#i've read books that made me monologue like this

[heptarchate]

Returning to the specifics of our argument against this document: your insipid stupidity is evident from the first word of the first sentence of the first paragraph of your acknowledgments page, ‘The,’ and from there the sense of simple-minded, pitiable absence of thought pervades all of the first paragraph until, by the roaring crescendo of imbecility leading up to the last word of the first paragraph, ‘again,’ any possible authority the reader might have granted the author has been completely undermined by your inability to in any way convey even an unoriginal thought. And yet in comparison to the dull-witted pedantry of the second paragraph, the first paragraph positively shines with genius and degenerate brilliance. Perhaps at this point in our little chat, I should repeat that I don’t very much like this book.

Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff Vandermeer

[septembersghost]

the silence that only comes when two people understand each other

[illdowhatiwantthanks]

can you write a fic where emily is on her period, annoyed at work, irritated, and really needy but is lowkey embarrassed to ask reader for relief? reader basically then calls her silly and tells em she loves her always and then helps her? and heavy smut takes place

(reader also works at the bau)

thank u!! - and no problem at all if u don’t feel like writing this <3

I got u, anon! ❤️ Hope you enjoy! – illdowhatiwantthanks

Touchy

Emily Prentiss x fem!reader Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI, graphic sex, fingering, afab body parts, menstruation, explicit language (let me know if I've missed anything!) Word count: 2.7k

Summary: You and Unit Chief Emily have had a secret thing going on for a while, but when she starts lashing out at you and the rest of the team, you suspect something's wrong. Turns out, it's something you are very capable of fixing. 😏

Emily sat hunched over a book that she clearly wasn’t reading, massaging her temples. She’d been touchy this whole trip. Touchy with the rest of the team, with local law enforcement. Thank god JJ was in charge of dealing with the press, or she would have been touchy with them, too. And now she was touchy on the jet.

Usually on the last night of a case, when the end was in sight or when you were headed home in the morning, or even on a night where she was frustrated that they hadn’t made progress, Emily would come to your room. She’d knock softly, in the dead of the night, slip into your room, into your bed, into your very body. And she’d be gone before your alarm went off in the morning.

You’d waited and waited last night for Emily to come to you, watching the minutes go by, then hours. You knew you hadn’t made any plans, nothing concrete. There was never anything concrete when the BAU was out on a case. But, nevertheless, you missed her. You missed the warmth of her body next to you, the way you’d talk and laugh about nothing while she sat in bed, naked, and smoked a cigarette after she’d thoroughly fucked your brains out. You missed the way she’d vent to you about the case or tell you something personal, something she wouldn’t tell anyone else, as you fell asleep together, tangled in some random hotel’s sheets.

You’d been seeing each other for months now and, outside of work, had some semblance of a typical relationship. But at work, you were just an agent and her unit chief. Friendly colleagues, at most. You and Emily were always careful to appear impartial. And you were profilers, so you were pretty good at avoiding tells that your relationship was more than it seemed on the outside. But you were worried about her today. She was angry and irritated and… not herself. You were trying to figure out a way to ask her what was wrong, but you couldn’t figure out how to move seats to be near her without arousing suspicion. Not to mention the fact that Emily would never tell another member of the team that something personal was going on. So she couldn’t tell you. Not here, not on the jet.

You tried not to look too interested when Reid sat down across from Emily, playing with the string on his sachet of green tea. “Are you okay, Emily?”

She made a noncommittal sound of affirmation, then muttered. “Just a headache.”

“You know,” he started, and you could just tell he was prepped for an educational monologue. “Headaches are simultaneously one of the easiest and one of the hardest medical maladies to solve, depending on their cause. There are over 50 reasons why one might have a headache, usually categorized into two overarching categories: primary and second–”

“Reid,” Emily snapped. “I am begging you to shut up unless you want to become one of the 50 causes of a headache.”

Reid shrank into himself, and you immediately felt sorry for him. Sure, he could come off as a know-it-all or annoying, but he was goodhearted and kind and smart and cared about the team. It wasn’t like Emily to belittle him.

When you’d all debarked from the plane and made your way to the parking lot, you waited for the other cars to peel out before approaching Emily’s. You tapped on her window and she rolled it down for you.

“What?” she growled.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” you asked, voice full of concern. “You seem off.”

“I’m fine,” she stated. “God, I wish people would just fucking leave me alone today. And stop asking all these questions.”

You were taken aback, hurt. You weren’t “people.” You were, for all intents and purposes, her girlfriend, everywhere but at work.

“Well, um…” you stuttered, unsure how to proceed or respond. “Do you still want to come over tonight?” She almost always did the night after getting back from a case.

“Y/N,” she groaned, massaging her forehead. “No offense, babe, but what part of ‘I wish people would fucking leave me alone’ did you not get?”

You felt like crying, but you’d be damned if you were going to let Emily see it. “Whatever, Em.” You shook your head. “I’ll see you on Monday.”

You watched Emily zoom out of the parking lot and, once she was gone, you let yourself cry. At least it wasn’t just you she was upset with; clearly she had it out for everyone right now. But still… Emily was usually different with you. She was softer around the edges, kind and thoughtful, a little bit silly. This wasn’t like her at all.

The more you thought about it, the angrier you got. How fucking dare she blow you off like you were no one!? She’d been rude and dismissive and snappy and weird with everyone this whole trip and, dammit, she was not going to get away with being like that to you, too. Either something was wrong with her or something was wrong with the rest of you that had pissed her off. Either way, you were determined to figure it out. So when you sped out of the parking lot, teary and determined, you headed not to your apartment, but to Emily’s.

You knocked angrily on Emily’s door until she threw it open, looking as pissed as you’d ever seen her. “Y/N,” she said, frustration evident. “I told you I didn’t want to see you.”

“Yeah, well,” you said, pushing past her and into the apartment. “Sometimes you don’t get what you want.”

You poured yourself a glass from the open bottle of wine she had on the counter and took a sip. Emily stood across from you, still massaging her temples and looking generally annoyed.

“What, Y/N?” she groaned. “What do you want?”

You set your glass down so aggressively the wine sloshed a bit. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Emily!?” you railed. “You’re being so mean and so… not yourself. Is something going on!?”

She sighed heavily and lowered herself into a chair and, for a moment, you thought she might cry. You surged toward her and tucked her hair behind her ear, holding her face, softly, delicately, in case, as she had all day, she decided to pull away again.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” you said softly, your thumbs lightly tracing the circles under her eyes.

Emily leaned into your touch and you knew she was finally there, finally at a point where she’d stop fighting and let you in.

“I’ve got fucking fibroids…” she mumbled, avoiding your eyes. “And I’m on my period and… they’re always bad, but they just make it so much worse.”

“Em,” you sighed, letting her rest her head on your chest. “Why didn’t you just say that?”

“It’s embarrassing…”

You furrowed your eyebrows. “Periods aren’t embarrassing, honey. They’re just a part of life. A shitty part.”

When she didn’t answer and kept her head buried in your chest, you started playing with her hair. “What do you need, huh? What’ll make you feel better? Do you have pain meds? You want to take a bath? Lie down for a bit?”

Emily pulled back and looked away, shrinking into herself.

“Hey, don’t start that again,” you scolded, taking her hand.

“Babe, just tell me. What do you need, hmm?”

She mumbled something under her breath, so quiet that you couldn’t catch it.

“What?”

“I need you to touch me,” she whispered, blushing furiously. “But that’s not fair of me to ask.”

You smiled, relieved. This is what Emily had been so frustrated about!? You chuckled and leaned forward to kiss her head, her cheek, then sunk your lips into hers. You felt elated by the way she grasped your shirt, the way she pulled into you.

When you broke apart, she was breathless, her pupils blown, but she still looked so deeply embarrassed, almost ashamed.

“Come on,” you said gently, leading her by the hand toward the bathroom. “And to think this whole time you were just really fucking horny.”

You turned on the shower, made sure it was the right temperature, and started stripping your clothes off.

“Wait, wait, what are you doing?!” Emily asked, leaning against the bathroom counter.

You stared at her. “What do you mean what am I doing?”

She gestured at your now nude body, as you folded your clothes into a messy pile.

“I’m getting in the shower,” you explained. “And you’re getting in the shower, and then I’m gonna make you come.”

If possible, Emily’s face reddened even more. “Uh… no,” she protested. “No, no. Did you miss the part where I said I was on my period?”

You gestured toward the steaming shower. “Did you miss the part where we’re in the shower so it doesn’t matter?”

“It does matter,” she argued. “I don’t– I’ve never… It’ll be messy, Y/N. I don’t want you to have to–”

You stared at her, mouth slightly agape. “You’ve never had sex on your period?”

She looked at the ground. “I… I mean, I guess I’ve never been with someone who… wanted to.”

Your heart broke then, just for a moment. For sweet, needy, embarrassed Emily, hugging herself in the corner of the bathroom.

“Well,” you said, approaching her and slipping your hands under her shirt. She gasped as you bent to suck on her neck. “That’s their loss.” You lifted her shirt over her head and unclasped her bra, quickly taking one of her nipples in your mouth. She moaned and sank her fingers into your hair. “I can assure you that I…” And you planted a kiss on her chest. “Very much…” You gently unzipped her pants and placed a kiss there, just below her stomach. “Want to.”

Emily pulled you back up and kissed you hungrily, desperately, as she kicked off the rest of her clothes, pushing you into the shower so she could discreetly remove her tampon. You pressed her up against the cool tile, letting the warm water rush over you both. It’s not that you were normally rough with Emily or vice versa, but you were careful to be particularly gentle with her tonight, knowing that her body was sensitive and in pain.

You kissed Emily slowly, deeply, making your way down her neck, across her chest, tracing slow, indulgent circles around her nipples as she let her head rest back against the tile. You could feel her heart beating underneath your tongue and it drove you wild.

When you crouched to move lower, holding yourself steady against her thighs, she pulled you back up, eyes pleading with you. “Just your hands. Please.”

You brushed a wet strand of hair off her forehead. “Are you sure?” You smirked. “I really don’t mind getting messy.”

“I know,” she replied, still breathing heavily as your thumbs drew circles against her hips. “But I mind.”

“Whatever you want, honey,” you breathed into her ear as you ran your fingers through her warm folds.

Emily shuddered and pressed her head into your shoulder, bucking involuntarily into your hand. You let your thumb idle around her clit, slow and rhythmic and gentle, until you had her panting and whining against you.

“More,” she begged, and you happily obliged, softly pressing two fingers into her pulsing entrance. You picked up speed as she pressed into you, her breath high and hitched, with small noises of effort and pleasure echoing around the shower.

“Wait, stop,” she gasped, even as she thrust into you. You stilled your movements, and waited for her to tell you what she wanted. “I feel like I might collapse,” she gasped.

“In a good way or a bad way?” you asked, both of you giggling.

“A good way, but…”

“Here,” you said, moving her arms so they were wrapped around your neck and inching forward so that your thigh was between her legs. You wrapped your free hand around her waist and planted a kiss on her neck. “I’ve got you, okay? I’m not gonna let you fall. Just let go, baby.”

Emily didn’t need any more encouragement, riding your fingers as if her very life depended on it. And when she finally reached her peak, when she finally let herself fall apart, nothing in the world could have made you let go of her. You held her up as she shook, her walls pulsing around your fingers, her mouth wide and warm against your shoulder.

“There you go,” you whispered, bringing her back down and planting fluttery kisses wherever you could reach as you held her steady. She shook against you, holding onto you, and when she finally found her way back to her feet, you kissed her again and again, all over.

“Feel better?” you asked her, cupping her face in your hands. She nodded and wrapped her arms around your neck in an embrace and, for a while, you just held her there, hot water pouring over you, heartbeats dwindling back to a normal rate.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice vibrating against your skin. She stood and looked at you apologetically. “Sorry I was such a bitch.”

You shook your head and kissed her again. “It’s okay. Everyone’s a bitch on their period.”

Your heart was in your throat as Emily let you wash her, let you lather shampoo into her hair and rub soap gently across her body, making sure she was clean and cared for. She was so soft under your touch, so soft and pliable, such a contrast to how she was at work with everyone else. She always acted so tough. And she was tough, but she could also be so soft. You loved that she was soft for you.

You dried her off, you kissed her shoulder, you told her to go ahead and get in bed, that’d you’d be right there. And when you returned and found her in bed with wet hair in an oversized t-shirt, you were struck by the realization that you never really wanted to go to bed with anyone else. That what you’d really like is to be in bed with Emily every night. Not just random nights on the road. Not just after the dates you spent at places you chose because it didn’t seem like any other member of your team would be there. You loved her. You were falling in love with her.

You handed her the glass of water you’d prepared in the kitchen, and thought about how not to accidentally tell her you loved her. She sipped gingerly at the edge of the bed and looked deeply at you.

“What?” you asked, shrinking under her gaze.

“Do you want to stay here?” she asked.

“Duh,” you replied, already climbing into bed next to her. “I always spend the night after. And we don’t have work tomorrow.”

“No, I mean…” She picked at her fingernails, avoiding your eyes. “Do you want to stay here… for good. Like, would you want to move in?”

You felt like the breath had been knocked out of you. “Are you serious?” you asked, gaping at her.

Emily shook her head. “Forget it. Sorry. It was a stupid question.”

“No, no!” You grabbed her hand and held it between both of hers. “I just… I didn’t know what this was for you. If you wanted to… keep it casual, I guess.”

She sighed and looked into your eyes and you knew then, you knew that whenever it slipped out, whenever you were ready to say it, she would say it back. “I haven’t been casual about you for a while now, Y/N.”

And you kissed her. You kissed her again and again, kissed her until she was giggling and squirming, until you had her wrapped in your arms under the covers.

And when she reached to turn the light out, when she curled into your body, you let your words venture out in the darkness, soft and quiet, almost imperceptible: “I love you.”

And like a light, her voice, vibrating against your skin as she fell asleep in your arms: “I love you, too.”

[pocketgalaxies]

hello from the past (sunday december 8)! in lieu of my normal friday liveblog here are some things i remember from the daggerheart critmas show in no particular order :)

Uncle Pelvis

riley, full eldritch reindeer monster, just Sobbing about her pet rat which she named gorbachev because her dad calls the actual gorbachev a rat bastard

laura miming her stupid lil candlestick hands and wiggling her stupid lil mesh wings the entire time

marisha getting out of her chair yelling "MY SKATEBOARD–IT'S ROLLING DOWN THE STREET"

the whole audience watching matt's "how to watch daggerheart" video before the show started with utmost rapt attention as if it was new information

"put it in your frigid box" "my body is ready"

"SLIPPERY WHEN WET, BITCH"

slippery when wet bitch made me so happy because it's such a marisha-ism that i pulled out my phone to put it in my tumblr drafts so i wouldn't forget it. it's the only thing i wrote down the whole show

marisha and ashley miming riley sticking her arm into gwenny's body

bethany insulting ralph and ralph sobbing "i thought tristan was just gonna read a dramatic monologue"

every time someone started crying gwenny's hands would creep into frame holding the box

the holiday spirit going "...~whoa~" from tanner's weed grenade

ralph bader ginsburg

bethany's very not secret comic book obsession

"how do you know i was the one who tagged the water tower" "it says dylan right there"

laura going "i still can't believe you all said i was naughty" and travis' thumbs up

everyone going "DIDN'T YOU LIVE IN GERMANY?" and marisha going "YES AND I'VE USED MY EXPERIENCE 'I LIVED OVERSEAS' 4 TIMES ALREADY"

marisha going "we're still rolling even though we had two crits. ok,"

everyone looking at travis' monkey hat and breaking

bethany checking if her vag was still there

gwenny inexplicably knowing everything about everyone's lives and houses

one half of the party crying into a box and the other half getting violently disemboweled by an evil hag

the way bethany said ". no–!" when ralph asked if they had a chance together

bethany's lil tantrums

ralph throwing his own lil tantrum and saying "i learned from the best"

laura trying to use an experience talking to the holiday spirit and muttering "no they wouldn't care who my dad is..."

riley intensely saying "i know where it went. follow me." and then comically slipping on ice with her ungraceful bambi legs

marisha going "matt What did you say you said it so fast and i was so distracted" and matt just repeating back a bunch of german

tristan's illusory pack of krampus monsters all having a little tree topper sitting on one horn

the audience laughing at Every single one of sam's jewish jokes despite ourselves

i can't remember what the context was anymore but taliesin just deadpanning "This Was A Mistake." over all the cry-laughter which only made the cry-laughter more severe

i kept looking at a mom in the row in front of me who definitely only came to support her child and she just looked so confused the whole time. confused for 5 hours straight. i'm so sorry mom

riley screaming "IT'S THE COMMIES" and immediately offering up gwenny because "she's a virgin" and gwenny, 3 beats too late, defensively going "I HAVE SEX ALL THE TIME"

the VIPs doing the little sing-songy thing and the whole cast going "what the fuck you creeps"

sam skipping onto the stage like an angelic little boy when momlan finally announced him

ashley's court jester look in the 2nd half was very cute

someone behind me said "she is so cute" about laura's tree topper outfit, apropos of nothing. relatable

i think nobody in the audience was expecting the character art of their transformations and it was absolutely an involuntary gasp and yell when riley's first appeared. and when marisha described the christmas lights appearing on her antlers like 3 ppl around me including myself went "oh cool"

everyone losing their FUCKING minds when liam did the hamlet monologue

everyone losing their FUCKING minds when liam did the breakfast club monologue

a high schooler robbing the comic store and getting ambushed by a bunch of fairytale monstrosities who are actually also just high schoolers

the concept of a tiny tree topper being able to step in front of someone to take the hit for them. and the fact that every time she did it the crowd went "AWWWW."

tanner's intrusive monkey noises

matt repeatedly saying "it doesn't matter if you rolled with hope or fear on a reaction roll" and marisha going "You Know We're Going To Say It Anyway. I Rolled A 15. With Hope."

liam saying that the hair on his calves specifically was contributing to his armor

marisha trying to do math in front of a crowd of thousands, marisha spitting all over her mic in front of a crowd of thousands, ashley not being able to read her dice in front of a crowd of thousands, laura trying to choose dice in front of a crowd of thousands

sam feeling the need to clarify that his acne was just makeup. the details of the makeup not rly showing up on the screen so it definitely just looked like a rash and i felt a non-negligible amount of relief when he made said clarification

every time gwenny went anywhere it was described as "rolling." like bb-8

gwenny going "hey this kind of isn't so bad" and ralph immediately going "you're going to melt in the summer"

every time they were so teenager-y. "my dad said this" "suck it" "chode"

ralph going "i had my bat mitzvah so i'm a man now, not a child. so this doesn't apply to me" and tristan going "and tanner's 22"

trying to kill a mythical fire scarecrow monster but whenever anyone tries to do something strategic about it everyone goes "NO WAIT THE COMIC BOOKS–"

on a more serious note meeting cool ppl before the show and during intermission! everyone was wearing cozy cr merch it was so cute! there was a trinket with christmas lights and armor with a light-up VM logo! there was a fuckin awesome percy vex couple's cosplay! there were laudnas! there were keyleths! one person got told their bag was too big and everyone in line was offering tips on how to carry all the super cute caleb cosplay-related paraphernalia in their bag, everyone was so nerdy and friendly. the critmas album was playing during the pre-show and the atmosphere was so cute. so many ppl sang along to the twelve days of grogmas mv when it played during intermission. a whole crowd of grog impressions. and when marisha/riley said her stupid thing about how one day nerd culture might become cool and popular and everyone cheered it made me feel so warm and fuzzy.

ok i could keep going but i'll stop. it was such a fun fuckin time y'all

[stealingyourbones]

Question! I have been getting into DC comics cuz of dpxdc, and I saw your tags on frank Miller on a recent post. One of my irl friends told me to read the dark knight returns and while it was occasionally hard to follow I assumed that was a result of when it was written rather than who wrote it? But I did overall enjoy it.

I guess what I'm asking is why you say frank Miller is a bad writer when it seems like the dark knight returns was so acclaimed?

(I saw the nazi thing too but that's something I can google so while it's news to me it's not my main question)

ok so. A lot of this is my personal opinion and I'm not too equipped to say shit about this because I'm not very political but I'm going to give it my best shot. Put under a cut so folks who don't want to hear about comic ranting can simply scroll past

I’m just gonna write a quick thing for the Nazi stuff, He isn't exactly a Nazi but boy oh boY does he set off many warning flags. Frank Miller is also the writer of the comic 300, if that sounds familiar that's because the movie you're probably thinking of is indeed based off these comics. The Spartan's ideology helped create the baselines of Fascism. Fascism is a pretty leading cause of commentary in Frank Millers work. In Batman: The Dark Knight he is a fascist. In Hard Boiled there's swastikas in the background every so often. (I even went back to reread it just to make sure and yep. they definitely were there) In 300 there's a shitton of Fascism... I could go on but still. His comics are incredibly gorey, have a discussion about a world gone wrong that can only be changed using force and weaponry (the whole Dark Knight "I am a surgeon" monologue for example), and the fact that he has Fascism as the main point of nearly all of the comics he's written... it doesn't sit right with me and it's a consistent pattern.

Now, onto the bad writing. I must firstly preface that these are my own opinions and that I didn't grow up reading Frank Miller's work. I think he was a good writer but isn't one anymore. His writing did incredible things for DC and you can see his influence in Batman even today. Works I've read and enjoyed of his are: Daredevil, Batman Year One, and Dark Knight. Nowadays you'll see many folks like myself talk about how Frank Miller has fallen off the deep end. A vast majority of Frank Miller's comics have reoccurring themes: politics, fascism, extreme violence, and so so much weaponry. Politics is in every comic book. There is no unpolitical comic, there ARE comics that are batshit wild with their politics and that's what I'm talking about. I'll get back to this later. He wrote many good comics, ones that first come to mind are Daredevil , Wolverine, Batman: Dark Knight, Batman: Year One, Sin City, Ronin, and 300. All of these comics are still credited by folks as amazing comics and hell, I recommend folks to read them go and check them out. Then 9/11 happened. That along with rampant alcoholism. Those reoccurring themes I mentioned? They become exponentially more blatant in his works. Especially on the political angle. You can see the difference between his works from pre and post 9/11. If you read Dark Knight and Dark Knight 2 back to back. It's night and day. He even made a comic during the post 9/11 panic called Holy Terror. The comic's title was originally pitched as Holy Terror, Batman! with the Gotham hero himself as the main character but it swiftly denied by DC, denied being published by DC, and changed to what it is now. The basic plot of this comic: A Vigilante named The Fixer fights Al-Qaeda after attacking Empire City. He doesn't even mention the word Al-Qaeda until 80 pages into a 150 page comic. The comic is some INCREDIBLY blatant post 9/11 propaganda that's ridiculously Islamophobic and anti-muslim. That isn't even my opinion, Frank Miller has said that's what this comic was. It is scattered with a ridiculous amount of hate speech written by a hate fueled man in 2007. Now onto comics that you'd more likely read. All Star Batman and Robin (2005). Oh boy. Let's compare shall we? Batman Dark Knight Returns (1986)

All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder #1 (2005)

mind you this is as Dick is being driven to GCPD for questioning RIGHT AFTER HIS PARENTS DIED. He gets kidnapped by Bruce out of the police car. Not calmed in his arms after the murder and brought to the manor. Kidnapped. All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder #2 (2005)

( a brief intermission of this sickass pose of a shirtless Alfred Pennyworth comforting Vicky Vale)

now back to the kidnapping:

[Skipping Bruce getting chased by the GCPD, Jumping the Batmobile ONTOP of a GCPD car, and laughing and talking to his car all the while Dick is absolutely terrified. They then use boosters that propel the Batmobile into the sky.]

Smashcut to #4 where they actually enter the Batcave.

I don't even think I need to explain myself. This is Spider-Man: One More Day levels of mischaracterization. Like seriously. Bruce kidnapping Dick after his parents were killed? Calling him a retard and hitting him during the aftermath (we can go on about how in 2005, the r slur was used commonly but this was just out of pocket), Leaving him in the cold batcave and told to eat rats? Frank Miller used to write some incredible works. Nowadays his writing is as decent as Rob Liefeld's art.

[butchhamlet]

are there any shakespeare retellings you recommend? i really enjoy retellings but it's also difficult to find ones that like. actually understand the source material... i've read your novella duodecimal and really liked it btw! excellent take on twelfth night :-)

THANK YOU SO MUCH WAH... yes, i can recommend some retellings! i keep intending to make a big post with my recs, actually, but there are so many out there that i haven't read yet... so for now here's an incomplete list:

a thousand acres by jane smiley: the first one that came to my mind seeing this ask. it's a retelling of lear set on an american farmstead, and the adaptation is done beautifully and smoothly--it's just distinct enough from OG Lear that you can judge it as a book on its own but also as a lear retelling. and it's sooooo good. it starts a little slow, but the character work is so excellent and it almost made me cry (i will note that there's a pretty hefty cw on this one but... saying what it is is technically spoilers? but feel free to send another ask or message if you want to know up-front)

the last true poets of the sea by julia drake: books that made me have to turn my camera off in zoom class so i could bawl properly. books written for me specifically. this is a loose YA retelling of twelfth night (looser than some of the other retellings on this list) and it's like. perfect. the teenage dialogue actually sounds like teenagers. every emotional beat clubbed me over the head. the love triangle is present--and done really well; it's not present for drama but because sometimes being a teenager is confusing--but more than that this is a book about the relationship between violet and her sibling, and about mental health, and god it makes me CRAZY. also girls kiss in this one

rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead by tom stoppard: i mean. i think most people into shakespeare know r&gad. but in case you haven't read it yet, it's an absurdist play from the point of view of rosencrantz and guildenstern and it's absolutely fucking brilliant. not sure what else to say about this; you've really just gotta read it

teenage dick by mike lew: another play, this one on the modern side--a retelling of richard iii set in a high school, focusing explicitly on disability issues. kind of more a reimagining than a retelling, honestly, but i really like the exploration of r3's themes and also it's fucking hysterical. although i will say there's a kind of jarring tonal shift in this one near the end, so don't go to it for something 100% comedic

american moor by keith hamilton cobb: okay this isn't exactly a retelling but if you've ever read othello you have to read it. you just have to. please god if you've ever read a shakespeare PLEASE. it's a monologue from the perspective of a black man trying out for the role of othello, half-resigned to being pigeonholed into playing that specific role in a very specific way as directed by a white director, but also half-chafing against that resignation, and also exploring the complexities of loving shakespeare as a black man, and it's soooooo so good

exit, pursued by a bear by e.k. johnston: this one is kind of cheating because it's not really a retelling, in that it has next to nothing to do with the winter's tale except that there is a hermione character and a leontes character and a paulina character. i still think it's a very very well-done YA book, though, and one of the only ones i've read that deals head-on with abortion

foul is fair by hannah capin: okay, i will admit i read this one some years ago when i was more into YA, so i'm not sure i would still go crazy over it now, but the plot of this book is that the modern lady macbeth character gets assaulted by a guy at a party and decides to kill everyone who let that happen. and then she does. and idk i read it in two days it felt like being on crack

the wednesday wars by gary schmidt: this one is DEFINITELY cheating, because this isn't a retelling of anything. but if you like shakespeare and you're open to reading historical fiction about a kid in the 60s using shakespeare as a lens through which to understand the chaos of his life (from the vietnam war to his school crush)... it's so good. it made me nearly sob. beautiful book

i'm also a fan of ryan north's shakespeare choose-your-own-adventure books, but those aren't exactly retellings and also the humor will probably not work for everyone. but i like em <3

and finally, i would be remiss not to shout out the fact that @suits-of-woe wrote an INCREDIBLE retelling of the two gentlemen of verona that, like, redeemed the fact that that play exists. if you've read that play and you thought, "wow, i wish this were explicitly homoerotic, or not a rape apologia, or good in any way," you will LOVE macy's book. unfortunately it isn't fucking published yet but WITH YOUR HELP--

[sunkiss3dlily]

to you, i'm just a man (to me, you're all i am) part two | joel miller x reader

Joel Miller x Fem!Reader Word Count: 2611

Summary: While waiting for Joel to recover, he takes a turn for the worst, and you find yourself doing whatever you can to keep him with you and Ellie.

Note(s): I was asked to do a second part of this fic where the reader gets hurt and Joel goes crazy over it, but it was getting a bit long so I've split it into three parts, so this is the first and the second will be up pretty soon! This deviates from the show/game in terms of the David situation (Ellie doesn't get hurt), but I hope you still enjoy! I feel like this idea has been done a few times so I hope it's not too repetitive!! Also I am not medically inclined in the slightest so if the details are wrong for anything, please just go with it hahaha. As always feedback is appreciated, but please be respectful! Please give me any requests in my inbox or comments if you have any, I would love to hear them! Thank you so much for reading! ♡

✮˚. ᵎᵎ 𖦹彡⋆｡˚,

He made it through the first night, then the next, and the one after that.

It was almost unbelievable. While you kept a brave face for Ellie, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay, the fact that Joel was still there with you felt almost too good to be true—not that you were complaining, not one bit.

Night after night, you would lie beside him, simply watching him. When Ellie succumbed to fitful bouts of sleep, you made sure to keep his coat tucked under his chin, preserving his warmth as he lay unconscious on the mattress. With your flashlight aimed at his torso, you checked for any signs of movement, or rather, the ceasing of it, until you eventually succumbed to sleeping yourself. After the flashlight inevitably died after the second night, you resorted to placing a delicate hand on his chest, under his coat, feeling for the rise and fall of his shallow breaths.

Most of your conversations with him—conversations that felt more like monologues—happened when Ellie was either asleep or out collecting snow for Callus. Initially, it was to offer comfort during those brief moments of consciousness—the occasional groan of pain or the utterance of your name. Eventually, when he fell completely unconscious, talking to him became a source of comfort purely for yourself.

You'd ramble on about just about anything that came to mind, mindful of your volume to avoid waking or alerting Ellie. It began with small talk and general comments about how cold it was and how you hoped he was warm enough. To pass the time, you'd share some of the less corny jokes from Ellie's pun book, and then you began telling him about your life before the outbreak: your family, your occupation, and your hobbies. For some reason, it all spilled out, and there ended up being more words spoken between you than before he was injured. For whatever reason, whether that was because you did not have his hardened expression aimed at you while you spoke for once, you found it really easy to open up to him, and you could only hope that he could hear you somehow and that he'd know you and Ellie were still there, waiting for him.

You couldn't help but wonder if this was how nurses felt before the outbreak. Did they talk to their comatose patients, hoping their voice was enough to guide them back to the land of the living, to the ones they loved?

You hoped that was the case for Joel, even if you couldn't fathom being a reason for him to live, no matter how desperately you needed him.

✮˚. ᵎᵎ 𖦹彡⋆｡˚,

On the fourth day, sunlight streamed through the overhead windows, gently nudging you awake. Your forehead was pressed against Joel's coat, your hand still resting on his chest, feeling him breathe. As you glanced up, you noticed his head leaning towards yours, a mix of pain and contentment etched on his typically stoic face. A faint smile crossed your lips at the first sight of his subtle reaction.

With a sigh of relief, you slowly sat up, withdrawing your hand from his chest.

On the other side of Joel, Ellie was still fast asleep, nestled as close to him as possible on the mattress. A frown creased your brow as realisation dawned upon you: none of you had eaten properly in days, rationing the minimal scraps you had, just in case Joel woke up and, undoubtedly, felt hunger. The truth was, surviving purely on those scraps and melted snow alone wouldn't last much longer.

Letting out a small sigh, you approached Ellie, kneeling beside her and softly calling her name before placing a gentle hand on her shoulder to wake her. "Ellie? Hey, Ellie?"

She woke with a start, glancing around in momentary disorientation before her eyes met yours. Her gaze quickly shifted to Joel. "Is he okay?"

You hummed, "He's doing as well as he can right now. Are you hungry?"

"Starving," she murmured, laying back down and looking as exhausted as you felt.

You reached for your bag, rummaging around for a moment before pulling out a piece of jerky that looked to have seen better days. You let out a small sigh and held it out for Ellie, who narrowed her eyes at you and took it before breaking it in half and holding one piece out for you.

"I'm good," you assured her with a wave of your hand, and you watched as Ellie reluctantly lowered her arm after a few moments. Instead, she shuffled closer to the mattress and laid the jerky on top of Joel's coat, which made you smile slightly.

Ellie continued chewing quietly for a moment before raising her hand and laying the back of it on Joel's forehead. "Holy fuck. He's like a furnace."

You were no doctor, but you were sure that just having a coat draped over him wouldn't raise his temperature that much, especially in the blistering cold of winter. You frowned, placing your own hand on his forehead and retracting it almost instantly. Sweat was forming at his brow, and using your very little medical knowledge from the medical dramas you used to consume before the outbreak, you realised he had a fever.

With quick speed, you lifted the coat off his lower stomach, lifted his shirt, and examined the wound that you had the displeasure of stitching up all those days ago, realising almost immediately that something looked off. The skin around it was scorched red, swollen, and oozing pus, something that you were unable to see last night with no flashlight.

"Shit," you muttered to yourself, knowing it was infected and realising that it was more than likely caused by the bacteria-infested needle you had used so hastily to patch him up.

Ellie sat up, watching you with concern. "What? What is it?"

"The wound is infected," you sighed, sitting back on your heels and trying to think of the best course of action. "Okay, I'm going to search the other houses to see if any of them have any sort of antibiotic."

Ellie nodded, sitting up. "Okay, let's go."

You shook your head. "I go. You stay here, with Joel."'

Her mouth opened, her stubborn attitude ready to argue with you, but you simply shook your head once more. "Someone has to watch him, Ellie. If he wakes up and needs help and no one's here, he'll..." You trail off, and Ellie's fight seems to wane considerably at the sight of your sadness. You clear your throat and reach towards the weapon lying beside the staircase. "Take Joel's rifle. Anything goes south down here; you take care of it, alright?"

She takes it, nodding, her eyes falling to the slow rise of Joel's chest as she asks, "What if you don't come back?"

You were speechless for a moment; for some reason, you didn't even consider that a possibility. You were only going to search some of the other houses, not even going too far, but there was still the possibility that the raiders were still hanging around waiting for you all. That, or infected.

"I will," is your simple response.

It's not enough for Ellie. "You don't know that."

"I have to," you state, and she looks up at you. "I have to come back, Ellie. I took this job for a reason, and... I'm not leaving you behind."

Your eyes flitter to Joel's unconscious form.

"Either of you."

✮˚. ᵎᵎ 𖦹彡⋆｡˚, '"Where the hell did you go?"

The search for medicine in the abandoned houses near the garage where you, Ellie and Joel had taken refuge proved utterly futile. Exiting each house empty-handed drained the last remnants of optimism from your body.

However, a glimmer of determination emerged when you found yourself tailgating a white rabbit through a clearing into the snowy woods between two houses. With the smallest spark of fight left in you, you raised your rifle and focused on at least securing a substantial meal for yourself and Ellie today.

Yet, as the woods were entirely blanketed in snow, your search was already compromised. Nevertheless, you kept your feet moving, aware that any pause could cause your knees to buckle, making it a struggle to find the strength to stand again.

"Shit," you muttered to yourself, the chill blistering your skin as you narrowed your eyes in search of the elusive creature. "Where the hell did you go?"

Taking a few more steps, you heard the familiar squeaking resume as you approached a log. The rabbit seemed to have burrowed itself in the snow behind it in an attempt to protect itself, and you did your best to move quietly to avoid startling it. Fate, however, had other plans. A few twigs snapped in the near distance, and the creature bolted once more.

Turning your head to the source of the noise, your blood ran cold. Two men were facing you, their rifles prominent in their hands, though not raised. Their eyes were fixed on you as they took a step forward, the shorter one leading the taller.

Although you couldn't recognise them as the raiders who attacked you, Joel, and Ellie days ago, you weren't naive. You understood the dangers posed by any desperate man.

In an instant, you dove behind a tree, raising your rifle and aiming it towards them, cautiously glancing out to keep an eye on their movements. "Don't come any closer."

From the shadows, the shorter man with short, ginger hair, barely visible at the top of his head, raised a hand to halt his friend. "Easy, there; I'm sure we can all work this out. We aren't here to hurt you; quite the opposite, actually."

"I don't care what you're here for; walk away or I shoot," you called, squeezing the rifle in your hand, finding it a comfort. You'd feel much more reassured with Joel there, but you're sorely reminded of your predicament. "And I never miss."

Silence followed your warning, and you cautiously looked out, seeing them both still standing there. The shorter man seemed more relaxed than the taller one. He had his hands raised in surrender, and his gun had been dropped to the snow-covered ground. The taller man, wearing a beanie, still held his gun, but in a loose grip.

"Just...just hear me out for a second," the shorter man began, nodding at you in an attempt to calm you. He noticed your attention focused on his friend's gun and turned his head towards him while keeping most of his body facing you. "James, drop the gun."

James eyed the shorter man wearily, but ultimately he did as he was told. Your shoulders loosened considerably, though you kept your gun raised in warning, your finger resting on the trigger.

The shorter man looked back at you, his lips quirking slightly at the edges in a way that unsettled you. "See? We truly aren't here to cause you any harm. My name is David, and this is my friend, James."

You bit back a snarky comment about not giving a damn, and feeling assured enough that you had the upper hand now, being the only one holding your weapon, you stepped out from behind the tree. David's eyes narrowed slightly as he took you in, but a smile settled on his lips soon after.

"You out here all alone?"

You visibly stiffened, tensing your finger on the trigger, and David laughed a little as he spoke. "Easy, now. Just having a conversation is all. You're looking a bit worse for wear. You been out here long?"

"A few hours," you responded honestly, before pausing just a fraction too long. "My whole group has. In fact, they should be on their way back here right now."

David quirked his eyebrow, sounding disbelieving as he asked, "How many of you are there?"

"Enough." You responded, glaring at him, but this only caused him to smile unnervingly towards you again.

"So you're travelling with a big group, huh? Yeah, me and James come from a big group too." He looked towards his friend and nodded. "Yeah, we have a settlement a couple miles from here. Nothing too fancy, just a little village, but it's safe—you'd have a roof over your head, some extra clothes on your back, and new boots if you needed them. You could come and check it out to see if it's good enough for you and your friends; it would be nice to see some fresh faces."

You narrowed your eyes at his offer. "Why aren't you there right now?"

David paused. "I'm sure you know all too well how quickly food runs out in big groups like ours. I guess that's why you were chasing that little bunny so carefully. Yeah, we know the feeling. The desperation. It's hard, right? Well, truth be told, we've been struggling with keeping everyone comfortably fed over this harsh winter, but James has been scouting this big buck for a couple of days, and we've come to bring it back to our people."

You nodded slowly, your stomach twisting at the thought of having something big enough to feed you, Joel, and Ellie comfortably. You could kill them both and go looking for it, but then you'd know you'd truly lost your humanity; you were not yet depraved. "Maybe you should focus on keeping your own people safe before trying to recruit new ones."

"You could help us." David suggested, and you didn't miss the way James looked at him. "As you said, you never miss a shot. James and I are pretty rusty ourselves. But if you helped us, we'd be able to feed our people and yours, or you could take half the buck for yourselves if you truly don't want to give us a chance. Fair trade."

Nerves bubbled within your stomach, and you cleared your throat, tilting your head. "What's to say you won't shoot me dead the second we find it?"

"That wouldn't be very smart, would it?" He smiled. "Not when your group will be showing up soon; James and I'd be outnumbered in seconds."

You breathed out nervously, not knowing what to do and knowing, damn well, no one was coming for you. "Yeah, you would."

David laughed. "So, we have a deal?"

"Back at your village, do you have medicine?" You found yourself asking suddenly, noticing the way James' eyes widened partially, but David remained cool. "For infections and such?"

David hummed. "We do. Someone hurt?"

You nodded, saying nothing else about it.

"Well, then," David sighed. "Tell you what, how about this? James, you head back home and speak to Howard. Tell him you need two bottles of penicillin and a syringe."

James looked at David with an expression of what looked to be confusion and unsureness.

"This isn't code, James. Do as I said," David continued before he turned to you. "You and I will keep hunting for this buck while James gets that medicine for you; then, when he gets back, you can decide whether you want to follow us or not, alright?"

You aimed your rifle towards James as he looked back at you.

"That works." You watched as James leaned to reach for his rifle and fired a warning shot beside his feet, sending the snow flying. "Leave that there. You can find it when I'm gone."

"Listen to the lady, James," David instructed, and James straightened back up, taking a few steps back until he began running through the woods back towards the clearing that you had previously come through yourself.

David met your gaze once more, smiling softly. "Well, let's go find that buck."

©️sunkiss3dlily, 2024.

[unrealcosima]

2024 Thai shows wrap up (in January!)

I don't generally like to do these things but I thought there were some things I wanted to highlight from this year in Thai shows, so I've rounded up some of my favorites

Favorite ensemble cast - The Dream girls (My marvellous dream is you)

This has to be one of the best casts in a Thai QL show that I've ever seen. Usually, you will only see the main pair have bts moments, sometimes with one or two other cast members, but these 7 girls consistently reacted together, made tiktoks and hang out with each other and it is always chaotic. The always bring a smile to my face.

Favorite snapshot - Peaceful property

I want to cry every time I see this image. I say this is my family and I'm proud 😭

Favorite insane product placement - Jack & Joker and Unlock your love (tie)

How am I supposed to choose between "a bodyguard also needs to take care of his skin" and electricity safety switch in the middle of a failed love scene? I can't, so I choose both

Favorite unhinged protagonist - Genlong (Mate)

She's curt, she's emotionally constipated, she's jealous, she's a bitch, she's a lover, she's a sinner... Truly a mess of a character, cursed from the first scene to become a better person through the power of love, and I love to see it!

Favorite speech - Anil (The loyal pin)

Anil went to England, read every Jane Austen book she could find, and came back packed with all the most beautiful monologues to woo her girl. She has many throughout the show, but this one gets me every time.

[luguangs]

why you should read Mystic Prince if you enjoyed ORV

Mystic Prince / Prince of Myolyeong (묘령의 황자) is a fantasy and action-adventure manhwa with art & story by Aheuredal (아흐레달) and in my humble opinion, an absolute hidden gem. it's literally one the best manhwas i've ever read (among the top 2) and i've finally gathered my thoughts enough to try to articulate why i love it so much, and hopefully convince you to give it a chance!

here's the official summary on webtoon:

An immortal emperor rules the Kingdom of Yeol, a divine country blessed by gods with awesome powers. After a thousand years of peaceful rule, the time has come for a new emperor to be chosen. This is determined by a series of trials, in which twenty princes with special powers who have trained since birth must compete. As all princes of varying personalities and agendas gather to partake in the trials, intrigue and possibly even bloodshed seem all but certain. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the other princes, the Fourth Prince Jeok-yeon Ryu hides a secret he must guard with his life.

anyway i literally made a carrd for this, that's how much i care about this manhwa and i worked very hard on it!! you can find the carrd here*

(* also if you hate daily pass like me pls note that there's a fan translation as well! just keep in mind that some episodes have ost but you can find the links to youtube on the carrd as well. but if you enjoy it please do try to leave likes, comments, and a good rating on webtoon to support the creator!)

Mystic Prince is incredibly unique in terms of story and execution that i can't really compare it to anything else but here's why i think you'll enjoy it, especially if you also liked orv:

strong-willed MC who's not naturally skilled but works extremely hard

said MC is willing to suffer and hurt themselves to achieve their goals (aka kim dokja-esque tendencies)

seemingly cold and aloof ML with yoo joonghyuk vibes at first, naturally gifted and seems to look down on everyone

...but is actually head over heels for MC and just doesn't know how to express his feelings

ensemble cast of incredibly complex and well-developed characters with different personalities and motivations

MC seems a little dense at times but they have a tragic backstory that explains why they're Like That

incredibly bisexual vibes !! like literally off the charts

slowburn romance that is cooking up such a great meal

MC and ML have actually known each other for centuries

characters go through trials that involve risking death

extremely unique lore and world-building

i said ML before but there are actually multiple potential MLs with how much complexity all the character dynamics have

beautiful character designs (literally over 10+ within the main cast and they're all so unique)

evocative writing and heartfelt monologues that seem taken out of a book of pure poetry

narratively significant motifs of fire and water (à la orv's black/white and reader/protagonist)

profound and realistic depiction of the inner feelings and troubles that the characters go through

incredibly heart-wrenching original soundtrack! (actually made me cry)

some of the most gorgeous art i've seen in any manhwa (seriously pls just open the 1st episode and look at the first few panels)

[spoilers below for chapter ~10]

delicious gender fuckery

MC is actually cross-dressing afab (i personally hc them as genderqueer; korean doesn't have gendered pronouns but the official tl uses she/her pronouns)

bonus: they're built like a fucking tank (as seen here) like hello??? which is so refreshing to see for an afab MC

plus they're also canonically lacking in empathy but still deeply compassionate which again is really refreshing

i'm sure there's even more stuff i'm forgetting but these are just some reasons off the top of my head why i think this manhwa is so amazing

please do give Mystic Prince a chance, it's an absolute delight!! there are multiple beautiful covers but here's a couple of them, BE ART BAITED <3

and finally some of my personal reactions to Mystic Prince and also a note regarding the content warnings under the cut!

feel free to skip this part lol but personally when i look for recs, i love when people tell me their emotional reactions and how passionate they are about it! so if this tells you anything,

this is the ONLY manhwa to have made me cry so far (yes that includes the orv webtoon, but not the novel ofc) like actually ugly sobbing with snot and tears and everything lmao

(it's not all sad though! this manhwa will have you clutching your heart one moment and then cackling out loud the next)

and it's also the ONLY manhwa i've ever spent actual money on before the fan tl picked it up just so i could read the advanced chapters (i'm notoriously cheap so this says a lot imo)

and i'm not alone in this, every other comment on webtoon is people saying the exact same thing. the general consensus is that this is 100% a hidden gem (webtoon DP my behated why'd you have to shoot yourself in the foot like that)

also regarding the content warnings on the carrd: this was my first time making a list of cws (i don't think anyone else has made one yet?) and i was a little hesitant to add them, so i sincerely apologize if i missed anything!! if anyone else has anything else to add (cws or otherwise) then please feel free to send me a message and i'll be happy to edit it!!

(btw this was inspired by this post which is also a great summary for why u should read a cnovel called mist unlimited)

[writingwhatiwanttoread]

Help! I've Landed in a FanFiction (Chapter 2)

Pairing: fem!OC x Justice League

Genre: OC insert, Soulmate AU, Isekai, Reverse Harem

Characters: OC, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Hal Jordan, Diana Prince, Barry Allen, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Cassandra Cain, Barbara Gordon, John Constantine, and other DC characters as the story progresses

Warnings: all warnings not tagged, suicidal ideation, domestic violence, general violence and dark, 18+ themes, read at your own risk

Summary: Katie Smith wakes up in a new world, one out of comic books and ridiculously cheesy tropes. All she wants to do is find her way back home, but no one is helping her. Worst of all, they claim to be her soulmates. Surely it's all dream. How can she make herself wake up?

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 (This One)

Chapter 2: Is it Called Kidnapping When You're Not a Kid?

The alarm screamed in a very annoying way, and Katie wanted to cover her ears but she was still tied to the damn chair. Luthor (sure, whatever, she didn't have a better thing to call the made-up villain in her obviously confused mind) dragged her chair to the middle of the room, practically tipping her over. He grabbed some duct tape off his desk, and wrapped it around her head three times. She could almost taste the glue and it muffled her so much that she barely heard the groan as she felt it stuck to the back of her hair. It would be a pain to get off. (Why was she even considering it? She just needed to wake up. Warm bath and then maybe not sleeping again for like, two weeks.)

She felt cold metal pressed against her head and realized, a little delayed, that it was a gun. Isn't that an idea? She saw a movie once where a character killed themselves in a dream and returned to the real world. She tilted her head against the barrel, a little bit, considering. She couldn't see Luthor's face, but as he pressed in harder, she wondered what he thought.

The room was thick was anticipation. He had stopped his monologuing and the only thing Katie could hear besides her heavy breathing was the persistent wailing of the alarm.

About ten minutes later, the large office doors flew open. Several bodies rushed in, Katie taken by the bright colors. She really was the best at imagination, she thought, a little smugly. When she was younger, she had wanted to be a writer, and before Matt firmly shot down that idea ("Pretty much a waste of your time, babe, isn't it?"), she always thought she could come up with a pretty good story. Maybe when all this was over, she could figure out how to write it all down.

The room was chaotic until it wasn't. Whether this was because they saw the gun to her head or were just being cautious of the man behind her, everyone stopped suddenly. Two tall figures (most likely male?) stood in front of the rest of the group. One was wearing a black suit with a blue bird and the other wearing a red helmet. Behind them was a young man in a red and black suit, and a smaller boy? wearing what she finally recognized as a Robin(?) suit. All of them had their faces covered in some sort of mask. There were three others behind them---a young man wearing a leather jacket with spikes, a smaller figure in red and white with goggles, and a young woman with blonde hair and a W on her costume. Katie's eyes were wide as she took in the cosplayers in front of her. She figured if Lex was a villain, maybe these guys were heroes and had no idea why her brain made them up. She knew only a few characters from comics---Batman, Superman, and Lex Luthor. Wonder Woman was a comic book character, right? The Joker? Spider Man. Um...Captain America? And some guy with a burlap sack on his head that Matt always said was his favorite. Who else? Maybe Archie and Jughead would show up soon.

"Lex." The man in blue said sternly.

"Ah, Nightwing. Forgive me for my disappointment, but this invitation was not for you or the rest of the...freaks with you." Katie watched as the boy in the jacket flinched slightly. His face didn't change though---all of them were staring with a mix of stoicism and anger.

"Well," the Nightguy said pleasantly, dangerously, "we received it anyway. I'm afraid those you did mean it for are out of contact right now." His eyes flicked to Katie and back to Luthor.

The man with a red helmet rested his hand on the gun attached to his hip. His voice came out gravelly and deep, almost machine like. "What do you want, Luthor?"

Katie felt the gun press against her temple harder. No one moved an inch but she felt several pairs of eyes land on her. She looked back curiously.

There was a gasp behind Helmet Head and Nightguy, coming from the Red and Black dude. He whispered something Katie couldn't hear.

Nightguy and Red Helmet stiffened a bit. Katie could hear the sneer in her captor's voice. "As you can see," he trailed his fingers down her chest slowly, stopping at the top of her bra, "this isn't a conversation for you."

Red and Black guy stepped forward, sounding bored for some reason. "It looks like this isn't a conversation for you, either, Lex. The League is off world right now. Don't you think this would mean a while lot more if you played this game with them?" He twirled the large staff in his hand. (Gandalf! That was a comic book character, right? Katie patted herself on the back for knowing something.) He then turned his back to them, which Katie thought was kind of stupid. "Not our circus, not our monkeys, right, guys? We've got bigger things to worry about." The room was still for a moment, until the man in the red helmet shrugged. "Sure, Red. What do you say, Big Bird?"

The Nightguy nodded sharply, never taking his eyes off Katie. "If you say so. We'll pass on your message, Lex." He twirled his finger in the air, some sort of nonverbal wrap it up and turned around and just fucking walked out. Every single one of them.

Katie, who was getting frustrated with the duct tape wrapped around her face, must have managed to show enough confusion in her eyes that even the bald villain seemed to pity her. He put away his gun and scoffed, ripping the tape from her face and around her hair without any warning. She yelped and tears sprung to her eyes. Several strands were tugged out with the violent ungagging and she couldn't help but whine. Luthor laughed meanly. "Smarter than they look. I don't fully believe it, but I'll find out if they were lying soon, I gather. Go to sleep, darling. We'll try again later." The last thing she felt was a prick in her neck.

----

Katie woke up in a different room than her first cell, and definitely not in Luthor's office. It was about the size of a walk-in closet and carpeted. The door was locked, but there was a small pallet with a thin blanket and a bucket in the corner. A plate with a peanut butter sandwich and a small cup with water was on a side table. She took a couple of bites and downed the water and then sat on the pallet. She had been dressed in a pair of sweatpants and large black shirt, and she was determined not to think about who changed her.

She redid her ponytail and cleaned her glasses with her shirt, and then scooted back against the wall. Slowly, she started thumping her head against it, wondering how hard she'd need to hit it to wake up. Just before she could bang it harder, the handle on the locked door jiggled. Katie made herself smaller on the pallet, scooting further into the corner of the room. She was not ready for another round, even if it was all in her head.

The door opened slowly. But instead of Luthor, it was the small one she saw earlier, with goggles.

"AwesomeIknewyouwouldbehereItoldRedRobinthatIwouldfindyoufirstIcan'tbelieveitareyouok?" The words rushed out and Katie had a hard time keeping up. The kid looked at her, bouncing up and down from foot to foot.

"Um. Yes?" She hadn't caught the question, really, but hoped it was the right answer. Judging by his smile, it was.

"GreatI'mgoingtopickyouupnowandwearegoingtogetoutofherebeforetheplacegoesboomSuperboydecidedhe'ddothehonorsthistimetakethatLex!"

And before Katie could decode any of that, the guy grabbed her hand, tossed her on his back (despite how much bigger she was than him) and flew? ran? teleported? away. Katie actually didn't know what was happening because one moment she was in the weird closet and the next she was on top of a skyscraper watching a building across from her blow up. Her stomach lurched and she threw up.

"Impulse, did you even warn her?" Katie wiped her mouth with the bottom of her shirt and looked up. The young man in red and black was shaking his head in exasperation, while the other young man in the leather jacket was flying (!) next to him. Red stepped forward, his hand extended.

"Sorry about that, we had to work fast. I'm Red Robin. What's..." But Katie didn't hear the next thing because at that moment the tattoo on her chest flared in pain and she sunk to the ground. All she heard before she fainted were the shouts of surprise around her.

[lakesbian]

OH have you finished all of animorphs then? Any general wrap-up thought on the characters n their arcs if so?

oh boy okay that's a big ask because the lack of specificity means i'm inclined to be comprehensive. i'm gonna force myself to be brief

jakey: very coherent arc from "i'm not the leader why are you guys saying i'm the leader stop saying i'm the leader" to "Subhuman. Flush 'em." it's good. i also like the chain where he's like. initially invested for saving his brother > tells marco he can't make calls about his mother because he's too close to the situation and is frankly an ass about it while hypocritically insisting he can handle the yeerk controlling his brother trying to murder his father, relieved when the animorphs take the difficulty of having to make the choice away from him but still views it as an indictment of his leadership capabilities > during the evacuation of the families he almost like...overcompensates w/ under-prioritizing himself and his loved ones, irrationally prioritizes everyone else's families being moved out first despite the fact that it would have made more tactical sense to do his first > he loses his family over this and it breaks him

rachel: problem w/ rachel is that, unbeknownst to me when i started reading, multiple of the books for her just had no idea what the hell or fuck they were doing, and were wildly out of character. ignoring the books that were fake and didn't happen, her arc is good. the thing is that "we might have to do something terrible, too. get rachel" is the crux of her Issues and the ghostwriters didn't need to do any of that other shit. the fake and true rachel books would've been served better by exploring the fundamental divide btwn her and cassie as people i'm sure you know what i mean

marco: probably the most consistent/strong arc? it's good. reading the end part was like

marco: i haven't seen jake in a few months. i still worry about him of course, just...from my hot tub me: that seems not true marco: okay so he hasn't seen ME in a few months but i have been continuously accidentally-on-purpose spying on him, and also sometimes i turn into a lobster in my fountain to cope me: okay yeah that's true

i like his fundamental internal conflict of. Being a person who is very capable of seeing, as per his iconic monologue, the bright line from a to z, and also continuously kicking the part of him that's horrified & upset by how that line impacts himself/the things personal to him under a rug. and despising when people pity him or acknowledge that he's upset/hurt because it reminds him he's got all that shit under the rug and distracts him from the bright clear line. really really good character writing how he's completely okay with constantly yelling and crying about how he's the most scared and afraid boy ever because fear over physical things is pragmatic, but he can't tolerate having it acknowledged when he's upset by something he knows to be necessary, because that's Not pragmatic. it adds flavor

cassie: i think it's funny how some of the other roles on the team are "the leader" "the lieutenant" "the axe-man" (<- not to be confused with the ax-man) etc and she's The One With A Continuously Functioning Moral Compass, Nerd #2, and The Emergency Lisa*. i've been told that the cassie books are either some of the strongest in the series or absolutely nothing but the thing is that i like the absolute nothing ones because i think the shenanigans are fun. so overall she's got great books. the struggle of a character who finds the moral compromises she's forced to make while participating in a war genuinely psychologically intolerable but still keeps being sucked in further is good & a nice sort of foil 2 some of the other morphs. i do have. And this has to be said despite being somewhat tangential. i do have the firm opinion that. rachel and cassie v much come off like they should be the classic "people who were bffs as kids and start becoming distant/incompatible as teens but are ignoring it and will be insisting on hanging out/calling each other bffs for several more years until something causes a bigger schism" dynamic & it would add a lot more if the text was aware of this fact and did something about it. but that's a longer post for a later time

tobias: his stomach flipping over while he tries to deny that the hawk-boy form of himself ellimist is showing him is him is perhaps one of the most stark scenes in the entire series and i think we should all be drawing it more. it's nice they put an abused autistic kid who doesn't feel like a human person in animorphs so that various children reading could have their brains rewired. i like how he's got a very heavy internal life. he's always Pondering. the torture plotline is a bit weakly written i think, his strongest moments are when he's doing an identity crisis thing. his dynamic with rachel is really good and the end of his arc does feel fitting. i think with how aximili is always going on abt how tobias is his shorm aka soulmate it would've been good if we saw more of the convos they were having or they had a more clearly Besties bond going on. although i DO like that aximili almost never shouts, someone (jake?) explicitly notes that when ax Does yell it means you'd better fucking listen, and to my memory the only call-caps moment aximili has is yelling "TOBIAS!" when he thinks tobias is critically wounded. more of that shit please. i would've also liked more tobias books in general bc he has one of the strongest narrative voices out of the gang

aximili: I was so mad about his very last book in the series being a shit ghostwriting moment. So mad you do not even want to know. entire plot of, like, book 8 all over again, except this time he's casually considering endorsing genocide for some reason. anyway i think there's a lot of interesting things going on in his head but his arc doesn't really wrap up well & there are a few ghostwritten books where he feels poorly done w/o having a rachel-type Really Iconic book that makes up for it. he works better early and mid series. he's also just a fundamentally hilarious character concept which is great. i'm sad that people lied to me about him being autistic compared to other andalites (he's not) but i like when he has axtism moments anyway. i would like to see 100 drawings of axmini get cinnamon roll now please

[thegayfigureskatingagenda]

I'm having a déjà-vu that I've already posted about Yuuri's inner monologue at the beginning of episode 3 when he agonises about the stakes the Onsen on Ice has for him, but it's so hilarious that I need to pick it up again.

What cracks me up is that right after explaining that Viktor will return to Russia if Yurio wins, Yuuri goes like, "If I win, Viktor will stay in Japan and be my coach." But Yuuri doesn't think of Viktor skating in Ice Castle or accompanying him during his workout—no, he thinks of Viktor flirting with him on his first night in Hasetsu.

Yes, you've read that right: While Yuuri explains what is at stake for him at the Onsen on Ice, he thinks of Viktor flirting with him.

Note also the warm colours and the blurred lines of the image that add an atmosphere of nostalgia to the scene, like a memory Yuuri holds dear...

...compared to the actual scene in episode 2:

Seems like Yuuri isn't that opposed to Viktor's courtship endeavours, right?

Which leads me to the question: Is there anything else Yuuri wants Viktor to teach him except figure skating?

At this point, Yuuri is far from understanding sexual desire (that will come along with the discovery his Eros over the course of the story). He is also still far from being romantically interested in Viktor. To him, Viktor is a god-like creature he admires and has a crush on since he was 12, an fellow skater Yuuri copied over and over because he secretly craves to become his equal. And that is absolutely enough to be flustered when Viktor becomes flirty, even if the poor boy has no idea how to respond. (for clarification: crush, i.e. superficial fancy ≠ being in love, i.e. butterflies, wanting to date the other person, I had people trying to split hairs over this, no kidding)

Yuuri has been obsessed with Viktor throughout puberty and his entire adult life. That's long enough to have a whole library of fanboy fantasies in his brain. I believe that Viktor becoming his coach is a dream that formed in Yuuri long before the fateful banquet where he made Viktor crush on him. And what would be a better way to catch up to your idol than having said idol teach you? Where this fantasy is, there are bound to be others. After all, fantasies are a safe space, untethered from reality in the sense that the unhinged things Yuuri and Viktor would do in these are entirely decoupled from the things Yuuri would want from the real Viktor at some point in his existence because that fictional Viktor would be an abstract entity to project his fantasies upon, an ooc version of the real Viktor, and the fictional Yuuri would be an ooc version of the real Yuuri (I'm no longer talking about coaching figure skating. I'm talking about "Viktor-sensei, please teach me how to kiss!", or maybe even "Viktor-sensei, I want to do unspeakable things to you, please teach me how!", depending on how you headcanon Yuuri to act when he gets horny)

Yuuri's desire to emulate Viktor (and not necessarily being able to tell this apart from have Viktor around—yes, these two can be intertwined, and there are many hints in YOI that this is the case for Viktuuri), describes a characteristic of same-sex relationships that are depicted in other pieces of media, e.g. Bourne's Swan Lake or the novel Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman (I'd like to point you to that wonderful quote from this book).

I've digressed. My point is that Yuuri has still a long way to go until he figures out his feelings for Viktor. But this scene strongly suggests that he wants more from Viktor than keep on winning and keep on eating katsudon together, even though he might not yet be aware of the full extent of his wish.

If you enjoy my meta posts, please consider giving my blog a follow or checking out my works on AO3 (link in bio). You will find the results of my meta musings in there!

[whywoulditho]

hq movie review!!!

(not spoiler-free)

went to see the haikyuu movie: dumpster battle today and i wanted to share my thoughts!!

first of all the movie had better animation than season 4 of the series! even though it stuck with the same animation style and character designs this was a much more neatly done project for sure. it felt like they had finally adapted into the style and managed to bring out the best version of it. in that sense i feel like season four was their experimental phase, if that makes sense? the movie's animation was so much smoother than i expected. i still prefer the first three seasons' style, but this wasn't bad at all in my book.

they used the same OSTs from the series as far as i've noticed, and they did make the match dramatic enough in most parts, (-we'll get to those other parts) and the voice cast did a good job as always.

they cut the arc a little shorter, trying to fit it into a 1h 30m runtime. it's a three set match so it was bound to be shorter than the five set matches like the shiratorizawa and the inarizaki matches, but it still deserved a good two hours in my opinion. you might think, well obviously they weren't going to animate every single point but honestly? furudate drew almost every single point and people READ that, on paper. we would have eaten up a two hour long movie. but well, since it's all done let's talk about what we had, and what we didn't.

the movie opened with a redrawn version of the season one scene where hinata meets kenma for the first time. it was a nice, nostalgic touch. they kept focusing on the random crow and cat they added to the background of the scene for peak symbolism and frankly i kinda loved that. i don't care that it's overdone it's still good okay? 😤

oh and even though they reanimated that first scene, there were still many instances in the movie where they cut to flashbacks from earlier seasons taken straight from the original version with the older animation style.

the first half of the movie was weaker than the second. they skipped a bunch of points and tried to only show the important lines but without the leading rallies the lines just looked kinda goofy and out of place. this one for example,

when they threw in this line i was kinda thrown off?? because like, the build up just wasn't there? does that make sense? this whole bit about yamaguchi finally catching up to tsukishima and then actually surpassing him was very well done in the manga. and it was a huge thing too, the two of them were the first page art of that volume, but the movie tried to get it over with in like, thirty seconds, i'm not even joking.

this part:

was made into a weird little slideshow type of thing that transitioned into their high five and it looked so goofy to me... i'm sorry. i just wanted them to have this moment so badly. and they did, kind of, but it wasn't all that satisfying.

also, they didn’t give us tsukkiyama having a telepathical conversation, HOW DARE YOU.

tendou and tsutomu watching the match on tsutomu's ipad was also in the movie! i was really happy to see that because that's one of my favorite things from this arc lol. though they didn’t give much of tsutomu's frustration with tendou.

the first half was pretty bland, accurate to the manga but with most inner monologue cut and some parts skipped.

through the middle they gave us the kuroken childhood flashbacks, it was cut shorter than it was in the manga. and get this, i feel like the way they delivered their childhood memories were like they wanted to make them more about kuroo's love for volleyball than exploring kuroken's bond with each other. i feel like the movie tried too hard at focusing on one thing at a time, they cut the tsukkiyama scene short because during that bit they were focusing on kenma. they cut the kuroken memories short because they were trying to focus only on kuroo.

this kept going, honestly. even though this match was ALL about parallels and the bonds these characters have with each other, friendships and rivalries. in the manga, furudate made this match about exploring ALL the dynamics he'd been building up since the beginning. it was more random, yes, but that's what made it natural. kenma and hinata's rivalry/friendship, kenma and kageyama's rivalry, yaku and nishinoya's rivalry, kuroo and daichi's rivalry, tsukishima and kuroo's mentor-student relationship, nishinoya and asahi's trust bond, whatever the fuck yamaguchi and tsukishima had going on. the man took the time to give us crumbs of all these dynamics in the middle while a volleyball game was kind of just playing in the background. i know that sounds like i'm saying playing volleyball wasn't the main point, that's because that is what i'm saying. inarizaki v karasuno was about volleyball. shiratorizawa v karasuno was about volleyball. nekoma v karasuno wasn't. it was about two teams. because furudate made sure that we know every single player in each team, through and through.

this match wasn't just a simple match, it's something that they never shut up about since season one. this match was the end goal of all the relationships and parallels and dynamics they have been building for these characters, and the movie did a half-assed job delivering their fated battle.

it's like they looked at the arc and thought, "this is about hinata defeating kenma. let's focus on that and mention everything else briefly." so it was a whole mess of characters throwing these one liners back and forth and you just sitting there trying to catch up. look, maybe i'm blinded by nostalgia. but i don't remember feeling this way while reading the manga.

(edit: totally forgot to mention this but THEY CUT OFF THE COACHES' BACKSTORY !!! no young nekomata :((( )

okay, moving on, they did give us the birdcage scene:

and better than the manga, if i'm being honest. like i know it's a bad picture but LOOK at that composition. i love it so much.

they also included the one where kenma and shoyo shoved knives up each other's throats (they're such good friends fr 🤧)

they did this scene:

so well i was about to cry. shoyo literally screamed it was kinda overdone but i'll take it. kuroo's laugh was beautiful.

there was also this other scene where kenma is exhausted from running and is just desperately trying to keep playing and they did this amazing 360 degree perspective shot from his pov and IT WAS SO GOODDD. the heavy breathing kept getting louder and intenser and you could literally FEEL his breath and the voice acting in that scene was top notch i had fucking goosebumps. there was this bit where he faced the ground and his sweat was dripping down on the floor and YOU COULD SEE HIS REFLECTION ON THE WATER DROPS?? LIKE???? i'm still shocked this studio pulled that off you guys it was awesome.

and at the end of the match, they took this scene,

and made it 10 TIMES BETTER?? AS IF THAT'S POSSIBLE???

in the movie my boy kenma was fucking FLOORED. he was lying on the ground all sweaty and limbless and he had this beautiful smile on his face as he looked up at kuroo and said this line. I LOVED THAT SO, SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW WARM IT MADE MY HEART. THANK YOU WHOEVER LOOKED AT THIS BEAUTIFUL PANEL AND THOUGHT, "YOU KNOW WHAT, I CAN MAKE THIS EVEN GAYER"

oh, and they also included this for some reason lol:

okay, so, the movie wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.

i was really surprised by the quality of animation. they definitely solved the problem they had in season four where even the smallest movement always looked stiff. i don't think they paid enough mind to what the arc was actually about, to be honest. they tried to make this into just another one of their matches. well, maybe it was and i'm just reading too much into the character dynamics, who knows..

oh, and the bitter sweet news is that in after credits they teased the kamomedai match. since we're getting only one last movie for the finale it was a given that either the kamomedai match or the time skip were going to be cut short or cut off entirely. well, it doesn’t seem to be the kamomedai match... so. yeah. i guess we're kissing our beloved brazil and V league and olympic arcs goodbye. there was no way they did all of them justice anyway.

while the time skip is a high sacrifice i have to say i'll still be pretty happy if they make the kamomedai game full-length. that's my favorite match in the whole series and it definitely deserves more love. i doubt it will receive any if it comes in the expense of the time skip though...

so have you seen the movie? let's chat on the comments!!!

[tmblrcolouredpaper]

Speaking Up

Seungmin/ Reader

fluff, comfort, support, protective behavior

wc: 424

Seungmin reminds you of the importance of being able to stick up for yourself.

'I can't stand up for you all the time', Seungmin sighs after the cashier vanished behind the counter.

'I know. I'm sorry', you whisper, embarrassed that a stranger negatively commented on your looks in the first place, but additionally that Seungmin had to be the one speaking up, because I just could't bring yourself into a confrontation like this. The irrational people pleaser in you was taking over your usual courage in those moments. 

'Don't be. I get it and of course I don't leave you hanging. It's just that it would be beneficial if one day you could defend yourself. I've seen you do it countless of times for your friends, even for me. But when it comes to yourself...', he lets his voice trail out and shakes his head, making his bangs ruffle from side to side. 

'I'll learn. I promise', you swear and hesitantly take his hand, fearing that he is angrier than you can tell and will perhaps your initiation of closeness. 

When he takes your hand like he always does, you realize that it wasn't the case at all and you realize that your doubt could have been the reason for him to be angered. When you silently walk outside of the store, hand in hand, and each carrying a bag of the new purchases, your mind races, trying to figure out how you could push yourself to speak up when it matters for no one but yourself. 

'I felt like you were angry, so I was a bit scared to ask for your hand', you mumble, as the wind is hitting your face on the way to the bus stop. 

'What?', he asks, looking at you in surprise. He looks similar like when he just woke up and you are already holding a monologue about the book you are currently reading, already pages deep in the story before the alarm rings. 

'You're not angry, but I thought you might be and it scared me, made me feel like my presence is too much', you elaborate and add, 'I'm practicing be more honest and say what matters to me. You're my practice dummy'. 

The bus arrives the moment you, too, arrive at the hut and when you both hurry to enter the vehicle. The motor is loud enough to drown all the other sounds and even though Seungmin stays silent, he circles his arm around your shoulder and pulls you closer, placing a kiss on your cheek and smiles so brightly that you immediate understand that is proud of you. 

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

New day, new doll post! Or in this case several doll posts XD Was originally planning to marathon all this into one giant entry, but to preserve my sanity and make things more easily digestible for my dear Readers, we're going to break it down into smaller sections. Consider this Andrea Mail, Part 1 <3

(You know the deal--rambling monologue and more pix under the cut)

So. About a month ago @dollsahoy was casting around for someone to adopt this doll she made by combining donated vinyl parts (head/arms/legs) with a vintage Holly Hobbie stuffed doll pattern (you can read more about the project in her blog post here). I volunteered immediately, and we hashed out the shipping details. At some point in that process she said in addition to sending the doll in question "I want to sew something for your dolls," which I naturally agreed to because why would I not ???? At any rate, a few weeks went by, and this past Friday the box finally arrived, filled with SO MANY wonderful things! I can't wait to share them all with you. But first we have to talk about this girl, because I am genuinely delighted by her.

While it may not be greatly apparent from the current state of my collection (though you may have gleaned from the peek into my doll trunk and willingness to take on those crocheted Barbie gowns), I have a latent countrified streak a mile wide, born from many long vacations with my grandparents in Vermont, years of pouring over Victoria magazine, and a love of classic children's literature like Anne of Green Gables. My house is full of antique books, old photos, vintage porcelain, and an assortment of handmade needlecrafts and small patchwork quilts I've collected while visiting my family who still live in New England. I suppose nowadays this would all fall under the heading of 'Cottagecore', though I've never bothered assigning a label to it. It's all just things that make me happy.

All of which is to say, when I tell you this doll is my aesthetic--my earliest aesthetic--it is really, deeply true on a level that is difficult to convey without...posing her in front of one of my thrifted quilts, which coordinates with her dress perfectly ^_^ She is just sweet--starry eyes, questionable haircut and all*--and has an innocence that makes her feel like an old doll, though technically her current assemblage is new. Nostalgic in the best possible way. I think she'll inspire me with the push I need to get my porcelain dolls out of storage, because she absolutely needs to be displayed alongside them.

Now the only matter left to address is her lack of a name! It would be rather awkward to continue referring to her, as I have been, as 'the doll my friend Andrea made.' Given her origin story, I think I'll call her Holly ;p

Alright, on to Part 2, of...idk, we'll reach the end eventually XD

*Be it noted the questionable haircut is not Andrea's fault--the head came that way. I gave her the ribbon to soften the effect a bit, but...yeah, the factory was not kind to her.

[achaotichuman]

Hello, I'm curious so here you go <3

What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?*

Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?*

Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*

Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?*

Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*

Have you received anon hate? What about?*

Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Most disliked arc? Why?

Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Salty Ask Game

HIHIHIHIHI

Ooooh these are very fun ones, LETS GET INTO IT

I am being completely brutally honest here, so if anyone disagrees, shut your mouth.

Or don't, who am I do deny you the pleasure showing off your big red clown nose and your squeaky shoes.

What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?*

Honestly, I don't think there are any pairings 'I don't get' I can usually understand the reason someone will ship a couple (or more) That being said, I would rather an Elriel book over a Gwynriel book. Not because I like Elriel, but I hate it less than Gwynriel.

#FreeGwynfromtheclutchesofthatpervertedman

Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?*

Azriel and Cassian, listen if a fic I really like includes it, I will read it, but I will skim the chapters like crazy. I just cannot imagine it. They are *solely* bros to me.

Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

Everytime I open Tumblr I block a new person because of their fandom opinion.

Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

Feysand, Nessian, Gwynriel, Elriel, Elucien, in that specific order. Feysand, for the obvious reasons, I hate Rhysand, and I don't really like Feyre. I hate Cassian and need to free Nesta from his clutches. I really, really, really don't want Azriel anywhere near Gwyn, he literally smiled at the idea of Cassian physically abusing Nesta. Elriel, because I like neither of them. And Elucien, because free my man Lucien, Elain is going to make him eat glass and he's gonna do it, and she's not gonna even help get him to a medic.

Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*

Elain x Tamlin x Lucien, I used to love it for various reasons and planned a fic around it. Then someone sent me various fics about it and... I'm not writing it now out of spite.

Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?*

Yes and no? I don't think any of the ships I've hated I've come to like, but fandom has shown me new ships that I now absolutely adore like Tamlin x Tarquin, Tamlin x Hybern and Tamlin x Eris.

Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*

I'm assuming this is just going for anything in the fandom, soooo, theorising for the next book. I used to be *full* of theories and now I just... whatever SJM writes is going to suck, so I dont even care anymore.

Have you received anon hate? What about?*

Yes. My opinions. My favourite characters. My ex-girlfriend (about her, not from her). My general existence.

Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Rhysand.

If I listed all the reasons why, we would be here all day, so I'll put them in these convient links.

A list of Rhysand's abusive actions throughout the series next to Tamlin's

What Rhysand did to Feyre was NOT for her protection

Rhysand's SA of Feyre is not justified in any way

Rhysand had no right being Tamlin's Court in ACOFAS

Most disliked arc? Why?

I hate pretty much every single thing that happened to the plot post-first book, but I think the one I hate the absolute most was the villainization of Tamlin's character, just, reading Feyre's inner monologue about him makes my literal blood boil.

Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Elain Archeron.

So many people just adore her, and then try to shove it down your throat, and then if you don't like her or criticize her behavior, you're a misogynist. It's the same line of thinking that's used to justify mindless hatred of Tamlin and the people that like him.

Again, if I went over every single reason I didn't like Elain, we'd be here all day, so here are more convenient links.

Elain is selfish, and that's what makes her interesting

Not liking or not being interested in Elain is not misogyny???

Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Oooooh, the Valkyries winning the Blood Rite. I'm actually in the process of making a whole rant about this because the amount of tiktoks and posts I've seen that have said the Valkyries winning is 'unrealistic' and 'shouldn't have happened' makes my blood boil. Ill link the post here once I finish it.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE QUESTIONS THESE ARE FUN TO ANSWER