#i feel so much for them

[maxdibert]

Elena Ferrante not only has female characters so complex that it’s inevitable to adore them despite their countless flaws, terrible decisions, contradictions, and reprehensible actions. Women who, in the hegemonic conception of gender dynamics, would be easily portrayed in a twisted manner, but she sketches them as complete human beings with multiple dimensions and shades of gray, which gives them a humanity that gets under your skin and overwhelms your entire body. She is also a writer whose most terrible male characters are those who could become heroic protagonists in other stories, but she reduces them to pathetic wretches who are nothing more than a shadow of what they always aspired to be, and they don’t necessarily have to physically bully women to show themselves as the worst scum on the planet. And yes, I am talking about Nino Sarratore and my ability to write an essay on why he is the worst man in literature and to what extent Ferrante’s portrayal brilliantly shapes a horrifically terrible character. I have many feelings about the new and final season of this saga, but I will analyze it when I recover emotionally. It’s been four years since I finished the books, and it still gives me chills when I think about everything it made me feel, so I don’t know when I will feel ready to talk about the series.

[wafflesrisa]

Yeah you’re having a lot of bad days recently but are you a Williams mechanic

[masked-watcher]

[messrsbyler]

jonathan, being the older brother, has always had his clothes passed down to will. it's not an odd occasion for a handful of his clothes to go missing from his closet around the middle of the year, and jonathan really doesn't mind. it's even funny seeing how big his clothes fit's will more dainty frame, though lately he's been filling them out just fine.

then el came around and jonathan became her big brother too and, against the odds, his clothes also ended up being passed down to el. she's made some bold fashion choices with them and it's always nice to watch how his old shirts end up being part of an outfit that's combined with a dress on top.

jonathan is their older brother. his clothes are passed down to them. that's something jonathan hasn't had to deal with or experienced, using someone else's clothes... that's until steve harrington came around. it didn't happen until their rivalry turn into a friendship, and then their friendship turned into something achingly close to a relationship.

then one night of lights off and naked bodies under sheets and kisses down sensitive patches of skin, somehow, jonathan ended up wrapped in one of steve's sweatshirts.

it smelled like him, and was as soft as him, and had the ghost of his warmth. it was nothing compared to the real experience of having steve hugging him and pulling him closer in his sleep, but it fought back the cold and the loneliness when jonathan had to walk back to his house and pretend he wasn't falling for another man.

and so, jonathan kept finding ways to keep one or two of steve's sweatshirts. he would forget his jacket at home and of course he shouldn't go back only in a shirt or else he would get a cold.

of course, jonathan had to always be careful, keep steve's clothes deep in a drawer from his dresser, under a pile of underwear because that's the one drawer no one dares to look into, everyone knows that. he couldn't wear steve's clothes during the day and around the house. it would be too obvious those weren't his and it would raise questions that maybe he could find a plausible answer to, but honestly he simply didn't want to deal with it... didn't want to lie about steve and what they had more than he already had to.

no. steve's clothes were reserved for the night, when they couldn't spend them together. jonathan would wait until the rest of the house was asleep and then slip into one of steve's sweatshirts, feeling a little embarrassed and trying not to think on steve's stupid smug face if he knew what jonathan was up to, and then he would bury himself under the blankets and breathe in, soaking into the weak traces of steve's warmth and smell and-

ugh. maybe this wasn't just something achingly close to a relationship for jonathan anymore. maybe this wasn't for the thrill and the fun and the saying a big fuck you to everyone who thought what they were doing was wrong. maybe jonathan wanted something more now, the whole package that included more nights together, but also more days together, and definitely a lot more sweatshirts for jonathan to wear.

maybe jonathan was in love and also royally fucked.

[youngroyalsconnections]

Wow.

I don't have words to describe what I'm feeling.

[marblecakemix]

Fuck it, I'll spend all my free time developing my own story about medieval lesbians that has nothing to do with anything productive I want to do in the future. I'll make it for the sake of my insanity.

Time to read those historical five books about Anglo-Saxons and the wars between them and Nordic people.

[goldmold]

i think it's interesting how geto and eren is "a bit" similar. they were handed big responsibilities at such a young age. saw their comrades/friends die all the time. both reached a breaking point but what ultimately differs them is geto had to dehumanize non-sorcerers to cope and eren was about to be the same but he didn't.

im not saying one is better than the other bc they are both in the wrong no matter what

[tawnysoup]

Finally now that the comic is fully public on comicfury, I get to share it with all of you here, too <3

If you enjoyed, please consider supporting by buying a PDF of the comic on itch.io: https://tawnysoup.itch.io/home-in-the-woods

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The math just adds up!

[prlssprfctn]

I actually need some fanfic, where Bruce and Jason are in the middle of some argument, and a casual (and a well-practiced with Dick before) sentence leaves his mouth, something along the lines "How old do you think you are?!", meaning that he is acting childishly. And because Jason is irritated, and his tongue runs loose in his anger, he screams back that he is nineteen, and Bruce just freezes, because... Oh. Jason is nineteen. He is a fucking kid - his kid - that lost years of his teenhood, and was forced back without anyone giving him a space to catch up, with everyone else already treating him like an adult... When he isn't.

[illusioncanthurtme--art]

Physically? I am sitting in my bedroom. Mentally? Spiritually? I AM DEAD ON THE FLOOR!!!!! THESE TWO HAVE KILLED ME!!!!

(Another drawing! This was originally attempt #1 at drawing stan, and then fiddleford just showed up. Kinda feels like them five minutes after the above acting like nothing happened though, so it works sdjkgkjfshj)

[nat-20s]

[stimmingandstruggling]

i’m still figuring out how redbook works so i can’t share the video here yet, but y’all.

a woman made a post on tiktok talking about li hua, a pseudonym students in china learning english would write under to american “pen pals.” these letters were never sent. apparently it was crazy common, hundreds of letters have been written from li hua.

and people have started saying they feel like li hua is getting a response.

this woman posted this on tiktok and the comments were full of people writing responses, apologizing to li hua for not being in touch for so long. and one american mentioned how when they were a kid they dug holes in the beach and thought if they dug deep enough they could reach china all the way on the other side of the world, and that just awoke some MEMORIES. like, i did that. i dug holes in the sand and wondered how close i was. “as children we dug holes at the beach to try to get to you. we wondered what you’d be like our whole lives.”

the same woman made a post talking about THAT on redbook, saying it feels like we’ve both been just struggling to reach each other for so long. “i suddenly realize, this meeting was actually a two way effort. it’s like you’ve done a lot of hard work and come a long way before a date, and the wait was too long that you gradually started to forget the original intention of embarking on this road, and began to doubt, is your date real? suddenly one day, they really appeared in front of you and tell you i also made an effort to see you. and that’s a wonderful thing.”

idk that just made me cry a bit. i’ve seen a couple people refer to the feeling of being a little kid at the playground again, awkward and clumsy and sometimes hurting each other but everyone just eager to meet and share what they love.

[uncanny-tranny]

I think so many people are so deeply alienated from themselves that they have no clue how to exercise their free will and autonomy. For some, this alienation runs so deep that they are afraid of their own autonomy and humanity. It is completely understandable why one would have those feelings, but it can be worrisome.

I want to help others who feel this way, so here are small things I have done to exercise my free will:

Add "guilty pleasure" songs to playlists and actually listen to them (I have a ton of late 1990s-early 2000s music I listen to now proudly that I never listened to in the past out of shame)

Getting the décor item, bath set, bed spread, ect. in the patterns you like, even if it's "childish" (I got a dinosaur-themed wastebasket from the kids' décor section and I adore it)

Taking a new route to get to a place you go to often

Eat dessert first

Celebrate well, and often

Collect things that are "odd" or don't seem like an "acceptable" thing to collect (somebody on my "for you" page collects dandelion crayola crayons and it was so cool!!!!!!)

Incorporate one new piece in an outfit you wear frequently (e.g., a new chain, a necklace, ribbons, bracelets, ect.). Challenge yourself to add onto the outfits if you feel up for it.

Sing along to songs without worrying that you sound "good" or your intonation is completely accurate

Read a book from a genre you weren't allowed to read as a kid (comics, thrillers, mysteries, anything!)

Walk without having a specific destination or goal

Pick up a new craft without expecting yourself to master it or to ever be "good" enough. Get your hands messy.

I don't want to shame anybody for not feeling as though they have free will or that they are exempt from exercising it. However, I wanted to give ideas so that you might read this list and find your own ways to express your intrinsic autonomy and will. You deserve to be a person, to feel alive, not just living. That is what our lives are for.

[adaki]

Wanted to do some biblically accurate mh art

[astearisms]

catalysts, protectors