#anyways I love sixties fashion

[blaithnne]

Oh so I’m supposed to choose one outfit for The Goldie O’Gilt? Get a fucking grip

Meet the Cast!

╰┈➤ Canon ☄. *. ⋆

→ Scrooge McDuff → Matilda McDuff → Hortense McDuff → Qalhata Duiker → Jack Duckworth → Bentina Beakley → LÙ Huifen (pre-caseflies) → LÙ Huifen (post-casefiles) → Ludwig Von Druska → Bradford Butcher

╰┈➤ OCs ☄. *. ⋆

→ Lucrais NicRiada

.ೃ࿐

[babsi-and-stella]

Marianne Faithfull in the Green Room at the Marquee Club, early 1965. Photo by Mick Ratman.

[sardonic-the-writer]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐯𝐞'𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞

↳ includes: luther, klaus, and number five

↳ warnings: canon type threats from five

↳ notes: written so both ftm, mtf, or gn folks can read it. basically was just be being really self indulgent. enjoy

↳ song: dancin - krono remix—aaron smith

masterlist | commissions | carrd

𝐋𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫

• We all saw how he reacted to Viktor’s coming out in season three. The human equivalent of ‘he’s a little confused, but he’s got the spirit.’

• This time, he’s got a bit more experience understanding these things than the first time around. Might still ask Viktor a few things if he’s too embarrassed to question you directly, to which he is reminded that Viktor doesn’t speak for every trans person

• He eventually just ends up asking you what he wanted to know with a considerably more nervous tone

• Coming out party when?? Convinced that this guy just wants to have a party before the world ends at this point. Won’t have one if you’re not comfortable with it just like his brother, but he’d be so pumped if you did

• You’d think that walking around hand in hand with a big guy like Luther would stop people from yelling stuff at you, but you’d be surprised. In any case, he always makes sure to defend your honor, even if you don’t need it. He’s chivalrous like that

• Luther would be able to relate with any body dysmorphia you have on some sort of level—and in turn knows ways to combat it. It wasn’t easy to nearly die and wake up to the upper body of a monkey, so he had to adapt somehow, both mentally and physically

𝐊𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐬

• Oh, he’s so happy that you feel comfortable around him

• Klaus has always experimented with his gender and sexuality, never sweating the small stuff, so finding someone that he can share his experiences with on more than just a friendly level really excites him

• No matter what time period the two of you end up in, Klaus is always supportive of you, even if it gets him in some hot water with the locals and their opinions (i.e, your time spent in the sixties.)

• Probably steals your hormone boosters if you ever run out of them. Or buys them off a dealer or two. You don’t take drugs for so long without knowing a few people

• Please let him do your hair. Whether you’re looking to lengthen it or shorten it, or even just dye the thing, Klaus will clamor at the opportunity to play hairdresser. Only if you promise to do his own in return, of course

• “Fabulous! You look amazing!” He croons one day, pretending to swoon at the sight of you. Or maybe it was authentic. You could never tell with him. Either way it made you fight the urge to crack a smile

• “Klaus you literally just brushed my hair.” You snort

• “My point still stands. Fabulous I say!”

• In a similar note to that, Klaus would let you rummage through his closet for any sort of spare clothes or fashion inspiration if you run out of outfits/ideas for how to dress. He’s got a wide array of strange garments anyways; from multicolored skirts and dresses, to suits with sequins and eye catching patterns

• Be warned. He will want to matching couples outfits. And they will be atrocious

• On any of your bad days, Klaus makes sure to remind you of how brilliant you are. Most times he just describes you how he sees you through his eyes in an attempt to cheer you up, but sometimes he’ll simply slot himself next to you and hold you until you’re ready to talk about it

• For someone that’s infamous for not being able to stand silence, Klaus sure knows how to utilize it

𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞

• Contrary to popular belief, Five does actually give two shits about you—and then some. You are his partner after all (How you managed that no one’s quite sure. The running theory between Diego and Allison is that he’s holding you hostage or blackmailing you somehow)

• His love for you means that he’s more than willing to try and understand your point of view on both the world and yourself. When he’s not trying to stop the apocalypse from ending the world and everyone in it, of course

• Often times brings Delores into the serious conversations you’ll have, claiming that out of the two of them she’s better at understanding these things

• Would burn down a building for you, and probably has already, so when you get misgendered or scrutinized Five won’t hesitate to threaten the person bothering you

• “Unless you have an aversion to keeping both of your eyes in their sockets, I suggest you back away from them.” He had hissed at a passerby on the street one day, clenching his fist with a deadly smile. And while he might not look threatening enough with his smaller frame in school boy shorts, the look in Five’s eyes had the other person scrambling away without a retort

• “Thanks.” You chuckle breathily at him after, shaking your head. “You don’t always have to do that, you know. Scare those guys off.”

• “Yeah, well, Lila would kill me if I didn’t. You’re one of the only people she actually likes.” Five rolls his eyes, doing a poor job at concealing the red tips of his ears. But you got the message

• “Sure thing Fivey.” You knocked his shoulder against your own, and held your hands up with a laugh when he sent a scathing glare your way

• He’s not the best at saying that he loves you, and that means everything about you, but he sure does try in his own little fucked up way

[moutainrusing]

party

dorlene july event, 702 words, @enbysiriusblack

For her sixtieth birthday, Dorcas did not want a party. She did not want a big deal to be made about her increment into old age, the fact that her first digit would now be six instead of five.

Sixty was proper old. If she told someone she was sixty, she may as well be telling them that she was old-fashioned and confused about the times. Not not with the times out of choice, but genuinely perplexed, with a worn-out brain struggling to process things. Obviously, she knew sixty year olds weren’t like that; in fact, most of them, if not all, were like their fifty-nine year old selves but more educated, like their fifty-eight year old selves but with a broader range of understanding, like their fifty-seven year old selves, constantly growing and learning new things. But according to society, it was impossible for old people to grow, apparently.

The younger generation. Dorcas hated calling them that. There wasn’t even time for evolution between her and the so-called younger generation. They were all homo sapiens, humans with emotions and reason, people who could relate to each other, except for some reason, they chose not to.

Old people were too old. Therefore, Dorcas would simply not declare herself as old.

With this in mind, she’d requested her wife, Marlene, not to throw her a party. (Honestly, how could someone call her backward when she was a woman married to another woman, who’d adopted all their children to make their beautiful family?)

Dorcas’s present would be the gift of ignorance, the fact that suddenly, the whole world seemed to forget it was her birthday. Surely that meant she wasn’t ageing. Surely that meant she was just living another day in her good old fifties. Perfect, not too old. Fifties sounded so good.

- - -

“Fifty is too old,” Marlene hissed in an imitation of Dorcas ten years ago. “Dorcas always says this. I’m throwing a party anyway.”

Lily bit her lip sceptically. “But won’t she suspect it then? She’ll remember that every time she says this, you go and do it anyway. What if she disappears for the whole day?” From worried to playful in an instant, Lily smirked, “I would, if I knew you were planning my party.”

Marlene scowled. “Well, I’m not the only one planning this party. You’re here to help me,” she grudgingly admitted.

Lily smiled, “For obvious reason.”

Marlene flipped her the bird, but instead of leaving, Lily got to work. She was so good at reading body language. Perfect party planner. Marlene wasn’t going to tell her that though.

- - -

“Okay, fine, you’re the perfect party planner,” Marlene gushed after five hours, because this party was going to be through-the-roof spectacular thanks to her best friend.

- - -

Dorcas was having an ordinary day, one like any other. She was happy. No mention of birthdays anywhere.

Then why did she feel so gutted? She wanted this! This was perfect!

Dorcas felt a bit hollow. Someone just acknowledge her! Just… remember she existed! But she didn’t want that!

When she got home, the house was exactly as it had been in the morning. Her grandkids hadn’t even thought to at least visit her! She raised them!

Marlene wasn’t even home yet! That was her wife! Could she not even kiss her wife on her… well, not birthday, but shouldn’t she at least get a kiss from the love of her life?! Was this too much to ask for?!

She shouldn’t even have to ask! Their love should be one hundred percent unconditional, but no, apparently, everyone had forgotten her existence.

Sulking, she stormed through the corridor and into the living room, reaching to switch on the light—

“SURPRISE!”

- - -

Marlene grinned at her wife, holding up a huge cake decorated with icing sheets of Dorcas’s face through the ages, a celebration of the life of the most amazing person on the planet, who lived in the terrains of Marlene’s heart so comfortingly and comfortably.

Their children and grandkids and friends and family surrounded her, all cheering, “Happy birthday!”

Marlene stepped closer to Dorcas and whispered, “No one cares how old you are. All we care about is the fact that you’re here with us.”

[neverchecking]

NSFW alphabet for Legend, Hyrule, & Four? If you’re too busy, you don’t have to do them, I’ve just been 🤤since the Twilight alphabet.

Nonny, you did nothing wrong, but next time just check on my request status. I try to keep my requests at a set number so I can get through them in an orderly fashion.

Also you lucky ducks get 2 tonight after getting nothing from me for like a month nogng

Legend's -> Here!

Four's -> Here!

Anyway. MDNI! 18+

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

He's a KING at aftercare. He's so soft and caring, and his touches are absolutely featherlight. Because he just wants to praise and thank you for allowing him the opportunity of a lifetime. It's so precious to him and he wants to make sure you know it to.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

On his partner? Their hands. He loves kissing your palms and your fingers, and feeling them brush against his cheeks as you tell him all about how good he feels. Even just holding your hand in his as you clench around him crying out his name makes every part of him buzz.

On himself? It's hard to say because it's proven that he doesn't have a lot of self confidence, but probably his mouth. Which sounds weird, but talking has saved his life, smiling has gotten him out of sticky situations, and he knows you love the absolute completion he can bring you to with it. He loves that you can use that part of him so freely without it failing you because he will put his mouth to work. Trust me.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Maybe its the fae in him but he LOVES cumming all over you. He love, love, loves painting your skin a pretty white and streaking it in a reminder that your his. Loves dragging his fingers through it just to smear it all over your belly, to really sell the point you know?

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He loves seeing you in jewelry. Any jewelry, but especially long necklaces. just watching them bounce and curl with every thrust has his eyes widening as he watches every chain link shift. Especially if there's a heavy jewel front and center. Just seeing you decked in rings, bracelets, necklaces and crowns? Oh, he loves it.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

No one wants to hear it, but I believe Hyrule fuckkked. Like in his world, money is scarce, so thanks had to have been given another way. Sex was probably one of those ways. It was on the downlow and no one ever talked about it, but he probably fucked. That being said, when it comes to you, where it comes with feelings, you would think he's a virgin. It takes some time for him to really settle and put his experience to good use.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Sixty-nine. He loves showing you his absolute devotion to your entire being while letting you do whatever you wish to him. He knows you like to return the favor even if he personally thinks thats silly. This lets him try to distract you enough while also letting you tire yourself out enough he can do whatever he wishes with you <3

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

He can do few good laughs. Like Four, if it helps loosen you up he's all for it. Probably even instigates a few jokes because he loves hearing you laugh. Soft sex with Hyrule is probably full of giggles because he just loves you so much.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Not. Groomed. At ALL. It's bushy and it's messy but its so him you can't even be mad because look at that face and tell me you can be mad at him. I certainly can't. It's the same brown as the hair on is head and just as curly, so...good luck with that.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Oh he's so romantic, because he's SO used to those quick pump and dumbs, he loves showing and proving that you aren't like everyone else. You are someone he so inherently wants to spend the rest of his life with and he never wants you to doubt that for a second. And Hyrule, lemme tell you bc he told me personally, can WAX POETRY like you wouldn't believe.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

He was told its a sin so never actually did it until he lost his faith in Hylia. Then he touched himself, cried, then finished the job. And from then on it was pretty rare because, like I said, sex wasn't rare to him. Of course, after meeting you that doesn't change. But instead of it being a question of what's the point it turns into why waste it? Why waste it on his hand when he can use it to paint your ass a perfect shade of creamy white.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Probably has a bit of a food kink, honestly. Like, fruits and syrups dripping all over your body for him to lick off appeases the fairy side and gives him the sugar for energy. Win-win for him.

Also probably loves having his hair pulled. I don't know if that's a kink, but its something I felt compelled to share.

Had to come back to add this, but Free use. Absolutely loves when you just pin him down and ride him like he's little more than a toy for you to use.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Anywhere. He is down for anywhere at anytime. He's is nothing more than a lowly peasant for you to use. He is there to sing your gospel and preach your prayers. If you want him to eat you out in the middle of the street with people watching, he's already on his fucking knees.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Anything. Like I said. Anything just to show you how much he fucking loves you okay? He can't have you thinking he's gonna run off because losing you would absolutely destroy him. And he just cannot risk it. Like after a fight? That probably gets him going the most because he thinks he's fighting some invisible chain thats breaking and going to pull you away from him.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

He would never dream of calling you names. You are his divinity and he is going to fucking adore you and make sure you know it. The thought of ever demeaning you does something to him that makes him all pouty and upset because why would you ever want to think about yourself like that? He loves you so much and he wants you to love yourself just as much.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Giving. you had to know this was coming (heh, cumming). Because as I've shown, hyrule is a worshipper. And he would love to fucking worship you every chance he gets. Fuck he would spend hours giving your oral because it's just so nice for him.

A oneshot idea I've been throwing around is Reader being a Mafia! boss and sitting there, Hyrule on a leash and just having at 'er because he believes it's his life purpose to be their sex toy while their doing business. Just thought yall should know.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Anyway you want it, but he gets so sex drunk it only lasts so long before falling to his default fast and rough because he just can't get enough.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

not his favorite, but he'll do it. Again, he just wants to please you. So if you want a quick romp in the closet, his belt is already off. Of course, he'll use later to take his time ensuring that you know quick isn't his go to, not anymore, and defiantly not with you.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

He's down. It brings excitement and he does like that little rush adrenaline. Plus it keeps you interested which is a bonus. It makes you happy and that's all he needs.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

So much Stamina. He is so used to going, going and going, so he has the energy for DAYS. He is so ready and willing, whatever you want he's giving. If you're not done, neither is he. Round after round, he is still hard ready to go.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Yes and no? So, Hyrule is half fairy which means he has some magical properties about him. I imagine his cum probably has a bit of an aphrodisiac quality to it. So that's his own little toy. other than that, I could see him liking beads and just pulling them out. One by one.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Doesn't. Like I've said, he loves devoting himself to you. Teasing just takes away from that. And he can't have that! He needs to prove that you made the right choice fucking him because there are better options (In his opinion-- which is wrong). He doesn't want to lose you because of teasing when he could've spent that time making you see stars.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

He's suck a pretty moaner. He has a perfect tone and pitch and it's just such a delight to hear. He tries to bite his lip because he'd much rather hear you, but he can't help but whine and whimper just because it all feels so so so good.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

His cum? Probably tastes sweet. Because he's half-fairy, he needs a lot of things like sugar water, fruit, candys, sweets, which you would think would make it taste bad right? Nope. It actually tastes sweet. Like it's palatable. Which is why we all wanna suck his dick so badly. Which is WHY 69 is such a good position for him.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Hyrule has a pretty dick and I will go down with this. Like it's no bitchbreaker, but you just wanna suck it because of how pretty it is. Like a gorgeous red at the tip with soft skin and perfect balls just waiting to be fondled. He's packing pretty average, 5 or so inches, but that doesn't even matter because his dick is just so pretty.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Above average I'd say. It's not so much about the sex for him though, it's about the intimacy and proving his devotion to you. And he loves doing it. Loves reminding you just how much he loves you and wants to spend the rest of his life with you <3

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Knocked tf out. After aftercare is complete and he knows you're okay for the night, he gone. Sorry babes, fairy needs time to recharge and replenish his battery so he can devote his entire being to you all over again tomorrow <3

[innytoes]

Happy birthday @jatp-spinsb!

"I don't think this is a good idea," Ray said, twisting the leash between his nervous hands.

"Come on, Dad, it's too late to back out now," Julie cajoled him. "You said you wanted to help Flynn and I with our charity project."

And Ray had. He thought it was great that the school had this program. It helped teach kids planning, coordination, they did a lot of writing for the advertising. He just... hadn't expected Julie and Flynn to go this hard.

"I thought you meant with photography or setting up or something," he said. "What happened to a good old fashioned bake sale, anyway?"

"Everyone does a bake sale," Carlos rolled his eyes. Carlos was also helping, but mostly in corralling dogs behind the scenes. "Besides, this way they raise money for the shelter, and they might adopt out a few cute dogs! It's a double whammy."

"It'll look really good on our college applications," Julie said, giving him the best puppy dog eyes in the room. Which, considering the amount of puppy dogs back stage was saying something.

On stage, Flynn was talking up a storm, raising the price of 'Eligible Bachelor Number Three And Muffin The ChiWeenie' steadily. It helped that Eligible Bachelor Number Three, also known as Flynn's Uncle Todd, was a bodybuilder and about twenty years younger than Ray. Sure, officially people were bidding on a date with the dog and the 'bachelor' was just a 'chaperone', but Ray didn't think the two ladies in a bidding war cared much about the dachshund-chihuahua mix in his arms.

"Sold to the lady in the red dress for two hundred dollars!" Flynn said, cheerfully. Todd happily coaxed Muffin down the stage.

"Come on, dad, you can do this," Julie said, squeezing his shoulders. He tried not to think of the fact that she'd made him swap his shirt out this morning for a tighter one. "Besides, Donut is a really cute dog. Don't you want her to get adopted?"

He gave her a Look, but before he could say anything, Flynn called him up on stage. With a sigh, he went. "Our next bachelor is chaperoning Donut! Donut loves long walks on the beach, belly rubs, and discussing whether or not Han Shot First."

Ray tried his best to smile, walking Donut up and down the stage once and showing how well behaved she was, sitting on command (with a treat for enticement, of course).

The bidding started at fifty dollars, and for a moment Ray's heart seized. What if nobody bid at all? What if Flynn had to lower the price? What if-

"Fifty dollars!"

And then the bidding was off. Someone else bid sixty, and he showed off how Donut knew how to high five, scratching her ears fondly when she did. "You're a good dog," he told her, because it was way easier to focus on her trusting, sweet face than on the sea of people staring at him like a piece of meat. From behind the stage, Julie motioned at him to stand up again, and Carlos made some flexing motions.

He chose to ignore his son, but he did stand up and smile at the crowd.

Seventy, eighty. The bidding got slower, as Flynn rattled off true facts (Donut was great with children) and less true facts (Donut's favourite art movement was Dadaism).

And okay, maybe he flexed just a little. Subtly.

Then...

"Three hundred!" Someone from the back called. Which, considering they'd only just reached ninety, was a bit of a shock. He tried to look into the crowd, but he couldn't really see who was bidding. It was a male voice, though. There was some murmuring, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the ridiculous price hike, or because of who bid on him. Well, Donut.

"Do I hear three-ten?" Flynn tried, but nobody raised their hand. "Sold for three hundred to the enthusiastic gentleman in the back!"

"Whoo!" came the answer, and Ray laughed a little as he and Donut went back down the steps of the stage on the other side. He followed the little arrows Julie and Flynn had put on the floor in tape, and then he was at the meeting point.

He crouched down again, telling Donut what a good girl she was, laughing as she flopped over on her side so he could give her belly rubs. He was so busy loving on her, that he almost didn't realise someone came up to them.

"Oh wow, she really does love belly rubs," he said, and Ray looked up, smiling.

And then froze.

Because that was Reggie Peters, the bassist of Sunset Curve.

Reggie Peters had paid three hundred dollars to go on a date with him.

No, pull yourself together Ray, he told himself. He paid three hundred dollars to help charity and meet a cute dog. "She does," he agreed. "She also really does like long walks and the beach. And she's very cute." Donut gave a happy little doggy pant in agreement.

"Yeah well so's her chaperone," Reggie Peters, the bassist of Sunset Curve said.

Oh.

Oh.

[flightfoot]

ML Fanfic Recs for 2023: 80K - 125K Words

So I’ve been going through and adding particularly good fics I’ve read throughout the year. Only Complete fics, of course. Enjoy!

---

Tell Me Why You Love Me by @linnieluna

“Anyway, that piece of paper contains the name of this texting app. It’s completely anonymous, so you can download it, make your account with no attachments to your personal life, and communicate with me outside our suits. I included my username on the paper, too, so you can add me once you’re done."

Her partner skimmed through the words on the paper and nodded his head. “Brilliant as always, M’lady. I’m surprised we didn’t figure this out sooner within our superhero careers.”

“Yeah, it would’ve been nice to have this before, but hey, better late than never. Make sure not to have your phone screen on the messages if you’re going to leave it somewhere. We don’t want anyone reading our texts. Also, this is for emergencies only. No jokes or puns. I can only deal with you for so long.”

“I don’t know if I can agree to that last one,” he said.

Now 22 and working full-time, Marinette and Adrien seem to be getting busier and busier, which means fewer opportunities to keep track of akumas and show up on time. With the idea of using a messaging app to communicate with each other without revealing their identities, their lives immediately grew to be easier... until it wasn't.

This starts off as a mostly slice-of-life fluff fic, but about halfway through things turn dramatic when Monarch learns some things he really shouldn’t and takes action. I had a lot of fun with it as it was coming out, it’s worth a read.

---

Kwami Magi Homura Magica by Crossoverpairinglover

After eighty-four loops in time, Homura Akemi takes a new path to Paris to save her friends.

The sixty-third loop after that, Homura arrived at the Agreste Mansion.

After clash after clash with the heroes of Paris and its greatest menace, events have reached a tipping point.

Ladybug faces someone verging on a second wish, a wish that endangers space and time to save a friend.

This was an absolutely AMAZING story that crossoverpairinglover dropped out of NOWHERE. Seriously, if you like Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Miraculous Ladybug, this is a real treat - but be prepared to sit down and binge, because it’s over 100,000 words and only has three chapters. 

Anyway, I adore the care that’s taken with going through Homura’s mindset here, she gets a lot of character focus. And the lore! There’s some good explanations here for the history behind kwamis and Incubators’ interactions, and the Order of the Guardians normally treats Magical Girls, and why the Incubators are wrong in their assessment of the universe needing more energy to stave off entropy (hint: it involves Plagg), and just... there was a lot of love put into this.

And the action! Most Miraculous fics don’t have much in the way of fight scenes, and what they do have is mostly just functional. This is one of the rare exceptions. There’s some really long, detailed fight scenes in this (roughly the entire second half of the second chapter has one between Ladybug and Homura), which are a treat to read! 

We also get some glimpses into a variety of other universes here, other timelines, alternate ways things could have gone down - I’m especially partial to the rather detailed view we get of one where Homura sent a message asking for help to the Ladyblog on her third time loop, and how things progressed from there. 

The ending I also thought was really good, a happy ending that generally made sense and dealt with the issue of the Incubators. 

If you can’t tell I’m really happy with this fic, it was incredible and unexpected. The length of the individual chapters can be daunting, but if you’re up for the task, I highly recommend giving it a shot!

---

If I Let Myself Love You by @uptoolateart

It’s hard to be a normal girl with a normal life when your mother has terminal cancer. And when fashion model Adrien Agreste moves back to Paris and wants to be Marinette’s friend – or maybe even more – her life is turned upside down again.

How can she risk opening her heart to love when her whole world is falling apart? Especially when Adrien is hiding a dark secret of his own….

- COMPLETE FIC – updates on Sundays

*** No kwamis AU - 100% Adrinette. About half of it is fluffy and half heavy. Please read tags for trigger warnings. ***

This fic can be rough, definitely pay attention to the tags. There’s no villains in this story, it mostly centers around themes of dealing with illness - both being sick and having a loved one who’s terminally ill - and death, grieving someone who’s lost, and how difficult that can be. It can get pretty gut-wrenching at times, especially as you slowly discover more layers of what’s really going on, what both Adrien and Marinette are hiding, both from others and from themselves in order to help cope with their circumstances. But they still move forwards together, regardless.

---

Eventually by @lucid-ao3

Adrien’s life has been dictated by rules, monitored, and controlled for years. He has learned to compartmentalize. It’s not that bad. It always gets better, eventually. Doesn’t it?

Recovery can be an unexpected obstacle when you didn’t realize you were being hurt in the first place.

OR: How Adrien lives and copes with the emotional abuse inflicted on him over the years, and how he ultimately could overcome it.

If you want a good “Adrien doesn’t realize how abusive his father is but slowly buckles more and more under his tyranny, until things come to a head, and he actually gets the HELP HE NEEDS” fic, this is a good one!

---

Between the Heavens and the Embers by @readersmoon

Everyone in Paris remembers the fateful night of January 16, when the city was attacked by the most powerful and destructive akuma ever created. The assault, which lasted for hours, resulted in the death of 439 people.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was among the casualties.

Years later, Adrien hasn't been able to move on, haunted by the memories of her broken body. So, when the opportunity to leave Paris for a while presents itself, he doesn't hesitate. But this trip might end up giving him more than he ever dreamt of.

This is a fantastic fic, though a serious and a dark one - make sure to mind the tags, and it’s M-rated for a reason. Vee - or rather, Marinette - is going through a horror story here. Imagine finding out that your life is a lie, that everyone you thought you could trust was manipulating you, that you were just being continually gaslit for years. 

As for Adrien, Alya, and Nino... well, none of them took Marinette’s “death” all that well, especially Adrien. Finding out that she’s been alive all this time, in these horrible circumstances, and they had no clue... it’s hard on them as well.

I love how this fic goes into how much trauma everyone has even after the immediate danger’s dealt with, you don’t just walk off this kind of experience, especially with how many years this lasted.

[alittlebitofloveliness]

To cope cause this week has not been a vibe, which outsiders character could you picture going through something like this?

I remember when I was really little I use to love wearing dresses and anything pink and girly. I loved to feel like a princess, but then I got a bit older and suddenly being girly was seen as silly and like weak?

The girls around me dressed more tomboyish and some of my friends closer to me would hang out with boys more and play sports. I didn't mind that of course but I felt out of place. Because it became VERY clear to me that a lot of people view being overly girly as weak or silly.

I think I internalized this HEAVILY because at a certain point I hated wearing dresses or anything overly girly. I stuck with alot of t-shirt and jeans after that and tried to act more boyish. Which backfired because then the boys thought I was weird and looked too much like a boy. And now I'm…I’m trying to get wear dresses and skirts again. But l'm scared that I separated myself from being girly and feminine to the point that I don’t know how to act like a girl again. Which kind of makes me sad, because I’m just reminded of that ten year old girl that I was who loved being girly, and wanted to look like a Disney princess.

Oh anon I wanna give you the absolute biggest big sister bear hug right now, you have no idea. I feel like this is something every little girl goes through to a point? I definitely did, I spent my whole childhood loving beatiful sparkly things, and all of middle school trying to prove I didn't. I think its part of the 'I'm not silly/shallow/foolish like other girls please take me seriously as a human' internalized misogyny thing that just about every girl goes through at some point, but it really sucks because obviously theres nothing wrong with liking feminine things and liking feminine things does not prevent women from being intelligent, full human beings deserving of respect, but shit the patriarchy goes hard and so many women have this phase. I'm so grateful that I worked to kind of unlearn that as best I could in high school because I really do love wearing dresses and doing my makeup and all my sparkly things and I was unhappy when I felt like i couldn't. Anyway, this is just a really long winded way of saying i totally understand where this is coming from, and also that being girly and liking stereotypically feminine things is not what MAKES someone a girl, and you're not failing at being one if you genuinely don't like dresses and makeup, but if you DO and you're struggling to embrace wearing them again (which it sounds like you are) that that's okay too because in time it will feel natural again, and you'll feel pretty and live your best disney princess dreams. (also if you ever need someone to hype you up or want makeup tips or anything I'm totally here for you! i ADORE fashion and playing with different styles and I have PERFECTED the bold red lip to the point its something I'm kind of known for on my uni campus, and basically I think i can help you learn to be excited about girly things again if you want to be).

ANYWAY, now i'm done yapping about that I can talk about which outsiders characters I think would struggle with this and (while I might get hate for it) I think SANDY definitely went through this phase. I see her as a character who has always felt powerless so she resorts to trying to take any power she could. As a lower class woman in the sixties, that would be hard for her to come by, so I think she'd try to reject femininity and all that womanhood entails for a while. Maybe her dad always treated her brothers better than he treated her so she always wanted to be more like them, or maybe when she struggled to make friends with the girls at school she turned to acting/dressing tomboyish to try and make friends with the boys.

Another one I could see with this same issue would be Susie Mathews. I think with a brother like Two-bit, who she loves but also sees and hears joking about and objectifying women, Susie would want to be nothing like the 'dumb blondes' her older brother is known for pursuing. I could also see her mother making comments here and there about the young women at the bar she works at so Susie might have also internalized that slut shaming mentality and dressed in more boyish attire so she wouldn't be seen as 'one of those girls'

Hope this was helpful and at least semi coherent I am running on very little sleep.

Thanks for the ask xx

[kellyvela]

Sophie's Hon Vol. IV Paris Fashion Week Edition 🇫🇷

Welcome back to this series in time for the lovebirds' return to Paris, the City of Love, the same the city where we saw them kiss for the first time.

A lot of their most romantic pics yet and some sexy stuff under the cut!

WINE ME, DINE ME, SIXTY NINE ME . . . .

The first sight of Sophie and Perry in Paris was on Sunday, March 3th, while they were leaving Le Bristol Hotel to attend a especial dinner:

Here we can see Sophie with Danielle Haim and Jamie Mizrahi at FRAME Paris Fashion Week Dinner, held at Caviar Kaspia Restaurant:

On their return to their hotel, Sophie was pictured very happy and relaxed and holding Perry's black jumper:

I guess Sophie was looking at Perry in these pictures, he seems to make her laugh and smile a lot 😊

Now, we don't know when the lovebirds arrived in Paris, but while these pictures were appearing on the internet, I was alerted by anon message that Sophie had created a playlist with a very particular name just the day before (Saturday, March 2th) . . . . 👀 🙈 🤭

Here some songs that stand out:

These lips can't wait to taste your skin, baby, no, no And these eyes, yeah, can't wait to see your grin, ooh, ooh, baby Just let my love Just let my love adorn you Please baby, yeah —Adorn by Miguel

Oh lá lá . . . . 💋

Whispered something in your ear It was a perverted thing to say But I said it anyway Made you smile and look away Nothing's gonna hurt you, baby As long as you're with me, you'll be just fine Nothing's gonna hurt you, baby Nothing's gonna take you from my side —Nothing's gonna hurt you Baby by Cigarettes After Sex

I guess Paris brings out passion in lovers . . . . 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

~~~

YOUR CLOTHES LOOK BETTER ON ME . . . .

The next day, Monday, March 4th, Sophie and Perry went to the Louis Vuitton Paris La Samaritaine store, probably for Sophie's outfit fitting for the next day show:

On their return to their hotel, they went on a very romantic stroll through the City of Love, holding hands, walking by le Pont des Arts, sitting on benches to exchange clothes, and being the most affectioned with each other . . . .

Oh my heart . . . . Why are they so cute and sweet and lovely???

OK, so when they actually arrive to their hotel, Sophie was wearing Perry's green jacket that looks so big on her, and I love it!

I know, Sophie, I know . . . . It's so nice to smell the scent of the person we love on us . . . .

Oh, to be young and in love . . . . in Paris 💕

~~~

GIRAFE & COSTES

During the night of Monday, March 4th, Sophie and Perry were seen at Girafe restaurant, and later at Costes restaurant.

There are several videos of Sophie being so nice and sweet with her fans waiting for her at her hotel door and at those restaurants doors. She took pictures and videos and sent greetings for a lot of lucky fans. You can watch it here & here.

In those videos you can see that Perry's friend, Rupert Gorst, joined them that night. He is the same friend that travelled with them to ski in Meribel.

In those videos you can also see that Sophie left Costes restaurant with a Glowery bag. Glowery is a brand founded by Alexandra Kolasinski (a long time friend of Sophie's ex husband), so Sophie probably met with her at Costes. I'm mentioning this just to reiterate that the "cheating allegations" are a made up narrative.

OK, let's see the pictures!

Leaving Girafe:

Loving the way Perry is holding Sophie's hand in these pictures . . . .

Leaving Costes:

Lol at Rupert waving his hand to the paps in the back 😂

Here's another video of them leaving Costes, via Backdrid with Game of Thrones theme lol

I like how Perry is the last to leave, several steps behind her and Rupert and he opted to read his phone to avoid the paps pictures . . . . Also, how lovely and polite Sophie is with fans and paps!

Now to the main event!

~~~

LOUIS VUITTON WOMEN'S FALL-WINTER 2024 SHOW - PARIS FASHION WEEK - TUESDAY, MARCH, 5th 2024

No Perry sighting during the Show, just lovely Sophie in Louis Vuitton.

Here's a picture of Sophie's Glam shared by Christian Wood:

Here's Sophie arriving at Musée du Louvre, arm in arm with Chioma Nnadi, the new head of editorial content for British Vogue 👀 👀 👀

Chioma Nnadi also attended FRAME Paris Fashion Week Dinner, held at Caviar Kaspia Restaurant the night before, so maybe they met there.

Here's Sophie posing for photographers:

Here's Sophie being interviewed by Alexa Chung:

You can watch a little bit of the interview here!

Here's an official picture shared by Louis Vuitton:

Here's a picture of Sophie inside the Show:

Here's Sophie for Brithis Vogue:

She looks so happy and lovely ❤️

Before the Show started, Sophie was chatting with Anna Wintour and posed for pictures with singer Lisa, member of Blackpink, and actress Ana de Armas. You can se the video here.

Here's Sophie, Anna Wintour and Cynthia Erivo watching the Show:

Here a few of my favorite pictures of Sophie from the day:

Gorgeous!

Hopefully we will have Sophie on a Vogue cover soon and also attending the MET Gala!!!

She's an angel 👼

Straight out of a Renaissance painting, right?

Loveher so much ❤️

~~~

MAXIM'S

After the Show, Sophie and Perry were seen leaving Maxim's restaurant where Louis Vuitton held an after party:

During the after party, Sophie was seen next to singer Felix from Stray Kids and Nicolas Ghesquiere, while listening to singer Zaho de Sagazan performing her song La symphonie des éclairs on the piano.

Rupert Gorst joined Sophie and Perry for the after party as well. They sure had a blast.

There is a lot more of Sophie from the Show but Tumblr doesn't let me upload more material 😭

I'm gonna leave you a few links tho:

More Sophie from Vogue Germany! - Similar video from Vogue Italia! It seems Vogue is promoting her a lot!

More Sophie from Madame Figaro France!

Sophie posing for photographers pre Show! - Same video from TikTok! She's so lovely!

Sophie Turner & Chloe Grace Moretz!

Sophie leaving the Show & interacting with fans! Love her so much ❤️

Another video of Sophie leaving the Show!

~~~

You can read the previous editions here: Vol. III - Vol. II - Vol. I

I'm going to update this post as new content appears.

[dykesynthezoid]

@saint-tory I saw you posted about what Sam and Tory should have worn to prom and it looks like you deleted the post but unfortunately fashion history is a special interest of mine so I’m going to subject you to this anyway

Tory feels pretty easy honestly. The theme for their prom was old hollywood; Tory seems to go with an early 1940s inspired look with the silhouette, her hair, and makeup; however. I think she would also look very good in something 70s inspired, and that’s a look Peyton List seems to enjoy as well. I think putting her in a flared jumpsuit that’s just on the glamorous side of flashy really works for her.

Something like this, maybe:

Sam is a little tougher. In the show, they put her in what is literally Audrey Hepburn’s dress in Sabrina— Except it’s Marilyn Monroe Gentlemen Prefer Blondes hot pink.

Which is a weird choice bc a. The result doesn’t look like either Audrey or Marilyn’s style b. It’s not Sam’s vibe anyway

If they wanted to keep her in something Dior’s brand new look/Audrey/Givenchy inspired, they shouldn’t have tried to remix it on their own into something that didn’t make sense.

I also think it’s worth considering what Sam would think of when she hears “Old Hollywood.” Who does she identify with that? Would it be Marilyn or Audrey? Or would it be Heidi Lamar, Katharine Hepburn, maybe Lana Turner? Or maybe she thinks of classic Italian stars; I wouldn’t be surprised if Daniel had an old pin up of Sophia Loren or Claudia Cardinale in a box somewhere.

Considering that, I think there are a few directions to go in. Rather than drawing inspiration from the 40s/70s like with Tory, I think it makes more sense to draw on the 30s/60s/90s with Sam.

I’ve seen some people say she should have called back to Daniel’s blue prom outfit, which is itself 60s inspired. If that’s the direction she was going in she might go for something like this:

If we wanted to stick with something sixties but more individual, I think she would look great in something short and mod-inspired. 60s mod dresses have a real boyish charm that I think would work well for her.

(She would also look very cute with 60s makeup/hair)

Another option would be putting her in something 30s inspired, which would also allow her to lean into a less cutesy look. Something slinky and long and backless, with long brushed out Veronica Lake style curls.

As for what Sam would wear to 80s night at the roller rink, they originally put her in the Pretty In Pink dress, but it’s very identifiably not her vibe.

I would LOVE to have seen her in a plaid skirt suit since those were popular at the time. Maybe it’s even an outfit Lucille wore in the 80s, and Sam asks to borrow it.

It also would’ve steered the vibe closer to Heathers than Pretty In Pink.

[sineala]

Superheroes and Aging

Meta time! I was asked (on Patreon) to write meta about how Tony Stark might deal with feelings about aging and being surrounded by The Youth. I am reposting it here.

I have to say this has also been on my mind a lot. I will say it's a weird thing growing up being into comics and being a fan of the teenage X-Men because obviously they were the most relatable and then being as old as all the adult superheroes and now being older than all the adult superheroes, who have all been basically the same age for decades as the rest of us move on past them. At least they finally aged up the original crop of teenage heroes and have been replacing them with new ones.

So the thing about superheroes in Marvel Comics, as you probably know, is that they pretty much don't age. Initially, this wasn't really a thing Marvel worried about. It was the sixties and they'd made comics cool and profitable again and kids loved them and I'm pretty sure they weren't thinking that sixty years later people (grown adults, even!) would still be reading and loving and expanding on the universe they made. Because I think if that had been the case they'd have, say, fewer villains that really sound like someone thought of them in about thirty seconds at 5 pm on a Friday and then went home. Big Wheel, a guy who has a... big wheel. Swarm, a guy (I mean, he's not really... human) who is actually a group of bees. Nazi bees. Paste-Pot Pete. You know what I mean.

Anyway, at first Marvel heroes aged, because why wouldn't they? Despite what you would guess if you only watched adaptations, it only took, I think, a couple years for Peter Parker to grow up and leave high school. The original X-Men all stopped being teenagers. Time moved on. Then after about ten years Marvel figured out it was going to be a problem if their beloved heroes were too old to be superheroes and they more or less halted the aging process. And that's how we get the Marvel Sliding Timescale. Broadly stated, the Sliding Timescale is essentially "don't worry about it." Everything you are reading right now happens right now, the beginning (the FF getting their powers) happened about ten or fifteen years ago (I think right now it's closer to 15 and we're at four RL years = one comics year), and everything else that has ever happened in 616 -- because Marvel also doesn't believe in line-wide reboots -- is wedged in somewhere in the time between. As real time passes, the sliding timescale slides events closer and closer together because more events have now happened.

So the effect of this is that heroes don't age. I think this is actually most notable with child characters -- like, ask yourself how old Franklin and Valeria Richards are. Or don't. I think Dani Cage has been a toddler for about fifteen years now. So the founding Avengers started off in their early 20s, are now in their mid-30s, and are going to continue being in their mid-30s for the foreseeable future because Marvel doesn't want its heroes being over 40. I think there have been a couple IM issues where Tony has had "significant" birthdays that they carefully avoided putting a number on -- I think one was Bendis, and I know he had a surprise party in the Gillen issue with the adoption reveal. I want to say that maybe there was also a Fraction one? I'm not sure.

The time references have occasionally been lampshaded -- the most recent Iron Man issue as I write this (#6) has Tony asserting that he doesn't remember things by what year they happened in, but rather by what armor he had at the time. He goes on to tell a story of something that happened while he wore the Silver Centurion armor, throwing in an aside that the shoulder pads were fashionable then -- and, out of the armor, he is given his usual stylish perm; the artist has definitely been inspired by Bob Layton's later Iron Man work -- which for me has the disconcerting effect of making it sound like this is somehow taking place in the 80s and also not in the 80s at the same time. Because now they've invented an extra time for shoulder pads and perms to be fashionable and it's approximately 2015. Time is fake. No, actually. It is.

And building on that, I think the effect of that is that mostly they don't seem to have characters like Tony dealing with aging. He doesn't really seem to worry about it, probably because there can't be any narrative payoff if he's simply never allowed to age. (Steve gets it even more weirdly, because a lot of times fandom assumes the serum is just going to halt or slow aging -- as it does in people like Natasha who have serum variants -- but then in universes where significant time actually passes, like House of M, Steve is visibly older, and he definitely is meant to have the serum. Or Bullet Points, where Steve, minus the serum, is actually dealing with aging as he comes out of retirement for one last mission. Which kills him, because it turns out he probably was too old to do this safely. But then in 616 we're expected to believe that Steve can lose the serum and also be mostly combat-ready at age 95. Aaanyway.)

So what if Tony did worry about getting older? Based on how he interacts with the kids these days, I think mostly his worry actually wouldn't involve other people.

For all that intelligence in Marvel seems to be a single invariant and quantifiable statistic that can be accurately measured (which isn't the case in reality but work with me here) and that Tony is a genius but not The Smartest Genius in the Universe, he doesn't ever seem to display any ill will toward anyone ranking higher than him on the list -- say, Reed -- and he is in fact definitely willing to take on the younger geniuses, like Riri, as proteges, and he seems happy to mentor them. He doesn't seem to feel at all threatened by the idea that some of these people are definitely smarter than him -- say, Moon Girl -- and will someday succeed him. Or at least will if Marvel ever lets them age out, which again seems unlikely. Theoretically he also ought to be drawing on a lot more lived experience than Riri that he can use to advise her, but one of the bizarre things that Cantwell's run has left us with is Tony believing that giving the Mandarin's Rings to Riri to study with zero oversight is absolutely the right thing to do; Rhodey congratulates him on his great decision-making. I guess we'll see how that turns out.

(This is in contrast to a character like Doctor Doom, who clearly can't stand the idea that Reed might ever be smarter than him.)

Given that Tony is a character who often has execrable self-esteem, it actually seems a little odd that it doesn't bother him that he isn't the smartest, but it really doesn't seem to. He seems fine with that. He's enough of a genius to do what he needs to do, I guess, and that's good enough for him. Even in Cantwell's run, which was, uh, not a run I would call particularly in-character for Tony in many ways, the thing he decides to do with the Power Cosmic is make everyone in New York as smart as he is. I think this was a fairly poor storyline for a large number of reasons, but I think it does actually show that he has good intentions, in a sense -- he wants everyone else to benefit from the intelligence he has, the same way they can benefit from his philanthropy. He wants to give people the advantages he has. So he seems like someone who wouldn't resent the up-and-coming heroes and geniuses; he seems like he'd be honestly happy that there would be more people out there on his level.

I think, really, as long as he knows he's good to go, he knows he's good enough to do the things he wants to do -- even if sometimes he just hates himself as a human being -- and he probably looks around at all the kids and knows they have to train them up, because even if they're going to be good they're not as good as he currently is, just because they don't have the benefits of years of experience. I mean, maybe they could have some kind of superhero Registration or something. The joke he made to Steve at the end of Empyre wasn't entirely wrong.

(I feel like I should probably also read Young Avengers, for more on how the Avengers deal with The Youth, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.)

Since Tony often blames himself for, well, everything he can possibly blame himself for, including the deaths of people he feels he should have been able to save, I feel like his worries about aging would probably involve his ability to continually successfully be a superhero. We haven't really seen much of this worry since his Extremis/Bleeding Edge days but there was definitely a period of time where his main concern seemed to be the ability to compete with the people he's fighting -- and this seems like it might be where he's heading again in his confrontation with Feilong, who, I should point out, does actually attempt to make fun of him for being old. Tony doesn't seem to take it personally, but he does seem very upset that he's not on Feilong's level, technologically. So I think the thing that would bother Tony wouldn't be the idea that he couldn't keep up with the heroes, but rather that he couldn't keep up with the villains.

So, yeah, that's my take.

[valleydewstardrops]

🌻 Stardew Valley farm girl

Hi! I'm a writer who is brand new to Stardew Valley and can't help but develop every MC I ever play, lol. I'm super active in another fandom and working on a long fic, so I can't say how active I'll be here, but I wanted to introduce my girl anyway.

Sadie is very new to me so she'll continue to grow and develop the more time I spend imagining her. In the mean time, I might dabble in some oneshots and headcanons every now and then just for funsies! But for now, here are some:

🌻 Farmer Girl Headcanons

Sadie Taylor loves her chickens, the colour yellow, and The Beatles. She loves sixties fashion and music, is always humming, and ends up converting the farm to a flower farm, selling flowers, honey and eggs.

She moved to Stardew after she discovered her musician fiance had been cheating on her for the entire duration of their relationship.

Her first friends in the Valley are Sam (his sunshiney personality compliments hers), and Emily (they bond over crystals and healing frequencies).

To the surprise of literally everybody (including herself), Sadie and Sebastian eventually fall in love, but initially she finds him really intimidating. It takes a long time for her to feel comfortable around him; he writes her off as an air-head, and she thinks he's depressing and moody, and it takes them a good year or so to overcome those first impressions. (classic sunshine x grumpy slow burn, thank yoooou!)

🌞 Sadie Taylor mood board.

🌙 Sebastian mood board.

Anyway, its nice to meet you! Thanks for having me! 🌻

[stronghours]

saw the cat person movie with @drdemonprince last night, a truly national event, and while definitely like, artistically and craft-wise a bad movie, it was a treat for a couple people who did not like the short story at all - the interesting, charming, and intriguing things about it, though absolutely not done on purpose, really underscored the dysphoria between the reader reaction to the short story itself and the reality of the writing (bad)

1 - the short story came out in 2017! I'd only been in chicago for 10 months! truly this was a geological age ago.

2 - the twitter discourse on the publication of this short story was more encompassing and wild than the short story itself. people compared it to "the lottery". people called it "the first viral short story". people called it haunting and twisted and nasty and trenchant and intense. the extreme blurbage really set it up for a vaster failure to me specifically (the only opinion that truly matters) when I read it and thought it was like, a kind of dull story with listless characters.

3 - short stories have been adapted before! Frank Perry did The Swimmer back in the sixties! He had Burt Lancaster! (don't know where I was going with this - I think was going to say an actually literally wise director can adapt cleverly from brief material, but then I remembered I have not actually watched The Swimmer yet and probably shouldn't say that in good faith)

4 - so anyway - and once again, I think this was absolutely done unintentionally, so not 'good' per say - Cat Person The Movie portrays yes, the text of the short story, but due to both the deficiencies in the text and the deficiencies of the filmmakers, forces itself to literally play out the fantasies of the mass reader reception, fantasies that arguably swallowed the actual short story itself - that this was a chilling portrayal of modern dating/war of the sexes/misogyny/male violence, etc.

5 - I believe these fantasies happened because, 1, a lot of people aren't textually very wise. it is truly fandom bullshit. people have an intense emotion from deficient text or content and then start squeezing blood from stone and things snowball from there

6 - while, once again, I say, the movie most definitely not doing this shit intentionally, it had enough awareness for the usual tongue-in-cheek stuff, not because this was "the good thing to do craft-wise" but because tongue-in-cheek awareness is de rigueur these days, and because the adaptors, though maybe not craft geniuses, have the pragmaticism of Movie/Film People and were like "we absolutely do not have enough shit to go off on" and, again unintentionally, squeezed blood from stone just like the readers from yesteryears and managed to beautifully mimic the mass delusion that surrounded, again, this fucking bad and boring short story and managed to bring some actual violence to the table

7 - due to the fact that this is a Film with Actors and had Moving Visual Images, it benefited from like, you know, some of the actors being charming and kind of funny

8 - the story came out, again, in 2017, the stone ages, and modern dating and the twitter lit scene has gone through several more geological cycles since then, so the whole thing felt just a little old fashioned. the salad days!

9 - the ending close up on Margot's shit-im-nutting face when the second guy asks her out at the movie theater is such a fucking funny choice and departure on the og story, that this girl is now addicted to the rush of thinking every dude she dates is going to stalk/kill/drug her - (and she's correct! robert was, apparently, willing or contemplating to do two out of three of those things! but also - maybe she's crazy too and, you know, kind of deserves it?) like, such a hysterical and cynical choice, masterstroke.

10 - bad story! (no stars)

11 - bad movie! (five stars, would see again, love and light to all)

12 - The Swimmer (1968) dir. Frank Perry and starring Burt Lancaster is free on Tubi

[a-case-of-the-ace]

Another day, another wonderful australian tv show without a lick of fanfic to its name. So, in desperation, may I recommend:

Crazy Fun Park. A bunch of child ghosts haunt an abandoned theme park, the newest is our protagonist's best friend. Friendship angst and tragic creepy backstories abound, with a trans character and a grumpy lost-boys knockoff who only wants to help his sister.

Sweet, a bit corny but overall real good. I loved all the side characters backgrounds and overall growth. On ABC Iview (it's free!)

Irreverent. All I found (last I checked) on this were 3 shirtless gifs of the same scene. Worth it though, main character is HOT.

Basically, an american mafia diplomat pisses off his mafia, so he nicks a hundred grand and runs for the first flight he can catch. While making his escape, he meets a depressed reverend and tells him to ignore god and seize his own destiny. Said reverend therefore nicks all his stuff. Mafia man can do nothing but go to the reverend's posting in rural Queensland, and deal with both australians and improv-ing his way through religion. Plus a lot of sexual tension with the local police officer. (She's so cool!)

Incredibly funny, absolutely side-splitting, featuring angry routinely yelling at a man in sandals and hawaiian shirts. I also love how, when he gives his sermons/weddings/funeral services/etc he focuses on the message within the bible as opposed to "this exact line said this so you better do it." My favourite of the three, and I will be writing for it once my wips are defeated. On Netflix.

Ladies in Black (the 2024 show). Set in the sixties, focuses on the ladies and men of a fancy fashion store. Lots of characters of different races, and women trying to get ahead under the patriarchy, all chasing their dreams.

I yell at the tv a lot in this, because of dodgy men doing dodgy things. The main reason I long for more people to get into this is because I ship two of the main characters. Possibly the first w/w ship to truly overtake my brain. They both have good backstories, back each other up, and both try to help their families. And yes, they could be good friends but if you say "if [male-love-interest] doesn't kiss you, I will," followed by giggling, hand in hand, what am I supposed to do? I don't control the brain, it controls me. I haven't actually finished this yet, but I recommend it highly anyway.

The soundtrack is lovely, using period-typical music as well as non-diegetic modern songs. The look of the sets, the fashion, it's all so beautiful and stylish. And that's coming from someone who dresses like a divorced trucker. Also on ABC Iview.

If anyone knows of these, likes these, wants to discuss these, please talk to me. My brain will overheat for sure, otherwise.

[arctic-hands]

So like from fourth grade on up, I stopped caring about fashion. Or at least that's what I told everyone, I really did care about my appearance but I wanted to be as anti-fashion and unfeminine as possible and put on an air of uncaring to do it. This included a pair of bright red Crocs in high school when they first came out that I then put as many obnoxious and clashing jibitz into, my own little rebellion against the absolutely ludicrous and drug hysteria-induced dress code that didn't think to cover Crocs and decorations thereof. This lasted until junior year of high school, at which point my fashion just became Depression (genuine).

Then come about nineteen years old and I figure out time to grow up and dress like an adult, which to me and my budget meant dressing in black skirts and various demure dresses and unintentionally looking more like a devout Christian school girl than anything. Then I decided to embrace my lesbianism and wear a lot of plaid. Then I decided to embrace my genderqueerness more but a lot of my clothes were given to me by women in my life because I hit harder times, so a lot of my clothes were very feminine and that's all I had to wear. Then I got fat and most of those don't fit anymore but even when they did I didn't feel right in these clothes even tho I still tried to dress like an acceptable adult. But now I'm thirty, and while I never want to be a kid again I really want to go back to my ridiculous, vibrant, outlandish clothes I had growing and I really fucking want these Crocs

[Image Description: an etsy listing for a pair of basic black Crocs foam clogs... Basic, but for the fact that the backing (that is raised up to convert into into a flip-flop) is rowed with bronze studs and the Crocs logo on it are purple rhinestone-studded, there's a band of flat silver studs around the top of the Crocs, followed by a band of gold chain, at which point there is a mishmash of purple round gem, big rectangular white gem surrounded by gold and smaller white gems, a bunch of gold studs to the side, and then the body of the Crocs before that is covered in distressed and frayed blue denim, at the top of which is a band of chain made of gold thread where a gold shaped heart charm hangs, and towards the toes are multicolored gems surrounding a rhinestone-studded cursive "love" charm in the middle. The sole of the Crocs are studded in small round bronze. I hope I conveyed the gaudiness of these shoes adequately. End I.D.]

I want these so fucking bad 😭

Unfortunately these custom Crocs are two hundred dollars. Which, fair, plain Crocs are like sixty bucks and I don't know the quality of the materials gone into this and their prices, not to mention the time and labor that went into designing this. But damn it all if it doesn't want to make me buy some Crocs on sale and bedazzle them up because holy fuck these are great.

Anyway if you like them too and want to snag a pair for yourself here's the Etsy listing

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

Les Trois Mousquetaires, Chapter Two

d'Art has arrived at Captain Tréville's "hôtel" where fifty to sixty Musketeers seem to be constantly hanging out in the frontyard.

I love this decription of the Musketeers regiment as a permanently drunk, carousing and full-of-themselves band of brothers who never fear getting into trouble, because they know Captain Tréville will always bail them out (and that their brothers will avenge them if they accidentally die in the process):

"Papa Treville" is a fanfic trope - but he's also canon! His Muskie boys fear him like a strict headmaster, hold him in their highest regards, and they're also ready to die for him at the slightest hint of insult to his person. We didn't make this up, dear fellow-Muskie-writers; Dumas did!

Our young d'Art is mighty impressed with a game the Musketeers are playing on the stairs leading up to Tréville's anti-chamber: One of them is on top of the stairs while three others try to fight their way past him with their rapiers - and those rapiers aren't of the blunted exercise sort, they're the real sharp and pointy thing! (Pretty daring in an era where the smallest scratch could result in sepsis, I must agree).

We meet Porthos for the first time. He's big and boastful and a little too proud of his gold-embroidered "baudrier" (sort of a weapons belt/sash thing or whatever these things were called back then). No description of his hair/skin/eye color yet. But for me, he's always going to be this big, studded guy:

He's also coughing dramatically now and then. But we'll get back to that later. *wink*

Where there's Porthos, there's Aramis, and, chez Dumas, he's the exact same himbo who's since been strutting across our screens and through our fanfics - only that Dumas has a strange obsession with his beautiful, straight teeth and his earlobes (which Aramis keeps pinching to keep them nice and red; fashion trends change, mes amies...). Aramis is also a vain cock who can't keep it in his pants, and apparently Athos and him have had an argument or two about that. (Yup. This is canon.)

Anyway. Aramis. Devastatingly pretty since 1844 (or 1630, if you prefer):

Oh, and it's also canon that he has black eyes, a nice figure and a moustache like a straight line, and that he grooms himself well. (Once again, kudos to the BBC for perfect casting.)

Aramis is "barely twenty-two or twenty-three" in the novel, btw. *glares at TPTB of the upcoming French movie*

We also get a hint at Aramis' slyness and interest in politics when he alludes to Buckingham having a crush on the Queen and almost gets into an argument with Porthos. It's actually very smart and very early foreshadowing of what's to come much, much later in the saga. Dumas, you clever fox.

We also learn about Aramis' intentions to leave the Musketeers and become an abbé at some point. When it suits him. And his goals. (dun-dun-DUN!)

And this is where the chapter ends and an overwhelmed, very impressed and slightly confused d'Art is very relieved to be called into Tréville's chamber.