#sapphic helnik

[winters-rose-daughterofcain]

Current 3 AM thoughts: Sapphic Helnik with female Matthias

THINK ABOUT IT THINK ABOUT IT THINK ABOUT IT-

Tall buff blonde lesbian with religious trauma and a degree in repression? Obviously she wouldn't be a full on member of the Druskelle because Fjerda hates woman but like she can still be connected to Brum/ the Druskelle and end up on the ship another way. Have a look at the unseen labor woman are absolutely contributing too even if they aren't aloud to fight. Still like grew up indoctrinated and shit and the same redemption/unlearning arc and stuff, have her disapprove of Nina because of how she's taught woman should behave still but like, also envious of her freedom in how she can act and express herself and the confidence she has in who she is, them still bonding over being children forced to participate in a war while contrasting the differences. Nina being almost more hurt when she insults her on the ship because the men she expects it from, but she thought the only other girl here might have been an ally and then instantly feeling stupid about it. A definitely not casual low-key wlw situationship as they travel together. THE FUCKING YEARNING AND BETRAYAL in hellgate and all throughout the first book tbh, just so so much sapphic yearning, the pull of Fjerda and Druskelle traditions being not just familiarity but also the comfort of heteronormativity even if just metaphorically, standing up to and betraying Brum being not only about Grisha and the beliefs she was taught about others also being about recognising her own autonomy and power and the ways in which his ideology has hurt her. THE FORBIDDEN LOVE OF IT ALL HELLO?

There's so more okay and I still love Matthias and his/their original story and think its quite important and some things don't perfectly translate (and I can't have more sapphics dying on me okay) but like I thought of it and I can't unthinking it now okay so just think about it THINK ABOUT IT-

[idkjustlemmedrownlikerab]

Yk what is my Roman Empire?? I have multiple and here r a few :

The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black

The 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist

What tf did Henry whisper in Camilla's ear, the moment before he shot himself towards the end of The Secret History?

The gays and sapphics throughout history (and how some historians try their hardest to justify it as friendship)

The Trojan War (I will always wonder why people blame and hate Helen when she was the victim!?)

The opposites attract couples (like solangelo, starchaser, helnik etc. where they r two puzzle pieces, so different but somehow they fit together perfectly)

I'm sure I have many many more but that's it for now I might update this later

[hauntsthenarrative]

I'm sorry that on that day. The day you were shut out and left to die. No one was there to lift you up in their arms. The way you lifted others into yours. And then, what became of you? I should have known,you wouldn't be content to disappear. Not my daughter.I couldn't save you then, so let me save you now. It's time to rest, for you, and for those you have carried in your arms.

[lesbocrocker]

Matthias Helvar is a lesbian. Reblog if you agree

[in-a-different-timeline]

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺Eliss⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

⊹⊱•••《 ✮ 》•••⊰⊹

About Me:

Minor | She/Her | Sapphic

6w5 | INTJ | Slytherin | Cabin 6

Kins: Jason Grace, Alex Dunphy

Fandoms: Marauders, Riordanverse, Grishaverse, Poppy War, Folk Of The Air, F1

Ships: Dorlene, Marylily, Pandalily, Dorlily, Quillkiller, Nobleflower, Rosekiller, Wolfstar, Jegulus, Percabeth, Solangelo, Kanej, Zoyalai, Wesper, Helnik, Rinezha, Jurdan

Artists: Gracie Abrams, Chase Atlantic, girl in red, Olivia Rodrigo, Måneskin

My RPs: @its-a-dork-cas

@inkstainedsnitches

@dorcas-in-ruin

@flowers-not-stars

@marls-and-chaos

@mary-of-the-wasteland

[darjeelinh]

some links to my stuffs ❤️

twitter | ao3 | bluesky | side blog for art and words

perceive me at the tag #about me which is also below

👇 Masterlist to my all of my fics below cut 👇

(will be updated if there are new fics)

MDZS

till death: wangxian | completed, 7.8k (rating: M)

i guess i'll have to change my plan: wangxian | completed, 35k (rating: E) | art by Nat

slip into your skin: sapphic wangxian | completed, 26k (rating: E) | art by me more art by me

call your name till the fever broke: wangxian | completed, 23k (rating: E)

Sandman

reverie: dreamling | completed, 5k

in death's waiting room: multi | completed, 5k | cw: major character death

dogfish: hob gadling/johanna constantine | completed, 10k | cw: nsfw-ish (not explicit) art by me

Grishaverse

common tongue of your loving me: six of crows | wesper, ongoing

anything you've lost (that you might be looking for): six of crows | wesper, completed, 22k | cw: nsfw (rating: M) | epilogue: always and after

dream a little dream of me: six of crows | kanej & wesper & helnik, ongoing | cw: violence, nsfw (rating: M)

drawing blanks: six of crows | wesper, completed, 9.5k | cw: nsfw (rating: M)

Good Omens

taxi driver: aziracrow (outsider pov) | completed, 4k

[kataraslove]

What are some of your OTPs from other fandoms if you don’t mind me asking?

no, i don’t mind it at all :)

I’m a huge fan of sapphic ships - truly, anything from friends to lovers to tragic complicated relationships forever doomed by the narrative. so my top fave sapphic ships are wednesday x enid, lumity, rue/jules, and rhaenicent!

for m/f pairings, i really like edwinry (fmab), percabeth (pjo), everlark (tgh), rayllum (tdp), kanej & helnik (grishaverse), percy x vex (vox machina), gendrya (asioaf), and ichiruki (bleach).

and for mlm ships i really love sasunaru (naruto) and finnpoe (star wars).

I’m not a huge shipper so 90% of these ships carry over from my childhood. at the end of the day however this is mostly a kataang/avatarverse blog so I’m really not going to be reblogging about any of these. ship what you want! in fact, feel free to reblog this with ships that you enjoy.

[bag-of-glitter]

Six of crows characters as texts I've sent/received:

Nina:

Wylan @kaz:

Jesper:

Kaz @Inej:

Matthias @kaz

Inej:

Kuwei with anyone:

[trassellynn]

hi! i appreciate your recent post about matthias, and you raise a lot of really good points, but as a lesbian who was really excited for the possibility of a main sapphic relationship thru hannina, seeing you call it “offensive” really hurt. i know you miss matthias - and i do too - but i just want you to understand that hannina means a lot to many wlw in the fandom and that what you said was really hurtful + rude to many of us who were happy for finally having some rep w main characters.

Hi, Anon! 

I am very sorry that you felt offended by what I said, actually I wrote a post to explain why I dislike Hannina. And it has nothing to do with my preference for Helnik (I am, for example, a great Ninej supporter too).

I am a queer person too and I am usually very into sapphic relationships in fandom, because I prefer women so I feel more represented. 

And believe me that I understand the need of representation, but Hannina, for the way it is written, made me mad and was the main reason why I abandoned the book. 

I, for my personal experience and way of think, felt annoyed and offended because Hanne gave me the impression to be another female, queer character that had been thrown into the story only to be a love interest, and not as an independent character. 

And I feel like Nina is treating her as a replacement: she is  (rightfully) still grieving Matthias, that died in her arms only months before and she's not ready for a new relationship and the fact that Hanne is Fjerdan, Brum's daughter and in discussion with what she had been taught, sounded very suspect to me. (And Hanne doesn't deserve to be treated like a rebound, nor "used" as a painkiller).   

My first thought, while reading, was: "Oh, wow, a queer couple that sounds like an echo to a previous het relationship." 

So, you know, I have the impression the author is strumentalizing a queer couple this time, putting it into the story just to scream "Hey, queer couple here!", because the way she wrote it is, to me, extremely lazy and rushed. And, having seen many queer couples mistreated and strumentalized in fandoms, I feel immediately annoyed when I find a queer couple that, to me, isn't well written.

(Also, I suspect Bardugo isn't able to write female characters wihout a love interest, but who knows). 

I repeat, I know the need of representation, I feel it too, but that doesn't mean I am willing to accept everything. If I feel offended by how an author wrote a sapphic couple, I won't support that couple and I'll become very critical towards the author. 

This is simply how I am made, I'm not criticizing you, I understand your need of seeing a main sapphic ship, your feelings are valid (and I'm aware we're surrounded by annoying heteronormativity) I am criticizing and blaming only the author that disappointed me too many times.

I hope my thoughts are clear, I am sorry that you felt offended by my words, I had no intention to be rude, unfortunately I tend to be very direct when I write my posts and I sound aggressive.  

Even though I personally dislike the ship, I never have the intention to attack the shippers. 

Again, I apologise if I hurt you, hope you will understand my perspective and my true intentions, now. 

Thank you for writing me to make things clear ❤

[sendme-2hell]

Ranking the books I read in April

aka just ranting about the books I read in april pls ignore me

1. The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah Johnson 

I cannot believe this book wasn’t nominated for a Hugo! I like the Hugo list (of the books I’ve read) but cmon. This book is like if you combined the social commentary in The City We Became and the queerness of Harrow the Ninth. Seriously this book had everything I wanted: parallel universes, great character development, social commentary, woc sapphic slow burn, satisfying ending. Also I feel like the title is paying homage to W. E. Dubois which is cool. “Between me and the other world, there is ever an unasked question: How does it feel to be a problem?” Like there is just this very cool idea of talking about other worlds as in literally other universes but also different worlds due to social and racial hierarchies. 

2. Plain Bad Heroines - Emily m. Danforth 

Horror, Hollywood, boarding school, everyone is gay, the narrator talks directly to the reader and it is hilarious, copious footnotes, have I mentioned how many sapphics there are? It’s hard to keep track. Plus polyamory. I just really loved this book and I felt it all came together in a way that was worth it. 

3. Steel Crow Saga - Paul Krueger 

This godamn book. I loved this book so much. I was so ready to yell about it on tumblr and tell people to read it. But apparently the author is someone who has harassed a lot of women so...uh...yeah. Nevermind I guess.

 I do want to say it is the most accurate depicition of a Sherlock Holmes superfan that I have ever seen in media. 

4. The Tiger’s Daughter - K. Arsenault Rivera

What if we went on a long trip on horseback and we were both lesbian warriors...jk unless…

Yeah so I loved this book so much. A lot of it is about navigating familial responsibility, fighting literal and metaphorical demons, fighting the patriarchy, fighting your anger, fighting tigers, etc...and yet I kept thinking to myself “this is the most romantic book I have ever read” and honestly I am gonna stick by that. It also has the “you think me a monster so I will become one” trope which is great. It is set in an Asian-based fantasy world and I did read a goodreads review that said it was as accurate to the countries it draws inspiration from as Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse is to the Russian and Scandinavian cultures it takes from. So that’s not great. 

5. Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

Speaking of! A few months ago I tried to read Shadow and Bone in preparation for the tv show and I could not finish it. The writing was...bad. Anyway I really liked Six of Crows and even though, yeah it’s tropey (I’m looking at you, Helnik backstory), there’s a reason those tropes work. Plus you cannot go wrong with a heist. About halfway through I did realize that there are six mcs and three couples so its kinda just like a giant triple date, which really changed how I read the whole story.

I’m very glad I did read it before seeing the tv show because I was able to be appropriately excited for the Crows and catch the Wylan reference and everything, but I also got to see the Alina stuff without having to read about it. 

6. Crooked  Kingdom - Leigh Bardugo 

I think I somehow liked this even more than Six of Crows, but for narrative simplicity I’ll put it after. I really like it when you put people in an impossible situation and see how they figure it out. Especially if they get out in a clever and reasonably possible way that ties together many different plot threads and has a few good fake-outs. This did all of that, and also developed every character in a way I found satisfying (except [redacted] *cry emoji*). 

Kaz pulls a Baru Cormorant with some money stuff and now I wonder if they would be friends. 

I read this after watching the show which was good because I knew who Zoya and Genya were but bad because there is a point where Nina is like “here is how shadow and bone ends.” She’s just talking to Mattias and casually spoiling everything for me. So there goes my dreams of living spoiler free until the end of the show. 

7. The Miseducation of Cameron Post - Emily m Danforth

My expectations for this book were....very different than it turned out, and I’m glad for it. After reading Plain Bad Heroines I shouldn’t have been surprised at how well written it is. I really appreciated how nuanced it is. It doesn’t spell out its ideas or themes and therefore lets you really sit with them. I would rank it higher but I don’t really enjoy reading about high school. 

8. Foundryside - Robert Jackson Bennett

I love a good found family, especially if at the beginning of the book they are on opposing sides. Enemies to friends = best trope! Also it’s sapphic that’s always good. But the best part of this book was the worldbuilding which was so cool. 

9. Malice - Heather Walter

Remember what I was saying about “you think me a monster so I will become one”? This book is the definition of that trope. Women becoming unhinged after being treated like shit, we love to see it! Especially if it’s gay. I do have to say, authors who write duologies where the first book ends on a cliffhanger, I see what you’re doing but yes, I will be preordering the next book. 

10. Fugitive Telemetry - Martha Wells

I don’t have much to say because Murderbot is so consistently excellent.  uh why is it so cathartic when xenophobes disrespect Murderbot and it’s humans step in and shut that shit down. Gets me every single time. 

11. Queen of Coins and Whispers - Helen Corcoran 

This book was like half romance half politics and unfortunately I did not find the politics that interesting or well written. But the romance was A+. It reminded me of Priory of the Orange Tree a LOT. Though significantly less dragons and I’m taking many points off for that. 

12. The First Sister - Linden A. Lewis

I wanted to like this book a little more than I did. There was just maybe too much body horror for me. Interesting characters and world though. There was  a location named Cytherea that they mentioned a lot and it was very distracting. I guess I still have tlt brainrot. 

13. Shorefall - Robert Jackson Bennett 

I think this book was well plotted out but it didn’t quite have my attention like Foundryside did. Also yet another book where a woman’s girlfriend ends up in her head. This time no one had to die so that’s nice. TM and SD take notes! 

14. The Deathless Girls - Kiran Milwood Hargrave 

Ok I LOVED the Mercies by KMH so I was a little disappointed in this Dracula retelling. It got interesting in the last 50 pages, but unfortunately that is not enough for me.

proud of myself for not reading a single straight book this April 

[silhouettecrow]

This is the last part of me providing my Thoughts™ and Feelings™ about Shadow and Bone as I watch it 'cos this one is about the finale:

They brought back Alina and Mal reaching out for each other, and oh, boy, was that heartbreaking! It’s so well done yet so painful

Mal's turn-around of "Time will do it for me" to "Your past will do it for me” when he let the volcra get the Darkling was so good. I literally clapped, even though I knew the Darkling would, obviously, live

Also, the ending of the Darkling emerging from the Fold after Alina and Mal saying he’s dead was a great yet predictable (in a good way) transition. And the way the Darkling said, “Follow,” and the merzost just came with him was chilling. That was a perfect way to end the first season in my opinion

Not to brag, but I said three things before Jesper, one before Kaz, and one before Nina. I think my theory about absorbing the Crows' personalities is more true than I initially thought it was

Remember how I mentioned how the ugliness and asymmetry of the antlers in Alina’s collarbone was such an amazing parallel to the pain she is in? Well, her absorbing the antlers altogether after releasing herself from the Darkling’s control and realising the stag chose to give her its power is just. . .WOW. I honestly don’t know how to express how beautiful that was

Also, my best friend did bring up a good point: where did the antlers go? Did they just go further into her body? Did she legit consume them into her body and they’re just gone? What happened? 😂

Can I talk about Nina and Matthias for a hot second? I honestly don’t think I felt so much for Helnik when I read the Six of Crows duology as I did in this last episode, so I have a lot to say. The chemistry is straight from the pages of the books, but it’s so much different physically seeing them interact than just reading about it. It’s also different ‘cos we are seeing the relationship develop between them than being thrown in the middle of it with backstory being sprinkled throughout the progression of their story. The two of them flirting and being cute was so lovely, but the fear in Nina’s eyes when she knows she has to make a horrible decision between Matthias being arrested or being killed and then the betrayal that is written all across Matthias’ face in that cell on the ship was just devastating

I know this isn't about this episode, but I realised I forgot to mention it attached to episode 6 (I think), but Ivan threatening Jesper with him knowing what he is was dastardly. Like, I know you have to have read the books to know what Ivan was saying 'cos Jesper cuts him off, and I love little Easter eggs like that for us, but the foreshadowing of that shit was good. Leave the people who haven't read the books with questions and the people who have in anticipation! God, I love that!

Jesper still missing Milo is so precious and, I hate to say it, a mood ‘cos me too. I wanted to see a surprise appearance from the darling goat, but I will take Jesper bringing him up twice as compensation

Speaking of Jesper being a mood, Jesper begging for the reassurance that Kaz has got their backs with a plan was so painfully relatable. Bro, I would have done the same thing in that situation

It hurts me on a spiritual level to be aware that five out of the six Crows were on that boat at once. I need Wylan. Y’all, season 2 better happen 😭

And I want more interactions between Inej and Alina and between Inej and Zoya. That shit makes my Sapphic heart go berserk. You can’t look me in the eyes and say there isn’t the least bit of gay tension between these women. And that means I am so looking forward to Inej and Nina interacting; I may pass out

In addition to that, Kaz saying he needs Inej added five years to my life. And I think the happiest he looked all season was when Inej said she’d go with him to pay off Heleen and then decide what to do from there. And Kaz being a believer is ✨bonkers✨ in the best way possible

Lastly, to end with something about my boy, Jesper saying that he still couldn’t shoot Ivan’s pretty face was fucking great. I also died laughing at him saying that the true wealth was the friends they made along the way ‘cos of course Jesper is going to be the one to make a real-world meme reference and, on top of that, make it about the goat! Amazing, beautiful, wonderful. As always, I love him dearly

My final thoughts on the show as a whole is that it is a great adaptation of the books, especially with the blending of the storylines from the trilogy and the Six of Crows duology. The pacing was something I honestly had to adjust to, considering I know so much of the source material, but I think it worked and was a good choice to help viewers unfamiliar with the books understand what is happening. And even though I’ve read the books, I was pleasantly surprised with the numerous twists and turns; I was invested in the show as a whole, not just for the familiar characters and storylines (that was just a bonus, tbh). I genuinely love this show and am willing to say it is now tied for my favourite television show with Orphan Black and Good Omens. I’m hoping desperately for a season 2, not just for Wylan and Nikolai, but because this was truly so beautiful and brought me a lot of happiness and peace during one of the scariest and most stressful times in my life

I just want to thank anyone who has read any of these things I've written about the show. I truly didn't expect anyone to read them or even really care about what I thought or felt, but it does mean a lot that some of you are willing to read them at all and then even give them a like. This is just the adaptation of my favourite book series and knowing other people are caring about and even enjoying my reactions is so pleasant and comforting. Thank you 💕

If you want to check out my other Thoughts™ and Feelings™ about this first season, here are the links to those posts: Episode 2, Episodes 3 and 4, Episode 5, and Episodes 6 and 7

I'm now excited to remove spoilers from my filtered tags and to dive into what other people have been posting about Shadow and Bone! See y'all on the other side! ✌

[trassellynn]

A "spoiler" aesthetic for my SoC fanfiction "The Lost Goddess".

Elizabeth Olsen as Aenya the Heartrender (yes, the OC I drew, Nina and Matthias' daughter) and she'll also be a character in my story for the Grishaverse Big Bang 2020.

Natalie Dormer as Isrjel, a Fjerdan character who hasn't appeared in the story yet. But she'll appear soon.

The quotes are obviously lyrics from Frozen 2 songs.

The fanfiction is on Ao3.