know that I put Maeko through things I want her to be happy. I'll probably be bothered by everyone because of the commotion. I didn't mean to burst like that I never wanted to. " I spoke out.

" You did. I don't think you understand everything you said there it was the real you. The you that you kept hidden for her. Sure you two were friends and it time for you to move on. Lingering on regret will do nothing but make you want to hide even more. I don't like comforting people in total because it's too much work but for once just get up ask him out. " The person said and I nod.

" You are right but I already told her to go for Suna. It would be mean and I follow with my word. " I spoke out I heard the person groan and suddenly I felt hands on my shoulder I was sat up straight to look at the person but my eyes were shut.

" You are such a mess. Here. " I could hear him opening something and suddenly a soft piece of paper perhaps a tissue being wiped on my face. The hand gently wiped my years away. " To be honest this is not what I normally do for anyone I prefer to sleep but you are here so that ruined my plans. " The person said as I sniffle.

" I'm sorry. " I spoke out. " I can leave for you to sleep. " He sighs and wipes away all of my tears.

" Too late you are here and I feel like I have to do something because maybe I hurt your feelings. I don't like feeling guilty. " The person said. " Now I want you to tell me what you will say to Suna when you walk up to him. " I opened my mouth to say but but he sighs. " No buts now. " He spoke out.

" I uh I uh. Um Suna I know you are busy with Volleyball and school but I was hoping if you and I can um go on one date if you don't like me on the date you can uh avoid me. " I muttered and he sighs. " Was it bad? " I asked and just chuckles.

" You give Rintaro away to escape that's nice I guess. Let's see how would he answer? " He paused. " I have it. Y/n I appreciate you saying that and finally becoming who you really are. But you have to promise me on the date you don't hold back and show the real you instead of being the shadow you used to be. " I sigh.

" Well if he really would accept but what would he say if he would reject me? " I asked. I heard another groan and a pair of lips on me. I open my eyes to see what was happening and saw the one person I was practicing to ask out. I push him away and crawl back. " S-S-Suna I- I- I- kissed y-y-you. No Y-Y-You kissed me. " I stuttered in shock.

" Is it that shocking? Anyway when would you like to go on that date? " He asked and I sat there shocked. " I want to get to know you so when are you free? " He asked and I felt like I was in heaven.

" Um I'm free for the rest of the week. " I spoke out and he hums.

" What? I did what you wanted and what I felt was right. I picked you for who you are. " I opened my mouth. " Don't consider it pity because it isn't I wouldn't waste my time on someone I wouldn't want to waste it with. " I nod and fixed myself. " Meet me at the front of the school on Friday. I have an idea for our date. If you want you can bring a pair of clothes to change into. But I don't mind the school uniform. Here's my number if you don't mind I'm going to take a nap. " He leans back and shuts his eyes. As his hand is out with a paper that had a number. I take it gently and blush.

" I guess this chapter is over. I will be back to read the next chapter after my lunch break. " I get up from the rocking chair. I looked out at the crowd to see paparazzi and people listening as they clapped.

" Ma'am what inspired you to write and Autobiography about your so far life? " A women asked.

" Because I wanted to tell people my life story with Rintaro after all the moment I got engaged I knew I had to dedicate it to my future Husband. " I explained while getting my bag.

" What inspired you to put quotes in certain situations? " I smiled.

" I felt like it would fit in. " I saw Suna and smiled. " I have lunch with someone I will be back in an Hour enjoy. " I wave and head towards Suna in the back.

" I was there when you read our first interaction after the whole commotion part. " He spoke out as we head towards the break room.

" One of the most important parts of my life. How was Volleyball practice? " I asked as he opens the break room.

" The team wanted me to get your autograph. After all you directed one of their favorite horror movie. " I nod.

" I wouldn't mind signing autograph's. " He hums as I kiss his cheek.

" I'm glad I decided to comfort you even if I never gave our relationship an office title. " He explained. I shrug.

" The entire time we were so called dating I thought we were just friends in beginning. At least we'll eventually be husband and wife. " I spoke out. He looks down at me and kisses me as I wrap my arms around.

I listened to this song the most when writing so give some love!

[wingedkiare]

I got an anon a long long long time ago that I never answered, but never deleted until now.

What it boiled down to was someone calling me a hypocrite because I don't like R3ylo as a ship and was upset that it was in Rise of Skywalker.

I acknowledge that a lot of people will ship couples that I don't get, that I think are unhealthy. In particular, the thing that bothered me was that there were a lot of women who ignored that Kylo had killed a LOT of people, and thought he was a Star Wars version of Mr. Darcy.

I don't get that pairing, so I don't read it. I also don't talk about it on other people's blogs. Anyone who likes it can enjoy it in their own space.

But that isn't why I dislike that Disney made it canon. Mostly I dislike it because I felt like there were a couple issues - one, redemption arcs for angry white boys are common, and given the entitled fan issues that led to them pushing for it, it felt like it wasn't a great message to give them a hero arc in Kylo's redemption to Ben. Redemption arcs are rarely done well. There wasn't enough time for a well done redemption arc for him. (Please note how much time went into Zuko in ATLA and even how many episodes of Clone Wars went into giving Maul purpose and drive beyond revenge. And he didn't even end up good - he'd just realized how fucked up things were, and that there wasn't space for anyone who didn't fit those narrow definitions of Jedi or Sith)

Two. Because the movies had no intentional arc, the romance felt shoved in for fanservice. There was nothing from the first movie that laid the foundation for it. And I think that thematically something platonic showing them as two sides of the same coin would have been more interesting - the child of darkness exemplifying the Light, the child of light embracing the Dark Side - and the two finding their way to fight back together to start something new?

But really, I don't think it's hypocritical to ask more of a media company, while allowing fandom to have its freedom to do as it pleases. Fans can write a 200k fic about redemption, etc. Disney had three movies with so many plot threads there wasn't time to develop ANYONE'S storyline. My biggest problem is that there just wasn't enough time to have the groundwork needed to make it work.

[wendysanderson]

WENDY SANDERSON ( YARA SHAHIDI ) is a 17 year old JUNIOR student at Broadripple Academy. SHE is originally from JAMAICA PLAIN, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS but moved to Broadripple 1 YEAR ago. SHE is EXCITABLE and EMPATHETIC but can also be CLINGY and IMPATIENT.  

BASICS

Name: Wendy Sanderson

Age: 17

Grade: Junior

House: Keough

Cabin Room: Room 1

How long have they been at Broadripple: Started her sophomore year

Where are they from originally: Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts

Extra curricular: Chamber Choir, Women of Broadripple, Yearbook (writer), and Broadripple Unsolved

PINTEREST

CHARACTER AESTHETICS

Half-eaten bowls of Lucky Charms, colorful jackets from the local Goodwill, a heavily annotated copy of Mary Oliver’s Devotions, chipped nail polish, a varied collection of sunglasses, the ‘Are You Still Watching?’ Netflix screen, the Arnold Arboretum in bloom in the springtime, a hot cup of fruit tea, snack-based rewards systems, bottles of coconut oil, the communal groan of frustration on the decrepit Orange Line, $2 face masks, and late night Wikipedia deep dives.

TRAITS

Positive Personality Traits: Excitable, empathetic, imaginative, outgoing, affectionate, and generous

Neutral Personality Traits: Talkative, noncommittal, inquisitive, literary, and perceptive

Negative Personality Traits: Clingy, impatient, unreliable, scattered, blabbermouth, and moody

FACTS

About two years ago, Wendy’s family came into a solid chunk of change. Wendy’s mother Bahar is a nurse and caretaker. Over the past decade, she had been taking care of a wealthy elderly man in the Back Bay. When he passed, he unexpectedly left her some money in his will. Wendy’s parents almost immediately decided it would be invested in Wendy’s education. Her dad’s parents wanted her to receive a Catholic one, and her dad wanted Wendy to practice some independence, and so Broadripple came up in their research and she was off. Wendy’s hand in the decision-making process was decidedly minimal.

Wendy enjoys Broadripple in that it’s fun to romanticize a bunch of old buildings. She enjoys creating narratives about and daydreaming of students of the past among the hallowed halls more than she does doing group projects. The school itself is too far-removed from society for her to find it particularly scintillating, but she’s making do! She’s a pretty positive person, though undoubtedly impatient. But she’ll admit it has its other draws. Their reputation is near-flawless—disregarding all that spooky shit, which she personally finds cool and intriguing, since the endless forest has some real The Witch vibes—and it bolsters a lot of interesting clubs and classes she can be a part of. The longer she attends, the more uncomfortable she is with the wealth of her peers, as well as impatient with those she deems rude and snobbish. She also has a habit of falling in love/developing crushes easily, often, and recklessly, and Broadripple certainly doesn’t have a shortage of attractive people. It’s a real gold mine, there.

Wendy’s favorite subject is Literature Analysis. She enjoys it because it is something of a creative outlet; she firmly believes there’s a lot of leeway in how things can be interpreted and she enjoys interpreting things ad nauseam. She particularly likes when they cover poets, but none of that boring classical white guy stuff. She’s more of a Toni Morrison-Mary Oliver-Anne Sexton-Jeanette Winterson-Gwendolyn Brooks type.

HEADCANONS

Wendy misses home a lot. She’s a very sentimental, clingy person. It’s hard for her to be away from the people she loves. Every once in awhile she’ll take a Greyhound back home for the weekend.

Queen of having a wardrobe primarily composed of statement pieces!

Spent nearly the entirety of middle school writing elaborate Jane Austen fanfictions. She is absolutely loyal to Mr. Knightley’s ass! 🙅 Mr. Darcy do not interact.  🙅

[Let’s_Hear_It_For_The_Boy.mp3 on repeat]

Falls in love 5 times a day, yunno.

Writes a lot of poetry that may or may not be good but the poems sure are in abundance!

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RETREAT

What do they think about The Retreat? Stuck in the middle of the woods in a creaky, old cabin is less than what she hoped for. Born and raised in the city, staying in the actual dorms at BA took a major adjustment period already (the tree frogs and crickets alone heard distantly through her open window on a hot night already kept her up). It’s fun to poke around scary places on campus on the weekend with the BAU, but then it’s also nice to go back to the safe dormitories afterward. All in all, she’s not super psyched to be here but she will try and romanticize tf out of it for as long as she can! And tag along with BAU shenanigans, of course.

Do they have any previous experience with camping or other outdoors? Absolutely none. <3

What does their cabin bunk look like? How will they decorate their space?  Wendy is a proponent of the opposite of minimalism, which is Clutterbitch. She has various knick knacks and pictures and posters, as well as plenty of bins and storage to keep all her products, books, snacks, etc. There is no surface left untouched, let’s say that, and most likely a string of fairy lights somewhere. She also has a couple half-dead plants and a collection of postcards from her sister who travels around the country with the nonprofit she works for.

Do they believe in the supernatural? To what degree? This answer is gonna be a little repetitive irt the first answer above but at this moment in time, yes! And I say “at this moment in time” because she, at the moment, she wants to believe in it. When she was in the school dorms, it seemed like a fun thing to entertain. She’s a curious person and she has a lot of flights of fancy (as dubbed by her parents), so when it came to her attention that there was an unofficial club that explored the spooky past of the school? She was like, sounds fun! :) I wanna be included! :) So I’ll say she genuinely believes in spooky stuff, but not cryptid stuff.

Are they easily spooked? On the whole, surprisingly, no. But again, this environment is very unfamiliar to Wendy. All of her outdoors-y knowledge stems from the time she spends at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston and in/around Jamaica Pond. She grew up in a city and has very little experience outside of it. Unfamiliarity can brew paranoia, but her spooks are more animal (bears, bobcats, fishercats) related than supernatural.

AND FINALLY,

A very dumb but (hopefully) fun quiz made by your admins, please share what result you got

in which no one is surprised <3

[corsetsandlemons]

The Corsets&Lemons anonymous meme is still going strong!

I want to remind everyone that this is about works created in the 19th century and the rules can be found here:

Everything in the kinkmeme stays anonymous. Please never out anyone else either. Everyone is anon. (If you've never used DW before and don't know how to do that go here! )

If your prompt or your fill contains one of these themes (dub-con, non-con/rape, incest, violence, underage, necrophilia, and bestiality) it has to be tagged, either in the title or as first thing in the comment!

The obligatory warnings are: dub-con, non-con/rape, incest, violence, underage, necrophilia, and bestiality. Please spell the words correctly as people will be using automated scripts to hide those comments. If by any chance your fill goes toward a different direction than you thought it would and you need to add one of those warnings please do it as soon as possible, at the beginning of the new comment, so that people can stop reading it in time.

No negative comments or hate or kinkshame. This is a Your Kink Is Not My Kink space. If something doesn't strike your fancy just scroll on! And another note: some people make their first attempts at writing during kink memes because the anonymity gives them courage to start! Be nice and leave supporting comments! :D

No adaptations. We are trying to get back to the source material. This doesn't mean the you're not allowed to write wild AUs, just that if you write your Pride & Prejudice modern au it shouldn't start from Bridget Jones' diary or Lizzie Bennet Diaries but it should be an AU that's yours. (More about this in the FAQs )

RPF is allowed for people who lived in the 19th century.

The theme of the meme is 19th century. So every work created in the 19th century applies. So no, works that are created in the 20th century but are set in the 19th century do not apply.

The fills up until now

A lot of great works are being created! And I’m so excited about it! thanks everyone who is contributing!!

Art!

Frankenstein - Creature/Elizabeth Lavenza/Victor Frankenstein wedding night threesome (art)

Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy Leaving the cravat on (art)

Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy Pregnant baby bump (art)

Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet/Caroline Bingley(tw: dub-con) Caroline seduces Elizabeth away (art)

Ligeia - Ligeia/Rowena Trevanion ghost sex (art)

Fics!

Alice in wonderland/Through the looking-glass - Alice/Others (tw: dub-con, underage, bestiality) sex pollen (complete fic)

David Copperfield - Little Em'ly/other Little Em'ly--has an educational encounter with a lady who saves Fallen Women. (complete fic)

Frankenstein - Creature/Elizabeth Lavenza frankenstein meets a paradise lost (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Cardinal Federico Borromeo/Innominato Soiling kink (complete fic)

I Promessi Sposi/The Bethroted - Cardinal Federico Borromeo/Innominato Priest kink (complete fic)

Jane Eyre - Bertha Rochester/Edward Rochester (tw: non-con) Locked in the attic (complete fic)

Pride and Prejudice - Elizabeth Bennet/Georgiana Darcy/Fitzwilliam Darcy (tw: incest) Daddy/mommy kink (complete fic)

Pride and Prejudice - Georgiana Darcy/Fitzwilliam Darcy (tw: incest, underage) Darcy comforts Georgiana (complete fic)

The Little Mermaid - Little Mermaid/Sea Witch the Sea Witch offers the Little Mermaid true immortality (complete fic)

The Secret Garden - Colin Craven/Mary Lennox/Dickon Sowerby (tw: incest) Colin Likes to Watch Mary and Dickon (complete fic)

The Secret Garden - Colin Craven/Mary Lennox/Dickon Sowerby (tw: underage, incest) Colin Mary and Dickon play doctor (complete fic)

The Vampyre - Aubrey/Lord Ruthven(tw: dub-con) spiralling down a vortex of attraction and loathing (complete fic)

Treasure Island - Jim Hawkins/Long John Silver(tw: dub-con, underage) Silver teaches his pupil how to be a wicked pirate (complete fic)

Jane Eyre - Jane Eyre/Edward Rochester first wedding night (complete fic)

Some randomly chosen prompt for you to fill

artful dodger/huck finn/rosso malpelo, possible underage cw therapy ot3 for traumatized kids coming from abusive backgrounds.

Heidi/klara (underage) Klara is spoiled. Heidi will have none of it.

crossover Murders on the Rue Morgue/Sherlock Holmes Auguste Dupin/Sherlock Holmes, colleagues with benefits

p&p Elizabeth/Charlotte Charlotte isn't getting her needs met in her marriage to Mr. Collins, but fortunately she has an old friend willing to lend a hand

Lady Audley’s Secret - George Talboys/Robert Audley m/m Robert discovers that George cannot be replaced by his sister, Clara, and confesses his love to George.

Cathy/Heathcliff underage first teenage fumblings in the moor

Eugene Onegin, Eugene/Tatiana, femdom infidelity cw she takes him back at the end, but he has to earn forgiveness. while keeping it secret from her husband, of course.

[iamanathemadevice]

Lost in Austen drivel

I made a mistake, dear followers. I bought Lost in Austen from iTunes, thinking it would be a gentle comedy true to the spirit of Ms Austen’s book, Pride and Prejudice.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. The cast is a delight, with Alex Kingston playing a surprisingly sharp Mrs Bennet, and Eliot Cowan from Love and Other Disasters playing Darcy. Christina Cole as Caroline Bingley has the best lines.

But all of this is for nothing because the plot is appallingly stupid and insulting to anyone who ever loved P&P.

Apart from having a lead character who is the biggest Mary Sue who ever Sue’d - my definition being a character introduced into a canon setting who immediately distorts time and space to make it all about them - it makes some egregious errors regarding the time and place in which it’s set. The main character turns up in leggings and a fairly short shirt, and not one person comments on the outrageousness of her not wearing a dress (let alone exposing her legs!) Her foul language isn’t remarked on either, except to be considered odd, even though the meaning is clearly understood.

But the worst, the very worst, even beyond the romantic mismatches (which will appall P&P fans) is a line by someone that they would save a situation they had  helped create by marrying a rich man and then they would buy Longbourne and the Bennet women would then be safe.

Anyone who read P&P knows the central driving plot point is that the Bennets live in an entailed property. It cannot be sold. Which means, when Mr Bennet dies, the heir, Mr Collins, will take over the house and land, and the women will have to find somewhere else to live on very little income. (Which is what happened to the Dashwoods in Sense and Sensibility after the father dies - their home is entailed and must pass to the son of their father’s first marriage, no matter that it makes his second wife and daughters homeless.)

This is the reason the Bennet girls must marry well, and the reason that Mr Collins, repulsive as he is, is considered a good catch. If one of the girls marries him, she will be mistress of Longbourne and very likely able to allow to mother and siblings to live there. If they marry well elsewhere, they can support the rest of their family that way.

Austen intended P&P to demonstrate how limited a woman’s choices were at that period (which makes choices made by our Sue even more nonsensical), and to show the unfairness of the inheritance system, particularly towards women. (Something that the Napoleonic Code went a long way to fix, in France at least.)

If someone swooping in to buy Longbourne would save the Bennets, then we lose all the tension about Lizzy possibly marrying Collins, Mrs Bennet is just a greedy fool, and Lizzy and Jane come off as nothing but gold diggers. It eviscerates the novel and makes it tawdry.

No one who understood P&P would write a line like that, or have Mrs Bennet (who would understand the situation with entailments all too well) fall weeping on the speaker’s shoulder in gratitude.

Iif you don’t know a thing about P&P, Lost in Austen will make almost no sense, and if you do, then you’ll hate it.

Badly done. Very badly done, indeed.

[megstevenson9]

A common theme during the Romantic time period was writing that focused on nature. A lot of works that were studied particularly in this class from this time period had very apparent emphases on nature, frequently having it be the subject of the piece.  Austen’s Pride and Prejudice differs from these other writers’ works because her use of nature is not as evident and requires some analysis.  Austen’s main use of nature and landscape is used in the characterization and development of her protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet.  Though some uses may be subtle, they are completely intentional and help the reader better understand not only Elizabeth as a character but her also her actions and turning points in the novel.  

The picture in the top right corner was chosen to represent the Bennet family home in the country.  This is important because their small, rustic home represents Elizabeth’s family’s social class, which is a big factor in her upbringing and identity.  As opposed to Mr. Darcy and the Bingleys who live in the city and are extremely wealthy, Elizabeth is poor and has an entirely different view of life.  This in turn ties in with the bottom left picture in the mood board.  This is a picture of a woman walking through the fields in the country and is symbolic of Elizabeth’s walk on foot to Netherfield. This is a major insight in the novel to Elizabeth’s social upbringing but also to her character and strength as a woman.  Her willingness to walk all that way to see her sister rather than take a horse or carriage like many other women would at that time speaks for itself.  While her sister Jane, had the same upbringing, this shows the differences between the sisters’ makeup.  Jane is frail and fragile.  She gets very sick from riding on horseback over to the Bingleys in the rain and becomes too ill to come back home. Elizabeth wants to be with her sick sister and does not even hesitate to come to her aid even if it is a three-mile walk away.  Elizabeth says herself “the distance is nothing when one has a motive”(Austen, 33).  In the picture there is no path and that’s symbolic of Elizabeth’s independence and not needing a path to follow at that particular moment or in life in general. This shows her strength and determination to not be afraid to deviate from a common route and create her own path in life even if it isn’t easy.  

The source “The BBC’s Pride and Prejudice: Falling in Love Through Nature” addresses the importance of this walk to Netherfield as well.  It states that “Elizabeth’s fondness for walks and association with the outdoors carries important implications for her character not just in terms of temperament, but also in terms of social standing.”  In the novel she is said to have been running through puddles and showing up to the Bingley house wet and muddy and looking wild. Miss Bingley makes a comment on her arrival saying “It seems to me to shew an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most country town indifference to decorum” (Austen, 36).  This part being included in the novel is what shows the difference in social class and typical behavior of a woman at this time that Lady Catherine, the Bingleys, and Mr. Darcy are accustomed to as opposed to Elizabeth’s actions.  

Socially during this time a woman’s place was in the house.  They were expected to be quiet, reserved, and be in the search of a potential suitor.  This is exactly what her mother expected of Elizabeth and her sisters but is something that she did not follow.  After her walk to Netherfield, it is clear to the reader that Elizabeth is in no sense prim and proper or a typical woman at this time.  Elizabeth instead is like nature.  She is free-spirited, down to earth, and wholesome.  Though she may not be as pretty as Jane and maybe a little rough around the edges, she has her own sense of beauty.  She behaves naturally, saying and doing whatever she feels and never tries to be anything she is not.  She says what she thinks and is unapologetically herself.  This relates to the bottom right picture on the mood board, which is an image from the movie.  In this image and throughout the whole book Elizabeth is imagined to look and dress naturally and wear simple, earthy clothes.  She is not over the top and her dress and appearance is not something that is important to her character.

Going off of the source, “The BBC’s Pride and Prejudice: Falling in Love Through Nature”, Elizabeth has many other times where she walks off into nature, though they are not as significant as her walk to Netherfield.  The book mentions, “not a day went by without a solitary walk, in which she might indulge in all the delight of unpleasant recollections” (Austen, 206).  These walks are a staple for her character and usually were where she would go to find an outlet or a source of comfort.  For example, in the book, she runs off into nature after Mr. Collins proposed to her, after an unpleasant encounter with Lady Catherine, and after she received the horrible news that Lydia had run off.  Elizabeth’s fondness for walks and nature is represented by the picture in the middle row on the far left side of the mood board.  This picture is of a woman holding leaves in her hands and is meant to show Elizabeth’s love for nature and represent the comfort she finds surrounding herself in it.

The top left picture is what is described as Pemberly and symbolic of how powerful the effects of landscape and nature have on an individual.  Elizabeth’s visit to Pemberly is the turning point for her in the novel.  “Looking at the Landscape in Jane Austen” says, “the sequence of descriptions in the chapter creates a sense of ascent, multiplicity, and expansion which defines not only the landscape but also the widening of Elizabeth’s vision of Darcy, and the increasing intensity of her feelings.” Here she falls in love with Darcy’s taste for nature.  Austen’s description of his home is exquisite and Elizabeth is in awe saying, “she had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste” (Austen, 235).  It is through her visit to Pemberly and seeing the upkeep and simplicity of the space where her feelings toward Darcy have changed. Elizabeth’s view of the “landscape suggests a process of social discovery or corrected perception” (Bodenheimer).  The image of them holding hands and then them face to face on the mood board is meant to represent the change of attitude and passion after the visit to Pemberly.  The image of them holding hands was when they had danced together for the first time and she viewed him as condescending and arrogant.  Afterward seeing his home, she sees that she had misjudged him and loves this man and wants to be his wife.  Them face to face and the two rings symbolize their new relationship that has formed and the future that they will spend together.

Nature represents who Elizabeth is in terms of social class, but also her personality and where she finds her freedom and comfort.  Austen’s use of nature and landscape not only helps the reader better understand who Elizabeth Bennet is, but also how she changes throughout the story.  This is evident with the power of landscape at Pemberely which completely changes her view of Darcy.  Elizabeth even said herself that before she thought of Darcy as “the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry” (Austen, 188).  One visit to Pemberly completely changed everything.  

Citations:

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Penguin Classics, 2003. Print.

Bodenheimer, Rosemarie. “Looking at the Landscape in Jane Austen.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 21, no. 4, 1981, pp. 605–623. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/450229.

“The BBC's Pride and Prejudice: Falling in Love through Nature.” Exposé Magazine, projects.iq.harvard.edu/expose/book/bbc%E2%80%99s-pride-and-prejudice-falling-love-through-nature.

[allow-me-to-speak]

Why Mr. Darcy Is Such a Well-Rounded Character

So I texted my friend an entire essay this morning on Why Mr. Darcy is the Best Character Ever, and I figured I would write it down here, too. Buckle in, friends, I have nothing to do today and I know Pride and Prejudice way too well.

People who don’t know Pride and Prejudice well think that Mr. Darcy is literally the classic example of Tall, Dark, and Brooding, but that’s not really the case. He’s actually a really well-rounded character. He does have the right traits to be tall, dark, and brooding, yes, but those aren’t the only, or even most important, parts of his character. He’s also a hopeless romantic, completely shy, an utter dork, and an arrogant asshole all in one - and the best part is, all of these traits play a critical role in how he’s perceived both in the book and by the audience. He’s got layers to his personality that blend seamlessly into a whole person, and it’s just so well done.

EVIDENCE

Hopeless Romantic:

As soon as he declares that Elizabeth is “tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me”, he almost immediately takes that back. Not only does he spend the entire rest of the book admiring her, he openly admits it to Caroline, and spends the rest of the book taking flack for his sappy commentary. And every time, he essentially goes “Well, her eyes are pretty, so fuck off.”

But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she had hardly a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying...

“My mind was more agreeably engaged. I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.”

“I am afraid, Mr. Darcy,” observed Miss Bingley, in a half whisper, “that this adventure has rather affected your admiration of her fine eyes.” “Not at all,” he replied; “they were brightened by the exercise.”

[Mr. Darcy], however, could not be prevailed on to join in their censure of [Elizabeth], in spite of all Miss Bingley’s witticisms on fine eyes.

“...I believe you thought her rather pretty at one time.” “Yes,” replied Darcy, who could contain himself no longer, “but that was only when I first knew her, for it is many months since I have considered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance.”

He saves her sister from total disgrace on his own, and forbids anybody involved from telling Lizzy that he did this (at great personal cost). Entirely did it to save Lizzy of a broken heart and tainted reputation by association. Biggest Romantic Gesture Ever, and he never wanted her to know that he did it.

“He was to come there with Wickham, you know. But gracious me! I quite forgot! I ought not to have said a word about it! I promised them so faithfully! What will Wickham say? It was to be such a secret!”

“...you may rest perfectly assured, that your uncle would never have yielded, if we had not given him credit for another interest in the affair.”

“I thought him very sly;- he hardly ever mentioned your name.”

“I am sorry, exceedingly sorry,” replied Darcy, in a tone of surprise and emotion, “that you have ever been informed of what may, in a mistaken light, have given you uneasiness. I did not think Mrs. Gardiner was so little to be trusted.”

“If you will thank me,” he replied, “let it be for yourself alone. That the wish of giving happiness to you, might add force to the other inducements which led me on, I shall not attempt to deny. But your family owe me nothing. Much as I respect them, I believe, I thought only of you.”

Completely Shy:

He’s completely incapable of talking to strangers, and instead appears aloof and distant because he just doesn’t know how to hold a conversation.

“Perhaps,” said Darcy, “I should have judged better, had I sought an introduction, but I am ill qualified to recommend myself to strangers.”

“I certainly have not the talent which some people possess,” said Darcy, “of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.”

Stutters when nervous, and asked Elizabeth the same question like four times in a single conversation.

Nor did he seem much more at ease; when he spoke, his accent had none of its usual sedateness; and he repeated his inquiries as to the time of her having left Longbourn, and of her stay in Derbyshire, so often, and in so hurried a way, as plainly spoke of the distraction of his thoughts. At length, every idea seemed to fail him; and, after standing a few moments without saying a word, he suddenly recollected himself, and took leave.

Utter Dork:

He came back to Longbourn to win Elizabeth over and instead spent the entire time staring into space and talking to nobody because he was literally too overcome with how much he loved her.

Darcy...said scarcely any thing. ...Now several minutes elapsed, without bringing the sound of his voice; and when occasionally, unable to resist the impulse of curiosity, she raised her eyes to his face, she as often found him looking at Jane, as at herself, and frequently on no object but the ground. More thoughtfulness, and less anxiety to please than when they last met, were plainly expressed.

“What made you so shy of me, when you first called, and afterwards dined here? Why, especially, did you look as if you did not care about me?” “Because you were grave and silent, and gave me no encouragement.” “But I was embarrassed.” “So was I.” “You might have talked to me more when you came to dinner.” “A man who had felt less, might.”

Invited her uncle to go fishing as a way of proving that he had changed since April and was not inclined to immediately abuse all her relations.

The conversation soon turned upon fishing, and she heard Mr. Darcy invite him, with the greatest civility, to fish there as often as he chose, while he continued in the neighbourhood... Elizabeth said nothing, but it gratified her exceedingly; the compliment must be all for herself. Her astonishment, however, was extreme; and continually was she repeating, “Why is he so altered? From what can it proceed? It cannot be for me, it cannot be for my sake...”

Asked to introduce his little sister to her as soon as he thought he might be in her good graces again.

“Will you allow me, or do I ask too much, to introduce my sister to your acquaintance during your stay at Lambton?” The surprise of such an application was great indeed; it was too great for her to know in what manner the acceded to it. She immediately felt that whatever desire Miss Darcy might have of being acquainted with her, must be the work of her brother...

Arrogant Asshole:

Mocks people behind their backs.

“At such an assembly as this, [dancing] would be insupportable. Your sisters are engaged, and there is not another woman in the room, whom it would not be a punishment to me to stand up with.”

“I particularly recollect your saying one night, after they had been dining at Netherfield, ‘She a beauty!- I should as soon call her mother a wit!’”

Separated Bingley and Jane because he looked at them over the course of a single evening and decided that, clearly, Jane doesn’t love Bingley back, despite not knowing her At All.

“From that moment on I observed my friend’s behaviour attentively; and I could then perceive that his partiality for Miss Bennet was beyond what I had ever witnessed in him. Your sister I also watched.-Her look and manners were open, cheerful and engaging as ever, but without any symptom of peculiar regard, and I remained convinced from the evening’s scrutiny, that though she received his attentions with pleasure, she did not invite them by any participation of sentiment.-If you have not been mistaken here, I must have been in error. Your superior knowledge of your sister must make the latter probable.”

Asked Lizzy to marry him in the same breath as insulting every member of her immediate family.

He spoke well, but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed, and he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. His sense of her inferiority - of its being a degradation - of the family obstacles which judgment had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit.

Didn’t apologize for separating Bingley and Jane, even when confronted.

With assumed tranquility he then replied, “I have no wish of denying that I did every thing in my power to separate my friend from your sister, or that I rejoice in my success.”

And you know why this is so great? Because whenever, he’s shy, arrogant, or overcome with emotion, he acts the same way - by being silent and not talking to people. So everybody gets this vibe from him at the beginning that he’s just an arrogant ass who thinks he’s better than everyone. But as you get to know him, you realize there are layers to his silence. Maybe he is being an ass, but maybe he’s being shy! Or nervous! Or emotional! So he’s great because he’s only Tall, Dark, and Brooding to anybody who didn’t pay attention past surface level, which is one of the most important themes of the book.

The part that makes this so well written is that they all directly contribute to the First Impression (ha) he gives off. It’s not some “badass gets caught in secret feeding stray cats” development, where you’re not going to know this about him unless you catch him at the right moment. It’s all there for you to see, if you’re willing to look past the surface level - and your own prejudices - and see it.

[cbk1000]

Book Tag                                                        

Tagged by @garglyswoof

1. Favorite book of all time?

If I pick one, all the others will get jealous, and anyway, with much hand-wringing I could maybe provide a top ten list of books that are very important to me for one reason or another, but picking one solitary favourite is an impossible task, and I won’t attempt it.

2. What are you currently reading?

Leucippe and Clitophon. It’s one of the few surviving novels of Ancient Greece, and it’s delightfully bizarre, and also features an argument about how gay sex is better than straight sex, but I’m not sure it can hold a candle to that one Roman novel that involved bestiality, a man getting his face peed on, and the protagonist twice escaping peril thanks to the timely arrival of some explosive diarrhea.

3. Have you ever considered writing a book?

Why yes, yes I have. It’s the one great existential crisis of my life, actually, thanks for asking.

4. Favourite series?

These are probably all going to be fantasy, because no other genre feels like you just absolutely can’t tell a story unless it’s 22 1000+ page volumes long. (If anyone wants to call me out here, let me just point out that there are 13 fics in that series, the first three are around 30 pages, and even the longest one is only about 200. It’s about 1400 pages altogether, which is like one and a half volumes in The Wheel of Time series or whatever. So THERE.)

Phedre’s Trilogy. I love Jacqueline Carey’s worldbuilding and the concept of a bunch of pansexuals running around doinking each other and playing dangerous political murder games.

Imriel’s Trilogy. See above. There’s actually a third trilogy set in the same universe a couple hundred years later, but honestly, I didn’t find it as compelling and didn’t read the third book. The first two are grand, though.

The Banned and the Banished. I read this series as a kid and it was dark and fucked-up and further proof that my parents left me to my own devices when it came to reading and really did not vet my books, because this would have made the TIMMY SHIELD YOUR EYES list for sure. The image of a naked woman parting her knees and a bunch of spiders crawling out of her vagina is still, for obvious reasons, viscerally with me.

The Deathgate Cycle. Another childhood favourite. Just a really good old school fantasy series with some great worldbuilding; I’ve been eyeing them again lately because I’ve been in the mood for some fantasy.  

The Chronicles of Narnia. I’ve made it really clear that I’m not remotely religious, so you’d think the overt themes of Christianity might annoy me, but these are just great stories, and honestly, I don’t find them overly preachy; I think C.S. Lewis’ writing has so much to take away from it, whether the reader is devoutly faithful or an unrepentant sinner like myself.

5. Book you’d like to read?

Sea of Darkness by Brian Hicks. This is actually one of my dad’s Christmas presents. It’s about the history and discovery of the H.L. Hunley, a submarine that sank during the American Civil War. 

Nicholas II: Life and Death by Edvard Radinsky. I spotted this at the used bookstore Friday afternoon and it immediately called to the obsessive Russophile part of me, so I had a flick through it and decided I must own it. Then I remembered that I was pretty sure I’d seen the Russian edition in one of the bookstores I use for all my Russian reading needs, and rushed home to find it. I did nick a copy from e-bay, so it’s now on its way to me, and, weather permitting, in about a week we will find our way into one another’s arms and I can read yet again about the brutal demise of the Romanovs and wring my hands over it, except this time in Russian, so with 3x the misery for half the price.  

Neil Gaiman’s The View From the Cheap Seats. This is a collection of essays on writing and creating that I’ve been eyeing for a while because Gaiman has such a great attitude about writing and seems like such a down-to-earth guy who probably has some great things to say about literature and the way it shapes us. 

 The Telling Room by Michael Paterniti. It’s about cheese. Also, Kelly’s descriptions of it really intrigued me.

And Quiet Flows the Don/Quiet Don (It’s literally just Quiet Don in Russian, but the English title is And Quiet Flows the Don, I’m sure because a lot of English speakers have no idea that it’s a river in Russia.) This is a massive War and Peace sized novel on the Don Cossacks during the turbulent years of WWI and the following Revolutions that I’ve been meaning to read for a while; I’m just waiting for my Russian vocab to catch up; I think I’m going to attempt it soon.

7. Favourite fictional character(s)?

D’artagnan, the little poncing YOU WANNA’ GO?? shit

 Edmond Dantes/The Count of Monte Christo, because I aspire to those levels of revenge but I know I’m far too impatient to carry out anything so glorious.

Magdalen from Wilkie Collin’s No Name because despite restrictive Victorian conventions meant to keep women in their parlors with a dainty cup of tea, she said ‘Fuck you all, I’m gonna’ steal back the rightful inheritance you cheated me out of through cunning and deception’ and went on to outwit a bunch of men.

Pierre Bezukhov from War and Peace because he’s such a great bumbling dweebus of a well-meaning Russian aristocrat, and I’ve always had a soft spot for him

Elizabeth Bennett, Pride and Prejudice. She destroys men with only her words; a true rolemodel for us all.

8. Book Ships

Elizabeth Bennett/Mr. Darcy

Sarra Ambrai/Collan Rosvenir from Melanie Rawn’s Exiles series. At one point I was so upset by something that happens to this couple that I actually threw the book across my room

Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler; they’re both terrible people, and tbh I think Scarlett totally gets what she deserves in the end, but their push and pull is so entertaining.

Jo and Laurie from Little Women and, ok, I know it doesn’t happen, I know this book was published over a century ago, but I’m still salty about it, all right??

9. Pick up the book closest to you, open page one and write down the first paragraph.

The closest book to me is a Russian translation of Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, so I walked over to the closest available English books and picked one at random. It’s a collection of Keats’ poetry:

Now Morning from her orient chamber came,

And her first footsteps touched a verdant hill;

Crowning its lawny crest with amber flame,

Silv’ring the untainted gushes of its rill;

Which, pure from mossy beds of simple flowers,

By many streams a little lake did fill,

Which round its marge reflected woven bowers,

And, in its middle space, a sky that never lowers.

10. What’s the 1st fandom you were in?

I don’t remember ever really participating in any fandom related to books. I do remember when I was a kid getting pretty into an online forum dedicated to Quest for Glory (90s point and click fantasy game), though. 

Tagging: @sunoftheguns @terriblygrimm @goldcaught @maevelin @darthrey @hellsbellschime @samcarter34