#(i love my brothers and will defend them from any criticism from others)

[trujellyfish]

coming home to a cooked dinner waiting on the stove is truly an experience i love ^-^

i would, of course, love it more if i didnt typically get home after my brothers have gone to bed :)

[likeabxrdinflight]

I want to talk more about the way the characters have been adapted for the live action adaptation, because character writing is the thing I care about the most and as a psychologist it's probably the aspect of any story that I'm most invested in. I can get around pretty much any plot contrivance or weird maguffin or even shitty pacing if the characters of a story are engaging enough. This is my bread and butter, so to speak.

And I want to start with Iroh, because I think he is by far the best adapted character from the original. But I suspect I think this for different reasons than other people might, because the beloved Saint Iroh from the animated show this man is not.

See the thing with animated Iroh is that he's just...a bit too perfect. We know he's been complicit in the war in the past. We know he laid siege to Ba Sing Se, we know he had a complicated past. But we never really see it, we only barely hear about it, and more often than not there are other aspects of Iroh's past that serve to further deify him. He was a general in the war, but then he goes on to protect the last dragons and learn the true meaning of firebending. He led a 600-day siege and lost his son but he came out of that experience Enlightened, having journeyed to and from the spirit world. He joins up with the White Lotus (at some point) and becomes the wise old sage we know and love.

Except most of that is revealed in later seasons and is inconsistent with his actions alongside Zuko in season one. Season one animated Iroh is kind of a passive character, largely existing for comic relief and as a support to Zuko. But there's very little to suggest he's disloyal to the Fire Nation or their cause. He says it himself- "I'm no traitor, Zhao!" Now you can certainly interpret that line in several different ways, but I suppose that's the point- there's a lot left up to interpretation with animated Iroh. We get a sense of who he is in relation to Zuko, but his own development largely happens off-screen. And because to Zuko he's a wise, caring uncle and mentor, that's largely how we, the audience, see Iroh. We love him because Zuko loves him. And that's fine for what it is, and clearly it was effective- Uncle Iroh is almost universally beloved. But it does leave a lot of questions about him up in the air.

Live action Iroh is a very different character. This Iroh is a deeply broken man who was been profoundly impacted by the war and what he has lost because of it. I do not get the sense that the loss of Lu Ten has led to any spiritual enlightenment for this Iroh- there's no indication that he can see spirits, for example, or that he has ever traveled to the spirit world himself (he does still oppose the killing the moon thing, though.)

Right out the gate, we get the sense that this Iroh has lost faith in what the Fire Nation is trying to achieve with the war. He explains to Aang fairly early on what the Fire Nation's goal and perspective is, and can rattle off this dogma quite easily. But when questioned by Aang if these beliefs are also his beliefs, he dodges them rather un-deftly. So you know immediately that this Iroh doesn't really support the war. Later you see him somewhat bluntly telling Zuko that the throne may not be all it's cracked up to be, and he's fairly openly critical of Ozai in other moments. So you know from the jump that Iroh's not really on Team Fire Nation.

And yet this is also not a truly repentant man. When he is captured in Omashu, Iroh gets another brief scene with Aang while they are both imprisoned there (this is before Aang meets with Bumi). And in this scene, Aang tries to convince Iroh to help Zuko stop being The Bad Guy. And Iroh defends Zuko to Aang and stresses the point that it is not Zuko who owes him any great debt, but he who owes Zuko. Later, when he is confronted (and hit several times) by an Earth Kingdom soldier who lost his brother during the siege, Iroh does not apologize. He does not flinch at the man's accusations, nor does he deny them. He defends himself, albeit weakly, by stating he was a soldier, and it was a war. He has the audacity to accuse this soldier (somewhat obliquely) of having been made dishonorable by the effects of war. It's kinda messed up, honestly.

But then this man accuses Iroh of knowing nothing of loss. He leaves the shot, and we saw Iroh's face just crumble, and the scene cuts directly to Lu Ten's funeral, where Zuko chooses to sit with his uncle and support him through what must have been the darkest moment of his life. Back in the present, it is only later, after Zuko has come to rescue Iroh, that he speaks more honestly to the Earth Kingdom soldier- he shows mercy and states that they've all "seen enough death."

So what we have here is an Iroh who is deeply disenchanted by the war and does not support it or the goals of the Fire Nation, but who has continued to stand alongside Zuko and support him in his goals. We have a man who doesn't necessarily regret his actions as a soldier in the war but who very much does regret what those actions have cost. We see a man who is profoundly impacted by loss and grief and has become emotionally reliant on his nephew as a source of support. Not that he's parentifying Zuko or anything, he's very much not, but he is rather obviously channeling all the love he once felt for his son into Zuko instead. Zuko is his lifeline, he needs Zuko and you get the sense that without him, Iroh would truly fall apart. I mean the man is on the verge of tears more often than not when Zuko is in even the slightest bit of danger in a way that animated Iroh was not.

This is what I think is different here. Animated Iroh seemed to turn against the war because it was morally wrong, it had thrown the world out of balance, and imperialism is bad. Live action Iroh seems against the war because it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth the cost, or the death, or the grief. He couldn't see that until he lost Lu Ten, but now he sees it everywhere. I get the sense that this Iroh just wants it all to stop, and I'm not sure he cares how that happens.

The White Lotus is definitely hinted at, but I suspect that was his motivation for joining it. It's not about restoring balance to the world for this Iroh. It's about restoring peace, so that he won't have to lose Zuko like he lost Lu Ten. So that the death and destruction stops. So he can just live a quiet life and put the past behind him.

It's a different take. And it's not that he doesn't still have a lot of wisdom to him, that he's not still a gentle, caring person. But he's a much sadder person, and he's lost that sense of "enlightenment" that his animated counterpart had. There's a selfishness you can read into to this version of his character that's much more apparent than the animated version.

I think a lot of people are gonna hate this, because it's a darker take on a much loved character. But I love it. This Iroh is human, this Iroh is flawed, and this Iroh has a lot more growing left to do. And that's awesome. If we get to actually see more of a character arc for him too, if we get to see him also growing and changing alongside Zuko? Please. It's not like he needs a total redemption arc, per se, but if in his journey with Zuko throughout the Earth Kingdom we can see Iroh gain some of his fortitude back, we can see when he decides he needs to push Zuko down a certain path, to take a side in the war, to see that it's not just the death and destruction that makes it wrong? God there's so much potential with that.

Now, maybe this isn't what will happen with seasons two and three. Maybe they'll back track and try to make him more similar to the animated version. I don't know. But for now? Live action Iroh is fantastic, and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is giving a hell of a performance. He's warm and tender when he needs to be, fierce when he has to, and just profoundly sad throughout it all. And I love him so much more for that.

I'll be controversial here and say it. So far, live action Iroh is a better character than animated Iroh.

[unicreamuwu]

Some idea for the vinsmokes:

So they all had a childhood friend which they had a crush on and she was always hanging around with sanji

And since sanji left she left too (like a lost princess who they searched for forever)

Then they see her again in the germa kingdom after so many years because she is furious that they are using sanji for their advantages (and she sticks to sanjis side all the time because she also found out just now that he is still alive)

And yes i hope you like the idea! Keep going! :)

Sure. I love these types of things. I kinda got the writing idea from this lovely person @myonepiece who did the same thing as you requested.

Ichiji Vinsmoke

Ichiji has to be the nicest out of the three.

Why? Well, because he treats you with respect and doesn't push you down random steps of stairs. (Niji...)

Sometimes, he would teach her how to fight and many sorts of other techniques to help her defend herself from any sort of harm.

If his brothers teased you, he would defend you.

One day, you accidentally saw him and his brothers beating up their other brother, Sanji.

You were so shocked that your friend was actually doing this.

He told you that he had a great relationship with all of his younger brothers.

Of course, this made you angry, but for now, you didn't confront him about it.

Instead, you went to Sanji and told him to explain everything that's been going on.

When he did, you made the decision that he should run away.

However, what you didn't expect is that he wanted to run away with you.

His reasoning is that you were basically one of the few people to actually care about him and his well-being.

At first, you were a bit hesitant because you didn't want to leave Ichiji, but you learned the dark truth about him abusing his own brother.

So, you ran away with Sanji.

And it was not a good moment for Ichiji.

When he came back, he saw you gone at the spot where he would always tell you to wait.

He searched for you everywhere in the castle and the kingdom.

It was then that he noticed that you were gone.

Ever since then, he has pretty much been isolated from almost everyone around him.

After many years, Ichiji heard about the news of you returning from his sister, Reiju.

When he sees you for the first time in a long time, the first thing that happened before he tried to interact with you is a hand colliding with his.

He was slightly taken aback, but he narrowed his eyes to see Sanji standing in front of you.

"Stay away from my wife."

He tells him coldly.

Then, Sanji took you away from him and brings you somewhere.

Ichiji was a bit shaking in anger as he watches the two of them leave.

He WAS going to get you back away from that failure.

Niji Vinsmoke

Even though you were Niji's first friend, he treats you like shit.

If you ask, "Oh, well, he can't be THAT bad to us!", um, yes, he will.

When you wear something, he would make at least one critical comment about your appearance.

If you bring him some food, he would say that it tastes disgusting and throws them at you before he requested you to bring him some chocolate.

Of course, he will take any chances to push you down the stairs cause that's his habit.

There will be a VERY few moments when he's nice to you.

For example, he would give you some of his chocolate, so be thankful that he's being very nice to you.

However, what he didn't know is your crush on Sanji.

For you, you kinda hated Niji when you were around him.

He's nothing, but a bully to you.

So, when you met Sanji for the very first time as you were walking around the castle, he was nothing like your "friend".

The two of you would spend time together almost all the time whenever Niji goes out to train or do some other things with his brothers.

On the day Sanji decided to escape, he took you with him.

When Niji found out, he was not happy about it.

Ever since your disappearance, his attitude turned worse.

It was at the point where he started to physically abuse the servants.

The news of you coming back to Germa made him stop doing whatever he was doing and quickly ran to the spot you were currently standing at.

However, he notices you pushing him away which made him slightly shocked.

"Stay away from me! I don't want anything to do with you anymore!"

With that, you walked away from him.

Niji was livid.

Not because you pushed him away.

It's because of the engagement ring on your ring finger that is given by his useless brother.

Yonji Vinsmoke

Just like Niji, Yonji does tease you a lot.

After he does his daily training, he would get terrible damage to his body because he's basically a robot.

So, he would make you patch him up.

If you ask him if you could help him with training, he would just laugh at your face, saying that women can't fight.

Whenever you come over, he would request you to bring at least some food only for him because your family owns a bakery.

What he didn't know is that you also bring food, that is for him, for his brother, Sanji.

Sanji would always appreciate the treats you give him and it makes him smile.

So, when he asked you to run away with him, you accepted.

However, Yonji wasn't pleased at all when he heard the news.

From then on, he tried to move on, but he couldn't.

He couldn't stop thinking about you.

When he heard about you coming back to the kingdom, he came to see you with Sanji, holding him by the arm.

As you and Sanji were walking down the halls of the castle, Yonji came over to the two of you.

He started to make snarky remarks to his brother which he was to back off.

Then, he started to make harsh remarks to you because of you leaving him and Sanji defended you.

The words that Sanji said about you now married to him made him shake up with rage.

Yonji tells his brother that he will take you back after he takes his chance to kill him before he walks off, fuming with rage.

[scoobydoodean]

what’s your opinion on “lebanon”? as it actually is in the show and how fans/fic writers interpret/approach it.

cause i’ve been binge-reading “lebanon” fics and i’ve noticed two patterns: sam might argue with john or he stays calm but regardless he preaches to dean about what a terrible father john was, and dean always falls back into his performing and just keeps defending john. now i love all that angst, really i love it so much, these fics are phenomenally written… but i’m just wondering if i’m crazy to think that dean wouldn’t actually fall back into that role to such an extent, and whether the episode actually kinda got it right by having dean feel secure with his family as it is. iirc my issue with the episode is that neither dean nor sam got to express any issues with john in an honest but civil way (and that john is too nice) but that still i liked dean’s expression of security, but tbh it’s been awhile since i last watched it so maybe i’m missing/misremembering smth… thanks!

One of the strangest things I see in fandom is how many people's sense of how Sam views John versus how Dean views John is just flat out wrong. The idea that Dean is always defending John while Sam is always criticizing him the whole show is negated over and over and over in the actual show itself—extremely overtly.

There's two issues here in my mind that lend to this fandom problem.

The fandom accepting Sam and Dean's "John Narratives" at face value in the early episodes of season 1. For example, watching 1.08 "Bugs", where Dean claims to have no resentments toward John and says Sam also was a dick during Sam and John's fight, and going, "Well there we go. Dean has no resentments and refuses to criticize John but Sam will." At this point, we already know from 1.06 "Skin" that Dean does have resentments toward John for not appearing to care about him and for abandoning him, and we get further indications in 1.11, and 1.21 in this season alone. Another example is Sam and Dean's clashes in 1.10 "Asylum" and in 1.11 "Scarecrow", which are largely analyzed by the fandom as moments where Dean is blindly following orders when they have some other, better option Sam is pushing, and Dean is just refusing to go along with Sam's much better ideas because he's too focused on believing their dad knows best... when that is not actually what is happening at all. Sam's alternative plans in the beginning of 1.10 and 1.11 are absolutely stupid. In 1.10, he wants to call the FBI on John to find him. That's his big idea—instead of following the coordinates John just sent them and seeing if he's there. In 1.11, Sam's big bright idea on finding John is to abandon some people to die on a time-sensitive case so he can go search all of Sacramento for John with nothing but an area code. His plans are dumb, plain and simple—and while we do see Dean hiding his own resentments in these episodes too, that does not remain true—which brings me to the other issue here.

Fandom doesn't leave room for the brothers perspectives on John and their outward expressions of those perspectives to shift or mature over the series. This is particularly funny because their perspectives are literally swapping over the course of season 1, and have pretty much fully swapped by 2.02.

Sam's shifting season 1 perspective on John

What actually happens in season 1, is that Sam, who starts out burning with resentment and hurt toward John for disowning him and being a smothering drill sergeant and absent, binge-drinking dad, slowly begins empathizing him because he's now suffered a similar trauma and is having extreme difficulty coping with it himself! Sam's empathy for and understanding of John (and hell—even respect for John handling it as well as Sam thinks he was capable) is already beginning to show in 1.02—where Sam asks Dean "How does Dad do it?" (i.e., deal with the same burning rage and desperation for vengeance that is tearing Sam apart) (gifset). In 1.04, he learns John was bragging about Sam's accomplishments to other people (gifset). In 1.08, when Dean tells Sam that John was never actually disappointed in him—that he was scared Sam would get hurt if he wasn't around (gifset here) a lot of Sam's anger about the Stanford fight fades. He ends the episode saying "Dad did the best he could" (a repeated quote often misattributed as coming more from Dean) and saying he wants to find him to apologize to him for the things he said (gifset). John and Sam share a heartfelt, tearful hug in 1.16—at the end of which Sam begs John not to leave, and in 1.20, John himself apologizes and explains what was going on in his head when they fought, and it ends with them smiling and laughing as they acknowledge they understand each other and they're the same. I track Sam and John's relationship through the tag, #we probably have a lot more in common than just about anyone because Sam says that during that conversation in 1.20 (gifset).

Dean's shifting season 1 perspective on John

At the same time this shift is happening in Sam, we see Dean going the exact opposite direction. He starts out believing John has their best interest at heart even if they don't understand his actions, but the resentment is there too (1.06). In 1.09 and in 1.12, Dean needs help desperately, and John doesn't answer. While Sam is learning that John actually cares about him, Dean is growing more and more concerned that John doesn't care about him (Dean) specifically. We see this resentment start to come out (season 1 compilation set here) in 1.20, when John says he wants to keep the boys safe and that's why he's ditching them, and Dean calls it "A bunch of crap". Dean begins standing up to John to his face from this episode onward—finishing 1.20 with a "Yeah well we saved your ass" in response to John saying they disobeyed him. In 1.21, John tries to get on his case, and Dean lays into him about not answering the phone and specifically about abandoning Dean when Dean needed him in 1.09 and 1.12. In 1.22, Sam tries to get his way by telling Dean that John wouldn't want them to bring The Colt to save him, and Dean yells "I don't care what Dad wants!" and then when Sam starts throwing the blame on him for everything, Dean says,

Well, you and Dad are a lot more alike than I thought, you know that? You both can’t wait to sacrifice yourself for this thing. But you know what? I’m gonna be the one to bury you. You’re selfish, you know that? You don’t care about anything but revenge.

Dean has compared Sam and John more than once during the series, and it has never ever been a compliment.

Sam and Dean in the rest of the series

Sam and Dean's interactions about John in rest of the series are... almost universally the opposite of what the fanfics you've picked up suggest. Their interactions almost always show Dean criticizing John and Sam keeping silent or defending him, or reiterating that John did what he had to/the best he could.

Gifset on Dean's whole season 2 "Fuck John Winchester" vibe here.

In 2.01, Dean shouts at John for (it appears) abandoning him to die:

DEAN Come on, Dad. You've gotta help me. I've gotta get better, I've gotta get back in there. I mean, you haven't called a soul for help. You haven't even tried. Aren't you going to do anything? Aren't you even going to say anything? I've done everything you have ever asked me. Everything. I have given everything I've ever had. And you're just going to sit there and you're going to watch me die? I mean, what the hell kind of father are you?

Sam and John have a horrible fight where John blames him for Dean's condition and Sam tells him to go to Hell only for him to make a demon deal and literally go to Hell that same day (gifset) and Sam tries to start another fight right before John dies but John refuses to engage (gifset). The result ends up being that Sam and Dean have fully swapped places on John by 2.02 with John's death as the catalyst. John's death leaves Sam with regrets that their last interaction was Sam trying to start a fight (2.02). He decides he wants to hunt in John's memory (2.02) (gifset1, gifset2) while a part of Dean desperately wants to quit the life altogether—he's clawing the walls but feels helplessly trapped (2.09, 2.10, 2.20).

Sam defends John while Dean suggests John lead them down the wrong path with a dogmatic rule book (2.03). He demands they go to Lawrence so he can place John's dog tags over Mary's grave (2.04). He spends the season regurgitating John's orders, pushing Dean to do what John told him to do (2.11, 2.14, 2.20) while Dean wants to quit the life (2.09, 2.10, 2.20) and burns with anger toward John. In 2.10, Dean says "I wish to god he'd never opened his mouth!" about John.

In 2.11 "Playthings":

SAM (shoving DEAN to face him) Dean! Dad told you to do it, you have to. DEAN Yeah, well, Dad's an ass! (SAM frowns in confusion) He never should have said anything! I mean, you don't do that, you don't, you don't lay that kind of crap on your kids! SAM No. He was right to say it! Who knows what I might become? Even now, everyone around me dies!

We see Dean seething with resentment while Sam defends John's orders and tries to enforce them on Dean, carrying the legacy of their father in more ways than one.

Over and over, we get indications that a part of John treated Dean as disposable while he sheltered Sam, and that Dean is increasingly aware of the impact that's difference has had on him—to the point he realizes his father's neglect and abuse is the reason he isn't fighting to save himself in 3.10 "Dream A Little Dream Of Me". Dean and John's relationship is intentionally paralleled with a physically abusive relationship between a father and son in this same episode (gifset, meta), and in this episode, Dean rejects his father as an "obsessed bastard", calls Bobby his father (gifset), and decides from this point forward, he's going to fight to save himself from his demon deal because fuck John Winchester.

DREAM DEAN Dad knew who you really were. A good soldier and nothing else. Daddy's blunt little instrument. Your own father didn't care whether you lived or died. Why should you? DEAN Son of a bitch! My father was an obsessed bastard! All that crap he dumped on me, about protecting Sam! That was his crap! He's the one who couldn't protect his family! He– who wasn't there for Sam! I always was! He wasn't fair! I didn't deserve what he put on me! And I don't deserve to go to Hell!

And yeah! Dean also still loves John! And more than that—he craves John's protection. We see this in 3.14 "Long Distance Call" when the Crocotta calls to Dean as John from beyond the grave, telling Dean exactly what Dean wants to hear: "I never wanted this. Never. You're my boy, I love you. I can't watch you to go to hell, Dean," and telling Dean he can save him. This is pure longing for the love and protection Dean has always desired from John but feels like he's never received. Instead, he's always felt disposable.

In season 4? Oh boy... we get this incredible bit in 4.10 between Dean and Anna:

ANNA I was stationed on earth 2,000 years. Just... watching... silent... invisible... out on the road... sick for home... waiting on orders from an unknowable father I can't begin to understand. So don't tell me that -- DEAN laughs. ANNA What is so funny? What? DEAN Nothing. Sorry. It's just...I can relate.

Then in after meeting Adam in 4.19, Sam and Dean have a fight about whether to bring Adam hunting with them or leave him to a normal life:

DEAN 'Hunting is life. You can't have connections.' Dad gave you that exact same speech, remember? It was just before you ditched us for Stanford. You hated Dad for saying that stuff, and now you're quoting him? SAM Yeah, well, turns out Dad was right. DEAN Since when? SAM Since always. Dean, when I look at Adam, you know what I see? DEAN A normal kid. SAM No. Meat. Because the demons and monsters out there, that's all he is. I hated Dad for a long time. I did. But now I think I understand. So we didn't have a dog and a white picket fence. So what? Dad did right by us. He taught us how to protect ourselves. Adam deserves the same. DEAN Listen to yourself, man. SAM You think I’m wrong? DEAN I think it's too late for us. This is our life. This is who we are, okay? And it's fine. I accept that. But with Adam, he's still got a chance, man. He can go to school. He could be a doctor.

Sam says John did right by them. Dean thinks he absolutely didn't, but they can't change who they are now—they can only keep others from falling down the same path.

At the end of the episode? Oh boy...

DEAN You know, I finally get why you and Dad butted heads so much. You two were practically the same person. SAM looks over. DEAN I mean, I worshipped the guy, you know? I dressed like him, I acted like him, I listen to the same music. But you were more like him than I will ever be. And I see that now. SAM I'll take that as a compliment. DEAN You take it any way you want.

It is NOT a compliment.

In 5.16, Dean is confronted with god's intentional absence, and burning with resentment, says to Joshua,

Forget it. Just another dead-beat dad with a bunch of excuses, right. I’m used to that. I’ll muddle through.

In 5.13, Sam takes the opportunity presented to him by young John's presence to defend their father and tell John that he forgives him (gifset).

JOHN Look, how long have you known about this...hunting stuff? SAM Pretty much forever. My dad raised me in it. JOHN You're serious? Who the hell does that to a kid? SAM Well, I mean, for the record, Mary's parents did. JOHN I don't care. You know, what kind of irresponsible bastard lets a child anywhere near—Y-you know, you could've been killed! SAM I, uh...came kind of close. SAM laughs. JOHN The number it must've done on your head...Your father was supposed to protect you. SAM He was trying. He died trying. Believe me. SAM sits down on the bench under a window. SAM I used to be mad at him. I—I mean, I used to... I used to hate the guy. But now I—I... I get it. He was...just doing the best he could. And he was trying to keep it together in—in—in this impossible situation. See... My mom, um... She was amazing, beautiful, and she was the love of his life. And she got killed. And...I think he would have gone crazy if he didn't do something. Truth is, um, my dad died before I got to tell him that I understand why he did what he did. And I forgive him for what it did to us. I do. And I just—I love him.

What Lebanon does is present Sam with the opportunity to reiterate his forgiveness toward a John who understands the context:

SAM Dad… for me? That fight… that was a lifetime ago. I don’t even remember what I said, and – I mean… yeah. You know what? You did some messed-up things. But I don’t… I mean, when I think about you… [voice breaks] and I think about you a lot… I don’t think about our – our fights. I think about you… I think about you on the floor of that hospital. And I think about how I never got to say goodbye. JOHN Sam. Son. I am so sorry. SAM I’m sorry, too. But you did your best, dad. You – you fought for us, and you loved us, and… that’s enough.

So yeah! The fanfic narrative here where Sam is Mr. "Dad was bad" and Dean is Mr. "Nooo dad did the best he could" IS ABSOLUTE NONSENSE!!!!!

[lesbiansforboromir]

Categorically the most galling part of this universal perception that Boromir is a 'poor out-of-his-depth himbo whose completely ignorant of politics' is how it is blindingly canonically apparent that he put massive effort into being a political entity, to the point that his political opinions follow him even into the Council of Elrond.

Without the Council of Elrond, one could interpret his narrative positioning as a more 'Middle Man' and less 'high' as something forced upon him, a (narratively framed) negative aspect of his character that Faramir is critisising and lamenting as just 'part of his nature'. He is being associated with the Rohirrim and other 'lesser' men because he is also a 'lesser' man inspite of his heritage, due to his 'flawed' and 'weak-willed' personality.

Although that is still a bit of a stilted and awkward interpretation in my opinion, Eomer explicitely differentiates Boromir's treatment and manner around the Rohirrim from other men of Gondor he has known. He is 'less grim' etc etc, Eomer felt more at ease in his company, which implies to me more that Boromir interacted with the Rohirrim as equals, unlike most of this kin. Which seems more likely to be an active effort on his part.

But interpretations based off of that are entirely unnecessary, because the Council of Elrond exists! Where Boromir, when confronted with Aragorn's mistrust of the Rohirrim and Gwaihir's accusation that they pay a tribute of horses to Sauron, immediately and comfortably comes to their staunch defense. 'It is a lie that comes from the Enemy' he declares, literally pointing out propeganda that all these elves and dunadain are primed to believe given their own investment in the racial divide between them and these 'middle men'. A primer that also belongs to Boromir, whose place amongst the 'high men' is a right bestowed on him from birth, yet one he is actively discarding here in favour of defending the Rohir perspective.

And not only that! He even goes so far as to place the rohirrim's ethnic and cultural heritage as a reason for their trustworthiness, inspite of the fact that they cannot claim any relation to any so called 'blessed' lineage. They come from 'the free days of old', a statement that is similar to one of Faramir's but that, tellingly, Faramir uses as a method of infantilising the rohirrim 'they remind us of the youth of Men'.

These are all inherently and radically political statements for the heir of the Stewardship, the man next in line to be chieftain of the southern dunadain, to declare, especially when acting as emissary as he is now.

So now, all those moments when Boromir is linked directly with middle men, when his right to his 'high' heritage is questioned, when he is critisised with the same racially charged language as the rohirrim are (too warlike, "we are become Middle Men, of the Twilight, but with memory of other things" [-] "So even was my brother, Boromir") - all of that is now on purpose, on Boromir's part. He is the one distancing himself from the title of 'high' and questioning it's validity in the process, something Faramir clearly disapproved of and was a part of the breakdown in his respect for him. (Understandable, considering Faramir's equal and opposite effort to reclaim the title of 'high' for himself and his people.) Boromir is, essentially, engaging in some kind of racial-hierarchy criticism/abolishionism and activism.

That is not to say that his political opinions all entirely pass muster, he does still engage in racist rhetoric at least once, calling Gondor's eastern enemies 'the wild folk of the east'. But within the context of his own country and it's ethnic diversity, his position is maverick in comparison to pretty much everyone else.

And before anyone says it, let me head off comments like 'Boromir was just being himself, he didn't even know it was political he was just that stupid but I love him for it' No. Boromir's reputation in Gondor was complex and multifacetted but a great many people loved and supported him, clearly we see that there was a divide in political opinion between the two brother's stances on war and society. What you are essentially saying here is that Faramir is such a dull-witted statesman that he was incapable of swaying opinion his way against someone who didn't even know he was a part of the discussion, who wasnt even involved in the debates, against a high society that based their cultural identity on being descended from racially superior Numenoreans. The historical perspective is heavily weighted in Faramir's favour.

The much more likely state of affairs is that Boromir and Faramir have both been working towards their own social change and against each other, causing an opinion divide within the country. And apparently Boromir has not been losing that fight, even if he hasn't been definitively winning it either. Some people call him reckless where Faramir is measured, others say Faramir is not bold enough, Denethor himself claims Faramir is placing his desire for nobility and 'high-ness' over the safety of himself and his people. Culturally Gondor is going in for more pursuits of war-sports (wrestling perhaps) and the adulation of the soldiers that defend them, above the men of lore if Faramir is to be believed.

Society is changing around this debate and Boromir is actively, purposefully and directly involved in that debate! Hells bells, he even describes a part of how he works in the political sphere to Frodo! 'Where there are so many, all speech becomes a debate without end. But two together may perhaps find wisdom.' Boromir is!!! A politician!! On purpose!!

The neutral political position of 'Heir to the Stewardship' given to him by his birth is so ludicrously weighted towards faithful that the effort it must have taken to push the needle and associate with the middle men as such a divisive yet loved figure is MASSIVE. Boromir believed the Rohirrim and middle men of Gondor were his social equals and counted them amongst his people and that was a stance he upheld in PARLIMENT! Stop!! Acting like he's just a blockheaded soldier who cares about nothing else- he cares!! He cares a lot!! Professionally in fact!!

[femsolid]

Every woman, of course, wishes to believe that the man in her life is an exceptional man, a man in a million, and that therefore she is the exceptional woman. But the odds are 99.9 to 0.1 against her (and .1 is probably a high estimate), because almost no man, no matter how gentle, no matter how liberal, could bear to reject the innumerable privileges (operant in very subtle as well as blatant ways in every sphere of his life) of being male, even if it were possible. A friend once wrote to me, "For me, the bottom line now with men is that any man (my brother, too, whom I love dearly) will sell me out if it's a choice between me and patriarchy, me and his male privilege."

- Sonia Johnson

Women feel that, without men, we will be alone and further isolated. We will have no one. We do not see relations with other women as an alternative. Without men, life isn’t worth living. This reveals the extent to which women experience our selves through men’s eyes. The more lost women feel without men, the more we have defined ourselves through our relationships with men and in relation to men.

Having most members of any oppressed group live one-on-one with their oppressors is probably the strongest possible arrangement for ensuring continued psychological enslavement. Whether the adult male is father or husband, the effect is the same: the woman is isolated from other women.

- Dee L. R. Graham

Men are thinking, writing, and creating, because women are pouring their energy into those men; women are not creating culture because they are occupied with love.

- Shulamith Firestone

Heterosexuality stands out as one of the last bastions of patriarchy where the notion of individual choice remains thoroughly unexamined. This leads to curious scenarios such as the phenomenon of feminists who might be critical of the notion of ‘choice’ and ‘agency’ in relation to oppressive systems such as pornography and prostitution, posting pictures of themselves in wedding dresses on social media, and defending their ‘choices’ as a purely private affair.

- Julia Long

Feminism is stifled by women with shifting priorities based on necessary compromises with the men in their lives. This will always create a burden for the woman to choose between her politics and the oppressor class she has an intimate connection to.

- Sustainable Separatist

Women’s magazines place young women’s ability to establish and maintain heterosexual dating relationships at the centre of women’s identities. Rhetoric surrounding the achievement of ‘wedded bliss’ and finding ‘Mr Right’ abounds, with men the ultimate source of ‘women’s fulfilment’.

- Kate Farhall

The whole world wants you to partner up with a man; the handful of us who want liberation don’t threaten your little domestic dream beyond asking you to self-reflect a bit and ponder your priorities. We’re not witches, and we’re not the monster under your bed either. We’re women alive leading fulfilling lives, and we’d love it if more women got to experience it. There’s no non-misogynistic man. Some do a good job of fooling the women around them, but none of them isn’t complicit in women’s oppression. Why do you feel such a need to put your life and your freedom in a man’s hand? Can’t you do things yourself instead of waiting for someone else’s input? At the end of the day it’s not about your feelings. It’s about doing something so things change instead of just waiting passively for men to deign to give us a few rights, it’s about women’s liberation. And that might very well be something you are not interested in, which is your prerogative, but it’s not my case.

- Floatingbook

The most exhilarating experience of my newly-divorced life was the discovery that I could be whole and happy without a man; that the fierce brainwashing to the contrary, which I’d sustained all my life, was not only composed of lies from start to finish, but was a total reversal of the truth: it’s not women who need men, but men who need women.

- Sonia Johnson

I don’t think we need to argue or defend female separatism. We just have to build it. Women who are able to speak against it obviously see no benefit in joining, so they can stay as they are. But they can’t control what we do. They can go on and on about how absolutely dreadful it would be, while we’re already building our houses and planting our gardens and having immense joy at the freedom and life. Separatism proves its points by existing and showing what it really is. Don’t waste energy telling people how stupid they are for fighting you about it, come learn all about berries and sustainable permaculture with us.

- Balkan Radfem

Friends and enemies will be clearly lined up, and the friends will be real friends and the enemies unable to hide behind phony benevolence — nor will we have to toady to them. An end to this constant remaking of ourselves according to what the male ego demands! Let us be ourselves and good riddance to those who are then repulsed by us!

- Dana Densmore

[folatefangirl]

On The Darkest Corner of the Heart

A comment on how Booktwt, Booklr, and Booktok media reactivity has lost the plot

Or, I think y'all need to log off and touch some grass and think about your actions for a hot minute. Note: This rant is a tad long, because I'm fucking pissed.

Disclaimer 1: I don't personally know the author of this book or anyone screenshotted in the drama. We aren't friends. I have no reason to either defend nor criticize these people, except for the fact that I've been a primary reader of self-pub and indie books for almost a decade now, and yes, including romances that some people don't consider worthy of civility. I'm also a queer healthcare worker.

Disclaimer 2: I don't want anyone mentioned/screenshotted here to be spammed with hate. Please do NOT contact them, including any authors mentioned. I included the primary actors for the current drama primarily so people don't claim I'm talking out of my ass.

Book blurb:

Forbidden. That's what they are to each other. Maddie Stevens has never felt good enough. Not good enough to keep her parents’ love. Not good enough to be independent and stop being her brother’s problem. Not good enough to build the future she wants. When she injures her ankle before a ballet audition that could change her career forever, she’s convinced her life is over at twenty-one. What’s the point of having dreams when they can go down the drain at any moment? And because the universe has a cruel sense of humor, her physical therapist turns out to be a tank-shaped grouch who doesn’t even seem to like her that much. It’s totally unfair that, for six weeks, she’s forced to look at that handsome beard and listen to that deep voice that makes her head all dizzy. Top that with the fact that he’s ten years her senior, and falling for James Simmons is a recipe for disaster. But when their forced proximity makes the lines start blurring, the forbidden temptation becomes impossible to resist.

The Timeline:

Events preceding 2023: Lisina Coney, author of The Darkest Corner of the Heart, was born in 1999 in northern Spain. She worked as a translator prior to publishing books.

Initially I thought these books were only self-published, but in fact are published under the formerly indie publisher Page & Vine, founded by romance novelist Meredith Wild.

January 27th, 2023: The Brightest Light of Sunshine is published by nearly 24-year-old Lisina Coney. On Goodreads, it currently sits at 3.87 stars as of today, February 10th, 2024, with 27,727 ratings and 3,592 reviews. Note: For a small-time author, especially for a debut novel, these numbers are huge.

May 2023, Page & Vine announced that Big 5 publisher Simon & Schuster would distribute their books as an imprint beginning in summer 2023.

In mid-to-late 2023, Lisina's website and socials announced The Darkest Corner of the Heart, her second novel to be published with Page & Vine on February 20th, 2024. Note: This means the events below occurred BEFORE the book's publication.

February 5th, 2024: anaborbareads on Twitter/X posts the cover and other art of Darkest Corner with the text, "a forbidden romance between ballerina and physical therapist???? pls i need this book now 🥺✨💗🫶🏻"

February 6th, 2024: h0mmelette on Twitter/X responds to anaborareads with "the booktok genre of forbidden romance is hilarious. theyre straight… whats forbidden"

February 6th, 2024: a tumblr user reposts the twitter thread from above to tumblr. Other tumblr users reblog and add on, and it quickly goes viral.

February 7th, 2024: From what I can tell via reverse image searching, the first iteration of the fake ARC page that's going around appears to be from Twitter/X user queef1ng. About 4 hours later, the same fake ARC page was reposted on the tumblr post mentioned above. And from here, this story takes a turn from people wanting to feel like they're above a romance novel writer to potential legal territory.

Of the 122 ratings on Goodreads for Darkest Corner to date, 9 appear to be 1-star reviews and from what I can tell, most/all of them were only published since the events began on 06Feb2024. 71 are 5-stars and while some of those are ARC readers, many newer ones appear to be trying to counteract the review bombing from the fake ARC page.

As of today, February 10th, 2024, it looks like the book will still be published on February 20th as planned, but we'll see.

Wait, so how do you know the page is fake?

I can't believe people have been so gullible but fine, here's my analysis:

Lisina's real ARC readers have stated that it isn't from the book (not gonna document all of them in the screenshots but you can easily go to the book's GR page and see the ARC reviews there).

As other folks pointed out on the tumblr repost, no real ARC page does a weird review watermark like that. Speaking from my own experience in reviewing ARCs or beta-reading, I agree.

The font tipped me off because it looked like it had literally been written on a Fanfiction.Net page. Not that Verdana, font size 10, is unique to FFN, but it looks like fanfiction typed font. Which brings me to:

Literally how could you believe this author writes like this? You can read her website or preview her first book or just have the bare minimum common sense to understand what satire looks like. If you don't believe me (because I know framing a post like this will put a lot of people on the defensive), I've also included screenshots below. The prose and dialogue are COMPLETELY different from the alleged screenshot. The only thing that is similar is that both characters are ballerinas.

But wait, all of this doesn't explain why YOU, Cinnia, are so pissed about this?

You're completely right! It really doesn't. All of the above is mostly documentation so the naysayers can't say I'm just some silly fangirl of the author.

The initial premise of the drama is that you can't have "forbidden love" in an m/f relationship. First of all, William Shakespeare would like to have a word with you regarding Romeo and Juliet. Second of all, yes you fucking can. See also: Religious and cultural differences and human history for a starting point. I know it may be hard to touch grass and look at media that is not tumblr queer media-centric and understand that people who are NOT you might enjoy it very much. Note that I'm a queer person saying this and I do read or watch m/f media at times because I don't like limiting myself. Go watch Bajirao Mastani and enjoy one of the most beautiful movies about forbidden love ever produced.

The book itself falls into the medical romance subgenre. For those not familiar, these are romances (usually m/f) that often involve a healthcare worker and their patient. In the real world, where people touch grass, a healthcare worker like me having a relationship with their patient is such a huge ethical violation that it will get you fired. In Darkest Corner, James is Maddie's physical therapist because she's a ballerina with a sports injury and he is treating her. Ergo, it is forbidden for them to get together and the initial premise for mocking this book is on very shaky ground.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the folks mocking it seem to very likely not be familiar with romance novels and their subgenres at all, or else they'd be well aware of the concept of straight romances marketed as a "forbidden romance" because they're fucking everywhere on any place that sells romance books. I have a personal collection of over 14,500 kindle ebooks. While not all of those are romances, a good chunk of them are, so I think I can count myself as a bit of a source here, you know?

The fake screenshot and social media drama has spread to at least Twitter, Tumblr, and BookTok, which all have huge reader hobbyists. For a small-time author barely past her debut novel's publication, allegations of this sort tied to your author name and book titles can last on the internet and in web searches for a long, long time, hurting an author's career. Maybe you're like "boohoo, who cares about their careers, I pirate all my fiction books anyway" and well, a post like this was probably never going to convince you of anything. I'm talking to the folks who might still have a sense of shame and self-reflection. Authors, even authors tied to a Big 5's imprint, earn peanuts. This sort of manufactured "scandal" is not ideal when the book is weeks away from being published. In fact, if the book has fewer sales than the first book in the series, Simon & Schuster may have legal grounds to go after the person who made the fake screenshot. A smarter person would have kept that to the groupchat or posted it as a clearly marked fanfic on AO3.

As a reader, this also sucks because when shit like this happens, the reviews of a book are permanently biased by both the bombers and the fans of the author, no matter how good or bad the book ends up being. Do I know if this book will be a 1-star or 5-star now, based on the reviews? Nope. Will I read it? No, because I don't read medical romances as it's a squick for me. But I may read her first book, which has mercifully escaped most of the social media nonsense.

This isn't the first time booktwt/booktok/booklr has engaged in a similar mob mentality towards books they don't like and I doubt it'll be the last. See Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao and the allegations that turned out to be false then, too. However, I would like to ask y'all to please check your sources and not blindly accept what someone says on social media as truth. Get used to doing the research because manufactured misinformation is everywhere, and it's not gonna get better. (And for fuck's sake, not everyone is gonna like the same books and fandoms you like! It's not illegal to enjoy reading different things!)

Screenshots/Evidence (click for better resolution):

[kinnenvy]

In defense of season five Brian Kinney

(this has been in my drafts for months because i'm scared to post it sjkfhs)

We all feel a certain kind of way about season five, it's like... kind of unfortunate from beginning to end lmao. BUT STILL the one thing that I will always do is try to defend that babygirl, I will carry him out of the storm of criticism princess style and take him home on a white horse.

disclaimer: this is a confused stream of consciousness and I will get some things wrong because it's the season I've watched the least lol.

Why does Brian act the way he does? We know why he acts a certain way throughout the series and to me his behaviour in s5 is not that unwarranted or different from the other seasons.

1) At the end of season 4 he asks Justin to move in, he talks about wanting to spend more time with Gus, but does any of it happen? no.

Justin leaves and Brian is happy and proud of him, but honestly I would also see why that would make him feel a certain kind of way. He already thinks he doesn't deserve love and companionship and one of the few times he asks for it he doesn't get it. He prepares a trip to go see Justin, but at the last second he decides not to go, he gets cold feet because it sound like Justin is leaving him forever. Sort of, kind of, but it's enough. The same happens with Gus (imo). Like he's accepted that with time all his relationships will end and no one actually wants him to fight for them, because no one actually likes him enough to want to stick around. But do you know who will always stay by his side? Michael. Until...

2) Confession... I don't hate the assimilation plotline. It was handled horribly, but I still think it's pretty cool they dedicated so much time to it. They were doing this in the early 2000s and now most lgbtq+ media can't handle to seriously get anywhere close to it.

Brian and Michael's roles are on the opposite spectrum of the debate and Justin ping pongs between them way too pointedly, because (imo) the writers decided to use him as a plot device instead of a character. (Unironically to me Justin feels the most like Justin when he is being a dick to his mom about her boyfriend) (and even then I find myself questioning whether s4 Justin would do or say any of that)

ANYWAY Brian sees his best friend/brother travel where he can't follow him. Michael has a family, he is married, he has a house in the suburbs, new, more mature friends and Brian is looking at him from afar, wondering why he suddenly thinks the life they've shared is a meaningless, shameful thing of the past. Not directly, but in a way wondering why Michael can't just accept him the way he is anymore.

BTW Brian might have celebrated the wedding of his friends... but that doesn't mean he changed his mind on weddings as a whole. Actually his wildest marriage nightmares are proven right by the two married couples he knows. He probably looks at Mel and Lindsay destroying each other, stuck in a legal battle with Michael /and/ Ben, looks at the kids trapped in that mess and is glad that will never be him.

UNTIL IT IS. Justin, in his infinite wisdom, decides he wants all of that actually and he tries to "tame" (quoting Cowlip) Brian until he leaves him behind because the domestication isn't sticking and him alone is not worth as much as weddings and kids. There's supposed to be something MORE. Staying with Brian suddenly means settling for something lesser than what Michael has. This process starts way before the break up (talks of... puppies?) and it's there where (imo) Brian just breaks.

No Michael, no Justin, constant talk of marriage and kids and divorce and custody. No one fucking cares Brian has a reason to behave the way he does. It's normal to want different things in life, but no one in the cast has experienced what Brian has and no one tries to understand it and understand what he wants and why either.

Brian's entire existence in the series is being questioned: his worth, what he has to offer, what he can't/won't give as well as what he can/will give, what HE IS, everything amounts to literally nothing. he is being left by everyone, he's wrong and not enough. Meanwhile he hates being alone, he's needy and touch starved and sweet, he needs his special people around, but why would he ask them to stay, when they make it so clear that they think he is not worth anything? (he's left with literally only Lindsay who is so bad at keeping her mouth shut and just offering support and Ted who's mostly just thinking about his own dick 24/7 and is more of a distraction than anything else).

The only gateway to attention and affection he has left is sex except that isn't working as well anymore.

[2.2) (little aside about Justin) To me he is a bit like a moth flying into bright, shiny things. He's still stubborn and driven, but in season five his decisions feel shallow, like he's doing things out of boredom. At the start of the season he's coming back from hollywood, where he was happily living in kinney-like debauchery, and he's disappointed to be back to his old life. So (imo) he finds a new thing to obsess over: marriage. Then he gets to go to new york and weddings, kids and manors are suddenly a thing of the past. This is why to me, in season 5 he's just a big nothing of nothing, genetically modified to accompany the brian/michael assimilation plot line and then Brian's ending.]

3) Confession n 2 I don't hate Brandon and even though the competition is SO cringe, it's meant to be that way (i hope at least), to me the way it ends is what makes it clear. We get a glimpse of season one Brian, broken and lost, terrified, hanging onto the one thing that makes him feel wanted, safe and alive (sex). He wins, but the ending to the competition is not satisfying, Brian doesn't claim his prize (he doesn't want it). We get an unsettling, super close close up on Brian and Brandon instead, the lines are not good, but the visual storytelling carries that scene effortlessly. Past and present looking at each other, the future looming over them right out of frame where none of us can see it.

Aging is a main theme throughout the story and to me it feels very fitting to ham it up towards the ending. Justin spitefully telling him he looks good after sighing and moping around for entire episodes can't fix Brian's lifelong obsession with the loss of his youth. Brian is left to deal with it on his own when it's at its worst. He is old and lonely, Brandon and the competition is an escape, one last glimpse at what it's like to be the young, hot, reigning stud of Liberty Avenue, while being fully aware that his time is up.

In conclusion, Brian has not taken steps back imo, he is struggling to come to terms with the changes around him, while also feeling confident about his own convictions. Sometimes he is bitter and lonely and we get to see him say extreme things, but he's also more well adjusted than he was in season 1. He knows what he wants but he's still scared to admit it. Partly because (and the failure with the moving in thing could be a factor in this) he doesn't think he should ask for anything, partly because the people he loves are expecting him to change even more and against his will.

A the same time, he is able to question himself because he has grown and worked through some of the trauma that shaped him, also he has found a new kind of intense love with Justin, different from the codependency he has with Michael (and Lindsay) and the surface level friendship he has with everyone else, which is something that has made him realise so much about himself and what he wants and would like to be.

For the same reasons he is able to look at his empire crumbling and accept it, because during the show he found other reasons to fight and stay alive. When those same reasons are taken away from him, or he doesn't find the courage to go after them, he tries to comfort himself through sex, even if it's unsuccessful, but he's not closing into himself like he used to. He still thinks he'll get Michael back eventually and he's happy to let Justin go if it means he'll find what he is looking for, Brian doesn't want another relationship he doesn't care for it, the only reason Justin became his boyfriend is because he forced his way into his life and his heart ugh cringe lol. Obsessing over sex, age and fighting with his loved ones is not necessarily a sign of regression, just a momentary way to cope with the world pulling the rug from under his feet.

He went from attempting suicide to celebrating being cancer free. He wants the people who make him happy to be happy, even if it hurts him. He's not possessive and he's not particularly brave when it comes to relationships, but he's also growing constantly, willing and unwilling he changes and moves forward in his own way, sometime turning to look at the past but with no excuses, no apologies, no regr[GUNSHOT]

Then episode 10 comes and a lot more shit happens that i could write another 20 pages about but im done for now lmao ok bye

[procrastinatingsoicanreadfanfics]

Tarot

Summary: Your day at the fair has been pretty slow – until a client like no other shows up.

Taglist: @majesticwren @obsessiveformiyatwins @leithdragon @demon-of-the-ancient-world @alicedopey @ivarlover @levithestripper @batmandallyboy @akayxo09 (hmu to be added to any taglist!)

Masterlist | based on this request | requests are OPEN!

You can hear them arguing outside the tent. One of the men telling the other to go in, while the other argues that tarot and palmistry is bullshit anyway. Seconds later, a man in crutches angrily storms in, sitting down in front of you with a huff.

The other man follows, sitting down and calmly straightening out his black skirt while the first rages on about the stupidity of all of this.

“Hello.” You greet simply. “Do you want your cards read or not?”

“He does, yes. My brother is just a little stubborn in these things.” The taller man cuts in.

“I don’t need someone to tell me that there will be a car parked on the handicap spot again in a few weeks.” The man with crutches hissed.

“What’s your name?” you continue calmly, as if he isn’t going on a rampage against what you’re about to do.

“Ivar. This idiot is my brother Hvitserk.” He replies, pointing behind him.

Beginning to shuffle the cards, you take your time committing Ivar to memory. He’s handsome in a dangerous type of way. The kind of man that would hold a knife to your throat out of jealousy.

Lying out the cards in front of you, you catch him glance at you.

“How long is this going to take?” he demands.

“Depends on how interesting you are.” You shrug.

“I am interesting, thank you very much.” Ivar snaps.

“You are.” You confirm, motioning to the cards. “It says here that you’ve had a few past lives, in all of which you struggled to make romantic connections due to your brashness. Like in this life.”

Ivar falls silent, and Hvitserk gives him a side-eyed glance that you recognize as a brotherly “I-told-you-so”.

“Is that right?” he mutters.

“Yeah. You don’t fall in love easy, because you don’t trust easy. And you struggle with your confidence and love life due to your legs. You think they make you unlovable. On the bright side, the self-hatred isn’t as strong as in your past lives. Especially your viking past life was bad. Everyone around you judged you for them.”

“Do you see any romance in his future?” Hvitserk asked.

“Yeah, I do, actually. Not too far from now.” You reply.

“See, that’s good news.” He tells his brother, who only rolls his eyes.

“You have a bad habit of anger outbursts.” You continue, unbothered. “Which is why you’re clenching your fist under my table. That’s habitual from your past lives as well.”

“Anything else you want to criticize?” the man in front of you snaps.

“No, I was about to come to the good parts of you actually. You’re fiercely loyal, especially to Hvitserk and your mother. You’re a fighter too, and you’ll defend those you care about to an extreme extent. You’re a family man – or well, you want to be. Partly because you believe in legacy and partly because you want to do better than your father.”

“Do me!” Hvitserk exclaims enthusiastically.

“Are you sure?” you ask, shuffling the cards again. Hvitserk nods, handing over the payment for four readings – an atrocious amount for the fact he’s only getting two.

“So, let’s see…” you begin, laying down the cards in front of you again. Immediately, the Fool draws your eyes.

“You’re an optimist, even though you’ve gotten to incredibly low points in your life. You believe in second chances, because you’ve needed them yourself. You’re also loyal, and in many of your past lives, you’ve been connected to Ivar. This isn’t the first time the two of you are brothers either. You struggle with finding balance, and tend to draw things into the extreme, but you’re good with making friends and connections, making up for your brother’s introspective personality.”

“That cuts it pretty close.” Hvitserk nods. “Now, about Ivar’s future love life.”

“Yes?” you reply.

“Has he met this person yet?” Hvitserk asks. Using your pendulum, you try to give him the best answer you can.

“He has. Though they haven’t been acquainted long. Their relationship will be a paradox of ideas, but they’ll complement each other well.”

“And will they go to a coffee shop for their first date?” Hvitserk asks.

“That’s a little too specific and trivial.” You reply. “But they’ll go on a date soon.”

“You know, our mother practiced Old Norse paganism.” He said. “She had a knack for fortune telling, and she always says I’m the one who inherited her gift.”

“Really?” you ask.

“Yeah. In fact, my intuition is currently telling me that Ivar and his new relationship needs a little help.” Hvitserk continues. Ivar’s eyes snap to his brother, as if he is expecting something, and you can see the idea forming in his head.

“Actually, Ivar would love to take you out for sushi sometime. He loves seafood, and so do you, so it’s perfect! Alternatively, he’d be happy with pizza as well.”

“Declining isn’t on the table, I suppose?” you say jokingly. Ivar shakes his head almost immediately, before staring at the floor.

“This tent is stuffy anyway. So, sushi tonight, Ivar?”

“I’d love to.” He manages. Hvitserk srcibbles down his phonenumber on a piece of paper, but before he can finish, Ivar snatches it from him.

“No one can read that shit.” He snorts, elegantly writing his number down for you.

“I’ll send you the address.” Ivar says, a little more confident. “Be there.”

“I will.” You promise. Who would’ve thought you’d be so terrible at seeing your own future?

[tigreblvnc]

BLUE LOCK MATCHUP — @bankaixx

Your match is...

— Oliver Aiku

✦ "Lots of younger siblings" is the first detail that wins Oliver over.

✦ He has this very family-oriented vibe and gets along with everyone, even the strong heads.

✦ Knows how to make you feel comfortable in two seconds.

✦ A well-placed joke starts the first conversation.

✦ Commitment issues... until he meets you.

✦ We know the guy tends to have many flings, but few of them really go anywhere...

✦ ... yet I can perfectly see him being faithful once he meets you.

✦ There's something about you that soothes him, that strikes a chord.

✦ Maybe the fact that you're used to handling a bunch of kids? You know how to handle the bear that he is. BETTER: you know how to manage a (family) team!

✦ Light conversations in the evening when he gets home.

✦ Actually, I can see him being capable of deep and thoughtful dialogues but deliberately not trying when he senses you're exhausted from work. He knows that in those moments, what you need is relaxation.

✦ Manages to buy your favorite pastry amidst all the chaos of his daily life.

✦ Thinking of you always gives him a boost during tough matches.

✦ Deep down, he'd be content with any position as long as he can be there for you.

✦ He was capable of putting his ego aside for three years in a row, after all.

✦ Truly the generous type who comes back with arms full of gifts for Christmas, I can't imagine him any other way.

✦ Matching old Christmas sweaters!!!

✦ He loves your curves, but loves even more to slip behind you and wrap his muscular arms around you.

✦ 190cm of tenderness around your waist.

✦ Loves hearty hugs!

✦ The most likely to boost your confidence and appearance; in the summer, he's the first to cheer you on for your outfits.

✦ Fiercely confronts anyone who dares to criticize or look at you the wrong way.

✦ Even though direct confrontation isn't his preference (defender position obliges), he's intimidating and deterrent enough to ward off any threat.

✦ Shall we talk about the nurse x patient trope?

✦ Instant serious discussion while you tend to his wounds and bruises...

✦ Magic kiss on his boo-boos...

✦ And he asks for more...

✦ ... even when he's not really hurt.

✦ Dang I want to see that movie.

✦ You as his phone's wallpaper.

✦ Of course he has photos of the two of you in his wallet.

✦ During his moments of doubt, seeing and thinking of you restores his confidence.

✦ Always manages to do the boring household chores so you don't have to.

✦ Grocery shopping late at night even when he's exhausted, for example.

✦ And of course, he would have thought to bring you your favorite dessert.

✦ Takes you to Sweden to see his family.

✦ A big family in the making?

✦ I can't imagine him without kids.

✦ Even if you know nothing about soccer or aren't interested in it, he constantly talks to you about his exploits and highlights.

✦ He's tried to get you into it several times but you resist the invader...

✦ Deep down, he prefers to have you to himself and for the world to not know about your relationship. Easier to protect you.

✦ Even though he understands very well that you can handle yourself.

✦ Captain of his team, I'm sure he'd also make a great big brother. Your siblings would love his relaxed and friendly nature.

✦ And it's funny because he also sometimes seems much more mature than his age.

✦ Naturally switches roles according to needs.

✦ Ultimately, a family is a bit like a soccer team too.

✦ "We defend, we score together."

A word about your match: You were a tough one and I loved it. Hatstalls are my favorites. I initially thought of Rin for the siblings aspect... There was even Kunigami (he has a strong big brother vibe), but for me, Oliver was the best candidate for all the reasons mentioned.

© JAE-PUDDING 2024 | FROM THE JULY '24 MATCHUPS EDITION.

[theheirofthesharingan]

Things to keep in mind before interacting with this blog

This blog is a safe place for both Itachi and Sasuke and their fans. I defend Itachi a lot.

Bonds important to both Sasuke and Itachi are respected here. There will be some criticism to everyone, but no hate.

I don't have any strong negative sentiment towards any character. It varies from unhinged kind of love (Itachi and Sasuke) to like and indifference to other characters. I don't invest my time hating on other characters, so you might not find pro or anti posts on the characters who aren't the Uchiha brothers.

I do not entertain the powerscalers and fandom activists. Anyone coming here with these ideas will be blocked without any explanations.

Strictly anti S*suSaku and It*Saku. If you ship them, it's fine by me, but please don't talk about the ships in my notes.

Likewise, anti incest-ships as well. Itachi and Sasuke have the deepest bond, and it does not have to be misconstrued into something it's not. If you ship them, again, it's fine, but I will not be sharing the arts and fics on the ship here.

Regarding Asks

I try to respond to all the asks. If it's ever delayed, it's because I'm really, really busy or I need to be in the proper state of mind to be able to answer it. I don't like throwing half-baked replies, so please don't think I'm ignoring you or your asks.

I don't mind long asks, and please don't ever apologise for sending me long asks or ranting in my ask box.

I block people who send rude asks as well. I can answer usually everything other than the rude ones or those with Y/N.

On my fics

I love to write about the brothers and have written 4 Naruto fics so far.

I take a little bit of time to update them because the stories about Itachi and Sasuke are emotionally draining sometimes.

Some important links

On the reasons Itachi gets unnecessary hate

On Itachi's mannerisms

Itachi was not retconned

On Itachi and Sasuke

On Itachi and Shisui

On Itachi and Kisame

Reasoning behind Itachi's actions

[shxrry-blossom]

So... I was talking with a friend about my favorite characters of all time - Yona & Athy - and we realized that they both share the same mbti lmao

But other than that, both actually share a lot of features.

Starting with the fact that both are the only princesses in the kingdom, heirs to the throne

They both have extravagant physical characteristics (yona with her red hair and Athy with her jewel eyes)

Also their bangs look similar and they have wavy hair

Just look how pretty they are:

They both had their first love with another more "soft" person Yona was in love with Soo-won and it was never reciprocated while Athy had a crush on Ijekiel but she was the one who rejected him (fun fact: soo-won and ijekiel have the same mbti)

Also, they both dance!!

Now we go with the most important: Both have an important relationship with their father for the story; Yona's father was widely criticized for being a coward while Athanasia's father is...rather feared.

And both parents were the second heirs who became king/emperor after killing their older brothers (for different reasons)

Both had their mothers dead most of their lives.

They both fell in love with their childhood best friend (fun fact, Hak and Lucas also share mbti lmaooo)

And in fact, their relationships with them are also similar. Although Hak is a much better person than Lucas, both couples are childhood best friends who grew up together, both - Lucas and Hak - spend their time protecting and helping their princess, also pend their time bothering them and making them irritated.

Another thing is that Yona and Athanasia both have a complicated relationship with their cousin; Soo won was one of Yona's best friends along with Hak until he betrayed her by killing her father on her birthday while Athy at first did not want to associate much with Jennette due to fears from the novel but in the end she also managed to become in Athy's best friend but never betrayed her. (Although it was because of Jennette's black magic that Athy's father died in the first life and made Athy's magic explode which led to her father losing his memory and then he will try to kill Athanasia. but Jennette didn't know about that in that case it was anastascious fault)

They both have they own Lily! In ANY Lily becomes a close friend to Yona who helps her when she needs it and admires her while en WMMAP Athy's Lily is actually her mother's best friend who always defended and protected her from everyone.

And honestly I was going to end here by saying that despite these similarities they had different stories like that Yona had to flee the castle because Soo-won had ordered to capture her and I suddenly remembered that in fact ATHANASIA ALSO HAD TO FLEE FROM THE CASTLE BECAUSE HER DAD LOST HIS MEMORY AND WAS GOING TO KILL HER.

But well since I read wmmap, athanasia has always reminded me of yona even if they obviously has many differences since Athy is reincarnated while Yona is not, they are still quite similar and it also makes me think that if Athy had not been reincarnated and Claude had not rejected her then she would have become someone very similar to Yona but those are just assumptions. I love both girls that's why I made this post <3

[thepalmofyourfreezinghand]

I keep seeing blogs saying that Joe must have cheated on the Taylor at some point. It's a given for them, and I really cannot understand why. In none of her songs she has said anything about it in a straight way. We are talking about the woman who wrote a song titled the smallest man who ever lived,a woman who had no problems in giving fans lyrics about people taking drugs, about mothers, sisters, brothers, friends of her ex-boyfriends, about being ghosted and masturbating to the thought of someone else, about cheating herself, so why would she not write about her lover cheating on her and most importantly about the woman he had cheated on her with. She did it in the past. The excuses they find is that she is showing him grace, well it doesn't look like she showed him any grace last year when she released Your losing me when she did, we all know now that that was done in order to protect her and M's relationship, she wanted to divert attention from them and all the critics and basically fed Joe to the wolves. Neither she did when she let her armies viciously attack Joe after she went on stage performing crying while singing love songs and we know now that all that was for MH who,m as per her PR team statement after the news of their breakup came out, she was hoping would come back to her. There's no doubt in my mind that if any cheating had happened we would have had it loud and clear told in details in more than one song. What we got instead is once again lyrics that hint at her old fear of being left or cheated for someone better or different, her fear of not being enough or tire him, fears that had plagued her since the very beginning of their relationship

I 100% agree that she didn’t hold back in TTPD and she didn’t hide anything. I mean, of course so much of what happened wasn’t in the album, but there’s a reason why TTPD made so many people “uncomfortable” and was labeled TMI: because it is TMI. She laid it all out, even the parts that made her seem desperate/pathetic/naïve.

So yeah, when people insist that cheating probably happened and she just didn’t talk about it because it would’ve been embarrassing to admit that she got cheated on, it makes me roll my eyes a bit, because in the album she admitted to stuff that’s considered much more embarrassing by society’s standards.

I also don’t agree with the idea that she didn’t sing about it to “spare” him, because honestly she went all out against him last year. And I know that a lot of fans refused to see it, but as someone who defended Joe a lot throughout 2023, it’s evident to me that at no point her aim was ever to protect him (and I’m not trying to fault her here, I’m just stating what I think is the truth).

That being said… there are 100 other reasons why cheating might have happened and yet she might have decided to avoid singing about it.

But beyond that… who cares (this is not directed at you, anon, but at all the people who still discuss this matter). People “need” him to have cheated because they need a Bad Guy who’s done a Bad Thing, and cheating is pretty much still seen as the worst thing you can do to your partner by a lot of people (while other types of betrayals get swept under the rug, but I digress).

I personally think neither of them cheated on the other one, but even if they did… their rs had a thousand other problems, who cares if in the last dying breath of a relationship one of them cheated on the other.

Like… she outright told the entire world he suffers from depression when he’s never talked about it AND she didn’t say shit when swifties harassed his costars for weeks AND she disclosed the date YLM was written and she did tons of other stuff, while on the other hand (according to Taylor) Joe made her suffer for months and didn’t realize she was dying and made her feel like she needed to hide… if either of them cheated on the other it’s honestly the least “problematic” thing they did hahahah.

[scoobydoodean]

hi! i read your misogynist post and while i haven't read it all to analyze, this one stood out to me the most:

In 1.06, Sam cuts Dean off before Dean can accept an offered beer from Rebecca, but then as soon as Sam needs Rebecca out of the room, Sam asks her to not just bring them those beers... but also fix them sandwiches. Rebecca says, "What do you think this is, Hooters?" and Dean mumbles, "I wish" and we somehow lose sight of the fact that Sam literally just asked a woman to make him sandwiches which is possibly the number one misogynist man trope.

while that i'm not justifying or defending, the thing about this section is he ASKED rebecca those things to distract her and not have her come back in the room right away after grabbing the drink, because he needed to DISCUSS with dean what he just saw on the camera without freaking her out because that was her brother. i would have done the same thing, and i'm a girl.

I would greatly appreciate it if you would read posts fully before responding to them. That said, of course there's a context to Sam's comments. I in fact stated in the very portion of my post that you yourself quoted that he wanted her out of the room:

then as soon as Sam needs Rebecca out of the room, Sam asks her to not just bring them those beers... but also fix them sandwiches.

Misogyny almost always has a conversational motive/context. It isn't usually cartoonishly and randomly spewed. There's a context to Sam's request. There's a context to Sam lying to the women he loves and intends as life partners, and using the word "bitch", and usually being bad with women more generally, and tending to view women Dean might be interested in or who might be interested in him as loose distractions. But if you think the writers weren't aware of exactly what they were writing when they specifically went to sandwiches, I think you're wrong, and Rebecca's immediate objection to Sam's request lends to the author's awareness.

The context of that entire section of the post is not to demonize Sam, but to state that fans who push this narrative that Dean is a huge misogynist (in an effort to erroneously demonize him) are almost always contrasting him with Sam, who they believe to be some bastion of progressive morals who has never so much as looked at a woman lustfully (because that would be Evil and Bad™️). When shades of misogyny in Sam (that he is very very unaware of) are intentionally written into the script from the Pilot.

Kripke appears particularly fond of giving Sam an air of moral superiority that often backfires on him when he endeavors to judge Dean. 1.16 "Shadow"—another Kripke episode—is also a great example. Sam at one point criticizes Dean (who has gathered all of their major leads up to this point) for not "thinking with his upstairs brain", because Dean dared get a bartender's number while asking her questions about the victim. Sam, meanwhile, has been floundering reading books and getting nothing. Later in the episode, Sam peers up at Meg in an upstairs window as she undresses, and gets called a creep by a woman who passes by and sees him leering. It's again—a situation where Sam's initial intention isn't any brand of misogyny. He thinks Meg is bad news and is tailing her, but then can't help... looking... and then looking again. But it's so blatantly intentional from Kripke—especially the contrast of Sam peering in at Meg upstairs while Sam sits in a car below—downstairs.

The goal of the writing team in writing in these moments certainly isn't to make me think of Sam as some horrible evil man. It's simply to give him flaws with a fascinating and rich context that make him far more interesting than the Mary Sue some of fandom is obsessed with rewriting him to be. Sam's misogynistic moments don't endeavor to villainize him any more than Dean’s do—they provide fascinating insights into Sam’s relationship with and clashes with Dean, and add to other incidents where Sam takes on a morally superior air—perhaps, in some ways, out of subconscious jealousy. I won't link you to every single thing I've written adjacent to the subject, but for example, this post on how Dean earns money, how Dean pimps himself out for information, and how Sam and Meg both minimize Dean's contributions to the case in "Shadow" while Dean actually gets all of the leads (similar minimizations occur in 1.10 "Asylum"—which is another excellent example of Sam floundering while Dean repeatedly displays his brilliance, only for Sam to ultimately accuse him of having no mind of his own).

[princesssarisa]

Character ask: Miriam and Jochebed

Okay. I hope I don't get too many more Bible character asks, because I'm honestly not religious , but here goes. I'll cover both mother and daughter together, because one of my favorite pictures of them is a painting of them both.

Favorite thing about them:

Jochebed: Her love, bravery, and cleverness in protecting her son Moses, by technically following the law ("Every Hebrew boy must be thrown into the Nile") but putting him in a water-tight basket and having her daughter watch over him until he's safely found.

Miriam: Her status as a revered female prophet, who protected her brother Moses as a child, who led the Israelites in music and dance at the Red Sea, and who earned the respect and loyalty of her people. I especially like the emphasis that modern Judaism places on her holiness and position of power.

Least favorite thing about them:

Jochebed: That she had to give up her son to save his life, the poor woman, though at least she was able to be his wet nurse.

Miriam: Her possible racism in criticizing Moses "because of his Cushite wife." Although people have tried to find a more sympathetic explanation for that passage: for example, one legend has it that Miriam and Aaron were defending Zipporah, because Moses had separated from her to live a more holy life of celibacy, not objecting to Moses having married her. At any rate, at least she's punished and humbled when God strikes her with a temporary skin disease.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I'm part Jewish.

*I have dark hair, as they must have in that time and place.

*Like Miriam with her tambourine, I believe in the spiritual power of music.

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I've never been a slave.

*I'm not devoutly religious.

*I've never lived in Egypt.

Favorite line: From The Prince of Egypt:

Jochebed

"Hush now, my baby

Be still, love, don't cry.

Sleep as you're rocked by the stream.

Sleep and remember

My last lullaby,

So I'll be with you when you dream.

River, o river,

Flow gently for me

Such precious cargo you bear

Do you know somewhere

He can be free?

River, deliver him there"

Miriam

Singing as a child:

"Brother, you're safe now,

And safe may you stay,

For I have a prayer just for you

Grow, baby brother,

Come back someday,

Come and deliver us too"

Encouraging Moses as an adult:

"Moses, hear what I say. I have been a slave all my life. And God has never answered my prayers until now. God saved you from the river, He saved you in all your wanderings, and even now, He saves you from the wrath of Pharaoh. God will not abandon you. So don't you abandon us."

brOTP: Each other, Moses and Aaron.

OTP: For Jochebed, her husband Amram. For Miriam, her own husband, whoever he was, if she did marry (traditions vary).

nOTP: Moses or Aaron.

Random headcanon: For Jochebed, she was born very late in her father Levi's life, so even though her husband Amram was her nephew, she was younger than he was. (I hope nothing in the text contradicts this.) Of course, the very fact that Levi, son of Jacob, was her father is hard to believe, because it would have made her an impossibly elderly mother when Moses was born, even older than Sarah was at Isaac's miraculous birth. But we probably shouldn't worry about whether the timeline is realistic or not – it's innately convoluted and full of contradictions, probably because it consists of multiple sources strung together over centuries.

For Miriam, I like the Jewish legend that a well or a spring followed her throughout the desert, providing water for the Israelites, and that it dried up when she died, which explains why in the Book of Numbers there's suddenly no water after her death.

Unpopular opinion: I don't think I have one.

Song I associate with them:

For Jochebed:

"Deliver Us" from The Prince of Egypt

For Miriam:

"Miriam's Song" by Debbie Friedman

"When You Believe" from The Prince of Egypt

Favorite picture of them:

This painting of mother and daughter together with baby Moses.

Of Jochebed:

These stills from The Prince of Egypt. (The first two also featuring little Miriam, little Aaron, and baby Moses.)

Of Miriam:

This modern painting, because unlike most paintings of Miriam at the Exodus with her tambourine, it shows her correct age. Most classic paintings of the scene make the mistake of portraying her as a young woman, but she was Moses's older sister, which means she would have been in her eighties! Please, artists, let elderly women play music and dance!

From The Prince of Egypt, as a child and as an adult. (Even though the movie does make adult Miriam younger at the Exodus than she would have been, that's okay, because it makes Moses younger too.)

[applesaucesims]

🇵🇸 🍉

I've received more messages of fundraisers to share. Please have a look at them!

Motaz @motaz352 has been vetted here, and is currently at kr46,524 SEK/250,000

Hi .. hope you are doing well with beloved 🌹 iam motaz a nurse from Gaza .. married to fedaa a pediatrician .. father of 3 lovely children .. writing to you these words with tearing eye and a heavy heart .. it is not easy for me to ask for help from other but being a father of these lovely kids makes me very responsible for their safety and protection so i have to do any thing to keep them safe .. we lost every thing because of this violent war ! Life here became unaffordale and unsafe for any human .. please please help me carry my children to safety .. i wish my words could explain even little abit of what i am carring in my heart Vetted by 90-ghost Please donate if you can and share widely 🆘🆘 1100 SEK = 100 dollars each (55 sek =5$) will make a difference🙏🍉 be the one who saves us

Sami @zainsami has not been vetted, but seems very legit and donations are protected. They're currently at very low funds, €525/35,000

Hello👋, 🍉❤️🖤🤍💚 I am reaching out to you today with an urgent plea to support my family, who has been deeply affected by the war. These difficult circumstances have placed unexpected challenges upon us, and we are now struggling to make it through this tough period. Our immediate goal is to raise 1000 euros to help ease some of the pressure and allow my family to stay strong. Any contribution, no matter how small, will make a significant difference for us and provide a glimmer of hope during these hard times.💔 I deeply appreciate any support you can offer.Thank you so much for your generosity and compassion🙏

Mohammed @aya2mohammed has been vetted here, and is currently at €28,756/50,000

Excuse me my friend; I hope I am not causing you any inconvenience but my situation is very critical and I need to collect donations for my children they are dying of hunger a small donation would make me happy please

Majed @majedgaza1 is said to be vetted, though that post has been deleted. However, they seem very legit, donations are protected, and I have shared their fundraiser before. They're currently at $4,766/70,000

Hello everyone 🤍❤️💚🖤 I am Majed from Gaza, from the north of the Strip. My family and I were displaced to the south. After 188 days of exhaustion, constant fear, and losing everything we owned, we were displaced to Egypt and paid a large sum, but some of my family and all our loved ones are still suffering in Gaza💔. We don't have residency here, so that's what makes it complicated. I also set a goal of 6,000, which is a short-term goal Of the total specified amount. Your donation, no matter how small, will make a big difference in my life and the lives of my children 🙏🏼🇵🇸🍉

Raneen @ranin3344 has been vetted here. They're currently at €8,563/80,000

Hello dears! I am asking you to support my campaign to help me reach my goal. I am now in bad need your support to help me stay alive and safe. Gaza is a very dangerous place either on the level of livelihood or on the level of souls. I need your monetary support to enable me to get the basic needs for my family till Rafah crossing point reopens to move my family to safety and peace. Please help a family be alive through your small donations or througn your shares to others. Thank you so Much for your stand beside people in need.

I've previously shared the last two, but I figured I'll include them as well, as they still are quite low on funds, although it has been a while. Please consider donating if you can!