#and and also totally valid- she is kind of really hot. I want to make gifs again bc she's so pretty 🥺

[thebigqueer]

Your breakup really really reminds me of my first (and only) wlw relationship/breakup everything you're saying hits home a lot. You will get through it but tbh it's so hard to heal and it still grinds my gears when I think about her and how we broke up. Idk if that helps but I understand what you're going though

YEAH MAN ITS TOUGH OUT HERE FR!!! its not my first queer relationship but like something about this is genuilnely the most world-shattering romantic experience ive had cuz we went into this soooo head over heels for each other like we were literally moving SO fast. and at the time i was like is it ok for us to even be moving this fast (probs tmi but we were literally making out shirtless by like 2nd time we even made out) (probs not a big deal to most people but i experienced a LOT of new things with her that id never experienced befoer & the fact that i was so WILLING to do it so fast was what surprised me the most) but then i was like okk whateverrr i really like how fast we're moving. and i was like 'damn if were moving this fast & if im feeling so good it has to end soon right like theres no way life is going to let me just be happy w this' and then i was like 'no elts not think about it' and then what do you know 5 months later she brekas up w me. and neither of us did anything wrong but it was so random??? like i dont understand how one moment shes telling me how excited she is to spend the entire semester with me and then literally 36 hours later tell me shes not feeling an emotional connection but wont even give us the chance to work it out. i know she also broke it off for personal reasons but its like... this was something we could have TRIED to work out you know!!! maybe it wouldnt have worked in the end but literally nothing felt off to me at all & if id known she was feeling this way i wouldve done my best to make things better. the entire breakup was so sudden and honestly im really not mad at her because i know how nerve-wracking it is to be in your first relationship. i think its just that im really dispapointed she gave up on us so easily you know??? didnt even give us a chance to figure it out

[peachhcs]

catching you up → social media post

hughes!sister x will smith au (samy + will)

a few posts from samy, will, and mack after the san jose trip!

all pics are from instagram, pinterest, or tumblr. as u guys know i love doing these kinds of posts, so i decided to compile one about samy's recent trip to san jose and just some recents lately :)

au masterlist

samyhughes lotsss of complaints that will wasn’t in my last post, so i made sure to include him! thanks for having me in sj <3

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hannahduke my beautiful amazing roommate u look so stunning wow

| samyhughes i love youuu

user1 WOW she’s so stunning omg

user2 WANT that dress

user3 this is so adorable

edwards.73 good stuff hughesy

| samyhughes 😌😌

markestapa ooh how aesthetically pleasing

| samyhughes i really tried this time 🙌

jackhughes sooo like when u coming to nj?? been to the west coast twice now and not to the east coast 😔

| samyhughes dawg u really typed that while i’m sitting right next to u 😒

| jackhughes doesn’t make my comment any less valid tho

lhughes_06 rowdy’s got a point when u coming to nj??!?

| samyhughes when u invite me🤨

user4 i love their relationship it’s so cutie

teddystiga_ …still not enough will. he deserves more than 2 photos 💔

| samyhughes i guess nothing i do is good enough

jameshagens_4 4+4 =8

| samyhughes who taught u that??🤨

| jameshagens_4 myself

mackcelebrini where is my feature?? i spent like 93.4% of the weekend with u

| samyhughes sorry mack🥲

beckettsennecke_ soo good seeing u this weekend!

| samyhughes right back at ya beck :)

_quinnhughes west coast but no visit to van 😕

| samyhughes next time i’ll make pencil u into my schedule

user5 i wanna be her so bad omg

user6 mack and beckett’s comments are so cute aww

ryan.leno_4 justice for will he deserves more photos

| samyhughes so the whole post should just be will ig

michaelhagens_11 run it to boston soon?

| samyhughes omw!

zeevbuium28 @_willsmith2 u pulled fr

| _willsmith2 i totally did😍

kayleighdocherty_ wow so gorg samy!!!

| samyhughes by bae😍😍

gabeperreault44 glad u finally included will this time

| samyhughes glad u approve

aram_minnetian MY MAN MADE THE CUT🙌🙌

| samyhughes won’t make that mistake again

julianne_gelinas soo hot wow wanna be u

| samyhughes i wanna be u actually

drewf2 can u bring us to sj next time?

| samyhughes for sure for sure

rutgermcgroarty yuh san jose!

| samyhughes yuh!

olivianmorriss sooo pretty samy obsessed with u

| samyhughes omg i’m obsessed w u girl

user7 aww the hockey gfs in the comments r so cutie

user8 these genes popped off fr phew

danielle_minnetian HOTTTTTT

| samyhughes 😻😻😻

samanthaminnetian my name twin is so gorg

| samyhughes no ur gorg sam

graceccsmith aww love these samy!

| samyhughes miss u grace🥲

nick_moldenhauer wow good views pic 4

| samyhughes ikrrrr

_willsmith2 loveeeed getting to see u this weekend i wanna do it all over again ❤️

_willsmith2 i already miss u fuck

| samyhughes i miss u sm babe ❤️❤️ wish we could hang out forever

_willsmith2 sj you’ve been really good to me so far

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gabeperreault44 FIRST AGAIN

gabeperreault44 miss u buddy

gabeperreault44 holy shit pic 4?!

gabeperreault44 this is insane contract posting if it is wow

| _willsmith2 i see ur keeping up with the 4 comments in a row

| _willsmith2 what? just some things that’s been really good recently ☺️

ryan.leno_4 oh my god i don’t have words actually

ryan.leno_4 ur insane for this smitty

| _willsmith2 insane for what?

user1 they are the hottest couple and they know it too

user2 will smith posting more revealing pics of his gf each post was not on my bingo card but i am here for it

user3 he’s so real for this u know hell yeah. he’s gotta make sure everyone knows who’s girl is his😌

user4 honestly i’d take this kind of man over anything else

mackcelebrini WOO featured!!!! also ur so whipped wow

| _willsmith2 wouldn’t ever forget u mack😍

drewf2 i respect it honestly

rutgermcgroarty now THIS is the kind of contract posting i like to see

| _willsmith2 mhmm

zeevbuium28 will i stood up and applauded for u

| _willsmith2 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

jameshagen_4 no one’s commenting about ur last pic abt ur first nhl goals so i will u killed it smitty🙌

| _willsmith2 wow thanks james i appreciate it

michaelhagens_11 good shit

aram_minnetian yupppp and i’d show it off too tbh

danielle_minnetian @samyhughes u won

| julianne_gelinas deadass wow

| samyhughes ☺️☺️

eamonpowell_ congrats on the nhl goals!!!

| _willsmith2 thanks e!!

user5 i loveee seeing everyone comment about something different

user6 whooo trained him this well wow he’s the only hockey bf i know who really loves his gf

jackhughes first of all crazy set of photos second of all congrats on those nhl goals bud

| _willsmith2 thank ya j hughes

lhughes_06 everything we ever talked about went out the window

| _willsmith2 i’m sorry luke🥲

thombordeleau_ ur crazy w-2 but i appreciate the pics

| _willsmith2 always providing

eklund_72 tell me again how one can achieve this?

| _willsmith2 honestly idk just be friends with her for years

fabianzetterlund love ya w2

| _willsmith2 back at ya

tofff73 i already have no words. maybe we need to work on the media training again 🤨

| _willsmith2 apologizes ty😔

samyhughes wow i love you

samyhughes obsessed with everything about you

| _willsmith2 i’m in love with you and obsessed with every part of you too

jacob_fowler24 applauding u smitty

| _willsmith2 thank u fowler 🙏

hannahduke wow she trained u so well omg

| julianne_gelinas i've been sayinggg this how does she do it??

| samanthaminnetian deadass tho like..how did she train him this good??

| samyhughes i wish i had an answer he lowkey does this all on his own..

| hannahduke yeah u totally won then

mackcelebrini sj recents

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eklund_72 wow i'm honored to be featured on the 1st overall draft pick's instagram

| mackcelebrini ofc eklund

beckettsennecke_ superrr tough celly

| mackcelebrini thanks sennecke

thombordeleau_ yeahhh he bad 🔥

| mackcelebrini 🔥

user1 aww smitty is in all of these pics

user2 the fact that all of these have will in them is adorable they're so baby

fabianzetterlund good times

| mackcelebrini 100%

tofff73 great season so far celly

| mackcelebrini thanks toff means a lot coming from u

gabeperreault44 i think we should unite forces and be samy's competition for will's attention

| mackcelebrini i'm actually so glad u said that bc i 100% agree

| samyhughes HEY

ryan.leno_4 hell yeah celebrini congrats on the season so far

| mackcelebrini thanks leno

lhughes_06 lookng gooddd

| mackcelebrini 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

jackhughes threads are awesome

| mackcelebrini wow what a compliment from THE jack hughes

user3 these friendships are so adorable omg

user4 i keep saying how badly i want to be a part of their friend group

hannahduke so cool macklin celebrini the 1st overall pick of the 2024 draft!

| mackcelebrini thanks hannah duke the younger sister of dylan duke and twin to tyler duke!

| tyler___duke crazy pull

samyhughes wow ur so cool macklin!

| mackcelebrini thanks samy!

rutgermcgroarty @samyhughes u got some competition girl..

| samyhughes i see..

| mackcelebrini yeah take that i get to see will 24/7

_willsmith2 wow so honored to be featured all 3 times

_willsmith2 as much as i love the support my girlfriend is and always will be my #1 but you are a very close 2nd

| mackcelebrini damn that hurts after everything i've done for u...

[ilikekidsshows]

Look, I know one shouldn't be so harsh on how badly it was handled that Marinette never has to face any push back from Adrichat for her own massive flaws, and instead she's just validated and all her wrongdoings get swept under the rug

But I still think it's WILD that Marinette in Pretention was made to at least somewhat acknowledge in front of Adrien that her stalking was bad, and yet she straight up justified it by saying "I did it out of love" (which only make her sound MORE like an ex-stalker???) while full blown pouting that she has to even accept that "much" accountability in the first place:

Like, girl, come on. What even IS that? xD

It is almost hilarious how pissed Marinette was written to be about giving such minimal lip service to the character growth the show pretends she had somewhere OFF-SCREEN. She is literally acting like a person who wasn't actually held accountable but was forced into begrudgingly accepting that maybe what they did wasn't as perfectly justified as they thought and now is giving a puddle deep apology they don't truly mean.

---

Marinette only ever apologizes these days when she also has a justification, which makes her apologies sound just like a Youtube Apology Video(™): “I’m sorry if I offended the viewers, but I was totally justified (and therefore would do it again).” She only apologizes to placate the audience. And that scene isn’t even an apology, it’s her giving excuses because Kagami dared to call her out on acting no different from the Adrien fans Marinette herself was criticizing. The showrunners are trying so hard to counter common criticisms of the show to the audience and it shows.

It’s also really obvious that the writers think that “I did it for love” is a suitable excuse. This has always been the distinction between Marinette and the hordes of Adrien groupies the city of Paris is crawling with: Marinette loves him genuinely. All those other people just gush about Adrien and follow him whenever they spot him around town because he’s a hot model while Marinette gushes about him and follows him around because he’s a hot model who was nice to her that one time. Clearly that makes Marinette’s love more pure. Besides, Marinette has already claimed Adrien by the Right of Protagonist, so she has the right to know what he’s doing every moment of every single day while those other people are creepy stalkers.

I also find it hilarious that they make her talk like a recovered ex-stalker when, once again, the writers are claiming something that’s never been shown. There is no evidence Marinette has “recovered” from her stalking habit, because the reason she stopped stalking Adrien isn’t that she had some kind of realization that what she was doing was too far or uncalled for, it is that she stopped having a reason to stalk him. First she isn’t stalking Adrien because she’s convincing herself she’s no longer in love with him. Her not being in love means there’s no reason to stalk Adrien. After that Adrien starts dating her, meaning she already has what she wants: Adrien to herself, so there’s no need to stalk him to make sure no other girl sinks her claws into him. She might not really know Adrien at all, but she at least knows enough to know he’s loyal.

And, like, even after they started dating, Marinette has gone behind Adrien’s back to the Agreste Mansion because he’s “keeping things from her” or because she has to question Nathalie about his whereabouts. This girl is so obsessed with knowing every detail about what Adrien is doing, getting what she wanted only mitigates it. Which is why she’s back to spying on him with binoculars in the sneak peek for the upcoming season 6.

[rosie-dear-rosie]

Me and @mistylicious saw other posts doing this so now we’re going to try our hands at assigning Chappell songs to yj characters! We decided to do English class rules that as long as you can argue your point, it’s valid. So we also included the reasoning behind our picks.

Shauna-Good Luck, Babe!

Pretty obvious, closeted lesbian who is “nothing more than his wife” thinking back to a time when she was with the woman she loved.

Tai-Red Wine Supernova

Song about how both exciting and intense lesbian relationships can be. My girl is choked up, face down, and burnt out when it comes to both Van and Simone.

Misty-HOT TO GO!

“A song about always being there, always waiting. It's screaming "i'm here! look at me! touch me! anything!!!" which is just so painfully her. It also helps that it’s very peppy and upbeat and something she'd be singing in her bedroom.”- Mistylicious

Nat-Guilty Pleasure

“Guilty Pleasure. Something that's bad but you want it anyway. It's so explanatory of all her relationships and the way it ends up for her.” -Mistylicious

Plus the cigarette imagery too!

Lottie-Kaleidoscope

Very soft and emotional which I think is fitting for Lottie’s sad ass doe eyes. It’s also about the fluidity and flexibility of love that I think Lottie would really vibe with in her chill, new agey way.

Van-Subway

Technically this song hasn’t come out yet but here’s a video. “Counting down the days until you’re just another girl on the subway” is very post-breakup taivan to me.

Jackie-Femininomenon

According to Chappell this is “a song about how men can’t make me come” and I think that’s very Jackiecore. Plus total Queen Bee vibes.

Travis-Coffee

His and Nat’s relationship is very all or nothing. They’re on and off. If they’re not in toxic codependency then they’re not talking.

Ben-Casual

“Boyfriend problems. He's not out, and it tore them apart. He's the one making it "casual". Their relationship is always undefined, and he stews in his own regret, going over it all in his head.” -Mistylicious

Mari-My Kink is Karma

Ultimate hater song. Nothing more to be said.

Akilah-California

“GET HER OUT OF THERE OH MY GOD :( the only reason she's not dead is because she's able to assimilate and model that killer instinct, but at her core she is soft and kind and should not be where she is.” -Mistylicious

[amysubmits]

My gf wants to be punished by me. She really perks up when I give her an admonishing look, or talk sternly to her. She seems to find my authority and discipline hot.

I do enjoy the idea of punishing her, but more as a sadist. Like, I want to make her suffer — but not because she did anything wrong, but simply because I can. To me, it shows her submission and the power she eagerly gives me, and I find that incredibly hot.

The problem is, I don’t really feel comfortable punishing her for specific transgressions. I think it’s because I don’t feel comfortable with giving her rules. She’s an incredibly capable person who doesn’t need rules enforced in order to function well; she’s up at dawn, punctual, studious, etc. Whereas, I’m actually the one who struggles with things like being on time, being clean, eating regularly��� So punishing her for minor transgressions like being late, or sleeping in, or whatever, feels incredibly hypocritical! (Also, it would be so rare. And usually she has good reasons, too, bc she doesn’t fuck up by accident.) I just don’t see how I could ever have the right to expect her to endure a punishment, when she is so good and I am not.

I am also extremely cautious about introducing punishment for more serious things like if she actually “failed” me or hurt me in some way. (Eg. Say she forgot our anniversary, or started an argument and felt bad about that, or was rude / disrespectful to me.) These are more serious issues than a broken arbitrary rule (eg. “Address me by a title” or “Kneel when you enter the room” etc.). In that case, it’s a complex issue; I’d want to press pause, discuss and understand — not jump into kinky sex / punishment stuff. Not to mention, these issues are shared issues; it’s rare that it’s one person’s fault, so it feels weird to me to punish only one person. (And I don’t want punishment for myself; it would probably feel really triggering.)

Plus, she already feels horrible! She is incredibly perfectionistic, and especially in major transgressions, her internal narrative is more like, “I fucked up and failed you.” It feels needless to dwell on it — I want her to be able to make mistakes and know that she’s safe; that “I’m sorry” is enough; to not beat herself up about it. I worry that punishing would draw extra attention to the issue, and make her feel even worse / like it really IS all her fault.

Finally, I guess there is a distinction between punishment and “punishment,” and a lot of this consideration goes out the window if she’s only after the fun, hot kind. That’s worth discussing with her. But even in the fun “punishment” scene, I don’t really know what to punish her for, because we don’t have rules and she’s so good that she doesn’t really need them. I don’t even know what rules she would have, or how to come up with them! (The internet only recommends punishments, but I’ve found relatively little about how to make rules, both serious and fun ones, or the logic behind what is healthy or not.) Btw we’re not in a 24/7 dynamic or anything, we just do bedroom stuff.

Sorry for the long ask; I tried to edit it down but I have so many questions and need help. Thank you!

Hello :)

It sounds like you're pretty solid in your understanding of what you are and aren't comfortable with. It doesn't sound like punishing her for 'serious' infractions, big or small, is something you're open to. And that's totally valid. It sounds like you aren't certain if she's specifically after the serious type or the sexy kind. If she was after the serious kind, she may not like your boundaries, but it sounds like you know what yours are. If you haven't already, I'd explain this all to her similar to how you explained it to me, so that she has a full understanding of where you are coming from. And then whether or not she had initially intended for them to be 'serious' or not, I think these types of interests always link back to our sexuality in some way or another, even if it's kind of indirect. So, I'd wonder if you could find ways within "play" or "scenes" that could let her get to see you be pseudo-stern with her, and that could let you engage your sadistic side. To avoid risking her actually feeling guilty, maybe the 'rules' or 'infractions' would have to be things that are outside of her normal behavior. For example, if you use Sir during scenes and would worry that creating a rule of 'you must always end statements to me with yes sir or no sir during scenes' might make her actually feel guilty if she forgets - then maybe make up rules that are just things that could not possibly be accidental or guilt related, and would just exist as an invitation to play. As a doofy example, you make a ruler that is "No calling me Mr/Ms/Mrs. Babboon" which she has never called you and never (normally) would, so then if she does call you that, it's a really clear invitation to "punish" her. Of course, this is just if this type of play would be within both of your boundaries, but it kinda sounded to me like it probably would be. Perhaps you guys can brainstorm other ways to play with the kinks you have while avoiding those boundaries you have and also avoiding her guilt/perfectionism triggers.

Good luck to you guys. :)

[lucky-clover-gazette]

prince's gambit highlights & annotations

chapter 1

indented text is from the book. some quotes have commentary, some do not. some comments are serious, and some are definitely not. most of them will only make sense to people who have read the series. and, like, there are spoilers. so please read the books first if you're interested!

also: part of the reason i'm doing such a close reading is to study cs pacat's style, especially in terms of how she does romance and erotica. there are "craft notes" that might seem weird, like i'm being redundant or restating something rather than analyzing, but those are more things that i want to remember/take away from the writing!

i'm going to tag these longer posts with "sam reads capri" in case anyone wants to read them all at once.

this is a google doc i wrote with overall content warnings for the captive prince series. it's not perfect, but i do think it's important to include.

Across the courtyard, a couple of alaunt hounds came bounding down the stone stairs to throw themselves ecstatically at Laurent, who indulged one of them with a rub behind the ears, causing a spasm of jealousy in the other.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

the first thing laurent does in this book is pet a dog. i love him so much.

craft-wise, this foreshadows the shift in damen’s perception of laurent that occurs throughout book 2. his/our first impression of laurent in book 1 is him cruelly demeaning damen, almost like a dog, which is something we’re meant to hate. our first impression here is him affectionately indulging actual dogs who clearly know and love him. this might make the reader ask: why do these animals love laurent, when we understand him to be cruel? is our understanding incorrect, and/or incomplete?

context: in arles, the regent closely observes laurent’s attachments. he can and will destroy anything or anyone laurent cares about. but here, outside of arles, it makes sense that laurent would immediately feel more comfortable being affectionate.

laurent’s hot girl summer has officially begun ✨

Damen craned for a glimpse but, not being an owl, saw almost nothing.

The physician rummaged in the satchel and produced one of his endless ointments.

doesn’t this become a running gag? ointment reference #1

That was really too much. ‘It’s cosmetic?’

does damen take pride in his scars, and other physical indications of his experiences? that could be an interesting parallel to the cuffs throughout the series. or maybe he just knows he’s hot either way. or doesn’t want to be fussed over.

he is technically still laurent’s property—has laurent given any kind of indication that he finds the scars unattractive? or did paschal simply make that assumption, which laurent then went along with, knowing it would annoy damen?

The physician said, ‘I was told you would be difficult. Very well. The better it heals, the less your back will trouble you with stiffness, both now and later in life, so that you will be better able to swing a sword around, killing a great many people. I was told you would be responsive to that argument.’ ‘The Prince,’ said Damen.

paschal, sighing deeply as he commits laurent’s exact words to memory: i’m about to become the first homophobe in vere because these petty gay bitches can’t keep their nonsense to themselves

actually, new thing to count—every time a minor or secondary character has a valid reason to complain about damen and laurent’s lack of professionalism in the workplace. this is lamen hr complaint #1 (paschal).

But of course. All this tender care of his back, like soothing with a kiss the reddened cheek you have slapped.

great line.

connects to an ongoing theme: niceness vs. goodness. damen “sees through” laurent’s niceness, as it conflicts with laurent’s meanness that he personally has experienced. in the same way damen has a favorable bias towards kastor and the regent, he has an automatically unfavorable bias against laurent. which is totally fair, given the events of book 1! but this is a new book, and a new stage in damen’s overall series arc.

additional theme for books 2&3: tenderness. a wound is tender; it aches in need of soothing. but what soothes an ache? tender care. if nice is good and mean is bad, where does a concept like tenderness fit in? how exactly will we go from “all this tender care of his back, like soothing with a kiss the reddened cheek you have slapped” to “i think if i gave you my heart, you would treat it tenderly”?

Damen snorted. ‘It wasn’t that bad.’

a consistent damen behavior: the refusal to admit that he is helplessness, and/or experiencing circumstances beyond his control. i would call it toxic masculinity, but i don’t think it’s meant as gender commentary—it has more to do with being a prince and a king, worthy of the throne. toxic royalty, if you will.

‘If you served the King,’ said Damen, ‘how is it you now find yourself in the Prince’s household, and not his uncle’s?’ ‘Men find themselves in the places they put themselves,’ Paschal said, closing his satchel with a snap.

laurent of vere: the people’s prince ✨

also, interesting juxtaposition with previous dialogue about damen and paschal both being at marlas, on different sides of the battle. can we truly say that damen, at age 19, had put himself there? what does that suggest about his character and his kingdom?

‘Yes, of course,’ said Damen. Then stopped. Jord didn’t notice.

he needs acting classes from laurent

Damen said, ‘If you’re not going to tip your head back, why don’t we go find Paschal? He can give you a scented ointment.’

HA. ointment reference #2.

Damen thought of the ivory and gold casing that held a creature duplicitous, self-serving and untrustworthy. ‘You’re so loyal to him. Why is that?’

really nailing in the damen perspective subversion setup. also, the irony re: aimeric's loyalty!

Damen joined the work, where he was the only man to smell, expensively, of ointments and cinnamon.

ointment reference #3. he’s expensive.

‘Aimeric’s young. He says it won’t happen again,’ said Jord. It will happen again, and once the two factions in this camp start retaliating against one another your campaign is over, he didn’t say.

i love how we finally get to see damen in his element here, after experiencing The Horrors for 13 + prologue entire chapters in book 1

‘The Captain is in one of the horse stalls, up to his waist in the stableboy,’ said Jord. ‘The Prince has been waiting for him at the barracks. Actually . . . I was told to have you fetch him.’ ‘From the stables,’ said Damen. He stared at Jord in disbelief.

laurent wastes no time before assigning damen unpleasant tasks. does this count as an hr complaint? i mean it would be damen doing the complaining, am i counting charges they have against each other? no. they’d wreck the curve.

Inside, Govart was unambiguously fucking the stableboy against the far wall.

“unambiguously”

‘The Prince stays here often?’ The castellan mistook him to mean the keep, not the rooms. ‘Not often. He and his uncle came here a great deal together, in the year or two after Marlas. As he grew older, the Prince lost his taste for the runs here. He now comes only rarely to Chastillon.’

context: >:(

Laurent said, ‘I have saved you till last.’ Damen said, ‘You owe the stableboy a copper sol.’ ‘The stableboy should learn to demand payment before he bends over.’

“honey, i’m home!” sitcom entrance

‘Your virtue’s safe. It’s just water. Probably.’

somebody’s feeling playfulllll

Laurent placed the goblet carefully back on the table, and picked up the knife. It was a sharp knife, made for cutting meat. Damen felt his pulse quicken as Laurent came forward. Only a handful of nights ago, he had watched Laurent slit a man’s throat, spilling blood as red as the silk that covered this room’s bed. He felt shock as Laurent’s fingers touched his, pressing the hilt of the knife into his hand. Laurent took hold of Damen’s wrist below the gold cuff, firmed his grip, and drew the knife forward so that it was angled towards his own stomach. The tip of the blade pressed slightly into the dark blue of his prince’s garment. ‘You heard me tell Orlant to leave,’ said Laurent. Damen felt Laurent’s grip slide down his wrist to his fingers, and tighten. Laurent said, ‘I am not going to waste time on posturing and threats. Why don’t we clear up any uncertainty about your intentions?’

laurent explaining to damen that his behavior in arles was a bit in the most insane way possible

He was so infuriatingly sure of himself, proving a point. Damen felt desire come hard upon him: not wholly a desire for violence, but a desire to drive the knife into Laurent’s composure, to force him to show something other than cool indifference.

they’re so normal and well-adjusted

He said: ‘I’m sure there are house servants still awake. How do I know you won’t scream?’ ‘Do I seem like the type to scream?’ ‘I’m not going to use the knife,’ said Damen, ‘but if you’re willing to put it in my hand, you underestimate how much I want to.’ ‘No,’ said Laurent. ‘I know exactly what it is to want to kill a man, and to wait.’

“yes, and” “yes, and” “yes, and”

Laurent said, ‘When this campaign is over, I think—if you are a man and not a worm—you will attempt to gain retribution for what has happened to you. I expect it. On that day, we roll the dice and see how they fall. Until then, you serve me. Let me therefore make one thing above all clear to you: I expect your obedience. You are under my command. If you object to what you are told to do I will hear reasoned arguments in private, but if you disobey an order once it is made, I will send you back to the flogging post.’

this is their starting place for the book! “we hate each other, we owe each other nothing, we know that we are going to eventually attempt to kill each other—but for now, we are calling a truce and working together”

also. would laurent still love damen if he was a worm 🥺

Another pause, and then Laurent indicated once again to the chair. This time Damen followed his prompt and sat. Laurent took the chair opposite. Between them, unfurled on the table, was all the intricate detail of the map. ‘You said you knew the territory,’ Laurent said.

this is part of why i love damen and laurent so much as a pairing. they have interests and skills in common, and they make a genuinely good team. they’re intellectually compatible, in addition to sexually and romantically compatible.

[vendetta-if]

This game has everything i want from an if game bruh i can't

Unhinged violence? Check

Cool as fuck and godlike powers? Check

Potential to make batman at home MC? Check

Actually fun poly route? Check

Also not only i love ash and rin these gals fit well with (at least my) MC. Hot Ash as right hand and cold (cool?) Rin as left hand *chef kiss*

Also also those secret interactions (is that what they are called idk) with names etc are really cool. I laughed when i chose Vergil as my codename because Ash was dante and she was like "oooh fitting like dante's inferno" and i was like "nah bitch it's from Devil May Cry idk what dante's inferno is"

Hehe, I only aim to please with the unhinged violence and godlike power, of course 😉

MC, especially the Ruthless one, is kind of a reverse of Batman in a sense 🤔 Instead of coming from families of wealthy philanthropists, MC comes from a prominent criminal family 😂

And indeed, Ash and Rin in the poly where MC becomes the next head of the criminal family is such a power throuple 😌 They kinda balance each other out: Ash can be too emotional and hot-headed (true to their pyrokinesis) which can make them more prone to rash actions. Rin, on the other hand, is a more rational person and would love to predict and think about all possible outcomes, comparing each method, before finally settling on one.

As you can expect, too much of one side can be detrimental. Sure, there are specific cases where either Ash’s or Rin’s preferred method works nicely. But most of the time, a combination of both would be best. Ash and Rin would debate against each other (they’re used to it ever since they were both kids), but in the end, something better would come out 😂

And you made me snort out a laugh about choosing Vergil because of Devil May Cry instead of Dante’s Inferno 😭 Totally valid.

[fatuismooches]

I crave soft, domestic love with Columbina,, shes so underrated and I think she'd be an amazing s/o,, Im very super absolutely (not) normal about Columbina cuddling up to her s/o on a particularly cold day nooooo (lie)

100% agree with this. Columbina looks gentle but gives extremely unsettling and intimidating vibes to normal people... though with you, she looks gentle and is gentle. She is quite a fun, caring, and relaxed lover. Clingy too of course, perhaps it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say your body and warmth are what motivates her to do some work. No joke, for Bina to sit at her desk and get some work done either you have to be sitting in her lap or she sits in yours. Pierro's given you special privileges to be at certain meetings otherwise she's in another world. And of course, the cold days... actually Bina's favorite kind of days because she has more of a valid excuse to constantly cuddle you. You're cold too, aren't you? So this is a win-win situation! It's okay for her to snuggle under your coat right? It's okay for her to lay her head on your lap and cuddle into you while you have to give orders to the Fatui on her behalf right? Actually,, it's okay for you two to not get out of bed at all, right? :3 Truly living that domestic married couple life! If you don't give her all your attention and affection she will get far too cold... you don't want that for her right? :(

As someone who loves cold days i love this a lot. I feel like you two would totally spend hours cuddling together under the blankets to the point it gets flipped over and messed up too many times, the covers are falling off the bed, it's really just a mess... oh and you definitely love making hot beverages for her! She holds you from behind and watches you make them, and then she cuddles into your shoulder as you two drink together :) In other words, you'll be hard-pressed to separate your wife from you on these cold days. She's also a huge clothes stealer. Steals your sweaters and soft warm clothing, especially on these days. Cold days are kind of like lazy days tbh, aka very comforting days.

[norcalbruja]

Since Loki keeps going on about how HE'S IN MARVEL, AND HE'S TOTALLY GETTING ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING DEAD-END JOB/LIFE, I figured I should tell my three spirit-blog readers that, like... Gambit and Rogue have entered the building.

Because Gambit as played by Channing Tatum just fills me with conflicting emotions. On one end, Adult Me is going "OMG!!! CHANNING'S IN A COMIC-ACCURATE COSTUME!!! AND WE COULD HAVE HAD HIM AS GAMBIT YEARS AGO IF THOSE STUPID HIGHER-UPS HAD KEPT THEIR FUCKING PROMISE!!!"

Meanwhile, Thirteen-Year-Old Me is going "Bro, I watched you every week in X-Men Evolution. You throw exploding cards and you had a thing with Rogue, my favorite goth. WHY ARE YOU HOT NOW??? HOW DARE YOU???"

I try to settle things down by making a Gambit cosplay, and by asking one of the Deadpool and Wolverine costumers too many questions about mah boi Gambit's costume.

Honestly, there's not much TO SAY about Gambit and Rogue's drop-ins. They are married (at this point in time???), and they're part of the X-Men. So, you know, they're superheroes! Good people! No red-alerts from the other, uh... "normal" spirits about whether they're imposters or trying to get me off guard.

Rogue is very obviously touch-starved, but apparently her problem of "I might accidentally kill people by touching them" only extends to HUMANS. Spirits like the Water-Spirit and deities can touch her, although it fucking hurts sometimes. Rogue has turned the Water-Spirit back into water for a few minutes, which is really painful for him, so she doesn't want to find out if she can accidentally kill SPIRITS as well.

She dresses like the X-Men Evolution teen goth Rogue, partly because I loved teen goth Rogue, although she's obviously older to match the Channing Tatum version of Gambit, and she also has the big 1980s-style hair from her comic-book counterpart.

Gambit absolutely loves Channing's portrayal of him, partly because Channing loves him. Gambit even looks like the Deadpool and Wolverine version of himself, which is about as much validation as an unverified pop-culture spirit can get.

And it's like... Gambit and Rogue are very much a UNIT and constantly together, in the same way that "Persephone and Hades" or "Dionysus and Ariadne" are a unit. One comes around, the other is in spiritual "yelling distance."

Married spirits just seem to hang out with me a lot. I don't know why. Maybe because the Water-Spirit is considered "my common-law husband" by Hera herself, goddess of marriage?

A lot of the "couples" feel extremely bad for me/us. We're two people who both had shitty luck and ended up working together in the most shitty circumstances, and now we just... hang out together, because for the LONGEST time, the Water-Spirit was the only Pinoy spirit keeping me from going spiritually "feral."

Like, the Water-Spirit had to lie about his identity because he didn't see ANY other anito coming to help me or talk to me, or anything that gods tend to do. Keeping that kind of good conduct clearly paid off, if the real Haik thinks he did a damn good job as an imposter.

Rogue is always saying "man, if your sea-boy was human, he'd be SO GOOD for you. And he's already GREAT!"

Gambit also loves watching me fail at card tricks and shell out money for pieces of my Gambit cosplay. When I bought a wool coat from J Crew and mourned the injury to my wallet, he just laughed and went "Getting closer to me, aren't you, sha?"

I'm like "Yes, Gambit, I'm getting your clothes and learning card tricks so I can pretend to be you. That's how cosplay and acting works."

And he was like "No, sha, the closer you get to me, the closer you get to the X-Men. I know Loki sounds dumb right now, always talking about how he's in Marvel, but remember: He's a god, and he's in Marvel, and he wants to help you."

So now I have TWO spirits talking about Marvel, and I'm going to fucking scream.

[slayerchick303]

In honor of Pride, here are some more of my Queer as Folk hot takes:

I hate the Jenny Rebecca custody battle storyline. For one thing, it's tedious as hell. Also, I don't believe Ben would support Michael in that bullshit. Ben is all about balance and everything in moderation. There's no way he would be like, "We know these 2 women are good mothers, but because they're no longer a couple, that makes me and Michael more qualified to have custody of JR." Like, no. When Hunter's mother came back, he was all set to send Hunter back to her without a custody battle before learning how she abused Hunter. Him supporting Michael in the fight for Jenny Rebecca makes no sense.

The way the show resolved Ted's self-esteem problems sucked. They literally made him have to have cosmetic surgery to have any confidence. It would've made more sense for Ted to have overall better mental health and realize his self-worth after becoming sober and having therapy. It would've been a much healthier message for society, too.

The show making Drew Boyd gay was stupid. The guy is obviously bisexual. He says he has sex with a million women as well as men. He also says he's attracted to and loves his female fiancee while he's having an affair with Emmett. He's not gay. Making him, as well as Hunter and Lindsay, binary sexualities is bi erasure and is straight up nonsensical.

Michael is often an asshole in season 5, and I hate how judgemental his character becomes. Yes, it's good that Michael doesn't bend over backward to defend Brian as much when Brian would never do the same for him. Especially since Michael often shielded Brian from criticism from others when Brian's choices frequently went against Michael's own values. A moment I especially hate is when Michael and Brian are fighting in the empty Babylon when Brian is trying to convince Michael to drop the custody battle for JR, because it'll fuck over Lindsay (which Brian is totally right about). Michael says that Brian needs to grow up because Brian doesn't want a monogamous relationship, to get married, or to have children. It's fucking bullshit. Brian is not childish for not wanting those things. Brian calls Michael out on being a judgemental, sanctimonious, twat. Michael used to defend Brian for having different desires for his life because Brian's wants are 100% valid. When Michael gets married, moves to the suburbs, and has JR/fosters Hunter, he becomes this dick who thinks that if you don't have the same priorities as him, you're immature. That's a horrible belief and a total change from the accepting person he used to be.

There could have been a much better ending to Ted revenge fucking the guy (Troy) who pity fucked Ted as a Pride "gift" in season 2. Ted's initial plan to tell Troy he's Ted's pity fuck now is awesome, and Ted falling for him is 100% on brand for Ted's character. Troy continuing to be an asshole and them breaking up, despite both genuinely liking each other in the show, makes me a little sad. I have an idea for a much better end for them. Troy immediately boasts to Ted about his hobby of sleeping with "losers" as a joke in the show and that he did it to someone in Ted's building (not realizing it was actually Ted himself). Instead of what the show did, as Troy and Ted spent more time together, Troy could have seen how well Ted treated people. It could've made Troy realize that what he used to do was really shitty. We could've even seen Troy run into one of his pity fucks earlier on his own and apologize, saying that he was horrible, lead the guy on, was sorry, and hoped the guy found someone who saw how great he was. Troy could've expressed to Ted that being with him made Troy want to be a better person (because Ted does that for essentially everyone in his life by being so supportive and kind, especially after getting sober). It would've been amazing for that final night at Babylon to go a different way. Emmett could still come up to ask if Ted had dumped Troy yet, only to realize Ted had fallen for him. Then, instead of what the show did, all of them could've seen Troy apologize to the random guy he wronged who came up to him about Troy ditching him. It would've been great if Troy said after that that he wished he could find the guy he did the same thing to in Ted's building so he could apologize to that guy too, and that Ted had inspired him to take accountability. The gang could see Ted admit that he was Troy's pity fuck there. Troy could sincerely apologize in front of everyone and say he'd understand if Ted never wanted to see him again and/or if all of Ted's friends hated him. The gang could give Ted and Troy their blessing, and Ted and Troy could end up together. After all, Ted's friend group forgave people for MUCH worse behavior (i.e. Blake nearly killing Ted).

What are your Queer as Folk unpopular opinions? Tag me in your post or put them in a reblog if you do this. Here is PART TWO:

[jade-of-mourning]

hiiii lychee :))

as you can see I have too much free time on my hands. but I have a decent amount to say today, so prepare yourself

I’m gonna try and keep this organized and maybe short so 1: do you have any more thoughts on the avatar mako au to share because it’s been rolling around in my brain a lot and I want to know what you have to say about it bcs the way your brain works is so. hajdhskapxn/pos

2: mako learning to draw by engraving his parents’ faces in the dirt of an alleyway over and over and over for years even as he starts to forget their faces. mako who wishes he could’ve afforded paper and charcoal at eight to put down something permanent, something accurate. mako getting their family photo from yin and giving her the scarf, redrawing the picture on the nicest paper he can find to give to her as well. artist mako,, save me artist mako,,,

3: more fem mako thoughts but makorrasami love triangle/eventual polycule(?) except they’re all girls. I just feel like the pining after your team captain who you now do know is gay except it’s because she’s dating a rich girl who’s also very hot is just a whole lot more fun than what they had going on in canon because. girls but sports au. sooo in love w that. also I don’t think makorra would get together in b1 like canon did for a couple reasons. for one, the girl trauma in addition to general trauma of being a homeless orphan. touch and gestures of affection from a person she doesn’t know well yet would probably be a no-no, and korra seems like a very touchy person, just in the natural way that her space is yours and your space is hers. also her energy? like obviously mako would come around but korra in b1 is so much more excited about the world than mako and I think that would kind of, like, intimidate her. (<-also reasons makorra could’ve worked later on but not when they happened) but as the series progresses, korra mellows and mako gets used to her. it works.

but then how does masami happen so early? because asami is the moon to korra’s sun. she’s calm and a careful thinker and after korra’s exuberance breaks down mako’s walls a little bit, asami would be able to slip in being everything mako imagines herself wanting. also more than financially stable. so masami becomes a thing, and korra is jealous, but she’s not sure of who which I personally think is so funny

but yeah that’s basically it. I always love how you take my silly little commentary and give actual thoughtful replies, it makes my day 😭

with love

🐌

snailon! good to see you here haha i totally didn't die for like two weeks what fjsgjhjkgfhs (i'm so sorry i took so long that you thought you imagined this ask hhh)

okay i actually have not thought about it for a hot minute but get this… i get like 40 hours a week back because no more percussion! so i have so much time!!! dude i'm going to rewatch lok AGAIN and then brainrot some more. avatar mako's love hate relationship with the entire fucking world is the only thing about it in my head. i'm sorry i don't have a lot to say about this au right now :(( it'll happen,,, one day,,,,

oh! (sobbing!) personally i am a fan of aspiring writer mako but also artist mako is extremely valid and i love the hc's you've built around it :)

girl for girl for girl makorrasami is really the best version of it tbh! love all your thoughts and actually that's a hilarious angle of korra getting the Sapphic Confirmation but it's not a good thing bc the love interest is actually dating a girl who is NOT korra except oh shit this girl is also super hot and attractive. what the fuck is this. korra my favorite girl in the world ever you're allowed to like all the girls in the world if you want and no one has the right to fault you for it.

anyway thank YOU for always sharing your thoughts with me!! i love to hear it and i'm sorry there was such a delay bhjfjgfh i'll get to your other ask soon promise. my commentary is a little bit dead today but i wanted to get this out instead of leaving it rotting in my inbox forever because i promise i have been turning it over in my head for a minute now :P have a good day snailon!

[nosolaceofastraightanswer]

happy pride month!!!! anyway tua pride headcanons cus i want to lol :P *note- i do not identity with all of these labels. i cannot give you a personal experience or defense for these. if i include any harmful stereotypes, lmk. it’s pride month and queer people are valid*

quick overview, analysis below the readmore

luther- he/him cishet

diego- he/him cis and bicurious

allison- she/her cishet

klaus- he/she (they sometimes) genderqueer/enby, pansexual

five- they/he gay and ace. agender.

ben- he/him cishet

viktor- he/they transmasc lesbian

for some i used the canonical pronouns as to not confuse before i get the explanation. <33333

luther- to me he’s like a cishet guy honestly. i still love the pride hc’s other people have, bc most of the time they’re really good. i just prefer this reading, espec. with sloane (QUEEN!!!!). i also don’t like the s1 era fics where everyone hated luther (almost entirely unjustified) so they would make him be a dick to klaus and stuff. like did he drink reggie’s kool aid? yes. but is he homophobic? no. i think a better example in a canonical kid fic of him saying mean things to klaus for plot would be like,, making fun of him for being a druggie or lazy, because that’s stuff that reginald would actually encourage him to say. rant over lmao that just has always bothered me.

diego- honestly this one is back and forth for me, between bisexual and straight. like him and lila being bi4bi is just too fucking amazing, but he does give off straight guy energy sometimes so i’ll put it at a bi-curious. he’s def an ally though, and i can imagine he would do his best to get over his fear of needles to help v with his t shots, or defend klaus from homophobic assholes. although i personally hc him as cis, the transmasc diego people have their fucking shit together because that HITS DIFFERENT. i think done right, it adds so much to his character in AU’s and stuff and it’s just rly cute!! but bisexual diego is a very fanon thing that i like to see.

allison- i think probably straight and cis once again. she seems very comfy and happy in her femininity and gender, and her with ray??? (sidenote almond as a ship name makes me lose it ITS SO CUTE). i think she’s always been a big ally to klaus. i can also see her as pan or bi, but pressured to appear as straight by the constant eyes on her since she was like ten. i mean not only was she the only girl, but also a black girl? she was 100% so insecure during her childhood because people were constantly critiquing her. so honestly i don’t think it would be too out of the ordinary to hc her as queer.

klaus- i mean, we all know this one. as far as i know he has been canonically (though not mentioned in show, more like an interview or something) pansexual and non-binary. if not then it’s VERY FANON. directly through the show, we see his attraction to men through dave and also his enjoyment of more feminine clothes and makeup and things like that. i hc him as genderqueer and just generally chilling out and not really caring too much about labels. like a “i’ll fuck you if you’re hot” kind of attitude.

five- now this one might get me some weirdness, but i don’t see five as a cishet man for my hc’ing purposes. a common fanon opinion is that he’s asexual, which i totally like. i also think he’s gay. i guess that would be homoromantic? and also agender. he said no. no. MEN. i think that any romantic hc that does not acknowledge delores is not doing it right, bc holy shit delores is so fucking important to the understanding of his character!!!!! i believe in the interpretation that delores is himself, but a separated part that he forced himself to view as a separate entity to survive the apocalypse. he kind of fucking tricked himself into loving himself, though unfortunately as many people have pointed out, he doesn’t see himself as capable of good. he doesn’t see that delores is him- he can’t. he was down bad though for his mannequin apocalypse wife okay??? they were in love fuck you???? idk sexuality is fluid. let this old man live his life. he’s so tired. also agender, i think they don’t like being called a boy (possibly childhood trauma, possibly gender) but still is okay with “old man”.

ben- he is the token cishet of the upper numbers trio ( 567 icons real and true ). the jennifer incident was heavily implied if not directly and canonically stated to be a romantic issue, and also him and jill!!!! yes it was weird but it was so cute. bring back umbrella ben istg idc about the themes you messed them up in s3 anyway. i would talk more about him BUT HE NEVER GOT ENOUGH FUCKING SCREENTIME EVER AND THE THEMES THE THEMES HIS CHARACTER THEY DIDN- gets shot

viktor- canonically transmasc, canonically a woman enjoyer, ten out of ten character. i love looking at s1 era fics where people would be like. there is no way this guy doesn’t like women. *lesbian headcanons*. and elliot page just slaying with the queer rep season after season. i think he/they pronouns for viktor is really good and i like it :)). also some people hc them as bi because of harold (or for weird reasons but we don’t talk about that-) but i think it’s more of a lesbian thing personally. now. don’t come after me i’m not looking for he/him lesbian discourse on my pride month fandom post. AND FURTHERMORE elliot page is a king and he doesn’t deserve in any way the crazy hate he gets for being trans. trans men are men, trans ppl are valid etc. that being said, i hc him as a he/they lesbian. RESPECTFULLY. i imagine there were a lot of complicated factors while he was coming out and realizing things about themself. i think the harold thing was wanting to be wanted and loved more that actually wanting or loving, and you know we all gotta have that spicy *heteronormativity* woohoo.

bonus LILA (queen)- bisexual!! also she/they hc’s are valid asf for that. we love a queen who can do both. not sure if this is partial or full canon, or just heavy fandom but idc.

okay byyeeee happy pride month and also have a good juneteenth. black lives matter!!!!!

[a-mess-of-a-crow]

Yall, just so you know this is anonymous, so I can't see who would vote no.

Also

Hi! I'm Craven!

I'm a wanna be artist with absolute crushed self esteem that desperately needs validation to get self worth and on the other hand doesn't believe that people's compliments are valid!

So basically= A self made self esteem issue!

I jump from hobby to hobby like a whore, making music, crotchet, animation, drawing, learning japanese (and failing miserably 😊), gave up on learning danish, learning guitar and keyboard, I used to make iron pellet art (hard to make with shaky ass hands)

Das me btw! In all my glory! (Wet socks in the sand, God fears me)

(me in school and my new jacket, old pic, Mochi laughed a lot :> )

Boring facts=

I'm 20 and a mess cuz since 2015 I've been simping over undertale like a Maniac (it's been better these days, but tumblr temporarily pushed me back into the obsession)

I'm a cat/ dog fanatic, but always crows before hoes

My favorite colors are purple, red, blue and black

I'm definitely demisexual polyamourous, but pan or polyromantic? I dunno lol.

Also genderfluid (altho i personally never really know what gender I feel like in the moment)

I have an absolute hopeless love for my aro/ace best friend who is called Mochi and she is the best and literally only real (real life) friend I ever had

Totally not my dumb brain starved for human connection and then immediately clinging to whoever is being a decent person to me

Luckily she is also a bomb person and kind so she doesn't use me like my other friendships XD

How did Red Mass start?

To get an idea of what my AU is, you gotta know how my dumb brain thought of it.

2015. I was absolutely sucked into Undertale after watching a german YouTuber play it, and then I started watching a certain Irish fella play it as well.

I started watching comic dubs of all the Au's that people made, faning out and just binged watched everything relating to it.

Then my family and I had vacation.

A trip to Rome (it was hot and awful, never again. Fucking 40°C celsius are you kidding me?)

It was a 15 hour trip (with bathroom/ smoker breaks)

And i layed in the back of the car, daydreaming about all those Au's.

It was awesome and cool and I slowly started to MAYBE get pandora syndrome of where I desperately wanted to be a part of those stories (I know. Cringe)

It got so bad that I maaaaybe cried in bed every night hoping I'd just wake up in the stories (but my life sucks so that also played a role)

So on that car ride, Luna lovania (god the cringe hurts me badly) was born.

A skeleton oc at first, later being an oc that is a fusion of Frisk and sans (which still is a part of Red Mass)

I daydreamed 15 hours + 15 hours back about Red Mass, it was such bliss (and even while we were in Rome)

And since that point, I have kept daydreaming every day for 8 years, and it became a big part of my life (as ridiculous as this sounds)

I just realized I might be insane.

Oh well

I will make a specific Red Mass post, explaining the story a bit and character introduction ((but not revealing too many spoilers since I kinda wanna make it into a thing))

I hope you guys mean it if you say you're interested :)

[mermaidsirennikita]

I'm having a rough time with uni and getting a job so I need a bit of cheering. Could you please recommend me some of your favourites HR books? Something to calm me down. Thank you so much ❤️

Aww, dude, I'm sorry. I've been there. It's such a tough transitional time, and I'm actually helping my little sister in a similar spot. I'm confident y'all will get to where you need to be, but it's a struggle for a little while and I want to validate your feelings there.

I also am so so down to offer some comfort reads!

What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long. JAL is a really good comfort read author to me because her books are funny and a bit light, while at the same time offering a lot of passion. This one has a hero who's around 39/40 and a heroine who's 20, and he's out there to get revenge on her brother (who cucked him) by deflowering her. But she's fully aware of his plan and is actually kind of using his attentions to try to make this guy she's into jealous. It's got some angst, but it's sexy and very romantic.

After Dark with the Duke by Julie Anne Long. My other favorite JAL! Another age gap book, 42-year-old stern duke is staying at the same boarding house as this 25-year-old scandalous opera singer. He hurts her feelings so to make it up to her he offers to teach her Italian, and then.... shit gets oN.

Fifth Avenue Rebels series by Joanna Shupe. Best read in order, imo, because the first three books are all good to great and lead up to this intense crescendo with the final book.

The Heiress Hunt--House party, childhood friends reunite and he's super jealous because she's about to get engaged to a hot duke.

The Lady Gets Lucky--Shy heroine, rake hero, she asks him to help her with sex lessons so that she's less of a wallflower. He's trying to prove that he's a Business Bitch. It's very hot and fun.

The Bride Goes Rogue--Hero and heroine were betrothed by their fathers and she realizes he has no intention of following through, and they sort of break up? But directly after that they hook up at a masquerade sex part, and they enter into this love/hate thing.

The Duke Gets Even--Hero and heroine are in a long-term enemies to lovers deal (he's the aforementioned hot duke) and start hooking up on the low, but he needs to marry for money and she's a scandalous lady rogue who refuses to settle down. All time favorite!

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean. My favorite MacLean, childhood friends who were separated reunite when he (now a Bad Man) forces the heroine to marry him so he can get his inheritance back. One Good Earl Deserves A Lover follows this and is one of the best dirty talk books ever, with a nerdy heroine and a hero she asks to corrupt her--and he's like ONLY VERBALLY.

Of course, Dreaming of You is my favorite Kleypas, and a total classic--intrepid writer heroine saves the life of a rough gambling club owner and forces him to let her shadow him as she researches her next book. It's got a lot of angst, but it's also so funny and romantic.

Grace Callaway writes a funny, hot historical, though I will say they have mystery subplots which can get a bit dark. I would recommend trying her Charlie's Angels retelling series, starting with Olivia and the Masked Duke (young heroine realizes she wants to get with her older man friend who sees her as a little sister after she spies on him spanking a woman).

Alexis Hall writes gorgeous, funny queer historical romances that hit deep themes but are so fucking funny. If you're in the mood for less angst, ready Something Wonderful (m/m roadtrip romance) and Something Spectacular (nonbinary/nobinary like... historical celebrity romance?). If you're down for more angst, try A Lady for a Duke (friends to lovers with a trans heroine).

Vivienne Lorret writes comforting, funny, emotional historicals--I'd recommend The Wrong Marquess (light enemies to lovers with the hero falling for his little sister's friend; there's a scene where he is so obsessed with her that after she stops eating a bowl of ice cream he finishes it and has to hold back from licking the bowl, I die), How to Steal A Scoundrel's Heart (heroine agrees to be a rogue's mistress for four months, he's all "I'll feel nothing" and feels everything), and Never Seduce a Duke (fucking WILD, nerdy hero becomes obsessed with this heroine because he thinks she's trying to steal from him, he chases her over like three countries and then they separate.... but after they reunite a couple years later, it looks like he left something behind without realizing itttt).

If you're down for some old school medievals (these have some light dubcon and dated references to the Ottoman Empire that aren't super heavy, but are present) I'd recommend Elizabeth Lowell's Untamed (hero and heroine in an arranged marriage, he wants a son real bad but women of her line shall only bear sons if they are in love, it's insane) and Forbidden (direct follow up, the sub-villain of the previous book shows up in another land with amnesia and the heroine charged with caring for him feels pain if she touches anyone but himmmm). They're fucking wild but they totally transport you to another state of mind, trust me. I did like the last book, Enchanted, as well--but rape is a heavy part of the plot and the heroine is very traumatized by that (she was not raped by the hero, but she and the hero are in an arranged marriage and she refuses to tell him why she abhors his touch).

The Dragon and The Pearl by Jeannie Lin is an amazing enemies to lovers villain as hero book with a warlord who takes the former emperor's concubine hostage in order to get information out of her... and falls in love.

Lorraine Heath, I'll always recommend--some of her books can be a bit heavier, but if you want something zany that will take your mind away from everything, there's always Gorilla Twins, aka The Earl Takes All, the one where the hero pretends to be his dead identical twin so that the heroine (his dead brother's pregnant wife) doesn't miscarry. Waking Up with the Duke is my absolute favorite of hers, the one where the hero's best friend asks him to get the heroine pregnant because the best friend is impotent (hero's fault).

Maiden Lane can be a bit intense, but I think Thief of Shadows is an angsty if ultimately uplifting book--the one where Winter Makepeace runs around like Zorro fighting crime and saving kids and falls in love with a widow. He's a virgin, she is NOT. Does deal with infertility.

Of course, Tessa Dare's books are so funny and sexy. Spindle Cove is a total comfort series for me, especially A Week to Be Wicked.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles is a lovely m/m historical that has an amazing setting, some found family vibes, and great funny, heartfelt dynamic between the heroes.

Indigo is my favorite Beverly Jenkins book so far--it does deal heavily with themes of slavery, as the heroine was enslaved as a child and works with the Underground Railroad now. But it's a super well-written, emotional, "rake falls hard and CANNOT get up" romance.

Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller is a historical set in Vienna that's funny, hot, emotional, and has a good little mystery subplot. Heroine is running a hotel, hero is a virgin spy, he saves her life a ton while some mysterious person tries to kill her.

[clarabowmp3]

The thing I’m most annoyed about swifties is that they make everything about her relationship or the man she is with and I am just over here trying to engage with her music and her work because she is more than just the boyfriend. But… Taylor herself this era has been shoving her relationship down our throats so how can we really blame swifties for thinking that’s all she is? Why does she do this? Money? To prove how very happy she is? I don’t like it, I wish the boyfriend was not front and center. Fans caring this much about a celebs personal life is not normal and I dont think Taylor likes it but also encourages it?

Mhm very true, I totally get what you mean. Just a heads up that I’m going to be a little parasocial for a hot second lol, I don’t know for sure what her thoughts or feelings are but in my opinion:

I think she likes having/wants to have a public relationship, which is fine. Just like how it wasn’t an issue when she wanted to be private with joe (again, that’s what SHE wanted, as in Miss Americana, even if the kimye thing contributed to this), it’s not inherently an issue for her to be public with Travis. But yea I agree it’s all a little much, Travis is almost inextricably linked to taylor swift the brand especially with the whole ��passing her a bracelet with his phone number at one of her biggest most commercially successful tours’ (like the point I’m making here is how flashy it all is). I’m not a big fan either, but idk how much of it is just personal preference(I’d sooner die than have a boyfriend acting like that cuz what the actual fuck) or how much of it is just part of the problematic commodification of love esp in the taylor swift context

It’s a little odd considering her previous stance on how she wishes fans would stop speculating about which songs were about which ex etc (which I think she still feels; it feels like some of the songs on ttpd might have been intentionally muddy to throw ppl off, not that I think it helped) but I think a part of her just likes having the entire world root for her and her relationship, esp given her tribulations/insecurities about how suitable she is as a partner/how “lovable” she is, for lack of a better word. There’s nothing wrong with wanting others to support u/ ur choices, but it’s unhealthy how she’s turning to masses and masses of complete strangers for this kind of validation. Then again, getting as famous as she did at such a young age does things to you.

And like you said, maybe she’s doing all this to show the world/joe/matty how she so happy, on top of the world she is, how she’s basically winning at life. It’s a little spiteful of a mindset, but those were pretty bad back-to-back breakups, so I think it’s understandable even if not entirely justified. Maybe in a few years, once the grief of her relationship with joe falling apart becomes more bearable(again, parasocial alert woops 🚨), maybe she’ll cool off on the public displays/frequent pap walks, but I still think she naturally enjoys having a semi-public relationship like this. I alr think things are starting to stabilise (I could be wrong tho).

But yea it’s unfortunate that all this discourse comes with at the expense of meaningful discussion of her art. Folkmore era I’m so sorry I took you for granted but that was one of the best eras (lol) of swiftie tumblr :))

[snowflake-of-destruction]

FIRST A WARNING.

I WENT VERY LONG. SORRY. LIKE A CERTAIN BLORBO OF MINE, I LOVE WORDS.

Okay, starting with a bit of a side note, but I got the exact opposite impression of Val and Velvette. I thought/think they are very close.

Even though Love Potion is Velvette's project, Val is at least spokesmodeling for her/with her or endorsing it, if not helping her make it (tangent within a tangent: I don't like the theory that Love Potion is just Valentino's spit even if it may share properties. I think it diminishes Velvette's involvement. I like the idea that she is synthesizing her own product and crafted the recipe herself. She may have used Val as inspiration or a base to study, but let the girl have her own side hustle. God forbid-evil-women do anything ;) ). Whatever his level of involvement is, she still pulled him and not Vox into her pet project.

And though it's obviously a staged/posed/professional photo I still think the composition of it with them looking so cosy and happy instead a more traditional looking advertisement pose was a deliberate choice in the sense of the animators showing them cuddling up to give off a certain impression of closeness that there wasn't time to devote any scenes to showing.

But that's just conjecture. All of this is. I'm not saying you're wrong. They may not be close. I'm just giving my own impressions and showing how I got my conclusion.

And then there's all the hearts in Val's texts to Velvette. I mean, partially, that's just Valentino style communication, but, again, I take what I see and attribute some level of intention to it. We don't have hot and cold running psycho like is *really* Val's style. We just get "love ya and mean it" and the fact that Velvette saved his contact with a heart too.

Not pictured: the "my baby doll" from Val shown in the background of Respectless.

Also, I was trying to think of where you would get the idea that they weren't close, and I thought it might be where she complains to Vox about "his boytoy" throwing a tantrum in her studio, which, valid. I just took it as her being annoyed by his actions (and who wouldn't be?) and not a indicator of how she thinks about him all the time--and I thought it was significant that Val went to her first over Vox--but I totally get where you would be coming from. And, as for Val coming to Velvette first, where I took it as a sign of him feeling most comfortable with her, at least as "vent friends," it also could just be that he didn't want to talk about Angel with Vox at first because he didn't want to deal with jealous Vox. I get both sides.

And (if you want) tell me what else I might have missed that shows they don't really like each other. I love conversation and sharing different views and learning new details I didn't notice.

So much discussion gets cut off because people with different opinions don't want to be seen as fighting....partially because most of what you see of people with different opinions talking actually is them fighting. But that's not me. With very few exceptions, when I debate, I'm just trying to open dialogue and open to friendly rebuttal on both sides.

ANYWAY, NOW TO THE MAIN POINT. SORRY I WENT SO LONG ON THE MINOR POINT.

I think Valentino and Vox were a duo first, though it was a more loosely defined, unofficial team up (maybe kind of like Alastor and Rosie sometimes sharing info/leading each other to souls like we see in episode seven "Sit down. Tell Auntie Rosie what she can do for you. Ya know, Alastor. I got a premo-connect on a guy with about eight blocks of territory and not enough goons to run it. Prime pickin's for a deal to be made, my friend.") OR maybe just romantic connection.

Proof of them being close long ago:

I'm sure you've seen the old picture of them with intact antenna, old clothes, and Vox as an older model TV since it's one of the background details that gets posted about more often but, if not, here

The details show that it was taken long ago, the prominence the phot has being displayed and the pose say more than a bit familiar.

SO THEN, WHY NOT SAY THEY WERE "THE VEES" EVEN BEFORE VELVETTE?

Simple. Velvette is not treated as an "add on." Not just by them, but by everyone. This is not definitive evidence but still, there is a vibe.

--Angel refers to the trio as one unit "The Vees" and says they are all the same.

--Alastor also has "the other Vees" and "his team" equal footing given to both Val and Velvette

-- Carmilla calls them ALL smug wannabes, naive and uniformed etc etc when she would have ever reason to target Velvette directly, either limiting her judgment to the one in front of her or especially by pointing out that Velvette is only the "junior member" and respectless even toward her allies by pretending to be the backbone when they were the ones that made Vee tower without her...if such a thing were true.

The fact that Velvette calls herself the backbone is telling in and of itself. Yes, it could just be ego. We know she has that in spades. I tend to think there would be some basis that she anchors that on though. She's the most stable one emotionally from what we have seen so far, though just as impulsive, but I also think that "The Vees" in the form we have today is a result of Vox and Velvette having a meeting of the business minds wanting to build more of an empire and the shared love of violence wanting to actually take action/take over. Velvette is definitely not content in just her little corner. I think, though Vox and Val are the more experienced older overlords, she was the one that pushed for a partnership and made Vox think it was his idea, very much there to shake the status quo and wondering why overlords only use their amassed power to defend their own territories instead of trying to take turf wars even further (and eventually to heaven itself). Not through out and out war (yet), not alone, but maybe as an alliance and taking over through other means by owning and creating as much as possible and making people rely on you even if you don't own their soul first.

I don't want to say Val was just included because he's Vox's boyfriend/because Velvette and Vox both like him. I think that would dismiss how powerful he is and how much influence he holds. I think he's seen as a powerful ally/important partner, but it fits some of the comments Vivzie has made and Vox and Velvette's general attitude toward "boytoy" that nobody thinks Valentino is the brains of the team and it is Vox and Velvette who think they run the show (each thinking they are most important with the other as an assistant and Valentino slightly below on a third rung).

I have no proof for it, but I think asking Alastor to join The Vees was after Velvette got involved (well, obviously lol since I was just saying that Velvette could have came up with the idea of a team).

And I think it was based on more than just Alastor being a fellow entertainment and communication overlord like TV and Social Media--though I'm not saying that wasn't the primary reason.

Alastor and Vox have some kind of past involvement. It doesn't have to be romantic. I don't think it is for several reasons even beyond the fact that I think they are going to keep Alastor as aromatic as well as asexual, though not thinking it's not canon won't stop me from making all the jokes/reblogging all the art/writing it as such...but that's beside the point

There was some friendship there though I think.

-- The over the top reaction to the rejection screams that it seemed personal.

--Valentino says to Vox that Alastor "owes us more than money" which also says it was more than just business--whether that is a reference to a possible battle, something that happened more than once if "the last time" is significant wording indicating more than one fight or "more than money" means the fractured relationship was personal for all three.

--There's the torn picture (that Vox kept for YEARS) where we see that Vox was standing close to Alastor and Alastor at the very least isn't shying away.

--Vox was SO SURE Alastor would say yes to his offer that Alastor appears to have his own section of Vee Tower ready for him to move into/originally constructed for him with a record store, a bar for Husk to run, and then railing that is made from large smiles.

Again, just like Velvette, Vox has a huge ego, but I tend to think that the faith that Alastor would join and viewing when he didn't as a betrayal and declaration of war speaks to some alliance in the past.

I probably have EVEN MORE to say, but that's I can think of at the moment.

Thanks for reading my rambling. I look forward to any other ideas/thoughts/opinions/facts I missed/whatever from OP or anyone else.

Just any thoughts besides:

I am really curious how the V’s came to existence. Like, was it a duo and then a trio? Or did they meet at a gathering and just decided to team up?

I couldn’t find when Velvette died on the wiki, but Val died in the 1970s and Vox in the 1950s. Since Velvette is mostly involved with social media and phones, I would like to think that she died after Val. From that point of view, it would be most likely that Val and Vox first teamed up. (Maybe they fucked first, maybe the business was first, who knows)

Then, Vox asked Alastor (died in 1933) to join them, which wasn’t a completely strange choice, because the radio and tv are connected. But he said no. Then Velvette came to hell, and I would almost like to say that she introduced phones but I can’t know that for sure. But anyway, phones and tv’s are also similar, so Vox asked her to join.

And Velvette accepted because it was a helluva offer. That would also explain why Val en Velvette don’t seem to like each other that much.