#fortune lover meta post

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Have you thought about crossposting your hamefura dlc post into ao3? Unless you already did, apologies if so, it would make it a lot easier to read all of your post without scrolling for what feels like forever

I had not considered it until this moment. I think I will probably do so at some point in the future, if only because it'd make the cross-referencing I do for some of these significantly easier.

[logo-comics]

In the endings where she dies, it does make sense that she dies, given that she was acting with lethal intent, but that is after the banishment and disownment, when she has nothing to lose, and that's without factoring in possible Dark Magic shenanigans by Raphael.

The banishment, I would say is rather disproportionate to her part in the crimes, where she often, based on what we see, is more a ringleader that doesn't generally act, herself.

From an in-universe Doylist approach to Fortune Lover*, it's entirely because the game devs decided this, but that's just a lazy approach for me to take.

From the Watsonian perspective**, the most reasonable assumption for one to make is that Keith and Geordo, who both hate Katarina***, decided to use this event as leverage in order to get rid of Katarina in a way that would keep her from being a political liability to either of them, seeing as how Katarina would have been considered a viable heir to the politically powerful Claes Duchy upon the annulment of the engagement.

*i.e. Monkey Girl and Acchan's world **Again, in-universe for Fortune Lover, in the in-game Sorcier ***Keith's dislike arguably being more reasonable than Geordo's given Keith's backstory vs Geordo just being bored of her and no longer needing a shield

Who out there think that the Catarina from Fortune lover was punished way too harshly for not much ?

I mean, if you think about it, she was, at worse just a stereotypical selfish and spoiled girl you can find anywhere. So being expelled from the Academy of Magic should have been enough for harrassing the heroine but she was expelled, stripped of her social status and even exiled.

[seekforwarmth]

hello and welcome to the february fic rec featuring my favourite works from what i’ve read during the past weeks. as always, please check tags before reading. if you liked the fics please reblog their posts, leave kudos and write a nice comment. happy reading! rec tag | more rec lists

— harry/louis —  

໑ Time Stamp: Valentine's Day from Heart Beat by @allwaswell16 (E, 1.7k, established relationship, romantic trip, valentine’s day) A romantic weekend away for Valentine's Day

໑ i want real love baby (don't leave me waiting) by loulovep (NR, 2k, established relationship (or not?), farmer harry, city boy louis, fluff, valentine’s day) Harry thought of the perfect date for (his boyfriend?) Louis. Nothing goes to plan.

໑ a little bit of you by @lvinlou (T, 2.3k, strangers to lovers, a/b/o, fairy louis) Louis is a cute omega who loves autumn and baking cupcakes. However, when he goes to the supermarket to get the last ingredient for his recipe, strawberry jam, he meets Harry, a grumpy alpha who is unwilling to hand over the last jar.

໑ your face is like a melody by @meloummy (NR, 2.4k, alternate universe, friends to lovers, singer louis, stage fright) Where Louis is a singer who needs his boy in the most critical moments.

Or where Harry helps his superstar and shows him how much he loves him.

໑ I'm gonna love you forever and ever by houisminou (M, 3k, established relationship, a/b/o au) louis is independent, he is a free omega, except when he is with his alpha, then he just wants to be holded and taken care of

໑ the prints of your hands are still on my canvas by puppyvirginloui (NR, 4.5k, exes to lovers, a/b/o au, nesting, jealous harry) Harry and Louis broke up not long ago. Everything was fine until then, problems started with Louis’ heat just around the corner, an important presentation that he could not miss, and a very visible (or more like invisible) alpha that could help him go through his heat.

And then Harry shows up. (Again.)

໑ no one's gonna take my soul away by puppyvirginloui (spanish, NR, 6.7k, strangers to lovers, a/b/o au, dark fic, shapeshifting, read tags and author’s note) Nunca te metas con un omega en celo.

໑ and then, i wait there for you by punk_pillow_princess / @punkpillowprincess (M, 9k, established relationship, marriage proposal, valentine’s day, miscommunication) Harry has always dreamed of having his “happily ever after”, but hasn't found the right one yet. Suddenly, he meets Louis.

໑ Fortune cookies by DaxitaIsDaydreaming (spanish, T, 10.6k, friends to lovers, valentine’s day) Louis y Harry han sido amigos desde que tienen memoria. Catorce años, para ser justos. Están enamorados el uno del otro pero ninguno cree conveniente confesarlo por temor a perder la amistad que han construido durante todos estos años. Sin embargo, San Valentín les tiene preparado una sorpresa. Un pequeño empujón en forma de galletas de la fortuna. Depende de ellos el futuro de su relación.

໑ The Unsuccessful Promise by @trysomecats (T, 15k, enemies to lovers, a/b/o au, high school) At the end of the previous school year, Louis swore to everyone that he would return in the fall as an alpha. He made this promise especially to his arch-nemesis Harry Styles, who has already presented as an alpha himself. Unfortunately over summer break, the worst thing possible happens: Louis presents as an omega. Now school is back in session and he has to return and face the consequences of pre-determining his status.

Featuring Liam and Zayn as Louis' doting and exasperated parents.

໑ Gemini Rising by Speechless (E, 23.4k, roommates au, quirky harry, frustrated louis, angst and humour) Louis might as well give it a shot.

Maybe - just maybe - if he starts crossing boundaries in the same reckless way Harry does, that lunatic will get the message.

So he starts invading Harry's space any way he can think of.

໑ You Bring Blue Lights To Dreams by @starryhazelou (E, 30k, strangers to lovers, soulmates au, cowboy harry, veterinarian louis, light angst) Finding your soulmate had been described to Harry as, “finding the answers to the universe.” As the years passed, he would become restless trying to find his. Everyone was born with identical birthmarks on their bodies tying them together. With the combination of living in a small town, along with having a mark that was constantly obstructed by clothing, he was beginning to lose hope.

໑ the road not taken by teenytinytomlinson / @hs3lt2 (E, 35k, friends with benefits, famous harry, non-famous louis, holidays) The one where Harry returns back home for the holidays after a successful debut album, leaving Louis to unwrap gifts as well as old complicated feelings. Cue: hometown holiday hookups, overbearing siblings, and a disastrous New Year’s Eve party. A 'Tis’ the Damn Season' inspired au.

໑ give my love a four letter name by @levelofcharm (E, 46.6k, enemies to lovers, angel/demon relationship, angel louis, demon harry, supernatural elements) Louis hates Harry because he's a demon. Harry hates Louis because Louis hates him. Things change.

໑ Paradise is getting closer by louislovesh28 (M, 52.6k, friends with benefits, supernatural au, hunter louis, journalist harry, read tags) Louis hated his life, which consisted only of death and destruction. Despite the lives he had saved and continued to save, a part of him couldn't feel satisfied.He had been the one who gave up a normal life and although he knew what was to come, the loneliness had never left him in all these years, not even for a second. He felt it in his heart every time he approached a target, he felt it in the few minutes before falling asleep in his dingy car or while he allowed himself a few hours of sleep before setting off again, and he felt it every time he closed that door behind him.

— extra —  

i don’t usually self promo here but i’d like to invite all of you to read the smau my friend and i are working on. it updates daily in the morning (central time). please check it out, it’s called Running with the Wolves.

[lutethebodies]

OC Questions - Lost Singer Edition, Pt. 4

I was tagged for this ask game by @mogruith (whose post for Coranzan is here; anyone else, please tag yourselves if you wish). Gonna go with three of the same numbers that my asker picked for their post, and with three substantial answers for Cannor because he'll fit those particular questions better than my other characters. Note that most of my answers for him will reference his home turf (my original homebrew 5e setting), but some can translate to BG3. Goodies (with plenty of supporting links) are under the cut as always:

👕 Appearance Is there someone your character tries to look similar to?

In-world: Cannor has his own look, but his original inspiration to be a bard was fatefully catalyzed one night in Caranacia, the City of Fortune and his adopted home. He was young—about 11 or so—and earning his keep (in various good and bad ways) at the Wandering Star tavern as a general errand-boy when the venue was graced by famed traveling bard and notorious curmudgeon Ruqirt Al-Zeem (aka “Raz the Rambler”). The venerable foreign minstrel-poet captivated our impressionable future hero. "I was in the front row, and he looked at me." Cannor has clumsily modeled his self-centered, idiosyncratic, and dubiously truthful creativity on Raz ever since.

Meta: It may be hilariously and pathetically uncool by today's standards, but I don't care because it works for him: Cannor's look was originally based on early-'90s Sting and Bono (with ego and parental issues to match), but he's long since settled into something more like Gabriel Byrne from the same period. The popped collar is the tell.

📦 Objects Is there an item your character is embarrassed they own or want?

He is embarrassed to own, but will never part with, what he calls his "Redstone Ring" (mechanically, a Ring of Protection) because it symbolizes his exile and related life lessons. The dull-red, snake-shaped sardonyx jewel originally belonging to Lady Esadora Errocamesi of House Redstone, Cannor's one-time patron/lover and daughter of Caranacia's Supreme Councillor. Cannor had been splitting his time performing and dabbling in spycraft for the Equiposium, a diplomatic academy and intelligence arm of the city's Ruling Council. It was a risky but lucrative living, and for six years he swaggered and caroused through increasingly lofty circles while informing on competing guilds, rich nobles, and official institutions.

Fate caught him after Cannor discovered Lady Esa had another paramour—Zafraia of Enancia, a fellow Equiposian agent. The resulting scandal explosively convulsed Caranacia for two days as the rival spies dueled across the city until Lord Redstone's authorities and Equiposian assassins came after them. Both escaped with help: Zaf fled east with Tramontine smugglers, and Cannor sneaked out of the city in disguise on "official Redstone business" using Lady Esa's snake ring, which she gave him for that purpose and as a placating token of favor (he was officially banished from the city). Cannor stowed away on a northbound Klasi ship, eventually landing in Saithaaven as an exile.

🤝 Community and Relationships How comfortable would your character be singing and dancing in front of others?

He's a bard, so comfortable enough. But it's not that simple, so to answer I'll steal from a previous post, "Music is a Tool." For Cannor, performance is a means to an end. "Music, songwriting, stories, poetry—those are tools," he once told Ruy, "for clawing back some control from a world that constantly wants to take it away." Cannor went on to explain that creativity was essential for sanity and stability when dealing with reality. His song arrangements were considerably simplified from their various sources and influences, but his lyrics were compelling.

He preferred to write and sing his own story “because I figured nobody else would” rather than perform traditionally popular heroic epics, romantic ballads, or other troubadour clichés. Predictably, this didn’t get him many gigs, so he had to fight "the war to make people care." His methods involved what other minstrels might dismiss as "amateur incompetence" or even “cheating," but which could also be desribed as different and more unique skills than most in his trade. Cannor happily employed simple magic to change his instrument’s octave, for example, or to make it echo and resonate within whatever space he performed.

That instrument, the Savansi bailágrima, is an oversized, teardrop-shaped ebony-and-rosewood cittern. It creates low and resonant tones emphasizing the percussive, rhythmic style of the Floodlands. Cannor eschewed extended instrumental passages—his “stone fingers” produced rudimentary plucking and strumming—but a basic accompaniment structure allowed for more improvisation and storytelling, which suited his “semi-autobiographical” lyrics much better. His own life experiences (adventure, love, loss, conflict, renown, power, glory, shame, infamy) became as engaging as any hero’s tale.

I'll stop there but echo my asker: "if you are dying to talk about your OCs and we're mutuals, please don't feel shy about doing this and tagging me" and add a caveat: roll a d8 to see which of my characters will give you lore galore.

[kronosveritas]

✨HELLO RVB FANDOM I AM ASKING FOR YOUR GUIDANCE✨

I don’t know if any of you know much about Tarot, but I am in the process of drawing an rvb tarot deck and these are my thoughts for which character should be assigned to each of the major arcana cards.

Included in parentheses after the character are some trailers generally associated with that arcana (to my understanding)

Please feel free to let me know in comments/tags if YOU think these fit/what fits better so I can potentially make the deck!

_____________ {arcana below fold} _____________

💙 Fool- Caboose (new beginning, fresh start, risk, a chance, new cycle, originality, fearlessness, travel, innocence, being green, trickster, acting foolish)

❤️ Magician- Tex (talent, skill, power, magic, control, manifest, tools, mastery, willpower, focus)

💙 High priestess- CT (intuition, feminine wisdom, hidden knowledge, secrecy, initiation, receptivity, spirituality, the inner world)

❤️ Empress- Allison (feminine power, abundance, fertility, pregnancy, marriage, creativity, receptivity, pleasure, mothering, nurturing, giving birth)

💙 Emperor- The Director (Order, structure, authority, power, boss, masculine, father, ownership, autonomy)

❤️ Heirophant- Sarge (tradition, structure, teacher, mentor, counselor, religion, dogma, advice, status quo, organization, conformity, rules, church, obedience)

💙 Lovers- Grif and Simmons (romance, partnership, love, choices, duality, opposites, union)

❤️ Chariot- Shiela (triumph, directed willpower, control, direction, movement, progress, vehicle)

💙 Strength- Carolina (strength, inner power, self control, calm, endure, willpower)

❤️ Hermit- Epsilon (inner wisdom, solitude, withdrawal, quiet, teacher or guru, research, seeker)

💙 Wheel of fortune- The Triplets, or the Chorus Rebels??? I can’t decide (luck, change, a turn of events, karma, movement, shift, improvement, fate)

❤️Justice- Doc & O’Malley (fairness, court, justice, balance, weighing options, seeing both sides, consequences, integrity, honesty, truth, law, middle path)

💙 Hanged man- Temple (sacrifice, letting go, faith, suspension, waiting, hang-ups, martyr, illusion, surrender)

❤️ Death- Felix (ending, transition, transformation, release, change, severance)

💙 Temperance- Lopez (moderation, balance, healing, alchemy, middle ground, patience, blending, harmony, guardian angel)

❤️ Devil- Meta/Sigma (bondage, materialism, negativity, slavery, addiction, stuck, jealousy, deviance, excess)

💙 Tower- Kimball (chaos, disruption, tearing down, rebuilding, uncertainty, blow, enlightenment, unexpected change, overthrow, revolution)

❤️ Star- Donut (hope, optimism, healing, balance, spirituality, health, well being, peace, wishes, vulnerability, success, balance)

💙 Moon- Wash (intuition, illusion, deception, darkness, reflection, fear, subconscious, dreams, difficulty, fear, imagination)

❤️ Sun- Tucker (optimism, success, joy, birth, happiness, health, inner child, energy, enthusiasm)

💙 World- Rooster Teeth Founders? Or Blood Gulch? Or RVB kill switch? (completion, ending, success, travel, closure, graduation, Universe, freedom, environment, rebirth)

https://www.thetarotlady.com/tarot-card-meanings/

^^possible link for meaning reference

<<I have individual assignments for nearly all the minor arcana too, but that would be far too long to post here>>

[motherloads]

Motherloads Masterlist

Hello ◡̈ I will plan to update this as time goes on and I have the capability and free time to post.

If anyone has noticed, many of the titles are related to the song titles!

Plan to do other crossovers that branch with no reader inserts !! I had one written (inspired by AO3 fic) where Peter’s dad in alt universe is Richard Grayson. (Richard Parker is Dick Grayson, fight me on this)

⋆｡°✩DC Universe ⋆｡°✩

Tim Drake

I Know You (Marvel Crossover)

Reader who isn't what she seems to be. Supposedly a normal college student working in a grocery store, she has no idea what is about to be revealed. When waking up, she is unknowingly surrounded by the heroes of the DC Universe who have to watch snippets of her life before she jumped into their universe.

Right Side of My Neck (Marvel Crossover)

The reader is a new hero in Gotham City, known as Spider-Woman. Despite knowing of the no-meta rule, she continues to patrol the city in broad daylight. What's to say that the bats are allowing this? At every meeting, they try and stop the unknown woman from fighting their battles. With no idea of who she is, they are struggling to maintain their no-meta rule. Unknowingly, she forms a friendship with Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown. Shameless flirting ensues when she starts to connect the identity of the bats. Who is she but not a Spider who captures her prey?

Dick Grayson

Timeless (Marvel Crossover)

The times many began noticing the lover of Dick Grayson. Clueless to the secrets from, both sides unravel as truths begin to overflow the deceit. Love is overpowering, but grief consumes one. Your secrets were your own to keep, and you vowed to never let anyone know of how the power were unbalanced, by yours truly. But, the biggest question was - why was Peter Parker in Gotham?

Jaime Reyes

Meet me in the Pale Moonlight (Marvel Crossover)

The reader watches on the sidelines as Jenny and her longtime crush, Jaime Reyes become close to one another. Being Milagro's closest friend, she dreads when she has to come over and see the lovebirds. But who says her little friend would allow this to happen? And who says what she sees is true?

⋆｡°✩One Piece LA ⋆｡°✩

Roronoa Zoro

After the Storm (Percy Jackson Crossover)

Reader silently grieves her loss of her family. Fortunately, she focuses on her new found feelings for a certain Pirate Hunter. Not one to return feelings, she feels herself begin to spiral over his ignorance.

⋆｡°✩Call of Duty⋆｡°✩

Ghost

My Love Mine all Mine (Marvel Crossover)

[writing-for-life]

Sandman Meta-Analysis

Art

Sandman Comics: Original Artists Library

Miguelanxo Prado: Spirit Animals and White Streaks of Hair (links send you to different parts of the discussion)

Dream and Death by David Hitchcock: All Endless Are Buckling Under the Weight of Their Function

Death, Dream and Hob Gadling by Michael Zulli

Dream by Craig Hamilton: The Obelisk as a Symbol for Rebirth and Masculinity

A Sacred Garden: Death and Delight, by Michael Zulli

David Hitchcock’s Daniel: Orbs, Statues and Ivy on a Tree (Addendum to someone else’s post)

Michael Zulli’s Morpheus: Archetypal and Religious Connotations

Michael Zulli and the Blue Flowers Again…

Michael Zulli Uses Blue Roses as a Symbol for Death, Grief and Occasionally Good Fortune (Not “Unrequited Love”)

Michael Zulli: Destiny and Dream

Jill Thompson’s Concept Art for the Sandman Movie That Never Was (short brain dump)

#sandman march mania: A four week long event for comics art lovers set up like a bracket match with tons or artist info and art.

#sandman art analysis: Meta posts that specifically analyse the art of (usually official) Sandman artists.

#sandman meta: Even more metas of all kinds, like those of others I (sometimes quite extensively) participated in.

Sandman Comics Reread & Netflix Sandman Rewatch: All my Sandman Book Club contributions, ordered by issue/episode (we are currently discussing on a weekly schedule, join us!)

< Previous: Sandman Meta-Analysis Music

Link to full pinned post

[romchat]

Romchat's Meta

Still trying to figure out tumblr search for my own posts lol so pinning all my analysis stuff in one place.

NOTE: I love nerding out about my favorite shows through writing (visual) meta so I welcome asks about the shows I'm watching and/or the analysis process!

Director Deep Dives

The Feminine Gaze of Zeng Qingjie (A Familiar Stranger, Butterflied Lover)

Reviews & Recommentations

I Am Married…But!

Karma

Let’s Talk About Chu

Suk Suk

BL One-Offs

The Time of Fever (Ep. 1-3): The Metamorphosis

Unknown: The Series (Ep. 1-8): How to film heartache

Unknown: The Series (Ep. 9): Life comes down to a few things

Cdrama One-Offs

Fake It Till You Make It (Ep. 6): Cinematography of falling in love

Fangs of Fortune (Ep. 25): Quick notes on the visuals

In Blossom (Ep. 1-7): How to film a gothic romance

Love in a Dream (Ep. 1-2): A masterclass in contrast

Ripe Town (Ep. 1): Under the cover of light

Ripe Town (Ep. 12): The ghost of one's conscience

The Rise of Ning (Ep. 1-2): Home is where the drama is

My Journey to You

Ep. 1-2, 24: Portraits of power and masculinity

Ep. 10: It's all in the hands

Ep. 11: Peering through paper doors

Ep. 12: Love in blue

Ep. 13: Lanterns of fate

Ep. 23: Ravens only belong to winter

Musings about Yuanzhi, Shangjue, Qian

Musings about Weishan's costuming and the use of naked skin

Visualizing the Slow Burn in My Journey to You and Story of Kunning Palace

Story of Kunning Palace

Ep. 14: Redemption in life

Ep. 18: Observing you observing me

Ep. 20: To be free like the birds

Ep. 24-25: Over the threshold of regret and possibility

Xuening's Harem

Visualizing the Slow Burn in My Journey to You and Story of Kunning Palace

The Double

Ep. 1: Beauty in death

Ep 17: Into the fog of the unknown

Ep. 26: A place to rest your head

Ep. 32: You reap what you sow

Duke Su’s character arc through cinematography

The On1y One

Ep. 5: Seeking an opening

Ep. 6: Boys in blue

Ep. 11: Burned

[bruiseslikeblueroses]

The State of my Unions

I rediscovered Tumblr. Switched over to Bluesky. I feel like a social media refugee. I feel bad for the real refugees in Los Angeles. It seems like the city is burning to the ground. I’m really worried about my bestie. She sounded panicked when we talked last night.

As far as things go, I’m fine. Missing my new husband terribly. I can’t wait for him to move in here, Only three more weeks. This bed and end tables gets switched out for his larger set, which I am all for. My previous domestic partner died on this bed. It’s just too sad. A fresh start is a good thing.

My father wrote us up a dream lease, at least I say this without having seen it yet. Casey, bless him, will be paying 90% of the house expenses with his larger income and I will be taking care of food and tradwife stuff. That sounds quite agreeable. I don’t mind being a housewife at all. I do that anyway, because I like living in a clean house. Eating decent food

The words are coming easier now. She was right, Jami Attenberg's 1000 Words of Summer. This is a good exercise. 200 words without really thinking about it. Of course I am all hopped up of Cold Brew from Casey’s forgotten appliance. That is may secret summer survival tool. I forgot how caffeinated this stuff was, also. Two pint glasses and I’m ready to write the great American novel spew. It feels good.

Now I’m a forth of the way through. A good feeling. There is a lot of history I have with Tumblr. I am happy to see familiar faces there, as well as on Bluesky as people flee Threads. Some are staying, like I thought I’d stay at Twitter/X. I haven’t posted anything but cross promotion there is what feels like years. At least a year. 

Time moves differently now. Faster. It’s 2025 and I’m throwing away cans of food in my pantry that expired in 2019. Trying to get the place cleaned out for Casey. I love him. I love him so much. We want to get old and grey together and I am all about it. I pamper him because he is such a jewel. I made him an apple pie the other day. It’s still siting in the fridge, looking lovely. Should be delicious. He loves my cooking. He’s so nonjudgemental and loving. He’s the one.

415 words. Anything else? It’s two am. Suddenly there are so many more interesting things to do then play video games. It feels like coming alive. I could really use a bath, a nice morning soak. But I’m flying on caffeine and don’t really want to sit still for that long. At lest my hair is okay. Doesn’t need to be washed. I cut my bangs a lot shorter. They look a lot better.

I cut my own hair, I’ve been doing it that way for years. Since I moved to Reno and stopped spending a fortune on my hair and nails. The right thing to do.

Sure, the high life with Larry was nice, but I love Casey so much more. He is so much better in so many ways that I feel like we can really be happy together into old age. I am actually excited about spending the rest of my life with him.

I’ve had many lovers, paramours, wives, booty calls, but Casey is my special loving husband with the same value structure I have. That means the world. I am so happy about him moving in at the end of the month.

Today the cleaners comes and do a deep cleaning on the place. I am so glad. I am so very thankful to my parents for paying for this. I should be awake. I have to be awake, actually. I will have to find various strategies for rooms to hide out in. As the weather is chilly. Near freezing, lately.

I take out my meta glasses. Ask them the forecast. It’s 29 degrees right now. Below freezing. I wonder if it snowed tonight. I got a warning on my phone that it might. 

For some reason my glasses will only play podcasts. I fiddle with them until my Spotify Upbeat Mix comes on. Lady Gaga, Born this Way. The morning seems even more sparkling now. Music is everything.

The changes in Meta’s policies as they try to appeal to the upcoming Trump regime are disturbing. I have no stomach for bullying. As they are explicitly targeting LGBTQIA and mentally ill people, I am going elsewhere digitally for a while.

I can’t afford to leave Reno, Nevada. My psychiatric medication, my wonderful house, my five cats. My new husband. Everything is wonderful except Los Angeles is on fire and the incoming. regime I strongly disagree with. 

Hopefully I can fly under the radar. Keep my head down. Survive.

Yes, I am a bisexual woman who chose to marry a man after two wives did not work out. He’s not my beard, although he has a nice dark beard. We met on OK Cupid. It was all over once I’d read his profile and we started talking. I cleared my schedule till our first date and put on my Bettie Page heels.

I’m listening to Todrick Hall, a regular on Ru aul’s Drag Race. He makes amazing dance music. Casey said I listed to gay club music and he was not wrong. Broadway musicals, Lana Del Rey and remixes they might put on at the Abbey on underwear night. 

Discovering Violet Chachki’s musical output was a revelation. Dominatrix disco.

Since The Vivienne passed, I’ve been watching that All Stars All legends Season. Drag perfection. The Viv turns amazing looks. She looks so radiant and animated on television, it’s hard to accept that she’s gone.

Death, aging, time, change. I have no solution for my fleeting middle age, except don’t stop. Don’t stop writing. Creating. I need it more than ever now.

[cookinguptales]

wwdits tarot meta masterpost

Hi! This is a masterpost of all my WWDITS tarot meta posts along with a little FAQ about the project!

All 22 Major Arcana (and a brief post about the Minor Arcana) are now complete and on tumblr. Each card has gotten a character or theme from the show, and I've used the themes of the tarot to delve into my thoughts about each one.

I also talk about the meaning and imagery of each card, and how I would change that imagery to reflect the character I've assigned to it.

Basically, I designed a WWDITS tarot deck! But I did it by rambling about the characters for several thousand words. I hope you enjoy!

The Posts

0. The Fool (Sean) I. The Magician (The Djinn) II. The High Priestess (Lilith) III. The Empress (The Sire) IV. The Emperor (The Baron) V. The Hierophant (The Guide) VI. The Lovers (Laszlo, Nadja, Guillermo, and Nandor) VII. The Chariot (Laszlo Cravensworth) VIII. Strength (Nadja of Antipaxos) IX. The Hermit (Nandor the Relentless) X. The Wheel of Fortune (........the BBT slot machine) XI. Justice (The Vampiric Council and/or Wellington Paranormal) XII. The Hanged Man (Jackie Daytona) XIII. Death (Colin Robinson) XIV. Temperance (Derek) XV. The Devil (The Hat) XVI. The Tower (Simon the Devious) XVII. The Star (Marwa) XVIII. The Moon (Jenna and Gail) XIX. The Sun (Jan) XX. Judgement (Guillermo de la Cruz) XXI. The World (ancestral soil and graveyard dirt)

The Minor Arcana

What is this project?

Well, I'm a giant nerd about both tarot and What We Do In The Shadows, so why not combine the two? I studied the history, ethnography, and popular interpretations of tarot when I was in college and still do readings for fun. So I'm going to be approaching this from more of an academic POV than a spiritual one, but that's still fun, right? (Right??)

Anyway, I love writing overly complicated meta posts about WWDITS, too, so that's how I've decided to go about this. Each post is about a different card from the Major Arcana, and will contain what I've chosen to represent it, my reasoning, some thoughts about the character/object in question, and ideas about card imagery.

Some questions I've been asked:

Are you making a deck?

No, I am primarily a writer, scholar, and overthinker. I'm not good at visual art. lmao

Can I make a deck based on these ideas?

Yes! I'd love to see what you come up with. Just please credit me and include a link if you intend to use my ideas.

Can I produce a deck based on these ideas and sell it?

Um. Contact me, okay? We'll talk about it.

Why did you choose [X]?

If you want to know about my reasoning for any of these decisions, please feel free to send me an ask. I am always happy to ramble about this stuff.

Do you do tarot card readings?

Once every month or two I open up my askbox to tarot readings. So if you keep an eye out, yes. They're just for fun, though.

You studied the history of witchcraft in college?

look okay it's fine

I think that's everything. I have already thought about this a ridiculous amount, so I already know how I wish to assign all the cards. I plan on posting one of these every few days until I'm through with the Major Arcana, then I'll probably just do a brief overview of the Minor Arcana. As long as y'all keep reading them, I'll keep posting them.

(and if you don't want to see them anymore, please block #wwdits tarot)

[ajaxbell]

Master Links Post

Mostly just rambling about cdramas and c-ent stars. Some original content, many many pic posts pulled mostly from Weibo and Douyin, and reblogs aplenty, reblogs for everyone!

Here’s the links:

C-ent stars posts

Wang Yibo Yibo-a-Day (I tried to watch a WYB performance every day)

Xiao Zhan

Tan Jianci TJC Shanghai concert posts TJC Beijing concert posts TJC Nanjing concert posts TJC Chengdu concert posts TJC Shenzhen concert posts

Dilraba Dilmurat

Gong Jun

Yang Zi

Zhang Linghe

Deng Wei

Wang Hedi

Wang Kai

Alen Fang

Liu Shishi

Liu Yuning

Tian Jiarui

C-ent stars commentary:

Very Specific Fetish Photoshoots

Tan Jianci reacts to a kiss

Cdrama posts & meta

Cdrama show reviews, meta, gifsets, and commentary. Plus just a lot of ridiculous flailing over things I like.

A League of Nobleman

Watch it!

Gazes

Lost You Forever

Gifsets 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Xiao Yao at the Crossroads

But Can They F*ck

Kisses

Bonus Xiang Liu Kiss

Can't we all live in Qingshui Town?

Love Between Fairy and Devil

Gifset 1

Dylan Wang's kisses

Nirvana in Fire

Watch it!

Behind the Flames (behind the scenes pics)

Fanfic: Moonlight Through the Parting Clouds

Story of Kunning Palace

Review: everything I shouldn't like and I love it

Just my unhinged rambling on Xie Wei as a character

Musings on Yan Lin, a lethal little love puppy

The Truth Season 2 (Variety Show)

Slightly fixed subtitle files

Pilot ep recap

Unhinged rambling about the gayness of eps 1-3

My clips of the show

All my posts on The Truth S2

Other Shows

The Journey of Chong Zi - everyone in this show deserved better

Back from the Brink - More fun than I expected

Butterflied Lover - Very unusual (in a good way)

Hard to Find - great for the goth teen in my soul

Maiden Holmes - the jianghu Scooby gang is on the case!

Fangs of Fortune - queer, tragic, and has perfect aesthetics

[logo-comics]

Fortune Lover Pirates Meta

Due to certain bots that the staff do nothing about infecting my post with likes in order to try to infect the site further, I decided to delete the original post and make this one as a replacement. I failed to save the question before deleting by mistake, so please accept the meta-styled opening presented below.

Fortune Lover, the most popular game from Ai Fortuna Software, has gained a bit of infamy among new fans as The Pirate Game With No Pirates. Indeed, a common question on the forums and various social media sits is "Why is there so much pirate content for Fortune Lover if its set in a magic school?"

We here at LOGO Media Publication have thus decided to do a little digging on the internet and have come back with all the fun data you need to get a better understanding of why it is that a pirate's life is often seen as Maria's lot!

Tumblr

queenmaryhunt I've finally figured it out! Maria is Martin Campbell's daughter! It all makes sense! Her father disappeared when she was little, so she doesn't know he's technically the Pirate King, let alone any pirate at all! The timeline even matches up! captainnatalia I know you didn't insult the Gentleman Pirate by comparing him to that lowlife that abandoned Maria and her mom because of rumors! Martin Campbell would never be like that! bluejetpack yeah! martin was abandoned and alone until captain natalia took him in! he'd never do that to his own wife and daughter! queenmaryhunt No! Listen! In Martin Campbell: Pirate King's secret ending, he told Captain Natalia's grave that he was going to sail out for the last time so he could pull enough money together to get his unnamed wife and daughter a house in the capital so they wouldn't "be bothered by close-minded villagers anymore.' And what did Maria's voice actor say in her interview when asked about if Maria had any friends in her village? "Maria never really fit in with the villagers after her magic came in at the age of five and the people assumed she was the result of her mother having an affair with a noble. Her dad even disappeared a year later." geomaria-stan1123 That's her opinion, not official lore! The DLC they're going to release is on Golden Sands. In the first game, Old Baron Terni owns that land, and he let the Fortuna Amata make berth there as part of an unofficial agreement. You'll see when the DLC comes out that he's probably going to cameo as part of an old painting or something. Maria being Martin Campbell's daughter is as likely as them adding in a Katarina Route to a DLC!

queenmaryhunt You all owe me an apology! "The Gentleman Pirate disappeared nine years ago, which is why we took up his contract with the new Baron." That's what Marie said! Nine years! Back when Maria would've been 6, you know, when Maria's father suddenly disappeared! marikata9430 I'll take posts that keep getting funnier with each DLC for 500. fortune-lover-heritage-posts Fortune Lover Heritage Post (August 28, 2017).

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sophiasemeraldprincess So, I'm probably giving myself away as a newbie to the fandom, but what's the deal with the pirates in this fandom? Everywhere I look, there are pirate OCs, Pirate Captain Katarina, Pirate Maria, Maria on a pirate ship... I thought, from all of this, that Fortune Lover had pirates all over the place mc-gentlemanpirate As a lifelong fan of the Ai Fortuna Software Multiverse, I can answer this one, but it's a bit of a long story. See, back at the start, Ai Fortuna was a small company that released their first game, Martin Campbell: Gentleman Pirate. The game was very popular in its time, detailing the adventures of a young beggar child named Martin, who stowed away on a ship to get away from it all, only to be discovered and mentored by Captain Natalia Petra Campbell, sworn enemy of the undead Pirate King Black Boris Edmund Guy, who dies at his hand by the end of the tutorial. From there, it's Martin's revenge quest centered around him figuring out his place in the world of piracy, whether or not he'll be a gentleman of fortune or a cutthroat mercenary. The good end, which is the canon one, has him kill Black Boris and being proclaimed the Pirate King. Since Martin and Maria share initials, as well as having identically fluffy blond hair, a lot of fans gravitated towards the idea that Maria was his daughter with his wife, who were both mentioned in the sequel, Martin Campbell: Pirate King. (Fun fact: When Fortune Lover's first trailer came out in 2014, a lot of people even thought that Maria was Martin in disguise in a midquel game.) Eventually, when the DLC started rolling out, the first was Golden Sands, set in his usual place of berth, the eponymous island, and it was revealed he had only disappeared nine years prior, which was when Maria's father had left. This was all speculation for the longest time, until the databook revealed this was always the lead writer's plan, with the Pirate's Promise DLC having been planned to be the sequel until the studio came in and ordered Mysteries in the Magical Ministry, which did... Alright, but was not as well received as Pirate's Promise, which is currently being made into its own spinoff series. TL;DR - Ai Fortuna Software was originally a pirate game company and Fortune Lover was written by a pirate series writer, so the fans immediately latched onto the pirate game parts because of the fact that it was a loving continuation of a beloved series. marikata9430 Also because Romanceable Pirate Captain Katarina. marisofilove2020 Definitely because Pirate Captain Katarina. marydeservesbetter Lots of people thirsting for Katarina even in an old uniform and bandages and a legitimate development history lesson for the series. Fortune Lover fandom, never change.

Fortune Lover Databook

From Left to Right: Sophia Ascart, Katarina Claes, and Mary Hunt as they appeared in the first poster for Fortune Lover that portrayed the rivals.

Fortune Fact: While Sophia Ascart and Mary Hunt were officially named at the time of the first poster of the rivals being released, they and Katarina Claes, at the time named Tatiana Terni, did not, at the time, have any set personalities, leading to a lot of fans to start to speculate. Many had naturally guessed that Tatiana would be the primary antagonist, and there had actually been some suspicion that Sophia was actually a ghost, and that Mary was secretly in love with Maria and would be a capture target. There was also a lot of speculation that Tatiana would be revealed to be a pirate or at least affiliated with them due to her being a Terni.

Bonus Fortune Fact: Fans of the Martin Campbell series had quickly taken notice of Tatiana's surname, as well as Maria's own, which is believed to be the reason why studio heads told the creator to rename Tatiana, to avoid any further incorrect announcements on fansites that this was a Martin Campbell game.

---

Pictured: Maria Campbell's main character reference for sprites.

Fortune Fact: Maria Campbell's signature attire was the result of a massive server crash at Ai Fortuna Software's main office, which included Keith's original design from when he was Noelia Flores's twin, grey-haired Geordo, and Sophia With Glasses. Initially, Maria's hair had sea shells, in place of flowers, and her dress was originally navy blue, with black boots with brass buckles, and a similarly colored belt and the bow around her neck was originally a black neckerchief, all of which were meant to call to mind Captain Natalia, who wore green and had an unbuttoned greatcoat, but otherwise wore similar attire. This was likely what contributed to the fan believe that she was secretly Martin.

Interviews

Excerpt from an interview with Maria Campbell's voice actress:

Interviewer: So, you said that you once met the English voice actress for Maria at a convention, and that the two of you are friends. Have the two of you ever noticed any similar issues that you have to deal with when playing Maria? Since the DLCs tend to get delayed elsewhere, I presume that she doesn't have to clear her schedule as often as you do for them...

MVA: *chuckles* No, she doesn't have to deal with that, but one thing we both learned is that we're both big fans of the first Martin Campbell game.

Interviewer: Really?

MVA: Yeah, so we both had the same issue, which was that this is an Ai Fortuna game, and the main character's last name is Campbell, so of course we both did the read with Maria using what the Director to this day calls "Martin Voices" whenever I do it.

Interviewer: Martin Voices?

MVA: Martin speaks differently to different people in the game, using Yamanote most of the time because that's what Natalia taught him. When he's really angry, though, he slips into his native Kyushu. In America, he usually uses RP British, but slips into some other British accent that I honestly don't remember the name of at the moment for the life of me. Martin voices are us copying that, even though Maria is supposed to talk more in a Shitamachi dialect in Japanese and a more "standardized" American accent that I also can't recall the entire time.

Interviewer: How did that work out?

MVA: If you go online and look up "Martin's Daughter Scary Flirts" or "British Maria Flirts With Katarina" online, you can see how the fans reacted to the released recordings of either of our slip-ups... I think someone actually animated the English one to include a kiss. But yeah, we both went in under the understanding that her missing dad was actually Martin, and now with all the DLCs out, we know we're right.

---

Excerpt from an Interview with Katarina's Voice Actress:

Interviewer: What are your thoughts on all those pirate DLC sets?

KVA: I love them! Katarina is romanceable in all of them, I get to have her treat people in ways never seen before, and I get to play my favorite type of character: A pirate. She's good at it, too.

Interviewer: Any favorite additions to the cast?

KVA: Pretty much all of them to be honest.

Interviewr: All of them?

KVA: Yep, every foreign exchange student, every citizen, and especially every member of the crew.

Interviewer: If you had to choose, though?'

KVA: That's a tough one. *pauses in thought* I guess Anne takes the lead, with Martin Campbell, Maria's dad, taking a reasonably solid second place for nostalgia’s sake. Anne gives Katarina someone to bounce off when she's not talking to Maria. But yeah. Pirate Katarina remains my favorite setting, so I might be biased...

Memes

[mikastormborn]

To me, this comparison between Dany and Stannis simply means that Dany is the type of person who will stop and smell the roses so to speak/taste the peach, who enjoys the simple pleasures of life (and we do have other instances of her enjoying small things like taking a bath, hearing the birds sing while watching the sun rise, or simply being by her lover's side), while Stannis is the type of person who won't. And Dany abandoning the sweetness that the peach symbolizes (while Stannis outright rejects it) shows that she is not complacent, that she won't forget the purpose she sets her mind to (beside the fact that Vaes Tolorro is in the middle of nowhere).

I also want to say that Jorah's quote to Dany, that antis use as “proof” that she will fail to conquer Westeros and that she will be assassinated because she ate the peach like Renly, is proof of the tendecy in this fandom to take one word as a confirmation of their bias. Like you said, beside the fact that the comparison is between her and Stannis, not her and Renly, that quote simply means that Westeros won't be simply handed to her on a silver platter/“[won't] fall into [her] hands like so many ripe peaches", that she has to fight for it. It's a figure of speech (and Jorah probably used that comparison because he earlier offerd her a peach and they were fortunate to taste such fruit in such dire circumstances). Just because it has the word “peach” does not mean it's related to Renly's fate and the decision of Dany to eat the peach. Dany is compared with Aegon the Conqueror (she is “Aegon the Conqueror with teats” and Drogon is “Balerion come again”), the person who successfully conquered and united Westeros and started the Targaryen dinasty. I'm sure that's a strong evidence that she will be successful in her conquest. But I remember antis also saying that she is doomed due to her comparison with Aegon I because apparently he was wrong to unite Westeros (despite Martin favoring unity and even alluded that Aegon did that to prepare for The Others) *rolls eyes*.

And I also want to add @aboveallarescuer's tags :

#great meta as always#also... stannis refusing the peach doesn't make him any less doomed#he's still going to burn shireen and die in another way in the books#so according to antis dany accepting the peach makes her doomed just like renly#but if she hadn't accepted the peach you can bet that they'd've argued that she's doomed just like stannis#(which is what a section of the fandom already argues)#dany antis' analyses and speculations are such an absurd example of confirmation bias

Sorry, I know this is an old post but I enjoyed it since the first time I read it and tumblr did not let me put all my thoughts about this in the tags. Apparently I had more to say than I thought (and after a day of posting it lol).

Edit : And I just realised that I more or less reiterated what you said in this post but I needed the vent.

There’s an interesting parallel between Dany and Stannis in A Clash of Kings, the peach symbolism:

“I’ve brought you a peach,” Ser Jorah said, kneeling. It was so small she could almost hide it in her palm, and overripe too, but when she took the first bite, the flesh was so sweet she almost cried. She ate it slowly, savoring every mouthful, while Ser Jorah told her of the tree it had been plucked from, in a garden near the western wall.

“Fruit and water and shade,” Dany said, her cheeks sticky with peach juice. “The gods were good to bring us to this place.” - Daenerys I ACOK

~

“All this of snakes and incest is droll, but it changes nothing. You may well have the better claim, Stannis, but I still have the larger army.” Renly’s hand slid inside his cloak. Stannis saw, and reached at once for the hilt of his sword, but before he could draw steel his brother produced … a peach. “Would you like one, brother?” Renly asked, smiling. “From Highgarden. You’ve never tasted anything so sweet, I promise you.” He took a bite. Juice ran from the corner of his mouth.

“I did not come here to eat fruit.” Stannis was fuming. - Catelyn III ACOK

The two moments are very similar, with Jorah and Renly offering a peach to Dany and Stannis, the mention of the peach’s sweetness, the juice smears the mouth and cheeks, and the peach comes from a western garden (a garden near the western wall of Vaes Tolorro, and Highgarden is in the west of Westeros).

According to the ASOIAF wiki, this is what GRRM said about Renly’s peach:

The peach represents… Well… It’s pleasure. It’s… tasting the juices of life. Stannis is a very marshal man concerned with his duty and with that peach Renly says: “Smell the roses”, because Stannis is always concerned with his duty and honor, in what he should be doing and he never really stops to taste the fruit. Renly wants him to taste the fruit but it’s lost. I wish that scene had been included in the TV series because for me that peach was important, but it wasn’t possible. (source - X, X)

For both Dany and Stannis, the peach represents the temptation of a simple life, a sweeter life, with simple pleasures. For Dany, it’s staying in Vaes Tolorro with her people and living simply there. For Stannis, it’s making peace with his brother.

Stannis rejects the peach. In his rigidity, he doesn’t even consider the possibilities or a way to make peace with his brother (when Renly reaches for the peach he instantly reaches for his sword), and chooses to continue fighting for the throne:

“Renly offered me a peach. At our parley. Mocked me, defied me, threatened me, and offered me a peach. I thought he was drawing a blade and went for mine own. Was that his purpose, to make me show fear? Or was it one of his pointless jests? When he spoke of how sweet the peach was, did his words have some hidden meaning?” The king gave a shake of his head, like a dog shaking a rabbit to snap its neck. “Only Renly could vex me so with a piece of fruit. He brought his doom on himself with his treason, but I did love him, Davos. I know that now. I swear, I will go to my grave thinking of my brother’s peach.” - Davos II ACOK

Dany accepts the peach. She savors it while she contemplates how fortunate they were to have found a place full of fruit like Vaes Tolorro, unlike Stannis, who doesn’t accept the peach, and doesn’t even contemplate the possibility of making peace with his brother. However, Dany also eventually decides to leave this place full of peaches, and later, when tempted to go back, also decides not to return to Vaes Tolorro in favor of continuing to fight for the throne:

Yet even crowned, I am a beggar still, Dany thought. I have become the most splendid beggar in the world, but a beggar all the same. She hated it, as her brother must have. All those years of running from city to city one step ahead of the Usurper’s knives, pleading for help from archons and princes and magisters, buying our food with flattery. He must have known how they mocked him. Small wonder he turned so angry and bitter. In the end it had driven him mad. It will do the same to me if I let it. Part of her would have liked nothing more than to lead her people back to Vaes Tolorro, and make the dead city bloom. No, that is defeat. I have something Viserys never had. I have the dragons. The dragons are all the difference. - Daenerys III ACOK

Both Dany and Stannis abandon the sweetness that the peach symbolizes, the simple pleasures of life and simple life that it symbolizes, in favor of doing what they think it’s their duty, and choosing a more difficult path. The peach is a reminder of what could have been. Though it’s important to also notice the contrast, how Dany and Stannis are also foils here, because while Dany does abandon the idea of staying in Vaes Tolorro, she still considers it, and she stops to appreciate its simple pleasures (like the peach) and how fortunate she was, unlike Stannis. Dany does what Renly tells Stannis to do but he doesn’t, appreciate the pleasures of life because one might not be able to do so again:

“A man should never refuse to taste a peach,” Renly said as he tossed the stone away. “He may never get the chance again. Life is short, Stannis. Remember what the Starks say. Winter is coming.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. - Catelyn III ACOK

Finally, I want to add that I saw someone saying that the following quote could be foreshadowing of Dany failing to conquer Westeros and being assassinated, because Renly also ate a peach and was assassinated:

“The high lords have always fought. Tell me who’s won and I’ll tell you what it means. Khaleesi, the Seven Kingdoms are not going to fall into your hands like so many ripe peaches. You will need a fleet, gold, armies, alliances—”

“All this I know.” She took his hands in hers and looked up into his dark suspicious eyes. Sometimes he thinks of me as a child he must protect, and sometimes as a woman he would like to bed, but does he ever truly see me as his queen? “I am not the frightened girl you met in Pentos. I have counted only fifteen name days, true … but I am as old as the crones in the dosh khaleen and as young as my dragons, Jorah. I have borne a child, burned a khal, and crossed the red waste and the Dothraki sea. Mine is the blood of the dragon.” - Daenerys II ACOK

However, I don’t think that’s the case. Just because Renly ate a peach and because he was assassinated, doesn’t mean every person who eats a peach will die (and also, the main comparison here is between Dany and Stannis, who are both offered a peach, not between Dany and Renly - Renly being the one offering the peach, like Jorah). And to me, the peach as symbolic of a simple life and its simple pleasures seems very clearly established. The quote above is simply a continuation of the same symbolism: the Seven Kingdoms won’t simply fall into Dany’s hands like ripe peaches, she will have to fight for it. By choosing to continue pursuing the Iron Throne, she is choosing a more difficult path than simply staying in Vaes Tolorro and enjoying its peaches.

[justafriend-ql]

never let me go meta master post

well, it looks like i'll be writing an unreasonable amount of meta for never let me go. this is where i'll keep links to them all for easy access. i've put stars by my personal favorites. thanks for reading!!

"pengyou" - scene analysis (ep. 2) 🌟

palmnueng as body + mind (ep. 3)

couples + color matching (ep. 3)

"when you pull the trigger, who are you thinking of?" - scene analysis (ep. 3) 🌟

parallels by the pond - scene analysis (ep. 3)

"what is your relationship with him?" (ep. 3)

soulmates, the shock of recognition, and the pain of separation (ep. 3) 🌟

"are you talking about yourself?" (ep. 4)

"i can't breathe" - the privilege paradox (ep. 4) 🌟

"i don't have a right to be mad at you" - scene analysis (ep. 4)

foreshadowing: the four rules of firearm safety (ep. 4)

"the first kiss in your new memory" - scene analysis (ep. 5) 🌟

mothers, fathers, + setting children free (ep. 5)

"i'll be anything you want me to be" - scene analysis (ep. 5) 🌟

"are you a fortune teller?" - star-crossed lovers and the tragedy of separation (ep. 6)

parallels, power reversals, and patterns of intimacy (ep. 6)

love: lowering oneself + letting go (ep. 7) 🌟

giving + giving in - scene analyses (ep. 7)

debt, doubt, and deserving love (ep. 8)

body + mind, united (ep. 8)

dancing, dreams, and despair (ep. 9) 🌟

"why did you get a tattoo of my name?" (ep. 9) 🌟

fragility + false armor (ep. 10)

"but you thought about doing it" (ep. 11)

"i don't want to be your burden" (ep. 12) 🌟

written after the series finished airing:

power, protection, partnership: the progression of palmnueng's physical intimacy 🌟

"is it wrong that i love you more?" - scene analysis (our skyy 2)

how we fall apart - palm and nueng's relationship with rage, repression, and responding to trauma

"let's go swimming" - the significance of water imagery in never let me go 🌟

nuengdiao, loneliness, and fear of the dark 🌟

[theonsource]

THROBB FORTNIGHT

May 29, 2023 – June 11, 2023

The fun never stops for the Theon squad! We are excited to announce a two-week (fortnight!) event celebrating the relationship between Theon Greyjoy and Robb Stark (Throbb). This “ship week”-style event will run from May 29, 2023 through June 11, 2023.

Come and share your creations (fic, art, gifs, edits, metas, recs and anything else you would like to create) focused on Theon/Robb (either romantic or platonic)! Content based on either/both book or show canon is welcome ❤ We will be tracking and reblogging from the tag #throbbfortnight and if you post your works on AO3, we encourage you to add them to the Throbb Fortnight AO3 Collection.

There are two (2) prompt lists to inspire your creativity. The prompts are totally up to your personal interpretation! You can choose to do prompts off of either list, both, or ignore them entirely and just create whatever you are inspired to. The prompts are simply here for inspiration. (Please see below the cut for the prompt lists.)

🦑Pyke Prompts🦑 Day 1: Favorite quote/scene Day 2: Foils/contrasts and parallels/similarities Day 3: Friendship and brotherhood Day 4: Trust and loyalty Day 5: Rejection and betrayal Day 6: Power dynamics Day 7: Misunderstandings and miscommunications Day 8: Failure and Grief Day 9: Houses Greyjoy and Stark Day 10: Culture, Tradition and/or Religion (differences, exchange, etc) Day 11: Relationship with pets/animals (own or each other’s) Day 12: A squid may love a wolf, but where would they live? Day 13: Relationship Arch Day 14: Books vs Show

🐺Winterfell Wishlist🐺 Day 1: Canon Divergence Day 2: Modern AU Day 3: Childhood/Pre-Canon Day 4: (Wedding) Vows Day 5: Secret Relationship Day 6: Role/Fortune reversal Day 7: (Mutual) Pining Day 8: Execution/“Robb’s Choice” Day 9: War (Romance) Day 10: Resurrection or Reincarnation Day 11: First Kiss Day 12: Soulmates AU Day 13: Friends to Lovers (to Enemies (to Lovers)) Day 14: Reunions and/or Endings

[parlerenfleurs]

I've been thinking lately about the incense burner extras, and I cannot sleep so I might as well type out my thoughts.

The first time I read them I wasn't enthused. While I can read fucked up smut for its own sake, here, it was a bit too hard-core for my taste in relation to a couple that love each other (AND I do Not like the blood. Boy I sure Don't like the blood. Why did there need to be blood?). BUT, while as smut goes it's not what I'll go read when I'm in the mood, I have since then read several posts and meta, and also other translations that put it in a different light for me.

And while I'm sure I'll probably just regurgitate what more perceptive people have said before me, I did have a fond revelation about them, which make them especially moving (yes, moving) to me.

I'm not gonna address Wei WuXian's farmer fantasy, as this is not what this is about (and besides, @ninjakk might make a post about it someday, so I'm eagerly waiting!) - here, right now, we are talking about the sex Õ3Õ.

There is a lot to be said about how erotica is a mirror of a culture and its current taboo/repressions, and about the fact that this is written in Chinese by a Chinese person in current Chinese culture, and that kinks and sexual fantasies do not reflect one's morals, but many people have talked about it and I have no authority nor personnal knowledge on the matter, so let's accept that there extras can be a bit jarring to some of our sensibilities and move on (just like I did the first time I read them and was put off but decided to go on enjoying the rest of the story regardless).

I'm rambling so damn much but my point is this. These extras are a gift from MXTX to her characters, a gift most of us can only dream about but never achieve: a gift of a second chance.

A gift of being able to go back in time and catch that missed opportunity, fix this messed up situation, come back with one's current skills and knowledge and do better. I'm especially talking about the second dream, here, where Wei WuXian, as an adult, meets the young teenage Lan WangJi and riles him up to Mengpo's hall and back, because, crucially, Wei WuXian never did make Lan WangJi lose his control when they were young, (at least not on purpose, and I'm coming back to the Kiss TM later), and it wasn't for a lack of trying, but since he wasn't aware of his own attraction, even less Lan WangJi's toward him, how could he have gone all out then? So he didn't, and Lan WangJi kept his control, and they didn't go at it like rabbits on the back mountains of the Cloud Recesses. Much to Wei WuXian's chagrin when they have sex for the second time, and he laments not having done this from the beginning, and having lost so much time.

So they get this chance, for Wei WuXian to undo Lan WangJi's restraint, for young Lan WangJi to finally let go like he so badly wanted to. For both to retroactively not miss the opportunity (yeah they do this in a freaky way because they are freaks /affectionate *cough* Bichen *cough*).

I think this has been said a lot so I won't expand too much on this next part, but. Lan WangJi is a freak. He's a jealous, possessive, dominant lover, who nevertheless never lets these traits impose on the object of his affections (and make no mistakes, his love is also pure, selfless, and beautiful - but he has kinks, don't we all, and he's human, as we all are). So, compounding with how his father treated his mother, these things that Lan WangJi feels, and thinks, and wants, and fantasizes about, bring him a lot of shame, and probably some self-loathing. Absolutely self-loathing when he gives into his worst impulses and forcefully kisses Wei WuXian on Phoenix mountain, but I'm pretty sure with time he comes to accept himself enough to not hate this part of him. He's still ashamed, though. And afraid of hurting Wei WuXian. BUT fortunately, Wei WuXian is exactly the freak for him. The man also has kinks and they match beautifully with Lan WangJi's, and when he sees Lan WangJi's darkest fantasies.... it turns him on, he cheers him on. Even before seeing them he's spot on with his dirty talk, telling Lan WangJi he should have just dragged him somewhere and have his way with him back then (they both would have enjoyed it, albeit with a lot of confusion on Wei WuXian's part).*

There goes Lan WangJi's shame. He cannot be more deeply and entirely accepted and celebrated and loved as he is now.

These are the incense burner's gifts.

*it occurs to me that the little freak must be quite happy to be reborn in a slimer/shorter build, so that Lan WangJi can manhandle him even more easily.