#thom rants

[lr31o]

blankets over mirrors, she tends to like it

she's not afraid of her reflection, but of what she might see behind it

she had plans to change her name, just not the traditional way

haunted by a couple big mistakes

she covers all the dents with the way she decorates

where she changed her clothes was her only escape

and she felt she could never truly be forgiven

so she pawns off all the evidence that she ever existed

then one night she got cold with no blankets on her bed

so she ripped them off, stepped back and she said

i don't want to go like this

at least let me clean my room

i don't want to live like this

#redecorate #twenty one pilots #tøp #just discovered the original lyric sheet for redecorate #the one with the crossed out verse #ive always suspected this song was about a trans kid #& theres so much pushback against this interpretation in the community. at least on reddit #but seeing the rest of the lyrics that didnt make the cut... i feel like kind of validates that #bawling hard at 2 am #i could dissect this line by line. but i feel like theyre pretty blatant on their own #+ scaled and icy being the trans flag colors #thom rants

[younwhosearmy]

In this essay, I will describe just how mind blowing this scene is. It very much may be the best scene to come out of Twilight. I mean we all know when it came to the soundtracks Twilight was amazing in that very field and yk what I know ppl talk sh*t on Twilight but i’m fond of it in the way of its take vampires but like f**k the creator of the series. Anyways this scene very much is amazing from them putting Mr.Yorkster’s song in there basically symbolizing Victoria’s whole revenge route, in the way that she can do no wrong. In her own right she’s fighting for someone who was dear to her.The technical aspect of this scene is what lead me to this rant from the sequence being slowed down, the aerial viewpoint, omg the scenery and shots, just mwah. I also just love that play on Victoria hiding in the trees and the cameras movement.

#twilight #cinemetography #film #discussion #film rant #victoria sutherland #robert pattinson #kristen stewart #thom yorke #beauty #cinema #music #hollywood #movie scenes #film scenes #favorite scenes

[ymeisli]

my friends when they suddenly hear me go “yk what movie i wanna watch…” (im about to talk about velvet goldmine for the 26718628195241th time)

#velvet goldmine #i am unnormal about this movie #everytime i make one of them watch this movie at the end i go on this long rant about the gimme danger scene #finding out thom yorke did like three songs from this movie was cray z

[baku-usagi]

Blackwall likes fishing, in Canon, imagine fishing with blackwall.

Imagine waking up super early in the morning to go fishing with him,

Imagine sitting in a boat or on the docs trying to fish with him in the quite, with the soft chirp of the crickets and early animals, and you start to drift off because oh geez it's so early.

And then you wake up and he has your pole propped up and your head is leaning against his shoulder or maybe he eased your head into his lap and while he gently adjusts the fishing line with one hand he has his other hand resting on your face or playing with your hair and it's so soft and quite outside 😩♥️

Imagine you do stay awake and you enjoy each other's quite company or talk in hushed voices, he shows you how to tow the line properly, and he admires you while you reel in a potential bite, and when you catch him staring and ask what he's looking at he Smiles a bit bashful and chuckles, or just outright says 'you'

And when you inevitably catch a fish you'd think you scored a touch down he's so excited for you! And he tells you fish facts about whatever type of fish you caught.

Fishing with blackwall 😭💖

#Blackwall dragon age #Dragon age #Thom rainier #Fishing #Imagine #nikki rants #I love him so much #And I'm suffering right now #So I get some small peace thinking about him

[sleeepydraws]

.... just gonna put this here without context...

kthxbi

#ok context here lol #so Thom (purple background) left his duties as older brother to study magic #as mages are kinda known to do #and as the other kid #Alan (green) was forced to pick up the slack #including TAXES #because even fantasy manor lords have to do taxes #sigh #its april in the us im not happy with this every other fucking country does the taxes for folks #why the fuck cant we #its legit the stupidest lobbying bullshit ive ever heard #demolish these institutions it makes life HELL for so many millions of people #rant over #anyways back to OCs #I thought this would be a fun expression practice since that's not something that I've been focusing on #but like #something i wanna improve on #anyways #had a ton of fun. the main bulk took me like an hour and then refining it a bit took another 30 to an hour so not bad honestly!

[the-90s-music-colosseum]

I think this is the video one anon talked about a couple weeks ago. This song (The Tourist) was my introduction to Radiohead, and I've gotta say, this performance is their best of their entire musical careers. Without a doubt. The pure raw emotion is just breathtaking. Jonny's shredding is literally life-changing. His playing in this video is what inspired me to start playing guitar. It's inspiring, hopeful, and exhilarating, and yet daunting and filled with such sorrow, anguish, and anger at the same time. It's like his guitar itself is crying. How someone can convey such emotion and feeling through their guitar, I will never know. And Thom being moved to tears purely because of the sheer, genuine emotion through the instrumentals and words, and just the song and atmosphere itself is just. I don't even know how to describe it. God I wish I could feel like Thom Yorke does. Jonny Greenwood is such an amazing songwriter and composer. Idk which one of them decided that an album about depression, the flaws of capitalism, suicide, and a sense of alienation that stems from living in a technologically advanced and run society should end with a song about slowing down, and enjoying life, but god. God they are amazing. Anyways sorry for ranting and geeking out but everyone should watch this performance at least once in their life. The Tourist will forever be Radiohead's best work. God, what a song.

https://youtu.be/XWBsLZHvieU?si=N77PgRILSYjkDeeP

#most attractive 90s musician #asks #radiohead #thom yorke #jonny greenwood

[thatiranianphantom]

Nancy Drew Rewatch 108: The Path of Shadows

And so we arrive at an episode that Ace is technically in but also not in.

Thank GOD we only have 1 Laura episode left I think.

"It was Ace (and Laura but nobody cares about her)"

This totally not affected face:

I enjoy Lisbeth. She's also GORGEOUS. I wish she'd lasted longer.

The cops would have absolutely taken Ace's phone but then again, the cops have SO little to do with the solving of any crimes.

This text chain between Nancy and Ace kills me:

"Can you pick up bleach wipes?" "No."

"Great dress if it's you!" Counting that as a Nace moment.

McGinnis episode -> McGinnis disappears after this episode.

But a shout out for actual Indigenous representation with actual Indigenous actors. And this show being this show, I have no doubt they did their research.

The Bess Bus! Love this Nancy and Bess bonding time

And also this SUPER subtle Old Navy plug

This entire exchange where they sum up the last 7 episodes needed to be documented in its entirety:

Bess: Dead Lucy was on Nancy's phone video. We went to a medium to see what she wanted and then the medium freaked and vanished. George: Not like mystical vanished, she just skipped town. Bess: Right. Then there was this 70s throwback lady who applied for a job during the Nor'Easter storm. George: She also might have been dead. Not sure. Bess: But Tiffany Hudson's ghost definitely attacked me in a freezer right before she possessed George. Nick: And there was the antique coins that opened the door to a crowd full of spirits during the seance. Nancy: Yeah, I conducted it, with a crash course from Victoria. George: My mom's a clairvoyant, it's why she's a raging alcoholic.

I'm with Nick on the work = distraction. When I got the news my grandmother was dying, I walked into my boss' office crying and they told me I could go home, but I chose to stay. Then my tinies came in and covered me with hugs, so much better than going home alone.

Okay a small rant on Carson Drew: THE LIES. He could technically say he's telling the truth but it's like 1/4 truth. The lies by omission are MASSIVE and he spent SIXTEEN EPISODES lying to Nancy. And he only stopped because he got caught! This whole self-righteous "how dare you accuse me of this" doesn't really work when he spent almost an entire season lying to her.

We'll get into this near end of season but the umbrella justification of "I was trying to protect you" he uses to excuse so many of his own lies. Not buying it.

So, so much goes back to Thom for Ace.

But we finally get an age on Ace! He's 21 as of this episode.

Leah Lewis remains underrated, she's a great actress.

Thank you as usual to you, readers, and thank you to @middleagedresidentofriverdale for joining me for 108. See y'all for 109.

#TIP watches ND #Nancy Drew #Nancy Drew CW #ndcw #Nace

[lr31o]

there's a creepy looking clown on my dash and just realized it's a one piece netflix ad thing uhhhhh there should be a way to turn this off because i can see this as legitimately unsettling for other people

#tumblr #thom rants #one piece #on one hand i know this website needs to survive so this kind of marketing is at least creative and... #quirky? i suppose. but it's also a little invasive. #give us an X button at least

[aurorawest]

Reading update!

So as you'll see below I've read a lot of books since the last time I did one of these. I'm not going to write a little blurb for all of them, only the ones I feel strongly about. But I'm going to start including my ratings.

Arctic Sun by Annabeth Albert. 4.25/5 stars

Where We Left Off by Roan Parrish. 5/5 stars

Peter Cabot Gets Lost by Cat Sebastian. 5/5 stars

This book was just. So lovely. Short and fast-paced, but I loved Peter and Caleb so much. I love the time period too. I know this is me being toxic and problematic and showing my internalized homophobia or whatever but I actually really like books set in places and time periods where homophobia is a real and present danger. I think it's because I'm totally a Love Conquers All romantic, so the fact that people dgaf and make a go of being together anyway scratches that itch.

Anyway, good book. I picked up the other two in the series but haven't read them yet.

Let's Get Back to the Party by Zak Salih. 4/5 stars

Literature. Good but pretty sad.

No Gods For Drowning by Hailey Piper. 3/5 stars

The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas. DNF

I got 50 pages in before I gave into my hate and DNFed this.

The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley. 5/5 stars

I find it genuinely upsetting that Natasha Pulley isn't a household name, because she writes the most beautiful, gutting books that I have maybe ever read. I don't understand how she's able to write what is, on the surface, a completely mundane sentence, and yet there's this roiling sea of heartbreak underneath it.

This is the sequel to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, easily one of the best books I've ever read, and this one is at least as good.

Natural Enemies by Roan Parrish. 4/5 stars

Us by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy. 3.75/5 stars

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh. 5/5 stars

Lovely little novella that read like a fairy tale.

The Prince's Poisoned Vow by Hailey Turner. 4.25/5 stars

At first I despaired of ever learning who all the characters were in this book because the first like, 10 chapters were all from a different POV, but I got a handle on all of them and liked it a lot.

Spectred Isle by KJ Charles. 4.75/5 stars

Un Lun Dun by China Miéville. DNF

This is the book that made me realize I hate whimsical books.

Here the Whole Time by Vitor Martins. 4/5 stars

The Lightning-Struck Heart by TJ Klune. 3/5 stars

I ranted about this one already but Jesus, Klune. This straight up reads like the kind of stuff I wrote when I was like, 14, and I don't mean that as a compliment to my 14 year old self.

Love, Hate & Clickbait by Liz Bowery. 5/5 stars

!!!!! This book was so good!!!! I picked it up way back when it came out but it only surfaced in the TBR pile in March, and it did not let me down. Thom and Clay are SO unlikable, but you start to like them in a way that's practically insidious because you don't see it coming. By the end, I was totally rooting for them and loved them both. And this is a romcom with a truly great villain, too, which definitely isn't standard in romances.

Red Skies Falling by Alex London. 5/5 stars

Second book in a series that revolves around a culture where falconry is hugely important. If you want fantasy that doesn't take place in fantasy England, check this series out. It has an A+ sibling relationship, a lovely romance, and high stakes. But this one was saaaaad ugh so sad.

Less by Andrew Sean Greer. 3.75/5 stars

I hated this book until about 80% through, and then it subverted all my expectations and I ended up liking it okay. I thought it was just about a pathetic middle aged gay white man (I know I know, that's my type, what's the problem?) feeling sorry for himself, but it was deeper than that. And it had a nice ending.

Invitation to the Blues by Roan Parrish. 4/5 stars

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. 5/5 stars (reread)

Bought this edition for the bonus chapter from Henry's POV and for @vkelleyart's end pages. Totally worth it. I love this book just as much as I did the first time.

Threshold by Jordan L Hawk. 4.25/5 stars

So this is a series with like, 11 books? I read the first one and was kind of eh on it. Good enough to buy the second, not enough to buy all 11 or whatever. But the second one was substantially better, so now I've acquired like 5 more of them. I continue to be a sucker for late 19th century/early 20th century settings.

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen. 4.5/5 stars

Is gay noir a thing? Because that's what I'm calling this book. Gay noir. I loved the main character and I'm really excited this is going to be a series (I've already preordered the second one). The only reason I knocked off half a star is because some of the side characters were irritating. And as a mystery, it wasn't great, so I wouldn't read this one if you're looking for a really good mystery. It's definitely more about the character development and the relationships.

Though possibly one reason I didn't think the mystery was that good is because it got spoiled for me on tumblr by someone who imo had a pretty shallow read on the book. Honestly not sure if they actually read it or they just skimmed it.

Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly. 5/5 stars

AHHH. THIS BOOK!! This book was so good. So I've been making fun of it for a while because if you look at the cover, it looks like a Stucky AU. And you know what, maybe it was, but at least it didn't read that way, lol. It was really lovely and I'll be using it as a comp for the manuscript I finished last week.

The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley. 5/5 stars

I don't even have anything else to say except that you need to read Natasha Pulley's books. Please. If you're reading this post, go get her books. Buy them, take them out of the library, whatever. Do it.

Work for It by Talia Hibbert. 4.25/5 stars

A Tree of Bones by Gemma Files. 4.5/5 stars

Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles. 5/5 stars

Something happened in this book that made me close it and stare into the middle distance, then put it aside until I could process.

Anyway you should definitely read it.

Farview by Kim Fielding. 4/5 stars

Whistling in the Dark by Tamara Allen. 4.25/5 stars

Currently reading The Restless Dark by Erica Waters

Which I'm enjoying more than I thought I would!

#natasha pulley #the bedlam stacks #the lost future of pepperharrow #arctic sun #annabeth albert #where we left off #roan parrish #peter cabot gets lost #cat sebastian #something wild and wonderful #kj charles #let's get back to the party #zak salih #no gods for drowning #hailey piper #the sunbearer trials #aiden thomas #natural enemies #us #sarina bowen #elle kennedy #silver in the wood #emily tesh #the prince's poisoned vow #hailey turner #spectred isle #reading tag #un lun dun #china mieville #here the whole time

[mannytoodope]

Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968)  is Radiohead's main singer and songwriter. Yorke also plays guitar and piano and works with synthesizers, sequencers, and programming for the band. He is known for his high-pitched vocals and wild onstage energy. Yorke formed Radiohead with classmates after they graduated from college. They had an early hit with the song "Creep." I remember it being played all the time on the radio and MTV.

The success of "Creep" turned Yorke into somewhat of a celebrity; in the '90s, Radiohead had the typical alternative rock sound. After the release of their fourth alum, Kid A, in 2000, they got a little more experimental. Critics and fans ranted and raved about that album. I prefer their second album, The Bends. I don't know; maybe I listen to it at a particular time in my music journey. When they released  Kid A, Yorke, and the band moved into electronic music, allowing Yorke to manipulate his vocals often. In 2006, Yorke released his first solo album, comprising primarily electronic music, titled The Eraser, and has continued to release solo albums and release work with Radiohead. He has collaborated with various artists. He also composed music for films. Outside of music, he is an activist for human rights, environmental, and anti-war causes, and his songwriting often has political themes. Thom Yorke is a talented musician who is constantly making exciting music.

#Musician #Singer Songwriter #Composer #Alternative Rock #Experimential #IDM #Radiohead #The Smile #Atoms For Peace

[alectology-archive]

I finally finished the book ha. Speaking of the sanderson books specifically, I don't ever see myself rereading ToM or AMoL again (I can fully see myself rereading even CoT) because they were painfully bad. A couple of things in AMoL were done well - this might still be a generous take on it because it was mostly the epilogue that I really liked and I'm still Reeling even if I already had rand's ending spoiled to me beforehand.

I'm just dumping miscellaneous thoughts under the cut. It mostly started as a rant post about chapter 37 but covers my thoughts on the epilogue as well.

- Demandred is now entering into a swordfight with galad. Even if this is because galad has a foxhead medallion, the demandred from RJ's books would literally never fight another person with a sword bye.

- I've already made a post about this but brandon doesn't get galad. Galad always tried to do what he thought was right - whatever we get from brandon is suspiciously similar to dragonsworn/whitecloak ideology (essentially cult-like behaviour) which is what rj was trying to critique in the first place:

The right thing had always seemed clear to Galad before, but never had it felt as right as this ... The Light itself guided him. It had prepared him, placed him here at this moment.

- demandred literally does not look like rand. He looks like taim:

Demandred was a proud man; one needed see only his face to know that. He looked like al’Thor, actually. They had a similar sense about them.

- Mat has done nothing to offend Bashere. Bashere doesn't talk like this either:

“Matrim Cauthon, you bloody fool. You’re still alive?”

- My eyes are bleeding this is not how command structure works - why couldn't Deira or another ranking officer of Saldaea take command???

All he had said was that Saldaea fights alongside Malkier, and told the troops to look toward Lan. The throne would be sorted out if they all survived the Last Battle.

- This sounds so corny I don't like it tbh ajshejdhdj. Balefire is neutral and doesn't really know Sides like the Light and Shadow but the anti-balefire Flame is... not? It's irritating:

The balefire vanished. A multihued, beautiful crystal grew from him [Taim]. Uncut and rough, as if from the core of the earth itself. Somehow Egwene knew that the Flame would have had much less effect on a person who had not given himself to the Shadow.

- Come ON Asmodean hasn't picked up a single weapon in his LIFE. why would he assume lan is asmodean in disguise.

Demandred blocked Lan’s attack, but he breathed hoarsely. “Who are you?” Demandred whispered again. “No one of this Age has such skill. Asmodean? No, no. He couldn’t have fought me like this. Lews Therin? It is you behind that face, isn’t it?”

- ngl rj would hate having a battle described as 'exquisite' instead of 'terrifying'

“Exquisite," Thom thought. That is the word. Unexpected, but true. Majestically exquisite. No. Not “majestically". Let the word stand on its own. If it is the right word, it will work without help. If it’s the wrong word, adding other words to it will just make it seem desperate.

- These two quotes read like everybody including the dark one think mat is very Important to rand <3

THE SON OF BATTLES. I WILL TAKE HIM. I WILL TAKE THEM ALL, ADVERSARY. AS I TOOK THE KING OF NOTHING.

....

“Not the tree, Gambler,” Hawkwing said. “Another moment, one that you cannot remember. It is fitting, as Lews Therin did save your life both times.”

“Remember him,” Amaresu snapped. “I have seen you murmur that you fear his madness, but all the while you forget that every breath you breathe—every step you take—comes at his forbearance. Your life is a gift from the Dragon Reborn, Gambler. Twice over.”

- I got Major rand/mat/elayne vibes from this passage <3 :

“The Queen of Andor is dead,” Arganda said.

Bloody Ashes! Not Elayne! Mat felt a lurch inside. Rand. . . I'm sorry.

... "This is the end!" Demandred’s augmented voice washed across Mat from the other end of the plateau. “Lews Therin has abandoned you! Cry out to him as you die. Let him feel your pain.”

- kind of irritating that perrin is the one who makes his way back to rand when he's heartsick over faile because we know faile is on top of his priority list whereas mat is the one who walks away? Mat has always been a lot more attached to rand than perrin but this book completely reverses that and chooses to make perrin the Closer friend. And my god mat doesn't meet rand again after that tuon/mat/rand conversation earlier in the book 😐

- where is olver going to go? He's just a kid wtf.

- I hate the tuon pregnancy plot lmfao

- Mat not being present at rand's funeral... I WILL cry.

- mat doesn't see the band again, doesn't attend rand's funeral, doesn't have olver around, doesn't meet his other friends from emond's field again and I am MAD. I imagine it's going to happen anyway eventually but ugh. I'd have liked to see that on-screen.

- sanderson making rand even CONSIDER that he'd be content with only one person out of his three gfs following him is annoying. He loves all three of them.

- I think the only chapter I enjoyed fully was the epilogue. I'm still Sad about rand not being able to kill the dark one and facing the bleak future of being reborn as the dragon again and again but it's a sweet pain, I think. I'm glad he gets to live his life now and thinks of going on adventures (you know who else likes adventures. Mat.)

- I DO kind of dislike that rand can't channel anymore though. I don't really care that he can will things to happen as he pleases now - he struggled with accepting that part of himself for so long and he even cleansed saidin for him to eventually just be shut away from the source like that... it takes away from all the queer readings that it allowed.

- I'm such a sucker for doppelgangers and body snatchers and acts of mimesis and anything that vaguely falls under the genre so the fact that moridin and rand switched bodies fully turned out to be my favourite part of the ending ha.

- cadsuane being chosen as the amyrlin is so stupid bye. The white tower needs a new visionary who's capable of fixing its institutional problems not somebody who bullies people all the time and is stubbornly set in her old ways - she's only had her ego reinforced in all the 300+ years she's lived.

- I think moghedien should have been allowed to run free and commit gay crimes. More reasons to hate the seanchan in my opinion.

- tbh I find myself envisioning mat running from the seanchan the moment tuon has her back turned to him and... good for him? I will forever mourn the potential that tuon had - sanderson chose to not give her much of an arc, I'm guessing, since it wasn't even rj's choice for egwene and siuan to die but harriet's (plus idk I got the impression that he was writing tuon like she was never going to become a better person and still excuses her behaviour while rj specifically writes like tuon is going to become a better person most of the time). I feel like early tuon is very much firmly a fave - I just can't stomach her later because she just keeps having her ego boosted and sanderson plays it off as if it's funny that she's off ordering atrocities to be committed. He just doesn't know how to read the room whenever he picks up mat's povs. Mat never made jokes during the battles he fought in rj's books.

- I hate that I don't really have any thoughts about elayne, aviendha, egwene or nynaeve but they're almost non-characters in this book except when sanderson brought them out for Epic Fights? I was especially let down by the lack of politics in the book.

- the endless battle sequences are just so fatiguing to read that even Good Fight Scenes don't leave a mark on the reader. This was not a good book, lol - I think a lot of my positive thoughts are fully influenced by how good I feel about the epilogue.

- and I definitely did expect rand to die even while I was reading the series around book 5? It was some time then that I managed to spoil the ending to myself which was unfortunate, but I think the ending managed to satisfy readers who'd have liked for him to die as well as the ones who'd have liked for him to live (I am both people)

#aelia reads wheel of time #aelia reads a memory of light #wot book spoilers #overall the book was probably a 1.5 star read for me although it definitely had its moments

[nerves-nebula]

UGH I’ve never been so viscerally conflicted by the protagonist (who is a good person) succeeding before. 

We’re 2 hours form the end of the audiobook and Thom has managed  to trick the monkey king into putting the circlet on, which makes me SO FUCKIN CURIOUS what those next 2 hours are gonna be.

My hopes are that the next 2 hours more fully address the themes of the heavens being a fundamentally unjust and unequal society, specifically in their treatment of demons. 

But I hate to see the monkey king enslaved it’s justttt ITS SOOO BADDDD 

Like maybe this is cuz im kind of insane (prolly not neurotypical) but I was literally shaking when it described Thom putting the circlet on his head cuz like. I REALLY DONT KNOW HOW TO FEEL. IM happy she tricked him! I am!! But ALSO I REALLY REALLY HATE THE CIRCLET I HATE how much PAIN it’s gonna cause him I hate his inevitable breakdown once he realizes he’s FUCKEd.

I hate that he’s still being nice to her. Like I paused the audiobook to rant in this post but he’s still offering her his hand and being like “Come on Thom-Thom lets make the heavens a liberated kingdom TOGETHER!! Living peacefully together with equal rights and liberties and as many peaches as we want to eat :D” AND I JUST

im soOOO weak for the monkey king. If I was in this story I would have just helped him take over heaven I swear XD

i mean it is admittedly fucked up that he wants to send ALL the immortals to hell for a while, but I still don’t think he’s in the wrong for thinking it would make them realize how awful they’ve been!!

#nnstuff #rambling #girl giant and the jade war #girl giant and the monkey king #sun wukong #monkey king #Thom Ngho

[prairiies]

tipsy, outside smoking my last cig for the day, listening to twilight indie music, just got done ranting on my private instagram abt my terrible sexual experiences, ya know the deal

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Eye of the World! Chapter 11: The Road to Taren Ferry

Welcome back to my Wheel of Time reread! Since the pic's a little small today, I should note that the artist is Arsenije Kojic; it might be hard to make out the signature. What's not hard to make out is that this reread is about 33% spoilers for the entirety of the series, so if you're still reading the books you should read them first before coming here.

Once again, the chapter icon is the barren tree in front of the moon; once again, our heroes are traveling at night.

Lan led the way, black horse and shadow-clad rider all but invisible in the cold night. Moiraine’s white mare, matching the stallion stride for stride, was a pale dart speeding through the dark.

You just know Lan's been begging Moiraine to get a less conspicuous horse for years and she refuses on the grounds that she didn't have a emo phase as a teenager and she's not going to start now.

If Trollocs appeared behind, or the Fade on its silent horse, or that flying creature, the Draghkar, it would be up to Rand to sound an alarm.

Lan is testing his new son.

Rand had to keep a firm hand on the reins to hold him back. Cloud lunged against his restraint as if the gray thought this were a race, fighting him for mastery with every stride. Rand clung to saddle and reins with every muscle taut. Fervently he hoped his mount did not detect how uneasy he was. If Cloud did, he would lose the one real edge he held, however precariously.

I think one of the reasons Rand channeled tonight and not last night is that the horseback riding he's having to do is so similar to channeling saidin that he was put in the right headspace by circumstances.

With all his heart and desperation he silently shouted at Bela to run like the wind, silently tried to will strength into her. Run! His skin prickled, and his bones felt as if they were freezing, ready to split open. The Light help her, run! And Bela ran.

And here it is, his first definite channeling (though possibly not his first incident if Shadowspawn detection requires touching the source first). Note that it's Aine 9 / March 24, in a couple chapters we'll be seeing the backlash.

He looked for Egwene. She was leaning against Bela, slumped with weariness. The others were climbing down as well, with many a sigh and much stretching of aching muscles.

Rand may well be the least wearied of the non-bonded crew since he got to have a midday nap. The other kids spent much of the day plotting and counter-plotting and who knows what rest Thom got, if any.

“But the horses,” Rand protested. “We’ll run them to death if we try to go any further tonight. Moiraine Sedai, surely you—”

Another bit of Jordan's skill over some other fantasy writers: his horses are not furry motorcycles but living beings with their own needs and limitations. I think this cliche is mostly dying out at this point, but for awhile it was rampant in fantasy.

“You were right about your Bela, Rand,” Moiraine said from where she stood by the mare. “She has a good heart, and as much stubbornness as the rest of you Two Rivers folk. Strange as it seems, she may be the least weary of all.”

Quick correction to my above point: least wearied of the HUMAN non-bonded crew. Anyway, Moiraine now has another data point for "Rand is clearly the DR," but thankfully for existence she's not tossing away the other candidates just yet.

With a start Rand realized that instead of trying to mount Cloud he had been standing there staring at the sky in a vain attempt to locate the source of those vile shrieks. More, all unaware, he had drawn Tam’s sword as if to fight the flying thing.

Probably when LTT heard draghkar shrieking he did exactly the same thing. If Rand knew who he was, he'd probably be less embarrassed and more horrified and ranting to himself about it. Without the full knowledge of himself, he has no reason to reject it and just assumes he's being a dumbass.

Stout Bela ran with neck outstretched and tail and mane streaming in the wind of her running, matching the larger horses’ every stride. The Aes Sedai must have done something more than simply ridding her of fatigue.

No Rand, she didn't have time. You told Bela to run and she is going to run. This isn't denial though like some of his other reactions; he just isn't thinking straight under the pressure and doesn't know all the rules anyway.

Fog enveloped the riders for a brief moment and was gone, came again and vanished behind. The icy mist left a chill dampness on Rand’s face and hands. Then a wall of pale gray loomed before them, and they were suddenly enshrouded. 

Another bit of Rand not really understanding what's happening: he's getting the shivers because Moiraine is channeling, not because of the results of her channeling.

Lan encouraged them to keep close, now, to stay where each could see the outlines of others in that damp, frosty grayness. Yet the Warder still did not slacken his stallion’s dead run. Side by side, Lan and Moiraine led the way through the fog as if they could see clearly what lay ahead. The rest could only trust and follow. And hope.

I wonder how this is working exactly. Can they still see what's ahead of them? That's not really how these sorts of things work in the series as a whole; Moiraine's weave here has to be a real fog and not just an illusion that somehow effects Shadowspawn she can't even se. The bond doesn't provide any sensory bonuses that I can recall either, so that's out.

Early book weirdness I guess!

One and all, Taren Ferry folk had a reputation for slyness and trickery. If you shook hands with a Taren Ferry man, people said, you counted your fingers afterwards.

Who doesn't have a reputation for trickery in this world? Everyone is trying to screw over everyone else, from Shara to Seanchan, and not by way of the Morenal Ocean. Y'all are suspicious mofos who don't talk to anyone.

“Master Hightower,” Lan said. “Just the man I need. We want to cross over on your ferry.”

Oh, and on the Lord of the Rings rip-off front, this whole sequence is an echo of the Buckleberry Ferry bit, though quite a few things make this rather different in the end.

Gold glinted in the lamplight as the Warder counted out coins one by one into the other’s palm. Hightower licked his lips as the coins clinked, and by inches his head moved closer to his hand, as if he could not believe what he was seeing.

This bit of bribery seems rather less generous when you consider what's going to happen to the ferry next chapter. It's really just preemptive damages. But that's next chapter, and just because we're at the end of this one is no reason to get into the next one. That can wait for tomorrow. See you then! :)

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #rand al'thor #lan al'mandragoran #moiraine damodred #thom merrilin #egwene al'vere #mat cauthon #perrin aybara

[mega-ringsandthings-world]

Idk if you’ve talked about this before, so I’m sorry if you have, but do you have any sexuality headcanons for any Hunger Games characters? I have . . . a lot.

My biggest one is that I definitely think Katniss is ace and not straight. I personally think she’s an ace lesbian, though that’s entirely projection on my end. A lot of the scenes in the first book especially read as someone who doesn’t like men, or who’s aro. Like. I know these are all Katniss not liking Peeta right away, but the way she explains not knowing what she’s doing with the romance and not feeling anything when she kisses him? It read as someone who doesn’t like men. The way she explains not being able to provide the love that leads to a family? I know that was just her not wanting to have kids due to the Games, but the way it was described really read as someone who hadn’t quite come to terms with their sexuality. Anyway sorry for this rant on Katniss but ace lesbian Katniss is a hill I will die on.

As for other characters. I like to think a lot of the Victors were queer in some way. Johanna? A lesbian. Finnick and Annie? Both bi. Enobaria and Cashmere? They’re girlfriends, actually. I feel like it adds some level of nuance but that depends on how accepting you think Panem is (I think it’s definitely not great but that’s a conversation for a different day).

I have a lot more headcanons for other characters (the Careers, Madge) but I’d love to hear yours! Especially for Gale, since I have no idea for him.

Glad you asked! I'll start by saying that I don't think of a lot of the THG characters as straight, with a few exceptions. I’m on the roof about Peeta, but I feel Mrs. Everdeen is bi, perhaps her and Madge’s mother had a thing when they were younger. Tigris is definitely a lesbian. I do see Katniss as either ace/demisexual, and then as either bisexual/pansexual. She does feel physical desire, and she's not immune to noting when someone is beautiful/attractive (she constantly remarks on the handsomeness/beauty of Gale/Finnick/Cashmere/so on) but rarely if ever feels that physical pull, unless she is very emotionally close to the person. Which def screams ace/demi and bi/pan. It does fit with the way she approaches relationships and such in general. So it makes me uncomfortable to see her over-sexualization by the fandom. She prefers camaraderie/classifying affection as an emotional bond and expressing of affection through actions, and seems unsure/uncomfortable labeling her relationships, even those that would seem romantic from another perspective.I see it as her not so much having a sexuality crisis, as her just being ace, and preferring to just take her sweet time about picking and choosing what to do that’s normal in a relationship. She just doesn’t like labels. Or pressure. Given time and no unfortunate interruptions, I hold that she would have eventually entered into a relationship with Gale of her own accord. Although it's not my personal headcanon that Katniss is a lesbian, I do see her in potential relationships with women. Such as her and Johanna, and in a special AU of mine, her and Cashmere.  But I do agree that a lot of the characters are queer, (yes to Finnick being bi) and canonically Panem is "accepting" in terms of sexuality, in the books, the gender of Finnick's Capitol lovers are never confirmed, and in Tbosas, there's two instances of same-sex couples. In a place as “exotic” as the Capitol, acceptance would be more more mainstream, as convoluted as that is. Funnily enough, the Districts might be less accepting, as each district holds it’s own customs and prejudices, and the people of the districts are not as “carefree” and “pleasure-seeking” as the Capitol, to put it mildly. Gale is bi. He had a thing with either Thom or Bristle once, and he is a very reserved person relationship-wise, prefers to hold back until he’s sure of his feelings. I don’t buy the bullshit of him being a player in District 12, that was a mess to add in, but I think he’s not above using his physical beauty to his advantage. He wouldn’t label himself either, to him it is what it is.

#thg #the hunger games #thg meta #katniss everdeen #thg fandom #catching fire #mockingjay #tbosas

[catgirlforeskin]

Hey, after seeing your post about publishers removing diversity I am fairly sure in Lore Kats eyes should still be Naturally brown in the same way carters were originally hazel but during augmentation they were turned into an unnatural blue and I'm fairly sure that applies to all spartan threes. It is however a travesty the team was dulled down and reduced, I still wish we had see more of noble including Rosenda and Thom. The threes are at least more diverse in the lore than the 2s.

I find it a little disturbing the class of spartans with stricter genetic requirements have a high proportion of white individuals and of the 4 most important (blue team) the 3 was have seen helmetless are white, including chief although we haven't seen him helmetless we did see him as a chils and he was white then.

Sorry about the rant.

you’re all good, I agree yeah, it’s very frustrating.

I had forgotten the bit about the Spartan III hormones yassifying them, that’s so fuckin funny

#halo