#failmarriage of all time WHO is doing it like them..

[midchelle]

John and Yoko

The Beatles, Happiness is a Warm Gun (1968) // Yoko Ono, Play It By Trust (1966) // John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Robert Fraser at the opening of You Are Here (1968) // John Lennon and Yoko Ono for Melody Maker (April 26th, 1969) // Tumblr screenshot // John and Yoko during sessions for The White Album by Linda Eastman (1968) // John Lennon's letter to Paul McCartney in Melody Maker (24 November, 1971) // Derek Taylor, As Time Goes By (1973) // Yoko Ono, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney at the premiere of Yellow Submarine (July 17, 1968) // George Harrison, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono during rehearsals for The Concert for Bangladesh (1971) // Lorde, The Louvre (2017) // John and Yoko for Look (March 18, 1969) // John and Yoko for New Musical Express (20 December, 1969) // Box art for The Wedding Album (1969) // John Lennon and Yoko Ono during their Bed-in for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton (1969) // John and Yoko at a press conference at Heathrow Airport (April 1, 1969) // Lana Del Rey, Venice Bitch (2019) // John and Yoko (1971) // Bob Gruen, John Lennon: The New York Years (2005) // John and Yoko by Bob Gruen (9 November, 1972) // Yoko Ono, Death Of Samantha (1973) // John Lennon for Melody Maker (September 14, 1974) // John Lennon, Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down and Out) (1974) // Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol, and John Lennon (1971) // Yoko Ono, No, No, No (1981) // Yoko Ono for The Sunday Times (May 25th, 1981) // Twitter screenshot // John and Yoko for Playboy (September 1980) // John and Yoko during sessions for Double Fantasy by Kishin Shinoyama (1980)

[bitchthefuck1]

Tom's line about Shiv being selfish and "find[ing] it very hard to think about me" is actually so telling because while it's absolutely true that she rarely takes his position into consideration, Tom never once thinks about what he can do to help Shiv unless it also benefits him.

Every single time he makes a move or sacrifice that might help her, it's always something that he thinks will give him a leg up. He volunteers to take the fall for cruises, not for Shiv, who is in no way implicated, or even for Waystar, but because he thinks it'll ingratiate him to Logan, and the second it seems like he might have to actually follow through on that, he immediately tries to get out of it and even throws Shiv under the bus. Meanwhile, for all that Shiv disregards his interests, there are a number of things she does that only help him, and she's the one who actually sacrifices something and undermines her position with Logan to beg him not to let Tom go to jail.

It just makes it so clear that no matter how much he might love her (and I think he does, in his own compromised way), for him their relationship was always built on the underlying assumption that it's her job to prop him up, but it's not his job to help her.

[skippingthroughfields]

these days a lot of romance in books, TV, and film leave me a bit cold, which sucks as a lover of romance. there has to be something ~interesting there for me. I've been watching the day of the jackal and it's pretty entertaining so far. but the one thing I haven't quite been able to wrap my head around is jackal's love for his wife, nuria. the show clearly wants us to believe he truly loves her, even if he can't shed his assassin skin and lies like crazy to her. he spies on her. he dreams about her. he thinks about her constantly. even more so than the baby which I (and the show apparently) regularly forget exists.

the chemistry between eddie redmayne and ursula corbero isn't necessarily the issue even though it is middling. ursula certainly does the best with what she's got, which isn't much. but I always struggle when shows place us in an established marriage or relationship and tells the audience how much the two characters love each other, without really being convincing of why they go to the lengths they do because of this love. the jackal is a sociopath with a hundred different faces (though we spend quite a bit of time with him in his true face). he has no qualms whatsoever about killing innocent people to accomplish his objectives. that's established within 20 minutes of the very first episode. so what does it take for this murderer-for-hire to fall in love? why should we be so convinced of this cold-blooded killer's love for his wife? what is it about her that made him fall in love? and vice versa? the show doesn't even try to make us second guess this love. on some level, I'd be obsessed with a suave killer brought to his knees by a woman to the point where he starts a family with her. the deception, the two separate lives, the cat and mouse of it all. but everything about them is spectacularly bland.

throughout the series nuria is constantly questioning who she fell in love with. but who did she fall in love with? in episode 7 we get flashbacks of their first meeting, at a restaurant where jackal is a regular and where nuria works as a waitress. she's hot and vivacious and effortlessly charming. he's a mysterious loner who seems sweet. jackal takes a shine to her and later asks her on a date, to which she immediately says yes. and that's it. that's pretty much all of the flavorless context we have for their relationship. we're simply supposed to believe they fell in love with each other. she doesn't even make him work for the date. there's no push and pull there. she's not even a calculating golddigger or anything, just completely guileless. our favorite sociopath fell in love because she's just that charming? our charming waitress falls for this boring and rich-looking foreigner and that's it? and then we're told that she's completely trusting of him up until the ~turning point. ok. I don't believe the show is trying to pull wool over our eyes. they very much want us to believe there's love there. but there's just nothing convincing me of why these two characters love each other. this failmarriage is of no interest to me.

otoh, the connection jackal has with zina is compelling and sexy. this mysterious corporate shark archetype of a woman who dared to meet an assassin in person. who went to bat for this assassin even when her bosses were not convinced he was the man for their goals. who broke into this assassin's temporary lodgings and withstood his menacing energy. who wasn't afraid to yell and put pressure on this scary assassin. I'd be more obsessed if the actress was better at acting and there was actual chemistry between her and eddie. alas.

otooh, there is ALSO serious messy romantic potential with bianca. also a sociopathic liar. also a married woman (who we're also supposed to believe loves her husband. lol.) with a child. a woman who will do anything to catch jackal. a woman who has no qualms about using innocent people who get killed in the process (even if she does feel some degree of guilt about it). like the parallels are allll there. but she's black and we all know how that goes. in another series jackal would be intrigued and also as obsessed with this mi6 agent who somehow always finds him. sigh.

[carniferous]

i need the dil bartylus thesis NOOOOWWW

bartylus is the failmarriage of ALL time to me i’ve spoken about this before but to me they contrast jegulus in that jegulus is a relationship with clear beginnings and ends. its tumultuous for sure but its tumultuous in a very defined way. jegulus cant be a failmarriage bc they’d get divorced. they’re too obsessed with defining what they are to each other bc they want it to be real and meaningful and it can’t be anything less than that

bartylus on the other hand…. they couldn’t define what they are to each other if they tried. they’re like the definition of settling for less but ‘less’ in this case is someone who understands you on a very a deep and fundamental level. perhaps better than anyone in the world. perhaps better than you understand yourself!! i wouldn’t say they’re ‘recognition of self in the other’ bc barty and regulus aren’t even other to each other…. they are each others homes and i mean in this context that both of these characters have the most fraught relationship with their respective homes imaginable. they want each other the way they want to go home (not at all — but also desperately). their relationship is inextricable from childhood. they hate to be reminded of their childhoods

and yet they’re not…. toxic per se! they’re obviously not healthy but they love each other in a way that’s very earnest (childlike). barty dreams of running away with regulus. he is the white knight rescuing the princess from the tower (he’s exactly like james in this respect). but unlike james barty doesn’t see running away as leading to a potentially better life for them….. he has no desire for freedom or salvation. barty just wants to do what he thinks will make regulus happier. and bc of this they will NEVER run away together bc regulus does want freedom. he does want salvation. he will never leave everything he knows unless he has the promise of something better, and barty can’t give that to him (and barty would see dishonesty about that as the greatest betrayal imaginable). so they never leave! they’re trapped together forever! stagnation! rotting! being seen this clearly is love but it’s also unbearable! there’s no mystery there’s no intrigue there’s just the cold acceptance of their fate and the comfort that at least they’ll bear it together except it’s no comfort at all because they COULD have escaped. just not with each other

and don’t even get me STARTED on brotherhusband barty…. there are like some obvioussss barty/sirius parallels and we’d be fools to think regulus doesn’t see them. to think regulus doesn’t want barty explicitly because “this person is like my brother if my brother wanted me” ?? regulus is someone who has lived his entire life wanting to be wanted come on…. he fucks barty because barty is like if regulus could somehow make sirius stay. and barty thinks this is sooooo sweet he indulges it he’s like “yeah reggie why would i ever leave you we’ve known each other since we were toddlers… we’re practically bro—” and then 5 minutes later regulus is sucking his dick and he’s like. wow look at regulus self-soothing! i’m such a good friend :)

in a modern setting they’re a category 5 situationship of unprecedented magnitude. like the picture you paint of regulus crying in his car after their 34th screaming-match breakup of the MONTH (how does this even happen. months only have 31 days max. were they timing it by the hour) is so perfect. ppl tell reg to see a therapist and he graciously does and after explaining it the therapist is like “do you think this might have anything to do with your childhood?” and regulus like “no?” and then proceeds to ghost said therapist bc on the way home from the appointment barty called and apologized and invited regulus over. regulus was like “okay but we’re not going to fuck” and barty is like “ofc not do you think i’m some kind of freak that i would be horny right now—“ cut to barty with regulus’s calves on his shoulders

[ardentpoop]

top 10 sam relationships ranked and why

for simplicity’s sake I will try to exclude threesomes/foursomes, platonic or otherwise. but note that every dynamic on the show that I have a dedicated pretentious tag for (all of which involve sam) is one that I like to play with in my head.

samndean. what can I say besides failmarriage of all time. one of the most interesting relationships ever portrayed on tv if you’re watching closely, and too many ppl try to cram it into a box and imo they’re all missing the forest for the trees (to be clear this does Not apply to most people who correctly recognize it as an abusive relationship; imo you can’t truly understand either of them or their dynamic if you are unable to reckon with this)

sam & jack. mother and son biologically linked to the same predator (lucifer) and orbiting the same violent head of household (dean)……both of them scapegoated for their Inherent Impurity and shuffled from cage to cage…..bursting at the seams with anger and grief over how powerless they feel to contain the powers that broadcast to the Men In Charge their slow but steady “corruption”…..sam couldn’t prevent jack from experiencing the exact same life-changing trauma that sam experienced at dean’s hands….what’s better than this 💕

sam & cas. shockingly underrated to this day. they’re patient and doctor (sexual) they’re worshiper and heretic (alternating. also sexual.) they’re dean’s brotherwife (sam) and dean’s cuck friend (cas) who’s in unrequited love with him and regularly getting his wife off in strange and unethical ways. they’re parents to jack and dean is the beloved angry man in their house who calls the shots bc they’re too sloppy and broken to make their own decisions. the lucifer&sam&cas link paralleled with the lucifer&sam&jack link. the devil’s rejects. sam can watch cas torture some guy with a look of admiration on his face and then they’re retiring to sam’s room in the bunker to watch shitty tv together in comfortable silence. cas experimenting with sam’s body is so commonplace that he can offer to do Anything to him and sam okays it without hesitation. I love thinking abt how their relationship developed over the seasons esp given where it started. delightful to me :)

sam & john bc they let me explore my many serious issues with my own father without burning myself too badly <3

sam & mary because much like sam and jack they were doomed from the start in the same way and watching them get hollowed out makes me want to scream (complimentary) plus the audience doesn’t appreciate either of them properly they are both Riddled with interesting bruises in the same places.

sam & meg bc BUABS gender fuckery forever (they’re both trans. to be clear)

sam & ruby bc ruby is dean-mirror and she is mother and she is fattening up her little lamb for the slaughter and she is teaching dumbo how to fly and she is saying “I’m sorry you’re hurting. I had no idea that dean would do that to you” and she is Poison, dean says, after locking sam up, and she is tenderly stroking the tears off sam’s face and smiling after she permanently shatters his faith in her.

sam & crowley. they are never ever fucking in a million years and that’s the best part. sam’s condescending “am I supposed to be impressed by that?” made my brain short-circuit. she isn’t this mean to Anyone else it’s beautiful.

sam & rowena. I can’t write the essay abt them that I want to write. they’re hot. I love how much crowley would’ve Despised seeing them getting along.

sam & gadreel for the fic potential alone. they are my little cutesies </3

[emblemcest]

The THING IS, Helaemond and Helaegon are both IMO really fascinating relationships actually, just in very different ways?

like, Helaegon is. the tragic failmarriage. They're too much brother and sister, and not enough alike. They're not attracted to each other at all. This is incest of circumstances: they're disgusted by what they're doing, but they have no choice, and it's what everyone expects of them, so they try and mould themselves into pieces that will fit. It's traumatising them real time. And they're both too damaged to save one another. They're awkward and weird but playing their part as best they can, because deep down, they don't hate each other, or their parents who paired them together. It's a trainwreck. But it's an interesting one, and within any unhealthy relationship, there are pockets of good and love and joy that can still be found.

Meanwhile, Helaemond (...at least, the way it was written post-s1? Who knows anymore now lol) is romantic. We can see how Aemond would be better suited to take care of Helaena, and is less vulnerable and needy than Aegon. And hilariously, despite taking place in a culture of sanctioned incest, it's still forbidden: Helaena was married to the wrong brother, and Aemond chafes at it, and it feeds into and frames his jealousy of Aegon as the heir. Some like to write them as carrying on a secret affair to which he's the father of her children, but I prefer it as pining: that Aemond would grudgingly obey the rule of law and outwardly uphold his family and king.

A ship that are forced together and struggle to make it work due to their shared and individual trauma, or a ship that are forced apart but could be beautiful and loving? Both. Both are good. :)

[fawnnpaws]

to add to other anons point.... crack baby by mitski is PATRICKS SONG!!!

CORRECT!!!!!!!! everyone sit down it’s time for fawn goes insane about mitski hour

first of all……… crack baby is absolutely 2019 patrick’s song these lyrics have me gnawing at the bars of my enclosure needing to give him a goddamn hug

like…. 20 year summer vacation, 20 years trying to fill the void of art in his life ARE WE OKAY PATRICK ZWEIG NATION?? NO!!! he’s directionless. he doesn’t know what he wants, he doesn’t know what he needs, because the person who was his north star slipped through his fingers before he could even fight to keep him. he didn’t care about winning the junior doubles, he cared about playing with art. he would have followed him anywhere. not to mention losing tashi when his last words to her were so harsh, only to get her back for a couple feverish fucks and have her go right back to art. art who was his first. patrick zweig you put up a confident front but i see you……….

and while we’re at it let’s do the other two

art mf donaldson is so washing machine heart it hurts. he has his snake tendencies, but at his core he doesn’t want to be left out. even his attempts at manipulation were done out of desperation because tashi was focused on patrick and patrick was at stanford for tashi, not him. he doesn’t want to be forgotten or ignored. so badly, that he stays after he gets cheated on, runs himself ragged playing a career for more than just himself, and when he’s left alone in the early hours of the morning still has to wonder why he was never tashi or patrick’s first choice.

tashi duncan the war you fell in love with was tennis and how can you allow your husband/protege to love you with everything he has when you haven’t been able to fully mourn your first true love? when you’re haunted by the day you were forcibly relegated to the sidelines of the one thing you based your entire life around? the failmarriage affects her, too. the way she knows art wants more from her, needs more, but she can only give so much before her wounds reopen and she has to lick them clean all over again.

BONUS ROUND!!! me and my husband is so 2006/academy artrick to me. art always looking to patrick, always searching for him first in a room full of people, putting him on this pedestal and feeling out of place until they’re side by side. one cannot exist without the other. and patrick planning their futures together, even when their paths diverge with him going pro and art going to stanford, he’s never once thought about his life without art in it. in this lifetime they’re in this together, he’ll place all his bets on art’s furrowed brow, until the day he comes up short and loses it all.

whew anyway…….. they are sad and i want to squeeze them all

[pzychojinx]

the thing about the greens' family dynamics is we could have so much more. and that's a recurring issue. most prominently shown in 2.01, for sure - but a recurring issue nonetheless. helaena loses a son in a horrible, unspeakable way. first of all, give us more time with her prior to this tragedy. make us connect to her. then show us her relationship to the kids and simultaneously to her own mother. show us the lines that connect motherhood, girlhood and grief. show us a line of generational trauma. make it a parallel to rhaenyra and jace's scenes over lucerys. show us alicent, whose own relationship with motherhood has been complex and pivotal to her character, alicent whose marriage and pregnancies were political, alicent who was thrust into motherhood as little more than a child, having to witness her daughter watching the murder of a son. scratch whatever that was with cole. give us alicent facing the brutal madness of war, the consequences of it all on her daughter's face. show us aegon, who's known helaena all his life, fundamentally speaking a different language than her. do not dismiss it with 'the queen is an enduring mystery'. he knows she's a prophet, even if he doesn't get her. they're headed to tragedy. it's coming for them. show us two people who are familiar with each other but don't understand each other and are ultimately unable to help each other when the blow hits. give us a failmarriage. and aemond, for fuck's sake. ewan and tom have been saying aemond is aegon's attack dog. gorgeous. show it to us. he gets a pass to the council, sure, why? we don't get to see their bond, we should get to see what ties them together. we see him dismiss alicent's feelings and she dismisses his, but where's the confrontation? where's the complexity? they're mother and son. there's some bloody history here. don't treat them like people who just so happen to live in the same fucking palace. there is so much to say. there is a potential intricacy here that would be so compelling if they just tried a little bit harder and it starts with otto and it goes all the way to the murder of jaeherys but we just don't get to see it. 2.01 did a good job both with aegon's deep necessity to be liked which was already explored in s1 as well as with the issues he carries from viserys and we see it with the smallfolk as well as we see it with his treatment of his kid. that's good, that's compelling. give us more. team this vs team that, gonna be real, who cares. this is a very brutal story, and for the viewer to get this brutality we need to be able to connect with these characters. otherwise it falls flat. b&c was no red wedding because they took helaena's choice away. the potential in these characters and dynamics is there but it needs to be explored or it all falls flat.

[felixravinstills]

i have asserted that i am the felix/livia failmarriage anon.

but here's a thought i'd love to hear your thoughts on - what if they had a healthy marriage, happy household where their children grew up without ever seeing their parents yell at each other?

felix/livia failmarriage <3 but what if it wasn't a fail? (aka the nicer version of this)

honestly, I think it would work (considering that I do imagine if Coriolanus married Livia that she did somehow get charmed by him. I imagine that she could find herself getting over the childhood dislike? that I gave her and Felix), but it would be a slow burn.

For the slow burn to work, it would rely on Livia not falling for Coriolanus in the intervening time, Felix not dying, and no drama to start up that would get both of them to sour on each other.

Assuming the conditions are met, they aren't forced into a marriage, and they're feelings grow organically, Ravindew child probably grows up relatively fine. They're probably a bit spoiled, and I do think that there will always be some growing pains when they reach a certain age. Livia will have some expectation that the child doesn't meet, and Felix will not and it will seem like he's more distant. But it'll be so much less than in the failmarriage universe, and we all struggle with our parents on occasion (or at least, I imagine most people do).

It's not insurmountable, and I imagine Ravindew child and their parents love each other a lot but get into the occasional argument.

(More under the cut but it's less happy):

Being married to a Cardew does put him higher on the list of targets (for Snow but other politicians looking to seize power from the Ravinstills are included). Honestly, I can see Livia pushing and supporting him to try more in politics and maybe even try and replace his cousin (in my worldbuilding) as Ravinstill heir apparent.

Then, of course, because I always kill Felix. Felix dies. (If he doesn't die, then he's even more miserable somehow and/or following my other trend, he raises a future dictator of Panem...)

Livia's beside herself with grief (if she survives whatever assassination took her husband. It's 50/50 , but she'd potentially have her uses (to Snow? another politician?) so I imagine she doesn't die)

Ravindew child's down one parent (although they might have siblings in this universe but to keep it simple, I'll refer to only one child). Livia probably has a grief spiral but imagine she crawls out of it

Livia Cardew on the warpath for a lost love is probably a very terrifying thing. She's out for blood. I imagine her relationship with Ravindew child gets very strained at points, because Livia is very much focused on the past and revenge.

Ravindew child might start getting raised to avenge their father or get really coddled by a very overprotective Livia. Honestly, probably both in my mind.

They're a loving family but through this, I think this also seeds resentment. The coddling seems counterproductive to the first point which frustrates them both and neither communicate about it well (probably). In the end, it's memories of the better days holding them over from having frustrations erode away at the love mother and child still have for each other.

Bonus: I think it would be funny (and by funny, I mean cool and tragic) if Livia did get together with Coriolanus in this AU not knowing he killed Felix, and their child finds out and kills Coriolanus fulfilling their goal of avenge their father that their mother impressed upon them since the death of said-father only for this to actually make their relationship with their mother worse. Livia can't help the resentment of "I was finally happy again, only for it to all fall apart again." Yes, her anger should be directed at Coriolanus in this situation (for killing Felix and lying to her), but he's not here anymore... you know who is? Ravindew child. And through it all that's still her kid, she still loves them. But it's hard. and it's gotten so much harder.

...

Thanks felix/livia failmarriage anon! <3 I feel like I'm normally bad at expanding on stuff (that isn't in a fic and hidden in subtext), so let me know if you have any other questions!

[consistentsquash]

2023 HP Fic Recs

HP Fics written and completed in 2023 which I read and loved. My recs are based on my reading + taste.

Snarry

OTP!

For I Have Found Salvation by @lumosatnight

Severus is a priest, and Harry is the parishioner who may just make him break his vows of celibacy.

Enough said. Hot, wrong, dirty. So totally Snarry!!! Also with a twist you don't see coming! Rated E. 7100 words. From Snarry AUctober Fest 2023 collection.

  Snake Charmer by @perverse-idyll

Sometimes all Severus had to do was turn thirty-plus years of repressed hunger upon him, and Harry would start shaking.

They are total disaster failmarriage hotness! Feel really sorry for everybody around them. Like a lot! The opening line is giving one really bad vampire in Hunger so much for me :D :D It's like a snippet/draft from WARM my beloved! <3 3200 words. Rated T.

  Devotion by @danpuff-ao3

Is there anything more undignified than needing someone so much?

26000 words. Rated E. Maximum hotness. Maximum wrongness. Maximum dirty bad delicious Snarry. This is the longest HP fic I read this year and 100% worth it!!! I am a big fan of Danni's Snarry and this fic is one of my all time fav Snarries. From Snarry-a-thon 2023 collection.

  In His Bed by @givereadersahug

Jealousy flooded Harry at their familiarity with each other's bodies. Resentment at their ease in getting each other off — the passion, the eagerness, the joy. All so different from his relationship with Severus.

Harry is super Slytherin here! Using the memories in order to learn what makes Snape tick! I really loved the dirtybadhotness of this fic! 450 words. Rated E. HP Kinktober collection.

  Coda to "Soft Touch" by @perverse-idyll

He'd thrown the bait. Would Snape catch it? Yes, he would, and throw it back.

Soft Touch is the Most ethical Massage Therapy fic ever :D Dirty, bad, hot, wrong. So it's incredible to get this really sweet and wholesome coda. You can see the undercurrents of the more complicated themes but also really sweet. 3300 words. Rated T. This is as fluffy as PI Snarry gets :D :D

  Femslash

Nymphadora, Nymphet by @thistlecatfics

Could this woman be a relative of her mother’s?

Bellatrix/Tonks, Bellatrix/Andromeda. 20200 words. Rated E. From Women of the House of Black fest 2023 collection. Really hot, dirty, wrong on literally every single level :D Obviously I love it! The femslash Lolita fic HP fandom really really needed :D

  Candles Lit Against the Dark by @perverse-idyll

Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank/Minerva McGonagall. 13600 words. Rated G. My favorite fic of 2023. From Snapecase 2023 fest collection. Beautiful, beautiful fic which is kind of my personal epilogue for the books at this point. Lost count of rereads. It's packed with beautiful friendships, people focusing on the sweet instead of the bitter, people moving on together, people forgiving each other. It's an incredible fic with perfect execution on some classic tropes like matchmaking and friends who are going to help you whether or not you asked for it. Also some not so classic tropes like celebrating a female character's life/happiness/love being the center of a rich fic. Ultimately this is Minerva McGonagall's fic and I am so here for it.

  Once of Eden by eldritcher.

Lily/Eileen. 2000 words. Rated M. Poignant and super sharp character study of Lily. Lots of storms inside her head about her family/war/Petunia/Snape. This is right before her marriage but she has this feeling she doesn't fit into that life and she doesn't want to let go of her past. Like a lot of us, she's also seeing her past/childhood through these nostalgic glasses but at the same time she's also noticing adults in her life and has this bittersweet feeling that she's an adult now/making adult choices now. Serious Catcher in the Rye vibes. This fic has the Lily for me. Really like Harry, really Gryffindor. It's a really beautiful, sensitive, unique, powerfully human fic.

  Leather by @saintsenara

Tonks/Fleur, Tonks/Charlie, Tonks/Remus, Tonks/OFC. 2900 words. Legit character studies of bi characters are super rare in our fandom. I don't really go for self-discovery type fics but this one is whoa! Love, love, love and highly recommend this one. It's out and proud and amazing. <3 From Ladies of HP Fest Collection.

  Rare slash

Rare as in the only fic on AO3 for the pairing :D

The Ice Cream Man and the Potions Master by @squibstress

Florean Fortescue/Snape. 9000 words. Rated G. From Hoggywartyxmas 2022 fest collection. This is definitely my fav slash fic of the year <3 I feel like a lot of times especially with OTPs the preslash part is kind of assumed to happen in the background. This fic does an incredibly amazing job of setting up the preslash and it's just ultra convincing. New Snape ship dropped <3

Gen

Yeah, I read gen! Tbh I don't except when a character study fic or an author's writing style really grabs me :D

October by @ashesandhackles

Insanely amazing character studies. Rated G. The Barty Crouch Jr. character study, Disappointing Fathers, is probably my all time fav genfic with him. I came out of this super sympathetic for Barty which is something that never happened to me before. So well written and brilliantly characterized.

  Womb by eldritcher

3000 words. Rated M. Phineas Nigellus Black character study with a beautiful friendship with Snape. Dark and intense but the fic has my fav Snape resurrection of all time <3 From Snapecase 2023 fest collection.

  Birds of Paradise by eldritcher

2700 words. Rated G. Fawkes character study with a beautiful friendship with Albus Dumbledore. Really beautiful, ethereal fic. eldritcher can write non-human characters with their own "type" of emotional connect. Normally they use this superpower for writing interspecies :D But this is a beautiful gen fic. From Pandemic, my most beloved. Obviously each and every eldritcher fic has a really special place in my heart but Pandemic is just insanely generous giving something special at the right time when it was needed and it made a huge difference for me personally. Love and anarchy, always!

  The Octaves and the Circumsion of Our Lord by eldritcher

The Dark Lord is circumcised. Nobody knows how everybody knows, but everybody knows.

2300 words. Rated M. Regulus Black character study with a beautiful friendship with Kreacher. Dark and intense fic about Regulus getting radicalized but also showing how he actually buys into those beliefs. Normally I avoid Regulus fics because the characterizations just don't work for me. This is exactly how I imagine Canon Regulus.

  Al Najid by eldritcher

She has come here to make an example of this woman for the son to find. Snape should know that betrayal comes with consequences.

2800 words. Rated M. Bellatrix Black character study set just before she tortures the Longbottoms. A complicated situationship with Eileen. Dark and hot mess Black family fic.

Het

Oof. Literally zero reason to trust my hetfic recs but you got to trust me :D These fics are amazing!

Ariadne by @ashesandhackles

Surrealistic, beautiful character study of Cho. It's got Harry/Cho, Cedric/Cho for pairings but this is 100% her fic. 1100 words. Rated G.

Exploring Cho's feelings for Harry in wake of her grief for Cedric's death, with symbolism from myth of Ariadne, Theseus and the Minotaur

  Four Christmases Pomona Sprout Loved and One She Hated by @kellychambliss.

Aberforth/Pomona. 6800 words. Rated T. This fic keeps it real. I really felt her pain because when you are an adult making new friends is super hard! The BEST Aberforth Dumbledore Snarkiest!!!! <3 I am a big fan of how this author writes The Abe D! Actually I am a big fan of this author. FAVE! <3 A lot of times rarepairs can feel kind of hard to believe because the characters don't have canon time together. You are totally going to be convinced. ALSO BANTER. I love relationship progression with banter. Things get bittersweet because of the war but it's got a really beautiful earned happy ending <3 My fav het fic of the year. Best fic to end this list :D

[emtmercy]

I would not normally post the url of someone I’m dunking on BUT the fact that this person is rly into sastiel is an essential part of it

Anyway idc either way about this headcanon but them being so preemptively mad that people might weigh in while also shipping armanddaniel or who don’t “ship” loumand is so much

The super intense loumand ppl are interesting to me bc most people who are watching the show as intended do enjoy their content together we just also understand it for what the writers gave us which is failmarriage of all time

But that’s a fun great thing like that’s awesome hilarious gay content which I want in the show

Also who is shitting on their ds relationship I feel like they just mean people who do like meta about it

[catominor]

my fictional romeguys introductory post to contextualise the posting!!!!!

this is my little guys from my novel project which is currently in its Infancy very much. the story is set... somewhere roundabout the 80s-70s bce probably. it's broadly about two guys who make a jointly beneficial political alliance (and also become friends in the process) their psychosexual joint consulship and its consequences

main guys:

lucius furius m. f. sp. n. camillus: 45 years old, semi down on his luck patrician. he spends most of his time when he isn't trying to enhance his dignitas in the political sphere being a weird shutin and not leaving the house if he can avoid it. was injured very badly when he was young during a brief military career, preventing him from doing war stuff again... for now. (he also had a hugely comical and deeply formative crush on his commanding officer during said military career). ambitious beyond both his physical and monetary means. has been in a sexless arranged failmarriage for like 25 or so years with his wife, caecilia, whom he was married to because his family desperately needed money (but he does love her in his own weird way i think). also loves gardening, stoic philosophy, being maybe slightly addicted to opium wine, books in general, and being inside and in his house reading his scrolls (despite being in politics, having to shake all those sticky plebs' hands makes him want to kill himself fr. the price he pays for his rightful place in society as he sees it...). he is a huuuge sullan also. to him sulla did nothing wrong ever in his life. most famous for being a bit eccentric and reclusive, but still quite respected by most of the senate for his modest lifestyle and his refined and learned tendencies.

gaius martinus: our biggest handsomest general... a couple years older than lucius furius, wealthy plebeian senator. he's a bit of a new man; his family has only been in the senate for a couple generations and never attained the consulship. he's a simple type of guy really; he's a squarely competent (though not really that astounding) military commander, not very book-smart, and has an impressive appetite for all of life's pleasures. most people who don't instinctively look down on him for these traits tend to like him tremendously; he's easy to talk to, friendly, generous, and cheerful. he has a wife, poppaea, who he loves very much, and 6 horribly behaved sons to whom he is a beautifully absent father. his favorite things to do are hang out at the baths or the gymnasium, throw big dinner parties or go out partying with his friends, and do his thang commanding his troops and chopping people up with his sword in The Wars. he doesn't have very strong political leanings, and mostly just wants to be paid attention to, adored, etc. most famous for accidentally unleashing a pack of tigers intended for his games into the streets of rome while he was plebeian aedile, and for throwing big knock your socks off parties (and not getting mad at the guests for taking a little of the food home)

heres a main guys image (coin of them i drew):

others:

caecilia: lucius furius' wife in their arranged failmarriage. for her this relationship is constituted of a mix of resentment and love; they get along very well mostly, and in another life they could have been good friends, maybe, but in this one they're married and he's wasted her life. she helped him tremendously with everything he's done in politics, both with her advice and with her money, and in return she's mostly just been taken for granted. she wanted kids. there never were any. she thought he might die from one of his many ailments (he is the worlds sickliest man) soon enough; he never did. who's to say you can't love someone while also wondering if you could get away with killing them every now and then? she mostly passes her time by weaving, and writing vulgar epigrams which she publishes under a pseudonym for funsies...

poppaea: gaius martinus' wife. there isn't too much to say about her; she really is gaius' other half. like him, she's cheerful, easygoing, and enjoys the finer things in life. she loves gaius dearly, despite the fact that he's far from faithful; poppaea isn't the jealous type, or else, knows she can't really afford to be. she is also a wonderfully absent mother to their children, mostly preferring to leave the child raising to the nannies and take pleasant strolls around the gardens and go shopping in the big markets with her friends. she has a close relationship with her father, and often visits him.

quintus poppaeus: gaius martinus' father in law. a thoroughly slay old man. businessman who was never involved in politics (made his money from the mines), loads of money and mostly spends it on building hanging baths in his baiae villa, installing the latest garden fountains to flex on the neighbors, ridiculously swagfully effeminate outfits, and so. so many beautiful pet fish. his only child is his daughter, poppaea, and he adores her. he also has a very friendly relationship with gaius.

furia: lucius furius' younger sister and only living sibling. she's a bit like him if he were more mentally stable and normal. she's in a barely tolerable marriage with another aristocrat. her and lucius furius don't speak very often; she resents him a bit for having power over her i think (their father died when they were young) and he probably made her marry whatever crappy guy shes married to now (have i mentioned this is a work in progress)

theres other of my own characters but these are like. the ones who will Matter the most and that i will post about tbh

none of the stuff mentioned in here are things which would like. spoil any Plot so i wont say any more... im not too precious about spoiling things cause its such early days (plus i think if i write well enough it will be interesting to read even if you know what happens hopefully?) but i just dont want to make the post any fucking longer lol...

[mejcinta]

House of the Dragon Season 2 Ep 1: A SON FOR A SON reaction.

One word: JAEHAERYS TARGARYEN. Even with the minimal screen time, he snatched my heart as Aegon’s little fatherhood project. You can tell Aegon projects so much of what he wanted with Viserys into the boy. The murder of Jaehaerys and the trauma precious Jaehaera (basically mini Haelaena who Aegon is careful not to over-stimulate with touch) faced at the hands of Blood and Cheese will make Aegon abandon his trepidation and respect for Viserys as seen by how he destroys the Old Valyria model in episode 2.

Helaena and Aegon’s failmarriage and co-parenting arrangement is EVERYTHING to me. It’s exactly how I would’ve written them pre-B&C. Helaena’s ‘choice’, which is a BIG change from the book, probably has something to do with her ‘dreams’. In difficulty, she saved Jaehaera (her only girl) and gave up Jaehaerys. Her dreams are unconsciously guiding her to accept hard realities (Jaehaerys’ inevitable murder) and to prepare for future realities like the birth of a new heir (Maelor). But this in no way means that she won’t suffer psychologically for the choice she had to make. It will clearly haunt her and drive her to revere and pay more attention to her heightened intuition.

I’m disappointed that they skipped over Alicent and Otto’s reactions to Aemond returning with news of Luke’s death!! But Alicent’s conversation with Otto in private pretty much sets up the former’s anger, frustration, disappointment and doubts when it comes to Aemond, while the latter (Otto) is more…adaptable to the situation at hand (no pun intended). It is clear Aemond is HURTING greatly from Alicent’s dejection. He’s not used to this new position, having fallen out of grace with her with no sign of an understanding in the horizon. Aemond is rightfully resentful, but I am glad that Aegon and Criston are there for him in the meantime.

Alicent and Criston’s affair works for me, despite of people disagreeing with it. This is Alicent’s channel for venting her frustrations and curbing her passions, whereas Criston allows her to use him out of his warped sense of duty, dedication and mutual love for her(Olivia confirmed Alicent has been holding a torch for Criston since her girlhood). She is basically a bomb and he, her diffuser! This is a sacrilegious alliance that lets them turn the wheels of power from behind the scenes as well where Aegon cannot see them. Where Alicent can’t get to Aegon, Cole can reach out on her behalf with counsel, although with Larys sneaking around you are left to wonder how long their sizzling romance-alliance will remain hidden.

I really don’t care about the North. Not crazy about Cregan’s slow Kit Harrington Jon Snow accent imitation either…but I loved the opening monologue. Duty is sacrifice even at the cost of blood. This seems to be the theme that will set the tone for the season.

Jace surprised me this episode. Loved Harry’s tangible step up in acting chops. Jace seemed the dandy, out of touch prince who Cregan quickly grounds with the biting words of a man that has seen more danger than him. Harry’s emotional delivery as a grieving brother was so well done as well.

Aegon and his pack of jesting friends made my ribs quake with laughter this episode. I hope that humor will not get severely extinguished down the season.

Laena mention was refreshing in the scene between Rhaenys and Daemon. I hope Rhaena’s resentments have something to do with Laena and that we will see her talk this out with a family member soon. I am tired of the Happy Family picture Team Black is given. Where is the fun dysfunction??

Emma’s quiet, grieving performance was excellent. I literally cried BOTH times I watched the scene of Rhaenyra finding Luke’s remains. I really dig this vengeance angle they are pursuing with Rhaenyra.

Alyn and Addam are welcome additions to the story so far as bastardy is concerned. We really don’t see this with the Velaryon-Strong brothers at all, but here we see how Corlys has to be low key with his interactions, how Alyn suppresses his need for approval from his biological dad, how it’s compromising to be seen together etc.

Why is Hugh Hammer being yassified and babygirlified lmao?? I guess they’ll make Ulf the fool, then.

Blood and Cheese delivered complexity in terms of Helaena’s choice…but it flopped a bit at the horror part. I was left wanting more from it, but Phia’s performance was EXCELLENT and Helaena’s dissociative POV as the event happened, so soul-twisting and chilling. The children being made younger (the babies are reportedly 4 in the show canon) makes everything much sadder and disgusting. Alys Rivers can’t haunt Daemon Targaryen enough for what he has done!

Larys politically seducing Aegon the same way he did Alicent years ago…Lord, take me away!!! He and Otto continue to be the delightfully subtle evil, whilst Alicent slowly catches up, navigating her way more strenuously towards her sons to capture and ensure influence over them.

Daemon’s loserism is hilarious. And I did very much enjoy his intimate interactions with Mysaria, whose accent has largely improved!!

I’m repelled by this rubbish logic that Ser Erryk is the most honorable, angelic and saintly Kingsgurad! Again, the concept of ‘honor’ in a story fool of hypocrites, liars and pretenders is funny as hell. This is why I love the Greens more narratively. We don’t have to pretend that they’re the good guys…and that makes them way more badass.

No Daeron mention yet. THIS SHOULD BE THE EPISODE WHERE HE’S MENTIONED, DAMN IT!!

[reasoncourt]

i really think shiv is going to serve tom divorce papers and initiate divorce proceedings (whether they get divorced is anyone’s guess but i don’t think they will).

so first - idk who is wearing their rings at what time. but i think it means something different to both of them. after s3 i think shiv won’t want to think about tom or her marriage or anything to do with the betrayal. i think she’ll keep her ring on because she just doesn’t want to be asked about it, talk about it, or deal with it. she has other things to do. like destroy tom and logan. tom will take his ring off because he’s been kicked out or she’s told him they need time apart. but - importantly - he takes it off thinking he’ll put it back on when they sort it out. and she leaves it on with the intention of taking it off when she can deal with everything that entails. they’re on two different pages imo.

HENCE i think tom is going to be shocked when shiv files. because in his mind - they were going to work through it. he doesn’t see his betrayal as a big betrayal. he sees it as business (or at least he tells himself he does). he’s trying to take the logan pov. and he thinks shiv must understand that. because shiv and the rest of the roy sibs have accepted that kind of backstabbing from logan all their lives. so he thinks she’s going to forgive him bc that’s just the way it works in the roy family. but tom doesn’t realise that the key to logan’s influence is that he’s god in waystar royco. he calls the shots. he’s untouchable (or at least. he was). so the kids accepted him bulldozing them not because they “understood” but because there wasn’t an option not to. but their resentment at that treatment has festered for years. so when someone like tom comes around and tries to do that to shiv. she’s not going to react the same way. she doesn’t have to put up with it so she won’t. she can ruin tom in a way she could never ruin logan. and she can divorce tom in a way she can’t divorce her father. shiv has power in her relationship with tom. a power she doesn’t have in her relationship with logan.

now i think tomshiv do love each other so whether they stay together in their toxic failmarriage is up in the air for me. i think it mostly depends on whether tom turns on logan in the end. logan rn is thinking tom is as safe as shiv thought he was when she married him. but when tom starts feeling insecure or threatened - when he starts to think maybe team logan isn’t the winning team - he’ll flip. and i think logan will expect it about as much as shiv did. or perhaps he will expect it and he’ll ruin tom for her. either way, i will be seated

[eastgaysian]

Hey, I wasn't sure if I should say so or not in case it would be upsetting to you, but since you brought up the idea of a survey I thought I'd say that I have lost a parent & like you the current season of Succession has had a cathartic effect on me. I've also seen one person on twt say that's the case for them too, so I'm willing to bet a lot of ppl who've lost a parent feels similarly and like... Regardless of if it's a "good" season or not, I think media that helps me process my grief is a positive thing, it has value, or what have you. Obv it's fine for ppl to dislike the season, & ofc I don't wish others could exp that kind of loss, but like 🤷🏻‍♀️ sometimes things don't resonate with you until you've experienced smth, & sometimes that happens when you're 0-10, sometimes when you're 50-60

yeah, i started noticing a gap in reactions after connor's wedding between people saying 'that felt far too much like my own experience with a parent/family member dying' and people who acknowledged the skillful execution of the episode but didn't seem to personally connect to it (which generated a couple takes on logan's death and the perceived indignity of it that rubbed me the wrong way, lol). on the one hand my continued posting about the Discourse is because it's aggravating to me, like why is the hot topic of fan discussion 'is the show we're all watching even good?' ??? but on the other, it's genuinely just confusing to me and i'm trying to understand what i'm missing. the minor criticisms that people have cited as the root cause of their dissatisfaction don't add up to me. they feel much more like things that are only noticeable/irritating if you already have some fundamental issue or disconnect with the season.

and i think it really is that this is a season about grief and only about grief, there's no space for anything else. the emotional arcs in other seasons were usually related but distinct - you could focus in on what you liked in particular, whether that was kendall's mental breakdown, roman's freudian mess, shiv's struggle to be taken seriously as a woman, shiv and tom's failmarriage, tom and greg's weirdness, and there'd be enough material for you to chew on and have a good time without worrying all that much about everything else (although i do think being able to understand how all of these connect improves your experience of the show immensely, but i digress).

s4 is about grief. everyone is reacting to logan's death in different ways, but it all comes back to grief. if you're interested in talking about grief, there's so much to explore. if you don't find that engaging, then you're out of luck. it's fine to not find that engaging because you wanted something else out of the season/show, but that doesn't make the season objectively bad or subject to flaws that weren't already present throughout the rest of the show. and yeah, based on my reaction and the reactions of other people i've seen who have that personal experience with death, i think it's a really spectacular depiction of loss and grief that handles all the complex emotions involved with more thought and care than i've seen in other media. it would not be as accurate or impactful a depiction of grief if time and space was spent on something completely unrelated.

i don't think you need to have lost a close family member to connect to the storyline, but i also don't think you can understand what it's like until it happens in your own life. it fucked me up badly when my aunt died in middle school because she had been a major part of my childhood, but the degree to which my dad dying fundamentally altered my life is just incomparable to anything else. you really cannot experience grief as a concept or thought experiment, a person's death is real and permanent in a way nothing else really is. which sounds obvious but it's just true

[scalpho]

ship bracket, d20 failmarriage edition:

- gerelody

- caramelinda/amethar

- lazuli/caramelinda

- margaret/lucienne

- sam nightingale/zelda donovan

will not pass judgement on caramethar and carazuli because i have only seen six episodes of acoc. however i will say that i love a miserable marriage ("who did i marry?" was Crazy) and carazuli with the whole seeing the future thing seems very intriguing although i do not know much about it. anyways

i'm not as crazy about gerelody as i used to be just because neverafter is not on the brain as much anymore but they had me in a CHOKEHOLD. romantic relationships are not an end-goal and will not always be the best option however i am still a little disappointed that they got divorced even after the devastating "she takes it. holds it. ... i do love you". everyone who's written a gerelody divorcees-to-friends-to-lovers post-canon reconciliation and healing fic i love you. i don't think about them too often but i'm sure if i rewatched neverafter they would punch me in the gut again

not crazy about them but there is something real special here. there's something about captialism and corporate culture and the way they both interact with it that's so. well i can't quite articulate it. there's a lot to unpack and i can't get the zipper on the suitcase unstuck. i will say that i almost wish marge full committed to lucienne in spite of the insane plot and the miserable yogurt eating like you did all that for what 18 episodes and now you're giving up because she's having a yummy snack in these trying times? anyways. they're a mess and i'm here for it. platinum cogs forever

they're so sweet and so important to me. the conversation on the mountaintop always gets me. and the image of sam floating in the air with zelda perched on the mountainside as they hug? so good. they care about each other so much. i think sam being protective of zelda is the best and i love a little popular mean girl x bit of a loser. god just. go look at episode 5 of t7 watching it or the transcript or whatever and listen to them talk on the mountaintop and get back to me. GOD. love them