#sallyalavidze

[sydmarch]

I feel like it's only fair to let you know that you singlehandedly sold me on the concept of sexyman Garte. will vote for him at every chance I get & can't wait for the hilarity of Gartesweep until he's inevitably beaten by Kim 😔✊

YES!! my garteposting efforts have paid off

[solarisrenbeth]

!!!!! nooo i’m glad you answered publicly!! i sent the ask both out of genuine personal interest/curiosity + also bc i’ll take any opportunity that gives someone an excuse to gush about a book they love lol 😻

your pitch absolutely sold me tho + the timing could not be more perfect bc it looks like the english translation comes out this week so i was able to put in a hold at my library! i’m also soso glad you mentioned the political context because i’m sure having a basic understanding will make it so much more. fulfilling? to read (which sounds weird to say when talking about such heavy subject matter, but you know what i mean lol)

i’m not sure if you’ve read distancia de rescate / fever dream by samanta schweblin (highly highly recommend if not—it was one of my favorite books i read in 2022!) but it also set in argentina with allegorical plot points that are easily missed if you aren’t familiar with the cultural context/setting. i went in completely blind + still loved it (despite being like wtf wtf wtf) but after reading up on the deeper message behind it all i immediately reread the whole book + i’m still thinking about it months later 🧎‍♀️

ANYWAY thank you so much for this wonderful description + i’ll probably be freaking out in your DMs once i get my hands on a copy 😁💖

okay okay i’m intrigued — give me your best pitch for why i should make nuestra parte de noche / our share of night my next fucked up read 👁️👂

(hope you don't mind if I answer this publicly, I have a strong emotional attachment to this book and want everyone to read it--if you'd rather it was private let me know & I'll delete it!)

SO. this book is thee most fucked up thing I have read in a while, which is saying a lot because Mariana Enríquez made a whole ass career out of writing fucked up shit (her short story compilations are also very much worth a look). it is pure undiluted Latin American anguish. that part is... difficult to explain, since it's such a cultural thing, but essentially: Our Share of Night takes place primarily in Argentina, and the plot is heavily heavily informed by both colonial history and the history of military dictatorships and the crimes against humanity committed during, how that shaped our society & culture. many of us carry a great deal of generational trauma still and it's in books like hers where that trauma... shines, so to speak, and if you'll forgive the clumsy wording. it's raw and bloody and painful and unapologetic about all of those, but it's handled very, very well.

now, as a word of warning before I get into what the book is about and potentially make it interesting: this book contains some VERY HEAVY SHIT. Enríquez does not pull her punches. I am hesitant to spoil it because it's a book that does not deserve to be spoiled, but. there's a lot of body horror, a lot of violence, a lot of harm done to children, a lot of abuse--again, all handled tastefully and within the context of allegories or even direct references to colonialism / military violence. but it is a lot. so be warned.

the story itself is also difficult to summarize because, again, I want to spoil as little as possible, but: it revolves around Juan, a man who possesses extraordinary abilities to communicate with things such as the dead, demonic beings, and an entity known as "The Darkness" (keep in mind I read this book in the original Spanish & I don't know how that was translated--in my version it was "La Oscuridad"), and his son Gaspar who deserves the world, baby boy, baby. Juan is a very profoundly fucked up man. he is the poster child for Does Everything Wrong Always All The Time. he is bitter and full of both rage and sick, twisted love and is one of the best protagonists I've seen in ages, by which I mean that he sucks so fucking bad. I don't want to predispose anyone against him by saying this BTW, I think his suckiness is a feature and embrace it lmao

Juan is part (well, not really, but for the sake of simplicity we'll say that he's part of it) of a TREMENDOUSLY FUCKED UP organization called the Order, and throughout the whole book his goal is to protect Gaspar from being exploited and abused by that Order, like Juan himself was. remember how I mentioned above that many people in Argentina are still affected by generational trauma? yeah. this is Generational Trauma, The Book.

it's about not wanting to repeat behaviors, about breaking cycles, about not wanting to fall prey to the people that hurt you but hurting everyone around you in the process because all you know how to do is hurt, lash out, be cruel and vicious. it's a book about how far you'd go for the people you love and how far is too far and can you come back from too far? it's about there's always someone worse and about how sometimes you're that 'someone worse'. it's a book about blood in a country that's been bled dry, multiple times over.

if I've piqued your interest (or anyone's!) then please please feel free to DM me with more questions--or with any reactions if you do choose to read it--because I love this book so fucking much I would talk about it forever if I could, but I would never forgive myself if I spoiled it for someone else because it's... an experience, lmao

(note: considering the subject matter, I would recommend that people who don't know anything about the 1973-1983 Argentinian dictatorship read up on it, even just a little bit, because it is relevant to truly understand what the author's trying to express. it is somewhat of a plot point even. I don't think you'd be lost, per se, if you went in not knowing anything, but you'd definitely miss out on some stuff that makes it deeper and more harrowing, I feel. knowledge of what we mean when we say 'los desaparecidos' / the disappeared is, I'd say, pretty important.)

[parkerlyn]

Giving some art love to y'alls MCs today~

Extra love to @cinnermanspyce and @sallyalavidze for their incredible patience for their giveaway prizes, and for all your support!! 🧡🧡(+ giving me the chance to draw Oisein in both their forms 😌)

[triflingshadows]

Giveaway piece 1 of 2, Serafina Aguilar from the game Speaker for @sallyalavidze!

[mindblindbard]

hi jo :D how would you describe the ROs voices?

Sally: Emphatic and effusive, tone and volume indicative of her mood. Bright and energetic with undercurrents of restrained laughter, as if she's in on some grand joke of which no one else is aware.

Gray: Gentle yet gravelly, with posh pronunciation suitable to recording audio books. Gray's voice is warm and welcoming, deepening to the lowest registers when he's serious.

Kent/Kenna: Melodic and rich, the voice of a singer. Despite K's deliberate effort to keep their voice flat and collected, there's still a natural musicality to what few words they speak.

Glitch: Smooth and soft, the remnant of a Southern drawl fading their "t"s and blurring the pauses between words. There's a sort of rhythmic sway to their words, each sentence spoken to a different beat.

Rosy: Sharp and authoritative, a voice that demands others listen. Harshly unemotive, but saved from grating abrasiveness by an underlying husky note.

[blasphemousclaw]

@sallyalavidze

Please excuse this nonsense rambling but here are some thoughts after digging through your blog for analysis of the fucked little family in Volcano Manor Though Dadkard is not a canon thing since his canon mental state may simply not allow him to do so, and it's heavily implied that Lady Tanith had raised Rya on her own - however if Rykard retained a little more of his humanity, he would have been a father equally loving to Rya as Lady Tanith herself. He would do his absolute best to make sure that regardless of Rya's true heritage, regardless of what the blasphemous path that the Volcano Manor tread may bring upon them, both him and Lady Tanith will forever love her as their daughter, as long as they are still who they truly were from deep down - for Rykard knows the feeling of being abandoned by his parents, who has lost themselves to their order, and grief.

this family…

I agree with your interpretation; I get the sense that at this point, Rykard both is and isn’t who he used to be. He is now one with the great serpent, and has a singleminded drive to gain strength and power.

I think that he created the man-serpents to replace his knights who abandoned him after merging with the serpent… and I think Tanith chose to raise a man-serpent as her own, because she saw her as the daughter she and Rykard never had, or the daughter they could’ve had if things were different. Rya’s human form looks a lot like Rykard’s human form, and her name even sounds like his! and Tanith tells Rya stories of how she was “born by the grace of a glorious king,” so even if Rykard isn’t there, Tanith still wants Rya to know of her connection to him :’)

I feel like it’s so tragic that Rykard would certainly have cherished his daughter, but he essentially has left his family behind to pursue his ambitions… his ambitions which were probably motivated (at least in part) by his own father’s abandonment of him! It’s like a vicious cycle that he’s doomed to repeat… in his quest to never become his father, he ends up becoming his father!!! losing my mind!!!

[kajasartspace]

Mind Blind squad summer trip 🏖

It’s been snowing pretty heavily in Poland so I felt in a mood to escape into a warm beach, at least in my imagination, haha

Mind Blind and it’s characters belong to @mindblindbard

[harlow-cas]

Me every time after I read a Mind Blind update :

[dwead-piwate-meggers]

Catching Colds and Feelings

A superhero catches a cold. A meddlesome brother attempts to play matchmaker. And Ellie Wiseman can’t resist a challenge.

Inspired by a number of @mindblindbard​‘s answers to reader questions and some in-game text.

Very Pre-Relationship F!Button/Grayson Black approx. wc: 79 rating: t, for Gray’s language warnings: none

Read it on Ao3 or below

Chapter 3 (Chapter 1, Chapter 2)

Nick Wiseman’s phone, 9:42 am

Contact: Salome Alavidze

Gray’s got a cold. I had to send him home. [shocked face emoji][pondering emoji] OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS! Care package delivery? But how to make sure they actually talk... MAKE SURE HE NAPS! [eyebrow waggle.gif] Not thinking about that! Also, not helpful. TOTALLY HELPFUL! HE PROBABLY NEEDS TO, BUT WON’T! MAKE IT A CHALLENGE! TELL HER YOU BELIEVE IN HER! … You’re a genius. And a little scary. [preening.gif] I TRY!

[smalltowndetective]

Words Held Back

This isn’t long and I’m sorry about that, but I have this small thing that I wrote for something I realized I was missing in Lev’s route home for Sally mancers, and so I had to write it haha!

(I do promise I write these two without being strictly related to book events haha!)

Ao3 Link

Title: Words Held Back

Pairing: Sally and Andrew

Words: 750

Summary: Words can be held back, feelings aren't as easily held back though, and sometimes, it slips through in the silence

The lump in Andrew’s throat had only gotten worse as the hours had went on.

               He wanted to give in to it, let the sob that was building up finally come to the surface, but he could not. He should not.

               Hold it together.

               Everyone needs you strong.

               With Nick in a coma, it had felt as though there was a part of his life ripped from the seams, and it was slowly starting to become more then he could bear.      

               And in the absence of someone who took care of everyone, gave up apart of his life in order to become his guardian (something that he still had guilt from), it had almost become like he had to be that person for everyone else.

               You have to keep smiling, always look to the positives

               Keep people hopeful, because they need it.

               No matter how much you want to break.

               Like Nick would do.

               And during the whole ride home with Lev he had tried to continue this sense of hope. Try his best to make Sally smile, try to even provide Lev with some comfort, despite not being as close to him as he was in the past.

               It was late when they got back to Nick’s house, and with Sally in tow, who was half asleep, needing to lead her out of her car as the two of them stumbled to the guest bedroom in the almost complete darkness.

               He focused all he could on moving forward, that he would get her to the guest bed and then go back to his room, but he was not expecting her to fall completely asleep leaning against his arm, and it surprised him just how much he found the sight comforting, as it felt normal. Not like the past few hours had happened at all.

               Trying his best to repress a chuckle, he gently moved to move his arm under her legs and his other arm behind her back in order to carry her bridal style, her head leaning against his shoulder, her curly red hair tickling the side of his neck.

               But he failed to realize that having her this close to him in this way would make his heart race, the still persisting crush even after all of these years never dying at all, and Andrew was suddenly thankful that Sally was such a deep sleeper, because otherwise she might have been awoken by the way that his heart felt as though it might rocket out of his ribs.

               He knew that his face had turned red at the very least, but he tried to ignore it as he came to the guest bedroom, laying her on top on the bed, and grabbing one of her spare blankets to loosely tuck her in.

               And seeing that a section of her hair had managed to fall into her face, he tenderly pushed it away, and he turned to leave, already wanting to crash himself.

               Murmured words stopped him though.

               “Love you Andrew”

               That was enough to knock the breath out of him, even though he knew how she meant it. Platonically, as the way that both had same it to each other over the long years of their friendship, with the feelings that he had long kept hidden inside locked in his chest.

               Of course, perhaps she did know how he felt, since she could sense his emotions after all. But admitting that there was something there at all was an anvil that could flattened everything that the past thirteen years had built up, and where would he be without it?

               Even more alone than he felt now.

               Being her friend is enough.

               It doesn’t have to be more than that.

               But yet…

               Regardless of all it all, he still said those words in return, even though he knew that it fell on deaf ears.

               “I love you too- and I always will”

               No matter what happened, they would always ring true, he was sure of it. They had been together from the start of this, and they would end that way to.

               With one last smile, he left the room to go to his own, having expected that it would take forever to fall asleep with so much on his mind, but the day had proved more draining them he realized, and it actually did not take him long at all.

               But no amount of sleep would be able to prepare him for what happened that next morning.

[parkerlyn]

YOU REALLY SAID "I'M GONNA GIVE THE OISEIN LOVERS EVERYTHING THEY WANT" HUH. killed me and brought me back to life in rapid succession. so much delicious food. I was giggling like a dumbass but also suffering. also the journal! and the fancy new illustrations! and "Entwined" which has me both like 🥺 and 🤔, and the fact that we can apparently [redacted] other [redacted] & that part when we [redacted] Oisein out of [redacted] and. hhggh I'm foaming at the mouth over this entire update, thank you

🥺❤️ haha yeah this update was a bit Oisein heavy but hopefully y’all enjoyed the [redacted] with all the ROs… 👀

Thank you for the sweet message!! ❤️

[mindblindbard]

im confused by how it's possible sally gets a migraine whenever someone tries to hijack button's head. could you maybe explain that a bit more (like im a five year old asdfjk)

(Look, there's a reason that I write instead of draw.)

[mindblindbard]

Hey sweetie! I hope you're doing well! I was wondering how often would ROs tell their partner that they love them? Who would only say it on special occasions? Who would not say it but show it? Who would spam it whenever they could? Who would confess often but only using romantic terms like "You are the light of my life/I belong to you/You complete me"? 👀Thank you for your time! 💕

Sally: It takes a while to get used to those words in her mouth, but once Sally gets comfortable the phrase, she says “I love you” all the time. Written across Button’s napkin after she sets the table, whispered into Button’s ear at work, murmured sleepily into their shoulder at the end of the day. Sally can be lazy, however. As time goes by, she drops the “I”. Next to go is the “you”. Eventually, all Sally says is the word “Love!” and Button automatically knows what she means.

Grayson: “I love you” isn’t a simple phrase to Gray. It’s an intense declaration, and remains thus for the rest of his life. Grayson says "I love you” frequently, but never casually. “I love you” isn’t thrown back over his shoulder on his way to work. No, Gray holds Button’s hands, gazes deep into their eyes, and announces the words with heartfelt reverence--every time. He can hear Button’s thoughts, and wants to make sure that Button knows how sincere his feelings for them are, even though they can’t read Gray’s mind in turn.

K: Says “I love you” maybe twice total in the first couple years of dating Button. They’ll try to say it more if Button makes it a thing, but they’ll never be someone who’s fully comfortable with verbal declarations of emotions. Instead, K shows how much they care for Button with a thousand and twelve overlookable gestures: buying Button’s favorite ice cream after a stressful day, letting them sleep on their preferred side of the bed, suggesting that the two of them go away for a weekend because Button mentioned wanting to visit Bali . . . K’s love is quieter, but evident in their every action.

Glitch: Button better like Byron, Angelou, and Neruda, because Glitch has been waiting to quote love poetry at someone for their entire life. Glitch’s love for Button is beautiful, and thus deserves all the most beautiful words. Why express their feelings with a mundane phrase when they can instead recite:

“I lean into the rhythm of your heart to see where it will take us.” (For Keeps by Joy Harjo)

Button also receives love poems written by Glitch, although Glitch is a bit shyer about quoting themself  aloud. “I love you” is a phrase reserved for when Glitch is extremely tired and can’t draw upon a verse.

Rosy: “I love you?” The first time Rosy ever utters the words, it’s more a question than confession. Yet every time Rosy says those three words after, they become more and more certain of the statement’s veracity. They do love Button. Completely, unexpectedly, and irreversibly. Rosy would save their “I love you”s for special occasions, however, since those words are not to be taken lightly--nor does Rosy want anyone other than Button to witness the vulnerability on their face when they say it.

[parkerlyn]

Akskdjdfjsksjd HELLO I am so slow but Nuri is wonderful and you're wonderful and these VIBES!!! 😳🤩🥺❤️ I love this glimpse into their personality and the thought you put into this!!😭❤️❤️ Thank you so much for sharing! ❤️

here’s Nuri (she/he/they), my Unseelie MC for The Nameless by @parkerlyn  !

they’re a master illusionist, chaotic in a quiet kind of way, competitive to a fault and a pretty reliable scout. except for the part where they leaked floral state secrets to some random mortalis they’d just met (that’s fine, though, perfectly appropriate behavior, it’s called “teaching proper resource management”, they did nothing wrong!!! but uhhh, maybe don’t tell Sirin…? or anyone…?)

Nuri really looks up to Sirin and other powerful sheevra; however, she can’t 100% agree with their opinion of mortalis no matter how hard she tries to follow their lead and change her point of view. she doesn’t like mortalis, per se, but she doesn’t hate them either—she thinks they’re curious and somewhat silly little creatures, and enjoys visiting their cities and seeing what they’re up to. on a logical level, she does realize they pose a real threat to all sheevra, but she often forgets just how real that threat can be.

also, he has a ????? on his good friend Oisein. he’s not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. currently it’s a “I refuse to think about this right now. yeah, my resolve is absolute shit so I will think about it every single time I see them, but it’s a matter of PRINCIPLE and my principle is that I REFUSE to acknowledge ANYTHING, EVER” thing.

note: please don’t fullsize these images. please. I’m begging you. I don’t even want to think about the mistakes you might/will find if you do. I’d say I’m a clown, but that’d be unfair to clowns because they are professional entertainers—I’m the town idiot in a town with a population of one (me)

[mindblindbard]

I just finished the demo and I'm absolutely in love with this story! My sarcastic Button had immediate heart eyes for Glitch and 100% would be the O-bee-lia to Glitch's bee Hamlet at Halloween ❤

So for fun, how would the ROs react to finding Button hanging out in a super elaborate pillow/blanket fort after being missing all day?

O-bee-lia 😂😂😂 I love it, anon. 

Pillow fort reactions are too fun not to write, especially since the weather in Seattle has most definitely been pillow-fort worthy this past week. Each response assumes that the RO and Button are in a relationship.

Sally: Demands to be let in. How dare Button build a pillow fort without her? Pillow forts are something Button and Sally have been doing together since childhood--curling inside with a bag of gummy worms and a flashlight, and whispering and giggling until they fell asleep curled in each other’s arms (Nick or their parents had to cart them to bed). Of course, now that they’re older, Sally can think of other things to do inside the fort . . .

Grayson: Is quiet for a moment, because this is the most adorable thing he’s ever witnessed in his life and he has no words. Eventually squeezes himself inside join Button, although he’s tall and broad enough that he knocks down the fort on his way in. Uses telekinesis to keep the blankets from falling on their heads, and gently kisses Button beneath what has essentially become a flying-magic-carpet-fort.

Kent/Kenna: Assumes that Button made the fort for Antigone and Cassandra, and promptly leaves to fetch both the dogs and their phone. Snaps numerous pictures of Button cuddling with the shih tzus in the fort (one of which ends up as K’s phone background). Eventually, both dogs and humans fall asleep inside the fort, a tangle of limbs and paws.

Glitch: Immediately begins speaking in Shakespearian dialect, pretending to be a knight come to rescue the fair Lady/Lord/Noble Button. Feigns fighting a dragon with an imaginary sword that Glitch for some reason gives lightsaber sound effects. Glitch defeats the dragon, of course, and claims a kiss from Button as their prize.

Rosy: Is annoyed. Button disappears for an entire day and skips class only for Rosy to find them hiding inside a child’s makeshift clubhouse? The audacity of this brat. No, Rosy will not come inside. They have no desire to . . . release their arm, damn it!

. . . Fine. Rosy will enter the pillow fort for a minute if it’ll really make Button happy.

. . . Rosy admits, it is cozy in here.

. . . Maybe Button deserves one kiss. But just the one.

. . . Fine, maybe two.

[mindblindbard]

Kinda angsty but has Nick ever cried infront of mc?

Only every single time that The Golden Girls series finale re-airs.

(It should also be noted that Nick is an unfairly pretty crier, much to Sally "Crumple Face" Alavidze's eternal grudge.)