#wish we had seen more of them :/

[citrusai]

taash said "they were doing it" and people ran with the interpretation of an npc that doesn't know solas or the history of the elvhenan even when bellara interjected and said, no, that's not right. that's not how it was for the elvhenan. they formed bonds before they had physical bodies. and people ran to doompost or create weird anti-solavellan shit even though mythal & solas refer to each other as old friends and when she releases him there is no tenderness or love in it. it is the act of unchaining a dog from his post, the stepping down of a general. but to each their own ig.

[the-bi-space-ace]

Echo and Crosshair have such a fun relationship to pick apart. They are both filled with this stubbornness and indignation. They are clever and funny, each in their own ways. They have strong convictions and aren’t quick to let go of their own perspectives especially when confronted with push back. Trust is so intertwined with both of their characters.

Imagine the sassy side eye looks they give each other when someone says Some Shit. Imagine the way they bicker with each other over really tiny things. Yet if someone were to say something nasty about the other there would be hell to pay.

Just Echo and Crosshair and the endless possibilities about what their relationship could’ve looked like.

[rayjayoo]

surprisingly back with more phos doodles wOOOOOO

[echos-gal]

i'm choosing to believe that Phee is largely absent from s3 because she got a tip from her underground network that Tech could still be alive, but she doesn't tell the batch bc it would get their hopes up and then crush them if he's really gone. so she decides to track him down on her own.

Tech is alive, and she finds him. the reason Omega doesn't mention him during the epilogue is that Tech is either: 1.) already fighting for the rebellion, where she will be joining him and Echo, or 2.) living with Phee and often off-planet liberating ancient wonders with her, and therefore doesn't need Hunter to "look after" him.

[myokk]

Eloise and Lorra🥹🥹

@lorrainmorgan

[johnbly]

As field agents, to them, headquarters was like a refuge or even home—the sanctuary they returned to after the job. - on the way to a smile

[secriden]

i've been thinking and thinking about the significance of the sunflowers parapai sends sky after their first face-to-face meeting post-one night stand and it suddenly hit me why it made such an impact on sky.

prior to this point, sky's attracted to prapai, no question about it. the physical attraction is there pretty much as soon as they lay eyes on each other. even at their one night stand, regardless of the reasons why (tbh my read was that sky wanted it in the moment to feel like he had a way to wrest control over (a) his own body and (b) the situation), sky at least physically seemed to enjoy himself. but its the lack of emotional connection, after the endorphin rush is over, that makes him feel like crap, makes him second-guess his worth and leave feeling used and hallow (and boy oh boy does peat manage to show that so well - he's so so good at wounded).

but then prapai comes back 3 months later, teasing and playful and flirty and still so attractive. sky recognises his own attraction (his self-talky bits are cute but they break my heart), but the one night stand was good enough physically for him to know he doesn't want just that. he doesn't just want to just feel physically good. and he's stuck in the thought that he can never have anything more.

when prapai tells him he's going to pursue him in sky's dorm lobby, he's startled but not shaken. he goes up to his room, essentially tells himself to get out of fantasy land, peeks out the window - but he still fundamentally doesn't engage with the idea that there could be anything real between them.

but the sunflowers and "remember that this wind's watching over the sky". it's protection; its safety.

sky's visibly shaken (peat, oh peat, the vulnerability you managed to convey) and i think this is probably the first time prapai actually manages to get a little bit past the wall sky's already put up between them. and prapai's such a flirty idiot i 100% think he didn't have a clue what he was saying, really. he just thought he was being clever with the unusual flower choice and playing with their names, but in a way that's what makes prapai so perfect for sky.

he's... well, guileless. he's almost accidentally exactly what sky needs to even consider falling in love after everything that happened to him. there's something very clumsy about the charm prapai has and i suspect it's because he's never really had to work to charm anyone before - his looks, money, and status do most of the heavy lifting for him. the fact that he isn't an absolute jerk is pretty much enough for most to be pulled into his orbit. but this works so well for sky because i think someone more suave and actually adapt at wordplay/flirting would have made him run for the hills, because it would have come across as manipulation given his trauma. but prapai is so bad at it (prapai: 'if you don't try it, how do you know?' sky: you absolute fucking idiot did you forget how we met?) that it actually sounds genuine. it makes it safe.

fuck, safety. i feel like it's something everyone wants on some level, but when you've gone through something like that... something where you're betrayed on such a fundamental level by someone you trust, safety becomes the core of what you need. i can deal with hunger, with pain, with loneliness, with being overworked, with being called names or scolded by others - as long as i can maintain that safety. and for sky, that safety always came when he was in his own hands. the only one he could trust with his safety was himself (even as a child, he had no one; alone in Bangkok with a mother who left and a father who cared but was too far away). its why sky isolates; why he'll help his classmates but never ask for help; why he takes the bullying som dishes out without a word.

then prapai comes in and takes care of him when he's sick. his safety is outside of his hands - terrifying. but... also such a relief. i cannot stress how much this was exactly what sky needed. if rain had taken care of him, he would've kicked rain out the second he became conscious. rain doesn't have the backbone/will/character to force the issue. but what prapai did was prioritise sky's safety (health) and for the first time in years, it didn't have to be in his own hands...

(prapai then goes on to makes a lot of other accidentally good choices - comes to Last Cheer and gives him medicine, a place to rest his head, and a quiet space so he can do what he wants (stay to the end, not worry his friends). care, offered at sky's terms. even the bits where prapai's a visibly horny idiot, nearly edging past sky's boundaries but not is counterintuitively perfect because sky sees that prapai's going against what he wants to make sure sky's expressed boundaries are honoured and sees how it costs him something - but, also, i think that speaks more to (a) prapai's growth as a character now that he has a focus that goes beyond the instant gratification of physical release and (b) mame knows her characters and prapai is built to be perfect for sky. honestly most of the skill in writing prapai was the change was gradual enough to be believable in the context of this world. but i digress.)

i just... really adore what prapai did for sky here. like, utter relief that comes from having someone take care of you when you've had to take care of yourself for so long. like a heavy burden suddenly rolling off. and the sunflowers are cheesy but they're the first real hint that this is what's going to make prapai succeed with sky. its not (just) that he's attractive and persistent - that wouldn't have been enough ultimately. (for eg. had phayu pursued sky, he would've also been attractive and persistent but boy would sky have run for the hills with that kind of pursuit. phayu's hot but the manipulation in how he got rain... sometimes i'm baffled by this fandom's take on phayu vs prapai because it's always prapai that everyone calls shady/problematic when he's actually very transparent and honest with his intensions with sky vs the mind games phayu played with rain. i don't have an issue with it because of how rain's character's written - he needed a phayu to get past his internal hang ups - but still, baffling.)

but its how he continually offered to take on the burden of care from sky. so sky could finally actually address the other things he needed. sky didn't have the (physical OR emotional) bandwidth to even consider a relationship until prapai because no one was taking those things off his plate (feeding him, making sure he rests, making sure he took care of himself. like - even when prapai just reminds sky to take care of himself, that's taking some of that mental load off sky having to remember for himself).

honestly this is why when in the scene when sky opens the door to prapai when he's half asleep and then lets prapai feed him, and lets him put him to bed, undress and dress him (all things that would have triggered sky to hell before) - I actually believe it. i believe that sky feels safe around prapai because he's done nothing but actively, persistently offer that to sky over and over again by this point.

anyway, yes, i just really love the sunflower scene for how it gives us that first real glimpse as to why prapai really was perfect for sky.

[glorfindel-of-imladris]

Erestor in The Return of Shadow

Today on even more obscure Erestor lore, here are all the Erestor mentions in The Return of Shadow.

The Return of Shadow is the sixth book in the 12-volume The History of Middle-earth series. It shows the early versions of what would later be The Fellowship of the Ring and as such, is the only other book apart from The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King when Erestor, Elrond's chief counsellor, is mentioned.

In the first version of the text, Erestor was already conceived as a counsellor to Elrond. He was not yet chief, but he was still an Elf, although he was in the company of two Half-elves.

Christopher Tolkien lists early characters conceived for this chapter. Erestor pre-dates both Gimli and Legolas, and seems to have always been a part of the plans for the Council scene.

In a later but still pre-FotR version, Tolkien considered the idea of Erestor being Half-elven, exchanging him with the two Half-elves from the earlier excerpt.

There is a footnote from Christopher Tolkien however that said that even as an Elf instead of Man (Half-elf) in the first version, Erestor was nonetheless implied to be a kinsman of Elrond.

This detail about him being Elrond's kinsman is no longer in the published version of The Fellowship of the Ring. All the same, Erestor being as close as kin to Elrond remains to be a popular fanon, and this at least seems to be a sentiment early versions of the text share.

We now move to an early manuscript of the critical dialogues in 'The Council of Elrond' (early title being, 'In the House of Elrond'):

This exchange is largely the same as what we see in the published version in FotR. Erestor suggests to seek the aid of Tom Bombadil, who seems immune to the power of the Ring. Gandalf advises against this, and so Erestor proceeds to give alternatives:

In this version, the ideas of sending the Ring west to Valinor or destroying it also came from Erestor. In the published version, these lines were given to Glorfindel, although interestingly, the footnotes imply that Glorfindel has already been considered before, as well as Elrond.

As we will later see in the published version, Tolkien eventually distributes Erestor's lines among the other members of the Council. Glorfindel suggests sending the Ring West, but Elrond is the one who explains why this cannot work. Glorfindel then suggests destroying the Ring or casting it into the Sea. Lastly, the lines, "The journey to the Havens would be fraught with peril..." were later given to Galdor, who was then changed to be an Elf of the Havens instead of Mirkwood.

There is another interesting footnote in this section around Erestor's conversations with Gandalf. It's a nice detail, especially considering that the earlier dialogues and exchange of ideas were mostly between Erestor and Gandalf, showing familiarity between the two:

After this, the text progresses to a long dialogue involving Boromir and Glóin, which even touched on the history and the conception of the other Rings of Power. Similar to the published FotR, Erestor returns the discussion to the task at hand:

What's interesting for me in these early versions of the text is how Tolkien seems to have had a good idea of what purpose Erestor needs to serve in the text. The lines in the published version are more evenly distributed among Erestor, Glorfindel, Galdor, Elrond and Gandalf, but in the early version, Erestor is practically the outline on matters surrounding the question, "What do we do with Sauron's Ring?" and thus also moves the discussion along to a decision.

[bookishjules]

Hi hi!!!! I saw your sizzy HCs and I would love it if you did TMI gang HCs for the future when they have kids and all💗 How do they all interact with their kids/each other’s kids? That ask about Jace’s kids made me laugh I feel like his kids would have a jar for him to put money in whenever he’s too cocky, kinda like New Girl with Schmidt

simon and izzy are the go-to babysitter couple of the bunch for sure, given that they aren't running an institute or, you know, the entire clave. they're also the most likely to have a movie or game night, which the kids absolutely love

because the cousins span over a decade in ages, there seems to always be a baby to hold, and clary is always the first one to reach for them (followed by alec)

jace is stricter as a father than might be expected. not in a harsh way, but in a protective way. in a 'i want you to learn how best protect yourself and your family' way. he's definitely a teacher, in a very physical way, and loves spending time in the training room with his kids and niblings (not that this makes him any more mature or less ridiculous at his core hehe)

creativity and expression are very well supported by all members of the tmi gang, and their children develop a good amount of confidence when it comes to being themselves and not necessarily folding into shadowhunter (or warlock) norms

magnus loves taking the kids on adventures and showing them things they might never have gotten to see if they didn't have a very powerful warlock for an uncle, but he is also very protective, moreso than some of the other parents. he's seen too many people die to knowingly bear witness to human/shadowhunter recklessness in these kids he cares so much for

alec is the first one to suggest they let rafe go out on patrol, not without alec ofc. that first patrol is a fun one. jace is there too. he's muchhh less strict with his niblings than he is with his own kids, and he tends to treat them much more like how he treats kit. hence the fun hehe rafe has a blast, and the whole time alec's anxiety is through the roof.

all the cousins are scared of izzy's cooking. even if she's gotten better as the years have gone on, their parents have ingrained in them too much fear for the food she makes not to be wary when she holds out a wooden spoon with a questionable substance on it. usually the kids ask for pizza. or a delivery of chinese food (like parents like kids hehe)

[puppyeared]

Atla live action 😐

[scarlettfevor]

How it feels to watch minecraft diaries as a 21 year old woman

[acourtofquestions]

“He'd deceived her, had lied to her. This man who she'd believed held no secrets between them. She didn't know why it made her want to shred everything within sight.”

— cause um… as you just said Miss Manon YOU CARE (& it’s even giving Chaolaena vibes in the I CARE way)… so like all I’m saying is you love him duh?

[davendorks]

i love the constant “trope” of the lab rats writers being completely unoriginal. i’m watching parallel universe rn and adam said “he said tinker :D” and i thought back to memory wipe when DAVENPORT said that. ALSO in spike’s got talent adam goes “that’s a lot of words” when owen was talking to him about art lol and even naomi says that in elite force’s they grow up so fast. i just think they silly but i wish this show actually got more thought put into it

[front-facing-pokemon]

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

So Witches We Became

YA horror

a girl and her friends go on vacation to a house on a private Florida island, but when a strange mist and toxic tar surrounds them, trapping them there, they have to find a way to survive and/or escape

while she’s being haunted by a traumatic experience with her friend’s boyfriend - who just showed up - that she’s been unable to tell anyone about, and by a shadow from her childhood that she fears might have something to do with what’s happening

sapphic, explores complicated friendships, and surviving assault

[fluffypotatey]

Skill issue maybe. But kindness certainly didn't help the prosecuted for the rest of the show.

Maybe a balance is needed between me being proactive and merlin being kind, bc merlin sure needed a bit of the former (this is really more of a complaint for the showrunners rather than merlin. I read so many fics of merlin being proactive and helping magic that canon is slap in the face with his passivity and class traitorness)

yeah Merlin’s approach to certain issues definitely show the writers’/showrunners’ hands than his actual character (where he is pretty outspoken in these topics) but there’s also the nuance of keeping his magic secret and yada yada

but also, one of the reasons we like Merlin is because of his goodness and open-mind. there is a reason he is a foil to Morgana, who was proactive in magic users rights, had an identity crisis of her own, and descended into villain-hood. there is a reason why his struggle between his duty as Emrys and Destiny is so compelling and how it slowly become his struggle between Destiny and Arthur

are there moments where i wish Merlin did certain actions differently? 100% yes i do (2x08 for example and his relationship with Morgana) and i know a lot of the time these narrative choices were made in order to keep Merlin in his 5 season struggle of ideologies by the showrunners themselves which just hurt his character in the long run (similar to how they revert Arthur’s character back to his s1 caricature sometimes 🙄) bc if he progressed too “quickly” then it could lead to a different outcome than they wanted at the end of the show

but i digress