#which is a good principal (usually) but the thing is this happened in reverse yesterday and he didnt say SHIT

[bioluminescentfrog]

fuck it im mad

[mcwriting]

The Marriage Project (5)

Happy Halloween! This chapter isn’t spooky, but I hope you still enjoy! If you haven’t read my Halloween one shot from a couple weeks back, go check it out!

Story Masterlist

Word Count: 3727 (a long boi just for y’all)

Warnings: Brief discussion of harassment and injuries, but nothing explicit; some strong language

% Approximately the end of the 1st week of October %

You entered school early the next morning to find everyone chattering in the halls, many of them looking and even pointing as you passed by.

Well that’s… unusual.

You were at your locker when Alexis popped up beside you.

“Did you hear? Tom got kicked out of football practice this morning and he’s suspended! He’s not allowed to play in tomorrow’s game either!”

You slammed the metal door shut.

“What!?”

“Yeah! Something about him beating up some of the other players after school. Serves him right for being such a dick all these years.”

“No it doesn’t. Not this time.”

“What are you talking about, y/n? Aren’t you happy to see his demise? This is the revenge you’ve been waiting for!”

“Alexis, you don’t understand. Tom beat those guys up because they were catcalling me yesterday. He was sticking up for me.” 

You ran a hand through your hair and noticed Harrison and his goons down the hall flexing. “I need to go to the principal. It’s them who should be suspended, not him.”

“Okay, well, do you need me to come with you for moral support? I know how Mrs. Johnson can be,” Alexis offered. 

“No, it’s okay. I’m the one in the middle of this. Just go to class and let me know what other people are saying.”

With that, you headed to the office, shooting a death glare into the bruised faces of Harrison’s laughing crew as you passed by, trying not to make it obvious what you were doing.

When you entered, the secretary looked up at you and smiled.

“Oh, Miss y/l/n. What brings you in here this morning?”

“I really need to talk to Mrs. Johnson, as soon as possible.”

“Oh. Okay then. Is everything alright?”

“No. That’s what I need to talk to her about.”

“Alright then. I’ll go see if she’s available.”

She got up and disappeared for a few minutes, then popped back out.

“She’s okay to see you whenever you’re ready,” she said, sitting back down at her desk.

“Thanks,” you said passively as you stood up and entered the office, shutting the door behind you. You stood still, not sure if you should sit down yet.

“Well, good morning, y/n. What brings you into my office today? Don’t see you in here much,” she smiled, looking back down at a few papers on her desk. 

You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding, tapping a hand on your thigh anxiously.

“What’s wrong, y/n? You look nervous. You have nothing to be afraid of.”

You looked down and then finally spit it out.

“It’s about Tom. He didn’t do anything wrong yesterday after school.”

You sat down in front of the principal as she looked up at you.

“I’m sorry, what? Now, I don’t know what you’ve heard but he started a fight in the parking lot. That’s wrong in my book.”

You looked at your lap, playing with the plastic ring you’d continued to wear since late August.

“He only did it because the other guys were harassing me yesterday. They were catcalling and whistling and he was trying to stick up for me. It’s the other guys that should be in trouble, not him.”

“Are you sure you’re not just saying that to protect him? I know you two are friends.”

“With all due respect, Mrs. Johnson, we have always been enemies. We may seem like friends because of that marriage project thing but… I would never lie about any harassment for Tom Holland or anyone else. If those three guys had gone after me… I mean, I’m strong, but, I’m not that strong. I’m thankful for what Tom did for me, and I know he’d do it again for any woman.”

Mrs. Johnson looked at you for a few moments, then nodded her head.

“Okay, well. I’ll have a chat with Tom and the other boys and see what I can do. Thank you for being willing to come to me. Is there anything else you want to talk to me about?”

“No, no. It’s okay. I’ve dealt with this before and probably will again. I just really needed you to know that Tom doesn’t deserve to be in trouble while the others are walking around free.”

She nodded. 

“Like I said, thank you for letting me know, and I’ll see what I can do.”

You got up to leave. Your hand was on the doorknob when she said one last thing.

“You know, I wish I was more like you. The same thing used to happen to me when I was your age. I’m glad you actually had the guts to say something about it.”

You parted your lips to speak, but instead gave a tight-lipped smile and a quick nod. With that, you were out the door.

%

You sat in honors english next to Alexis, a pit in your stomach.

People kept looking at you, which was weird, but you figured it was because Tom wasn’t there for you to have typical banter.

You worried about Tom a lot, and hoped that Mrs. Johnson’s parting words meant she really cared about what you said. You decided to shoot him a text.

Hey. Idk if you’ve heard anything, but I went and told Mrs. Johnson that you were just trying to stick up for me, and mentioned that we’re enemies or whatever. She was gonna look into the other guys getting in trouble. Sorry.

By the time lunch rolled around, you were getting tired of the eyes on you. Usually you loved the attention, but something about it felt different today.

“What is everyone’s problem?” you finally asked Alexis and the rest of your friend group before biting into a carrot. “It’s like they’re all looking at me more than the normal amount.”

“Well… it’s probably because they are,” one friend said.

“And why is that? Like duh Tom’s not here. Big whoop. We’ve both missed school before.”

Alexis looked at you sheepishly.

“Lex, what are you not telling me?” you interrogated.

“Welllll… it might have something to do with someone spilling that Tom and you were seen hugging last night after your game, and now Harrison is using it to say Tom beat him up because he loves you or something.”

“I swear I’m going to kill that bitch ass.” you replied back, looking around the room. 

After a quick scan, it’s obvious that he and the other guys aren’t there. A sly smile rose to your face. 

Maybe Mrs. Johnson was on your side after all, and hopefully she’d see past any lies Harrison might tell her.

%

Tom was sitting in Mrs. Johnson’s office, flanked by his parents.

“Miss y/l/n explained to me that the boys you got in a fight with were harassing her. Is this true?”

“Yes, ma’am. I sat there and watched it happen and didn’t didn’t do anything about it, but then she called me out and I realized how disgusting it was, what they did.”

“Hm. And you found the best course of action to be punching Mr. Osterfield instead of coming to the administration?”

“I know what I did was wrong, but I didn’t want to tell her story for her. If she wanted to come out and say what happened then that’s her choice, but I couldn’t sit back and let them get away with it. I feel that it’s my responsibility to keep both my teammates and fellow men accountable.”

The principal looked at Tom for a few moments as she contemplated.

“Well, she came to me this morning and asked that I review your suspension. I also talked to the other boys and they admitted to saying a few graphic things to her. I just need to ask you one more thing: if this had happened to any other girl, would you have still gone after those boys?”

“In a heartbeat, Mrs. Johnson. I just think of what would happen if it were my mom, or a relative, or my future wife. No woman deserves to be treated that way.”

She nodded slowly, then shuffled some papers on her desk.

“Well, Tom. What you did was wrong, but I can tell that you know that. I’ll also say that you were doing it for a noble cause. It takes a lot to go up against three athletes and you didn’t come out unscathed. Since this is your only offense, I’m ending your suspension after today. You may go back to class tomorrow and play in the football game, but this suspension is staying on your record for now. If you don’t get into any more trouble by the end of the semester, I’ll take it off and you’ll be put back into the running for valedictorian.”

“Thank you! Thank you so, so much, Mrs. Johnson, you won’t regret it.”

She chuckled at his earnestness.

“Yes, well. You’re a good kid, Tom,” she looked to his parents. “And you two have raised an incredible young man. I’m pretty sure if there had been more people like Tom and y/n in my high school, the world would be a much better place.”

With that, they stood, exchanging gratitude and handshakes. 

Dom and Nikki slung an arm over their son’s shoulders as they walked back to the parking lot, proud of the son they’d raised.

%

You were laying on your bed after dinner scrolling through social media when your phone began to ring. 

It was Tom.

You quickly picked up and placed the phone to your ear.

“Tom!?”

“Hey, y/n.”

“Oh my gosh! I tried to text you earlier but I figured your phone got taken away or something. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good. And yes, I was grounded from my phone.”

“You say ‘was’ as though something has changed.”

“Well… Mrs. Johnson reversed my suspension,” he began.

“That's amazing!”

“I know, but she’s keeping it on my record until December. She said she’ll take it off if I can stay out of trouble but until then, I can’t be considered for valedictorian.”

“WhatI!” you exclaimed into the phone, shooting up to a sitting position.

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy about that?”

“No! Now I’ll have no one to compete with! We all know you and I are miles ahead of everyone else, so without you, I’ll have precisely zero motivation!”

Tom laughed at your self concern while you twisted your star ring.

“Well I’m glad you were worried about me. I’m getting to play in the game tomorrow too.”

“That’s great. You’ll have to dedicate your win to me.”

“That depends on if we win, but seriously, thank you. If it weren’t for you I’d probably be in way more trouble.”

“About that… why didn’t you tell her what actually happened this morning? This probably could have been avoided,” you suggest.

“I didn’t want to come forward for you without your permission. It happened so fast that I was willing to just take the fall instead of dragging you into it. It obviously worked out in the end, anyways. The other guys got suspended for most of next week and can’t play in the next two games.”

“Woah. Johnson was serious. Hopefully that’ll teach them some consequences of not respecting women. Will your hand be okay, though? It looked pretty beat up yesterday.”

“Well thankfully I punch with the left and throw with the right, so I should be good there. I’m mostly just worried about everyone seeing my ugly bruised face.”

“It can’t be that bad. Plus, if anyone tries to give you shit about it just remind them where you got it. Not many people can say they took down three football players with just their fists.”

He laughed again.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess so. Anyways, I just wanted to call to tell you the news and thank you. See you tomorrow?”

“Sounds good, champ. We both need to rest up for our big days.”

“Champ? Is that my new nickname?” he questioned.

“Hm. We’ll see how it feels when I’m saying it to your face.”

“Alright, princess. Goodnight.”

You felt a flutter in your stomach.

“Night, Tom.”

%

The talk of the school on Friday was how Tom was back and Harrison’s posse was gone.

And everyone knew you had something to do with it.

You were popular and friends with a lot of people, but unless you were super close, they were usually pretty intimidated by you. Because of this, very few students came to ask you about what was going on.

Different rumors floated around all day, some saying that you and Tom were secretly dating, others claiming that you and Harrison were the ones dating, or that you were stuck in a love triangle with the two.

It was exhausting.

In home ec, the class was baking cinnamon rolls when Mrs. Flynn got everyone’s attention.

“Okay, class! I just wanted to ask if there were any couples wanting to get ‘divorced’? I want to figure out how to redistribute over the weekend for those that do.”

Three couples raised their hands and Mrs. Flynn wrote them down.

“Is there anyone else?” she scanned the room, stopping when her eyes met Tom. She looked between the both of you and raised her eyebrows.

You and Tom looked at each other, smiled, then back at her. You both shook your heads no. She pursed her lips, then grinned back.

“Alrighty then. Speak now or forever hold your peace!”

%

Your volleyball game that afternoon was a quick win, so you had plenty of time to shower and change before the football game that night.

There was a nip in the air now that it was the beginning of October, so you’d wiggled into some jeans and put on a long sleeved volleyball shirt. Your hair was pulled into two loose french braids that fell down your shoulders.

Your friends, having nothing to do while you got ready, had decided to go to the field early to do some “boy scouting” as they liked to call it, so you found them on the front row of the student section staring at the other teams' asses in their football pants.

Caroline and Alexis were talking about their own marriage project stuff when you sat down, waving to all of your friends.

“There you are! Did you eat dinner?” Alexis asked with concern.

“Hold on,” you reached into your bag and pulled out a sandwich from your favorite shop, unwrapping it and taking a big bite before continuing. “How’s it looking out there?”

Caroline leaned forward to talk to you.

“Numbers 11 and 28 are the cutest but it doesn't look like they’ll make it off the bench tonight,” she commented.

“Ugh. It always ends up that way, doesn’t it?”

You all talked some more as students filed in and the bleachers filled up.

You saw the team captains go to do the coin toss and watched Tom, who had tape around his left hand. 

As they came back to the bench, Tom noticed you and pointed his helmet towards you. He fished his necklace from his jersey to show you, then stuffed it back in before putting his helmet on.

You hadn’t really understood what he was trying to say, but assumed it was something about dedicating the game to you, so you just tossed a thumbs up at him and went back to your conversation.

The team had a long, rough game, but pulled out another win by just a field goal once again. You were headed to the parking lot when you heard a male voice yelling your name. 

You stopped to see it was Tom coming after you while the other girls went ahead to their vehicles.

Tom was covered in sweat and when he reached you was out of breath. His cheek had swollen up again and his bruises were apparent under the streetlights. 

“Hey. I parked by you so I figured we could walk together since my parents took the boys home.”

“Okay, I guess. Good game by the way. Your hand didn’t seem to stop you.”

“Thanks. It’s definitely hurting now. I’m just glad I’m not the reason we played poorly. Our defense is in major need of work, with and without our three missing players.”

“I could definitely tell. It must feel nice though, to win without them.”

“You have no idea. And yes, I dedicate this win to you,” he joked.

“As you should,” you fired back as you reached your car. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yep. I’ll try not to sleep through my alarm this time.”

%

Tom slept through his alarm.

Dom had let you in and mentioned that he thought he’d heard Tom rustling around upstairs, so you sat at the dining room table and did homework while waiting.

That morning, your friends and you had decided to go for a nice brunch, so for once you were dressed up nice, wearing a muted pink corduroy skirt and a flowy white v-neck. You had re-braided your hair into two loose french braids and wore some light makeup.

As you were working Nikki walked in.

“Oh my goodness. Stay right there, the lighting is perfect for some pictures.”

She ran out of the room and eventually came back with a camera and some light reflecting boards. As she was setting up the tripod, she started talking to you.

“You know, I’ve been wanting to do a photoshoot like this for a while. I haven’t done a real sit down shoot since I’ve been taking pictures at football games, and you’re the perfect subject.”

She directed you to pose certain ways, mostly trying to get candid pictures while you worked, but took some smiling portraits as well. After a little while, Tom appeared in the room with some coffee, his face still dark but somewhat better. 

“What are you guys doing in here?”

“Oh I’m just shooting y/n. I’m almost done. Why don’t you go sit down next to her and look like you’re working together.”

He rolled his eyes, used to his mother’s antics. He couldn’t blame her, it was her profession, after all.

“Do you really want me in pictures looking like this?” 

She looked up at him, remembering that he still looked pretty beat up. 

“Hold on, I can fix that,” she claimed, getting up. She returned with some foundation and concealer. He sat mostly still as she lightly applied it, wincing some when she dabbed her sponge over the darkest bruise. 

He took the seat next to you once she was done and Nikki told you to pose as though you were working together. She also got a few shots of you both looking seriously at the camera, then smiling.

At one point, Tom made a joking remark that caused you both to look at each other and laugh. You pretended not to notice the shutter click and flash light up.

After seemingly the hundredth picture of you and Tom together, he got fed up.

“Can we please be done now, mom. We need to work on our project.”

“Yes! Sorry, sorry. I was so deep into the zone that I forgot. You two were just being so cute.”

You felt yourself blush as Tom stood up.

“Okay, mom. We’re gonna go upstairs…” he blurted.

You gathered everything and followed him, almost running into Paddy when you reached the top of the stairs.

“Wow… y/n. You look so pretty,” he said quietly, blushing. You grinned sweetly.

“Thank you, Paddy. That’s very kind.”

“Don’t you agree, Tom? Don’t you think she looks pretty, too?” Paddy asked his older brother, who looked tense.

“Yes, Patrick. She looks very nice today. Now bug off, we need to work on our project,” he muttered. 

As you passed by, you thanked Paddy once more, amused at his middle school crush on you.

When you got to Tom’s room, you set down your stuff and pulled out a pair of leggings.

“I’m gonna go change real quick. You know my computer password by now so you can pull up the budget. I also have some makeup wipes in that pocket if you want them.”

When you came back, Tom was standing, rummaging around his desk. His face was also clean of the makeup.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, you’re back. I was looking for that paper Flynn gave us Monday. I set it up here somewhere.”

You stuffed your skirt into your backpack and sat by your computer to see what he had done so far. He let out a soft “aha!” 

He opened up a drawer and dug around in it too.

“Wanna kiss?” he asked dismissively.

“Excuse me?”

He turned around, holding something silver in his hand. 

“A Hershey’s kiss. Get your mind out of the gutter.”  

He tossed you a chocolate and you rolled your eyes unwrapping it.

“It’s kind of hard to get what you mean without context.”

You popped it into your mouth as he uncased his, sitting back down.

“I keep a bunch of candies and stuff in that drawer so my brothers can’t steal them. Don’t tell any of them.”

“Deal, as long as you’ll get me another one.”

%

As you were leaving that afternoon, Nikki stopped you in the doorway.

“Oh, y/n, I’m glad I caught you. I was wanting to ask, have you’ve gotten senior pictures done yet?”

“No, but I’ve been wanting to get volleyball ones done soon while the leaves are changing color.”

“Oh perfect. I was planning on taking Tom to do his football pictures next Sunday if you’d like to join us. I’ll do them for free if you’re okay with me putting them on my website.”

“Absolutely! Where are you planning on going and I can just meet you there,” you agreed, happy to have that weight off your shoulders.

“Well my parents have this lake house about an hour away and Tom really wanted to get some shots around the dock and woods. Would that be alright with you? You could just come here and I’ll drive us out. It would just be the three of us.”

“That sounds perfect, Nikki. We can figure out details next Saturday?”

“Absolutely. See you next weekend, dear.”

%

A/N: Fun fact, the “wanna kiss” scene is what actually caused me to make this entire story! The idea popped into my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it and somehow it turned into this. So yeah! Have a great week!

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[janiedean]

Hi! I'm the Plato anon for before. First of, thank you so much for your offer, but I think I managed on me own. Second, could you elaborate on the "analysing as YA" vs "analysing as an adult" approach? I assumed that "discourse people" on this website generally don't go beyond "antagonist is bad because they are against the hero!" out of ignorance/lack of interest except to score Internet Fame Points, not that it was due a specific mindest. I also don't really read YA (except Tiffany Aching)

TIFFANY ACHING!! T_T ANON LET ME HUG YOU it’s like the only YA I actually liked in my entire life apart from nick hornby’s one book but that wasn’t typical lmao

THAT SAID, well your discourse people point is pretty much part of it but since I’m here and I can rant have the entire thing I was too tired to hash yesterday ;) so, in order:

first thing, we need to establish that ya books and **adult** books generally have different target audiences which is fine and good because obviously if you want to write a thing you’ll do that for An Audience That You Have In Mind; this doesn’t mean that adults can’t read ya or that teenagers can’t read **adult books** because everyone can read what they want (and personally for one I never cared for ya in my entire life not even when I was the target audience), but it simply means that some books are meant to be liked by one category first and eventual others later and they need to be talked about in that specific context first and everything else later - then there might be books that are aimed for kids/young readers or sold like that or that can be read on more than one level which can be appreciated for different things later in time (for example I read huck finn at sixteen and I absolutely loved it but it was a book that here is seen as good reading material also for eight year olds, and at eight I wouldn’t have liked it for the reasons I did at sixteen, and if I read it now I would still like it, while a bunch of the books for kids I read when I was seven is stuff I enjoyed then but forgot now and probably was good for that age but didn’t stick with me);

second thing, that means that when I discuss a young adult book aimed at teenagers I will never hold it to the standards I would hold a book aimed at a general adult audience, especially if it’s the kind of ya like dunno as stated the vampire diaries aimed at teenage girls which is obviously the kind where you have the fantasy world with the hot dark guy who swoons the high schooler protagonist off her feet etc because that stuff is basic teenage girl fantasy 101 and like... I’ll expect a bunch of romance tropes, the usual push and pull, the guy eventually being into her, the protagonist being someone a fourteen year-old can see herself in, probably a few sexual elements thrown here and there and so on, because that’s the shit marketed at fourteen year-olds who want to read that and like... it’s really not that deep. I can’t ask the vampire diaries to be moby dick because it’s not meant to be. or, if I read percy j/ackson - which is another thing I have zero interest in but I know about because I see tweets from the author - I expect to have a bunch of teens coming into their own coming from different backgrounds because the author wants to represent properly a lot of categories so most of his readers can have someone they can see themselves in and like if a thirteen year-old who suspects being lgbt or whatever sees themselves in the gay kid from per/cy jackson guess what that’s what that book is for, so I won’t judge it on like... being a faithful representation of greek myths or how good the style is or whatever, because even if to me it’s not top notch writing or has a plot idc about it has to be for teenagers and pre-teens, not for me, a thirty year old who again didn’t even like pre-teen aimed literature when she was a pre-teen;

third, I can extra clarify it using the damned hp discourse, as in: when I say I’m tired of people not reading anything else or reading everything like hp, it means that they read it when they were growing up/were teens and it was aimed at them which is fine, but then twenty fucking years later when the people in question are way beyond their twenties (guys I’m almost 32 and I remember when the first one came out come on) when talking about any single piece of media in existence (movies, comics, other books) use hp characters/situations as the terms of paragon - like guys I had to read sn/ape comparisons with theon and ky/lo ren on the basis that THEY’RE GREY CHARACTERS as if sn/ape is the only grey character that ever existed, people keep on talking about vold/emort as the only bad guy that ever existed and so on, and like... you can’t talk about, idk, asoiaf or any book aimed at an adult audience like you’d talk about hp, because at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if I read comparisons between sn/ape and ivan karamazov and I think I don’t need to specify how completely nonsensical that would be;

now, with all of this explained, what I mean is: ya in general - which is not a fault per se of the genre since it’s aimed at teens and pre-teens - tends to have... very fixed narrative schemes depending on which teens it’s addressing - like, stuff like tvd or twilight is obviously the romance teenage girl fantasy where you have the girl fighting to be with the dark beautiful supernatural creature in question, per/cy jackson is more like I’ll give you a bunch of relatable characters having cool adventures against bad guys with the occasional redemption so we can see that people are redeemable but you still have right vs wrong, hp is sort of like that in the sense you get relatable-ish protagonist with relatable friends growing up throughout the entire thing and fighting on the good side vs the evil side including the usual death of the mentor plus people who seemed bad actually not being bad™ except that PJ has more povs and better rep from what I gather but that’s not the point so it’s basically the growing up journey for the young protagonist(s) the kid sees themselves in, then there’s stuff like hunger games where you actually have the dystopian worldbuilding just written to be enjoyable by younger people who don’t want to get too depressed (and ngl I haven’t read the books but I’ve seen the first two movies and guys the way everyone ignores the classist commentary in thg to discuss the love triangle is... a staple of the problem tbh) but still try to introduce deeper themes and have more nuanced characters and at the same time are still written to be enjoyed maybe by the more adult side of the target, and at the same time I can’t say that thg is the same as 1984 when it comes to target audience because 1984 doesn’t make the ugly dystopian themes more accessible using the love story/teenage protagonist etc;

at this point the problem is: if you only ever read ya and nothing else in your life (which is what a lot of people here do - guys again when I got here in 2011 if people didn’t discuss hp they discussed john gr/een, the only *adult*-aimed book I see discussed on tumblr is asoiaf... because of got X°DDD) then you end up seeing every other piece of literature expecting what you do out of a young adult and then you expect adult literature out of young adults/ya to approach certain implications the way an adult novel would, which is... frankly ridiculous;

specific examples: I see blogs which are principally about like ya fantasy books ie acotar or shadow/hunters or whatever shitting on grrm because AAAAH HE’S PROBLEMATIC/MISOGYNIST/HE HAS VIOLENCE AND RAPE IN THE BOOKS BLAH BLAH and like... spoilers: if I wrote a fantasy series aimed at fourteen year-olds who want their fantasy romance with the hot dark guy who is maybe a tiny bit problematic but turns their leaf for them I would hold back on blood and violence, if I wrote a fantasy for adults where I want to be realistic about misogyny I will not, and the fact that grrm gets judged on what happens and not how he writes it (and again, saying that a guy who has 1/3rd of his pov characters female except that it’s actually 50/50 because there are no throwaway povs except for mel while guys have a lot more of them and all the female povs have narrative weight [and mel has it before she gets one] and all of them have a different personality and he also has the same trope [brienne and arya] in two people with wildly different personalities and needs which is basically a goddamned miracle is a misogynist because there’s misogyny in his fantasy world is ridiculous imvho) which is.... exactly expecting of asoiaf what you’d expect out of acotar, when grrm and acotar’s writer write for wildly different audiences. now, if I had read acotar at 15 and asoiaf at 15 I’d have had no doubt re asoiaf being more my thing because again the subgenre acotar goes for is not my thing because I never related to that fantasy while brienne is my rep, but in general a 14yo girl who likes the acotar-like stuff will not care for grrm.... which is normal because grrm writes for adults of both genders, not teenage girls (I mean teenage boys also have their own subgenres for which the same rules are valid), and someone who likes percy jackson (aimed at both genders but like... pre-teens early teens) who doesn’t gaf for grrm won’t because it’s not aimed at them unless they like grrm for other reasons ie idk they realize that they relate to jon snow idk but you see my point, so like tldr that’s what I mean with if you only read ya you’ll expect adult writers to handle their themes like ya writers would and like... sorry but if I write stuff for adults I won’t feel the need to specify that the bad guy is B A D with neon lights because an adult should grasp that from the narrative, I don’t need to make sure it’s obvious bc it’s aimed at kids;

reverse: when I see people saying ‘the vampire diaries is problematic because it’s about people who are a hundred years old preying on teenage girls so we need to stop teenage girls from reading that kind of thing because it makes them think it’s okay to go with someone that much older than them’, we’re at the opposite problem in the sense that you’re asking a young adult novel what you would ask of AN ADULT NOVEL when there’s no point in it. like, a teenage girl knows perfectly that damon salvatore doesn’t exist and vampires don’t exist and werewolves don’t exist - the entire point of tvd is that she gets to fawn over the hot supernatural dude who changes for the better thanks to the female protagonist she most likely sees herself in and she gets to have a few nice fantasies about that which is like... normal for people who are developing their sexualities, most people wouldn’t actually want damon salvatore the way he’s exactly in canon irl because they know it’s a fantasy and so it should stay. like, sorry but as someone who watched the show because ian somerhalder is hot in her twenties and tried the first book and gave it up at page 30 because I couldn’t do it, I can 100% assure anyone that the biggest issues with tvd books are that the writing is really fucking bad (for my standards at least), with the tvd show that from S4 the writing spiraled downwards and no one wanted the magical vampire pregnancy witch twins ridiculousness, but none of the content actually was shit that anyone would take seriously like that and I wouldn’t expect tvd to approach that subject realistically. if I read a vampire book aimed at adults who actually wants to write such a relationship as creepy WELL YES OF COURSE I’D EXPECT IT TO BE OBVIOUS ABOUT IT BEING CREEPY, but if it’s aimed at freaking teenagers... it’s a fantasy and not really that deep, take it for what it is and let teenage girls enjoy thinking about smooching damon salvatore (or stefan or whoever) without assuming they need to be protected from Horrible Vampire Fiction™, same as no one goes bitching about unrealistic sex scenes in serialized romance books because people read them because they’re unrealistic and escapism, not because they expect nobel prize worthy exploration of themes from them;

now, ^^^^^^ would not happen if people actually read variedly and studied some decent lit analysis in school - but like, after I had to read I think at some point that of mice and men is ableist... THAT’S the damned point - with ya you can take a lot of the plot at face value, with adult lit you can’t and you have to see motivation beyond the action of the characters and you can’t do that if you only read books aimed at pre-teens/teenagers where obviously that’s... more spelled out than it would be in a book aimed at an adult audience;

that by the way also means wildly missing actual adult themes discussion in ya, because again, I haven’t read thg but from the two movies I’ve seen it’s fucking obvious that the whole thing is an anti us-classism commentary from how the districts are built to how the games are rigged to pretty much everything in the worldbuilding, but all the discourse I see on tumblr is about either the love triangle or katniss being miscast or president snow being a jerk and whatever else, but I never once saw anyone saying ‘heeeeey the people in katniss’ district are an in your face metaphor of poor people in the us of a belonging to certain categories while the first few districts are absolutely the 1% and the entire point of it is that she wants to tell you A CLASSIST SOCIETY IS BAD AND WILL LEAD TO REVOLUTIONS’, which to me was... like, glaring, it was literally what 90% of the entire thing was about and no one ever discusses it in a fandom-wide sense (I mean... I saw a bunch of hg posts back when the movies came out, I never saw this brought out), which... is a problem because it means that the moment people are put in front of a ya product that actually tackles that kind of issue.... they go and worry about the love triangle (which seemed to me the excuse to draw the people in the story) not about the social commentary, and like, maybe a twelve year-old won’t catch on the social commentary, a twenty-year old especially from the us should, and I don’t see that happening;

and sorry but that is because if you only engage with content aimed at a younger audience than your target first you assume that every piece of literature should be consumable/readable/enjoyable by a younger audience (and sorry but no, some of us don’t want to write stuff making sure teenagers like it) and then ask of actual ya media to cater to their *adult* needs and not to the needs of the target audience because wow obviously if you’re 25 you won’t want out of literature what you wanted at fourteen;

and this also is valid for children’s media because again, I’m cutting it short, but adults watching st/even universe and sending people death threats because they don’t agree with their opinion of a cartoon aimed at an audience that’s at moooostttt eight years old is a thing that shouldn’t even fucking exist, and if you think steven/universe is that important at an adult age you need to re-assess your priorities;

tldr: adults should not expect media aimed at kids/teens to cater to their interests and shouldn’t analyze it the way they’d analyze a piece of media aimed at an adult audience and should not presume that every piece of media should have the scope/schemes of medias aimed at kids/teens because some of us don’t want to read that.

now, I’ll leave you with a nice short anecdote which hopefully will further clarify what I mean and add to another point which would be, kids and teens don’t give a fuck about what you, an adult, do: when everyone was in a frenzy about my little pony back in 2013 or so I had to see a ton of posts like ‘AAAAAH MEN/BOYS WHO ARE INTO MLP ARE STEALING THE SHOW FROM YOUNG GIRLS HOW DARE THEY ENJOY IT WE NEED TO KICK THEM OUT’ with added people saying that a ten year old male kid who tried to kill himself bc his friends bullied him bc he liked mlp deserved it and the likes, my only thought was that... when I was 8-10 in elementary school and was actually the target for cartoons and stuff, sailor moon was the rage between all girls my age me included, we’d spend recess playing pretend (and I’d get stuck playing sailor mars bc no one wanted her, sad) and our hugest first world problem in existence was that we needed technically a mamoru and of course no self-respecting boy in elementary school would have admitted under death threats to watching sailor moon because it was a girls’ thing (aaaaah gender roles in the early-mid 90s, how fun) so everyone despaired because ofc no one wanted to play mamoru... and the few times any guy actually showed up like HEEEEY I WANNA DO IT BUT PLEASE DON’T TELL MY FRIENDS I LIKE SAILOR MOON we’d all be like OMG YOU’RE OUR NEW FAVORITE PERSON PLEASE YOUR SECRET IS SAFE because we couldn’t believe we found the magical boy™ who wanted to do it, and if anyone had told us that the kid in question was stealing sailor moon from us we’d have laughed in their face.

like.

kids don’t ask of media what you, an adult do, and it’s unfair of you, an adult, to ask children’s/ya media to cater to your damned interests, which are amply catered to by the tons of adult literature around which also forces you to push on your views and read more challenging things and to not read/watch stuff at face value, which is why I would really appreciate it if the amount of 20yo people on here who I consider adults engaged with more adult media and let themselves be challenged instead of just going back to ya/kids’ things, which are good for teens and kids and can be enjoyed by everyone but should not be the only goddamned genre you measure all other literature against because then you get people saying that lolita is pro-pedo when it’s exactly the goddamned contrary, but if you think that pov character = protagonist = good guy (which is... staple kids/ya stuff for obvious reasons) then you decide that humbert humbert is someone you’re supposed to root for. too bad that you’re not and the author was an actual csa victim so it’s a completely ridiculous reading that wouldn’t happen if you didn’t read lolita the way you read hp.

... okay, I’m done, sorry for how long this was, I hope it cleared things for good xD

[ami-incants]

RUNE JUNE: DAY 3 - Consulting the Runes Part 1

Today I'm going to look at what to ask the runes and how to draw a spread. I'm not going to get into meanings, as each rune will get it's own day later in the month. Following on from yesterday’s post, I'm going to use ‘Oracle’ as a catch-all to refer to wherever you feel your rune wisdom comes from, whether it's deities, spirits, ancestors, the Higher Self etc. 

Can I only do readings for myself?

That largely depends on individual belief, mainly related to where you feel the runes’ knowledge comes from. Some people feel that the runes only allow you to access your inner intuition, in which case readings would be much less reliable when reading for someone else, as you won’t know every detail of the situation. Personally, I do readings for other people and even those I don’t know particularly well have said that they find my readings accurate. When discussing reading for someone else, I use the term ‘querent’ to refer to the person I’m drawing on behalf of. Readings for others can be a great way to get to know the runes and their meanings, as when pulling for yourself all the time you tend to pull the same runes which apply to your current situation. 

TL;DR - No.

What should I ask?

The first thing to know with the runes is that the thing you want to talk about won't always be the thing your Oracle wants to talk about. Sometimes it's because you're dwelling on something that's best moved on from, there's something more pressing to tackle, you're asking about things the Oracle doesn't know about or you've ignored their advice on the topic too many times and they're sulking about it. To avoid the frustration this causes, I now ask the runes if I can do a reading before I start (using the yes/no method explained below). I use the following questions in this order: 

1. Can I do a reading now?  2. Can I do a reading for [X]? 3. Can I do a reading on [topic] for [X]? 4. Can I do a [reading type] on [topic] for [X]? 

It may seem unnecessary, as you could just skip to question 4 and get a yes, but I've been turned down often enough that I've learnt going through it this way helps identify the problem quicker, if there is one.

Unless you’re using the yes/no method (explained below), it’s best to keep questions broad. ‘What do I/the querent need to know’ is where I usually start from and you can add on a time period (today, this week, this month etc) or a topic (about work, my relationship, my family, my health etc).

For a spread, I tend to say “This is a [reading type] spread for [querent] about [topic]” (if there is a topic) while shaking or handling the runes, and then concentrate on the question/aspect of the issue that I’m drawing. 

There are some ethical matters to consider - mainly whether it’s okay to draw runes about someone else without their knowledge. It’s generally considered bad manners, and many rune readers will refuse to read for someone else if you ask them to. Even if they were willing, it may be difficult to focus on a person they don’t know and aren’t in the presence of. Some people may ask the runes if it is okay to pull on behalf of a friend who hasn’t and possibly can’t give express permission at that moment. Where relationships are concerned, wording can help overcome this. “Do they love me?” is very specific and relies on the Oracle being able to access the partner’s feelings. “What is in store for [querent]’s relationship with [partner]?” is broader and is likely to give you a good idea of the answer to the original question.

TL;DR - Keep your questions to broad topics (except for the yes/no method).

How do I choose a rune?

There's a lot of different variations when it comes to rune reading, and it's really a case of going with what feels right to you. Here's the different ways I've seen people use to select a rune, whether they're doing a simple question or a spread. Whichever method you choose, you should have your question, topic or querent firmly in your mind. Please note that these ‘names’ are just my personal ways of referring to the different styles, I don’t know if there’s any actual names for them.

🌸 Shake & Take: Give the runes a shake in their pouch and reach in and take a rune. Some people take the first one they touch, I like to get my hand right in there and feel around until one feels 'right'. I don't usually shake first, but move them around with my hand in the bag before choosing one. Sometimes when doing this, more runes than I was intending to take want to be picked. 🌸 Shake & Tip: Some people don't like to put their hand in the bag as they feel it disturbs the runes' energy, so will carefully tip out a single rune. This can be good for people doing readings for others and not wanting that person's energy on the runes, as they can see you're not choosing the runes intentionally by feeling the engraving. 🌸 Spread & Flip: Others prefer to lay out all of the runes face-down, mix them up and then see which ones it feels right to turn over.

TL;DR - I mean, just do what feels right to you.

Using the Yes/No method

This is useful when you’re feeling indecisive about something relatively simple or looking for a bit of clarification. Nine of the runes in the Elder Futhark look the same whichever way up you look at them, and the other sixteen can be reversed, also called merkstave. For the yes/no method, runes that are pulled merkstave indicate ‘no’ and runes pulled upright indicate ‘yes’. If one of the nine irreversible runes are pulled, I’ve most commonly seen it indicates you should ask again. In my experience, I have discerned that an irreversible rune can indicate one of the following:

💮 You weren’t concentrating on the question. Focus and try again. 💮 Your question wasn’t clear. Reword, making it more specific. 💮 Your Oracle doesn’t believe it is in your best interests to know at this time. Ask them if that’s the case. 💮 Your Oracle doesn’t know, possibly because there are too many variables at this time. Ask them if that’s the case.

Although it’s not necessary, it can be worth noting which rune you pull as occasionally they’ll be trying to tell you something more than just yes/no, even if you make your intention clear.

About Spreads

So I’m not going to go into all of the spreads I use, because most are detailed on this handy website and I’d just be rehashing what’s there and taking credit for it. If I’m not sure which spread to use, I ask the runes using the yes/no method. Some of the spreads are well suited to asking a question based on a particular topic, and some are already geared towards a topic. Tarot spreads generally transfer well for runes, so you can make use of those too if it feels right.

While I don’t bother for yes/no questions, when pulling a spread I find it helpful to set the mood. For me, that means casting a circle, lighting a candle, maybe incense. I lay the runes drawn onto a cloth, in the shape and order indicated for that spread. You may see the same spreads laid out in a different order from one website to another, as some follow the modern western left-to-right method and others prefer the more traditional (for the runes) right-to-left method.

When pulling spreads, it’s sometimes recommended to pull a rune, note it down and then return it to the bag before drawing the next (slightly more difficult if you’re using the Spread & Flip method). This is so that you draw from the whole set each time, and runes have the chance to be pulled more than once if they are needed. When doing spreads for others, I provide an image of their completed reading. If returning the runes to the bag, I have to find them all again at the end and possibly edit two or more images together if the same rune is pulled more than once. To try and avoid doing this unnecessarily, I ask the runes if I should draw and return or draw and lay (using yes/no). To test the accuracy of this, I have sometimes returned the runes when they have said it wasn’t necessary. The results were that when they have said to draw and lay, I haven’t pulled the same rune more than once. When they said to draw and return (admittedly, doesn’t happen often), I have always pulled at least one rune more than once.

When interpreting a spread, it’s important to think about how they relate to their position in the spread as well as to each other. To work this out, I go through the spread in stages.

🌼 Write down the questions and runes with principal connotations (for me, that’s gender, element and deities). 🌼 Consider each rune in conjunction with it’s question and write down your initial thoughts. 🌼 Consider the Cycle of Initiation (which I will discuss on another day). 🌼 Check my favourite websites and jot down meanings that jump out at me, considering the questions. 🌼 Consider the story of the reading, looking for patterns, similarities and complementary sentiments in the different runes. 🌼 Take the principal connotations into account and finalise.

If I’m not sure about the meaning of a spread (usually when the Oracle has picked a different topic to what I asked about, or has taken things in a direction I wasn’t expecting) I pull a single rune, sometimes called a Rune of Clarification or Odin’s Rune. Yes/no questions can also be used for clarification, but for either method all runes should be returned to the bag first.

It’s a good idea to have a notebook where you can jot down your rune readings. It can be useful if you want to look back over a reading again after learning and increasing your understanding, and also for noticing patterns. There may be particular runes or themes which keep coming up that you may miss the importance of in a single reading. More ways to consult the runes will be discussed in Part 2 and 3.