#vasily over here simping already

[tsareviich]

continued from [x] || @vicioushope

for a few seconds, her brain short-circuits. that is the last combination of words she’d expected to hear leaving vasily’s mouth ; all she can do is stare at him, wide-eyed, as she tries to find a way to process what he’s just told her. he wants… to take her out on a date ? she could laugh at the incredulousness of it –– she does laugh, an huff leaving her through before she can stop it, slightly strangled and desperate. 

“ you, ” she says slowly, still trying to put the pieces together as she gestures between them, “ want to take me –– on a date. ” it doesn’t make sense –– she’s not the type of person that people take on dates. any minute now, he’ll laugh, crack that grin of his and make light of her clear confusion. “ you’re fucking with me. bloody hell, lantsov, i don’t have time for this shit today ! ” 

he wonders if this was a bad idea. a stupid idea, in fact. jyn erso wasn't the type to go on dates. she was... not the date type. but that didn't stop vasily from wanting to go on a date with her. take her to someplace fancy. let her feel special for a night. and then do it again. because jyn erso was special and she deserved to be treated right. he almost feels silly for pouting as she laughs but-- he'll admit his pride took a hit.

he follows her gesturing and looks at her confused. " yeah. i mean, that's why i asked. i wanted to take you, jyn erso, on a date. " he grabs onto her arm lightly. she can still easily pull away from him but he wants to pretend her from leaving too. " i'm not fucking with you. i want to take you on a date. you and me. nice wine. maybe some dessert too. i'm serious, jyn. "

[infernil]

@beartsar @sanktasolntse @suncalls @solsnkta @beblade @aleksling @krashaya @kcrclrezni @lantsovheir is this too many fjfjf

Send me a url and I’ll write some positivity for it.

no its never too many!!!! send me every url ever im thriving!!! i am gonna try to keep these slightly on the shorter side? but knowing me no i wont lmao

@beartsar - alex is so unbelievably talented i will never not be screaming about it! i will still never be over the odd tender relationship we crafted between ivan and modern!mob aleksander breibgiure i need to put him on tenikost so those two can keep being bros who love each other so much (and so i can keep simping for arian moayed urbgiurb)

@sanktasolntse - emma i was already nice to you but fuck it im gonna do it again!!!! i love you!!!! i think your take on alina is really great!!!! she and marie are so perfect in any and every way and i love them!!!!

@suncalls - bean holy shit you’re so talented and you capture alina so beautifully like wtf. also ketterdam alina???? THE POWER THAT HAS. THE INFLUENCE THAT HAS. i need to get on my multi more often so we can scream about malina and also i need to yeet marie at your alina bc angels.

@solsnkta - hey haley guess what!!!! i frickin love youuuuuu!!!! i love your alina and i love how like? you plot about alina w/ other alina muns like that’s just something so admirable and kind??? and you’re just a talented writer and a lovely person tbh. 10/10 always

@beblade - oops guess its time to be gay on main for eza again sowwy. no but for real i genuinely love writing with you or just screaming about headcanons with you it is just legitimately such a fun part of my day and i appreciate you endlessly for that.

@aleksling - um wow okay what a cool fucking person!!!! isaac you’re literally so talented and i’ve said this before but i really, really respect the way you play the darkling. like you just come at him with this crucial level of empathy but also you won’t compromise like? about his actions and that’s something that i know i’ve had a hard time with when trying to write villains. also like literally i will never shut up about how much fun it is to write the dark marie verse with you like thank you for making that happen with me

@krashaya - tas you might not see this for a hot minute but i want you to know.... my crocs arrived. kjfbgiurbguir okay so here’s the thing though. you’re so FUCKING talented. i love your writing and your aesthetic and i love the extra layers you’ve given to genya w/ @pistolslinger having her be jesper’s cousin. like i just simply adore you even though marie and genya are still fighting. fashion is so fraught. ily and you’re never getting rid of me or my crocs xoxo

@kcrclrezni - sarah i am only just now realizing i don’t think we’ve ever written which just absolutely needs to change???? i really love your portryal of nikolai and have loved chatting with you ooc!!! you’re super kind and just really really talented and icb we haven’t had our kids cause some mischief on the dash.

@lantsovheir - britt!!! you’re so talented like! we’ve been through this but you actually made me care about vasily and i will now forever have a lil place in my heart for him and i like cant wait to reread the trilogy and experience that. you’re so fun to write with and i am not exaggerating when i say i cANNOT wait for forbidden marie and vas erbgubei

@dirtycrow - HA HA BIG GUY (sorry thats a reference to this dumb youtube video) but gUESS WHAT YOU GET ONE TOO!!! this really warmed my heart when you sent this ask like??? idk there’s something so sweet about you loving ur friends and being like ‘hell yeah i want them to know how loved they are’ AND YOU ARE SO LOVED TOO!!! the talent, first of all, is off the charts like???? literally youre so good at what you do and you’re also just a really lovely soul sooooo uwu. ily.

[cto10121]

ok fine FINE here's a review on shadow and bone, good, bad, and ugly

the good

mal. almost everything about him is improved from the books and his POV is fully expressed here. the childhood bf to lovers trope is finally justified

the casting. spot-on for the most part, especially jesper, everyone really works well together.

there is an obvious sense of the show being conceived by people and portrayed by actors who actually like the original material, which is refreshing af. must approve

ben barnes

no seriously everything about ben barnes

alina and the darkling. these two, i just can’t

the crows were consistently good and they were well-integrated with the main storyline for the most part. that they they didn't accomplish much i don't even mind much, since they were enjoyable enough

the darkling being such an unabashed simp for alina is beautiful and hilarious and i am here for it. i am the elmo basking in hellfire with his hands outstretched for this

alina has more agency here, especially in her relationship with the darkling, which is passionate and sexy completely consensual. my oh my

the ~diversity~ being natural and organic for once. actually alina’s and mal’s biracialness does justify their outsider status, more so with alina. it gives an extra dimension why alina is so resistant to new life at the little palace and why she clings to mal instead of ugly-duckling thing from the books

the goat

but now the bad

in changing the relationship dynamic between alina and mal from plain-girl-with-unrequited-crush-on-jock-childhood-bestie, the show inadvertently removed genuine conflict and rationale for certain plot beats. here there is no real reason for alina and mal not to have gotten together—they clearly liked each other, alina is not under the impression mal doesn’t like her, mal passes up a chance to hook up with zoya to get her food...what gives? and so the malina ship feels more like a sibling/familial relationship because it lacks tension and genuine conflict. even when alina admits to something happening between her and the darkling, mal is immediately and unconditionally supportive. you’d think a teen boy would at least struggle a bit to accept his crush with a hot older grisha general whom he distrusts. i don't know, it feels way too idyllic. mal is just too damn perfect. there’s just no place their relationship can go from here story-wise but down

the darkling’s character is still very ambivalent. fun as it was to see, in making the darkling an (almost) total simp, barnes removes the chance for some inner conflict. book!darkling clearly felt conflicted over his attraction towards alina and the obstruction it had on his plans. show!darkling meanwhile is nigh planning the wedding from the war room scene on, and he was clearly taken with her beforehand. this succeeds not only in audience-baiting darklina something awful, but it makes the plot twist of his villainy something hard to accept. before this the only thing obviously manipulative the audience knows that he does is the blue iris thing—and that scene is hilarious in its comic timing. add in the strong beauty-and-the-beast/hades-persephone vibes, the symbolism of light/dark, ying/yang, the coolly composed ruthlessly villainous sophisticate versus the fiery orphan pure of heart naïf...yeah. suffice to say, darklina is the most popular ship for a good reason. sometimes, and only just sometimes, the fangirls are right.

speaking of which. the baghra tells alina about the darkling scene. the most fucked up plot point of the books, and they not only kept it in, but kept it in faithfully with few to no alterations. *facepalms* suffice to say, alina trusting baghra so readily makes even less sense in the series than in the books. they even included a flashback scene of the origins of the fold that subtly contradicts baghra’s account to alina (the darkling didn’t create the fold on purpose, it was an accident). if the plan was to make the darkling into a full-out series villain, they definitely failed

not only that, but it threw away the growth of alina’s arc!!! she was just coming to accept and own her powers, making friends at the little palace, pursuing the darkling, etc. she was a much more interesting character than the whinefest (safety and luxury, o heavy burden) of previous episodes. and now, knowing the books, they will start her out in the same position again in the second season, suppressing her powers yet again, and all for basic beefcake mal. i hate this direction, i hate it to bits, fuck it fuck it fuck it

the crows felt like comic side characters here instead of the more well-rounded figures they are in soc. which isn't a bad thing and actually the show did benefit a lot from their comedy, but it did make them much less compelling. hopefully season two will delve deeper

the ugly

i remember baghra telling alina that to seek refuge with some grisha faithful to her by going right at the fork of the tunnel, but instead alina chooses to go left on her own???? and this is not explained??? am i misremembering or???

a lot of beautiful shots interspersed with weirdly clumsy shots and direction? is it just me or did some of the blocking feel off?

the worldbuilding, albeit more consistent and unified, still lacks depth and is a trifle incoherent, but that is again something that plagued the book series as well.

the writing was a bit uneven; some strong, sharp lines but also quite a bit of weak lines i had to mentally rewrite.

alina's antler flesh necklace. they really went there, didn't they?

this is a malina show all the way, and for reasons i have already explained...yeah. there is still a chance, of course, that they do not do malina endgame, but with bardugo involved, it's doubtful. only if they do come to conflict over creative differences and bardugo leaves would the show be able to go in that direction, (or bardugo simply giving up and accepting this show as the canon-divergent fanfic it is). but one thing i am absolutely sure they will do is bait the audience with darklina.

mal fighting the darkling in the fold (!!) and actually holding his own. what malina propaganda dumbfuckery is this

this show probably did need to be at least ten episodes. the eight we got were fine and tight, and i don't blame the showrunner in the least for opting for the high budget, but again, some plot beats did not feel as natural or organic as they could have been. could have used the extra time

so my fix-it for season two regarding the alina-darkling-mal drama: have an actual good-guy (or even worse-bad-guy—maybe a hitler-type royal who begins to ramp up on oppressing and maybe even killing off all grisha after the darkling’s betrayal. maybe vasily? vasily sounds right) alternative to the darkling and not just "gather up the amplifiers and destroy the fold and discount lord voldemort." continue with the arc of alina learning and controlling and overall owning her powers, the force connection with the darkling, and mal torn between his fealty and his fear over her powers (maybe alina realizes sooner that she can control the darkling's powers too, muddy the waters a bit). maybe he and alina have a genuine falling out, he defects (temporarily before he comes to his senses) to the hitler guy, and alina and darkling, both hurt over their respective betrayals, come to a middle in their respective sides (alina realizes that hatred towards the grisha is a very real problem and the darkling realizes, from watching alina do her thing, maybe even with nikolai, of a different way towards grisha-acceptance, and alina and he are not really on different sides) and reluctantly team up or work together at the some point. oh, and the crows get involved somehow. i don't know. just something different from the mess that was siege and storm and ruin and rising.