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atopvisenyashill · 3 months

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why do you think jonsa is happening tho? jonerys is different bc they are going to be enemies, but i don’t see what jonsa does for the story

so let me first lay out roughly what i think is going to happen should jonsa become canon. I personally love going down meta and graphic spirals, so I'm including links to other people’s theories/explanations/graphics of events too - also I would like to shout out @istumpysk because half these metas and gifsets were stuff I found on their blog initially, and also was the one who really convinced me that jonsa is less of a crackship and more of a contender for an actual canon theory, and from there i really found my niche in this fandom. specifically this meta about jon being the mummer's dragon is what pulled me out of my "we're never getting twow and if we do it's just gonna be that stupid dany has jon's magical baby while tyrion watches, then they all die theory" slump and lit my brain on fire again. let's goooo:

The Ashford Tourney Theory - Something Shady goes down at the tourney Petyr has planned that requires Sansa to make a quick getaway, and likely causes her to run into Brienne while fleeing. This theory for me is about hinting at Sansa's romantic future, allies, and how she's getting the hell out of the Vale: both the dark haired, Not Targ Looking Targ Prince that is the son of A Great Prince That Never Was being her romantic endgame but also it's about Brienne (/Dunk) getting her the hell out of there and becoming Sansa's number one ally and protector (with Sansa's number two being Bronze Yohn!! But he's not fleeing with her - if he helps her get out of the Vale, it'll be to cause a distraction or a fight so Sansa can slip away unnoticed. Bronze Yohn is coming with the knights of the Vale later to help defend his girl!).

The Girl In Grey - Out of options on where to go, Sansa & Brienne makes a long, fast, and dangerous trek to the only family she knows is still alive: Jon Snow at the Wall. No, I don't think Alys Karstark is the girl in grey on a dying horse; I think she's a red herring, the same as the scene where Sweetrobin destroys the snow castle, and that the real girl in grey (who slays the savage giant) is Sansa. Melisandre says that she sees "Jon's sister" but doesn't specify more than that, or how she knows it's Jon's sister, even - why would she assume Alys is Jon's sister and not some random Northern girl? Why was she so sure that it was his sister? It's because Alys isn't the girl in grey, it's Sansa, her horse dying because she's traveled halfway across the continent with Brienne and Pod, desperately trying to keep ahead of the dozens of people hunting her down.

The Blood of Winterfell - Sansa and Jon will reclaim winterfell together. This one is similar to above; just like Alys was a red herring, the scene where Sansa rebuilds the castle has a lot of foreshadowing (imo) but that isn't the moment in the prophecy Arya hears. The Savage Giant is Littlefinger, the castle of snow is Winterfell, and Sansa is going to liberate her home alongside Jon and what's left of the Northern lords.

Stone and Snow Remains - THIS is where Sansa and Jon will fall in love while fighting for the North. This is also the part where you lose a lot of people, because they think the evidence is real weak sauce but like, I also think the Jonerys "evidence" is weak af too (and no wonder, we have at minimum 2k pages left to get through!!). There's several believed foreshadowing points to this one, bare with me for this weird ass formatting because I can't do sub bullet points on tumblr:

1. Sansa's linking of snow with love and affection - "drifting snowflakes brushed her face as light as lover’s kisses, and melted on her cheeks...She could feel the snow on her lashes, taste it on her lips. It was the taste of Winterfell. The taste of innocence. The taste of dreams." along with her snow maiden and snow knight.

2. Bael the Bard and the Rose of Winterfell - the chapter where Sansa gets her period for the first time, Cersei refers to it as “flowering” a dozen times, linking being a maiden (a young girl, not quite of age or just barely of age) to flowers and several people refer to sex as ~plucking. Also notice the one who stole her from KL is Lord BAELish.

3. Aemon the Dragonknight & Queen Naerys - Sansa compares herself to Naerys, Joffrey to Aegon, and wishes for an Aemon, among the many similarities between her life and Naerys'. Jon not only calls himself Aemon, he has a deep connection with a different Aemon Targaryen. And if you’re thinking “Sansa isn’t Naerys, X is Naerys” I would remind you that Sansa as a character existed first, George purposefully had her compare herself to Naerys, and parallels don't belong to just one character.

4. Jenny of Oldstones and The Prince of Dragonflies - there's honestly a lot of parallels between them but like the Aemon/Naerys parallel, the Jenny/Duncan one stands out to me.

5. Janos Slynt - I mean. Iconic. This was the scene that made me first think about what their relationship could be in the future and there’s a reason Jonsas fixate on it. It’s about Sansa being desperate for a hero and the hero she dreamed about being Jon the whole time. 6. Societal Alienation - There's the bastard parallels here, the "it would be so sweet to see him again", the "Winterfell belongs to my sister, Sansa." It's about how Jon, through circumstances of his birth, finds himself alienated from the rest of society and reconnects with his prim and proper sister Sansa, who finds herself alienated from the rest of society as well but for vastly different reasons.

Robb’s Will - Howland is going to show up in the North, along with Maege and Galbert, with some WILD news about why Jon can’t rule Winterfell. There’s a lot of contention around this. Bran probably shows up around this time too, and Arya gets to the Riverlands to discover Lady Stoneheart and give her the gift of mercy. This is where all the inheritance stuff is going to happen and I have no idea how it's going to go down besides it's going to be messy as all fuck.

The Pact Of Ice And Fire - Jon & Sansa get secret married bc they’re in love, not siblings, & jon is the only man she trusts not to steal her claim. This isn't the only possible foreshadowing instance of a marriage either - some believe the Sandor/Sansa scene during the Battle of the Blackwater is foreshadowing as well (personally I feel that's a bit of a stretch but I wanted to include it anyway).

Jon As An Envoy - I talked about this in my "what's Jon's ending" a little but I believe Jon will act as an envoy for either Sansa or Bran to Aegon VI, essentially playing out a similar story that he does in the show with Daenerys. By which I mean, Jon is not the King because the ruler themselves do not go as an envoy, that’s stupid and dangerous, but he goes as an ambassador for Sansa or Bran, to treat with a new claimant to the Iron Throne that is gaining support - Aegon VI & Jon Connington. They will probably clash, Jon will probably have yet another identity crisis, there had BETTER be gay incest subtext, then Aegon dies, and Jon has his sixth quarter life crisis in a row.

“King” of the Gift - again, something I touched on in my Jon meta is that I think he’s going to have a hand in resettling the Gift. Personally, I think it's likely that Jon leaves to protect the claims of his siblings (see: Duncan and Jenny) and goes to the Gift to help resettle it to keep out of the way. This ending is typically referred to as the "bael the bard" ending but i like to think of it as the "brandon's gift" ending instead - though he is not physically with his family, Jon feels fulfilled having confirmed his family loves him through reclaiming Winterfell and marrying Sansa, being reunited with Arya, and being given the Gift by Bran. Sansa claims her children were fathered by a wolf.

So…what does all this do for the story?

Well, in my opinion, several things.

I think the main barrier here is that most people in the greater fandom describe Sansa's story as ~growing past childish wants~ and Jon's as ~rejecting love~ and I do not agree with either of those takes even a little bit. This is where (imo) the dividing line between Jonsas and the rest of the fandom is. I don’t think the answer to Sansa’s question “will anyone ever marry me for love” is going to be “nah" - that's not just a sad story to me (wanting to be married isn't childish! craving intimacy and understanding isn't childish! it's also not wrong for a child to be childish!), I think the idea that Sansa (or Jon) will not find another love just doesn't line up with how George approaches his story. Who Sansa's husband will be has been such a big question, and her story is so heavy into the more romantic tropes like courtly love and chivalry and the line between politics and love and identity, that the question of Sansa's hand in marriage will be plot relevant. I also think it's kinda naive of people to pretend like George isn't very interested in the sexual dynamics of the characters he writes about (yeah, sure, no woman needs a man but "needing a man" is not what this is about. look at everything this man wrote in F&B and tell me he is going to write a female character that longs for sex and desire and doesn't get it!).

After AGOT, nearly every time Sansa thinks about marriage involves her longing for love but believing she will never get it because a man will only ever love her for her claim. Giving her a man - like Jon - who not only will not steal her claim and in fact has defended it twice over already, who will love her for who she is and not what she can give him, is a really important aspect of her story in my opinion.

As for Jon, I am even more firmly against the opinion that his story is about rejecting love; Jon’s story is about wanting to be a good man, to measure up to his father ~despite~ his bastard blood. When Aemon asks if Ned would choose honor over love and Jon stubbornly says yes, Jon is wrong and it’s important to not forget that. Ned has never once in his entire life chosen honor over love; he chooses his daughter’s life over his honor, he chooses his sister & her son’s life over honor, he chooses Arya & Nymeria over honor, and on and on!!! Ned chooses love at almost turn but none of his children know that just yet - look at Robb choosing Jeyne’s honor over his own and how upset he is at the idea that Ned would be disappointed despite the fact that Ned would have understand Robb’s decision! Jon's whole arc is tied up in realizing that it is not wrong or dirty to feel and choose love, passion, and desire and if he never has another romantic arc again, I think you lose the second part of that lesson which is "you are responsible for how you act when you feel love but that doesn't mean that simply choosing love makes you a bad person."

There's also the fact that George has talked a lot about "who lives, who dies, who gets married" and yet we have not one marriage at the end of the show AND there's not a lot of guesses at what "who gets married" means besides Jon/erys (and even if Jonsa doesn't happen, I simply do not see Jon/erys happening. they are not similar enough, they will not be in the same space for long enough, and they are on wildlly different trajectories for their story, they are not getting married let alone having sex). I think Jonsa fits that bill very well.

These various theories - from Sansa being queen, Jon living in exile, The Ashford Tourney Theory, the secret marriage, every one of them - are ideas and themes that I have really been thinking about for about 12 years now. I think Jon and Sansa's relationship could fit with the themes in their stories, the overarching themes in the books, and my own personal opinions. I think it gives George a great opportunity to delve into the courtly love aspects he enjoys so much, as well as delve into inheritance, legacy, legitimacy, honor, incest (yes, that too), and above all, what George himself has said the whole series is about - love. The human heart in conflict with itself is what I think Jon and Sansa as a romantic couple does for the series.

#okay if i don't post this now it's going to continue to sit in my drafts while i make minor edits oh my god #anyways behold my jonsa manifesto with sources. i'm gonna go kms now bye #jonsa meta #jonsa #jon snow #actually jonsa #sansa stark #getting on my soap box #stone and snow remains #twow speculation #ados speculation #asks #anons #also stumpy's post being reblogged to asoiafuni just so people could dogpile her. is exactly why i stopped engaging with asoiaf fandom #after the show ended because it was just these obnoxious ass people dogpiling on fans with theories they didn't like over and over #annoying and not conducive to theory and analyzing!!#i hope i'm not missing some important meta here don't tell me if i am i'll die

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polisena-art · 1 year

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AU where zé is a smooth criminal, panchito is a naive and lawful good detective with a good heart and a set of morals that he believes could never be corrupted or changed... that is until he's assigned to capture zé and things start changing (in the end panchito joins zé at the other side cause y'know acab) (donald is there somewhere doing god knows what in that story but maybe he's there idk i ran out of ideas) (can't believe i thought of all this for these two silly little birds)

Anon, did you know? Did you know you just sent me a Valvert prompt disguised as Disney birds? I literally screamed. Anyways, I got carried away so I hope you don't mind but I did a little more build up based on your idea. (Also the translations of the non-English dialogues are in the image descriptions).

So Zé is a criminal whose whole thing is not keeping the money. Most of it he gives to poor people who he knows are in debt, so they can sort themselves out and live better lives. His favorite target for thievering being any of Rocha Vaz's innumerous business (that for this AU's sake are responsible for dehousing a lot of people, mass firings and a bunch of other shady incidents). Panchito and Donald are two investigators (officers?) hired to go after Zé, but after a particularly unsuccessful and humiliating ambush, Panchito becomes obssessed with taking José down.

Rosinha, after coming to terms with the fact that her father and his associates have no intention of addressing their companies' misconducts, decides to take matters into her own hands and partners up with Zé. This way they start their (mostly platonic) life of crime together.

Panchito and Zé go over years and years of chase, which you know, forms some kind of unusual bond. At some point José saves Panchito's life, risking his own freedom in the process. Panchito, in return, let's him go, defying everything he's ever believed to be true and right. Lots of angst, lots of existential crisis and at some point, they do come around to admitting that they care for each other, and maybe even something more.

That's it! Hope you liked it!!

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apas-95 · 2 months

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Wait, aren't you a maoist yourself?

I didn't read like a lot of theory and nothing of Mao, but I remember that you were of high opinion about him.

Or like, maoism and Mao's ideas are different things?

Maoism is very different from the political theory espoused by Mao - it is contradictory, in fact, to Mao's own political theories, and was formulated completely separately from Mao (and the CPC as a whole) by foreign ultra-leftists. (To clarify: 'left' errors are those which erroneously declare positive, revolutionary elements to be enemies; in contrast with rightist errors, which erroneously declare enemies to be positive and revolutionary.)

Mao followed the tradition of Marxism-Leninism, and the tradition followed by the CPC incorporating the theories of Mao is called Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. Maoism is a separate trend, that selectively takes and decontextualises individual slogans of Mao's. Unlike Marxism-Leninism, Maoism has had not been successful in carrying out revolutions and seizing state power. Maoism leans on an association to a correct and successful revolutionary, Mao, while actually being unrelated to his political theory. Anecdotally, Maoists also tend to try to associate other Marxist-Leninists with Maoism, by claiming that e.g. the Black Panther Party 'would have been Maoists', positioning Maoism as having the same relationship to Marxism-Leninism, as Marxism-Leninism had to Marxism itself (which is to say, Marxism-Leninism is the theory of Marxism, in the age in which imperialism has become the principal contradiction in society; what exactly the new principal contradiction in society, that neccesitates Maoism, is, is unclear).

Maoism, like Trotskyism in the time of the Soviet Union, largely exists as an ultraleftist opposition movement to a large socialist state, and Maoists tend to forward imperialist lines on China and the CPC. Compared to anarchists, liberals, etc, Maoists are generally not as bad, and will hold generally correct lines on some matters. Though, at the end of the day, they are ultraleftists, and serve to denigrate anti-imperialist movements, and historically have commited serious errors that have put them in the camp of the enemy to the people. They also tend to form strange cults in imperial-core countries.

#to the other anon: yes，they did defend lucanamarca，there is a post from them on my blog doing so.#it's also the post where they claim marx never used the term 'middle classes' despite it appearing in the very first page of the manifesto #reblogs off bc last time i responded to an ask about the difference between mao's theory and maoism i got that lucanamarca post as a reply

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i-am-dulaman · 3 months

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petition for that long rant on revolutions here, i really enjoyed the way you laid out your facts and explained the first rant and am not too good at reading theory myself (i am still trying tho) thanks!!

Okay okay so the problem with revolutions is they get messy. Real messy. You get counter-revolutionaries, moderates, extremists, loyalists, and everything in between. One revolution turns into 5, and even if your side wins, its almost guaranteed to have been tainted some way or another along the way.

Take the first french revolution. It started as civil unrest, the estates general initially called for reform of the french state into a constitutional monarchy similar to Britain. Even king louis XVI was in support of this. But extremists wanting a republic and counter-revolutionaries wanting absolute monarchy clashed and things became more and more chaotic and violent. Eventually the extremists won, the jacobin reign of terror ensued, and 10s of thousands of people were executed. Now don't get me wrong, i am all for executing monarchs and feudal lords, but look what happened a few years later; Napoleon used the political instability to declare himself emperor, a few more years later his empire had crumbled, and the monarchy was back with Louis XVIII.

Or take the 1979 iranian revolution. It started as protests against pahlavi, who was an authoritarian head of state and an American pawn. As the protests turned into civil resistance and guerilla warfare it took on many different forms. There were secularists vs islamic extremists. There were democrats vs theocrats vs monarchists. Etc. Through all the chaos, Khomeini seized power, held a fake referendum, and declared himself supreme leader and enforced many strict laws, particularly on women who previously had close to equal rights. Many of the millions of women involved in the revolution later said they felt bettayed by the end result.

Or the Russian Revolution. It started as protests, military strikes, and civil unrest during WW1 directed at the tsar. He stepped down in 1917 and handed power over to the Duma, the russian parliament. This new provisionary government initially had the support of soviet councils, including socialist groups like the menshiviks. But they made the major mistake of deciding to continue the war. Lenins bolsheviks were originally a very tiny group on the fringes of russian politics, but they were the loudest supporters of peace, so they gained support and organised militias into an army and thus began the russian civil war. Lenin won and followed through on his promise to end the war against germany, but its a bit ironic that they fought a civil war, that killed about 10 million people, just to end another war.

Im not saying any of these results were either bad or good. They all have nuance and its all subjective. But the point i am trying to make is that they get messy. The initial goals will always be twisted.

France wanted a constitutional monarchy, they got an autocratic emporer.

Iran wanted democracy and an end to American influence, and well they ended american influence alright but also got a totalitarian theocrat.

Russia wanted an end to world war 1 and got one of the bloodiest civil wars in history.

I cant think of a single revolution in history that achieved the goals it set out to achieve.

But again, im not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, just a warning against revolutionary rhetoric and criticisms of reformism. Sometimes revolution is the only option, when you're faced with an authoritarian government diametrically opposed to change, then a revolution may be worth the risk. But it is a risk.

But if you live in a democracy, claiming revolution is the only way is actively choosing both bloodshed and the risk of things going horribly wrong over the choice of peaceful reform.

So when i go online in some leftist spaces and see people claiming revolution in America or UK or wherever is the only way out of capitalism I cant help but feel angry.

I know our democracy is flawed, and reform is slow and can even go backwards, but we owe it to all the people who would die in a revolution to try reform first.

I know socialist reform is especially hard in our flawed democracy where capitalists own the media, but if we can't convince enough people to vote for socialist reform what hope do we have of convincing enough people to join a socialist revolution. Socialism is supposed to be for the people, but how can you claim your revolution is for the people if you can't even get the support of the people?

So what I'm trying to say is; if youre one of those leftists that are sitting around waiting for the glorious revolution, doing nothing but posting rhetoric online - at least try doing something else while you wait. Join your labour union, recruit your coworkers, get involved in your local socialist parties, call your local representatives (city council, senator, governor, member of parliament, whatever) and make your opinions known, push them further left, and keep pushing.

#thank you anon this waa fun #also when i say i cant think of any revolution in history that achieved its goals #im not counting wars of independence #i know americans call the american war of independence the revolutionary war but its not a revolution l #(for reference - the first rant that anon mentions is a reblog a couple days ago about the communist manifesto)

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xx-vergil-xx · 23 days

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Can I ask what pushed you to end Hounds the way you did? It's a fantastic ending, but I'm curious. I expected the Fates to revive Dream, or allow him to inhabit a new form (such as one made by Daniel, so that Dream becomes a dreamthing), etc. But instead, his death is made to have never happened. Which makes it partly feels like Hob's whole road trip journey was for nothing since he lost all those memories and connections with Matthew, the Corinthian, Delirium, Despair, Desire, Death, etc. (thank god he kept the farmhouse). But it's almost like he traded all those memories and connections for Dream. Unless I missed something while reading (I was crying very hard).

Again, fantastic ending, and I'm also glad it's a happy ending. But I'm curious as to why you didn't go in the other direction

howdy! thanks very much for the ask — an excellent query, one which i’m happy to answer

(verg of the future: this answer ended up long! there’s a short form at the top here and at the end <3)

in brief: he did make that trade you described! but not strictly for dream — it was the price of swapping genres!

an explanation:

what i had in mind while planning and writing was less the idea of erasure of prior narrative action and more a subversion of the expected genre, in particular the genre tropes that follow dream in the original arc of the comics, where his story is very classically tragic (with the understood weaving of hob into that tragedy, this being a dream/hob telling and all)

for reference, i also drew a lot of inspiration for hob’s road trip odyssey from the aeneid, an epic that is, yes, about the founding of rome but also (at least to my reading) a fundamental tragedy — the cost of founding rome is aeneas’ home, many of his friends, much of his core family, and the very end of the story is not some victorious depiction of the glory of rome to be (which we do get earlier in the book, with the ekphrasis on his shield) but aeneas, overcome with fury and loss, killing a man who begs his mercy. i’ve always felt that the aeneid, while certainly stepped in the expected amount of roman nationalism, is centrally about a single man and his singular suffering as an instrument of higher destiny.

i wanted to model hob’s arc around the aeneid (minus, y’know, some of the chunks that are strictly battle sequences <3) both because intertextuality is a huge part of how i wanted to handle hounds (story about stories, made of other stories, etc), but also because hob and aeneas are fundamentally parallel characters — nomads with exceptional ordinances, permanently displaced by the passing whims of higher powers, men who are made to reckon with both extraordinary wonder and extraordinary tragedy regularly while still, at their core, just being human. that’s what makes aeneas so compelling — he’s just a man. and so is our beloved hob — that’s his whole thing, his whole narrative function and his whole central ideal, humanity

so then, approaching hounds with both the thought of the sandman’s original tragic contours (see: the whole lead-in to daniel. christ above is the way that goes devastating to read) and the man vs fate core of the aeneid, i was considering a lot of things about how to mess around with both notions without gutting them entirely. i tend to dislike tragedies that become un-tragic without some sort of Serious Payment For It (not to say i don’t like happy stories because i very much do! but i get ticked off when high stakes get deflated too quickly) and i didn’t want to undermine the very real fact that the Fates are typically not versed in notions of empathy and/or leniency, and that dream and hob and those around them did experience and endure devastation and loss, and that death is a fact typically immune to argument.

the world of sandman is not one with easy answers, and to my mind there’s no such thing as a bargain with the Fates where you break even. for hob to get what he wanted, something had to be given, something dear and vital and real. there’s more to what hob actually gives the Fates than he verbally stipulates, which i tried to address largely via the corinthian and his perception of the situation, especially those last conversations with dream in the “swamp”. i have a lot of options about the corinthian in his function as “dark mirror” having a blistering clarity of understanding much of the time, which is why i foisted the onus of those complexities onto his dialogue, rather than hob, who (and i say this with love) is a creature of bias and often blinded to greater repercussions of his actions insofar as they extend beyond his immediate objectives/enjoyments, or dream, who can see the bigger picture but i think often really keeps himself from doing so when it comes to anything at all that’s personal (king of stories has a blindspot for his own). what hob gives the Fates actually costs him almost nothing, in the long run, if we operate with the idea that he cannot remember, nor is there any lasting effect from, his 600-ish heavily-relived years. there’s narrative and symbolic weight, of course — he gives them love as an oath and as nostalgia (sidebar: his driving force is an almost pre-nostalgia, a continual love of the moment as the moment is passing, but anyway) (cuff links), he gives them in a captured moment the lovely discomfort and simultaneous brilliance of being alive (the hook, the finger prick the blood), and he gives them a rich and complicated experience of humanity (those 600 years). but practically, what is actually taken from him that he doesn’t just get back?

only those few months — and in them, a web of real and known connections, all of which matter, and all of which change his understanding of and relationship to things like grief, and loneliness, and fear, and forgiveness. those are important changes, real changes, that would affect how he operates in the world going forward. that development is gone. he returns instead to the (of course, fought-for and hard-won) stasis of what was, which becomes what will always be. in making the Fates and their judgement more complex, he has actually made his own life less complex. now, i’m not going to sit here and argue that “suffering has inherent value” or some shit like that because i think that’s bullshit! pain is just pain. but he does lose experiences which would have shaped him in new ways, and, i think, good ways. even important ways

and he may well be shaped towards similar courses with dream (especially re: learning that lesson about loneliness — i think hob suffers from the curse of always, ultimately, being alone (immortality etc there’s so much discourse about this), and the road trip was in part about him learning that though it is the simplest path it is neither the sole nor the best path), but he certainly doesn’t learn them the same way, with the same faces, with the same acuity and clarity and intensity.

the thing with the Fates (to me anyway) is that you don’t ever just win. maybe you can get what you want, but it’s not easy (it make take a thousand repetitions of your lifetime until friction and the touch of your hands wears the sisyphean boulder down to a pebble — like the parable of the bird scraping its beak on the mountain), and it’s sure not free.

so yes, those months are lost. that’s a big part of the price. and we don’t know, at the end, how much of that thing he really gave ultimately comes back — his new relationship depths with deanna or cori or the other endless, those things aren’t seen. the main arc is resolved — hob and dream — but there are still pieces missing. he loses a piece of his human experience, he gets tossed back around through the wringer of his life (which is often distinctly not pleasant), and he is, as he ever was, a character with a path whose impetus and dictation rest heavily on external forces. even in attempting to channel his life elsewhere, he still has to bargain, and is still subject to the choices of the fates, and in some ways the story remains irrevocably a tragedy, in that one way or another it has loss in a central place. in the latter half of hounds hob really became my attempted version of an aeneas type — a man with a quest and a fated directive, a deeply human and flawed individual, who can alter the path and even irrevocably change the genre of his own narrative, but only at cost.

of course let’s be clear! some of all the actual rendering of this ended up as it did partly because i am not always a clean writer, and for that i apologize! but i did genuinely want that sense of gaps — of faces and voices given over to the gravitational well of the principal narrative arc of hob/dream versus the Fates. i think those things are gone. the narrative is forcibly re-centered around hob and dream, and in doing this — in shifting the story genre — other ties and bonds are not just cut, but unwoven entirely. when you change the kind of story you’re telling, the change is done at the expense of something else. kind of like how there’s a fixed amount of matter in the universe? you can’t create or destroy matter — to make something new you have to take from another place. (sidebar: wow i’m realizing something about my fundamental storytelling beliefs right now! laws of physics! anon your ask has really got my cylinders firing, and most sincerely thank you <3)

still, they might come back. though i didn’t write it as fully as i could have (i will freely admit there was a great deal of burnout at play towards the end there), i had a lot of thoughts re: repetition and density, namely that if you stack a thousand repetitions of a lifetime against each other it’s the equivalent of writing a word over and over and over on a page. when you erase it, the channels remain. language flows most naturally in the direction once etched for it. maybe hob learns those same lessons and knows the same people in the same way — maybe he and the corinthian find that odd patch of common ground, maybe he takes a long drive with delirium through rural maryland. maybe there are echoes. maybe even if it is gone what was still shapes the topography. maybe a kindness or a word exchanged still ring out when you can’t see them or remember them. while the milestones of our lives rippled the most visibly, i think we’re shaped a thousandfold ways by accumulations of small things we can’t distinctly remember. only a feeling of a thing, or the negative space it leaves.

well. tl;dr — i didn’t want to let hob get away without actually giving anything up, nor without his choice to bargain affecting others besides himself in equally irrevocable ways (sidebar: at his core is a selfishness that is both charming and ignoble — he wants to do a good thing for dream but also he makes a call that changes a plenitude of lives other than his own, and i don’t think he really asks, he just does — grey areas are his whole gig to me), because nobody makes a deal with the Fates for free, and changing genre has a price tag. it was my effort to make the tone of the whole beast more authentically sandman-esque, since sandman does a lot of that sort of water-muddying, especially when using understood narrative models/archetypes/etc etc

i am. sorry this was as long as it is! jesus! but i’m sending it off all the same. anyways, anon, thanks very much not only for your lovely kind words and the high honor of your tears (no pulitzer could mean more to me than knowing a thing i wrote really moved someone, seriously thank you) but also for giving me a blank check to go buck wild and ramble about my own damn writing and Things I Just Think <3 i hope you have a lovely day/morning/noon/night, and thanks a bunch for dropping by <3 <3 <3

#the sandman #hob gadling #dream of the endless #dreamling #hounds #vergil says hello #vergil says way more than fuckin hello tbh #vergil writes a manifesto woukd be a better line for this #anon has given me the greatest gift: License To Monologue #fingers crossed any of that actually answered the question at hand #thanks for saying hi and asking things because i love both experiences immensely #<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

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kyouka-supremacy · 15 days

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do u have kyouka posts….kyouka posts please? i love your sskk stuff either way

Look at her

#Big fan of this merch art #Not sure what you're asking for here Anon? I have a fair share of original Kyouka posts pffttt. I can dig them up for you if you'd like!!!#Besides if you're interested you can check out my side sskk-manifesto.#Since we've been rewatching season 2 I've been talking about her basically every week :)#But I love the Kyouka love please keep it coming #kyōka izumi #bsd #people asks me stuff

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imaginedrago-ss · 19 days

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explain your brainworms

ok 1st a disclaimer that these thoughts come from feelings of dysphoria, & selfhate, & hatred of others ofcourse, & i often wish someone wld come & convince me of how wrong i am abt all tgis, & so on. anyway have some gender ideology anon

ahem so there r 2 types/"groups" of transmascs, the 1s who want 2b men & rhe 1s who want to be transfems. tge 2nd group is huge & they never shut tf up, & tgey love existing in their trans bodies in trans spaces, there r actually szo many of them taht tgey dictate the social norms in trans spaces. the 1st group is small & they r quiet/stealth yk tjey had no female friends growing up & tgey dont rlly fit in "trans spaces" at all and ok tbh i might b da only person in "group" 1. except no im not alr ik im not alone group 1 number 1 forever 💯. rlly tho, im not tjis enbyphobic idont actually think u can group all transmasc into 2 groups, right, there r many ppl who arent part either group. but group 2 (aka the transmascs who want 2b transfems) is very real ok weve all seen them, & they r haunted by the specters of the binary trans man and the binary trans woman. for example tgey hate that the binary trans man has "betrayed women", tgis is y group 2 ppl c themselves as separate from the binary trans men. rlly the only 'women' that theyre scared of betraying r other group 2 ppl, they keep each other in tgis vicious circle of repression its very sad 2 see. tgis is imo is y group 2 hates the binary trans woman as well, they r mad at her bc she can fully transition and still b accepted in their female-centered trans spaces. (in realitiy she usually isnt accepted there, & if she is shes treated like shit, those trans spaces actually only cater to group 2 ppl lol. also the nonbinary transfem is another specter haunting group 2 yk like i said they want 2b her, bc they think being a nonbinary transfem is the closest they can get to manhood). group 2 ppl r also very preoccupied w how the binary trans men want 2 invalidate them and exclude them from transmasculinity. in reality, group 2 ppl themselves think that they cant fully transition, & that binary trans men have never dealt w whatever provlems they face. & they think that the binary trans man thinks hes better than them. tahts not true tho yk anyone can become male alr stop caring abt the ghost of kalvin garrah, the real kalvin is now a gnc bisexual, he tried to teach his racist cellmate abt blm when he was in prison, and he listens to cavetown and lana.

now here is my message to u if ure in group 2. yes trans men can be inherently nonbinary, yes trans men can be better than the average cis man, yes trans men can be lesbians, yes trans men can be affected by the trauma of girlhood, yes trans men can be incapable of topping, but you (as in singular you right, u specifically), u dont have to. 💯 nothing wrong w being a boygirl genderfuck but jsyk u r capable of being a guy, u were, always capable of being a guy,

#the 1st sentence of tgis shld b printed at yhe start of tge communitist manifesto & of mein kampf & of evry textbook ever written ngl #anon

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doubledyke · 2 months

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Once I head someone say Sarah is the only really necessary or meaningful female character, and that Nazz and the Kankers are pretty much disposable; ''Nazz has no personality, and the Kankers are absent from 50% of episodes and are just a Diabolous ex-machina ending when they appear. The could work very well without any of them.''

What do you think of this?

are they implying that she's only "meaningful" because she's related to ed? because...yikes dog. sarah serves a pretty similar role to the kankers in that she foils the scams and pranks and acts as an obstacle and/or deterrent. an antagonist. but the way they fulfill the role and the reaction they get from the eds are different in ways that i'm too lazy to get into at the moment.

now i could genuinely be missing something because i've never taken a class on media analysis or whatever the fuck, but i truly don't get what people mean when they say nazz is uniquely lacking in personality. i'm not saying eene has excellent, fleshed out female characters, but some people act as if 1) any of the non-eds have highly complex personalities that are explored canonically 2) being kind, outgoing, flirtatious, sporty, etc. aren't personality traits. just because someone doesn't like her personality doesn't mean it doesn't exist. and we know just as much, if not more about nazz's interests than we do the kankers. or jonny: he likes wood, is laid back and seems to enjoy superheroes. or kevin: he likes bmx. he's a bully. he has a crush on nazz. he's buds with rolf, whose backstory we probably know the most about after the eds (maybe even more?). then there's jimmy who lowkey has a great, complex personality.

seems like since nazz is pretty, is into stereotypically "girly" things and is nice, people consider her a "bad" (female) character. which to me is hilarious and ironic. these are the same people who call the kankers "evil". like okay... 😂

this idea that all female characters are supposed to be virtuous geniuses... it's a show about 3 dumbass preteen boys. there are tons of female-led shows available out there, and female main characters galore. these people should go watch em. seriously. im tired of hearing about it frankly.

oh and if edd was canonically a girl, people would hate her and call her a mary sue 👍

#idk i might delete this later bc i'm in a piss poor mood atm and i don't mean to sound harsh #as usual not ranting at you anon #but people can make up tomes of fanon lore for these male cartoon characters #but suddenly the hc well runneth dry when it's time to get creative with a female character whose backstory isn't spelled out for them #i'm not saying you have to divide your attention equally between male and female characters because i don't #but i also don't need my cartoons to be feminist manifestos lmfao #i have to live as an afab every day i have my own thanks #just saying if someone wants female stories with great female characters they're out there #stop looking for them on netflix and amazon prime maybe #okay let me stop because i'm getting riled up and going off the deep end #i don't even care like THAT but once i get going i can't stop #can you tell i've had a terrible week #oh and to the anon who sent the ask about a certain ship #sorry mate i'm not posting that one #text

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tobytost · 6 months

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In the grand expanse of the cosmos, where stars flicker with ancient wisdom and galaxies pulse with the heartbeat of creation, there exists a realm where imagination reigns supreme. Within this boundless expanse, there emerged a craftsman named Dave Filoni, a bard whose tales once resonated with the harmonious chords of the Force. In the beginning, his hands sculpted worlds, his words breathed life into characters, and his vision illuminated the darkest corners of a galaxy far, far away.

Oh, how we marveled at his ingenuity! The Clone Wars, his magnum opus, unfolded like an epic poem, each episode a verse in a cosmic ballad. Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, and the clones—they danced through his narrative with grace, their stories etched into the very stars. It was Filoni’s storytelling that rekindled the spirit of Star Wars, bringing forth a resurgence of hope among the faithful.

But as the wheel of time turned, a shadow crept over Filoni’s creations. The nefarious specter of greed began to weave its tendrils around the heart of his storytelling. The allure of profit beckoned, whispering promises of wealth and power. And thus, the purity of Filoni’s artistry began to wane, eclipsed by the insatiable hunger of corporate coffers.

We, the ardent admirers of Filoni’s craft, find ourselves in a state of profound lamentation. Where once there was depth, there now lies a barren landscape of shallow plots and hollow characters. The live-action series under Filoni’s stewardship, once hailed as the heralds of a new era, now stand as monuments to avarice. These productions, bereft of the soul that defined his animated triumphs, reek of profit-driven decisions. Substance has been forsaken for spectacle, and intricate storytelling sacrificed upon the altar of easy fan service.

Yet, in the depths of our sorrow, we extend a hesitant hand towards Filoni, seeking to understand the nature of his fall from grace. Is he a captive bard, his creativity held hostage against his will? We theorize, not out of malice, but out of a desperate desire to preserve the belief in his intrinsic brilliance. Could it be that his hands are tied, his creativity stifled under breakneck deadlines and profit-hungry overlords? The very thought chills the heart, for it suggests that the shackles of capitalism have ensnared even the most luminous minds.

And so, until the truth unveils itself, we stand resolute in our condemnation of the avaricious grip of the Disney corporation. The gloved hands of a mouse have become instruments of oppression, throttling the imagination and desecrating the sacred lore we hold dear. The weight of this corporate yoke stifles not only Filoni’s genius but also the collective dreams of fans worldwide.

In the echoes of our discontent, there lingers a glimmer of hope—a hope that one day, Filoni will break free from these chains, that he will once again wield his storytelling prowess with unbridled passion and unwavering dedication. Until then, we raise our voices in defiance, calling for the restoration of creativity, integrity, and the boundless spirit of storytelling that the Star Wars universe deserves.

manifesto anon you genuinely brought my mood up, it's been such a crazy fucking day, sorry I've been delaying answering this but it's always so funny to read your little manifestos they make me giggle

#also again you're right as always #sorry i cant write a cool ass answer like you do #manifesto anon #asks #star wars meta

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daddy-ul · 6 months

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If Lars has a million fans, I am one of them

If Lars has one fan, I am that person

If Lars has no fans, I don't exist

If the world is against Lars, I am against the world

I swear that I'm not sleepwalking and sending these to myself.

#is this a lars fan manifesto? sbsbdndns #i think it's always you anln #*anon. am i right? so im gonna call you #lars ent anon #ent= enthusiast #ask #duderz anonymouz #that said i was just like you whhen i started this blog #bc if you go on the internet is so so easy to find lars hate. but!!#nowadays it's better? or at least maybe to me? bc 1 i got to see how many of his peers actually genuinely like him #2 these days most fans after meeting him once they start to like him. even those how hated him before #mind you. he has a very specific personality and it's normal that some ppl find it annoying #but it was funny how for a period of time everything that went wrong in metallica was automatically Lars's fault? shsbbs oh well

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butch-reidentified · 5 days

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I apologise for the christianity talk, but at church today (my family I’m staying with force me to go) the leader was talking about generosity and how the people he saw most happy, satisfied and content with their lives, are people who are generous and give knowing they can’t take it with them when they die. It reminded me of you and got me thinking of ways to be more generous to the ladies around me Xx

this is actually very sweet of you, I didn't realize that I'd actually posted enough about the irl work I do to give that impression, but it is 100% how my wife and I choose to live (2 of our best friends live in our home for free - not just rent but we pay for everything including most of their food, phone bills, medications when sick, etc., and are working on getting them medical insurance). it's weird bc We Live in a Society and Society tells us that speaking/posting about this sort of thing serves no purpose except trying to make yourself look good... but how exactly are you supposed to encourage others to do these sorts of things if you can't hold yourself to that standard of setting an example? example setting is SUPER important to me, as I've said on here a few times (mainly regarding why representation of happy, relatively successful in life, female gender nonconformity is so crucial to me). I'm not trying to brag or looking for recognition; I'm trying to start a trend of kindness, sisterhood, and solidarity. and it sucks that Society™️ is so intent on trying to make people feel like their good deeds are only good if they're a secret. fuck that, please share your good deeds and inspiring stories far and wide. we NEED your stories. like, raise your hand if you DON'T want to hear more stories of kindness and especially of female solidarity! lmao

#oh look i turned an ask response into a manifesto again #oops #love u anon #mine #ask #anon ask #anon #lead by example

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rapmonie2047 · 1 year

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enha with their fem!idol!crush ???

pairing: enha hyung line x idol!y/n

genre: fluff

rating: pg

notes: thank you so much for requesting anon! this was my first time doing something like this, so hopefully it turned out ok! please feel free to send feedback and request more!!!

plot: how enha acts around their idol crush

Lee Heeseung:

Dressed in your casual all black outfit with your hair and makeup freshly done, you walked into the small studio you were supposed to be filming in today. A few weeks ago, belift had reached out to your company, saying that Enhypen's Heeseung had requested to film a cover of the Weeknds song, Die For You, with you. You were a huge fan of the song and Enhypen, so you agreed without any question.

Heeseung was sitting in the corner of the room, running over some tricky parts of the song while waiting for you to show up. You walked up to him and tapped his shoulder, accidentally breaking him out of his focus and startling him.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you! I just wanted to introduce myself before we got started. I'm y/n!" You bowed apologetically.

Heeseung quickly shook his head and blushed. " Oh no! Sorry, I was so focused I didn't see you walk up. I'm Heeseung. Thank you so much for doing this with me, y/n. I'm a huge fan, and I really wanted to be able to get to know you."

The two of you made small talk and got to know each other more while you waited for the staff to finish setting everything up for the recording. Heeseung seemed a little nervous while speaking to you, but you thought it was cute, considering you were a little nervous to meet him as well.

Once you got the all clear to begin, you and Heeseung moved to your spots and began to run through the song. The whole time, Heeseung could not keep his eyes off you. Your voice was amazing, you looked beautiful, and your conversation earlier showed him that were an incredibly kind and genuine person. He could feel his crush growing deeper with each second that passed. He almost missed a few of his cues throughout the song due to how his thoughts were occupied by you, but due to some miracle, Heeseung was able to play it off as if nothing was happening.

A few hours and several takes later, you and Heeseung had done a recording that you were both happy with and called it a day. Before leaving to get changed and go home, you went around and thanked each of the staff members for helping out with this project. In the meantime, Heeseung racked his brain for ideas of how to ask you out while watching you go around the room. He really enjoyed working with you and really wanted to get to know you better, but his stupid little crush was making him so nervous.

You finished giving your thanks and turned to head out the door. Heeseung panicked knowing that he had to make a move now or regret it later, so he quickly ran over to your side.

"Y/N! Wait!"

You stopped and turned to find Heeseung suddenly standing next to you.

"Y/n, I know this might be a little out of the blue, but I really enjoyed spending time with you, and I would like us to get together sometime outside of work. Will you go out with me?" The blush from earlier returning to his face.

"Heeseung, I'd love to."

Park Jongseong:

The boys of Enhypen were getting overwhelmed with all of the love they were receiving at the MAMA awards. Their performance went off without a hitch, and now the boys were able to relax among all of the other artists nominated for awards tonight.

The artist room was filled with dozens of idols basking in the excitement of the night. Everyone was dressed to the nines. Different groups had different styles that caught everyone's eyes, but only one person stood out to Jay.

You were at the MAMA awards with your group nominated for Best New Artist. It was the first time your group had ever been nominated, so you and your members were filled with the nerves that came with not knowing what to expect. Your members seemed to fit in pretty quickly, already mingling with idols they were trainees with or idols that they looked up to. You, being a little more on the shy side, stayed by your table, watching the excitement fill up the room.

Your people watching session was interrupted by someone walking up to your table. You looked up and saw Jay, a member of one of your favorite groups, staring down at you.

"You mind if I sit here?" he asked while pointing the seat next to you.

"Not at all!" you smiled and fumbled to pull out the chair for him.

Jay chuckled a little as he sat down, liking the fact that you seemed very down to earth already, unlike some of the idols standing around you.

"Y/n, right? I'm Jay. I've been listening to your group since you debuted. It's so cool to see you here at the MAMAs."

"There's no way that the Jay from Enhypen knows who I am. I should be the one saying these things to you," you said, wide eyed.

He laughed, trying to maintain his cool. You looked absolutely gorgeous, and all he wanted to do was get to know you more. He completely lost himself in you as you both struck up a conversation about music and other interests of yours.

Jungwon and Jake stood off to the side watching the whole interaction, laughing to each other because they knew how much Jay was looking forward to meeting you today. As soon as Jay heard that your group had been nominated, he spent hours and hours brushing up on your music and trainee covers as well as working with the stylists to make sure he didn't look ridiculous when he got up the courage to go talk to you at the awards, providing the rest of Enhypen with enough material to tease him for the rest of eternity. Jay didn't care though. All he cared about was making sure that you were going to be a part of his life for many years to come.

Sim Jaeyun:

Jake and the rest of the Enhypen boys were currently running all over the Hybe building searching for notes that would give them a free lunch. You would think with all the success Enhypen had been having lately, they wouldn't need to scavenge for free meals, but filming En-O'clock always brought out their competitive sides.

Jake was currently heading up to the cafeteria, hoping he'd be able to find a card before Niki, who was also headed to the same place. The elevator arrived on the designated floor, and Jake ran out the doors, not bothering to look at what was around him. This proved to be a mistake when he rounded a corner and ran into you, who was talking to your manager while getting a snack after a full day of working.

The force in which Jake collided with you caused you to stumble, but a strong pair of arms caught you before you could fall.

"Shit, I'm so sorry. We're filming and I wasn't looking where I wa..." Jake lost all knowledge of how to speak as soon as he saw your face. He just ran into y/n y/l/n, his idol, the person he has spent hours watching their videos and interviews, dreaming of the day where he could actually meet you.

You got up and brushed off your clothes, making sure that you hadn't hurt yourself or anything like that. "Hey, no problem! I know how competitive filming variety shows can get!" you laughed as you looked at your manager. "Are you ok, though?"

Jake didn't move, obviously still in shock. It wasn't until his assigned cameraman nudged him that he regained consciousness and tried to respond to you. "Huh? Oh yeah! Don't worry, I'm good. Are you ok?"

"Yeah. Hey, you're Jake, right? I walk past your practice room all the time. You and your group are all so talented! I'm y/n by the way."

"Thank you," he bowed. "You are my idol so hearing you say that is so special. Thank you," he bowed again.

You laughed a his cuteness. "Well Jake, it was good to meet you! I've got to get back to work, but maybe we can hang out sometime? Just stop by studio whenever you want to talk. Good luck with filming!" you yelled as you began to walk away.

Jake became a statue once again in complete disbelief of what just happened to him. His trance only broke once he heard Niki announce from across the cafeteria that he had found a free lunch card.

"DANG IT!"

Park Sunghoon:

Your group had just recently come out with a brand new single, starting a whole two weeks reserved for promoting it. Promos consisted of guest starring on different variety shows, performing on music shows, and answering the same questions over and over during interviews, but your favorite promo was filming dance challenges on TikTok. There was something so fun and exciting about seeing your fellow idols dance along to your songs.

Your staff had asked for a list of idols you wanted to film with, and they worked to set it up. You had a few idols you wanted to see dancing to your song, but the person at the top of your list was Sunghoon. Something about his dancing was mesmerizing, and you wanted to see what he was like in person.

As soon as Sunghoon got the call, he started practicing your dance challenge nonstop, not like he didn't already know it before they called him. He just couldn't risk looking like a fool when you saw him dance for the first time. Jay and Jake gave him a lot of crap for it, but he didn't care. You were the priority.

The day finally arrives where the two of you were set to film together. Sunghoon made sure to dress nice in an outfit that had some of the same themes as the colors in your music video and brought some snacks and drinks for you in case you got tired during filming. You finally arrived, greeting everyone and making your way over to Sunghoon. You were wearing an outfit similar to the one you wore in the music video, making you and Sunghoon match.

"Hey, you two look like a couple!" one of the staff members mentioned as they made sure the lighting looked good for the video.

Sunghoon turned bright pink at the idea of you two dating. He really wanted it to happen, but he didn't want to make you uncomfortable. You just put your hand on his shoulder and laughed, "yeah, we do! So cute!" Sunghoon blushed even more at your reaction.

The dance for this single was more difficult than some you have done in the past, so you were expecting Sunghoon to struggle a bit like the other idols you had filmed with so far, but you were impressed by the fact that Sunghoon did the dance perfectly in just one take. The staff were impressed as well, clapping at how quickly you were able to get work done.

Sunghoon, while glad that he didn't embarrass himself in front of you, was sad that it was over so quickly. You had just gotten there and already, you were getting ready to go. You had the same idea as you walked over to him.

"Hey Sunghoon. That was amazing! I wish we had a little more time to spend together, but since we finished earl, I have some other things I need to get done. Thank you for doing this with me!" you said while handing him a small gift you had prepared to show your appreciation.

Sunghoon gratefully accepted and watched you walk away, feeling sad that he didn't talk to you more. He opened the gift and found a small note tucked away inside. It looked as if it was added after the gift had already been wrapped up. He opened it out of curiosity.

"Dear Sunghoon, thank you so much for wanting to work with me! You are so talented and working with you was everything I expected and more. I really want to spend more time with you so here is my number. Just call me if you ever want to hang out! - y/n xxx-xxx-xxxx"

Sunghoon was so excited, he called you later that night.

#enhypen #enhypen drabbles #enhypen fluff #enhypen engene #enhypen hyung line #enhypen headcanons #request #anon <3 #anonymous #ot7 #manifesto day 1 #kpop imagines #kpop #y/n #enhypen hyung line x y/n

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renaissancefailmarriage · 7 months

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prufra? Tell me more!

ooh anon where to start....

to me, prufra are most interesting in the 19th century for a number of reasons. gilbert is at his most powerful but also (after 1866) his most isolated--he's spearheading german unification the way HE wants it. at the expense of everyone else thinking he's a miserable cold-hearted bastard. so in that way he's at his most emotionally vulnerable too. he tells himself he doesn't care, because he's not a human man, and he has a Purpose by the name of ludwig, so he doesn't need anything else, right? right!

meanwhile françois is still smarting after the failure of napoleon's empire and a series of unstable governments. he finds himself becoming more philosophical, less of a party animal, less directly involved in government and political intrigues....needing a challenge basically. he remembers gilbert's smug fucking face after waterloo and is like hm. i think i will have an affair with this man and psychosexually destroy him. (he does initiate a friendship for other reasons--it's good diplomacy, he finds gilbert genuinely interesting and strange, know your enemy, etc.) françois feels the need to reassert his power by fucking the most unfuckable guy in europe.

gilbert feels a lot of conflict and shame over this because most of the other german states are still wary of or outright hateful of france at this point. iirc a lot of german national identity in the 19th century was explicitly defined against france, so it's like betraying his entire purpose. but i hc gilbert as someone who has always been very chaste and had very few romantic/sexual experiences, and at this point it kinda bites him in the ass--he's never had someone really making an effort to get in his pants before and isn't very good at defending against it. he keeps putting himself in romantic situations with a hot frenchman who's been reliably flirting with him and thinking okay but THIS TIME, i won't be seduced. and then he is. and he's mad about it. but he keeps doing it! he keeps answering the letters, and accepting the invitations to lunch, and going to the opera together, and picnics in the country, etc etc etc.

and it doesn't help that françois is very genuine, amiable and charming. like yeah, he IS plotting, and he will ultimately look out for number one, but come on, they can have a little fun until the next war, can't they? this is the kind of doublethink that gilbert has a hard time with, he's a very all-or-nothing kind of man. but it's a perfect storm of circumstances, and he ends up exploring his bisexuality with the worst possible person in the worst possible circumstances.

I think they both get more than they bargained for with it--françois develops some feelings deeper than just vague fondness, and finds himself actually a bit hurt that gilbert is so secretive and ashamed of what they're doing. gilbert gets better at initiating and asking for what he wants in his efforts to be In Control Of The Situation, but faces the same issue of oh no, genuine feelings. while also raising ludwig in a very strict, austere and covertly homophobic way. oops.

the affair lasts roughly from 1869-1900 (yeah they fuck the first time like one year before the franco-prussian war starts, lmao) but gilbert breaks it off very callously because ludwig is getting older and wwi is on the horizon. the way he justifies it to himself is well françois won't be very hurt and neither will i, because françois is a slut who can easily go back to arthur or find someone else, and i am a machine, not a man. he is so embarrassingly wrong about this. both of them feel awful and don't talk about it for literal decades. if they're together in the modern day it's not until ~1995.

#THATS MY MANIFESTO THANK U ANON #hws france #hws prussia #prufra #frapru #my headcanons #text #historical hetalia

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quidfree · 1 year

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I'm converting everyone in my life to tsh fans and without fail everyone always tells me that how funny it is that richard tells on himself so badly by writing francis by far the most like an actual person, in contrast especially to how. not like a person camilla is written.

I guess I was just wondering what you find most endearing about the richard-francis dynamic/what aspect you like to write the most, because for me it's got to be the way richard's own narration betrays how close they are just in the details he manages to capture

spreading the good word… if only more of my friends were literate so i could do the same

but like yeah you & i share the same instinct when it comes to those two anon you’re sooo real. bc it really drives me crazy like… richard’s Whole Thing is that he is soo fucked up and he wants to desperately to be part of something Beautiful and Real and Not what he has come from, and so he lies to us and to himself and edits his memories and his interactions and puts a group of pretentious rich kids on a pedestal bc they have the aesthetic of something he wants. and there is some truth to it and to him and to the relationships they build, but as the story progresses it becomes harder and harder for him to hold on to the grand visions he had of them and his life with them bc in fact all of them are just kind of bad people in pretty banal ways. and so by the end he is disillusioned and alone and washes back up to californiaaa baby and all of his once friends are fallen idols and he never really knew them at all.

EXCEPT that’s not true! both bc there were some moments of Realness, but mostly because throughout the whole act two, the one person who is With us-as-richard as everything falls apart is francis! he’s there! he is annoying and everpresent and inspiring richard to have nightmare visions of them as old men still bitching at each other, but he’s There as an actual person! henry’s an absentee god and charles is a study in cruel self-destruction and camilla is a mystery of absence, but francis is an actual right there flesh and blood person! they have serious conversations abt the people they’re in love with! they drive each other up a wall! richard takes francis to get diagnosed w panic disorders! he absolutely Knows francis, and for all that he is constantly complaining abt him, they’re also just. friends. that doesn’t mean theyre Nice About It, but it’s like.. richard you did make an actual friend. somehow in the midst of this whole mess you two stumbled into friendship. it’s just crazy to me bc they’re both so judgmental and shallow in some ways but they know each other at their very worst and that doesn’t stop them being friends. and that’s not enough to keep them #besties after the end of the year (fair enough with two dead friends and three murder/suicides within the space of a year), but YEARS later when francis tries to kill himself he sends richard a goodbye letter! and richard drops everything to rush to him in a panic and when they see each other in the hospital they’re so happy abt it! bc they somehow fucked up and managed to care abt each other despite knowing what assholes they are!

it’s just too good / awful. also the whole ending is so perfect in that regard. squad reunion around the bestie’s suicide bed before his sham homophobia marriage! richard Immediately proposes to camilla bc he’s crazy!! she somehow does not tell him straight up that he’s insane bc they have almost no interaction throughout the whole book and also timing! richard literally tells her they should get married bc they both love(d) henry! etc

anyways i went off topic bc the above isn’t even a proper answer to your question. what i find most endearing is like, francis putting blankets over richard while he sleeps and richard remembering sooooo many of francis’ quips verbatim years later. and what i like writing the most is like… hm. yeah maybe richard self-reporting, and Also i really enjoy writing francis’ feelings from richard pov. maybe a hot take but i do not think theyre at all In Love in the book, so getting to decide what that would look like is really fun. but maybe that’s for another ask…

#qui parle #qui repond #anon #tsh #the secret history #richard papen #francis abernathy #papenathy #when deandra finished reading tsh she was a richard henry girlie and i had to plead my manifesto #i think abt this so much #i don’t even feel like i expressed half of what i wanted to sat #50

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