#the first time i made togs it was super hard

[rowenabean]

disappointed to realise it's actually harder to find good swimwear fabric than it was 2-3 years ago (swim sewing golden age apparently???)

[realcube]

dilf december

day twenty ⭑ yaku morisuke ⭑ free!

tags: fluff & dilf!yaku

there was a particular leisure centre that yaku liked to frequent during his retirement, for both it's abundant amenities and salacious eye-candy.

as an ex-athelete, he wanted to remain in peak physical condition for as long as possible, since retirement was not an excuse to let himself go. thus, he was up at 6AM sharp every morning and was always one of the first people to arrive at the centre. today, this meant he had the pool all to himself for a while.

bar you, of course, the lifeguard who was being paid to oversee a basically deserted pool.

despite the fact he was the only person in the water, he expected you to be a bit more subtle while watching him, but instead your pericing stare was fixed to him the entire time, following his every move. it was as though your eyes were boring holes into the side of his head. it was quite distracting, and being watched with such scrunity wasn't a pleasant so after around ten mintues, he hauled himself out of the pool and sauntered over to your tall lifeguard chair, holding his towel under his arm.

"is there a problem, hun?" he wasn't typically one to refer to women he doesn't know with pet names, but he did so deliberately on this occassion so his inquiry didn't come off as abrasive.

"no, sir." you shake your head, looking down at him from the top of the chair. "sorry, i didn't mean to stare. it's just that i think i recognise you.. you're a pro volleyball player, right?"

his brows knit together, forming a skeptical expression, "former volleyball player, yeah." he was unsure at whether you were just trying to toy with him, but his lips couldn't help but pull into a slight smirk, not only at the fact he was recognised as an athlete, but at how you are the one who acknowledged him.

meanwhile, your eyes light up and a bright smile spreads across your face as your theory is confirmed and you realise it's really him. and though you were a bit far, from what you could see, he looked even better than you remembered. he stood at the bottom of your chair, clad in a pair of red swimming trunks, with a towel tucked under his arm. he was shirtless, which revealed his toned phyisque, only accentuated by the droplets of water clinging to his biceps, giving him an alluring sheen.

"mhm, i remember you were in the russian volleyball league. i used to be a massive fan." your legs sway with excitement in your chair, which made yaku truly suspicious of whether you were just putting on an act to flatter him or if you genuinely are just so damn cute.

"used to be?" he quirks an eyebrow, shifting his weight on to one leg.

"well, after their amazing libero left, i wasn't so interested anymore." you say with a hum of laughter.

"are you working for tips or something?" he asks, only half-jokingly.

and you heartily chuckle in response, brushing off his comment as though it was complete nonsense, "tips as a lifeguard? i wish."

"what else do you want from me, then? if not money." he insists, light-heartedly. perhaps you weren't just trying to appeal to him for a tip; he developed a tendacy to doubt his own success and impact since his retirement and retreat from the limelight, so there was a chance that you really were a fan of his work at the russian volleyball super league. still, you decided to tease you.

and you played along with the joke by pursing your lips and tapping them with your index finger, humming and pretending to think hard before asking, "could i maybe get an autograph, please?"

yaku's eyes widened, but quickly masked his surprise with a veil of confidence as he gestures for you to come down from your lifeguard chair, "how could i say no to such a well-mannered girl?"

you titter to yourself, until you realise he is being serious. then, with a loud gasp, you swiftly push yourself off your chair and climb down, gracefully landing on the edge of the pool and rushing over to yaku's side. you clasp your hands together in front of him and with starry eyes, you ask, "really?"

"yeah." he nods, crossing his buff arms over his chest, "do you have a pen?"

you pat around in your pockets and managed to find a black sharpie in one of them, so you hand it to him, "could you sign the back of my hand, please?"

he tilts his head, somewhat bemused, and he questions, "are you sure you want me to write on your skin?" he gently takes your hand in his much bigger and damper one, grazing your soft skin with his thumb, "i can do it if you're really sure. it's just i have two kids so trust me, i know how hard it can be to wash sharpie off skin."

you blink, your cheeks growing hotter with each passing second with how delicately he was holding your hand in own. "uh, you're right." you stagger, not wanting to disagree with him, "could you do my phone case instead?"

"sure." he shoots you a warm smile.

with a massive grin plastered on your face, you scamper oover the wet tiles to pull out your phone from your bag which was laying nearby, at the foot of the lifeguard chair. once you got it, you dash back over and hand it to yaku, who scribbles his signature over the back in one swift motion.

when you hands it back, you cling to it happily, and chirp, "thank you so much, sir! this means a lot to me; you were always my favourite volleyball player. you're kids are so lucky to have such a talented father to teach them how to play." until now you were able to contain your incessant fangirling, but now it seemed to come pouring out of you all at once.

not that yaku seemed to mind, in fact he was quite appreciative and thought your rambling made you even cuter. "thank you, sweetheart. but my kids aren't that interested in volleyball." his voice trails off as he speaks.

"that's a shame." you pout, tensing up at the shift in tone from upbeat to sombre. none the less, you try your best to sympathise with him, "i'm sure when they grow up they'll realise how lucky they are. plus, if they don't like volleyball, that means they will introduce you to a new sport that you can learn together!"

"right. my oldest is into swimming at the moment, which is why i am here."

"oh, are you going to teach them how to swim? that is so cute!" you place your hand over your heart, and swoon over how adorable that sentiment is.

yaku chuckles at your reaction, and assures you, "i'm trying, but i don't think i am good enough yet to teach."

"well, i actually happen to run swimming lessons here at the lesiure centre on tuesdays and wednesdays."

your innocent comment ignites something within yaku, and gives him an idea, "do you offer private lessons?"

your eyes widen. although you never originally intended to do private lessons, you found it hard to say no to him, "i could."

"perfect. let's start." he says with a wink, turning on his heels and diving into the water, catching you in the splash-zone in the process.

[offtorivendell]

I just recently finished the actors series and I was reading up on the mating bonds and I came across your post about Lucien and Elain’s mating bond from a few years ago and how it potentially could be wrong from the cauldron and I find it super interesting and have seen multiple theories on it! I do think that Azriel might be right and the cauldron made a mistake but that leads me to think about Nesta/Cassian so I was hoping you could help me understand their mating bond! Could this not be considered the same for them? Is their bond not considered made by the Cauldron when Nesta was thrown in as well or how does their bond differ from Elain/Luciens? I could be overlooking but the info on the bonds is also hard for me to wrap my head around 😂

Hi and thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read my nonsense!

I assume you are talking about this post from May 2021 - "What if the Cauldron was wrong?" - in which, to briefly sum up, I suggested that Elain and Azriel were actually meant to be mates, and that Lucien was chosen by the Cauldron as Elain's mate because Azriel was currently "dead" to its senses thanks to taking a poisoned ash arrow in his chest, and Lucien's true mate, Jesminda, had already died.

I know you sent this last week, I'm sorry about the wait - which, sadly, is not nearly the worst wait time for the asks I've been procrastinating on over the last couple of years lol, sorry to anyone who sent something I've flaked on - but funnily enough, there has been some renewed discourse this week.

In addition to this ask, I'd recommend checking out the following (bearing in mind that some may contain spoilers for the entire Maasverse):

The OP and my recent reblog of this post.

This similar ask I recently answered.

This thread and this thread by @silverlinedeyes.

This thread by @elriell.

This post by @icedflames.

This thread by @psychologynerd.

This thread by @wingedblooms.

This thread by @violetasteracademic.

These two posts, here (ACOTAR only) and here (with evidence from the Maasverse suggesting something might've happened to the Cauldron).

It's difficult to explain the entire (hypothesised) lore behind SJM's mating bonds without delving into the worlds of TOG and CC, so I'll attempt a very basic discussion about the Archeron sisters and bat boys (please note that all of these theories are due to a shared effort within the Elriel fandom, not limited to the accounts I tagged above); the following will be based on the theory that there are two types of bonds in Prythian: the original, mutual soul bonds, and offspring bonds for breeding purposes that may be a Cauldron-Made imitation of the original bonds.

In short, I believe Nesta and Cassian's bonus chapter from ACOMAF, and his behaviour towards her while everything was going wrong at Hybern, strongly suggested they already shared a mating bond that would have obviously predated Nesta being Made by the Cauldron at the end of the book; this would have been similar to Feyre and Rhys, who we know shared a bond that predated Feyre being Made by the High Lords. And not to make this Elriel, but for the sake of being complete, the first "family" dinner shared by all six brothers and sisters in the human lands appeared to show Azriel acting differently (in his own unique way) around Elain, just as Cassian was so obviously drawn to Nesta.

Lucien, on the other hand, didn't act in such a way that demonstrated, without any doubt, that he felt anything for Elain in particular before she went into the Cauldron at Hybern (which I discussed in my first mating bond meta that I linked above). Azriel, though? It's definitely murky, but imo his responses at Hybern, while downed with a poisoned arrow, could plausibly suggest he felt something for Elain, assuming SJM wants to go the "true bond" way. As Nesta, who could see through glamours as a human, said to Lucien right after he'd claimed Elain: "She is no such thing!"

Remember this passage between Feyre and Rhys, in the original trilogy?

“A mating bond can be rejected,” Rhys said mildly, eyes flickering in the mirror as he drank in every inch of bare skin I had on display. “There is choice. And sometimes, yes—the bond picks poorly. Sometimes, the bond is nothing more than some … preordained guesswork at who will provide the strongest offspring. At its basest level, it’s perhaps only that. Some natural function, not an indication of true, paired souls.” A smile at me—at the rareness, perhaps, of what we had. - ACOWAR, chapter 24

Rhys said that sometimes, the bond is nothing more than "preordained guesswork," which suggests that sometimes it is more than that. I (and many others, but definitely not everyone in the fandom) think that Feysand and Nessian have the "rarer" type of bond, between "true, paired souls," while Elucien does not. I guess there's always the possibility that Feysand and Nessian also share offspring bonds, but given what happened in ACOSF that would appear to be... unwise on the Cauldron's behalf. But who knows.

Anyway anon, I hope this response helps to clear the theory up for you. If you have read the rest of the Maasverse then the posts I linked above are a really good grounding in the theories behind why mating bonds may not all be created equal.

[rewrite-this-story]

I know no one watches this show, and that's really unfortunate, but I have so many thoughts about Smash that I want to share, so you all get to either hear them or ignore this post entirely. I don't really care which.

First of all, Megan Hilty is an absolute queen!! I wish her name was more well known on Broadway because wow. Her voice is so powerful and I cry every time I hear her sing don't forget me. And I actually love ivy as a character with all my heart. She's beautiful and strong and so interesting. Yeah, she's flaws and human, but she tries so hard. I was so happy when she started getting the recognition she deserved in season 2. She makes mistakes, but then she gets back up every time. I also think she had incredible potential for directing and would have like to see that explored. She just deserved better in general.

I also don't like Karen at all. Not only is she kinda boring as a character, but she's not nearly as talented as everyone seems to think. Yeah, she's pretty and has a gorgeous voice, but she's really just a so-so actress and dancer. Her songs rarely make me feel anything like Ivy's do. At the end of season 1, I only cried during her version of don't forget me because I felt Ivy's frustration so deeply. Also, Karen is kinda rude and arrogant. Like, she has no clue how theater works but acts like everyone else is constantly out to get her just because they're asking her to do something differently. She can't remember her blocking and then complains that people don't like her. And she's so sensitive. No one can tease her or even comment anything that isn't 100% positive about her without her getting upset. Furthermore, Ivy's an interesting character who makes us really care about her because of how hard she tries and fails only to get back up again. Then, they throw in her past and emotional trauma and struggles with addiction. It's really hard not to care about and root for her. Why should I care about Karen? I liked hit list only because of Jimmy, Kyle, and even Anna. Karen didn't matter at all to me because she didn't really have to struggle or fight for anything. She was kinda just along for the ride.

Third thing, Derek sucks and is super problematic, but it was nice to see him stay to grow and improve. I would've liked to see where season 3 might've taken him. I do really like his relationship with Ivy because she calls him out on stuff, and he actually listens to her. It was dumb that he never saw how truly incredible an actress she was. They would have made a great team after she really became more sure of herself and he realized how awful he was. His obsession with Karen was really weird, but I like to imagine he probably got over it by the end of season 2.

Tom and Julia were interesting, but I was actually happy to see them split at the end of everything. She always kind of took advantage of him and it bothered me. He also deserved a real relationship story, but I'm not surprised he didn't get one since he was a gay character in 2012. His relationship with Kyle was kinda creepy and Kyle should've dated either Sam or that dancer we saw him flirting with earlier in the season. Either one of those would've been less uncomfortable. Him and Sam were also never really a good match. Plus, he did Sam kinda dirty in season 2. But yeah, he should've gotten a good relationship.

I do think Sam should've gotten the lead in hit list. He deserved it, Jimmy didn't. Jimmy did a good job, obviously, but he wasn't reliable and was really uncooperative. He could've just given feedback as a writer instead of being the lead actor. I get why they did it the way they did for the TV show, but realistically, it just didn't make sense.

Kyle's death was awful. I wish we saw more of him. I think his relationship and history with Jimmy was interesting, I think it should've been explorers more instead of Jimmy and Karen, who's relationship was kinda predictable and overused. It would've been nice to see him and Jimmy sing together sometime. I wish he sang a few more songs in general because he has a really cool sound.

Jimmy and Derek also could've had a really interesting relationship if it hadn't centered around Karen as much as it did. I think they could've really helped each other. Jimmy didn't take any bullshit and Derek didn't put up with any bullshit, so they could've kept each other in line. Derek also saw something in Jimmy that few people did and I think it would've been neat to see him become a bit of a mentor.

Finally, Derek and Tom had so much potential that was never explored. Their history and their future are so unclear, but I have so many questions.

So yeah, I really did enjoy the show. It's not the most incredible show ever made, but it was fun and interesting. It's a shame it only got two seasons. I kinda blame the marketing team since so few people know it ever existed.

[cosplayinamerica]

Anime conventions and their Yamato roots

by Dave Merrill

“Conventional” (ha ha) wisdom says that the first American convention devoted to Japanese animation was Project A-Kon 1990 in Dallas, Texas. This prototypical event was instigated by a group of Texas anime fans gathered under the banner of Star Blazers’“Earth Defense Command,” a Space Battleship Yamato fan club that grew to embrace all of Japanese animation. As of this writing, Project A-Kon is preparing for its 20th show.

But was A-Kon the first anime convention in North America? No. Not even close. For years, we’d seen references and offhand comments about a “YamatoCon” that was held in the Dallas area years earlier. Were these references true? Our crack team of researchers donned their explorer togs, dusted off their pith helmets, and began the harrowing search for enlightenment. Well, to be honest we sent some emails. Here’s what we found…

The first YamatoCon – that is to say, the first American fan convention devoted to Japanese animation – was held on August 13, 1983 at the Harvey Hotel in Dallas Texas. This one-day affair was the brainchild of Mark Hernandez, Don Magness, and Bobb Waller, each of whom had experience in the Dallas comics/SF fandom community and each of whom put up their own hard-earned cash to make YamatoConhappen. Scheduled the next-to-last weekend before school started, Mark Hernandez remembers the planning being as simple as getting commitments from dealers, finding a venue, and setting a date. Yes, it really is that easy to start a convention.

Programming consisted of the first 26 episodes of Star Blazersrecorded off TV, shown in continuous order (minus commercials, of course) and a bonus Yamato film. This 13-hour Journey to Iscandar (“It was a long day,” says Mark) was a primary attraction at YamatoCon, 1983 being a time when VCRs and blank VHS tape were expensive, collections of Star Blazers on video were hard to come by, and the experience of watching Star Blazers outside the morning or afternoon UHF timeslot was a draw in and of itself.

Star Blazers on video wasn’t the only activity, of course. Like other conventions past and future, YamatoCon had a dealers room consisting of 22 tables of for-sale memorabilia. It might sound small by the standards of 25 years later, but we must remember that anime merchandise of the day – what was available in the States, anyway – hadn’t achieved the tidal wave proportions it would reach in the wake of Robotech, to say nothing of the total saturation of the post-Pokemon, post-Sailor Moon years. Anime merchandise in 1983 consisted chiefly of books and model kits. Roman Albums, Anime Comics, black and white manga volumes, the occasional manga weekly, and other publications streaming from Japan in the wake of the Yamato Boom battled for the anime fan dollar alongside model kits from Yamato, Crusher Joe and My Youth In Arcadia…not to mention the endless ranks of giant robot kits from unseen shows like Mobile Suit Gundam, Dougram, Ideon, and something called Macross.Along with the remnants of late 70s super-robot merchandise sold here as Shogun Warriors, the anime con dealers room in the early 1980s was far from barren. In fact, I still waste my money on that sort of stuff.

Also available at YamatoCon were copies of Mark Hernandez and Don Magness’s Star Blazers fanzine Argo Notes. Future EDC officer/contributor, fan artist and “Between Galaxies” author Logan Darklighter won the model contest with, naturally, a Yamatomodel. It proved to be a pivotal day in Texas anime fandom. Approximately 100 attendees and 8 dealers made the show an unqualified success. Don remembers it this way: “I remember we got to the hotel early and set up the rooms, then went out to breakfast. When we got back, there were 3 young men sitting on the front steps, one of them had a convention flyer. Mark asked if they were there for the con, and they said they were. We went inside and out of their hearing range and had a little celebration. 3 people had come! We had no idea that the place would soon be packed.”

A showing of 100 might not sound like a lot in today’s numbers (“that was about 100 more than we expected,” said Don). However, when considered against the attendance at general SF conventions in 1983 – a time when your absolute largest cons MIGHT draw five or six thousand attendees and your typical Dallas or Atlanta comic book show maxed out at three – YamatoCon‘s ability to nail down that many dealers and customers is commendable.

The show’s importance went beyond the one day; people across Texas and indeed, across fandom as a whole, who were unable to attend or who heard about it after the fact were spurred into action by the mere fact of YamatoCon‘s existence. That such a thing could happen – that Americans could organize and hold a successful anime convention – was both revelation and reassurance. Anime fandom was going to be more than just a video room grudgingly tacked onto the local Star Trek show or a half-page of merchandise in the back of the latest issue of Fangoria.

READ THE REST HERE https://ourstarblazers.com/vault/317/

[spiritedstars]

The fandom is so lucky to have you! We appreciate having you here and all that you contribute to it ❤️❤️

1. What brought you into the fandom?

2. What character(s) do you feel the most connected to and why?

3. Out of all of SJM’s books, which one means the most to you and why?

4. Out of all of the SJM couples (fanon, canon, endgame, etc) which one means the most to you and why?

Keep doing you ❤️

You're lovely for sending me this ask and for doing this in general ❤️❤️❤️❤️

1. What brought you into the fandom?

I stumbled into TOG back in 2015-2016 and devoured them then from there inhaled ACOTAR/ACOMAF and stumbled onto tumblr to talk about it, joining the fandom from there hehe. I was obsessed with Lucien and Elucien, especially with how ACOMAF ended ("You're my mate." AHHH the scream I let out when I read that the first time haha) so I ate up any fanart/fanfics I found, though sadly it was a very small amount at that time. I then started writing my elucien fics and here we are, still doing it :)

I was actually reading TOG as it was coming out so imagine my stress when I finished EOS and had to wait two years to get to KOA because TOD was coming out the following year hahaha. What a time!

2. What character(s) do you feel the most connected to and why?

Lucien and Elain are my favorites so naturally I always gravitate towards them because I think they each have so much to offer as characters but honestly, all the Archeron sisters in their own ways. Feyre, Nesta, and Elain each have traits I see in myself and/or I love about them and I just love my girls so much. I love how loyal and smart Lucien is. I think he's a character with such a complex background and despite all the shit he's been through, he still tries his best and I love him for his resilience.

3. Out of all of SJM’s books, which one means the most to you and why?

It's hard to pick one but ACOMAF and KOA. ACOMAF had such a beautiful journey for Feyre and Rhys and it was the book that made me really fall in love with these characters. As for KOA, as a final book, it had a lot going on but the way we've been with these characters for so long going through hell with them and we get to watch them cross the finish line will never not hit.

4. Out of all of the SJM couples (fanon, canon, endgame, etc) which one means the most to you and why?

Elucien. I've been on the elucien ship since 2016 and it's been a journey to watch what once was a small ship become so well-loved now. There were only a handful of people about elucien that were super active back then but seeing how others have also fallen in love with their potential is so awesome. I could go on and on about why I love them but it boils down to that as characters, I think they complement each other so well. I think they would bring out the best in each other and be what the other person so desperately needs. Their aesthetic is also my jam. I can't help but love them.

thank you again for the ask bby! ❤️

[sunnybyler]

my thoughts on the first throne of glass book

so i finally started reading throne of glass two days ago and i just finished it and i rlly loved the first one! i didn’t start with assassin’s blade because i’m following the reading order sjm herself suggested. but i figured i’d give my thoughts on the book just for funsies. this isn’t like a review really just what i’m feeling abt the series thus far.

for quality i’d give it a 6/10 but for how much fun i had reading i give it a 9/10 and i care WAYYYY more about entertainment personally lmao. so overall i’d probably give it like an 8/10.

spoilers under the cut, obvi (including some from later books bc i know some spoilers)

• why are there so many exclamation points

• so i’m gonna be honest i’m beyond confused about celaena’s name. bc everything i’ve ever seen about tog talked about some chick called aelin. now i’m just kind of assuming they’re the same person somehow but i have no idea what’s going on in that regard

• it was an enjoyable read but you can def kinda tell it was written when sjm was younger lol. but i know the writing is just going to continue to get better so it didn’t bother me THAT much, though i must say i’m anxious to get to the later books for that reason

• this book was FUNNYYYY omfg dorian and especially celaena had me laughing out loud at times. i hope the books stay this funny

• I LOVE CELAENA SM. like that’s my girl fr fr. thus far feyre is still my fav sjm fmc but honestly celaena has potential to change my mind

• i also love dorian and chaol and i’m not gonna lie i lowkey ship her with both of them (which is a rarity for me usually i’m very passionate about one or the other in a love triangle). but that may be because i’m aware i should not get attached to either ship LMAO

• speaking of chaol i spent half the book pronouncing his name as chowl in my head which made him very hard to take seriously. but honestly i feel like that is 100% sjm’s fault bc the fuck you mean chaol is pronounced kale!? how was i supposed to know that

• i’m curious when more magic elements are gonna show up. like i thought this was another fae series am i wrong there? i mean elena was fae so. maybe i just need patience (but i’m gonna be sad asf if some sort of fae plot twist erases my bffs dorian, chaol, and nehemia from the story)

• okay but seriously once again what is up with the exclamation points. why are they so many. like it was genuinely jarring in the first few chapters. idk if it faded later in the book or if i just got used to it but it genuinely bothered me for a while. pls tell me this isn’t a thing in the later books bc i don’t remember it being an issue in acotar

• i think challenges and shit in books are so fun so i loved that the whole book was centered around it, lowkey wish we saw more of the challenges tbh

• that freak monster that cain was summoning is the stuff of nightmares. i already forgot what it was called but i made the grave error of googling fanart of it and it was actually terrifying

anyways that’s all i can rlly think of for now but i’m excited to keep reading! i’m super curious about celaena’s past because i can tell there’s sooo much we don’t know yet, but assassin’s blade (which i believe is at least partially her past? but maybe i’m wrong) isn’t until after crown of midnight so i’ll just have to keep wondering lol. but i’m very excited for crown of midnight i feel like shit is about to get very messy with her being the champion

[ravendruidreads]

House of Earth and Blood - Review

Author: Sarah J. Maas Saga: Crescent City (#1) Date Read: December 11, 2023 - January 12, 2024 Format: Digital Pages: 803 Rating: 4,4/10 (2 stars) Spice Level: 1/5

Characters: 6/10 - I didn't feel a strong connection to most of the characters, but I did tear up a few times. I do think some of the characters in this book are very similar in personality with characters from other SJM's books

Atmosphere: 3/10 - I was not expecting to fall into a modern society after reading TOG and ACOTAR. It took me a while to get used to cell phones, computers and surveillance cameras, and even by the end of the book, I was not totally convinced. This rating is also tied with the worldbuilding.

Writing: 5/10 - I'm not a huge fan of SJM's writing, but I have to hand it to her, that this wasn't as bad as I thought... mostly because I didn't have to read the word "mate" every other sentence. I still have beef with "male" though.

Plot: 4/10 - This book could have easily been cut to 500 pages and nothing important would have been lost. There were a lot of moments where the story was unnecessarily dragged on.

Intrigue: 5/10 - It took me a while to get into the story, so much that I didn't pick up the book for almost two weeks.

Logic: 3/10 - Like I said before, this rating is tied with Atmosphere. I will get more into this in the review proper.

Enjoyment: 5/10 - My enjoyment of this book was very much like a roller-coaster. It had a lot of dull moments, but it also had fun and exciting moments.

The review is hidden below due to spoilers.

There is a lot to say about House of Earth and Blood, so let's start from the beginning: the characters.

Shockingly, Bryce Quinlan is not a fair-skinned, blue-eyed, blonde woman, like the two previous FMCs from the same author. It was a very welcoming change, however, I still have a bone to pick with her. Why does SJM feel the need to write all her female (and male, but we'll get to that) main characters as being extremely hot and fuckable? Not to mention that Bryce, Aelin and Feyre have a little bit too much in common, personality-wise. I feel like we're due for some change, here. Something good about Bryce is that it was nice to have some variety and representation of a different body type. We need more curvy, wide-hipped FMCs, please.

Hunt Athalar is your copy-paste morally grey, hot as the sun, super fuckable MMC. And it wouldn't be a SJM book without wings (I'm not kink-shaming). Throughout the book, Hunt is described as being a super-powerful, cold assassin, of being the best in centuries, etc., but we never actually get to see his power in action. Sandriel's death was very underwhelming, to be honest. I hope we get to see more of Hunt's powers in CC2 and 3. One good thing about Hunt? He's not as much as an "alphahole" as I thought he would be. The only time he actually seemed to step in for a "tell me who did this" moment, was with Amelie, and that was pretty soft when comparing him to Rhys and Rowan. But there's still time.

Honorable mentions go to Danika, who died before we could love her, and Lehabah, whose death legit made me sob into my pillow (seriously, My friends are behind me and I will defend them????? How can you not cry with this????).

Now, as for the story...

I felt like the story picked up in the middle of something, like I walked into a circle of people who were already discussing a subject, which was very confusing and unpleasant. To add more logs to the fire, the so-called worldbuilding was exhaustive and confusing. It felt a lot like infodumping. Because of this, it took me a while to go through the first ten chapters (I almost gave up after three pages, but I persisted).

The murder investigation itself was fun to read, but not entirely what I was expecting from this book. Also because I had such a hard time keeping up with the lore, I had to look up a bunch of stuff, and during one of those rabbit hole searches, I spoiled myself to who Danika's killer was, so my entire experience reading the investigation was me just anxiously waiting for them to find out it was Micah, and being super confused as to why there wasn't any foreshadowing that it was him (at least I didn't pick up on it).

Speaking of foreshadowing, can we talk about the plot twist of Hunt wanting to get synth???? Was I blind and did not see it coming, or did SJM suddenly pull that out of her butt? I didn't feel like it added much to the plot other than a rift between Hunt and Bryce (which she overcame a little bit too quickly, if you ask me).

Since we're talking about POVs, I'm not sure if all formats are the same, but for me there was no demarcation between POVs, which was extremely confusing. One second we were Bryce, the next we were Hunt, and by the time I realized that, we were already back to Bryce.

Lastly, and because this review is already extensive, I would just like to express my disappointment with the lack of spice in this book. Yes, I do love me a slow burn, and yes, this is the slowest of the burns, but like... there was so much hype for this book (I should have known better after ACOTAR) for being SJM's first Adult fiction, that I thought it would have actual adult content... but no. All we got was a measly masturbation scene that was very underwhelming (hello, A Court of Silver Flames, my old friend).

Stupid honorable mentions: For over half of the book, every time I read 'CBD' I thought they were talking about weed and not the district.

[pearblossommina]

ToG Read-A-Long, Empire of Storms, day 9

Ch 52

Ok - toot toot, all aboard the Elide x Lorcan ship! Setting sail - IMMEDIATELY

These two are so cute!

Would have loved to see them go all the way, but unfortunately, the ilken had to come interrupt things. BOOOO.

I wasn’t expecting Lorcan to say that he was in love with Maeve! It’s weird, because even though faeries are supposed to be immortal and, like, preternaturally beautiful, I have never imagined Maeve as a romantic contender for… anybody? Lol

(I guess she’s related to Rowan so what kind of contender could she even be, there)

(And I feel like I’m just getting to know the other guys)

(We didn’t get to spend very much time with them in Heir of Fire anyway)

(But yeah)

(I was thinking of Maeve as like, this sexless, bored, ruling lady)

(Not necessarily someone you could fall in love with or be with like that)

(Idk why)

(But I’m sorry if she’s going to come between Lorcan and Elide. That’s rough. Especially since she’s just a mortal girl, and he’s like 500 something and has been carrying this love in his heart for probably as long as he’s been hers)

(I hope he gets over her soon!)

(Since she’ll never love him back anyway)

(And Elide is right here, and very available)

(That sudden Ilken attack was so cruel, SJM! how could you…!)

Ch 53

BOOO it’s a scene change!

I actually think I’m more invested in what’s going on with Elide and Lorcan than the main cast, lol.

I do like silly fun chapters like this, tho, it’s nice to slow things down and just have everything be… companionable for once!

Mosquito bites and eating strange meat. Hanging out. Lysandra turning into a fae. Cute, wholesome, character moments. Very nice!

Manon seems to be opening up to them too. Good for you, Manon! It’s very important for me to see her softening and making friends with the core cast. It’s deeply healing to some hard sad part of my heart, to see her be given goodness, and friendship, and love, so freely. Aw. Aw yeah. Best friends forever.

Then Rowan talks to the other fae men and they discuss the eminent danger that is Maeve, and how they’re only here to kill Lorcan and then return to her. I guess I didn’t care before, when they said that that was their mission, but I kind of care now. It makes me a little worried, too, about Aelin, and what might become of her even if she wins this scary war against Erawan. It kind of feels like each book, we get a new threat, a new villain, and it’s actually shitty. I hate it. I’d like to avoid Maeve being a villain. Maybe they could earn her trust and love and allegiance, like maybe somehow they could be friends. It might be worth a shot, since we’ve kind of made friends with most of the fae under her… maybe she could be turned to their side, too, in like, an epic girl power moment, or something.

In an act of compassion, against her evil heart, they show her the magic of friendship and love….

Is it too much to ask for!?

Lol

Ch 54

“Even Rowan forgot to demand an answer to what she'd been about to tell him as they surveyed the open space flanked by crumbling walls and punctuated by fallen pillars.”

What was she about to tell him…?

Now my question is, is it finally time for the Lorcan and Elide story converge with the main cast story? Idk if I’m ready for them to do so, I was kind of enjoying the solo road trip adventure.

I know five hundred ilken is a lot and they’re pretty tough enemies to fight, but you guys are super strong and capable. You’ll defeat them, no sweat. Just don’t use the Wyrdkey. Can’t be relying on that. That’s how we got into this mess.

Ch 55

Ah! Lorcan to the rescue!

"This isn't a game. This is war, and you pushed and pushed Erawan to show his hand. You refused to run your schemes by us first, to let us weigh in, when we have fought wars -”

"Don't you dare pin this on me." Aelin peered inside herself - to the power there. Down and down it went, to that pit of eternal fire.”

Literally you guys

Literally

Don’t start arguing amongst yourselves, lmao

Just focus. Just fight. It’s gonna be fine. It’s actually ten against 500, since Lorcan is on his way. That’s doable! It’s only like 50 a piece. You got this. You totally got this!

“I won’t be his prisoner again.”

Aelin tried to shut out what he'd meant by it.

But Manon said from the wall above them, an arrow now nocked loosely in her bow, "If it comes to that, princeling, I'll kill you before they can."

Aelin hissed, "You will do no such thing.”

Both of them ignored her as Dorian said, "Thank you."

😭

Oh, my heart!

Dorian, baby. No. Never again.

Ch 56

Fucking AELIN. So badass. Yas, queen, slay!

“One by one, their own foul-bred resistance to magic yielded to those bursts of ice, and wind, and flame.

And then Whitethorn began walking into the firestorm fifty feet ahead. Toward Aelin.”

Here comes caranam. You are no match for this.

Yas. Yaaaaaas!

“Ash and glittering ice rained down, thick and swirling as snow, embers dancing between the clumps that had once been the ilken. There were no survivors. Not one.

Lorcan didn't dare lift his shield.”

AMAZING. I knew you could do it! See? No sweat!

(Maybe a little sweat.)

(Mostly from those Aelin flames.)

Now Aedion… apologize!

“Power called to power among the Fae.

Perhaps Aelin Galathynius was unlucky the cadre had been drawn to Maeve's power long before she was born, had chained themselves to her instead.

Perhaps they were the unlucky ones, for not holding out for something better.”

I just want her to be backwards-Maeve and take them all for her own blood oath.

Can they betray Maeve now, since it’s Alien who has all the power?

What can we do? Lol I JUST WANT EVERYONE TO GET ALONG

Ch 57

"It would seem our bargain with each other is about to end anyway. I'll be sure to explain the terms, don't worry. I'd hate for them to think you were slumming it with me."

Shrek: I’m an ogre! This is my swamp!

Donkey: It’s my swamp too! I did half the work, I get half the reward!

Shrek: *pissed off, but also deeply moved by Donkey’s incessant friendship, and willingness to stay beside him*

(Just saying)(these two are so extremely Shrek and Donkey)

Ah the fucking inevitable Fenrys-Gavriel-Lorcan fight!

This sucks. 😔

ELIDE, GIRLIE, WHAT THE FUCK. Do you think you can save him with the power of love? Who do you think you are - Chaol? It didn’t work out for HIM! BE CAREFUL HONEY!

“Specific, ancient words, the only way a blood order could be detained. Not overridden - just delayed for a little while. To buy them all time.”

ROWAN, with the power of…….. diplomatic words!

Good boy, Rowan, I’m so glad you’re so smart and quick thinking!

(I just want everyone to get along SO BADLY)

“Aelin strode closer, eyes never leaving Elide's face.

Young - she felt so young compared to the woman who approached. There were scars all over Aelin's hands, along her neck, around her wrists ... where shackles had been.

Aelin slid to her knees not a foot away, and it occurred to Elide that she should be bowing, head to the dirt- ”

Deep down I know they’re just very, very good friends, but. I swear Elide reads so gay. Like she’s been half in love with Aelin for her whole life, fantasizing about the moment she could finally be with her.

It’s a good moment!

It’s got my heart all a flutter.

(And I’m eeeee - EEEEEE - I’m excited for Elide to turn around and see Manon hanging out with them, too!)

“As Manon Blackbeak saw her and Aelin, knee-to-knee in the grass, and mouthed one word.

Hope.

Not dead. None of them were dead.”

🥺

MY HEART IS SO FULL RIGHT NOW

I WISH ABRAXOS WAS HERE

“Aelin turned to Manon. "I lay claim to her. Witch-blood in her veins or no, she is Lady of Perranth, and she is mine."

Gold eyes gleamed with the thrill of challenge.

"And if I claim her for the Blackbeaks?"

Girls, girls, don’t fight! We can be mature about this and draw up a google calendar. Elide can be Aelin’s girlfriend for seven days, and then Manon’s girlfriend for seven days, and on the 14th day, she can go be Lorcan’s girlfriend for a week. Then a week of rest, before she starts the pattern over again…

“Manon smirked at Lorcan. "Your claim on her, male, is at the very bottom of the list." Iron teeth slid out, turning that beautiful face petrifying.”

Of course. 😘

Why do you think I put him third on the google calendar? 😌

(Manon, I love you so much.)

Um, so, Elide is my new favorite character and I’m shipping her with everyone.

That’s how I choose to show my love.

(I’m sorry but! She’s so shippable!)

Elide, baby, I want all the best for you.

[03-ooz]

I’M BACK BITCHES ANDDD I BRING GIFTS!

I originally began writing down this AU last year with plans to send it as an anonymous ask to justsasuke, my all time favorite blog on here, much love to the pioneer of the juusasu ship. But it just got wayyy too long for all that so fingers crossed she sees it anyways. 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽 (unless you hate it and then nvm you saw nothing)

So basically while lying awake at like 11:55 last night my brain went, I bet Juugo would be good at basketball since he’s like so tall, and out of that thought this sexy ass college AU was born.

Okay lets set the scene

Our au starts freshman year at whatever college in whatever big city now lets talk majors and aspirations

Juugo gets in on a basketball scholarship but while he’s good and he kind of enjoys it, he’s not a baller like it’s not life to him. what he’s really pursuing is environmental sciences so he can become like a zoologist or a wildlife biologist or something like that and immerse himself in his true passions. Also he’s like a year or so older. Still a freshmen, just sticking with canon on this one cause it always made sense to me.

Sasuke is studying whatever the fuck he thinks will get him familial brownie points. The thing is he has NO CLUE what he actually wants to study or do. If he was true to himself he’d have taken a gap year to live a little. BUT big bro graduated high school like 2 years early, absolutely demolished running start, and got like three full rides to schools that brought a tear to fugakus eye. So his natural competitive streak and his desire to be seen as capable by Fugagku, coalesce into Sasuke just trying to follow in those footsteps. Now i wont say he’s failing but 1, he don’t even really wanna be there right now and 2, academics are just not his thing. Which sucks cause he doesn’t cope well with being bad at things. If it wasn’t for the super dope and driven friends he’s about to make school life would destroy his mental health, and he’d probably be directionless forever. Im not saying he’s dumb cause i don’t think that. Just that he’s really struggling to apply himself here.

Karin is there cause her creepy rich uncle Orochimaru said he’d pay for her college if she graduated high school, and only with a perfect 4.0 mind you. Our girls a double major. One in business and one in some type of chemistry so that after college she can attend a perfume school become a perfumer and start her own perfume empire the absolute girlboss. Shes the only one who knows exactly what they want to do from the jump. How she balances all this? We can only imagine but it is karin after all, and if anyones doing it it’s her. A woman’s resolve can break through steel after all. 😤

My fave, Suigetsu is also there I’m wracking my brain trying to figure out how it might just have to be a plot hole I FIGURED IT OUT! Orochimaru is his dad hes our nepo baby. (So i guess that makes karin his hardworking cousin the Selena to his Haley if you will) ANYWAYS he’s studying marine engineering cause I guess I’m running out of ideas just shhh if you think really hard about it it kinda makes sense. Ok new thought. He changes his major halfway through to a martial arts studies degree, (this is important cause sasuke is gonna end up here too) with a minor in some sort of nutritionist something. He’s is gonna be a personal trainer i guess and to me, that makes sense. Also my aquarius brother lives and breaths the very mid nightlife at this school.

Scene set

Karin and Sasuke meet first and hit it off in so far as Karin is concerned. Sasuke however is there to get the degree and get out. He don’t want no friends, he didn’t even like the ones he had in high school. Eventually though he learns to tolerate her cause he’s moved seats like 5 times now and she’s found him

every

single

time.

Once past Sasukes initial resistance, they genuinely hit it off pretty quick. They’re both pretty introverted for college students so they have a lot of time to spend together. Sasuke is introverted cause he just is, but karin would be a party girl if she wasn’t so busy. They meet up for lunch and study sessions frequently. Sasuke enjoys the silence in these low key hang outs. Karin enjoys staring at sasuke during breaks in her working and acting ditsy when helping him with whatever he’s working on to make him do that cute little self gratified smirk and to hear his voice turn from quiet and disinterested to proud and engaged when explaining to her how shes wrong. Yes karin still has a crush on sasuke we all do moving on.

Juugo and suigetsu meet next. Kind of, they’re roommates so honestly they met first but whatever. Juugo wanted a single and after meeting Juugo so did Suigetsu. They get on okay but jugo lost interest in building a friendship with Suigestu after coming to find marine engineering ain’t got shit to do with marine biology, and suigestu mostly is just scared of Juugo. help me decide which one is the messy roommate that makes the other one consider requesting a new dorm everyday. (nvm its Juugo he happily lived in cave like duh) Anyway they don’t really start to get along until sasuke comes in the picture. (yes they all bond over their mutual desires to fuck sasuke its very canon compliant in that way)

Sasuke and suigetsu meet next at a party Karin coerced Sasuke into going to with her. At some point Karin fucks off with the girl she went to the party for in the first place, (who is Tayuya of sound5 fame btw) and Sasuke is left alone in the corner to stew in his feelings of betrayal. He didnt want to go in the first place and he only went to sit in the corner with Karin and make fun of peoples stupid try hard attitudes and inability to hold their stupid alcohol. People do try and talk to him but he successfully wards them off with his one word answers and an overall stank demeanor. Until suigetsu finds him and swears to himself that this is the sexiest man he has ever seen, he’s getting into those adidas track pants no matter what, and wow this boy can not dress. Sasukes one word answers and side eyes fall on deaf ears and hungry eyes. Suigetsu has effectively glued himself to Sasukes side and there is nothing Sasuke can do to stand it but keep knocking back the jungle juice. He cant tell which is worse the stupid alcohol or the endlessly talkative twink who keeps dodging his exasperated sighs. He has never enjoyed being talked at, and hes never overindulged in alcohol either (is this realistic I don’t know it sure is fun to imagine 14 year old team7 stealing a little something something someone and getting wasted for the first time together actually yeah lets say that happens but it happens in Sasukes bedroom Fugaku finds out and puts the fear of god in him and then he gets it again from Itachi who is probably who the stuff was stolen from and he learned his lesson didn’t touch booze again until just now) but every time suigetsu speaks he drinks and the night is getting fuzzier and fuzzier. He is a mellow and petulant drunk and one word responses turn into slightly wordier quips and mildly depressing personal anecdotes. Its right about now that Suigetsu is sure this here man is his future husband cause he was giving personalityless but worth a hookup before but now the personality is showing little and Suigetsus loving every slurred moment of it. The only problem is that Sasuke is drunk like drunk drunk he obviously wasnt feeling Suigetsu before and even if he is now (he’s not) there is absolutely zero chance of hooking up with this pretty faced little emo tonight. (pretty faced emo girl stop) So at this point Suigetsus only worries are A.) How am I gonna insure this boy remembers who I am tomorrow? B.) And this is been on his mind since the beginning of the night, how did this literal wet blanket of a man get here and why, like who is even is he? Finally C.) How am I getting outta all this without getting these 600 dollar McQueen sneaks vomited on.

The future husband thing was cute or whatever but Suigetsu must be really smitten to be standing in whoever’s truly nasty bathroom this is cleaning bright red pungent puke off his once shining white sneakers. Sasuke is currently slumped near the toilet staring judgmentally at suigetsus pinkish shoes and mumbling mostly unintelligibly about vanity and precious solitude. Suigetsu thinks the gist of it is probably something to the effect of leave me alone next time and I won’t projectile on your designer but really who is to say. Definitely not Sasuke, Sasuke still can’t (or won’t its difficult to tell with this one) even answer simple questions like what he’s doing here or who he’s here with. It wouldn’t even matter if he could cause karin has been gone for a minute now. Lets not blame her either cause she expected he’d leave 5 minutes after she and Tayuya did and she did text. The worst she’d expected to deal with would be some strongly worded replies or an especially quiet study sesh. Its decided Sasuke is coming back to the shared dorm room barring C all problems are accounted for with the solution.

Woooo that scene was long but its okay cause were meeting Juugo next and getting some would be romantic tension if i knew how to write romantic tension also taka is almost assembled yuhhh!! Prepare for some very poorly paraphrased dialog in apostrophes.

Suigetsu is oddly insistent on walking Sasuke back to his dorm so he’s just a little confused when instead of showing up in quiet lifeless single he enters chaotic double that smells so strongly of febreze and cannabis he can immediately feel an oh my god just open the damn window induced headache coming on. Still feeling woozy and uncharacteristically social from the booze, he’s about to ask whats his name in the mugler turtleneck (the stars on the turtleneck were more engaging to sasuke then anything else going on duh suigetsus gonna name drop the designer yes this is what he remembers lol it don’t make sense IK but its my mission to make Suigetsu as swaged out as is possibly possible) about the window when the door to the dorm busts open and in walks Juugo angry as hell on some

‘Why did you text me about some boy staying over i already said you can not have hookups in here if you wanna slut yourself out to this school your gonna have to get creative cause the boundaries of this dorm situation were set and agreed upon day one this is my sanctuary and smoke spot not your sex dungeon rah rah rah rah’

Its occurring very slowly to Sasuke that he may have gotten himself into an unsavory situation but before he can say anything suigetsu says it for him.

‘oh my god he’s I’m not sleeping with him’

just barely biting back a not tonight at least he continues

‘i met him at Jirobo’s (I’m having so much fun adding in random sound5 characters Kimimaro is still dead tho rip 😔) kickback he wasnt vibing and I cant blame him shit was so dry so since he was drunk off his ass anyways and couldn’t give me any contacts I brought him here to sleep it off so he’ll wake up tomorrow and see me as his savior and then i son’t know we’ll go from there don’t hate cause you cant pull 10s like me Juugo’

Juugo is not hating, he would be cause suigetsu sounds objectively dumb right now, but he just noticed Sasuke. True to cannon his demeanor changes instantly from ready to tussle to totally transfixed as his full attention is focused on staring at a still slightly intoxicated Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke has noticed, and is 35% focused on staring back at Juugo who looks like a character out of the real manga and sauke is very appreciative of it, and 65% trying to process what the fuck suigetsu just said. Weather his delay is because of the booze or the baller is, unclear to him. So now its just three dudes in a dirty ass dorm room staring at each other. (😏) Sasuke breaks both the eye contact with Juugo and the silence directing a

‘you did not pull me dumbass you kidnapped me and theres no way im staying here tonight don’t even worry about it Juugo’

straight to Suigetsu.

Suigetsu is so over it by now and he adds up the ruined McQueens plus sasukes continued disinterest to equal a disappointing L and having cast off his soiled kicks he flops down onto his milky white satin sheets back to the room disengaged.

Juugo however could, not be any more the opposite not only does he find sasuke quite nice to look at and would be disappointed to see him go without getting a little social repertoire established. He’s so incredibly shocked that sasuke is still standing upright and albeit slowly engaging with the world around him. He’s pretty sure if he lets him leave he’ll find him passed out on the lobby floor tomorrow morning, so after another minute or so of fondly watching sasuke fumble with the zipper of his plain black jacket he offers a tentative

‘you know what I really don’t care you can stay here tonight its already so late just, yeah just stay.’

‘Yeah you can just like curl up in the mountain of unwashed basketball shorts they smell so amazing’

Suigetsu chimes in sarcastically

‘okay okay and how do you know they smell so bad freak’

juugo shoots back (basketball pun haha)

‘cause i can smell you from here you cretin’

Sasuke stumbles past the bickering and heads for the door completely uninterested in this petty roommate dispute he briefly wonders what happened to his adidas slide while he grabs at his pockets for a minute searching for his phone to call Karin before joining the dispute with a,

‘oh my god dumbass you made me leave my phone in that wasteland bathroom dickhead Im not going back there so either your gonna buy me a new Samsung or-‘

suigetsu cuts him off,

‘you are the absolute worst kind of drunk actually I have your phone right here dummy’

he pulls the phone out of the pocket of his dolce&gabbana cargos (yeah when i said orochimarus rich I meant rich rich designer head to toe the sheets are probably designer bitch) and throws it directly at sasuke

juugo takes this moment to display his sickening basketball skills and intercepts the throw holding the phone above his head he says,

‘look man just stay okay you can have my bed i’ll sleep on the laundry im keeping this right now but you can call your friend in the morning I’m not busy til late tomorrow so i’ll help you find your way out of here if you need to get to a class but your already here so you might as well just stay’

Sasuke doesn’t feel all that much like walking anyways so he turns to juugos sheetless mattress and then to Suigetsu and says

‘give me your bed you bastard you owe me anyways’

suigetsu is not entirely sure why he would owe this bitch anything at all but he takes the opportunity to shoot his final shot,

‘how bout we share’

Sasuke decides to sleep on top of Juugos worse for wear comforter.

Sasuke, having stolen his phone from Juugo on some mission impossible shit, leaves before anybody else wakes up with no intention of ever returning. but since Karin and Tayuya hit it off actually his only friend has less time to spend with him. So he decides to link up with suigetsu and juugo since they’re the only other people he’s said more then 5 words to. Eventually they get tapped into the study seshes when suigetsu essentially invites himself to join much to karins chagrin.

Boom taka assembled.

Alrigttt thats all I wrote. I wanna write more about this au like where everyone comes from and how the relationships proceed from here and the whole thing is supposed to be a juusasu get together moment and we barely even touched on that but we’ll see if i ever get around to that.

Disclaimers: i dont know anything about basketball and i still haven’t gotten my ged so I have not been to college YET 🤪 on the bright side when i do get there ill probably be 21 already and ppl will flock to me for my id privileges 😌 i tried to make this as legible as i possibly could going through, adding punctuation, and removing some of my rambling. But i also left a lot of it in though like the crossed out text, the crazy parentheses notes (which i hope are not too confusing), and all the emojis, and i chose this just so you can really see the way the story just came together randomly and how much fun i was having writing this clusterfuck of shitty college movie cliches.

[algumaideia]

SJM and Mary Sues

I’ll only analyze Feyre in this post, because I’ve only read Acotar. Ok, that is a lie. I read the first ToG book and some pages of Cressaint City. I only remember the following things about tog: assassin girl starts dating prince at some point, guard guy doesn’t like it, assasin meets mystical lady, in the poison trial assasin cheats, assassin wins the trials, assassins breaks up with prince, it is implied that assassin will date guard guy now.

So, maybe what I say in this post only applies to Feyre, Idk.

Anyway, first what is the definition of a Mary Sue: she is perfect, she is incapable of doing wrong, everyone loves her, she doesn’t have a hard time doing things. The male version of Mary Sue is called Gary Sue or Marty Sue. However it seems like there more Mary Sues than Gary Sues, and I think I’m gonna talk about it in my post about Strong Female Characters.

The argument used to say that Feyre isn’t a Mary Sue is that she is a flawed character and she made mistakes during the book, therefore she can’t be a Mary Sue since Mary Sues are perfect beings.

But I disagree. 

To explain better I’ll give my definition of what a Mary Sue is. She is a character that is seen by the others and the narrative as perfect, she has flaws, but no one ever seen it as a flaw and if the person does this person is problaby a villain, she makes mistakes, but it is never her fault and sometimes it isn’t acknowledged by the narrative. 

Feyre does a lot of bad things, but they are never seen by anyone as bad things. And that’s what makes her a Mary Sue.

When she destroys the Spring Court for example. It’s framed as this super badass moment instead of a woman(with a plan that doesn’t make that much sense if I remember well, but that works anyway) destroying an entire country to get revenge on one person. 

She sleeps with a guy she know is engaged and it is not called out.

She uses Lucien, who has been being sexually assalted by Ianthe, to make Tamlin angrier by suggesting there is something sexual between them.

She invades Lucien, Tarquin (the only good boys in the whole series) and others people mind and it isn’t seem as a bad thing. She feel kind of sorry in the first three times, but Rhys says she is right. And then she is doing it again without feeling any guilt. And this is bad, she is invading people’s mind.

The Summer Court was attacked because she destroyed the Spring Court and everyone ignores it.

She became the FIRST High Lady, in the same year she learn how to read, she doesn’t know anything about her country, the history, the culture the customs, she doesn’t know anything about politics and diplomacy. But she became a High Lady anyway.

It doesn’t matter if Feyre has flaws, the other characters, the narrative, the AUTHOR pretend she doesn’t. Thus she is a Mary Sue.

At least in my opinion. 

Btw Rhys is a Marty Sue. A character who drugged, mentally raped, sexually abused and didn’t apologize for his behavior, only giving (terrible and nonsense) excuses without facing any consequences for that things while being considered the best male can’t be anything but a Marty Sue. (Does this sentence make any sense?)

Edit: as @jelliedfox said, we always know that her characters will be fine. We know they won’t die, they won’t be so badly hurt that they won’t be fulled healed, they won’t be in the rock bottom. Or if any of those things happen they are all temporary and soon they will be gone. There are no stakes. They got everything they want and they never suffer to get them. It is never that difficult. 

Best regards,

Me.

Ps. I know that you people don’t care at all, but I’m posting my story in this blog: @seumadruga

[mournersandfunerals]

Hello! Sorry to bother you🙊 I follow you mostly for SOC content, but I noticed you read Sarah J Maas too. Ive been thinking about reading her books for a while but I was wondering which series would be best to read? There's so many mixed opinions and I feel like I need some guidance?

Hi friend! You're not bothering me at all - I got you!

So in terms of Sarah's books, I would highly recommend Throne of Glass as the lesser of the three evils😂 it's a lot to get through with it being 8 books, but the world and the storyline feels a lot more fleshed out and in my honest opinion, the characters are just so much more likeable. It's always been one of my favourite book series in general. Don't get me wrong, it is NOT flawless. There are things that characters do and events that take place that were definitely not the best choices she could have made as an author. But I really feel there's a lot less of those moments than there are in the likes of ACOTAR.

I've said this a couple of times on here, but ACOTAR is very messy. The plot is a little all over the place, especially in the most recent book and, much like a lot of people on here, I could criticise the characters for days. Don't get me wrong, I love it to pieces but that doesn't mean that it's what I would call a good book series. She tries very hard to make certain characters so likeable that they actually end up being a bit unlikeable. I have a bigger attachment and fascination to the minor characters if I'm honest. Night Court, who? I'm only here for Autumn👀

Crescent City is my second favourite after TOG, and it's super fun with it being a modern, urban fantasy, but the issue with it is that the only two books we have right now are so long. So long. The first book is a little more clunky than the second, especially with it introducing the world and the characters, but the second still dragged on a lot longer than it needed to. And, again, she made some choices that were... Yeah:/ but it's cool and pretty fun, I guess!

The thing is though, anon, you can read everyone's opinions on these books in order to make your decision on which ones to read, but it's all subjective anyways! Like I said, I really love these books despite the problems with them, but that's all part of the reading experience. Just because something isn't great and the content is problematic, it doesn't mean you can't still enjoy it. I've always said that about media and I always will. As long as you're aware of the issues within the stories then there's no reason you can't still have fun with them.

If you start reading any, feel free to slide in and let me know what you think!🖤

[kaydeefalls]

For wips, tog trek or the Vietnam war au? Love your writing 💛

Thank you! <3

Ah yes my two WIPs of greatest guilt & shame. TOG Trek is the future!fic that assumes Star Trek (AOS) is part of the same canon verse because I said so, 200ish years after the events of the movie. I had a nifty idea and started writing it a year and a half ago. And then I just...got stuck.

So of course that's the fic I signed up for the Big Bang this year. So now I'm still just as stuck but also super stressed about deadlines! Yay team!

Snippet:

It happened like this: just over two years ago, the planet Vulcan was destroyed by a grief-mad Romulan, and Joe and Nicky had a fight.

Okay. That's an oversimplification.

Maybe she needs to go back further to find the root cause. How about this: forty-odd years after Nile gained her immortality, Andromache the Scythian passed away peacefully in her sleep, and humans made first contact with extraterrestrial beings when a Vulcan survey ship touched down in Bozeman, Montana.

Those two events will always be indelibly linked, for Nile. For all of them. A clear defining moment in history, dividing time neatly into a before and an after.

And then there's Vietnam War AU, which is the MCU Steve/Bucky fic I started working on juuuust before my brain went fizz and I dropped out of fandom for three solid years. So, uh. That fic was one of several casualties of my fannish hiatus, and definitely the one I regret the most, because I really liked the idea and really lost all steam when the MCU took a hard turn into stories I don't enjoy anymore. Basically it was an AU retelling of First Avenger if their war had been Vietnam instead of WWII, so, y'know. Kinda bleak. Steve's an antiwar protestor, Bucky gets drafted, Steve then enlists out of desperation and it's kinda dubious how much he consents to the serum, lots of disillusionment etc. It's one of those ideas I very much wished someone else would write because I wasn't sure I could handle it well enough, and then I never managed to write it properly at all. I've got a few scene fragments written (not chronologically) and no idea if I'll ever pick it back up again, but I still do wish someone would write it.

Snippet, as though the entire doc is anything but snippets:

There's footsteps coming down the hall, but that's been a fairly regular occurrence overnight, so Steve doesn't bother looking up until the key scrapes against the lock and the cell door creaks open. "Rogers," the guard says, sounding bored, and the handful of other guys locked up in here sigh and settle back in. One dude gives Steve a half-hearted thumbs up, which Steve shrugs off.

Once he gets out to the intake area, though, his blood pressure jacks up again. "Goddamnit, I told Becca not to call you."

"And Becca called me anyway, because she's not a fucking idiot like you are," Bucky snaps right back. "Claim your damn stuff and let's get out of here."

Steve doesn't have much stuff to claim. A battered old backpack with some rolled up posters and a lighter; he's vaguely surprised they didn't confiscate that as evidence. "I don't need you to bail me out--"

"The hell you don't."

"I told Becca I was fine--"

"You told Becca to raid the fucking shoebox under your mattress, because you are secretly an old man who grew up in the Depression or some shit," Bucky says, exasperated, "when I know you haven't got enough squirreled away in there anyway. And seriously, Steve, burning up your draft card? What the fuck was the point of that? Even if your number did ever come up, the doctors would stamp a 4F on your skinny ass faster'n you could spit."

[fktonofwhatnow]

ok hold on. acomaf is my fave book out of the whole series (it's mostly out of emotional value, i read it when i was younger and didn't have a real understanding out trauma and abuse only that i saw a character i loved getting out of a bad situation and getting happy) so obviously i didn't mind feysand being endgame and the development all of the characters had. i can accept tamlin turned out like that is realistic due to his trauma, i can accept feyre had to flee because it wasn't right for her, but the thing is after acofs i see no point to feyre leaving tamlin when rhysand ends up doing everything they told us tamlin was evil and unredeemable for. hiding the risks of her pregnancy, putting on shields on her, having feyre need to compromise over it. i honestly felt so betrayed by that. i'm not saying feyre and tamlin were good for each other, but it doesn't feel worth it to dismiss the potential they had for what we got with feysand.

also, sarah learn to treat "ugly" trauma with respect challenge. no they don't need to learn to physically fight to fight it. no they don't need a love interest to overcome it. yes the behaviors acquired from trauma and abuse aren't pretty but that doesn't mean a person is undeserving of kindness and compassion.

i think i had a point somewhere but i can't get to it. so hope you don't mind my rambling. anyway i loved your meta about tamlin i think he deserves better too

HOLY SHIT THIS ONE IS SO GOOD OK IM SO EXCITED

Bro you are so fine, I'm the one who doesn't make any sense and I totally get what you're trying to say. (Acomaf was actually my favorite book in the series too ngl)

BUT FUCK YEAH LETS TALK ABOUT RHYSAND.

I don't think it's a secret that Rhysand is one of my least favorite characters in media, probably ever? (How do I even put this into words) He is a bad character and to me, laughably so. You know how if you've ever written a character, there's that little phase that's like "what if people don't like this character' and then you're sad for a little bit? That's how Rhysand feels to me. He feels like SJM looked at this character and thought "I can't stand the thought of people not liking this character because I love him so much" and then did everything in her power to make sure we know how great he is.

Idk if this is just me screaming into the void, but I get to this place with my characters where like, especially if they are a little more morally gray or their decisions have negative impacts, I understand that I don't need the audience to like my main character. they can stand on their own, they can own up to what they do and they can grow from it. Thats what a good character does. That's how you keep your audience rooting for them. You gotta knock them over sometimes.

SJm doesn't knock Rhysand over. She doesn't push him to make mistakes, apologize, own up and move on. Rhysand has never made a decision that ended poorly for him. Everything goes the way he wants it to, because SJm wants us to know how cool and great he is. People who are cool and great don't make bad decisions! SJm doesn't let Rhysand fail, and she doesn't let him suffer his own decisions. Everyone else suffers his decisions, not him.

Rhysand's reputation as a good person hinges entirely on the audience liking him and/or thinking he's hot. And then what happens when the audience thinks neither of those things? Ya get a rly long post like this by a lil enby who is mad all the time. Rhysand loses all credibility when you look at him through a critical lens. Not a single thing the man does makes any goddamn sense. Here I thought acosf would give us a different perspective on Feysand and I was desperately hoping that Nesta would tell us what she really sees in them and how people around them really feel, I hoped that SjM would throw us for a loop and tell us that hey, she does know that Feysand are fucking toxic as hell and ruin the lives of people around them and she wants to show us that from an outside perspective but noooOoOOOoOoOOOO...

Instead we get Nesta hating herself because Rhysand told her that she shouldn't tell Feyre that Feyre could uh die in childbirth. Hey what the fuck.

Now I don't actually ship feylin, I kinda always sorta knew, even without spoilers, that it wasn't going to work out. Tamlin isn't sjm's idea of a good partner because he's not charming and witty and dark and handsome ya know? We met Rhysand and I knew that I was going to fucking hate this romance. Which sucks because I found Rhysand so intriguing in the first book. Ngl all the time spent in the spring court was kinda boring and every time Rhysand showed up to throw dead faeries at Tamlin I was like "oooooo" and I wanted to know more about why Tamlin, this awkward, blunt and kinda shy dude had beef with this super duper sly and shady man from another court.

I don't know if I've ever said this before, but SJm doesn't let her love interests grow. Rhysand doesn't change over the course of the story because he was already a good guy and his motives were for Feyre's sake I swear, the same goes for Rowan in TOG. SJm doesn't give Rhysand room to change. She needs to get to the part where they fuck make sure everyone knows that Rhysand is a good guy and actually he was good all along so that we like him more than Tamlin. It backtracks on everything bad Rhysand has ever done because you know... He had a good reason! It's fine!

I know it's probably just because SJm doesn't actually know how to write a good character growth arc but... Like can you imagine if Rhysand stayed the bad guy? Or at least remained the bad guy through acotar and acomaf? And then when Rhysand comes to take Feyre for his bargain it really was only to spite Tamlin? What about Rhysand, taking Feyre to the night court with him once a week every month for a long time, if only to see Tamlin's eyes grow darker and emptier every time he goes, and then he really starts to fall in love with Feyre. He's been a monster all this time, angry and cold and cruel and then he actually starts to fall in love. And then to get Feyre to stay he really does try to change, he stops antagonizing Feyre, he stops throwing dead faeries at Tamlin, and he stops harassing the Spring court. He starts spending genuine quality time with Feyre, he starts to learn about her and all the things she likes and he stops trying to get her to come with him just so Tamlin will be mad. He starts asking her to come with him because he wants to be around her and he prays that someday she'll want to be around him too. What if SJm let him grow.

But nahhhhhh instead we have a character who always knows the right answer to things, and he always knows how to fix every issue, and he is always so innovative and outside the box except that he isn't. We get a character who does the same shit as Tamlin but it's ok because he had a good reason not to tell Feyre that she could very well die in childbirth. Uhhhh don't know what that is but uhhh I know he has his reasons because all he has are his reasons.

It would be so easy to hold a mirror up to Rhysand and say "look at this. Look who you are. Do you not look just like Tamlin right now?"

But nooooooooOoOOOo Rhysand doesn't get to be wrong. Rhysand doesn't get to look like Tamlin because Tamlin is evil and Rhysand is definitely NOT I SWEAR.

But yeah I think the point I'm trying to make is that Sarah thinks so highly of Rhysand that he could never do wrong. He could never be like Tamlin, despite the narrative literally telling us the exact opposite.

Like you said, we lost the potential of what feylin could have been if SJm didn't suddenly decide that her audience needs to love Rhysand as much as she does. I think feylin could have been slow and sweet and a story of true healing and learning about one another. I think it would have been kind and steady and lots of "are you ok"s and "I'm sorry"s and "talk to me"s. Everything about Feysand feels rushed and hard and fast and the rest of the world doesn't have time to catch up. It's fucking exhausting to read it ya know what I'm saying.

(also can we talk about Rhysand like dying and Feyre finding the suriel and learning he's her mate and then instead of being like "k let's put a pin in that and fuckin save his life first" she like throws him around and everyone is like "wtf woman" and she's like I neeD tO Be alOnE these people have no idea how to prioritize)

Truly, I think it's innocent to a degree. There is absolutely no harm in wanting people to like your character. The harm comes when you destroy another character with no reason or explanation other than you want people to like a different character. Villain arc? Completely out of left field. You gotta build to that shit or like... Make it so that when you look back you slap your forehead and yell at a wall "OF FUCKING COURSE I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT"

anyways, SJm treat "ugly" trauma with respect challenge SECONDED.

WELL IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK ME WEEKS YO WRITE IM HAVING A HARD TIME I know it probably doesn't make any sense I can't find my braincells BUT thanks for the ask @xelly

Tell me all your acotar things I love yo hear them !!

[passable-talent]

no one requested this one either but I know of at least 2 people ( @haydens-moles @iscariot-rising ) who will be happy it exists

still male reader x sam monroe (life as a house) 

part one here

The house was quiet by the time your sister and mom got home from wherever they were. They’d somehow missed Sam’s truck parked on the street, so didn’t know anything was unusual. Colleen, though, did notice an open beer sitting on the counter, and quickly Alyssa realized she needed to save you from a punishment by making sure you were awake and functioning by the time your mother decided to yell at you. 

So, being your sister, she threw open the door at six am and launched one of the couch pillows at your head. 

You groaned wordlessly, rolling over to look at her in the doorway. Sam, beside you, had a bit more coherent reaction, pushing himself up to his elbows after removing the pillow from his face. 

“What the fuck?” He said, and you saw it happen as Alyssa made eye contact with him, and figured out the implications of him, laying in your bed. With you. Both of you shirtless.

“Oh my god!” She shouted, and you finally had enough mental function to grab the pillow from Sam’s chest and hurl it at her, knocking her from her stupor. She took a step back and, apparently respecting your privacy all the sudden, closed the door. 

“What a nice wake-up call,” Sam said, earning him an amused exhale.

“That means mom’s gonna yell at me about something,” you said, your voice bounced just a bit by the mattress when he dropped from his elbows onto his back. 

“Is it me?” 

“Nah,” you said, a smirk pulling at your lips as you turned your head to look at him. “She’s used to her kids sleeping with you.” He didn’t seem to like that, though, and swiped his pillow out from under his head to smack it into your face. You laughed behind it, pulling it down toward your chest to look at him overtop of it. It was hard to believe that twenty four hours ago, you still couldn’t stand the sight of him. Now, you couldn’t stop staring. 

“I’m sorry,” you said, the words soft, accompanying the way you rolled onto your stomach and brought one hand to his face. He’d fallen asleep with his piercings in. “For trying to hit you.” The contented smile that was already on his face grew just a bit, into fondness, and you tracked as his gaze slipped over you, your collarbones, your lips, your hair.

“It’s okay,” he said, his right hand tracing over your knuckles on his face, and his left snaking under the sheets to find your lower back. “I did sleep with your sister.” With a little laugh, you dropped your forehead to his chest.

“Someday, we’re gonna have to stop talking about that.” You felt his fingers card into your hair, and you were content to stay there for, roughly, the next three years, but a knock at the door ruined your plans. 

“Yeah, I don’t know what kind of gay shit is going on behind this door,” Alyssa said through the wood, “but mom’s seriously going to be pissed with you when she gets up.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” you shouted, lifting your head with a roll of your eyes. “I’m coming, relax.” For once, you didn’t throw the sheets open, as that would’ve exposed Sam to the cold air of the rest of the room, but instead slid out from under them. You tried to ignore him watching you while you got dressed, but the slight nervousness that it gave you definitely meant that you didn’t spend time picking out an outfit. 

You opened the door, surprised to find Alyssa right on the other side of it, leaning against the bannister, a smile on her face. 

“Piss off,” you said with a smile, not really meaning the words, closing your door behind you and brushing her off to get into the bathroom. She followed you, though, so it was probably good you didn’t actually have to piss. She watched you brush your teeth for a minute in silence. 

“Got something to say?” you asked around the toothbrush, but you knew why she was there. 

“You better tell me everything.” You rolled your eyes at yourself in the mirror, spitting out the toothpaste, deciding to torture her, just like she had you. 

“I mean, what’s there to tell?” You ran your fingers through your hair, trying to get out the knots. 

“The beer on the counter and two hickies I can see just over the collar of that shirt tell me differently.” Panic coursed through you.

“I never got rid of the beer!” You said, whirling to face her. 

“Yeah, which is why mom is pissed.” 

“Shit,” you said, cursing yourself for being so damn stupid. 

“Well, I don’t think she’s going to be super angry,” Alyssa said, following you down the stairs as you ran your knuckles through your palm, the morning chill in the house freezing your fingers already. “It’s Christmas break, and we’re in college. I don’t think she wants to be mad at us.” 

“Easy for you to say, you’re not the one getting yelled at.”

“She might not yell at you while Sam’s here,” Alyssa suggested, and your gaze snapped to hers. 

“He’s not allowed to leave,” you declared, playing up the drama. The two of you were a lethal combination when you decided to fuck around together.

“Well, you’d better get on that,” she said, and you turned tail to bound up the stairs. Somehow, he didn’t hear you coming, and was halfway into pulling up his jeans when you entered, and it shocked him so much that he almost fell. You laughed, closing the door, and plunged the room back into the darkness of a blacked-out window. 

“Ayssa’s a pain in my ass,” you said, spitting out the first thing you could think of. You heard him laugh, god, what a wonderful sound, and as your eyes adjusted to the low light you could barely make out as he walked to you, trapping you against the door, kissing you. A welcome surprise. 

You brought your hands up, feeling first his ribcage, then around to his shoulder blades. He hadn’t yet put on a shirt, so you got to feel his smooth skin again, feel the muscles underneath, run your middle finger down his spine. 

He’d leaned forward to bring his lips to yours, his left hand on the back of your head, the other pressed to your chest, keeping you against the wall like you had to him the night before. 

You’d think, after spending the night with him, you’d be used to it. You’d be adjusted to feeling him touch you, feeling his hands in your hair, his knee nudging yours. You’d think you’d be familiar with the sounds he makes, whether he means to or not. You’d think that you’d be acclimated to feeling his breath move across your skin.

Nope. 

Every time he held you, it was new. Every grip into the fabric of your shirt was something you’d never felt before, every pass of his lips over yours was fresh. You could get lost here- against your door, your freezing fingers soaking up the warmth from his skin.

“Breakfast soon, (Y/N),” Colleen said outside your door, and you broke the kiss to respond, but you didn’t have the breath. Luckily, she just moved on, and you could thump your head back against the door. Now that your eyes had adjusted, you could just look at him, his hair so spikey, eyeliner smudged. You could bet that you’d find it all over your pillow. 

“Hey,” he breathed, and you laughed, pushing forward to give him a quick kiss, and how could you not, when his lips felt like that.

“Hi,” you whispered, a bright smile gracing your face. He leaned down to press his forehead to yours, his fingers just resting on your ribcage, your palms overlapping his shoulder blades. You could only let it rest for thirty more seconds before you nudged him away. 

“Put a shirt on,” you said, “before you come downstairs.” 

You were lucky the cold air kept the blush from your face as you faced your mother. 

It was a cereal type of morning, Colleen hadn’t known she had a guest. It seemed like she was about to lay into you when Sam came down, pulling his sleeve over his thumb to rub sleep-dust from his eye. 

“Oh, Sam!” Colleen said, rushing to get a glass of orange juice for him. “I didn’t know you were here!”

“Yeah, he slept over,” you said, not thinking anything of the explanation.

“Well,” Colleen said, “I’m glad you two are finally getting along again.” Alyssa started to laugh through her spoonful, for which reason she received a sharp kick under the table. 

“So, Sam,” Colleen said, “We didn’t plan on doing much today, but you’re welcome to hang around anyway.” 

“No, I’d better be getting home. I promised my mom I’d take my brothers to the movies today.” 

“Oo, can I come?” Alyssa asked, leaning forward to see him past you. 

“I don’t know, I already told (Y/N) he could come, and it’s gonna start getting cramped in the truck.” You didn’t know anything about being invited to a movie, but, hey. You wouldn’t say no.

“That’s fine,” Alyssa said with a smile, “I can ride in the bed.” 

“No,” Colleen said, but she knew that her daughter was joking. “If it’s that much a problem, Alyssa can drive you all in my car. If that’s alright with Robin.”

“I’ll ask when I get home,” Sam said, a smile on his face.

He left a few minutes later, waiting until your mother wasn’t looking before pulling you into one more kiss. You watched him go, leaning on the door frame, arms crossed over your chest. Once he’d gotten the truck started, you looked over at the house, the house that had changed the whole neighborhood’s lives. Like usual, you felt that niggling guilt between your collarbones that you hadn’t been there for him, when his dad died. 

“Close the door, loverboy, you’re letting in the cold,” Alyssa said, and you rolled your eyes, doing as she asked. She stood from where she’d been at the couch, and you saw it as she prepared to do- something? You could just see her energy rising. 

And she gave you a playful, but still forceful, shove to the shoulder.

“You finally got him!” she said, and you laughed, holding your shoulder as though she’d wounded you. 

“Yeah!” you laughed. She’d known about your crush on him the entire time you’d had it, she’d known about his crush on you that really kicked in over summer break. She’d kept her fingers away from it, but she really wanted to push you two together. That didn’t mean she had to be nice, though. She was your sister, after all. 

“Hey, just remember-” she said, smirking, “I had him first.” You laughed, turning to the stairs, making it to the first landing before turning to her with a bit of drama added to the spin.

“Yeah, but who’s more likely to keep him?” She held up her middle finger, and before you turned, you gave her your signature ‘fuck you, too’, which was a middle finger that you laid over your tongue. She always caught the subtext, whenever you whipped it out.

“Yuck!” 

-🦌 Roe

[saylors-universe]

All Hands on Deck, one

Rowaelin Cruise Vacation AU

Masterlist here

rowaelin cruise ship vacation AU

word count: 1661

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You did WHAT!" Aelin screams over the phone. If she wasnʻt currently visiting her cousin in Terrasen, she would be in Elide and Manonʻs apartment, conducting this band meeting. But of course the Gods deemed her worthy of divine punishment – for what, she has no clue.

"Come on Ae,” Elide pleads over the call, "think of it as an engagement gift for Lorcan and I."

"Okay one, I planned on getting YOU something, not that dick boyfriend of yours. And two, this is a job, not a present,” Aelin hisses. Remembering that she hadnʻt yet congratulated Elide on the very recent news.

Elide had grown up with Aelin and Aedion, pretty much being adopted into the family as another cousin. Aelin had witnessed all of the trials Elide had endured – maybe she was cursed by the Gods too.

"Fiance. Heʻs my dick fiance now,” Elide interrupts her train of thought, "and I donʻt know what happened with you two but heʻs honestly the sweetest and most caring guy ever,” getting cut off by Aelinʻs cackle on the other end of the line.

"To you maybe,” Aelin snorts, “god, if only you had gone to our high school Elide. Lorcan was such an ass to me and -," she caught herself, choking on his name.

"Rowan?" Elide blurts out, trying to fill the awkward silence.

"Ye- how did y-," Aelin snaps, somewhat defensive. She knew Elide didnʻt understand the painful memories that came with that certain name.

"Lorcan told me about you guys,” Elide corroborates, “you know he resented you two for what you guys had,”

Ha! Aelin thought to herself, Lorcan, jealous? That doesnʻt excuse the asshole personality of his.

“he told me he had finally found that kind of love with me, and thatʻs when he knew I was the one and started planning the proposal." Aelin was happy for Elide, genuinely, and it is because of her love for the plainly beautiful brunette that she tolerates the prick.

Lorcan envied our relationship?

Quick memories of a silver head past love of hers crossed her mind without permission. Midnight drives where theyʻd sing songs theyʻd wrote for each other, a summer class trip across Europe where they shared their first "I love youʻs" in the late, romanticly lantern-lit streets of Rome. As quickly as they came, she banished them once again.

"Anyways," Elide continues, "itʻs a vacation, with only a few gigs. I mean weʻd only need to perform a couple of nights and the rest of the time is ours...

Plus, I managed to get the cruise director to upgrade our rooms for a small cut in our pay.”

She was met with silence, "Come on Aelin, Lys and Manon have already started packing,” Elide begs.

It was a great deal Aelin had to admit. A 21-day cruise trip, not only was it technically free for them, but they would actually be paid doing what they love - performing. She could see it now - Queenʻs Court live from the Great Seas.

They were a fairly new band but had already made some traction, making a name for themselves and enjoying the love from their wild fanbase. It would be nice to get away for a little while, Aelin contemplates. She canʻt remember the last time she did something crazy fun with her girls, besides their small concerts. It couldnʻt hurt.

"Alright, fine," she concedes. She doesnʻt quite know why she had been so hostile and reluctant to this great opportunity. It may have something to do with how she had always been the one to spring the surprise master plan on her friends, finally on the receiving end of it felt weird. "but you know I get seasick."

"Weʻll get you some of those seasickness patches,” Elide counters just as Lysandra snags the phone.

“Hey bitch,” their term of endearment, “is my hot ass boyfriend there with you?”

“Yeah one sec,” Aelin answers then pulls the phone away from her face to yell to her cousin in the other room. “AEDION, LYS AND I ARE HAVING PHONE SEX!”

Her twin of a cousin suddenly appears, putting the phone on speaker and taking a seat next to her on his living room couch. “Trying to steal my girlfriend are you?” He teases, sticking out his tongue to Aelin. “Whatʻs up baby?”

“Aedion weʻre going on a trip, a romantic cruise vacation, and before you say no, I already talked to Darrow and blackmailed him into giving you a month on leave,” Lysandra reveals over the phone. Aelinʻs fairly handsome cousin raises a brow in question to her, “so I expect to see both of you packed and ready at Wendlyn port at the end of the week,” Lys demands.

“Yes maʻam,” Aedion complies. The poor man was so whipped by the dazzling woman, he would follow her to the depths of hell. Aelin was glad they found eachother, they both deserve to be happy.

“Good. I just got new thongs today that I want to show you. Ooh! And we can try those new posit-,” Lys continues not realizing that she is on speaker. Aelin, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, looks over to see Aedionʻs reddened cheeks and wide eyes.

“HERE. Iʻm still here!” Aelin gawks before she overhears any more of this intimate and awkward conversation. “Get a room you two.”

Lysandra chuckles, “how about a romantic cabin suite. Gosh Iʻm so excited, this is going to be so much fun,” Lysandra beams. And just like that Queenʻs Court packed their bags and instruments, preparing to embark on this new adventure.

——————————————————————————

Something had to be wrong, Lorcan never calls band meetings. Rowan internally reviewed every conversation heʻs had with the rigid bandmate of his to determine a possible source of this abrupt meeting. He recalled that Lorcan had just recently proposed to his girlfriend that he never talks about, is it possible for it to have gone awry? If so, why would he feel the need to share it with the band, heʻs normally super private? No, something else had to be wrong. Rowan got situated on the couch, across from the twins, Fenrys and Connal, perplexed by the expression on the standing drumerʻs face.

Was that a smirk? Rowan had never seen Lorcanʻs genuine smile in all the years he had known him. It had been hard enough to get the man to talk about his personal life, let alone express his feelings. Itʻs a miracle that somehow this girlfriend of his had cracked through his thick walls.

"Alright boys," Lorcan opens, "I got us a gig."

"Uh- isnʻt that Gavrielʻs job" the normally quiet Connal pitches in.

And from the rare, conspicuous grin on Lorcanʻs face, Rowan deduced that their booking agent Gavriel was just recently informed of this sudden plan of Lorcan's and took care of all the details himself.

"What is it?" the other twin, Fenrys, chimes in.

"A tour ... overseas. Really itʻs actually 3 weeks of vacation, on a cruise, and a few nights of shows,” Lorcan tells the group, “the cruise line hasnʻt been getting as much traffic as they normally do so they thought a popular band for entertainment would bring in some audience."

For Lorcan, not only was this input very abnormal, but also pretty genius. Not only would it be like their normal concerts with the generous pay, ambitious audience, and regular groupies that followed them anywhere - but they also would get a few weeks of vacation and free food. It would be nice to travel again and get out of Doranelle for a little bit, Rowan imagined.

"3 weeks of hot chicks in bikinis, music, AND alcohol,” Fenrys smiled, “thatʻs all you had to say,” as he looks to the remaining bandmates, “weʻre in.”

"Well hold on a minute,” Rowan interjects, “whatʻs the catch?"

"No catch really, except weʻre not the only entertainment. We trade off nights with Elideʻs band. You see, weʻre planning this whole thing as an engagement/honeymoon trip because of both our tour schedules."

Rowan has never seen Lorcan this content and happy in all their years of friendship. Itʻs nice to see how much heʻs changed from their high school days. Godʻs Lorcan used to be such an ass to him and -. Before he knew what was happening images of her perfect blonde hair, strikingly beautiful turquoise gold eyes flashed across his mind. The sound of her laugh rung through his brain - the first time he heard that laugh he completely lost himself to her. Catching himself – he buried those memories deep down and focused his attention back on their current band meeting.

“Elideʻs in a band?” Fenrys inquired. Lorcan didnʻt share much about his girlfriend – now fiance I guess – he had always been very private about his life, even back during high school.

“Yeah, the Queenʻs Court, theyʻre pretty good, from what Iʻve heard so far – itʻs just El and a couple of her girlfriends” – like Aelin Galanthynius, Lorcan thought to himself.

Lorcan had worked hard to block his youth from memory, completely forgetting about his high school years. That was until Elide introduced him to her bandmates, and he was confronted by the very Aelin Galanthynius he bullied during school. He regrets all of his torment towards her now, but while not knowing if Aelin would be able to forgive him, he makes an effort to be civil towards the blonde nusiance, for Elideʻs sake.

“Sweet, a battle of the bands, you boys up for a little competition?” Fenrys proposes to the group, the three men just shrug. Taking the hint, Fenrys continues, “So what do you say boys? Will The Cadre take stage on the open seas? All in favor say ʻayʻ”

“Ay” “Ay” “I planned this fucking thing so obviously,”

After a few soft chuckles, Lorcan nods, “Then itʻs settled. See you boys at the docks,” as he ushers off quickly to his fiance in Wendlyn.

.......................

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