#Will will say the words he can’t

[elodieunderglass]

And one amang, an Iyrysch man,

Uppone his hoby swyftly ran…

WAIT HANG ON - slamming the brakes on drawing this stupid picture - do you nerds even KNOW the etymology of the word “hobby”? The thing you do for pleasure? The thing you have too many of? The thing you spend too much money on and share with your friends? The thing tumblr probably is to you? Those hobbies?

It comes from a now-kind-of-extinct breed of Irish pony-horse. It was called the Irish Hobby. Supposedly the hobby got its name from the Gaelic word obann, or swift. They definitely were. They’d obann your pants clean off.

Fast tough little bastards, built for rough terrain and renowned for their speed and stamina, hobby horses belonged to the Celts, and their highly annoying style of mounted warfare. but their conquerors liked hobby horses a lot, kept them, used them for themselves, and found them useful enough, despite the fact that they also had famously useful things like mounted knights or horse archers. A lightweight Irish warrior, mounted on a hobby horse, was called a hobelar.

Reportedly and in depictions, hobelars rode without stirrups. Or saddles. Or bridles. Or - well - this is all sounding very improbable, because the hobelars COULDNT have just been charging around basically bare-assed on naked ponies, screaming, and somehow in the process undoing the composure of actual mounted armoured knights. Knights who, I remind you, had stirrups. Stirrups are useful! It’s quite likely the hobelars had some gear. And clothes. and weapons. And the ponies probably had some tack - I am picturing a bellyband that you could at least hang a saddlebag on, and a neck rope for catching the bloody thing, even if not a saddle. But the overall impression, somehow created by people on darling little ponies, was apparently quite striking and fearful.

I mean. God Forbid People Have Hobbies.

Anyway after a while, whatever people became the British had eventually conquered all of the rough terrain that hobbies were best at, and horse archers just got sexier, and mounted knights became aristos, and all the bog and forest people had been subdued, so it was time to sunset the hobelars. but WAIT! Hobby horses are still tremendously fun and appealing! They’re so fast! and you can ride them without a saddle! Sure, they’re not up to the weight of a mounted knight, or indeed a lot of guys… but surely we can still find a use for a hobby or two? In the back garden? Somewhere?

At which point an English king decided to keep hobby horses just for fun. No military application. No further development of the technology. Not for fun. Just as expensive, pleasurable, pets. Just for the joy of the thing.

And that is how hobby (activity done purely for pleasure) comes from hobby horse (small horse) possibly from obann (swift.) they’re very interesting and you should look all this up for yourself! because it sure sounds like Elodie doing a bit, doesn’t it?

Today, Irish Hobbies are functionally nonexistent. References for drawing include the Kerry Bog Pony, the Connemara, and (I personally think) Dartmoors and Exmoors. They’re said to have lent their speed to the Irish Hunter/Sport Horse and from there to the Thoroughbred, but every damn horse in the world claims relation to the Thoroughbred, and they can’t be THAT thoroughly bred.

At any rate - you can never have enough hobbies. Just be glad that yours aren’t expensive beasts with minds of their own, eating their heads off in the pasture! …Unless they are. In which case, you’re part of a proud tradition.

[odetojupiter]

uhhh so the number four is associated with death in certain cultures, including japanese, which is fitting for the butcher’s son, yes but just remember neil was supposed to be number three and jean was supposed to be number four ,and in every draft but one jean dies. he is symbolically saved from that fate by dodging the number four (being given, instead, the number three which represents REBIRTH of all things - i made a whole post about that if ur curious) because it means he was never marked for death. so in this draft, where he’s number three, but was supposed to be number four, he comes so close to death - to the point where renee doesn’t know how he’s still alive - because he was supposed to die, doomed by the narrative, but that number three saves him. that number three represents resurrection, and so he doesn’t die like he was supposed to. because he’s not number four, he’s number three. he comes back. he transforms, he heals. he becomes number 29 (i will eventually make a post about jean and the 29)

neil, though, was marked for death. he had the number four tattooed on him, and he goes through his own narrative believing he will die by the end of it. his survival, however, is foreshadowed in the very moment neil thinks he’s about to die - when he is kidnapped. lola burns the number four - the signifier of death - off his face, leaving him scarred, yes, but not marked for death anymore. and so he lives. and guess what: the number 10 represents the start of a new chapter, that one cycle is coming to an end and a new life is starting, one that you’ve worked hard for. so for the number four to be burned off of neil, that tells us neil is going to live. and when neil becomes neil legally, he settles into the number 10 properly. and his new life begins.

[yuwuta]

sometimes shoto just sits criss-cross on the carpet in your living room while you’re cooking or on the phone or doing some other mundane activity, staring at your decor and the little pieces you’ve collected and displayed that bear a part of your soul. he’s also slightly infatuated with the pro hero shoto figurines you have neatly dispersed throughout the apartment. two on the shelf underneath the tv, on top of a magazine with his face on the cover, a tiny one that probably isn’t official merch sitting on top of the lamp in the corner, a seated one perched on top of your freezer. he finds them extremely cute, like playing peekaboo with himself. he likes that you’ve made him a part of you. and sometimes you’ll catch him dusting off one of the figures and mindlessly sighing, “i wish i had some of you. i’d keep one in my pocket all the time.”

[keferon]

*clasps your shoulders gently and looks you straight in the eye*

Keferon. Please read Ninth by Kyn on AO3. I think you would love it very much. It has a large chapter count, but don't be intimidated, it's very easy to get into. It is currently unfinished, but is being updated regularly.

You are the seventh person that recommended this fic to me so ahahahaha yeah

I’m doing great Help I hate some parts of it but I love the other parts I’m spinning in the blender

…..I made the moodboard….

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

it’s not that huan can’t talk; it’s that he thinks dog is a perfectly functional language for every purpose that actually matters and refuses to speak anything else unless he absolutely has to

[cynicalmusings]

no thoughts… just xiao quietly murmuring ‘i will keep you safe’ into your hair when you’re drifting off next to him on the balcony of wangshu inn…

[wow-thisismylifeiguess]

So so

I don’t think Bruce has DID, nor will I ever attempt to write him having DID, BUT LET ME TALK ABOUT SOMETHING REAL QUICK

Bruce has a number of alternate personas. The most popular (to my knowledge) being Batman, Bruce (the truest form of himself), Brucie, and Matches. I know there are others, or at least I think there are, but let’s just ignore that for now.

When Bruce is playing into a separate persona, it very much is not an act. He embodies that version of himself /completely/. He is not faking his actions, his words, his mannerisms. It’s just naturally how /that/ version of himself acts. Brucie is a klutz and trips over his own feet? It’s not Bruce pretending to trip. He genuinely wasn’t looking where he was going and went crashing into the nearest guest, causing champagne that spill onto their suit. Matches has the thickest Gotham accent and is sometimes unintelligible? Bruce can’t tamp it down, it’s just /how he talks/.

ALL THIS TO SAY, Bruce is bad at communicating. It’s difficult for him to talk to his family and express his feelings. But his other personas? Some of them are real good at it. Some are a lot more open than baseline Bruce. He is /in/ that headspace so fucking hard, things that are difficult as Bruce are easy now.

But imagine his kids don’t get it. They assume that Bruce’s personas are purely faked. That Bruce is an A+ actor, and maybe he is, but they don’t understand that when Bruce is using a persona, he is also /genuinely/ being that version of himself. So if Brucie cries about how much he loves his children, how he misses them and appreciates them? They assume it’s just for show. But no. Bruce really does miss his kids, and it’s only when he’s not /Bruce/ that he’s able to show it.

[liorlenn]

(Spoilers for KCD2 romance)

One thing that really surprised me about Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (particularly the Hansry romance) was the direct reference to Galehaut and Lancelot (let me tell you I CHEERED), so I wanted to start talking about some other queer medieval Arthurian texts and Arthuriana adjacent texts.

I’m by no means an expert (I focus more on Welsh poetry and prose) but medieval Welsh literature includes some Arthurian literature, so I know a little about Arthurian Literature in general. Most of these stories are either Old French or German and about 13th century. SGATGK is 14th century.

For one, I want to say that the tale being referenced in the game is the Vulgate Cycle or the Lancelot-Grail Cycle (the Vulgate Cycle itself is multiple parts, with Lancelot’s (The Story of Lancelot/Prose Lancelot) being the largest). It’s a big ol’ mash up and retelling of a huge part of the early tradition + new stuff. There’s also the Post-Vulgate which is itself a retelling of the Vulgate Cycle. This is NOT the one you want if you’re looking for Lancelot and Galehaut.

Another thing of note about the Vulgate is that Galehaut and Lancelot are not the only ones I would give the old side eye. Gawain says (about Lancelot even!), “If God were to grant me my health… I’d immediately wish to be the most beautiful maiden in the world, happy and healthy, on condition that he would love me above all others…” Come on man.

Now, for other queer texts!

First up, I have to plug my best friend and my silly rabbit: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Thanks to the movie (which was good but fairly different) this one is a bit more well-known. I could talk endlessly about the moral of the original story and I think the Gawain Poet is incredibly talented at weaving together imagery. I also appreciate Gawain’s willingness to kiss women AND men. Some argue that it’s not queer because of differing social norms but personally I think Gawain wanted it. And by it, haha well let’s jusrt say—

Next we have Parzival/Percival (referencing the German “version” by Wolfram von Eschenbach here. Each iteration of a “Percival”, including Chrétien de Troyes’ earlier (and unfinished) Story of the Grail, all have their own differences). This one is even more up to interpretation than SGATGK. There’s a very explicitly performative aspect to Parzival’s presentation (his gender is “knight”), focusing distinctly on clothing and the role clothing plays in others’ reactions to him that I think is very relatable. I don’t have much else to say about this one unfortunately. I read parts of it once years ago but it was super interesting and there has been scholarship done on Parzival and gender so…. take what you will from it.

The next stories are Arthurian adjacent (as in, medieval stories about knights). First off: Le Roman de Silence is either about a woman knight or a trans knight who is… sighs. Forcibly outed. Interesting read but definitely a bit of a downer if you interpret Silence as a trans man.

Yde et Olive, however is very explicitly about a trans man! Happy ending too! I was incredibly surprised to read a 13th century story about a trans man getting magical/miraculous top and bottom surgery (yes, forreal).

And to cap off this small list, here is some medieval Welsh literature. This one is just me being a little wistful, but let me tell you about Blodeuedd/Blodeuwedd and the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi (Math fab Mathonwy). This one is…sad. It’s not a good ending for Blodeuedd, but I could wax poetic about her: how she was fashioned from flowers to fulfill a gendered role. How she failed to do so and was punished.

There are plenty of other stories with queer interpretations in Arthuriana and other medieval literature (do not get me started on Guinevere and Morgan le Fay’s whole… thing. Also Luned and her Lady…) and there are plenty of modern/early modern retellings that are explicitly queer. I just wanted to stick to medieval texts for this and also limit myself to a select few among that even.

[thetarttfuldickhead]

Coach Beard has a secret Traitors Club. It consists of himself, Nate and Jamie, ie people who have (at least in the opinion of one Willis Beard) betrayed Ted Lasso – but who have also learned the error of their ways through the goodness of Ted’s gentle heart.

(Yes, yes, you might argue that Jamie’s insulting remarks about Ted in 1x10 is a reasonable reaction to what, from Jamie’s POV, looks like Ted unreasonably dumping him, but a, I’m not sure that Beard knows that, and b, I’m not sure that Beard cares about that. You might also argue that Nate and Jamie have both learned a lot of stuff from people other than Ted, but: see the a and b of the previous sentence. And anyway, this is Beard’s club and you don’t get a say in his absurd selection criteria.)

Beard doesn’t inform anyone of the club’s existence. That includes the other members, Nate and Jamie, who just suddenly finds themselves regularly invited out for drinks with the most mysterious man either of them have ever met.

There are a lot of weird but oddly good talks about feelings. There are silences neither Jamie nor Nate know what to do with. And then there’s the football strategy chatter, which unites them all in a wild and eager frenzy, and an unexpected but pleasant sense of shared understanding.

Nate think it’s nice that Beard wants to hang and he’s not one to look a gift horse in the mouth anyway, so he doesn’t question the set-up. Jamie generally assumes that given the choice anyone would always choose to hang with him always, so. He’ll indulge his coach. They have a shared love of trivia.

Eventually Beard learns of Rebecca’s early transgressions, and (secretely) inducts her into the secret club. Club meetings get a whole lot more interesting from there on out.

[promiscuousasexual]

reminder of this interaction <3

source

[third-doctor]

Hey you know when one of the last times the Doctor said I love you that I can think of is?

Zagreus. He told Charley he loved her. And then she followed him and they spent weeks in sensory deprivation unpacking that and love itself as a concept. And we never heard him say it again.

[shallowseeker]

The teaching moment with Mandy is primarily about euphemisms and human expressions, and that's what they've been looking for as The Teaching Moment, even more than the hookup potential.

FURTHER: In the later seasons, we see quite a few examples where Dean and Cas are bantering about metaphors and expressions, and it's because they've been practicing that.

SEE: "I don't think that's the expression." & And "I know what the expression is." Etc etc.

This also an aspect of the diner scene with Jack in Ouroboros, where, as a family, they're engaging in vocabulary banter re: the meaning of the religious term, "lithurgical."

The lost in translation of it all is so, so cute.

///

ANYWAY.

Dean has a vested interest in Cas learning "human flirting," because Dean I-talk-in-code Winchester is trying so hard to send messages, and he wants Cas so badly to pick up what he's putting down.

Mandy is a walking embodiment of Dean's "coded" porn on the show, and is thus a stand-in for Dean's desire. Dean, who smells like food. Dean, who is paralleled to the working waitress with the double-heart pin in The Great Escapist.

Dean is literally "stuck in the middle" of Mandy and Cas here.

He starts role-playing to create a space that feels safer/more comfortable for flirting, without acknowledging the unspoken tension between them. Mostly, the teaching moment is about pushing Cas to look harder at sexual cues.

Dean first starts to triangulate with the "carbs" line, but Dean isn’t just guiding the conversation—he’s actively inhabiting the flirtation, inserting himself into the interaction. He interjects as an overinvolved third party, and even echoes Mandy’s “handsome” line, reinforcing that he’s playing both sides of the exchange.

It’s a brilliant use of misdirection and metaphor, reflecting the core tension in their relationship—Dean wants Cas, but he feels the need to cloak it in layers of humor, flirtation, and indirectness to avoid exposing himself emotionally.

In "showing Cas how it's done," Dean is using the responses as a way to coax Cas into responding the way Dean desires. The "when do you get off" question is not only a classic way of signaling romantic interest, but it's Dean going: "This is what I want you to ask me, Cas. I want you to ask me, when I get off so we can spend time together outside of work."

Cas has been off searching relentlessly, first for Lucifer, and then for Kelly Kline. Dean has felt that absence in ways he won't say out loud.

"She's into you," Dean says, thrilled at the opportunity to play. He's the one who overly gamifies the interaction—“Score. Double score.” He says "score" whenever Amanda signals interest: "I get off whenever I can." And finally, in the script, there's plated waffle that slams down for Cas's order, the Sunrise Special... and Mandy has made sure to slather it with extra whipped cream. "Double score," Dean says.

LOOK AT ALL THESE SIGNALS OF INTEREST YOU GOT HERE, CAS!

The waffles and the breakfast motifs remain symbolic, tying it to the "waffle poetica" we saw from Dean in the beginning of Regarding Dean.

Dean doesn't just want a hookup from Cas. He wants the morning afterglow with him—the breakfast.

///

Two seconds later, probably, Dean is giving Cas a mixtape.

Cas. Cas, baby. He is into you.

[strryhaze]

caroline kennedy walking alongside the beach and spending time with her godfather, bobby kennedy. cape cod, 1964.

[laniidae-passerine]

don’t understand izzy haters don’t understand ed haters they are intertwined they are broken into pieces they love each other but even the best they can do isn’t enough they are barbed wire they are a gold chain they are wrong for each other they were born to be side by side there is not one without the other and it’s terrible now but there’s a deep-seated need to fix it, they’re going to try fix it

[thursdaysyme]

another criminally wrong developmental milestone for the books, this time a fic said a 4yo couldn’t talk

[aspennntree]

the true horror of the magnus archives. understanding french.