#daydreamingandprocrastination

[thesweetnessofspring]

“Every fiber of *body* and soul thrilling to the sweetness of you” is a very Lusty Mind Montgomery passage isn’t it? 😏

It DEFINITELY is. Just in case there's any more of this ~platonically~ nonsense going on in Valancy's brain, Barney is saying "no you have to understand. I want you carnally."

[catty-words]

Your answer to my last ask has given me so much to think about! I love hearing you talk about narrative!! More thoughts on that to come but I’m still chewing.

This is isn’t particularly relevant to s4 but I’m just getting cranky all over again about Ben’s s3 scene with his dad. They legit just “🎶we’ll never have problems again!”’d it.

I let it slide because we had season 4 but now we’re done and it’s like…wait that’s…that was for serious? What in the actual hallmark fuck was that?

I know the scene meant a lot to people and I hope I’m not bumming anyone out but to me it read as wish fulfillment and trite?

I didn’t realize how pissed I was until now. 😂

happy to be pissed about this with you! i've been pissed the whole time!! in fact, i've been pissed since season two's "last night, i stood up to my parents for the first time in my life. now we're gonna have dinner together once a week."

and look, i think i'm probably a unique ben fan in this case because i never wanted his parental relationship to be resolved. i liked it as a bit of character building, a fact of his life, and i was interested to see how his understanding of his parents was going to morph and change over the seasons but i'd have been more than content to never see or hear from them directly again.

so yeah, the show sweeping all the neglect under a rug like 'it's actually fine now, his emotional needs are being met at home' *jazz hands* was worst case scenario. me @ the nhie writers: you ruined some perfectly good anxiety. look at it, it's got an unearned resolution.

[the-paris-of-people]

What is your ideal series arc for Aneesa?

Oooo I absolutely love this question. Okay so I would keep season 2 exactly as it is, then for s3 I would also keep the Fabneesa storyline (minus Fabiola dating Addison), plus add an Aneesa episode narrated by Megan Rapinoe (idk anything about her so if she has any controversies I'll retract this I just saw someone say this) about her strict Indian family, her home life, going to her ED support group perhaps, coming to terms with her queer identity on her own within the context of her life, and add in a healthy dose of her and Devi + the UN bonding. In s4, another POV episode (yes, we were robbed of Aneesa povs if it were up to me NHIE would have 12 episodes/season) of her and Fabiola re-sparking her romance through Aneesa helping Fabiola with the robotics club and her college decisions. Or I saw someone say in the sub Reddit it might be interesting to learn about Aneesa's perspective abstaining from Ramadan because of her ED. I read this article about it, and maybe it could be about Aneesa feeling disconnected with her faith during Ramadan and finding alternative ways of engaging with her faith, through prayers or almsgiving. I am neither highly educated on EDs nor on the Islamic faith, this is part is inspired by that subreddit post, and if I am extremely miseducated on if this would be great representation feel free to correct me!

[mollywog]

Time to bust out the “what about my poor nerves” gif again since Mrs Frederick literally said that today!

Just word for word Bennetting it up to the max.

You are so right! What am I doing!

Mrs. Fredrick Stirling telling the Stirling Clan that Vanacy’s gone off to keep house for Roaring Abel

Someone switch out Mr. Bennet -> Uncle Benjamin

[basiltonpitch]

You are brilliant and I’m very excited for your Devi/David post.

ahhh thank you so much!!! i'm so excited to start working on it! i had soooo many thoughts of ben's use of devi vs. david this season (as always - it's pretty much the only thing going on in my mind at any given time lmao)

[lemonluvgirl]

WIP Titles Game

thanks for tagging me @absnow

Rules: reveal the titles of the documents in your wip folder and tag as many people as there are documents. Let others ask questions about the ones that interest them and post snippets or explain the contents as you see fit!

Holy heck I actually had to count my WIPs and wow! I've got so many!

The Designation Games

Paper Hearts

Best Laid Plans

Build Me Up From Bones

Small Talk

Hitting The Target

Christmas For 3

Senorita

Drabbles/Oneshots/Misc.

This Rebel Heart

Promise Me, Little Brother

Golden Cages

Do you think I might have too many irons in the fire??? LOL Anyways, I'm tagging 12 people hopefully I won't be the only one with a double digit WIP count!

[alwayschasingrainbows]

Dresses Ilse Burnley might have liked (the pictures are all from Pinterest, none is mine). Disclaimer: may contain some historical inaccuracy.

Edwardian Era:

Jeanne Hallee paint decorated gown, early 20th (picture and description from Pinterest).

Evening dress, ca 1910, oldrags.tumblr.com" (Pinterest) - right picture.

Evening Dress Gustave Beer c. 1912-1913 FIDM Museum (Pinterest, Tumblr - Fashion From History) - left picture.

Left dress - source: Pinterest.

Evening dress, Lucile, Britain or France, ca. 1910-15 (Pinterest) - on the right.

Source: Pinterest (no description).

Source: Pinterest.

Source: Pinterest.

Picture on the left: 1910, Pinterest, picture on the right: Pinterest (no description).

1920s

Jeweled Flapper Dress with Bead Fringe, 1920s (Pinterest) - right picture.

1920s dress, Pinterest, sydneyflapper.tumblr.com - left picture.

Pinterest, thedreamstress.com - right picture.

1920s dress via Musee de France, culture.gouv.fr - left picture.

Embroidered Evening Gown, ca. 1920 via Bunka Museum, Pinterest, Tumblr - Ephemeral Elegance - left picture.

Evening dress, attributed to Callot Soeurs, 1929, Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. Source: Pinterest - right picture.

Source: Pinterest

Source: Pinterest.

Source: Pinterest.

Source: Pinterest.

So, that's only an idea. I am not sure if these dresses scream "ILSE" to me, because her style is so extravagant nothing can compare.

Feel free to add more. Also, thanks to @daydreamingandprocrastination for inspiring the idea.

[thesweetnessofspring]

Any Valarney headcanons you want to share?

Cute domestic ones:

Valancy gets inspired to start writing. She writes fairy tales with messages about being compassionate and following true love. Barney isn't a fan of fiction, but he curls up next to the fireplace to read what she's written and praise her for it. Valancy never bothers with publishing, she does it for her own pleasure. When they have kids, she turns them into bedtime stories for them.

Barney never wears a hat. Not even now that he's "cleaned up."

Valancy and Barney are actually about the same height. Valancy is tall for a woman, Barney's a little shorter than average for a man, as Dr. Redfern is described as short.

In the winter they tap for maple syrup and make it into candy on the snow and bottle it up for flapjacks (c'mon, they are Canadian!)

They're known for taking in all kittens and mama cats other people might otherwise drown. They find them homes once they're grown. Banjo doesn't care for it, but Good Luck is a sweet little daddy cat (though both are the fathers of several of those litters themselves whenever they go to stay with Cousin Georgiana).

Wherever they go in the world, they canoe along the rivers/lakes there. They even go whitewater rafting down the Colorado.

Their kids have an unconventional education. They use travel in the fall for the kids to learn about different cultures and languages, then come winter and spring in Montreal the kids have a tutor, and in the summer they enjoy time as a family in Mistawis.

Valancy loves making sure their daughters have pretty clothes. They have their play clothes for getting rough and muddy in, but she makes sure that they have pretty things, too, and lets them pick out their colors and styles.

They build onto the Blue Castle as the kids come along, and their island also gains a treehouse and a rope swing.

Barney and Valancy take short trips out to the city to see shows and go out to restaurants, but they never stay too long because they prefer being out in the country.

Lusty Mind Montgomery ones:

When they're first married, Barney starts off being very gentle with Valancy, but as time goes on and he realizes she can handle more and more activity he mostly forgets about it, especially since he loves to have sex with his wife (~platonically~).

But once they know she 's not dying and they're bursting with their newly realized love for one another, they're really able to go at it and they have all kinds of fun exploring a sex life without worries about any serious consequences befalling them. No one sees them a week after they reconcile because they're having a honeymoon all over again with lots and lots of sex.

Valancy knows that turning her head back to look at Barney gets him going and when she's feeling horny will go ahead of him on their walks and then turn back to look at him. If they aren't by their house he will take her up against the nearest tree.

They have sex in the Alhambra. Twice.

They get another bearskin rug for their Montreal house because it's their favorite place to have sex.

[lizziethereader]

Those are great questions! I need to get my students to think more like you, haha :D

Weekly Bookish Question #326 (February 26th - March 4th)

Do you feel like every book can and should teach something? Why (not)?

[catty-words]

Writing question!

I tried to write a fic and kept slipping into present tense. The source material was in past tense so I was arbitrarily determined to keep it in past but it nearly killed me. I realized all the books I grew up reading were in past tense but that more recent books have been in present (Red, White & Royal Blue for one). I also realized that many of my favorite fics (including yours) are written in present tense.

Currently mulling over lots of questions about this and would love to hear your thoughts if you want to share.

How does tense change the vibe of a story? Does it feel more visceral when you’re in the moment with the character?

Is it a genre thing? A historical author vs modern author thing?

Is it more prevalent in fan fiction? Why?

As we interact more and more with visual media (lots of people prefer video calls, more things seem to be shifting to video), does it make us shift to present? Like we’re living the story and relaying it as we watch it in our heads?

Has anyone ever written a novel in future tense? Will they? It would be so strange if that became the norm! (But I remember being very thrown by that present tense in the Bloody Jack series as a teen, maybe future tense will one day feel the most natural to me.)

Am I rereading this ask as I write it to see what tense comes most naturally to me? (Yes) Am I overthinking the fact that it’s present once again? (Yes again.)

Do most people tell stories to their friends in present or past tense when they’re just chatting casually? Why can’t I remember how anyone speaks anymore? I was just talking to someone five min ago! 😫

this is a strangely topical ask! earlier this week, i watched this jane mulcahy video (haven't read or watched 'red, white & royal blue', just a jane mulcahy enjoyer) where she notes that writing in present tense is a very fanfic thing to do. and i remember her reasoning being similar to yours - i.e. it feels more immediate if the action is happening with the character.

i think i'd even posit that present tense feels especially natural when it comes to fic written about television. most television is present-tense. unless the story is specifically playing with linear time, what you're watching is unfolding as you're watching it.

as an experiment, i just clicked into the harry potter ao3 feed, jumped to page 4,988 and clicked open the first fic (x). there seems to be some wonky tense stuff happening at first before it settles into past tense. The second one on the page (x) uses a lot of past perfect and then past.

anecdotally, this supports my point, as well as validates your instinct to write in the same tense as the source material.

personally, present tense has always felt the most natural to me. i like when words end in '-s' better than '-ed', it satisfies my brain for some unknowable and instinctual reason. so, i don't give tense much thought, i mostly let it happen to me.

that said, now that i am thinking about it, i'm inclined to say present tense gives a story a lot of momentum. it feels more actionable. past tense, on the other hand, lends a more weighty feel. the events of the story are settled and there's no changing them now.

[the-paris-of-people]

Do you think the NHIE trailer is deliberately misleading us on things and if so, what?

Hmmmm the only thing I think they could be misleading us on is Eleanor saying "when did his torso get so clawable" is actually about Ben, not Ethan, because they're wearing the same outfits in episode 1 compared to when they are gawking at Ethan. I think "Things are decent" when Devi is talking to her therapist could be about not getting into Princeton while Fabiola does, rather than conundrums about her love life. Other than that, I was surprised at how straightforward the trailer seemed.

[mollywog]

Thinking about Gilbert Blythe and how he shaped his teen years around “what would Anne approve of?” and now I’m thinking of 5yr old Peeta Mellark and how much Katniss must have shaped him without even knowing.

Thank you thank you thank you @daydreamingandprocrastination!!!

I squealed!!!

I can not stop thinking about it!!!

So, I love this passage:

If Gilbert had been asked to describe his ideal woman the description would have answered point for point to Anne, even to those seven tiny freckles whose obnoxious presence still continued to vex her soul. Gilbert was as yet little more than a boy; but a boy has his dreams as have others, and in Gilbert's future there was always a girl with big, limpid gray eyes, and a face as fine and delicate as a flower. He had made up his mind, also, that his future must be worthy of its goddess. Even in quiet Avonlea there were temptations to be met and faced. White Sands youth were a rather "fast" set, and Gilbert was popular wherever he went. But he meant to keep himself worthy of Anne's friendship and perhaps some distant day her love; and he watched over word and thought and deed as jealously as if her clear eyes were to pass in judgment on it. She held over him the unconscious influence that every girl, whose ideals are high and pure, wields over her friends; an influence which would endure as long as she was faithful to those ideals and which she would as certainly lose if she were ever false to them. In Gilbert's eyes Anne's greatest charm was the fact that she never stooped to the petty practices of so many of the Avonlea girls--the small jealousies, the little deceits and rivalries, the palpable bids for favor. Anne held herself apart from all this, not consciously or of design, but simply because anything of the sort was utterly foreign to her transparent, impulsive nature, crystal clear in its motives and aspirations.

I’m thinking how little would need to be changed to make this about Peeta and Katniss.

I would also like to point your attention to Gilbert/Peeta parallels by @petruchio - go read it and scream with me!!

The second half of this bit makes me laugh. It also applies to Katniss: She’s so busy assessing risk and surviving, she doesn’t have time for ‘the little deceits and rivalries, the palpable bids for favor’. She’s internally a little petty (which I love) but she doesn’t give any thought to being liked or popular: she just is…

Going further - it harkens back to Katniss’s ‘whole thing’:

“She has no idea. The effect she can have.”

While she’s beating herself up about her reasoning for why she saved Peeta, people everywhere where drawing the strength and courage to rebel. She’s out there, unknowingly, shaping all sorts of lives!

[katnissmellarkkk]

came across a tag game and decided i too wanted to play 🥰.

rules : type your favorite color into pinterest (google also works) and make a moodboard 💕🩷💗💖💞

tagging : @rosegardeninwinter @jenniferiawrence @captainseaweedbrains @lemonluvgirl @thesmileykate @mollywog @thesweetnessofspring @daydreamingandprocrastination @starrrbakerrr @stardust948 @loungemermaid @charlunday and anyone else who wants to play 🩷

[rainparadefromhell]

The start of season 4 still makes perfect sense to me even if both Ben and Devi do some... questionable things. I think we're definitely on a path of much better communication and understanding of boundaries from both of them.

Don't be scared for this season, I think it really laid quite a solid foundation which they can and I believe will, only go up from.

I still stand by saying that Ben and Devi run into obstacles perhaps because their feelings for each other are quite deep and complicated therefore it will take time and effort to resolve their issues.

They need to go through this journey of maturing. They cannot skip it. It will take time and other people and maybe even a bit of distance but they will get there, I'm sure.

Like my friend @daydreamingandprocrastination said they will find out that it is not enough to simply talk to each other anymore. They have to actively work on their relationship and choose each other despite being in love because sometimes just having love is not enough. I find that that is a really realistic and smart choice the show is making.

[panderi-the-fleabin]

Crossover. Based on this post by @daydreamingandprocrastination.

[alwayschasingrainbows]

Twenty two Teddy Kent's headcanons and semi-headcanons (created in a great hope that they will make him a little less of a stale piece of toast):

When he was a little boy, he used to have imaginary friends to play with; he believed that they were living in a garden near his house and were able to shrink in size to fit into the flower buds.

He used to draw pictures for every book he had read, because he thought the books were much better that way.

He made up stories, but instead of using words, he used illustrations.

He loved the myth of Vega of the Lyre and imagined the star as a land with two shining suns (one red and one blue). He imagined that he lived there before he was born (it's canon - quotes below). That was the reason Vega of the Lyre became Emily's favourite star.

He saved his allowance money to buy paints and pastels.

He made many pictures of Emily, but was too shy to show them to anyone.

He had no idea why most of Blair Water girls wanted to shake his hand, but he was too nice to refuse. In fact, they followed Rhoda Stuart's idea to count nine stars for nine nights, so that the first boy they shook hands with was going to become their husband. Emily was the one who told him about that custom. He laughed it off as silly, but secretely counted the stars and proceeded to shake Emily's hand. He told himself it was unrelated.

He sometimes wondered what his father looked like. His mother never showed him any photographs until she came to live with him. He was twenty five when he saw his father's picture for first time and he had to fight the tears down.

He really loved ice-skating and was pretty good at it. The first winter he and Emily were married, he insisted they go ice-skating at least once a week.

He painted old Mr. Morrison, standing on the church steps, with longing in his eyes. He felt very sorry for the man, after he stopped being angry at him for scaring Emily.

He learnt how to cook when he moved to Montreal. During his scholarship in Paris, he invented countless ways to cook beans (because they were cheap and filling - couldn't resist The Blue Castle reference).

He felt really ashamed during nude-painting classes. He couldn't talk to the models afterwards. His classmates laughed at him for being such a prude.

When he was studying in Paris, he used to sneak behind the guards into the Louvre, to stare in awe at the paintings of great artists (that is not my headcanon - it was in a fanfic entitled "Pine Trees and Pigsties" by Dhobi ki Kutti (dhobikikutti).

During his separation from Emily, he wrote her many letters, but never send them. He gave her these letters after they were married.

He took Emily to Paris for their honeymoon. They visited every single art gallery. It was Emily's idea, because she loved listening to him talk about art.

He never made any comments about Emily's dresses, because he thought she had looked beautiful all the time. He told her that after she got angry at him for not helping her choose an outfit to wear at one of the parties.

On the first day The Smiling Girl was being exhibited, he gave a speach about "the first girl who had believed in me". He never mentioned Emily's name. It hurt too much.

After he and Emily got married, he made illustrations for her books (again, the idea is from an amazing fanfic by hardlygolden - no pictures of him squarely).

He often thought that if he had ever had a daughter, he'd call her after his favourite constellation (I am obsessed with the name Lyra, so...).

He was good with the kids and really enjoyed playing with them. They usually created a huge mess that took ages to clean afterwards.

He liked painting pictures on the walls. He painted a Blair Water landscape on the walls of Emily's writing room in Montreal, so that she felt more at home.

He always bought chocolate bars for Ilse's and Perry's kids and told them in secret "not to tell mommy". Ilse pretended not to have noticed.

I borrowed @daydreamingandprocrastination tags, because they are just so amazing! I hope you don't mind, but if you do, please let me know and I'll be sure to change them!

"Teddy says that before he was born into this world he lived in another one where there were two suns, one red and one blue. The days were red and the nights blue. I don’t know where he got the idea but it sounds atractive to me. And he says the brooks run honey instead of water. But what did you do when you were thirsty, I said. Oh, we were never thirsty there. But I think I would like to be thirsty because then cold water tastes so good. I would like to live in the moon. It must be such a nice silvery place." (Emily of New Moon).

"Look at that star, Teddy—the one just over the youngest Princess. It's Vega of the Lyre. I've always loved it. It's my dearest among the stars. Do you remember how, years ago when you and Ilse and I sat out in the orchard on the evenings when Cousin Jimmy was boiling pigs' potatoes, you used to spin us wonderful tales about that star—and of a life you had lived in it before you came to this world." (Emily's Quest).