#but what do i call the duology………… oh whatever

[saturnsfather]

truly truly i have got to finish writing some of this gddamn sonic fic i have GOT to get through more of water-logged throne so that i can show people how much brainrot ive actually got

like. i have done so much research. written so many words for these fictional anthro knights. its really funny because when i started this project i had way more ideas about story and character stuff for msbp because. i mean thats book 2 its abt the actual canon characters after he goes home so that makes sense. and also my development of harbinger and the iterensi helped. but then i was like ‘i have GOT to develop the knights more’ and then suddenly. brain full many thoughts. hoo

[thewriteflame]

2, 13, 21, and 30 for the author/artist asks?

Thank you! <3

2- Who is your newest OC? Why did you make them?

Oh let's see.... probably the main cast of a steampunk WIP I came up with then forced myself to put on the someday WIP shelf. I thought ''huh I should do a steampunk novel" and the plot half formed followed by two currently un-named teens and Lily the dragon. The shortened version of my thought process: steampunk=cool; steampunk+dragons? more cool. From there it evolved into fire dragons are illegal and the main character is part of a family that secretly raises them. Lily, however, craves chaos and does whatever she wants.

13- Which story has the most lore?

Might not be a surprise but The Revenged and it's accompanying novels... I don't know what to call them but in order to get the most complete picture of the events in that time frame for my world you would have to read the duology, Home, Ayra's Tale, and Thylore. I've spent over a decade (off and on) developing the world, characters, and plot for them.

21- When did you start considering yourself a writer/artist?

To be honest as soon as I decided I would be a writer and wrote the opening line to the first novel (Kaira) I tempted to write: "She watched it sway in the breeze as she walked to her fate." It'd be nice to revamp it one day. Also to think my first story would be a fantasy novel that has a female Robin Hood-like criminal in it and now I'm writing about a lady pirate who hunts pirates and corrupt government officials. Injustice and awesome lady criminals are very much still on my theme bingo card.

30- How are you doing? <3

This year has been a year but I'm getting through it. I'm hoping all my doctor appointments and applications for several government programs accomplish something and I start getting the help I need soon. Minho's new album is so needed, can't wait for it to be released! (Even if I can't afford to buy it)

Writer/Artist Ask Game

[arillusionist]

s&b season2ep4 reaction!! book update: i finished seige and storm. it was lwk boring and im literally so mad bc alina deserves SO much better than mal hes such a hoe. anyways

help whats going on i kinda forgot what happened in the last episode

time to go read my own reaction

HELL NAH ITS BEEN A WHOLE WEEK SINCE I WATCHED THIS SHOW?? anyways i kinda remember the last ep now but my reaction is mostly crows stuff so it wasnt That helpful

ANYWAYS

even though mal is muchhhhhh better in the show i like the direction theyre taking with alina actually marrying nikolai

then again i havent read the kos duology (yet) so i dont know anything abt his real romance story so thats probably why i dont mind

stop mal telling alina shes his nation is so cute unlike in the books

and the way they actually do have some chemistry?? im sorry for ever hating you show malina 😔😔

is that the brother i cant tell

why does baghra lwk piss me off ...i cant tell if its because she wont stfu or because shes js boring

GENYA ☹️☹️

🥱🥱

FINALLY

"it'll give me some comfort to know you're with me" ohhhdhfmyygodddd and then her smile ahhhh

i cant tell if inej is mistaking kaz telling her to leave the city as him wanting her gone, when in reality hes js tryna protect her

or if shes just not promising it because she cant

theyre so complicated they make me sick (i love them 😭😭😭)

AWW THE I LIKE YOUR STUPID FACE LINE its different but whatever

WAITT JESPER BASICALLY CALLED HIM AND KAZ BROTHERS AND KAZ DIDNT EVEN DISAGREE?? HE LITERALLY AGREED

no cuz i actually thought kaz was gnna punch him or something but thats nice

no mourners no funerals 🙏🙏

NINA DECKING KAZ HELL YEAH I NEEDED TO SEE THAT

Dont take this as me disliking kaz btw hes my 2nd favorite character i js need to see him being put in his place

i have the most out of pocket thing to say but im not gnna say it

there are two heartrenders right there why dont they just check his pulse to see if hes lying

oh now they do it

i feel like maybe this is how they incorporate the crows into alina's plot - they'll ask them to find the sword since theyre criminals and know more than just the "wider black market"

IM LITERALLY A GENIUS HELLO????

NOT ME PREDICTING IT LIKE 2 SECONDS BEFORE HE SAYS IT

they cant just show kaz and nina for two seconds and then cut to another scene hello

OH NVM its an inej scene 🙏🙏

its so dark i can barely tell whats happening

oh they did the pox thing too they really taking half of crooked kingdom's plot huh

yeah now they decide to explain the plan

kaz is actually being so much like book kaz in this scene

"the trick is not to love anything" YEAH YOU KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THAT... and with nina in the background too?? i wish inej was here tho like in the books

i think shes busy saving those randos

"something you'd sacrifice everything for and it makes you weak" stop projecting

SIX FEET DEEP

see inej really needs to be here now nina and jesper kinda know his backstory but she doesnt

then again its more meaningful if he tells her on his own time

HIS SMIRK

"im begging you" "are you?" hes not begging but i can

sorry

HIM ASKING FOR THE QUITCLAIM DEED FOR INEJ 🥺🥺 him liquifying everything he owns in the books is still better tho

THE LOOK IS HIS EYES - this is not freddy carter acting as kaz this is LITERALLY kaz

lmfaoo the offended look on toyla's face

WHYD THAT ACTUALLY SCARE ME (the guy sneaking up behind mal)

ok so i have a class so i'll watch the rest later

im backkk

seeing that vasily guys face after a few hours is such a jumpscare like why is he so ugly

bruh i jus realized theyre not gonna do the thing where inej cuts a line above pekkas heart 😐another kanej moment wasted

hjdkfk wylan hiding under the table when jesper asks him out

this conversation is so awkward i keep pausing it 😭

its cute tho

omg just kiss already the tension is getting to me

finally!!! 🙏🙏

WAIT FUCK I JS REALIZED THATS ANOTHER MOMENT WASTED CUZ THEY CANT DO THE JESPER KISSING THE WRONG GUY THING IF THE SPINOFF HAPPENS

im not really liking how they did wesper anyways.... with the whole one night stand thing... 😐

ok. yeah. wow. go from super cute fluffy wesper to kanej angst. yeah. remind me of what i dont have.

kaz saying that theres a weak link in the crew and inej thinks it means her but hes actually talking ab HIMSELF because shes his weakness and shes the person he would sacrifice everything for and AUGHHH

the difference between the show and the books when kaz gives her the paper is crazy

wish they had kept the book's scene fr

waittt is nikolai adopted??

oh he is

tamar and nadia definitely have something going on its already canon that nadia is into girls so!!

did the vasily guy die i hope he did 🙏🙏

why didn't baghra just. do that before. yk BEFORE she got her damn finger cut off

"your obsession with the fold is naive" is bro talking about alina or himself

and thats it watch me wait another week again before watching the next episode 💀

[quiverpaw]

violetshine

sexuality headcanon

straight tbh

gender/pronouns headcanon

ummmm nonbinary girl she/they

rate them out of ten

7/10

favorite thing about them 

i like her clan-hopping and her whole thing w the kin. dont remember much

least favorite thing about them 

umm i dont really care about tree and her being together. or the fact that she’s a incest baby

why i first started liking/disliking them

not really sure tbh! i liked her in the apprentice’s quest but i don’t remember much after that

do i relate/project onto/kin them?

nope

favorite quote/moment

Why did Clan cats have to call everyone names? Anger surged through her. Did no cat want her? She'd spent her life being passed around by other cats. First Alderpaw had taken her from her mother's nest. Then Rowanstar had snatched her from ThunderClan. Then Needletail had taken her to the rogues. This was the first time she'd had any choice in the matter, and she was choosing to join ShadowClan.

my fav ship

i like violetshine and uhhh. um idk tbh

my fav platonic friendship

her and needletail is cute

a ship i hate

any ship with needletail and alderheart !! dont care for treeviolet either

do i prefer canon or fanon?

canon

random headcanon

still likes to eat shadowclan prey and has some of their habits

what color do i picture them as

i didn’t realize this was about what they looked like rather then what color they remind me of. oh. well she’s black with a white muzzle like the cover

cat breed headcanon

singapura - bombay mix

unpopular opinion

nothing comes to mind but i think she has night terrors

things i associate with them 

flowers, tears, snow

song i associate with them 

somewhere out there from that one mouse movie

favorite MAP/PMV/AMV with them

i still really like needletail’ duology and whatever the second one was called

[readingaway]

Worst Reads of 2022

time for some negativity! I’m just going to list the books I absolutely hated this year and give a short explanation of why I hated them.

1- Disfigured by Amanda Leduc

Literally the best part of this book is the description. The contents never get deeper than that and the book utterly failed to really investigate or explore what Leduc claimed to be writing about. Much of the text is taken up by autobiographical details and biographical details about other writers. 

2 - Namesake (Fable, #2) by Adrienne Young

This was especially disappointing because I’d quite enjoyed Fable - in-so-far as I can enjoy most YA adventure fantasy-romance, and Fable was very typical of its genre. But Namesake? What the hell was the point of this duology. I have to ask. What was the point Ms. Young? More importantly, you do understand that in your chosen genre of YA fantasy adventure the protagonist needs to do something.

But wait a second I need to go over another detail before I get back to the insanely weak plot and characters. The worldbuilding. It sucked. In Fable I put up with it, there was some nice imagery. But with all the other issues in Namesake I couldn’t ignore it. Young uses the same tired costuming tropes where, in one scene, the MC is forced - forced I say! - to wear a pretty dress to a party which involves a horribly uncomfortable corset. (What undergarments was she wearing before?) But that’s barely even an issue compared to, for example, that there is exactly one alcoholic drink in the entirety of this fictional world and it is called rye. That’s it. Rye rye rye. He was drinking rye, she was drinking rye, they were drinking rye. I wouldn’t be surprised if it had originally been rum and the editor made Young come up with something else to call it because rum would be too stereotypical or whatever. The rye thing is a pretty good example of the weak worldbuilding without getting too far into the plot. But I would also note that there is no clarity in what the climate is like, or the various cultures. Oh yeah. I guess there’s some magic in this story and some people have the ability to read or sense gems somehow, and it is only used for tension in a couple scenes and doesn’t matter to the main plot.

And back to the plot, which sucked. As a general rule, the main character of a story needs to do something. There are other important things about plots and characters, such as that a main character should want something, and that this drives the plot. The MC here does, at least, want something: her father’s love. What she does do over the course of two books is all about gaining her father’s approval or love, or it’s about helping her love interest. Just typing that makes me realize that somehow this duology failed the sexy lamp test with its main character. Fortunately it’s been almost a year so I won’t write more but seriously. This book is so bad. It’s soooooooooo bad.

3 - The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

I love the 90s adaptation of this book and so was excited to read listen to it, at last. That was a mistake. The first section of the book, up until Edmond escapes prison is good. It’s tense and you can really feel and understand why he’s so angry and set on revenge. The rest of the book.... his revenge is too intricate, there’s too much moralizing and talking. The revenge isn’t even satisfying. There’s a time gap between the escape and Edmond’s return to Marseille and he picks up this Greek slave girl who is kind of his adopted daughter but then becomes his love interest. He screws Mercedes over. The movie changed almost everything from the point of the escape and that was the right decision. There’s no satisfaction or great romance in the novel.

4 - Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

So, I wasn’t a fan of American Hippo because it turned out that the novellas were not, in fact, fun and were instead gritty westerns. I figure that’s more an issue of my not reading the description carefully enough. This, I was unsure about and I just wish I hadn’t picked it up. It might have been good, but it’s missing so much worldbuilding/ information. I cannot buy into a story where somehow, at the time of the real american civil war, there’s instead this very fascist government over all the white people and there’s a secret society of people ferrying folks from the east to the free, rebel-held west. And that the headquarters of this rebel stronghold are in Utah. And the place names are the same. You cannot actually expect me to believe that there is a Provo, Utah not twenty years after initial colonization that is a glorious safe haven for free speech and being gay and nonbinary. I also don’t recall there being much about race or colonization in this story despite it being set, again, at the time of the real american civil war and with the group the audience is supposed to be rooting for heading for safety in a very recently colonized place.

*addendum, apparently this story is actually supposed to be “near-future.” But the worldbuilding issue remains the same. There’s nothing in this novella to 1) make it clear when this is supposed to be set, 2) make it clear or even possible to guess what has happened to bring about this “near-future” dystopia. I’ve read other, similar stories that also involve a near-future dystopia set in the US that give enough detail for that described future to be plausible. (Ex, The Handmaid’s Tale, or Civilwarland In Bad Decline.) This novella does not give enough information for me to even visualize the story, much less understand the essential question of “how did we get here?”

5 - How to Write a Mystery, edited by Lee Child

There were a lot of bad essays

6 - Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

I wrote a review of it which you can read here.

7 - The Once and Future King by T.H. White

So yeah. I would like to stuff a sock in Merlyn’s mouth and duct-tape it shut and shoot him out of a cannon. That’s a bit extreme, but so much of this text was taken up by his patronizing, philosophizing, when he wasn’t going on racist rants and making up colonial manifestos. Such speeches rang especially hollow with the hindsight provided from the last several decades since the books were being published. There were other issues I had with the book, such as abrupt time skips and glossing over important details or constantly referencing other authors so that in order to understand this excessively long book, one must already be familiar with the preceding major works of arthuriana.

[goopi-e]

...What do you mean by "LA 2019 and EoW have the same game title font"? They're... they're clearly different? Not as drastically as, say, WW fom SkSw, but still noticeable enough. One of them is literally a serif font while the other one is not??

Typeface nerdery aside, the general aesthetic of a flat, monochrome logo is just the general trend for minimalism popular in modern logo design, for better or for worse. It's a good thing in general! A well-designed logo should be easy to reproduce and recognise in all sizes, colors and contexts, that's, like, a core principle. I haven't looked into official LoZ merchandise or whatever other peripherals, as I wasn't exposed to the franchise at all until 2019-ish, but I am more than certain that Nintendo already made the simplified versions of some logos to a degree, maybe printed on some sort of a limited-edition console or boxart. That being said, I find TFH's stylized embossing look would've made for a perfect middle ground between the two styles.

Keeping the creativity of the lettering for the game titles would be nice and help the overall logo readability, that much is true. Sharing the font for sub-series, like BoTW/ToTK duology, is actually good in that regard IMO, it's a clever bit of branding, in the same vein as changing the series title color is/was. I wish FS, FSA and MC were all green tbh.

Even outside of its practicality, I personally find the new logo style appealing in its own right. My favorite part is probably the tendency to make the Master Sword or the main gimmick object understated and distinct in their silhouette, and also uniform in their placement. Otherwise the whole logo gets too busy and slips into Final Fantasy territory, and by god do I hate (most) FF logos. I'm looking at you, TP and the Oracles; ToTK is also on thin ice, but it's at least saved by the limited palette - imagine if this logo had shading and gradients. On another note: the choice to make the series title weathered that was a nice shoutout to BoTW's story still kind of makes sense for the whole series, given its long legacy; maybe not for every game - again, that's where TFH's logo style would come in handy, - but in general it still spirit tracks, so whatever.

To be fair, I'd love to try and redesign old game logos in this modern style sometime, maybe even include some choice spin-offs! That sounds like a fun challenge to tackle, especially drawing the simplified silhouettes for the gimmick objects - I don't think I can personally improve on the laconicity seen in the artwork for the Spirit Train much; ST has a very tasty logo overall, even the concept logo was pretty.

Oh, and also! It'd be super interesting to have this discussion in regards to the Japanese logos, as those have to pack twice as much info in the same space. I wish I had enough familiarity with Japanese to fully appreciate the typefaces, but even then they make the difference between LA 2019 and EoW's logos way more pronounced than in English. And don't get me started on how WW's Japanese logo has the beautiful lettering that carries the swirl motif present throughout the game! No offence to the modified version of Sherwood font seen on the English logo, but I am a huge sucker for WW's swirlies. If it wasn't for the fact that KoRL blends a little with the already red series title, I'd call it the best Zelda logo. But then again, I am biased.

Let's talk about the Zelda logos!

Like many others, I noticed that we are heading into a new direction with zelda logos. The days of shiny red zelda logo are over. Solid-colour, weathered zelda logo is the new standard. I like it a lot! My only complaint is: the game title font doesn't stand out like before.

After Majora's Mask, you start to see that every zelda game has the standard red logo, but the game title has a drastically different font that matches the game's aesthetic. BOTW and TOTK are fine as they are since they are sequels, but what about EOW?

I was always imagining the next mainline zelda game to have a new font. It was subconscious and I only realized it after seeing the new title. I was *slightly* sad. I will get used to the new direction. It's not a big deal, but I did find the unique game titles to be charming.

Thoughts?

[rsquid2]

Finished Olypian Affair, heres all my various thoughts, spoilers if yall care about such things

I feel like the book moved very fast, perhaps thats a side effect of me reading it in about 12 hours but to me it didnt feel like that next book in a longer series, more like the second in a duology. As I was reading, and after while I was thinking about it, it felt like Things just Happened.

I distincly remember thinking that at some point in the next few books Espiria was going to turn on Aurora, only for that to happen the literal next page.

Everything in this one felt like a massive escalation from the first book. Everything feels bigger and higher stakes, which is not a bad in of itself but it felt like 3 books worth of escalation crammed into one.

We get the whole story on the Perilous, which like, neat, I kinda wish he'd dragged that out for longer, like, maybe only releaved the strictly releavent part and kept us in the dark for a bit longer.

Characters fuck alot in this book, like it feels a little excessive, it almost feels like Meatsmith has got somethin going on between this and warriorborn, idk maybe this is how is writting always is ive never read his other stuff.

I am once again expressing my hatred of it being a post-apoclypic earth, albeit not ours cus crystals were still a thing before the fall or whatever you wanna call it. I hate it, I really dont think it has to be earth, you can even still do the thing with Tyranima, it just feels a little lazy imo

That last chapter was fuckin wild. An archangel just, shows up, and has a conversation with the spirearch and Maul. Which like, why is Maul there??? It doesn't seem like he'd care I guess he does tho.

I kinda hate they introduced those crystal zombies, cus they are zombies, explictly have to go for the head, made of dead people, its just zombies, I hate that they put them in so early, cus either we are never going to see them again, or they are going to become a regular enemy which our heros can dispatch with ease. Neither of these options are good.

I do like that he left Gwen on the surface, I kinda expected the epilouge to go "oh and gwen got rescued shes fine"

Ferus is fucking dead!!!! That's just sad.

I do think on the whole everyone is charactized pretty well, no one feels wildly out of character. Some characters have changed but it's been 2 years if they hadnt it be weird. There were a few times were it felt Gwen was uncharcteristly slow on the uptake just so things could be spelled out to the audiance.

We got a little more lore on how the crystals are made, they grow em like the fuckin crystal grow kits from the craft store.

Abigal, I like that she's a character, I like that she's like a spy, I think thats cool, I love Hamish and Tilde. I hate where the book left her and Bayard, which i'd imagine is the point

There was no mention of Rook, at all, which like, yea he's a dick and I hated him, but It feels like he got retconed out of the story. Even when recounted the Pererlous Incident, they dont mention him. So either the admiralty wrote him into the Incident for whatever reason, or he has actually be written out of the story as a whole.

Overall I did like the book, despite what this may make it appear, I did enjoy it, now I guess we'll wait another 8 years for the next one!

[izartn]

I'm craving good het romance, as one does from time to time. Where do I find good fantasy not only romance het pairings. Where is my queer het plot!!!

Has anyone some book or manga recs? Preferably something finished please, I don't want to suffer waiting to the author to complete or abandon the story or of they're gonna be canon XD

EDIT after list is written: Okay. This post has officially become my list of what kind and why of het pairings I like. You've been officially warned. (Also a rec list of what to read/watch?) Trying to avoid spoilers.

Also more than half of this list is about teen me readings, I really need to seek out books and Manga bc wow. Very teen me, and I think that I've outgrown their canons even if the ship dynamic is also that still compels me.

I like:

CANON

El/Orion from the Scholomance. Whenever Orion gets a bit of focus I'm just. Oh wow (if you read between the lines he's so simple and so fucking unhinged at the same time). El extremely denying any vibes until last moment, but also falling extremely hard. Them both being such a battle couple/pair in general.

Whatever you can call what Agatha has going on with her two beaus in Girl Genius. They're all three of them so crazy competent and gone for each other too.

Yona/Hak and her vibes with Soo-won too (that foils thing she has with him is perfect and usually handled to male charas only, I'm biting my arm) (the loyalty thing with Hak and the way he pulls her higher too) (just the frustrated ot3 vibes of it all).

Jang Uk and Naksu|Cho Yeong in season 1. Their devoted and unhinged vibes destroyed me, I loved them. They were perfect, they only needed a bit more physicality. Season 2 defanged Yeong way way too much (in favor of uwu and blegh, let the woman cut off heads) and I didn't like the postponed angst and romance without knowing her identity.

Iron Widow OT3, which look. Wu Zetian rules even when she misses and nukes a city and everything is fantastically creepy and the guys lovely developed charas too with very different personalities and backstories

Tana and Gavriel from the Coldest Girl in Coldtown. (and this one also has threesome vibes with Aiden, uh) I like it when she is driven to do whatever it needs doing be it save her ex or her sister, or killing an ancient vampire in the company of another midly crazed vamp who is also very devoted to her and rediscovering life. Also the whole aesthetic and vibes of this one fucks.

Kate and August in Monsters of Verity duology. Dark dystopic urban fantasy and monster/human plus tragedy plus narrativelt active morally complex fem protags? I was obssesed with it when it came out.

Kaguya and Shirogane, but specifically if they weren't so innocent. Their chemistry is super fun, but I want something a bit more grown up and less teen panic. See also, me at 11 being obssesed with Blair/Chuck vibes in season 1 and 2 of Gossip Girl.

I'm on a roll. I loved Gilbert/Anne both in the 80's series and in Anne with an e. Obvious rivals to lovers where the guy respects her intelligence and she also has to have a whole arc about herself before realising she likes him.

I remember being bewitched by Lyra and Will once upon a time when I read the Golden Compass trilogy. Same re:Nathaniel and Kitty from Bartimaeus despite these two never having comfirmed anything just tragic unfulfilled potential.

Bipa and Aer from La Emperatriz de los Etéreos de Laura Gallego; theyre my fave pairing of hers and one of the only ones I didn't grew distant from as I grew out of her books. She's so practical and also kind and warm hearted, and he has the head on the clouds and is also completely out of this world in a familiar way. (this is me identitying with the guy who only appears like. A quarter of the whole novel bc he has been trying to give himself over to a lovecraftian alien soul-eater blue star while Bipa has to do all the journey to bring him back and destroy said blue star). Laura Gallego is wild.

NOT CANON

Younger me also enjoyed Artemis/Holly, not sorry at all for that one. He's so gone for her as a person and she's so out of his league (bc of their ages, bc of their species, their incompatible moralities up to the last books, etc, etc). Unfulfilled longing that makes you want to be a better person, the ship.

Soul/Maka on the other hand have super married vibes despite nothing ever being official and I love them and want to set on fire all the fic there's is about them bc it's general romcom / modern setting without that battle partnership and soul trust + domesticity I love. Also extremely teen but alas.

Yatori from Noragami bc I love tragedy specifically and human/gods relationships are fascinating. Even if it's unfinished. Even if it's out of focus somewhat.

Bellamy/Clarke from the 100 for all of the three seasons I saw before abandoning the series. The plot was unsmokeable but their relationship perfectly done. I was resigned to a boring romance with Finn and bam. Complex relationships, Clarke being bi with Lexa, parallel leaderships arcs, etc. Oh wow.

When someone bothers to write Aredhel/Celegorm on her PoV and it hits incredibly HARD. Damn. Whether aroallo or full-romo. Let post rebirth Aredhel be wild and Celegorm reckon with the knowledge of what wrong he almost brought to Luthien given Aredhel. Aredhel loving Lomion despite everything and loving disaster Celegorm, but not forgetting what they did, the awkward bonding between Maeglin and Celegorm as two former bad guys. Or them avoiding a bad ending and dying together fighting on the First Age before the Second Kinslaying. Playful times in Valinor pre-darkening.

ESPECIAL MENTION

I loved Laini Taylor characters and worldbuilding but her love at first sight kind of romances left me cool which is sad given I liked like everything else about her stories. Including the two characters involved on the romances, but not the romances per se. I guess I'm too aroace to believe first sight as anything reasonable in a serious plot even with the fairy tale vibes her stories have lol.

I also love Reylo vibes and symbolism but hated what they did on the last movie with them and I'm weirdly unable to read much fic of them. So...

[absolutebl]

Love in the Air & also the smell of burning trash

MAME’s adaptation of her novels “Love Storm” (พายุรักโถมใจ) and “Love Sky” (พระพายหมายฟ้า) this is a duology focusing on two different couples and their storylines.

Well, fuck me. 

This is your fault tumblr and I blame all y’all entirely. But yes, guess what this is?

Well, it’s me flouncing, but apart from that?

Another MAME dumpster fire marshmallow roasting trash watch. 

Some of you even begged for it. Or maybe if I’m a MAME character, you didn’t beg for it but I’m gonna gaslight you into thinking you did and then ruthlessly kiss your neck.

Look. I DON”T KNOW WHAT’S GONG ON EITHER.

Good start, ABL. 

Real good start.

You see what this show is doing to me already? 

Fortunately for the few of you who like unconsenting trash-watch neck kisses, and unfortunately for the rest of you, the opening of this bloody show made me realize that I had to do a trash watch. 

Take the neck kisses. 

Take ‘em and like ‘em. 

Without further ado, let’s get started. 

Episode 1 - WHHHHYYYYYY???????

The longest establishing shot in the history of establishing shots, Kubrik take notes. 

And what is it focused on? The gayest bridge in Thailand! (okay maybe not, but it looks a lot like it) 

Did the overdramatic music make me laugh? Yes it did. 

My brain on BL figuring out what is being trafficked inside those 3 big trucks. 

A bunch of acoustic guitars?

Vats of pink milk?

Stacks of white towels and plastic bowls?

MAME’s morals, value system, and taste? 

I’m a motorcycle rider and I’m still disappointed they were full of motorcycles. 

Speaking of which, is anyone reminded of the trailer for that one Thai BL called Motorcycles from years ago? It never got made. 

Cute meet cute in the rain with the umbrella. Styling trope drops, actually. 

Takes me back it does... 

Can’t knock MAME’s meet cutes. 

Just everything else. 

The Characters 

Rain = Random assholery disguised as tsundere + flirting + homophobia wee. Also kinda stupid, dramatic, and slightly cute.

Matched with P’Phayu = a bisexual predator-slut (TM) because MAME can’t leave THAT one to dry for one fucking show. Bonus seme points for eyebrows even more aggressive than he is. 

I like Sky = snarky bestie with solid moral compass and epic eye rolls. Maybe she’ll let him be cool? (Oh noes, I said something, he’s doomed.) 

Random bratty kid in the seat behind Sky = I have seen that actor before, damn it. WHERE? OMG it’s Dr. Sing from Triage! 

Look I’m beginning to get slightly weirded out over the age jumping Thai actors do. 

He’s in high school, 

he is an office, 

he’s in uni, 

he’s a doctor, 

he’s back in high school. 

Are MaxTul the only ones allowed to grow up? 

Okay, grow up = wrong term entirely. Whatever. Don’t distract me with MaxTul, where was I? 

Right, instead let’s talk MewGulf. Anyone else think MAME is gunning for that pairing style with this lead couple? PhayuRain giving me... vibes of the TharnType variety, shall we say? Not exactly, of course. So maybe not vibes, more sort of squint your eyes wiggles target practice?

Back to the... episode. 

I’m losing the plot already. Fortunately for me, said plot is pretty banal, but what do I expect? 

Also the pacing is odd. Things are moving physically faster than they should, but with no real establishing emotional connection. Again normal for MAME. It’s either emotional chemistry drawn out as unnecessary angst over the whole show, or physical chemistry shoved in your face like a wet waffle with an attitude problem. 

I don’t know enough Thai slang to know if the double asshole entendre was on purpose with this dialogue. 

But if it was, it might actually be the greatest line ever executed in a BL. 

And I am thoroughly ashamed of myself for thinking that.

Get it? Ass-shamed.  

To conclude: 

Screw all you all, I’m dragging you down with me into this hell (ass)hole. And since I highly doubt there will be lube, this is gonna burn like the dumpster fire it is. 

I refuse to take responsibility for anything I say or do around this dumb show, it’s @fandomwithjoy ‘s fault. 

Episode 2 - in which I do some actual analysis about VO work as victim blaming and then get distracted by spankings and scoop neck t-shirts 

Serious moment of film studies? 

Do I think we are getting Rain’s voiceover (narration track AKA VO) because otherwise it’s too dub-con and this is MAME trying to avoid complaints? YES I DO. Basically we get Rain’s thoughts during the “almost rape” stuff so MAME can say: 

“See? He actually wants it.”

Look, here’s the thing about having a character VO narrate anything, it’s clumsy. It smacks of not trusting the audience (to be clever enough to follow the story) or the actors (to be good enough to transmit the emotion) or the genre (to convey the world building in a show not tell manner). That’s why so many in the film industry are against it. (See the Bladerunner VO controversy.) 

Do many of my favorite BLs do it? (Cough cough.. JAPAN.) Yes. But then I’m not as against it as many because I like super complex world building and I don’t mind some lazy technique in the pursuit of audience comprehension. Also yaoi was all about head hopping. 

HOWEVER, I’ve never seen voiceover work used as an excuse for portraying dubious content before. Essentially this show is doing a victim blame version of VO.  

Ballsy of you, MAME. VERY ballsy. 

I don’t know if I should be impressed or appalled. 

Typical. 

The thing about MAME is, regardless of anything else you know you’re going to have a lot to talk about. I suppose that’s why she always summons a trash watch. 

Quick add from the future: 

I went off on Takara & Amagi because they manage to use VO to directly combat dubcon (or at least the issues with BL that lead to dubcon) in a GOOD way. So if you’re intersted in this technique working, you should 1. be watching that show and 2. read this post about it.

No booze tonight but that’s only because allowing BL to drive you to drink once a week is expected, but twice? That’s just schedule mismanagement. 

So next week I might delay Unforgotten Night for Thursdays and just decree: 

Thursdays = BOOZEY BADGAYDAY! 

Trashlush Thursdays? 

Eh, I’m more creative when I’m drunk. 

Moving on to the new ep. 

It’s a weird quirk of Thai that no matter what, they will not believe that work is not pluralized in English these days. 

Every time it’s translated plural I think of little Victorian maiden aunts doing good works for their community, knitting, or darning, or tatting. 

And now I’m picturing Payu draped fiber arts. 

Back to Daddy Payu... 

No. 

I can’t. 

He just doesn’t give daddy vibes. Bad boy vibe = yes, daddy = no. 

Back to P’Payu disciplining his bad boy in the bathroom. 

With... erm, neck breathing, I guess?

Still, oddly sexy.

Also... RESULT. Rain used polite (submissive) language. 

Am I taken with the idea of Domming for linguistics? YES I AM. 

Shall we try? 

Nong Thailand, NO MORE “works” FOR YOU! 

I will now breathe heavily on your neck until you stop sticking that “s” on the end. 

Nope, that didn’t work. Works. Ha! 

Question: Who the hell is directing this? It feels like Tee’s work but he’s not listed on MDL. *** 

Look the thing about bratty militant tsunderes without reason like Rain (or Type for that matter) is I fail to see why anyone likes him or wants to be friends with him, let alone fuck him. Fuck with him, sure. But he’s not hot enough to get over a bad personality. 

Sky deserves better friends! 

The seme’s race track consult. Nods in the general direction of Cutie Pie, like anyone could out-seme Zee and Max, are they cray cray? Body language alone. 

But could we talk about the sound in this not-Cutie Pie seme-conspiracy scene? It is so SO BAD. They just what? Hooked up some cheap-ass wireless mics during a wind storm and thought, why bother looping? Flipping heck. MAME’s got money, this is insulting, 

Moving on swiftly please. 

Poor Sky, abandoned by his so-called friend to be (presumably) seduced by greasy motorcycle dude with bad sound tech. (Yes I think that’s where they meet but we won’t see it until their section, which I’m guessing will be in the second half of the series. I believe we got a Star & Sky approach happening here.)

And now... 

Slap that baby, make him scream!

(10 points to the first elder goth who gets the reference.)

But also... 

A spanking! 

A spanking!

I had to, okay.

To my knowledge this is the first spanking scene in BL (Japan doesn’t go in for spankings as a rule, everything else of course). Thus Monty Python is required on such an august occasion. 

This is a serious, hallmarked event in the history of the genre.

Heh he. Hall...marked. Get it? 

Okay, I did find it cute that Payu chose a scoop-neck T for his boy, clearly we got a neck fetish going on. 

That’s it. 

That’s all I got. It was what it was, I’m not mad about it, just a little... okaaaayyyy. It’s MAME, no whiff of consent shall there be. I’m not excusing it but dub-con has just GOT to be her kink. 

Gotta go, works are waiting. 

*** Spies reported in:

Apparently the director is Neti Suwanjinda. He's new to BL who previously seems only to have done short films and music videos. Prior to that, he was bassist in the 2000s rock band Am Fine. Good times. 

NO SINGING

Episode 3 - Linguistic Domination is a Go!  

am one and a half glasses of wine in and ready to do this thing! 

Sky is the best boy and also kinda a little shit. Good combo. Like red wine and dark chocolate. 

Sky, are you trying to remind us that there is meant to be a plot?

Please don’t. 

I love how they called out English 3rd person gendered pronouns in one tricky little scene. 

THAI LINGUISTICS DOMINATION CORNER!

Okay so when he is being polite Rain uses Phi/pom + krap (with he full roll).

When he not being polite he still uses phi but he’s slipping in wa (instead of na, which makes it rude and informal) and not using krap at all (which makes it curt and impolite).  

So the little training session was about particle use. 

Cute. 

Then we got a date, I was very distracted by interesting food choices ordered off that menu, and am mad we did not get a good shot of the table after they were served the dishes. 

I’m starting to get tsundere Can vibes from Rain, and tsundere Tharn vibes from Payu. Not sure what that means except MAME only has about 6 character personalities she rotates though. We kinda knew that already. 

Well, this is BL. 

OH WAIT, is Sky gonna be like a snarky Pete character? Wouldn’t that be grand?  

And Dr Sing is playing the Techno of this drama. As always: never enough Techno. 

I’m not gonna explain that statement, it’s like 5 BLs deep.

All in all not a bad episode (not a good one, either).

Shoulda had more spanking, tho. And more wine. 

Ooo, wine! 

Meanwhile:

I just realized the actor playing Payu kinda reminds me of Seonghwa from Ateez and now I can’t stop imagining him in a cropped shirt and vinyl, and it’s BAD people. 

Episode 4 - I just... ARGH

Payu is just such a manipulative hot/cold arse. I don’t even like Rain and I think it’s cruel the way Payu jerks him around. You don’t train someone up and then abandon them for any reason. Payu is really pissing me off.

 Their chemistry is good though. That age old agony with MAME. 

I am going to state for the record that no one deserves Sky. Sky is too good for this show let alone his friends or boyfriends. MAME should leave my precious Sky ALONE. Sky is best cinnamon roll ever frosted. 

Meanwhile, cruel or not, I guess Payu’s training technique is working. I just wish it had been negotiated. I think I’d really like this show if they’d had a five sentence kink convo verbal contract in ep 1. 

It’s a dangerous game that we play

when we seek to rewrite MAME

for the characters stick

to just one pony trick

only chemistry will save the day 

Although I’m not sure ‘bout that sex scene. 

no opening condoms with teeth, I don’t care how sexy

no one can one-hand a glove that fast, not even a pro

no lube and no prep?

Look I’m just gonna pretend Payu was riding, makes me feel better about everything. Then I can pretend he took care of the necessities ahead of time. Or maybe it was just frotting? 

Episode 5 - In which MAME as officially ruined my favorite thing 

I’m not drunk but I am jet lagged and that’s almost the same thing. 

I see why they don’t have the seme actor with his hair down often, he looks way too young. 

Oh dear, baby was caught in the rain. Baby got sick. This is BL. Bound to happen. 

The horsing around flirty boyfriends is VERY cute. 

I didn’t get any more from the meeha bits than was translated. My stuff on wifey language in Thai BL is here.

These two are good kissers but it’s getting to be a lot of kissing. 

Sky puts up with epic amounts of shit. 

I guess MAME is preparing him for his own story line?

Get it?

Moving swiftly on from my crassness.  

Also Sky, baby, your friend was silly long before he got a faen. 

Oh yay!!!! A counter lift! That’s almsot as good as a spanking!

Hooray! 

WAIT.

What is this? 

NO SINGING. 

I now know the only time I don’t love a counter lift is WHEN IT IS COMBINED WITH SINGING.

MAME has ruined my favorite thing!

(To be fair she’s been ruining perfectly good BL for ages now, so I guess she already was ruining my favorite thing... gah, where was i?) 

A perfectly lovely counter lift mutilated by acapella. 

I feel like I should write an ode, or a dirge. But I wouldn’t ruin your day by singing it. 

OMG I’M SO UPSET RIGHT NOW. 

Don’t laugh, I can see you laughing.

I’m spiraling into a deep depression as a result of counter lifting Thai soloists. 

There will be nightmares. I tell you. Nightmares. 

I should have been drinking. 

Stupid MAME. It was actually a perfectly serviceable episode. 

Until the singing.  

I’m going to bed now.

Episode 6 - We Are Now Calling this show “The Taming of the Screw”

And by “we” I mean me. And you can’t stop me. Can never stop the bad puns, for they MUST live! 

 (source)

[rosietrace]

The house of Shard: Shard manor

{ + Additional stuff to add to the aesthetic }

"Now I know she'll never leave me, even as she fades from view."

- Evermore sung by Dan Stevens, Beauty and the beast (2017)

_________________________________________

Information:

Known as one of the most prominent noble families in twisted wonderland, the house of Shard continues to sit on their throne as an important member of noble society.

For centuries, the clan has birthed some of the most successful historical figures, spouses of historical figures, and children of historical figures.

Many nobles say that the thing that sets the clan apart from other noble families are their sense of "ambition". And being able to achieve said ambition.

But at the same time, their ambition led to to the demise of several members of the clan. Most famously being Amarantha Shard. Yet at the same time, members of such a clan embrace their ambitious ways despite how much it could cost their lives.

Another thing that set them apart was the conspiracies regarding their beauty. For whatever reason, the Shards used to always managed to fit the beauty standards of their respective time periods. Of course for whatever reason, this stopped after Alcina's reign as the matriarch.

As of now, the house of Shard continues to flourish under the tenacious rule of Florian Adelio Shard and his wife, Vivian Athanasia Marigold. And as said by many, it seems the future of the house lies within its "resident villainess",

Victoria Shard.

_________________________________________

{ Quotes that fit the house of Shard }

_________________________________________

"If you know someone's fear, you know them."

"Anyone can betray anyone."

"The truth is what you make it. I can set this world on fire and call it rain."

- Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard

•

"If I can't become them, I will become so much worse."

"You've only seen the least of what I can do."

"Instead of being afraid, I could become something to fear."

- The folk of the air, Holly Black

•

"Better terrible truths than kind lies."

"Suffering is like anything else. Live with it long enough. You'll learn to like the taste."

"Fear is a phoenix. You can watch it burn a thousand times. And it will still return."

- Six of crows duology, Leigh Bardugo

•

"Everything's a game. The only thing we get to decide in this life is if we play to win."

"Secrets, lies, all I despise. The tree is poison, don't you see? Its poisoned S and Z and me. The evidence I stole, is in the darkest hole. Light shall reveal all I write upon the..."

"A very risky gamble,"

- The inheritance games, Jennifer Lynn Barnes

•

"Break my heart. Break it a thousand times if you like. It was only ever yours to break anyway."

- The one, Keira Cass(Third book of the selection trilogy)

_________________________________________

{ Songs }

The family jewels

Money money money

Everybody wants to rule the world

Oh no!

Are you satisfied?

Skyfall

House of memories

Enemy

Doin' time

National anthem(Money is the reason we exist)

Young and beautiful

Look what you made me do

Below the surface

Teen idle

_________________________________________

Members(Most known, not including spouses) (also not in order)

Ramona, Aubrey, Renée, Amarantha

Reginald, Derrick, Leonard

Cheryl, Annabella, Alcina

Grimhilde, Florian, Victoria( Heiress )

Species

Glass Faerie

Humans mixed with glass fae blood

Fae mixed with witch blood(1st generation)

Humans mixed with witch blood(short-lived 2nd generation)

_________________________________________

[peachscribe]

peach’s summer book list

i had a lot of fun compiling the list of books i read during the 20-21 winter, so i decided i would do a summer one as well! i still have a lot of books i own but haven’t read, so im definitely not lacking in material

if you didn’t see my winter list, how my book list works is basically like this: i read a book that i own but have not previously read, write a short summary immediately after finishing the book, write down my thoughts on the book, and then provide a rating for the book. i also might include background info on why i read this particular book/feelings about the author, but that depends on the book. that’s how each entry works

without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

okay so i absolutely adore another book by andrew smith (written after grasshopper jungle) called the alex crow. it’s one of my favorite books of all time, so naturally i wanted to see if grasshopper jungle would make me feel similarly. just like the alex crow, grasshopper jungle’s plot is. so fucking weird. it stars austin szerba, a teenage polish kid who lives in ealing, iowa, and is often sexually confused regarding his girlfriend shann and his best friend robby. and in ealing, iowa, austin and robby accidentally and unknowingly unleash an unstoppable army of huge six-foot-tall praying mantis bugs that only want to do two things: fuck and eat. and i just have to say: andrew smith’s got an absolutely dynamo writing style. alex crow is similar, where it’s a book about kind of everything all at once, framed in a moment centering around teenage boys. it’s fantastic, and it’s more than a little gross, and i love it. this book made me feel so many things, and i thought austin was such an amazing narrator and main character to identify with. this book has it all: shitty teenage boy humor, fucked up science experiments, and poetic imagery that will make you want to cry. and explicit lgbt characters.

412/10 andrew smith what do you put in your water i just want to know

2. Burn by Patrick Ness

patrick ness has written a plethora of some of my favorite books (such as a monster calls, the chaos walking trilogy, and the rest of us just live here) so when i saw this one in the store i knew it would be a great one. burn is an alternate history fantasy that takes place in 1957 frome, washington, during the height of the cold war, and it begins with a girl named sarah and her father hiring a dragon to help out on their farm. but there’s not just dragons, farm living, and cold war tensions; there’s also a really shitty small town cop, a cult of dragon worshippers and their deadly teenage assassin, a pair of fbi agents, and a prophecy that sarah’s newly hired dragon claims she’s a part of. i think eoin colfer’s highfire was on my winter list, which also featured a story that included dragons and shitty cops, so when i first began burn i thought it was funny to have two books that had both things. you know, if you had a nickel etc etc. but that’s really where the similarities end because burn is entirely it’s own monster (dragon). burn is entirely invested in its world, and its fascinating. not only that, i had no clue where the book would take me next. there were so many surprises and amazing twists that honestly just blew me away. this book also includes beautifully written complicated discussions on family, race, and love - it features interracial and queer romances as the two most prominent romance plots which was such a nice surprise from a book i wasn’t expecting to have that kind of representation. this book is witty, fast-paced, and a very heartening read - i absolutely adored it.

9/10 dragons and becoming motivated by the power of love and friendship are so fucking cool

3. As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann

i hate this book! as meat loves salt is a historical fiction novel which takes place in seventeenth century england, which is going through a grisly civil war. the protagonist, jacob cullen, is a servant for a wealthy household and is engaged to another servant in the house. but due to certain events that are almost entirely jacob’s fault, he flees the house and is separated from his wife. from there, he joins the royal army and meets a kind soldier, ferris, and the two become fast friends. jacob and ferris’s relationship begins to bridge past friendly, and jacob struggles with his homoerotic feelings as well as the growing obsession and violence inside him. also, they try to start a colony. listen, i don’t know how to describe the book because so much happens, but it basically just follows jacob and all the terrible decisions he makes because he is, truly, a terrible person. ferris is kind and good, and jacob is scum of the earth. he sucks so bad. the entire time i was reading this book (which took absolutely so long), all i wanted was for jacob to just get his ass handed to him. i wanted to see him suffer. and it’s not like i just personally don’t like him - i believe the book purposefully depicts him as unsympathetic even though he is the narrator. i did enjoy the very in depth and accurate portrayal of what life would’ve been like in seventeenth century england, and i think it was interesting to read a character that is just the absolute worst person you’ve ever encountered and see him try and justify his actions, so if you enjoy that kind of thorough writing, then this book would be perfect for you. however, i did not see that bitch ass motherfucker jacob cullen suffer enough. i’d kill him with my bare hands.

2/10 diversity win! the worst man on earth is mlm!

4. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

i know ive had a friend tell me how great one of schwab’s other book series is, but truthfully i bought this book because the cover is sick as hell and it was on a table in the store that advertised for buy two get one free, i think. something like that. anyway, this savage song takes place in a future in which monsters, for whatever reason, suddenly became real and out for blood in a mysterious event nicknamed the phenomenon. august flynn is one of these monsters, but he takes no pride in that fact and only wants to feel human. kate harker is the daughter of a ruthless man and is trying her hardest to be ruthless, too, but deep down she knows it’s just an act. their city, verity, stands divided, and kate and august stand on either side - but when august is sent on a mission to befriend kate in the hopes of stopping an all out war, the lines begin to blur. this book rules. august and kate are such interesting and dynamic characters, and the narrative is familiar while still being capable of twisting the story around and taking the feet out from under you in really compelling ways. this savage song is part of the monsters of verity duology, and i can’t wait to dive into how the story continues and finishes.

11/10 sometimes you can judge a book by it’s cover

4a. Our Dark Duet by Victorian Schwab

this is the sequel and finale for this savage song and i’d figure i’d update everyone: fantastic ending, beautiful, showstopping, painful.

12/10 loved it and will definitely be keeping an eye out for schwab’s other books

5. White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

oh boy. okay. white is for witching is about a house, and it is about the women who have lived inside of it. when her mother dies abroad, miranda silver begins to act strangely, and there’s nothing her father or her twin brother seem to be able to do about it. she develops an eating disorder and begins to hear voices in the silver family house, converted to a bed and breakfast by miranda’s dad; and she begins to lose herself in the house and the persistent presence of her family legacy. white is for witching switches perspective dizzingly and disorientingly between miranda, her twin eliot, miranda’s friend from school named ore, and the house itself. this story is a horror story as much as it as a tragedy as much as it is a romance as much as it is a bunch of other things. oyeyemi brings race, sexuality, nationality, and family into this story and forces you not to look away. this book is poetry.

(like i mentioned briefly, this book heavily deals with topics of race and closely follows miranda’s eating disorder. read responsibly, and take care of yourselves)

15/10 this book consumed me and i think i’ll have to read it another 10 more times to feel it properly

6. These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

okay. okay. strap in for a ride. these violent delights is a romeo and juliet style story, taking place in glittering 1920’s shanghai. the city stands divided - not only between the foreign powers encroaching on chinese land, but also between the scarlet gang and the white flowers, who are at the height of a generations-long blood feud. juliette cai, heir to the scarlets, has recently returned from four years abroad and is determined to prove herself ruthless enough to lead. roma montagov, heir to the white flowers, is standing strenuously on his place as next in line due to a slip up four years prior and is desperate to keep hold of his title. and in the midst of juliette and roma’s burning history with each other threatening to combust, an unnatural monster lurks in the waters of shanghai, loosing a madness on scarlets and white flowers alike. this book has it all - scorned ex lovers, political intrigue, deadly monsters, and all set on a glamorous backdrop of the roaring twenties. i absolutely was enraptured by this book and the way it plays around the story of romeo and juliet so well that it easily became it’s own monster, but with the punches and embraces of something classically shakespearan. gong does just an absolutely breathtaking job of fitting this fantastical story amid the larger world of shanghai and the real life historical events that had shaken the city to its core. completely immersive and outstandingly heart racing.

17/10 i was chewing on my fingernails for the last thirty pages and will continue to do so until the sequel is released (our violent ends, 16 nov 21)

7. The Antiques by Kris D’Agostino

you ever heard of the american dysfunctional family story? this is most definitely that. at the same time george westfall’s cancer takes a turn for the worse, a hurricane hits the east coast, and suddenly all at once the issues of his health, the hurricane, and all three of his children’s achingly dysfunctional adult lives are crashing into each other. reunited by george’s death, the westfall siblings have to face their grief, each other, and the problems in their own lives they attempted to put on hold while planning their father’s memorial. this is a nice story about grief and loss and love and somehow finding the humor amidst it all.

(this book does include a depiction of an autistic child who does experience several pretty bad meltdowns due to ignorant people around him not understanding how to cater to his needs. im not an authority on what depictions are or are not harmful, but i do believe this depiction is ultimately loving and well-intended.)

7/10 it made me laugh and cry and was generally one of those books that somehow hit you close to home

8. Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill

fierce fairytales is a poetry anthology that reimagines classic fairytales from a modern, feminist viewpoint, acknowledging that the line between hero and villain, monster and damsel, are not as clear cut as the classics try to make you believe. this book also includes illustrations done by the author herself, which i think is really cool. my personal favorite story reimagining was the story of peter pan and captain hook, called ‘boy lost’ which looked at how peter and hook’s relationship began and rotted. all in all, i think this collection of stories had a lot of important things to say and said them in frank, easy to understand poetry and prose.

7/10 beautiful message and pretty prose, but at times a little cliche

and that’s all from the summer! my fall semester starts tomorrow, and overall i feel very good about all the reading i did this summer. i even read four other books not on this list for work! so i definitely feel like i made the most out of my time, and im really glad i was able to read so many stories that made me feel a variety of different things

thanks so much for reading this list, and let me know if you read or have read any of these books and tell me what you think of them!

happy reading<3

[serpenteve]

i know most of ya fantasy follows similar plot lines but at least they try to change the status quo. either the heroine is from the persecuted minority and challenges the ruling class or she's the chosen one who at least spent some time with the persecute class and therefore Knows and fights against the majority for their rights.

meanwhile in sab the heroine doesn't seem to give a fuck about the persecuted minority in spite of her powers (because initially she wasn't part of them?) and in the end those people are NOT better off (and an argument could be made for how they are actually worse off lol), there are some minor changes made which are cosmetic at best and are not going to have a lasting impact. of course we hate it lol.

(i do like the crows books but those books function well only on their own because of the fun heist structure. they're not particularly large on the fantasy aspect which is my favourite genre, and even plot wise they're not that great, it's the character dynamics that work well. like. i don't actually remember any of the plot details from the books. meanwhile sab had so much potential for the political issues and fantasy aspects and it just falls flat. and then she DOUBLED down on it in the kos duology instead of trying to fix it.)

Alina's status as a Grisha also seemed very superficial in a weird way. Like, she spends the majority of her life repressing her powers and not knowing she's Grisha. Then she's Grisha for like, what, a year? During that time, she'd rather run away and ignore her problems than take her fate into her own hands. I can understand a reluctant hero and I can understand the familiar trope of "refusing the call" but Alina is a passive heroine and has to be forced through her own plot by Mal, the Darkling, Baghra, Nikolai, Tolya, Tamar, and literally everybody else, including the author 😒

And on the rare occasions that she does make decisions on her own, the narrative demonizes her for it. Oh, she's rebuilding the Second Army? Sounds like something an evil ambitious person would do 🤡Let's have her be mean to her abusive mentor and cut a hole in the ceiling to drive home how ~eeeeevil~ she's becoming! 🤡 Oh, she wants to go after the Firebird because that's literally her only option to defeat the villain? Sounds like something only a depraved power-hungry greedy slut would do!!!! 🤡🤡🤡🤡

The story actively strangles any sense of agency. So really, I can't even blame Alina for being the passive reactionary heroine she is. Bardugo punishes her for taking initiative and then makes her side with the only remaining monarch because then Alina can easily hand over the reigns of the country to the old establishment, go through Grisha deconversion, and then fuck off to a farm or whatever.

[theinsanecrayonbox]

Deaths #5

And thus the end of the “super cool duology of interconnected series that’s the start of the next krakoan era blah blah blah”

Yeah, no, this wasn’t good. And even with it being Deaths, the weaker of the two, this wasn’t good. I get it’s whole “start of the next thing” but it was still a conclusion to this mini event and it was just weak

Wait…did all these have a parental advisory and I missed that this whole time? Or was Moira losing body parts and skinning people a-ok but a Skelton walking and talking bad? And speaking of that

It’s cool looking and all but why is he a skeleton? Does the phalanx eat your organics?? I know they said his healing factor staved it off, and with that nullified he was fully taken over, and I guess since metal bones those weren’t eaten, but ??? (Not even gonna try to understand the “deprogrammed the bones” things)

That’s Gabby…who looks quite a bit like Laura here. And I know clone do duh, but Gabby is supposed to be 13/14 and Laura is somewhere between 18-20, Gabby shouldn’t look like Laura took her mask off between panels

But anywho, the start has Moira dying and calling out Chuck for being terrible (she’s not wrong but I really don’t want to side with the woman who wore her ex boyfriends skin as a disguise not an hour ago thanks), Wolverines walking across the grass, we kill the terminator who wanted the wifi password, the end. Nothing happened. What more, Logan showed up and started narrating like he did in Lives; he hadn’t been in this book until now, that doesn’t exactly flow. I know, finale for both books, so yes it does I guess. Also that stupid watch that was only ever brought up here was there…cool I guess?? And Beast and Sage talk about how Logan is cool cause he kills stuff and the council of dumb is dumb…sure. Oh and the island ate the dead future skeleton; I’m sure only good will come of that

Our Sabretooth panel. Implying that yes the Sabretooth mini is connected after all? That it is going on at this time? That Vic ends up back in the Pit? That we’re going to have to watch Logan and Victor go at each other for the bazillionth time in the future? Eh, idk. We all know Logan repeats himself because he never learns from all the problems he causes himself (we just hammered that in in Lives after all)

Oh and Moira isn’t dead, she’s an evil Cylon now. Cool. Great job with the character. Once the Xmen’s most loyal and notable human ally, now a murder bot who’s mad they stole her powers she didn’t even want. Yup, great story telling. A+

And a thing that bugs me; why is the terminator Wolverine called “Omega Wolverine”? No one in story calls him that (aside from the single note page with people’s lame future deaths explained), is it because he’s the end? Because you know, winding this with Lives, kinda would have you thinking that name would have to do with Omega Red. Was he just called that for the stupid nonsense tie together? Whatever.

Overall, it’s not good. Nothing happened, and get padded out. For a finale to Deaths it had nothing; for a finale to the Lives/Deaths duology it was severely lacking. I don’t see this as a new start to a fresh chapter to the island of stupid, it honesty is just more of the same business as usual. It just hyped Logan up as the golden child filled with angst who does no wrong. If you wanna read it, go ahead, but I’d suggest Lives over Deaths as the more entertaining self contained mess.

[manikas-whims]

A Place Good Enough

[Read on AO3]

Ship: Kaz Brekker X Inej Ghafa

Summary:

Kaz pays Inej's indenture at the Menagerie and she joins the dregs.

_

A short fic that adds a little more of what happens that night after Kaz takes her with him.

Note:

I'm a new fan and read the SoC Duology this Feb.

This is my first time writing these characters so please excuse anything weird, I tried my best.

Inej may seem a bit scared in this because she isn't the Inej we know in SoC. This will be the first fic of many where I'll try to show our Crows before the events of SoC. A look at their daily lives in the Dregs. And the slow development of feelings between Kanej.

Hope you enjoy this short piece ♥

Kaz

“Let’s start by getting out of here and finding you some proper clothes. Oh, and Inej,” he says, “don't ever sneak up on me again.”

And yet as he ushers the Suli girl out of the salon, the bustling streets remind him how foolish it will be to roam around the barrel at night. Ofcourse a mere glance at his cane and gloved hands is enough to ward people off. No one in Ketterdam dares crossing the young man that goes by the title of Dirtyhands. Even so, it won’t be good for his carefully crafted reputation to be seen limping around at indecent hours with an exotic girl in tow. Dirtyhands doesn’t waste time on frivolous things. He has vengeance to condemn and for that he requires proper focus and meticulous steps. Brick by brick. He reminds himself.

With a quick scan of his surroundings to make sure no one is looking, he removes the deep grey coat he’s adorning and hands it to the girl. He doesn’t miss the way she flinches at the action, probably just as scared of him as the rest of this city.

“Cover yourself.” He commands and continues walking. Thankfully, the girl doesn’t waste time being confused or shocked and quietly does as told. He also notes how she maintains a distance whilst following him but makes sure to stick close enough, her feet soundless despite the bells tied around her dainty ankles.

Inej

Kaz Brekker finally slows his walk as they approach a shabby building in the remote parts of the Barrel. Its lit and noisy but Inej can tell its definitely not a clothing store. And it is only moments later that cold realization dawns on her. There was no release from enslavement to begin with, just a deal struck between a bawd from the west stave and the lieutenant of a notorious gang in the east stave. It was a sham all along. Why wouldn’t it be? Why would one of the most sinister criminals in Kerch buy her out of slavery only to be shifted to an indenture? She should’ve been skeptical. Instead, she had been hopeful because the boy named Dirtyhands is after all, a young one like herself. She thought he may have empathized with her. He had even offered his coat to her. But oh what an utter fool she had been! Everything in Ketterdam comes with a price. Even something as natural as freedom.

Should she sprint away? She can take-off right now. He hasn’t looked back even once to check if she’s there. And he’s a cripple! She can easily outrun him. Yet all these plans formulating in her head are laced around a grim sense of fear. Kaz Brekker doesn’t need a reason. Or so she has heard. He has already earned an ill reputation for being whimsical. She mustn’t start giving him reasons to chase and drag her back down these dark alleys. So she quietly trails behind him as the door opens with a creak.

Men of varying ages who had been busy chatting and drinking, stare at them. His entry seems to raise everyone’s attention as they watch him walk by and approach the staircase. Although that’s all she sees as she continues after the uncaring boy, she does hear numerous brazen remarks.

“Am I too drunk or has Brekker actually brought in a girl?”

“Ghezen! We all must be sloshed.”

“I almost believed something was going on between him and that Zemeni boy.”

“So…Suli huh?”

Some snickers follow this particular remark but the boy doesn’t seem to mind. Does this mean their assumptions aren’t wrong? A wave of panic courses through her but Inej tries to calm herself with deep breaths, tries to focus her mind on the stairs instead. She has faced all sorts of repulsive men in the sheets. Dirtyhands can’t be much different. And even if the rumors aren’t false and he’s part-demon beneath the façade of his sharp suits,  she can still push herself to handle anything. If serving as his mistress will warrant her safety from the likes of Tante Heleen, she can do this. 

A soft clicking sound pulls her out of her trail of anxious thoughts. She notices they’ve walked past several floors and are currently going up into an attic. The inside isn’t much special but appropriately furnished— an old door placed atop several crates acting as a desk, a big window overseeing the surroundings and a door separating what she assumes must be a storage of sorts or a bedroom.

When Brekker finally turns around, his expression as unreadable as ever, Inej shivers. She takes one last gulp of air in hopes of easing herself. She can do this. She just needs to leave her body like she always does. Let the little lynx take care of such matters.

She begins by discarding his coat. Her eyes are lowered to the floor but she can sense his unwavering gaze. Maybe he’s one of those who take pleasure in watching a woman undo herself for him. Or maybe its something else entirely. His stoic demeanor doesn’t provide much to guess. Her shaky hands reach for the hooks in the back of her purple blouse. I can endure this! She mentally assures herself.

“What exactly are you doing?” comes his low voice, like a rasp of stone on stone.

Her hands fumble and come to a halt. She raises her eyelids to find a barely visible, amused smirk marring his pale countenance. “I..thought..I just–”

“Inej, was it?” he interrupts, leaning his weight on his frightening cane shaped like the head of a crow. Did she do something wrong? Will he use it on her? Her shoulders hunch slightly in preparation of whatever is to come. She hears an audible sigh instead. “I don’t remember us agreeing to such terms back at the Menagerie.”

Now she does look up, eyes wide in disbelief. “Oh..”

He passes a hand through his hair. “But since you seem eager to–”

“I’m not!” she yells, her cheeks tinted a lovely shade of pink. Frankly she doesn’t know how to react. It’s her first time speaking to a man who isn’t demanding any sexual favors from her but isn’t being very nice either.

He hobbles over to the makeshift desk and settles on a chair behind it. “Let me guess,” he starts, resting his bad leg on the tabletop and the cane in his lap. “You didn’t trust me.”

“I did!” she protests like a child  falsely accused of stealing candies. However, the embarrassment of her response follows immediately and she tilts her head down again. “Not truly but–”

“Wrong answer.” His tone is even more gritty now. “Its good that you expected the worst. Never trust anyone in the barrel.”

Inej looks at him again. It’s far too late for that lesson now. She’s learnt it the harshest of ways.

“I may be many things but I keep my word, Inej.” He adds solemnly, then fishes out a lone key from his pants' pocket. “Here” he gestures for her to come forward and receive it.

She scurries to the desk and takes it, her fingers lightly grazing along his gloved ones. Is he sending her on an errand already? Is procuring something important going to be her first task for the Dregs?

“Head downstairs and unlock the room directly below this attic with the key.” He tells simply and starts working on the tall stacks of papers lying on the desk.

She waits for further details but when he says nothing more she inquires herself, “For what?”

He glances at her, a brow quirked as if mocking her obliviousness. “Its your room from now on. Go get some sleep.”

“What about my..services?” she asks.

“We’ll discuss all that tomorrow morning.” He answers and waves her off, willing her to leave already.

Downstairs, upon unlocking an old cream-colored door and switching on the light, Inej is greeted by a tiny room. There’s a window overlooking the barrel, a cot arranged directly below it and an empty trunk lying open. Fortunately, everything is clean and dry and without any trace of smells.

As she steps inside, memories of her old life flash before her bleary eyes. This place is not even close to the large tents she used to perform in with her parents yet for some reason, she feels warm. Its not home but it’s good enough.

Shutting the door, she turns off the light and drops unceremoniously onto the cot. Moonlight illuminates the room- her room- in a dim glow. And slowly it happens. Her tense body relaxes into the mattress and her unshed emotions are set free in the form of tears slipping down her cheeks. Loud sobs rack her small frame as her hands hug the grey coat close to her chest. Amidst her shock and disbelief at actually being saved from sexual exploitation, she must have forgotten to return it. Kaz Brekker’s statement was like a dream she’s had every night since being stolen and shackled. A dream of being saved from the hell that is prostitution. I keep my word, Inej. She giggles at the sound of her real name being called by this stranger, tears staining her lips. She hasn’t heard it in so long that she almost forgot who she was. In letting her body go so as to persevere everyday at the Menagerie, she hadn’t noticed that the lively girl called Inej Ghafa was also withering away. She clutches the coat tighter as if fiercely trying to hold onto her remaining self. And for the first time since an year, she sleeps without the fear of being hurt.

Hope it was enjoyable!

I'm thinking of writing a short sequel drabble where Inej just goes to return Kaz's coat in front of everyone at the Dregs xD

.

SoC Masterlist

( divider by @firefly-graphics )

[copper-has-opinions-on-books]

Book Review!: Incendiary (Hollow Crown Duology #1) by Zoraida Córdova

Title: Incendiary Author: Zoraida Córdova Series?: yes. Hollow Crown duology book 1 CW/TW: many things. death, murder, weapons, knives, blood, religion (fantasy), memory loss, violence, torture, what appears to me as something quite a lot like racism but i'm not sure cause it also could be xenophobia? once again really not sure but i thought i ought to include it anyway, romance, and a great deal of people (antagonists) being manipulative evil persons. kissing and such to a point where it would probably qualify as mature on ao3, but no explicit sex. lmk if there's anything else i ought to add here. Genre: ya fantasy! (no dragons, sadly. but still quite good!) (is also possibly political fantasy but i do not know enough about that to give a definite answer) Brief Summary (written by me, so i apologize for the quality): Main character was kidnapped as a child and basically turned into a weapon by the king and forced to steal people's memories with the rare (i think) form of magic she has. rescued by rebels (basically the people with magic, who are persecuted by the king), who she joins. the specific rebel who rescued her is taken (aka love interest #1) by the heir to the throne, who is apparently evil. she goes to rescue him, is too late, is forced to pretend she came back to be loyal to the (evil) king, Things Then Happen. major major cliff hanger.

General Opinions (no spoilers): very good, leo has my entire heart and more. big big plot twist at the end, it had me going 'oh my f-ing god' for the last 20-30 pages. I really really enjoyed the buildup, and that all the information you needed to understand was spread out. the relationships between the characters felt very realistic. this book made me feel Emotions of a major sort. no i do not exactly know what that means. i normally do not like first person books or present tense books a lot but this was a major exception. also kind of incredible that the entire thing wasn't clearly basically medieval england. it was more of a medieval spain, i think? i'm not quite sure. there was a lot of cultural diversity in it, and the divisions between different groups was very built out. there was not a love triangle or a love corner, so bonus points there. also the romance was more of a sideplot in my opinion so that was fantastic, more focus on espionage and thievery and magic the better.

More Specific Opinions (some minor spoilers, major stuff has been redacted): so the 'secretly a royal' trope or whatever it's called was done very well. i loved loved loved it when the reveal at the end happened, with the whole [REDACTED] is [REDACTED]'s brother thing. also fantastic use of the enemies to reluctant allies trope. i love that trope. leo still is my favorite. possibly because he didn't do anything overly stupid in either this book or the sequel, but that's also a side note.

[penguinwithitsarseonfire]

Comin' At My Friends Like a Missile

| Part 1 | Part 2 |

Paring: 12th Doctor x Reader

Word Count: 2,859

Warnings: a passive aggressive homophobic character (which plays a role in the plot)

Summary: The Doctor takes you, Bill, and Nardole to a fair on a distant planet to try what he says is "the best Candy Floss in the Universe".  It’s incredibly busy, and it is almost impossible to find a seat, and Nardole uses it as an opportunity to set you and the Doctor up.

A/N: I just finished reading a duology recently (Crier’s War, amazing) so, inspired by that, this will be a duology too! The next and final part will be out same time next week. (this part hasn’t be edited due to technically difficulties).

The Doctor wasn’t kidding when he said this fair was home to the “best candy floss in the universe”. The area in front of the booth was packed, with people squished up against each other like it was a mosh pit, and not like it was a queue for candy floss.

You stood on your tiptoes, trying to reach the Doctor’s height as the pair of you scanned for somewhere the four of you could sit. It was no use, the Doctor was standing on a box.

“Which is cheating, by the way,” You told him when you petulantly brought up the box again. You had to shout to be heard, the crowd around you was deafening. “You’re tall enough as it is.”

Above you, the Doctor huffed. “I’ve got better eyesight than you, it’s schematics.”

“Uh huh,” you sighed under your breath, then gripped onto his arm so you could balance yourself.

The fair was lively, to say the least. The candy floss booth was in the centre of what seemed to be a food court - if that’s what you could even call it. There wasn’t any rhyme or reason to it, with different shacks set up in a hodgepodge collection, and a myriad of tents scattered behind, where, you assumed, people could eat and relax. It was loud, and you heard snatches of conversation from a family passing by, but you paid little attention to it.

You nudged the Doctor’s box with your shoe, belatedly wondering where the hell he’d found the thing. “So it’s not just your incessant need to be bigger, taller, and more important than everyone else then?”

The Doctor looked down at you. “Y/N,” he said, utterly aghast. “I don’t need to stand on a box for that.”

You rolled your eyes at that, trying not to grin. “So Doctor, what do your elven eyes see?”

The Doctor screwed up his face, his eyebrows hiding his eyelashes. “My what?” He groaned. “Really? Lord of the Rings?”

“The Uruks have turned northeast,” Bill cried out, running up beside you. You turned to see where Nardole was, who was slowly bumbling his way up to you all. “They are taking the hobbits to Isengard!”

You laughed in delight. “You’ve read Lord of the Rings?”

“Nah,” she said. “Saw the movies though.” Bill was bubbling, bouncing up and down on the spot. She must have been really excited to try this candy floss.

You didn’t blame her, apparently it changed colours.

Nardole came up beside you, giving Bill a slight look of disbelief. “The movies, only the movies?”

“Arwen,” Bill said. “Need I say more.”

You hummed in agreement, she was completely right, after all.

You put your feet back firmly on the ground. “So what did you guys find?”

“Well,” Nardole said. “There’s good news and annoying news.”

“That’s not really how the phrase works, but continue.”

“They’ve got tables for us,” Bill said. “The Doctor was right, we just waved the psychic paper at them and boom, instant tables.”

“Tables,” the Doctor said. “No, that won’t work.”

“That’s where the annoying news comes in,” Nardole said.

You gave Bill a look of bafflement, one that she returned. “Alright,” You turned to look up at the Doctor. “What’s wrong with tables?”

“Tables, as in plural,” The Doctor clarified. “Not what we want.”

“Yeah,” Nardole drew out the word. “They don’t have space for a group of four, they only have space for two groups of two.”

Bill shrugged. “I’m honestly fine with it, I just want to try this candy floss.”

“Yeah alright, I’m good with it too then,” You tugged the Doctor’s coat, getting his attention. “I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as you’re making it out to be. We can split up.”

The Doctor grumbled something, you caught snatches of it, something about it not being the experience he wanted, but the crowd was so loud that you couldn’t completely make it out.

“Well,” Nardole clapped his hands together. “Let’s go.”

You yanked the Doctor, causing him to stumble off the box, and the pair of you followed Nardole and Bill. You sidestepped people in the crowd, trying not to trip on the uneven dirt path, and soon arrived at the tent.

A security guard glanced over the four of you, nodded at Nardole, and pulled the flap of the tent back.

“Oh,” you gasped as you went inside. It was… well, it was beautiful. The inside of the tent was a rich mahogany, and was lined with golden embroidery which snaked its way into the roof. The great big pole holding the tent up was a dusty gold, which looked worn down by age.

There were dozens of voices that littered the area, but it wasn’t nearly as loud as it was outside, you could hear yourself think, you could hear yourself breathe.

The smell of sugar hit your nose as you spun around, trying to take in everything all at once, from the white tables, the myriad of rugs that littered the floor, and the floating candle trays that dotted the tent and lit up the room. The smell was sweet and slightly tangy, and was pretty foreign to you.

You loved it, you absolutely loved it.

You turned to the Doctor with a grin. “This is incredible,” you gushed. “Completely incredible.”

“Yeah,” Bill said, her face split into a wide, overjoyed smile of her own. “Thank you so much for this.”

The Doctors face broke out into a small smile at your reactions. “I’m pretty good at ideas, so I’ve been told.”

Nardole gave you a considered look, and you tried not to squirm under his gaze. “Hey Bill,” he said, still looking at you. “Wanna buddy up?”

You narrowed your eyes at Nardole. He did not just do that.

Bill shrugged. “Yeah sure, alright. You’re getting the candy floss for us though, yeah?”

“Could you get some for all of us?” The Doctor asked, his gaze focusing on you.

“Yeah of course,” Nardole winked at you, giving you a wry smirk, and you glared at him. “C’mon Bill,” he said, completely satisfied with the outcome. “Let’s find our table.”

You watched them walk off for a moment, trying to shake off whatever awkward tension had grown between you and the Doctor. It was in your head right? It had to be in your head. Then it dawned on you. “Oh my god we don’t know where our table is.”

You and the Doctor stared at each other for a moment before you burst into laughter. The Doctor chuckled with you, and stood to your side.

“If I had to guess,” he said. “I’d say it would be that table there,” he pointed at one of the only tables that was deserted, and it was pretty close to Nardole and Bills table.

You nudged his side. “It’s rude to point.”

“Ah yes, duly noted.”

You had barely sat down when you noticed it. You had been looking around the room, enthusing over just how breath-taking the embroidered detail was on the tent, or the wonder in the various different people were here, from their clothes, their alien antennae, and their odd cords that they used for communication.

Bill was ramrod straight in her chair. There was a stranger standing across from her, leaning against Nardole’s chair. Bill was giving the stranger an impossibly fake smile, the kind of smile you hadn't realised she was capable of.

Then again, Bill worked in the food service industry, so you really should have known better.

You felt the Doctor tense beside you, and in an instant he was suddenly standing, pulling you up with him. You were disorientated for a moment, finding your footing before you tried to work out why the hell you were both standing.

He was glaring at the stranger, his eyebrows screwed up into his patented (or, well, if they weren’t patented, they really should be) 'attack eyebrows'.

Oh no.

He took a step forward and you reached out to stop him. It had surprised you, lately, that he let you touch him as much as you now did. He let his hand fall over yours for a second, acknowledging your presence. "What are you doing?" You hissed, trying to stay silent so you didn't draw the attention of the mingling crowds that were around you.

He gestured to the stranger. "That woman-"

You slapped his hand. "No pointing."

He turned to face you, doing what you assumed he presumed was a glare but, honestly, was more like a pout. "-Is saying some incredibly harmful things, and I'm going to stop it."



You cursed his timelord hearing and placed your hand on his chest, holding him back so you could gauge Bill’s body language, the last thing you wanted was to cause a scene.

Bills jaw was set and it looked as though her smile was plastered on. Beyond that, she looked like she had the situation well in hand.

You looked at the Doctor, mustering your best stern expression. "Bill’s capable, you know she is. You don’t need to rush in and play hero, that’s not what she always needs. Let’s just sit with her and provide support, have her back."

The Doctor’s face fell into a genuine pout as he weighed up your suggestion – it was actually pretty adorable. Then he rolled his eyes. “Yes, alright, fine. You’ve got a point.”

He stalked forward and you followed, heading to the table. He walked around the table so he was on the far side, and you slid in on the closest side. It meant that the pair of you were sitting either side of Bill, flanking her. Moral support.

You squeezed her leg under the table, and she looked to you in gratitude. 



"Hello, I don't think we've met," The Doctor said, sticking his hand out to the stranger. "I'm the Doctor."



You frowned at his outstretched hand, since when did the Doctor shake hands? The stranger took his hand and immediately winced. You almost groaned as the stranger took her hand back, cradling it in the other.

Ah okay, so a power play. That was why the Doctor was suddenly shaking hands.

“And you are?” She asked, nodding to you.

“Hm?” You placed your elbow on the table, leaning your hand onto your fist. “Oh sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” you lied, and you felt Bill stifle a laugh beside you. “Could you repeat what you said?”

The stranger blinked a few times, straightened her smile, then cleared her throat. In that order. It was quite disconcerting. “I said my name is Karen, and you are?”

Karen. Huh, okay. So the stereotype transcended planets, apparently.

You introduced yourself, not offering your hand. “So” you continued, and you knew you had been behaving a bit rudely, so you aimed to be more polite. Bill didn’t need a hero. “What are you doing here?"

"Well," Karen sat down opposite the three of you, taking Nardole’s seat. Bill tensed beside you and it was clear to you that Karen had never been offered that seat. "We were discussing, oh, I'm sorry, I really have forgotten. What was it you called it?"

Bill stuck her chin out, her eyes going slightly manic as her smile grew. "The LGBTQ+ community."



Karen chuckled, it sounded hollow and empty. "Ah that's right, the LGB, C, D, E, F G+ community," she laughed again and the sound crawled down your spine. Okay, so this is what the Doctor meant when he said 'incredibly harmful things'.

You reached your hand that was under the table across Bills lap and held the Doctor knee. You heard his chair squeak slightly, and you knew he was relaxing back into the chair.

No heroics.

"I was just asking your friend here earlier," Karen continued. "You do realise it's a sickness don't you?"

You blinked, pursing your lips slightly. You felt for Bills hand, which was clenched in a fist, and rested yours over it.

Right, so apparently alien planets had homophobes too.

You followed Bills lead, you could humour this woman.

"Are you sick?" You asked, and you forced yourself to sound curious, genuinely interested, like you had actually misunderstood what she had said. "Maybe you should go home then, rest up?"

Karen rolled her eyes and gave you a condescending smile. "No silly, I'm saying your friend is unnatural."

You took in a heavy breath, anger spiking in your chest. You squeezed Bill’s hand again, and nudged her shoulder lightly. Contact was the kind of thing that was important in times like this, it was grounding.

You heard the Doctor’s chair screech and you tapped his foot with yours. It squeaked again and in the corner of your eye you saw his fluffy head sit back.

Bill touched her face lightly, frowning slightly. "Hm, no, sorry," She put her hand onto the table. "I've never had work done, not that there's anything wrong with it of course-"

"See, you were doing this earlier,” Karen’s voice was completely patronising, sticky sweet and awful. “I thought your friends here would give you more sense," She was gripping the table cloth, her knuckles white. "I'm saying, as a woman, which you are – right, that you should be with a man."

You felt sick, it was as though her words were manifesting themselves into actual dirt and grime, then caking you in it. It was grotty.

"Like a bodyguard?" The Doctor asked, catching onto what Bill was doing, what she had probably been doing this whole time, before either you or the Doctor had arrived.

God she was wonderful, you were so proud of her.

Bill nudged your shoulder and you followed her lead, staring at the Doctor with her. "Do you mean him?" She stuck her thumb out to the Doctor, who blinked at the pair of you in confusion. "Because he's not really a bodyguard, he’s more like… a taxi driver."

"No," She spat, then visibly stopped herself. She was leaning into the table and you watched her sit back, fixing her posture and painting on that ridiculous fake smile. “I’m saying," she enunciated the words very slowly. "You should be with a man, for a partner."

"What would I need a partner for," Bill laughed but it was a bit forced "I'm not given any group assignments these days, just a lot of essays."



"The essays I give you are great though," The Doctor defended, which bubbled out an actual laugh from both you and Bill.

Karen groaned so loudly that it almost sounded like a screech. "Oh you two are no better than her, are you?"



Bill seemed exhausted, and it was then that you realised that this had probably gone on far enough. There was only so long you could go irritating a homophobe before it started to drain on your own mental health too.

"If you're looking for prejudice in this squad you're not going to find it, if that's what you mean." You said simply, plainly. It was a challenge though, she knew it was a challenge, everyone at the table knew it was a challenge.

The Doctor poked his head above Bills to look at you, screwed up his face in confusion, and a mouthed the word 'squad' at you.

You waved him off with the hand that had been supporting your head.

“The difference between you and I,” Bill said. “Is that I’ve got an actual understanding of what love is. And once you learn that, it’s freeing, it’s – it’s liberating.”

Bill leaned into the table slightly, looking at Karen with sincere remorse. “You’re never gonna have that, and I’m so sorry for you.

“As long as you stay trapped in your own prejudice, you’ll never get to learn or experience the full vastness and depth that love has to offer.

“And that’s gotta be the most awful thing someone could ever face. You’re gonna miss out on all these different amazing people, and all these different wonderful experiences – and you’re never even gonna know.

“And you know what the worst thing is; that’s on you. Not me or anyone else, just you.”

Karen swallowed, her bottom lip quivering. You didn’t blame her, Bill’s speech – just, wow, it had been something else. You were insanely impressed, Bill had such a brilliant way with words, and this innate sense of compassion inside her, you couldn’t imagine anyone else conceptualising and saying anything like she had.

“If you could please leave my friend alone now,” the Doctor said, trying to cut through the heavy blanket that was laid over you all. “That’d be appreciated.”

Karen huffed, standing abruptly and stalking off.

The Doctor popped his lips together and turned to you. “Wanna head back outside?”

Bill swallowed, nodding slightly. “Uh – yeah, um, that’s a good idea.”

You wrapped your arm around her, squeezing her against you. “Hey, you did really good there, freakin brilliant. That speech was something else.”

Bill leaned into you. “Yeah, uh, thanks.”

The Doctor pulled out his glasses, tapping away at the side of the rims. “I’ll let Nardole know.”