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#i feel like Oscar Wilde the Actual Person would be ok with this
dhaaruni · 2 years
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Ok, what're the spiciest romance novels you'd recommend (I.E. are actually well written) where the sex doesn't have questionable consent/agency/isn't "this guy is a complete dick but it's ok because he's an aggressive dom in bed and that's hot"?
I feel like it's hard to find romance with spicy, exciting sex, plot that's worth something, and where the sex isn't vaguely uncomfortable, if that makes sense?
So, I don't read and definitely don't recommend romance novels with sex scenes that are dubcon so we're good there. Also like, anybody that claims men being dominant in bed is synonymous with being violent towards women is lying and just looking for an excuse to abuse women, and I'm not here for it at all.
But, here's my list! Caveat that I almost only read historical romances and a lot of these are parts of series but these were my personal standouts, and I can vouch for the strength of their plots and sex scenes lol.
A Rogue of One's Own by Evie Dunmore: I'd describe this as like the historical romance version of dipping your toe into the water before jumping in but it's very good, and my birthday twin Oscar Wilde shows up!
Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas: I always recommend this one like some people don't like it for reasons that will be immediately obvious but it's my favorite romance novel of all time so I feel obligated to include it
Return of the Duke by Lorraine Heath: SO SO SO good like I don't want to spoil it but it involves espionage and spies and the heroine is older than the hero by a few years, which is always refreshing. I also loved Heath's The Earl Takes All, which is like, the book involving a man being killed in a gorilla attack and his twin taking brother's position as Earl and his wife's husband. It's so wild, I love it.
For the Duke's Eyes Only by Lenora Bell: Indiana Jones in historical romance form!! Like, the heroine's name is Lady India Rochester and the hero is the Duke of Ravenswood, IYKYK.
Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare: Griffin has one of the best backstories of any romance novel hero, and Pauline is just so cool. The point at which I start crying in this book is about 70% of the way in and ironically, during one of the hottest sex scenes I've ever read, like it's not everybody's cup of tea and I don't want to spoil it but it made me gasp out loud. I'd also recommend Dare's The Wallflower Wager, which has one of the only vegetarian heroines in historical romance, and I won't spoil her backstory but the resolution of it made me cry.
The Highwayman by Kerrigan Byrne: I liked Byrne's entire Victorian Rebels series, which are bonafide thrillers, and this first one is a particular standout, but I also really liked The Duke, which I didn't expect to since I'm not a fan of amnesia plots on principle, but it was great.
Her Night with the Duke by Diana Quincy: hot, fun, progressive without being clunky about it, and really well-written
One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean: Pippa my (most likely) autistic fave!!! This book is great in terms of consent too because for ~plot reasons~, Cross refuses to touch Pippa for a while but like, don't worry, shenanigans still ensue and they're hot. I'd also recommend MacLean's Day of the Duchess, which is easily one of the best redemption arcs I've ever read like Sarah's braver than the US Marines for asking readers to root for a guy that cheats on his wife, but she absolutely succeeds in it.
The Prince of Broadway by Joanna Shupe: Joanna Shupe is very good at letting her female characters be messy and imperfect, which I love. Like, Florence is a good person but she also spends 90% of the book running around making decisions that make literally everybody else go "girl... no." I also would add The Courtesan Duchess, which might be technically dubcon in terms of Julia lying about her identity, but if you read it, you see why she does it, and you really end up feeling for both Julia and Nick, her dumbass himbo husband.
Dare to Love a Duke by Eva Leigh: This book has a sex worker heroine who's totally awesome, and the hero is actually worthy of her BAMF-ness, which isn't super common with heroines that are this complicated and interesting.
Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt: This book is pretty much the only uptown boy/downtown girl romance that doesn't make me super uncomfortable at the power differential between the protagonists. Maximus, despite being a pretty alpha duke, gives me the exact opposite of Benedict Bridgerton in An Offer from a Gentleman vibes like it's always very clear that he fully respects Artemis and she's never bereft of agency.
A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera: The representation in this book felt so organic, and like, I'd love to get brunch with Luz!
I'm definitely missing some but these should get you started!!
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khaleesiofalicante · 2 years
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Love is a sacrament that should be taken kneeling. -Oscar Wilde
(the whole quote is actually so beautiful, you should look it up if you want!)
I have to wake up early af tomorrow for some family thing no one cared to explain me, but I'm absolutely going to stay up late to read lbaf😎
Abigail should be protected and loved at all costs no arguing 😍
Look, I don't have a younger sister, but I don't think those are the stories you tell them normally... Nor judgement tho!
“Attacking the Consul is high treason, chiquita.” Rafael bouncing Abigail is LITERALLY the cutest mental image 🥺🥺 also the nickname ahhhhh😭
Me mind rn: RAFAEL WITH KIDS. RAFAEL WITH KIDS. RAFAEL WITH-
“Why does Ragnor want me there?” Georgia asked.
“I have no idea,” Rafael said. “But I can see why anyone would want your expertise. You add great value to everything, Gigi."
Hell yeah she is the best!!! I love how he asks her first is she wants to go tho!!!
Ragnor absolutely LOVES her and you can't change my mind😌
Conclusion: It's not a warlock, someone is collapsing the ley lines, and I'm still clueless as fuck :) but also omg Nico!!! I was sooo curious about that character!! And he is the oldest warlock alive??? I NEED TO MEET HIM SO BAD ALREADY 😔
And he was the one who sent Ragnor looking for Magnus... I need to know why. It's not a want. It's a NEED😭 I hope you know you ruined canon for me bc now this will be forever in my brain :))
Camila and Rafel? ✨Iconic duo✨
Me after every Marcus' scene: ok, that was actually kinda deep and he does seem to admire and respect Rafael a lot🥰 yeah, you don't trick me bitch! You are just as dangerous and crazy as your sister, now stay AWAY🔪🔪
But also can we talk about how great of a mirror they are to each other? So similar but so different at the same time... ✨wow✨
Anjali bothering Camilla about her crush on Marcus is everything I didn't know I needed lmaoo
Can we all just take a moment to appreciate Rafael and Max talking to each other about their problems and offering advice? Because that's the content I'm here for 🥺
Jk, jk. I am here bc I like to suffer:)
Anjali being so wise and badass as always I see😍 istg if I didn't know already I'm bi af, I would have figured it out quite easily with lbaf
Alec officiating Rosewood wedding 😭😭 SCREAMING AND CRYING
“Yo. She burned all your notes, right?”
Anjali nodded. “Yes.”
“And you still became Primi Ordines?” Max asked in surprise.
Anjali nodded again. “Yes.”
Then she walked away.
Max looked at Rafael and shook his head. “What a bad bitch.”
“I’m gonna marry that bad bitch,” Rafael grinned.
She's an icon. She's a legend. She is the best- if you don't propose to her soon I sure as hell will!!!
Gigi and Lexi. Parabatai rights. Me loving it💙
Girl, JUST FUCKING TALK TO HER!!!
“I am old,” the man admitted with a shrug. “And that’s not a bad thing.” THE GROWTH 😭
“I don’t really know anyone who has their shit together.”
Lexi hummed. “Maybe no one does.”
You have no idea how accurate this is, love...
Alec>>>>>> Raziel
He is wiser, sexier and 100% better 😎
Me before Max's POV: I am confused:))
Me after Max's POV: Yeah, no. I am definitely worse lmao
“They never cause serious injury. It’s almost as if they don’t realize they’re here to attack.”
....
“What if these attacks are a distraction?”
This is foreshadowing I just feel it!!!
Uncle Jace looked stricken by that. “I think I’d know if my child was possessed.”
“You didn’t know the last time.”
Gabriel, babe, you have a point... But DON'T HURT MY FEELINGS LIKE THAT!!
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I'm collecting these like pokemon lmao
I just want to give Jace a hug😭😭
I get David's point, I reaaaally do!! Bc it kinda also happens to me that, bc I'm "a nice person" people get shocked when they find I can also feel angry
BUT THERE IS SOMETHING MORE TO THIS I CAN'T PUT MY FINGER ON IT!!! I WILL LOSE MY MIND IF I CONTINUE LIKE THIS
“People change when they grow up,” David said, staring at the mirror. “Maybe this is who I was always been. Maybe this was inevitable.” He is remembering Albert, right????😭
“Play a game with me,” Max said. “Truth or dare.”
David sighed tiredly. “Mon ange-”
“Ayaan,” Max whispered, the name he used only for David. The name he made for David. “Please.”
I'm not crying, why do you ask? 🙂🙂
They ARE good at communicating!!! So, what is happening????
“I wish I could rip out of my heart and show you what’s in there,” Max whispered. “I wish I could show you who’s in there."
David let out an exhaled and kissed him again. “Promise me, Max. Promise me you’ll never get tired of me.”
Max didn’t know how to say that it was impossible.
He never wanted less of David. If anything, he wanted more.
More. More. More.
How do they manage to be so angsty but at the same time so fucking in love???🥺🥺
I need them to stop being horny bc I need answers, but honestly I can't blame them bc that was indeed hot as fuck 😔
“Déshabille-toi, mon ange,” David whispered.
Max swallowed. “I thought there was no sex talk in the car."
David pulled back further and peeled off his t-shirt. “Who said we'll be talking?"
HOLY FUCKING SHIT. WTF. I- I AM SPEECHLESS
He loved his David in every way.
But he was scared.
Because something changed in David.
And Max didn’t know what caused it.
And it terrified him.
Maybe David wasn’t possessed.
Nothing was wrong.
But something was not right either.
And Max intended to find out.
YESS!! GO OFF AND FIGURE THIS SHIT OUR BABE!!! AND OET JACKSON HELP YOU!! BECAUSE I AM LOSING MY MIND OVER HERE!!
I will just leave with some memes cause humor is my coping mechanism and I need to let this chapter sink in🙂
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babe that's one of my fave Wilde quotes oml. Thank you for sharing it and drowning me in feels.
also omg what's with families and making us go to shit that has nothing to do with us????? make this illegal thanks :)
YOUR MEMES KILLED ME OMG.
I made you know one too <3
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bingoboingobongo · 2 years
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300 FOLLOWER SLEEPOVER ⁉️⁉️🎉🎉
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anyways to celebrate the amazingness of all of y'all i'm going to host a 300 follower sleepover (note i don't really know what a sleepover is but whatever)
send in whatever thoughts for whatever characters/fandoms i've written for 🙇
(plus matt murdock, frank castle, and billy russo, and tbh u can probably send in a lot of marvel characters too; it's been a wild like two weeks ok)
and i'll write y'all like a eensy-weeny drabble abt them 🤏
(be warned eensy-weeny means there's a chance it'll be like 3k words knowing me)
also if it's not specified i'll be doing a fem!reader with fem pronouns (or i might just do second person we'll see u can probs pick)
now for my sake i do ask that y'all keep it like pg-16ish 👀
i mean let's have some decorum y'all (jk it's so most ppl will be able to read it) but if y'all wanna go a little more spicier that will probably be fine with me u just might not get a drabble
feel free to also ask me any other questions/comments too like my nonexistent posting schedule and the three wips i have yet to finish 😩
pretty much anything is fair game besides certain personal info
some stinky winky words i wanna say
y'all... i feel like I'm accepting an Oscar oml. i can't believe that this is actually happening??? i mean we were stuck at like 298/299 for so long i low-key wondered if we would be there forever.
ik ive been sucky at posting consistently (school is hard y'all) and also i suck at doing requests (writing is hard y'all) but thanks to all of y'all for sticking with me despite it.
it is absolutely insane to have 300 of y'all here, i don't even have that on my instagram (who would've thought that fanfic would be my claim to fame lol) and i really hope i do y'all proud
please please do not be afraid to comment, reblog, like, or even give constructive criticism on my pieces, ik ur only supposed to write for urself but i demand the approval of others so tell me what you want and i will try my best to do it
anyways i think if this was an oscars speech someone would have cut me off by now, i love all of y'all so much, thank you for letting me do this for you 💛💛💛
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awigglycultist · 2 years
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Pt 4 of The Guide: Shipwrecked Comedy (SC or just Shipwrecked). The other sorta sister company. Which I would call even less of a sister company, it's more like, a friend company. It's run by 4 ppl who aren't really ever in any SK productions but have been in several of TCB's and they're all good friends with TCB and many SK members and several SK members are in Shipwrecked's productions. Shipwrecked's productions also seem to be connected though its something a lot less talked about, but again you don't need to watch one to understand another, there's just little references that show up, not something you need to understand, they just happen and it's neat.
Kissing In The Rain. To be perfectly honest I haven't seen it yet and know absolutely nothing about it but it looks good, here's the trailer
Edgar Allen Poe's Muder Mystery Dinner Party (Poe Party). A webseries, it's very funny, the characters are super fun, it's even funnier if you really know who these writers are and get the references to their stories, but you do not at all have to know who they all are to enjoy it. Also you can follow along and try to figure out who the killer is too.
Summary: Edgar Allen Poe invites several other writes over for a fun murder mystery dinner party, until people start actually getting murdered. It's has Lousia May Alcott, Ernest Hemingway, George Eliot, Charlotte Brontë, Fyodor Dostoevsky, H. G. Wells, Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Emily Dickinson, Agatha Christie, as well as two characters from Poe's stories, Lenore and Annabel Lee. Trailer
The Case of the Gilded Lily (Gilded Lily for short). A short film. It's short and sweet and funny. It's a classic old black and white detective case in the 1930's. It's another mystery you can solve along with them. (Fun fact they just ended a Kickstarter for a podcast called The Case of the Greater Gatsby (Greater Gatsby for short) which will be another mystery involving the Gilded Lily characters and tons of new characters as well, finding out who killed F. Scott Fitzgerald. It'll be a while before that's released tho so.)
Summary: Private Investigator Ford Phillips promised he'd never take a case involving Hollywood. Until a fast talking journalist comes in with her rich loud mouthed actress friend who is being black mailed and he finally decides to take the case to help them. Trailer
American Whoopee. It's a fake trailer for a silent film. It's funny but it's not really my personal fave (although it is still good). It doesn't really have a concise plot exactly, which is on purpose. Again it's a trailer, and the joke is that their doing these classic plots that so many modern movies and shows all mixed into one movie but it's a silent film.
Friends Til The End. A wonderful song! I've listed to so much it is just SUCH a bop!
Summary: ok well not much to really summarize here, it's a song based off of Dracula from the perspective of Mina and Lucy.
Headless and Unsolved Babestreries. I absolutely absolutely love it. Really fun cast of characters, hilarious, great twists and mysteries. Again you can try and solve the mystery along the way. It's my favorite Shipwrecked Comedy production.
Summary: it's the classic story of Sleepy Hollow and the the headless horseman with a twist. Ichabod Crane has gotten a job in Sleepy Hollow as a science teacher but he's having a hard time paying his rent. He finds out about the legend of the Headless Horseman and then find out its not just a legend. He decides to let the headless horseman become his roommate and help pay rent and help the horseman find his head. Trailer
Shipwrecked Plays D&D. Exactly what the tin says, Shipwrecked Comedy plays D&D. Spefically Sean, Sinéad, MK, Sarah and Krystina as players and Gabe as their DM. A really fun series, if you like D&D I'm sure you'll like this, and if you don't I think you could still like this, it's just really fun. There's also lots of references to Headless (but I don't feel like it's necessary to have watched Headless to enjoy this at all, but it definitely makes the experience more enjoyable).
Summary: we follow the characters as they team together on a mission given to them by C.R.A.N.E, the organisation they work for, to investigate a town being haunted.
The Case of the Greater Gatsby (Greater Gatsby). Currently ongoing. Very fun follow up to Gilded Lily. If you liked Gilded Lilly then you gotta listen to this, it has all the same characters plus so many more and they're all so fun and colorful. And ofc another fun mystery to try and figure out yourself as you listen. There's so much going on and so many characters and it's so great.
Summary: Ford Phillips and Fig Wineshine are back at it again, this time to investagate the murder of F. Scott Fitzgerald and robbery of the script he was working on: The Greater Gatsby, which was filled with secrets about Hollywood. Trailer
How to Be A Ghost. Another wonderful song! The costume designs are especially a highlight for me.
Summary: again not exactly much to summarize. It's a song based off of A Christmas Carol from the perspective of Jacob Marley after he dies and is told by the Christmas ghosts that he needs to visit Scrooge on Christmas Eve to help him become a better person.
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adamsvanrhijn · 2 years
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ok this might be reaching a bit since i have not watched tga in a few months but one of the things i remember is either aunt agnes or her sister referencing Mr Van Rhijn as "not a nice man" and the implication (at least that i got from the scene) being that Agnes married Mr Van Rhijn for stability/to keep her status in the New York socialite scene. And it's been driving me up the wall wondering how this influences Oscar and his relationship with John, especially bc I personally consider Oscar to be a bit of a Mama's Boy (idk if that's accurate? bc again its been a few months lol). But anyway I was wondering on Your Take as the Non-Official Top JohnOscar Fan.
this is all So interesting to me if you are reaching i am reaching further i promise <3
so i talked a little bit about this as the show was airing... we can i think be certain that agnes married to acquire financial support and retain social status after henry made poor and also thoughtless+harsh financial decisions. & ada does say that mr. van rhijn was not "a man you would want to be alone with" which to me very much implies violence... i would think agnes did not fully find out or understand any of that until after she married him (they would be very unlikely to ever have been alone together before marriage), and i have developed the headcanon that he was someone who was generally very charming in public
i definitely also vibe with the oscar van rhijn mama's boy take - tumblr user @whartonists has a post on this somewhere that brings up related contemporary perceptions of oscar wilde as well
i have also talked a little bit about how john adams is, we can but not necessarily should (watch that not stop me) Assume, if connected to the adams family / having grown up in or adjacent to the existing 4th+5th generation adamses (note he cannot neatly slot in to either generation irl on a mathematical basis alone), someone who has grown up to idealize love match marriages between two people who emotionally and intellectually complement one another - main example here being the john adams/abigail adams relationship (which was by the 1880s fairly well known literally nationwide [their letters were published in like the 1840s]) and it is well documented that irl later generation adamses were raised on previous family personal and political writing including and especially theirs, who are john's great great paternal grandparents, and in particular brought up in a way where the expectation was you would as an adult follow in family traditions and retain family values to respect+represent+carry forward the family legacy
and those ideas are just absolutely totally contrary to how we see oscar pursue gladys in s1 - as a matter of fact, jf word of god is that part of john's objection to oscar marrying is that it wouldn't be Fair To Gladys! it is also of course very deeply and primarily rooted in his desire to remain with oscar and maintain their own personal status quo, but if we trust wog we can absolutely say that he is approaching this with a different mental (and likely moral) framework for what marriage should be
oscar clearly is not considering love as an element of marriage at all, though he is considering temperament - he would like to at least get along with his wife (gladys Seems Nice, & he enjoys talking with her) whom he is Marrying for money & status (Status As Normal)
but i do think his love for john is influencing his decision here. their first scene alone at home together is oscar deflecting from explaining his intent to marry and asap to john and then immediately prioritizing his relationship with john; in the first episode where he and john actually talk about this he brings up that "we" always knew "we" would have to marry eventually... but then he doesn't, at least to date, pressure john At All to himself marry or pursue it once it becomes clear that john has no interest in that. my interpretation of this is that oscar [feels that he is] is Taking One For The Team.
and more explicitly than that, in 1.08 he is trying to get out of a discussion with john but also i really do not think he is lying when he says that he wants what is best for john! and i certainly do not think he is lying when he indicates he is concerned about rumors concerning both of them - "as we get older".
i would guess oscar has always had a utilitarian view of marriage and that this very much is based on agnes's own marriage specifically, but also, he isn't really wrong! he says himself that plenty of men in their situation have made the same decision, and though he doesn't say this part out loud, i definitely think he sees it as a decision made to maintain social status and public life but also to protect themselves - love is simply not in the equation
he wants a convenient marriage with a woman he likes, and he wants to fall in line with the society around him, to say nothing of the $$$ aspect - and i also think he sees this as benevolent toward whoever the wife ends up being! obviously a woman Must Marry, and he is providing a Name as well as offering companionship where he presumably isn't going to be a harsh or unkind or controlling husband - certainly he isn't going to prioritize being sexually satisfied by her. his gig is pretty good he thinks!
and then.
he also sees it as benevolent Toward John. like i said i think he thinks he is taking one for the team here - john clearly isn't going to marry and isn't interested in it and isn't Reasonable or Rational for that, but, oscar is going to take that task on and do that for him - to avoid people Wondering and to keep their relationship going in a way that is safe and protected
i don't think it's half as simple as how he is envisioning it in his head, but i do think that, while he really doesn't care about the Morals of his situation, he doesn't really think he's doing anything Bad either! he's not going to mistreat his wife (the bar is underground but the fact remains that a lot of men could not get over it.) he's still going to be with john... i think he thinks he's being generous here and meeting every party's best interests regardless of whether they agree with him or not
and, like his mother, his marriage is also supposed to be something that protects him himself first and foremost, providing financial power and eliminating suspicion as to his sex life and the kind of man that he is.
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katnissgirlsmakedo · 22 days
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tell me about your book omg... how was it different from the movie do you think it's worth reading what was so bad about the whole book fair thing (if you want to do some hating) do you think the detractors on the basis of the novel being problematic are dense or do they have a point... etc <3 also generally what's your fav and least fav book you've read so far this year I'm curious 😁
FIRST of all the bookstore party dinner whatever the hell that shit was was THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD thank you for letting me complain. it was fine actually i just hated that section of part three because it was really boring. it made me feel like when i was 15 and reading the picture of dorian gray and it was slow going but i was doing it until there was one chapter that was so bad and boring i had to literally give up for six months. i always meant to revisit that book btw if anyone else wants to do that i'm putting out an open call to do a little book club moment with our pal oscar wilde... hashtag literacy yay <3 i digress. there wasn't really anything bad about the writing in that section i just didn't like it... so what happens is that before oliver goes back to america at the end of summer, he needed to go to rome to like meet with translators and publishers for his book or whatever it's literally so beyond unimportant. so elio went to rome with him and they like, go sightseeing and what have you. and there's one night where they go to this event at a bookstore and it goes on FOREVER and then everybody at the bookstore goes to dinner and they all spend a million hours being pretentious about poetry and pissing me the fuck off!!!! the whole book up to that point is sooo focused only on elio and oliver and them alone and this stupid section was like hey what if there were like five other people we're pretending are important suddenly? and i was like andré i am going to put a bomb in your house. ok stepping back and looking at the situation like a not insane person. it's literally fine. i imagine the point of all that was to show how elio is like, intelligent and capable of holding his own in the world among other scholarly pretentious people like him (i can't even begin to describe how annoying he is btw. his main hobbies are transcribing music and reading obscure novels in five different languages) he's a lot like a prince in the sense that his parents are rich and he really doesn't have to do anything and all his hobbies are artistic because he's never had to worry about anything outside his personal turmoil or whatever. and in the snse that he has the manners and social graces and ability to act like he's above everything. he literally would have excelled as a medieval royal. anyway it was just a section of the book that i was annoyed by because it was long and too focused on random other characters i didn't even care about at alllllll.
ok we persist. do i think it's worth reading? well it depends. yes and no... if you're a fan of the movie but haven't read the book i think it's definitely worth reading i think in that context it offers a lot of new perspective that enriches the experience or whatever, but if you don't even think you'd like the movie i don't think you should read the book. i guess it depends on the person. do i think you specifically my beloved tee tumblr user lonesomedotmp3 should read it? well summer is the season to do it if ever but really it would depend on whether you want to read a book that it 60% some guy being horny and 30% some guy being sooooo anxious and 10% you sitting there thinking wow this is so boring. actually you read more real world set stuff like this than i do maybe you won't find it so boring. i'm not like. an intellectual with my chosen books i’m a cassie girl.... i need someone to be solving a murder or going on a quest or something to be entertained most of the time… i mean. you should read it if i’ve intrigued you i think it would be better than if you read the curse workers like you said you wanted to because the curse workers ended up being kinda bad in the end… but also don’t blame me if you hate it. i can see multiple paths…. but if you’re gonna read it you should watch the movie first i know people don’t usually advocate for that but i am. or don’t do either idk i’m not telling anybody to do any of it i don’t want that on my conscious if you hate it i’m just saying IF you’re going to…
do i think people who object to it on the basis of it being Problematic are dense or do they have a point? that’s a juicy question… as we all know i do always think you can’t dismiss something unless you actually know what you’re talking about. like there’s of course a difference between not wanting to read/watch something and saying that reading/watching that thing makes anyone who does it a bad person. i don’t know if everyone had the experience i had but i remember a time on this fuckass internet where there were so many people who were so smug about not having even seen the movie and genuinely thought they were like. better human beings for Not Having Partaken In The Problematic Movie. as if everyone who watched it when it came out was tricked by the devil or something and it was a moral failing. it was a ridiculous time i don’t think i’ll ever truly get over it tbh. obviously they DO have a Point with everything that has been said. everyone has a point, that’s what art is about i think!! there IS a weird age gap between these characters! that’s true! elio literally has to go back to HIGH SCHOOL at the end of the story. high school!!!! that being said it’s hard to see it as oliver “taking advantage” in any real way considering oliver is suchhh a loser about it… like he’s a grad student everyone knows grad students are like overgrown babies who are afraid to leave school. sorry to all the grad students i’m just being real and speaking my truth. anyway the whole crux of their relationship is that they’re intellectual peers, which i can understand is hard to grasp for people who don’t speak to anyone outside their immediate age range. i didn’t understand it when i was 16 and all the Discourse was happening because i didn’t know anyone that much older than me. and now at the decrepit and hag like age of almost 23 i work with a bunch of teenagers and get along with them well and don’t think of them as little babies because in many ways we are peers. now i wouldn’t date any of those little bitches i think oliver is a freak for that genuinely i’m just offering a perspective where you as an early to mid twenties person can be peers with a teenager and it’s not weird. basically i wouldn’t call their specific ass situation “predatory” but i DO very much think oliver is a massive freak weirdo. the great news is that this book isn’t about oliver except as an extension of elio <3 and in oliver’s defense you can understand when you read it that he’s clearly in the midst of a sexuality crisis and elio happened to be the other gay person in the vicinity. like it’s nice that they got lucky and were also friends and respected each other and liked each other and were attracted to each other but we must be real and acknowledge that crucially. elio happened to be gay and in his vicinity. and for oliver this was like. a summer affair and then he went back to his real life and girlfriend and got married and had kids. which sucks but is so august illicit affairs taylor swift coded which is awesome. i’m going to be real i don’t think andré aciman would like a lot of the things i’ve interpreted about his book. i’m like painting oliver as this unwitting careless villain and andré literally wrote a sequel in which they get back together and raise a child. frankly i think he’s stupid as shit for that can you imagine ruining your own book so bad with a crap sequel you only wrote because a movie made you popular and you wanted to capitalize? he should kill himself 🙄 it’s giving mcu. it’s giving roberto aguirre sacasa in a way. we have to stop letting men write books they don’t know what they’re doing omg. ok sorry i got away from the point. what was the point actually what were we talking about. you know what i feel like i’ve said enough on that point let’s move. i could maybe keep yapping if we want later but i’m over it rn literally let’s move <3
my favorite and least favorite books i’ve read this year…. first of all FUCK the raven king for real oh my god. i don’t mean that the raven king was like. fine. i already yapped lydia’s ear off about it to very brief responses due to their offline-ness so i’m kinda over talking and complaining about it but let’s just say i’ve never been happy with any ending book in a series ever in my life except perhaps city of heavenly fire. and the only reason i fucked with that was because it was never really an Ending in the sense that there wouldn’t be more. like i knew going into cohf that lady midnight would come out in two years… it was never Over you know? now the last book in the wicked powers? that’s gonna make me kill myself when it comes out. like unless i’ve found true love or something awesome but let’s not pin all our hopes on that lmao… anyway. i’m rereading the raven king rn to give it a second chance and also because i reread all the others in the series and had to give her my due diligence yk? so we’ll see what changes. also fuck the sun and the star. but you all saw all my bitching about that one and really i didn’t even Hate it it was complicated. however. FUCK where the crawdads sing for real and genuinely oh my godddd boring ass book. i haven’t finished it but i will. i guess. i’m just complaining whilst in the middle of it <3 as for favorites… what a thing to think about… well i loved rereading the darkest part of the forest i’ll be a holly black girl forever i fear <3 also i read the first enola holmes book and like. it slayed… like it’s a children’s book but i’m just saying it was great fun… i haven’t really read any Big Girl Books this year tbh. well ok i read cmbyn. but that’s not my favorite be serious. but really i think my favorite favorite book i’ve read this year was the dream thieves… will patton as an audiobook narrator you will ALWAYS be famous… i listened to it a month ago but i’m literally still going around my house talking to myself in the voice he did for kavinsky… i can’t describe it you just have to know… it was this crazy jersey accent but the cadence with which he spoke was just mesmerizing to me… also the book was good. didn’t mean to imply i liked it because of that one character although i did think he was Awesome. but i know that’s not in the camp of popular opinions to have about the raven cycle so we don’t have to be getting into it. we also don’t have to be getting into how i feel about ronan lynch it’s a lot and all the information you need to know is that i said the dream thieves was my favorite book i’ve read this year and i also publicly compared him to my special guy from redacted. you may all draw your conclusions on what i think of him… i’m not doing fandom shit over it…
wow i need to read more books this year those answers were bleak. 😐 when i finally read mexican gothic it’s over for everybodyyyy
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commander-diomika · 3 years
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I read your timeskip thing about how Wilde got his scar and I just wanted to say I absolutely love it, but it's lead to me realising that wilde probably had to quarantine after that....
Like he has had one of the worst experiences of his life someone he trusted (after Damascus when he was struggling to trust people and didn't know who to turn to so you know this probably someone that really mattered to him) turned around and tried to kill him for seemingly no reason and he couldn't even rely on his magic when he was fighting for his life something that is so ingrained he still tried to use it in Paris when he could BARELY TALK and he'd have to quarantine!? Because clearly this infection is dangerous and they have no idea how it spreads or how to notice it before it's too late?????
Did Zolf have to stitch him up and then take him to quarantine and then sit outside the cell looking at this man that he finally really trusts after everything slowly lose parts of himself not knowing if the person he was worried about was even left anymore?????
Did he tell Barnes and Carter about the situation and then lock himself in there with Wilde to make sure he healed okay because it's not like he'd tell them of he wasn't?????? IF HE DID DO THAT WOULD WILDE BE RELIEVED OR WOULD HE BE TERRIFIED THAT ZOLF WAS INFECTED TOO!?
this was really long but you're the reason this occurred to me so if I have to suffer so do you because it turns out the 18 month timeskip is something I will never be over
Nonnie, as Alex is fond of saying, please stop jumping the gun, I am GETTING to all of this in the next piece I'm writing, I think! You are bang on with all of this! Obviously Wilde getting his face slashed was probably one of the first instances of The Resistance realizing exactly how insidious the blue veined folks are, and the catalyst for lots of people realising the need for quarantine. Like, the cell at the Japanese inn was custom fit to purpose but to start with they wouldn't have had the facilities or know how.
Personally I'm leaning toward Zolf going in with him to help with the healing and for maximum angst.
As for WHOMST stabbed Wilde, I might have found myself on a wiki meander last night reading about Real World Oscar Wilde and his most famous lovers to find a good one to disrespect the memory of, and damn if Alfred Douglas isn't perfect for the role. Alex is right, just straight up lifting characters from history and customising them for your story is a GREAT idea.
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el-im · 3 years
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ok no one cares but i am once again thinking about how andrew j. robinson’s writing in a stitch in time fundamentally changed the the way i’ve come to view garak and how i interpret the “Of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?” / "My dear Doctor, they're all true." / "Even the lies?" / "Especially the lies.” interaction from the wire (which initially i was very thrown off by). by suggesting that the stories garak fabricates are indicative of how he chooses to define himself, i think the stories from the wire serve specifically to illustrate what garak most covets/coveted in life, and that they contain elements of the circumstances/relationships/motivations/etc. that garak never had, or were beyond his reach. by making up these particular circumstances, garak is juxtaposing his words against the actuality of his life, and by that comparison his lies demonstrate the truth of his relationship with tain, his work in the obsidian order, and his personal convictions...
Story 1: “During the occupation, I was a Gul in the Cardassian Mechanised Infantry. We were stationed just outside the Bajoran Capital. Shortly before the withdrawal, a handful of Bajoran prisoners escaped from my custody. My aide, a man named Elim, tracked them to a Cardassian shuttle about to depart for Terok Nor. Elim got aboard, but the captain refused to let him search the ship, because he claimed he was under strict orders from Gul Dukat to depart immediately. So I had the shuttle destroyed, killing the escapees, Elim, and ninety seven Cardassian civilians... I followed my orders. None of those prisoners escaped off of Bajor alive. Unfortunately as it turned out, one of the passengers on the shuttle was the daughter of a prominent military official. I was stripped of my rank and commission, and exiled from Cardassia.” 
-> what i get from this one is that garak wants a) companionship (in this “aide”, elim), b) authority (in my mind, this is more of a past item of desire. in his youth in the obsidian order, he wanted to emulate tain, and was indoctrinated to think that power should be sought after above all else, and not relinquished), and c) ruthlessness. the crowning jewel of tain’s service as the head of the obsidian order, garak grew up with detachment and brutality being demonstrated as the guiding principle of leadership, command, delegation... the funny thing about all these garak episodes, and which I am glad to see that the fandom so readily picked up on (see one of my favorite posts: “i don’t understand why ds9 fandom casts garak as some sort of suave oscar wilde daddy dom when he’s clearly the kind of older man who gets trashed at a casino at 3pm on thursdays and tips dabo boys extra to hold him while he cries”) is that for all his posturing, for all his discussion about the difference between cardassian principles and “federation dogma”, for all we actually, genuinely learn about what garak did during his time in the obsidian order (for all interested in garak’s life pre-terok nor/ds9, please take this free link and read a stitch in time it’s one of like... two trek novels i’d ever recommend and is so good i promise <3), for all we learn about what he did after (the assassination of senator vreenak “in in the pale moonlight”), garak still doesn’t... come off as hardened, or unfeeling. he repeatedly demonstrates a willingness to put himself in harm's way to save the people he cares about (most notably, bashir/martok during their time in the jem hadar prison, but even once going to cardassia to save kira, who detests/detested him (depending on if you believe their relationship changed over the course of the show) and risking arrest/execution by returning to cardassia during his exile). for all his pretending otherwise (from second skin: GARAK: “I have no intention of sacrificing my life to save yours. If it looks like we're in danger of being captured... if there are any signs of trouble at all... you're on your own. SISKO: Mister Garak, I believe that's the first completely honest thing you've ever said to me.”), Garak isn’t selfish, or at the least isn’t constantly, predictably selfish. He’s self-sacrificial more often that he’s given credit for, he’s occasionally kind. I think the first story he tells in the wire is so indicative of the inner conflict he feels. inside him is a child who was brought up to revel in the glory of violence in the middle of a military occupation of another world. there is a part of him that persists in believing strength is only fortification, obfuscation, invulnerability. and yet there is a part of him now wrestling with the belief that he can only be saved through honesty, by telling bashir about the implant and why it’s there and who he is that warrants it. one of the most remarkable things about this wholly incredible episode is this struggle between these two parts of himself. 
and really, garak isn’t stubborn, or stupid. he knows if he wants to save his life (and for a moment... for some inexplicable reason, he does), he’ll have to give bashir some tipping hint. he has to tell him enough of the truth to give him a way to help him, and that’s what all these stories come down to. he is hinting as best he can. he is explaining as much as possible, so as not to betray the angry little boy inside him who sees this addiction as a weakness, who sees his attachment to bashir, and to his life on the station as a vulnerability, exploited.  then there’s a second layer in which (after discovery that garak is elim) the audience gleans that garak (in his youth) desperately wanted direction, for someone to tell him what do to and how to do it--that he wanted to be excused from his actions on the basis of “following direct orders”... god, but then I think about how garak chooses to kill the figure of elim he paints here. paired with the resignation to his own fate at this point in the episode (garak knows a replacement device can’t be obtained, that his body is too reliant on the implant to function on its own, and that withdrawal without supplement will be deadly... which is to say garak is sure he is going to die), this seems so poignant. does he wish he’d have died years ago? killed in some random shoot out at the orders of someone higher up on the obsidian order’s chain of command? and can you imagine that? tain would bury the report so as to conceal his son’s involvement with the order (sentimentality always coming second to security, of course), letting this “elim garak” be listed as some citizen at the wrong place at the wrong time, a random victim of the violence of the bajoran occupation... garak, in an instant, would be forgotten. brushed aside by his father in favor of obscuring the actual operation undergone. 
in the end i think the most i get from this version of the story is that subtle death wish. if he had been a less important operative, or if he had died then, he wouldn’t be enduring this now (return to the conversation about a lifetime serving cardassia re: “the neverending sacrifice” at the opening of the ep....). part of me believes garak wishes he would have died then, before he could have been exiled, before setting up his shop on the station, before meeting bashir... 
garashir side note: “At first, he just wanted to have sex with him. That's absolutely clear. That's all he wanted from him. ‘Come to my shop, I got some nice clothes for you... but you'll have to change first.’ But then it really got complicated, especially when Garak's addiction and despair began to surface. He needed someone to share it with.” - Andy Robinson, from “What We Left Behind”. / “What we should've done, after The Wire in season two, the episode where Bashir helps him get over his addiction, we should've had Garak come out to Bashir as a gay Cardassian... Garak comes out as gay in season two, we have five seasons to play that Bashir and Garak relationship. Where that would have gone, who the hell knows, but it could've been so cool.” - Ira Steven Behr, from “What We Left Behind”. 
Considering these two quotes from the actor who played Garak and the head writer on DS9, another thing about this episode I’m throwing my two cents in for is the obvious implications for this deepening the relationship between garak and bashir. One of the most frustrating things about this episode is how much it just begs for more, more, more. The casual banter about literature they start up at the beginning of the episode, the refusal on garak’s part of letting bashir take him the the infirmary (hello cardassian stubbornness, the whole scene reeks so much of ‘I do not want you to see me vulnerable, I want you to think me strong and independent and not in danger’. the whole charade reminds me so much of a wounded animal putting on a brave face so as to not be found out. garak does not want bashir (specifically!) to see him sick, to see him needing. he does not want to admit that he needs his help, that he needs him)...
then everything else that follows that, bashir worriedly reaching out to his friends for help and advice: talking to o’brien about his concerns for garak and asking about retrieving the cardassian medical files, then to dax, who tells him flatly “It sounds like you're taking this personally.... It's not like you two are really friends.”. the affront on bashir’s part at hearing that. “It's just that Garak and I have been having lunch together once a week for more than a year now. You'd think he'd come to trust me a little!” he exclaims. then how defeated and angry he is (violently stabbing her plant with mycorrhizae), the strong thread of bitterness humming in his honey-sweet voice, “If he doesn't want my help, that's his prerogative.”
there’s something so magnificent about the timeline here. how long they’ve known each other by now, the fact that bashir is the only person garak really considers his own on the station (“it isn’t bashir who dies, is it? Ira, you’re not going to kill off julian, are you? I mean, where does that leave me? I mean, he’s my only relationship in this show! I don’t have him, I have nothing. I’m hanging out in space with nobody to talk to!” - DS9Doc's Ira Steven Behr pushes for more DS9 in HD!)... it’s so plainly laid out that bashir is the only thing garak has, the only reason he has to be curious about what else life could bring him at this point in his life, so far from home, from his family, from the only job he ever felt he had been suited for. 
which is not even to mention julian’s reaction to this first story.  “So now you know, Doctor. I hope I haven't shattered too many of your illusions.” garak concludes. There is a pregnant pause of still hesitation (in which i imagine garak is reeling--because, at the same time, i think, despite this relay being an attempt to communicate his own misery, these stories are also made to push something in bashir. Garak is at the end of his rope, drifting (almost) untethered into unknown space and he is reaching out in the hope that julian, (despite, despite, despite...) will take his hand. Garak is trying to see just how far Julian will go to save him, to forgive him. He is trying to discover if there is an exception to his “federation dogma”, if there is really truth to that myth of human kindness he’d heard so much about...  in this moment, Garak is playing this horrific, dangerous, loving, desperate game of cat and mouse. “Could you still love me if I...” he seems to say, and believes at some point he’ll be responded to with a “no”, but hopes, against his better judgement, beyond belief, that he wont be.  And then Julian looks up at him, faces close enough for Garak to feel his steady breath on his cheeks as he says, calmly, “Listen to me, Garak. Right now I'm not concerned with what you did in the past. I'm simply not going to walk out of here and let you die. We need to turn that implant off and whatever withdrawal symptoms or side effects you may experience, I promise I'll help you through them. I need to know where that triggering device is. Where is it?” 
And that line is it for me, beyond so much of the other golden ones in this episode. This is the first time that Garak hears that unequivocal acceptance, and it just sends him staggering. In all his life, he’s never been faced with love like that. His father pushed him away, let him believe for years that he wasn’t his son. Mila didn’t, or couldn’t, or wouldn’t put up a fight for him when Tain exiled him... 
this is one moment in ds9 where i am particularly grateful for ds9 being filmed on a 4:3 aspect ratio that forced characters so close together to be in a shot. in this scene, a line from Shauna Barbosa’s “GPS”, Cape Verdean Blues comes back to me, and I look at the pair of them so close on the screen, Julian so open and Garak so agast, and I just think, “You kiss the back of my legs and I want to cry. Only / the sun has come this close, only the sun.”
all is to say: andy robinson himself has said that bashir is the only relationship garak has. assuming garak’s killing of elim in this first story is indicative of his own wish that he might have died during his work with the obsidian order (and thus been spared exile, the torture of life on the station, the gradual dependency he forged on the implant, and the inevitable withdrawal he was going to experience), there necessitates a question of why garak should agree to treatment (thus saving his life) only to continue living on a station he found so hellish in the past* 
*oh... the magnificent (perfectly summative) conversation between Tain and Bashir... “BASHIR: He's dying. TAIN: And you're trying to save him. BASHIR: That's right. TAIN: Strange. I thought you were his friend. BASHIR: I suppose I am. TAIN: Then you should let him die. After all, for Garak, a life in exile is no life at all.”
to me, this question has three answers: 1. he is appeasing an insistent julian (though this begets the suggestion that garak doesn’t have much faith in julian’s treating him--in which case, garak decides that one of his last acts in life will be making julian happy) 2. he is choosing to live because he is... intrigued by julian. because he likes his company and the meals they share and the books they trade... and because he is curious to see where this relationship will go. Julian has made his life bearable (dare I say enjoyable? see: “GARAK: [They] left me to live out my days with nothing to look forward to but having lunch with you. BASHIR: I'm sorry you feel that way. I thought you enjoyed my company. GARAK: I did. And that's the worst part. I can't believe that I actually enjoyed eating mediocre food and staring into at your smug, sanctimonious face. ”) and has thus given him some reason to get up in the morning, even if it is for a frivolous little lunch appointment in another few days or 3. he is choosing to live not for julian, but directly because of him. even if this relationship has a platonic reading, it can’t be denied that julian opened up a new world for garak, and if nothing else was able to stay his boredom/disgust with life on the station
Story 2: GARAK: There was a time, Doctor, oh there was a time when I was a power. The protégé of Enabran Tain himself. Do you have any idea what that means?... Tain was the Obsidian Order. Not even the Central Command dared challenge him. And I was his right hand. My future was limitless until I threw it away. BASHIR: You mean when you had that shuttle shot down to stop those prisoners from escaping? GARAK: Stop them? I only wish that I had stopped them. BASHIR: You didn't? GARAK: No, Doctor, my disgrace was worse than that. Unimaginably worse. BASHIR: What could you have possibly done worse than that? GARAK: I let them go. It was the eve of the Cardassian withdrawal. Elim and I were interrogating five Bajorans. They were children, Doctor. None of them were older than fourteen years old. They knew nothing. They lived in bombed-out rooms, scrounged for food on the streets. They were filthy and they stank. The room was freezing cold, the air was like ice, and suddenly the whole exercise seemed utterly meaningless. All I wanted was a hot bath and a good meal. So I let them go. I gave them whatever latinum I had in my pockets, and opened the door, and flung them back into the street. Elim couldn't believe his eyes. He looked at me as if I were insane.” 
-> from this version of the story there’s a much clearer division between the elim garak (a young agent of the obsidian order baptized in fire) he was in his youth and the elim garak he is now (a disgraced former agent, exiled, alone save for one ambitious, self assured federation doctor). this, i think, seems to show the separation between what this character “elim” (young garak) wanted:  which was uncompromising brutality and dedication to his work, and what present garak wants: peace, a full belly, the ability to be charitable (specifically to young, hungry bajorans)... 
this story to me is one that best places this contemporary incarnation of garak relative to his bajoran counterparts on the station. in the beginning of this episode, when telling bashir why he initially chose to activate the implant, he speaks about how he, as the only cardassian living on ds9, is viewed by the bajorans living there. (“Living on this station is torture for me, Doctor. The temperature is always too cold, the lights always too bright. Every Bajoran on the station looks at me with loathing and contempt.”) In this story, by releasing the children and giving them the latinum he had, he’s trying to repent to Julian, asking to be forgiven for the part he played in the occupation of bajor by showing that he was/is (depending on how you view the timeline of the progression of his attitudes) sympathetic to them, and that he regrets the hand he had in bringing war, famine, and subjugation to them. 
Story 3: “GARAK: Elim wasn't my aide. He was my friend. We grew up together. We were closer than brothers. For some reason, Enabran Tain took a liking to us. Before long, we were both powerful men in the Obsidian Order. They called us the Sons of Tain. Even the Guls feared us. And then there was a scandal. Someone in the Order was accused of letting some Bajoran prisoners escape. There were constant rumours of who was going to be implicated. Fingers were being pointed at me. By then Tain had retired to the Arawath Colony. He couldn't protect me, so I panicked. I did everything in my power to make sure that Elim was accused instead of me. I altered records, planted evidence, only to discover that he'd beaten me to it. BASHIR: He betrayed you first? GARAK: Elim destroyed me. Before I knew what was going on, I was sentenced to exile. And the irony is, I deserved it. Oh, not for the reasons they claimed, but because of what I had tried to do to Elim, my best friend.”
-> whenever I think back to this, my first impression remains that this is one of the stories where Bashir is considered. At this point, Garak’s been transferred from his room to the infirmary. Despite turning the implant off, toxins are continuing to accumulate in his lymphatic systems. He’s been sad (even woke bashir up with his weeping), he’s been angry (destroyed the vase and flipped the desk in his room, attacked bashir...), and now he’s calm, and tired. He thinks this is the end. He refuses to have the implant turned back on, which nurse jabara estimates might give him another week to live. This is the end of the line for him, and he’s accepting it with dignity and grace. He goes to release Bashir from his obligation to him “you’re done enough, Doctor. More than I deserve...” and goes to tell Bashir “the truth”. To me, this is his goodbye. Even if it isn’t a true story, this is the gift he’s giving Bashir. This is what he (spinner of wonderful lies, obfuscating agent of the despicable obsidian order) can give him as a parting gift--it is what he wants him to have. 
in this story, Garak is not friendless, as he is on the station. He has a close relationship with someone (’see, then, doctor?’ he seems to ask playfully, life sputtering out of his eyes. ‘i am capable of it!’)... and yet, there is also betrayal. It reminds me of an assurance, in a way. “Bashir,” he seems to say, the entire weight of all the good doctor’s efforts to save him pressing down on his every word, “look what might have come to you had I allowed you to care for me. There is only danger for you to find in me.” In this, Elim stands in place of Bashir. A steadfast friend who Garak works against for the sake of self preservation. In this moment, Garak is pleading with the man standing above him next to the biobed. He is insisting Bashir be grateful for the shallowness of their relationship (something I Garak ensured deliberately), and telling him that, though he is grateful for him, that if they had been closer, Garak would only have caused him pain. 
The heart of this story is Garak’s appraisal of his own self worth. Regardless of how much he’s changed since his time in the order, he persists in thinking he functions in the world to cause harm, much so that it is the only thing he’s able to do. Garak sees himself as the knife in the backs of others, or the hand raised, dagger in clutch. 
the second thing i see is contained wholly within the line: “By then Tain had retired to the Arawath Colony. He couldn't protect me, so I panicked.” aside from assurances made to bashir, i think the purpose of this speech is to demonstrate (in the fashion of the lies being true) that garak wanted, and still wants safety. he wanted someone (Tain) to come to his defense then. while this extends to the implication that garak wanted tain, as his father, to stand up for him out of pride, or love, or even a perfunctory sense of parental commitment rather than exile him (a recurring desire illustrates/suggested in the show/books), i also think its perfectly suited to the care julian is exhibiting in tending to him in this episode. for all garak’s refusal to acknowledge his pain (a mere headache, as he claimed when they stood outside the replimat), for all his refusal to go to the infirmary when they meet at quark’s later, the care julian is constantly exhibiting through this episode is what garak is most endeared by. it is the thing he wanted most in his youth, and the thing now (because it was denied to him then) he finds so difficult to accept. there are many (many) instances throughout the show of garak and bashir talking about the extension of federation help/kindness, and this being something bashir embodies, btu this is one of the illustrations that sticks with me because of its particular placement. In the story, Garak wanted protection. He was alone, and afraid, and wanted help. As it now stands, he is not alone, he is calm, and has help. That is perhaps the most startling revelation for him of all. 
and last but not least another... intriguing part of all garak’s stories is his repeated separation of himself and elim. the illusion of separation is one of the most intriguing (and heartbreaking) aspects of these story to me. garak has always struck me as the kind of character who sees grief and regret as an impetus for amputation. he believes what is unpleasant or unnecessary about him he can cut off and live through. he believes he can build up a wall between himself and what he doesn’t want to see or experience without repercussion (this being why he activated the implant in the first place). by making elim and himself two separate people he is not only distancing himself from whatever it was he really did, thus taking responsibility for it in part and allowing the other half of himself turn away in disgust and without sympathy, but suggesting that he cannot be culpable entirely for what it was he did.  in each of his stories, the blame is to be shared, divided. the hardest part of all of this to swallow is that even after all this time, he’s begging for someone to spare him of the crushing loneliness of disgrace, begging for someone to understand fully what he’s done, accept him, and shoulder a part of his burden, much so that he creates an entirely new incarnation of himself just to sit with him in hell. 
anyway ive also been fucking around on memory alpha and this was intriguing to me so im putting it here: 
"When I was writing the story," stated Robert Hewitt Wolfe, "the movie Schindler's List had just come out and Ira was saying, 'Maybe he was Schindler; maybe he was the guy who let the prisoners go.' And then it was, 'Maybe he wasn't; maybe he was the Butcher of Budapest.' So we just kept telling all these lies, and I think the truth lies somewhere in there. Maybe he did let people go. Maybe he did shoot down the ship. Who knows?" (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. 141))
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cloudiness · 2 years
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carlando au where carlos gets a random second-hand book from the internet and gets lando's annotated copy of oscar wilde's The Picture Of Dorian Gray and carlos falls in love with the small details lando picks out and talks about in sticky notes and all the folded pages and then lo and behold lando left his phone number at the back
and now cute bookworm boyfriends go to the bookstore or to the library to fight and see who can get more books for the other person based off their tastes in genres 👍👍👍
Cloverrrrr 😭🧡😭❤😭
I love this idea! Lando little notes 😭😭😭 Carlos smiling while reading them 😭😭😭 and then him finding the number and being like 'should I do it?! Maybe I should..yeah why not?!' 🧡❤
Another (extremely cliche)'book-related' AU could be that they both use the same library book to study one subject at uni and end up leaving each other messages in the pages whenever they use the book like 'hi stranger! Today I'm bored I don't feel like studying' writes Lando and Carlos writes back in like the next chapter 'Hello stranger..I too would rather be home playing fifa but I know you can do it! (Btw what do you think about this bit? Don't have a clue about what it means *draws arrow and a smiley face*)' as always he is Lando's biggest fan even when he doesn't know him 😌 and then, obviously, they start leaving longer and longer notes written on papers then left in the pages and then one day Lando has to go to the library but it's not his usual day, it's way earlier in the week and 'ughh where's the damn book!?' and then he sees the book but it's on a table and someone is actually using it and 'wow that boy looks too handsome to be real..look at that hair!..what is he doing?!OHSHIT! HE'S READIN MY NOTE!!! BUT THAT'S NOT FOR HIM!!! THAT CAN'T BE MY STRANGER!"....so....yeah...👀👀👀👀
Ok. I'll stop now. THANK YOU CLOVER! Your messages are always the best thing to find in my askbox 😊
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itspufflehuff · 3 years
Text
Spidey Part2 - Sebastian Stan X Holland!Reader
Summary: What will happen between you and your brothers co-star after sparks fly in your first meeting at comic-con?
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | 
MATERLIST // TAGLIST
I wasn't planing on making a part two but as requested by @star-gazing-game here it is! You can read part one here and part three here. If anyone ever has a request or suggestion my messages are always open! Thank you for choosing to read my story and I hope you enjoy!
Word Count: 4,935 (wow for a story I didn't plan on making I sure got lost in it. This is twice as long as the first story!)
~~~~
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Once comic con ended you and Sebastian went your separate ways, making sure to exchange numbers first. The both of you still had to do some promoting for your movies and unfortunately, they were in different parts of the country. He would stay in California for a bit while you went back to New York. That didn't stop you from keeping up with each other. He would randomly message you throughout the day and it would always bring a smile to your face.
Sebastian: Another interview with the diva 🙄. I mean does he really need someone to carry all those juice boxes for him?
You were currently sitting in your apartment getting ready to have dinner. You were still appearing on talk shows promoting your movie and your career, now that people were noticing you more it was the perfect opportunity for you to talk more about your usual work and gain more of a following. Tonight you would be on SNL performing a parody skit of Wicked.
Laughing you responded back.
Y/N: Ugh I know right! He thinks he's so much better than anyone like 'oh look at me I'm Spider-Man' 🙄 go get your juice box and let the adults handle this
Less than a minute later your phone rang again.
Sebastian: I can't believe people think he's the better Holland when it's obvious you are.
Y/N: Thank you! Finally, someone who sees how much better I am than him
You set your phone down leaving it unlocked waiting for Sebastian's next reply. Instead, your phone read 'Tommy' as a video call came through. Confused as to why he would be calling you before an interview, you moved your food aside and swiped to answer the call.
Before you got to greet him Tom spoke, "Why are you texting Sebastian?"
Although his question caught you off guard that didn't stop you from thinking of a quick response.
Faking disappointment you shook your head, "Oh Tommy, have you been snooping on people's phones again? Hasn't mum talked to you about that already? Does she need to have another chat with you?"
His face turned a tint of red as everyone behind him laughed. You heard a voice call out, "Someone please tell me you got that on camera." It was Mackie.
Someone called back to him, "We got it!" Again everyone burst into laughter. Obviously embarrassed Tom cleared his throat, "I'll call you back later." Quickly he hung up the phone.
No new messages came from Sebastian after that. You assumed it was because his interview was starting. So for the next few hours, you busied yourself getting ready for your show later. This would be your first time performing for SNL, you were so excited but also nervous. You couldn't keep still all day you had to walk around, clean, jump, even sing. Anything to keep yourself busy.
They asked you to show up two hours early to rehearse one last time before the show began. You and your scene partner went over the opening scene that would lead into the song. Once you got it down you two warmed up your voices finding the perfect harmony. Your skit was second up and just like on opening night for all your other shows you were nervous. Sure you've performed live in front of people more times than you can count but each time was as nerve-wracking as the first time.
You had thirty minutes left before you had to go out when you got a text on your phone. Looking down you saw his name and a smile came onto your face.
Sebastian: Good luck tonight you're gonna be great xx
You felt a bit more at ease knowing you had Sebastian cheering you on from the other side of the country. You put your phone down and headed backstage where everyone else was talking as they waited for their turn to go up.
~~~~
"And now for our next guest, Tom Holland!" Your partner introduced. That was your cue to run out on stage. You stood to the right of her smiling and waving to the crowd. When the cheering died down you looked to her still smiling, "Actually it's Y/N Holland."
"We didn't book you today." She said faking confusion looking down at her cue cards, "Look it says right here Tom Holland. TOM. Not Y/N."
"You must've written the wrong name down because I was definitely asked to come down tonight."
She let out a nervous laugh looking at the audience, "No we called and asked for the Spidey twin. You know the new Spidey, not Toby or Andrew."
"I am the new Spidey. I don't know if you heard but I kinda did this new movie and I voiced Spider-Gwen."
"Ok, but we asked for the dancing twin?"
"I can dance too. Maybe even better than my brother." I wink to the audience who cheered.
"Wait, wait, wait," She said to the audience, "but we asked for the more successful twin. Surely that must be Tom. I mean he is Spider-Man. THE Spider-Man. He's gotten the Empire and BAFTA awards for best newcomer and rising star."
"Um tell that to my three Tony Awards for best newcomer and Best Actress." You held one finger up for best newcomer and two for Best Actress. The audience went wild cheering and clapping for you.
"Oh no." Your scene partner said, cuing the music to What is this Feeling begin.
"There's been some confusion over casting here at SNL" you both sang
"But of course I'll promote for Spidey," you sang then in a speaking voice you quickly said, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse out in theaters now."
Your partner looked at you rolling her eyes, "And of course I'll rise up above it"
"For I know that's how you'd want me to respond, yes. There's been some confusion for you see, my scene-mate is," you both sang.
"Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe," you sang.
"Y/N" She deadpanned to the audience.
The both of you continued the song just as rehearsed. By the end, everyone cheered as you two marched off stage pretending not to like each other.
You stood for the rest of this show to watch the other skits they had planned out. It was so much fun, you were getting so used to being in a small room filled with the camera crew as you and the interview sat there talking. Of course, those could be fun too but this was a nice change.
At the end of the show, Tom called to tell you how amazing you did. "Watch out because I'm coming for your Tony's with some Oscars next." He threatened before hanging up. You laughed to yourself at your dorky brother. You couldn't help but notice the noise going on behind Tom throughout your phone call. He sounded like he was at a party or something. Then your phone rang again.
Sebastian: Tom has nothing on your three Tony's the only other award he'll be getting from the Oscars is biggest diva
You smiled reading his text, you were about to respond when another came through.
Sebastian: You did great tonight, I can't wait to hear you sing in person again
You felt butterflies erupt in your stomach. Of course you liked him. He was so sweet, funny, talented, and super attractive. But you two hadn't hung out since comic con or even seen each other since then. You didn't want to think too much about your relationship with him other than being friends but deep down you wanted more.
Y/N: Once I'm back on the stage I'll get you front row tickets
~~~~
Weeks had passed when you finally finished doing interviews and promos for Spider-Verse. Sebastian was finally back in New York but you two hadn't had the chance to meet up just yet. If he wasn't busy you were. Now that you had free time you decided to take advantage and take some time off of doing shows as well. Just a few more weeks then you'd go back.
That was until they called you desperate for a replacement, both the lead actress and her understudy got food poisoning and couldn't go on stage.  They needed a new Eurydice and you knew the part. You played it once before and you did amazing. Not wanting to let anyone down you agreed to cover, you were also really excited to revisit Hadestown. You loved playing Eurydice the first time so when the chance came to play her again you took it.
You immediately texted your brother excited sharing the good news. You wanted to text Sebastian but you knew he was in the middle of an interview so instead you waited for him to let you know when it was over.
His interview went on longer than expected. By the time it was over you were already down at the theater for a mic check and to get your costume fitted. When Sebastian texted you back your phone was hidden in your purse which then happened to be buried under a pile of everyone else belongings. After an hour passed he wondered why you didn't respond. Usually, you'll respond within a few minutes or before the hours passed. He didn't want to bug and keep texting so he waited for you to respond. He walked around his apartment trying to keep himself busy until he heard his phone buzz. Quickly he ran to his phone only to see it was a text from Mackie. Disappointed but not wanting to be rude he opened it up. It was a screenshot of some news article followed by the words, "This your girl?"
He opened up the photo and read to himself in a low whisper, "Actress Y/N Holland to star in Hadestown for one night only" he read further then jumped to his feet running into his room.
She's performing tonight? Why didn't she tell me?
It was already 6:30 and the show is scheduled for 8:00. That night was the fastest he ever got ready for anything. He showered, got dressed, combed his hair, and jumped in his car all within twenty minutes but he didn't care. He was going to see you tonight.
~~~~
On his way to the theater, he passed a man and woman selling flowers on the side of the street. Quickly he pulled over running over to them. They had a variety of flowers ready to be made into bouquets, the only problem was he wasn't sure which ones to get. He had never asked before what your favorite flowers were and he was not about to ask your brother so he did the next best thing, he googled it.
~~~~
At the end of the show, you were full of adrenaline. The crowd cheered as they stood for you and the cast. You had worked with some of the ensemble cast before on other shows so they came up to give you hugs before you all bowed and the curtain dropped.
You almost forgot how amazing and fun it was to be on stage. You walked back to your dressing room ready to change back into your clothes and go home. Your bag was thrown in the corner forgotten about but the moment you sat down a thought came into your head.
I haven't texted Sebastian back all day.
You ran to your bag digging through it to find your phone. It seemed to be lost somewhere in there and you were losing patience so you flipped your purse over dropping everything onto the floor. Finally finding your phone you walked over to your chair, opened up your messages, and went to Sebastian's name.
Y/N: Hey I sorta got busy... I'll tell you more about it when you've got time
You sighed slouching down in your chair, closing your eyes, and throwing your head back. You knew he was very understanding and wouldn't be upset with you for leaving him without saying a word but still, you felt bad. A few minutes passed when you heard knocking on your door. You sat back up before calling out, "Come in."
"I have time now if you want to talk." You heard a husky voice say from your door. You turned in shock seeing Sebastian standing there in a casual blue suit with flowers in his hand. You got up from your seat and started walking over to him as he walked closer to you, "Sebastian what're you doing here?"
"Well, when I heard you would be performing tonight I couldn't miss this show. I also got you these so I couldn't let you leave without them."
"Thank you, they're beautiful. How did you know these were my favorite?" You asked jokingly. You honestly thought it was just a coincidence that the flowers he got were your favorites.
He rubbed the back of his neck as a blush rose onto his cheeks, "I may have googled what your favorite flowers are."
You couldn't help but laugh, "I'm sorry I didn't mean for that to come out. It's just- you googled me?"
"Yes, I googled you!" He was laughing now too.
"I can't believe you googled me." You were smiling at him now. He was so much taller without your heels on. You took a step back, crossing your arms feeling a bit insecure.
"Well, I was hoping I could take you out tonight. Finally, get to hang out again now that we're here together."
"Yeah, of course, let me get changed really quickly then we can do."
He nodded walking out of the room allowing you to dress in peace. You ran around grabbing your clothes and throwing everything back into your purse. It wasn't too long until you opened the door with your purse and flowers in hand, "So what did you have in mind?"
"I was thinking maybe we can go back to my apartment. I'm sure you're tired and well were not exactly dressed for the same event." He looked down at your sweatpants and t-shirt.
"Yeah, maybe you're right."
~~~~
You followed behind him in your car to his house. You were slightly nervous since this would be the first time you both properly hang out together, alone, and in his house.
When you both got there he met you at your car opening the door for you and offering his hand, "My lady." You giggled at his antics but still took his hand, "Thank you, kind sir." He walked you up to his apartment while your arm was wrapped around his.
Once you were both in his apartment he looked down at his attire, "I am going to change real quick. While I'm gone feel free to make yourself at home. If you need to use the bathroom it's just through that door right there." He walked off to his room leaving you there alone. You put your bag down on the couch taking your phone out to see a text from Tom.
Tommy: How was your show? I'm sure you did great as always! That's how we Hollands do like to do it anyway
Y/N: The show was amazing! I had so much fun I missed performing but I'm still taking a few weeks off before I jump back into it again
You got another text when Sebastian came out of his room now wearing sweatpants of his own and a band shirt. "I don't have anything w can really eat right now so we can order food if you're hungry?"
"That sounds great. I'm fine with eating anything, honestly."
"Awesome, I know this great Chinese restaurant not too far from here we can order from."
You two spent the rest of the night eating and talking. You started off just sitting on his couch but as the night went on you got more comfortable switching positions. You would lay with your back on the arm of the couch, your legs dangling over the arm of the couch, then you moved so your head was hanging over the edge of the couch until you both somehow ended up laying on the floor talking.
Sebastian's head was right next to yours but your bodies were going opposite of each other. He grabbed some pillows from the couch keeping one for himself and giving you the other.
"What happened to you giving me front row seats once you were back on stage, huh?" Sebastian joked.
You propped your arm up on the pillow and rested your head on your hand facing him, "I wasn't planning on going back so soon. They needed me and I couldn't let them down! Plus you were in the middle of something I couldn't interrupt."
He did the same as you resting his head on his arm turning to you, "Excuses, excuses. You could've left a message or something! I would've dropped whatever I was doing just to see you."
You blushed looking away from him but he put a hand on your cheek turning your head back to him. His hand lingered as his thumb drew circles on your cheek, "Have I told you I love hearing you sing?"
"Maybe once or twice." You answered nervously.
"Well, then I'll just keep telling you." You looked into each other's eyes while his hand was still resting on your cheek. You thought for sure he would lean in for a kiss but he didn't. Instead, he cleared his throat and moved his hand. He looked up at the time before letting out a whoa, "It's already two in the morning! You should really get home and get some rest."
You were a bit confused. It felt like you two were having a moment and now he's rushing you home? Sure he makes a good point it is getting late and you're tired but what the hell?
"I suppose you're right." You laid back down on the floor not wanting to get up but Sebastian was standing next to you holding his hand out for you to take. He lifted you off the floor, "Come on I'll walk you to your car."
The walk to your car was quiet, neither of you really knew what to say. When it was time to go he gave you a hug which lingered. You were grateful it did. You didn't want to let him go he smelled like old spice and his body felt warm pressed up against yours. His head rested on top of yours as he rubbed your back with one hand. "Let me know when you're home, ok?" He pulled away holding onto your shoulders until you nodded.
~~~~
Sebastian laid awake in bed waiting to know you were home safe. He could've kissed you tonight. He wanted to kiss you but the gentleman in him wouldn't allow it. From the moment you two met he knew he wanted to take you out but you being Tom's sister he didn't want to do it behind his back either.
In the morning he set his plan into motion. The first call he made was to Tom.
It didn't take long for him to answer, "Hey mate, what's up?"
Sebastian felt nervous. What if Tom said no? What if this ruined their friendship, but he had to try. "Hey, Tom I was just calling to ask something."
"Shot."
"Well, I was hoping it would be alright if I take Y/N out on a date tonight?" He let out slowly. His palms were sweating and his heart was beating fast.
"What?" Tom didn't know what to say. Of course he thought Sebastian was a really great guy but you were his little sister. Did he really want to let you go out with him?
"I would like to take Y/N out on a date, but with your permission of course. I know how close you two are and I don't want you to feel like we're sneaking around behind your back. If you say no I totally understand and I'll keep everything as just friends."
If he were being honest Tom was impressed with the way Sebastian came to him before asking you out. He thought it was nice of his friend to come clean to him instead of asking you out without letting him know, which was something that happened before. "You know what man? Go for it."
"Are you serious?" Sebastian was stunned.
"Yeah! I know we joke around a lot about you and Mackie not liking me but you really are a great friend. Plus I saw how well you two got along during Comic-Con. I know you'll do what's right and make her happy."
Sebastian was over the moon happy. As soon as he hung up the phone his second call was to you.
~~~~
"Tonight at 5:00? That sounds great!"
"Ok, I'll pick you up then." As soon as he hung up the phone you shouted into your pillow with excitement. You knew you had a moment together last night! You just thought maybe it was your crush clouding your judgment but now you two have a date for tonight!
You jumped off your bed and went straight into your closet.
What am I going to wear tonight?
You rummaged through your wardrobe for an hour trying everything on. He said you would be going out to dinner then he would take you out for a movie. Cliche but you didn't care, you were going out with Sebastian Stan! After another two hours retrying everything on and pairing them with shoes. He mentioned the restaurant you would be outdoors so with that information you settled on wearing a maroon corduroy dress with a white long sleeve underneath and some black tights underneath. As for the shoes you went with black boots that had a heel to them.
It felt like time slowed down as if it knew how excited you were for your date. At 3:30 you started getting ready, first taking a shower then quickly putting on your outfit and shoes. Seeing as how you always had to wear so much makeup on stage you hardly liked to wear any off. You only put on a bit of concealer to hide the bags under your eyes, some eye shadow, and lipstick. Once you were satisfied with your look you started on your hair. Not wanting to do too much to it you lightly curled it and pinned it to the sides. As soon as you finished getting ready you heard a buzz coming from your intercom, "Hi Miss. Holland there is a Mr. Sebastian Stan here for ya."
Excited you hurried across the room to buzz back, "Let him up. Thank you, Jerry!" Within minutes you heard a knock on your door. You had set your purse next to the door earlier so you wouldn't have to worry about grabbing it o your way out. When you opened the door you were met with a shy-looking Sebastian once again wearing a casual suit although this time it was a plaid grey. He had one single flower in his hand and a dopey grin on his face.
"Hi, you look beautiful. Well, you always look beautiful but I never mention it so I am now."
You laughed at his stammering, "Thank you, you don't look too bad yourself. I mean you never look bad but I never mention it so I am now." You said coolly mocking him.
He noticed this and laughed looking down, "Thank you. I- umm- I brought you this. Just another one to add to your bouquet." He handed you another flower, the same as the ones from last night. You took it from him happily, "You're so sweet. I'll add it to the bunch right now." You began walking back into your apartment until you realized you were leaving Sebastian standing outside of your apartment door. You turned back around opening the door up for him, "Please come in while I put this away." So he did. He stepped into your apartment but remained by the door. He looked around at the setup and decor. "Wow, you really weren't kidding about those three Tony awards were you?" He asked impressed. You turned back with a chuckle, "I don't have to lie to sound cooler than my brother." "You got that right." He mumbled to himself with a smile.
~~~~
The restaurant he chose was on a rooftop overlooking the city. The view was beautiful and even though there was a rough over your heads it was clear allowing you to see the sky above and the sides were left open so a breeze could pass through. There were strings of light running through the top to illuminate the tables as well as a small jar filled with fairy lights.
Dinner went by smoothly. As you ate you both talked about your lives and the places you've been.
"Greece is amazing! It's my favorite place to go when I need to get away for a while." Sebastian gushed.
"You've been to Greece?! Oh my, I've always wanted to visit but haven't had the chance to go yet."
"You haven't been to Greece?!" He looked at you like you just kicked his puppy. "Well, I will just have to take you someday then." He took a sip of his drink and wiggled his eyebrows at you.
"You said it so you have to take me now!"
"I will." He said with both seriousness and playfulness.
"Promise?" You raised an eyebrow as you held your pinky out.
He rolled his eyes but chuckled taking your pinky with his, "Promise."
~~~~
After dinner, he drove you across the river into Brooklyn. You looked to him confused, "I thought we were just watching a movie?"
He smiled keeping his eyes on the road, "We are."
"Then we do we have to go to Brooklyn?"
"You'll see."
Once you saw it your jaw dropped. The car made sense now. Instead of his Tesla from the other night, he was now driving an SUV. You were confused when you saw it at first but didn't think much into it. Now he was driving you into the Skyline Theater and you understood why he brought his SUV.
"It's a drive-in theater?"
"Yup, check the back seats."
Behind you were blankets, pillows, and snacks that you for some reason didn't see before. He pulled into a parking space with the back of the car facing the big screen, "Wait here." He got out of the car, opened up the back, and started putting the back seats down. Carefully he laid the blankets and pillows for you two. Once he finished he looked up to you, "Now for some popcorn, Ill be right back. Want anything to drink?"
"Just water and a bottle of soda."
"Got it." He flashed you a charming smile before closing the back and walking off.  You sat there smiling to yourself like an idiot. You haven't felt this happy in so long, it was a different type of happiness. He came back quicker than you expected with drinks and a big tub of popcorn. Seeing as he still had the keys he opened the back once again to lay out the snacks. "Come on." He nodded his head over motioning for you to join him.
You sat in the back letting your legs dangle over the side of the car, "So what movie are we seeing tonight?"
"Honestly I don't even know" He laughed looking at you.
"You don't know?" You laughed along.
"Uh-uh. It could be a kid's movie, an adult movie, or it could even be one of my movies. I don't know. I just thought it would be romantic to bring you out here for a movie."
"That is sweet but also unbelievable." You laughed but hoped the movie would be something appropriate. Luckily once the movie began it turned out to be Just Go With It.
Sebastian pushed himself back allowing him to lay down, before he did though he took his shoes off and tossed them to the front. You followed along. As the movie went on you two slowly inched closer to each other. First, it started out with him putting his hand on top of yours then he slowly put his arms around your shoulder. You leaned into him resting your head on his chest. Although neither of you could see each other's faces you both smiled at the close contact. You would feed each other snacks and when he tried tossing popcorn into his mouth and failed you both had a contest to see who could do it first, of course, you won.
By the end of the night, Sebastian took you back to your apartment walking you to your door. With your door open you leaned on the frame and looked over to him, "I had a great night Sebastian, thank you." You placed a soft kiss on his cheek before turning to walk into your apartment. He grabbed your hand before you could go. You turned to face him slightly tilting your head you scrunched your eyebrows. He walked closer to you grabbing both sides of your face, "Can I kiss you?" Unable to speak you nodded your head. You felt like your stomach was in your throat.
He leaned down closer to your face, slowly closed his eyes, and placed a soft kiss on your lips. You thought your legs would turn to jelly but luckily they stood strong. You kissed him back wishing it would never have to end.
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merlinmyrddin · 3 years
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Hello!
Can you recommend me some very underatted gay movies? (I prefer comdey or happy ones if it's possible)
I recently came to realize i am a 23 man who happens to be gay. I don't know what took me so long.
Hello! I am sorry for the time it took me to answer you, but your ask has been playing constantly in my head now for weeks and I had to go down nostalgia lane film-wise...!
I'm also sorry for how long this answer is, I got carried away!!!
So first of all, I am damn proud if you. I know it sounds like empty words but whether you're 13, 23, or 45, being able to say you have found your inner truth is always something to be proud of! And what took you so long? It didn't. We are living in times where people want you to believe you are meant to have your sexuality and/or gender figured out by 18 when in reality, I know more people doing their coming out in their 20's/30's. Because when it comes to being gay, lesbian, bi, trans and queer : this last decade has seen some major changes. But it's ok for people born late 80's and 90's to come out "just" now. We grew up in a time where homosexuality was still taboo in most places. And when I say taboo, I mean that "homosexual" was barely pronounced, sometimes only whispered. A time where "gay panic" was a legitimate defense in court. (Talking from a Western European point of view here again. Many places in the world, including the USA still consider the murder of an homosexual or transgender victim as a legitimate act. And these last years has proven that there was not only the "gay/trans panic" crippling our streets, but also a "black panic" and more recently, an "Asian panic". Short aparte here : "gay panic" doesnt mean "omg, that person is making me question my identity!?" nor is it a term used when thirsty over an actor/actress when openly gay such as "[actor name] oh wow...*gay panic intensifies*... this term is a serious concept a murderer can use in court as a defense when taking the life of someone from the community. This is the law enabling hate crimes.)
To any younger people reading this right now : gay marriage has been legal in France since 2013, in the UK since 2014 and, allegedly, in the US since 2015. This is recent history. People who are mid-20's are historically closer to the HIV/AIDs crisis than of the legalisation of same-sex marriage.
As such, we are made to believe than coming out in our twenties or thirties is doing a late coming out. No, it's not. We are a generation who suffered through systemic homophobia in our formative teenage years. When we were trying to figure who we were, people were marching in the streets calling us names, and trying to defend the idea we did not deserve basic humans rights. (As a side note, I am not implying that such issues are not currently happening. This is mostly western European centred again as I am, well, European. This is also targeted towards sexuality orientations, excluding any gender talks as this is still currently a very real societal issue for which the fight has only just begun. Double side note : I'm not yet fully caffeinated. But hopefully you get the general idea despite my flagrant lack of eloquence on this fine morning.)
Alright, let's move on to films then!
I searched for a long time for happy / comedic films but then I realised I was definitly not the right person to answer that. On a general basis, I enjoy dramas. That's my thing.
So instead, I thought I would list you the first LGBTQ+ Films I ever watched, hoping they'll find you well.
-Stonewall (1995). Not my favourite film, but as a kid, it was great first jump into lgbtq+ history. Sad note : The director of this film died of AIDS shortly after.
-Another country (1984) Based in the 1930's in a public school. Starring Rupert Everett (who just a few years ago came to direct "The Happy Prince", a great take on Oscar Wilde and Alfred Douglas, casting himself as Wilde, and Colin Morgan as Bosie...fantastic film, highly recommand), and starring Colin Firth. Teenagers discovering themselves, from homosexuality to politics. (The parralele made is quite interesting as both young men are misfits...one for being gay, one for being Marxist.) Great watch, but a heavy one.
-Maurice. (1987) God, I love this film. It explores not only coming to term with your sexuality but also what it means to be homosexual for the people around you and the impact it can have on your life, depending on your social background. Starring James Wilby, Hugh Grant and Rupert Graves, this is an other drama which leaves you feeling almost raw. I always had an affinity for British film because of how...real they feel. Best example would probably be Danny Boyle himself. You know what I mean... you grow attached and you feel for these characters. And Maurice does just that. Memorable quote : I am an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort. (And you might think : "Oscar Wilde? Again??" And oh boy, yes. Oscar Wilde again. Yes, he is one of the most well known author, mostly because of The Picture of Dorian Gray, but he is also a major part of Queer history. After all, "queer" has been used as a derogatory term for homosexuals for the time...directed at Wilde during his trial for posing as a somdomite. (No typo there.) Being an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort is an other one of the euphemism like "being a friend of Dorothy") And talking about Wilde...
-Wilde (1997). Biopic, Stephen Fry as Oscar, Jude law as Oscar's lover : Bosie. Incredible. Superb film. I can not find words.
-An Englishman in New-York (not the Sting song. Actually yes, kinda the Sting song. Because both the film and the song are about the same man : Quentin Crisp). Biopic. An artist, writer, actor, Quentin Crisp has always bothered. Painting his nails, wearing make up, criticising the royal family. He was a character. John hurt is magnificent as Crisp, who he had already played in 1975 in The Naked Civil Servant, an other great watch.
- A Single Man (2009). With Nicholas Hoult and Colin Firth. This film was a slap in my face. And it has, in my opinion, one of the greatest speech of all time, during a scene in the classroom :
"[...]Let's leave the Jews out of this just for a moment. Let's think of another minority. One that... One that can go unnoticed if it needs to. There are all sorts of minorities, blondes for example... Or people with freckles. But a minority is only thought of as one when it constitutes some kind of threat to the majority. A real threat or an imagined one. And therein lies the fear. If the minority is somehow invisible, then the fear is much greater. That fear is why the minority is persecuted. So, you see there always is a cause. The cause is fear. Minorities are just people. People like us."
-Pride (2014). [TRAILER] Bloody hell, that film. When we talk about lgbtq+ history, we often thing about the pink triangle and the holocaust, Reagan, Stonewall, AIDS and... fucking Maggie. Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady. Again, funny how the past is closer than we think, as I still have friends of mine talking to me about that period in British history that they lived through. The minors strike. The poverty, the crisis of the working class and the HIV crisis. But if you are looking for a film full of hope, from tears to laughter, this is the one. Bread and Roses. Bread, and Roses. And a message, which I believe is the essence of our community to this day : solidarity forever. After all...there is power in a union.
If anybody has other films to add, you are more than welcome to do so.
Love you all xx
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littlx-songbxrd · 4 years
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The last hours rant
Hi! Its very late and I have no buisness writting this rn but I feel like if I dont I literally will not get my mind to shut up about it so enjoy my midnight crisis tm or whatever
So this is literally gonna sound like the weirdest thing but I think Gideon and Alastair could potentially have SUCH a good relationship??? Like???? Ok getting the elefant in the room out of the way ik ik Alastair basically spread rumors about Gideons family and bullied his son and his nephews which is basically the entire drama with thomas (Which I beg will be resolved). I agree that was horrible and even in the circumstance (which I understand) he kinda needs to apologize for his mistakes but I feel like were all forgetting that the lightwood brothers were bullies too
This side we saw a lot more out of Gabriel (which just made his redemption sweeter specially when he got together with cecily) but we tend to forget Gideon was said to be just as bad as Gabriel (even worse)
"You should see his older brother" said Jem "Makes Gabriel look sweeter than gingerbread"
Anyways both the Lightwood brothers were a product of the enviorment they were raised in. They both grew up to be the way they were because of the negligent and toxic enviorment they were raised in. It wasnt until Gideon took his travel year to Spain and came back in CP that we actually saw the change from "being worse than gabriel" to "an actual good an decent character". It also wasnt until Gabriel got out of the house that we even started his transition from the horrible person he was to the character we all know and love
Know who also became a bully thanks to the circumstances he was put through??? Thats right! Alastair himself! He started bullying as he says in Chain of Gold because
"For a while I realized I had a choice. There were only two kinds of people at the academy . The bullies and the bullied"
As we see from Cordelias POV he doesnt start behaving the way he does now until he starts the academy, coincidently around the same time he starts taking care of his drunk father. He learnt that because of his family, (cassie doesnt outright say it but) because if his skin he was already different. It was either be the hunter or be hunted and he already had a disadvantage being one of the only POCS in a majorly white school. Not to mention he was probably figuring out hes sexuality at the time too (him critizicing Oscar Wilde SCREAMED internalized homoohobia to me) For whatever it is worth Alastair didnt start bullying because it was in his nature, he started doing it because the enviorment he was placed in demmanded it of him
Both characters were products of there enviorment, and both characters once getting out of said enviorment (Gideons travel year) (Alastair well.... theres a lot to unpac here from his travel year to moving to England to breaking it with Charles) realized just how badly they had basically "screwed up" and tried in their own way to make ammends with the people they had hurt. Which we all know how that ended up going for both of them
I think were more drawn to forgive, or even forget, Gideon had a past very similar to Alastair due to the simple fact that, we didnt see it. We only heard whispers of rumors of the very bad deeds Gideon did in his past. But with Alastair we saw his deeds up close, through the perspective of characters we love, making his forgiveness a little more complicated for us.
But just because we as a fandom have collectively never seen Gideons bad years doesnt mean they never happened. It doesnt mean the rumors around him are false. Now I dont think Gideons is ANY place to sympathize with Alastair (same way Thomas is in no place to forgive him) Having JUST lost his daughter. The last thing he'd want was to hear about rumors that almost tore his family apart
But given the right time to heal from his lost and given he takes the time to actually hear Alastair out if he were to apologize outrightly to him (which lets be honest is one of my biggest hopes for COI)... I think he'd be one of the only people to understand were Alastair is comming from
Dont get me wrong hed still be a pretty pissed at first but I like to believe he would forgive him the same way Charlotte did for him, because he knows better than anyone the power a second chance can have. He knows first hand what a little trust can do to someone whos trying to make up for years of wrong doings
Thought I dont think hed get in the middle of the Thomastair disaster tm (If hes son decides to forgive thats hes buisness) but for him? I dont think hed just ignore hes past, which again is very similar to Alastairs, and just hate him
Idk maybe I just love parallels a bit too much and it would mean the world if Gideon did for Alastair what Charlotte did for him. Because I think thats exactly what Alastair needs, just a little push to keep on making ammends with his past. Cause as of right now every attempt he has tried has pretty much backfired horribly, so it would be so beautiful to see Gideon (one of the only people in the books who can actually understand where this dudes comming from) actually forgiving him for his wrong doings same way Charlotte forgave him for everything and let him stay in the institute after he left his father and decided to become a better person
Did I mention I'm a sucker for parallels
Anyways if you made it this far ily and I wanan hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading!
@tsccreatorsnet
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365days365movies · 3 years
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March, 6, 2021: Wolfwalkers (2020) (Part One)
I love Cartoon Saloon so goddamn much.
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Before I’d seen a single Ghibli film, I was a big fan of the Irish film studio because of their first film, The Secret of Kells. They’d also done a few TV series in the years prior (I’ve heard of Skunk Fu!, and have no interest in seeing it), and still make a few to this day, but the first time I’d heard of them was with Kells, a delightful movie that borrowed from both Irish history and folklore in their telling of the making of a famous illustrated version of the Bible, and a young boy’s friendship with a mysterious forest spirit.
And yeah, that movie is great, but I didn’t have much to go off of then. And then, 5 years later, they released their second film. And that one fucking BROKE me.
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Song of the Sea is the second in what would become director Tomm Moore’s trilogy of movies based on Irish folklore, and was a bit more contemporary as compared to Kells. That one’s about a boy and his mute sister, whom he blames for the death of his mother. However, his mother is not dead, but is a selkie, a mythical Irish mermaid that becomes a seal when donning a magical coat. And it turns out that his sister is one as well!
And you think, “aww, look at the seals, they’re drawn so cute” FUCK ME IT’S BEAUTIFUL AND HEARTBREAKING. It takes a lot from Irish mythology, from giants to owl-women, and it’s a fantastic fuckin’ movie. And then, three years later...Tomm Moore’s directing partner stepped up.
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See, while Moore was developing Song of the Sea, his partner from Kells, Nora Twomey, stepped in with her own solo project: The Breadwinner. We leave Ireland this time for a book adaptation based in Afghanistan in the 1990s, where a young girl is forced to pretend to be a boy in order to provide for her family (which was apparently a common practice). A LOT happens in this one, and it’s goddamn fantastic as well! It lost to Coco for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, and...yeah, that’s fair. It’s hard to beat Coco.
But wow, a 2-D animated feature-based company! WHICH IS FANTASTIC! Seriously, in a landscape with fewer and fewer 2-D films in theaters, I’m overjoyed to see these guys hanging in there with some fantastic films! And just when I’d neared desperation for a new Cartoon Saloon feature...here comes Moore.
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Ohhhhhh, let’s fucking GO! The last entry of the Irish Folklore Trilogy, today’s entry is Wolfwalkers, a film that was exclusively released to Apple TV, which I got SPECIFICALLY for this movie. It’s $5, I can afford it.
But I am absolutely pumped for this one. It’s based off of the legend of the Werewolves of Ossory, a kingdom in medieval Ireland in which there was a legendary tribe of people with the ability to turn into wolves to hunt in the forest. It’s also based upon the Irish wolf, a population of grey wolves (Canis lupus) on the island that were sadly extirpated  in 1976. People, man. People.
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But OK, let’s get this baby STARTED! Been wanting to watch this one since I heard about it, and I’m excited! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Recap (1/2)
Kilkenny, Ireland, in the Year of Our Lord 1650! A group of loggers are working in the gorgeous and atmospheric Irish forest, when they’re accosted by a pack of...honestly very cool looking and well-designed wolves. One of them is caught by the pack and scratched up, then they all retreat.
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A large mysterious woman with big red hair and her young daughter stop the wolves from hurting the man further, and also heal up his scratches. He thanks them, and they flee with the wolf pack as the angry townsfolk chase after them.
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Wolves are the enemy of the townsfolk, and those townsfolk include the newly-arrived Bill Goodfellowe (Sean Bean) and his daughter, Robyn (Honor Kneafsey), who’ve just moved from England. Bill is a hunter, and his daughter is eager to help him in his endeavors, armed with a crossbow and her falcon, Merlyn.
Bill is on the way to hunt wolves, as assigned by the Lord Protector of England. Robyn badly wants to join him, but it’s dangerous out there, and the Lord Protector forbids children beyond the walls of Kilkenny. Robyn wants out, though, as she’s an English outsider in the Irish village, and this is at a point where their relationship was at an all-time low.
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Robyn, clever girl that she is, finds a way to use a group of bullies to distract the men guarding the gates, and sneaks out to the forest with Merlin. As she follows her father (currently unbeknownst to him), she hears a cry warning of a wolf. Robyn runs off to investigate.
A group of shepherds are being accosted by a pack of wolves. Robyn tries to shoot one of them, but the panicking sheep knock into her, and she fires her arrow at...Merlyn. Fuck! I already liked him! The commotion grows...until a distinctly human howl is heard from the forest, stopping the wolves in their tracks. Robyn looks over at the downed Merlyn.
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The little girl takes Merlyn away, and retreats back into the woods. The wolves block Robyn’s path, and as they’re about to attack her, Bill arrives, and shoots one of them with his crossbow. The human howl is heard again, and the wolves retreat, one of them injured. Bill chides Robyn for going into the woods, and she tries to go back to get Merlyn. But Bill promised her mother that she’d keep her safe...which means that she’s almost certainly dead. Well, damn. 
They leave the woods, only to be berated by the logger from the beginning, Seán Óg (Tommy Tiernan). He tells Bill off, as the increased logging under the Lord Protectorate has angered the wolves and the people who live with them, whom he refers to as “Wolfwalkers”. But Bill insists that the Lord Protectorate wants the woods cleared, and the wolves exterminated. Seán badmouths the Lord, and of course, who would show up but...
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The Lord Protectorate is...oh dear FUCK, it’s Oliver Cromwell (Simon McBurney). Cromwell was a NOTORIOUS asshole for a lot of reasons, and he plays a big role in Ireland’s subjugation by England in the 1650s. I’m in no way educated enough to comment in detail on that, but like I said earlier: it’s a rough time in Irish history, and Oliver Cromwell, cruel, paranoid, but technically historically important douchebag that he was, was right at the center of it all. 
Fun fact, Cromwell actually overthrew the Monarchy shortly after this, during the English Civil War, and became the ruler of the Commonwealth of England. After his 1658 death, his son took over, until he was overthrown by the return of the Monarchy, via King Charles II about 3 years later. And he was SO FUCKING PISSED at the whole affair, that they had Cromwell’s corpse dug up from Westminster Abbey (where kings and queens and Charles Darwin are buried), beheaded, and stuck on a pike on Westminster Hall! Damn.
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Anyway, this Oliver Cromwell is just about to overthrow the Monarchy, and he wants Ireland under his heel. He’s commanded the woods to be cut down in order for farms to be established, and Goodfellowe is assigned to exterminate the wolves completely so that that will happen. Upon seeing Robyn, he commands the guards to take her to the scullery, where she’ll probably be trained as a scullery maid. Yay, child labor!
Seán, having just seen the girl with the wolves, tells Robyn who she is. He tells her that the Wolfwalkers can talk to wolves, and will also heal the injured with wild magic. To go back into the woods, she unlocks the cage that Seán Óg was thrown in for insulting Cromwell. His sheep are also in there, and the release of  Seán and the sheep causes enough of a distraction for Robyn to flee into the woods.
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Once there, she quickly finds Merlyn, who has indeed been healed by wild magic . Once there, a red wolf approaches her. Robyn readies her crossbow, but Merlyn prevents her from firing, and she gets caught in a snare as a result. During a struggle, the two clash, and the wolf bites Robyn.
She falls out of the snare, but also sees a new kind of vision, seeing the wolf as the girl from earlier in a beautifully animated type of vision. Her arm swirls with golden magic as well, emanating from the bite. Merlyn follows the wolf as they run away, and Robyn’s pursuit of the two leads her into a beautiful hidden grove, with a massive waterfall. Behind it is a cave, covered in drawings of humans and wolves. And that’s not all that’s in the cave.
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At the center of the cave is the girl and her mother, sleeping and now surrounded by the wolves. The red wolf becomes yellow energy, and the energy goes into the little girl, who wakes up. Robyn is immediately found out, and the young girl approaches with the wolves at her back.
This is Mebh (pronounced “Maeve”) Óg MacTíre (Eva Whittaker), and I’ve IMMEDIATELY taken a liking to her, from her voice to her character design to her personality. Robyn doesn’t feel the same way, as the two clash. Mebh bit Robyn, but she was actually trying to get her out of the snare. The man are getting to close to the woods, which Mebh isn’t happy about, but Robyn says it’s “their” woods. Here we go.
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Mebh uses her wild magic to fix the wound, before it’s too late. I get the feeling that it’s too late. Robyn tries to find out more, including who her mother is, but Mebh chases her off with her wolf pack in tow. And before I get to mention it, I just want to say that this is my favorite design for cartoon wolves. Real talk, I love this good bois. In the process of the chase, though, she’s again caught in a snare, which Mebh frees her from.
But as the two banter again, Mebh senses a “townie” like Robyn in the woods. It’s Bill, and Robyn goes to prevent the wolves from hurting her father. After a close call, Mebh points Robin back in the direction of the town, and blindfolds her to prevent truly discovering the location of the cave...this time. She guides Robyn back, but runs off when she smells food.
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Robyn and Merlyn make their way back, and we overhear two shepherds from earlier talking about how one could turn into a wolf if bitten by a Wolfwalker. So, yeah, werewolf rules. Makes sense, given this story’s basis. The two shepherds also have Robyn’s crossbow and fresh bread. Mebh and Robyn work together to steal the food and crossbow, and run away together. Fast friends!
The two young girls bond, and share their struggles. Robyn wishes to go back to their simpler life in England, and wants to spend more time with her father, potentially in the woods. She warns Mebh that the forest is about to be cut down, endangering her and her pack. Mebh notes that her mother went to look for a new place for the pack to live, but hasn’t come back since. Robyn promises to tell her father about the Wolfwalkers and the struggles of the wolves. The two new friends part ways, promising to meet each other in the woods.
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When she comes back home, Robyn prepares to tell her father her plan to get the wolves to leave without killing any of them. The preparation is entertaining, as she does a pretend back-and-forth with herself and her dad. Once he gets home, the reality is less great. When he finds out that Robyn never even went to the scullery, he doesn’t listen to her plan at all. He sends her to bed, and the plan is dead before it’s even proposed. Still, Robin promises Merlyn that they’ll find a way to help the wolves.
But that may be...harder than you’d think. As she sleeps, the golden magic comes back, and Robyn sees a wolf in her dreams. Pretty sure of where this is going. She wakes up with a start, and Bill hears this. He gets her up and takes her to the scullery, where she’s put to work.
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Y’know, I’ve heard the term “scullery maid”, I’ve never once thought of what the term means. Apparently, it’s a kitchen or backroom in a house for housework, but where the hell is this? Is it, like, the town hall scullery? Not really clear, and it’s made more confusing when Robyn finds her way into a red-carpeted room with animal heads on the walls.
While there, her bite-mark glows, and a whisper of “giiiiiiiiirl” comes from a covered cage towards the front of the room. She approaches the cage, but is interrupted from checking it out by the head scullery maid. The Lord Protectorate has forbidden anyone from entering that room, and Imma call it now: that’s Mebh’s mom. I mean, yeah, no duh, but still. Calling it now.
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That night, while asleep, the Wolfwalker’s magic officially takes hold, and Robyn wakes up as a wolf in her bedroom, while her human body sleeps. Her father hears the commotion in Robyn’s loft, and is about to literally kill her wolf-self, but she jumps out of a window and flees the city for the woods.
She quickly finds Mebh, who’s also panicking, as she thought she cured the bite. However, that panic subsides pretty quickly, as Mebh has never met another Wolfwalker before, and is excited to show Robyn how to be a wolf. And through Robyn’s eyes, we get a lovely view of the world through a wolf’s senses, backed by Aurora’s “Running with the Wolves”. And it’s...it’s lovely.
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Its also QUITE a good half-way point, so let’s put that right here! See you in Part 2!
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a small review of "the picture of dorian gray" by oscar wilde.
i don't know why i'm writing this, just thought i should speak about this book somewhere and here we are.
"the picture of dorian gray" is a philosophical romance by oscar wilde published in 1890. dorian gray is a high society young man who's graciated with a portrait painted by his friend, basil hallward. meanwhile, in one of the visits to his friend's atelier, dorian meets lord henry wotton, a man who speaks beautifully but who also influences dorian to be his worst. i'm not gonna talk about the painting because i wanna talk about my impressions to people who have read it, but IT'S IMPORTANT.
at first, i kinda enjoy lord henry's quotes, like "ok, this man is wise" but NO, i said too early. i really like how wilde made me like and then hate this character, it's like i haven't seen his real essence in the beggining and it feels like when we actually meet the real person that we thought we've known in real life. anyways, lord henry sucks.
basil hallward is a character that i really liked, i wish we could see and know more of him, he deserves. #1 basil hallward stan.
well, and dorian... bleh. dorian has a lot of problems but the biggest are: narcisism, not caring about anyone but him, putting innocent people to solve his problems, being SO EASILY influenced by lord henry that sometimes i got angry at the book like WTF MAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING????? and made me threw it on the bed.
for those who study psychology, it's very nice to read this book and reflect about narcisism, it really shows what narcisism is, it shows what it can do to someone's conscience. dorian was blind, just caring about what he wanted to do, the things he wanted to forget, not caring if it would affect anyone around him. i think that's what made me so mad, he wanted to do shit but he didn't do it alone, he was always blackmailing someone to do what he wanted. and if the person say no, well...
just go read this magnific book.
“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”
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totallyimagines · 4 years
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Ferid Bathory Nsfw Alphabet
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A-Z nsfw alphabet, Essay
You know what your signing up for if you tap that keep reading button, no warnings needed then.
A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)
He’s amazing at it. He’ll run you a bath or get anything you need. He doesn’t mind being sweaty though, so if you don’t want to move after sex- that’s ok because he’ll definitely be the type to just cuddle you after. Or praise you on how well you were doing. (doubt he gets any sleep, you’ll always wake up to him staring at you, one way or another. Or maybe you’ll wake up to him not there but you never get to see him sleep.) if your on punishment though, no aftercare. Here’s a win-win situation.
B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)
Maybe his hands, tounge, or fangs will do. He can’t choose so those are his top three. Maybe because all three get some type of reaction out of you. For you, it’s probably your blood or neck. Well, it’s something that he can chew on and still get a reaction out of you from doing something he ‘loves’. Your collarbones are probably littered in love bites and his special bites.
C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)
Cums anywhere that’s part of you, he just like the thought of claiming you as his own- just like that. He’ll hate for it to go to waste. The thought of claiming you his, always comes to mind when he sees his cum all over you.
D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)
He’s probably sniffed your underwear at least, once. Your scent is on them and drives him wild so yeah he’s probably going to do that. Also, he wants to do it when your on your cycle. Now that, won’t stay a dirty secret for long because it’ll eventually just happen. Face sitting too, that WILL NEVER STAY A DIRTY SECRET. Because he’ll definitely just say it out bluntly and then if you agree to it- there you go.
E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)
He’s pretty experienced, he’s been around for a while now. What do you expect? He’s probably lured, hundreds of people towards him. And gave them that Chick-fil-A combo but nothing compared what he has planned for you. He also never tells you how many lovers he’s had in the past and it leaves you more than curious. But doubt, he’ll ever tell you no matter how much you beg and plead.
F = Favorite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)
Probably missionary because of how intimate it is and also because he gets to see your reactions. Also because of the neck biting, he’ll never be able to get over that. He can also here all the small praises spilling from your mouth, like he doesn’t have advanced hearing- ahahah. Besides that, doggie and probably you riding him. It seems to make him a little more cocky when you try to play the dom. Don’t get ahead of yourself now, he’s still the dom but try. He’ll let you have your moment, it probably won’t last long but you’ll definitely get it.
G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)
Hard to explain, he’s not laughing with you- he’s laughing at you. He’ll make little jokes here and there, but they are for him. Not for you. But other than that, he’s intimate but kind of not. Like I mentioned, he can say anything he wants and it stills turns you on because he seems to be talking to you or himself but either way you can’t seem to focus. So, it’s just a bunch of sexy mess going on. Other than that, he would probably say some things that would make you laugh but only make you more aroused on how he’s saying them. Yeah, it’s confusing.
H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)
Nope, presentation. Like I said, he may have lured some people into getting what he wants. So, no he doesn’t have any hair and your not even sure if it grows down there. You have to at least be trimmed down there, I’m not sure he would mind the hair but if he’s going to eat you out, at least be trimmed. Although, other than that- your okay.
I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)
Lets see here, he can be intimate when he wants to be. When he’s focusing on your pleasure, he can be more than focused but when it comes to his...he really can care less. Especially if he’s punishing you, he’ll probably just use his fingers and talk the whole time because that’s what he does. Probably just smirk as he’s doing this too, not really caring what you say.
J = Jack off (Masturbation headcanon)
As if. Not sure that this man would jack off. Especially if he has you, he can literally ask you to fulfill each other’s sexual desires and needs. Seriously though, he’s busy as it is and I doubt vampires think much about sexual pleasure. It doesn’t really ‘satisfy’ them as much. Blood does the trick, of course. Or their fangs but then again nothing really humanly but doesn’t mean that can’t get pleasure from it.
K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)
Biting kink, we already he had this before he knew he had this. It’s something that turns him own so of course he’ll do it. Blood play too, not much of it though if you dislike it. Worshiping or praising kink, it’s just another way of expressing or maybe just to tease you. But other than that, he’s pretty experimentve, he’s a really kink guy so he’s willing to learn and try out new things. Maybe a Size kink as well, he likes the size difference between you too. Doubt he would try something that you dislike. Well that’s if it’s not something that’s going to hurt you- physically. (Ahahaha, just kidding- he probably won’t ever spare you after he’s done)Maybe some mirror sex, too. He seems to get off at your submissive and ashamed side but if it’s too much- he won’t do it as much.
L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)
Anywhere in the manor, the risk of you two getting caught also turns him on. I’m pretty sure you’ve done it in every room of the manor, maybe being loud or not- either way. If You can get caught, he’s in. He’ll probably tease you in public too, maybe because he’s leaving today to go on a mission and he’s not going to be there to satisfy your needs. So, of course- he’ll tease and come back and don’t tell him you’ve already satisfied yourself. Which I’m pretty sure he’ll know- he can probably smell it. So no use lying now, is there? He probably will leave you hanging, which- like it or not, kind of pisses you off but then again sometimes he could care less. Cocky man here. Maybe shower sex too, or bath- which ever one. Less of a mess, so it’s actually better well that’s until water gets on the floor.
M = Motivation
You leaving him thirsty, especially in public. He doesn’t know what to do when you tease him in public, how did you turn on that quick. This was probably result in some harsh punishment but who wouldn’t, it just makes him more of the DOM. But other than that, motivation can come from anything. It can come from your blood, you simply doing something ‘humanly’ or you just being submissive/cute in general. Keep in mind, if your living with him- your living with a lot of thirsty vampires. So, then again it doesn’t really help your situation if someone like ‘another vampire’ wants you, which Ferid wouldn’t allow because your his. So his motivation can actually come from anywhere, especially you being cocky. This can be counted as a turn on because he’ll definitely be waiting for you. Or he’ll just sit back and watch you in amusement until you cross the line then he has to put you back in your place.
N = No (Something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)
Share you, with all these hungry vampires in this manor. Never. He hates the thought of someone even looking at you the wrong way. And if you want to have something like that, he won’t agree with you at all. He honestly just doesn’t like sharing but doesn’t mean it can’t happen. He wouldn’t share you with someone he’s not ‘close’ with. So, it’s possible but it’ll take a lot of convincing for him maybe not as much as the other person but lots of convincing. Anything that would hurt you like really bad, he doesn’t really take it as far as where all you feel is pain and no pleasure.
O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)
He prefers giving and not receiving, he doesn’t find much pleasure in receiving so he’d rather give. Any boy oh boy, does he work wonders between those legs of yours. You’ll be pretty much overstimulated and unable to think at any point where he’s between your legs. Very skilled at this, he deserves a Oscar because of how good he is. So, be expecting lots of receiving from this man.
P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)
Fast and can be slow. But he’s more of a rough and fast person because that’s just him. He can be more than romantic though, so if you want slow and gentle. He can do that. (Also this is probably what he does to most people-) maybe he builds up to bite them. Because biting you will happen in slow or fast sex. It’ll probably happen more in slow, because it just adds to the pleasure and he just gets to feed. Yeah, that’s probably all he’s living for during intimate-slow sex.
Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)
Doubt that he’ll do this a lot, why do that when he’s got all the time in the world and when he’s practically- Da boss. So that’s a maybe on his part, prefers intimate and maybe long drawn out sex. But that can happen anywhere, maybe that’s why you guys took so long in the bathroom-
R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)
Yes. Your speaking to a man who can jump on buildings and stop swords and throw people. But anyways, risk is definitely in his category-. Like I’ve mentioned, anywhere in the manor and probably outside the manor too. It just makes the risk better and it adds to his ego. Especially if your afraid to get caught with him, he’ll just tease you for it. And if he wants to, he always points to the nearest building for you guys to do it in. Well, that can be aided if it’s just the two of you on a mission. So nothing to worry about there, but yes risk he can do. Because he really doesn’t have any shame.
S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)
Lots of it, well according to this long ass eassy about Ferid Bathory. We can tell just by looking at him, he’s going to have some stamina. Although, I’m pretty sure every vampire has more speed than an usual human. I mean, they are advanced in every way so makes sense for him to have tons of stamina storaged. He won’t use all of it on you though because your just a mere human and you’ll probably more than likely pass out. Probably can last 3 or more rounds if you ask me. So, he’s probably just going to go for one or two rounds for you.
T = Toys (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)
Fang buzzer, my kind fellow. Vibarator, Ferid. It’s a vibrator. He’s actually kind of new to toys so no biggie there. He’ll probably just use them for self amusement, watching how much you squirm, just from a little ‘vibrator’. He’ll also play with the buttons while it’s between your legs and you’ll be feeling all types of things. No seriously, you’ll be overstimulated from a Vibrator, probably the last thing you want to be overstimulated by. I mean, it’s Ferid controlling it so that counts. Maybe a dildo, but would be a little offended by you hiding it from him. And would ask what you use it for. Explaining toys to him would be awkward, I mean explaining toys to anyone would just be awkward. So, please be open with this man. Though, he wouldn’t even try and use the dildo often. He probably try it on you once and say he can do better.
U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)
More than Unfair, you wouldn’t be able to get a break at all and your face is what makes him want to tease you more. He’ll just be unfair by not satisfying your requests or denying to let you cum- multiple times. He’ll just give you a fancy grin at how irratated you get sometimes but would still push you at some point. Even if your in a bad mood today, he can still find some button to push on you, that’s makes you just-wanna-
V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)
Depends on what your doing to him, I’ve mentioned, once again, that he doesn’t find much pleasure in ‘humanly’ pleasure. So as a human, you might have to find how to make him moan. Well, that isn’t so hard is it- well is it? You just have to find a few spots to make him moan, nothing difficult. How about his neck, don’t be shy bite him. It just makes him feel good like it would go you or any other human being. He probably has a sweet spot, but it’ll take a while to find it. Pull on his fangs, or lick them. Just do something to those fangs. He probably just really feels something when it comes to those, because he’ll slightly moan whenever you touch them. That’s probably the most your getting out of him, because he doesn’t want you to discover anymore.
W = Wild card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)
Watches you sleep, like all night. Well, that’s if he didn’t get up and leave. I don’t think he needs sleep, but also does it because he wants to at least ‘feel’ human. But then again, doesn’t want to be one. So, you’ll probably wake up In the middle of the night sometimes with red eyes glowing back at you. Which will probably freak you out but when you realize it’s just Ferid and not some ‘demon or other person in your room’. Your all cool again.
X = X-ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)
He’s packing and yes we all know you want some. Although, would he let you get some?(doesn’t have much to put here- *red alert*)
Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)
He doesn’t really have a high sex drive but I’m certain you’ll wake up in his bed most of the week, thinking about how the hell did you get here? And what the hell happened last night? Doubt he’ll tell you but ok, nothing suspicious. Even when he’s with you, his sex drive only went up a tiny bit. He’s more of just a tease and if you are horny, he’ll actually only focus on your pleasure. He probably won’t take of any of his clothes though, so foreplay only- probably:/
Z = Zzz (… how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)
Nope, you won’t be able to see this man go to sleep before you do. It’s rare to wake up before him though, well that’s if he even does go to sleep. So catching him sleeping right after sex, isn’t possible.
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roguestarsailor · 3 years
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One Day In December is such a good novel. I can’t believe I read the scorpio book recommendation and picked this up; whoever the astrologer person from the library is they really hit the mark. My god im literally sobbing. This is so goood!
Laurie and Jack have the most ordinary and mundane yet antsy and frustrating love story ever. I mean, this is a romcom so obviously they’ll end up together but the book spends like +300 pages making it seem impossible for that to happen! So many life moments that really shove them together but also tear them apart. So much unspoken tension!! So much unspoken truths!! so much to lose!! But as it near the ending and they’re both really figuring out their lives instead of finding distractions, or brushing aside feelings and red flags, and BOOM right in the feels. ahhh, i’ve never teared up for a love story before but I did for this! wow!!
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“Might as well,” I grumbled. “My love life is official dead.”
Sarah screws up her finished-with fish-and-chip paper. “You’ve only got yourself to blame,” she says.
She’s referring to bus boy, of course. He’s reached near-mythical status now, and I’m on the very edge of giving up on him. Ten months is a long time to look for a complete stranger on the off-chance that they’ll be single, into me, and not an axe murderer. Sarah is of the vocal opinion that I need to move on, by which she means I need to find someone else before I turn into a nun. I know she’s right, but my heart isn’t ready to let him go yet. That feeling when we locked eyes--I’ve never had that before, ever.
i dog-eared this page because this is meeeeeeeeeeeee. not that ive ever had a love at first sight sighting in my entire life (but no one is gonna stop me from not making eye contact on public transport and hoping for the best!!). i love that Laurie is just as wistful; makes me feel better about myself (and makes me foolishly hopeful!!!) lol.
*spoilers*
Anyways, the time passage through this book was speedy; literally years pass as we read on. I was so anxious because its like long stretches of time passes and it literally takes years for them to officially get together. This is very different than other romcom books I’ve read since those generally is more quick to lead to the happy ending. And I guess it’s true. Love develops over time and at the same time, the time needed to *try* to get over someone but also figure yourself out as you age through your twenties. It’s never constantly spending time with someone either; its long stretches of time away from each other too. Most of the things that happen are really really mundane. It’s not grand, its not dramatic and its very quiet. Nobody makes quick decisions here and it’s so drawn out. 
It’s like how working at a job you hate can just escape you and you end up staying for too long. This book covers both the career stalemate and the love portion--staying in a relationship because you’ve built it and its actively choosing to keep it going even though it obvious not going to last. Even when Sarah and Laurie have their fall out, a good distance between time passes and I think that’s very normal. Even when they reunite again, its quiet and just casual and they slowly work back up to being the bestest friends again. Laurie and Jack relationship’s was actively trying not to engage with one another and it really showed--but its not completely radio silence nor intense heated moments. It’s fleeting because they both recognize that if they got together they would hurt Sarah, and then eventually Oscar and probably themselves the mostly. It’s watching them seeing the other person be with someone else or moving through life at a different speed and feeling like they’re too late and then having their paths diverge even more and then connecting at realizing the feelings are still here, and then diverging again and coming again. Their relationship is the definition of missed opportunities!!! But I think this is the most accurate account of adult relationships I’ve ever read so far and its really refreshing.
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^ my literal face as i read the last few pages
*personal thoughts*
This gave me a really good insight into the world of dating and relationships and love. I am so used to reading these big grand things happening that the universe allow these two people to meet and create this magic. There’s the hurdles to jump through but they get through in the end and its implied that because they have the biggest element, which is love, means that they will be ok. They might have friends who root for them, they have little mice and birds to help them, so many elements in a typical romcom universe that pushes these two together. But this book was different.
As Jack dates Sarah, we know they don’t fit well but they stick it out. They actively try to date and get to know each other so they spend months to years dating. And its not that Jack only thinks about Laurie but rather its always in the background. Laurie tried to stay out of the way and Jack does the same. It’s wild to think that someone you have an almost instant connection with might not actually be what you want and you have to actively see the reality of the situation and actively live your life. To figure out if what you have with that person can technically work--makes it clear that a relationship IS work. It’s not passionate and fire! it’s very small, its texting every day and slowly giving a piece of yourself to this person. And its inconvenient as hell!!! Even Laurie being with Oscar, and actually getting married and trying to make married life work for them was mundane and average. There was no point where there was a dramatic STOP THE WEDDING, or like screaming “I Love You’s” and such for Laurie and Jack. Nobody was the bad guy and did the bad thing that made people realize that they don’t belong together; none of that! Oscar never cheated or became problematic, even Jack realized that have casual relationships wasn’t for him; nothing dramatic like that at all. Nobody actively objected to Laurie/Oscar’s union and nobody was actively rooting to get Jack and Laurie together. It had to be them, as individuals, choosing each other which is so fucken sweet and such a good expectation to have regarding romance love. Even though it started as a chance love at first sight moment, it ended up being them actively choosing and actively seeking out their own happiness and idea of what they want in life and then declaring it, separately, to each other that made them work as a couple. well there was a bit of a fanfare at the end of the book but it was cute. It was normal people! finding love! for each other!! I love this so much!!!
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Songs to include in this Playlist I am 1000% gonna made for this book: invisible strings by Taylor Swift, Enchanted by Taylor Swift, gold rush by Taylor Swift, Speak Now by Taylor Swift, Permanent by Kygo, In Your Eyes by The Weekend, Heat Waves by Glass Animals, Just For A Moment by Gryffin, Iselin, Comeback by Carly Rae Jepsen, Bleachers, Don’t Give Up On Love by Kygo, Losing It Over You by Matoma, Ayme
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