#i love answering questions but i for the life of me cannot be general

[therayofsonshine]

answering for my own gg dr (as that’s the dr i’m most into atm hehe!):

1. my headphones, my lip balm and any form of sunscreen or setting spray. i like to listen to music pretty much all the time n feel good, so i need these items on me regardless of where i’m going lol

2. any ethel cain song. alike this reality, i’m a big daughter of cain in my dr too, and my fans are VERY aware of this fact haha. but in my gg dr i’m strangely - or, not so strangely cuz i go on about it and play it every live - associated with artificial love by exo! bro even non-fans know me from this song LMFAO

3. i love love to write! whether it’s lyrics for any upcoming songs or drafts for potential songs for other artists, it’s writing stories or journaling. fun fact, writing was actually the reason i’m an idol n in my current situation as a gg member. i went over for lessons after i finished school in england, and ended up in auditions lolllll. i also crochet and paint!

4. hmm.. i don’t really have any favourites. but my members n i visited busan one summer when we all had a week off. best trip ever. it was heaven and the weather didn’t disappoint either. we ate good food and rested - so i’d say even though it wasn’t a holiday, it comes very close to the ideal example for me.

5. i’m an idol!!! so i sing and dance and entertain and get to do it all with my girls. there are five of us, four born in 2001 (including me) and our maknae was born a month - though in another year - after the second youngest in 2002. i really enjoy it - sometimes it’s hard and i defo have moments of questioning my life choices, but i wouldn’t give it up for the world.

6. my youngie. ateez’s wooyoung. most of my friends are idols too - we don’t have much choice LOL, we’re so busy we don’t often see ppl outside of our work environment - but i consider woo as my closest ride-or-die friend. it helps we’re in the same company so we ALWAYS end up passing each other in the hallways or i just see him in general. i love that man he’s super funny n loves crazy hard, like wears his heart on his sleeve kind of crazy. but i would die for him end of

7. defo a night person. bro those days when schedules r SUPER early fucking SUUUCK. we’re up for like 4am - sometimes earlier - but you bet i will be in our car falling asleep. but do i wake up before we get to the shooting site??? yes i do. baddie shit. but no i am awful in the mornings gah DAMN 😭😭😭

8. i’m very similar in this reality, but i LOVE cats. hence why my entire group is literally based around the concept of felines. theyre so cute and the purring????? take me to HEAVEN! we have a few cats in our dorm room (which are cared for btw…) but you wouldn’t believe how hard i had to work to get these higher up mfs to allow us that privilege. lost A LOT of my dignity but was it worth it? 100%. love my furry friends!!

9. now. look. i have my days which i’m both, and i have my days i’m one or the other. but according to the 16 personalities quiz they had me take to put on my k profile, i’m apparently an enfj-t. so do with that what you will 🩷 . but around my crush???? ho i’m an introvert. sorry, i meant INTROVERT. i am like a little mouse i let him do all the talking LOLLLL

10. yes! i have one little sister called naciri. she was born in 2012 and surprisingly her and wooyoung’s little brother kyungmin get along well, despite their age differences. i dunno when that happened or HOW it happened… but i’m not complaining.

11. uh… i actually cannot describe this one. my fashion sense depends on the day n the mood. usually i tend to lean for baggier clothes, especially on days when it’s more humid. but honestly it’s a mix n match of many different styles and whatever feels best to me when i wake up HAH

12. hmm. i don’t know if i have one. maybe just any nostalgic childhood films? i dunno yo 😭

13. oh lawwwd. here she goes. so… yes i do have a crush. bro this is so EMBARRASSING. ok so basically when i came to korea to start training, the trainees would eventually bump into the ateez boys as the building is not as big as fuckin hybe and obviously the boys want to meet new people joining the company. but whatever. so i met yunho and bro he’s so FINEEEEEE. i literally had to bite my tongue to stop myself from blushing - he was so tall and sweet and bubbly. so i… kinda… fell for him.

we never interacted tho really. he was super busy with comebacks and schedules / tour so when i did see him i was internally like oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god. LMFAO. i genuinely love that man. but will i ever confess?? idk. wooyoung knows tho so no doubt he’ll find out eventually. pls pray for me the day that happens…

14. i’m a virgo!! earth signs on tawwp

15. any savoury korean snack. they’re super yummy and light to just settle cravings. food in korea is so sweet 😭😭😭 even the savoury food like bread is sweet. so whenever you come across something savoury… bro you savour that shit no pun intended

16. ON GOD YES. we’re always in a damn car or plane or any transportation device depending on where we’re going. for mvs we tend to travel overseas for shooting, so we became very familiar with the airport hahaha. but i scripted that earth is safe / healthy and public transport doesn’t affect the planet in anyway… so i can actually enjoy travelling. but yes, we travel a LOT.

17. i can play the piano and a little guitar. i mainly use the computer / mixing, so i haven’t had much practice but trust 🤞🏼 i will get better.

18. i have a few. obviously my members - but they’re more like family to me than friends, so i don’t really count them as they’re bordering sisters than a friendship (we passed that years agoooo). but my wooyoung is #1. that’s my soulmate. i’m super close with yeonjun of txt and theo of p1h, but chanty of lapillus and nvee of black swan too. i’m super picky with friends so it’s just a random combo of ppl 😭

19. i scripted i’m not a picky eater, so there’s nothing really i won’t eat. i’m just not particularly a fan of seafood. love meat, but seafood… doesn’t do it for me i’m afraid.

20. my name is navara lee. i was born and raised in england and ‘lee’ is a pretty popular name (both first n last) here. just so happens to be a korean last name as well… which made things a lot easier regarding pronunciation :)

21. i have less of a sweet tooth in korea than i do when i’m back home. everything in korea is sweet as fuck so i often don’t find myself wanting anything sweet - but when i’m back home???? i’m in the chocolate aisle ALL THE TIME. dude, english chocolate is just… goated

22. hmm.. vara is the main one. hence why it’s my stage name and the name i go by now. when someone calls me navara i’m like… am i in trouble? what did i do? but i do find it endearing when ppl call me my full name i wont lie :’) navi is a big one too. dunno how that’s spelt but that’s how they say it so

23. when ppl assume things without the facts to back up their claim. like? god forbid ppl make eye contact with someone else and suddenly there are dating rumours flying around?? the amount of dating scandals i’ve been in because i’m social and a yapper is INSANE. i’ve been in them with the ateez boys too. but they’re never yunho… like youse r doing after the wrong guy!!!!!

24. we have cats in our dorm but they’re not really mine. my members n i all collectively own them n picked them out together so. i dont know where to stand with that one

25. honestly… both. i’m difficult i know, i’m sorry! i just love to party but i also love to sit in and watch a film. again, depends on my mood. i’ve walked out of parties before to go home, but i’ve also walked out of my dorm to go partying. it be your own state of mind 🤷🏻‍♀️

hope u enjoyed reading!

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER AS YOUR 𝒟R 𝒮ELF ✸

ib this post from @zaddizu & heavily ib premiumbitch ★

#1. what are 3 items you can’t live without?

#2. favorite song?

#3. what are your hobbies?

#4. favorite holiday?

#5. what do you do for a living?

#6. who is someone you always hangout with?

#7. are you a night person or a morning person?

#8. favorite animal?

#9. introvert or extrovert?

#10. do you have siblings?

#11. how do you dress?

#12. favorite movie / tv show?

#13. do you have a crush / significant other?

#14. what’s your zodiac sign?

#15. what’s your favorite snack?

#16. do you travel a lot?

#17. do you play instruments?

#18. who is your best friend?

#19. least favorite food?

#20. what’s your name?

#21. do you have a sweet tooth?

#22. nicknames your family or friends call you?

#23. what is something that annoys you?

#24. do you have a pet?

#25. do you prefer going out or staying at home?

[spilycoris]

dropping into ur ask inbox to say u should absolutely infodump about ur lamb btw im so curious about them

throws around confetti.

i appreciate.. the ask.. and also i am very clueless when it comes to actual infodumping cause i thrive when people ask specific questions but i can definitely drop like basic info but I BEG OF YOU. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THNGS SPECIFICALLY. i am willing to share relationships etc etc just ASK

so my lamb, a valais blacknose, is called moros (like the personification of impending doom from greek mythology!) and they use they/them as.. most do.

their preferred weapon is a spear (as said in their current reference sheet) and that spear's base is ratau's staff which they carry around constantly as some kind of remembrance (cause you know that trope of a character carrying around an item that once belonged to one of their loved ones because the died? yeah. that.)

they're a silly and whimsical fella. rarely takes anything seriously. they're arrogant. hubristic. and i hope they explode. overly nice to their followers and then the bishops are victims of their bullying (affectionate). thinks violence is a good coping mechanism. i mean they picked the fight pit ritual and rite of wrath. so do with that what you will.

drops a hammer on them

[piastriprincess]

if  you  keep  it  just  yours ⸻ charles  leclerc  x  reader  .

featuring  charles  leclerc  ,  writer!reader  ,  fluff  ,  smau . author’s  note  requested  by  anon  !  i’m  sorry  it  took  so  long  but  i  loved  your  request  and  your  kind  words  ,  i  hope  i  did  it  justice  !  tried  to  get  this  out  today  in  honor  of  the  #chodium  .  this  is  my  first  try  at  an  smau  so  PLEASE  be  nice  …  i’m  still  not  sure  i  love  the  way  this  turned  out  but  nevertheless  we  persist  !  i  also  had  to  drop  some  ancient  charles  lore  in  this  …  rip  bawsixteen  we still talk about you .  anyway  please  let  me  know  what  you  think  and  if  i  should  keep  trying  smaus  …  i  promise  i  won’t  be  upset  if  you  hated  it  <3  title  is  from  paris  by  taylor  swift  (in  honor  of  her  owning  the  masters  again  !!!)

liked by emmachamberlain, dollyalderton and 27,054 others yourusername it’s official — i’m in my monaco era! paris will always have mon coeur but it’s time for a change of scenery. here’s to good beaches and hopefully better stories 🐚💌

user1 THEEEE modern carrie bradshaw frfr ⤷ user2 No bc I can’t wait to hear her stories about the Monaco dating scene??? user3 romanticizing your life is BACK and yn is leading the charge !! user4 already screaming at how chic this is. give me the essay collection immediately yourbff OMG I need to visit asappppp ♥ liked by author ⤷ yourusername missing you already ! user5 bienvenue à monaco! you will love it here :) user6 main character of her own european romance novel iktr  camillecharriere oh i want to be you when i grow up ♥ liked by author user7 This post feels like the opening scene of an HBO show I’ll binge 16000 times…

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to: Y/N L/N your.name@gmail.com  from: Jean-Claude Ravello jean-claude@bellevue.mc subject: Bienvenue au Bellevue!

Bonjour mademoiselle L/N, 

Welcome to your new home at the Residence Bellevue — we are so happy to have you here! I am sure you will quickly discover that Monaco is a small place, but this building is even smaller. Please, consider yourself part of the family already!

A few quick notes to help you settle in:

Waste and recycling are collected on Tuesdays and Fridays. There are trash chutes on every floor, but the recycling must be taken to the bins by the side entrance.

Wi-Fi information is included in the welcome folder. I know you mentioned you were a writer, so if you should need a stronger signal, the rooftop lounge is a favorite quiet working spot for our residents.

Your neighbors are both longtime Bellevue residents, so if you have any questions about the building that I cannot answer (or you just do not want to ask me!) please feel free to reach out to them. Charles actually grew up in Monaco and knows the city inside and out so if you need any recommendations I am sure he would be happy to help. Sharing both neighbors’ contact information (with permission):

Laura (16A): +377 08 35 19 72

Charles (16C): +377 99 42 67 01

Do not hesitate to contact me with any maintenance concerns or general questions! Wishing you a smooth unpacking. We are delighted to have you join our community.  

Welcome home, Jean-Claude Ravello Building Superintendent

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liked by jiatortellini, kikagomes and 31,652 others yourusername from me to you, a new essay on the unique magic of starting over and the way a stranger can start to feel like a story. up now on substack! let me know what you think xx

user8 “balcony boy” WE CHEERED MOTHER IS BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER ⤷ user9 Her writing isn’t just about the men she’s dating… ⤷ user8 okay congrats you read. do you want a medal?? should we throw a party?? should we invite bella hadid?? marlowetatiana Obsessed ! ♥ liked by author user10 saw the notif at brunch and opened substack immediately like sorry guys my parasocial internet bestie needs to tell me about her new crush user11 @ oprah @ reesewitherspoon @ pitbull GET HER A BOOK DEAL STAT! ⤷ user12 girl what is mr. worldwide going to do… user13 “Maybe Balcony Boy and I will never really meet. Maybe we’re destined to almost-know each other indefinitely… But still, there’s something delicious about the romance of the near miss.” WOW!!!! ♥ liked by author yourbff What did I say… I give it a week ⤷ yourusername it’s been ten days actually. this is what growth looks like! take notes! user14 i get her bc balcony boy has me in a chokehold too and i’ve never even seen him

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OUTGOING AUDIO MESSAGE ▶‖ to: bestie • 02:23  •၊၊||၊|။||||။၊|။•

“Okay, so… I know I was supposed to check in after fifteen minutes and I’m really late and now I’m hiding out in the bathroom like I’m in a rom com from the 2000s because… I don’t know, I just — I just need a minute to breathe. [pause] I thought this was just a stupid little crush and I’d go on this date and get over it but he’s… Babe, he’s really sweet. He opened doors for me. He pulled out my chair. He called me chérie. He even laughed at my stupid joke about the bread basket! And he’s so — ugh. He’s so pretty and he smells so good, it’s rude. It’s actually unfair how perfect he is. [long sigh] But that’s not even the thing. Like, it’s not even that he’s cute. Okay, maybe it’s a little bit that he’s cute but — he’s smart. And funny. And curious, and he listens when I talk, like really listens, even if it’s stupid or rambley, and he asked about my writing and actually wanted to hear about it. I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but… yeah. I might be in trouble here. It feels like it could be something, you know? [pause] Okay. I really need to go back before he thinks I climbed out the window. I’ll tell you everything tomorrow. Love you so much.”

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@ yourusername • instagram notifications you have (1) new follow request from @ bawsixteen !

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liked by hunterh, oliviarodrigo, and 28,253 others yourusername life is looking pretty good lately

user15 is that a m-m-man ?!?!?!?! ⤷ user16 better question IS THAT BALCONY BOY ⤷ user17 It literally has to be! She hasn’t written about anyone else user15 okay i’ve gotten over my shock. who the hell is he bc his hand is fine as fuck rachsyme and you look even better! ♥ liked by author yourbff oh so we’re soft launching now… 👀 ♥ liked by author ⤷ yourusername yeahhhhh so i owe you SEVERAL voice memos user18 LOVERGIRL ERA user19 mother is boo’d up… congrats to whoever’s bouncing on it 😭 ⤷ user20 you almost got it sweetie. don’t worry. we’ll wait. bawsixteen Pretty flowers :) ♥ liked by author ⤷ yourusername almost as pretty as the guy who gave them to me :)

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to: All Subscribers everythingiknowaboutsubs@substack.com from: Y/N your.name@substack.com subject: everything i know about falling

Everything I Know About… Falling

So here’s the thing about me and Balcony Boy (and yes, even though we’re actually dating now, I’m still not graduating to using his actual name with you all!) Somewhere in between our first kiss overlooking the harbor and him learning to make me blueberry pancakes just the way I like them, I’ve realized I can’t lie to myself that it’s casual anymore. 

And that is completely terrifying. 

You know that feeling when you’re reading a really good book and you look up and realize that you’ve been on another planet for hours? Where you’ve forgotten to check your phone, forgotten to be anxious about deadlines, forgotten about every single thing except the story and the words on the page? That’s what being with Balcony Boy feels like. Like nothing matters except existing in that very moment with him. 

I’m not used to staying present like that. My mind is like a summer storm, always pulled in a million different directions. I used to think it was a strength of mine: a skill, even. It made me a better writer, a better thinker. But that constant motion was also my shield — from boredom, from failure, from getting too attached to anything. Self-preservation disguised as independence. Emotional distance disguised as something casual. 

When Balcony Boy came into my life, yes, I liked him immediately. Six feet of tan, hot, shirtless neighbor. Let’s be real. Who wouldn’t enjoy that view? But somewhere along the way, he stopped being a charming background character in my life and started being the type of steady presence that made me want to slow down. To sit still. To listen. To trust. And that is such a new feeling that I can’t help but be scared.

Here’s the truth: I’ve dated a lot of men who liked the idea of me. Men who wanted to be a muse and then flinched when I spilled my truth onto the page. Men who liked a complicated woman until the complications weren’t cute anymore. Men who wanted me to be emotionally available for them, and who never really listened in return. All of that was okay, because I wasn’t staying still long enough for the pain to be anything more than a glancing blow. 

But Balcony Boy doesn’t just like the idea of me. He doesn’t need to be the story — he just wants to make space for mine. He reads my drafts and underlines all his favorite lines. He twirls me around my kitchen when I laugh and he holds me when I cry. He listens. He shows up, quietly and without spectacle. He brings me coffee and croissants when I’ve been writing too long and forget to eat. It sounds crazy, but I'm scared of this because if I lose it, for the first time in a long time, it'll really, really hurt. But Balcony Boy tells me I’m brave when I’m terrified. And for the first time in a long time, he makes me want to believe him. 

I used to think love was about dramatic gestures, but maybe this is what love feels like when it’s real. Not the fireworks (although there are plenty of those, too), but the foundation. Not someone catching you when you fall, but someone taking your hand so you don’t have to be scared of the jump in the first place. 

So here I am. Jumping, without hesitation. And if the fall kills me, at least I’ll have had the pleasure of doing it with him. 

yours, y/n xx

next week: everything i know about long-distance - on dating someone whose job takes them away more than you’d like, and learning to miss someone properly.

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liked by bawsixteen, rachelchinouriri, and 29,311 others yourusername so in love that i might stop breathing, drew a map on your bedroom ceiling

user21 mama… mama a man behind you ⤷ user22 the launch is getting harder and harder user23 starting the investigation into balcony boy’s identity. james bond has nothing on me yourbff Happy looks sooooo good on you babe ♥ liked by author  user24 the note OH LET ME KILL MYSELF !!!!!!!!!! hunterh beautiful girl! ♥ liked by author user25 this has gone on long enough WHO IS HE ⤷ user26 She’s allowed to keep it private for as long as she wants! ⤷ user25 "keep it private" blah blah blah consider i’m living vicariously through her and i want to know :) ⤷ user27 that's definitely a ferrari he's driving in slide 3... bawsixteen Belle chérie ♥ liked by author user28 oh i just KNOW balcony boy is sooooooo fine

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REDDIT: TOP POSTS TODAY r/yourusername • crossposted to r/formula1 • 3h ago posted by u/luvleclerc

hear me out… i think i know who balcony boy is!

okay i know this sounds insane but LISTEN. i’ve been reading y/n’s substack for ages and am also a huge fan of formula one. i’m absolutely convinced that balcony boy is charles leclerc. 

EVIDENCE so yall don’t call me crazy:

so y/n moved to monaco a few months ago, and posted this photo from her balcony. she’s never said exactly where she lives but you can see the harbor in the background and we know charles lives near there. and this story he posted the other day? like not to be a stalker but tell me that’s not almost exactly the same view. almost like they're neighbors... also the timeline of her moving to monaco almost perfectly matches when charles started posting less on socials!!!

then we get into the balcony boy content, which if you haven’t read… oh my god. y/n’s writing is so beautiful that it doesn’t even make you feel bad about being painfully single. balcony boy literally feels like a romcom hero come to life. she doesn’t drop a ton of personal details about him but here’s what she HAS said:

“Some people flirt with their eyes and their smile. Others, apparently, do it by playing you a piano étude at golden hour, notes drifting on the sea breeze like a love song.” … guess who else FAMOUSLY plays piano????? charles marc hervé perceval leclerc.

balcony boy is genuinely curious about her writing and reads all her essays. this is exactly how charles is in interviews - always engaged and thoughtful with questions.

balcony boy is fine with being written about and isn’t bothered that y/n is somewhat well known. sounds like a person who already knows how it feels to be in the spotlight!!!!

“Dating a man who’s gone every other weekend means learning to say goodbye. But even when he’s on the other side of the world, he never makes me feel like he’s far away.” F1 CALENDAR HELLO…

mentioned that balcony boy grew up near where they live (“knows the streets of this place like the lyrics of his favorite song”). prince of monaco!!!! i rest my case!!!!

one last thing: her most recent posts are totally a soft launch and the guy’s hair in the 1st slide looks EXACTLY like charles's. plus there’s this comment from someone called @ bawsixteen about the flowers like he gave them to her? i checked the account and it’s private with no profile photo, but the display name says CL. cl… sixteen… it CAN’T be a coincidence!!

⬆ 16.1K ⬇  •  🗨 897  •  ➦ SHARE

TOP COMMENTS u/f1gossipgirl • 3h ago  this is the most unhinged thing i’ve ever read but you’ve convinced me ⬆ 3.4K ⬇

u/fromthedeskof • 48m ago NOOOOO PLEASEEE not my favorite microinfluencer i can’t have everyone finding out about her… she’s MY parasocial bestie ⬆ 2.5K ⬇ ⤷ u/albonnation • 11m ago it's too late she has wag allegations :( she’s about to blow up ⬆ 332 ⬇ ⤷ u/everythingyn • 9m ago rip to our cozy lil substack community, she will be missed 💔 ⬆ 597 ⬇

u/BeanbagGreg • 1h ago  This subreddit is focused on racing. Stick to discussion of driving please ⬆ 1.7K ⬇ ⤷ u/piastriwdc • 26m ago literally no one asked you to read this… how many times do we have to teach you this lesson old man? ⬆ 4.8K ⬇

u/romanticrealist • 35m ago  ok grandma let’s get you to bed ⬆ 992 ⬇ ⤷ u/sallyrooneyluvbot • 6m ago Literally like as if she would ever date an athlete?? Be so fr ⬆ 81 ⬇ ⤷ u/landoleclerc • 2m ago um have you SEEN charles leclerc? don’t you ever speak on my goat like that ⬆ 133 ⬇

u/charlesdefender • 2h ago  wait she’s sooooo pretty what’s her instagram ⬆ 689 ⬇

SEE MORE...

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@ yourusername • instagram notifications you have (8,692) new follow requests from @ leclercwdc, @ charloslover, @ f1ella and others !

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liked by charles_leclerc, bawsixteen, and 95,214 others yourusername privacy sign on the door… taking balcony boy offline for now xx

charles_leclerc Je t’aime ♥ liked by author

comments have been limited on this post

[saddleseatollie]

I said that I was gonna make a post about Hans' side of the Hansry romance so here we go (buckle up because this will be a very long post):

First off, I wanna talk about his responses to all the heart/romantic dialogue options throughout the game.

I find these dialogue choices to be pretty interesting in general because it's SO easy to read them as completely platonic, which I imagine to be quite intentional. Two bros acknowledging that they care about each other, what's special about that?

Except their friendship isn't normal. Henry is Hans' page and bodyguard. Hans is essentially his boss, and Henry is duty bound to follow him everywhere, save him when he's in trouble.

What these dialogue options establish is that Henry doesn't rescue Hans because it's his job. He does it because he wants to.

I simply cannot stress enough how important it is for Hans to hear that from Henry. To know that he is not forcing Henry into anything. He's not just Henry's boss but also a noble, and that puts him in a position of power over him that he probably struggles with to some degree.

Throughout this game we see more of the divide between "Lord Capon of Pirkstein" and simply "Hans". When he breaks down his walls with Henry and becomes simply Hans, it's because he's letting him in. He doesn't do that with anyone else.

So why is it that Hans' responses to the romance dialogues are so...unromantic? Does he not realize his feelings for Henry yet? Does he not accept them?

No. I think that even by For Whom the Bell Tolls (the end of which being the first opportunity for romance dialogue) Hans has not only recognized his feelings for Henry but accepted them.

When? Honestly there are so many possible answers to that question I'm not even going to try (personally I like to think he spent the majority of his time in the cells at Trosky just thinking about him and Henry so maybe then).

"But Ollie! Why, then, are you saying that Hans' responses were platonic?" I hear you asking.

Because Hans isn't stupid. I'm not 100% sure what the punishment for homosexuality by the law was in 15th century Bohemia but I can guarantee it was very bad. I'm not a history buff but google tells me it ranged from burning at the stake to castration and exile. Not only that but remember that Bohemia at that time was ruled by the Holy Roman Empire, which was still a Catholic Empire circa 1403 and would remain that way for another century. Catholics at the time (and some groups even to this day) viewed sodomy (officially defined as any form of "unnatural sexual acts" including but not limited to homosexuality as the word itself refers to anal sex) as a mortal sin. Basically meaning that the near-universal stance of homosexuality at the time would be that homosexual acts meant burning in Hell for eternity.

All this to say that while I believe that Hans himself has come to terms with his feelings, he recognizes that no one can ever find out about them.

So he tries his absolute hardest to play the role of "best friend" and outwardly pretend to have only the most platonic of feelings towards Henry.

And yet. And yet. Hans loves Henry. He loves him so fucking much even while knowing they can realistically never be together. But Hans is a dreamer. We see that from him a lot, actually. He dreams about a world where nobles well and truly take care of their subjects, where towns aren't raided and burned to the ground for war and profit. It's no stretch to imagine he also dreams of a world where he and Henry can be together.

And then Hans is surprise-engaged against his will and his dreams are promptly smashed against the rocks.

I mean this is his reaction to hearing the news.

He says it's because he wanted to wait to get married, to live a life of adventure before settling down. And while I'm sure that's part of it, in the context of a romanced Hans this is him realizing that he really can't ever be with Henry. Hans might be a serial womanizer (overcompensating much?) but he's no adulterer.

Look in my lovely little headcanon where everything is wonderful and beautiful and works out, do they stay together? Yes, absolutely. But realistically, I don't think it's possible. Their relationship is doomed to fail before it even begins. It's a classic example of love simply not being enough.

And that reality is simply too much, so Hans does as he always does, pretends none of it means anything at all and nothing has changed. He'll never love her as he does Henry and that's that.

And then the siege happens, and Henry volunteers for a suicide mission and is probably going to die and Hans is starving.

Hunger and Despair.

Hans is starving. Not just for food or drink but for life and love and Henry.

Hans has always been prone to impulsivity, to acting on every desire. He's shone amazing restraint, all things considered, up until that point. He loves Henry and he feels he'll die of sorrow without him.

Think about that for a moment.

When he tells Henry the tale of Lancelot and Galehaut he puts himself in the place of Galehaut, who died from grief and sorrow over the loss of his lover.

He fears he'll die if Henry doesn't return. Not of starvation. Not at the hands of a Prague soldier.

Of grief and sorrow.

He is so, so tired of holding back. Of pretending. He wants Henry, he needs Henry. Not as a friend or a protector or a squire but as some strange, lovely mix of all three and more.

Then Henry places his hand over Hans' and tells him everything will be alright and Hans realizes, maybe for the first time, maybe not, that Henry may feel the same as he.

And that tiny little spark of hope is enough to make him act. He kisses Henry out of sheer terror and desperation and longing.

Audentes Fortuna Iuvat.

Fortune favors the bold.

It's time to be bold.

[meanbossart]

ASK COMPILATION: Pregnancy back-seater, WOTC-brand poppers and humanoid feet.

It's been a while since I last took a good dive into my inbox!

Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to message in, whether it be questions, prompts, or words of support and encouragement! I unfortunately cannot get to everybody, but I do my best while trying not to be spammy with the reply posts 😅

I actually have plans to do just that and an ANCIENT short comic idea that I still really like, so you can look forward to having your wish granted eventually ;)

Though, to be clear, Orin is older than DU drow, so she might not look that much younger. I do want to have a little more fun with hers and Sarevok's design however (also to just draw more young DU drow overall).

There are pros and cons to either, but I think he probably enjoys having a penis more. Not only is he already used to that anatomy, but it likely suits their very versatile dynamic most. If we're talking gender alone, I think Astarion would be truly indifferent 🤷

Oh he would be insufferable. Attentive and loving to a fault. If the partner in question happened to enjoy luxuriating and doing nothing all day, it would work out wonderfully - but if they have any desire for independence and self-sufficiency while pregnant, that might pose a problem. He also might have some trouble empathizing with the shittier parts of carrying - being so enamored with the idea that he can't fathom the downsides being so bad that some tender love and care can't fix them.

DU drow would be similarly whimsied during birth and definitely be very involved.

Somewhat surprisingly, however, I don't think anything could ever convince him to put the baby's life above his partner's. If at any point that was a decision that had to be made, he would, without hesitation.

He must have 2 or 3 long suffering pairs that look pretty similar. Very much the kind of guy to wear clothes until they completely fall apart.

LOL, THANK YOU. Were it not for the occasional glass of wine, the guy would probably be some sort of murderous straight-edge weirdo 😂EXTREMELY self-righteous about it, of course.

Except for poppers. I don't know what poppers look like in Faerun, but whatever that would be - he had a drawer full of them.

So, on one hand, you are completely right. It does suit him very well.

On the other hand, I am DYING to know why you think so, because that's the first I'm ever thinking about it myself and have no answer beyond "he looks like a foot man".

He definitely "fell in" by "accident" 😏

I will NOT accept this sort of slander, he would only do that if he really disliked them.

I don't know about the ears but he can def' make the girls hop.

I'm sure there's a lot of little things you could isolate that we have in common, that tends to be the case for most people (in that we can easily relate to fictional characters in general) - but we are largely opposites. I guess we both like animals, though even in that we part when it comes to our attitude towards house pets and the likes - I'm taking my cat to the orthopedist tomorrow. Somehow that doesn't sound like something he would do.

I guess that depends on what your definition of fem dressing is! I have put him in lingerie before and the guy DOES sport low-cut shirts and tight, tight pants all the time. I don't think dresses would really suit his figure, but he wouldn't be opposed to something frilly in the bedroom if it gave Astarion a laugh.

In every day life, I just don't think he would enjoy the flowyness and pomp one might associate with more (fantasy genre) feminine dress. He's a practical guy! Hence why his wardrobe looks like a lesbian's.

It is only humanoid feet, sorry anon, LOL.

Either dead or on that Vampire Ascendant grind, no in-between.

Probably large felines! But he keeps that to himself to avoid the Drizzt jokes.

I have had a couple of friends that remind me of Astarion, I think we could have been fine-weather buddies when I was in my early twenties and then inevitably stop talking to each other and not really miss one another very much 😂 same thing if I existed in the universe of BG3 - no matter what, I just wouldn't be wanting to get involved with whatever they're doing.

I could never be friends with DU drow but we would get along at the pub. I'm fairly confident they would both find me horrifically boring, be nice to my face, and make fun of me behind my back.

[cydork]

Alien Questionnaire - A Biological Perspective

A while ago, somebody linked me a very comprehensive worldbuilding questionnaire. For most aspects of a fictional society, it was great, but I noticed it assumed that anyone using it was making up a fictional human society, or at least a society of beings very similar to humans. As such, there was almost nothing in the biology department, which to me is one of the best parts! Thus, this questionnaire was born.

These questions are designed to help people worldbuild from a biological foundation. As such, the questionnaire only touches lightly on other aspects of a fictional society, and is more of a jumping off point. I wrote it with the aim of using it to develop aliens, but it should be suitable for any project with non-humanoid species, such as sapient terrestrial animals.

Have fun! I'd love to see your answers :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

General Anatomy How many limbs do they have? Do they have limbs at all?

What are their primary manipulators? Where are they located? How does this affect their tool use, building ability, etc?

What kind of body covering do they have, e.g. hair, scales, feathers? How do they clean it? Do they shed this covering constantly, or all at once at certain times? 

Can they maintain a constant body temperature? If not, how do they deal with changing environmental temperatures? 

What kind of habitat do they live in? Both specific habitat, and broader such as on land vs in water.

What adaptations do they have for living in this habitat?

What kind of creature did they evolve from?

What are the similarities and differences to their closest living relatives? 

What resource(s) is the most necessary and urgent for them? E.g. for many animals, but not all, it’s water.

What are some common mutations? E.g. eye colours, ability to digest lactose in humans.

What injuries or illnesses are considered disabling? 

How is their healing ability? Can they regenerate? If they can, is that limited to certain body parts or a certain number of times?

Senses What senses do they have? E.g. sight, smell, electroreception, etc.

How good are those senses?

Which of their sense/s do they use the most in everyday life?

How might this choice of sense impact the way they interact with the world? 

Can they detect things that Earth creatures cannot? If yes, how and why?

Movement  How do they move? Do they walk, crawl, fly, etc? 

If they have multiple modes of movement, which is preferred, and why?

Which part/s of their body do they use to move?

What is their speed and endurance like? 

How agile are they? 

Do they rely mainly on their own bodies for travel, or do they use pack animals and machines? 

How often do they move around? Are they mainly sedentary, do they move a lot within a set area, do they migrate, etc?

Do they have different levels of mobility depending on age, sex, or other biological group? E.g. young barnacles are able to swim, while adults are anchored permanently to a surface. 

Reproduction and Lifecycle  How many sexes are there? 

Are there differences between the sexes (ignoring the reproductive system)? 

Are there different castes, such as in honeybees or naked mole rats? If so, what is the function of each caste? 

Are differences in sex or caste used to justify discrimination or hierarchy? How might these ideas differ in different populations? 

Do they have a concept of gender? If so, is gender affected by sex, caste, or some other factor?

How do they attract a mate? Do they release a chemical into the air, do an elaborate display, etc?

Does one individual try to actively woo another, or is courtship more mutual?

What do they find attractive in members of the same species?

What is the usual reproductive partnership? E.g. two individuals, one main reproducing individual with a harem, no set partner, etc. 

How long do they live?

How are young brought into the world? Live birth, eggs, spores, etc?

Is producing young a painful, dangerous process, or is it easy?

How much parental investment is there? Are there many young with little investment, or few young with a lot of investment (r vs K strategy)? Or is it somewhere in the middle? 

How many offspring are produced at a time? Think about how attitudes towards children may differ between a species that produces one or two, and a species that produces dozens or even hundreds at a time.

How do they grow? Are they born looking like miniature adults, gradually growing bigger? Do they have specific phases of high growth, like puberty? Do they have a larval phase, metamorphosis? 

How self-sufficient are they as young? Can they move around and feed themselves as soon as they are born? Do they require parental care? 

What is the usual structure of childcare? Single or multiple parents/related individuals? Communally raised? 

Is sex purely for reproduction, or does it serve other purposes?

What kind of sexuality is considered the norm? This doesn’t just refer to same/other sex pairings, but the culture around sex in general.

Diet and Foodchain What is their diet? Are they carnivores, omnivores, frugivores, insectivores, etc?

Do they feed off an unusual source, for example rocks, metals, or (in appropriate settings) something like magic or souls?

What physical adaptations do they have for this diet? 

Is their diet very restricted, or can they have a wide range of foods?

How often do they eat? What is the culture around mealtimes, if any?

Are they prey for other organisms? For each other?

If they are, how do they deal with it? Do they fight back, have barriers, or do they accept it as a part of life?

If they are hunters themselves, what is their attitude to killing other organisms? Are they respectful? Prideful of their kill? Is it completely trivial? 

If they are hunters, how do they hunt? Are they solitary or packhunters? Are certain members of the group designated to hunt? 

Are the results of foraging or hunting shared, or is it everyone for themself?

Are they parasitic, parasitised, or in a symbiotic relationship with any other organisms? 

Body Rhythms How often do they sleep?

What time of the day are they most active? Are they nocturnal, diurnal, crepuscular? 

Do they generally sleep for one long period a day, multiple shorter periods throughout, or something in between? 

Do they sleep to cope with extreme temperatures or bad conditions, i.e. hibernate or aestivate?

Do they have any biological processes that disrupt their life e.g. moulting, reproductive cycles, etc?

If yes, how does their society accommodate for these processes? Does it accommodate them at all? 

Communication What is their main method of communication? Sound, visuals, scent, etc? Think about their main sense and how this would affect communication.

What is their body language like? What small moving parts might aid their body language?

If they have multiple methods of communication, are they all given equal weight, or is one considered higher than others? 

Society How sociable are they? 

If social, what is the usual social structure? 

Are there hierarchies? How strict or relaxed are the roles?

How are disputes usually settled? Is it more common to be violent or appease the other party? 

If not social, what is the reaction to being with other individuals? Do they become aggressive or stressed? Do they tolerate each other? 

What is the usual size of a community? Do they have communities at all? 

Do they have an in-group vs out-group mentality? If so, how strong is it? This generally relates to how scarce or plentiful resources were during their evolution, and how territorial their ancestors were.

What kind of bonds do they form? 

On the spectrum of individualistic to community-oriented, where do they fall?

Do they have a strong sense of personal identity? Think about how this might tie in with the previous question. 

What are the main things they derive identity from? Occupation, gender, family ties, etc?

Do they have names? If yes, how are these names formed? Are they given by another party or chosen by the individual?

Have they domesticated any creatures? If so, what do they use these creatures for?

Do they have any unusual relationships with other creatures on their planet (beyond predation, parasitism or mutualism)?

Do they produce art? What are their main forms of artistic expression? Think about how this will be linked to their main sense(s), communication method, and/or primary manipulators.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GLOSSARY Primary manipulator: Main body part used to manipulate objects, e.g. hands in humans, trunks in elephants, feet in parrots.

Sedentary: Inactive, staying in the same place.

Caste (reproductive): A group within a species with differences in body type and reproductive ability.

Symbiosis/Mutualism: Interactions where both parties benefit, e.g. cleaner fish getting a meal in exchange for picking irritating parasites off larger fish.

Aestivate: To become inactive during hot or dry periods, usually involving being sealed in mucus or soil e.g. lungfish, snails. 

Reproductive cycle: Regular hormone fluctuations that affect an animal’s fertility or attitude towards breeding. The cycles can range from months to years and can include things such as antler growth in male deer, heat cycles, and menstruation in humans.

[adrinktostopyourthirst]

incoming smutty thoughts:

the other night i had a dream i asked something like “how come you always tell me to talk and you rarely do?” and he replied “i like your voice more.” so we know bucky is the “ask for what you want type,” but do you think he’s more or less verbal than her in bed? he’s generally quiet, do you think maybe that leads to him talking dirty more?

Oh, I love this, because I do often write about him dirty talking.

I think we all know that Bucky only speaks when he absolutely has to and even then, it's usually something sarcastic or cynical. Also, Bucky isn’t the best with words. Yes, he can lie and manipulate well, but most of that is body language and perception. It’s fascinating how few words he has to utilise to get what he wants. His skill is mainly in listening and observing and most people know this about him, so they let him.

Just as most people have the good sense to be somewhat on their guard around him, especially when Bucky doesn’t bother to be sly about keeping a close eye on everyone and everything. But he has never really been able to unnerve you. Or… Maybe he has, but it only made you talk more. You share unapologetically and you ramble and you show most of your emotions. At first, he thought it was foolish to be so open and vulnerable. Now, he can see it has probably saved your life (and others’ lives) more times than he can count. With you living, speaking and feeling so out in the open, he doesn’t have to pay so much attention to you.

And yet…

The man cannot stop himself from paying attention to you. Everything else just kind of blurs. It mostly amuses everyone around Bucky how distracted he gets. They pull petty little pranks when he isn’t paying attention. And they fail awkwardly, because Bucky might be smitten, but he’s still a trained soldier.

So yes, Bucky is quiet and you’ve always known that about him. You expected him to be more quiet in bed, too. But he has learned that he loves how responsive you are and it just so happens that you get more responsive when he speaks to you. When Bucky has his tongue buried between your legs or his cock hitting your cervix, he usually grounds you by splaying a wide palm over your back, or thigh, or tummy. However, Bucky has found he likes the way you shudder when he mumbles against your neck or the shell of your ear. He likes how you can only respond with a soft mewl when he uses his voice.

Sometimes he asks you a question and then drives his cock into you with a thorough thrust at the end, making you writhe under him and choke on air. Then he nuzzles his nose over your pulse with a soft laugh. “Who’s the quiet one now, huh?”

You want to answer him, you do, but fuck– his fingers are at your clit and his teeth bite into your collar bone and he’s moaning and– and– Oh God… But he talks you through it. Every step of the way. Teasing. Coaxing. Soothing. Praising.

“That’s the spot.”

“Look at you,” when your eyes roll to the back of your head.

“Hug me tighter, sweetheart,” he’ll groan when you clench around him tightly. “Fuck. Good girl.”

“That’s my girl,” when you come. And the sounds you make - that will have him nearly go blind with pleasure. “There you go. Keep coming for me.”

[serejae]

ITS STUPID | BND

pairing : bnd x reader (NO WOONHAK)

genre : fluff

WHAT ! - bnd when your sulky

wc : 1584 | @onedoornet

-

SUNGHO :

- i feel like he would be so confused if he didnt know why you were sulky

- i also feel like he would ask some light questions but wouldnt push you to answer. but if he didnt get a answer he would be so confused

- he would spend the rest of the day reflecting on what he did only to get no answer

- it isnt until night time when you both are laying by each other and arent cuddling that he speaks up because he cant sleep without your cuddles :-|

sungho got home and saw you in the kitchen doing the dishes, normally youd wait for him to come home for dinner to eat together but maybe you werent feeling it. he tried starting a conversation only to get short responses, he then asked if you were okay only to get a hum he noticed the slight pout on your face as you gave these responses. after he got freshened up he went to eat dinner alone with only his thoughts. he replayed his whole day, actually no week, maybe month. but he couldnt seem to put his finger on what you were mad at him for. as he made it to your guys room, he noticed how dark the room was letting him know that you were asleep. he sighed and laid down, and for about 30 minutes he keeps his composure before speaking up “baby..baby!” he shook you gently, you hummed tiredly wondering why your boyfriend was waking you up. “what did i do? just tell me and i’ll apologize but i really cant think of a reason hun” he said propping himself up to look at you. “you left the toilet seat up” you said as you yawned seeming to not care anymore, he groaned and pulled the covers over to his side “now im mad at you”

“made me worry for no reason” he mumbled

RIWOO :

- riwoo is a worried man

- he’ll do everything in his power to try and calm you down so by the time you two cuddle he can get you to spill out why you were sulking

- he hates seeing anything on your face but a smile and would do anything. ANYTHING to get it off if it isnt a smile

- but hes a master manipulator like he’ll plan all this out for the perfect timing

as riwoo left the room after noticing you were not joining him in a few minutes like you said, he saw you sitting at your desk typing away on your keyboard. aside from your beautiful face he noticed the big fat pout on your lip making him furrow his eyebrows. riwoo sat on the couch behind you as you did your assignment watching the pout on your lips sit there making him form a pout on his lips as well. he didnt like seeing you bothered or upset by something, so he decided since he knew you wanted to finish this assignment that instead of stopping you he’d take some of the burden off your shoulders. he massaged your shoulders, gave your favorite snacks, and gave you a peck here and there. he could see the way your shoulders relaxed and how slowly but surely the pout on your lips disappeared. and when it finally disappeared fully he left a fat kiss on them as a celebration on his end, afterwards when you finally finish he takes you to your guys room and massages your head letting the stress rest as he listened to you complain about your day. his lips curved up when you mention how you appreciated him helping you. in response he kissed your forehead

“anytime”

JAEHYUN :

- wee woo wee woo someone call the dramatic police !!

- HE WILL NOT SHUT THE FUCK UP!! literally blows your head off with questions before he can leave you alone

- he cannot stand you being mad at him for more than 1.36 seconds and make it 1.17 seconds if your sulky

- so as soon as he notices something off hes begging for forgiveness even if he doesnt know what he did

jaehyun couldnt LIVE with the fact tjat he made the love of his life mad like no, kill him. and he dont even get him started if he didnt know why. he has a pre generated apology in his mind ready to be said with tears and everything. he continued to follow you around the house naming all the reasons you could be mad at him even the most ridiculous. “is it cause i ate the last ice cream bar?” “or did i snore too loud” “ohhh its cause i sent too many of those emoji reactions huh?” he continued talking before you turned around “no, no and no!” “than what is ittt” he groaned stretching the ‘t’. you sighed and laid down on the couch to relax, only to feel a man ontop of you (GET OFF ME!!!!) “JAEHYUN” you shouted “tell me” he repeated and he laid ontop of you. “remember when i said i didnt like liz?” you said giving up this whole cold persona. feeling him nod you continue “you said ‘she isnt that bad!’ but your suppose to agree with anything i say and dislike anything i dislike!” it goes silent for a bit then you hear him go “OHHHHH, noted”

now hes a certified hater with you ❤️

TAESAN :

- like sungho doesnt pester you too much about it

- but unlike sungho he doesnt ask questions but observes your moves, and once he sees the pout he knows hes OUT (laugh.)

- anyways literally spend the whole day spacing out wondering what the fuck did he do, he starts reading old conversations you both had. he makes his brain a computer system tracing back each step (while keeping a straight face)

- he folds when you two are having dinner and its silent. he canr take it anymore and ask you if he did anything wrong in the most nonchalant way he can (hes about to start tweaking)

he spent his whole shower standing there backtracking all his steps, from when he woke up to when he got home. after he got out he proceeded to stay in the bathroom and sit there for 25 minutes and 19 seconds scrolling through your messages to see if he had said something wrong trying to find a mood change for him to have to come home to a pouty partner. after finding nothing he sighed coming out of the bathroom and joins you for dinner. the dinner is silent, your peacefully eating but he pokes at his food not being able to get your sulky face out of his mind. he puts his fork down before looking at you “please tell me what i did” he said plainly trying to mask the fact that hes going to explode. you look at him and tilt your head confused, he picks up on your body language and speaks up again “i dont like seeing you pout, especially if it was something i did, did someone do something did i do something?”. he sees your face change when you realize what he was talking about “you never would believe what my mom did to me today…” you continued

he sighed out of relief realizing he didnt do anything and listened with a smile on his face enjoying his dinner.

LEEHAN :

- he would find it entertaining…(sawry)

- but definitely would take you seriously after having a little analysis in his fish brain he ask you why you were mad

- if it’s something silly hes stares at you for a bit processing it again (fish brain) and lets out a laugh making you more mad

- he composes himself and puts on serious mode. proceeds to indulge in whatever you were mad about, as long as ur happy 🔥

leehan didnt expect for the first thing that he would come home to was a sulky s/o. he had walked home to a quiet house wondering where you were, since you didnt greet him at the door like you normally did. walking into the shared bedroom he saw you wrapped in the blanket without your face visible, walking over to your side he saw you scrolling on your phone with a slight pout on your face. he chuckled a bit catching your attention. when you see him laughing it only makes you more angrier, so you flip to the direction facing away from leehan. your reaction suprised him, he stood there for a moment wondering what he did. he sighed a bit before sitting down on the bed behind you as he rubbed your back, “whats my baby sulky for?” he asked softly. “it wasnt very nice of you to call the fish i sent you ugly.” you said huffing. he then remembered that you two wanted to adopt a fish together and were actively looking for one, and it wasnt until this morning that you sent him a link and he cringed at the photo of the fish. it wasnt the most pleasant to look that in his opinion…after finding out the reason your upset with him, he cant help but let out a laugh. after seeing your face to him not taking you seriously he’d panic a little before drowning you in kisses “we can get the fish, even if its a little strange…”

[11queensupreme11]

Okay so I’m currently writing for my next chapter when it suddenly came to me! I totally forgot to ask and idk if you’ve answered this before.

But how would the yan kids react to watching their mom fall in love with Anthonius?

Like that has to be weird, right?! Watching ur mom fall in love with someone who isn’t ur dad or stepfathers?

Especially the girls since they’re kept away from boys and aren’t allowed to have boyfriends!

yaaaaay, can't wait for the new chapter! 🥰

as for ur question, i'll only answer eudorios and axiandros' reactions in more detail cuz i only have their personalities down so far 😅 everyone else will get a more general reaction, sorry 😢

eudorios is like a more unhinged version of his mommy so it won't kick in right away that his mommy's falling in love with another guy (he's just a lil dense guys, sorry, he inherited it from percy 🥺). ngl, he's probably gonna be the last kid to figure it out 😭😭

(just like how percy was the last person to realize anthonius liked her and that she actually liked him back 💀)

but when it finally clicks, he'll go:

eudorios: Oh! :)

and then he internally flips his shit 😭😭😭 he'll continue to watch it all happen with a ":)" on his face while crying, screaming, and shitting tears on the inside. the more he watches, the more he realizes that his TRUE enemy wasn't his father, or brothers, or half-siblings, or his mother's other husbands. no, it's ANTHONIUS. because he recognizes that soft look in her eyes, the genuinely happy grin on her face every time she's with anthonius. it's a look that's supposed to be reserved only for HIM, not some ugly mortal boy! and he's seething at the thought that ANTHONIUS was the first person to ever bring out that smile from her, and not him 💀💀💀

after watching, he'd probably rush to his room to scream into his pillow and everything like a dramatic teenage girl 😭😭😭😭 he'd sulk a bit and then rush out to go find his mother to demand more love from her 💀

for axiandros, he's gonna mentally pull up his shit list, place eudorios from #1 to #2, and put anthonius at the very top 💀💀💀💀💀💀 he's now genuinely concerned for his mother's taste in men because seriously???? did she just have a thing for losers???? first eudorios, and now a literal mortal boy???????

he cannot, for the life of him, understand WHY his mother would ever fall for anthonius. he acts like he knows better, he lets his emotions get in the way, he's rude and ill-mannered, he's a son of athena, he's pitifully WEAK, the list goes on and on.... 💀💀💀

then in comes the jealousy 💀💀💀💀💀 while eudorios is just like their mommy (but more crazy), axiandros is just like his daddy. his jealousy is icy-cold and seething, a sort of icy fury that everyone in the room can immediately sense. expect a lot of biting words and insults spoken in a ruthlessly cold tone, just like poseidon would. like father, like son after all!

as for the other sons, the incesty ones are, ofc, jealous af. but regardless of whether they're freaks or not, most are genuinely in disbelief that their mother had actually fallen in love with a mortal boy before, but there's also a lightbulb moment that goes in their head where they all think "ohhhhhh, so THAT'S why some of us have names related to wisdom!!!! 🤯"

they gotta admit tho, their mom had BALLS OF STEEL to name a child from each of her husbands after anthonius 😂😂

anyway, the more they watch her life, the more they finally start to understand why mother's so kind and loving towards humans. they knew that she was once a mortal (which is still hard for them to wrap their head around, cuz they always saw her as the perfect goddess and mortals are just so... not), but actually SEEING her live her life as one is a whole different thing entirely!

as for the daughters, many of them are wide-eyed and silently side-eying each other cuz ooooooh the DRAMA 😂😂😂😂 but aside from that, they're very curious. most of these girls are either super sheltered (percades and sécy kids), or they're just too used to godly culture (which is all the kids). would their mother marry this boy?? was he mother's first husband? why is she so close to someone that she's not married to? why does she let him touch her, get close to her, why are they ALWAYS together?? isn't that improper????

lmao, so while some of the sons are seething with jealousy, the daughters are getting a culture shock basically 😂

[usagi-chwan]

I'm not your father... Or your mother, for that matter (BSDxReader)

🌸 Characters in this chapter: Dazai, Chuuya, Kunikida, Oda, Fukuzawa and Sigma.

🌸 Spoils: a bit about Kunikida's former profession, as well as Sigma's past. Otherwise, it should be fine!

This time, it was a Wattpad reader who asked me to imagine how the BSD characters react to the child their companion had during a previous union, which is a super interesting subject!

I hope you like the result, and I wish you an excellent read!

Dazai 

- To the surprise of some and the comfort of others, Dazai is very jealous of this child, since they are living proof that you have had someone else before him.

- But more importantly, that this relationship was so serious that you ended up having a child, which makes Dazai slightly uncomfortable. Because Dazai has simply never had a relationship as serious as yours, not by a long shot. So, will he be up to this new and seemingly insurmountable challenge...? What if he fails to love this child as he should? For the answer to these questions, I will leave you to imagine!

- If the child looks exactly like you, Dazai's jealousy will be slightly lessened. On the other hand, if the child is the spitting image of your ex, he may find it much harder to accept.

- But he is willing to make every effort to give you both all the love you deserve. And when Dazai makes a serious promise, he keeps it.

~

Chuuya 

- He too is a little jealous at first (a little less so than Dazai though), but at least has the maturity to realize very quickly that the child has absolutely nothing to do with it. 

- He has no problem bringing the child back to his other parent when you cannot, and generally raising them as if he were his own child, even if he has a bit of trouble at first. Which, of course, he will never acknowledge, as a matter of pride.

- The little one ends up calling him daddy-in-law, by the way! And Chuuya showers them with as many gifts as he does for you, by the way... So much so that you are now a little worried that your child is becoming a little too spoiled...

- But trying to reason with Chuuya on this subject? Making him completely sober from the slightest drop of wine will be far less complicated.

~

Kunikida

- A little disturbed by this fact, because, as others also think, this child is proof that you loved someone before him...

- And perhaps also because Kunikida, like anyone with a mind as... Original as his, used to think that the ideal family was a simple one, not a blended one.

- But the more time passes, the more he realizes just how wrong he was... Which is quite a feat in itself!

- Every time he sees this child, he remembers that they are still 50% yours. And that the characteristics they share with you are as plain as the nose on your face, too! 

- If he cannot accept your child, then he feels that he simply does not deserve you. And because he loves you more than anything, he also loves your child with all his heart ❤️ 

- He organizes the whole family life from A to Z, and does not hesitate to take the child where they had to go, to make them eat, to make them do their homework.... Beware of the latter, however.

- Doing homework with Kunikida is no picnic, as the saying goes...

~

Oda

- One of the BSD characters who takes this situation with the most maturity, by far.

- He is totally unperturbed by the fact; this is your past life, and now you are with him. So why be jealous of someone you no longer love? 

- He treats the child as if it were his own, without any distinction, just like all the others he already has, in short... All you have to do is reciprocate by accepting "his" children in the same way he accepts yours; it is simply an exchange of goodwill!

- In the end, chances are your child will end up liking Oda more than his real father... Very positive for your little blended family, that is for sure, but I know someone who is probably a bit pissed off.

~

Fukuzawa

- He, too, does not mind that you have already had a child, and knowing that he himself already has a son... What do you mean it is not his real son? 

- (Someone will be sad to hear that!)

- Fukuzawa finds it simply adorable to see this child who resembles you, even a little, and he cannot help imagining what your own child will look like.

- Because yes, he does intend to give your existing children a little brother or sister... And why not several, who knows? Let's go crazy for once!

~

Sigma

- The least jealous of all, by far. To feel jealous for this child of yours, who wants nothing more than to be loved? He simply does not know something like this.

- As a person with no family of his own, he accepts you and your child as if you were already part of his new family... Which, by the way, you are!

- He does not hesitate for a second to fulfill (brilliantly) the role of stepfather that now falls to him, with all that entails.

- Particularly when it comes to entertaining your little one: seeing the chubby cheeks of that little toddler crack into an enchanting smile is Sigma's greatest reward! Especially if he is the one who manages to make them laugh.

I realized after I had almost finished that I had written this chapter in the order of most jealous/least jealous, without even meaning to...

(I will respond to your messages a little bit later!)

I hope you enjoyed it, and see you next time! ☺️

[indiaalphawhiskey]

Hello India, I hope you're doing well. I don't know if you're still answering questions, but I have one:

Don’t you feel even a little bit resentful toward harry for choosing to go solo, distancing himself from the boys, and basically taking the easy route?

I know a lot of people try to justify it by saying he was groomed by his current manager and his family, because of his age, etc., but I feel like sometimes they victimize him way too much :/ I don’t know… He was the chosen one from the start and always had the benefits. He had important people on his side, and I feel like he prioritized less important things over what truly mattered. And you can say he always enjoyed the attention and benefits he had.

Truth be told, I know this question isn’t sent it good faith, but I’m going to answer it in good faith, if only to break someone’s echo chamber, if not yours.

I don’t resent Harry at all for going solo. Which, btw, they all went solo — it wasn’t his decision. If you do a little research, you’ll realize the full circumstances of the hiatus, and the fact that the working situation they were in was completely abusive and untenable, the way most boybands were, but even more exceptionally so because of how much money they were making/how popular they were. Everyone was begging for them to be given a break, but many in this fandom need to find someone to blame when they don’t have the patience to do research and consider context, and Harry’s an easy target because by most objective metrics, his solo career has skyrocketed.

He hasn’t distanced himself from the boys. He was at Niall’s show, dancing and singing. He’s referenced the boys on stage several times and in his BRITs acceptance speech. He constantly collects (and wears) One Direction paraphernalia. Not to mention, he was at Louis’ show after Jay’s death and Liam’s wake. But I’m sure all of this is convenient to omit when you’re pedaling your own narrative of events. That’s your choice.

He hasn’t taken the easy way, though I don’t know how you define that. I suppose you mean because his struggles are less obvious and less relatable. To that, I say, I think your view of what consists as struggle is extremely narrow, but that doesn’t surprise me because I know from the language of your ask that you have no intention of being generous towards Harry as a person, so why on earth would you view him with the nuance and kindness you view whoever is your favorite? Why would you allow him the same grace as any of the other boys?

Neither do I resent him for being “chosen” or for enjoying attention/benefits that he, himself, has worked hard for. I know this is a tough thing to hear because many of you have lost touch with the reality of how capitalist industries work, but making music is, by and large, about making money. The people on the backend of music are not recruiting artists to entertain or because they believe in their voice, they do it because the artists they choose are those that will make the most money.

Harry said it himself in his Grammys speech: he’s aware of how lucky he is because he knows there are other people out there who are more talented than him who will never get the opportunities he has. That is the reality of the world we live in: you cannot take everyone with you, even the people you love the most. Even the people who also deserve it.

What Harry has done, however, is prove he was worth the investment and that he’s grateful for every opportunity he has, which is all any one human can do. He cancelled a show once in three years. He toured during a global pandemic. He constantly gives 500% in and out of his shows (exercise, eating habits, therapy, healthy boundaries with fans). Everything he does is aligned with the longevity of his career, which is as much for his real fans as it is for him.

So, no, I don’t resent a person who’s dedicated his life to providing me with art that has pulled me out of my lowest and most lonely. No, I don’t resent him for working harder than any of us can possibly conceive, personally and professionally. No, I don’t resent him for giving up his privacy and safety and his right to have a quiet personal life in the name of entertaining us. No, I don’t resent him for being rich or privileged, because I can name fifty people who have done so much less for so much more.

The bottom line is, you resent him because you don’t think he deserves it. Thats why you think he’s taken the “easy” way, that’s why you omit his connection to the boys, that’s why you want to characterize his choices as “things that don’t truly matter”, that’s why you want to blame him for “going solo” even if the hiatus was thrust upon them as a collective after Zayn left first. And that’s totally fine. Just say that with your whole chest, because it’s what you believe is true.

I, however, completely disagree with you and truly, earnestly hope no one in your life ever holds your character and ethics to the same standard to which you hold Harry’s. You’d fail, by each and every single one of your own metrics. We all would.

[burningcheese-merchant]

How on earthbread do you ship BurningCheese. Im gonna try to not judge you. This is 80% a non-rethorical question. like genuinely how do you ship them?? /lh

I was wondering when someone would come ask me this lol. It's ok though, you can be honest, I can feel you narrowing your eyes at me through the screen 👀

I could honestly go on for a REALLY long time about why I ship BurningCheese/GoldenSpice. But I'll try to distill/narrow down my thoughts the best I can so my answer isn't longer than the Bible

I adore the enemies to lovers trope and hero/villain pairings in general. I did long before Cookie Run and I will long afterwards

I like how they complement and contrast against each other, aesthetically + personality-wise + backstory-wise

I love how they interact with each other. I love how they talk and snipe at each other. Golden Cheese's frustrated yet unyielding confidence and wit VS Burning Spice's brash, raucous excitement is fun to see. (The back-and-forth they have during their fight in episode 6 is dangerously close to how I've written them in my fics, even before the episode came out. So technically, in a way, my fics have been canonized lol)

It's fun imagining them together in different ways. A one-sided crush/obsession on Burning Spice's part is fun in a dark way (my Yandere Spice). So is a mutual love and respect between them. Main canon for me is a slow burn romance and a slow redemption arc for Spice alongside it. I also have an AU where Golden corrupts and becomes a Beast herself, and they become an evil villain couple. I have another where Spice doesn't get better and Golden doesn't get worse, they just have the standard forbidden love affair that they hide from the world (the latter out of fear of judgement, the former just so no one can try to keep them apart). I've got a million story ideas with them. You can do all sorts of things with them imo. And I think it works because of how they bounce off of each other. Put them in different situations and see how their relationship changes/adjusts/adapts, see if love can exist and how

I like their size difference. Spice is significantly taller and wider than Golden and it's really funny to see lol

The way they and their relationship/dynamic parallel actual Egyptian and Indian mythology (the latter in particular) is absolutely unreal

Not kidding, I can go on about the symbolism and allusions and references forever. I could write an actual paper on it. How can a ship go THIS hard

Come on, don't act like they wouldn't give each other a fantastic time in bed lmao

They follow each other around in my kingdom almost 24/7. Literally every single time I log in they're next to each other or one is trailing behind the other while they walk somewhere. If they want to be together that badly, I'm not going to stop them

They are literally the cycle of life and death, they have the single most important connection of all the Beasts and Ancients, one simply cannot go on without the other for together they make up the foundation of the goddamn cosmos

It actually all started with me and someone irl joking about Burning Spice having a stalker crush when the very first trailer came out. Then I went "haha that could be a funny fic". Then I wrote it and went "wait this is an interesting idea". Then episode 5 came out and I went "wait wtf does he actually want her??? He's acting like he does in my fic!!!" Then I wrote more and got even more attached to the one-sided attraction dynamic. Then I started imagining them in an actual, normal relationship and how that might pan out. Then I started writing stuff for/about that and I got extremely attached to that. Now they have a fully fleshed out relationship and they're married and have two kids, and I have a billion side stories and AUs, and any other ship involving either of them viscerally repulses me. I unironically memed too close to the sun and immediately fell straight down into BurningCheese hell (but it's ok, I like it here and I don't plan on leaving ever)

I can and I want to and no one can stop me

I still wrote a Bible, didn't I lol. BurningCheese/GoldenSpice is perfect in every way, they are my ride-or-die and you can pry the ship from my cold, dead hands. The end, roll credits

[aroaceleovaldez]

Hiiii!!! Hello i hope you have a great day! :D anyways i heard you have your hc for the argo 2 crew so i gotta ask when i was scrolling theu ur posts about Piper i saw you the pjo alt fashion thing so i'm curious do you have any fashion hc about the argo 2 crew? (Btw thanks for answering my question earlier i really appreciate it :D)

Of course! First and foremost, general hcs:

All these kids are ADHD and half of them are probably autistic. The vast majority of them absoLUTELY have sensory issues and their asses are NOT gonna be able to wear a lot of specific clothes. Tulle voted number 1 most hated fabric at Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood 10th year in a row.

They probably have to make the camp shirt decals a very specific way so they don't end up with the stiff chunky solid print that you get sometimes, otherwise half of camp wouldn't be able to wear them without having a breakdown. Are the camp shirts a required uniform? No, particularly not at CHB. But people want to wear them and if they're specifically being made with sensory needs in mind then there's a very strong reason why campers are picking those over the rest of their wardrobe. They love their sensory-needs-friendly silly t-shirts okay.

Seriously SO many of these demigods are defaulting to a camp t-shirt and their favorite bottoms cause they don't feel like risking a spontaneous sensory meltdown every day.

specific Argo II crew hcs under the cut cause this got long:

Vast vast majority of Percy's wardrobe is thrifted stuff and hand-me-downs. He hates new clothes and needs somebody else to have already worn them in. The more worn they are, the better. He probably will convince his friends to wear in new clothes for him if he can. Every time he gets a new CHB shirt he asks Grover and Annabeth and Sally to trial run them.

Piper is very specifically canonically anti-fashion and i think she'd also be very big on anti-fast fashion specifically as well. Not only does she negatively care about looking fashionable and adores every tacky article of clothing she can get her hands on, but she will kill you with lasers if you try to give her some new cheap clothes with gross seams. She definitely has the weirdest wardrobe out of everybody on the crew though cause she'll pick up random stuff she finds funny. Her and Percy are going thrifting together.

I like the idea that Annabeth's wardrobe is cobbled together from a lot of her friends. She just takes their hand-me-downs or borrows stuff from them that just ends up hers. The only skirts she owns are probably all from Silena, half her shirts are Percy's, etc etc. If she has a semi-coordinated outfit it's a miracle of the stars aligning. She has never a single moment in her life intentionally collected something with the thought of "ooh this will pair nicely with [x]-" nope it's all just "oooh comfy..."

If Nico does not have at the very least an oversized second layer he will DIE. It's required. Big hoodie, big coat, oversized tropical shirt haphazardly tucked into his jeans so it doesn't go down to his knees, etc etc. He's gotta be swimming in it. Oversized shirts are also good but less required so long as he has his oversized jacket. Everything else is comfort: Jeans he's worn to death that are full of holes cause he doesn't want to have to find a new pair that doesn't make him feel like he needs to crawl out of his skin, boots he cannot remember the origin of but he'll be damned if he could ever find a second pair of so he's also wearing them to shreds, etc etc. Also extremely likely to be stealing his friends clothes, though less of everything like Annabeth does and more just shirts and hoodies since all his friends are larger sizes than him so their clothes fit baggy on him which is ideal. The only reason his outfits match are cause the majority of his wardrobe is black or neutral-toned. Bright colors are overstimulating to him but he does have color in his wardrobe rarely.

If Leo does not have one billion pockets on his person he also Will Die. He too is so so specific about fabrics cause a.) fire safety but also b.) bad combo trying to work when you want to shed your skin cause your shirt is Wrong. The suspenders are both for sensory reasons (random compression straps yippee) and cause his toolbelt is too heavy half the time so it helps keep it from falling down. His outfits are built on practicality.

In a perfect world Jason would be running around in a comfy hoodie, t-shirt, and nice long skirt. Unfortunately he is cursed to have to wear pants. Again, practical t-shirt and basic pants combo. I think he's worn practical simple clothes for so much of his life if you try to put him in something too out-there he'll have a sensory meltdown SO fast. Don't show him a top with a bunch of different textures he'll cry. Probably not a huge fan of fitted stuff either. Would be a clothing thief if he were not often one of the largest sizes out of his friends. I hc he and Reyna are similar sizes though so they can share some stuff. He has definitely borrowed Reyna's skirts to just chill in when he doesn't have to do training stuff.

Frank is cursed by the combo of mens department, plus size department, and sensory issues. He'd like to wear a more expansive wardrobe but he'll be damned if he can find something beyond extremely basic t-shirts and pants that both fit him and don't make him want to turn into bees. At least he is the only one of the Argo II crew that can get out of a sensory meltdown by turning into a reptile and literally shedding his skin and then turning back and going "i'm okay 😌."

Hazel is like the only one of the Argo II crew who can tolerate a lot of frills and lace and such. She would love to be wearing cute lolita fashion. She's also like the only one on the ship who cares about that. Unfortunately, frilly cupcake dresses do not pair well with horses (or general demigod training) most of the time, so she rapidly oscillates between cutesy fancy outfits and practical t-shirts and overalls and such. For her t-shirts and overalls combo she is not worried at all about coordinating cause it will probably get barn shmutz and such on it but she does doodle/paint all over any denim in her closet.

Reyna and Hazel are in both Horse Girl and not-tomboy solidarity. They're the only girls on the ship who regularly wear skirts. Reyna basically only wears pants when she's forced to by whatever she's doing (usually training or horse stuff), but otherwise she is so vehemently anti-pants. She does not like pants. Don't look at her with pants.

For a related post, see my Oddly Specifics Pants Opinions Headcanons.

[were--ralph]

Hey i saw you ranting about trans men on a post, and i was just wondering a few things. This is a genuine question, as a stelth trans man, i really cant find anything about a pre op transitioning body attractive. Especially a pre op Chest. Now i do take testosterone, and i think that the parts that i find gross (ex: tits mixed with chest hair) are a perfectly acceptable thing to deal with so i can look the way i want to look. I love my body hair and my muscle growth, i just dont love the obviously not cis parts of me. What do you find attractive about this? I truely cannot for the life of me understand why people find trans men attractive but i would really like to understand.

I think spicy food is disgusting generally. it's like. hot and not fun and to me it adds nothing good to the food experience. Genuinely I don't understand why people enjoy hot foods it makes like. literally no sense.

and yet, people do. it's weird. I've tried on multiple occasions to get into spicy food and it just. suks. every single time it sucks. But everyone else in my family lives by it. And I've asked why for years literally unable to understand it until I realized.

sometimes people just. like things. things I certainly don't like and cannot enjoy whatsoever. But at the same time, this is true for me and not for them. I fucking love coffee to the point I drink it more than water most days, but no one else in my family likes it. BUT other people outside my family enjoy it too.

Life is weird and what I'm getting at is something that took me a lifetime to understand and I still can't wrap my head around it all the time.

People just like things. People love things and hate things. What things mean to one person can mean the world to another and death to the third. There's not always a reason for it, but what you have to do is accept that there are things in life that you just might not like much right now. but as time goes on you'll find value in it the same way your partner will find value in you and all the minuscule things you do and become and like and dislike.

And to build on that point, there are things I hated as a kid that I'm fine with and even love now. Each day changes you more than you'll ever know and with those changes, the acceptance that comes with them may be easier or harder.

So, to answer your question, I don't know! I just love men. Men with tits or pecs, men with vaginas or dicks. maybe both at the same time or neither at all! I just think men are generally attractive no matter the design or what's different about them. and not just men but people who present as masc in general. If you're masc nb there's a chance I'm looking at you through the window of a bar as much as if you were cis-male or trans-male.

I do know for some men, the allure of masculinity displaced with the typically-feminine concept of a vagina intrigues them. Maybe it's the juxtaposition of them together, maybe they just want something unique and new to them. Maybe they just really like vaginas and it doesn't matter who it's attached to, or maybe they just like trans men. Same thing with boobs, some guys just like boobs. Some men have boobs. the overlap doesn't mean net-negative results, it could be double positive.

And I don't expect you to love everything about yourself, god knows I don't love everything about myself, and despite people telling me what's good about me I can still find flaws within it whenever I choose. I think men with chest hair are hot as fuck, but also I've seen some smooth men that are just as if not hotter. I love me a fat man or a man with muscles, but i've seen twinks i'd demolish in one sitting as well. I've seen men with dicks and boobs and scars and and hair pretty much everything under the sun and sometimes I want them to sit on me and forget I'm there and smother me.

What you do have to do though is accept that you have those things, and you are those things, and even though you may not like those things you have to accept that they're a part of you and find value in that. And it's not an easy task at all to love yourself, but you have to try because even if you don't right now, there's a partner who will be waiting for you somewhere. there's a future version of you who loves you as you are. there are friends who love your flaws, pets who don't judge, and there are a lot of things that accept you as you are.

So just say you have boobs and chest hair. even if you don't love it about yourself right now know that there are and will always be people who do, and personally I've said before, but I wish i had boobs and chest hair it's just a perfect look to me. I'm fine with whatever my gender is, i just think its a good look. If I had money for top and bottom surgery I'd get it and never look back. You just have to find the value in yourself we all know is there, and if you can't just know that we know it's there and let that carry you through the day!

[librarycards]

I like your point about something being "pretentious," because I also think the term is used only to silence people who are bringing around important ideas.

I've seen you defend the complexity of academic writing in disability studies, which I also love and advocate for. I'm curious, however, about how you make space for people with intellectual disabilities, reading disorders, and other disabilities that make it a lot more difficult to parse overly academic writing. I remember this came up for me specifically when I was reading Jaspir Puar's "The Right to Maim." It's complex, necessarily so, but I found it deeply inaccessible.

I wonder, can disability studies truly be inclusive if it conforms to norms of academic complexity while sacrificing readability and engagement directed towards individuals with intellectual disabilities? I don't know if there's an answer, and I'd love to hear of any recommended reading you have on making space for people who exist outside of traditional modes of academic knowledge and research in a field as diverse as disability justice and Mad studies.

this is a common question, and i'll try my best to do it justice here -

first and foremost, it's important to remember that disability studies is not an activist project, nor is it one primarily concerned with providing social/academic support to individual disabled people per se. it's an academic discipline with roots in critical theory, queer theory, and literary/cultural studies, with its own intellectual genealogy, roster of normative terms, and citational background. when people -- puar, for instance -- write books like 'right to maim,' they're not writing for a general audience, disabled or non-. they're writing for colleagues and students interested in a particular set of arguments, drawing on a particular set of sources, and operating under the assumption that one has already done the (disability studies, ethnic studies, (post)colonial studies) readings - and, if you haven't, that you'll avail yourself of the lit review portion before engaging deeply with the book.

in short, part of the issue many people have when it comes to disability studies and their frustrations with it is that they do not take it seriously as an academic discipline among other academic disciplines. being disabled doesn't make me a disability studies expert any more than being a human makes me an anthropologist. the inaccessibility, as it were, of disability studies is a result of its specialization. this specialization isn't a bad thing - it's what happens when a field has been built over generations, on the shoulders of earlier fields, and requires extensive background knowledge to engage with. there's really no way around that when it comes to niche scholarly disciplines about things deliberately obfuscated in "normal life." this doesn't mean that nothing can be done to support wider uptake of CDS ideas among activists beyond the academy, but it does mean that our collective liberation as disabled people cannot and should not rest on universal understanding of or agreement x y or z element of a specific scholarly text.

that brings me to the next question, which is mostly about bringing disability studies scholarship to disabled people outside the academy, especially those whose disabilities make it difficult to access higher education. i don't think there's a way around reading the difficult texts if you want to be well-read and familiar with disability studies - or any other field - simply because people don't use complex language and syntax for no reason. we need to make up words for things that never had words before. fortunately, however, there are ways to introduce difficult concepts stepwise and in community, namely, through coursework - because as much as these texts weren't meant to be read by non-experts, they were also not meant to be read alone.

in my own experience teaching disability studies to classes wherein many, if not most students, are disabled, the best way of introducing these concepts is with regular old pedagogical tools like scaffolding, introducing background reading, approaching topics socratically, and encouraging group discussion informed by outside reading and personal experience. it is often helpful to go sentence-by-sentence and break down a particularly salient paragraph, or return to a particular citation to understand where one author's points link up with another's. one might go from puar back to saïd, for example, and also forward/sideways to mel chen or nirmala erevelles. put simply, i think reading these works together - in classrooms, in groups, in pairs, or even alongside others who have analyzed them before you (there are tons of analytical essays about most of these books on academia.edu/google scholar for example!) is one of the most reliable ways to improve your comprehension, and is certainly the method i use to help students better understand what they're working with.

lastly, and i think most importantly, i want to stress that the way many undergrads are taught to engage with any theoretical discourse is really, really damaging. it's damaging to expect an eighteen-year-old to consume and instantly "get" ideas that take multiple lifetimes' of debate to get worked out, if ever. being confused, not-knowing, asking questions, getting frustrated, taking a break and coming back -- these are approaches which many disabled students in particular have been pathologized for, but are actually the best (and certainly most predictable) responses one can have to a challenging text. i did not understand a lot of puar the first time i read her. i have read right to maim several times now, and am still puzzling over new things. a great deal could be done to support inclusion in all of our fields if abled/sane/NT people would stop bluffing and admit that they get confused, too; what an opportunity for scholarly interdependence that would be.

anyways....that's a long answer about something i'm very passionate about, so thanks for reading if you did! my main advice is to keep chipping away at challenging texts, because the process of reading and comprehending, especially done in community, is worth it, and helps lay the groundwork / build the muscle for engaging more difficult texts in the future.

as far as more disabled/Mad scholars thinking about academic literacies/classroom accessibility, there's Mel Chen, whose recent monograph, Intoxicated, deals with research, brain fog, and cognitive disability; Margaret Price, OG Mad Studies powerhouse, has also written at length about both pedagogical and personal approaches to mental disability in the classroom, and recently published a book called "Crip Spacetime" that is functionally an exposé on academic inaccessibility of all sorts.

I would also like to strongly recommend my beloved friend and colleague Helen Rottier, who does disability studies scholarship and works at a university disability cultural center, typically with IDD students. We co-authored a paper on Mad pedagogy that should be coming out...someday? Publishing is slow. But definitely check her work and I'm sure she'd welcome questions from you if you wanted to reach out!

[j-k-writes]

hi!! may i request i promised them i'd keep you safe and i should have been here. this is my fault with alicent?!

Summary - After the death of King Aegon II's firstborn son, Jaehaery's, Y/N Tyrell must face the consequences of his mysterious absence.

Warning - mentions of child death, general HOTD warnings

Y/N paced outside the room, heart pounding in his chest. He had only returned to the keep minutes ago, seeking out The Queen Dowager’s chambers. The news of Jaehaerys’ death had reached him that morning, and he had immediately mounted his horse and made his way toward the keep. He had nearly spilled his stomach over the banister of the keep at the sight of the blood stained bed sheets that were being carried out of the children’s bedchambers. Jaehaerys’ was just a boy, no more than a toddler, and yet he had become a martyr in the war between the dragons.  

Steeling himself, Y/N entered the room silently, bowing to the occupants. “My queen, my hand.” 

Otto Hightower stood furiously, rearing on the man. “Where have you been?” 

Y/N bowed his head in shame, refusing to meet the man’s eyes. 

“Well?” Otto asked again, grabbing Y/N’s face and making him meet his eyes. “The family of the king has suffered a horrible blow, and where were you? Whoring? Drinking?” 

He did not answer. 

“Father,” Alicent spoke, voice shaking. “Please leave us.” 

Otto scoffed at Y/N, releasing his face. “All this family has done for you, Y/N, and you have brought us nothing but shame.” 

Otto brushed past the man, slamming the door behind him. Y/N raised his gaze to meet The Queen Dowager’s, “Alicent I-” 

“Will you not answer the question?” She spoke. 

“Alicent I can't apologize enough.” Y/N said, voice cracking on his words. “I promised your brother I would keep you safe, and I have failed.” 

“I am fine.” Alicent said, tears spilling down her cheeks. “It is my daughter and her family who have suffered. My daughter’s life was threatened and you were nowhere to be found. You promised me that you would protect this family, that your allegiance remained here no matter where your houses’ laid. Does your promise still hold true or are you to betray us as well.” 

“My loyalties have always been with House Hightower, Alicent. How can you doubt that?” Y/N took a step forward, taking Alicent’s hand in his. “You are right, I should have been here. This is my fault. But do not doubt my loyalty because of a foolish mistake.” 

“My grandson is dead!” Alicent cried out, grabbing Y/N’s face with both of her hands. “My children have lost their boy, and you cannot even tell me where you were.” 

Y/N grasped the hands on his face, “I am loyal to you and this house, please listen to me when I tell you it was a mistake, my love.” 

Alicent released him, “This is my punishment.” 

“Alicent-” 

“No.” Alicent walked away from the man. “We have sinned and my children are punished for it.” 

Y/N tried to reach out for Alicent, but she moved further away. She sunk into herself, and Y/N could only watch as the woman’s belief in him fell apart. She shook with sobs, refusing Y/N’s comforting gestures. 

“I want you to leave.” 

“Alicent please, you must believe me-” 

“Leave me!” Y/N froze, and Alicent’s face immediately fell. She turned from him, sobbing into her hand. 

“I will take my leave, your grace.” 

Y/N bowed, turning on his heel to walk out the room, Alicent’s sobs fading as he closed the door shut.