#but it's still NOT RIGHT

[sukugo]

consumed by flower pussy thoughts.....both nai and vash have flower pussies and as kids mutual body exploration was pretty much a given. they would play with each other, pleasure each other, and they'd slot together so perfectly, so easily. it was all easy and right and good. pressing fumbling hands against each other's holes, opening each other with their touch, their flowers—usu closed tight-knit—opening up with just a prod—less than a prod. only a simple look and thin brush of skin.

it's after they part ways that vash comes to realize smth they had missed so blatantly. and how could they not. it was so easy to miss. they never could've known. it's only as he spends his years moving alongside humans, that it becomes glaringly obvious.

their bodies are only compatible with each other's.

vash's body is incompatible with anyone else's. he can't have have sex with humans (at least not penetration i guess). bc his flower stays closed. it won't open, no matter how much anyone may prod at it, how much he may want it to. begs it to.

and it's only when he sees nai again after so many years that it seems to finally all solidify in his mind. bc just the look at nai. just having him in his vicinity, the mere presence of him has his flower unfurling. petals opening slowly between his legs.

and nai strokes a nonchalant hand at his arm as he pushes past the door and there's a wetness pushing out his folds. he can feel himself opening, blooming, feel the ever-present tightness finally finally finally relaxing. a fist unclenching. a breath of relief.

but the tightness is replaced by emptiness. and he needs he needs he needs. and only nai can give.

but the other is standing at the top of the hill, blades wrapped around the crimson plant. and he's so close, his body screams, but he's so far. so so so far.

and it feels like being betrayed by his own body. bc all this time, all these years, he has begged his body to open, to take, but it never did, refused to. and all it took was a look from his brother. and it's horrible horrible horrible. but it can only be him. it can only be HIM.

and the whole thing kinds drives home the fact that they are brothers. twins. they are ONE. made from the same thing. made for each other. made FROM each other.

[hopepaigeturner]

Will, Alice and the Question of Class

I’ve already explained a couple of my thoughts here about S3 subplots. And done a prior review of the Mondriches here.

Essentially:

I was disappointed that the only working class family in Bridgerton got sucked up into the upper-class and is now like every other character in the entire show.

Will and Alice’s storyline could have been used to show the rigid structures of class system in Bridgerton (more here). Will and Alice's ostracization from the ton, rather than acceptance, could have been explored therefore not only expanding the world but also letting the audience understand the stakes that Benedict and his working-class love interest will face in the next season. And give these two actors some meat to get their teeth into.

But also, and I think a bit more sinister, is how the writers positioned the conflict for the Mondriches.

The main conflict with Will and Alice becoming upper-class was initiailly portrayed as Will needing to give up his club as people of the ton would look down on him being a businessmen. (And truthfully there probs would have been stuff like that). In the first conversation/mention it was made clear that it was the rigid, prejudiced societal expectations that were causing this conflict.

Here’s the exchange from S3E2

“Mr Mondrich if you wish to be a part of society you must know, you cannot continue to run this place. Memebers of society do not work” “Does being a part of this world not man freedom to do what I like?” “Everything has limits.”

(Another little detail I think is worth pointing out. I find it interesting that the person who spouted all about the freedom of the ton to Will was a white moneyed man from a generationally titled family-Benedict Bridgerton. While the person to show Will the reality was a black Lord who was given his title by QC. I def don't think that is a coincidence. See! The writers do have some awareness yet why does it not extend to class?)

However, after that first mention, the narrative around this conflict shifted. The conflict shifted and became about Will’s struggles with letting go of the past.

See Alice and Lady Danbury Scene in E4

Alice M: “I did not wish to miss another ball, but I also was not looking forward to coming here alone.” Lady D: “Your husband should be here with you.” AM: “Mr Mondrich seems to be having a hard time relinquishing our old life no matter how hard I tug at him, he’s quite attached to his bar.” LD: “The Queen will not smile favourably on a man of ran working in a club. You must show Mr Mondrich that this new life is worth his sacrifice.”

If you look at Lady Danbury’s delivery of the line “your husband should be here…” it is slightly accusatory. Alice’s words signify that it’s Will’s personal choice that is leading to the tension between them.

Suddenly its not the prejudiced class system, its Will who is the problem.

And then the writers go further. Will’s indecision is the one affecting the family.

As Alice says in S3E5:

“Your ledgers will not miss you but your family will.”

At the engagement evening when talking about their daughter riding a horse  “All I could think was…I wish her father were her to see this.”

And this is how the conflict continues to be presented. Will’s conflict around past vs. present becomes club vs. family. Will’s decision to cling onto his past and working class roots is making him a bad father.

It’s framed that its It Will’s choice that is hurting the family.

So ofcourse he should give up the club! Why is he dawdling??? Family is more important than business!

And ofcourse they’re right but…do you see it?

The real problem here is the BS societal structures of the ton where class divides are as defined as a knife edge, meaning the only way to traverse them is to sever yourself from one to another.

Class structure is the real reason for Will and Alice struggle this season. The class structure, that prioritises lineage over labour, you could even say family over labour, is the problem here.

Yet this problem and this conflict is all framed as being Will’s fault.

And yes this is a fantastical romance show where five different styles of fashion are somehow all present at the same time—I don’t expect razor sharp class critique.

Like so much other media, both entertainment and otherwise, it’s a Bridgerton plays into the overarching narrative that the problems faced by underprivileged individuals are their fault rather than the societal/cultural structures that actually cause these problems. (Hit me up if you need examples).

And even worse? I bet the Bridgerton writer had no idea what they were saying with this storyline. I bet it was much easier to write this storyline in this way because it is easier to blame people than the structures intermingling with them. And therefore, it is easier for the privileged who sit on the throne of these societal structures to solve problems—just have the victims pay the price themselves.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Now, I probs need to go and grab some jasmine tea.

[straightlightyagami]

u ever see someone with extremely fucked up views (or actions) and think wowww if a couple of things in my life went the tiniest bit differently that would have been me

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[qrowpilled]

hate when you find a character whose so infuriatingly Your Type that its embarrassing like yeahg no one is gonna be surprised when i announce this is my new Guy Of The Month

[dendrochronologies]

maya angelou saying the funniest thing anyone has ever said about editing, which i can never let myself forget EVER AGAIN [x]

[transformationofmatter]

please do look it up if you dont know the date bc there may be at least an approximate answer and otherwise the last option will completely dominate and this poll will be boring.

and dont be like 'but i cant sing'... just answer the earliest tune you know well enough that you COULD sing it

periods of western classical music provided only for reference

[frownyalfred]

love the idea of the Batfamily getting stopped and searched in the family car on the way back to the Manor and everyone’s tense expecting Jason to be the one packing like twelve guns but it’s Alfred? Alfred is absolutely unbelievably strapped up to high heaven? And he somehow manages to talk to the cops out of arresting him or even giving him a ticket?

Bruce is just standing on the side of the road pinching the bridge of his nose. Jason is grinning so widely his face is about to rip. Alfred’s guns are all sitting on the hood of the car and there’s at least three there that Bruce remembers taking away and destroying. Dick is taking pictures on his phone to send to Barbara and trying not to laugh. Tim has Kon on speaker narrating it…

[ladyoriza]

I hear Kendrick Lamar murdered Drake with his voice.........shouted him apart.....

[marypsue]

Keep seeing that post where OP starts like 'Thinking about...grieving the undead' and then adds on about like. Real life situations where people have not died but have left your life and you would have reason to grieve them.

All respect, that's an important concept, but that is not what I am thinking about when I read 'grieving the undead'.

[wolfythewitch]

Ford doodles

[artkaninchenbau]

A h-heartfelt reunion..?

Bonus

[peacheskoo]

Saw these panels the other day and—

LET JASON BE SILLY YOUR HONOR

He knows he won’t no balls

[mirrorhouse]

ARMAND and DANIEL + 😎

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Hey now, Let her cook!

[sentientsky]

just a friendly reminder that, just because slavery was formally "abolished" in the so-called united states* in 1865, enslavement itself is still ongoing in the form of incarceration, which disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous people

(*i say "so-called" because the US is a settler-colonial construction founded on greed, extraction, and white supremacy) recommended readings/resources:

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

"How the 13th Amendment Kept Slavery Alive: Perspectives From the Prison Where Slavery Never Ended" by Daniele Selby

"So You're Thinking About Becoming an Abolitionist" by Mariame Kaba

"The Case for Prison Abolition: Ruth Wilson Gilmore on COVID-19, Racial Capitalism & Decarceration" from Democracy Now! [VIDEO]