#But I am Curious

[melonyfelonyfellonme]

Thing is though, if bw are seemingly quite happy dropping quite important bits of info/lore but not treating them as spoilers

What are they actually hiding bc if that, to them, isn't that big of a deal, then..

[hyperref-lex-ia]

how come we got to see Kristen meeting Helio and Gorgug going to Orc heaven but we dunno where Riz went? Did he just swing by his dad’s office like lol oops i died haha my bad

[lastforest]

been thinking about this lately as I try to get back into reading fiction regularly. if you have to read multiple things at once for work/school/an obligation of some kind, please disregard that and answer from the perspective of what you'd want to do if there was no pressure on you!

[lover-of-mine]

I had a theory I wanted to share but bear with me while I get to it.

Thinking about how now we know for sure Eddie & Marisol are actually having sex regularly got me thinking about how Eddie & Shannon's problem was never their sex life and wondering how/if that plays into Eddie being with Marisol? Because we know things never seemed to click with Ana both emotionally and physically but they are clicking physically with Marisol up until the whole nun thing after which Eddie seemed to be like "well I guess we'll break up now" but didn't seem too devastated by it? If anything he felt more like someone in the beginning of relationship not someone after months of dating & then moving in together. Which of course they decided to slow that because he realized they were going too fast but he said he really wants this time to work out but I'm not seeing a convincing reason why? They're friendly sure & having good sex I guess but what's their emotional connection? How close actually are they? I'm having a hard time understanding it. But this is only his like 3rd ever relationship right? He doesn't have a lot to compare it to & so maybe because he clicked in a way he didn't with Ana that maybe reminds him of what he had with Shannon? Except he & Shannon were best friends, they had a deep emotional connection in addition to a pretty good sex life. So I don't know but maybe Eddie is thinking they needed to move in because it would help them get closer and now maybe they need more time or something? We know he hates dating and feeling like he needs to perform so maybe it's like this is the first woman since Shannon he's able to/enjoys sleeping with so he figures that must mean something more? And I love the idea of he's never considered men being an option before and him now starting on that journey or realizing he did like men or at least Buck and he's now realizing Buck could be an option, like any of those theories and then realizing maybe what he's actually missing in his relationship with Marisol he already has with Buck and realizing he can also have that good sexual part of it (not that he has to but it does seem important to him) too. Because for all of the problems that he & Shannon had they did love and care about each other. I like to think if she'd lived they would have still gotten divorced & actually settled into a solid friendship with each other. But that's neither here nor there.

Is this a crazy stretch? Maybe. I'm just trying to make sense of it all. And I'm a Buddie girlie at heart always so it makes me feel more hopeful.

No, I'm actually with you here. I think Ana was just the first person he thought he could latch onto back then, and she was pretty and nice and Chris liked her, so he thought he could learn to love her eventually. I mean the show does imply that eddieana had sex. I know we like to joke they didn't, but the show very much does imply that with the "you really like to dress me up" "and the other thing" comment at the store before the first panic attack. But they weren't clicking emotionally and we didn't see them connect physically, so Eddie was just "sticking it out". Shannon, the sex worked and I did know how to talk, I don't think you can fight the way they did if you don't know each other. Shannon knew exactly how to disarm Eddie. How to say the thing that would get him questioning his actions. So even if we didn't get to see a lot of moments in their marriage where they were just happy, we know they had good sex and we know they knew how to talk. With Marisol he seems to be connecting with her physically, but he can't seem to connect with her emotionally, because we don't know anything about Marisol because the impression they are giving is that Eddie doesn't know a lot about her. He could have thought that the shock of moving in would bring them closer and then make the relationship better, there is an argument to be made there. And like, he says he really likes her but his brain went to the break up route and he didn't seem that devastated about it. It is canon information that this is Eddie's 3rd relationship, assumed 3rd person he slept with. So he doesn't have a lot of reference points. Which is why he keeps chasing Shannon. But I also think that enough pent up sexual energy can make people see more in a relationship than there actually is, good sex doesn't equal a good relationship (just look at Buck and Taylor and the way they had the chemistry but lacked everything else). But Shannon worked because they had both the friendship and the chemistry. If Shannon was still alive I think they would very much learn to be friends for Chris' sake and eventually settle back into the friendship and figure out who they are together while better equipped to handle what's being thrown at them. But he's lacking the communication aspect of a good relationship with Marisol. He doesn't have the friendship. He does have the friendship with Buck though. And I guess having sex with men in general never occurred to him (but as a demisexual Eddie believer I think sex is not something he worries about a lot unless it's actively creating problems in his life like in merry exmas and you don't know me, both episodes who contain the two sex scenes that lead to problems in the relationship, and it is an interesting way to create problems on Eddie's relationship by calling back to that conflict with Shannon that eventually led Eddie to let Shannon back in but literally led to him kicking Marisol out, also interesting that he sneaks Shannon out of the house and leaves Marisol alone in it) so he never thought about having sex with Buck specifically, but I don't see how Eddie could go "oh maybe I want to have sex with men?" and not instantly attach that to Buck too, because he's Buck. Considering the way I don't think Eddie knows how to qualify who Buck is to him, but does have Buck stored away as the person he trusts the most, I think that attraction to men would instantly attach to the safest person, and that's Buck.

But the question is how they are gonna handle his sexuality. I don't know if they are ever gonna explicitly label him, or Buck for they matter, on the show, but on a meta level Buck is being thought of as bisexual and they are adding to the pieces that are already there to make Buck a bisexual man. I have no idea where Eddie's sexuality is going. I can give you an argument for that man to be demisexual and/or demiromantic with the last episode. The fact that he didn't know that aspect of her killed his boner and his excitement with the relationship. So much so he had to go back to the getting to know her step. But is the show ballsy enough to have a character like Eddie be demisexual? Are they ballzy enough to make the womanizer bi and the single father ace? I don't know. Probably not. I think Eddie has a complicated relationship with sex. Is it the religious trauma? Is the demisexuality? Is it both? ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ I also think that that complicated relationship with sex makes it harder for him to want to date, because dating comes with expectations. He's clearly not romance or sex repulsed, but he does have trouble connecting on a deeper level with these women. He doesn't have trouble connecting with Buck. I think if you plant the attraction to men seed with him, his brain would fill the empty space with Buck. Kinda in the same way he keeps trying to match these women to Shannon. So he could get there. He can absolutely get there. I see this being a route to be taken. I don't know if the show is brave enough to do it though.

[asexualbookbird]

The Bone Season / The Bone Season Tenth Anniversary Edition by Samantha Shannon - ⭐⭐

I bought the OG Bone Season shortly after release. I'd never heard of it, but the jacket copy intrigued me. It sat on my shelf for way too long and then someone said the main character was asexual so I bumped it up on my list. I finally read it in 2019 and did not have a good time. Heard she was releasing an updated version of not just the first one, but of all books that have so far been released, and told myself I would NOT be reading them. The problems I had ran far too deep to be fixed with a silly little Tenth Anniversary Edition. Then bookoutlet had the first one for ten dollars. I can do a side by side comparison for ten dollars. So, here I am. Seven days and 963 pages later.

Did this book need updating? Yes, actually! I'm glad she did it! The changes she made WERE mostly improvements. Some were just odd, like changing Paige's lunch order at the cafe from a salad to soup. Okay. Girlboss I guess. Others were great, like moving the scenes with Liss around. Most notable, when Liss reads Paige's cards. No, she shouldn't have done that when Paige was late for curfew and all the Rephaim were looking for her! That made no sense! Good job moving that to a more reasonable spot. I also loved Jaxon's entrance into the Guildhall in the updated version way more! He was more dramatic and it felt more in character than him showing up quietly and getting Paige out. She also removed that dumb computer scene that made no sense. No, I don't think they'd be able to have a functional computer hidden away somewhere in the city with no electricity or modern amenities or technology. I also think she should've cut so many words.

My issue with Priory was that it was too damn long (and not enough dragons). My issue with >Bone Season is. Well. Many reasons. But it's also too damn long! It's so much of Paige running around Oxford. Paige having dream memories, which I have qualms about as well, Paige hating Warden, Paige loving Warden, Warden being a dick, I know SShannon has said she doesn't enjoy writing action scenes because she feels she's not good at them, but they're always her best scenes because she puts more effort into them! Paige in Tom Tower, Paige during her Second Test, they're good action scenes! Put that effort into the rest of your damn books! And yeah, the memories, I think it's dumb when someone uses dreams to give us flashback information, but SShannon gave a Reason for that here. I'm not it makes it any less dumb or if I'm just annoyed with the book already. If it was another author, would I still hate it? I don't know!

I do appreciate she took out most info dumps, the updated version was a lot easier to read because of it, but the story about Adonis sticks out. I don't think an otherworldly creature that doesn't care much about humans and spends 99% of his time in this tiny city that hasn't been updated in 200 years, would know or care about the Adonis mythos. I get it, you're using that to make paralells between him and Paige and Nashira. It's still out of place.

I appreciate changing Paige's cousin and his friends from being instigators in the riots, bringing bombs to a protest, to them just showing up for a cause they believe in and then the government making things a problem. Good call in not making the Irish folk terrorists this time around. All the Irish in the book was left unchanged, though, and I've been told that it's uh. Inaccurate at best. It's also interesting in the updated version, she had Paige use her Irish accent later in life, instead of sticking with the London accent she taught herself so she wouldn't be bullied (it didn't work).

My biggest problem that I didn't expect to be fixed and it wasn't, is the plot as a whole. The Rephs. Nashira. This group of aliens coming to earth and taking over and SECRETLY CONTROLLING THE GOVERNMENT AND KILLING HUMANS. It just does NOT sit right with me. Certainly not in today's political climate. I don't think SShannon is a bad person, I haven't seen any evidence in her social media of her holding antisemitic views, but that runs deep. Lots of us hold beliefs and knowledge that's antisemitic without realising it. My issue is how did it get through this revision without anyone saying anything. Why was she allowed this revision at ALL, to be honest. Why, among all the authors out there, was she the one given the chance to change her books that were already out in the wild? And again, so far I'm mostly happy about the updates! There's nothing she changed that I think shouldn't have been changed! But it begs the question, if these books needed this much revising, why were they first published at ALL?

Now for my Hot Take, In Good Faith. I don't think she started the series where it should've started. I think The Pale Dreamer should've been fleshed out as an entire novel, and The Bone Season should've been a book later down the line. Paige choosing to leave Jaxon would've hit harder, the Rephs controlling everything would've been a bigger twist, the world of Scion could've been more fleshed out so we'd understand more why Carl chose the Rephs so quickly. Getting these insights in tiny flashbacks didn't flesh out the world enough for the beats to hit. It would've also been nice to see Paige IN that world. We're TOLD she's a mollisher, but we don't see much mollishing. Maybe even give more time to Paige's sexuality because boy that does not sit right with me this time around.

Maybe I misremembered, maybe Paige was demisexual, but she does NOT read as ace in the updated version. It was already iffy in the og, but here I had to put the book down in the bar scene because WHAT! It had way different vibes! I know everyone has different experiences with being ace, and I know I've put myself in situations I only thought I wanted because it's what You're Supposed To Want, but it felt icky. I don't want to say it's not very asexual of her, because who knows! Maybe that's the authors personal experience and I don't want to shit on that! I simply do not like it. It doesn't sit well with me.

If you liked the OG Bone Season, then yeah I guess. Read this. It's not too different, it is an improvement in flow, and Warden is less of a prick. If you didn't like the OG, then don't bother! Don't be like me! If I can find the others for not jacket price, I'll do this again. I did enjoy The Mime Order more (because of the lack of Rephs) so I'm curious if the updated one will be more readable. That's as far as I got in the OG series so after that who knows. I sure don't. I just like to suffer I guess.

[imaginationblur]

So, genuine question, what do y’all like about the Sonic Archie Comics?

[damagecompilation]

all hands, no powers who would win in a fight - izuku midoriya or yuji itadori

[nametakensff]

Little group of D/isco E/lysium snz fans, since I have several fics I'm going to write anyway after the K/im x H/arry prompt in my inbox, which fic would you be more interested in reading next?

[thebreadwing]

You know what, random question time, GO!

The answers will get more specific the farther you go down because I have a theory.

[neshatriumphs]

If you came from Reddit and you Black, I wanna hear about your time on Reddit.

If you not Black, keep it moving, idc, I’m talking to Black folk.

[dearinglovebot]

yasmina fadoula’s ethnicity is such a haunting question. her VA is pakistani. the fandom wiki labels her as the first “middle eastern” character. colin trevorrow interacted with a post calling her west asian. fadoula isn’t even a real last name. “fadoul” or “fadol” would be the closest and both of those are more prevalent in north africa actually BUT do have some presence in the arabian peninsula and south asia. “yasmina” is one of the most generic muslim names you can have and has no real indication of region. the only reference to her culture is kebabs which is also completely non-culture specific. we don’t know her mom’s name to guess there. south asians, west asians, and north africans can all look like her and her mom. the closest we can really guess is maybe pakistani-arab??

[everqueen12]

just something i was contemplating the other day

[xx-thedarklord-xx]

I've been really curious about how artists view other art that they come across, and that sounds silly, but it's more like what mode are you in when you view it? Typical person mode where you just view it and appreciate the colors or style or is it like artist mode where you notices all kinds of things that others wouldn't?

As a reader who also writes, I go into stories whether fanfic or not, as any reader would, or at least try to until something pulls me out of it, like a spelling error and then I'm in that beta mode. But I'm never in beta mode to start with or at least I try not to. Is that at all similar?

Do artists view other art from an experienced point of view or do they try to see it as someone who isn't an artist would? Please let me know.