#even Gansey calls him D

[clotpolesonly]

Declan and his many nicknames

Mister Impossible ch 10 // Call Down The Hawk ch 19 // Mister Impossible ch 16 // Call Down The Hawk ch 64 // Call Down The Hawk ch 64 // Mister Impossible ch 25 // Greywaren ch 13

[kingarthurtournament]

The Once and Future Contestant: Revival Round 2-D

The top 2 characters will go to the next round!

Simon Snow (Carry On)

"He's a chosen one, he's Welsh, he has a magic sword that manifests only for him "because it trusts him", he grows red dragon wings (Welsh x2!), and he swears like so: "Merlin and fucking Morgana.""

Richard Campbell Gansey III (The Raven Cycle)

"Very noble, very quaint; utterly obsessed with legendary Welsh kings; constantly called "a king" by various narrators; dies tragically young in accordance with prophecy, but comes back to life..."

Flynn Carson (The Librarians)

"He’s best friends with excalibur. Like actually. They play fetch with dangerous artifacts together. "

Arthur Pendragon (The Mechanisms' High Noon Over Camelot)

"He's a cowboy. He lives on a space station that's slowly falling into the sun. He's in a poly relationship with Lancelot & Guinevere. He's got a trans son. In the end, he's the sole survivor. Hes even got a great song about his tragic fate."

Magnus Burnsides (The Adventure Zone)

"has a magic-using friend named Merle who would vouch for him. That’s almost like being chosen by Merlin I think"

Sailor Venus (Sailor Moon)

"The leader of the Sailor Senshi who protect the moon princess. Died and was reborn like Arthur and has a Holy Sword she pulled from a stone"

[crimeronan]

Ok so I’m into the dreamer trilogy and haven’t read the Raven cycle...what is Declan’s characterisation/journey there?

THIS MIGHT BE THE BEST ASK I’VE EVER RECEIVED. IMAGINE I’M STANDING WITH MY ARMS SPREAD USING DIFFERENT VOICES AND HAND GESTURES TO REENACT THIS STORY FOR A RESENTFUL CAPTIVE AUDIENCE

also declan’s TRC storyline is like. equal parts horribly fucking sad and unbelievably fucking hilarious so. i will try to strike a Balance

FIRST OFF.  there is exactly one (1) declan POV chapter in the entire series. it happens toward the end of the last book. up until then, everything we know about him comes from the observations and narration of others.

he is also a very minor character.  his importance grows throughout the series, but almost all of his actions happen offscreen.  it’s not until the last book that we know exactly how much he’s been dealing with the whole time.

when he’s introduced in the first book, he appears as a plot device.  here is a two-dimensional horrible controlling hardass who doesn’t give a shit about anything but his future political career.  look at his fake, smug fucking grin.  how did someone like ronan end up with a brother like him??  doesn’t matter.  it’s a convenient excuse for ronan to live with his best friend in a drafty warehouse, which means more room for YA hijinks!

declan’s introduction scene is Embroiled in Capital-D Douchebaggery. according to the narration (from gansey and adam), he loves to fuck women and then never call them back, cozy up to powerful people, and bitch about how ronan’s ruining his life by being sad about their dead parents.  SOME people can just get over their dead parents, ronan!

this intro scene is also Extremely Funny i 100% recommend reading it even if u don’t read the actual series.  ronan makes a nasty comment, declan goes “why are you the way that you are” and tries to salvage his date, gansey utters the phrase “man whore”

then later that night things go like. actually bad.

declan shows up at the same pizza place where ronan is with his friends.  this scene is gansey pov.  gansey runs out to the parking lot to find the two of them Very Literally Trying To Kill Each Other.  you don’t see that violence in cdth - there’s only the TINIEST shadow of it when declan confronts ronan over matthew - so i Cannot Express Enough that someone is going to end up hospitalized at BEST. ronan’s already slammed declan’s head on the car, declan’s already grabbed ronan and beaten the shit out of his face, like.

you do not get good old-fashioned Declan Lynch At His Actual Worst in cdth. u might be thinking, THAT guy???? doing THIS????

oh yeah. things are real bad between declan and ronan.

after gansey breaks up the fight (and gets punched in the face for his trouble, albeit accidentally), declan tells ronan that their dad would be fucking ashamed to see him now & that he’s washing his hands of it & basically if ronan wants to go off and fucking die, he can.

this is like. just a couple months after the magical suicide attempt referenced in cdth

in the aftermath of that scene it becomes clear that ronan absolutely unequivocally 100% will kill himself if he has to live with declan. hence. why he’s living with gansey instead.  gansey spends that whole night petrified that the declan altercation will lead to another attempt, and for Good Reason

so like, that’s how we first meet declan. he’s an uncaring wannabe corporate asshole who does not give a fuck and who only exists to exacerbate ronan’s mental health issues.

but then the opening of book 2 gets real interesting.

book 2 is where we start learning more about the lynch family.  we learn that ronan’s father was a dreamer who sold his creations on the black market, we learn that that’s why he was murdered. we learn that ronan’s a dreamer too. we learn that there are very powerful people looking for the greywaren, an artifact that takes objects from dreams. those powerful people just don’t realize it’s a person, yet.

so here’s the assassin who killed niall lynch.

he goes to declan’s dorm.

with everything we know about declan, the kid should be completely unprepared.  he can box, but the assassin knows that, so there’s no real advantage.  he’s alone, and he doesn’t have an escape route.

declan pulls out a gun.

this is an unexpected turn of events.

unfortunately he ends up getting beaten half to death with the butt of said gun, because he loses the ensuing physical struggle for the weapon.  the assassin is like, i need the greywaren.  declan is like, i know it exists but i don’t know what it is.  i’ll find it for you.  i’ll get it to you.  then you’ll leave me the fuck alone

now with everything we know of declan at this point - his attitude toward ronan, his general demeanor, and this new knowledge that he knew about the black market - there’s one obvious question.

will declan sell ronan out if he finds out about the dreaming.

and like, okay. their relationship is antagonistic in cdth but it is NOT what it is in trc. believe me when i tell you that at that point, when you’re reading, you can pretty reasonably go, “oh, god.  oh god.  oh god please no one ever tell declan what the greywaren is.  oh god.”

declan has some other interactions with ronan and the gang throughout the book, mostly where he’s just a hardass who tells ronan to stop causing trouble.  adam’s the only one who notices that declan is scared.  like bone-deep shaking to the core petrified.  about Something.

probably getting beaten to within an inch of his life by the man who murdered his father.  that’s the reasonable reader conclusion.

so imagine how everything changes when you find out that declan already knows.  that declan’s known about ronan’s dreaming for longer than ronan has.  that declan knew exactly what and who the greywaren was, and he lied to a man who was ready to torture him for information, and he got away with it.

suddenly a lot of things recontextualize.

“keep your head down and stop making trouble”? people are gonna NOTICE your magic bullshit, ronan, we do not have time for this!

“stop hanging with that loser druggie friend of yours”? you mean the loser druggie friend who sells on the magic black market and doesn’t care about protecting himself or anyone else?

“i got super weird for no reason about ronan sleeping close to adam”? i don’t have fucking TIME to be homophobic i’m busy with your POTENTIAL TO MANIFEST NIGHT TERRORS IN FRONT OF WITNESSES IN BROAD DAYLIGHT

“i’ll find out what the greywaren is and bring it to you”? i’ll die. i’m making a bargain to die. i’m never giving you the greywaren and i know you’re going to kill me about it and that’s fine as long as my brothers are safe

ronan doesn’t know that he dreamed matthew.  declan knows.  he’s known the whole time.  declan tells ronan in book 3.  and then things recontextualize even further, because ronan’s death is also matthew’s, and matthew IS close to declan in trc.

but declan never tells the goddamn truth unless it’s his last option.  he doesn’t tell ronan that he knows about the dreaming and he doesn’t tell ronan what specifically wants to hurt him and the lack of communication fucking destroys both of them.

in the last book, ronan realizes declan loves him.

more than that, he realizes declan’s loved him the whole time.

this is when declan finally tells the truth.  things are getting bad, plot-wise, and declan is scared, so he comes clean.  he tells ronan that niall specifically tasked declan with protecting ronan from the market.  he begs ronan to run from the danger.  “let’s pour gasoline on everything dad left and start over.”

this is also when ronan realizes that declan’s childhood was very different from ronan’s own.  and that niall and aurora lynch were not the same people to declan that they were to ronan.  and that their father’s decisions are what’s driven the wedge between him and declan all this time

(he’s still struggling with the cognitive dissonance of this in cdth. i don’t think he knows how to adjust his perception of declan to fit this new information.)

aaaaand the final scene with declan makes me cry every time i read it so instead of summarizing, here’s the important part:

Ronan delivered a sharp tap to the object, and a small cloud of fiery orbs sprayed up with a sparkling hiss.

“Jesus, Ronan!” Declan jerked his chin away.

“Please. Did you think I’d blow your face off?”

He demonstrated it again, that quick tap, that burst of brilliant orbs. He tipped it into Declan’s hand, and before Declan could say anything, jabbed it to activate it once more.

Orbs gasped up into the air. For a moment, he saw how his brother was caught inside them, watching them soar furiously around his face, each gold sun firing gold and white, and when he saw the spacious longing in Declan’s face, he realized how much Declan had missed by growing up neither dreamer nor dreamt. This had never been his home. The Lynches had never tried to make it Declan’s home.

“Declan?” Ronan asked.

Declan’s face cleared. “This is the most useful thing you’ve ever dreamt. You should name it.”

“I have. ORBMASTER. All caps.”

“Technically you’re the orbmaster though, right? And that’s just an orb.”

“Anyone who holds it becomes an ORBMASTER. You’re an ORBMASTER right now. There, keep it, put it in your pocket. D.C. ORBMASTER.”

Declan reached out and scuffed Ronan’s shaved head. “You’re such a little asshole.”

The last time they’d stood on this roof together, their parents had both been alive, and the cattle in these fields had been slowly grazing, and the world had been a smaller place. That time was gone, but for once, it was all right.

The brothers both looked back over the place that had made them, and then they climbed down from the roof together.

[likeadeuce]

WIP Wednesday: Opalescence

Adam opened the fridge for some milk, wondering if he should go wake up Ronan after all.

“Do you stay here?” a small voice piped behind him.

Adam jumped, knocked the glass milk bottle off of the shelf, and braced for the sound of it shattering on the floor.

The crash didn’t come, and he turned to see Opal holding the bottle up to him. The small dream creature looked bedraggled as usual, a knit cap pulled down over her ears and a long sweater hanging past her knees like a dress. She thrust the milk upward into his hands. “I catched it for you, Atom.” She put the stress on the last syllable of his name and turned the D into a T, until it sort of rhymed with “cat home.”

“It’s Adam.” He accepted the milk bottle, reached up to get a bowl from the cabinet, and on second thought got one for Opal too. “Can you say AD-uhm?”

“AT-uhm.”

“Ad.”

“Aaaaaad.” Opal drew the vowel out, enormously pleased with herself. “Ad. Dum?”

“You’re getting better,” he assured her, and he flashed a slightly terrifying smile that took up half her small face. He didn’t know why it mattered what this half-feral dream creature who probably (hopefully?) never spoke to anyone outside this house called him, but she seemed to like repeating him, and it turned out he liked making her smile.

“Here,” he said. “Have some breakfast.” Adam poured a bowl of cereal for each of them. Opal seemed to be able to digest just about anything but he didn’t see any reason not to serve her ordinary human food. He took a seat at the table. Opal heaved her little butt up onto the chair next to him and braced her hoofs on its rail.

She accepted the bowl from him and took a huge bite of cereal. Milk sloshed out of the sides of her mouth and landed on her sweater.

Adam handed her a napkin. “I didn’t see you last night,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if you were staying at the house.”

Opal ducked her head, suddenly shy. “I heard the loud pumpkin car come, so I hided.”

“You hid,” Adam corrected gently. Her first language was Ronan’s dream Latin, after all. He wasn’t sure how easily English came to her.

“I hidded. But then I wanted to see, so I climbed a tree, and I saw the people get out of the pumpkin car. I saw Ganseyfriend, and Lilyblue. . .” Opal looked up with that smile again. “I saw you, Adam. But then the loud car went away.”

“It did,” Adam agreed. “Gansey and Blue went back to their homes. But I stayed.”

“You stay here, Adam?”

“I stayed here last night. Last night is the past tense so you want to say ‘stayed.’”

Opal gave him a withering look, and Adam realized their misunderstanding had nothing to do with grammar. “Do you stay here now?” she repeated. “From now on. With me and with Kerah.”

“With you and Ronan,” Adam said, because Ronan didn’t like her to use his dreamworld name.

“Answer!” Opal smashed a fist on the table with surprising force, and to Adam’s surprise her eyes welled up with tears. “I want for you to stay here.”

“It’s not really up to me,” Adam said. “Even if Ronan wanted me to, I’ve got a lot going on and it’s a long drive into town and I’ve got reasons to keep up my own plase so--”

“Kerah!!!” Opal flung herself out of the chair, kicking it over as she ran to throw her arms around Ronan’s legs. He stood in the doorway shirtless, in black jeans and laced up boots, a surprisingly bright red Tshirt balled up in one hand.

“Hey munchkin.” Ronan flicked the pom pom at the top of Opal’s hat. “I didn’t know where you’d got to. Did all the people last night scare you off?”

Opal nodded. “I hidded until Ganseyfriend and Lilyblue went away. But Adam is staying. From now on.”

Ronan’s eyebrow went up. “Oh, is he?”

[alexandrarosa]

THE RAVEN CYCLE

Yes this is another post about Noah because I love him.

So it’s like a running gag for the gangsey that Noah is scared of everything and lot of things give him chills (when something gives others chills they think that’s what Noah would say) and that he’s a coward basically (he’s called one from time to time). But let’s be realistic for like a split second.

He was murdered. Not killed in the accident. Not pushed down the cliff. Cold-bloodily murdered. By his best friend. With his own skateboard. So I would like the gangsey to take their heads out from their asses and think that maybe m a y b e Noah idk has a reason to be scared of many things? I know he’s dead so nothing can hurt him but at the same time he’s you know d e a d because of something.

But nonetheless Noah stays amazingly positive as a ghost and shapes beautiful relationships with his surroundings.

He decided he would do anything for Blue and he does. He’s her first kiss. He would like to take her on a date but can’t (I think they should have gone out yes he’s a ghost but she’s a tree so you know it fits). He loves her and she loves him. Sometimes I like to imagine that in some alternative reality they are somehow together bonded with feelings that are out of reach for humans.

But there is another relationship Noah has that is... something else. Him and Ronan at the beginning of the series. He is closest to Noah and they have this weird thing going on. Ronan is grieving and has changed recently because of his loss. His relationship with Gansey is troublesome at times. He’s not on good terms with Adam. He doesn’t trust Blue at the beginning and then they are mostly arguing even if slightly.

But not with Noah. They have fun together. Noah went with Ronan to church so he didn’t have to deal with his family drama alone. He often goes with him when Ronan is street racing. They throw things out the window because they enjoy it (yes Ronan threw Noah out the window but the thing is he wasn’t close enough to anyone else at the time to do something stupid with or to them).

Noah has the unique style of existing and a strong reason for it. I think he’s underappreciated by the gangsey sometimes. And it makes me sad when fans leave him out of fanarts or headcanons. He’s like the key to the whole story. It all happens because of him and thanks to him. Appreciate him.

[gloriousmonsters]

Ronan and Kavinsky for the ship ask?

anons knocking it out of the park with asking about books I wasn't aware I'd ever talked about reading (although tbf my memory is a sieve). this one's a ship it and I'll see if I have enough material to actually answer this properly

What made you ship it?

ok so to be clear I don't remember if I ever actually read 'the dream thieves' or if jamie just like, extensively talked about it with me (i think i read it? like i think i read the first two in the series but i can't be sure) so me actually getting into it is lost to time. that said this is mostly a 'kavinsky is my poor little meow meow and i want him to have ronan because he wants to have ronan' with a dash of 'that scene where gansey and kavinsky basically got into a dom-off over ronan was hot' and 'ronan a boy kills a giant crow monster for you and you don't even call the next day after you have sex. recognize a good thing when you have it, man'

What are your favorite things about the ship?

the fucky dubious D/s energy is Choice in this one, lads. also i'm a big fan of 'you think you're alone and unique and then there's One other person who you resonate with on a level you never thought anyone else would meet you on'.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

was literally never 'in' the fandom enough to be aware of what's popular, lol.

[toast-the-unknowing]

8 Songs, 8 Tags

Tagged by @cheeeryos, thanks!

1. your favorite song at the moment 

Kalamazoo by The Show Ponies. It’s on the fic playlist I’m listening to a lot lately and it’s probably the one that I am going the most :D :D :D when it comes on.

2. a song you associate with a favorite character or ship

I don’t tend to make these associations too strongly, I feel like the ones I have are obvious at this point. I know I’ve said before that Change of Time by Josh Ritter is my Adam/Ronan theme. Raise the Roof by Carbon Leaf used to be a very Gansey song to me but looking at it now it feels more Ronan? I suppose when Raven King was top of mind, Gansey’s desperation and mortality felt a little more pressing. Funny how associations change.

3. a song that could be about you

I have no idea how anyone ever answers questions like this. Pinch Me by The Barenaked Ladies is a whole-ass mood, though.

4. a song you think is overrated 

Most ‘80s radio hits? Too out of touch to know what’s highly rated these days. I remember being really frustrated with fun. back when they were a big deal but I do not think they are still a big deal anymore.

5. a good song that reminds you of a specific memory

(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To by Weezer. June of 2013, I was working part-time, so I’d often go jogging in the early afternoon in the rich neighborhood that bordered on my not so rich neighborhood. I was starting up a flirtation with a guy who would become my boyfriend and would then become my ex, but who at the time was just a friend of a friend I had a lot of silly daydreams about. Often I had silly daydreams about him while jogging, because the alternative was to really experience the fact that I was jogging, and fuck no. 

I’m sure I had other songs on my workout playlist, but this is the one I remember, and it’s also the one that for whatever reason I haven’t listened to much since then, so it’s the one that really strongly calls to mind booty shorts and Beverlywood and being infatuated. It used to be a happy memory, and then it used to be a guilty hurtful memory, and now it’s...bittersweet. I don’t know. Maybe I could add this song back into rotation.

6. the last song you listened to

The Middle by Trampled by Turtles. This one’s gone and got itself fixed in my mind to my current Major WIP; its lyrical relevance to said WIP is dubious, but every time it comes on I’m like “yeah!”, so it’s still on the playlist.

7. a song that makes you laugh

I just remembered the time I was driving with my sister and her best friend and She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby came on and neither of them had ever heard it before and they both got progressively more and more “what the FUCK even IS this song?!” the longer it played, while I tried to chime in on all the little Science!s but mostly was just laughing too hard.

8. a song you want your mutuals to listen to

I am team Never Take The Aux Cable in a group setting so my instinct at telling someone else what to listen to is “that’s too much responsibility, I gotta find a way out of this.” I will go with Take Me Back by Sarah Jarosz because that is the most recent song I added to my likes on Spotify. It is also on the wip playlist so Rule of Threes has now been satisfied.

tagging @sashahilbert @two-of-swords-621 @neveronceintoit @kieranfae @the-apocrypha @talldecafcappuccino @uncertainglobalfuture @eameseames

[knoepfchen]

the lovely @avaniesque ​ and @fadagaski ​ tagged me in this and it was a lot of fun to do some memory laning :D

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors! 

So, in reverse chronological order:

1. if you do take a thief (TOG): There was no such thing as remoteness in the South of England, no matter how far into the countryside you drove.

2. The Voice of Experience (TOG): “So, Andy. When’s the big party?” (counting this because I actually wrote it^^)

3. romantic love, and other incurable ailments (TOG): Joe can tell that something –  something  – is up with Nicky the second he steps into their apartment.

4. not sleepy enough to give it up (TOG): When Nicky comes back from the kitchen with his glass of water, Joe is still fast asleep, sprawled out on their bed.

5. a slow landslide (TOG): Nile’s breath barely hitches when she startles awake.

6. what i wouldn’t gif (TOG): "Andy's gone home for the night."

7. when i saw you, i fell in love; (TOG): A flash of striking blue eyes. A mouth curled into a snarl under a dark beard.

8. we that are true lovers run into strange capers (TOG): Of course, Booker was late.

9. i am lost, in the robes of all this light (TOG): Andy kicks the side of their boat in frustration.

10. a thicket of shadows is a poor coat (TOG): “Somebody get me out of this.”

11. and you smiled, because you knew. (TOG): Nicolò can barely remember the first time it happened. 

12. they paved paradise, and put up a parking lot (The Witcher): Why exactly Yennefer had agreed to meet Geralt in the parking lot of a McDonald’s on the M4 to drop Ciri off with him would possibly forever be beyond her. 

13. From Rome, With Love (TRC): It was rare for students at Aglionby Academy to unequivocally agree on something (even Henry Cheng had only won president of student council with a very marginal majority), but if there was anything at all in this world, it was that their new Latin teacher was the best they had ever had.

14. Blue Christmas (TRC): Christmas at 300 Fox Way used to be Blue’s favorite time of the year.

15. Kiss It Better (HP): Not that anybody was playing the fault card, but the whole thing could have been avoided if Eira Fairhurst, a second year Ravenclaw, had not decided to try and smuggle her baby rabbit into Hogwarts.

16. “I assume you don’t mind sharing?” (TRC): “I should have known there was a catch,” was all that Blue said when she entered the bedroom.

17. Oh, the Irony (TRC): Blue, Gansey and Noah were already sitting at their usual table at Nino’s when Adam and Ronan finally showed up, heated discussion in full swing.

18. Seven Lies and a Funeral (HP): “Why are you doing this again?” 

19. Bonus Round (TRC): “Bonus round”, Kavinsky said. Then: “Open.”

20. But Darling, Quidditch Season is over (HP): Summer had come, and summer had gone, and with it all the rebuilding of the castle they would call their home for another year.

Analysis: We sure love a statement entry xD I think I read somewhere at some point that you should always start your story at the latest possible point before everything kicks off, and in my fic that tends to translate to mid-conversation, apparently :) (Also interesting that you can spot my four year gap in writing fic from the titles - 2020 was all about the aesthetic lower case^^)

Tagging @andrea-lyn @werebearbearbar @sixth-light @bakedapplesauce @bewires @emjee @demonicneonfishy @aphroditestummyrolls @nevermindirah @meet-the-girl-who-can @rhubarbdreams @peachpitandpomegranate @nickydestati @scimitar-and-longsword @lucyclairedelune @emotionallycompromisedrobots @raedear @kaydeefalls - only of you want to or have time/muse/spoons for it, ofc :)

[off-in-the-moors]

It is not the responsibility of art to be morally instructive. It is 100% YOUR responsibility to research something if you know you are a sensitive person, take responsibility for your self. Art does not need to be some clinical sanitized morality play, get over your weird Puritanical obsession that all art must conform to your specific world view. Either engage in challenging works or stick to children’s cartoons where you can feel ‘safe’.

-

Dear Anon,

I’m truly confused by this. I have no idea what are you referencing and what “inspired“ you to send me this “ask“. But I will do my best to give you something.

(It only took me this long to answer, bc I don’t log in very often.)

Let’s start with your assumption of me.

I’m not a sensitive person, in any meaning. I actually love reading and engaging in media that’s morally questionable or straight up morbid and disturbing. Some of my favorite thing are: paintings by Goya and Beksiński, folklore/mythology (in it’s most unchanged form), “Perfume“ both film and book, Hannibal tv series, true crime, to name a few. Your assumption that I’m just “a girl obsessed and only enjoying modern cartoons“ is insulting.

I actually do agree with you that art, in any form, isn’t responsible to be morally instructive, but every work of art is made to send some form of message, be an obvious one or hidden between pages. In my opinion, authors and writers should be aware of what message they want to send with their works and what messages they are sending with what and how they’re presenting.

On your “It is 100% YOUR responsibility to research something if you know you are a sensitive person, take responsibility for your self“ this is also true. But on the other hand, given media should provide you with some kind of warning and not a third party entity. For example, if I pick-up a YA book from a bookstore, bc of its synopsis or someone (be a person I know or a creator) recommended it to me, I don't expect "spicy" scenes or blatant a*use of a character by its love interest or just "torture p*rn" scenes in it but here they are. With no warning. Is it my fault? Partly yes. Is it the media's fault for not giving me any warnings? Also yes.

Even with researching "warnings" isn't that simple. When it comes to books, the only way is reading reviews or recommendations. With reviews, they're either positive and say nothing book related or are negative and full of spoilers. Recommendations nowadays most of the time don't even give you what the story is about, just "it has x, y and z in it", let alone "warnings". From my own experience, they either don't tell you about "unappropriated" stuff (be r*pe, d*ug a*use, a*use, etc.) or they down play them and in worst cases, excuse it or say "it gets better/it's addressed in the next book/later in the series".

But if you feel the need to micromanage everything you engage in, go for it. But most people don't and a warning would be nice.

(This of course doesn't apply to thing and character's actions deemed "problematic". If said stuff is well handled and addressed, it's perfectly ok to portray it. But again, if it addressed and/or showed as wrong, and not ignored, excused, or played as a joke.)

I don't know from where you took the "your weird Puritanical obsession", bc 1) I never petitioned for that in my posts, and 2) I'm actually against censuring and sanitation of media.

Now, on to what "inspired" you to write this.

Again, I have no f-clue. So here are my best guesses:

If it's about Pathologic: I only have problem with people forcing their politics, modern sentiments and opinions/interpretations on to something they don't fully understand, because they're from a different cultural climate. An American can't fully (or in some cases, refuses to) understand something made by Europeans (in this case Russians) for Europeans in mind. I don't want to mix myself into the fandom discourse/drama, because I don't care what people think or how they interpret stuff, even if it's taken from something minor or from nowhere with no support (or even is debunked) in canon. I don't care if people like or hate this one character. Just don't police people for liking things, you don't like. Nor do public shaming or send people on those you don't agree with. You don't like a pixel man on platform shoes? Fine. Just don't bully and attack people who do.

If it's about my post about B*rdugo's adult book: I will admit, the wording and presentation wasn't the best. I was writing it from a place of strong emotions, but I'm still standing by my opinion that some things should not be presented with graphic details in a book without any type of warning. Here we could have a discussion about trigger warnings in books, hers response to the idea of putting them on her book and what is consider "too far", but this isn't about that. I actually have a lot of problems with B*rdugo and her fan-base, besides that. Her use of Russia, it's history, religion iconography and culture only for aesthetic and not doing proper research (she called her series "Greg's trilogy") or showing any respect for it (with characters, how are not main and secondary characters, a Slavic stereotype); her portray of dyslexia and how the fandom likes to use it as a joke in relation to this character; or people shielding her from any form of criticism with "She's is xyz, so she can write this". But I don't care about her and her works.

I stopped reading YA books, because I can't stand them any longer and their "handling" of topics, with people holding up every-single-one as "the best book ever written", not because of the quality or story but because the author is xyz, and spitting at every book written before 2000s. I'll get flag for it but YA novels are the Pulp fiction of our times (of course not all, but most of the popular ones are). I stopped trusting people recommending them to me, because 90% of the time, I'm just disappointed by them.

If it's about K and TRC: I already said so much about this. Margaret isn't aware of her audience, she writes for herself (which she admitted on a podcast) and refuses to change it to please anyone. She created and killed K for two reasons: to further Ronan's character arc (to be used for teaching him to dream better and a (not working) foil of him (or Adam... or Gansey)) and as her weird catharsis of killing everything she hates (who she apparently was; "fratty boys and chortling men") personified as one boy (and yes, boy, because this fandom likes to forget he’s only seventeen, the same age as the Gangsey. If you excuses their actions, like Ronan and Adam’s racist jokes or Gansey’s toxic behaviors towards Adam with “they’re just teenagers”, why K is excluded from being a stupid teen?). With Jordan, it's now obvious that she has a bias of suffering/dealing with your trauma (and addiction) "in the right way", of which in her eyes, K wasn't. She could not create K or she could not make him a harmful stereotype of a Slav, but she did. In a book targeted at 13-18 year olds, we have a drug-addicted boy committing a public s*icide and being demonized and forgotten by everyone.

But I'm done with this fandom, I never had a place in it. TRC fandom is 80% P*nch with a 1% being about K, but even this little corner is "too much" for the stans. I left for a reason, the only thing I regret is not apologizing for my out-burst. If someone who knows what I’m referencing is reading this, I’m truly sorry.

So, yea. I hope, I addressed your issue, Anon.

[creativefiend19]

Raven cycle asks 5 11 24 :)

Hey Anon! Thanks so much for the Asks. I’m loving them!

I already answered 5 :) Seems like a popular one!

 *

11. Opinions on Kavinsky?

Right. Not pulling any punches are you? This is going to be a long one (I’m tempted to make a Kavinsky-style ‘that’s what he said’ joke here, LOL). Just read the bolded bits if you can’t be bothered to read everything (I wouldn’t blame you.)

(TW: some canon level discussion of physical and sexual abuse, but Kavinsky is his own warning anyway, right?)

I’m not actually going to answer about Kavinsky as a Person. Because, y’know, he’s to your taste or not. But I’m really interested in Kavinsky as a CHARACTER. How Maggie uses him to move the plot forward, why was he in TDT anyway. Here is my list, in no sort of order:

A. He was the villain of the piece. Very true, IMO. K was Coded to be the villain of TDT. We’ll come back to this in a bit.

B. He was Ronan’s gay awakening. Really tho? Idk. He did bring the Gay motif to the fore, I grant you. But the sex dream featured both K and Adam. And pretty much anything K said to Ronan about being gay was a slur or a joke or full of not very subtle internalised homophobia. Except maybe when he says to Ronan: Don’t tell me you don’t swing that way. This is K at his most authentic and vulnerable - no jokes or slurs now. Just desperation. 

Also, K definitely has low regard for Ronan's personal boundaries. Although, his dialogue about consent being overrated and 'sometimes you just gotta take it'? I've always wondered if the 'take it' hinted at K actually being a survivor of sexual abuse, rather than the more obvious indication of him being only the abuser.

(However, I love that little trip Ronan has of: does K have 3 balls, is he Gay etc. Lol)

But there is no doubt about the fact that K is, well, sexy – to put it frankly. Not just sleazy sexy, like bad boy sexy, but legitimately has animal magnetism. Even sensible Blue feels it a bit, when K enters Nino’s and she’s torn between wanting him to notice her, with his Full and Vulgar Lips, and being relieved that he doesn’t (definitely interesting that she thinks about K ‘swallowing’ her, just like Ronan dreams of later. Those must be Some Lips). Even Gansey is egged on by him at the substance party – with the infamous Molotov cocktails and the ‘dog’ dialogues. Adam seems the only person genuinely unaffected by K.

C. He was Ronan’s Dreaming mentor. Yup. Because Niall bloody Lynch was such a shit excuse for a dad or a responsible dreamer, Somebody had to teach our Hero, so we could have an actual fucking story. 

Ronan needed an Obi-Wan Kenobi. And how Absolutely Brilliant of Maggie to make KAVINSKY Ronan’s mentor! It’s like Darth Vader teaching Luke about the Force:‘In and out like a motherfucking thief, Luke. And, ah, speaking of motherfucking…’ (LOLL I crack myself up sometimes). So, it all immediately becomes hella complicated and interesting and full of possibilities!

Aside: unfortunately for the complexity of the story, Ronan isn’t actually swayed  by the Lure of the Dark. Or the Lure of the Kinky Sex. Or the Drugs. Or the Violence. All of which are supposedly siren calls to Ronan’s self-destructive tendencies. 

D. He showed how much of an asshole Ronan can be. (Okay, I LOVE Ronan to bits. But he’s not a perfect person, and is not meant to be. His flaws are never in question).

Ronan takes advantage of K offering to teach him to Dream and then just - fucks off! Without so much as a thank you, literally. Wham bam thank you ma’am. In fact, it was Ronan who was ‘in and out like a motherfucking thief’ in this situation, to be fanciful about it. Not saying how K reacted to this was in any way excusable, tho, let’s be clear.

But here is where Ronan’s arrogance makes him a POS. And maybe he was influenced by Gansey: We matter Ronan (and K doesn’t). Or maybe Ronan cares about field mice and people he loves and is an absolutely heartless bastard to everyone else. Maybe this is just pre-evolution Ronan and he grows into a less 17- year-old- toxic-masculine- closeted-gay- angry version of himself.

E. He is Adam’s narrative foil. So, here we have two ‘broken’ boys from horrible families, with violence in their backgrounds. Except Adam is poor and K is rich (and born Magical pbly). But K wastes it all on drugs and Dreams. Adam ‘rises above’ the disadvantages of his life, and works three jobs and is coded for Ivy-league greatness. 

F. He is Ronan’s narrative foil. This is who Ronan could’ve been if he hadn’t grown up cocooned in the loving valley of the Barns. (Corollary: so who would've K been, if he'd grown up at the Barns? Interestingly, Adam wonders this about himself in BLLB). 

So, the tools that Ronan uses to veer away from K’s path in life are the tools that make him the Hero of TDT, if not the Hero of TRC. Ronan is the Greywaren. He will not steal from Cabeswater. He is someone with unshakeable principles (mostly!). He loves himself and others (see Albino night horror, and Maggie actually saying: The Lynch brothers love themselves and each other). He is loved in return. 

And so, very much like a goth skinheaded Harry Potter, Ronan is coded to Rise above it all, as the Hero.

Therefore, K is coded to die as the villain.

That is the simple truth, as I see it. He existed to be the Big Bad, teach Ronan to dream, kidnap Matthew, lose the readers’ (and Ronan’s) sympathy, and show how not-K Adam is. And then die in a literal blaze of glory. 

So he’s out of the picture and not complicating the remaining storylines with his seductive presence. His Fatal Flaws make him Lose so the Heroes of the story Win. He is Bad and the Gangsey is Good. These are all understandable, and typical, authorial decisions.

TL;DR: So, in other words, I absolutely LOVE Kavinsky as a character. And I think he is one of Maggie’s most brilliant creations in TRC. And definitely the most tragic.

*

24. Who would you want to do a reading for you?

Thankfully, after that K thesis, this is a short one.

I would love for the three psychics to do my reading together: Maura, Calla and Persephone.

I would actually be very intrigued to have that ‘Tree of Life’ spread done, with All the Fox Way ladies (whom I Adore) and all their very individual card decks, but TBH I don’t want to know That much about my future LOL.

***

Anon – thanks for this absolutely Smashing  ask. It was so much fun for me, I cannot tell you. I hope it was fun for you too, and you don't regret opening this can of worms!

TRC Ask Meme

[kazbrekkerrs-remade]

ekrjhak i lov eu and to further enable you: ur thoughts on blue, gansey, ronan and adam and henry? and their group dynamic????? 👀👀👀

Wow this took me ages sorry dfjfhd. Claire... u enable me too much these are my onions <3. Under a cut because I went. overboard :3. I’m probably going to have to shorten this I don’t know if tumblr will even let me post something this long dkshjfhg. (Also I wrote half of this in word so if there’s proper capitalization in places that’s why, don’t let it cloud my image as a cool, laid-back bitch that doesn’t care for grammar.)

i’m starting individually then moving onto group dynamics heh

blue i like blue but it did take a bit of growing on me djjdjhjss. i like her a lot bc i relate to her a lot, but i do think there was a lot of room for improvement. she said she wanted to see the world and make it better but how exactly.. is that a roadtrip? i mean i guess it’s a start in a way, but i think it would’ve been much better if we saw her join an activist organization.. volunteer for a non-profit or something. Also her misguided feminism ah! But I can be a bit more lenient with that bc she was still very young when the series ended so. Also she was revealed to be part tree and then like. Nothing substantial came of it? idk

Ganseyboy! I have to be honest my.. fave uwu. There is a Lot of room for improvement  but I just. Optimist!! insecurities :( also he KNEW he was gonna d*e I’m. sad. Anyway like I said a lot of room for improvement as in like.. not everything is about you king <3 also he needs more… idk I don’t wanna say empathy bc i think that’s something different but like. He needs to realise that what he thinks is best isn’t gonna be the way everyone deals with something, if that makes sense? Like basically the “how do you know what’s good for me?” “THAT’S MY OPINIOOONNNNN!!” vine. THAT SAID I love him so much.. he held up the mouse to his face! And smiled!! mon dieu.. when he made bird jokes to make adam laugh… “am I in your dreams?” AH! In a way, blue and gansey are sons of the same gun: I love them both but there could be more done with them tbh. But I have a lot of fun with Fansey, a.k.a: fatima gansey. Kind of like fanon gansey except no one’s opinion matters besides mine <3 (basically it’s  the *aggressively kicks off shoes* “yee haw”, parts of gansey, and then me giving him the arc he deserves) maybe we could sum it up to “ma’am that’s my emotional support projection character” but like. That’s my business.

ADAM! Previous endorsements include: “might fuck around and become an adam parrish stan account.” “I’ve only had adam for a day and a half but if anything happened to him I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.” “I go :D whenever I see it’s an adam chapter” (these are more or less verbatim from my previous posts.) that said, I don’t have many fully formed thoughts because I uhhh don’t remember the books that well and also I repress the adam chapters bc they hit too close oops :). tbh I don’t have many complaints at all heh. That’s not to say he doesn’t have flaws but a) I will excuse them because he’s justified, adam does anything problematique and I’m like he can have a little murder. As a treat. and b) I genuinely loved his arc so. No complaints for real!! Also.. adam realising he is capable of loving and being loved…. *kermit meme* I have nearly teared up while writing this. :( one more half baked thought: trc having being “known” as a mark of being loved but then adam being like “i am unknowable” and then there was a moment of him with ronan like “how foolish of him to think he was unknowable”.... *kermit hearts meme intensifies*

RONAN O CLOCK to be honest. I. don’t have any meta or complaints I just love him. I love him a LOT okay.. very much. Big love. Sharp edges tough guy but he names his dream animals chainsaw and gasoline and has a pooping blanket for chainsaw… I can’t remember the quote but that but in cdth where he was like the point is dreamer or not if people are going to get hurt I’m going to stop it… Much to think about. HIS GROWTH. IN THE DREAM THIEVES wow can you believe I read him in TRB and was like ‘I don’t care for him’ ddhfjdhf and then in the dream thieves I’m like.. I have rescinded all previous callouts of ronan lynch. Oops. HE LOVES HIS FRIENDS SO MUCH oh my gosh. Ronan just… he has so much range for feeling!! he feels so much!!! I love that about him so much omg

Henry. Ah. This is where we get kind of controversial jdhjdfh I’m sorry but. I’m going to be honest I like him well enough as a character but I don’t care for him much I’m sorry I just. It’s because he was introduced so late. And only became an important character towards like.. the last half of TRK? I mean, I’d have loved him if he was introduced earlier, hell at least have him come into play in BLLB. The issues I have with him isn’t because of anything about him as a character though, I think it’s all about the way he was handled. I think because he came in so late, there just wasn’t enough time to do justice to the depth that he had, or give him an arc or anything, or enough time to connect with him. Also a part of me feels like he was in there just to kind of tie up Blue and Gansey’s stories and give them something to do after the end of TRK (which sucks because like… making your only canon POC being primarily to develop/give your white characters storylines… (blue isn’t white in my mind but like she was written “colorblind” and when that happens it usually means the author viewed them as white at least in the beginning jhfhgfj. but i don’t remember it too well so if i’m wrong lmk please!)). But probably my biggest problem is: I couldn’t help get the vibe that MS was facing criticism for the lack of diversity and so decided to bring in an asian character. Like, I feel that way bc he came in so late, and because of that he was so half-baked I’m.. gah. GAH. That’s unfair maybe henry is a cool dude hdhfg but I just can’t warm up to him because of this :/

Group dynamics!! With the gangsey I have to *sobs* I love them so much I’m.. what a strange constellation they all were <3

blue and ronan!! BROnan amirite… omg. That moment when blue nearly slips and ronan immediately catches n holds on to her… she would have to remember that :( sons of the same gun. Best friends!

Blue and adam.. gah. As friends it really goes hard. Get you someone who will stab you if you fall too deep into the nether-realm <3 but uhh. As dates. YIKES. Blue really just. Kissed noah while dating him. And didn’t even think for a second “I have a bf” :( not very cool of her to tell gansey about the kiss curse but not telling adam which I mean, I know that happened to show that they weren’t a good match but. Still yikes. Blue was lowkey cheating on adam the whole time during tdt huh :( also bro I am number one stan of the “I wish you could be kissed jane” scene but it happened literally RIGHT AFTER she broke up with adam I’m. relax <3. I wish that was kind of addressed but meh, overall it doesn’t bother me too much. I think they’re great friends :)

Ronan and adam… I can’t talk about it too much. I really can’t!! I really really can’t! the fact that adam goes to gansey like what is love and gansey is like she makes me quiet… and then adam is like “he was so still inside”.. :( omg the bit during trb when ronan is going on a swearing tirade and adam is like “they didn’t start making the civic until ‘73 <3” what a JACKASS I love him. Second secret!! --okay! Wait I have to say: while this one is not really a big deal compared to all their other moments, my favourite quote is “ and he realised that while he’d been looking at ronan, ronan had been looking at him” :uwu face:

Blue and gansey: :3 :33333 maybe it’s the muslim but I really like the tragedy of not being able to kiss :( I would beg just one off you! Under all this! Maybe I’m crying because of the inherent romantic-ness of the night sky with all its stars and late night drives :( wow I love them. Also i know most people find it annoying but I personally love the “I’m never gonna fall for this person” *fast forward to getting to know each other* “ahahah. :) I have rescinded all callouts of ____. she is now my girlfriend (long story)” (not to be confused with enemies to lovers <3 (not to be confused with enemies to friends to lovers <3)) also they can kiss now thank you very much.

Okay I will just preface this with: gansey’s relationships with both ronan and adam have the “how do you know what’s good for me” element to them so I don’t have to address it later hdfgjlfj but bro they love each other so much I’m… “dream me the world… something new for ever night” you’re leaving for TWO DAYS.. gansey gave up monmouth omg what became of that I really forgot khffhk did he get it back. I don’t even need to elaborate on ronan, “ronan would do anything for gansey�� :(

ADAM AND GANSEY I been WAITNG for this one! Turn it up! Bro if you saw the whole face I made when I realised it was time for this kdhfhfkhu this is so loaded despite the fact that I cant articulate it <3 the.. idk what to call them. Parallels? Foils? I didn’t take lit sorry but he RANGE we could have had there… remember when gansey was shocked in trk bc :0 you guys came with me and also “they had run for him”. bro their whole relationship had so much. Tension because of their different backgrounds and fundamentally different outlooks because of their backgrounds, and I think if we had seen them properly connect then both of them could have grown from that. I know we see adam understanding gansey a bit better I don’t remember when that happened but I know it did at some point hhdsf but gansey.. never does! Huff and puff. It’s really so FRUSTRATING to me bc that could have key development for gansey but also for adam and gansey’s relationship. And also I feel like we didn’t.. see them try either? Which is so frustrating like idk if it’s a fault on stiefvater’s part or just with YA lit in general that platonic relationships are kind of ignored. Or maybe it’s because idk I remember ms saying she had a lot of issues while writing trk.. but still. We could have really had it all but instead I have to live with “don’t break him adam” I’m (: ok but now I must lighten the mood hjsdhf so might I add: when one of them sees the principal in his crazy funky junky hat and goes “yee haw”… when gansey is like :DDD hey ADAM guess WHAT and adam is like ? and gansey is like oh it was a fully casual problem with the ALTERNATOR of my car of COURSE it was the alternator, it was really simple and I fixed it with much ease :D and adam is like :’D felt like the had hatched a baby bird.. my uwus. ADAM! give me an idea! ALSO if anyone will allow me to venture into adansey territory…. the fact that adam is cabeswater’s magician and gansey now.. is cabeswater in a way. MUCH to think about. I still spend a lot of time thinking about the dryad au the problem is I have never been to progress past the “vague concept” stage of stories and this is why I don’t write dhfjhfdhf. But yes. I think about it often :3

i also like the henry with the gang, i think it could work really well but once again it wasn’t given the time for me to really see it :( also. ronan being racist. and adam laughing along with that. why was that included, ms turn on your location i just wanna talk

okay once again thank you for enabling me claire and i’m so sorry for this monster dsjkhfjkdhg

[likeadeuce]

do i ship Gansey/Declan a little?

So I like the canon ships in Raven Cycle very much = good job, well executed, I'm extremely convinced. But, do I need a little trash ship on the side? Sometimes. . . Gansey is pretty remarkable in being one of my favorite kind of characters (a rich weirdo who collects people to be part of his schemes and just wants them to let him love them) without being even a little bit garbage. And then I say 'garbage' and Declan is like 'What, you rang?'*

And I'm just saying, 2020 Gansey, he's had some time to come to terms with his bisexual disaster reality, and Blue has given her blessing. (Her blessing to sometimes date men, not to hook up with Declan specifically, because Blue is so fundamentally not an emotional disaster that this angle would never occur to her.

Ronan: Canonically I can can never be sexually attracted to Gansey because he is in all meaningful ways my brother.

"Yeah, about that? I might have fucked your trashcan* brother." *Specifiying so it is clear he doesn't mean Matthew. Because Gansey *actually* would never and also he doesn't want to be murdered on the spot (by Ronan).

I really have nowhere to go with this except it's probably D/s and Gansey is the dom (1. Gansey is less vanilla than you think. 2. Declan is an insecure nouveauriche train wreck who deeply wants some First Families of Virgina scion to wreck him.)

Is 'ethically conflicted dom' one of my ironclad character types? MAYBE. Not that Gansey would be ethically conflicted about knocking Declan Lynch around. Declan is fundamentally punchable, it's what he's for.

Gansey finally breaking quarantine to kick the shit out of Declan, which is satisfying for both of them. The fact that Declan, trained in bareknuckle boxing by his asshole Irish father, is indisputably a better fighter*, just makes it sweeter.

* yes, Ronan canonically 'taught Gansey to fight' but I'm seeing that as 'sure I'll humor you little dude, this will keep you from humiliating yourself'

*Look, I haven't read 'Call down the Hawk"," I am basing my Declan views entirely on his four or five scenes in TRC but I have faith in his ability to continue being sexy garbage in any context? We can only hope.

[perksofbeingalittletwat]

Cherry Blossom Nights

future!fic Adam is chief of staff to a senator and Ronan lives at the barns farming and learning to cook. They make dinner together sweetly and then scare the absolute shit out of a senator together. Weird powerful Adam and intimidating Ronan power couple take on the normies.

“Your floor count is 47. The motion’s gonna fail, you’re gonna have to abandon it.” Adam repeated calmly over the phone. His boss, rising senator and current Senate Minority Whip Douglas Fairveiw (D), huffed on the other end. 

“I know. But I’m telling you, it’s not worth it.” 

“And when will it be worth it, Parrish?” The more refined Virginian accent asked. 

Adam looked down at his desk. A spread of tarot cards looked back at him. He checked that his office door was tightly locked and checked them again. “We have to talk to Williamson, from Utah. She’s on the fence. If we can give her something she might come over to our side.” His thumb rubbed the Four of Swords, Williamson’s card in his mind. Fairview sighed, “Fine. Alright. Cancel the vote and send everyone home. I’m not going to risk my ass over this.” 

Adam nodded and hung up the phone. A quick email later and a nearly audible sigh of relief passed through the Senate Office Building. It was late on a Friday night and everyone was anxious to get home, the only thing standing in their way had been Adam’s boss and the impending, and now doomed, vote. Adam sighed too, leaning back in his chair and loosening his tie. He was glad his weekend plans had been here in Washington instead of forcing him to drive back to Henrietta. It was only a few hours back to his hometown, but on weekends hours were precious. They were so often cut short that any week he could force his partner up to him instead of driving home was easier. Ronan didn’t mind Adam coming home late from an endless meeting on an amendment to an amendment to a motion to strike out a line from an appropriations bill. Fairview had promised his staff the whole weekend off, and the holiday as well, but Adam knew better than to believe it. He checked his watch anyways, Ronan should be here soon. He gathered up the cards spread on his desk, hid them deep in his desk drawer, and walked out into the lobby. 

“I’m heading home, June. That’s a full lid. Bossman says we have the weekend off but keep your phone on you just in case.” Adam addressed the woman working the front desk of the office. 

“Ron.. I mean your boy… Mr. Lynch is outside the building.” June faltered. People in Washington usually reacted like this to Ronan. It was a town of sharp suits and cultivated personalities and Ronan’s utter insistence on being himself at all times threw a wrench into the system. Adam smirked. “You can just say Ronan, June.” 

Ronan was a dark shadow just out of eyesight of the door to the Senate Office Building.

“You’re allowed inside you know. You’re one of our constituents.” Adam called to the dusk. 

“It’s much more fun to scare the suits from out here,” came the grinning response behind him. Adam softened as Ronan wrapped his arms around him from behind and kissed his neck gently. “The vote’s off. I’m all yours this weekend,” He whispered. 

“Mark the time. I’ll believe it when I see it, Parrish.” Ronan sneered. 

“Sometimes I get the whole weekend…” 

“Sure. Tell me the last time you didn’t get a text from the suit all weekend.”

“March.”

“He sent you an email. Doesn’t count. You spent four hours researching soybean prices.” 

“You said text.” Adam protested. He disentangled his body from Ronan’s and opted to just take his hand, leading him away from the SOB and up towards his apartment. He was lucky, he found a place only nine blocks from the office on I street. His salary wasn’t impressive but it was more than Adam had ever seen in his life. They cut through the Capitol grounds and towards the highway. 

“You know what I meant you little shit,” Ronan threw back. “And you haven’t said anything about my skirt, I wore it just for you.” 

Ronan was dressed as he always did, combat boots, black tank top, incomprehensible yet threatening tattoo peaking out, but he had switched out his usual ripped jeans for a mid length black skirt. Almost a kilt really, that somehow looked even better than the standard model. 

“I like it. I didn’t want to call attention to it if you were just experimenting,” Adam said. The couple cut an unusual shape through the city. Adam blended in so perfectly, a lifetime of practice finally paying off, in a dark navy suit and red tie; Ronan a foreboding slash of darkest reality next to him. No small space had been written about them in the capitol gossip columns, the highest member of staff on the rising Democratic star senator’s team traipsing around town with a hooligan. Adam’s own reputation provided enough inches on its own. The ‘Wizard of C Street’, claimed one fanciful headline. It was believed far and wide in the city that Adam knew things he could not know before he could know them. What was stranger still was that it was true. His and Ronan’s connection with the legendary Gansey clan didn’t help either.

But this spring night was blissfully calm. The reporters were at home, the only people who acknowledged Adam and Ronan were the guards at the checkpoints to the Capitol itself. Adam greeted each by name and wished them a good weekend. Ronan ignored them. 

“How’re the Barns?”

“Sprouting. Everything’s up and ready to grow. I accidentally created a new breed of apple the other night, here, try it.” Ronan fished an apple from his pocket and tossed it to Adam. Adam caught it and bit into it, a trickle of juice dripping down his chin. It didn’t have a taste as much as it had a feeling. The apple felt like home, tasted like summer, and smelled like a cool breeze off the mountains. It was a dream. Literally.

“Can you plant these? This is incredible.” 

“No idea Parrish. I’ve never planted a dream before. It’s got seeds though, and I got it from a tree in the dream so it should. I dumped a few on the south pasture before I left. We’ll see what it looks like when I get back.”

After the short walk they arrived at Adam’s building, a stocky four apartment affair set back from the street with a yard. Upstairs the place was small, but Adam had used his salary to furnish it the way he wanted. Granite countertops, large tv, and plants everywhere. Ronan may be a farmer, but Adam worked with plants the way Ronan worked with dreams. Adam could barely close the door before Ronan shoved him against it with a kiss. 

They kissed hungrily at first, then slowed as they sated the most desperate of their need. It devolved into a loose hug and lazy kisses off center. 

“I don’t know how much longer I’m gonna be able to do this.” Adam whispered, the barest hint of his accent slipping back in now that they were safely in his apartment. 

“Do what?”

“Not having you here every night.”

“We survived while you were at Harvard.” 

“Just barely, c’mon. Move in with me.” 

Ronan pulled back and turned his head away. Memories of nightwash and choking came back to him. It hadn’t happened in a couple of years now but he had been steadfastly living at the Barns near his leyline and dreaming every night. “I don’t know, Parrish. You know I want to but…”

Adam hung his head and nodded. “Yeah. I know.” 

Ronan kissed him again, an apology as much as a promise, and took his hand. “Now come on, let me cook you something, I’m fucking starving.” Time at the Barns without Parrish had left Ronan with a lot of time on his hands. He had filled it with chores, dreaming, and the latest project: learning to cook. Adam hoisted himself onto the kitchen island and watched Ronan throw a towel over his shoulder and start rooting through the cabinets. 

“You have no fucking food in here Parrish. When was the last time you went to the store?”

“I don’t remember. I’m a little busy keeping the country running.” “You call that running? This country’s running about as gracefully as a baby horse with two broken legs.”

“It would’ve been three if I wasn’t around, you should be grateful.” 

Ronan banged around the kitchen. Adam just watched him quietly, Ronan was a tight little hurricane, knives flying and pots crashing and curses muttered under breath but the whole while a tiny, tiny smile played at the corner of his lips. It was the Ronan he had fallen in love with, but conscious, the destructive power that had driven him through his grief over his father had become an aspect of his personality, no longer the motivating force of it. Eventually, even though he had nothing in his kitchen, Ronan still coaxed a meal out of Adam’s apartment. 

“It’d be better with the real stuff. But ta-da.” Ronan flicked a bowl to Adam. Inside was an instagram worthy nest of spaghetti carbonara. He looked at it for maybe a second before he began wolfing it down. Adam ate like he might never eat again, like he had burned all the calories he had last time and was a few minutes from starvation. “God this is good Ronan.”

Ronan ate in great chomping bites. “It’s fine. You need to buy something worth eating, this cheese is shit.”

Adam smiled, “Since when are you a cheese snob?”

“Since you only have this shitty powdered parmesan in your fridge. It’s not that expensive, Parrish. You can afford the decent stuff..” 

Adam was about to defend himself when his phone rang. They looked at each other and Adam sighed. Ronan rolled his eyes, “I win again. Told you we wouldn’t get the weekend.” 

“It’s going to be nothing. Something quick probably.” Adam looked embarrassed and sad. “Parrish. Yes… No, yeah. I’m fine I was just eating… Ronan made us something. Yeah it was really good… He WHAT? Are you serious? That fucking… Yeah I’ll go right over.” He hung up and threw his phone at the couch, “That bastard.” 

“A new broken leg?”

“Hackfield’s screwing us. He’s pushing the vote through committee so we lose it. I’m so sorry, i have to go.” He started collecting his things again. Ronan followed him and steadied his shoulders and retied his tie, “It’s okay. You gotta go. I’ll be here when you get back.” He kissed Adam gently and brushed a stray hair out of his eye. 

“Actually… Do you want to come scare a senator with me?”

The look on Ronan’s face was pure happiness.

***

Twenty minutes later, Ronan was dressed in the suit he kept at Adam’s apartment and was standing by the door of Senator Hackfield of Delaware (D)’s office. Adam was back in his navy suit in the chair across from the senator.

“I understand your boss’ position, Mr. Parrish, but I’m not changing my mind. My state needs this package and I’m not going to deny them the opportunity this is going to provide.” Hackfield leaned back in his chair and spread his arms wide like ‘what can I do?’ It was obvious he thought Adam was no threat. Ronan smiled to himself, this was going to be fun to watch. 

Adam didn’t reply to the senator. He just looked at him.

“Mr. Parrish, tell your boss he can send whoever he wants but you and your little boyfriend aren’t going to scare me.” Ronan bristled in the background and crossed his arm. Hackfield chuckled, “Keep an eye out, Mr. Parrish, that one looks like he needs a leash.”

Adam cocked his head slightly to the left and held a pause. Then very quietly he asked, “Did you just refer to my partner like a dog?” Hackfield chuckled nervously. 

“No, of course not, it’s just not very professional to bring your, uh, partner, excuse me, into a meetin-”

“It’s not very professional to turn your back on your party for personal gain.” Adam countered, again with incredible quiet. Ronan knew what was happening. He’d seen Adam when he was like this, unsettling, distant, calm in a way that no other human ever truly was. People were not comfortable with this Adam. Ronan loved it. Stuttering, Hackfield tried to defend hismelf, “I’m not turing my back on the party. I’m helping my constituents. That is a very… professional.. Mr. Parrish I don’t have to answer to you, you know. You’re not my boss. And I don’t appreciate a staffer from a different office coming into mine on a Friday night like this and pushing me around.”

Adam didn’t answer, he just kept staring. Ronan took a step towards him. Hackfield glanced back and forth between the two boys nervously. 

“Look I… Maybe we can work out a deal. I’ll just put in an amendment to the-”

 Adam cut him off with a quiet, “No. You’ll kill this in committee until we have the votes.”

“My constituents need this bill.”

“And they can have it when we have the votes. But this isn’t about them. This is about you. This is about you looking courageous without having to risk anything because you know this will fail. I don’t like grandstanding, Senator.” 

Ronan took another step forward.  Hackfield looked pale. “Grandstanding.. I’m not… How dare you…” The senator was stuttering. Adam knew he had won. He stood up and just said, “This is going to wait. Thank you for your time Senator Hackfield. Have a good weekend.” 

And then he walked out the door. Ronan watched the senator for another second, squirming like a prey animal. “Call me a dog again and I’ll show you what my teeth can do.” he growled and then smiled a shit-eating grin and sauntered out of the office. 

“That was awesome, Parrish. He was fucking wetting himself.” Ronan was grinning ear to ear but Adam still had an aura of cold around him. “I don’t like them talking about you like that.” 

“Oh fuck him, who cares. I don’t mind being your little attack dog.” Wrapping an arm around his waist, Ronan made a little woof noise into Adam’s hearing ear. Finally, Adam let out a breath and laughed. “C’mon let’s go home. Maybe we can still salvage the weekend. It’s fucking hot when you scare people like that but if you ever look at me with those dead eyes in bed I’m going to dump you.” 

Adam turned and looked right at Ronan, shifting effortlessly into his uncanny aloofness. Ronan pushed him away down the hall, “Fuck off Parrish. I’m not kidding.” But Adam laughed and reached back his hand for Ronan’s. They walked out of the building holding hands into the warm spring night. 

[100storiesin2020]

Chapter 6: The First Meeting

Come read on AO3!

Blue anxiously followed Renee into the Foxhole stadium. Renee had come by the Raven boys' dorm at 4:30, offering to ride along to give directions and open up the building for them. She had sat in the backseat with Ronan and Adam, and had surprisingly hit it off with Ronan. Or perhaps it wasn't surprising, with that cross around her neck. Blue was still nervous, though. She was about to meet the whole team of Foxes. These were people that she would be playing with, expected to get along with, spending a lot of time with, perhaps even be friends with.

She hadn't had much practice with friendship yet.

Their footsteps echoed in the empty hallways. Renee was ahead of her, softly speaking with Ronan about local churches. "I know of at least one Catholic church in walking distance, and others in town," she was saying. Behind her Gansey and Adam were bickering about who would buy a toaster for their dorm. They probably didn't realize Ronan would just dream one up for them. Maybe she could talk him into making it orange.

They reached a door, which Renee opened, and the five of them filed in. Everyone else had already arrived. Blue checked her watch to make sure they weren't late, and saw that they were actually five minutes early.

This must be the team lounge, she thought. It wasn't a large room, and the three couches and two chairs made it positively cramped. On the left hand side, Andrew sat next to Neil, the third spot on the couch filled by a dark haired boy who could be no other than Kevin Day. Then there was a chair with Andrew's twin, Aaron. Nicky, Matt, and Dan were sitting on the middle couch. The chair next to them was occupied by a beautiful blond girl who Blue immediately disliked (who needs perfectly curled hair for a sports team meeting?). The third couch was empty.

Gansey immediately strode across the room for Kevin, extending his hand. "Hello! I'm Gansey. You're Kevin Day, right?"

Kevin stood and shook his hand, a perfect plastic smile in place. "That's me. Welcome to the team."

Gansey beamed. "Well thank you! You're a history major, right?"

Kevin kept the plastic composure despite seeming surprised. "Yes, I am."

"Then tell me, Kevin Day. What do you know about Welsh kings?"

Blue rolled her eyes as Kevin Day, Famous Exy Player Extraordinare, launched into a passionate speech about the Celtic countries and languages. Based on the startled looks from most of the other Foxes (Neil and Andrew were unfazed), this wasn't a common occurrence. She noticed Renee giving Matt and Dan a significant look before crossing the room to talk to Andrew. Blue stood there for a moment, unsure what to do with herself, but Ronan had no such inhibitions. He stalked over to the empty couch and sprawled across it like he owned the whole thing.

Adam and Blue smirked at each other before joining Ronan at the couch. Adam pushed Ronan's legs over the side, making room for him to sit. Blue didn't bother. She sat directly on his stomach. This forced a loud grunt out of Ronan before he shoved her off. "Fuck off, maggot." Blue laughed again as Ronan sat up straight, leaving her a proper place on the side of the couch.

As she sat, Nicky grinned at her. "Hi Blue!" he exclaimed. He turned to Adam and Ronan and waggled his eyebrows. "And welcome to the team, hotties!"

Adam, who had been sipping from a water bottle, began to splutter. Ronan thumped him on the back, making everything worse as Adam wheezed and turned red. He finally caught his breath. "Hello to you too..." he trailed off.

"I'm Nicky Hemmick! Sorry to startle you. But you two are both seriously hot."

"I'm going to tell Erik you're flirting again," Aaron warned.

Nicky waved him off. "He knows I love him. Anyway, I'm a backliner and the resident gay icon. Who are you guys?"

Adam and Ronan looked at each other for a quick moment, having one of those exchanges that Blue still didn't know how to read. Adam turned to Nicky first while Ronan glowered. "I'm Adam Parrish, offensive dealer."

"Ronan Lynch, goalie."

Nicky whistled. "You look like you eat babies for breakfast, man."

Blue snorted. "You should see him with his pet raven on his shoulder. It really completes the aesthetic."

This drew the attention of everyone besides Kevin and Gansey, who were still avidly discussing history. "A pet raven, huh?" asked Dan.

Ronan didn't respond. He gave Nicky one of his unsettling, menacing grins. "I don't generally eat babies for breakfast, but one of these days I may make an exception." He leaned forward, making an obvious threat.

Nicky looked terrified. "Oh, okay, cool cool, okay, nice to meet you, I think I'll let these guys introduce themselves." Nicky turned and tried to insert himself into the history conversation, which clearly went over his head. Blue laughed.

"If you find Nicky amusing, then maybe your sense of humor is better than your fashion sense," said the tall blond.

"Excuse me?" asked Blue. "Do you have a problem with my clothes, princess?"

"Well, yeah. You look like a rainbow vomited all over you, and not the way that Nicky usually does."

Blue spluttered. "Just because I don't buy into the patriarchy's dictation of how I should present myself -" she began heatedly, but she was cut off when Ronan stomped on her foot and Renee plopped in to Allison's lap.

"Blue, this is my girlfriend, Allison." Renee gave Allison a soft, but disappointed, look. "She is one of our roommates and I am hoping that you two will get along."

Blue glared at Allison, and if looks could kill they would both be dead. Renee cleared her throat. Allison sighed, seemingly quelled for now, and moved on to the next person on the bench. "So how about you, scary boy? Lynch, was it? You sure have a menacing grin."

Ronan gave her one of those grins. "Is that right?"

"Yeah. It's even creepier than Andrew's lack of emotion, which is saying something."

He scanned the other seats. "We're referring to the midget with the arm bands?" he drawled. Andrew looked back with apparent unfeeling, but Blue wasn't fooled. He'd been watching them this whole time so far, categorizing every move they made, probably weighing them to figure out how much of a threat they may be. She wondered if he thought Ronan was more dangerous than her, or less so.

Blue snorted. "You should know. Hasn't Gansey read you all his notes yet?"

"What notes?" Dan asked.

"Gansey really likes to make detailed notebooks," Adam said.

"He's a major nerd who likes to research anything important to him," Blue added. "You should see the journal. It's a work of art."

"Hey, Dick!" Ronan called, making Gansey wince a bit. "Where's the notebook?"

"Oh, I've got it right here," Gansey said, pulling it out of his backpack. He always carried a backpack these days. He handed the notebook to Ronan, who passed it to Blue, who passed it to Dan.

Dan opened it up and flipped gently through the pages. She turned so that Renee and Allison could see without moving, and Nicky and Matt peered over her shoulder. "You weren't kidding," she said. "This has our heights, our majors, our particular strengths on the court." Andrew stood up from his couch and came behind them as she continued to turn the pages. "Look, it's got newspaper clippings. He's highlighted some comments. Oh, this is the time Neil roasted that reporter."

"Interesting," Andrew drawled, startling everybody on the couch. "Your stalker binder wasn't nearly this pretty, Neil."

Neil laughed and came over to see. "It wasn't intended to be pretty."

Kevin and Gansey finally wandered over, and Dan handed the journal to Kevin. Kevin flipped to the section on himself, of course. Blue knew that it contained official stats, details of the chess piece tattoo, evidence for Kevin's implication that Riko Moriyama broke his hand, and Gansey's own observations of Kevin's playing style. "It says here," Kevin said, "that you think I'm too predictable with my shots."

"I did the math. You aim for the same place about 75% of the time. It's always-"

"The top right corner," Andrew finished, drawing looks from everyone in the room. Neil grinned. Andrew returned Kevin's searching gaze until the taller boy backed down.

"Well, if two of you say that, it must be accurate," Kevin muttered. He turned back to Gansey. "What other observations have you made?"

The team collectively groaned, but Kevin was fortunately silenced by the timely arrival of Wymack. "Nice to see you all again. Anybody dead yet?" He looked around the room and eyed Andrew a bit. "Have a seat, everyone." Everyone resumed their former seats. Blue shoved Gansey onto the couch and sat on his lap, turning sideways to put her feet up on Ronan's lap. He promptly pushed her feet onto the floor again. "Alright, let's keep it this way. Foxes, this is Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch, Blue Sargent, and Richard Gansey the Third."

"Just Gansey, please."

"Just Gansey it is. Did y'all introduce yourselves?" The team gave a chorus of yes, coach. "You all know how the schedule works, and there are no surprises this year. We have practices at 8 am for the next few weeks before school starts. Any more questions? No? Good. You know the drill: physicals and paperwork tonight, practice tomorrow morning." He handed a stack of papers to Dan, who proceeded to pass them out. "Practice tomorrow is at the gym. Do not come here, go to the gym. If you miss practice because you came here, I will kick your ass into next week. That includes you, Freshmen."

The door opened and a very nice looking woman entered. "I see you all survived the summer." She smiled at Blue. "I'm Abby, the team nurse."

"She will be doing the physicals tonight," Wymack said. "You four freshmen are new, so you're up first." He addressed the whole room again. "Don't leave without seeing Abby tonight or you will not get to play this season. Does everyone understand?" He was answered with a chorus of yes, coach. "Good. Who is first?"

Blue got up, since she was on top of Gansey anyway. "I'll be first. Adam, don't let Lynch here pick any fights."

"Shut up, maggot," he replied as she slammed the door behind her and followed Abby down the hall.

*********

Once the freshmen had done their physicals and left for Fox Tower, Nicky turned the conversation to the new people. "So," he began, leaning back on the couch, "Who wants to bet that Adam kid is gay?"

"No way," Allison said. "He was totally checking me out. My money is on straight."

"He could be bi," Renee offered.

"I'll take those odds," Nicky said. "Also, I want to bet that the girl and the history boy are dating."

"Bet pool is closed," Dan said. "Blue already confirmed they are."

"Pity," Allison said. "He's cute." Renee raised an eyebrow. "Hey, I was just looking."

Aaron groaned. "At least I'm not the only straight person on this team anymore."

"What am I, chopped liver?" Dan joked. Aaron rolled his eyes to the sound of laughter from around the room.

"Twenty bucks that Lynch is gay," Andrew said suddenly. Renee matched it, and then others took sides on the pot.

"Time for the big question," Matt said. "How long do we think it will take any of them to figure out Andrew and Neil?"

Bets flew in from around the room. "All year!" (Nicky) "3 months!" (Allison and Kevin) "Christmas!" (Dan) "Spring break!" (Matt and Aaron)

"Two weeks or less," Renee said, smiling sweetly.

[aeroplaneblues]

Call down the hawk spoilers!!!!!! these are just random thoughts while i was reading the book maybe later i’ll write something more coherent??

BUT the tl;dr is that I liked the book, I surprisingly like Declan more, pynch made me ache and I like Hennessy and Jordan as the new characters (the others idc). There are some stuffs that made me go “oh right this is a YA book” but overall it was an enjoyable book, I look forward to the rest and  i’ll draw smth soon-ish??

Also pls talk to me about this book and send me memes thank

- What i like most about siblings relationships is how different can they be, so when the Lynch brothers get this whole ass trilogy I really look forward to them not being bffs but just learning to live with one another. Anyway this roadtrip its giving me december 2018 miami trip with my brother and sister, which yeah im matthew in this scenario idc to drive lol

- Ronan: /says something passive aggressive or sarcastic me: god i missed this lil shit

- “Adam. Ronan missed him like a lung” maggie starting strong here huh

-Yes talk about those hand kinks of ronan, thats why we are here for

-Ronan’s love at first sight began with Adam’s HANDS jk but that desperate inexplicable prayer??? ugh pls love it

-If not for the tweed vest i’d have nailed how adam dresses in college in my trc lookbook djkfjdkfs the vest is good idea tho 👀👀

-”You smell like home” DJFKDFJKJKDFJKDF

-POCKET SIZE BLUE

-Ronan describing all his friends and never mentions noah:   me: this is fine :)

-This Ronan is resonating too much with me even tho im a college graduate. But all this talk of being the same as he was in high school and hiding away oh boy

-”I want it too much” UUUUUUUUUUUGH I LOVE THEM

-”extraordinarily tall and extraordinarily hunched, blonde, skeletal features” ALL MIGHT??!?!??!?!?!?!?😲

-”He has a german accent” me @ my brain: don’t read it like flula dont read it like flula

-”Dreamspace” Kirby’s dream land but with ronan

-declan adding “text/call gansey” in Ronan’s routine?? Thank you Declan

-”gasoline” seriously ronan names his dream things like kojima does characters

-"ronan’s pale skin” me: ??????????????????????????????????? right im in the wrong here

-oh declan idc about you for the other 4 books but damn now i do thx maggie 

-the other characters of this book are somewhat interesting but because idk about them is really hard to care haha this happens with every book i read

-oof declan laughing genuinely it hurts 

-ok but I ship declan/jordan. DECLAN AND A DREAM like father like son

-Ronan and his black goo thing reminds me of death stranding, can’t unsee it 

-Declan you smooth mofo wTF i want this date, someone take me to a museum and gift me a rare color pigment

-”...she was the banksy of the gallery world” i’ve never rolled my eyes so hard

-Maggie downloaded my trc lookbook and said “yeah this is Whack™ enough for adam to wear” bc im feeling self important

-Can’t believe Adam drove for HOURS on a dream thing he didn’t know how to use just to see Ronan before his bday for 3 hours and almost d-word™.

-i don’t need to learn latin, i dont need to learn latin

-I can’t translate any of this, there are some words that obviously seem similar to spanish but do they have the same meaning?🤔🤔🤔🤔

-Latin, their love language. WAIT IS THIS WHY ITS CALL ROMANTIC LANGUAGES??? jk this is not right fact check everything i say

-Ronan meeting the Hennessy girls finally and he is as rude as he can be, and Jordan too. CUT BY THE SAME DREAMED KNIFE. 

-Declan is making me sad.

-fuck you niall lynch

-JORDAN FEELING BAD ABOUT TRICKING DECLAN pls girl stop it.

-Bryde if you had a physical body i’d punch it.

-Declan and Ronan at some point:

-i care more about declan than visionary and his handler ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-MATTHEW NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO😭😭😭😭

-ok my german is shit but.......isnt versucht used for er/sie/es or with an auxiliary verb like hatte/werde/habe for ich???? 

-already in love with how IN LOVE declan/jordan are of each other this is tragic

-HONESTLY I SAW THIS COMING with declan being so cold to Aurora fdkjfsdkjfdskj GDI BUT HE STILL LOVES HIS BROTHERS SO MUCH.

-LISTEN, book 1: DESTROYING DECLAN, book 2: MORE DECLAN DESTRUCTION and then probably my favorite book 3: DECLAN GOES FERAL

-This starting a sentence and repeating it but only changing the end is fucking with my short attention span brain, idk if im re-reading the same sentence like i do when my brain does anything but read or a new sentence. Is this common writer technique???

-GDI IDK WHATS HAPPENING  i mean ofc niall made a copy of himself, wait no was it a copy of ronan? DID HE COPY DECLAN’S MOM?? dkjdfjkdf idk 

-ok but Jordan is so in love with Declan my heart😭😭 she cares for him too

-so this is the book we all join the declan protection squad huh??

-”Lindenmere loved him” this made me miss cabeswater😪😪

-OPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL😭😭😭💖💖💖💖 i thought she was dead, she is so happy to see ronan GOD IM DRAWING THIS

-Ronan is so terrible at explaining things is both hilarious and frustrating

-I know maggie said opal is like a pet to ronan, but im gonna ignore that HARD

-Dreamscaper is like a game of ronan’s life fkjfsjsk this has nothing to do with the book haha

-can ronan materialize bryde into a punching bag???

-DECLAAAAAAAAN

-gdi he is soooooo gentle and sweet with jordan even after he confirms she is a dream

-happiness for declan 2k19 last wish of the year

-that was the awkwardest knuckle bumping ever, i have second hand embarrassment

-omg what is this a romance novel and declan is the hero???! ON MY FANTASY YA???

-DONT TOUCH MATTHEW

-sundogs....i mean you can do better?? SolarHounds beamcanine ok whatever nvm

-poor jordan :(

-declan broken like this??? He feels soooo young someone protect this child MAYBE HIS MOM

-sargento. thanks this confirms my hc that blue is latina bc i said so

-pffft what if dreamers can contact each other in dreamspace like sense8 and they all chill with each other. Ronan dreaming about adam’s hands and then hennessy is like “lol kinky”

-ooooor?? everyone has a beach, yeah im not letting go that death stranding comparison

-the end of the world trope is so overdone in YA but i like it when its done well so far i like this, but ofc there are 2 more books

-THEY HAVE SUCH A SOFT SPOT FOR MATTHEW same tho??

-can declan and ronan HUG?! 

-i like ronan with hennessy, he seems more honest. Not his "evading telling the truth" honest, but actual truthfulness. Although is a bit weird/unsettling

-adam is OKAY and safe with gansey and blue ready to keep ronan safe

-RONAN AND HENNESSY NEW BEST FRIENDS

-everytime Great Falls is mentioned i read Gravity Falls instead

-"a sword that glows?" THE MASTER SWORD. Great idea given em swords it tickles my rpg/medieval love

-KAVINSKY YOU MENTION KAVINSKY BUT NOT NOAH??

-"one man 3d printer" maggie you comedian

-aw ronan is the sun and hennessy the moon awwwwwwww

-the hoverboard, what is this back to the future? 

You got this far here is your ⭐ lets go to the mall on our hoverboards

[parelmoer]

@a-d-ingus heeft op je bericht gereageerd “Weird thought, but I wish people would be more forthcoming with their hate for the raven...”

Could I ask you to give me some examples of where the misogyny and xenophobia was?? I could have just forgotten or missed it, but even if it was there I truly believe there was no ill intent or prejudice towards any group of people. Remember, writing does not reflect the personal opinions of an author, they're writing a characters who's opinions do not reflect the writers. Also it would be more up to interpretation and opinion if the main characters are tolerable or not. 

The opinions of characters absolutely reflect the opinions of the author, they’re fictional and thus do not have the ability to form another opinion than the person who created them… Now I genuinely don’t feel like wasting my time on why these books are insufferable, but if I have to give some examples: 

Blue has no female friends and is the epitome of the ‘im not like other girls’ and ‘manic pixie dream girl’ tropes. This can be seen in the way she treats/talks about her cousin Orla. She’s also a big white feminist. 

Kavinsky, a character that Maggie decided to write as Bulgarian, is written as a drug addict and the son of a mafia boss. He’s the literal embodiment of the Eastern European villain stereotype, that is still enforced in many American films and books. He’s a member of the lgbt community, clearly isn’t neurotypical and is alluded to being an abuse victim. And still she kills him off at the end of the second book, as if it’s nothing. As if his entire situation isn’t extremely relatable to many members of the lgbt community, as if this literally doesn’t give of the message that there’s no hope for people like him. 

In the third book Ronan and Adam make a very racist comment about Henry Cheng’s accent. And Blue makes a racist comment about the size of Orla’s nose, a character that’s clearly supposed to be black.

Gansey is the literal epitome of white heterosexual cis male privilege. He constantly calls Blue by the wrong name, and it’s played of as this cute, quirky thing, as if white people mispronouncing and disregarding poc’s names isn’t a big issue.

Maggie is very bad at taking criticism from fans, who’ve called her out on her misogyny, racism, xenophobia etc. She had this weird twitter fued with the singer Halsey, which she, as a grown woman, handled very immaturely. She also accused star wars fans of sexism, because in her opion they spend too much time talking about Finn and Poe and should have paid more attention to the female character, Rey, when trc literally has one (1) female main character, who, as I’ve mentioned above, has no female friends.

I could literally go on and on and on, about why these books are not great at all and shouldn’t be treated as if they’re the pinnacle of representation and diversity, when this is clearly not the case. I would recommend checking out the anti trc tag to further educate yourself, because there’s a lot of good posts in there that focus on one issue at a time.