#mae muses

[maebird-melody]

I finished Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver. Y'all. Such a beautiful book. It did, in some ways, go the way of Beauty and the Beast with the love interests. The romance with the tsar was implied at the end, but much more explicit with the Staryk lord. So while I had perhaps hoped it might have ended in them escaping the trappings of forced marriage, I can't be entirely mad. The romance was earned.

I had more coherent thoughts about this last night when I was lying in bed, thinking about the book, but wanted to share what little I still remember.

There was another theme that I picked up on the further I read, which was this: what you do in the end is more important than why you are doing it, how long it took you to get there, or what you did before. So many times, characters do good things for their own self-benefit, and the book doesn't condemn this motivation. It is a neutral thing. Everyone has their own reasons for doing what they do. Irina wants to save her homeland from war and starvation, and it doesn't matter what happens to anyone else. At first, Miryem wants to win back for her family what her father's kindness has stolen, in the way of health and wealth. And then, she wants to win back her freedom to make a future of her own choosing. Wanda wants a full belly and to avoid her father's beatings and his plan to sell her for drinking money. First she is only concerned for herself, but then for her brothers, too.

And there's a second part to this theme: you can change your mind. When presented with new information, each character changes their mind about their course of action, and takes a different course instead. Character growth is less about become a better person, and more about how learning about others changes your perspective and naturally leads to different actions. Even the proud Staryk lord, when Miryem proves her worth over and over, reassesses and changes his behavior towards her. But he has not become less proud, he has not changed who he is.

Ultimately, this is a book about people making decisions, about those who influence those decisions, and the actions that follow.

Also, the romance is incredibly understated, which is a huge bonus in my book.

I enjoyed it immensely and could see myself coming back to this story and reading it again.

[fili-urzudel]

If you could write any scene to add to the Hobbit movies what scene would you write and why?

Ooh that's a good one! I think they're pretty good as they are. I've been reading the book and while there are things that are left out in the movie, there's also a lot of things that the movie adds that makes the background dwarves feel more real and fleshed out. I don't even care if they're like, every basic character trope at once, it's so fun

One thing that always makes me mad is how Fíli is overlooked so often and sometimes it seems like they give his lines to Kíli just because he's "the cute one" (he is but so is his brother!!!) and they want him to have more screentime. The instance that always sticks in my head is Kíli confronting Thorin shortly after he's been freed from the dragonsickness, like Kíli has every right to say that but Fíli doubly so, considering he is the heir to the throne of Erebor. So I would add more Fíli content (speaking of which I should write more fics exploring his personality since none of the writers wanted to give him any apparently).

I might add something about how often Bilbo ends up having to be carried on someone's (often Dori's) back, or a glimpse into the society of the Eagles like we get in the book. If and when I finish the book, I'll reblog this and let you know if there's anything else I want added lol

[wine-dark-and-honey-tongued]

Been feeling more and more drawn to Hestia lately, I’ve had my ideal home/home life on my mind a lot lately and idk if it’s just projection or if she’s reaching out but I definitely feel something there, y’know

[fili-urzudel]

I try really hard to do this. Do I do a good job? This is all for my readers, so please be honest with me, I want you to have the best experience possible!

Being inclusive with your reader insert fic is a kindness. It tells people of color (poc) that you are considering someone who does not look like you in your fic. It shows love and dedication to our craft. It tells poc that they belong here too and they can see themselves in your story.

Poc aren’t look for activism in fic, we know fandom isn’t that serious, but we should be able to have that same level of escapism when we turn to fic and fandom. We belong here too. This space is for everyone, not just one group of people.

Just to give a few examples of how simple it can be: say “skin warmed” instead of blushed, say “cradled your head” instead of running fingers through hair, say “angles yourself to kiss” instead of standing on tiptoes, use italics to indicate Spanish to take out a throwaway line of “you didn’t understand Spanish” things like that. Small changes that do not impact the fic at all but make a world of difference in inclusivity!

And for anything you can’t/don’t want to change, simply add warning in the beginning. Things like hair descriptors, anything reader might wear, some backstory for reader (especially involving family or where the story is set), readers job, things like that. A lot of times just having that heads up before the fic makes a world of difference!

And one example of kindness we as writers always worked to change: until recently (just a couple years ago) it wasn’t common to label the gender of the reader. But those who aren’t female asked writers to label it so they know which to read and which to avoid, and now it’s common to label the gender/pronouns of the reader. So it is possible! It just takes effort! And I’m a writer myself so I know it can be done!

We can pretend to be a bartender or a bounty hunter or an actress or anything else. But we shouldn’t have to imagine we’re a white one.

[shield-and-saber]

u know what would be really fucked up and sad?

if osha kills sol the same way that sol killed her mother - a saber to the gut, out of fear and instinct, thinking she's doing the right thing bc she was misguided

if osha kills sol the same way that sol killed her mother, and mae is forced to watch it happen all over again, forever trapped in the cycle of death that the jedi bring

[butcharium]

Present from my father which he got for me in the states!

[imarvelatstars]

so the solmae x reader fic went over better than i thought it would!!

how do we feel then about philosophy professor sol x his jaded ex TA mae x mae's dorm roommate reader

[angclvings]

[ open to m + f ]

── she may be getting drunk, if anyone wants to join her

[lxmitlxss]

" what even is going on. "

[mynameismckenziemae]

Today sucked.

I drove 166 miles to get a car after I talked to the bank yesterday and got the loan approved blah blah blah…it was all good to go (the bank was also aware that the dealer was not close so we needed to pick it up today). I get there, like the car, start the buying process…long story short the bank fucked up and now have to have my new vehicle shipped to me. For a fee of course.

So that was shitty, but whatever. We drive home, pick up my kid and then drive a big city a little over away for an event. Less than an hour into the event…my child starts to puke. All the way to the bathroom, 4 times on the drive home and once since getting home. Child is now sleeping but I doubt it’s the end of it so we’ll be up a bunch tonight.

I fucking give up. 😭😩

[maebird-melody]

I am making my friend watch the new Superman show with me and we just watched the most recent episode with Doctor Ivo. At the end, Jimmy is sad because his two best friends walk off all romantically into the sunset. I think nothing describes difference between the aroace and allo experience better than our very different responses to that scene.

My response was that Jimmy’s needs as a friend were clearly being disregarded in favor of the “more important” romantic feelings developing between Clark and Lois. And despite him shipping the two of them, it doesn’t change that it always hurts when you get third wheeled or left out by your closest friends. But I was confident that once the romantic tension settled and the three of them had a chance to talk, Lois and Clark would start making space for their friend again.

Meanwhile, my allosexual friend’s response was that “they need to give Jimmy somebody.” That the way to cure his sadness was to give him a romantic partner. Which was a response that shocked me, considering that my friend is very on board with my desire to maintain our close friendship after their marriage while not pursuing a romantic relationship myself.

And I cannot stress enough that finding a romantic partner cannot be the only solution to feeling sad when your best friends get together. What kind of message does that send to asexual or aromantic people? That you will lose all your friends to romance and you won’t have any fulfilling relationships yourself unless you also get with the program?

I am curious to see which direction the show takes this, but Jimmy seems like a prime candidate for either ace or aro representation. I hope that this can be a moment to help people untrain the knee-jerk response that romance isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to relationship ills.

[fili-urzudel]

Concerning Dwarvish Eyesight

I'm aware that Thorin's eyesight is a bit of a joke (I just got to the point in the Hobbit where he says that he thought 12 yds was 30 at least, yadda yadda)

But it got me wondering about dwarvish eyesight.

To me, it would make sense if they had poor distance vision and possibly poor color vision, but excellent night/low light vision and excellent ability to detect motion. I could also see them seeing into the infrared or ultraviolet spectrum, I'm not sure which would be more useful for living underground, foraging, and mining though.

Thoughts?

[resolutepath]

Going to work my way through some of those kiss memes from last night and see what I can come up with while appreciating all the fma on my dash.

[ruindgod]

go through a morning routine, and i'll tell you WHAT KIND OF NPC YOU ARE QUIZ

DOLLY KEMPER IS : the goofy but well loved bard

you are here for a good time, dude, and the rest of us are right there with you. you are very well liked, whether it be by the masses or just by some odd party of adventurers who met you and immediately decided that you were their favorite person ever. you are very talented at a specific craft and are either willing to forgo more traditional paths to pursue it or desperately want to. i feel like there's a good chance that for the sake of the plot and emotional poignancy, you might get killed off, but just know that it was done because of how much people love you. don't know how much of comfort that second half might bring, but do with this information what you will. if your storyteller decides that you do get to live a long and happy life (as you deserve), know that the resolution to your story and the knowledge that you get a happy ending is the thought that brings a sense of comfort and definitely a tear or two to the eyes of those who care about you the most.

tagged by: @yearnstarved <3 tagging: steal it...

[outofangband]

follow up to my post on BoLT Aerin I just wanted to add that I was actually wrong about Tolkien describing Airin (her name in BoLT) as “of the long hair” as being without reason. I checked the appendix and Aerin has a name in BoLT from Gnomish, that is, proto-Noldorin*

the name is Faiglindra meaning having long hair, especially used of women. The relevant parts are also used primarily in given names. 

Aurfaiglin** by the way means “the sun at noon” and is a word specifically listed in the appendix as relating to Aerin’s Gnomish name. @that-angry-noldo I thought you might like that bit. 

In my defense SO much of BoLT is just completely wild anecdotes and scenes that are never mentioned again or elaborated on (some fun examples being -Húrin successfully praying to Manwë once when Túrin is captured and Manwë intervenes only for this, this is one tiny paragraph, Brodda being Húrin‘s evil second cousin or something who is simultaneously extremely popular but also everyone hates him/the whole cow thing, Maedhros’s bizarre capture and release and his being tortured over making jewelry, etc Thanks, Tolkien)

ANYWAYS, I was wondering recently how many of the Hadorians spoke Quenya, Húrin at least speaks some but I don’t think it was widely spoken among their people. I was wondering this because I found a great name for the baby goat I gave Aerin but I can’t make a Sindarin translation :/

*unlike later Noldorin, Gnomish and early Noldorin are actually more similar to Beleriand Sindarin than Quenya 

**you can see some mild relations to Faelivrin there, ai being more commonly used in proto Noldorin/proto Sindarin/early Quenya where ae is later for example Maidros in early Quenya and Gnomish becoming the Sindarin Maedhros 

Related post of Aerin’s name

[letterboxd-loggd]

Safe in Hell (The Lost Lady) (1931) William A. Wellman

May 16th 2023