#tbh this year I only care about the women’s the men’s is so boring I don’t need to see uconn sweeping every game

[fritzes]

every year I’m like “I don’t care about march madness” and every year without fail I find myself invested

[venerawrites]

Heya 👋

Can you do a pregnant s/o with neji, kiba, shino, Gaara??

Have a great day ❤️👋🌺

author's note: this is such a cute request, I really loved writing it! I actually wrote Gaara finding out his s/o is pregnant, where I kind of covered how he will be during the pregnancy, so I decided to cover only Neji, Kiba and Shino for this one. Hope you enjoy! <3

➤  Neji

Given this is Neji we are talking about, I assume his s/o's pregnancy was more or less planned.

He and his partner have been trying to conceive for a while, since they've been married for a year already and the elders of his clan were already pestering them about children.

So when his s/o told him they are pregnant, he felt both rush of excitement and relief.

Probably one of the calmest and most composed men when it comes to his partner's pregnancy.

I imagine he has been preparing for this moment for a while by reading various books, consulting with some of the older women of his clan, as well doing his own research during his free time.

Definitely more ready and knowledgeable than his s/o about it.

I have always been of the opinion that Neji is very traditional guy, who dreams of having a family of his own.

As such, he is overprotective from Day 1.

He will accompany his s/o everywhere, help them with chores and would try to stop them from doing any missions straight away, worried that the risk of losing either of them is way too big. (I say try, because he will probably be unsuccessful till the last few months)

Has a tendency to be a bit paranoid and scold his s/o if he ever see them doing even something by themselves.

I feel his s/o would find all his efforts and worries somewhat adorable in the beginning, but as their pregnancy progress and their hormones start going crazy, they will start losing their patience with him.

I imagine the second half of the pregnancy may be a bit stressful for both of you (and everyone around you tbh!), since his s/o won't hold back their complaints about Neji's behaviour and in turn he will be annoyed about why is his s/o angry, when all he tries to do is to take care of them.

Treats his partner like an absolute ROYALTY tho

His s/o want a silk pillowcase, because otherwise they can't fall asleep? He will go around the whole Hyuga compound to find them one.

His s/o is craving his famous vanilla ice cream in the middle of the night? He is spending the hours preparing it from scratch for them.

Overall, his s/o's pregnancy would go quite easy, as he is very attentive and already knows quite a bit about what to expect and how to handle his s/o's mood swings.

➤  Kiba

Where do I even start with this one?

Initially, when his s/o told him they were pregnant, he was absolutely perplexed.

He knew they were not always super strict with the protection, but so far they have always been safe from incidents.

Like, he is not against becoming a dad - quite the opposite, he would love to have a house FULL with little Inuzuka babies, BUT he just was not sure he was ready at that point.

He is not really sure how to prepare tho?

Unlike Neji, he is not in the mood to go around and spend days reading boring books about childbirth and pregnancies, neither he felt comfortable talking with his family about it.

I imagine he is the type of guy that just grab his s/o's hand and give them a reassuring smile, saying: "It's okay, we are going to figure it out together!"

And they do. The beginning is a bit messy, both him and his s/o don't really know what to expect and if they should expect anything at all at this early stage.

I don't think he is going to treat his partner any differently, because for the first few months they look pretty much the same as before, so in his mind they should be perfectly capable to continue going on missions, do chores etc.

His s/o's period of throwing up almost every night and feeling sick every time they take a bite of food COMPLETELY throws him off and he is phoning Sakura almost every day, asking her to come to his house and check his s/o

When his partner gets their mood swings, their house becomes almost like a battlefield - poor man doesn't really know why his s/o is behaving that way and would constantly be baffled by his s/o's behaviour

"Why are you screaming at me? Don't you dare throwing that pillow-Ow! Dammit!"

I imagine that he will have to seek his mother's and sister's help in the later stage of the pregnancy, it is just TOO MUCH to handle

That doesn't stop him from wanting to have another kid pretty soon after his s/o gives birth to their first one - now that he has seen how they glow when they are pregnant, he plans to keep them like that quite often

➤  Shino

Our favourite boy Shino... his s/o is honestly lucky to have him during their pregnancy.

When they first told him they were pregnant, he didn't show much of an emotion, other than letting his lips curve in a small smile, before resting a gentle kiss against his s/o's temple.

He was definitely happy about the news, but as I always imagined him as a quite laid back individual, his reaction is actually pretty calm and relaxed compared to many other Naruto men.

In the beginning, his behaviour doesn't change much - he tries not to intervene too much with his s/o's freedom and let them do whatever they want.

If they want to continue doing missions - that's fine by him, even tho he may ask the Hokage to send him with them if possible.

If they want to stay at home - he doesn't mind taking a complete care of them, if this is how they are going to feel comfortable.

He is very attentive and always listen to his s/o's wishes and needs.

For this reason I actually think his partner is going to have pretty easy pregnancy - they would feel relaxed and comfortable in Shino's care, adopting his view that parenthood would just come naturally to them.

I don't even think they would have any pregnancy symptoms, even at the late stage - their behaviour and relationship with Shino remains pretty much the same. (I mean, even when hormonal, you can't really be angry at this softie, can you?)

Also, I imagine he may propose during his s/o pregnancy? He had always knew he wanted to officially make them their partner, so this felt like the perfect time to tie the knot tbh.

cc artwork: Pengzhen Zhang

[crguang]

ok honestly im kinda done w genshin atp, like the story is okay, the whitewashing tho is pissing me off tho, um idk, i like the game play, and also i gotta get to sneznaya or wtv when that comes out. and did u just not like the sumeru characters bc more of them are men.../j i still dont have yelan or arle very sad...they're like top 10 genshin characters for me, i was too broke to pull for them when they were running

ALSO that's not what i meant abt natasha, like as a character shes good and i like her, and her story is good, i dont dislike her, what i meant is that i cant be attracted to her, like idk...bc all the stuff u listed i should like her, so like idk. i dont skip story, i did her sq, so maybe it is just the fact that shes a doctor, like that was how she was presented at first and i just cant look past it ok... my mom was a doctor so i just cant...my mommy issues strike again, and i just dont rlly like doctors in general havent had good experiences w them before, so i cant be attracted to one...idk, like ik shes like way more than that. and i did get a few adds for her so its prob that as well that kind messed with my perception of her at the beginning, the only hsr adds i every got continously was kafkas trailer.

tbh i shouldve realized i liked women when i saw kafka dragging her fingers across a wall wish i was that wall with like her voice in the background and that was what made me decide to play the game. they know what they're doing...

speaking of which i got her other two messages, shes ridiculous, like i cant believe she can just go to a movie theater like that, and her checking up on you...i did scream. shes pathetic... honestly her being into phycological thrillers makes sm sense, so she was def seeing one of those. and i think shes exposing herself bc of both of the reasons you listed (also like it being on a burner acc incase she gets rejected...i obviously wasnt mean to her tho).

honestly im just shy sat okay...thats why im an anon, but it is funny, since we're all reading ur smut, and thirsting over everyone together.

i did sleep i promise, i dont really like taking medicine, again doctor stuff, but i'll been taking some melatonin bc last night it took be 3 and a half hours to sleep and ive been drinking tea and stuff, but ill be going to sleep after this. wish me luck.

-🌠

i also wanted to last until snezhnaya like i remember a few years ago when the first fatui trailer dropped after inazuma and my entire timeline went crazyyyy, people who didn’t play the game anymore got back into it just for the fatui like they really united everyone… but since the characters and stories dont do anything for me now i personally never feel like playing. and yes i actually was so bored with sumeru because im not interested in men at all dhfjgkgk but also the whitewashing there pissed me off and how they nerfed dehya and made her a horrible standard character was so annoying like i didnt pull for a single sumeru character 😭 arle/yelan is an insane duo, my yelan is great cause shes been my main for years so she doesn’t need anyone but adding arle is just cheating fr. look at my favs beefing (clorinde was there for the friendship points😪)

i thought you disliked nat because you said your friend thought you disliked her bc she was a doctor, but it makes sense if you’ve had bad experiences with healthcare professionals and are reminded of them when you see doctors. personally i love when people who work in healthcare actually care about the patients they have because it’s quite literally life saving and sooo many of them dont give a fuck, that’s why i adore natasha a lot. it’s totally fine if you’re not attracted to her, you don’t have to be!

kafka’s trailer changed my brain chemistry and i can recite it by heart from how often ive watched it. they definitely knew what they were doing especially with these shots like can i please be that guy… i’ll take the bullet too idgaf. AND YES THE MOVIE THEATER SHES SUCH A LOSERRR, THE “my life is an action movie btw lol haha” when the tb says they like action films is so ridiculous. i need to look up her other answers but when she said the action movies lacked immersion i pat myself on the back for writing that she likes psychological thrillers over horror or any other genre like i know her for real… im literally inside her head.

im glad youre sleeping even if it takes a little while!! hopefully your internal clock stops messing woth you and allows you to get some good rest

[bisluthq]

People are so weird when they talk about famous women slowing down because they had children. It’s different for men because they aren’t carrying the baby inside of them, but I don’t think a woman choosing to take a couple of years off to get pregnant, get used to a baby and deal with post partum is weird or a bad thing? People always talk about it like it’s the patriarchy or like they’re in a toxic relationship when I think every single person would do that if they could afford it? I don’t want kids, but if I did I would LOVE to be able to have my whole pregnancy and the first few months to a year of having a baby off? I also don’t think it’s a problem if they care more about their children and family than they do about their career? And again, this is coming from someone who doesn’t want kids, but I don’t want a job either. I just feel like people online either think women need to be with their kids 24/7 or they believe they have to work throughout their pregnancy and be on set the day after they give birth. I think Blake can slow down for some years to have kids and then focus more on work again if she wants to do that? Specially because I don’t think she was that young when she had her first kid and it’s not like she had one per year or something. I think it’s been totally normal?

no I mean I agree tbh re how many kids she had and when she had them. It’s very normal. She had 4 kids over a span of 10 years starting when she was 26/27 which is a normal age to start. It’s not odd at all. I think what makes me not super like the vibe her family puts out is 1) the confusing messaging around like “our family is private” v “we shill our movies and various businesses as a family” 2) the fact that she seems to very much still be pursuing a career/care about being in the public eye tbh which is weird if she’s just like “I’m taking time off to focus on the family” 3) the fact that one of her businesses literally sells a product she does not consume - alcohol - and I can only imagine it’s because Aviator did well and Ryan told her like she should do that 4) the fact that Ryan seems totally involved in all her projects and friendships and life but he has a lot of things going on that don’t include her idk.

I said like obviously Eva Mendes is older (and older than Ryan G fwiw) but she basically retired from film when she decided to have kids with Ryan G. They’ve got two kids and probably won’t have any more because she was on the older side when they started having the kids tbh. She does occasionally do projects if she feels like it and she did promote Barbie but overall like she’s a SAHM and I think digs her life. I don’t get the sense she’s coerced Ryan into that vibe or that Ryan coerced her into anything. They just decided to have her focus on the kids because it’s what she wants to do. I think if she said to her Ryan like “I’m bored now that the kids are at school so I wanna go make a movie” he’d be super happy for her to do that and wouldn’t try butt in.

the Blake/ryan r thing is not quite like that and is a bit weird.

[onaperduamedee]

Notes on Lord of Chaos

You do not want to go into a 90-page long prologue and read “Demandred.” That said, this introductory chapter felt very much like a “previously on”, which is all the more bizarre that at this point Robert Jordan was publishing one book a year, a feat of writing if there ever is one.

I did suspect Marigan because Moghedien turned Birgitte into a child which was very left field. That’s a nice touch.

When Nynaeve noted that losing her hate for Moiraine was like losing a part of herself… That’s it. I need to be writing/reading Nyn/Moi fanfic right now.

Digging Nyn and Elayne as PhD students only flimsily supervised and lying about their subject: they are literally handling war criminals and weapons of mass destruction for giggles. It’s the most fun I’ve had with them together so far.

Considering the time period, Jordan understood and deconstructed quite well how patriarchy affects and hurts men, but does not grasp nearly as well how it affects and hurts women, and it is so bizarre given his whole premise. The women in his universe are plagued with the same kind of violence and micro-aggressions as in our universe despite supposedly being the norm and authority.

Semirraghe already has all my gay attention. She is terrifying.

The fact that the Forsaken are out on the hunt for angreal, when we know Aes Sedai of old have been trying for thousands of years to keep them hidden, is very much QED. I am loving the attention to detail.

Davram Bashere is so right though. Rand's obsession with learning the sword is mostly an attempt at running from who he is, even if it's also an exercise to settle his mind. Combined with his refusal of support, it emphasizes how much he is hurting himself and fighting himself.

Rand calling Mat illiterate is the funniest line in the book, I am sorry.

Rand accidentally insulting an old lady by talking about her youth as history is also very funny.

Loving him connecting the dots about Tigraine and Shaiel. He has grown so sharp and savvy.

Rand telling he will not trust Aes Sedai but will use them is so so good. That's exactly what they think of him as well. At the end of the day, Lews Therin was an Aes Sedai, and Rand is one, even is he gives a different name to male Aes Sedai.

Rand's inner monologue being so Moirainesque is everything. It's beyond mesmerising to see him apprehend male channelers like Moiraine did him. Her ghost really lingers.

Davram Bashere is immensely cool, and Mazrim Tain is so overtly untrustworthy. Rand, please be careful.

Mat aka "is this army propaganda in your pocket or are you just happy to see me ?" He continues to be the most dynamic of the lot, but I wish he wasn’t so tied to armies and wars because it bores me.

So the bond is actually a weave that didn't exist in the Age of Legends? Much to think about.

Neither Elayne nor Nynaeve are very good teachers tbh. Nynaeve and Elayne have every right to be annoyed they have to teach Aes Sedai Tel'aran'rhiod, but given their own laborious start, their attitude is bloody immature. And I say this as someone whose job involves teaching older people new technologies.

Elayne and Nynaeve: Aes Sedai are insufferable for constantly wanting to know business not concerning them

Elayne and Nynaeve: do exactly that, all the time

Siuan playing cat's cradle while spying on the Aes Sedai, I love her so much. She isn’t here as much as I want to but how evident a presence she is! She is such an expert at adapting to the situation and knowing how to present herself to others.

The Trolloc nightmare was excellent and clarified some rules I have been wondering about. Loved the complicity between Siuan and Elayne too. In general, I am having such a blast with Siuan growing closer to the girls. If this is glimpse into what kind of teacher she was as an Accepted, she must have been a good one. Despite others seeing her as imposing, she is truly gifted at drawing people in.

All that talk about Rand not falling for Elaida's ploy tells me he's going to do exactly that.

In truth, I find Mat's attitude of "Rand is who he is" much more anchored in reality than Nyn's "I recall when I spanked him as a child." There is no coming back to the boy he was; it doesn’t mean he can’t still experience love or joy as he is now. Trying to resuscitate that boy will only hurt him, but seeing him as a person now, as he is, despite the creeping madness that is part of him, could make such a difference.

Alanna bonding Rand all of a sudden was so bloody violent and unexpected? But also kudos to RJ for showing just after why she did what she did, unstable and scared as she is.

I do not trust Mazrim Taim and his incel army: sweet concept, still a shell that will blow up in Rand's face.

Egwene running into and not recognizing Leane and Siuan in Tel’aran’rhiod had me giggling. I cannot wait for them to meet again.

Oh, cool, just another female character's POV ruined by insipid romance.

I actually love the Salidar Aes Sedai. I think it's quite easy for Nynaeve and Elayne to criticise a group of people trying to set up another White Tower with its entire ancillary community, while also plotting to go to war with the White Tower and reaching out to Rand, when the girls are always off adventuring and fleeing. Elayne will rule Andor and Nynaeve certainly Malkier, yet their approach to responsibility is flimsy at best. Elayne has the excuse of youth, but Nynaeve was a Wisdom before this all started and I am not enjoying them in their ninny era.

Berelain! Defending women's right to learn the sword! Hell yeah! I love Berelain, she’s hyper-competent and unfazed while everyone (and the narrative) is frankly despicable to her. She’s this universe Elle Woods.

Awwwwww, Rand's schools. That's genuinely lovely. I love the dichotomy of Rand creating a school to turn men into weapons (something that will absolutely not lead to escalade and senseless deaths) and another to build and invent a new Age (even if again weapons).

Sorilea can scram with that creepy trad wife shit. Leave Aviendha alone.

Was the Maiden handtalk mentioned before? I cannot remember, but now it’s everywhere.

The Ogier chapter was so good. Liah’s disappearance was actually creepier than the venture in Shadar Logoth from the EotW: I am a firm believer of not showing when it comes to horror and this hit just the right spot.

Mat, you saint patron of thieves! Of course, he would recruit ruffians for scouts. He is so fond of his men too.

The Olver addition is so random. It could be either very endearing or very annoying, we'll see.

Kinda proves my point from last review that Lan's echoes in Rand's mind are mostly self-destructive intrusive thoughts like "I am death" and Moiraine's so far is politically savvy advice with occasional martyr complex.

Ajhdjfkjshfks, between Verin wondering if Rand killed Moiraine and the Red Tower not even believing in her death and suspecting the mysterious Green sister is Moiraine, she is haunting the narrative!

Shout-out to Moiraine and her secret forbidden weaves.

The Aiel cultural comedy of errors is starting to get old, as is the gag of Maidens acting like mother hens to Rand. We get it, women warriors mothering him is funny.

Wait, did Fain just imply Elaida and Pedron Niall are infected with Mashadar? CAN WE GET MORE ON THAT PLEASE

Siuan and Leane being healed! My heart! Their reaction was so moving and poor Nynaeve in the middle of it, healing the incurable almost by accident. What did I say about hapless PhD students? This makes up for my frustration with Nyn this book.

Carlinya laying down some truths about the Tower hypocrisy regarding the DR and male channelers! Hell yes! Rand is like you! Male channelers are like you! They need to be protected and accommodated, not gentled and executed.

Gareth is beyond gross. The way he relishes the power he has over Siuan, making her feel every inch of the power imbalance has me shivering.

I want to cry. Siuan, Leane, I love you. The concept of regaining their power, but only a fraction of it, leaving them scarred, is a fascinating one. Their delayed reaction to the trauma they went through was also everything.

Another takeaway from Alanna bonding Rand and Siuan loving Bryne is that after losing their warders Aes Sedai are a complete mess and prone to dreadful decision making.

Aran'gar is in Salidar! This is bad for all of them. Despite how risky keeping Moghedien hidden is, at least Nyn and Elayne have her completely subdued. This is a loose cannon.

RJ cannot ekphrasis for peanuts for someone so good at hypotyposis.

OH hell, Rand spied on them. Everyone forgot he is a boss at Tel'aran'rhiod.

Egwene's relationship with the Wise Ones is incredible. She truly became an Aiel at heart and grew so much. I love her so much.

Up until this point, Rand was politically astute, but between trusting Taim with training an army, ignoring the Sea Folk and kidnapping Elayne... This is chaotic ruling. Be careful, please.

Jordan's weird obsession with corporal punishment aside, Egwene meeting her toh was amazing. Also of course she would rediscover travelling through Tel’aran’rhiod on her own.

Ajjdkdkjfkskfjdh EGWENE YOU POOR CHILD YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS INTRIGUE

But she also deserves to be Amyrlin. She's the best.

The Amyrlin ceremony seems very terfy.

It's plain foolishness to think Elaida will retreat just because another Amyrlin has been raised. The Salidar lot is at their wits’ end.

I am so so so proud of Egwene and Siuan. So proud. Their sense of duty is everything and seeing Siuan becoming Egwene's mentor, while Egwene becomes Siuan's protector means everything to me.

The gag of Aviendha being swarmed by Aes Sedai after Egwene and the Wise Ones does make up for the endless Aiel humour skits.

As much as I am 100% on Elayne's side regarding Rand giving her Caemlyn and Cairhien (I feel bad for the Cairhienin. Again, they are given absolutely no self-determination here), I would really welcome the break from Elayne and Nynaeve on yet another Macguffin hunt.

Does Thom think he left Moiraine to die? Why? He’s not her warder and Lan doesn't even think he did?

Between Rand believing he knows what's going on with Elayne and Egwene in Salidar, Mat convinced Aviendha will kill Elayne, and the Wise Ones calling the Aes Sedai foolish women, let's just say it's a field day for unreliable narrators.

War bores me. The Black Tower as nothing but a military camp bores me.

The Salidar Aes Sedai are so entertaining, though. They’re very much an administration run amok.

Is Mat dancing with Aran'gar? Jabdjfkkahfjfkkd he is such a fool. I love him. I love the contrast between Moiraine and Rand clocking Forsaken like it's their job, and Mat, Nynaeve and Elayne doing everything short of kissing them.

Meanwhile, Mat flirting with Siuan and Leane flirting with him as revenge is exactly the kind of comedy of errors I enjoy.

I must say, Mat being a little sexist jerk was redeemed by him showing Egwene proper respect just to spite Aes Sedai. One thing I like about him is the way his first reaction is often off-putting, but he will course correct swiftly.

Rand complaining about Aes Sedai tying strings to him while doing exactly with all of his friends is most excellent.

Am I supposed to be glad Perrin and Faile reinvented feudalism in the Two Rivers?

The discussion with Davram and Perrin about women and truth manages to be even more ludicrous than the Two Rivers nonsense in book 4, which is an achievement.

On one hand, Rand is obviously not behind the Aes Sedai murder attempt and this is a trap; on the other, you can't tell me the Salidar embassy's initial reaction was excessive.

Because Aes Sedai and Rand are the same, of course they don't continue on the non-excessive path long.

Nyn and Elayne are super silly with Vandene and Adeleas. I don't care if they dislike being chaperoned. They can just pretend they will obey and do the contrary. It will at least ease the sisters' suspicion.

The sisters poking at Mat like he's a lab rat is a little bit funny.

Ten days it is? Okay, so the girls are going to fuck around for ages like in Tanchico.

I am glad that Min caught on what Rand has missed with the Salidar embassy. He is bungling his handling of the Aes Sedai, all the elements are in place for a catastrophic outcome. Not that I was expecting the Aes Sedai to be sensible here, but he is generally much better at diplomacy.

I retract what I said about Min, she did send Rand right into the Lion's den. Obviously, it would have been too simple if Bera and Kiruna had been planned. Coming to Cairhien without a stronger alliance with the Salidar lot, considering whatever the Tower's embassy has been plotting, is A Bad Idea.

I like Merana. I love these tidbits about the Tower ranking not being strictly power-based.

The waiting in Cairhien is just boring, there's no way around it, even with the terrifying warfare Berelain has unleashed on Perrin.

Poor Loial getting saddled with a romance does not make this better.

OH, I knew this. I bloody knew all his hopping from Caemlyn to Cairhien, his cautiousness with the Salidar embassy not equaling his with the White Tower's, his relying on Min for intel and not caring a jot what fighting Lews Therin was doing to his psyche would lead to the worst. So bloody good, but man, was it written on the wall. The tragedy, the horror, the beauty.

Mat playing with a Seanchan now; reader, I screamed internally. I wish the EF5 were half as suspicious of anyone as they are of Aes Sedai.

Mat making a terrible job of raising Olver while also caring about him is very in-character.

Errrr, the choice to have Ebou Dari and Domani people of colour and paint them as violent and hyper-sexual is certainly something.

OH, so Sevanna is the one who tricked the Aes Sedai in Caemlyn! SWEET. There are so many threads flying around.

OOOOOOOH, so tying a shield is easier than holding it. INTERESTING Also this comes just after Egwene complained about traditions of holding vs. tying.

Rand is going to be beyond traumatized by all this. The parallels with Egwene and the Seanchan are delicious though.

The thing is... Between the Shaido Wise Ones, the Seanchan and the Asha'man, the Aes Sedai' oath not to kill or make weapons with the One Power is actually a most excellent idea. For real, Rand opened a school not two months ago and they are already committing war crimes?

The battle for Rand is less confusing than some of the previous fights, but it is also less visually striking, for me at least. Emotionally, it is way more satisfying though.

My girl Egwene freeing Logain and taking counsel from Siuan... My heart is so full.

Myrelle talking about Lan like it's a case of futile medical care...

So Aes Sedai do feel quite strongly their warder's wounds? Honestly, between the stamina and strength, the extended years in good health, and accessible healing, the warders gain a lot from the bond.

The Sea folk ships HAVE to be full of Seanchan, they have to.

I have as much thoughts and questions about Rand making the Aes Sedai kneel than about Moiraine in TFoH, but I suspect all will be addressed in the next book so I am reserving my judgement.

Can I just say none of this book would have happened had Moiraine been there by Rand's side?

Overall, this one was a bit of a transitional book, wasn't it? Many chapters were mostly spent waiting for things to happen, in Caemlyn, in Cairhien, on the road, in Salidar, which brought back dark memories from TEotW. At this point, we are familiar enough with the characters not to mind just hanging out with them, but the contrast with the chapters where the story is advancing is too great for me to say it is worth it. The highs (Siuan and Leane healed, Egwene becoming Amyrlin, Rand captured, the Salidar plotting) were really high, and I really enjoyed the trap slowly closing on Rand and the way it culminated in pain, violence and rage in Dumai's wells. And even those highs are mainly setting things up and redefining arcs for the main characters, a given for the middle point. It did so unevenly, with Rand and Egwene at the top and Perrin and Aviendha at the bottom. But yeah, the book lived up to my expectations. NOW I need to know what is going on with the Sea Folk.

[thedreadvampy]

trying to work but despite not having really. been in the fandom for ages I'm getting all het up about how with TMA fandom like. people were given these really dense and interesting and nuanced character arcs over multiple series for a core cast of female characters (Melanie, Georgie, Basira, Daisy) and IMMEDIATELY AND UNQUESTIONINGLY ignored those, pasted this exact character traits and complexities onto their fanon versions of male characters, then periodically complained that women weren't interesting or were Bad.

like this is a complaint I've been seeing about various fandoms for the last 15 years at least tbh (it's been going on longer but I wasn't there) but I really FELT it this time

people really haaaaated like Basira and Daisy for feeding the Fears and being cops, Georgie for being Mean To Martin and walking away from a friend in crisis, Melanie for being hostile and distrustful, and they'd like decide that that was All Those Characters Were and deem them Bad and Boring. but then the exact same people would go away and justify the exact same things from other characters or literally like. sprinkle them in where they aren't even there in canon to add spice.

like YEAH Daisy and Basira are cops who abuse power to do huge harm, that's like. the key tension of their characters like ultimately they've done things that are unforgivable and how they respond to that (Daisy tearing herself apart and then eventually falling back into her violent desires, Basira closing her eyes to it and continuing to find justifications). but it's wild that people would be like 'if you're invested in this character you're a cop apologist' then go straight into calling Elias or Peter their poor little meow meow bc it must be Sooooo Haaaard Having To Be A Murder Capitalist. and they would go on to put the narrative arc of trying to handle having done unforgivable things and trying to resist your Avatarhood onto men who either have only the vaguest gestures at that beat (like Mike or Michael) or onto men who like literally their whole deal is embracing their place in systems of abusive power (Elias and Peter)

like I legit saw people calling Melanie boring and saying her only character trait is being angry and then FAWNING over Gerry for being a Cool Monster Killer or weeping over how HARD it was for Jon to be so paranoid that he couldn't trust anyone. inventing backstory tragedy for people that mirrored Melanie's and then totally ignoring her stated history. absolutely HATING Melanie for being Mean to Jon and Georgie for being Mean to Martin even though both of those men are consistently harsh to those around them.

(honestly like so much of Melanie's nuance in particular got transplanted specifically onto Gerry in fandom)

Tim's the Fun One and Sasha's the Shy Sensible One even though in canon the little bits of Sasha we see show her as silly and light and confident in her own worth and matching Tim joke for joke. Georgie gets sidelined so that Martin can be The One Who Cares For Jon. When Georgie walked away because she couldn't help Jon that was seen by a lot of fans as selfish and unforgivable but when Martin did the same thing except instead of therapy and support he went into playing with the Fears that was laudable and sad.

and like. Jon. like so much about these characters specifically is that they're like. often a foil for Jon. making different choices in similar situations. Daisy and Jon handle realising they're monsters similarly but differently; Melanie and Jon handle paranoia and being stuck in the Archives similarly but differently; Georgie and Jon handle dealing with situations that aren't fixable similarly but differently; Basira and Jon handle embracing the reality of the Fears similarly but differently. and I feel like a LOT of the time where Jon came out looking less favourable in these comparisons (which is often - Jonny doesn't go easy on his protagonist) big chunks of fandom either ignored it or straight up changed his response to look more like the sympathetic ones that his female compatriots took.

TL;Dr I guess but the point is where female characters made bad choices or did morally dodgy things they were judged much more harshly by fandom than male characters - an unambiguously evil man was granted more space for nuance and sympathy than a morally grey woman. when they were given tragic or sympathetic or positive emotional beats those were consistently lifted and put onto male characters, even if that meant elevating a tiny background character like Mike or Gerry by attaching someone else's story arc to them. and then the fandom complained that they were boring or unlikeable. it is simply. bollocks.

[inessencedevided]

Are you excited for secrets of Dumbledore. Saw the second trailer for it at the movie theater I work.

Ahhh, I'm sorry this took me so long to answer. Tbh, i was debating just answering you in private but then i realised that i actually feel like i need to voice these thoughts aloud now

To answer your question, this is how I feel:

(Tbh, i wanted to put a gif here where chidi (that's the character above) says that every time he needs to make a decision, his mind makes a sound like a fork in a garbage disposal. But i couldn't find a gif of it so this will have to do)

The thing is, I'm physically incapable of not caring about this movie or the grindeldore content in it. I saw the trailer and i legit started shaking. I saw the cafe scene between Gellert and Albus and i literally screamed. This movie seems to be specifically written to press all my buttons. I've been shipping grindeldore since i was 13 and here they are, confirmed, on screen, admittedly in costumes I find quite boring, but also played by two of the most extraordinary actors imaginable. Under normal circumstances I would never shut up about this movie.

But here comes the huge "But": JKR. And the fact that she is deeply involved with this movie and its marketing and seems to use the platform it gains her specifically to spread her harmful ideas.

I'm not on twitter, but while I was pondering whether or not I should interact with this movie online (which would mean on my tumblr basically and nowhere else) I went and looked at her twitter. And frankly, I was shocked. I mean, yeah, I knew her views but I had purposefully cut myself off from that a while ago and was unaware of just how constant these harmful reactionary and transphobic tweets had gotten. (And here i could go into it in detail about how radical feminists and "gendercritical" people don't "just" hurt trans people, but also cis women and the entire idea of feminism by casting (their idea of) men as their enemies instead of the system of patriarchy as a whole but other people have done that already and better than i could and that's not the point of this post anyway.)

And here is the thing, the fact that i strongly disagree with jkr would not automatically mean that I don't engage with the harry potter universe anymore. Fandoms don't necessarily have to be in praise of the creator(s) of the content they engage with. Often fandom acts specifically in opposition to the creators of their source material and if there had been no new material since the Harry potter franchise was completed, i would have no problem doing so in the HP fandom as well. Hell, if my staple was, say, marauders fanfic or drarry content, i might still engage with that right now. But, I'm a grindeldore fan through and through and that's, sadly, actively making jkr money right now as well as giving her a platform to spread her bigoted agenda

So here i am, stuck with the sound of a fork in a garbage disposal in my head.

Because I'm so angry, too. I know there are a lot of people out there who are saying "if you even remotely care about anything related to Harry Potter anymore you're a bad person and you should feel bad" but you know what? No. I care. I'm incapable of not caring because this world (and dumbledore and grindeldore specifically) was such a huge part of my formative years. I used to think that whatever went wrong in my life or the world, at least I'd still have hogwarts as an uncomplicated haven to return too. But no, that's gone now. There is no way to consume or engage with hp content now, that is not in some way inherently political, especially in public. It has truly lost its innocence and that makes me so angry and sad. But these feelings, however much they are hurting me are nothing against the hurt jkr is actively causing towards trans people and the cause of feminism. So I'm really only left with one choice (I'm not getting into the content of the series here. Obviously there's stuff there that's worth criticising too. but in general, I firmly believe that the fact that a book or movie has "problematic" content is no reason not to engage with it. The idea that one cannot love something (or certain aspects of it) and engage with it critically at the same time is, imo, frankly infantilising. My reasons for not engaging with fb right now are firmly rooted in it's real world effects, not its content)

But yeah ... that's my reaction. And I'm sorry I unloaded that on you. I wish I could just enjoy this movie in all it’s flawed, retconning beauty. I wish I could make grindeldore edits out of that frankly unfairly poetic cafe scene (THE FLAMES!!! HELLO??? 😭) bc I finally have proper giffing skills :/ But I can't ...

Maybe i will one day, when the movie is out of cinemas, but not right now

(Please don't reblog this post. I have zero energy for a discussion about this that gets larger than my immediate mutuals and followers 😅 if you are one of those, feel free to comment or send me a dm though 💚)

[quakeriders]

my thoughts on the state of the acotar fandom, and why i'm still not back - an essay.

i rarely see any anti feyre posts, but whenever i see a post that is anti anti feyre the talking points are so buck wild that i honestly don't know if i wanna come back into this fandom. like.. there are tamlin apologists now? there's talk about feysand being equated to like pre-french revolution monarchy (without regarding the greater world structure), like so many hot takes that aren't really hot but.... freezing cold and speak of misogyny or reaching to explain the dislike for a character by using morally elevated arguments. and it's just... exhausting tbh.

like the archeron sisters don't have to be pitted against each other. if i like one sister doesn't mean i have to hate the others. but also if i dislike a sister, it doesn't mean the only reason is the sister i like.

in a fandom where people can stan morally ambiguous characters like rhys, lucien etc. and even morally dubious characters like eris or tamlin, i don't understand why it's always, always, always the women who get to pitted against each other.

mor wasn't gay enough, or bi enough or nice enough, she didn't gay right by not coming out (nevermind that nobody is horrified by the fact that the inner circle never made her feel safe enough to come out to them). feyre is duplicitous for revealing how little tamlin cared about his subjects, she is stupid for admitting when she doesn't know something and is willing to learn.

and i'm not even going to go into the nesta, elain and the new ladies and how they get pitted against each other as well.

i've been in women dominated fandom spaces for almost ten years now, and whenever a female character is hated, there's a subset of people who try to argue that she isn't feminist enough. that she uses other women, or is only where she is because of men, that she's bland, or overpowered, or has no own will and i know it makes people feel better about rationalizing their dislike but these anti-feminist takes just..

it's kind of like all those star wars gatekeeper men that shat all over rey because she was a mary sue, while pointing to luke skywalker and saying "he needed to train for 2.5 on-screen minutes, so he worked for it"

and idk i may have done the same thing in the past, but honestly it just seems hollow and like you give yourself permission to act vile towards other people on the internet. like i saw one post floating around wishing death upon people who agreed or disagreed with a certain take.

if you think you have the moral high ground, it makes you act in callous, hateful way against the people who you see as being morally wrong. so, its an environment where i don't really want to engage with anyone because that's just not the amount of importance i put into people's preferences when it comes to fictional characters/tropes/etc.

my best friend from high school is a nesta stan. she thinks feyre is boring. which doesn't make me think of her as evil. it just means we disagree on certain things. but thats fine. like that's it.. we can still talk about acotar and even the characters. honestly, it sometimes gives me insights into nesta that i wouldn't look for myself. or even feyre, because i have a different viewpoint. and like... whats the harm?

so long-long-long story short. what i'm saying is, some people are being assholes and justifying it by being morally right or stanning the morally better character and honestly thats just not a nice atmosphere for fandom and it makes me not want to participate in it.

[secret-keeper18]

So I’m finally watching the x-men movies and here are my comments and ratings so far. These ratings are completely arbitrary and completely based on how much fun I had while watching it. Also some great memes I made and sent to my roommates who dont appreciate it as much as you all will.

X-Men: First Class

Okay so we pirated this and there was no subtitles for foreign language, and about 30% of it is in German, French, Spanish, or Russian. So my understanding of these scenes was reliant solely on my rudimentary understanding of basic phrases, vocab, and counting in each of these languages

Watching Erik fuckin murder nazis while casually taking a drink of beer

Also I love Michael Fassbender but i feel like Erik’s character should have a german accent. Can’t complain too much though ngl

They went to a strip club and literally only looked at each other like sorry i dont make the rules but that is not heterosexual

I’m new to these movies so I hope I don’t offend any like, Mystique stans but Raven you win World’s Worst Sister. like bro doesnt wanna see ur tits out he doesnt care that you’re blue OKAY he’s ur brother. I’m just saying if my brother got shot in the spine by his boyfriend i wouldnt leave him lying in the sand to ditch him with said boyfriend idk maybe i’m just built different

Charles fuckin waits for Erik and Raven to leave before saying he can’t feel his legs. Anyways who else wants to cry? 🙃

Barely passes Bechdel test but loses points for immediately killing the only black man character and then have the only black woman character turn traitor 🤷🏻‍♀️

My guy decided to betray his boyfriend then break the woman he almost killed and then arrested out of prison. Then sometime inbetween those two events he decided “i need... a cape.” And then he STUCK TO THE CAPE for the next like forty years. Imagine being so stubborn you stick to the same purple and maroon color scheme for half your life.

Pretty gay. Friends to lovers to enemies. Utterly heartbreaking. 12/10

X-Men: Wolverine Origins

Honestly not as bad as I was expecting but that might be bc I’ve only heard negative things

This movie honestly was one big middle finger to my ADHD bc the pacing was kinda weird

Damn i hope we get Remy in the other movies his powers are hella cool in this

Deadpool who? Never heard of him he doesnt exist.

Oh yeah I think there is something called a wo-man in this movie?

3/10

X-Men

Knowing that this movie is from 2000 really made it palatable tbh. Like, surprisingly good considering it came out a month after I was born

Why do i got a feeling that Charles is gonna be so useless in the next like three movies

I forgot movies before like 2016 couldnt write women for shit. Jean is to the X-Men what Black Widow is to the Avengers tbh. Love the characters and their potential, but played with the emotional range of a teaspoon

Also Scott is pretty cool but why is his only lines about his girlfriend? Like calm down bro.

I’m so here for Dad Wolverine tbh. Like my guy really was just like:

Somehow despite having many female leads it still doesnt pass the Bechdel Test???

8/10

X2

Gonna be honest here. I was making dinner while watching this, so I was only like half present.

Bobby “coming out” to his family is just *chef’s kiss*

Kinda boring conflict ngl but I’m here for the characters at this point

Magneto murdering someone w the iron in their blood is fuckin metal as hell. No pun intended.

The moment Rogue sees Magneto for the first time since he tried to kill her in the last movie and she about to take her gloves off deceased me on the fuckin spot. Bitch really said call an ambulance but not for me.

Anyways Charles is one of the most powerful characters in the comics but he has once again been relegated to plot device in this movie. I get it, I get it, mentor character. He could fix every problem in these movies if he wasn’t such a liberal about his powers :/

I’m so SICK of the silent and dangerous Asian assassin character archetype. Yes I KNOW it was 2003 so let’s take this as yet another reminder that we need to do better

Okay ik we’re not supposed to know that Mystique is his sister yet bc it’s only 2003 and First Class wont come out for another eight years but STILL yall really left him in there to die can you NOT

Also real question: was i supposed to be sad that Jean died?

5/10

[bookofmirth]

I haven't read ACOSF yet, and tbh I'm rather rusty with the characters but it was really interesting to read your opinion on Elain! I feel there's a lot of complexity to her. And how she presents herself as well because as you said we literally have no chapters from hers or Lucien's POV and I think that's the important point to note because right now we're all just guessing and assuming her to be like Feyre, but she's not. People deal/show their traumas in different way and l think people expect Elain to deal with it as Feyre did. But, Feyres trauma and Elains are very different!

I don't really know what I'm saying. But I read your answer and it made me go 'oh... Huh!' in a good way, it sparked my curiosity! So thank you! But I think Elain perhaps is the most complex person with their trauma. I know people say 'oh Nesta is so different' but (I specialised in drama therapy so I love psycho analysis) and what Nesta did is self destructive to prevent relationships to avoid hurt or more emotions that she doesn't want to acknowledge (in my opinion!)

Elain just shuts down. She doesn't drink, she doesn't screw, she just remains in her garden which in itself says a lot! That's a very grounding way to handle trauma and not a lot of people are aware of that side!

So yeah I don't know what I'm saying but I think it's a really interesting discussion!

I have so many thoughts about Elain! This took me a few days to get to because i knew I had a crapton of thoughts. So this is basically me using this ask to explain the way I see Elain post-acosf!

There are three important scenes in acosf off the top of my head: when Elain talks with Nesta and they fight, and then with Nesta and Feyre and she gets mad and leaves, and then Feyre and Rhys talk about her in their chapter. We’re getting a lot more information about her, and for me, it wasn’t so much about who she is, but why we don’t know who she is.

So far, what we’ve had is Feyre’s and Nesta’s POV. Even when Feyre and Lucien tried to help her in acowar, they were unable. So we’ve never had anything about Elain from someone who didn’t grow up with her and experience the same trauma (such as becoming destitute, their mother’s death, their father being beaten, the Cauldron, etc.)

The sisters do handle it very, very differently. And I think that at this point the fandom consensus is that Elain runs away from her problems, but I actually disagree, and partly because of what you mentioned - that she isn’t using those self-harming, destructive coping mechanisms. Nesta was avoiding her problems, hardcore. It’s absolutely possible that Elain avoids things, but I don’t think that she just runs from all of her problems because:

Elain grieves her father. Openly. She tries to accept the fact that it wasn’t her fault and that she couldn’t do anything about it. (See: her going to his grave in acofas, her first talk with Nesta in acosf.) Elain does not run from her grief, she doesn’t pretend it doesn’t exist, and she doesn’t hide it from others. As one of the most defining events we’ve seen her go through in the series, that’s a pretty big deal.

Elain does not cling to unhealthy coping mechanisms. There could be ways that she does this that we are unaware of. She does seem like the type who would be really, really good at making people think she’s okay, all while she’s silently imploding. But we don’t know that yet?

Elain does not isolate herself. 

However, Elain definitely needs to deal with some stuff! She definitely needs to deal with Lucien, and she needs to have an actual talk with Nesta because I don’t remember a single satisfying resolution between those two in acosf. Not like Nesta had with Feyre. 

I have this idea that is purely based on Elain’s line in acosf:

“I went into the Cauldron, too, you know. And it captured me. And yet somehow, all you think of is what my trauma did to you.” (pg. 233)

And then Feyre tells Nesta that yes, Elain was right. 

This is so so so sossosososos important. I cannot emphasize it enough. Elain is used to putting on a fake, smiling face because she doesn’t want the weight of her sisters’ concern. She has been pretending to cope for so long - and tbf, she seems to have been doing better than Nesta - that people not only forget that she has suffered, but she doesn’t feel like she can even express that suffering.

Emotional labor often means negating one’s own feelings in order to acknowledge or tend to someone else’s. And that is Elain’s major role, in the series. Feyre has been caring for everyone’s physical wellbeing (hunting), while Elain’s role has been to care for everyone’s emotional wellbeing. But, like with most emotional labor, it has gone unnoticed.

I’ve made posts about emotional labor in the past (four years ago!!!!) but I’m gonna spare you the link because a lot of it was about a ship that’s no longer a ship, so here is the relevant content:

What I am talking about is the regulation of emotion - any time that you give comfort, are especially attentive to someone’s needs, stop thinking about how you feel in order to focus on how someone else feels, try to cheer someone up, make sure that they are taking care of themselves, try to allay their insecurities, etc. Basically, helping them with any sort of emotional distress.

You know those posts you’ve seen, about women protecting men’s egos constantly? Or about making time for self-care? Or about recognizing toxic relationships? That tell you “if X is being demanded of you in a relationship, get out”? Those are ALL about emotional labor, broadly speaking. They are warning you not to do more than you can handle, more than you need to do, because it can be harmful to you.

If you have ever been expected to make a person or people feel better any time you are around each other (including when they are angry, upset, anxious, ill, frustrated, insecure, etc.), you have performed emotional labor. Pretty much everyone has done this at some point, unless you are a completely insensitive jerk.

Notice, though, that I said expected to and any time you are around them – this is where the problem comes in for YOU. This is not about just being there for a friend.

Making loved ones feel better is fantastic. Seeing people be polite and kind to one another makes my heart shine. That is not a problem in and of itself. That can be seen as emotional labor, but there are no requirements on you in those circumstances. This is something you are doing of your own free will.

The problem, again, is when this is expected, constantly, over time. Now, in my experience, the expectation is not necessarily coming from the other person. One of the problems with this type of labor is that not only do others expect women to perform these tasks, but women expect it of themselves.

It’s super easy to see this – who is expected to take care of a child when they fall? Who is expected to baby-sit? Who did you want when you were sick as a child, mom or dad? Who is expected to be sensitive and pay attention to others’ emotions?

For more info on this idea specifically, read Of Woman Born by Adrienne Rich. As a woman, I realized how much work I had been performing and how much it was harming me and I just… got real upset. She comes at this mostly from what a woman’s role is expected to be within the family, and might actually be a bit outdated in that respect because I feel like family structures and dynamics are shifting (that is a totally un-academic evaluation of the situation, don’t quote me on that), but still, it’s really informative.

While I was doing some research for this post I came across a peer-reviewed article about nursing and basically, high amounts of emotional labor led to anxiety and burn-out in those performing it. It literally will cost your mental health – not to mention your time, energy, attention, and it often requires you to ignore your own needs (this last part came from me, not the article). On the other hand, high levels of emotional intelligence (being able to recognize your own and others’ emotional states) meant less emotional labor (and therefore less anxiety & burn-out). One of the most important things to realize is that while you are taking care of someone else’s emotional needs, your own are frequently unmet. That is why it’s important to recognize this in yourself, not just in these characters.

So where does Elain fit in? Elain is the #1 emotional labor provider of the family, and she is about to freaking SNAP. I know, because once I realized how my trauma was hidden in order to spare someone else its consequences, I fucking SNAPPEd. I’ll also spare you the personal details, but Elain hasn’t been “okay”. She hasn’t been “boring”, or “nice”, or “chosen” Feyre over Nesta. She has literally been unable to express herself because (and I am NOT blaming Nesta or Feyre or her father one bit) her family’s emotional state has been so fragile, there hasn’t been room for Elain to feel or express her emotions in years. 

In the feysand short, Rhys says:

I wonder if everyone has spent so long assuming Elain is sweet and innocent that she felt she had to be that way or else she’d disappoint you all.

And that completely tracks. Everyone has gotten used to Elain being not just “nice”, but being the emotionally predictable one. The one they know they can go to for a smile. The one they can count on for never, ever making them realize that she has been through Some Shit Too. And being that person is exhausting.

When Feyre thinks about Elain not using Lucien’s gloves, 1) she still has them, otherwise she couldn’t think about Elain not using them, and 2) I like to see the gloves as something that she will come to use, once she realizes that she can feel and express those emotions without it causing a breakdown in the family. Right now, she just wants to feel. And she can’t do that emotionally, so she’s doing it physically. Once she heals and finds a better balance, she won’t need to resort to physical pain. (Which, lowkey has me thinking some other thoughts, but.... maybe later.) But anyway, once Elain does go through her very own special journey, I fully expect her to welcome those gloves. She won’t need physical pain to feel anymore.

Not to mention my completely unacademic and non-professional opinion that people will judge a nice women harshly for being rude once, but accept a woman with a history of rudeness for just “being that way”. It’s another way that Elain may feel trapped in her “nice girl” persona. I think she started out that way - kindness and light and generosity is 100% in Elain’s character in the first place. It’s not as if she went into the Court of Nightmares and suddenly Cassian thought, “wait, she fits right in to this shithole of depravity”. No, he still thought the literal opposite. It’s just that once people get used to you doing all their emotional labor, they will continue to take advantage of it, even if they don’t realize its cost.

[antiloreolympus]

A Bunch of Anti LO Asks

1. I have a lot to say about lo’s writing so here we go:

1) there is so little foreshadowing. I can’t even name one instance other then Kronos being reawakened but that was a literal direct shot of it instead of it being hinted at. There’s very little to none at all ( correct me if I’m wrong.) 2) The pacing??? This all happens in 2 weeks but so much has happened and it’s all happened so slow it feels like it’s been at least a year ( in universe time.) 3) I feel like this has been said enough but using trauma as a way to move the plot along is literally the laziest thing I’ve ever seen.

I’m sorry if this is like hella stupid or something like that

2. i dont get why the writing in LO refuses to let persephone be dark and accepting of death/punishment, because isn't that what you need to show she's going to be a good queen? she seems terrified of the concept and keeps trying to find ways to reverse them, which goes against the whole point of ruling over the dead and even something in myth hades DID NOT like, so its weird to keep making her the opposite of what she's supposed to be? shes just making the case she's not right for the role?

3. apollo/hyacinthus is having such a big resurgence right now that i dont get why rachel didnt include them as friends/a couple persephone cares about and, when hyacinthus dies, have persephone resurrect him. not only would it show her kind nature and sway over hades, but it would also be some actual positive canon gay representation that has legit myth backing. RS obviously got most of her takes from tumblr, yet couldnt take the pro apollo/hyacintus take too? is her heterosexuality that strong :/

4. the whole r*pe plotline was BY RACHEL HERSELF said to not be included, she promised as much, and readers were excited they were finally able to see a depiction of HxP without sexual assault, only for it to turn out she was lying with only a measly "this might be bad uwu" warning on the ep, triggering many people in the process. then she tried to backtrack and claim it was a #MeToo moment, and that irl victims were haters for calling it out. That speaks to who she really is, and it's not pretty.

5. lo hades isnt even cute tbh. what exactly makes him so desirable to make all these women fight over him for? his design is basic (and kinda antisemitic, a guy with a gigantic nose controlling the media and all the banks/money? rachel please), hes not charming or funny, he talks over all the women in his life, never listens to being rightfully called out, he never apologizes or does any self reflection, etc. hes just awful??? like even by an uwu hes misunderstood POV hes just a boring jerk?

6. I think the reason Punderworld or HXP Ficlets doesn't get the amount of scrutiny LO does (and PW is def LO's rival, WT has begged to Feature it several times) is because they had the good sense to never get high and mighty about their depictions, something RS absolutely does all the time. In fact the PW creator constantly promotes over myth comics and loves other takes on the mythos, while RS flips out unless its exactly how she sees it. How she survived school w/ that attitude we'll never know

7. also if demeter was as evil in LO as they want her to be then why would she ever let her emotionally unstable child out into the city with no supervision and no way to contact her? Why would she be going through all this trouble including putting her own welfare into question like trying to keep persephone out of harms' way via the cruelty of thee olympian men and out of jail (WHERE SHE BELONGS) if she's the big bad? Why even make her abusive and evil to begin with? Can't Persephone love both?

8. even if lo needs a villain (which it doesnt but w/e) must it be apollo? or leto? or minthe? or anyone for that matter? if you need some ~drama~ just use eris? she doesn't need some tragic backstory, she's an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. you could so easily have her basically be like TMZ causing discord through her popular blog and causing shit because she can. LO shoots itself in the foot by trying too hard to be deep and thought provoking when its as deep as a puddle.

9. less persephone/hades and more dionysos/ariadne: whats more romantic? a man kidnapping his underage niece and her friends crying themselves to death over it (cyane) or ariadne being dumped by her first boyfriend only to come back with some serious bling and a hot divine partner that is at least the physical equiv of her own age? (dionysos is usually depicted as mentally/physically quite young, so the godly age gap is less creepy/statutory-y)

10. vis a vis the sexual assault anon: it is also something that happens with horrific frequency to trans people as well. the number of trans reports of sexual assault that get thrown out per year by sample size is almost 5x the amount of cis female ones. LO already has some weird terfy undertones with the fertility thing, but just because it happens less (or rather, is reported less) by cisgender men doesnt mean it happens the most to cis women.

[asukaskerian]

Askerian: ... adi i'm watching this anime and there's this massive warrior guy coming in to flex on the newbie heroes (mostly the sasuke analogue) and then he's like "ok tell me your type of women! your taste in women tells me everything about the kind of guy you are! men with boring tastes are boring themselves and i hate nothing more than boring men. btw it's fine if you prefer guys. btw my taste is tall women with big asses." Askerian: i'm dead Askerian: this guy's hilarious and i love that he was like "ok you can also be gay that's at least not boring"

adiduck: XDDDDDDDDDDD

Askerian: then the Sasuke is like "as long as they're a virtuous person i don't really care what they look like" and immediately "BORING."

Askerian: seriously this manga reads like if someone came up with a naruto fanfic at age fourteen like what if they were exorcists and has been working on it for ten years and now it's entirely its own thing but you can see the bones everywhere

((even more spoilers inside!))

Askerian: "kakashi if he was actually 700% more of a troll" "sasuke if he was actually just awkward and not stupid with his revenge issues" "sakura if she was actually inner sakura nonstop" "naruto with pink hair and a BIT less stupid" "kyuubi if he was human and terrifyingly fuckable" Askerian: also i really like that in this manga a lot of the girls are really scary and some are complete hardasses etc and they actually do shit Askerian: i mean, it's a shonen/seinen so the focus is still on guy hero and guy mentor and guy rivalfriend but Askerian: oh yeah and also there is sexual tension between kyuubi guy and sasuke guy

adiduck: but the girls are not brushed aside? nice

Askerian: yussss Askerian: also no compulsory het bullshit >> Askerian: ... also adi, main guy has an evil spirit that looks Just Like Him sealed inside him

adiduck: ...welp adiduck: so yeah it's Naruto

Askerian: guy sits on a throne of bones and cackles crazily and/or sneers disdainfully at weaklings Askerian: well he only looks like him because possession but Askerian: also he wasn't born with it Askerian: but yes Askerian: i told you it reads like someone dusted off their super involved exorcists AU and made it an ofic XD Askerian: except it's not afraid to have its girls do un-dainty and hella fucking violent things >_>

adiduck: Good

Askerian: also kakashi-like is actually godmode XD

Askerian: allowed to make crazy faces ;;

adiduck: niiiice

Askerian:

adiduck: ...okay yeah it's inner sakura

Askerian: usually she's not disheveled like that but she's always abrasive and childish and hilarious Askerian: also not!sasuke works with shikigami which means. he has! wolves! and giant owls! and they're PARTNERS and sometimes he PETS THEM GENTLY Askerian: also a giant white snake and things

adiduck: :OOOOOOO adiduck: GOOD

Askerian: XD yesss Askerian: also he has a tragic past but it's not "his life was perfect until bro went crazy". he's some kind of bastard child and his dad's at best negligent? i forgot, been a while since i read that part Askerian: like he's related to some Big Name family in the exorcist world but he only looked like he'd be worth bringing back in when he manifested powers and before that he had a pretty ehh childhood Askerian: and after that, still a pretty ehh childhood tbh because they're all jerks in the family

adiduck: :frowning:

Askerian:

naruto and kyuubi appreciating each other

adiduck: :DDDDDDDDDD

Askerian: o btw pink/rose hair on the guy. looks nice Askerian:

Askerian: look at that pompous jerk XD

adiduck: lol

Askerian:

Askerian: making looking down his nose at people into his day job Askerian: i love him Askerian: ok i'll stop

adiduck: it looks really fun XDDDD

Askerian: it is! ^^ Askerian: ... wow, the inner world where not kyuubi is locked up even has ankle deep water as a floor

adiduck: LOL

Askerian: anyway there's only twenty-two works in english in the not narto/not kyuubi tag Askerian: >_> Askerian: i have officially read them all.

[extremelyblackandwhite]

ooo can we get a sequel where lees ex-wife tells lee reader will leave her because shes prettier and younger than him? and lee pretends he doesnt really care but when he gets home maybe reader has come back from work and shes wearing a pretty dress and lee thinks that maybe his ex-wife is right? maybe reader comforts him? Pretty please.

y/n got married in a dress and style similar to this one [x] and the clothes she’s wearing at home [x] if you’re interested to know

lee definitely isn’t one to hang around with the town. tbh he likes his position of power and that’s the only reason he sticks around, was it not for that he’d probably move to new york. not because he likes new york but because y/n tends to travel there for work every once in a month and he misses her like crazy

ofc he’ll never admit he misses her in front of his colleagues but he does. the only time he’ll hang around the town is when he goes to the shops

lee never really goes to buy groceries, he can’t do it even if his life depended on it and y/n still pokes fun of the time he bought kale instead of lettuce but today he had to go. he was craving the sunday apple pies y/n baked him whenever he came back from work particularly grumpy but y/n was working late so he told her he’d pick them “it’s just apples, sugar. i can’t screw that up.” “not green apples, lee. you don’t like it when i do apple pies with green apples” “a’right sugar”

he ventured himself in the only grocery shop in knockemstiff and went straight to the fruit aisle. this would’ve been much easier if there weren’t so many red apples.

he was so keen on getting the right ones he didn’t notice his ex-wife walk towards him until she was in front of him. great. just great, he thought to himself.

“not even gonna say hi?” “hello jane, how are you?” “i’m good. i’m sorry i couldn’t make your wedding, you know ... i don’t really believe divorced men should marry in a church” “you weren’t invited” “betty said elizabeth’s kid wore quite a scandalous dress” “are you so bored with your useless little life that you’re gossiping with me about my own wife?” “well, the town does have a poll going around about how long til you divorce” “you think i’m going to divorce my wife? jane, i never pegged you for a dumb one” “not you. she is. i mean, she’s what? 10 years younger and you’re ... well, you’re not exactly troy donahue” “i don’t have the time to deal with your jealousy, jane. stop gossiping about my wife or you’ll regret it.”

lee paid for whatever red apples he had bought and returned to the cruiser, lighting a cigarette with the window half rolled. he let the cigarette hang from his lips as he drove back to their home. 

he spotted y/n glossy red car on the driveaway, the thought of her being already home immediately brightening his mood

“sugar? sugar, i’m home” he called out to her, taking his hat and hanging it on the hooks by the door. she appeared from the kitchen, wearing a navy blue high neck shirt tucked into a colorful stripped skirt which reached the beginning of her knees, a much more conservative look which she wore to the office yet still looked much more modern than everything the women at knockemstiff did. “hey sugar, i got the apples” “great, darling. how was work?”

lee got lost in how she looked, so beautiful, shirt slightly raised to show the skinny black watch he had given her as a wedding present. jane was right, she was much more beautiful, too beautiful to be married to someone like him. she just radiated youth and that sort of happiness that comes with change. “darling?” “yeah?” “you were lost a bit there. rough day?” “no, no. i just ... i just ran into jane?” “jane dubwoski?” “no, jane my ex-wife” “oh” “turns out your wedding dress is the talk of the town” “it better be, it cost me a whole month’s salary” “and they also have a poll in how long our marriage is gonna last?” “what? they think you’re going to divorce me?” “no, sugar. they think you’re gonna divorce me” “well, that’s awfully progressive of them” “yeah ... i guess”

y/n cocked her head to the side, noticing the sadness in his voice “lee, what’s wrong?” “nothing” “no, something’s wrong.” “they’re right.” “right about what?” “i mean look at you ... you’re so pretty and you’re so young. for fucks sake you’re a junior copywriter and every once month you’re in new york and i ... i’m just a sheriff of a town that doesn’t even show up in most maps” “lee, you can’t be serious. you’re listening to them?” “they’re right y/n” “my god, lee. why would i marry you if i wanted to divorce you straight after?” “i’m not good enough for you” “lee, listen to me. you are good enough for me, you are more than enough for me. you’re the reason i stay in this town, you’re the man i want to wake up every single morning too no matter what. i don’t care if you’re older than me and i definitely find you much more attractive than you think” “okay sugar i’ll believe it” “okay ... are you not gonna ask me about my work?” “how was work, sugar?” “well, we are currently working for playtex now and they were so sweet to have given us some products to try out” “playtex? aint that the bra company?” “... why don’t you come and check it out?”

[thinkyoureholy]

Blessed With A Curse [4]

.

.

.

Pairing : Kang Yeosang / [fem] Reader

Genre : Angst, Violence, Language, Fluff, Smut, Greek God! AU

Words : 4.1k

[Trigger Warning : there’s mentions of an attempted rape in this chapter. I don’t really go into too much detail tbh but I thought I’d still warn y’all about it. If even just the implication of rape makes you even the slightest bit uncomfortable please skip over that part of this chapter, I’ll put “TR” in bold before it starts and “TR End” once its over.]

Previous Chapter. - Next Chapter.

⋘ ──── ∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗ ──── ⋙

-Y/N’s P. O. V-

I sighed as I plopped down onto the ground, leaning back against the tree. I closed my eyes for a moment, that is until I felt a hand fall gently atop my head. I opened my eyes so see Wooyoung crouched in front of me, a warm smile on his face as he combed his fingers through my hair. I said nothing as I moved my head away from his hand, nudging it aside with my own hand. 

“Can’t I just get a few seconds of peace?” I asked in an exasperated tone. 

He grinned at my words, giving a shake of his head, “Nope. I’m bored and you’re my only source of entertainment.”

I rolled my eyes as I pushed at his chest lightly, watching in amusement as he rocked back and fell on his ass, “Go find someone else to entertain you.” 

“But you’re the only one that can tolerate me.” He said with a pout. 

The sight of his pout had a small smile play at my lips. Against my better judgment I reached out and grabbed his shoulders, forcefully turning him around so he had his back to me. Just as he was about to question what I was doing I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him back so he was leaning against me as I leaned back against the tree again. I felt him tense under my touch but I gave him a good squeeze before relaxing. 

“Uh...Y/N, what are you doing?” He asked, moving to get up but I held him captive. 

“If you insist on interrupting my time alone then at least be my cuddle buddy. I’m a bit touch starved at the moment.” I replied with a shake of my head, giving his chest a small pat. He fell silent, as if not know what to do. I nudged his head with mine, “Well go on now. You must’ve wanted to tell me something if you came out here.”

“Just wanted to tell you of a little story I heard a few months back,” He started, relaxing into my hold, “But now that I think about it you might not want to hear it.”

“And why not?”

“It’s about Ares. I know what you think of him as an Athenian and I’m sure  you don’t want to hear about the Spartans god.”

I chuckled, amused by how lightly he was treading the topic, “Well you’re wrong about that there, I don’t think about him at all.  I don’t think about any of the gods to be honest, I don’t even think about my own. They’re all pretty useless to me actually.”

“Even Athena?”

“Especially Athena. Like Ares she only cares about war, whether she’d admit that to herself or not is a whole different story,” I said, sighed heavily, “But anyway, what was it you wanted to tell me?”

He remained silent for a moment, relaxing further in my hold, “You know all about Ares being kicked out of Olympus right?”

“Not really. Again, I’m not really interested in the gods so I don’t know much of their stories.” I said, as I began combing my fingers through his hair, “But tell me why, I’ve got to say I’m curious now that you mentioned it.”

“Well long story short he was caught in an affair with Aphrodite and was banished from Olympus. After he was banished he went a bit off the rails. He was said to have brought down chaos all across Greece; wars broke out, whole villages were burned to the ground and eradicated. Men, women, and children were killed, none were spared.” He started, the story sounding terrible already. 

I kept quiet as he continued. As I listened to him talk I felt my eyelids growing heavier and heavier. His story didn’t particularly interest me but I found myself hanging onto his every word. My only problem would be that his voice was just so damn soothing the exhaustion I had felt before came crawling back. Before I knew it I had relaxed further into the tree behind me, unconsciously tightening my hold on Wooyoung as I let the sleep I’d been fighting off finally consume me. 

-Wooyoung’s P. O. V-

I could physically feel her fall asleep, her chest rising and falling at a steady pace as she hugged me close. I brought a hand up to loosely twine my fingers through hers, noting how they fit together. Had I found her first I would have claimed her—no, that’s not true, I would’ve done everything in my power to keep her free. They’re not our possessions, they’re not ours to claim in the first place. I would’ve gone to unimaginable lengths to keep her from being bound to one of us. No good ever comes out of giving a human our mark, sure in the beginning things always worked out but it never ends well, especially when he’s involved. 

“If I had the power I’d remove his mark from you, you've been through enough already. And it pisses me off to no end that I see nothing but pain in your future.” I sighed out, mindlessly playing with her fingers now as she slept. 

I was so enchanted with her hands that I didn’t hear him approach until he crouched down in front of me. Before I could even react he reached out, grabbing my collar and began to pull me towards him when he stopped abruptly. The two of us froze, Y/N tightening her arms around me to keep me in place. I watched his eyes as he glanced back to look at her, his face softening up the slightest bit before he set his jaw, his eyes coming back to meet mine. 

“Unwind yourself from her arms, now.” He ordered, his eyes glowing with anger. 

I could tell he was having a hard time restraining himself, the hand he had on my collar trembling as he tried to hold it in. I took this chance to grab his wrist, my fingers digging into his skin. 

“And if I say no?” I asked, challenging him, taking advantage of the situation. 

The hold he had on my collar tightened significantly, his face twisting in pure rage, “You dare defy me?”

“Y’know I've had it with your empty threats. I’ve never been afraid of you and I’m not about to now.” I growled through my teeth, keeping my voice low so as not to wake Y/N. 

“You talk big hiding behind a mere human.” He spat, “And using my human at that.”

“She’s not yours, she never was and she never will be.”  I shot back, my eyes beginning to glow as I glared at him. 

He growled low in his chest, trembling almost violently, “You’re walking on thin ice Apollo.”

I scoffed, finally calling his bluff, “Even if she wasn’t here you wouldn’t do anything to me. You’re far too fond of us.”

He flinched at my words, his hold loosening the slightest bit, “W-What…”

“You act tough and say shit to intimidate us but when it comes time for you to actually do something you falter, hesitating to lay a finger on us. We’re your weakness.”

“No. You’re wrong…”

“Even after knowing we all don’t give a damn about you you still hesitate. You’re so pathetic.” I spat out, only meaning half of what I was saying. 

“Shut up…” He murmured his voice wavering. 

He and I used to be so close, we were inseparable. He, Artemis, and I were as thick as thieves but then everything changed over night. It was only after he was banished did I realize what I had let happen. He was my best friend, my closest confidant aside from my twin sister… and I turned my back on him when he needed me the most. That day still plays vividly in my dreams every night, the memory haunting me. The look he had in his eyes when I spoke out against him crushed my very soul and in that moment I wished to take back my words but I was too cowardly to do it. I’ve regretted my actions and my lack thereof ever since but I could never bring myself to ask for forgiveness, and I didn’t deserve it. Instead, since meeting him down here I’ve done nothing but antagonize him, wanting him to hate me more because it was I deserved. I was supposed to be the one that stood by his side, defended him, protected him, loved him but instead I drove that knife deeper into his back to the point he couldn’t take it out on his own anymore. 

‘Ares, my brother, I’m sorry I wronged you. I’m sorry I didn’t live up to your expectations. I’m so sorry. I would beg for you to forgive me but I don’t even deserve to have you hear me out. So hate me. If I can be an outlet for your anger then go ahead and hate me. I can go through whatever kind of hell you want to put me through. So give it your best shot...brother.’

The corners of my lips twitched upwards at the thought, my eyes flickering with emotion for a split second before I masked it. Luckily for me he didn’t catch it, instead he caught the way a smile worked its way onto my face. I quickly morphed it into a smirk, the look in his eyes pulling at my heartstrings. 

“I should’ve never helped you…” He whispered, referring to that time one thousand years ago where he saved my life, “I should’ve left you there to rot. I should've ignored Artemis’ pleas to help you. If I had then-”

He cut himself off, inhaling shakily as he finally let me go. He stood to his full height, standing over the two of us. He glanced back at Y/N who surprisingly enough was still fast asleep before meeting my gaze. The pain that was ever present in his eyes was now gone, replaced with resentment.

“You’re lucky she’s here. If it weren’t for her I would’ve already torn you to pieces. The next time I see you and you provoke me like this then I promise you you will not escape with your life.” He threatened his voice low as he glared down at me.

With one last look at Y/N he walked away. I let out the breath I didn’t even know I was holding, staring after him as he walked away. I closed my eyes and leaned further into Y/N’s hold, biting down harshly on my bottom lip to stop myself from calling after him and begging for forgiveness.

-Y/N’s P.O.V-

I gave the woman a warm smile as I handed the coins over to her. With a final goodbye I grabbed  my things and left her little stall. My father had sent me out to buy a few things we needed and I had just bought the last thing I needed. It was a rare opportunity for me to explore the city of Athens, the city I was born in. My father and I have been living in Pireas for as long as I can remember and I was rarely allowed to go out on my own. I didn’t like to think of my father as overbearing as some have calmed him over the years, just a little too overprotective. I never resented him for it or rebelled against his rules, knowing he only had them in place to protect me from the dangers of the world. I was his own and only little girl after all.

I smiled softly as I thought of how fussy my father was as I prepared for my short trip this morning. I chuckled to myself as I stuffed everything I was carrying into the saddlebags I had on Ajax, petting his name affectionately.

“C’mon boy, let's get going before my father comes looking for us,” I said as I put my foot through the stirrups, about to pull myself up but an arm wrapped around my shoulder from behind, stopping me.

-TR-

I immediately started struggling in their hold, the blood in my veins going cold as I heard various voices let out laughs. I fought harder against them, beginning to panic until I was thrown to the ground roughly. I scrambled back, putting as much space as I could between me and the men that brought me here. I looked up to see around five of them, standing above me as they gave me looks that were comparable to a lion looking at its prey. My heart pounded loudly in my chest, my brain trying to think of a way out of this situation. I could vaguely hear Ajax neighing in the distance but he was far away that I couldn’t reach him quick enough to escape. I looked for an opening but found none, cursing as I felt for the dagger I kept on me. I was about to pull it out when I stopped myself. What if I pass out again from hearing that voice? Then I really won’t be able to defend myself and these assholes will be able to do whatever they want with me.

“What are you spacing out for sweetheart? Are we not enough entertainment for you?” One of them asked, reaching out a hand to touch me.

I slapped his hand away harshly just before he could touch my face. I stood up so as not to give them the satisfaction of having me look up at them. I don’t know how I’ll be able to get out of this without fighting but I’ll be damned if I just sat there and took it.

“She’s a fiery one.” One of them said with a chuckle, a disgusting look in his eyes.

“I haven’t seen her around before...must be from out of town…” Another trailed off, scanning my figure from head to toe with his eyes.

I stepped back, pulling out my dagger, “Stay back.”

“Oh? What’s this? Little miss is armed and it doesn’t look like she’s afraid to use it,” The last one said with a dangerous glint in his eyes, his lips curled into a grin, “How cute.”

As soon as those words left his mouth he reached out to grab my arm, probably hoping to catch me off guard. I gripped onto the dagger tightly and swung at him, cutting into his arm. I stared at the open wound in shock, not believing that I actually did that. Was the voice not going to say anything this time? Am I really able to fight back freely? But before I could get my hopes up too high a loud ringing reverberated through my ear, the pain of it causing me to drop my dagger and cover my ears with both hands to try and alleviate the pain somehow.

All it took was a second for them to grab me like the vultures they were. I fought against as hard as I could but the four of them overpowered me. Just as one of them grabbed a fistful of my hair, I cried out, saying his name. 

-TR END-

“Yeosang!” 

The instant his name left my lips I felt the men pulled off of me. Like before I scrambled back until my back hit a nearby wall. I looked up to see someone I least expected standing in between me and the men that attacked me. 

“Yeosang…?”

He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of his name, a soft smile playing at his lips as he looked at me. He didn’t say anything, turning back to face the men in front of him. Something about the way his back tensed and the way his hands trembled at his sides told me everything I needed to know that he was beyond angry. The men trembled before him, their faces twisted in fear. They looked like they were going to flee but one seemed to swallow his fear as he charged at Yeosang, swinging at him. Yeosang dodged his punch easily, leaning to one side to avoid it, reaching out to grab the man’s wrist. He must’ve been pretty strong because the moment Yeosang grabbed his wrist the man fell to his knees, clawing at Yeosang’s hand to try and free himself. Yeosang just stared at the man as he squirmed, delivering a swift kick to the man’s stomach, sending him back a few feet. I stared at Yeosang wide eyed, shocked by his strength. The other men stumbled back when Yeosang turned to them, their entire bodies shaking as Yeosang stared them down. None of them tried to fight him as they grabbed their fallen friend and ran. 

I let out a sigh of relief when they left, finally letting the panic I was feeling slip away but the second that was gone I felt tears in my eyes. I looked down at my clothes to see my dress had been torn, my left leg exposed. I shakily reached out a hand to try and cover myself but I was shaking so much I could barely get my hands to grab at the torn fabric, the tears in my eyes blurring my vision. Just as I felt the first of many tears fall from my eyes a dark maroon cloak was laid over my body. I raised my head to see Yeosang crouched in front of me, the look on his was one of unbelievable pain, his brows furrowed as a frown adorned his face. The instant I looked into his eyes the tears I had been trying to hold back came out all at once. I reached over and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly as I buried my face in the crook of his neck. He wasted no time in wrapping his own arms around my waist, pulling me in closer. I felt his arms trembling ever so slightly as he squeezed me in his hold, a shaky sight leaving his lips.

“I should’ve killed those bastards for touching you with their filthy hands.” He growled out in a low voice, my arms squeezing him tighter at his words.

I don’t know how he knew where to find me or how he was here when I needed him but I didn’t care, I’m just glad he’s here. If he were even a second later then--I don’t even want to think about it. I was crying from the fear I felt from the whole thing but also partly because of how pathetic I was. Here I was, a skilled fighter, able to use any type of weapon but when I needed to put my knowledge and skills to good use I was useless. Why was I blessed with this talent if I couldn’t even use it?

……

“Are you sure you’re okay enough to ride on your own?” Yeosang asked, looking up at me.

I smiled softly, reaching out to run my fingers through Ajax’s mane, “I’m sure, besides, if I don’t ride on Ajax he’ll be anxious the whole way home, he’s a bit clingy.”

Yeosang frowned but he didn’t try to argue about it anymore, turning to Ajax instead, “Take care of her for me,” He muttered to him, Ajax nudging his head against Yeosang’s open palm as if he were telling him not to worry.

Yeosang grinned, pulling out a carrot and giving it to Ajax as a treat, his own horse nudging at his back. Yeosang turned to the horse with a chuckle, pulling out another carrot, “C’mon now girl, you know it's nice to share with others,” He said, probably trying to scold her but his tone was way too soft for that. Silence settled over the two of us after that...that is until I spoke up.

“Thank you…” I mumbled, reaching out to grab his hand, “If you had been even a minute late then they-“

He squeezed my hand tightly in his, cutting me off, “Hey, you’re okay now. Don’t even think about what could’ve happened. I’m just glad I was in the area….and that you thought to call out to me.”

My eyes widened at his words, a blush crawling up my face as I thought back to when I cried out his name without thinking. I had done it almost as if out of reflex, his name being the only thing that came to mind. I looked away, feeling bashful all of a sudden. I heard Yeosang chuckle softly, squeezing my hand one last time before he let go. I watched him pull himself onto his own horse, confusion clear on my face.

“I’m going with you.” He said, as if already knowing why I was confused. 

“But don’t you have other things to do here? I’m sure you didn’t come here just to save me…”

He smiled gently and shook his head, “I had just finished everything I needed to do when I heard you cry out for me. Besides, if I did have something to do it’s not important.”

“But-“ 

“I can just come back another day. Let me accompany you home, please?” He cut me off, practically begging to let him come with me. 

I sighed but nodded, digging my heels into Ajax’s sides, spurring him into a light walk. Yeosang brought his own horse to walk beside mine. We made our way out of Athens in silence, my mind elsewhere. I was still thinking about what happened, the feeling of those bastards hands on me still very much there. I shuddered the longer I thought about it, my hand rubbing at my wrist where one of them grabbed me. Then my mind shifted to Yeosang who showed up almost out of thin air. He didn’t really fight much with any of them but the way he skillfully avoided that punch and kicked at that man told me something very important. 

“Where’d you learn to fight?” I asked, disrupting  the silence that had settled over us. 

He glanced at me before looking away quickly, his eyes staring straight ahead, “I...was a warrior once.”

I raised a brow, my curiosity getting the better of me, “Was?”

He nodded, moving his gaze to stare down at his hands, “Yeah, it’s been a years but I guess the skills I have never faded.”

-Yeosang’s P. O. V-

Had I been even a second later then those men— I shook my head to stop those thoughts from invading my mind. It was taking all the self restraint I had to keep myself from turning Mai around and tearing those bastards limb from limb. 

I stole a glance at Y/N, frowning at how tightly she was holding onto the reigns of her horse. She looked like she was barely holding it together and I couldn’t blame her. When they ran away I had noticed a discarded dagger on the ground, knowing it belonged to her. With her skills I doubt they took it from her and if that weren’t the case then that only leaves one answer, she heard my voice again. Minutes after I had given her my mark all those years ago I put that spell on her to keep her safe but now that she’s grown up it’s more of a curse. How is she supposed to keep herself safe if she becomes unable to think when my voice invaded her mind? Not only that but the harder she resists it the harder it hits her. I’ve made it so her ears start ringing as a final warning and if she keeps resisting she’s rendered unconscious. 

Now I see that my selfish choice to keep her safe was exposing her to danger at every turn. The spell only helped to keep my family from finding her, it prevented them from sending their pawns after her. But it put her at a disadvantage against other humans. There will be times when I don’t make it in time to save her. If I removed that spell from her then even humans would be able to see the mark tying her to me, they wouldn’t dare touch her. And if the spell was gone she’d be able to fight any pawn of theirs that they sent after her, she’d be so much safer. But would it really be the right choice? 

I looked over at her just as the thought crossed my mind. I hated the way she was still trembling ever so slightly out of fear. Fear doesn’t suit someone like her, not when she’s one of mine, not when she’s strong enough to take down 1,000 men without even so much as breaking a sweat. My mark gives her a fraction of my strength and that alone equaled the strength of all of Sparta and Athens’ armies combined. So was I really keeping her strength locked away for her own good or was it for my own selfish needs?

.

.

.

General Tags : @mirror-juliet 

series tags : @btrombley13​

[koreandragon]

I stopped reading the true beauty webtoon because of the way the author but also the fandom was treating Seojun. He's literally the best character in the story and yet the majority of people can't see it somehow? I see it's the same with the drama. Suho really isn't all that great, he has very little development but everyone's like "he's the only one for Jukyung" "he loves her so much!" "she's the only one he has left"... so many people don't acknowledge his flaws and only see him as the perfect love interest. I hate this love triangle so much, because it also influences Seojun's and Suho's friendship. I spent so much time arguing with hardcore Suho stans but they're often delusional, it's truly baffling so I decided to distance myself from TB, but now I keep seeing it everywhere and it's all coming back. It's really fucking frustrating, lol.

i was always team seojun in the webtoon too and i’m still reading it lmao ju kyung just told him this week to break up because his agency was pressuring them so they’re about to fuck that up too i see

tbh i think most of these people are underage and young and easily tricked by looks, but i don’t understand that in the webtoon because the artstyle is not...the greatest. and suho is literally so boring and adds nothing to the plot, he barely even shows up anymore, i have no idea why people started liking him. anyways if after today’s episode people still can’t see that suho is an asshole jerk who doesn’t care about ju kyung’s feelings whatsoever then idk what to tell them anymore. i’m so sick of love triangles, i feel like i watched a thousand love triangles dramas just last year and i thought we were done!! i thought we were over with the cold, emotionally inept, rich male lead getting the girl over the kind and caring but poor second lead but apparently we’re back in 2015. i trusted the director for extraordinary you but he let me down and proved once again men have no idea what women want at all. i literally fastforwarded the end of this episode because i didn’t want to see it happen. judging from the preview suho will pull some bullshit again (if it’s not a dream) and seojun will make me scream so i ought to buckle up

[char-lotteral]

I only care about Sarada because she's Sakura's daughter. I don't care about Sasuke or "Sauce" as you call him. I stopped caring about him a long time ago. I also only care about Hima 🌻.

We live in a society where I'm tired of seeing the same stories of women revolving around the men they're into. It's so boring jeez. I need new anime recommendations.

Correct. Sarada and Hima best girls in new gen. Everything else is poopoo. Sauce is the biggest poopoo

Maybe watch FMAB, Code Geass, One piece!!!!!, Yu Yu Hakusho!!! (i haven't finished it but I'll love it so much, JJk is also pretty great. *screams from the top of her lungs* WATCH FRUITS BASKET GODDAMIT. Mob Psycho 100!!!!! HxH (personal fave) ahhh what else. Or maybe watch a show that isn't anime xD try sitcoms, or tv series, movies cartoons!!! Miraculous Ladybug, steven Universe, Owl House, Catradora (havent watched it but im planning on it), Adventure time xD and a shit ton more. Try books!!! Explore!!!!

I guess, romance is the genre that caters to most women so i think they profitted out of that. Like with the usual highschool romcom stories always stars female characters while action stuff stars men. they dont call it "shoujo" or "shounen" for nothing

Tbh i don't have that big of a problem with female characters having a crush or whatever, the problem that i dislike is when the author (especially if its a dude) executes it so poorly that it looks like their entire personality just revolved around male chara

Istg I read somewhere that Kishi wrote 12 year old Sakura the way he interpreted ALL women acted like :||

Kishi.... tell me that youre misogynistic without telling me that youre misogynistic....