#this is the only time ever i think death of the uke might have been a bad thing

[cowboy-robooty]

IM GOONG TO KILL MYZSLF. THIS YAOI MUST BE TROLLING. THE UKE DIED AND LIKE GOT A NEW BODY WHATEVER BUT OMFG HE WENT FROM A MANLY BROWN HAIRED BEEFCAKE TO SOME SKINNY TWINK BLONDIE WITH HUGE GREEN EYES. LITERALLY THE WORST DAY OF MY FUCKING LIFE. I HATE IT HERE I HATE IT HERE I HATE IT HERE NOW HES SMALLER AND SHORTER THAN THE SEME CAN MY DAY- NO WEEK- NO YEAR GET ANY WORSE?!? FUCK THIS SHIT. FUCK TINY PRETTY BOY UKES OH MY GOD **banging head into wall** IM STICKING AROUND BC UKES PERSONALITY IS WUNDERBAR BUT THIS HAS TO BE THE WORST BODY ALTERNATION FUCKING EVER. I WANT TO CRY.

[dicenete]

I never felt like this before I think I might just want some more I never felt like this before I think I might just

Slide, shake your bones out if you wanna ride Throw your head back, make you feel alive The kind of bad that make you feel good, good God, the kinda wrong that make you feel right The little death that make you feel alive The kinda shouldn't that mean that you should, should, should

It makes your blood run hot It makes your spit taste sweet It makes you feel more alive Than you have ever been Throw it into your mouth Gets stuck between your teeth Why would you die up there When you can live underneath? Dirty little animals Beautiful cannibals

Dirty Little Animals by Bones Uk Damn I love this song... The reason why I had the poll is the tonal whiplash these two snippets have... (I know there is still time for the poll, but I'm impatient person right now.) But the people have spoken and here is the scribble I promised : DD (apologies for all the typos and grammar errors...) ⬇️⬇️⬇️

"In the middle of the most extravagant party of the season, I certainly hope that I wasn't the only one who caught some intense stares between the two most sought-after suitors. The ever rude and barking, the first prince of Benitoite had insulted more than half of the eligible ladies of the ton before the first dance of the night had even finished its last steps. For our surprise, the seventh prince of our beloved kingdom of roses, didn't come and prey on the discouraged beautiful young women, being the rake that we all know and gossip about extensively. But instead he quickly went and offered a glass of fine rose liquor to with the most gentlest of gestures to the fellow prince and asked to join him away from the other guests. Now, it isn't a secret that the fox and the hound are very well acquainted with one another, seen quite often discussing the offers of the more fairer sex. Regardless I can't help but wonder, my dear readers, that were the looks exchanged between the princes something more intimate and playfully challenging than we have ever witnessed from these two ever? Or maybe it is just sly fox playing mind games with the hound of our allied nation? I'm certainly very curious to see if we can witness such looks again."

IkePri Fanart tag list: @scummy-writes @goustmilk @solacedeer @m-mmiy @mxrmaid-poet

@pawnkyyy

[arctichotch]

the cod boys at the eras tour ✨

Johnny “Soap” MacTavish:

this man might actually be more excited for the show than you are.

he’s made his own friendship bracelets, handed some out on base. he would never mention it, but he saw ghost wearing his while training rookies.

a dedicated swiftie, knows the setlist off by heart. makes a list of surprise songs he wants.

only listened to taylor for you, but fell in love with her. wants to buy the poster from your show.

maybe tears up a little seeing how happy it makes you and loves that you guys can share this together.

beyond fascinated at the pyro during bad blood. maybe you shouldn’t tell him about the picture you sent to ghost of johnny eying up all the fire.

won’t take any mocking that he’s a taylor swift fan. that’s his singer and he will defend her to the death (not literally but close enough)

Simon “Ghost” Riley:

less into her and more reluctant to attend the show with you. doesn’t understand why you wouldn’t want to go with a friend instead of him. he doesn’t think he’d fit in.

definitely the tall ass boyfriend who blocks people’s view and feels bad about it.

allows you to jazz up a balaclava of his for the show. he normally wouldn’t wear one in public, but he doesn’t exactly feel comfortable in a crowd of thousands, especially with his scars. doesn’t want to scare kids (:()

listens to you talk for hours about taylor swift. anytime you guys are driving together, she’s playing.

wouldn’t consider himself a swiftie, but he knows his stuff. you saw him swaying at times and vibing to shake it off at the show.

you love any reference to ghosts in her songs, even though they’re mostly extremely depressing, because that’s your man!!!!

one of the best nights of his life, but he’d never admit that.

thinks the tortured poets department is one of the best albums ever made. listens to it constantly when he’s away from you.

John Price:

this dude is old!!! he’s not really that old, but acts a lot older than he is! so he honestly doesn’t have a clue who this “taylor swift” is when you two first get together.

boy, does he know her now.

honestly, a swiftie. he can’t deny it. she has some bangers.

cheered you on when you were in the ticketmaster battle to get tickets, not letting on that he was also in the queue on base with his own code. ended up surprising you with the tickets after your attempts failed. will never forget the look on your face.

(he definitely also had selfish reasons trying to get tickets. he just has to go!)

loves it. i mean he doesn’t look like he’s in the eras tour spirit but inside he’s feeling it. looks like someone’s grumpy scary dad, but also knows a solid 80% of the words.

he was big into rock and metal type bands when he was younger. went to tons of shows as a teenager before enlisting. this was his favourite he’s ever seen.

can’t stop admiring the technical aspects. finds it all fascinating. thinks he could’ve been a roadie in another life.

Kyle “Gaz” Garrick:

now this man has been a swiftie since before you two got together. teardrops on my guitar was his jam in secondary school.

glad he can be open with you about how much he enjoys taylor swift when you are together.

you both compiled a comprehensive list when trying to get tickets. with who was going to try for what shows, budgets, codes, dates, times. it reminded him of a mission brief. almost with the same stakes.

you ended up getting tickets for 3 shows across the UK.

had the best time at all of them. would go another 18 times if he could. kept noticing things at each show that he hadn’t seen before and you both kept pointing different cool things out to each other.

definitely one of the best summers of his life, and he got to do it with the love of his life by his side.

cried when the kids got brought up for the 22 hat.

[jeannereames]

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Peter Green, giant in Classics. He died this last Monday morning (9/16/24) at the ripe old age of 99. He was born the same year as both my parents.

Peter was not only a very fine scholar, but also a damn good writer--which isn't always true of historians. He wrote historical fiction (no, really, he did: The Laughter of Aphrodite, about Sappho, and Achilles, His Armor, about Alkibiades). And he wrote some quite excellent collections of essays: In the Shadow of the Parthenon and Classical Bearings. His Alexander to Actium--a monster book about the Hellenistic Age big enough to choke a mule--actually made money for U-Cal Press. Not common for academic books, especially of that size!

I have issues with Peter's take on Alexander, I'll be honest. In fact, it was his cheeky summary of Hephaistion as "Tall, handsome, spoilt, spiteful, overbearing and fundamentally stupid" that made the little Hephaistion sit up in my head and object: "I wasn't like that!"

And that launched a dissertation. So in a backhanded way, you can thank Peter for my work on Hephaistion.

But I want to tell you about the other Peter I knew, a genuinely helpful, friendly, and likable guy. He and his wife (Classicist) Carin Green were long-time friends of Gene Borza (my academic father) and Kathleen Pavelko (Gene's now-widow). Born in the UK, he had mid-century British Classicist training mixed with some very progressive politics that might surprise.

He also gave me the best (academic) edit job I've ever received, in now 25 years of publishing. Together with Gene, I gave a paper at the then-APA (now-SCS), which ended up becoming my first (co-authored) publication, "Some New Thoughts on the Death of Alexander the Great." Peter was there to hear, and came up after to congratulate us then quiz me about my psych background and the info I'd brought on grieving. Gene told him about the chapter in my dissertation on Alexander's mourning, and Peter said, "Send me that chapter" for Selecta Classica, of which he was editor. I warned it was long. (To the tune of 60 pages in manuscript!)

But I sent it. And he took it. Then did the edits (both academic and literary) himself. It was fantastic. I quibbled on two things. First, commas. Ha. But second, he insisted everything go back into Greek without some translations, contending anybody reading it would know the Greek. I objected. I lost. I still think that was a mistake, but it was also evidence of that mid-century Brit Classicist that assumed the only people reading it would be other Classicists.

But folks, he made that first (solo) article of mine so much better, forcing me to clarify problematic phrasing, elaborate where I'd been too brief, etc. And he did it with a light hand that allowed my own voice to come through. He became my model of How to Be A Good Academic Editor. When I edit today, I have him in mind.

Peter, thank you for all you've done, not just in print, but as a human being and mentor to young scholars, like me. I'll pour a little libation of good red wine in your memory.

With his passing goes the last of that generation of Macedoniasts.

[depressedraisin]

okay so i don't really have a point to make over here but i've been thinking about this a lot lately so here we go: ever notice how alex tends to use a lot of dance-related words as metaphors for sex but almost always undercuts the image of elegance/beauty that might evoke using interesting juxtapositions and wordplay??

in piledriver waltz (submarine ep, 2010; also reprised for suck it and see, 2011) he writes "i heard the piledriver waltz// it woke me up this morning". now 'piledriver waltz' here refers to someone having sex (atleast the contributors at genius think so and so do i). turner uses the word waltz- an intimate ballroom dance between two partners- but adds piledriver- which is, as wikipedia tells me, "a professional wrestling driver move in which the wrestler grabs their opponent, turns them upside-down, and drops into a sitting or kneeling position, driving the opponent head-first into the mat". so you see, the refined, elegant, romantic connotations of waltz is contrasted with the image of rough ruthlessness that piledriver brings.

(ALSO also did you notice? a wrestling reference? all the way back in 2010 👀 now idk if it's a regular vocab words or specific to wrestling-lingo only back in uk, but my studied-english-as-first-language-in-school-but-not-native speaker ass did have to google what the hell that means)

another such oxymoron-esque treatment of metaphors for sex we see in everything you've come to expect (everything you've come to expect, 2016). the line, one of my absolute favourite things turner and kane have ever written, goes "dirtbag ballet by the bins down the alley // as i walk through the chalet of the shadow of death". 'dirtbag ballet' again refers to sex here, this time the illicit kind, the kind that takes place in shadowy corners and dingy alleys. 'ballet' is another term that we will immediately associate with elegance and graceful moves but the use of 'dirt bag' by it's side brings a sense of crassness, almost vulgar quality to it. that term immediately paints a very stark picture of wild clandestine passion that illicit affairs carries probably. the song talks about that a lot.

(PS: an applause for the impeccable internal rhyme in those lines tho. *chef's kiss*)

the last example that stands out to me is from four stars out of five (tranquility base hotel and casino, 2018) where the line goes "hokey cokey with the opposite sex." (someone mentioned it around here today and that's what sparked this post. EDIT: it's @homoirrealis https://www.tumblr.com/lalaballa1977/717488374837084160?source=share) now there's no clever oxymoron-metaphor situation here, but the choice of that specific dance to talk about sex (straight sex, as the songwriter so kindly points out) is very interesting to me. hokey cokey as we know is a campfire dance that originated with brit folk dances and tunes. it's so funny because whenever i hear that line it immediately takes me back to kindergarten and a bunch of us kids standing in a circle, singing the rhyme and learning the dance. therefore in my mind atleast, hokey cokey evokes images of practiced, monotonous movements of hand and feet, no fluidity, no elegance. also the communal aspect of it. what if we read it as something you are made to participate in because you are a part in a group, because a number of pairs of eyes are on you. a question worth pondering perhaps.

and all this referring to sex?

also the song goes on to entice you to escape to this swanky hotel-casino-taqueria up on the moon and get far, far away from shit that you have done and regret and want to forget. then why is this hokey cokey with the opposite sex also one of those things the narrator might want to forget?

Hmmmmm questions worth pondering, innit?

[our-trans-youth-experience]

TW: Nex Benedict, child death, implied past suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, hate crime, murder, ect.

I keep thinking about Nex, I didn’ t know them but I wish I could’ve had the chance even though we lived half way around the world from each other. It’s crazy for me to miss someone I never knew, but I do. They had a cat named Zeus and loved minecraft and reading. I think we would’ve gotten along.

It makes me sad, but mostly it makes me angry… and honestly scared. Nex was 16. I’m 16. I could just as easily be beaten to death in a bathroom, even though my peers aren’t violent nor care enough about me to say or do anything. It just makes me feel so upset, that this kid only got to live out 16 years of their life. It was just starting, and it was stolen.

And I just keep thinking about how I don’t want to die by my own hand or anyone else’s because of who I am.

I want justice, and I want freedom. I want there to be a time where kids won’t have to get killed for people to even realise how much of an issue all this is.

I’m not going to forget you, Nex.

rest in peace, and rest in power ❤️

I've been feeling very much the same way. When I heard about what happened to Nex, it affected me quite a lot. They were killed at only 16 just for being themself, and their family didn't even use their real name.

I live in the UK, but that doesn't make it any less terrifying as similar things have happened here. I don't think that myself or other trans youth should have to worry that they might be attacked or killed for being themselves. I don't ever want a trans kid's real name to be forgotten.

Nex loved cats like me. They were non binary and native american, and we will never forget their name. Rest in power, Nex.

[bookishjules]

fic writer twenty questions!!!

tagged by the lovely @timelesslords <33 (that's kind of alliteration if you think hard enough hehe) aka an incredible writer who i admire greatly (for which reason i'm linking her version of the post here) <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

28

2. What's your AO3 word count?

103,418

3. What fandoms do you write for?

very primarily percy jackson (i.e. pjo/hoo/toa) and the shadowhunter chronicles

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. Percy to the Rescue (69)

2. A Different Kind of Adventure (54)

3. Napkins and Notebooks (54)

4. Mistletoe (52)

5. The Holiday Market (51)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i do! it may take some time (if i get in my head about something lol) but i will always get to them if they elicit a response. i appreciate comments and the people who make them so incredibly much

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

probably Acceptance. it's <900 words but it's the only fic i have flagged with "main character death" so..

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

this is so hard.. prospecitvely i want to say it will be The Shape of the Tide just because of how much of a journey it will take to get us there. but as of right now it might be You, Me, and Nick just because of how damn cozy it is.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i get a lot of "why would you do this" but so far *knocks on wood* no real hate.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

yes. and i have no idea how to answer the second question.. um ig pretty straightforward explicit hetero smut? (so far.. if anything else i could def see myself writing sapphic smut in the future)

10. Do you write cross overs? What's the craziest one you've written?

i have written one (1) crossover. it was a percy jackson/harry potter next gen where the percabeth fam move to the uk and their son gets a letter from hogwarts. i was like 14/15 and gave up two chapters in because i couldn't figure out the conversion rates of american dollars to pounds to wizard money o7 (ftr i would totally write more. it can be so fun to play with characters like that and see how they interact etc.)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i am far to unknown for that lol

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

no sirr

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no, but i would love to

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

es a tie between percabeth (pjo) and sizzy (tsc). (some might determine from observing my blog (or sideblog) that it's actually just sizzy. but (a) i love them in different ways, (b) i don't recieve asks about percabeth, and (c) the scarcity of sizzy fan-content makes my heart act out the economic principle of supply and demand lol)

15. What's a WIP you'd like to finish but doubt you ever wilI?

ivy.. i would love to see this story completed but unfortunately i no longer ship ghostwriter and even with reshaping the plot to change the endgame, i just don't feel like writing that much about jesse anymore.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i feel like i'm pretty okay at tackling complex emotions? i've also gotten comments on my imagery, voice, and characterizations.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

endings; it's the biggest critique i remember receiving in my college writing classes. i also feel like i have a tendency to get lost in the weeds sometimes, which results in too much narration. also just general confidence.. i get spooked really easily.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

it's fun if it's spanish! but so far that's the only other language i've written dialogue in.. (thank you, leo)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

i actually think it may have been ella enchanted ? it was back on figment.com when i was 13-14 and was for some sort of challenge and i thought like ooh i can connect this with ella! (i was prob in my reading and rereading the book era) but it was super short and barely connected lol

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

gonna take a page out of lexi's book and split this between fandoms hehe

for tsc: Trying. i have found myself sitting at the top of my stairs ready to leave just rereading the first like 5k of this fic way too often. (it's also horribly the longest piece of writing i think i've ever finished. so it holds a special piece of proof to myself in it.. even if its only like 8k)

for pjo: Here Without You. there's an entire fraction of my soul tied up in this fic i swear. i'm never not thinking about it. it's been incredibly cathartic for me to write, both for myself and the characters (incl. calypso who i was not expecting to learn to appreciate/understand as much as i have)

leaving the tag open bc i can't think to save my life rn but! if you write fic and wish to do this, consider this your designated tag <3

[variousqueerthings]

welp, i hast voted.

i have helped the wheels churn, and rishi sunak is about to be the man who was in charge of the tories when they faced their biggest loss in... well we'll see. that track record tho:

david cameron: the guy who introduced modern-day austerity to the UK leading to a wave of death and increased disability (with decreased support), the man who began the accelerated gutting of the NHS. thought for sure it'd be a safe bet to do the brexit vote because it would never happen and thereby bargained with the country's future to get popularity points (and lost) (and let's not forget he fucked a pig's head)

theresa may: the least charismatic person ever to speak on the political stage, doesn't have the capacity to stand out in a room with only her talking in it. to give her the least bit of fairness, she was deliberately set up to fail and boy did she fail. she's a terrible person though, so *shrug*

boris johnson: ran a disastrous covid policy, has been proven to have hosted multiple parties during covid (there were pictures taken and shared), flouting rules that he instated, that were abused during a vigil for a woman murdered by a police officer that got overrun by police officers, a man known for stating bald-faced lies with such sheer confidence, you almost forgot that he was literally being filmed when he said the words "there is no press here" to the face of a father whose child was desperately sick and accusing him of getting cheap press points. probably has the most cult-like following in the party, because he kept firing people who weren't kissing his boots

liz truss: famous for having lasted less time than it took for a lettuce to rot. i bet her parents have disowned her for her policies, can you imagine wanting your child to be politically savvy only for her to join the tory party and be a raging bigot?

rishi sunak: a man with so little charisma, it's been mused he must have a humiliation kink for the way he keeps putting himself in situations that seem designed to mock him (his tiktok video announcing plans to reinstate the draft, taking calls from people mercilessly attacking him for the fact that he's an utter wet bastard, declaring the national election in a rain storm without an umbrella). literally married to a billionaire and seems to think this isn't the single most distinguishing fact about him, other than the fact that he's a bigot. let's not forget that he mocked trans women in front of brianna ghey's mother

each of them their very own version of "the most unpleasant person you might ever meet" like we're going through a cartoonishly painful villain roster. here's to all of them getting egged some day in the future

but until then, please go out and vote today!

check out your tactical vote

[just-antithings]

For a popular ship in my fandom (the closest thing to an OTP I'll ever have prob) there's a discord which has the rules, "nothing illegal here such as incest, pedophilia, or rape." The other rule was "no arguing about the rules."

They're obviously free to moderate the space however they want. They're the ones running the server. If I don't like it, I'm free to bounce, which is exactly what I promptly did lol.

However, the more I sat with this, the more it occurred to me just what a ridiculous case of bad faith anti virtue signaling this was.

With my blog for that fandom, on my mutual list alone, there are fellow fic writers from Scandanavia, Brazil, the UK, Mexico, and France. The source material is from Japan. Should people in the discord be obeying one of *those* counties' laws or the source material's?

The fact that I can assume the answer is no and that we're defaulting to U.S. law is actually outrageously ethnocentric, even moreso than it might be in other fandoms given how small it is these days. If you're in a chat with 50 people, 25 of whom aren't residents from your country, and you say "oh and of course don't be a filthy, disgusting law-breaker and bad citizen uwu" that's about half the group you've just been a pretty big asshole to 😬 "Me, me, me."

Even if we are defaulting to U.S. law, it's a ludicrous request. Take the rules literally and we shouldn't even be talking about canon because "break the law and damn the consequences" is the biggest running bit in the story lmao. Again, they're asking us to assume--this time that they're only talking about the REALLY bad stuff, sex, which is uniquely bad and evil and dirty and wrong even more than murder or torture (both of which also happen in the show) of course.

I can think of ten classic fics in this fandom which technically wouldn't/dubiously pass their rules. Wildly popular high school AUs and stuff that I suspect they wouldn't think counted, but how are the members of the discord supposed to know that? If we're all in a room, and you say "alright, I'm running this meeting! Also I'm laying my Christian Gun on the table, just to have it out for any FILTHY, HELL-BOUND PERVERTS taking refuge here, kay? What? Nuh-uh NO arguing about the gun you unruly children!" ....people with good ideas are going to leave, or not share them out of fear. Way to speed up the death of our fandom.

Finally, that example leads me to something even more fundamental that bothered me a lot about this: are they seriously under the impression that people are going to plug their filthy copefics/darkfics in a public space about a general popular ship of two characters who canonically haven't even kissed? It's inherently accusatory and condescending and noxious.

Anyways, sorry this got long. Thanks for having this inbox open so people like me can share stuff like this that's hard to talk about in small fandoms.

.

[dracopetal]

taco 10

Thank you!!! 10. What TV shows they watch together, and which ones they hide from the other

If talking about Draco and Tom in canon and not a muggle au then none, as Tom may have heard of tv's when they were in their infancy (first uk broadcast was in 1932, but I very much doubt doubt a poor orphan would have seen it) and by the time tv began to get popular he was off doing dark lord things. Draco wouldn't have been introduced to it ever.

But if talking about wizard media like radio dramas, then I think Tom would pretend he's above that, and that he doesn't have time to indulge in silly dramas while he has dark lord activities to do, but would probably secretly like true crime content - might give him ideas lol.

Draco I feel would try to pretend to be above them as well, at least to the other Death Eaters, but in private I feel like he'd love the gossipy ones, like if the wizarding radio had something like an agony aunt i feel like he'd love to listen and secretly judge the hell out of those people.

If they were muggle I think Tom would only watch the news but Draco would probably love reality tv and judging everyone and insulting them out loud. Tom would pretend to be irritated but secretly loves it when Draco gets bitchy.

ask game

[thedrarrylibrarian]

I was so excited to invite @caroll-in for our March Happy Hour! I did it as a little treat for myself - I've loved and been a fan of her art for such a long time (I love the bold lines, bright smiles, and the way she does hair. My favorite part is how she draws people who look like they're having a good time with each other! Partners look happy together.) I've been so excited to see what recommendation she'd come up with. She did such a lovely job, and even was able to find a rec that I hadn't read yet! I fell in love with her recommendation and I think you will too! Without making you wait any longer - here is the lovely @caroll-in!

I can't even describe the joy I felt upon receiving an invitation from @thedrarrylibrarian to be the guest of the March Happy Hour! It's an honour to be able to contribute a rec to this fantastic blog!

I'm gonna take this opportunity and rec a fic I’ve always wanted to do a proper post about as it's one of my all-time favorite long fics in the drarry fandom. Written for the @hd-fan-fair fest of 2021, it was the very first fic by Romaine that I have ever read and, most importantly, Romaine's comeback to the fandom after an almost decade-long break. And what an epic comeback it was!

This Ain't the Garden of Eden by @romaine2424 (131,466 words, rated E)

In 2020, Hit Wizard Harry is starting to enjoy his life. He’s divorced, and no longer Head Auror. His biggest project these days is trying to remodel 12 Grimmauld Place for him and the kids.

Draco Malfoy is recovering from his wife’s death. But is happy with his Ministry position as Temporary Head of the Department of Intoxicating Substances, and with his son who he adores.

This all changes quickly when Minister Shacklebolt decides not to run for another term. The assumption is that 'all is well' in the British Magical world, and that Hermione Granger-Weasley will easily be voted in as the next Minister for Magic. However, Draco knows better. He knows she has a strong competitor who is wooing those who live in Knockturn. And if he wins, the Ministry, and all that has been accomplished the previous twenty odd years, will be destroyed.

"This Ain't the Garden of Eden'' is a brilliant political fic following Harry's campaign to become the Minister for Magic. What I feel is the most important thing to point out here are his motivations to become a candidate in the first place. This Harry is one we all know and love but since he's in his forties, he's also more mature and has had a chance to figure himself out throughout the years. Even though he very much still enjoys the thrill and action (which he has plenty of, working as a Hit Wizard when we first meet him in the story) he also still cares and is ready to step up and help however he can—this time without being manipulated. Everything he does is done through his own decisions. I love how well Romaine executed that part because after people pulling the strings behind his back for half his life, it's really heartwarming to see Harry still wanting to save the Wizarding World, on his own terms. He won't take the risk of losing everything he and his friends worked for after the War—especially when he realizes how much still can and should be improved. His main political opponent (I hope it won't be too much of a spoiler to say this) is based on Trump and brilliantly so, making the reader root all the more for Harry's success. And for those of you worried it might be too much politics for your taste, please note the "case fic" and "action/adventure" tags on the story which very much *deliver*.

Romaine takes the well-known canon world and expands it, making it so full of details and innovative magical theory (which I bet y'all are fans of as much as I am!) and introduces us to many new magical places, not only in the UK. It might not be a fic about Wizarding Houses and Grimmauld Place per se, but I promise you—those of you who enjoy this trope won't be disappointed either as the fic features a stellar subplot catering to it. We also get a new take on the Knockturn community and their culture and meet many new brilliantly-written original characters who I couldn't help but fall in love with (and I am sure you will too!). Of course, I also have a lot of love for Romaine's characterisations of the characters we know from canon—from Ron, Hermione and the Potters' kids to Scorpius and Narcissa. And Kingsley Shacklebolt, who very much deserves his own shoutout here—I can honestly say it's my very favourite take on him and I'm not being dramatic, he *is* fantastic in this story and I can't wait for you guys to meet him!

And finally: DRARRY. I deliberately saved the most important aspect of this fic for last and I hope I didn't give you the impression this story isn't about them! The main plot circles around the elections and is super captivating on its own, but it's Harry and Draco's relationship we're all here for and the way Romaine wrote them is honestly perfect! As I already mentioned, they're in their forties and, therefore, more experienced and more mature, willing to calmly take a look at the other to see and appreciate how much they changed throughout the years. Thanks to that we can skip the drama unnecessary for this story and have them form a fantastic partnership—both for the cause and as lovers. The pace of their relationship is so well-written and we get to see it develop as the story progresses. Don't think, however, that it's all smooth and easy—their trademark jealousy and banter are very much present to spice things up a bit! Romaine was generous to give both Harry and Draco many quirks and habits that the reader gets to discover along with them but I don't want to spoil your fun by listing them here—you need to trust me, you're in for a treat! One more thing, because it actually might be my favourite: remember the classic fanfic trope of a character recognizing the scent of their love interest's hair? Romaine's take on it is simply stellar and takes it to a brand new level. Everything from their first kiss (!!!!!!), through the smut scenes, to the moment they're finally ready to confess their love is a pleasure to read and I envy those of you who will get to read it for the first time!

And if, after finishing this fic, you won't be quite ready to leave the universe Romaine created just yet, I have great news for you: for the 25 Days of Draco and Harry 2021, she wrote "25 Additional Scenes for This Ain't the Garden of Eden" which features extra scenes from the main story (also a huge rec!).

Once again, many many thanks to @thedrarrylibrarian for having me here and for giving me an opportunity to give some extra love to one of my fave drarry stories! <3

Thank you again @caroll-in for taking the time to join us and write this wonderful recommendation!

❤️ As always, if you find a fic you enjoy, please remember to leave the author a kudos or a comment! ❤️

Lots of Love and Happy Friday!

[celticcrossanon]

I am sorry but I am getting scared because of the things people have been saying about William and Kate. I should probably take time away from here now because I’m seriously overthinking things, particularly because of this one blog here who has been warning Wales fans of a coming storm.

But you know what I think? Charles is the problem and always has been. I don’t even think Harry is the problem. There seems to be a lot of accounts that now think both William and Harry are the problem and puts the blame for their behavior on their Spencer-ness. Yes, William and Harry are grown men now and should be held responsible, but the fact of the matter is they’ve both had problematic upbringing and had a traumatic experience. Instead of helping them, their father has only ever used them and thrown them under the bus. These people want to deflect the blame to Diana, but the truth is Charles played and plays a large part too. I see it clearly now, everything that’s happening right now is just an extension of the Charles and Diana war. Harry is just as much a victim of these circumstances. Charles used triangulation, yes. He tore the brothers and their wives apart. Charles really is the biggest problem in all of these. I don’t care anymore, I hope both brothers realize that their father is the real enemy and just work together to bring the house down. What are we even fighting for trying to keep the institution alive? Is it even a beacon of good that it needs to stand the test of time?

I am seriously anticipating something being revealed in the upcoming days because that blog has been warning us. I’m not looking forward to the monarchy ever being able to put up a facade of peace again. My rose-colored glasses are now off. Some people are even beginning to think that Beatrice might become Queen. I’d rather see the monarchy be abolished.

Hi Nonny,

I think that having a break from social media would be a good idea for you. Take some time off, do things you like, and don't follow or think about BRF stuff. We all need breaks to keep our sanity and our perspective.

As for the other things you mention, just because a blog says something does not mean it is going to happen (including this blog). The only storm I expect to see happening in the future is the big reveal that Lady C has been promising us, and even that may turn into a nothing burger. Otherwise, I just take it day by day. That gives me more than enough things to think about and comment upon.

I don't think that any one person is 'the problem' in the sense that of they were gone, everything will be rosy again. I think that what we are seeing is a lot of people with very different agendas trying to make their vision come true in the world, or at the very least hold space for the vision to manifest in the future. As not all visions can be true at the same time, there are power plays and clashing egos and manipulations and machinations all over the place. Right now we are in the storm. In time, like everything else, it will pass and we will be able to see what is standing at the end of it.

I like having a monarchy and a king as my head of state, so I want that to be preserved. I'm certainly not going to start tearing it down until the people of the UK have indicated that that is what they want. They are the ones with the most voice in the ongoing existence of the monarchy as far as I am concerned.

Monarchies don't have to be beacons of good. They just have to exist and function as a form of government together with the parliament. Expecting anything else of them is like expecting every president to be an angel of light and goodness, and we all know that is not the case.

It would take the deaths of King Charles, the Prince of Wales, his three children, Harry, his children, and Prince Andrew for Princess Beatrice to be in a position to inherit the throne. I can not see that happening in the future.

[mariana-oconnor]

The Yellow Face pt 2

Last time I was possibly overly critical of Mr Grant (or Jack?) Munro who was not dealing with his wife's curious behaviour very calmly. I stand by the fact that barging into people's houses in a fit of fury is very much not a good response to thinking your wife is lying, but I guess we'll see if I'm right.

“It seemed to be of an unnatural color, and to have a strange rigidity about the features. When I approached, it vanished with a jerk.”

An unnatural colour. Yes, both 'chalky white' and 'livid yellow' at the same time. I didn't bring this up the first time, but I probably should have. Was the face white or yellow? The title of the story indicates yellow, but the first description definitely, clearly, stated 'white'.

“Have you ever seen a photograph of her first husband?” “No; there was a great fire at Atlanta very shortly after his death, and all her papers were destroyed.” “And yet she had a certificate of death. You say that you saw it.” “Yes; she got a duplicate after the fire.”

A lot of very convenient events right there. And of course the death certificate comes up again - although now there is indication that it might be erroneous. I didn't know until recently that apparently you can just go to the hospital where you were born in the UK and say 'I've lost my birth certificate, I need another one.' I assume there is more to it than that, but I can't imagine there was in the 1880s. 'Hey, my husband died of Yellow Fever and I lost his death certificate in a fire, can I get a new one please. Yes, his name was Coen Siddence?"

"Let me advise you, then, to return to Norbury, and to examine the windows of the cottage again. If you have reason to believe that it is inhabited, do not force your way in, but send a wire to my friend and me."

Don't force your way into the other people's house. Good advice there from Holmes. He only follows it sometimes himself, but I do appreciate that he's being clear on this front. Do not break and enter, Mr Munro.

“I am afraid that this is a bad business, Watson,” said my companion, as he returned after accompanying Mr. Grant Munro to the door. “What do you make of it?” “It had an ugly sound,” I answered. “Yes. There’s blackmail in it, or I am much mistaken.” “And who is the blackmailer?”

OK, so probably not her kid. Probably her former husband who isn't actually dead, I guess. Because the death certificate which was so very specifically mentioned is not real.

“Yes, a provisional one. But I shall be surprised if it does not turn out to be correct. This woman’s first husband is in that cottage.”

Welp, theory 1 it is. Theory 2 has been thrown out of the window.

Her husband developed some hateful qualities; or shall we say that he contracted some loathsome disease, and became a leper or an imbecile?

Holmes... I'm not going to bother to unpack that but... okay then.

Right the term imbecile was one of those that used to refer to a very specific level of IQ and apparently there was also considered to be such a thing as 'moral imbecility' which was believed to be connected to genetic criminality and part of eugenics (hoooooo boy). Basically I don't really know what it means in this context, but I'm guessing he's going for the moral meaning rather than an IQ issue as I doubt someone with "a mental age of three to seven years" would really be hatching a dastardly blackmailing plot. Although my nephew can be particularly cunning sometimes in his attempts to get more cake, and he's younger than that, so... what do I know?

HOWEVER.

After all of this, we have to remember that this story started by saying the Holmes was wrong.

So maybe I'm right after all. Hidden child is back on the table, boys!

I was going to put the 'looks like meat's back on the menu boys LotR gif here, but decided implied cannibalism of theoretical disabled children is probably not the best idea I've ever had, so have this gif of Jeremy Brett as Holmes instead.

"She has been married three years, and believes that her position is quite secure, having shown her husband the death certificate of some man whose name she has assumed, when suddenly her whereabouts is discovered by her first husband; or, we may suppose, by some unscrupulous woman who has attached herself to the invalid."

Ah, no... the blackmailer in Holmes version is the northern woman who opened the door and wasn't particularly welcoming. Though it makes no sense why she'd be from northern Britain when the husband would, presumably, have been cared for in the US and she would, also presumably, have had to come over from there with him in order to hunt down his wife.

So she's either really good at accents or... she was British to begin with and knew them over there...?

Taking down with her the photograph which had probably been demanded from her.

This is a very weird demand if Holmes' theory is correct. The photo was one of the things that made me think it was a child, because giving your child a picture of you to look at is just... a nice thing. Taking a photo of the woman you're blackmailing is... I guess it's a control thing, or a weird stalkery thing.

"...on which the wife, knowing that he would come straight down to the cottage, hurried the inmates out at the back door, into the grove of fir-trees..."

Again, a strange detail for the blackmailing plot. This implies that Effie would have had some sort of control over her blackmailers. Surely they would be more likely to stay? Her husband wouldn't recognise the guy, by his own admission. Or they'd leave of their own volition, surely. But allowing their blackmailee to smuggle them from the house seems very weird.

But we had not a very long time to wait for that. It came just as we had finished our tea. “The cottage is still tenanted,” it said. “Have seen the face again at the window. Will meet the seven o’clock train, and will take no steps until you arrive.”

A round of applause, please, for Mr Munro's self control, which appears to have finally returned to him.

“What is your plan, then?” asked Holmes, as he walked down the dark tree-lined road. “I am going to force my way in and see for myself who is in the house. I wish you both to be there as witnesses.”

It was a brief reunion, alas.

“For God’s sake, don’t Jack!” she cried. “I had a presentiment that you would come this evening. Think better of it, dear! Trust me again, and you will never have cause to regret it.” “I have trusted you too long, Effie,” he cried, sternly. “Leave go of me! I must pass you. My friends and I are going to settle this matter once and forever!” He pushed her to one side, and we followed closely after him. As he threw the door open an old woman ran out in front of him and tried to bar his passage, but he thrust her back

Effie... please just talk to your husband. Clearly the 'trust me' line isn't working. Just... like... tell him. I really hope you married someone you can trust. Although, given... y'know, Victorian era etc. maybe you didn't. But communication is a really good strategy.

Jack, Grant... Grack, whatever your name is... Just.. stop barging into people's homes. And telling your wife you don't trust her like that is a dick mood. You need to calm down and talk this through, too.

In the corner, stooping over a desk, there sat what appeared to be a little girl. Her face was turned away as we entered, but we could see that she was dressed in a red frock, and that she had long white gloves on.

Hidden child. HA!

Also... Grack you just frightened a child. I hope you're happy with yourself, you great numpty.

Holmes, with a laugh, passed his hand behind the child’s ear, a mask peeled off from her countenance.

First - mask! Ha again! I mean... you really shouldn't touch the kid's mask without permission, Holmes.

I... did not expect the mask to be hiding the fact that the kid is Black. But I live in the 21st century, I guess. Yeah...

I burst out laughing, out of sympathy with her merriment; but Grant Munro stood staring, with his hand clutching his throat.

At least she's laughing too, I guess. But Grack, you need to prove yourself not a terrible person pretty damn quick. I still have a few shreds of faith in you.

She touched a spring, and the front hinged back. There was a portrait within of a man strikingly handsome and intelligent-looking, but bearing unmistakable signs upon his features of his African descent.

Well that's a super sideways way to describe his race, particularly after the choice of words to describe the kid. Also, hello racist implications of that 'but' right there. Le sigh. This story is really pulling a bait and switch by calling itself 'The Yellow Face', isn't it. You expect racism against one group of people but Surprise! it's about another.

"When I left her in America,” she continued, “it was only because her health was weak, and the change might have done her harm. She was given to the care of a faithful Scotch woman who had once been our servant."

Not going to touch the colourism of the passage before this with a barge pole. That's a whole heap of ugh that I do not have the historical or personal understanding to unpack in a way the subject deserves.

Also, the woman is apparently Scottish, not just vaguely 'Northern'. It does read as a Scottish accent when I look back on it, but still. Coming from someone living in Norbury, which is in South London, 'Northern' could mean anything higher than Watford! Northern? How vague can you be?

(Incidentally if someone from Berwick-Upon-Tweed calls you Southern, it can mean anything south of Sunderland. The Midlands of England is Schroedinger's land. It lives in a permanent superposition of being both The North and The South. Your interpretation depends entirely on which direction you're looking at it from.)

"But when chance threw you in my way, Jack, and I learned to love you, I feared to tell you about my child. God forgive me, I feared that I should lose you, and I had not the courage to tell you. I had to choose between you, and in my weakness I turned away from my own little girl."

Dick move, Effie. On so many points. My theory was waaaaay more charitable to you than you deserved apparently.

"At last, however, there came an overwhelming desire to see the child once more. I struggled against it, but in vain."

Shucks. You wanted to see the child you abandoned. How terrible.

This little girl deserves so much better.

“We can talk it over more comfortably at home,” said he. “I am not a very good man, Effie, but I think that I am a better one than you have given me credit for being.”

That... is optimistic. I mean... you're essentially just walking out on the little girl immediately. But he seems to be saying that he's not racist, at least. So yay for that?

That poor kid. For so many reasons.

EDIT: It has been pointed out to me that I missed a paragraph when I was reading, where he picks up the little girl:

It was a long two minutes before Grant Munro broke the silence, and when his answer came it was one of which I love to think. He lifted the little child, kissed her, and then, still carrying her, he held his other hand out to his wife and turned towards the door.

OK! Far more satisfying ending if your brain doesn't skip a paragraph. D'oh!

That's really sweet. You have redeemed yourself Grack. Still have those anger and trust issues to deal with, but this is good. I approve. And I approve that Watson approves. Yay. There is a happy ending.

Still some marital issues, though.

Not another word did he say of the case until late that night, when he was turning away, with his lighted candle, for his bedroom. “Watson,” said he, “if it should ever strike you that I am getting a little over-confident in my powers, or giving less pains to a case than it deserves, kindly whisper ‘Norbury’ in my ear, and I shall be infinitely obliged to you.

I remember this ending. I like this little nod to Holmes being aware of his own failings. And his trusting of Watson to keep him in line.

Well... I was right. And I absolutely allowed ACD to manipulate me into feeling smug for having beaten Holmes to the punchline. I was not expecting the race reveal, sure. But I think I can be forgiven for that. Effie needs to take a long hard look at herself in the mirror. Grack needs to sit down and deal with his temper problems. And that little girl needs to not be forced to wear a mask and gloves and stay inside all day.

Also, both Effie and Grack need to learn to trust each other. I get different time period, different attitudes, different expectations, but maybe you shouldn't marry a person if you can't tell him about your kid? And maybe talk to your wife rather than going full on B&E?

[velvetvexations]

Seeing you post hellsing is really funny bc I remembered I kin from hellsing abridged but I still haven’t watched hellsing. you might know who I am from that but I clicked anon anyways idk 🤷

Anyways I’m going to watch actual hellsing now

Hellsing is amazing. I love how easy it is to mix up quotes from the Abridged and original series, they're basically the same show. Rip Van Winkle was my first waifu, mostly because she looks so much like a crush I went to school with at the time. Schrodinger's deaths are to this day the only time I've ever been "into" gore, my heart gets all melty listening to Ravers in the UK thinking about him. And If I ever have a child, I'm naming them Integra.

[snugglyporos]

wait what did Neil Gaiman do, his work is often very optimistic and about the value of stories and power of dreams, in comparison to Moore's more cynical view

So I'm just going to say this reads like you've only experienced Gaiman's work second hand or through adaptations. His stores are not optimistic. In fact the theme that runs through most of his works is one of powerless resignation, wherein nothing really matters and most people are consigned to endless suffering due to the actions of other people who they'll never meet or get revenge on.

And that's pretty obvious if you take a trip down his catalogue, because he began his career working on Judge Dredd of all things.

That's not really a surprise. Gaiman, like many UK writers, had to deal with the magazines they had, and the reality is that most UK comics are darker, bleaker, and more violent. Ironically, for all the sex and violence in US media, it's the UK comics scene that ended up being far more lurid and violent, mostly due to them not having the US Comics Code.

But I digress. If you really wanted to boil down Gaiman to two works, it's Sandman and Lucifer, and neither is optimistic. Neither is any good, either. Yes, I can defend this, and it comes down to the fact that Gaiman can't stop masturbating to his own ego in regards to how smart he is.

Roughly 60% of a Gaiman comic is his espousing on nonsense. Well researched and smart-sounding nonsense, but nonsense. He also can't just be like everyone else; he has argued at length for example that characters like Dream aren't psychopomps. He can't tell you what they are, because any definition of a character like Death or Dream ends up being that of a psychopomp, but he's determined that they're different just because.

To read a Gaiman story is to be trapped in a lecture with an extremely boring person who apparently just read their first philosophy textbook. Sandman, in my view, might be the most overrated comic ever written, simply because it's protagonist is a giant pile of shit. The entire comic has him journey all over the universe to get his things back, only for him to remark that actually, he doesn't need them, and thus the entire comic has been a giant waste of time and you're a fool for reading it, because you wasted your time.

Lucifer is what happens when a writer thinks they understand theology better than they do, and rely heavily on theology in order to prop up their barely put together stories. Lucifer tries to pick up where Paradise Lost left off, but the end result is Lucifer getting what he wants and creating his own multiverse. Because you see, Lucifer is what Gaiman sees himself as, same as Dream; a person who is trapped by the conventions and designs of lesser people, and who shouldn't be restrained because he's simply smarter and better than they are.

Lucifer's story is one where a person does everything wrong and gets what he wants. Sandman is a story where a protagonist couldn't give a shit about being in a story and also gets what he wants.

But ultimately, most people don't really like either for the story. Most people like them because they fit a vibe. If all they were were empty headed nonsense that was artistically and emotionally appealing, then I would be happy enough to say that he's not one of the people who ruined comics, because he would already be suffering enough.

No, Gaiman's sin against comics is that he injected a whole host of esoteric nonsense into the mainstream. Now it's not enough to just have stories, you need everyone to have endlessly complex cosmological nonsense stapled onto it. Moore didn't add that, and Miller isn't capable of it. Gaiman added that.

The fact that every story in comics is now about 'the multiverse' and has cosmic implications no matter what is going on is because of Gaiman's popularity with Sandman and Lucifer. Others tried, he succeeded, and this success showed comic companies that they could go bigger, and as a result everything became a lazy mess.

Are you tired of confusing, barely coherent multiverse stuff? Blame Gaiman, who pioneered it all first in the modern context.

Gaiman's sin is that he brought all of this smart-sounding bullshit to the mainstream and he did it in the laziest way possible. Sure, he didn't do it out of spite like Moore and Miller, but he did it all the same. He probably felt he was elevating things, but the reality is that everything that came after has resulted in less coherent, less interesting nonsense.

And you can draw a fucking red line straight to him when it comes to making that a reoccurring theme.

His work is very much not for me (I'm sure you're shocked to hear that) but I get why people like it aesthetically. But he absolutely sinned when he opened the floodgates of esoteric bullshit, like Lucifer tempting humanity.

[vriskaserketdaily]

what albums are those and why do you connect it w vriska :3?

THANK YOU mwah

it's not so much that i connect these albums with vriska, but rather with the persona vriska constructs for herself and with vriska's perceptions of mindfang.

the first album is celebrity skin (1998), the third and final album of the band hole. you might have heard this song from the album if you listened to rock stations in the 2000s. it deals heavily with doomed romance, suicidality, the façades of fame and the ugly, sad truths which lie beneath.

the second is soho lights (2008) by the UK-based pop-punk band tat. it is their first and only album, and i have no idea if it got radio play at all, but here's a song from the album to give you a feel for the sound. this one themes itself around the rock-and-roll lifestyle, sexuality (particularly unwilling and unrequited love) and rebellion against expectations of how women are "supposed" to behave.

both albums present an aggressive (and aggressively heterosexual) brand of femininity that i believe 13-year-old (and younger) vriska would latch onto in her quest to emulate and embody mindfang as depicted in her journals. people much smarter than me have pointed out that vriska reads very strongly as a lesbian character suffering from compulsory heterosexuality, because despite her many many attempts to replicate the important men-oriented relationships of her ancestor, these relationships consistently leave her dissatisfied; and because her most intense and passionate relationships are with women (terezi, kanaya, aradia) rather than the men she should be interested in (eridan, tavros, arguably equius). (i also think she is suffering from "compulsory heterosexuality" in the troll sense in that mindfang's quadrants are very neat and delineated whereas vriska's cannot help but be . . . messy. see: terezi and tavros)

vriska's picture of mindfang as a historical figure is incomplete, because she only ever consults one source on mindfang's life and personality. yes, it's a primary source, but there's no reason to believe mindfang's account of her conquests or conduct is accurate to historical events. she could have been creating a character just as much as vriska is, someone who is cool and in control of all events, never afraid for her life or doubtful of her abilities. vriska, taking this account at face value and being unable or unwilling to conduct further research beyond the contents of one volume of mindfang's journals, internalized this potentially fictitious characterization as fact, projecting onto mindfang her desires and aspirations.

like all the other characters in homestuck, vriska's outward appearance of a ruthless, 8adass cerulean marauder is a façade. a sham. her conversations with john, aradia, and meenah reveal her to be introspective, affection-seeking (or at least, connection-seeking), conscious of the weight of her actions and remorseful for them. even before her introspective conversations, she is established as a character who is not happy with her life and the things she has to do to stay alive, the role she believes she has to play so she and her friends don't die. she is scared of the things she has to do and the role she has to play, but even at her introduction the stakes were life and death.

for her, mindfang is a persona, an armor she steps into when she needs to be the person her society insists she is. to that end, i believe that if she had access to celebrity skin and soho lights, she would use them as "mood-setting music" to get into the headspace of the mindfang persona and affirm that the aggressive, rebellious, at times morbidly depressed, heterosexual picture of herself is an accurate one reflected by this music---music mindfang would have made or enjoyed.

(there is also something to be said about the controversy surrounding courtney love that may make her a compelling individual for vriska, but when it comes to music as experienced by a 13-year-old i do not believe the artist is the most relevant factor in that 13-year-old's processing and interpretation of the music---it certainly wasn't for me at that age)

tl;dr vriska listens to these aggressive rocker chicks growl into the mic about their heterosexual love lives that have failed in various ways, and the depression that comes with their lifestyles, and thinks to herself as an aggressive depressed teenage girl whose relationships with men always flop for reasons that have nothing to do with her not actually liking men and thinks, "she's just like me fr"