#i may perhaps be Stupid

[spenjelly]

The truth about Aizawa’s quirk

This is so dumb but I need to share this revelation with y’all just in case anyone else has been similarly blinded to the obvious truth.

I was out here thinking “what does gene-stopping have to do with gravity manipulation?” And I spent a lot of time wondering what it means when in fact

It’s just so that it isn’t in his eyes. 💀 His quirk just made it so that his hair isn’t in his vision. I cannot recover from how obvious this should have been lol

[space-writes]

asjldkaj the fact that Claustrophilia was the only one you finished feels lowkey on brand :p

non spoilery reasons I liked A Deadly Education: i just loved Gal from page one tbh. Her personality really captivated me, her humour and her cynicism, and i loved watching that clash with her helping people. the 'FINE i'll help but im going to COMPLAIN THE WHOLE TIME' was a major delight factor for me. i also really just dug that it was a fantasy novel without the premise of innate good in a protaganist; there was only the good you choose to do, and that theme kept up through the whole series.

book recs are now going under a cut because i made a lot of them oops

I'd rec Misha Horne - not identical to my writing, but she writes spanking books with feelings, that usually involve two guys spending a chunk of time inside with each other having those feelings and i love it each and every time.

Snowed in With Benefits has a bratty rockstar and an older jaded musician getting uh. snowed in at a cabin together. you can imagine what ensues

and Hot Mess (which i also read this year and loved) has a floundering brat who just bought a house and has no idea how to adult and his hot neighbour whose mail he accidentally gets (a catalogue which has said neighbour in pretty underwear in it). Shenanigans (and spankings) ensue

otherwise...

For You, Sir by Emily Brandish might tick some boxes; it's about a very proper butler starting work for a mess of a screenwriter who had one hit and is now missing deadlines. it's got the D/s-y stuff I like, a little bit of a slow burn too (though not that slow, it's only a short novel).

Devilry by Marley Valentine was a really fun teacher/student romance that I very much enjoyed. A little messy craft-wise in places, but hit all my buttons on the teacher/student end of things. (college-age teacher/student, for specificity)

All's Fair In Dare And Domination by Rikki Leighton also - bratty trans MC with bipolar and so much messy trauma, and nobody gets magically fixed by being in a relationship, they just get loved. starts off as a D/s type agreement to help said MC get over being in love with his best friend who is now dating his brother, and oh no wouldn't you know it they caught feelings :p

that's all from this year; from last year i have a couple too:

Action by Quinn Anderson (@quinnandersonwrites) whomsts inbox i did go in when i'd read it to yell about how good it was. Porn star x co-worker romance, which has yours and my favourite thing: catching feelings whilst already fucking. they're fucking for Work Reasons, but it's still got that tastiness to it, and the chemistry between the leads was sooo good.

The Husband Gambit by LA Witt - fake dating to spite the homophobes basically. and one of the leads has either carpal tunnel or RSI i forget which but he wears wrist braces to recover which at the time i was still wearing a lot for my own wrist pain so this book has a special place in my heart even if just for that. It also has the Obedience delight of 'oh no way he has feelings for me this is just an arrangement' (they both absolutely have feelings)

Top Shelf by Allison Temple - slowish-burn romance between a guy whose life kinda fell apart and now he works at a small town bookstore, and the artist who lives above said bookstore. loved watching them not know each other's trauma and get on each other's nerves about it until they eventually kissed about it

TBR tag game

tagged by @memento-morri-writes, thank you! just about getting this one in before the new year starts~

here’s 9 of the books I read this year that I really enjoyed:

[ID - a 3 by 3 grid of book covers. The books are written out in the post below]

Eyetooth by mars adler (@marsadler) - the impact this had on me cannot be understated

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark - which i literally could not put down, I was walking to and from my train reading this. absolutely insane

The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik - yes that’s a sneaky three books for the price of one but they’re SO GOOD

Snowed in With Benefits by Misha Horne - listen i will never not rec Misha’s books if you like spanking and feelings. always a 10/10 time

Leech by Hiron Ennes - the worldbuilding in this was just PHENOMENAL

Claustrophlia by Erza Blake - this has to go on here because it was insane and is rooted in my brain. if you were here for the brief spate of Posting about it, you know

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca - if you’ve read this you’ll know exactly why i loved it, and if you haven’t GO DO THAT

So You Want to Be a Game Master by Justin Alexander - i’ve been reading Justin’s blog for years and his DM advice is top notch

Content Warning: Everything by Akwaeke Emezi - one of my goals this year was to read more poetry, and i think this was my favourite collection of the 12 I read

my TBR is so long it’s painful, but here’s some I’m hoping to actually get to next year:

[ID - a 3 by 3 grid of book covers. The books are written out in the post below]

Prince and Assassin by Tavia Lark

House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

A Rival Most Vial by RK Ashwick (aka beloved @ashen-crest)

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

The Demon Cycle by Peter V Brett

The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

As many of Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar books as possible

true to form, it's all gay and fantasy goodness, so hopefully I'll actually manage to read the books I intend to read, instead of reading like a hundred books of Not The Things I Planned to like i did this year TT_TT

no-pressure tagging @princessbonecrimes @thegreatobsesso @viscerawrites and @winterandwords to share 9 books from this year and 9 books on your TBR (definitely not fishing for recs that would be irresponsible to the 1000 book-long TBR i already have >.>)

[loniirstar]

Bruuuuuhgghhj ain't no way drawing Tintin in November during June saved me from art block for a while.................. Smh......................

In all seriousness though, I'm actually really proud of this one. Like, really proud. Probably because it's my first full artwork after a good while. Sure, there are some mistakes here and there, but I still think I did a quite decent job here.

Sorry for not posting so much rock related art lately, I just don't like the way they turn out and I'm really burnt out. I'll promise I'll try to do something later. But for now, this is all I've got to offer.

Also, here's the reference:

Goes so hard, I just couldn't resist redrawing it when I first found it on Pinterest, lol.

[throwawayasoiafaccount]

i still cannot believe that people consider having lovers outside of a political marriage as cheating

a lot can be discussed about how raging misogyny and the patriarchy in westeros has led to unequal standards for women to uphold and suffer from

as highborn women are not allowed the same sexual freedom that highborn men get to experience, and even if these women do have relationships outside of their marriages, they are usually scorned and shunned by society for daring to practice sexual autonomy

it’s unfair, i am very aware of this fact

(that’s why i’ll never understand team green stans)

but george has never ever condemned his characters for finding and experiencing love outside of doing their duty.

never.

we’re not unfeeling machines that lack emotions. we’re humans who are, more often than not, led by our hearts. and grrm does a phenomenal job when creating characters, as they truly feel human.

so yeah, it’s a bit disappointing that people dumb down what is clearly a very complex situation to “cheating” (btw george himself calls rhaegar and elias relationship complex and he’s never implied that they loved each other in a romantic sense).

to reiterate, i am well aware that highborn women and men are held to different standards, however, if you have a problem with characters working through, around, and sometimes failing to overcome the social structures that cause their suffering, then you must have a major issue with george’s exploration of the human heart in conflict with itself.

george’s characters aren’t robots and that’s what makes them interesting. they do things for very human reasons. they’re biased. they’re traumatized. they’re conflicted. but they’re still reaching for a better tomorrow and they’re still trying to find happiness.

so i’ll never consider rhaegar and lyannas relationship as cheating, or something unsightly that should be scorned. for they simply dared to find and grasp love in a society that would rather shackle them to unhappy marriages, which is very commendable.

oh… and do you know what george does criticize?

political marriages lol

he makes it clear that selling women off as broodmares and forcing men into marriages they don’t want is a recipe for disaster.

of course the eventual fallouts of these relationships is super interesting to read about, but you should never ever support the systems in place and the societies that benefit from pushing people/characters into these incredibly unhealthy relationships

so while i find it interesting to read about characters navigating these relationships, i’ll always be the first person to condemn these societies for forcing this fate onto them. i’ll also always be the first person to root for characters who do their best to find happiness outside of their political/arranged marriage

sorry that i don’t condemn a character for finding love outside of a loveless marriage

instead of getting angry at rhaegar and lyanna and being very nonsensical in the main tags about it, how about you turn that anger onto the patriarchy, which is rooted in every single institution and family in westeros, the patriarchy that refuses to allow women to have the same amount of sexual autonomy as men?

(this is why i despise team green :))

[lavenderrvalleyy]

Tankmen? In my Pizza Tower??? More likely than you think.

[abandoned-quiche]

i think what undertale fangames should really strive for is to push undertale's themes of mercy to the edge - push the PLAYER to see what their limits are on who deserves mercy.

[victorluvsalice]

Valicer Polyship Week 2024, Day Three: Reverse Tropes – Convinced Not Actually Dating (Modern AU)

It's Day Three of Valicer Polyship Week 2024, as presented by @polyshipweek, and we're up to an interesting prompt: "Reverse Tropes!" Basically taking a trope and switching it around into its opposite -- the classic "Only One Bed" becomes "Too Many Beds," for example. Now, I wasn't originally going to do this prompt for this day -- I was more interested in "Queerplatonic Partners," as I felt I could write something interesting about Smiler and Alice's dynamic within the OT3 for that one --

And then I ended up writing "someone is a jerk to one of OT3 for some reason, and gets theirs by the end of the story" fics for Alice (Valicer In The Dark version) and Smiler (Soulmates AU version) for Days One and Two of this particular week, and decided that I needed to do a third story on that theme from Victor's POV to round out the trilogy. And when I looked at the linked examples of "reverse tropes" provided by Polyship Week in their write-up on the prompt, I came across this list which included the reverse-trope "Instead of fake dating, everyone is convinced that you aren’t actually dating." Pair that with various tumblr posts I've seen decrying people being "gatekeepers" when it comes to queer identities, and I quickly came up with a story where poor Victor gets harassed at his first Pride by a jerk who's convinced he's a "cis het faker" and can't believe he's dating Alice and Smiler. :( Sorry Victor -- I had a theme to keep to! And fortunately, as per that theme, he gets his at the end... Enjoy!

--

“So – first Pride, I’m guessing?”

“What – oh, yes,” Victor said, smiling awkwardly but genuinely at his surprise conversation partner as they – they looked like a man, but Victor was not about to make that assumption at Pride – sidled up to him. “A-am I that obvious?”

“I can spot people like you a mile away,” the person replied, looking him up and down. “Ben – he/him, if you care.”

“Oh, thank you – Victor, he/him as well,” Victor introduced himself, offering a hand. “N-nice to meet you.”

“Yeah,” Ben said, giving him a rather perfunctory shake. Then again, Victor supposed a handshake was probably a bit formal for this setting… “What are you doing here?”

“Just t-taking in the sights – my partner insisted we come,” Victor explained, glancing around hoping to spot Smiler or Alice and wave them over. I know I told them I’d be fine on my own for a bit, but they’re both so much better at talking to people than I am… “I grew up in a rather, ah, r-repressed little village, so I never got to experience this before now. It’s been…” He paused, swallowing as someone walked by in a leather harness and not much else. “Enlightening.”

“Yeah, I bet,” Ben said, folding his arms. “Partner, huh?”

“Yes – I have two, actually, but Alice is as new to Pride as I am – oh, there they are!” Victor pointed at Smiler – resplendent in their non-binary stripes tee, favorite pair of worn black jeans, and bright yellow sneakers – and Alice – proudly decked out in a purple dress with white and black triangles along the skirt hem – standing by what looked like one of the merch tables. Smiler was holding something in their hand, showing something to an intrigued-looking Alice. “Those two, right there. They’re really into celebrating who you are.”

Ben looked over at them, then back at Victor with a raised eyebrow. “You came here with them?”

“Yes – my girlfriend and my themfriend,” Victor said, a warm glow suffusing his body as he watched Smiler gesture at the thing in their hand while Alice rocked thoughtfully on her heels. “They’re – they’re the best. I’m quite lucky to have them in my life.”

“...yeah, I’m calling bullshit on that.”

Victor blinked at the sudden harshness in Ben’s tone. “I – what?”

“I said, I’m calling bullshit on that,” Ben snapped, moving a little closer to Victor. “Fuck me – you really think you can just gesture at anyone in this place and say that they’re your partners? Especially those two?”

“I – uh – n-no?” Victor stammered, automatically reaching for a tie that wasn’t there. “I – t-those are my p-partners.”

“Sure. Sure.” Ben looked him up and down again, appraising him and finding him wanting. “Two people like that are gonna want to hang out with you.”

...Oh. Oh wow. Victor had thought he was used to comments like that, but – he hadn’t expected to hear any of them at Pride. Nor for them to sting like that. “T-t-they do,” he insisted, aware that his nervous stutter was not helping matters. “I – I a-admit, I’m not sure why m-myself, but–”

“Save it,” Ben snapped, inserting himself into Victor’s personal space – and suddenly Victor was hyper-aware that, though Ben was shorter than him, he was definitely more muscular. He backed away on instinct, eyes flicking around for the nearest tall object to climb. “I told you – I can spot some cis het faker a mile away. You asshole – you think you can come here, enjoy the party, and claim to be one of us, then go back to being ‘normal’ tomorrow? Huh?”

“N-no! No, of course not – I-I-I’m bi!” Victor babbled, flapping a hand at his blue, pink, and purple sunset sweater while holding the other up placatingly.

“Sure, yeah, you’re ‘bi,’” Ben growled, complete with scare quotes, and somehow that hurt even worse than being told he couldn’t possibly be dating Alice and Smiler. “Just long enough to get a few drinks, anyway. Then you’ll go home to your simpering little girlfriend and tell her all about us ‘queers’ and have a good laugh.” He poked Victor hard in the chest, making him stumble slightly. “Well, I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen. So how about you get your stuff and–”

“Excuse me.”

Ben turned around – and immediately doubled over as Alice’s fist introduced itself to his gut. “How about you get your stuff and clear out?” she snarled, in a tone of voice that Victor somehow knew she had used with Bumby. “Before I decide to show you just how good I am at knife tricks?”

“Alice,” Smiler said in warning – though judging by the expression on their face, they weren’t really all that concerned with stopping her. “No getting us kicked out.” Their eyes narrowed as they regarded the gasping Ben. “But yeah – I’d recommend you fucking skedaddle.”

It was a testament to how angry Smiler sounded that they could use the word “skedaddle” and yet Ben still left, holding his middle and shooting them all confused, slightly terrified looks. “Fucking gatekeepers,” Smiler grumbled, then wrapped a tight arm around Victor. “Hey – you okay?”

“I – I-I’ve been better,” Victor murmured, dropping his hands. “I d-didn’t expect...I t-thought...isn’t t-this whole thing about acceptance?”

“It’s supposed to be, but some idiots think they’ve got reverse gaydar and gotta ruin it for the ‘interlopers,’” Smiler said, rolling their eyes before giving him a squeeze. “Probably would have assumed I was a cis guy too…I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“And I’m sorry we didn’t show up earlier,” Alice said, coming around to give Victor a hug from the other side. “Smiler was rather invested in showing me some of the flag pins they had on display over there – we didn’t realize what was going on until the bastard started getting loud.”

“It’s fine – I’m sorry you had to do that at all,” Victor mumbled, putting his arms around both of them and pulling them against him. “I didn’t...I just…”

“It’s not your fault,” Smiler said firmly, patting his back. “You didn’t anything except exist.”

“Some people are just arseholes – believe me, I would know,” Alice agreed, before stretching up on tiptoe and tugging him to the side slightly so she could kiss his cheek. “But I imagine he won’t be bothering us again now that he knows how prone I am to violence.”

Victor laughed despite himself. “Hopefully...if you don’t get in trouble for slugging someone,” he added, grimacing.

“I think we’ve got plenty of eyewitnesses saying he pretty much started it,” Smiler assured him, looking around at the other attendees before shooting him a grin. “Would picking up a ‘Bi Pride’ pin make you feel better?”

“...I think it would, yes.”

[friend-dogor]

actually wait in relation to the last post about ghibli and how it is aestheticized into bland and toothless images of comfort, it's got me thinking abt Ursula K Le Guin again

The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain. If you can’t lick ’em, join ’em. If it hurts, repeat it. But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else. We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy.

(from The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, 1973, top of pg.2)

i think that the original post is guilty of this to a degree, seeking to refute the idiocy and simplicity of focusing on the "happy" themes of ghibli movies my instead shifting attention to the horrors and pains contained within the text—those which could be seen as intellectual, needing perhaps a more sophisticated understanding of environmentalism and geopolitics.

but, furthermore, i think i'm guilty of it even in trying to defend miyazaki's often returning narrative commitment to hope and environmentalism and anti-war sentiment and kindness—after the last tag, i wanted to add something about "i know that putting kindness above pursuit of power feels like a baby theme for babies" because it Does, to me. "be kind" is, like, the first and simplest rule most of us are taught as children, be kind, don't hit your brother, be kind, share, be kind.

i don't refer to this as one of his more challenging themes, of course, because why should i? we all know to be kind. of course, i refer only to topics of war and environmentalism and grief as challenging. kindness is simple!

(nevermind that one of the biggest challenges for myself and a lot of people i know is how to stop being cruel to oneself after decades of practice and learned examples and instead to learn to be kind and forgiving with one's own mistakes and failures and perceived flaws)

and i wonder two things: 1) is it possible that the self-aestheticization of miyazaki's movies (for example, the rapturous visual attention paid to food, the attention paid to soft chairs, pillows, small and pleasantly cluttered environments, with plenty of natural light, lush plantlife and endearing creatures) contribute to miyazaki's more "challenging" messages, and if so, that there's a degree of success in people remembering the thick-cut bacon and eggs on toast from Howl's Moving Castle before they think of Sophie Hatter's town on fire because of the king's war? Has Hayao Miyazaki succeeded in making war and destruction at once horrifying and banal, but a simple good breakfast fascinating and compelling? ——not to say that people who simplify the movie to Only the aesthetics are right. they still aren't. they exist in dialogue with the destruction and it's ridiculous to sever the two. but is it possible that the majority of people thinking first of the "cozy" elements of Studio Ghibli's work is not nonintellectual and reductive, but rather contributes to a larger point of attention?

2) i ought to find other examples of media which do not treat "happy" themes or "light" themes—(i struggle even to talk about the category i mean without dismissing it entirely as Simple, or mischaracterizing it. i mean things like kindness over power and compassion over fear, things like that) which do not treat the themes as childish or nonintellectual, but also do so without fetishizing violence and suffering as Special and More Deserving of Thought than Simple and Stupid Good Feelings so that i can kind of investigate this concept a little more

[supahstarrr]

Spoilers

Okay so since Eden is implied to be the one to who stabbed Xander uh... a lot of people's theories about Teruko being the one doing it was wrong (haha). just wondering why the hell would Xander be the one saying "I need to kill Teruko Tawaki to end the killing game" is...? So i would like to say I think her being the mastermind could be possible even though thats typical, but Im leaning towards her existence somehow triggering/motivating the killing game to happen somehow. Something something about her family being connected to hope peaks academy and/oor the killing tragedy thus her needing to be orphaned,, and Mai finally taking Teruko to her family ended up triggering the killing game and killing Mai too idk man. Maybe Teruko's existence was so important that enemies or something triggered the killing gaming to happen probably over and over again. Idk man Don't fucking look at me and my stupid fucking brain

[darkdragon768]

Just two monsters with huge mouths filled with pointy teeth, and their lil birdie friend.

[incomprehensiblelentils]

Also…Furiosa spoilers I guess…I did not realize we were supposed to read her and that guy as in love? I thought he was just like her emotional brother or whatever bc they touched foreheads and shit lmfao. I’m not mad if people ship them or whatever but like the plot summary claims they “fall in love” and I was legit shocked by that interpretation

[themintman]

Staring into your soul rn if you ever take requests or art trades please let me know, itd be so cool to get some art of my oc

i do in fact take requests and art trades! They just may take a while depending on what they are, what I'm doing, my mental health, blah blah blah all that stuff. But I'm down to do them whenever! 🩷

[pawbeanies]

Baby boy. Pretty puppy. Wanna hold your face, kiss you real gentle, run my hand down your back and catch at your waist, settlin’ there like we were two figures made outta clay, made to fit together, molded from each other’s model, but put into the kiln separately, so we wouldn’t blow up.

I could make you anything you wanted. I work with clay, I work with metal, I work with leather… I could make you a pretty little collar, you just say the word. I could be yours, if you’d let me. You’re sweeter than fresh squeezed peach juice and I’m sure you’d last longer on my tongue.

I can be sweet, if that’s what you want. I can be a real gentleman, buying you drinks, opening up doors for you, walking you to wherever you wanna go, I can be soft, I can be warm. I can be like a sunset, I can see the moon in your eyes, looking at me, knowing I’m only there to lead up to your night.

We can kiss under the stars, my jacket on your shoulders, my hand on your thigh. You’re such a nice boy, I know I’d feel bad for kissing you like that, but not too bad, not when you’re begging me for it.

I’m getting sappy. It’s getting late. I wanna make you a ring that fits exactly on your finger, and I want you to know I made it only because I thought you might like it. I want my callouses to match the ring, the effort just as beautiful as the product. I know any effort can be beautiful, with you.

- 🍑

awa ..?!?! aawawawawawa?!?!?! awawawawawAAA?!?!?

please imagine like. me. comically and over exaggeratedly turning around like youre talking to someone behind me. turning back to look at you n pointing at myself. ME ? ME?! did you send this to the wrong blog peach anon are you sure. are y. you. wh. awawa.?!?!

this is too sweet and ?!?! romantic?!?! it can't be for me ... huh ... covering my face with my sleeves kicking my feet a little you are VERY good with your words and very. augh. wouagh. um?!? mhm mhm?!! crumbling into dust as i type i. w. awawa. i cant even think of words and sentences that make sense this is very ... aaa... wah.... so nice and gentle and .?!?! i..?!?!

i keep reading this one i feel like dizzy. im ?? wah??? hiding my face blushing whining sliding down in my chair. please ? please ? ive been taken out in one fell swoop.....

[dandyshucks]

everyone pray for me that i did not just give myself food poisoning (;･∀･)

[itsalwaysdark]

also its so dumb that one of the arguments ppl have against a sims 5 is that theyve already invested too much money into 4. like yes its fucking scummy that ea charges so much for dlc and its Ludicrous the amt sims 4 costs if you have all the dlc and its going to keep getting more and more expensive but . to be honest . why are you paying for sims packs. im sry

[usercelestial]

finding a cute buddie post i like and going through op's blog only to find hypocritical borderline homophobic filth about bucktommy and then finding a cute bucktommy post and going through op's blog only to find the tags for anti-buddie and anti-queer eddie. hm. what if we all killed ourselves.